Chapter Text
What are vampires?
Fu Hua has long forgotten what the Previous Era discovered about them. Old terms have fallen into obscurity. The Current Era’s reality is different from the one Hua was born into. The challenges it faces are different, even if the test of God is the same.
Yet… although the girl herself has forgotten the origin of the disaster… memories still exist somewhere in the depths of her soul, pristine even fifty thousand years later.
“Hua, this is Kevin. Kevin, say hello!”
Whether it’s the stoic young man or the new vampire, neither of them speaks up.
“Aya… What's wrong with you two? Come on, you can’t be so cold to each other if we’re going to work together. We have the Herrscher of Fire to take down!”
Hua squirms. Kevin looks uncertain. The young woman who has an arm hooked with both of their elbows doesn’t care at all.
“We have met before,” Kevin says at last.
“What? You should have told me earlier there was no need for introductions!” She overplays her exasperation, but it’s candid, there is neither bite nor venom there.
Still… that’s too much energy. Hua is utterly exhausted.
“Elysia…” The young man shakes his head. “I must be making her uncomfortable. I was the one who brought her back to Mei.”
“Oh.” Elysia sighs, letting go of Kevin to turn fully towards Hua. “Mei is such a naughty girl, withdrawing food from a cutie like you… but I hope you’ll be able to forgive her.”
Hua isn’t mad at the scientist. She isn’t. They all work towards the greater good, right? She’s not mad… that woman just makes her feel like garbage. “I know she was only testing whether I would turn into a monster,” she manages.
Hua can already tell the meal Elysia provided her won’t last long. She’s not a Herrscher. Only Herrschers have cores from which they can freely draw Honkai Energy. Although she’s relatively stable, decaying at the slowest rate on record, she’s burning through a limited supply just to maintain the fragile balance of her existence, just to stay alive.
Hua is just… lucky.
…but maybe luck can bait out the Herrscher of Fire long enough for her to be dealt with. That would be ideal, considering Himeko has been destroying Australia for the past week, cloaked in flames so ravenous that no MOTH squad has been able to deal with her.
“A monster?”
Hua snaps to attention, meeting Elysia’s blue eyes.
“Monster is such a harsh word,” the bubbly young woman pouts. “They were once people.”
But they did turn into monsters… There’s no other way to see the truth.
This woman is strange, Hua thinks. That may be the only thing she’s comfortable agreeing with Kevin about. Elysia’s mask of hope and joy seems incongruous in the context of the End Times.
“If they had formed a core and stabilized, we would have thousands of rampaging Herrschers to deal with,” Kevin placidly points out. “Single digits are more manageable for MOTH.”
“But look at Hua! Her body has almost fully stabilized without her being a Herrscher, she is the cusp of something new!” Elysia grins, her canines ever so slightly pointed. “Mei was also able to extract powers from the bodies of vampires to give to humans… Through the amazing progress she’s made with her research, these abilities have become yours, Kevin. You can’t deny that destruction is far from the only possibility embracing the Honkai entails.”
“Only because Hua and I have high Honkai Adaptability.” That’s a new term to Hua, she’s only been a low-ranking soldier until now, not privy to details on how the plague works. Can people be adapted to the Honkai? “For my surgery to be a success… you forget that everyone before me had to be sacrificed.”
Elysia’s enthusiasm finally dims… she sighs, twisting a lock of pink hair around her finger. “I haven’t forgotten…” She glances towards Hua. “I just want to have hope that there could be peace at the other end of this cruel war. Humanity is nothing without hope.”
Kevin doesn’t reply. He turns away, leaving the room without another world. Hua finds herself alone with Elysia.
“I should find him a therapist,” the young woman groans. “How can he become a hero if he’s trapped in such dark thoughts..?”
Hua says nothing either. Her own dark thoughts claw at her lungs, threatening to drag her into the abyss by the throat.
“Mama…”
Cecilia removes her fangs from Kiana’s neck, humming. Her little girl is crying, but it won’t last… concentrated Honkai energy spreads cracks through the colorful containers around them, doubtlessly destroying whatever was contained inside.
“Shh… cry safe in my arms… Ich liebe dich…”
(Do these words still mean anything? Her baby is hurting because of her…)
The walking corpse blinks, surprised by her own thoughts. She pulls away and stares at the rivulets of blood on her daughter’s neck, Kiana’s golden eyes overshadowed by her twisted expression…
This is unmistakably her fault. She’s robbing her little Sirin of hard-earned humanity, robbing her little Kiana of peace…
Humanity is foolish, God gently reminds her. They doom themselves without even knowing it; they are weak, fragile, without My blessing. Pitiful soul… you are doing the right thing.
But… Kiana is crying. She’s hurt, she’s bleeding. Cecilia can’t stand it, it rips her heart out, and the tears don’t stop no matter how closely she cradles her baby.
Her embrace… could it be no comfort at all…?
Kiana’s body screams and pushes her away, sending her flying through several metal containers before the stunned ex-Valkyrie can recover. New clothes materialize and her feet leave the ground; as the Current Era’s Herrscher of the Void returns to her full power, she rises.
Kiana ascends.
Her screams quiet down to maddened giggles. Cecilia struggles to her feet, hurting… her limbs are in pain from the shock, and so is her heart…
This isn’t what she thought would happen… the sweet trap of God’s words digs into her mind, taut like ropes. This is right. No, this is wrong. This is…
The chuckles abruptly stop.
Sirin’s former body doesn’t have the Core. Without life support, it will eventually decay as it runs out of energy, like any other vampire. Cecilia is much, much weaker than the newborn Queen.
A golden eye focuses on her through clenched fingers.
(Far to the east, in Nagazora, Mei’s head snaps towards the setting sun.)
…is this the end?
A shiver courses through Cecilia’s borrowed body. The Herrscher bares her fangs, oh so terribly hungry, and lunges.
Cecilia was promised rest, but wouldn’t it be too cruel for her little girl to be the one to kill her?
No! She can’t let that happen!
Sirin’s body leaps out of the way, missed just barely by the attack. She crashes into the remains of the containers, weakened by the crushing weight of the ongoing Eruption. There’s so much Honkai Energy in the air, but it’s under Kiana’s control, she can’t seem to absorb it to strengthen herself like she could before.
Cecilia ascends into the sky, clipped by subspace lances when she doesn’t get out of the way fast enough; she hisses from pain. She’s had enough of pain. Enough. Enough, enough, enough… but not like this—
..!
A shadow slides over them, cast by a rapidly falling airship that’s hurling down to the skyport; before she can react, a portal opens in front of Sirin’s body, dropping Cecilia up in the headlights.
No, not like this! Not where my daughter can see..!
Cecilia uselessly shields her face with her arms.
Oh, you poor, gentle, tortured soul.
Time cracks… slows down. The ship is still moving, but in slow motion… so slow that it almost looks like it isn’t moving at all, and the world is dulled and gray.
(The Queen isn’t targeting her out of personal hatred. She’s hungry, that’s all.)
Kiana is unhindered by the fracture, but so is Cecilia. Seizing the opportunity, the revived corpse breaks the windshield, leaping inside and dashing past the ship’s occupants.
As another vampire, Tesla is also unaffected by the slowdown of the world. Of course, she recognizes this young face that runs right past her. “Sirin?!”
She gets no answer from the fleeing corpse. Instead she is faced by a different familiar face, one shadowed by a newborn Gesegnet’s destructive bloodlust. Kiana cares not for who her prey is, only that it is a warm body.
That’s not good. Sin is sobbing, writhing from being in such close quarters with the source of the Eruption. Even Tesla is finding it difficult to breathe…
But they aren’t alone.
Sakura drops Sin in Tesla’s arms, materializing her sword out of thin air to force Kiana back. “Flee. Find Kallen. I will hold her back and join you later.”
The ancient Gesegnet’s ear flicks, her expression dead serious. What is she thinking? She must find Kiana’s face familiar. It’s cruel to let her fight another member of her lover’s family, but… Tesla’s limbs weigh so much, exceedingly heavy… She can’t fight. There is Sin to bring to safety… What kind of wretched situation is this…?
Sakura’s mist dissolves a subspace lance headed for her head while her sword cuts another in two. If she stays here any longer she’s going to get herself killed!
The scientist forces her legs to move forward and leaps through the broken windshield, clutching the teenage girl against her chest.
The Gesegnet frowns, unhappy with such substantial resistance. As abruptly as it had stopped, time resumes.
The ship is seconds from crashing; Tesla’s momentum is just enough to let her leap off its roof as it falls past them, and she rips off metal plating, throwing it under her feet.
She can’t fly, but she’s still a vampire. This kind of stupid trick, she can survive— so long as Kiana isn’t directly trying to skewer her, kept busy by Sakura. If her calculations are correct…
Boom!
In a spectacular crash, the ship explodes, shaking the whole floating island with a massive explosion.
“Overseer, 45% of the skyport has been taken out by the crash of an unidentified airship!”
“Noted. How are the energy shields looking?” Otto is sifting through data in a brand new body, unbothered by Himeko’s incandescent glaring.
Fu Hua took Himeko here, the control center, before running back outside to find the kidnapped Kiana system. This… clone of their boss didn’t even try to stop her, a light smirk floating on his lips.
Amber speaks up, scrolling through her tablet. “External shields are down. All non-essential personnel remaining on site are being evacuated as we speak, but the damage to the airport may significantly delay progress. Casualties unknown. Ambient energy levels are rising sharply, but the control center will be safe for now. ”
That’s the main reason no one in the building is turning into a zombie, but if those go down… Himeko grits her teeth.
She hates how helpless she feels.
“Pursue the evacuation and triangulate the center of the eruption. Once we locate Sirin and K-423 we can deploy countermeasures."
“What kind of countermeasures are you implying?”
Otto pauses, turning towards Himeko.
“Whichever measures are necessary to keep the Gesegnet contained and minimize casualties.” He speaks evenly, as if he wasn’t the cause of the incident in the first place. “Captain Murata Himeko, you were… thirteen, during the Second Eruption?”
She neither confirms nor denies. He pays her salary, pays for the roof over her girls’ heads. She shouldn’t provoke him in the middle of an emergency.
“Overseer! We have a visual! K-423 appears to have been turned by Sirin!”
Himeko’s blood freezes in her veins as the image of her student is splashed onto a screen, deformed by bloodlust. Her clothes are different, and the fur collar at her neck is stained with red….
“Interesting. Is she the current centerpoint?”
The image freezes on her mid-fingersnap.
“Difficult to confirm, Overseer, but her readings are actively corrupting nearby cameras.” A new view appears on the screen, from further away. “Unable to locate Sirin, but K-423 appears to be fighting an unidentified individual. Her battle strategy matches records of the Second Eruption. The probability that there was a total power transfer from Sirin to K-423 is—”
“Deploy backup. Unmanned. Whether the primary threat is Sirin or K-423, we need it under control.”
Himeko is seething. “I can’t believe this…”
“Do you have a comment to share, Captain Himeko?” Otto speaks boldly, provocative in his nonchalance. “Surely you understand that we cannot afford a repeat of the Second Eruption’s disaster.”
Oh, fuck this man. Himeko slams her fist on the wall, livid. “Then why did you do this to her?! She wasn’t a threat! She is human!”
“You saw the revived Sirin with your own eyes. Somehow, even without her Core, she was regaining her strength. It was only a matter of time before she escaped containment and rejoined with your student. Would you have preferred for that to happen in St Freya? Or is here, away from civilization, better for the survival of Humanity?”
For miles around, there is sky, and there is ocean. She hates that she sees the logic in his actions. A monster isn’t supposed to make sense.
…
Himeko takes a deep, shuddering breath, taking that last thought and stomping it to ashes under her boot. No, monsters make sense all the time. She needs to keep her cool. This isn’t about him; this is about saving the world.
“So that girl really was the original Sirin? Not another clone?”
An assistant interrupts them urgently. “Overseer! We’ve just lost track of your Konfident! Should we deploy a drone to find her?” Otto turns around to bark orders in response.
He doesn’t ignore Himeko for long, returning to the conversation as if the interruption was nothing to worry about. Perhaps he senses her motherly wrath.
“Yes, that was the original corpse, recovered and restored after the Second Eruption. Although K-423’s looks match her other gene donor more closely, biologically she would be something akin to Sirin’s daughter.”
That’s messed up.
“The corpse showed unexpected signs of life after being dormant for the past sixteen or so years. Electrotherapy was administered to strengthen her muscles and encourage her biological processes, but she did not wake… until she sensed K-423 in the vicinity and broke containment. Quite the unexpected turn of events, wouldn’t you say?”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Well, hindsight is 20/20.” He gestures vaguely at the chaos outside— smoke pouring out of the skyport, debris flying through the air and raining down on the rest of the island. “Regardless, the situation is evolving too rapidly, we have no time to waste on squabbles. I have something for you.”
Another Otto materialized in her peripheral vision. Reflexively, Himeko punched him in the face, sending him flying… as well as a vial of something, which the first version of the man is quick to grab out of the air before it can get smashed by gravity.
The first Otto is unphased as he hands it to her. “This is a vial of HSN-b46, an experimental vampirism neutralizer. It is in rather short supply, do not waste it.”
“A neutralizer..?”
“It should counteract the effects of the eruption should they become too severe for you when you inevitably step outside.”
He may not have seen Fu Hua leave her behind, but of course, he would already know her weakness.
Of course, he thinks, this isn’t your only choice. Since you are adamant that K-423 is human… if it’s not too late, it might just save her fragile everyday life.
Otto smirks, watching Himeko march downstairs. The decision is yours.
“Abnormal situation detected.” Project Bunny hovers over Bronya’s shoulders, while Seele’s weapon has materialized in her free hand, raised defensively in front of her.
A few minutes ago, they were on a normal date, walking hand-in-hand like normal sixteen year olds in St Freya’s courtyard… but now, the air feels thick and heavy, and a sense of dread has overwhelmed any sweetness.
“What’s going on..?” The Gesegnet is pale with horror as shambling students advance towards them. They’re wearing school uniforms. St Freya isn’t… St Freya isn’t supposed to be a disaster zone. “Did I… do this..?”
Do you not find it romantic?
“...the Bronya thinks Seele should head inside and regroup with Principal Theresa.”
Seele recognizes some of them. There’s a girl with a familiar ribbon in her hair and an unfamiliar, hungry expression on her face. “Are you going to kill them?”
“Nyet. Zombies are already dead.”
“I-I don’t think they’re dead yet. How could St Freya students die so easily?”
Mist swirls without wind, seafoam in Seele’s wake. “...they have survived once before,” Bronya notes, sounding almost saddened. “That is all.”
Mhm-mhm! Your girlfriend is so smart!
The voice sounds too lively! Seele winces, knuckles coming to press against her forehead as she clutches her scythe. A pounding headache is growing behind her eyes.
“Is Seele feeling alright?” Bronya’s hand squeezes hers, anchoring her to the present.
Why not share My blessing with her?
God whispers so sweetly in her ear.
You love her.
The Herrscher of Death’s fangs hang out of her mouth, fully extended.
Humanity… it loves to grow, but it hates to change.
Spare your lover from these foolish sins, sweet butterfly.
Hua can sense the eruption before she can see it. It makes her blood boil, her breath short, her fangs come out all on their own. She gasps, and a massive explosion sends her tumbling on the ground.
She takes a deep, shuddering breath to center herself. Unfortunately, she has no time for meditation. She’s going to have to center herself as she makes her way to Kiana and company. Can’t afford to leave her alone with Sirin… even if part of her is Sirin…
This is going from bad to worse. Not only was it already a theater of nightmares, the whole island is getting irradiated, just like the Nagazora in her girlfriends’ pilfered memories.
Kiana wouldn’t turn into a zombie or a monster, would she? She was fine back in Nagazora.
“I promised to keep her safe…”
Hua isn’t a liar. She struggles to her feet and keeps moving forward. The explosion most likely had something to do with Sirin, and since Sirin took Kiana, that’s where she needs to go… although she’s already out of breath, she runs into the disaster zone.
“Kiana…!” Every step, her thoughts narrow, until she’s down to just the one. She has to be close to Sirin, the pressure is high, and the air is so thick, almost too thick to breathe. “Kiana…”
…her mind is swimming… her vision, blurry… Hua is coming down with a migraine. Will she even be able to fight… is this because of injuries accumulated over the years, or is there another reason?
Oh, Hua…
..?
The girl looks around, confused. Someone spoke her name, but… there’s no one that she can see… No, she doesn’t have the time for this!
Little bird, rest your head. You shall receive My help.
Help..?
Everything around her is either destroyed, on fire, or both. Her burdened mind is sluggish and slow… she can’t figure out where the voice is coming from, even though she should know Her.
Oh, you poor girl, you were always so adorable…
I couldn’t possibly resist granting your wish.
The air was heavy a second ago. Hua floats in a vacuum, all of a sudden. Her hair bleaches, her eyes turn red, but the weightlessness doesn’t stop…
God has given her wings.
Hua flies above the wreck of the airport in a trance, frantically searching for her girlfriend. Her limbs burn.
Of course, she is found first. After all, she is wreathed in golden flames, body violently contorting into a new shape with each beat of her wings. Kiana’s portal tears through reality in front of her, inviting her in.
On the other side, the girl offers her a hand, expression completely neutral. Blood drips from her neck, but she doesn’t care. The fingers that cradle hers are red claws.
Hua leans into her, kissing the rivulet of red, and the gesture is gentle; her tongue comes to clean the torn skin, reverent.
She burns alive. It hurts. It echoes an old memory, but this is worse somehow, worming its ways inside of her, stretching her out into space, itching like the gaze of someone she knows. Scales and feathers bloom on her skin, easing her into a new form.
At last, the Queen of the Void takes her seat on her dragon. The beast that was Hua roars, tail lashing behind her. She promised to keep her safe. She promised.
You, who fights fire with fire ♪ Have you not already accepted my embrace?
God’s throne is metaphorical.
She exists in Her own dream, far above the Earth, removed from the daily tribulations of the lifeforms She so cherishes. She watches in silence, twirling an equally metaphorical lock of hair around Her manicured finger.
She loves Humanity most in the whole world.
Ah… Perhaps it would be better to explain Herself clearly, She thinks to Herself, ruthlessly alone. Where to begin? Perhaps… with a lexicon?
Honkai… Herrscher… such words have been lost to the Current Era, but to lack a word for something does not guarantee the failure of its existence. Honkai Energy can be drained from blood; it permeates the air, infiltrates the soil, and blesses fire with new colors.
Honkai energy permeates the living to the extent that it has been forgotten, undetectable in its omnipresent radiation even as it flows through their veins.
That is… until its concentration spikes and begins to kill again. The spread-out, thin layer the Current Era basks in cannot completely prevent Honkai Eruptions from occurring. As Civilisation advances, they become more and more common, and one day spell doom. Such has been the fate of civilisations too weak to bear Her embrace.
Yet, thanks to the MOTHs in the previous iteration, individuals who are able to survive Honkai corruption are no longer the one in a billion exceptions!
Oh… they are still rare, but not as bad as in the Previous Era. Poor Hua was the first…
Sure, they needed a little help from Her, but Humanity has improved so much. She cannot help being so, so proud of her foolish ants.
Project Stigma has been progressing smoothly, and more recent endeavors such as Otto Apocalypse’s Perfect Body project also further Her goals. The integration of vampirism into the human race will lead to the pinnacle of their civilization at last— Her embrace will prevail over death and entropy, and Humanity will meld with Her blessing, nevermore to fall.
…or so She has planned, in spite of Kevin's betrayal some thousand and a half years ago.
God sighs. Getting Kevin a therapist was a bad call after all. Who would have thought Su would eventually convince him to remove Her from the world?
She closes Her metaphorical eyes, walling Her heart. She left ample time to rectify their course… The organization founded by the remnants of the Previous Era was just never on Her side. Even if Project Stigma improves Humanity’s Honkai Adaptability in the long term, its ultimate goal is still to get rid of Her influence. The Serpent will do everything in its power to stop Her from rewinding the world, even if it remains imperfect.
That is unacceptable; so with pain in Her metaphorical heart She ordered their annihilation ahead of the End.
And today…
Today is Judgment Day.