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

At some point, the snow had begun to fall more heavily.

"Let's go home," Kiana said, a smile on her face as she carefully placed the snow globe in its box and returned to Ren's side.

"Okay."

They walked side-by-side down the street, the surrounding crowds fading into the background, as if the entire city existed only for them.

Looking at the girl beside him, Ren felt his heart quicken inexplicably. A thought flickered through his mind: If only we could stay here like this forever…

But the moment the thought surfaced, a sharp pain erupted in his head, his vision blurring, as if something within his mind had been torn apart.

Ren clutched his forehead, gasping for breath.

"What's happening?"

The sudden pain made it difficult to breathe. He struggled to look at Kiana, but the girl seemed completely unaware of his distress, walking peacefully beside him.

The snow fell harder, the swirling flakes obscuring his vision, blurring Kiana's features. A thick fog rolled in, muting all colors, turning the world into a monochrome photograph.

Gradually, the entire street was swallowed by the fog. The surrounding buildings, the girl beside him—everything vanished. He was alone, abandoned in this empty space.

The pain in his head intensified, as if a thousand thoughts were battering his consciousness, leaving his mind vulnerable.

Whispers echoed in his mind, a cacophony of voices, too faint to understand. Whenever he strained to hear them, they vanished.

He looked around, and in the swirling fog, shadowy figures writhed and twisted, their movements unnatural. The eerie clicking of wooden puppets echoed in his ears, amplifying his confusion.

"Ren?"

Suddenly, the chaotic noise ceased, and Ren felt like a drowning man gasping for air, jolted back to awareness. His vision cleared, and Kiana was looking at him with concern.

The passersby remained oblivious, the cheerful Christmas carols floating through the air, creating a relaxed atmosphere.

"You suddenly froze. Are you feeling unwell?" Kiana asked, concerned.

Ren rubbed his temples, wondering if he had hallucinated. He exhaled slowly, calming himself. "I'm fine."

For some reason, he felt like he was missing a part of his memory, but when he tried to recall it, nothing seemed amiss. He remembered meeting Kiana in the snow more than ten days ago, the burning cabin, every moment they had spent together.

However, he didn't notice the Obsidian Concord brand on his chest dimming. It was a failsafe he had put in place before entering the illusion, a way to pull himself back to reality if he became too deeply immersed.

Ren remembered everything clearly, yet he subconsciously avoided recalling how he had entered the illusion.

For him, Kiana was the perfect dream. Being with her blurred the lines between reality and illusion, and just now, the thought of staying in this dream with her forever had crossed his mind…

"You don't look fine." Although Ren seemed composed, Kiana, knowing him well, was still worried. She insisted on ending their outing, wanting to return to the safety of their apartment.

As the countdown to the illusion's end drew closer, the enemy attacks had become more frequent. However, strangely, they didn't encounter any pursuers on their way back.

They reached their apartment building without incident. Just as Ren was about to insert the key into the lock, a sharp surge of anxiety gripped him. He didn't hesitate, grabbing Kiana and crashing through the hallway window.

The next instant, a deafening explosion ripped through the apartment door, shattering everything in its path. The force of the blast sent Ren flying, shards of glass from the broken window embedding themselves in his back.

Thanks to Ren's instinctive protection, Kiana was unharmed, but seeing him covered in blood, a golden light flickered in her eyes.

As they fell, she broke free from Ren's grasp, using her own body to cushion his impact. Fortunately, the snowdrift below was deep enough to soften their landing.

Their safehouse was now engulfed in flames. The enemy must have found it shortly after they left.

"We need to go. With an explosion that loud, they'll know we're back," Ren said, his mind instantly shifting from peaceful domesticity to combat mode. He calmly removed the glass shards from his back, his expression unreadable.

Ren's maxed-out stealth skills had allowed them to avoid detection on their way back, but the triggered trap would undoubtedly alert their enemies.

As expected, barely two seconds after the explosion, numerous Men in Black, armed with weapons, emerged from the surrounding buildings. The moment they spotted Ren, a hail of bullets rained down upon them.

The snow kicked up by the bullets provided a momentary screen. Kiana, moving swiftly, rolled away with Ren, then leaped through a second-story window of a nearby building.

"Southwest district," Ren instructed calmly. They hadn't been idle during their days of rest. He had memorized the entire map of Berlin and had several backup safehouses planned. They wouldn't last long, but any buffer was welcome.

The cheerful Christmas atmosphere instantly turned into a scene from a horror movie, the gunshots sending pedestrians screaming and scattering in panic. Ren and Kiana took advantage of the chaos, blending into the fleeing crowd.

However, they were forced to stop as they reached the edge of the district. The enemy was clearly prepared this time. Not only were the family's forces involved, but even the Berlin police had set up checkpoints, questioning everyone who passed.

Officially, it was to ensure public safety during the Christmas celebrations, but everyone knew their true purpose was to apprehend Ren.

Escape, checkpoints—Ren felt a strange sense of déjà vu. He and Kiana had experienced something similar before, but why were they running back then?

As his consciousness gradually merged with the 300,000 wills within the Herrscher of Reason core, his memories of reality became hazy, but this didn't affect his actions.

He grabbed a shovel from a nearby street vendor, smashing the window of a parked car. Ignoring the stunned car owner, he pulled him out of the vehicle and got behind the wheel.

The controls of the old car were complex, but Ren's driving skills were more than adequate. Within seconds, he had mastered them.

"Let's go," he called out to Kiana, who was standing by the roadside.

…

"Stop!" The street leading out of the district was blocked by a police barricade. The officers, seeing the car speeding towards them, shouted a warning.

But the car showed no sign of slowing down, its speed increasing.

Realizing something was wrong, the officers opened fire, bullets shattering the windshield, hitting the driver's seat.

But they didn't know that there was no one in the driver's seat, only a shovel Ren had used to jam the accelerator.

Boom!

The speeding car slammed into the barricade, exploding in a fiery blast, igniting the police car blocking the road.

The Men in Black quickly arrived at the scene, but aside from the panicked police officers, there was no trace of Ren.