Chapter 10: The scammed Herrscher of Thunder

"Continue to observe," the voice, from the other side of the walkie-talkie said promptly, with the silver-haired girl nodding in response.

"Orders received. Bronya will continue to observe in secret." The silver-haired girl spoke in a third-person kind of speech before using the binoculars again.

Watching as everything unfolded before her.

—

On the rooftop, Kiana pointed her bat at Raiden Mei, who hovered in the sky, casting a disdainful gaze down at her.

"Mei-senpai! Wake up!"

Kiana shouted, hoping for her voice to reach Mei and bring her back to, as she braced herself, covering her face from the raging winds blowing around.

With a tight grip on her bat, Kiana made full use the structures around her, using a tank on the rooftop as a stepping stool.

With remarkable agility and flexibility, she lunged at Mei, swinging her bat with all her might.

However—

"Foolish Human, your words can no longer reach her."

The Herrscher of Thunder declared, her voice dripping with contempt. A bolt of lightning descended, striking Kiana's bat and forcefully pushing her back.

"Kuack!"

Kiana's back hit the wall, close to the door of the rooftop, as pain course through her entire body.

But with her physique being stronger than that of normal people, she still stood up, with minimal injuries on her body.

... Xuan who had been watching secretly, initially came after sensing the wave of Honkai Energy gather at an extremely pace, he originally came here to see what was going down....

And...

Yeah, the situation wasn't looking good.

It's apparent that the Herrscher of Thunder had no intentions of showing mercy to Kiana.

Outstretching his hands to the sides, a ripple appeared from thin air as he took a mask from the ripples.

[Fatui Mask]

'As expected, I knew you always had potential!' Xuan thought jokingly as he put on the mask.

Observing the ongoing battle, he saw the Herrscher of Thunder unleashing a relentless barrage of attacks on Kiana, who narrowly dodged each one.

 At that moment, the Herrscher of Sentience arrived, having already enjoyed her own amusement along the way.

However, it seemed that even her previous diversions were insufficient to satisfy her appetite for entertainment. But then, those mindless beasts weren't even enough as a playmate for her.

She entered inside Xuan's consciousness.

It was a very simple plan.

Using Xuan's body, both would alternate control of Xuan's body to confront the Herrscher of Thunder—something both agreed on.

Kiana, on the other hand, felt her body going numb after being struck by another lightning bolt.

While she could withstand a few of them without serious harm, she had taken too many this time.

It seemed like the Herrscher herself had deliberately reduced the output.

"Hah, hah. This might be bad," Kiana muttered with a sad smile, regret flashing across her face.

She had no idea about Xuan's situation, having left him in class when all this started.

Perhaps, if she had worked with him, they might have stood a chance?

'No! He's...' an ordinary human being. What could he do?

"Is that your limit? How boring," the Herrscher of Thunder remarked, closing her eyes in disappointment.

Raising her hand upwards, lightning danced around the space above her.

Opening her eyes, she focused on Kiana on the floor, whose body had gone numb from enduring the onslaught of lightning.

The Herrscher of Thunder seeing the look on Kiana's face, closed her eyes once more as she slowly brought her hands down.

RUMBLE!

The purple lightning danced, arcing through the air as it slowly closed in on the white-haired girl. Despite her efforts to brace herself, her numb body refused to move.

'Move, move, my body... I can't—'

Just as she closed her eyes, resigned to her fate, she heard a loud thud.

THUD!

It was Xuan, who had literally slapped the purple lightning away, arriving just in time to save her.

'What went wrong...' Xuan wondered. Recalling fragments from the original, he realized this wasn't how it was supposed to happen. 'Is it because of me?'

Such an outcome was inevitable, but he hadn't anticipated it would happen in this manner.

In that attack, even if it didn't prove fatal for Kiana, it would undoubtedly inflict long-lasting damage on her.

"Who?" The Herrscher of Thunder, witnessing her lightning being repelled, widened her eyes in surprise. Squinting at the figure standing in front of Kiana.

"Hmph, since you asked, I shall gladly introduce myself. It is I, the Prinzessin der Verurteilung of the outer realm Immernachtreich—"

Xuan began, but then abruptly paused, sighing inwardly.

He mentally connected with a certain Herrscher who was laughing hysterically, her voice reverberating through his consciousness space.

"Figures," Xuan deadpanned, though he coughed lightly before refocusing his attention on the levitating Herrscher of Thunder.

The Herrscher of Thunder frowned upon seeing him, her brows furrowing. Ignoring his odd introduction, she sensed that this person was not as simple as he appeared.

"Oh dear, Herrscher of Thunder, do I have the honor of having a dance with you?" Xuan smiled, extending his hand towards the sky.

However, the frown on the Herrscher's face deepened. "Human. Is this your attempt at provoking me?"

"Rather than fight, I prefer to use the word dance. Fighting in itself is another form of dancing," Xuan calmly responded, sidestepping an incoming purple lightning strike.

Though he knew that the levitating Herrscher was Mei, however, both he and his supposed sister were itching for some action.

Its only a given they are both satisfied.

If they end all this very quickly, both he and Senti wouldn't be satisfied.

"Ha! You are capable, human; I shall grant your request for a dance," the levitating Mei—or rather, Herrscher of Thunder—declared.

Descending slowly, she walked towards Xuan as he also reciprocated.

Meanwhile, Kiana, just regaining her senses on the floor, found everything happening too quickly. By the time she could express her gratitude, the situation had escalated.

But now, slowly regaining control from the paralysis induced on her, she pleaded hoarsely, "Stop... Please... Don't—!"

Kiana was helpless, and she hated that, she didn't like this feeling.

Very.

Xuan didn't say anything, nor did her respond to Kiana.

He simply walked towards the Herrscher of Thunder as she did the same

Currently, it was only about the two of them, now, both are lost in their own world, looking at the Mei with cold eyes, the corners of Kiana's eyes were full of tears.

"Human, you're good. But, can you keep up with me?"

The Herrscher of Thunder questioned, dashing towards him with arcs of lightning dancing around her body.

 "Oh! Thank you for the compliment, but, fun fact, I had the title of the King of Dance in Shenzhou back in those days."

Xuan said as he dodged an incoming blow. He then attempted to grab the hand that was about to strike him, but the Herrscher was quick; in a flash of lightning, she teleported away.

"Oh? You're quick to flee."

"Hmph! Say what you will, human."

—Bronya, who was keeping an eye on the situation, was shocked beyond belief.

The movements of the Herrscher and that person became blurry as they dashed towards each other.

The Herrscher brought her hand downwards in a chopping motion, but Xuan, now controlled by Senti, blocked her attack by crossing his arms in an X motion.

Xuan regained control and pushed the Herrscher back, then grabbed her left hand before flinging her away.

He twirled to her back, aiming to deliver a chop to knock her out.

But before he could do so, Senti controlled his body to jump away. And in that same moment, from the spot Xuan jumped away from, a purple thunderbolt descended.

"How vicious, thanks Sen."

'No problem, leave it to me.'

The Herrscher of Thunder, realizing what was about to happen, gritted her teeth.

"A mere human..." she muttered.

A mere human could fight on par and almost knock her out. "How humiliating!" she screamed as several purple lightning bolts arced in the air.

"Play time is over!"

With clear bloodlust in her eyes, she dashed at him again, this time enveloping her entire body in lightning, making even Xuan hesitate before countering.

However, Xuan simply stood there, his lips curled up as he muttered, "Humph! How futile." His relaxed expression unnerved her so much that she increased her speed.

But then...

The next and maybe last words she'd hear from his mouth were.

"Star Platinum: Za Waruldo!"

From Xuan's body, several mixes of iridescent colors flowed out, extending throughout the entire world, before everything...

Everything... came to a standstill.

Time had effectively stopped.

"Senti, now is the time," Xuan declared, making a weird pose with a macho kind of face as he pointed towards the Herrscher of Thunder, who was just a few meters away from him.

On cue, the Herrscher of Sentience appeared from behind him before dashing to the Herrscher of Thunder in front of Xuan.

"Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora!"

"Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora!"

Though it seemed as though Senti was punching Mei, in reality, her punches weren't affecting Mei's physical body.

The target of her punches was the Herrscher of Thunder's consciousness.

Oh, please! When it comes to mind battles, as of now, no Herrscher can beat her in this area. She's the damn Herrscher of said laws.

"ORA!"

After Senti landed her final blow, she adjusted Mei's body in a way that would look like she had been hit for more dramatic effect.

Seeing this, Xuan nodded. The Herrscher of Sentience really thinks like him.

And now...

"Time begins to flow again."

⸻

[Editor's Note]:

Ah yes, I think like before, I'm starting to feel the after effects of translating an entire Chinese fic from the start, as I wouldn't be satisfied just by changing names and using AI to do it.

It's more satisfactory if I do everything from scratch, then, I would also be able to write some Ideas that can be implemented together.