Hearing Mei's question, Raven shrugged and explained.
Initially, they had considered recruiting the Herrscher of Dominance to their side.
But in the end, they rejected the idea.
The reason was simple—the Thousand Herrschers were pure manifestations of malice, devoid of any goodness.
There was no way to reason with them.
"...I see. But I suppose there really is no convincing them."
Unlike other Herrschers, who retained some humanity, the Herrscher of Dominance was malice incarnate.
"Alright, Miss Mei, time to go. Wanna test my driving skills?"
"...You do have a license, right?"
"Mhm~."
"Raven. Next time, I'm driving."
Though her Herrscher physiology spared Mei from motion sickness, the psychological torment remained.
Raven technically had a license—but her speed was insane, never touching the brakes, just flooring the gas and pulling 180-degree turns like it was nothing.
If this had been the old Mei, she would've thrown up long ago.
"Heh. A mercenary's gotta reach the hunting ground before the prey. Who knew the great Raiden Mei gets carsick?"
"Shut up. You're dismissed. They'll come for me soon—go do whatever you want."
Once her nerves settled, Mei began wandering.
She couldn't find the Herrscher of Dominance—but they'd definitely come for her.
Sure enough, after 10 minutes, the ground beneath her vanished—
—and she landed in a shattered, theater-like space.
"Well, well~ What an honor! We just sent off the Herrscher of Reason, and now you grace us with your presence~"
"Who are you? Explain why you brought me here—quickly—or I'll let lightning do the talking."
Just looking at them made Mei's blood pressure spike.
No wonder they were nicknamed the "Blood Pressure Herrscher."
"So violent~ Aren't we comrades? We're the Thousand Herrschers—so, how about joining us? We can grant your wish~."
Seeing the crackling sword in Mei's hand, the puppet feigned fear as it made its pitch.
"My wish?"
"That girl—Kiana. You want her to stop fighting, don't you? To live as a normal girl? We can remove her Herrscher Core for you. Exciting, isn't it?"
The puppet's voice grew theatrically enthusiastic—
—completely missing Mei's incredulous stare.
"And the cost?"
"Simple. Join us—or hand over your Core. Once we defeat her, we'll strip hers. A perfect plan, no?"
"You think stealing my power will let you beat her?"
"Well… probably not. But we already took the Herrscher of Reason's authority! With yours—oh, we'll crush her!"
"So you don't have confidence."
"Tch! With your Core, victory is guaranteed!"
"..."
A single slash—
—and purple lightning reduced the puppet to ashes.
"Nice speech. But my answer is no. Because you'll never defeat her."
With that, Mei engaged the Herrscher of Dominance—
—purposely letting them steal fragments of her power.
She needed them to grow confident—so she could unleash her full Honkai energy later, weakening them.
Not that Kiana needed the help.
But Mei would always take any chance to make things easier for her.
Once satisfied, Mei grabbed a puppet and broke free.
(Dr. Mobius wanted a sample. This was a convenient excuse.)
"Ugh! We barely got anything! Useless!"
"Can't help it! She was too careful! But… we've got the spark now. Next time, we'll take everything!"
"Hahaha! With 1,000 minds, we're unstoppable! What's an S-rank Valkyrie? The Herrscher of the Void? The Herrscher of Reason? All our prey!"
Meanwhile...
"Again…? Herrscher of the Void—what do you want?!"
Kiana stood in the same dreamscape—facing her.
"Heh. Your body's at its limit. So I'm here to reclaim what's mine. This… is our final battle. Let's see whose conviction is stronger."
The Herrscher of the Void—Sirin—materialized, arms crossed.
But this time, she didn't attack.
Instead, the scenery shifted—
—to a sterile laboratory.
"Look. This is where you were born. The only successful experiment. Your sisters? They died."
A younger voice echoed:
"Papa! Let's save her and run away!"
"Stand back, Kiana. Don't let the glass cut you."
CRASH.
The incubation pod shattered.
Little Kiana—no, K-423—was scooped up into Siegfried's arms.
But the scene kept changing—
—until the real Kiana fell from the sky.
"See? The ones who saved you… the real Kiana died because of you."
"..."
Kiana's fists clenched.
Doubt crept in.
If Siegfried hadn't saved me… would none of this have happened?