"That doesn't really count."
Herta looked rather calm. She did not deny that she had suffered a setback, yet that very calmness was what made it abnormal.
It wasn't as though Acheron had never met her before. They weren't close, but she had heard enough about her personality.
Any reaction would have been normal after taking a loss—except this kind of composure.
"It seems that before I arrived here, you had quite an interesting experience."
Herta looked at her with a half-smile. "Curious?"
"If you're willing to share, I'm all ears." Acheron did not press her. She knew Herta was unlikely to reveal anything useful.
"No rush." Herta said lightly, "You'll find out."
Even stranger.
Acheron glanced at her again, watching as Herta walked straight toward the bedroom with the door still open, without looking back. An absurd thought surfaced in her mind.
Something was off about Herta.
Kiana was currently in an amnesiac state.
The coincidence made her think further, though after careful consideration she instinctively rejected the possibility.
That kind of possibility... it would be better if it didn't exist.
Suppressing her thoughts, Acheron grew curious about what Kiana had gone off to do. When she came back to herself, she noticed Bronya staring at her.
Acheron's gaze settled on her.
To date, this was the third Bronya she had encountered. She had heard that among the Stellaron Hunters there was also a hacker called Silver Wolf, whose appearance was quite similar to Bronya's.
"Alright, let's go."
Kiana suddenly came out of the bedroom. She wasn't carrying anything. Looking at Bronya, she asked, "You know how to avoid Anti-Entropy's forces, right?"
Bronya fell silent for a moment. Her eyes lingered on Acheron before she replied, "Yes."
"Then let's not wait. We're leaving now." Kiana casually picked up the backpack from earlier. "I've already sent the situation here to the people at St. Freya. They should be here soon."
No one seemed surprised by that.
She motioned for the two of them to follow and left the place. The road ahead became much more troublesome, but with Bronya—who knew Anti-Entropy's troop distribution—they encountered no obstacles along the way.
But what was meant to come would come sooner or later.
Just as they were about to leave the area, several mechs suddenly leapt down in front of them, blocking their path.
It was as though they had been waiting there for a long time.
Not only the few that appeared first—others rushed in from all directions. A battle was about to erupt.
"Did you lead us straight into a trap?"
Kiana looked at the mechs, which clearly didn't look easy to dismantle, and spoke to Bronya, who was floating beside Acheron under her control.
"...They can locate Bronya through positioning," Bronya said after a moment, identifying the core of the problem.
Once they knew she had defected, and judging from the direction they were heading, it wasn't difficult to guess they would pass through here.
"Alright, no choice then. Looks like we'll have to fight them." Kiana didn't blame her. She knew that if these people were determined to find them, it would be hard to avoid it.
They held no real advantage.
The leading mech emitted a crackling electric sound, as if connecting to something—perhaps intending to say something.
Acheron sized up the enemies, stepped slightly closer to Kiana, and extended her hand.
"May I borrow your baseball bat?"
Kiana hesitated for a second before handing over her self-defense weapon. "Here."
"Thank you."
Acheron thanked her softly. Without waiting for Kiana to say anything more, and without waiting for the mech to speak, a streak of lightning flashed before their eyes.
Faint arcs of electricity danced along the baseball bat.
Kiana's eyes widened.
She rubbed them—only to find the battle already over.
Acheron stood amidst a field of fallen mechs, smoke rising from their wreckage, clearly victorious.
Kiana swallowed nervously and glanced at Bronya beside her.
"Is she a Herrscher?"
Bronya's eyes widened slightly as well. She hesitated.
"Possibly?"
Herta's attention wasn't on Acheron, who had just shown off. At some point, she had appeared beside the disabled mechs, examining the scrapped machines.
Acheron paid her no mind. After finishing the fight, she walked back toward Kiana to return the baseball bat.
After a few steps, her expression suddenly changed. She spun around quickly, electricity bursting across the bat as she swung.
Clang!
The sound of metal colliding rang out. Acheron was forced several steps backward by a tremendous force.
It was a massive red greatsword, hurled with precision—its target clearly Acheron.
Realizing something, Kiana rushed forward fearlessly and shouted, "Don't attack! She's on our side!"
Just as Acheron was about to seize the attacker, she froze for a moment.
From the direction the sword had been thrown—from the top of a tall building—a fiery red figure leapt down, clad in full-body armor.
"She's the Herrscher who triggered this Honkai Eruption, isn't she?" The newcomer raised her hand, and the greatsword embedded in the ground flew back into her grasp. Her gaze fixed on Acheron. "Little Kiana, you've never encountered a Herrscher before. You don't know what kind of beings they are."
"Mei-senpai is different!"
Kiana ran between the two, trying to prevent the conflict from escalating further.
"She's not like the previous two Herrschers. She's a good person!"
"A Herrscher? A good person?" The woman laughed lightly, though her words were serious. "A few sentences aren't enough to prove someone's safety. You understand the threat she poses to humanity, don't you?"
Kiana turned back to look at Acheron, who was handing the baseball bat back to her. She pressed her lips together and, after a moment's hesitation, gritted her teeth.
"I'm willing to vouch for her!"
"I've traveled with her. I know what kind of person she is. She's a good person. I hope you'll give her a chance."
"Vouching for a Herrscher? You really are reckless, Kiana."
"This Honkai Eruption wasn't her fault! It was Anti-Entropy—the bastards who used this city as an experiment. They're the ones who should be punished!"
Kiana pointed at the mechs scattered across the ground.
"Look, these are all Anti-Entropy's machines. She's not like the other Herrschers, because she's not a true Herrscher at all!"
Kiana had heard how terrifying Herrschers were.
But Acheron bore no resemblance to those rumors. Combined with the information Bronya had provided, she couldn't help but question something.
Was she truly a Herrscher in the conventional sense?
"Besides, since you came alone, Aunt Theresa must have accepted my suggestion, right?"
"...Haha, sharp as ever." The woman smiled. "You're right. For your sake, Theresa is willing to give this Miss Herrscher a chance. As long as she passes the test, we're willing to give her an opportunity."
The so-called test consisted of a series of psychological evaluations and physical examinations, conducted aboard a battleship named Hyperion.
The results came quickly.
Acheron passed without any suspense.
"No issues. However, given the special circumstances, she'll need to be observed for a period of time." Himeko glanced at Kiana. "You'll serve as the observer. Any objections?"
Kiana instinctively looked at Acheron. Seeing her nod, she knew there was no resistance on her side and answered without hesitation, "No problem."
Perhaps her agreement had come too readily, because someone nearby sighed with emotion.
"Theresa searched for you for a long time, hoping you'd come to St. Freya. I didn't expect someone else to accomplish that so easily."
"It's not the same." Kiana shook her head. "Himeko, you know Aunt Theresa has always wanted to stop me from searching for the source of Honkai."
Himeko.
Not surprising in the slightest.
The moment Acheron saw her, she had already guessed her name. The thought passed through her mind without stirring any visible reaction.
Herta, who had been deep in thought nearby, suddenly looked up, her gaze strange.
"Himeko?... She does resemble her a little."
But what exactly was going on?
Why was it that when it came to Acheron, this trial contained so many familiar faces?
Himeko moved past the topic, unwilling to linger on something that would only make both of them uncomfortable. The fact that Kiana was willing to return with her was already a pleasant surprise.
There was no need to resort to harsher methods.
"The situation in Nagazora City is still under investigation, but we can confirm that Anti-Entropy's involvement runs from beginning to end."
"How could they come up with something so insane? And how did they know this would give birth to a Herrscher?"
"We haven't uncovered that yet, but I do have some personal speculation." Himeko paused. "You know that most of Schicksal's and Anti-Entropy's technologies are built upon relics of the Previous Era."
Relics of the Previous Era?
A flicker of surprise crossed Herta's contemplative expression.
So even after her death—after becoming a ghost—this world still revolved around her legacy?
The discovery only piqued her interest further.
So this wasn't a reset at all. It was exactly as she had seen.
Everything now was built atop a world that had already failed.
"Not long ago, Schicksal discovered a ruin and obtained some technology from the Previous Era," Himeko continued. "It was a laboratory buried deep underground. In the Previous Era, its primary purpose was researching artificial Herrschers."
"What?"
Kiana's expression froze in shock. She turned to look at Acheron, clearly linking the two matters together.
"Artificial Herrschers are a method somewhat similar to artificial Stigmata. Miss Raiden Mei's situation is somewhat different, but the term 'artificial'... it's hard to say there's no connection at all."
Himeko left it at that.
This time, Anti-Entropy had not been involved in the discovery, yet something like this had happened regardless. It raised suspicions that a spy might have infiltrated somewhere.
But Kiana was more concerned about something else.
"So that means Schicksal now possesses complete artificial Herrscher technology?" she asked tensely.
"Unfortunately, no." Himeko shook her head. "Too much time has passed. The records in that laboratory were incomplete. But Schicksal is unlikely to ignore such technology."
Kiana's hands tightened at her sides. She could already foresee what might happen next. Yet her strength was too meager to confront a behemoth like that.
It was suffocating—seeing something wrong and being powerless to stop it.
"It was developed by someone named Herta again, wasn't it?" she asked after pressing her lips together.
Acheron's eyes trembled slightly. She instinctively looked toward where Herta stood. She had not missed a single word.
Previous Era. Herta.
Placed together, the two were enough for Acheron to deduce a great deal.
"If someone that powerful existed in the Previous Era, how did they still end up..." Kiana muttered.
So far, nearly every piece of technology discovered from the Previous Era in the Current Era had some connection to a person named Herta. Anti-Entropy's mech technology had also been reverse-engineered from excavated finished machines.
"Honkai is far more difficult to deal with than we imagine," Himeko said with a sigh.
While they struggled just to handle a single Herrscher, someone in the past had been capable of mass-producing them—and yet that civilization had still become the so-called Previous Era.
It was difficult to imagine.
What exactly had they faced in the end?
"No matter how difficult it is, I'll definitely find the source of Honkai!" Kiana lifted her head, mustering courage for herself.
Hyperion was now returning to St. Freya.
The voyage would still take some time. Himeko and Kiana chatted briefly before the topic shifted to Bronya.
Kiana went with Himeko to check on her condition. Acheron remained behind, wanting to speak with Herta.
"There isn't a second Herta in this world... right?"
"Stop beating around the bush. Just ask what you want to ask," Herta replied impatiently.
So it hadn't been an illusion. Earlier, Acheron had already sensed something familiar in the equipment these people used.
They had all been copying her.
"What's the story behind the Previous Era and artificial Herrschers? And how long have you been in this trial world?"
"Not much earlier than you." Herta thought for a moment, then smiled faintly. "Only eighty to a hundred thousand years or so."
A hundred thousand years?
Acheron's gaze sharpened, then she noticed the flaw.
"With your intellect, given tens of thousands of years, you would surely have found a way to end all of this."
"Is that praise?"
Acheron remained calm. "I'm merely stating a fact."
There was no doubting Herta's intelligence.
Given that much time, who knew what astonishing things she might have accomplished?
"Judging by this world's development and timeline, I did arrive over a hundred thousand years earlier than you," Herta admitted.
"And by your own timeline?"
Herta nodded. "Only a few years ahead of you. After the world was destroyed by Honkai, I arrived at this point in time."
"I see."
Acheron understood.
The reason Herta had become like this—only able to observe, visible and audible solely to her—was likely because she had already failed once.
"And the artificial Herrscher technology?"
"Something I came up with while researching Honkai," Herta replied casually, as if it had required no effort at all.
Acheron frowned slightly.
"If you possessed such means, why did you still fail in the end?"
Herta folded her arms, a faint smile on her lips.
"Why did I fail?"
"That's the question you need to find the answer to."