Honkai Star Rail: Make Honkai Great Again

What an interesting expression.

It seemed her father really might have that name. And judging from Acheron's reaction, she appeared to have understood something.

A world constructed from the past and from memory?

Herta analyzed the answer.

"I can take you with me and leave this place. Honestly, the risk of staying here and waiting for rescue is still too great." After a brief pause, she added, "The ones who come might not be from St. Freya. It could also be people from Schicksal Headquarters, or Anti-Entropy."

"I'll go with you."

"A wise decision!"

Kiana smiled, her mood lightening as she promised, "Don't worry. You can use the time on the road to think things through. I can help you enroll in St. Freya Academy."

"Thank you."

It sounded like Kiana had some sort of connection with that academy, which was why she was recommending it. There was trust in her tone.

But that relationship was certainly complicated.

"No need to thank me. It's just a small favor."

She waved her hand and continued leading Acheron through the streets and alleys. Whenever possible, she avoided fighting. Only when an enemy could not be avoided did she make a move.

To prepare for any unexpected developments, it was best to conserve as much stamina as possible.

And the unexpected arrived soon enough.

It was not a powerful Honkai Beast blocking their path, but a girl who looked even younger than they were.

She hovered in midair with the heavy armor behind her supporting her, obstructing their way. Her silver-gray eyes were cold and inorganic.

"Please stop."

The girl's voice rang out clearly. The muzzles of the heavy weapons behind her glowed red, locking onto them.

Kiana's expression shifted slightly as she came to a halt, eyeing the girl blocking their path with clear wariness.

It had not even been two hours since the Honkai Eruption began.

...Bronya?

A flicker of unusual light flashed through Acheron's eyes. This "acquaintance" had arrived at a rather convenient time, though the way she looked now was exceedingly strange.

"Why does this little girl look so familiar?"

Herta, playing the role of observer, was not the silent type. She always spoke at just the right moment.

Even though she knew Acheron would not respond.

"Anti-Entropy's people..." Kiana stepped in front of Acheron and stared at the girl. "What do you want?"

"Unrelated target assessment in progress—priority target confirmed: Kiana Kaslana. Arrest authorization executable."

"Hah? What nonsense are you spouting, you little brat!"

Kiana's face darkened at her words. It seemed this battle was unavoidable. She just hated that Acheron would be dragged into it.

Feeling a trace of guilt, she did not look back as she spoke to Acheron, reminding her, "When I start fighting her, run to the back. Find somewhere safe and hide."

Acheron hesitated. "But..."

"Target assessment in progress—confirming target as Raiden Mei. Initiating Third Herrscher capture protocol."

The moment the words fell, before Kiana could recover from her shock, she felt someone tug her, and then she was pulled into a warm and soft embrace.

Several missiles struck the spot where they had just been standing, and the rising dust blocked their vision.

What skill!

Wait, what did she just say?

Third Herrscher? Who? Raiden Mei?

The senior she had rescued from the rooftop, the one she had wanted to escort safely out of the city—she was actually the Herrscher who triggered this Honkai Eruption?!

The Anti-Entropy girl's firepower was fierce. The billowing dust obscured their sight, yet it posed no hindrance to her.

Kiana could have dodged on her own, and even launched a counterattack during the gaps in the assault. But Acheron, who was holding her—this supposed burden—moved with effortless ease.

"You..."

Her expression was complicated, unable to reconcile the warm person before her with the Herrscher she understood.

"Do you need her alive?"

Acheron did not regard the enemy as a threat. She refrained from counterattacking only to ask Kiana's opinion—whether a live capture was necessary.

After all, the person before them resembled someone she knew.

"If possible, leave her alive. She... she's pitiful too."

Without commenting or asking further questions, Acheron simply nodded and released her hold.

Kiana saw only a streak of lightning flash into the dust.

And then? There was no then.

"So strong!"

Kiana stared toward the dust, her expression turning solemn. She could not have avoided that speed.

Which meant—

Her life had, from the very beginning, rested on a single thought of Acheron's. If Acheron had wanted to kill her, it would have required almost no effort.

Before encountering this Anti-Entropy girl, she had not been particularly wary of Raiden Mei. There had been many opportunities for her to launch a sneak attack from behind.

But she had not done so.

Yet wasn't she a Herrscher?

A trace of confusion surfaced in her heart.

She stared ahead for a long time without recovering her senses, completely unaware that a "ghost" beside her was narrowing her eyes while studying her.

Regardless of whether she was a Herrscher or not, one thing was certain—Acheron had no intention of killing her. So for now, she was safe.

As for why...

She jogged forward and saw Acheron lowering her hand. In front of her, the heavy armor behind the Anti-Entropy girl had fallen to the ground, occasionally sparking with flickers of malfunctioning blue arcs. The girl herself sat alone on the ground, cold and motionless like a machine.

"She looks like... she crashed?"

Seeing Kiana approach, Acheron spoke uncertainly about the situation before them.

To be honest, she even doubted whether this girl was truly a normal human.

"Her chip might've been affected. Probably malfunctioned," Kiana said as she slowed her steps. "She's a weapon developed by Anti-Entropy."

Even as she said that, Kiana walked up to the girl and crouched down, looking at her. "What's your name?"

The girl's eyes blinked only after a long while. She stared at Kiana for some time before her voice finally emerged.

"...Bronya."

"Turning people into weapons of war, and not even through pure biotechnology, but by crudely implanting chips into humans to control their minds." Herta appeared behind Kiana as well.

Looking at the girl sitting on the ground, a trace of disgust flashed between her brows. "Humans really never learn."

Though she herself was hardly innocent. The artificial Herrscher technology she had created had cost many lives. But she had not begun her research to manufacture weapons of war. Those had merely been byproducts of her study of Honkai.

It was humanity that chose what to do with them.

And in the end, those same humans had used that technology to stab her in the back, making her stumble badly.

"She still remembers her name? Then there's hope." Kiana reached out and gently patted Bronya's head. Bronya did not resist, like a doll being manipulated at will.

"A weaponized girl. This is a technology developed by Anti-Entropy to fight Honkai. They select girls with resistance to Honkai energy, modify their bodies, control their minds, and use them as weapons. It's an evil practice."

It didn't sound like anything good.

But Herta's reaction was even more noteworthy.

"If you don't mind, let's take her with us. Find a safe place to stay for a while and figure out what's going on."

"Alright."

Acheron nodded and raised her hand, lifting Bronya from the ground so that she floated in midair.

"...It's not far from the place I'm renting. Let's go there," Kiana said, unable to stop herself from glancing at them a few more times.

"Okay."

"Follow me."

Kiana ran ahead to lead the way, not afraid of her in the slightest, and not at all worried that she might suddenly attack.

Acheron obediently followed behind.

Along the way, they encountered no real danger.

After nearly half an hour, Kiana brought Acheron to an unremarkable apartment building. They went up to the third floor, and she unlocked the door with a key.

The interior was clean and tidy, but it lacked any real signs of daily life, as though Kiana rarely returned.

After casually placing the items she carried onto the table, Kiana turned to look at Acheron, who was curiously surveying the surroundings.

Her gaze paused briefly on Bronya as well. She looked the same as before, expression unchanged, like a puppet.

"Are you really the Third Herrscher?"

Kiana had thought about it the entire way. In the end, she decided to speak frankly with Acheron. She didn't believe Acheron was someone who couldn't be reasoned with.

Though they hadn't talked much along the way, Kiana trusted her own intuition.

"I suppose so."

Acheron had known her situation from the beginning. Whether she was the third or not, she wasn't sure. But her current identity was undoubtedly that of a Herrscher.

She really was a Herrscher?

And she had actually run into something like this herself?

She looked so normal. How could she be a Herrscher? She was such a good person—how could she possibly be one?

After Acheron admitted it in person, the two completely incompatible images in Kiana's mind fused together, delivering a shock she could hardly process.

Before this, she had thought Acheron was someone who needed her protection. Who would have guessed she wasn't a weakling in need of protection, but the ultimate boss?

The impact was so great that she instinctively avoided continuing the conversation. Her mind was a mess, and she didn't know how to face Acheron now.

So she turned to Bronya instead.

"What exactly is going on? Why did you know... that she's a Herrscher? And how did you find us?"

Bronya did not pretend to be unconscious. She simply spoke in a flat tone. "...Classified."

"Drop that act. You're in my hands right now. And after what Anti-Entropy did to you, you have a chance to break free. Are you still going to work for them?"

Bronya fell silent.

"Think carefully, kid. You still remember your own name. That means your humanity hasn't been completely erased. You should understand that you're a human being, not a machine."

"Your heavy armor has been dismantled. The chip inside your body should be malfunctioning too. You don't have to follow anyone's orders anymore. You can make decisions with your own will." Kiana looked at her and asked, "Tell me—are you going to keep secrets for the people who hurt you?"

...Human?

Make decisions with her own will?

After a long while, she finally spoke again. Kiana's words had stirred the faintest ripple in her deadened heart.

"Because of her." Bronya looked toward Acheron and stated without expression, "She is the experimental subject of this experiment. Bronya was sent to retrieve her."

"...Experimental subject?"

Kiana's hand tightened unconsciously. She glanced at Acheron, only to see her brows knit slightly, confusion flashing in her eyes.

She hadn't known.

"Can you explain more clearly?"

"Bronya doesn't know much either," she replied. "This Honkai Eruption was a targeted experiment. The objective was to create a controllable artificial Herrscher."

"Heh."

Acheron raised her eyes toward Herta, who had let out a cold laugh. She had grown used to Herta lingering nearby like an observer.

She was curious why she had reacted.

"Why are you looking at me?" Herta said. "Don't you think it's ridiculous?"

What was so ridiculous?

Acheron withdrew her gaze, ignoring Kiana's increasingly strange looks. With Herta constantly by her side, it was difficult not to be distracted.

Kiana could interpret it however she liked.

"They've gone insane!"

Kiana cursed. Acheron's odd behavior no longer gave her room to overthink. She had already accepted that something was off about her.

What she was thinking about now was something else.

Acheron was a Herrscher—and she seemed capable of communication. Did that mean Anti-Entropy's experiment had succeeded?

If it had succeeded, would their next step be to continue experimenting and create more Herrschers?

Just imagining it sent a chill down her spine. With a Honkai Eruption of this scale, the number of survivors in this city was probably less than one percent.

As she thought this, her gaze toward Acheron grew more and more complicated. She had no idea what attitude she should adopt toward her.

"So the Anti-Entropy you mentioned—is the mastermind behind all this?" Acheron asked.

"Yes."

"Should I go settle the score with them?"

"Anti-Entropy has deep foundations. You might not be their match." Kiana's expression shifted repeatedly before she lowered her voice and asked, "Can you use the power of a Herrscher freely?"

"Tell her you can't."

Acheron, who had been about to nod, paused slightly and glanced at Herta. After confirming she wasn't joking, she considered for a second and chose to trust her, shaking her head.

Kiana glanced again at the empty space nearby.

Do Herrschers get schizophrenia too?

Could it be that there was a Herrscher personality and a human personality, which explained all of Acheron's strange movements?

"Then if you want revenge, we'll need to plan carefully." Kiana turned to Bronya again. "You still haven't told me how you found us."

"Anti-Entropy has been monitoring her."

"So that means they could find us again at any time?" Kiana's expression darkened further.

Bronya said nothing, which was answer enough.

So the most dangerous thing right now wasn't Honkai. The Herrscher was standing right beside her, and she had shown no inclination to attack humans.

The real danger came from humans themselves.

"Don't worry. I have the ability to protect you."

"...That's not what I'm worried about." Kiana rubbed her brow with a headache and sighed. "This situation is too complicated. We need to find a chance to leave as soon as possible."

"Let's rest for a bit, then we'll set off."

With that, she went into the bedroom alone, seemingly to prepare something.

Acheron had no intention of chatting with the little one. She walked to the window and looked at Herta.

"Why did you tell me to say that?"

"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Herta replied. "These humans will only hold you back. I know you're strong and can fight well, but some problems can't be solved with brute force."

"If you don't say anything, no one knows how strong you are. Reveal all your cards at once, and you'll end up with people targeting you and setting traps."

Acheron looked at her for a moment, then suddenly understood something.

"You fell into their trap before?"

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