"What's wrong? Is something off?" Little Senti watched the frown creasing Fu Hua's face, her own grin growing more and more brazen. "Hmm, Hua~"
"Who are you?" Fu Hua furrowed her brow, but made no move to attack. Anyone Irene brought in was definitely not an enemy — she just couldn't quite make sense of it.
Why did this person's aura, facial features, even her figure all look so uncannily similar?
"I am you~" Little Senti looked at Fu Hua, who had clearly sensed something, and let her grin run wild. Alright, fine — she was dealing with an ancient fossil here. She couldn't keep up the act any longer.
On the way over, she had tried interacting with the others in completely different ways — doing childish things, making friends, that sort of thing.
She was not an ancient fossil. But she had been shut up inside the academy for days and hadn't made a single friend. If Fu Hua hadn't been, well... how to put it — kind of cool-looking — she'd have been the type who sits invisibly in the back of class, pushes up her glasses, and gets good grades while no one notices her.
Every class has one of those, probably?
But Fu Hua wasn't really that type. Her looks, her abilities, and the sheer overwhelming presence of a Valkyrie always drew people's attention sooner or later.
That didn't mean Fu Hua actually had friends, though. Because of her role as a half-spy at the time, and everything she had lived through, Fu Hua instinctively refused to let anyone become a lasting, meaningful presence in her life.
She knew that people at St. Freya worshipped her — some even called her "Lady" — and there was apparently even a fan club. She never cared about any of it. Or rather, she didn't dare to.
Everything she had lost, everything she had been through, had made her wall herself off — until Irene appeared. Irene's transformation had touched something buried deep inside Fu Hua, and for the first time, that face made Fu Hua genuinely want to connect with someone.
Otherwise, given the state Fu Hua was in back then, would she really have felt the urge to take on another student? Even then, there had still been that undercurrent of avoidance running through her.
When she discovered Irene's extraordinary talent, she should have poured herself into teaching her — but she hadn't. Learning that Irene had the face of a catgirl, she still hadn't truly gotten close.
Even after that, after the Chiyou incident, she had known perfectly well that the souls of two of her friends were living inside Irene — and still made no real effort to reach out or show she cared.
Having inherited Fu Hua's memories, Little Senti understood exactly what Fu Hua was running from: she was afraid that her amnesia, her lapses and gaps, would only cause grief to the people around her.
But when it came down to it, the truth was simpler than that — Fu Hua was afraid to form bonds with others.
So Little Senti had made a firm decision to try a different approach. She threw herself into interacting with everyone, and in the process, the person she got along with best was Bronya.
What Bronya shared with her were her comic books, and facing what Little Senti privately considered children's reading material, she had unexpectedly fallen in love with one particular story.
And so, the blue irises Little Senti had been hiding behind suddenly flooded with a vivid crimson. A Herrscher's aura erupted from her body, and she began to recite: "In the tens of thousands of years I spent protecting Shenzhou — protecting humanity — I came to realize something."
"What are you trying to say?" Fu Hua, exactly as Little Senti had imagined, reflexively delivered the line she needed.
"This." From Little Senti's body, a cascade of dark crimson feathers suddenly scattered outward, sweeping across her from head to toe and swallowing up Fu Hua's dark teal training clothes entirely.
In their place was an outfit straight out of a delinquent's wardrobe: a leather jacket adorned with chains, paired with a short skirt and over-the-knee socks.
"Through the crucible of merciless battle, I came to understand one truth — humans have their limits. Even MANTIS soldiers have their limits. And so I made up my mind to transcend them."
Black feathers gathered in Little Senti's hands and shaped themselves into a hat. She tossed it into the air, caught it on the way down, and settled it onto her head, tilting the brim low.
"Hua, I'm done being a MANTIS soldier! You can call me the magnificent Herrscher of Sentience!"
"..." Fu Hua stared at Little Senti clowning around in front of her and genuinely had no idea what to do. Was she supposed to clap right now?
Rin, lurking somewhere in the gaps between data streams, couldn't help but bury her face in her hands. The whole plan had been to catch Fu Hua off guard the moment she realized Little Senti's Herrscher identity — to see that rare expression of total bafflement. How had it ended up being Little Senti who was providing all the entertainment?
"..." Little Senti held her pose. She looked at Fu Hua's perfectly calm expression, and for some reason, a creeping embarrassment started to set in. "Come on, react, you ancient fossil."
"I don't know what reaction I'm supposed to give." Fu Hua looked at her honestly. The shock was considerable, and she genuinely didn't know what to say — but she also didn't feel like any particular reaction was necessary.
She had already figured that anyone Irene brought in wouldn't be dangerous. And if she remembered correctly, at around this time, Elysia was usually in the main hall — not to mention that Irene had arrived with a whole group of people in tow.
The first person Irene would have run into was definitely Elysia. Putting that together, Fu Hua suddenly realized something, and lifted her gaze toward the sky. If she wasn't wrong about this...
"Rin, or Elysia — are you here?"
"Ugh, how boring~" Rin dropped from somewhere above, hauling a camera, tearing open a small rift in the air and sliding through it. "I was hoping for a much bigger reaction."
"I was genuinely a little surprised." Fu Hua nodded. So yes, she had felt a real flicker of surprise the moment she grasped Little Senti's Herrscher identity — but then she'd thought it through, and there didn't seem to be any particular reason to be surprised.
It wasn't as though she'd never seen someone close to her become a Herrscher. In the end, Little Senti had simply... become her. Even if the change was pretty drastic, admittedly.
Fu Hua studied Little Senti. Did becoming a Herrscher really cause this much of a personality shift? At no point in her own existence could she remember ever being this... unrestrained.
But beyond the surprise, there wasn't much else. Fu Hua had long since lost the ability to feel much of anything about changes to herself.
She had found a new direction for her faith, and accepted the truth that she had played a role without much agency of her own — if you need me to do something, I will do it. That same disposition was carrying her through this moment, too.
The fact that she herself had become a Herrscher was startling, even a little strange, but it was reality now. So she would accept it — just as Himeko had, in her time.
Friends around her becoming Herrschers was not a new experience for Fu Hua. This time it had simply come around to herself. Surprising — but acceptable.
And since she accepted it, there was nothing to perform. Besides, she trusted that anyone Irene brought in would not harm humanity. Given that, there was even less reason to make any kind of dramatic show.
"Hmm, honestly." Little Senti scratched her head. "But I should clarify — I'm not really you. I'm more like... someone born from inside you. A kindred being who inherited your consciousness and memories."
"Also, for the record, this was all Elysia's idea. Any complaints, take them up with her."
"That much I could have guessed." Fu Hua nodded. "It looks like quite a few of you came. If you were only here to discuss countermeasures against the Herrscher of the Legion, there wouldn't be any need to bring so many people, would there?"
"No, not really." Little Senti nodded. "But Irene said everyone needed some training, so she went ahead and brought the whole group."
"Something about how this place has everything you could need, especially when it comes to training and coaches. At least, that was roughly what she said."
"Irene isn't wrong." Fu Hua nodded. "The Elysian Realm was always meant to bear that responsibility — to train those who come after."
"Well, things should be pretty relaxed on my end, at least. The rest of them will have to speak for themselves." With no dramatic reaction forthcoming, Little Senti simply dropped to the ground and sat cross-legged.
"Chatting with you probably isn't going to get me anywhere useful on how to use Herrscher Authority anyway. I'd rather just figure it out myself."
"For Fenghuang Down's abilities — or the Herrscher of Sentience's Authority, rather — I'd actually recommend going to Aponia or Su."
Back in the day, the reason Fenghuang Down had been assigned to her wasn't purely a matter of Adaptability. One part of it was that the MANTIS surgery had given her Hyperthymesia, and without some way to clear it out, things could get complicated.
Hyperthymesia was no small thing. She remembered virtually everything that happened to her — when she took a sip of water, every bite of every meal, including how it tasted — but the real problem was that every painful moment, no matter how far in the past, felt like yesterday.
For a soldier, that was far from ideal. Especially when, in the Previous Era, there had been so much pain to remember.
It would have seriously undermined her mental state. That was the real reason she had been given Fenghuang Down, which could burn away memories. As for raw Adaptability, Su or Aponia would have been far better suited.
Both of them were psychic-type MANTIS soldiers. If they really wanted to push Fenghuang Down to its limits, they could do things with it that she never could — but Su simply didn't need it.
Su had already taken her mental abilities to an entirely different level. Giving her Fenghuang Down would have been a straight upgrade, nothing fundamental gained.
As for Aponia — the abilities she already possessed were, in a certain sense, already beyond what Fenghuang Down could offer. She didn't need it either.
And so, passing it down the line, Fenghuang Down had ultimately landed with her — the one who was most suited to it both in terms of Adaptability and genuine need.
But if the question was truly about instruction — about teaching Little Senti to wield the Herrscher of Sentience's Authority — then Su and Aponia really were the most fitting candidates.
"Who said I want them to teach me?" Little Senti turned her head away. "I don't need their help. And between those two... I'd rather go to Su. At least he doesn't make me feel weird."
"Aponia is just a little..." Fu Hua tried to say something in Aponia's defense, but Little Senti cut her off before she could finish.
"That divine melody she cooked up with Dr. MEI did a real number on both of us, you know." Little Senti clicked her tongue. Every time she thought back to that, she felt like a complete idiot.
If she'd had even a shred of her wits about her at the time and hadn't let that melody get into her head, there was no way things could have spiraled that far — not in any scenario.
Looking back now, she'd had a dozen better options right in front of her. And yet she had gone with the most direct, and most stupid, one.
"Besides, Aponia's whole thing doesn't suit me." Little Senti propped her chin up on her hand. "That Discipline of hers — I'd bet she doesn't even fully understand how it works herself. Forget teaching me."
"Fair point." Fu Hua nodded. "In that case, are you going to go find Su?"
"It's not like I have anyone else to go to." Little Senti shook her head. "I may as well just—"
Before she could finish, a violent tremor rolled through the air around them. A savage, scorching aura surged outward with it, radiating in every direction.
"Hm?" Everyone turned toward the source. Little Senti searched through her memories for a moment before placing it.
"Is that Kalpas?"
"Most likely, someone in your group must have made contact with Kalpas." Fu Hua nodded. "It should be fine?"
"Yeah, probably."
— Decimation —
"Hah... hah..." Mei panted hard, her tachi barely staying in her grip. She had no choice but to hold both demonic blades upright in front of her, using them as an enormous makeshift shield.
Her eyes stayed locked, razor-sharp, on the figure ahead of her — a silhouette wreathed entirely in flames.
"Hmph! What a pathetically weak Herrscher." Kalpas, fire coiling around every inch of him, had been about to press his advantage when a portal suddenly yawned open beneath his feet. The moment he dropped in, he detonated his own flames like a thruster and blasted himself back out into the sky.
Then he sent a flying kick screaming toward Sirin, who was hovering nearby. Sirin calmly opened a spatial gate right in front of him, and opened a second connecting gate behind his back.
Kalpas's own devastating kick slammed squarely into his own shoulder. He didn't even flinch. He simply wrenched his leg free from the portal, turned, and lunged straight at the Herrscher of the Void.
Seizing the opening, Kiana moved to Mei's side and looked her over with concern. "Mei — are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Mei shook her head. "So this is what the power of a Flame-Chaser from the Previous Era looks like. One person holding off three Herrschers — and still no sign of slowing down."
At first, Mei had felt like she had plenty of room to work with. His attacks were fierce, but undisciplined — easy enough to read and dodge. And her blade edge had been landing on him nearly every time she swung.
Not that the damage she was dealing was anything substantial, but she hadn't felt any real pressure either. The man before her threw fire into everything — every punch, every kick — the raw power was staggering, but there didn't seem to be anything particularly special about it.
And then, as if possessed, Mei had muttered out loud that a Flame-Chaser from the Previous Era was nothing special.
And then — a wall of scorching heat came crashing toward her, and Mei found herself watching a man on fire launch at her with the exact same assault as before.
Only this time, no matter what Mei threw at him, she could not dodge a single blow. Those brutal fists landed on her over and over again, one after another.
That was how she ended up in this state — and to make it worse, that whole time Kiana and Sirin had been covering and supporting her.
None of it had made a dent. Mei was still getting thoroughly beaten.
"Is this what Sister Irene meant by 'passionate as fire'?"
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