Chapter Text
The air smelled of spilled blood.
Sakura's eyes widened. The sight burned a mark in her memories.
The cuts and wounds testified the final moments of despair and terror of the young girl. Who would do such a diabolical thing?
But it no longer mattered. Nothing was left in this place except for evidence of malice.
Tap, tap...
Footsteps approached. Monsters lurking in the dark stalked their prey...
But Sakura could no longer feel the world around her, slumped down in horror next to the corpse of her sister.
"Rin... If only... If only I was a bit faster..."
The zombies neared Sakura as she remained in the jaws of paralyzing horror.
But just as she was about to be ambushed, raging flames came swirling in, reducing every zombie to dust that scattered in the air.
A silver-haired warrior stood in the heart of the firestorm. Having defeated every zombie, he extinguished the firestorm.
"Sakura," He said, approaching the girl.
She did not answer.
Like her deceased sister, Sakura's heart was swallowed by the abyss.
Shock, denial, rage, or tears... the silver-haired warrior thought of a million possibilities. But Sakura simply sat there, drowning in the nightmare of her reality and refusing to wake.
The warrior shook his head and connected to the comm channels.
"Mei, this is Kevin. The zombies at 33F have been neutralized."
"Good job," a voice came from the other end of the communication device. "We have purged the zombies from all other levels as well. Did you detect anything from the Herrscher host?"
"Nothing," Kevin replied.
"I won't call off the alarm yet. Stay alert. Reinforcements are on their way."
"Roger that."
Kevin turned back to face Sakura, still unresponsive.
"The power of the 12th manifested in the form of an airborne contagion," he tried to explain. "A group of soldiers went against orders and murdered her, which therefore activated her Herrscher powers. She was the cause of the zombie outbreak. You were wrong. Rin turned out to be an actual Herrscher. You'll be held responsible for the break-in."
No response.
"Even if we stopped the soldiers, something else would have eventually brought her to the breaking point. Her fate was sealed the moment the Honkai made her its Herrscher. This is the enemy we fight. This is the Honkai."
Anger flashed in Kevin's eyes. The MANTIS clenched his fist tightly. He tried to speak calmly, but his quaking body betrayed his pain and fury.
It was the exact opposite of what Sakura needed to hear. She remained motionless, entirely disconnected from reality.
Suddenly, Kevin's communications device rang.
"Kevin... Kevin, can you hear me?" The voice said urgently. "Bad news. The Herrscher survived."
The voice from his communications made their way to Sakura's ears, stirring her from her waking nightmare.
"What?" Kevin exclaimed.
"The base system was attacked by an unknown virus. Our defense programs are down," the communication continued. "Every facility and mech is under its control. It's now breaking into the launch system of our missile silos."
"Hold on," Kevin said, "I'll be right with you!"
"The 12th Herrscher... Is a sentient virus... the true form... Herrscher of Corruption-"
The channel cut out.
"Comm system is down!" Kevin exclaimed. "Sakura, get somewhere safe! The Herrscher is still on the attack!"
"Rin... is she still alive?" Sakura asked, her voice freezing the air.
It took a moment for Kevin to register that she had stood up, gazing at Kevin with her vacant eyes.
"Kevin, where is she?" She continued.
"Sakura, what are you trying to do?" Kevin questioned.
It was all too easy to assume she was going to attempt something rash.
"I'm going to find her," she replied.
"You're out of your mind!" Kevin snapped. "It isn't Rin anymore!"
"This is why I must go. Don't stop me. Rin must be very lonely right now. She fears being alone... She needs me."
Sirens, gunfire, and explosions created a cacophony. It was obvious this was a one way trip for Sakura.
"Stop this!" Kevin pleaded. "Rin is already dead!"
Sakura stared blankly at Kevin.
"Please stop, Sakura!"
"I'm sorry..."
She drew her blade, freezing space and time with Setsuna. She granted herself a few seconds of serenity. She was the only one who could move freely in this world without light. She chose to stride towards the abyss.
"One of my mechs caught Sakura heading to 33F. She's gonna try to break her sister out."
Eden read Vill-V's message in shock. She read it again as she fully processed the recklessness of Sakura's decision, and again as she processed why Vill-V would share something that clearly should be classified.
Oh, dear Sakura, she thought, why must you insist on shouldering all of your burdens on your own?
She briefly considered a response, but realized there was something far more urgent.
I have to help Sakura.
She mentally charted the quickest route to 33F. She knew that her actions would amount to treason, assisting a rogue agent in freeing a dormant Herrscher. Her grand fortune hardly meant anything anymore as the world approached the abyss, so she couldn't bribe her way out of it this time. And MANTISes who betrayed MOTH never escaped with just a discharge.
Yet, her resolve did not even flicker. She could not let her sweetest Sakura wilt.
"You wanna do something about that?"
Eden barely registered Vill-V's next message before she put her phone away, deciding indeed to "do something about that."
She sprinted to the nearest elevator. Upon reaching it, she mashed the down button frantically until the elevator arrived. She brushed past two guards already in the elevator and searched the buttons for 33F. Annoyingly, there wasn't an option for that floor—not entirely surprising, since it was a high-security prison area. she could, at best, get three floors above 33F and head down from there.
She waited impatiently as the elevator descended. Quite a few people got on and off the elevator—was this really the fastest way? She again drew a mental map of the facility to make sure, and she had to resist the urge to use the 9th Key to force the elevator down.
It took well over a minute to reach the desired floor, wasting precious moments that could be spent seeking out Sakura. Eden bolted out of the doors the moment they opened, and frantically searched for the stairwell. If she remembered correctly, it was right...
Here.
It was a secure metal door with a guard stationed right outside. One would think this to be the entrance to anything but a stairwell, but an "emergency escape route" label confirmed otherwise.
Eden realized she'd have to get past that guard. Eden did have a few trinkets on her, maybe he could be tricked into thinking they still had some value in this decaying world.
But as she approached, the guard mysteriously convulsed.
"Oh- ...Is something wrong?" Eden asked.
The man did not reply as he continued to quake.
Eden could almost feel a creeping sense of dread wash over her... and the familiar, cruel tinge of the Honkai in the air. It felt like something was trying to eat it's way into her mind, but the MANTIS had the strength to resist it (there was hardly any room in left in her mind for that thing regardless, as it was cluttered to the brim with thoughts of Sakura).
Then, the guard's blood vessels turned to purple streaks, and his skin became pale as he let out a deafening screech.
He became a zombie!?
Before Eden had time to consider the ramifications, the hallway became bathed in a red glow as the alarm sounded one, two, three times.
The highest alert level. A Herrscher had awoken.
Eden nearly yelled out in terror when she realized what that meant.
Sakura's in danger!!!
Had Rin somehow awoken as a Herrscher!? What had happened to provoke such an innocent child!? Was Sakura involved somehow!?
Having hesitated for far too long, she whipped out one of her pistols and shot the zombie as it lumbered towards her, defeating it in only two shots.
She slid her key card against the sensor with such force, it nearly flew from her hands. Luckily, the card was accepted, and the door clicked open.
The stairwell wasn't exactly cramped, but there wasn't nearly enough room for her to jump off the stairs and fall down a few floors. Instead, she resorted to using the 9th Key to gracefully propel herself down the flights with gentle gravity waves.
She swung open the door to floor 33F as she continued to propel herself with gravity. She had no idea where Sakura or Rin were, so she would just have to cover as much ground on this floor as possible.
In one hallway, she was stopped by a horde of zombies. Eden smashed them into the ceiling with the 9th Key without much thought.
There was another strange sight. An unzombified guard at the back of the hallway, raising her weapon at Eden. Yet, only a second later, the guard collapsed to the ground unconscious.
Eden felt a calming energy waft through the air, chasing out the darkness of the Honkai. The 8th Key's Second Power, no doubt.
Thank you, Hua.
She continued to charge through hallway after hallway, inspecting cell after cell. But it was hardly any use—guard and prisoner alike had all either been zombified or fell under the spell of the Key of Sentience.
What a stroke of bad luck, there was hardly anywhere left in this floor to check. But as she blazed down one of the last few hallways, the blast door in front of her slammed shut.
What!?
Eden barely caught the noise of two approaching mechs behind her. A round flew by her, a little too close her left arm.
She let out a frustrated grunt as she crushed the mechs against the wall with what was probably an overkill amount of G-forces. She turned to face the blast door, and blew through it with a wave of gravity. She made her way through the warped metal and rounded the corner...
...And saw a familiar, silver-haired warrior staring back at her.
"K-Kevin?"
"I had a feeling you'd show up," Kevin said nonchalantly. "Sakura's sister was murdered, and her Herrscher powers manifested as a sentient virus."
"Where is Sakura!?" Eden beckoned, on the verge of tears.
"I tried to stop her, but she seems to think her sister is still alive within the Herrscher somehow," Kevin said. "She went to try and... comfort it."
Kevin pointed down the hallway.
"...That's the defense control for the prison levels!" Eden shouted. "She'll... Against all those defenses..."
"I tried to stop her," Kevin reiterated. "I'm guessing I won't be able to stop you, either. If you wish to save your friend, there may still be time. But don't push yourself. I wouldn't want to lose you, too."
"Friend..." Are you still clueless, or are you really that cold?
Eden did not bother voicing her thoughts, instead racing towards the defense control room.
Sakura, please...
Just hold out a little longer...
Sakura felt a strange sense of hesitation as she walked down the hall.
No, I have to do this. She needs me.
Sakura's hand wandered towards her sheathed blades. She struggled to choose: Should she unleash the might of the Key of Sanction?
If I unsheathe the 3rd Key, she might see me as a threat.
She pulled her hand back. She would leave that decision for the heat of battle.
Each step forward felt a little more difficult than the last.
...I see. There are still things that I don't want to leave behind.
She sighed, finally willing to admit what was holding her back.
Eden, I'm sorry. Maybe I should have told you.
Sakura forced herself forwards.
I have to comfort Rin. I fear what will happen if I do not. I'm sorry, Eden, but I'm not coming back.
Sakura found herself facing down a large reinforced metal door, sealed shut.
She swiped a key card that she had stolen off a zombie. The door didn't open, but the sensor didn't buzz with rejection either.
So she's holding it shut. I guess I have no choice.
She grabbed the hilt of the 3rd Key. In one swift motion, she unsheathed the blade and unleashed its destructive power to blast through the door.
Immediately after the smoke cleared, a horde of mechs on the other side turned to face her.
They unleashed a volley of armaments, and Sakura ducked behind a still-intact portion of the door for cover. She sheathed the 3rd Key—she would need to harness Setsuna to its fullest extent to even get inside the room.
She drew Frozen Naraka and once again cut through time itself to grant her a fleeting opening. She dashed behind one of the larger mechs and cut through its metal frame. Once time resumed, the mech sputtered and collapsed to the ground.
The other mechs in the room seemed confused and frantically searched for Sakura as she hid behind the wreckage.
"Rin!" Sakura shouted. "Rin, listen to me!"
There was no audible response, aside from the mechs instantly pinpointing her location. One of the smaller, anti-personnel mechs suddenly appeared and unleashed a volley of machine gun fire at Sakura. Sakura dove beneath the volley and underneath the hovering mech, cutting through its engines and disabling it.
Yet now, she was out in the open. She scrambled to find cover, and barely made it under a control panel as the bullets flew past her, a little too close for comfort.
"Rin, please, you have to stop! Please, you don't have to be humanity's enemy!"
Another anti-personnel mech appeared in front of Sakura's hiding spot. She was forced to grant herself another moment to move freely with Setsuna, and cut the mech clean in half.
I can't overuse Setsuna. I can't be too aggressive, I have to act only in self-defense. I have to hold back, even if it costs me my life. She has to know I don't want to fight her.
Sakura ducked back into her hiding spot as time around her moved freely again.
"Rin, I understand... What happened to you, it was disgusting. But do you have to take it out on everyone!? That would make you no better than them!"
A moment of quiet. Some of the mechs quaked for a moment in hesitation.
"Rin!?"
Suddenly, several turrets emerged from the ceiling, well beyond the swordswoman's range.
Oh no.
One of them had a clear line of sight to the panel Sakura crouched behind. She froze time again to find a different hiding spot, but there was a small, hovering mech occupying the corner just out of the turrets' sight. The small mech disintegrated in a single hit.
When her moment of freedom ended, she assumed she would have a few moments before the turrets and mechs fixated on her again. Yet, one of the turrets had anticipated Sakura's move, and was already facing her. Even Sakura was caught off guard, and she did not have enough time to react as one bullet entered her right thigh and another one grazed her flesh just above it.
"AAAAAGGHHH!"
Sakura yelped out in pain. She had fought all kinds of monsters and men, and she had sustained more than a few injuries. Never before had she sustained a bullet wound, and it hurt like hell.
"Agh, ah... Ugh..."
Sakura deliberately exaggerated her painful noises for Rin to hear.
There was another moment of mechanical hesitation before the clanking and whirring of moving mechs and turrets started up again.
"Rin, why," Sakura cried out as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Why would you hurt me? I don't understand!"
Perhaps Kevin was right. Perhaps Rin had simply been consumed by a monster. Why would Rin ever want to hurt her? ...But if that was the case... then why was the Herrscher hesitating?
Sakura was out of sight of the turrets for now, but she could hear clearly the approaching mechs.
This is it, then.
Sakura pulled out two of her cherished mementos, one for each of the people she treasured most.
A pink flower pendant for Rin...
And a scarlet-stained sakura flower from Eden.
Sakura sobbed as she realized she was never going to see Eden again.
If only I could talk to you one more time, to explain myself to you why I chose to face death and not look back...
She reflected on her life one last time, like some silly emotional scene in a movie. She recalled those she senselessly slaughtered as a part of Cocoon. She thought of the night where Eden approached her and "forced" (not really) her to wear a dress for the first time and the wonderful journey of self-discovery that followed. She thought of the time where she put herself on Mobius's operating table for a chance to become stronger, and then willingly did so again for a chance to get the body she never knew she always wanted. She thought of all the faces, friendly and unfriendly, that she had grown to know... and part with.
It was strange. She felt at peace, even though she knew she was on the precipice of the abyss.
She rose her blade, ready to face what came next.
A humanoid mech, armed with twin blades, appeared in front of her. Sakura tried to slash at it, but stumbled as her wounded leg ached. The mech used the opportunity to lunge at Sakura. She pulled away, barely fast enough to avoid the blade's edge.
Sakura was luckier than she knew. Had she been a moment too late to respond, she would have lost her throat to the blade. And had the mech been standing just a little to the side, at least one turret would have had a clear line of sight to her. Not that it mattered much, it had only bought Sakura a few extra seconds at most.
What happened next was a blur as Sakura's senses began to fail and exhaustion crept in. She eventually landed a killing blow on that melee mech, but the turrets fired again the instant their line of sight were clear. She tried her best to grant herself fleeting moments in time to evade, but fatigue made her sloppy, and her mistakes began to mount as she sustained a few more injuries. Blood spilled from wounds left by glancing blows and bullets, and she started to feel dizzy. She kept crying out Rin's name over and over, trying desperately to convince Rin to let go of her hatred. It earned a few more moments of hesitation from the machines, but it ultimately amounted to little.
Eventually, Sakura's strength dwindled. She rose her blade against an enforcer mech with massive metal fists, but was caught off-guard by another melee mech. She tried to dodge, but she was a moment too slow. The mech's blade tore a gash at Sakura's face, starting just under Sakura's mouth and cutting across her face to just beneath her right eye.
Sakura barely had the strength to retaliate, stabbing the mech through it's torso and disabling it. But when she turned again to face the approaching enforcer mech, the last of that strength had been spent, and Sakura collapsed to the floor.
The newly-torn wound on her face hurt like hell. She was certain that if the cut had been any deeper, she would have been knocked out immediately. She put her hand to her face in a reflexive move to stop the bleeding, but was terrified at the amount of blood on her hand.
Sakura had long been familiar with "instants" in time. She had used them to hone a nigh-unbeatable combat form. But this... this was the "instant" before death.
The Herrscher seemed to hesitate for one final time. The ceiling turrets were fixated on her, but they didn't fire. The mech stood vacantly in front of her.
"Rin, I'm sorry..." Sakura said weakly. "I couldn't.. save you..."
Sakura waited for the giant mech to finish her off.
Instead, it froze in place and began to glow with a deep red.
"...Rin?" Sakura managed to mutter.
The mech was lifted off of the ground, before quickly being crunched into a sphere of warped metal.
Immediately, the turrets opened fire, but despite their clear line of sight to Sakura, they were stopped by a glowing red field protecting her. The turrets were then torn from the ceiling by an invisible force.
The strange ripples of gravity brought comfort to the wounded Sakura, who knew immediately who had come to her rescue.
"E... den?"
Sakura glanced to her right. There stood Eden, wielding the 9th key. Her combat moves almost felt like some elaborate dance. She moved gracefully as she halted bullets in mid-air, slammed mechs against the walls, and crushed even more mechs with an overwhelming gravitational pull. Sakura couldn't help but smile weakly at the performance.
Immediately upon stripping away the last of the defenses, Eden rushed over to Sakura, horrified by her wounded state.
"Sakura!!" Eden yelled.
Eden crouched down next to Sakura as she leaned back against the wall.
Then, suddenly, the lights flickered. The few mechanical screens in the room that still worked stopped flashing error warnings, and Eden's phone buzzed with notifications.
The Herrscher had been contained.
Sakura smiled weakly as she gazed up at Eden, the life draining from her eyes.
"Sakura, please, I'll-"
"I got her to listen to me," Sakura said weakly. "I was with her... she was still my sis... till the very end... I'm proud... to be her sister..."
"Sakura, please, don't waste your energy-"
"I understand now... There are things... beyond our power... but... if you have someone... to protect..."
Sakura weakly gripped Eden's arm and gazed into her golden eyes.
"When you... stand with her... under the sakura trees... you'll find... the world is still beautiful... and you'll know... there's still hope... for your world..."
And Sakura's consciousness slipped away in the arms of her partner.
She became trapped in a dark haze, her sight having failed and her hearing reduced to a slurry of noise. Eden begged Sakura to come to, but she had no strength left. Another presence—Kevin, but Sakura was too far gone to recognize—barged in, but she couldn't hear anything they were saying.
But, just as she was about to black out entirely, she was able to hear one more thing clearly. It ignited something within Sakura, a tiny speck of desire that told Sakura she couldn't just slip away.
"Just, please... I can't let my sweet Sakura wither."