Chapter 22 The End of an Era III

I am making my story so the flamechasers death might be different in the original canon.

Liana watched as in the vision, the explosion destroyed the base's surface level and Mei tasked them to go to the moon to battle the final Herrscher. The moment they step there, all hell breaks loose.

Just as they exited the craft, the Herrscher appeared.

"Liana!!!!" Kevin recognizes the Herrscher as his sister that has gone missing a while ago

"Damn Herrscher, return Liana to us parasite" Kalpas screamed in anger. He is close to Liana, very close that Kevin is afraid that someday they might be married together and have a family so he usually will separates them if he knows that they are spending time together. He definitely not going to give Liana's hand to Kalpas easily it seems.

"Liana, it's us, don't let the Herrscher take control of you" Hua said.

"That girl is gone human, for I have no need for her anymore. Don't worry, you will be joining her soon in the land of the dead" The Herrscher said

She launched spears at them. After dodging the initial barrage, Felis decided that it was a great idea to rush the Herrscher. The Herrscher then holds her purple spear and throws it like a javelin. As the spear is thrown, it glows into a brilliant gold light. The golden light moves in an instant. The spear goes through Felis's stomach and cleanly hollows out her torso and cutting her body into two.

Felis is by no means weak, but if she is so easily taken out, this Herrscher is strong, more powerful than any Herrscher combined.

But there is no time to mourn their comrade as the Herrscher raises her hand up.

"The time for judgments has come, this spear should cleanse the universe from your filthy race" The Herrscher said in a majestic, god-like voice that implied unlimited power is in her.

A group of portals appears above her head, as a barrage of golden void spears emerges from the portal and pummeling their position. The flame chasers immediately move away from the barrage area as the spears hit and crater the area where they had previously been standing, but the spears hit the mark.

"Kosma!!!" Kevin said as their friend, Kosma the IX flame chaser is hit by one of the golden lights, disintegrating his right leg immediately.

"Kosma, hang in there" Hua move to stabilize the wound by trying to bandage what is left of the leg but before she could stop the bleeding...

"Hua, MOVE!!!!!" Kosma said as he punch Hua in the stomach, throwing her away from him. Hua is a stunt, granted she didn't expect Kosma would punch her so strongly, but just then the reason is clear.

The Herrscher lunges towards Kosma in a flash of purple light and thrust her right hand cleanly through Kosma's chest. Kosma had seen the Herrscher coming and had punched Hua to safety, sacrificing his life in the process.

The Herrscher pulls her hand from Kosma's chest and holds his heart in her hands as Kosma looked in horror with blood gushing from his chest before he falls to the ground limply like a puppet whose string's been cut. The Herrscher looked at the heart that is still pumping although weakly and smiled.

"The human heart, I must say I never understand that such a dumb organ could feel emotional pain, or maybe that is just the brain thinking the pain is in the heart?" The Herrscher said in a very calm tone like she is looking at a museum and Kosma's heart is the display before crushing it.

"You damn Herrscher!!!!, don't use Liana's body to kill you f*cking parasite" Kalpas shouts as flames engulfed his body.

"Kalpas, wait..., god damn it, let's back them up" Eden said to the rest and proceeded to charge the Herrscher.

"Futile attempt" The Herrscher said as she charge towards Kalpas with the spear.

Kalpas manages to parry the attack through sheer force and is locked in a stalemate with the Herrscher before Eden shot her gun distracting the Herrscher. Using the chance, Kalpas kick the Herrscher away from him. Kevin jump at the Herrscher and swing his shamash as Hua is behind her, preparing to unleash a tandem strike with Kevin.

The Herrscher, noticing the predicament she found herself in, immediately stabs her spear into the ground and emits a large honkai pulse which rattles the entire moon to the core (Moonquake) as the shockwave causes moon dust around her is thrown high up in the air obscuring vision. The shockwave also pushes back Kevin and Hua as the latter slides across the moon's landscape and the former is thrown back quite a distance. The rest are covering their eyes to protect them from the wave of moon dust heading their way.

After the dust has settled, the Herrscher has changed form. Golden translucent wings emerge from her back several times her size (Similar to HoV wings). She floats in the air looking down at the mortals below with hatred.

"I am impressed humans, you manage to make me take this fight seriously, so let me gift you a swift death" The Herrscher said as a huge ball of energy materializes in front of her chest. Kevin and co braced for the attack, knowing that they might not make it with this one. "Di..."

A beam of blue light hit the Herrscher bang-on. As the group looks in the direction of the beam, a battleship appeared the Selene, Mei's last hope of killing the Herrscher. After the Herrscher is hit, a huge wave of honkai energy erupted from her. Kevin thought that the attack had failed and that the Herrscher is fine but it turns out that she lost control of the Honkai energy inside her and it leaked into the world. The Herrscher falls as the wings materialized and her spear loses its glow and crashes to the ground.

"Curse you humans!!!" The Herrscher screams in a shrill voice as she holds her head like it is in pain.

The remaining flame chasers cover their ears as the sound is deafening.

A/N: ok, I remember ever seeing a comic regarding the FC's battle against the HoTE on the moon and they don't wear space suits so I'm guessing they don't need to breathe. Second, I am assuming that sound can travel on the moon, in reality, there is no air there so no way sound can be transmitted but just imagine that both the FCs and HoTE can speak and hear each other with lore physics lol.

"You will pay for that" The Herrscher looks at Selene who is charging up another charge of the attack, this time more powerful by the order of Vill-V who is on the bridge. This time, Vill-V gambles every single bit of power into the cannon, leaving nothing as a defense against an attack. This attack also will fry the power cores on the ship, possibly dooming it, but she needs to make that decision, if they want the best chance to defeat the Herrscher.

The Herrscher throws her void spears directly at the craft. Usually, the shield will be able to take some brunt out of the attack but due to Vill-V's decision to divert all the power to the beam, the spears cut through the metal like a hot knife cut through butter.

One of the spears manage to hit the cooling pump required to cool the huge main Honkai reactor that powers the Selene, blasting radiated water throughout the engine compartment. Vill-V knows the smart and safe decision is to cut the reactor power to avoid it having a meltdown but that will weaken the beam as only the auxiliary reactors power it, so she keeps pushing the reactor to provide power for the beam.

She had hoped it hadn't come to this but it seems her hands are tied. Just before the ship fires its first beam, she has instructed the crew to board the escape pods headed back to Earth. She told the captain of her intention and hopes it will not happen, but if it were to happen, she wants to be the only person left on the ship.

The captain has none of it and insisted on going with her, as to him, going down with the ship is the most honorable thing a captain could do and would not let a guest left alone with his ship.

So after the first beam had fired and the need for another attack had been deduced, Vill-V ordered everyone to evacuate except the captain and a few officers who stayed behind knowing full well this could be their last moments.

As the beam reached criticality, she presses the button, and the weapon is fired. A blue beam emerges from the weapon, much larger than the previous one, and hits the Herrscher dead on while shudders can be felt across the ship.

Vill-V and the officer immediately try to cut the power to the reactor but at that moment, the reactor decides it has enough and decided to undergo explosive decomposition as the entire back part of the ship is blown off in bits and pieces, along with the bridge.

The Selene is done for.

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The beam hit the Herrscher dead on as an explosion is heard above them. Kevin looked up and found that the Selene is destroyed, the back half of the ship is in different pieces and are on fire.

"The Selene.... is finished" Eden said while looking at the wreckage above them.

The most anticipated technological breakthrough and hope humanity has to fight the honkai has been destroyed, and yet the Herrscher is still alive, albeit kneeling and weaker.

"SHIT!!!....I should have destroyed your planet before" The Herrscher grumbles in annoyance as she breathes heavily looking extremely tired.

Kalpas, noticing the weakened state of the Herrscher, decided to charge at her.

"SURRENDER HERRSCHER, AND RETURN LIANA TO US, TO ME!!!!!!!!" Kalpas shouted loudly as he blazes at the Herrscher.

The Herrscher immediately summon some spears and launch them at Kalpas, but he catches and crushes them with his hands. He manages to reach the kneeling Herrscher and strongly punches her before taking out a syringe from his pocket and stabbing it into the Herrscher's neck. It is a honkai-neutralizing serum. Mei had given him some and he would always bring one with him into battle, to avoid the corruption of using his power.

The Herrscher screams in pain as the liquid inside courses through her body. Kalpas just looked at the girl. He has used too much of his power just now and he is starting to feel the corruption taken hold of him.

He sat down next to the kneeling Herrscher, entirely losing all his strength, as the others rush to their location. He looked up at the space above and found many different stars lighting up the space. He knew he had just given Liana his only serum and that he will die soon from corruption.

"Kal..pas?" Liana asked while still holding her chest in pain.

"Liana....Welcome back" Kalpas said weakly. He really cannot do anything at the moment. Just trying to reply to Liana is already taxing.

"Liana!!!" Kevin comes and hug Liana. "I'm so glad you are ok, we need to get you back to Earth and I will ask Mei to find a solution to your Herrscher persona."

"Nii-san...I'm so glad you are alive" Liana said weakly

"Of course I am alive, how could I leave you alone?" Kevin said

"I thought that.... you are dead... and then I become like this... UGHHHH!!" Liana clutches her chest as a sudden pain erupted.

"Liana, are you ok? Damn it" Kevin immediately try to find the problem with his sister

"Nii-san....., I'll stay here, you guys go back... make sure to go underground... tell Mei Nee-san to marry you already" Liana stutters as she looks like she is still in pain but still has a cheeky smile when delivering the latter part of the sentence.

"Why Liana? why can't you come back with us?" Eden comes and asks Liana

"The serum...., is only delaying the inevitable.... I feel that she is right now attacking me right now.... I can hold her back for a while.... but... UGHH!!....not very long.... soon, she will overpower me... and I would like you guys to not be near me" Liana said

"Liana, we can ask Dr.Mei to help you ok? She will find a way" Hua tries to convince Liana.

"I know my body, Hua.... I am losing the battle.... it's only because of the Herrscher Persona weakening.... that the serum works... I tried." Liana said as tears started flowing from her eyes. "I tried to take back control... I tried when I killed everyone in the base.... I tried....when I notice Nii-san is alive.... I can't win against her... she is too powerful"

"Nonsense, I am sure .... you can control that power Liana, ...like what I do with mine" Kalpas argues

"Nii-san... you still owe me a favor... back when we still are in school... So I will demand that you to leave me here... Go to safety... bring everyone with you... Please..." Liana begged Kevin to bring all of them back to Earth and into safety.

"Nonsense, I won't... let you stay" Kalpas said determinedly

"Please... I need to atone for my sins... I have killed a lot of innocent people... plus I can't continue to live with this pain... fully knowing that at a moment...notice I could kill everyone I cared" Liana looked at Kalpas and Kevin with sad eyes. She had made her choice.

"Then, what are you going to do?" Eden said in a sad tone.

"I will hold the Herrscher... persona at bay... for as long as possible... then I would kill myself while... I still have control" Liana said with determination in her eyes.

"Liana, that is crazy!!" Kalpas tries to get up but failed due to his weakened state.

"Kalpas... I have made my decision... If I should sacrifice myself... to achieve peace... I would do it" Liana look at Kalpas sternly even though she is feeling more pain as the Herrscher is moving closer and closer to taking control of her body.

Looking at the determination in Liana's eyes, Kevin knew he could do nothing about it. She is right. She is very dangerous right now, and if she loses control, humanity will definitely be extinct. Her sacrifice will be able to prolong humanity's fight against the honkai.

Kevin looked sadly at his sister. From a young age, there is only him and Liana together as their parents don't really care about them and would just send them money. He had taken care of Liana and knows that once she had made a decision, she is stubborn.

He is feeling conflicted. Personally, he wouldn't let his sister die yet her death could bring about a new age for humanity. As he is mulling over what he should do, he remembers that Mei's goal is to save humanity the moment Mei joins Fire MOTH. Although Liana joins a bit later, she too has the same goal, different from him where he just wants to be near Mei and Liana. Kevin decided that he will take the difficult choice, to leave his sister to die here, he will surely regret this later but it is the only reasonable option to save humanity from extinction.

"Alright, we will leave" Kevin said as he stands up

"I'll stay... I'm dead anyways" Kalpas said weakly, "The corruption has taken hold of me.... I'll be dead soon"

Kevin and the others finally leave the moon back to Earth after some tearful farewell between them, fully knowing that this is the last time that they would be alive. Kevin, the usual strong guy is crying on the journey back to base.

As the ship lifts from the surface of the moon, Kalpas move closer to Liana.

"I'm sorry... I couldn't save you earlier" Kalpas said as his vision is deteriorating

"Don't worry about it... It's entirely my fault... you are innocent" Liana said as softly as she can while still fighting the mental battle in her head.

"Liana... I feel like you are... the only one who understands me... except for Emile... I have thought about it for a while..... Liana....I Love...you" Kalpas said as he close his eyes, laying next to Liana who still kneels in the same location.

Liana is shocked at the sudden confession.

"Kalpas... I...I" Liana blushed as she tries to answer but after looking at Kalpas, she knew that he has passed away. She feels bad, she never considers Kalpas as a romantic partner, and at most, he is only a close friend. She planned on rejecting Kalpas's confession but after finding that he is no longer there, the least she could do is stroke his hair.

Liana never saw the face of Kalpas before without a mask and decided to take off the mask.

"You look handsome... Kalpas" Liana said quietly as she continues stroking his hair

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As the ship reaches the landing zone, Kevin and Co immediately prepare for cryo sleep. It appears that Su went to sleep earlier with most of the staff on the base. Kevin decides to search for Mei before he enters the pod. Asking around and the staff leads him to the incubation room. Inside he found the dead Mei laying in a bed of flowers with a note in her hand for him to read.

Kevin is shocked to find that Mei had honkai radiation sickness and didn't tell him about it. He grips the letter hard as he tries to hold back his tears. In one day, the honkai has taken them both away from him. In one day, he lost his entire family and the only girl he ever loved. In one day, humanity has lost every bit of hope in winning the fight.

Kevin is defeated. He is a loser. The universe must be punishing him for his failures.

As tears started flowing again, Kevin continues reading the letter and found out about their son. Kevin look for his son in the room and found him sleeping nearby. Near him were two scarfs, a brown and a blue one. The blue one has his name on it.

He carry his son and the scarf and proceeded to exit the room. Before he left...

"Mei, I love you, I will continue your and Liana's fight for humanity, rest calmly. We will meet again someday" Kevin kiss Mei and exited the room as tears still flows from his eyes.

Kevin headed to the cryo chamber and entered cryo sleep.

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Liana couldn't take it anymore. The Herrscher persona has managed to break her final line of defense and in a moment's time, she will take over and destroys humanity.

"Nice try Herrscher...., I will not let you" Liana said as she created a portal in front of her and behind her, materialized her spear, infuse it with everything Liana can muster, and throws it into the portal. As she throws the spear, Liana loses control of her body and the Herrscher persona takes over.

"You..." The Herrscher persona only has time to say one word as the spear emerged from the portal behind her. There is so little time that all the Herrscher can do is create an energy shield hastily to try and nullify the damage

The spear pierces through the energy shield that the Herrscher persona made and vaporized her torso in an instant.

Her body then disintegrates into dust as a huge cloud of Honkai energy is emitted and engulfed the entirety of the moon.

Thus Liana, the Herrscher of the End, met her end, on the moon.

LOL I am sure you guys are not expecting Kalpas, I also don't expect that. Today that idea just comes to me and I decided to just go through with it. The chapter will be the end of the [The End of an Era] series or at least until I have some more ideas. The story is a bit different as Eden survives.

Now that Liana has known about her past, I am thinking of asking you guys what kind of power Liana will have. My idea is that Liana will be able to summon the HotE spear and able to do the beam that attacked the base. Now I kinda think it is too OP, but you know, OP-nees is cool. What do you guys think?

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