When Thunder Cracks the Sky

"We meet again."

Sakura's voice softened slightly after ending the call.

Kevin scratched his head awkwardly.

"Uh-huh… yeah… what was your name again?"

Mei face-palmed.

They had only met Sakura briefly in Ruruye. After the battle, both Sakura and Himeko had been injured, so there hadn't been much interaction with Mei and Kevin.

"Sakura. Just call me Sakura." Though much younger, Sakura seemed far more mature than Kevin. She added, "Fire Moth Rapid Reaction Squad 5, Sakura."

"What's going on? We've been wandering around Nagazora for days, and we've barely seen any survivors… Is this what you call the Honkai?"

"Kevin, calm down."

"Mei…"

Sakura gripped her blade, Spirit Sword - Sakura Fubuki, her gaze drifting…

"If Mikael and Elysia were here, they could have protected this city better… but I heard the Herrscher is in Shanghai…"

Sakura herself was inexperienced with the Honkai, so she didn't know how to answer Kevin's question.

She fell silent for a moment, then felt a sudden chill.

She looked up. The bright sunlight vanished as dark clouds rolled in, obscuring the sky. A light drizzle quickly turned into a downpour.

Sakura pulled the cord at the bottom of her backpack, releasing two heavy raincoats. She put one on and tossed the other to Mei, leaving Kevin shivering in his dirty school uniform.

They found shelter from the rain in a relatively intact shop amidst the ruins.

But Sakura soon noticed something was amiss.

The thunder rumbled incessantly, like a neighbor's late-night rock concert, unsettling and oppressive.

And the lightning wasn't white or blue, but a strange, dark purple.

"This is…"

She frowned, then heard Squad 3's (the team sent to reinforce Nagazora) panicked voices over the comms:

"Impossible! How did it get to Nagazora?! It's supposed to be in Shanghai!"

"Report to headquarters, quickly!"

"Aaargh!"

"This is Squad 3 in Nagazora… Aaaah… static…"

"Zzzt… zzzt…"

Within seconds, the voices on the comms shifted from shock and fear to desperate screams, then to static.

The world around her turned purple as a deafening thunderclap, closer this time, made her head spin.

When she looked back at the street, a figure stood there.

She was about to call out, but something felt wrong.

The woman had a pair of luminous wings, one of them seemingly severed.

Her clothes were torn at the waist, revealing unblemished skin.

"Could it be…?"

Her heart pounded in her chest. She held her breath.

But Kevin, oblivious, had already spoken… though he seemed to realize his mistake the moment the words left his mouth:

"Hey! Over here…"

The 3rd Herrscher glanced at the ruins beside her, seeing three insignificant ants.

"Hmph."

She didn't want to waste time on them. She snapped her fingers, a spark of electricity transforming into a blast of lightning that shot towards them.

"Ha!"

Sakura drew her blade, Sakura Fubuki. A wave of chilling air, amplified by the downpour, solidified into a thick ice shield.

But the shield, which Sakura estimated could withstand four or five anti-tank missiles, cracked under the Herrscher's casual attack.

"Hmm?"

The Herrscher looked surprised that a mere mortal had blocked her attack.

The next instant, the ice shield shattered into atoms, leaving no trace.

The 3rd Herrscher nodded in satisfaction.

But when she looked back, the three ants were gone.

A large hole had been blasted through the shop's wall. They must have escaped through there.

The 3rd Herrscher looked up at the sky. She could smell a familiar scent on those humans.

A scent that enraged her, that fueled her destructive urges…

She wanted to tear them apart and present their remains to that traitor who couldn't even fully utilize her own powers.

Within seconds, she was in motion.

A warning bell rang in Sakura's mind as she ran. Before she could consciously decide, her body reacted—she pivoted on her right foot, drawing Garo…

Boom!

Amidst the thunder, her ice-blue blade clashed with the Herrscher's lightning blade. Purple lightning surged up Sakura's arm.

"Ugh!"

The right side of her body went numb. She could only watch helplessly as the Herrscher flicked her wrist, sending her flying.

Kevin, caught in the downpour, only heard the thunderclap before seeing a blur fly past him.

"!"

He instinctively swung his baseball bat, his eyes meeting the 3rd Herrscher's crimson gaze.

"Tch!"

She seemed to scoff. Kevin wasn't sure if it was real or just in his head.

He entered that strange state again, the ruined city transforming into a familiar basketball court, the Herrscher replaced by the seven-foot center blocking his path.

Everything seemed simple. He pulled back his bat, crouching low as the Herrscher's casual swing passed over his head. He seized the opportunity, striking her side with the bat.

The aluminum bat bent. The Herrscher stumbled back, staring at him in disbelief.

Kevin hefted the bat, feeling strangely confident.

Then he was sent flying, crashing through two buildings before coming to a stop.

Mei, the last to react, quickly drew her pistol, firing an entire magazine at the Herrscher. But the Herrscher simply waved her hand, a fine net of lightning deflecting the bullets.

"Well, that's about enough," the Herrscher muttered to herself.

She walked towards Mei, who was frantically reloading.

"Get down!"

Mei ducked as Sakura shot out from behind the rubble, her blade, Garo, arcing through the air, transforming the falling rain into a barrage of ice shards.

But the Herrscher merely shimmered, seemingly not moving at all, as the ice shards passed harmlessly through her.

"That speed! Even faster than Yaksha! Too fast for the naked eye to follow!"

Sakura unleashed a flurry of attacks, but the Herrscher casually deflected them all. She feinted, trying to circle behind, but the Herrscher had already anticipated her move, turning to face her.

Sakura was confident in her speed, honed through months of training after Ruruye, but she was no match for the Herrscher.

"How boring."

The Herrscher shook her head. Lightning crawled up Sakura's body, paralyzing her. She could only watch as the purple blade grew larger in her vision.

"Clang!"

Sakura was shoved aside. Mikael stood where she'd been a moment ago, blocking the Herrscher's attack with his silver-white gauntlets.

"You couldn't resist coming after all," the 3rd Herrscher said flatly.

Mikael panted, the nearly two-thousand-kilometer spatial jump having taken its toll. His legs felt weak, strange patterns flickering in his vision, the Herrscher's form shimmering and blurry.

"What? Not happy to see me?"

Mikael retorted.

The 3rd Herrscher nodded.

"Then… stay here."

"And witness true power, you traitor."