Chapter 20 The End of an Era I

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Kevin stares into the abyss, standing on what appeared to be a platform or floor floating on the air or in this case, the sea of quanta. The sea of quanta is a peculiar place, with bubble worlds slowly moving to their ultimate demise at the hands of whoever is at the bottom of this godforsaken sea.

For years and years, he has been trapped in the sea of quanta, wandering around and unable to find his way out. He could see his goal, the huge bright yellow tree above him. Its glowing brightness illuminates the sea in shades of blue, getting darker and darker with distance from the tree.

Though the goal is in plain sight, the journey there is not without any issues. There is currently no way for Kevin to travel up there, at least not that he knows of. At first, he tries to jump between platforms, hoping that these platforms might lead him up there, like an ultra-large staircase of some sort. But, it turns out to not be the case. These platforms are erratic, no pattern could be deduced from their structures. Sometimes, at the end of a series of platforms that seemingly go up, it just stops a dead end.

Kevin realized, after multiple failed attempts, that the platform is in fact not a staircase of some sort, it is just ruins of something that coincidentally pointed up. Everything is a coincidence.

Then, he realized that sometimes, at the end of the platforms, lies a bubble universe. Behind it, was another platform going up, and the only way through is to go into the bubble. He decided to try and enter the universe in hopes of exiting somewhere near the other platform. Sadly, as soon as he enters the universe, the tree disappears. He doesn't know where he was going relative to the tree and can only take his best guess. Sometimes, he exits into a platform bearing no similarities to what he saw prior to his entry into the bubble. Sometimes, he enters another bubble universe with an even less sense of direction. On the unlucky times, he exits into nothing and falls back down to a platform far below the bubble, erasing his gain for god knows how long.

It has been years and years, but still, he keeps on going through worlds and across platforms to reach that elusive goal of reaching the tree, but so far he is unsuccessful.

'How many years has it been since I am trapped here?' Kevin asked himself that question time and time again. Completely lost his sense of time in this endless journey to reach that tree. He sighed, knowing he himself cannot answer that question.

But, in the distance, suddenly a bright flash of light emerge from the tree. Even though normally, the tree glows in golden light, this light is even brighter than that.

'That never happened before' Kevin thought to himself, looking at the light.

Kevin decided to not look at the light and moved on to continue his journey as he feels that the light means nothing to him other than extra illumination.

After jumping into this platform, he looked at the end and find a bubble world and beyond that, a platform heading up.

'Guess I need to try my luck on this world'

He jumps and enters the world, fully knowing that when he exits, it is a gamble with an almost guaranteed loss on his side as time and time again has shown him.

But this time there is a difference. The bright light is still visible to him. He can see it clearly and in a split second, he knew that is where the tree was. That light grants him the ability to move with regard to the tree, like a north star. After using his brain and planning where he should go, he exited on the platform he saw earlier heading up.

That star is the key for Kevin to finish this journey and he knows it. He immediately move with haste to the next world, and then the next, and then the next, and so on, until he finally reached the last platform before the roots of the tree. But, there is a problem. The roots are so far away that he can't jump to them.

As he is figuring out what he should do next, platforms started materializing in front of him, a staircase directly to the shining light that has guided him through the world. He decided to follow that staircase.

As he gets nearer and nearer to the light, he started to feel warm. This warmth is familiar somehow, like a hug from a person he lost a long time ago, his sister Liana.

'I must have missed her to suddenly think of her right now' Kevin thought. At that time, Kevin knows that there is nothing else he could do, but still feels guilty for his sister. Even after thousands of years, he still can't forget the day that both of his most important people died, the day that marks the end of an era.

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Liana keeps getting more visions after the reunion. The vision of her recovering from the death of Himeko as a Herrscher. The vision of playing and training with Rin and Sakura. The vision of a grueling battle against the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Herrscher where they lost almost all hope with only a handful of cities as their last bastion.

All of this is already apocalyptic enough but it seems that the honkai is not finished yet.

Today Liana sees another vision.

***

"What do you mean the 12th Herrscher is hacking our system? Rin is safe and secure" Liana shouts at her older brother Kevin through the glaring alarm sounds.

"Liana, the soldiers guarding her disobey Mei's order and kills her. It seems that due to that, the Herrscher awakened" Kevin answered with guilt.

"No...NO NO NO! this can't be happening, you tell me Rin is killed?" Liana couldn't believe her ears. She has seen Rin as her own sister after playing around with her and her sister Sakura after they both finished their training or have some free time.

"It happened after you left and a new shift of guards arrived. The soldiers are a bit drunk, presumably from victory parties for the battle against the 11th Herrscher, and decided to kill Rin to remove the threat of the 12th Herrscher awakening, clearly violating Mei's order." Kevin tries to explain to his sister, knowing full well how his sister feels for Rin and how angry it will make her.

"You are saying, a couple of dumb, drunk, motherfu**ers killed my sister?" Sakura, who lacks the usual calmness that she had, suddenly appeared behind them, apparently overhearing their conversation and justifiably pissed at the guards who has done the deed.

"Not necessarily dumb like Liana, but yes they did" Kevin smiles and make a joke about Liana's intelligence level to try to lighten up the situation. Usually, this will rile up Liana and in return call him an idiot and they will laugh at each other. Sadly, that is not the case today.

Liana falls to her knees, as tears flow from her eyes. Kevin looked at her in shock, and immediately hug her to comfort her. Sakura, who is still standing, immediately runs toward Rin's containment room.

"Wait Sakura, don't go there, you will get killed." Kevin shouted at her. But Sakura didn't listen and continued descending the stairs.

"Liana, go to the safe room on the surface, I will go and follow Sakura" Kevin said to Liana, ushering her to ascend the stairs.

"NO!!, I will also go down" Liana stands and tried to run down but was stopped by Kevin hugging her.

"Liana, my dear sister, please... do it for your brother, go to the safe room and stay safe with the others, I cannot lose you. That Herrscher is dangerous, and you are not strong enough to fight it after your injuries fighting the 11th. I will do all I could to try and save Rin, but if all else failed, I'll make sure to give her a swift end." Kevin begged Liana as he hugs Liana tightly. "I will also make sure that Sakura doesn't get herself killed"

Liana, listening to her brother's desperate plea for her to head to safety, agrees. He should be able to do that since he is her brother right? the strongest and best brother in the world. So she breaks from the hug and heads upstairs to the safe room while Kevin follows Sakura, heading towards the 33rd floor of the underground base.

Kevin side

'Damn, the ambient honkai energy is so high here' Kevin thought to himself as he reach the 33rd floor.

Even if he is highly resistant to honkai energy, the high concentration in the area causes him to feel discomfort in his skin. Dark Miasma is spotted spreading across the floor heading towards air exhaust and intake and disappearing through the vents.

'Too late, the Herrscher has escaped through the vents. I must notify them about it'

After killing a few zombies, Kevin takes his communicator and tells Mei, the operation coordinator, about it. Mei decided to lure the Herrsher with a black box that could contain it. Hua decided to use FengHuang Down to protect the humans inside the base from the Herrscher and decided to go to the 33rd floor and meet up with Kevin.

After finishing his conversation with the communicator, he searched the area for Sakura. The area is dark so finding her will be difficult. After a couple of turns through the hallway, a light at one of the containment rooms is still on, flickering, and just across the room at the wall, Sakura sits, leaning on the wall with blood pooling around her and a hand in her stomach.

"Sakura, stay with me, I'll get you to safety." Kevin runs toward Sakura who is breathing heavily. As he move closer, he saw the extent of Sakura's injuries and was amazed by how she is still breathing. Her limbs are red, and a gash on her forehead caused half her face to be covered in blood. But the most insane thing is the giant hole in her stomach and chest, at where what should be her heart. Seeing that, he knew, that his pink-haired comrade is on her last leg and that at any moment now, she will breathe her last breath and succumb to her injuries. There is nothing he or anyone could do to save her. All he could do now is give the girl a parting hug to make sure she passed peacefully.

"K...evin" Sakura calls to Kevin

"Sakura, it's ok my friend, we will take care of the 12th, so rest assured" Kevin said as he hug her not caring about the blood dirtying his full body suit.

"I...am...Sorry, I should...have......*groan...listen to...you" Sakura said

"It's ok Sakura, you've done well, no need to be sorry, you just want to go see your sister, I would do the same if it were to happen to Liana" Kevin said, as he stroke her head.

Sakura smiles as death slowly grips her and will soon consume her.

"Tha..nks...Take..care..Kevin.......Good..............luck" Sakura said with her last breath before closing her eyes for the final time with a smile on her face, seemingly enjoying her last moment of life.

Kevin slowly releases the hug as he looked at the now breathless body of his comrade and sighed.

"I bid you farewell Sakura, we will fight the 12th Herrscher and save humanity from the honkai like what we vision from the start, rest well" Kevin stands and heads to the stairs meeting eyes with Hua who has a defeated look on her face.

"So Sakura died huh?" Hua said

"Yes, let's go to the upper levels and try to kill the Herrscher" Kevin tries to run to the stairs when Hua sits and leans on the wall

"It's over Kevin, Dr. Mei has managed to capture the Herrscher in the black box, you must have not heard the comms" Hua said dejectedly

"Oh, it's over?" Kevin said "Why are you so sad then?"

"Just before the Herrscher is captured, it hacked the computer and launch all our missiles at the remaining cities of humanities, sadly there is nothing we could do but watch as the weapons meant to protect us, kills us too." Hua said before hitting the wall with his fist "I should have locked the computer and not let the Herrscher hack into it"

"*sigh, then we lost huh?" Kevin sighed as he lean on the wall next to Hua. "We still have some soldiers and civilians living on Fire Moth base, maybe we could rebuild civilization from them"

"I hope you are right Kevin" Hua said as she stands up

Suddenly the ground trembles and move like an earthquake had hit the base

"Let's go to the surface to check on Mei and the rest" Kevin said after the trembling stops and runs to the stairs along with Hua while carrying Sakura's body.

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Liana's sideRewind time a bit

As Liana makes her way to the surface, she is greeted by soldiers running around everywhere carrying the wounded, some are already showing signs of Honkai sickness.

Liana moves towards the safe room and finds that it has been converted into a hospital with doctors and soldiers alike flowing in and out trying to save the lives of those who are wounded.

It is a scene that is all familiar to her by this point. Fighting battle after battle against the tide of Honkai and their heralds, Herrschers, she has grown accustomed to battle casualties and screams of pain from the wounded. She herself has been on one of those stretchers after the fight with the 11th Herrscher where she is still recovering from the injuries.

Because of that injury, she knows that her brother is right in sending her to the surface, otherwise, she wouldn't agree to it, but a part of her also hates her for agreeing. All she could do now is hope that nothing goes wrong and Rin by some miracle could return to her sense.

A soldier, emerging from the stairs near her shout

"The Herrscher has been subdued"

Cheers from the rest of the people on the surface with people hi-fiving and hugging each other.

"Who took it down?" One of the soldier asked

"The people said that the Flamechaser Kevin and Sakura head down to the 33rd floor, it should be them who took down the Herrscher"

Cheers erupted again

"Let's have a party with them after this, they are heroes" another soldier said

"About that, the latest news I got is that they are dead, sacrificed themselves to kill the Herrscher"

'No, this can't be happening, not my brother' Liana thought to herself 'No, they must have reported wrong, there is no way he would die, he is strong and able to single-handedly deal with a Herrscher, add Sakura in the mix and they should be unbeatable. No, he can't die, he can't die, he can't, he just can't die, HE CAN'T DIE........He can't....He can't leave me alone....'

Liana drops to her knees. Logically she should have reconfirmed the information, it is normal for incomplete information to be delivered when the situation is in chaos. She should have just gone down and found Mei and asked her. But Liana is not in the best mental state right now and can't think rationally. The injuries and mild pain she had already caused some of her rationality to go away, add the fact that her Rin is killed in such a stupid, avoidable way and the subsequent Herrscher awakening has made her mental capacity at critical levels. The supposed news of her brother's and friend's death caused her to have a mental breakdown causing no rational and logical thinking to occur in her brain.

Liana didn't know how she got to where she stood but when she come to, she is surrounded by desert sand with no sight of the base. She ran out from the base in a trance before her legs gave up somewhere in the deserts surrounding the base. As she kneels on the sand, tears flow from her eyes.

"It's my fault right?" Asking no one but herself

"Himeko shouldn't have turned into a Herrscher if I were able to help resolve her issue, Rin shouldn't have died if I just stayed a little longer and maybe sleep with her even if we are separated by a glass window, Sakura shouldn't have died if I were able to save Rin before she is killed in a stupid way, and my brother, my beloved brother, shouldn't have died if I don't have these stupid injuries and able to help him." Liana punches the sand over and over in frustration.

"All of Himeko's teachings, all of the training I had with Sakura, all of the tips from brother, are all wasted on me, a useless piece of shit who can't do anything when they needed me" Her eyes filled with rage and hatred, hatred towards herself.

"I should have died back then on the train crash, at least I don't waste anyone's time raising me only for me to become a stupid disappointment. I should have stayed safe inside the HQ instead of forcing them to let me join a squad to fight the Honkai, cause I am a stupid, spoilt brat who feels the need to save the day somehow. " Liana keeps punching the sand over and over again. Her hands' skin started to flake off as blood starts dripping from her wound due to the abrasive nature of the sand.

Unbeknownst to her, her irises slowly turn from blue into gold, and as her irises turned gold completely, it glows and glows and that glow continue to grow brighter, threatening to swallow Liana in its brightness.

"uaaaAHGHGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Liana screamed at the top of her lungs becoming higher and higher pitched as the shockwave rippled through the air, blowing sand and rocks away at tremendous speed. Suddenly about 1/10th of a second after the initial shockwave, a burst of Honkai energy, greater than any other discharge recorded, exploded from her in all directions. A huge pink sphere rapidly expands engulfing anything in its path not yet disintegrated by the preceding shockwave.

And at the center stood, with her purple dress, orange markings, and golden eyes, the strongest Herrscher ever documented, the one who we now called the [Herrscher of the End]

***

Liana looked at the vision in shock. The Herrscher of the End? the one who is only eclipsed by the will of the honkai itself? And that person is me?

Teri had told me back then when I asked how many Herrschers are there and she answered 12. There is no mention of the Herrscher of the End anywhere as far as I remember, and yet why do I know about it and know that it has more power than any of the Herrschers combined?

Why did I know all these? who am I?

The second part of the vision will be in the next chapter. I am sure that you all already guessed that Liana is HOTE but if you didn't then tada~~. The reason I said that Theresa only said 12 is that the current era doesn't have all the documents from the previous era and about the 14th Herrscher that Dr. Mei predicted to have decisively ended the era. But correct me if I'm wrong, but judging from the number of casualties, aren't the 11th and 12th much deadlier than the 14th? they kill a lot of humans while HOTE just finishes the stranglers. Might be wrong.