Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

"Far... far away..."

Even without looking back, Michael could feel the light and warmth of civilization gradually moving away from him.

Finally, on a hilltop overlooking the magnificent lights of Vostok City, he stopped.

Strands of Honkai energy scattered in the air flowed into his body, solidified in his chest, and gradually hardened, but strangely emitted a blue light.

Behind him, the excess Honkai energy dispersed into the earth, into the bodies of various creatures, creating countless Honkai beasts.

He turned his head, his eyes no longer carrying any emotional color.

He looked at the sparse lights behind him, then at the dazzling neon lights in front of him. With a wave of his hand, countless Honkai beasts began to run wildly in the darkness, making dull, thunderous sounds.

"Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!"

"Hello! This is Team One, Captain Ato speaking."

"Ato! Where are you now?"

"Reporting to headquarters, we have left Vostok-51 and are currently at an abandoned base in the suburbs of Vostok City."

A chaotic sound came from the other end of the walkie-talkie. After a short while, a female voice that sent shivers down your spine came through: "Ato, the Honkai energy readings near you are rising rapidly. The level has exceeded 1000 HW and is still climbing... the anomaly we detected earlier was not a false alarm."

"This... this..." Even though he considered himself a battle-hardened veteran, Ato almost dropped the walkie-talkie when he heard the news.

As a special task force directly under the United Government, their mission had always been to fight against the Honkai—a disaster that followed the development of civilization—and to disguise the damage it caused as accidents.

But so far... no, before this time, the strongest Honkai energy reaction he had encountered was just over 100 HW, and the disaster caused by that Honkai had required two teams like theirs, plus a mecha team and a flying squadron to quell.

So what would be born from a Honkai energy reaction of 1000 HW?

"Captain Ato, Captain Ato!" The original male voice came from the walkie-talkie again.

"We've detected a large number of Honkai beasts approaching Vostok. Also, the Honkai energy is accumulating on the mountain to the northwest, and the reaction intensity... has reached one thousand four, one thousand five... it's approaching 2000 HW!"

Ato took a deep breath, counted the few remaining bullets, and began to put on his exoskeleton armor.

Because they were using a public channel, all members of the team understood the situation they were in and began to prepare for battle.

"Headquarters, what is our mission?"

"As the outermost defense line of Vostok, block the Honkai beasts. Vostok City has been placed under martial law under the guise of a military exercise. You only need to hold out for ten minutes. After ten minutes, flying squadrons from Shenzhou and the Far East will arrive on the battlefield. Within half an hour, the mecha units will arrive."

"Huff..." Ato exhaled softly and then cut off the connection with headquarters.

"Did everyone hear that! Move it! While the Honkai beasts haven't arrived, search the base for ammunition!"

And at this time, Michael... no, now the First Herrscher, his small figure still stood on the top of the mountain.

Dozens of seconds later, gunfire erupted on the edge of the distant lights, bullets drawing straight lines in the darkness. Countless Honkai beasts fell, and countless more followed.

But even when there were no more Honkai beasts around him, the First Herrscher still didn't move.

He seemed to be waiting for something.

As an apostle of a god descending to the human world, he should not and could not have human emotions.

So he didn't understand this waiting, nor did he understand why he was waiting.

Just like he didn't understand why this body, even after being completely taken over by him, even after the soul of this body was directly erased by a higher being, still hadn't let go of the cake in his hand.

Shush shush, light footsteps sounded behind him.

"Mi... Michael?" The First Herrscher didn't know the meaning of the name Michael.

But he felt a familiar aura from the person.

He turned around. It turned out that the one who had been quietly following him was a beautiful girl with pink hair.

"What happened to you?"

The girl's voice was scattered by the wind.

She seemed a little excited, and a little wary.

"How did your hair get so long? Oh dear, your eyes are red too."

"What, could it be that you're so heartbroken to hear that I'm leaving?"

"If it's too much, how about we leave together?"

The First Herrscher remained silent.

He wasn't mute, but the girl in front of him, the girl who was also an apostle of a god like him...

Why... did she seem to... have human emotions?

The girl kept chattering on about things the First Herrscher couldn't understand, while slowly approaching him.

The First Herrscher, thinking he had met a kindred spirit, didn't feel threatened.

"Oh! This cake... is it for me?"

The girl happily took the cake box he was holding.

"You really understand a girl's heart! A beautiful girl, of course, should be paired with a sweet cake... giggle!"

The moment the giggle ended, a dagger slipped out of the girl's sleeve, stabbing straight at the First Herrscher's heart.

Clang, the dagger suddenly hit an obstacle, bending to almost a ninety-degree angle, and then snapped with a bang.

Between the broken dagger and the First Herrscher's chest, a steel plate had appeared out of nowhere.

This was the power of the Herrscher of Reason.

Despite being a messenger of the Honkai that destroyed civilizations, he had to rely on the power of civilization to fight.

Elysia failed in her first attack, but she didn't retreat. Instead, she threw a surprise left hook, hitting the First Herrscher hard in the face.

"You! Give me back Michael!"

"Give me back Michael!"

"Michael!"

"Give!"

"Me!"

Elysia's shouts entered the First Herrscher's mind, like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, instantly creating ripples.

"Elysia!"

Michael suddenly opened his eyes.

What he saw was a chaos, with no light and no darkness.

"Elysia!"

The fragmented memories began to shine, and the familiar voice rang in his ears:

"Travelers, your path will continue..."

"Go and create what we failed to greet..."

"The future!"

And then there was light, and then there was darkness, and then time began to flow, and then Michael saw his own world of consciousness.

His original position had been replaced by an indescribable mist.

And at the foot of that mist was the corpse of a child identical to him... no, identical to that child named Michael.

He understood instantly.

His takeover hadn't caused the consciousness of the child named Michael to dissipate, but rather to fall into a slumber.

And while the Honkai had shaped the Herrscher, it had erased the consciousness of the child Michael, but it hadn't expected there to be a third consciousness in this body.

"In that case..."

Michael walked step by step towards the mist.

"This is the Herrscher's consciousness, right?"

"Since... since I can appear before her... how could I be content to be just a witness again!"

Outside of consciousness, Elysia and the First Herrscher's figures were entangled together.

The First Herrscher could freely manipulate Honkai energy, and so could Elysia.

Therefore, even though it looked like a child's fight, every exchange of fists and feet was enough to instantly paralyze an adult.

The First Herrscher shouldn't have been fighting in this way.

His power should have been analysis-construction.

But after all, he was a newly born consciousness, and he didn't know how to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses. He was quickly drawn into a fistfight.

"Uh... uh?"

The First Herrscher's movements suddenly stopped. The next moment, before Elysia's fist could reach him, he suddenly slapped himself in the face.

Then, the First Herrscher's left hand and right hand started fighting, followed by his left foot and right foot.

Until the roar of warplanes came from the sky, and countless bombs fell into the Honkai beast horde, creating a bloody storm and turning the night into daylight.

The First Herrscher collapsed, not moving.

No matter how strong he was, he was just a newly born consciousness. How could he be a match for "Michael"?

"Mi... Michael? Is that you? Are you back?"

This was the first sentence he heard when his consciousness returned to his body.

And it was also the heavenly sound that supported him through the long years that followed.

The warplanes dropped bombs towards the hilltop, the tail fins of the bombs rubbing against the air, making a piercing whistling sound.

"Elysia, I'm back."

Amidst the flames of the explosion, Michael announced his return to Elysia.

But the flames of the explosion didn't reach the eyes of the two children.

At his chest, the blue Herrscher core finally formed, the gear-like pupils rotated, and the spherical barrier gradually solidified into a physical entity, isolating all the shrapnel and flames.

This was the first time Michael felt so truly present in this world.

Because he was no longer a witness.

But rather... someone who had truly stepped into the river of fate.