Herrscher of Dominance in Honkai, starting with the abduction of Kiana

In her mindscape, Kiana stood alone in the darkness. The threads in her hand had completely broken. She seemed to have realized something, and desperately tried to sense her connection with Ren, but now there was only emptiness.

He's gone.

"What exactly happened?" Up until this point, Kiana still couldn't sense the outside world. The damage to her body was far more severe than she had imagined.

Looking at the Gem of Serenity, which was emitting a faint light in the darkness, this gem, which had just been healing both of them, could now only heal her body. Kiana's heart skipped a beat, and the thought of death appeared in her mind.

No, that's not possible. He's a Herrscher, how could he have died just like that?

She constantly tried to convince herself, trying to calm herself down, but her increasingly chaotic mindscape was far from peaceful, and this anxiety only intensified the Honkai erosion.

The Gem of Serenity's natural recovery could no longer keep up with the speed of the erosion. Kiana was forcefully trying to break through the restrictions of her body with her consciousness. This was extremely damaging to her in her current state.

But she didn't care about that anymore. She had to personally see what was happening.

Ren, Mei, what exactly happened after she had sent the Honkai bomb into the sky?

Just as she was trying to break through, Mei outside was facing a crisis. Numerous single-person aircraft had caught up to Taxue, and had begun their attack.

Although she had almost no strength left, Mei still took up her weapon, and attacked the approaching aircraft and the Valkyries on them.

Unfortunately, she was just an ordinary human. Without awakening as a Herrscher, she was still too weak. Her wounds gradually increased, her blood staining her clothes, and even flowing onto Taxue.

「Without strength, you cannot protect anything.」

She had heard those words more than once, and it was because of her weakness that Mei had been training so hard. But why… was she still unable to protect her?

The number of enemies kept increasing, but Mei was rapidly weakening. After a moment of distraction, a bullet had finally broken through her defenses.

Death was so close.

Just when she was about to be hit, a spatial rift swallowed up all of the bullets before sending them back in the opposite direction, hitting the Valkyries. Then a large number of Void Lances appeared, piercing the aircraft that were chasing them, destroying Schicksal's pursuit.

The crisis had been resolved. Mei breathed a sigh of relief, before feeling a sudden weight on her body. Kiana, who had just been unleashing her powers, had directly collapsed onto her. It was then that she had discovered that Kiana's body was covered in Honkai cracks.

"Kiana!" After calling out in distress, Mei quickly helped Kiana sit down.

But Kiana simply shook her head, and replied, "I can't hear anything right now. Is he still alive?"

Kiana, who had lost her five senses, had only recovered her vision. She looked around, but didn't see Ren.

Mei hadn't seen Ren, but she now understood that the one who had been able to create The Obsidian Concord, who had used himself as a distraction to help Kiana escape, should be the one in the sky.

She looked up at the sky, and Kiana followed her gaze. All she could see were the vast flames, and the small figure within.

"Flames… Gem of Haste…"

Teacher Himeko's departure was Kiana's deepest nightmare. And a large portion of her feelings for Ren were because of her guilt towards Himeko. Everything that Ren had done had filled the void that Himeko had left behind, making Kiana unconsciously overlap their two figures.

Even though she clearly understood that Ren wasn't Himeko, she still couldn't help but feel the warmth of Teacher Himeko from him.

She was hoping that, one day, she would find Himeko, and have her and Ren meet. It would be the perfect ending.

However, the appearance of the Gem of Haste had shattered everything. She had considered the possibility that Ren could have been any other Herrscher, but she never thought that he would awaken as the Herrscher of Flames.

If Ren had the Gem of Haste, then wouldn't that mean Teacher Himeko…

Her mind went blank, and the intensifying Honkai erosion made it even harder for Kiana to breathe.

She suddenly didn't know how to face Ren anymore. She was afraid that she would subconsciously think of Ren as a replacement for Himeko.

While she was in a daze, she didn't notice Taxue's whiskers twitch.

「This strike, will pierce the stars!」

In the sky above, Ren, who was holding the massive greatsword, sighed. The movements of the massive greatsword in his hand were intentionally delayed.

In an instant, golden light pierced through his body.

Seeing this, Kiana was suddenly startled awake. She didn't care about the relationship between Ren and Himeko anymore. She struggled to stand, but collapsed into Mei's arms.

"This isn't right…" Her heart was gripped tightly. The image of Himeko was still in her mind. And now, even Ren would be leaving her?

Buzz—

In the sky, golden beams of light flickered. Each strike hit Ren.

"Mei, I have to go save them… Save them." Kiana, whose consciousness was blurring, could no longer differentiate who they were. But no matter who it was, she had to save them.

However, even though she could break through the restrictions of her consciousness, her severely eroded body could no longer respond to her will.

"Kiana, calm down. They used themselves to buy your freedom. If you go back now, their sacrifice will have been meaningless." Mei's heart ached as she looked at Kiana in this state, but she now clearly understood the difference in their strength. Going back now would be like throwing herself into a net.

Bella had arrived in the distance. Taxue, carrying the two of them, finally landed on the dragon's back.

After completing her mission, the huge orange cat had turned back into Taxue, the dark cloud. Seeing Taxue like this, Kiana had finally understood the meaning of her previous dream.

The original Taxue had already died long ago. This cat was just a Honkai beast that had been born when Ren had awakened.

She tried to call Taxue back, but the cat simply glanced at her, shook its head, and flew towards Ren's location.

「Meow.」

This time, she would be taking the initiative to find her master.

It was like this again. Everyone was leaving her, and everything was returning to how it had been before.

Mei, who was beside her, didn't know how to comfort Kiana. She could only tightly embrace her.

It was good that Ren had sent Mei here. Otherwise, Kiana might have fallen.

"Mei… I can't do anything…" Kiana punched Benares on the back. She could no longer hold back her tears.

Benares, whose descent had been momentarily paused, began to rise again. And Himeko, who was covered in wounds, finally breathed a sigh of relief. She looked towards the sky, watching Kiana leave.

Then, she looked at Ren, who was also heavily injured, but was still fighting.

"Herrscher, I now recognize you."