Kallen's cooking makes Kouro ascend to Heaven (Revision)

Kouro was taken by Kiana, Mei and Ayame to Himeko's dormitory while talking.

Arriving there, Kouro found that Higokumaru, Sakura, Kallen, Bronya, Himeko and even Theresa were here.

Kouro saw Bronya who was playing a game with Higokumaru, looking at the serious expressions of the two of them, it seemed like they were playing very fiercely.

'I don't know why they are playing fiercely, maybe because they are betting on each other?'

Then Kouro also saw Himeko who was sleeping on the sofa with a can of beer in her hand. She was only wearing ordinary clothes that were slightly open so Kouro could see the black colored bra under Himeko's collar.

Kouro blinked his eyes and printed this scene in his mind before quickly going to the kitchen room, afraid of being caught by Mei and the others.

"Oh? Kouro! You finally arrived, let's eat together!" said Kallen with a smile with her hand secretly trying to pick up the 'Kaarage'.

Unfortunately her actions were noticed by Sakura so her hand was quickly hit with a vegetable spoon by her, of course not too hard but enough to startle Kallen.

"Ouch!" Kallen immediately stopped her actions and rubbed her hands.

"Bad hands!" said Sakura who was currently wearing casual clothes and a pink apron.

Kouro looked at the dining table where various dishes were served, he could see that there was fried rice, fried tofu, Kaarage, Bortsch, Cream Stew, Pizza Toast and various others.

But what caught his attention the most was a dark purple dish that exuded a deadly aura, even for a moment Kouro could see an ugly humanoid face staring at him while opening its mouth, screaming.

Kouro's expression didn't change when he saw this, he just blinked.

'This must be Kaslana's cooking... But who, Kallen or Kiana?'

As someone who had tasted Kiana's cooking, he knew very well how it tasted.

Really if Kouro could he wouldn't want to taste it again.

Who allowed Kiana or Kallen to cook?

Kouro immediately turned to look at Mei only to realize that Mei was avoiding his gaze, he then turned to look at Ayame, Sakura then Theresa who was currently slicing the Baguette.

They all equally avoided his gaze as he asked who made the 'Death Soup'.

From the dishes on the table Kouro could guess who was cooking, the fried rice was most likely Theresa, the fried tofu was definitely Higokumaru, the Kaarage was definitely Ayame and the Cream Stew was definitely Mei, and Bronya was definitely Bortsch.

Kouro also knew that the Pizza Toast dish was made by Kiana considering her skills had improved or perhaps assisted by Mei.

But for that dark dish... Kouro wasn't sure. All he could be sure of was that it was more poisonous than Kiana's dish when she first started cooking.

Not convinced? Kouro then created a fly that had been strengthened using the authority of [Death and Life] and controlled it to approach the 'Poison'.

And sure enough, as the fly approached and had settled on the bowl, suddenly an ugly humanoid face appeared and instantly devoured the fly to nothing.

"..."

Kouro was silent for a long time before opening his status interface and staring at the ability [Unknown] with a deep expression.

For the first time Kouro felt insecure about this ability that had saved him from various dangers.

Kouro knew this ability would make him immune to any bad effects that targeted him.

But he speculated that it took less than a millisecond for this ability to activate, or rather that it would activate the moment an adverse effect or foreign substance began to take effect on his body.

'That means if this poison kills me instantly...'

Kouro immediately shook his head not wanting to think about the possibility of this...

'Do I need to use [Herrscher form] first to withstand the deadly effects of the dish? No, wait. Why do I think I need to eat that dish? That's right, I won't try that dish even if Kiana forces me to!' Kouro thought with a determined expression.

He then turned to look at Kiana who was currently watching Bronya and Higokumaru who were playing a game.

"Kiana, did you cook this?" Kouro asked while pointing at the dark dish on the table.

Kiana turned her head to follow the direction he was pointing before saying, "Oh? That's Kallen's cooking. I also helped her because she has never cooked. "

Kouro's eyebrows finally twitching, he turned his head to stare at the dark dish and finally understood why it was more deadly.

'No wonder it's more dangerous. The ones who made it were the Kaslana duo.'

Kouro then looked at Bronya and Higokumaru who were competing so fiercely in the game that sweat was pouring from their foreheads.

'Don't tell me that they bet with each other that whoever loses will eat that dark dish?'

Judging from the expressions of the two of them... It looks like Kouro's speculation was indeed correct.

'I wish I could revive those who will eat the dish...' Kouro thought with a pitying expression.

... 

Kouro felt awkward waiting like Kiana so he then also cooked but only for dessert which was Strawberry-filled Daifuku and Sangria Punch refreshing drink.

This also reminded him of the time he had lunch with Mei back then, when Mei made him a Strawberry-filled Daifuku whose flavor he still remembers today.

With the ingredients available in the 'Inventory' and with his cooking skills, Kouro was able to make the dishes quickly and in large quantities too.

Mei watched Kouro's process of making the Sangria drink.

"This... Sangria? Did you make non-alcoholic ones, Kouro?"

Kouro nodded his head, after all most of them were underage.

He sliced oranges, limes, lemons, and apples. Then the slices were put into a glass jar and filled with orange juice and grape juice, after which Kouro took out some kind of strange sophisticated device.

"Beverage cooler!" Kouro said in a Doraemon tone.

He was given several sophisticated tools that were a little strange by Vill-V when he was doing the [Job Change Quest] and one of them was this beverage cooler.

It can be said that Kouro can be called a simple version of Doraemon.

"With this cooling device I can cool all drinks!"

Kouro didn't know how the tool worked but he remembered Vill-V explaining it, basically this tool could cool or even freeze water to absolute zero using Honkai energy in the air as desired by the user.

After that Kouro used the authority of [Death and Life] to speed up the coagulation process between the juice and fruits that had been sliced earlier.

Kouro unfortunately did not currently dare to use the Herrscher of the End core fragment directly unless he used it simultaneously with the [Origin] authority.

After it cooled down, he then poured it into a glass about a third of the way before adding water and a little soda until it was full.

Kouro then stirred the glass until it was well mixed.

He did it several times until everyone got a glass.

Kouro looked at the finished glass of Sangria before tasting it.

"It's refreshing and the fruity scent is thick too because of the agglomeration process... Not bad." Kouro muttered with a smile.

The daifuku and Sangria that Kouro made were immediately placed on the dining table.

"Everyone, dinner is ready!" Theresa shouted to Kiana and the others before sitting on the chairs.

Himeko immediately woke up from her sleep, with her face slightly red from being drunk, she staggered into the kitchen room.

Kiana who saw this immediately helped her followed by Bronya behind her who had a flat expression with a small smile along with Higokumaru who walked stiffly with a dark expression like a person about to be executed.

From here you can see who won and who lost.

Higokumaru then looked at Kouro with a sad and pitiable expression while exuding an adorable and cute aura making Kouro clutch his chest with an expression of pain.

'Are you going to let my adorable self eat that death dish?'

That was roughly the meaning of Higokumaru's expression.

'No Kouro! Focus! Hold yourself together!' Kouro shook his head quickly while calming down.

Even so Higokumaru was a little over-dramatizing her defeat in her bet against Bronya.

After all, they only bet each other whoever lost would eat the dish Kallen made by the spoonful.

After all, just a spoonful for a Herrscher of Corruption wouldn't be too dangerous, right?

Himeko, Mei, Kiana and the others then started to sit down to the seats one by one, Kouro also sat down and maybe it was just a coincidence but he sat near the 'Poison' dish.

"Itadakimasu!" x 8

Kouro and the others then ate in harmony, their expressions were all very happy while chatting occasionally except Higokumaru.

She stared at the dark dish before her, whether it was her illusion or not but she saw the ugly humanoid face of the dish.

Higokumaru's expression became disgusted but she still took a teaspoon and scooped the dish.

Higokumaru even though she really didn't want to eat the dark dish but she still had to follow the rules for losing her bet, after all as a veteran Herrscher she had her own pride.

She stared at the spoon that had dark lumps like wet vomit and chewy pudding with furrowed brows.

Bronya unobtrusively looked at Higokumaru while carrying a camera and pointed it at her. .

Higokumaru was seen taking a deep breath before aiming the spoon into her mouth.

Just as the lump was about to enter her mouth, Kouro's hand suddenly stopped her and took the spoon away.

"Kouro-Nii?" muttered Higokumaru in confusion.

"If you don't want to eat it, let me." said Kouro before eating the black lump that looked like chewy vomit without hesitation before chewing it and making a sound like eating raw rice.

Despite his determination not to eat the dark dish even if someone forced him to, Kouro in the end could not bear to see Higokumaru's expression so his body spontaneously picked up the spoon carrying the black lump.

After all, just a spoonful, the ability of [Unknown] could definitely save his life, right?

'Hmm... The texture is a little crunchy unlike what I thought... It also tastes strangely like chemicals mixed together... No, maybe like sawdust sanded on a monkey's ass?'

As he reflexively reviewed Kallen's dish, just for a moment Kouro's eyes instantly shot upwards turning white and his soul seemed to be lifted into the sky, no, literally Kouro's soul had indeed left his body before returning to normal.

*Ding!*

With that sound Kouro blinked his eyes a few times as if confused before staring at the system notification.

[A harmful substance has been detected]

[Skill 'Unknown' has activated]

[Buff: Poison Cure effect heals you]

"Oh?! Kouro, did you try my cooking? How did it taste?" asked Kallen who was eating Pizza Toast with sparkling eyes.

Kouro stared at the dark dish with a frightened expression before his expression returned to normal then cleared his throat when Kallen asked him.

"Hmm... The texture is a little crunchy, the flavor is unique, it seems like you overcooked it, but for someone who is a first time cook, it's not bad. I give it 7/10… 0."

Kouro said the last sentence so quietly that no one could hear him.

"Yatta! I didn't expect you to give my first dish such a high score... Looks like I do have a talent for cooking! Thank you Kouro!" Kallen said with a happy smile.

'No, you have a really great talent for poisoning people. I think even Honkai Beasts will die after tasting this dark dish...' Kouro thought with a stiff smile.

"Here, Kouro-Nii!" Higokumaru immediately gave the tofu goren in her hand to Kouro.

"Hmm?" Kouro wore a confused expression at her sudden action.

"Thank you for saving me..." Higokumaru whispered into Kouro's ear.

"No problem. It's not my first time eating a dish like this." Kouro said with a wry smile remembering the times when Kiana cooked every day for him.

After saying this, Kouro drank Sangria and ate Daifuku to wash his mouth.

"By the way Theresa-san, do you know a Valkyrie named Wendy in New Zealand?" Kouro asked with a serious expression, making the others stop and focus on him.

This was the first time for them to see Kouro actively asking something about a girl.

Theresa's expression changed slightly upon hearing his question, "Wendy... Of course I know her. She is a very talented student, she has the potential to become an S-Rank Valkyrie. But..."

"Her potential was wasted because of a certain project, right? If I'm not mistaken, it was about a project to implant Herrscher's gem core into a human body." Kouro said while eating Pizza Toast.

The atmosphere suddenly turned a little serious.

Mei, Ayame, Himeko and the others stopped their actions and focused their attention on the topic that Kouro and Theresa were talking about.

Kiana on the other hand with her cheeks puffed up like a squirrel and continuing to eat, looked at Kouro and Theresa with an interested gaze.

She could sense that Kouro had no bad intentions towards her aunt, but rather wanted to start a heavy topic.

Theresa's hands instantly stopped, she put down her spoon and fork before raising her head and looking at Kouro.

"Yes. Why are you asking that?"

Kouro finished his Pizza Toast before continuing, "Of course to help her. You know, right? I am a person who wants to help people who are not treated unfairly even if they are a Herrscher." Kouro said out loud.

Well... Although his words felt hypocritical but basically he did sincerely want to help Wendy from the unfair treatment of fate.

"What's more... Theresa-san. As the one who recommended Wendy to be the experimental subject of that project. I think you know better than me about people's behavior towards Wendy." he continued.

"... So you want to help her? I thank you for your concern for her, but... How can you help her?" Theresa asked while puffing out her chest not wanting to lose to Kouro's aura.

Although she looked like an offended person, she was actually just pretending, she didn't want Kouro to deal with a Herrscher again.

She still remembered every time Kouro dealt with a Herrscher, Kouro would always be seriously injured, the peak was during the mission to Singapore where Kouro was in a coma for 2 months.

Hearing Theresa's question, Kouro seemed to have a thoughtful expression for a long time before sighing helplessly and raising his hands.

"Huh... That's easy because I'm a Herrscher. "

From Kouro's palm emerged a black mist that was familiar to the 'Sirin' personality inside Kiana's body.

Kouro's statement shocked everyone even making Himeko choke and cough except for Bronya who had already been informed and strangely also Higokumaru who slightly nodded her head before going back to eating fried tofu.

'No way! That black mist, there's no mistaking it's the [Vapor of Serenity] of the Herrscher of Death!' Sirin thought with a shocked expression.

After all, she remembered Kouro removing the Gem of Serenity from her body... After that... She doesn't remember anything, other than Kouro being found unconscious and ended up in a coma for 2 months.

'Kouro... Is he really the Herrscher of Death?'

Kouro wondered what expression 'Sirin' would show if he displayed the ability of [Void] authority and even other authorities.

"Kouro... You're also... A Herrscher?" Mei asked with a trembling voice.

"Yes. Sorry to hide it from you all." said Kouro with a smile.

"Since when did you become a Herrscher, Kouro?" asked Ayame with sparkling eyes.

They both seemed to feel happy that Kouro finally had the same identity as the two of them, a Herrscher.

"Hmm... Long enough, do you guys remember when I was in a coma for those two months? I actually awakened as Herrscher with the power of atomic matter manipulation."

It could be said that 6 or 7 months had passed since Kouro obtained the authority of [Death and Life].

Kouro was telling the truth although he was hiding some important things for example that he was a Herrscher of Shadows who could use other Herrscher's authority.

Himeko took a napkin and wiped her mouth and clothes while thinking about Kouro's statement.

'Strange... Isn't the appearance of a Herrscher signaled by the Honkai Eruption? Is it possible that the purple light that pierced the sky... was Kouro?'

"Hee... Show me your power, Kouro! I'm curious!" Kiana said.

Kouro smiled and opened his palm letting black smoke appear and form something before showing it to Kiana.

"This is a muffin cake for you."

Kiana took the muffin as she tilted her head, "Is this edible?"

"Of course."

Listening to Kouro's answer made Kiana without hesitation immediately swallow the cake and chew it.

"Woah! It tastes exactly like your muffins, Kouro!" She said with a surprised expression before her eyes lit up at the thought of Kouro being able to create an infinite variety of food.

Kallen beside her also had the same expression.

Kouro pretended not to notice their gaze and turned to look at Theresa.

Feeling his gaze, Theresa who was massaging her temples sighed helplessly, "Alright, I understand, you want to see her on my behalf, right? I won't forbid you."

Theresa felt dizzy because Herrscher, whose appearances were very rare, currently had 4 in her academy.

Kouro... Herrscher of Death.

Mei... Herrscher of Thunder.

Kiana... Vessel of Herrscher of Void.

Ayame... Despite being a Pseudo, she's still basically a Herrscher...

She didn't even know that Higokumaru was also a Herrscher.

It might just be a hunch, but she felt that Kouro would collect Herrscher like a Pokemon player.