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

BOOM!

One after another, mountain peaks crumbled. The sounds of collapsing rock echoed throughout the mindscape. The once towering and imposing Mount Taixu was now riddled with holes from the battle, leaving only the giant swords embedded in its summit as silent spectators.

"Why?! Why?!" Senti's furious howls mingled with the sounds of shattering rock.

She was no longer the confident figure from before, consumed now by unbridled rage. Her ornate clothing was covered in dust, and closer inspection revealed large scorched patches.

"You're the ones who should be losing!" Senti glared at the airborne Kiana, crimson light practically spilling from her eyes.

Kiana shifted her trajectory, smoothly avoiding a stone pillar dozens of meters thick. Senti, heedless, slammed straight into it.

Fresh wounds opened on her forehead, hot blood trickling down her cheeks. But the pain did nothing to quench the fire burning within her.

From initial confidence to current, impotent fury, no one knew the frustration Senti had experienced in the past ten minutes within the mindscape.

She had thought she could easily defeat Kiana, and the initial stages of the fight had gone as planned, completely overwhelming her opponent. She had Kiana on the ropes, but somehow, Kiana always managed to get back up, becoming stronger each time.

Losing to Ren, a stranger, would be one thing. But to be surpassed by the sleepyhead who dozed through class… that was unacceptable.

The truth was, she was afraid—afraid of losing even her last shred of pride, afraid of failing at the very thing a Herrscher was most confident in: combat.

Why?

Why, even after abandoning Fu Hua's identity, was this the outcome?

Wasn't she just like Fu Hua in the past?

"I'm not a loser! I'm not!"

Senti didn't know how many times she had screamed those words. She only remembered her throat growing hoarse, the fiery glow surrounding the girl before her intensifying, while she herself, having embraced the Honkai, sank deeper into darkness.

With reckless abandon, the distance between them rapidly closed. However, compared to the frantic Senti, Kiana seemed far more composed.

"Whether you're a loser or not has nothing to do with me. Get out of Class Monitor's body!" Dodging the flying swords Senti conjured, Kiana traced an arc in the air, flames erupting from her Domain of Incandescence.

Despite her outward composure, Kiana's strength was waning, even with Fu Hua acting as a power source. The Herrscher of Sentience wasn't easy to deal with. The Domain of Incandescence could only wound her, not secure victory.

Both of them knew they needed a decisive, all-out clash.

"Kiana, there's no need to fight her head-on. The Herrscher of Sentience's emotions are unstable. The illusion might collapse on its own soon." Fu Hua's voice echoed in Kiana's mind through their connection, urging caution.

A direct confrontation in the mindscape was risky. Even if Kiana won, she would need a long time to recover. In truth, Fu Hua knew better than anyone that even if Senti suffered a mental breakdown, it would only result in a Herrscher completely controlled by the Honkai.

A Herrscher with its own consciousness was manageable. A mindless weapon of the Honkai was not.

She spoke up because she was worried Kiana would act impulsively and risk everything in a final clash.

In fact, she had anticipated this and was already prepared to sacrifice herself to take down the Herrscher.

Since Senti was using her body, if Fu Hua could bind the Herrscher with her own consciousness and then self-destruct, all problems would be solved.

This was the resolve Fu Hua had developed over fifty millennia. She was happy that Kiana had grown so strong. The Fu Hua of the past could do nothing, but this time, she wanted to protect her friend.

That was why she had revealed everything about Ren in the simulated space. She feared that if she died, Kiana would remain in the dark.

"Is that so?" Kiana could sense the Herrscher of Sentience's emotional instability, but she didn't understand the extent of her madness. She was skeptical of Fu Hua's words.

She could feel Fu Hua's emotional fluctuations as she spoke. She knew Fu Hua wasn't good at lying, so something was definitely wrong.

But lacking crucial information, Kiana couldn't piece everything together in such a short time. She could only rely on her gut feeling and stall for time.

"Just… a little longer…"

A little longer, and Fu Hua would complete the connection between the Fenghuang Down and her body, merging her consciousness with the mindscape and dragging Senti into oblivion with her.

To conceal her intentions, she initiated a conversation with Kiana.

"You said you cared about Ren, right? Do you understand him better now?"

"Yeah." Kiana didn't understand why Fu Hua suddenly brought this up, but she still had enough leeway in her fight against Senti to talk. "I overlooked a lot about him before. I thought he was always cheerful and optimistic. After experiencing everything in the memory space, I realized he's much more fragile than I thought."

"He gets angry, he gets sad… If I hadn't realized it in time, maybe he would have drifted further and further away from me, eventually succumbing to the Honkai like in the dream."

"Is that so? That's good." Fu Hua's voice weakened. "I'm glad you found a lifelong companion, unlike me…"

"Class Monitor, what are you talking about? Didn't I just wake you up? Once we deal with the Herrscher of Sentience, I'll definitely bring you back safe and sound! And if you're talking about the past, don't worry about it. I wasn't mature enough back then. Now I have the strength to fight Schicksal. You just need to teach me more moves, like back at St. Freya."

Kiana felt a growing unease, but couldn't pinpoint the source. Then, suddenly, everything in the mindscape froze. The mountains and clouds vanished, leaving only a pure white void.

Senti paused, confused. Consumed by the Honkai, she couldn't perceive the changes in her own domain. She only noticed the disappearance of the obstacles Kiana had been dodging, and the overwhelming Honkai energy within her urged her to kill.

"It's over, Kiana."

"I… won't lose!"

Deep purple Honkai energy surged from Senti, whipping her loose hair around her in the white void. A brilliant spot of light pulsed at her forehead, carrying her madness-fueled will.

Space itself trembled. Even Fu Hua, having merged her consciousness with the mindscape, couldn't stop Senti's final, desperate attack.

"Taixu Sword God!"