Chapter 11: Born from the Desire of a Lonely Girl

Chiba Academy, on the rooftop of a teaching building.

The black purple-haired girl stood there, looking at something calmly.

Perhaps in the eyes of other insiders, this girl who has been defined as a Herrscher is a terrifying existence, but in fact, at this moment, she is actually very confused.

——She is not the original owner of this body, Raiden Mei.

Only a few hours had passed from the time she gained self-awareness to the time she suddenly began to take control of this body.

Like a certain Miko who was on her way here, she had no clear understanding of this world.

Even if she wanted to find someone to communicate with, it was impossible to do so.

After all, at the moment she was born, in that classroom full of corpses, the only people left around her were those humans who could no longer speak.

Who is she?

She doesn't know.

What should she do?

A voice in her mind told her this:

——Her name is "The Third Herrscher".

The purpose of the Herrscher's birth is to destroy the humans and their civilization that are polluting this planet.

The voice was very real and sincere, but the girl still doubted the meaning of her existence.

So, since she was born, she has done nothing.

She has always stayed here, at Chiba Academy.

Of course, the fluctuation of Honkai energy caused by her birth alone almost destroyed the city.

During her stay on the rooftop, she had been browsing the memories of the original owner of this body, a girl named "Raiden Mei".

The fighting skills acquired through daily swordplay with the "Hum Swordsman";

Once, as a proud young lady born of aristocratic origin and nurture, she always lived surrounded by flowers and compliments;

After her father, Raiden Ryoma, was imprisoned for economic malpractice, she gradually became withdrawn and taciturn because her classmates who supported her became indifferent.

"…"

The girl saw all of Raiden Mei's past happiness and pain in her memory, and all of her perceptions were so real.

However, those memories do not actually belong to her.

After all, she is not "Raiden Mei".

When she was just born...she had nothing.

What she does have is the powerful force that comes along with the "mission" that has been given.

The girl raised her hand and looked at the lightning flowing between her fingers.

——The power that controls the electromagnetic field.

Anything that she touches now will be reduced to an atomic state by the overly strong Honkai energy, so she cannot touch anything.

Once humans get close to her, they will be infected by the Honkai energy and become dead soldiers who cannot communicate, so she cannot talk to anyone.

She has nothing but a vague mission to destroy humanity.

If there is anything the girl hopes for now, perhaps it is that she hopes a human being who can communicate with her will appear.

However, after seeing many other humans showing expressions of pain and fear before death, she became a little afraid of this expectation.

Even if a human who could communicate with her appeared...I'm afraid they would become her enemy.

The way she looks now, she is probably a monster in people's eyes.

The so-called monsters will only be alienated.

Perhaps, it would be easier to live if she listened to the voice in her head and fulfilled her mission to destroy humanity...

Just as the girl was hesitating, she felt someone coming to the rooftop.

With expectation, anticipation, and fear, she turned around and looked at the person who came.

He was a male human who looked about the same age as herself. In Raiden Mei's memory, he had never existed in the past.

The girl didn't sense any hostility from him, so she had no plans to take action for the time being.

——Although she is a little confused now, it does not mean that she will not take action. Once the other party shows clear hostility, she will kill without hesitation.

The voice echoing in her mind gave her a strong urge to destroy.

"...Who are you?"

"I'm Kirataka."

As he spoke, he put the red sword in his hand back into the scabbard.

He fought his way up from the main entrance of Nagazora Academy, and repeatedly practiced and mastered swordsmanship skills by going back in time. Although it took him less than twenty minutes to reach this rooftop, he had already experienced countless battles and was completely familiar with his current body after being possessed by Yae Sakura.

However, what he was going to do was definitely not defeat her by force.

——Because he had seen the process of Bronya and her from meeting and communicating to fighting, and because of the fact that she and Kiana had fought many times in the original timeline, Kirataka had some guesses about the inner state of the Third Herrscher.

Well, just like her two predecessors, the First Herrscher Welt Joyce and the Second Herrscher Sirin, as the Third Herrscher, she was actually not dominated by the will of Honkai.

Although Sirin chose to stand on the side of destroying humanity because of her own experience, she still retains her independent consciousness in essence.

Well, actually if you think carefully, most of the Herrschers of this generation have retained their self-awareness.

Even Anna almost held out against the Herrscher's will until the end.

In short, since the other party does not show a strong desire to destroy, negotiations are possible.

At this stage, she... was probably just like Senti, both of them were born not long ago.

The difference is that Fu Hua's 50,000 years of memory completely "brainwashed" the Herrscher of Sentience, while the girl in front of him has only accepted the memory of more than ten years, and her self-awareness is still unclear.

"…What are you doing here?"

The black purple-haired girl asked calmly.

The human who appeared in front of her was not infected and corroded by the Honkai energy like other humans and turned into a dead soldier.

"Because you're here, of course."

Kirataka answered simply.

"Are you here for Raiden Mei?"

The girl narrowed her eyes slightly and questioned.

From Raiden Mei's memory, she knew that there were large organizations called Schicksal and Anti-Entropy in this world.

The human in front of her named Kirataka might be from one of them.

What are they planning to do by looking for Raiden Mei?

Do you plan to capture her and conduct research on her?

The first two Herrschers, the Herrscher of Reason and the Herrscher of the Void seemed to have experienced this process and were once captured by Schicksal for research. The second Herrscher even suffered inhuman torture for a long time.

But she has no intention of repeating the same mistake. She will destroy anyone who tries to harm her with the thunder in her hand.

"I can't say there are no factors in this regard, but... it's more because of you."

"...me?"

The girl raised her head in confusion.

"You're not Raiden Mei... right? You two are separated persons."

During Bronya's experience, she once said that she was not Raiden Mei.

That's right. What controls this body now is the will of the stigmata that was born from the stigmata that were fully awakened during this Honkai eruption.

Well, in essence, it's probably similar to the relationship between Seele and Veliona, both are twins.

But Mei obviously doesn't have the natural talent for awakening the stigmata like Seele, otherwise her father wouldn't have implanted the Conquest Gem into her to prolong her life.

Therefore, in her past life, there was no other consciousness accompanying her.

It was not until the Honkai outbreak planned by Cocolia that the full birth of the Stigmata Will was achieved.

She took the place of Raiden Mei, who was unable to bear it all and endured the guidance of the Honkai Will. She took control of the power of the Herrscher of Thunder and considered herself the Third Herrscher.

"…"

The girl nodded, then shook her head and said:

"So, what do you want to say?"

Here comes the point.

Kirataka smiled and said:

"…I think we might be able to become friends."

"...friend?"

The girl murmured.

Raiden Mei never had any real friends in the past.

As the daughter of ME Company, there is never a shortage of people around her who want to be her friends.

But those who surrounded her were nothing but flatterers who wanted to use the fact that they were once her friends to gain benefits for themselves.

After the eldest lady's halo faded, they instantly disappeared from Raiden Mei's side.

So, that coward has never had any real friends.

This may be the desire hidden too deep in Mei's heart, but it is also her idea that she had just been born.

"…"

The girl was silent for a moment.

She was thinking in her heart - was this the truth or a false lie.

Her ability to control electromagnetic fields allows her to easily destroy anything, but she is powerless when faced with the truth or falsehood of a few words.

She hoped it was true, but she was also afraid it was false.

Taking a deep breath, she used the power of the Herrscher to create a purple sword and pointed it at Kirataka:

"...That depends on whether you are qualified, human."

Fighting is the simplest way to test.

Whether he is bragging or not can be tested through fighting.

If it was just a false lie, he would not be able to endure the torture brought by the battle.

"With pleasure."

Kirataka nodded slightly and placed his hand on the spiritual sword Sakura Fubuki at his waist.

——In fact, he could have chosen to find Kiana, who was still in the academy, first and then face the Herrscher of Thunder together.

Because she doesn't have her own name yet, Kirataka will just call her "Sister Lei Lu" for now.

(TL: The name "Lei Lu" (雷鲁) in Chinese could be broken down as follows:

雷 (Léi): This character means "thunder."

鲁 (Lǔ): This character can refer to the ancient state of Lu (an area in modern-day Shandong province). It can also mean "rude" or "clumsy" in some contexts, though as a surname, it simply refers to a family name without those connotations.)

The reason why Kirataka came here alone before Kiana was because he wanted to try to make some changes.

Since he had decided to join St. Freya's Academy to participate in the "main storyline", he did not intend to watch everything develop according to the original timeline.

After all, although the original story finally reached the end of defeating the Honkai, the journey was filled with many regrets.

On the Herrscher side, there was Wendy, who died after Cocolia took away her Desire Gem, and Anna, who struggled to resist the Ice Herrscher until her consciousness was annihilated...

Of course, there is also Aunt Himeko, who sacrificed herself because of Otto's conspiracy.

Maybe he could do something to change that future filled with sacrifice.

If possible, he hopes to save more people.

Of course, those things will happen in the future, sometime from now. For now, let's focus on Sister Lei Lu, who is very close to him.

——The stigmata personality of Raiden Mei will not have as good an ending in the future as the other stigmata personality.

She carries most of the Herrscher's power, and according to the original timeline, she will sacrifice herself one day in the future so that Mei can become a complete Herrscher of Thunder again.

However! In Kirataka's opinion, there is still a lot of regret in this.

After all, to be honest, in the original timeline, it was Kiana who saved Sister Lei Lu on the rooftop, not Mei, who had fallen asleep at this time.

Sister Lei Lu gave up her mission to destroy humanity because of Kiana, but later on, Kiana hardly cared about the personality of this Herrscher and even felt a little disgusted with her.

Perhaps, because she was afraid of the Void personality in her body, she also felt some hostility towards the Lei Lu personality.

So, why can't we... find a world line where Sister Lei Lu also survives and they coexist like Veliona and Seele?

If you're going to do it, do it big.

To avoid future misfortunes, start now.

...…

Near Nagazora City, an aerial battleship is rushing here quickly.

"How long will it take to reach Nagazora City?"

A mature red-haired woman asked the adjutant beside her.

"Report, it will take about fifteen minutes to reach Nagazora City."

The bespectacled adjutant answered truthfully.

"Fifteen minutes? Well, I should probably get ready."

Himeko nodded, handed over the task of commanding the warship to her adjutant, and left the command room.

Outside the command room, a petite white-haired girl was already waiting there.

Although she looks like just a young child, the huge cross standing behind her clearly reveals her extraordinary identity.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time, Himeko."

"...I didn't expect that Theresa would also participate in this mission."

Himeko touched her hair helplessly.

After being picked up by her adjutant on Hyperion, she discovered that the leader of the Far East branch was also on board the ship.

"Of course. This time the mission is to capture the Third Herrscher alive. It would be a bit difficult to rely on just your Fifth Squad, Himeko, right?"

Theresa said seriously:

"If you want to capture the Herrscher alive, my Judas is, of course, the most reliable helper."

As a binding key, the cross that possesses the power to restrain Honkai energy is indeed an indispensable force in the capture operation.

"Also, call me Principal outside!"

"Yes, yes, yes... I haven't seen a true Herrscher either. Or rather, you are the only one on this ship who has seen one since the second Honkai eruption, right?"

Himeko teased.

The last major eruption occurred more than a decade ago.

"…I'm not the only one, there's another one."

Theresa shook her head.

"Hmm? Who else..."

Before Himeko could finish her words, another woman appeared at the end of the corridor.

As she came over, she said:

"Principal, we will soon arrive in Nagazora City. Please prepare for battle as soon as possible."

The person who came was Fu Hua. She had already put on the Valkyrie armor and was ready to go into battle at any time.

Although she is nominally only an A-rank Valkyrie, Himeko, who has practiced with her several times, knows that she is far from being as simple as she appears.

At least, her strength far surpassed that of herself, who was also an A-rank Valkyrie.

Himeko: "This can be considered as the full deployment of our Saint Freya's elite troops, right? Is it necessary to mobilize so many troops?"

"...The Herrscher incident deserves such full attention."

Fu Hua pushed up her glasses and continued:

"In fact, after the headquarters learned about the appearance of the Third Herrscher, the Bishop also arranged for an S-rank Valkyrie to rush here."

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