Chapter 18 Laughs and Sorrows

Ei POV

I watch my mother freeze after I told her that I am a Herrscher. Although I understand why she would be shocked.

Before we go to the ME corp HQ, I already thought to myself about how to face my parents in this world. I am not close to my mother since she died when I was little, I can't even remember her name. There are no pictures of her around the house except for one, which is a family picture of my father, mother, and a very small me all smiling. It is a face that I haven't seen my father makes at all outside of that painting, I guess mom's passing took a huge toll on him.

At first, I try to ask the servant about my mother in the picture, and that was when I know that that girl is my mom. Sadly, my father caught wind of this and decided to remove the picture and move it to his study. I ask why he removed it, but he never answers and instead told me in an angry tone to never mention my mom ever again before shutting the door of his study. I cried a lot at that time since I have never seen my father becomes so angry before. Now that I am older, and have met them in this world, I can understand that every time someone talks about mom, his wound will emerge again. 

Due to my mother's death and my father's condition, I never really got close to any of them. If you ask me what my father likes, his personality, etc, I am sure that his business friends know a lot more than I do. As I grow up, I will avoid running into him as much as possible and always eat in my room, avoiding the dining room. 

Due to this distance, I feel isolated at home, with no one who is able to listen to my worries. Sure there are servants, but it is not the same. I also hate the fact that at school, people speak about how lucky I was to be born in a wealthy family, how I am beautiful that people idolized me. I guess all of that turns me into a Herrscher after the bullying that I got due to my father's arrest. I don't know if the claim that my father corrupted money is legit or not, but I personally don't care. 

When I turn into a Herrscher, I was on the rooftop, getting beaten by a group of girls and boys who once idolized me. They mocked me, beat me, and poured water on me. There I was dripping wet, with blood flowing down a cut in my forehead due to a box cutter slash by one of the group. At that time, I become a Herrscher. To be honest, I feel quite good when I see their surprised face for just a split second before their body is burnt into crisp, unrecognizable corpses due to my awakening's shockwave. 

I remember the joys I have when I go down from the rooftops to see students who have bullied me, and teachers who let it all happen, exiting their classrooms in panic as their skin turns white. Some had their arms fall off, some had their legs. People cry in pain both in hallways and the classrooms, as their bodies rot while they are still alive. I stopped in front of a girl who is crawling on the floor. As she crawls, a part of her leg is left behind due to it being rotted. Her hands and face are white, which is the trademark of stage VI Honkai radiation, basically, she is dead. Yet somehow, I recognize the girl, the girl who is the primadonna of the school after I fall from grace, the one who bullied me the most, Kitagawa Emi. She is a beautiful girl, who is the daughter of the direct rival of ME corp, thus making her family benefit a lot from ME corps' downfall. But that beautiful figure is no more, replaced by a rotting face begging for help.

"Kitagawa-san" I said at that time, standing in front of her with my electric wings open.

"R...Rai..Raiden-san" she looked up at me slowly. "How... are. you ok?"

"Well, I am the cause of all these things, so are you happy now Kitagawa-san?" I answered coldly. In my mind, I feel the dopamine released from seeing her dying like this.

"Help.. me, I'm...sorry, pleas..e, it's....painful" she said as tears flows down her eyes as she begged me. 

"Back then when you are bullying me, you didn't stop, so I guess I am obliged to give back your treatment." I said as I turn around to go up back to the rooftop. 

"No... Please, Help me...., Raiden..-san, Hel...p mm..." She said as I walked, I turn to look back at her. Her arms had fallen off, her torso is split in two leaving her hips and legs behind, her face is gone, fallen to the floor while her head is still upright, blood poured through her mouth, or what was left of it as she tries to continue her plead for help. 

Yup, she is basically dead, even if I want to help her, I don't know what to do anyway. I only come down to see them suffering before ultimately succumbing to their wounds, which is quite fun actually, no wonder people in movies sometimes relish the fact that they killed someone. Her head finally falls as she died painfully, surrounded by similar corpses in the hallways and classrooms of this school. Just a minute ago, the entire school is filled with screams and shouts, but now, silence, only the sound of nearby dripping blood from countless corpses is heard.

Well, I guess I really am merged with my Honkai persona. I don't feel any remorse or disgust, recounting the events that day, seeing the grotesque corpses of my schoolmates, on the contrary, I feel quite happy about it. Ah, good times. 

Anyway, I don't think I will be doing those kinds of things again, I am sure Liana and my new friends and family wouldn't appreciate me melting my enemies' faces off or anyone for that matter.

"Ei....Ei!....Hello? Ei-san?" Tesla said while waving her hand in front of me

"Ah, sorry Tesla, I am embroiled in my thoughts just then" I answered

"*sigh, well, it is not like you don't have a ton of information dumped on you just now, how are you feeling on that note?" Tesla asked, as we walks to the laboratory and testing grounds to test my powers. 

"I am fine, I am just glad that Liana is doing well, I am still kind of concerned about her blindness but judging from her behavior just then, she is in good spirits." I said

"Well, then what are you thinking just then?" Tesla continues, she is curious.

"Well, I don't know how to face my parents. Back in my world, I am not close to them which already means my love and attachment for them is very low from the beginning. Add the fact that I fused with my Honkai persona, further lowering any human feelings I have. As a result, I feel almost zero feelings and affection towards my father and mother. If let's say that both of them die right now, I would not feel a thing" I said

"Ok, that is DEFINITELY not normal, maybe we should also have some counseling for your EI, to help you regain some human feelings?" Tesla suggested

"Maybe, not sure if it will work though" I said as she shrugs her shoulders

"But at the room, I saw you having quite a wonderful time with this world Mei, your new sister." Tesla said

"I guess so, maybe because it is basically myself, I can kind of understand her feelings more, thus creating that connection" I said

"Well maybe we could go that route then, using Mei as an emotinal bridge to help you reclaim some human emotions" Tesla said as we enter the training grounds.

"Ok, wait here, I'll do some preperation." Tesla said as she exited the room

I wait for a while when Tesla voice comes from the intercom.

"Alright, preparations are ready, we will be giving you some simulated enemies, use your Herrscher powers to defeat them" Tesla said

"Ok" I said as I transformed into my Herrscher form and enter my stance, ready to unsheath my sword and deal with the threat in front of me. 

I defeated a couple of enemies, before the last enemy, the Judgment class Chiyou. I decided to use more power this time to deal with this beast and as I do all of a sudden a light shine on my chest where my core is, blanketing the entire room in light. When the light subsided, a figure emerged in the room.

"Kurikara?" I asked, wondering why he is here, since I couldn't connect to her previously, I thought she is not transported here. 

"My lady, I have returned" Kurikara said

"Where have you been?" I asked still quite surprised

"After you left me to talk to the Honkai god, I suddenly find myself wandering around on the sea of quanta, I tried looking for you My Lady, but there are just too many worlds and I don't know where you are. But suddenly I sense your power, I first thought it is a false alarm, but as it grows stronger and stronger, I began to think that it is you, glad I found you, My Lady, sorry for being late." Kurikara answers

"It's fine" I said, as I caress her head.

"Ei, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? You emit some sort of light and then a dragon just appeared out of nowhere, Holy Wotan, please have mercy on me, I am having a heart attack right now" Tesla screamed through the intercom.

Strange, with all the weird things she has experienced lately, like time-traveling Herrschers and such, she is this agitated in seeing a dragon like Kurikara, isn't Bella and Avrora also a dragon?

________________________________________________________________________________

Back to Liana's Ward

Liana POV

I was still on the bed, Sirin laying down beside me. Kiana and Mei are also playing around on the bed as I created some mini-lances and boxes for them to play with. At first, there is a worry that Mei will not be fine, after getting exposed to Honkai energy, but it turns out it is fine, Ei still forbids me to teleport her however. Ei and Tesla have left the room to do some testing on Ei's powers. I think Einstein is gone too, since I don't hear her talking for some time. Dad and Ryoma has gone out to have some father's talk or whatever. Mom, Durandal, and Aoi also left, mom probably going to give tips on how to handle your children turning into a Herrscher, maybe she should write a book about it, who knows, your children might be a Herrscher. I don't know why Nee-san will join but maybe she wants to spend time with mom.

Aunt Mari, Teri, Fu Hua and Bronya are still sitting on the sofa. All of them seem to be drinking something, I would guess bitter melon juice for both chibi apocalypses, tea for Fu Hua, and no idea for Bronya. 

And then the door opened and Einstein comes with some servants bringing food and snacks

"I brought you guys some snacks, and here Liana, a freshly extracted Honkai fuel rods, careful it is still glowing and some bread" Einstein said as she gave Liana a tube of Honkai rods and a pack of bread.

"Nice" I said as I open the tube and started to wrap the rods with the bread to make some sort of hotdog, or at least I think it is since I can't really see what shape it is. I started to be able to eat normal human foods again but only if there is Honkai energy in them. Einstein made for me the Honkai Automatic Infuser which ejects honkai radiation into the foods inside them. Einstein told me the shape and function are similar to a microwave, where you open the door and put your food on the tray, then close the door. Choose the infuser mode low, medium, or high where at high mode, a human hand will rot in about 15 secs, or so I have been told, not sure whose hand is sacrificed to make that claim but props to them for sacrificing their body parts for science. After that, adjust the timer to suit your taste and when the machine sounded that familiar *ting, your food has been successfully Honkai-radiated.

The machine is powered by a high-powered portable Honkai reactor that is repurposed from a Honkai bomb that Einstein found laying around in the warehouse somewhere. After some modifications on the criticality of the Honkai bomb/reactor, Einstein and co manage to create a controlled Honkai reaction where Honkai energy is generated only when needed. This eliminates the chance that the Honkai Automatic Infuser or as the scientists call it HAI machine to not experience and I quote "Unexpected Explosive Decomposition and Unregulated Honkai Radiation Distribution of epic proportions which can cause some adverse side-effects and are not recommended for unaccustomed species", not sure what that means. 

 If you guys want more details just ask Einstein about it, all I know is that this beautiful, exquisite, magic box makes your food taste better.

So yeah, the bread had been Honkai-ionized and it smells amazing.

I eat the bread and the rods and it tastes like heaven. That bread is so good, with the texture and consistency of regular bread but the tastiness and flavour of Honkai radiation. 10/10. If regular bread tasted this good, I wonder what Ei-senpai's cooking will be like.

A/N: We are talking about Ei (Mei) ok, not Ei (Raiden Shogun), cause their cooking is 180 degrees compared to each other, just wanted to point that one out in case of confusion. I don't think even an Iron-stomached, mutated, Herrscher of a Kaslana will be able to survive Ei (Raiden Shogun) atrocious cooking.

"How is it?" Einstein asked

"This is great, can you put the HAI machine here?" I said to him

"Sure thing" Einstein said as she exited the room, probably retrieving the machine.

"So, is that machine the one the radiate the food Liana?" Aunt Teri said

"Yup, it makes food tasty" I said as I wrap another rod with another bread

"Let me try it" Sirin sit up and take the wrap from me before I reacted and eat it. "*bleh, the rods taste horrible, the bread is good though"

"Sirin Nee-san, I want to try it too" Kiana tries to take the wrap as Sirin tries not to give it to her.

"Wait Kiana, this is not food for you" Mari said, a sound of footsteps is heard, probably she is rushing to my bed.

"Hmm, it tasted nice" Kiana said, as she manage to wrestle the bread out of Sirin's hand and eat it, leaving the rods behind. "Mei, here" Kiana gave Mei the bread.

"Wait, Kiana" I try to stop Kiana from sharing with Mei, if Ei-senpai knew that I let Kiana feed Mei something radiated, she will be so angry. Sadly, since I can't see where are the two troublemakers are located, my effort is basically a pointless act.

Luckily, Aunt Mari is there and snatches the bread from Kiana, stopping her exchange with Mei.

"Kiana, this is not food for you, it is dangerous" Aunt Mari scolded her

"But it is tasty, plus Sirin Nee-san and Liana Nee-san eat it" Kiana protested

"Damn, what should we do? what should I say to Cecilia? her daughter has eaten an irradiated bread" Aunt Mari with panic said

"Well judging from Kiana's condition principal, she is fine. Maybe it is due to her innate Honkai resistance or the constant close proximity with two Honkai emitting sisters, especially Liana, with her mutation" Fu Hua said

"Plausible, but we still shouldn't give her the bread" Aunt Teri said

"Ok, I agree, now, give me back my bread and rods please, I'm hungry" I said as I extend my hands

________________________________________________________________________________

Durandal, Cecilia, and Aoi are in the private high-ranking cafeteria

The cafeteria is empty as most people are still working right now.

Durandal is drinking tea, while Cecilia and Aoi are drinking water.

"So, how are you feeling?" Cecilia asked

"Well, I am still surprised that I will have a daughter that is a Herrscher" Aoi said nervously, still have not fully wrap her head around the idea of having a child that can commit genocide easily.

"I think you kind of misunderstand though Aoi, Ei is not your second daughter or anything, she is Mei." Durandal said

"*shocked, what happen to her? so that my daughter turned Herrscher?" Aoi is shocked, she initially thought that Ei is her second daughter. 

"Liana probably knows more about her than me, but based on her story, I heard that she is being bullied at school due to her father's arrest, which is your husband. I am not sure why he is arrested, but basically, she is called a criminal's daughter and the like. Since Herrschers are usually born when their host is at their most vulnerable point, one day that persona awakened and cause the third eruption, which basically renders the city of Nagazora unhabitable and flooded." Durandal explains Ei's backstory as what Liana told her.

"*sobs, I never..thought my daughter's life would be that hard in the future" Aoi sobs after listening to the conversation. Cecilia moves to be beside Aoi and hugged her to calm her down.

"Durandal, about the Herrscher, is born when their host is at their most vulnerable point, does it applies to all Herrschers?" Cecilia asked Durandal

"To my knowledge, every single Herrschers have their regrets or pain when they were still human" Durandal explained

"Does that mean Sirin also experiences pain? I know Liana basically inherited Sirin's core, and she already suffers, I can only imagine what Sirin is experiencing" Cecilia asked, in her heart, she felt afraid to know the truth, that her daughters suffered one way or the other.

"Well, you probably need to ask Liana about it since she inherited some memories of Sirin, plus I wouldn't recommend bringing the subject to Sirin, since this is a very traumatizing moment in her life. I read on a document back when I was stationed at Schicksal's HQ, and I find a disturbing experiment happening on the tower of Babylon in the year 2000. Maybe Liana has already told you the story of how Sirin becomes a Herrscher but I doubt she will give you guys the details on the suffering of the test subjects. They are torn from their families as their parents are either killed or died of something, brought to the tower to be injected with honkai energy to experiment in what they call honkai adaptability trials, basically to try and test if humans can adept to honkai energy if they are injected by it. Well safe to say, most of them died an agonizing death, and most definitely resulted in Sirin turning into a Herrscher" Durandal said "To this day, I am still burdened by my decision of continuing to work for Otto even after I read that horrifying documents."

Cecilia and Aoi are shocked. They know Schicksal isn't as clean as it is portrayed to be, but every major organization surely will have some dirt or two. But never will they imagine the brutality of the experiment that led to one of the most destructive honkai disasters since they can remember. Although the second eruption is able to be contained due to the arrival of Liana, it still causes major damage across Siberia and is still considered a disaster. Yet, Schicksal uses this disaster as a publicity stunt, in that they manage to contain the disaster, etc etc, while they themselves are the cause of it, making Cecilia's blood boil in anger.

Seeing Cecilia's angry face, Durandal broke down in tears, something that is definitely not normal for her.

"I'm sorry mom, even though I know Otto is a cruel man, committing genocide for breakfast and completely disregarding the lives of innocent people, and even his own pawns. But he is a father to me, who takes care of me when I lost my memories and teaches me skills both on and off the battlefield. Even though There...Mari was also treated that way by Otto, she decided to go against Otto after Liana turned into a Herrscher. Yet, I don't have the courage to fight him. In my heart, he is a good father who raised me with love and yet I know that he is the evilest man that I know of, I don't know what to do. Sadly, to this day, I still can't forgive myself for it" Durandal Cried. Probably due to her biological mother and her hero, Cecilia, being in front of her, the bottle-uped guilt she had, poured out. At this moment, she is not a battle-hardened S-rank Valkyrie who is calm and composed in any situation, but rather just a regular girl, a girl who lost a portion of her past, a girl who is stuck between a rock and a hard place, and a girl who is still haven't accepted her past mistakes. 

As Durandal cries, Cecilia walks toward her and hugs her.

"It's ok, it's ok, I am proud of having you as my daughter, you've done well, you've done well" Cecilia comforted Durandal as the latter hugged Cecilia closer as she continues to cry

'I am wrong, when I first thought of Durandal, she is very calm and composed, but now looking again, she is just a teenager, who is forced to grow up quickly and face the world and its cruelness. I wonder if Ei is the same? at the end of the day, even though she is a Herrscher, she is also stoic and cold, maybe deep down, she is harboring deep pain and suffering? I regret not hugging her and comforting her back then in the ward even though she is my very own girl. I am afraid of what she is and not noticing what she really are, a teenager who lost her parents and was forced to bear the struggles of becoming a Herrscher' Aoi thought to herself as she look towards the mother and daughter duo, still hugging and comforting each other. 'I need to talk to Ei'

I really don't know what will be the title of this chapter since the theme is all over the place lol.