Chapter 174 174: Family
"Let me count... right now we've got the Herrscher of Reason coming online, the Herrscher of the Void is here, and on top of that, the Herrscher of Flame as well." Irene looked at Fu Hua's utterly bewildered expression and let a mischievous grin spread across her face.
"The Herrscher of Thunder is in the middle of awakening, the Herrscher of Wind — counting Wendy inside my body is one, and Wendy herself counts as another. And yours truly, humble as she is, happens to be a Herrscher of Death."
"Add it all up, and I think we've got enough to form a St. Freya Five Saints and Seven Herrschers."
"Sister Irene, what are you playing at?" Kiana looked at Irene. "And Sister Irene, you forgot Little Corruption and Rin — aren't those two Herrschers of Corruption as well?"
"Well then, St. Freya Five Saints and eight Herrschers it is~" Irene shrugged. She also had Klein, the Herrscher of the Legion, on her side — though there was no need to reveal that just yet.
"Hold on, hold on, hold on." Fu Hua wore the expression of someone who had absorbed too much information in too short a time and was on the verge of short-circuiting. "Explain it all to me again from the beginning. What exactly is going on?"
"Alright, seriously now — we're currently helping Mei re-activate the Herrscher of Thunder's core." Irene looked at Fu Hua. "And as for Bronya, she should be in the process of inheriting the Herrscher of Reason's core as we speak."
"That's more or less the situation at the moment."
"..." Fu Hua was silent for a long moment. "So am I correct in understanding that more than half of all Herrschers are currently aboard the Hyperion?"
"Not quite that optimistic, actually." Irene shook her head. The number already exceeded half — she alone was carrying four of them, and counting herself, all nine Herrschers were aboard the Hyperion. And if you factored in the two cores inside Kiana's body...
Thirteen Herrschers in total. Ten of them on the Hyperion alone. There was some overlap, yes, but the count had long since surpassed a majority.
(The Honkai's true legacy resides on the Hyperion. Confirmed.)
"..." Fu Hua drew a deep breath. She suddenly felt the urge to sit quietly by herself. Sirin coming over to their side was one thing — but why in the world were there so many Herrschers on the Hyperion?
"Well~" Irene looked at Fu Hua, who appeared to be questioning the very meaning of her existence, and smiled. "Times have changed~ You have to fight fire with fire — or in this case, fight Herrschers with Herrschers."
"Is that really how the saying goes? And things are changing a little too fast, don't you think?" Fu Hua let out a deep, weary sigh. The world was moving too quickly. She hadn't managed to keep up.
Wait — was that even the root issue here? In this day and age, were Herrschers just... not doing their jobs?
"Alright, relax." Irene patted Fu Hua on the shoulder. "Look on the bright side — at least we can prevent a lot of sacrifices this way, can't we?"
Honestly, the Current Era did have one advantage over the Previous Era: in the current state of things, several of the more destructive Herrschers had defected to humanity's side before they ever had the chance to cause damage.
Take the Herrscher of Flame, for instance. The Herrscher of Flame of the Previous Era had incinerated an entire continent in a matter of days. The Herrscher of Flame's core in the Current Era, by contrast, was sitting perfectly obediently inside Kiana's body.
Or consider the future Herrscher of Rock — just like his counterpart in the Previous Era, he had detonated an entire continent. And not just any continent: the technologically advanced Mu Continent.
The explosion had nearly brought the Previous Era's mechanical technology to a complete standstill. The shortage of personnel and usable facilities had forced them to pivot almost entirely to MANTIS-type biotechnology.
In the Current Era, the Herrscher of Ice's area of effect was limited to the region around Coral Island. One cannot dismiss those sacrifices, of course — but in the grand scheme of things, Coral Island wasn't a particularly critical location. Losing that small area in exchange for neutralizing an extremely dangerous Herrscher was a worthwhile trade.
By the later stages of a civilization, the Herrschers' attack ranges are measured in continents. What civilization could withstand that kind of punishment?
And once the initial devastation was done, they'd pivot to targeted mechanics: the Herrscher of the Legion would scatter and destroy key installations; the Herrscher of Binding would directly counter any conceivable Honkai-side combat power.
The Herrscher of Corruption would erase every technological achievement in sight. One full combo of that, and a civilization with no idea what was coming simply couldn't hold on.
And even if you did know it was coming — how do you counter it? The Herrscher of the Legion scatters like cockroaches. How would you ever know whether the person standing next to you is an ally or a Herrscher?
They could be your comrade one day and turn into a Herrscher the next, simply because of some underlying psychological break. A certain green snake knew that lesson all too well.
The Herrscher of Binding just standing there is like hitting a wall. You have to either brute-force it with stats or find a mechanical counter — one or the other, no exceptions. Otherwise, just having that thing stand there is exactly like running face-first into a brick wall.
The Herrscher of Corruption lives inside the digital world. You pull the ethernet cable, and she just jumps out of the digital realm, slaps you across the face, and dives right back in.
In short, those three, from a purely mechanical standpoint, are absolutely revolting to deal with no matter how you look at them — the kind of enemies that are nightmarish to fight even when you have full intelligence on them.
The Herrscher of the Legion in the Current Era — if they weren't singlemindedly fixated on devouring other Herrschers' Authorities to bloat themselves up, they'd be running their Theater of Domination. Even setting aside pure strength, they're still Herrschers at the end of the day. Their abilities alone would be more than enough to give the Current Era a serious headache.
The Herrscher of Binding doesn't even need to be mentioned — if Otto hadn't had her locked down, the protagonist faction of the Current Era, which relies on Herrschers as its primary combat power, would have been countered into the ground with absolute certainty.
For a picture of the havoc an unrestrained Herrscher of Binding would have caused, one need only look at the timeline of her newly arrived mother-in-law. And in that timeline, the Herrscher of Binding was the aggressive, proactive type — which made it even more terrifying.
And the Herrscher of Corruption had been yanked out via C-section by Mei, only to immediately retreat into the Elysian Realm — that black box — the moment she arrived, barely managing to scatter any fragments of herself before she was cornered inside and had her data deleted.
If Mei hadn't gone straight back to the Realm and had instead spent some time wandering around outside... it didn't take much imagination to picture what kind of grand gift the Herrscher of Corruption would have given the Current Era.
In short, all three of them were the kind of threats that required both luck and raw power to overcome — you needed stats and mechanics, both hands working at once.
"..." As Fu Hua listened to Irene's words, a sense of agreement and relief rose naturally in her heart — as though some deeply buried memory was surfacing to affirm everything Irene was saying.
Having all the Herrschers defect to humanity's side was, admittedly, a little hard to wrap her head around. But Fu Hua had to concede that what Irene was saying was simply the truth.
Better to have a friend than an enemy. Every Herrscher who chose humanity's side was an equal reduction of the Honkai's combat power. The more Herrschers stood with them, the more humanity gained — and the more the Honkai lost.
She just needed to adjust her perspective a little.
Seeing Fu Hua sink into thought, Irene smiled, then said: "By the way, since Master has lost her physical body for now, would you like to come stay on my side? It's not like one more guest would make any difference at this point."
"I'll take you up on that, then." Fu Hua didn't refuse. Honestly, compared to staying with Kiana right now, she was more inclined to spend her time with Irene.
Judging by how Kiana and Sirin were getting along, there didn't seem to be any obvious conflict between them — no real hostility. Since Sirin showed no signs of losing control, Fu Hua had no pressing reason to remain inside Kiana.
And over in Irene's mind, Nuwa and Fuxi — two of Fu Hua's dearest old friends — were waiting. She had grown hazy on the details of who they were to her, but she had a feeling she'd be more at ease over there. Probably.
With Fu Hua's agreement secured, Irene turned to look at Kiana and the visibly relieved Sirin. "Perfect timing — you two should come along as well."
"There's someone I'd like you to meet."
Kiana and Sirin exchanged a glance, then nodded without any hesitation. They trusted completely that Sister Irene would never lead them into harm. If she wanted them to meet someone, they would go.
Irene nodded, and the Bodhi imprint appeared in her hand. She guided the group back into her physical body through her own perception, and in a wash of white light, Sirin and Kiana entered another person's consciousness space for the very first time.
Kiana looked around curiously at the vast, featureless expanse before her — it felt like an open plaza stretching out into nothing. Somehow, Sister Irene's place felt even more spacious than her own mental world. Hadn't Sister Irene ever thought to decorate?
"There's just no need," Irene said, glancing over at Kiana. "Nobody here has any particular requirements for living arrangements. At least mine is tidier than a certain shut-in over there."
"Hey, human, what are you talking about?!" Sure enough, Sirin, having caught Irene's remark, instantly flared up. "What does that have to do with me—"
Before Sirin could finish, she felt someone gently lift her up from behind. A familiar warmth pressed against her back, and a pair of warm hands softly stroked her head.
Sirin's body went rigid in an instant. The words she'd been about to say dissolved in her throat. Stiffly, she turned her head to look up at Cecilia, who stood behind her, gazing at her with quiet tenderness.
"Ce... Cecilia?" Sirin's voice carried a hesitation and disbelief she had never felt before. She spoke as softly as if a single loud syllable might make the figure behind her dissolve into nothing.
"It's me~ But that's not what you should be calling me, is it?" Cecilia looked at Sirin gently, her hand instinctively reaching up to stroke her head.
"Mama?!" Kiana, watching Cecilia hold Sirin, was equally stunned. She had wondered who Irene might want them to meet, but the last person she had expected was Cecilia.
Still reeling, Kiana turned to look at Irene, who wore a calm smile. "Sister Irene, what is this exactly?"
"She really is Cecilia. In every sense that matters — the genuine article." Irene looked at Kiana. "It's just that..."
"According to Miss Irene, I'm not the Cecilia of this world." Cecilia set Sirin down and stroked her head once more, her eyes carrying an apology. "The Cecilia you knew and loved — she still died that day..."
"A mama from a parallel world — the same as all the others?" Kiana looked past Cecilia at the crowd of people standing behind her. Were all of these people from Sister Irene's world?
She had expected there to be many of them, but not this many. It was remarkable that Sister Irene's head had room for all of them. She hoped there wouldn't be even more the next time she visited.
"That's right — a Cecilia from a Second Eruption timeline where she didn't die." Irene nodded, then turned to look at Sirin. "The reason is that Sirin was still clinging to life at the time, and used that last breath to pull Cecilia into a small protected space."
"Sirin still died — but Cecilia survived."
"She may not be your real mama. But I thought you two should at least get to meet her." Irene looked at them both. "As for how things go from here, I hope for the best — but I can't ask for anything beyond that."
The two of them listened, then turned back to Cecilia. Cecilia looked at them with guilt written in her eyes: "I know you were probably overjoyed when you first saw me — excited, even. And I'm sorry for that."
"I am not the Cecilia of this world." The apology in Cecilia's eyes was unmistakable. She knew that her presence would kindle hope in both of them — a hope she couldn't fully justify.
But she still wanted to try. To care for the two people standing before her. She had missed her chance once before — her final moments had been shielded by Sirin, and she had never been able to give back that warmth in return.
Facing the Kiana who had grown from Sirin's lineage, and Sirin herself, Cecilia still wanted to try — even if the outcome wasn't what she hoped.
"..." The two of them looked at the carefully tentative Cecilia and fell silent. Both sides had lost something irreplaceable — they had lost Cecilia, and Cecilia had lost the Sirin of her world.
Sirin drew a sharp breath, then surged forward and threw her arms around Cecilia, pressing herself against her with everything she had. "What does it matter? I'm the daughter of a Cecilia who's not really mine, anyway."
"As long as I can feel your warmth again — what does it matter?"
Hearing Sirin's words, Kiana launched herself forward too. Just as Sirin had said — what did it matter? Cecilia was Cecilia.
Caught in the embrace of both girls at once, Cecilia stood frozen for a moment. Then she bent down and folded them both into her arms.
Irene stood a short distance away, watching it all with a smile — the smile of someone who had been waiting exactly for this moment. Beside her, [Irene] walked over and rested her chin on Irene's shoulder.
"You just wanted to see this, didn't you? My dear."
"Is this really the moment to sync up?" Irene looked at [Irene] and shrugged. "Being a parrot doesn't do you any favors."
"That's the whole point of my existence~" [Irene]'s face carried a smile too. "There's still Theresa after this — I wonder how Siegfried will take it?"
"Hard to say."
Fu Hua watched the three figures embracing nearby and suddenly felt as though she should quietly step away. She didn't belong in this moment — her presence was breaking the atmosphere.
She had only just started to move aside when three voices called out from behind her.
"Master."
"Hua — it's been a long time."
"Hua~ Did you miss us?"
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