"God, did you come here to save me?"
Sirin looked up from within the Will of Ruler's embrace.
"Of course."
The Will of Ruler smiled. It wasn't a lie—Sirin's Herrscher Core of the Void granted the power of spatial manipulation. By assimilating and analyzing it, she could more easily stabilize and open pathways between universes.
She also liked both Sirin and K-423, and wanted to bring them back with her.
After all, being alone in the Houkai Universe was unbearably dull.
"I've always seen you as my own daughter," she said softly. "To me, you're more important than the entire world."
The Will of Ruler gently caressed Sirin's long, wavy violet hair.
Having played Honkai Impact 3rd for so long, she naturally knew that acting like a mother would be the best way to lower Sirin's emotional defenses and win over the poor girl's heart.
Besides, after raising K-423 for seven years in the game, she really did treat that "paramecium" as her daughter.
It was just that… her feelings had become somewhat complicated later on.
Can't be helped—the Queen and the Flamescion were simply too amazing.
"God…"
Sirin was deeply moved.
She had never imagined she could mean so much to God herself.
A daughter?
Aside from Cecilia, this god was the only one who had ever truly cared for her.
Throughout her vengeance against humanity, she had received the god's guidance and power time and again—and in the end, the god had even taken a sword for her.
Truly… just like a real mother.
Those despicable humans!
"God, what should I do next?"
Sirin asked eagerly.
"I plan to take you away—to revive you as an existence like me. Will you come with me?"
"What about the humans of this world? Won't they be destroyed?"
"We have all the time in the world. Once I've helped you revive, you'll gain even greater power."
"I'll follow you, God."
Sirin nodded firmly.
"From now on, call me Mom."
The Will of Ruler's tone was gentle and warm.
"…Mo…m."
Sirin's voice was faint, but the Will of Ruler heard it clearly.
"Good girl."
The Will of Ruler softly stroked her violet hair and kissed her cheek.
"Now, wait patiently. I'll come back soon to bring you home."
One adorable daughter, Sirin—secured.
Next, she just needed to bring her home.
Exiting Sirin's consciousness space—
"Fu Hua has arrived?"
K-423 opened her eyes and turned toward the sea.
From this island's center, within a five-hundred-mile radius, her true body could perceive everything that happened.
It was like having full-map vision in a game.
Fu Hua had jumped from a Schicksal transport aircraft and landed in the ocean five kilometers away.
She was now swimming toward the island.
"What a silly girl."
K-423 knew that Fu Hua didn't want to alert her target and was trying to sneak onto the island quietly.
But that wouldn't work on her.
Even before Fu Hua had boarded the transport, her true body had already been watching.
She summoned her mount—a white Seraph-class Honkai Beast shaped like a Corpus Osprey drone.
Honkai Impact 3rd players usually called it a "mosquito."
Her version was several times larger, modified so it could carry a person through the air.
Honkai Beasts were essentially high-density crystallizations of Honkai energy—easily reshaped, like sculpting with clay.
In the ocean, Fu Hua spotted the island ahead and began swimming faster.
I've been discovered?!
Seeing her target moving toward her on the tactical display, Fu Hua's heart tightened. Holding her breath, she dove deep beneath the surface.
K-423, riding her white Seraph-class Honkai Beast, soared over the sea with a whole swarm following behind.
Although this body of hers couldn't see Fu Hua underwater, her true form's perception could.
Beneath the waves, Fu Hua watched as K-423 and her group of Honkai Beasts passed overhead.
Only after they were gone did she surface again.
"Gone?"
Being able to control so many Honkai Beasts—she was most likely a Herrscher.
Then why hadn't Otto made a move against her?
Fu Hua frowned in confusion.
During the Second Honkai Eruption, Otto hadn't hesitated at all when firing a Honkai Fission Missile at the Herrscher of the Void, Sirin.
Even when Cecilia and Siegfried were still fighting the Herrscher of the Void, Sirin—
Otto hadn't hesitated for a moment to abandon them.
Now, with this uncontrollable experimental subject—who seemed to be a resurrected Herrscher of the Void—isolated on a deserted island, it was the perfect opportunity to eliminate her.
But what exactly was he planning?
Riding atop her Seraph-class Honkai Beast, K-423 headed toward the most stable point between the two universal channels—Nagazora City.
At that very moment, in Nagazora City—
The concentration of Honkai energy was rising rapidly.
By accumulating countless small-scale Honkai Eruptions, the Will of Ruler had gathered an enormous amount of Honkai energy from her own Houkai Universe, stabilizing the interdimensional channel between the two worlds.
All that remained was for K-423 to arrive.
Once she did, the channel could be opened—and the Will of Ruler could extend her hand through it, pulling K-423 into the Houkai Universe.
Her true form was unimaginably vast—essentially the will of the Houkai Universe itself, its very embodiment.
Even the Will of Ruler herself wasn't entirely sure what would happen if she attempted this.
The previous small-scale Honkai Eruptions had merely been like dripping water onto an anthill.
This time, however, she was reaching in—to take one of the ants away.
One thing was certain: when she made her move, a massive Honkai Eruption would engulf Nagazora City.
Unstable Honkai energy gathered above Nagazora, forming a colossal violet vortex—something that quickly drew the attention of humanity's observation systems.
Such an enormous quantity of Honkai energy should have long triggered a full-scale Honkai Eruption.
Yet, it remained eerily stable—concentrated over Nagazora, as if under someone's control.
Who could possibly control such vast Honkai energy?
For the three leaders of Anti-Entropy, there was only one answer: the "god" Sirin had spoken of—the Will of Honkai.
K-423's movements also drew Anti-Entropy's attention.
They were aware that Otto of Schicksal had conducted resurrection experiments using Kiana Kaslana's genes and Sirin's remains to create experimental subjects.
Furthermore, during their collaboration with Siegfried to rescue his daughter, Otto had entrusted Anti-Entropy with one such subject.
Within Nagazora City—
Gunfire and explosions echoed through the streets.
Human fighter jets roared overhead, targeting the flying Honkai Beasts.
Anti-Entropy's Titan mechs fought fiercely to clear the city of both Honkai Beasts and zombies—humans who had died and been corrupted by Honkai energy.
At the Far East Branch, St. Freya High School—
Theresa dispatched the Hyperion to Nagazora to assist Anti-Entropy in combating the Honkai outbreak.
Schicksal Headquarters and its other branches, following Otto's orders, likewise deployed Valkyrie squads to reinforce the effort in Nagazora.
In just a few short days, the number of Honkai Eruptions worldwide had surpassed those of the past several decades combined, and the casualties had already reached into the hundreds of millions.
Nagazora City had become the epicenter of this catastrophe, overflowing with relentless waves of Honkai energy.
Most alarming of all—this time, there was no Honkai Source, no Herrscher behind the event.
No one knew how to stop it.
Otto, however, understood—the new Will of Honkai, possessing K-423, had begun her assault on human civilization.
And she was not holding back.
But knowing was one thing—
There was nothing he could do about it.
This Will of Honkai was the abnormal Honkai energy itself.
To destroy her would require purging every trace of that energy—or perhaps, his old friend could slay her within the realm of consciousness.
But was that even possible?
The new Will of Honkai continued to pour unstable Honkai energy into this world, endlessly.
How much of it, Otto couldn't even begin to estimate.
Killing her in the consciousness realm was merely a theoretical possibility.
In practice, Otto knew full well that his old friend's power wasn't enough to defeat this new Will of Honkai.
If Fu Hua could truly slay the Will of Honkai in the realm of consciousness, humanity would have already triumphed over Honkai during the Previous Era.
And Otto himself would be long irrelevant.
Back at Schicksal Headquarters—
Otto silently observed K-423's actions.
What surprised him was how… human the "god of Honkai" appeared while possessing K-423.
This new Will of Honkai had emotions—and could communicate.
Otto began to wonder if he could negotiate with her.
He didn't want to make an enemy of such an existence; one Will of Honkai was already troublesome enough.
Now there was another—
And this one was far more hostile.
The original Will of Honkai sought to test humanity.
But this new one seemed to exist solely to annihilate it.
Honkai Eruptions erupted ceaselessly across the globe—24 hours a day, without pause—targeting only the most densely populated cities.