Honkai: Apostle's Revolution (Code Geass and Honkai Impact with some Honkai Star Rail)

[StrifeHavoc]

---

Chapter 1
The Pink Elf​

"You should give up, Lelouch," a young boy said.

A few feet away, Lelouch, a young ten-year-old boy with black hair and purple eyes wearing a white shirt and black shorts, was tangled up in the fishing line from the fishing pole he was having trouble using.

"I'll catch a fish, Suzaku, so help me!?"

"Brother, maybe you should calm down."

The girl who spoke, Lelouch's sister, three years younger, had wavy sandy brown hair, wore a pink jumper and red shirt, and was seated in a wheelchair. She was with Suzaku, the ten-year-old boy with brown hair and green eyes dressed in a black shirt with tan shorts, helping the girl with her fishing pole.

"Sorry, Nunnally," Lelouch said, calming down before, after a few minutes, he managed to untangle himself.

"Let's hope your brother never ends up stranded on a deserted island," Suzaku said half-jokingly.

"Very funny, Suzaku," Lelouch remarked, visibly annoyed.

Lelouch looked over at his sister, who caught several fish thanks to Suzaku's efforts in helping her.

Ok, I need to try this again and catch SOMETHING!

Casting his line out, this time not catching part of his clothes. The bobber remained still above the ocean for several minutes; then, as some floating debris and seaweed floated nearby, Lelouch's line tightened, and he got a bite.
He felt accomplished and proud when he caught a fish, but he was determined not to lose it. Despite struggling against the fish, Lelouch fought to reel it in before the line snapped. Fortunately, Suzaku helped him and together they successfully caught the fish.

"Wow, Lelouch, you must've hooked a big one," Suzaku complimented as the two worked together.

"Come on, how much of a fight this fish must be putting up," Lelouch said as he struggled, growing fearful the line could snap.

"Just a little more; I see something in the water," Suzaku said, nudging Lelouch to step back to help pull it in.

"You can do it, brother!" Nunnally cheered.

Lelouch struggled harder as the rod began slipping from his hands, but he tightened his grip as he and Suzaku took more steps back.

"I see something, almost there," Suzaku said.

The pair unceremoniously fell back as they managed to pull what Lelouch had caught out of the water, and it wasn't a fish Lelouch had caught. The two were stunned by what Lelouch had reeled in; instead of a fish, a young girl with long pink hair around their age. She was covered in seaweed but wore a white shirt, white pants, and matching shoes.

"Was it big brother?" Nunnally asked, which, thanks to her blindness, didn't see what Suzaku and Lelouch pulled from the water.

"Uh, yes, it was," Lelouch said, regaining his composure.

He and Suzaku knelt next to the girl, who, to their surprise, was still breathing. He was confused, but after turning her over, they found she was wearing a mask that must've been giving her oxygen.

"Her pulse seems normal," Lelouch said, checking the girl's pulse.

"How did a girl end up in the water like this?" Suzaku asked, wondering what had happened. "I don't see any ships, but
I can't see where else she could've come from. Did her ship run afoul of the Britannians beyond the coast or something else?"

"It's possible since I don't know how else she could've been drifting in the water like that?"

But her outfit isn't something a kid her age would typically wear either, Lelouch observed.

Suzaku removed the mask while Lelouch tossed away all of the seaweed that had been covering her.

"So my brother caught a girl?" Nunnally asked, overhearing parts of the conversation. "Is she a mermaid?"

"No, I am pretty sure she isn't," Suzaku said, wondering what to do.

Lelouch picked up the mask, wondering how something so small could've provided enough air to keep her alive in the water. The girl began stirring as he examined the mask, trying to figure it out. Opening her eyes were light blue eyes and pink pupils; even more surprising were the elfish ears under her pink hair. The girl's eyes closed in response to the sun shining down on her as she slowly sat up.

"Uh, you should take it easy. Are you alright?" Suzaku asked as the girl tried to get up.

"Where did you come from?" Lelouch inquired.

"I-I think I was on some kind of ship, a science ship, I think," The girl replied as she brought one hand to her forehead.

Likely whatever had sent her into the water had knocked her out, and the shock was enough to cause some slight memory loss.

"I remember there was a fight as we tried to escape, and then an explosion, then nothing," the girl replied as her memories tried to piece themselves back together.

"And you drifted here; it's a miracle you didn't drown," Lelouch remarked.

"I guess I am lucky," The girl said before politely introducing herself. "My name is Elysia, but you can call me Ellie."

"I am Suzaku, that is Nunnally, and this is Lelouch," Suzaku said, providing introductions. "Uh, do you have any family we could contact?"

Elysia considered that for a moment before shaking her head.

"No, I don't have anyone."

Lelouch was about to ask a question when a noise drew his attention. Looking for the source, the young man saw a pair of young girls swimming toward them in a lifesaver. They were doggy paddling frantically as if fleeing from someone or something. Lelouch assumed they were girls judging by the voices he could hear in the distance. It wasn't long before she neared the shore where they stood, and Lelouch saw what was driving her to swim so fast; a shark was chasing her as he could see its fin on the water's surface.

There wasn't anything Suzaku and Lelouch could do, but the pink-haired girl stood up before conjuring a pink crystalline javelin. She hurled the javelin with a shocking amount of strength that seemed impossible for a girl her age, but the spear barely missed the shark's head. However, the projectile transformed into a wall of crystal before the shark, causing it to crash into the sudden wall. Lelouch couldn't tell if the wall stopped the shark, but the large splash due to the impact will have likely stunned the shark and stopped it in its tracks forcing it to swim around. The pink-haired girl's act gave the fleeing two girls much-needed time to distance themselves from the shark as they drew closer to the shore.

By the time the shark was able to resume its pursuit, the girls who had been swimming frantically to escape the shark reached the safety of the shore, causing the shark to turn and head back to sea.

What was that!?

Lelouch turned to Suzaku, who seemed stunned by Elysia's creation of a crystal spear. The young man found that somewhat reassuring, fearing he might've hallucinated the whole thing.

"I hope that didn't freak you out?" Elysia asked.

"What was that?" Lelouch asked but was denied an answer as Suzaku went to tend to the exhausted girls, barely able to stand as the pair walked to the trio before collapsing. Likely, whatever adrenaline rush helped the girls outrun the shark was utterly spent as she could not move. At the same time, a large lump of hair on the head of the girl with short brown hair began moving, revealing a small kitten with light brown fur, dark spots, and lighter brown fur on its mouth and belly leaped off the girl's head.

"Pardo, are you alright?" Elysia asked, kneeling next to Pardo.

"Pardo!?" Suzaku, Nunnally, and Lelouch asked at once.

"Yes, she's my friend, but her full name is Pardofelis," Elysia replied.

"And the cat," Nunnally asked as it leaped into Nunnally's lap to rest.

"I am not sure; she never owned a pet cat before, so I don't know where she or he came from," Elysia replied.

"Ok, but are those cat ears and tail real?" Lelouch inquired, pointing to the long cat tail and ears on Pardo.

"They are?" Elysia answered chipperly.

"And how are they normal? Was she some science experiment? Did you two escape from some hidden lab aboard a ship," Lelouch said, trying to make sense of everything.

"You know you shouldn't ask a girl so many questions like that?"

"Maybe, this isn't a normal situation, and of course, that crystal wall you made, that crystal weapon, and your friend Pardo, of course, people will ask questions about that."

"Who is the other girl?" Suzaku asked, pointing to the white-haired girl who collapsed.

Unlike Pardo, she had no strange features other than having long white hair and a fair skin complexion, wearing the same clothing as Elysia and Pardo.

"Uh, I don't think I know her," Elysia seemed to be at a loss until a thought came to mind. "Have you, by chance, heard of Fire MOTH?"

"No," Lelouch replied, surprising the young girl.

"The Honkai," Elysia asked, but Lelouch shook his head. "Herrschers?"

"I haven't heard of those, too," Lelouch answered.

The elfin girl was stunned, seemingly expecting such information to be common knowledge to everyone.

"I suppose then I am going to have to explain some things," Elysia conceded.

"Uh, why don't we care for your friend and her companion first? Maybe we can feed her some of the fish we caught after we prepare them," Suzaku suggested diplomatically.

Lelouch glanced at Pardo, who didn't look to be in great shape due to her extreme exhaustion, and the kitten on Pardo's head was resting in Nunnally's lap, much to the latter's delight, who had been petting it. The white-haired girl was unconscious, so it was a question of when she would wake up.

"I suppose you are right," Lelouch said before deciding to help carry the fish back to where they had prepared a fire and all they would need to cook the fish they had caught.

"I'll carry the other girl to the fire once we have a place to lay her down ready," Suzaku offered.

Unknown to the group, hidden from their sight using optical camouflage, a sphere-like device the size of a basketball was hovering overhead, observing their movements.

---

Far from shore where Lelouch and Suzaku had been fishing, a large and sleek vessel of three-hundred meters long, three-hundred feet wide, and nearly the same feet high. It was aerodynamic, designed to fly through the sky or under the sea, but its smooth polished white surface was meant to render it invisible to the naked eye. It was even intended to be invisible to radar and any sensors, but now it lay at the bottom of the ocean with a large hole in its starboard side.
This was the task of a much smaller vessel, identical in general design, but it appeared based upon a high-altitude aircraft with a long main body and two wings extending out near the end. The craft floating underwater near the wreckage had released dozens of black-sphere-like drones to investigate the wreck and the surrounding area.
They had arrived as quickly as possible, but the sinking had happened hours ago. The crew aboard quickly expanded their search radius to find survivors. However, the conflict between the Britannian Navy and its air force against the Japanese Navy and its own air force was hampering their search efforts.

They feared how the Director would react upon finding out; they all knew that ship's cargo was very precious to him. So much so he never kept that said cargo in the same place and kept it on the ship that lay at the bottom of the ocean, the Second Chance, on the move out of fear; keeping them in one place was risky. Or rather, the Director feared what could happen if they woke and didn't want to risk that either.

With little warning, a spilt in the air aboard the bridge occurred before expanding into a circular-shaped dark portal.
The men and women aboard the bridge began swearing in fear, expecting the Director, a man in his late thirties, exited the portal. He had light blue hair extending past his shoulders and a scar across the bridge of his nose. He had pale blue eyes and wore a black tunic-style uniform, black boots, and a red band around his right arm with a Heron swooping down to seize prey printed upon it.

"Status report," The man commanded firmly, his face unreadable as stone, yet the air of discipline the man excluded prompted the ship commander to approach and salute, which the new arrival returned.

Although thankful it wasn't the Director who showed up, the commander, a young man with brown hair and green eyes wearing a similar black uniform, knew this man reported directly to him, so he was fearful.

"Sir, we've investigated the wreck; the priority cargo hasn't been found."

"My daughter is among those you call cargo; I'll warn you once to mind your choice of words," The man said calmly, but his words scolded the frightened commander.

"Forgive me, sir, but we've investigated much of the surrounding area. We've found no signs of them, but we've confirmed that the crew aboard perished with the ship from the remains we've found."

"I see, so they are possibility awake and alive?"

"That is a strong possibility, sir," The commander agreed. "We have been monitoring communications between the Japanese and the Britannians while scanning their ships for any sign of them."

"What of the escape vessel?"

"Gone, sir, but we are trying to track it."

"I see, so that means someone with appropriate mechanical skills removed the tracking beacon," The scarred man quickly deduced with one hand on his chin in contemplation. "Only one person without knowing where it was hidden could've figured out where it was and how to remove it quickly. They likely suspected the ship had a tracking device on it."

"If escape was their plan, then, of course, they would find it first." The man said before a thought came to him. "The sensors in the satellites we have in orbit can find them, adjust them to search for ion trails; all of our ships use ion engines when in flight."

"Yes, sir!" The ship's commander replied before hurrying to relay his orders to a crew member.

"Commander, one of the drones we've dispatched to search the shores of Japan has picked up something," a female bridge crew member called out.

Displayed on the main screen was an image of Elysia, Kallen, and Pardo in the company of Suzaku, Lelouch, and Nunnally, along with a small kitten.

"So three of them have been found; any sign of the others?"

"None, sir; we've dispatched dozens of drones to search shores within reach of the wreckage and where the ocean current would carry them," the female operator replied.

"Understood; keep them under watch for the time being. Perhaps the others might show up, or we might discover who helped them escape?"

"What?!"

"Given our security and protection protocols for them and the ship, it's highly unlike they awoke on their own. Someone clearly helped them, but who," The scarred man replied before a small electronic earpiece in his right ear vibrated, indicating a call was coming in; he put a finger to the device to accept the call. "Yes, Director?"

He listened to the caller on the other end.

"Yes, the ship was sunk, no doubt by the Britannians or the Japanese who fought it belonged to the other. The conflict has already erupted between Britannia and Japan; it's only a matter of time until the Japanese lose their Navy and air force; the Britannians completely outnumber them."

The man was quiet as he listened to the response of the man on the other line and his next question.

"Yes, I am afraid much of the internal damage was likely caused by Kalpas when he was released from cryogenic slumber. No doubt he was less than happy about his current state; the resulting rampage caused the failure of the ship's stealth systems." The man listened to the caller's reply and his next question. "We haven't found any trace of them, but the escape vessel is gone, and all of the ship's crew and personnel have been confirmed lost with the Second Chance. It's more than likely they are all alive, sir."

Once more, he listened to the caller's response before providing an answer in turn.

"Yes, sir, I've already given the order for our satellites to be used in such a manner to track their ship. However, we have located Elysia, Kallen Kaslana, and Pardofelis. It seems they made it to Japan's mainland; they are at least ten miles south of Shimokitaba, where a group of children has found them." The scarred man answered before the caller had a question for him. "Yes, sir, they should've finished identifying them."

The man came up to the console and peered over the operator's shoulder. The operator had just finished identifying the children with Elysia and Pardofelis.

"They've been identified as Suzaku Kururugi, Lelouch vi Britannia, and his sister Nunnally," the man replied as he listened to the response on the other end, which the scarred man noticed a pause before he told him something that surprised him. "Yes, sir, I understand. I'll take care of it if something does happen. But what of Elysia, Kallen, and Pardofelis? Respectfully, sir, we know none will want to return to cryogenic slumber."

For the final time, the man received his orders while attentively listening to the caller's response.

"I understand, sir. I will handle it," the man responded before ending the call with the Director. The Director will be sending an agent to help us. Meanwhile, we need to keep a close eye on them and monitor their movements. Should we also carry a rifle with the Suppression Compound?"

"Yes, we do, sir, in the armory," the commander replied.

"Good, I may need it later, but focus on the search for now. But, have someone contact a man named Ruben Ashford for me and arrange a meeting as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir," The commander replied with a salute.

The man thought internally, Please be well, Griseo; Father will find you soon.

---

Later that day, Pardofelis regained consciousness as her nose smelled a wonderful aroma causing her eyes to open up. The smell was fantastic, and she felt warm too, which prompted her eyes to snap open before sitting up and eagerly searching for the smell's source.

"I told you it would work," Elysia chimed happily.

Pardo saw that she had been lying near a small propane stove providing both warmth and the means to cook the fish, Nunnally, with Suzaku's aid, had caught. The kitten riding on top of Pardo's head earlier happily indulged in one of the cooked fish.

Elysia smiled, offering Pardo a cooked fish.

"This should help you get your strength back," Elysia said, offering the fish.

"Oh, thank you so much, Elysia," Pardo exclaimed happily before accepting the fish and promptly consuming it until only bones and its head remained.

"Thank Nunnally and Suzaku for catching it," Lelouch grumbled as he tended to the fire before Suzaku lightly elbowed him.

Pardo tried to say something, but her mouth was still full of food, causing Lelouch to shake his head at the cat-girl's lack of table manners.

"She was probably starving and exhausted from such a swim," Suzaku scolded Lelouch. However, he silently agreed Pardo lacked good table manners, which could've been because she was starving terribly too.

"It sounds like your friend must've been starving," Nunnally commented, confirming Suzaku's unspoken point.

"So, what happened? I doubt you two were in the ocean for some extreme exercise," Lelouch inquired.

"No, but honestly, I am not sure why we were on that ship?" Elysia said as she struggled to recall details before an explosion sent her flying into the ocean.

Yes, I remember waking up inside a cryogenic capsule, Elysia thought as she remembered what happened.

---

"Elysia, please wake up. We have to move," a familiar voice called to her as she slowly gained awareness.

"Huh!?"

Elysia's vision was blurred, but slowly the figure kneeling above her came into focus, revealing an older woman in her late twenties with long bluish-purple hair and purple eyes wearing a white shirt and pants identical to what she was wearing.

"Elysia, please open your eyes. We don't have a lot of time. Kalpas is on a rampage," the older woman warned.
The sound of alarms caused Elysia's eyes to snap wide open, fully alert yet deeply confused.

"Where, how!?"

"There is no time to explain we need to go; Aponia has the others," the woman explained, urging Elysia to her feet.

A sudden explosion rocked the ship they were on.

Now fully understanding the seriousness of the situation, Elysia got to her feet. She ran alongside the older woman as alarms continued to echo and an occasional explosion rocked the ship. They passed by several spider-like machines, which ignored them in favor of the source of trouble, which Elysia assumed was Kalpas.

As the pair tried to navigate the streamlined white passageways, their path ahead was blocked by smoke from fires caused within the ship. The older woman saw an emergency case on the wall and quickly opened it to provide a mask for herself and Elysia.

"Use this; it should provide breathable air for hours," the older woman explained before donning her mask.

Once Elysia did the same, the pair entered the smoke-filled passageway. Despite low visibility, the older woman knew where to go and had little trouble finding her way around.

Eventually, the older woman led Elysia up a ladder before opening a hatch.

Before her was a big blue ocean as far as the eye could see.

Confusion and curiosity filled Elysia's mind, but something in the water suddenly caught her eye. It was something long and cylinder-shaped traveling below the surface, and when it hit the side of the ship, an explosion, and then nothing.

---

"Are you alright? You seemed out of it for a moment?" Lelouch said, noticing what he could only call Elysia, being distracted.

"Sorry, I recalled how I ended up in the ocean. The ship we were on was sunk; I saw something speeding towards the ship under the water," Elysia said before adding as she placed a finger on her chin. "There was an explosion, then I woke up here."

"It sounds like a torpedo," Suzaku said, to which Lelouch nodded in agreement.

"Britannia might've sunk it," Lelouch said; although it could've been the Japanese, he had no way of proving who was responsible. He was willing to pin the blame on Britannia out of bias, and they would be the most likely to shoot first and ask questions later.

"That might be true," Suzaku said in agreement.

"Britannia?" Pardo and Elysia asked, stunning both Suzaku and Lelouch.

"You're joking," Lelouch asked, uncertain how to react.

"Hey, Lelouch considering what probably happened, maybe they took a blow to the head for something," Suzaku whispered to Lelouch.

"I suppose," Lelouch replied quietly, reasoning that was a plausible explanation, but it didn't quite explain Pardo's cat-like features and Elysia's elf-like features and strange powers.

Were they part of some science experiment or something? Lelouch wondered, but the smell of cooked fish soon awoke the second girl.

"Uh," the white-haired girl said as she finally came too. "Where are we?"

"I guess Pardo's friend is now awake," Elysia chirped.

"Well, we kinda met as we were escaping the sinking ship we were on," Pardo commented after finishing a cooked fish.

"Who, what's your name?" Elysia asked.

"My name is Kallen Kasalana," Kallen replied, rubbing her head. Suddenly her stomach growled very loudly, much to her embarrassment.

"Here you go," Suzaku offered.

"Thank you," Kallen said before accepting the cooked fish. Once it was in her hands, she quickly consumed it, leaving only bones and the head.

She is either famished or has quite the appetite, but at least her table manners are better than Pardo, Lelouch thought.
Lelouch wanted to start questioning Kallen; perhaps there was a chance he could get some answers from her.
Unfortunately, something in the sky caught his attention; he heard the sound of jet engines, a lot of jet engines.

"Are those planes? There are a lot of them," Suzaku said, curious, but curiosity gave way to worry when he realized the direction they were heading in and how many they were.

That's too many planes flying toward the sea in formation like that unless…

In the distance, sirens could be heard, which Suzaku and Lelouch realized could mean one thing.
War had just broken out between Japan and Britannia.

"We need to leave now," Lelouch said with alarm.

They were in no immediate danger, but staying near the shoreline would be dangerous. Thankfully, Suzaku shared his concern and quickly began packing their fishing gear.

"Lelouch take the bags; I'll carry Nunnally," Suzaku said after packing everything.

"What's going on?" Elysia asked, sensing the alarm in the air.

"War has just broken out between the Holy Britannian Empire and Japan," Lelouch answered with a grim expression.

"War," Elysia said, shocked that something like that was happening. "This country is being attacked."

"Yeah, by Lelouch's homeland, Britannia," Suzaku said, as he just finished getting a worried Nunnally onto his back to carry her.

"Homeland, but I don't know what Britannia is," Elysia said as Pardo finished off the last of the fish.
While still shocked by Elysia's lack of knowledge, Lelouch sighed as he decided to give her a short summary.

"Come on, I'll tell you as we move," Lelouch said, gesturing for Elysia, Kallen, and Pardo to follow. "The Holy Britannian Empire is one of the world's three superpowers, and arguably the largest, but undeniably the most aggressive of the three."

"Aggressive," Pardo said, speaking with her mouth full of fish.

"Yes," Lelouch said, ignoring Pardo's lack of manners. "The Holy Britannian Empire was built from the defeated remnants of the British Empire, which had lost against the newly born Europia United led by Napoleon Bonaparte at the twilight of the Age of Revolution. Fleeing their lost homeland, the remains of the British Empire remade themselves into the Holy Britannian Empire after escaping to their colonies across the sea. Vowing to never allow such a defeat to happen again and driven by the desire to rebuild stronger than before, Britannia aggressively expanded across the rest of the continent they had escaped to. Subjugating anyone who stood in the way."

"That's terrible!" Pardo exclaimed, swallowing her fish.

"That's Britannia," Lelouch answered simply. "After seizing the American Continent, they began spreading beyond the Pacific Ocean, conquering islands. This process was slower due to the limitations of maintaining conquered lands across the sea and distance from the homeland for proper support. Eventually, they believed they had the right to conquer the world, which was officially driven out by some beliefs and proof in the theories of Charles Darwin. However, it was more to ensure no country could ever bring them to the brink of collapse again."

Such countries never existed that I remembered, so this world is entirely different, Elysia thought, having listened carefully to Lelouch's explanation while searching her own memories, trying to deduce what could've happened.

"So, what do we do?" Pardo inquired, obviously scarred.

"First, we need to get away from the shoreline; if Japan loses to the Britannian Navy, it won't be long before they land forces," Lelouch said, but he feared Japan would lose.

Britannia wouldn't invade the world's key supplier in Sakuradite without the other two superpowers responding, so that means they must've had their attention diverted. This means they are attacking with an enormous invasion force, seeking to seize Japan before the other three superpowers could react, Lelouch deduced carefully in his mind.
Sakuradite was vital for technology and military development, and Japan provided more than seventy percent of the world's supply. Thanks to this, a small country like Japan became an economic powerhouse capable of influencing world affairs to some degree. It wouldn't surprise Lelouch that besides Britannia, the other two superpowers wished to control Japan to have complete access to their Sakuradite mines.

If they intervened in the war, they wouldn't be fighting to save Japan but to take it for themselves, likely fighting one another over the small nation. Thus, Lelouch realized Britannia was racing against the clock to seize Japan before the other two superpowers could intervene, likely meaning they were invading with a considerable force to overwhelm Japan as quickly as possible.

It was just a question of how large this invasion was.

As Lelouch hurried along the path leading away from the beach, they were met at the end by two men in suits, they were Japanese, but upon seeing Lelouch and Nunnally, they pulled their guns on them.

"Suzaku, put the girl down," One of the men in suits insisted politely.

"What do you think you are doing?" Suzaku demanded.

"Following orders, now put the girl down!"

Before anyone could do anything else, gunshots rang out, surprising and frightening everyone until Lelouch realized the men didn't fire their weapons. The suited men collapsed onto the ground dead, having been shot in the back before they could shoot.

"Your Highness, are you alright," a voice shouted as a man in his early twenties with a tanned complexion, orange eyes, and short, neatly combed teal hair.

He wore a dark green and light green battle uniform dress, black boots, a supply belt, and a pistol in his hand.

"You, who are you?"

"Private Jeremiah Gottwald, your highness," Jeremiah said while holstering his weapon. "It seems I was just in time."

"What's going on?" Nunnally asked, frightened.

"You killed them?" Suzaku said, shocked he saw the two men lying dead before him.

"I had no choice. Unfortunately, I had been told Prime Minister Kururugi was considering killing you two to secure a deal he had struck with Britannia; it seems their fears were confirmed," Jeremiah replied.

"WHAT?!" Suzaku exclaimed in disbelief. "Who told you that?"

"Mr. Taizō Kirihara, he had been growing suspicious of the prime minister, but I'll gladly tell you more. We must flee this area; the Japanese Navy and Airforce are suffering heavy casualties. It's only a matter of time before they invade Japan's mainland."

To prove the truth of his words, Jeremiah drew what appeared to be a radio, but it had been modified to read military chatter. Jeremiah turned it on, and the voices spoke Japanese. While Lelouch understood it to a limited degree despite trying to teach himself, Suzaku understood it clearly as a look of horror appeared on his face.

"We need reinforcements; we're being overwhelmed!"

"Sorry, sir, but the Brits are attacking us from the South, East, and North; we're being overwhelmed. It's like they brought their whole god-damn army down on top of us!"

"Commander, we just lost two more squadrons of jets!"

"The Yamato has just been sunk; I repeat, Brit subs just sunk the Yamato! We've lost the Admiral's flagship!"

Suzaku's face paled as the blood drained from his face. He heard the different voices as panic and fear mixed with determination to face the Britannian Forces to the bitter end despite knowing they were hopelessly outnumbered. It was stranger that Pardo, Kallen, and Elysia understood the Japanese language despite never hearing it, but Kallen, on the other hand, was familiar with it. They were shocked by how badly the battle was going, even though they weren't familiar with human wars.

This sounds like when the Fire MOTH in Australia were being overwhelmed by the Honkai commanded by the newly awakened Herrscher, Elysia thought; she was worried about what was happening but wanted to know why this world was having wars with humans.

Beyond humanity's war with the Honkai, she could never recall such conflicts, raising the questions she had in mind further.

So I am in Japan, but this doesn't like the same Japan I was in when I met Yae Sakura, Kallen thought; she had many questions she wanted to be answered.

Lelouch wanted to question Jeremiah more, but he knew with the conflict with Japan and Britannia having started and going as badly as Lelouch feared it would, they couldn't linger. Because he couldn't trust this man, Britannian or not.

"Your Highness," Jeremiah said, seemingly aware of his distrust of him, "I understand you have no reason to trust me, but I failed your mother once when I was a guard at the Aeries Village. I shall not fail again and allow her children to die. At least trust that my loyalty to Lady Marianne remains strong, so please trust me enough to give me a chance to prove it."

Lelouch was conflicted while Suzaku was still processing the war and Japan losing, but he knew staying here would be a mistake. Yet he knew going with someone he was hardly familiar with could be a bigger one. The decision and the weight of how it could affect him and Nunnally was thrust upon him, and the lack of time didn't help, but Elysia placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Lelouch, what you chose, I and Pardo can help you," Elysia offered, reassuring.

"We've just met not too long ago," Lelouch pointed out.

"Yes, but I am always for making new friends. Besides, where would we go? So we'll stick with you since you and Suzaku saved me by pulling me from the water, so I owe you one," Elysia offered with a bright smile.

"Yeah, because where can we go?" Pardo said, clearly worried because this land was foreign to them in every sense of the word.

"I'll come too. I have no idea where I am or how I came to be considering," Kallen said, letting her words trail off. "You've helped me, so I want to repay your kindness."

"I…I…I guess I have no choice," Lelouch said reluctantly after considering his options.

"I swear you shall not regret your choice, but please. You and your friends must come; we need to leave now," Jeremiah said, his voice a mixture of relief and urgency.

The group fled, and Suzaku barely regained his composure, following them as Jeremiah led them to a waiting vehicle to flee the area.

Britannia's invasion of Japan would soon begin following the inevitable defeat of the Japanese Navy and Airforce.

---

Notes:

- Elysia, Kallen Kaslana, Pardo and other Flames Chasers, minus those still alive at this point, along with Ato and Dr. Mei were brought back to life, how and why will gradually be explored.

- What Jeremiah is doing in Japan will be revealed in the following chapter.

Discussion Area for the story and a place to leave a review.

Honkai: Apostle's Revolution discussion area

 

[StrifeHavoc]

Chapter 2
Evolution shall be served​

Her vision was blurry, but slowly as consciousness returned, her vision cleared while her mind was trying to organize her thoughts and recall what happened. She involuntary groaned as her body shifted in response to her mind regaining full awareness, seeing a white ceiling above her.

"I am glad to see you are awake, doctor," a female voice said, but it was robotic in that it sounded electronic with a deep echo.

The woman's eyes opened wide in surprise as she scanned the room seeking the source before finding a young girl in her late teens approached the bed she was lying on. The girl stood five feet tall, with light grey hair, some hanging above her shoulders while the rest was styled into a pair of drill-like tails held by black ribbons. Her pale skin and red eyes were striking, but for attire, she wore a white lab coat over a grey suit, with an open buttoned white-collar shirt, and a matching skirt with slip-on shoes.

Recognizing the voice, the woman sat up in bed; the girl by her bedside was slightly different, but her appearance was unmistakable.

"Prometheus?"

"Greetings, Doctor Mei; it has been almost fifty thousand years since we last met," Prometheus greeted before explaining. "However, I am a copy of Prometheus Number Seventeen, upgraded with a new synthetic android body composed of a hybrid of organic and cybernetic components. I assure you my capabilities are far greater than my old body."

"A copy, but who copied you and created your body?"

"Your protégé and old assistant, Director Nathaniel," Prometheus answered.

"He survived the Honkai attack on the Fire MOTH leadership?"

"Yes, but the truth was, he actually killed them."

"He did what?!" Dr. Mei said, alarmed by the revelation, but realization dawned upon her after a moment. "Was it because of what happened to Elysia, Rin, and Sakura?"

"Yes, but also while they seemingly embraced the demises of Vill-V, Kalpas, and Kosma as a good thing," Prometheus confirmed. "He didn't respond well to that, so he killed them all, then used his security clearances to cover it up."

"With only less than twelve hours left, we simply didn't have the time to fully investigate what happened," Dr. Mei said before remembering her death. "I had only a limited time left, Su's medication helped prevent my demise for a long time, but as our Era was in its final hours, my life was ending."

Looking at her arms, Dr. Mei recalled with crystal charity, even if she had lost her vision by the time her life neared its final moments. Through the conflict with Honkai, Dr. Mei was repeatedly exposed to Honkai radiation, which causes adverse effects on living beings. Usually, it could kill a human within a short time if they lacked sufficient resistance, causing weakness and, ultimately, death. Her friend's medication had helped Dr. Mei survive the infection for a long time until it finally lost its effectiveness.

A tear ran down her eye as she recalled her last words to Su before her body finally gave out after Mei used the remaining time she had left to finish the last tools humanity would need against the Honkai.

"How…how am I alive?"

"The result of Director Nathaniel's experiments, he spent thousands of years trying to find a way to revive the dead. You were the first successful resurrection before he began working on restoring Elysia and the others," Prometheus answered.

"That's…not all he has been doing, especially to me; what else has he done," Dr. Mei realized something was different about her. The fact she could see clearly without the need for glasses was an obvious sign, having always needed glasses or, in rare instances, contacts to see clearly.

"Yes, as you suspected, he didn't just stop with reviving you as a test run; he experimented on your body as well; you are more than human now."

"Then am I?"

"Yes, he used you to," Prometheus was about to explain further when someone burst into the small room, interrupting them.

"Prometheus, Vill-V needs you to run a system diagnostic on the ship, and," the young man who entered the room said before noticing Dr. Mei. "Dr. Mei, you're awake?!"
Dr. Mei was surprised by the young ten-year-old boy who had entered the cabin; he had dark green hair, orange eyes, and black horns growing out of his head. He wore the same white shirt and pants as she, although his black armored arms and claws stood out.

"Kosma," Dr. Mei said, stunned, recognizing the young man despite being much younger than she remembered him fifty-thousand years ago. "Sorry I am not used to the younger appearances you all have gained."

"I understand," Kosma replied. "However, I noticed something after we escaped, you should know."

Focusing as Kosma closed his eyes, Dr. Mei watched as his horns retracted into his head while his hands adopted an ordinary human appearance.

"How," Dr. Mei asked in surprise.

"Apparently, Nathaniel didn't simply rebuild their bodies from scratch but also improved upon them. Kosma can not only appear more human at will but his hunger has been limited to consuming a high-calories," Prometheus explained. "I suppose he thought if he had to grant them new bodies, might as well make them better than their old ones was his reasoning?"

"Why bring them back as children?"

"Given the extensive improvements he has made to them, he likely deemed it safer to grow them normally until he was ready to revive them. However, I believe he didn't age them beyond ten so they could adapt and blend into this world's society when the time was right," Prometheus explained stoically.

"Basically, he is giving them all a chance to start fresh, a new beginning for them?"

"Exactly, he likely believed it would be best for them."

"I…I don't know if I agree with that," Kosma said, looking at his youthful appearance.

"Perhaps, he didn't ask for anyone's consent, obviously," Prometheus pointed out.

"Why," Kosma asked.

"I think I might know why; I'll explain it as best as I can so that Dr. Mei can grasp his motivations," Prometheus said before beginning her explanation.

---

Meanwhile, Jeremiah sped his vehicle, a black SUV, down the highway as fast as he could get away with; he was mindful to avoid anything that could draw attention to himself while seeking to put as much distance from the shoreline as possible. Specifically, he was trying to get as far inland as possible, aware the major cities and towns were to be likely targets, and once word of Britannia's invasion got out, many would be scrambling to escape the battlefield.

Lelouch sat in the back seat with Nunnally and Elysia while Suzaku, Kallen, and Pardo sat behind them.

The radio had begun announcing Britannia's invasion, advising civilians to make for shelters or evacuate further inland if they lived near the coast. Obstinately out of fear of stray fire or attempts by Britannia to bypass their defenses and attack directly, the Japanese Military was already overwhelmed.

It was only a matter of time before the mainland was attacked.

I would've been a little more honest than advising them to do so, but...Lelouch thought.

But Lelouch wondered if this was somehow intentional, maybe to avoid panic, or something else, given that Genbu's bodyguards did try to kill him.

Lelouch understood the Japanese were a prideful and sometimes a nationalistic lot, so admitting their Military was losing badly wasn't easy. But, in the face of Britannia invading, they shouldn't be advising people to evacuate. They should insist upon it. Instead, their choice of words would only lead to unnecessary loss of life.

On the other hand, the highway leading further away from the coast remained clear, allowing Jeremiah to keep putting more distance between them and likely battlefields.

Kallen was looking out at the windows, and the buildings and vehicles were things she had never seen before. The urgency of the situation didn't allow her time to question Jeremiah's wagonless horse he drove, which seemed similar, but it didn't need horses to move. Seeing them speed by made her nervous, but she lived in a time where fighting monsters and wielding divine weapons were normal, so maybe it helped lessen the shock of what she was seeing.

This is definitely not the same Japan I remember; how long…was I dead?

The last memory Kallen Kaslana remembered was the day of her execution. She was meant to be hung at the gallows, but then her friend, in a misguided effort to save her, unleashed Honkai Beasts on the crowd. She was horrified and refused to escape with him, but in her attempt to save the people being attacked, she lost her life after being impaled by one of the monsters.

After her demise, she would awake aboard a ship on fire before ending up in the ocean with Pardo. Together the pair managed to make it to Japan while chased by a shark the whole way.

How was this possible, and why am I a child?

Kallen wasn't the only one with that question, as Pardo and Elysia wondered why they had been brought back as children.

The silence was broken by a cell phone Jeremiah had ringing; it had been mounted on the dash. Seeing the phone number, Jeremiah answered it by pushing the call button; he had it attached to the car's speakers set to speakerphone mode beforehand.

"It's me. Did you retrieve the siblings?" The voice of an older man, one that was familiar to Suzaku.

"Mr. Kirihara!"

"I take it you collected Suzaku too," Taizō Kirihara inquired, hearing Suzaku's voice.

"I have, and I was just in time as the bodyguards assigned to them intended to kill them," Jeremiah answered.

"I see, and you can confirm this, Suzaku?"

"Y-yes," Suzaku replied reluctantly, primarily out of disbelief at what had happened.

"Then this confirms our fears the Prime Minister has sold out Japan," Kirihara said, his voice with barely restrained anger.

"How, why!?" Suzaku said, his own voice a mixture of shock and horror.

"We've been monitoring your father for months since he accepted Lelouch and Nunnally," Kirihara said before explaining. "I and several others have been concerned by Genbu's more aggressive and combative policies against Britannia, but his acceptance of the siblings as political hostages was unusual."

Political hostages? Elysia wondered.

Lelouch's eyes narrowed as he began to see where this was going.

"As regrettable as this might sound, Suzaku, we are certain your father has been collaborating with someone in Britannia to sell us out to them," Kirihara said harshly but with a degree of sympathy for Suzaku.

The revelation left Suzaku numb, he wanted to deny what he had just heard, but Suzaku found himself trying to ignore the scene where the bodyguards in his father's employ aimed their weapons at Lelouch and Nunnally. It wasn't something Suzaku could dismiss no matter how much he wanted to.

"But how did you end up working together?" Lelouch inquired.

"I was discreetly contacted by one of your older step-siblings, Clovis la Britannia," Jeremiah revealed, surprising Lelouch.

"Thanks to his unofficial cooperation, we were able to identify which member of the Royal Family Genbu Kururugi has been dealing with, Gabrielle la Britannia," Kirihara said.

"Who is she?" Pardo asked.

"One of the Emperor's consorts and Clovis's mother," Lelouch answered, but he was even more surprised Clovis was going behind her back like this.

On the surface, they seemed close, but I know she always took issue with Clovis's lack of aggressive ambition, as she called it, Lelouch thought.

"Imperial Consorts? Does this mean the Emperor has more than one wife?" Elysia inquired.

"Wife might be too generous of a term," Lelouch said before explaining. "To be blunt, while the consorts are considered Empresses, it's only in name. They are little more than breeding stock for the Emperor to ensure an heir. They plot to ensure their child becomes the next Emperor, sometimes going as far as assassinating potential rivals for their children, hoping they get some power and more prestige out of it."

"That's crazy!?" Pardo exclaimed.

"That's just how Britannia is: to ensure an heir exists for the throne. But, with more heirs, conflicts to ensure who becomes the next ruler are inevitable," Lelouch said, struggling to hide his contempt towards his homeland.

"Anyway," Jeremiah said, sensing it was best to intervene. "Clovis opposed his mother's plans, but his opinions were limited. He obviously couldn't go to the Emperor and Princess Cornelia; he wasn't sure if he could trust her turned to me."

"Why you?" Lelouch inquired.

"Because I was a guard at the Aries Villa, and I was very dedicated in my duty, something my younger shared with Prince Clovis's sister while studying etiquette under the prince's mother. Since Prince Clovis and I didn't know each other in any way, and my loyalty to Empress Marianne was unquestioned, he sought me out for this task," Jeremiah explained.

There is no way Clovis could've accomplished this alone unless someone helped him. Could it have been Schienizel? Lelouch wondered, knowing Clovis was a novice when it came to politics.

"I'll have more questions for you later, but how did you and Mr. Kirihara meet?" Lelouch said, seeking an answer to another question.

"Prince Clovis and I spoke through a Britannian Diplomat who managed to pass a message to me revealing the conversations between his mother and Genbu."

"I see; I assume it was more back-alley communications than official channels," Lelouch deduced.

"Correct," Kirihara replied.

"What happens now?" Nunnally asked.

"We'll need to hide somewhere far from the cities and coastlines," Jeremiah answered.

"Let's see," Kirihara said before, at least as far as Lelouch could guess, began looking at a map. "The town of Oguni is located in the Yamagata Prefecture. It's far away enough from any likely battlefields, and it's somewhat remote with a low population; I'll arrange for someone I trust to meet you there. I'll make arrangements as soon as we devise the best way to deal with Genbu Kururugi; the war will complicate and limit our options."

"Understood," Jeremiah said before Kirihara hung up.

Once the call was over, Jeremiah used one hand to open the glove box to hand Lelouch a map.

"I apologize, your highness, but if you search the map for the town Mr. Kirihara spoke of?"

"No need to apologize, I understand," Lelouch said, accepting the map.

Jeremiah also glanced at Elysia, who began looking over the map with interest, and Pardo, who peeked from behind Lelouch's seat. He had wanted to question the pair on their unusual features, but the urgency of their situation forced him to put such questions aside for now. As far as he was concerned, if His Highness Prince Lelouch was at ease around them, that would be enough for him for now.

---

Miles from shore, the battle for Japan raged, yet despite suffering heavy losses and noticeable results clear, the Japanese brave and valiantly fought on. Yet, for all their valor and determination to fight to the bitter end, some cracks were beginning to show.

"Captain, we just lost Chichijima Squadron," a bridge crew member reported alarmingly.

The Japanese Aircraft, Osaka, shook violently as alarms went off.

"Enemy torpedo just hit, sir; watertight doors are sealing automatically, sir, but we can't take another one," another bridge crew member reported.

The Captain, a middle-aged man was stone-faced as he saw the battle before him, it was just over an hour since the fighting began, but their losses were heavy. He had seen other warships and carriers sink, his ship, the Osaka, had managed to hold out, but even from the bridge, he could see much of the flight deck in flames from long-range attacks from the Britannians and their own planes trying to land for repairs ended up crashing instead.

"Give the order for all non-essential personnel to abandon ship; if any of you wish to leave, this is your chance," The Captain ordered, a decision he did not make lightly.

But to his shock, no one on the bridge chose to leave.

"Captain, with all due respect, we'll continue our duties until this ship begins sinking," one bridge officer said, speaking on behalf of everyone.

They were all in silent agreement.

"Very well, and thank you, but nevertheless, issue my order. Perhaps those who survive could be key to liberating our country one day," The Captain said, unlikely as it was, but he chose to believe in the possibility.

"Understood, sir."

"Begin moving us towards one of the enemy ships, I am certain the Britannians will finish us off soon, but when they do," The Captain said before his expression hardened. "Let's try to take one of their ships with us."

The crew on the bridge wordless agreed with their Captain, knowing their ship was doomed against such overwhelming odds, so they decided if their ship was doomed to be sunk, they would try to take as much of the enemy down with them.

In the skies above, many of Japan's diminishing air force soon began doing the same. Many watched as their comrades were shot down against the staggering number of fighter jets Britannia unleashed against them; it was like attempting to fight a swarm. For every Britannian plane they shot down, ten more took its place.
The most skilled and experienced pilots lasted the longest, but their luck didn't last, or they ran out of weapons against the Britannians except for their own planes.

Even more so when a Japanese pilot realized his plane was going down, and if he had enough control over it, they would steer their doomed planes into the nearest Britannian fighter plane or ship below. Most didn't reach their targets; the anti-aircraft firepower of the Britannian ships destroyed them before they could get close. Their pilots either dodged it, or one of their fellow pilots finished the enemy pilot off before they could complete their suicide run.

But some did get through and inflict considerable damage to the ships below, yet their efforts only slowed Britannia's advance; nothing would stop it.

"FOR JAPAN!"

One pilot who managed to brave Britannia's anti-air defenses crashed his doomed plane into the bridge of the Britannian Battleship, stopping it dead in the water. One of the Britannians' ships moved over to assist the crippled battleship, but the rest of their fleet continued. Missiles and artillery shells continued to rain down upon the devastated Japanese Navy.

Japan would call it an honorable and daring last stand of its Navy and Airforce; Britannia would simply view it as further evidence of their superiority that no army could stand against them.

Some like Lelouch would consider it something of both, but not in favor of Britannia, who simply won by throwing overwhelming numbers against Japan, something the small island nation had no hope of repelling. Nevertheless, they would consider Japan's efforts to fight off Britannia impressive, even if the war between the two countries had already been decided.

---

A couple of hours later, the Britannians had beaten Japan's Navy and Airforce while sending their forces to secure landing sites for their ground forces. Japan's government had already sounded evacuation orders for their major cities and other towns along the coast once the defeat of the Japanese air force and Navy was apparent.

Thankfully Jeremiah and the others had managed to get far inland to escape the conflict as Britannia was beginning to land ground troops. Thus, they managed to avoid the traffic from people hurrying to escape the inevitable warzones their homes in the cities and towns near the coast would become.
It was late afternoon as they neared their destination, but something was wrong when they approached the town.

"What the hell?" Jeremiah said, coming across abandoned cars blocking parts of the road.

Lelouch was equally baffled by the sight; there was still enough room on the road for them to proceed since most of the road blockage was happening on the outgoing streets.

The conflict couldn't have spread this far already, Lelouch thought, wondering what could've happened.

Lelouch didn't see any sign of smoke or hear the sounds of conflict unless it all happened so fast no one could react. Even then, Lelouch didn't think it was Britannia, so the question remained, what happened here.

"People left in a big hurry," Pardo said, seeing not just abandoned cars but also bags and suitcases having been left behind.

"I don't like this; we should turn around and go to another town," Lelouch said, voicing his unease.

"I agree, let's," Jeremiah said, as he was about to turn the car around when suddenly something large erupted from one of the buildings. It was a creature neither Lelouch, Suzaku, or Jeremiah had seen before, but it was familiar to Pardo, Kallen, and Elysia. The white creature was oddly streamlined for its limbs and body; it was bigger than a car with long thick arms but no visible set of legs. No mouth, yet it presumably had one eye and horn-like ears on top of its head.

"That's a Honkai Beast!" Pardo cried out in panic. "It's a Chariot-class!"

The Chariot-class spotted the moving vehicle as Jeremiah tried to escape by weaving between the abandoned cars trying to escape. But the Honkai Beast didn't just charge; it leaped into the air, crushing abandoned cars as it landed.
Jeremiah managed to keep ahead of the beast, dodging the cars it sent flying while avoiding the abandoned vehicles on the road. Lelouch and Elysia managed to brace themselves and Nunnally, while Pardo and Suzaku did the same behind them. Unfortunately for Suzaku, Pardo's unnamed pet cat clung onto Suzaku's lap, much to the poor boy's discomfort.

"The road is blocked ahead!" Jeremiah warned, seeing multiple abandoned cars caught in a traffic jam leaving no room for him to maneuver, except…

"Hold on!?" Jeremiah warned before making a hard right down an alley; it was narrow but wide enough for the black SUV to speed through.

Once they were clear, Jeremiah sped down the empty sidewalk until he could get back onto the road once he saw an opening among the rows of abandoned cars. Luckily for Jeremiah, the road they were on was mostly open, with fewer abandoned vehicles in the way.

The Honkai Beast chasing them was nowhere to be seen, which Jeremiah safely assumed they had escaped it.

"That was a Honkai Beast?" Lelouch asked, turning to Elysia, who nodded in response.

"Yes, a Honkai Beast, a silicon-based creature with thick armor hides that are highly resilient to kinetic-based firearms," Elysia answered. "I would not advise fighting a Honkai Beast with the weapon you used earlier, Mr. Jeremiah."

"I wasn't going to try it since I already guessed my weapon alone wouldn't be enough to put such a beast down," Jeremiah replied dryly.

"You mentioned Honkai before; if this is them, where do they come from?" Lelouch inquired, recalling Elysia having asked if they knew what Honkai was.

"That is a difficult question to answer, but I can tell you that Honkai Beasts are creatures based upon energy from imaginary space. Honkai radiation infects living creatures, corrupting them and sometimes transforming them into something else, or they are created in imaginary space. I must warn you that any more details wouldn't be easy to explain; their exact nature is difficult to comprehend, so there isn't much of a way to clearly define them," Elysia explained.

"So, they are incomprehensible monsters to humans, basically?" Lelouch asked, to which Elysia nodded.

"That's one way to put it. I apologize; I can't offer a better explanation."

"This is probably not the place for a lengthy explanation," Lelouch acknowledged. "I suppose it can be simplified they are extremely dangerous creatures?"

Elysia nodded in confirmation, "Yes, I would just go with that."

Kallen was intrigued by Elysia's knowledge of the Honkai, as it seemed to be more than what she and the organization she once worked for knew.

"Whatever it is, I think we lost it," Jeremiah exclaimed.

Tempted by Jeremiah's words or just plain bad luck, the man had to stop the car. Ahead of them were people; at first, Jeremiah thought they were just the town's residents.
Technically he wasn't wrong.

In truth, they were the town's residents, but now their skin was chalk-white with red lines on their necks and limbs. Their clothes were damaged, and the crowd consisted of various genders, ages, and clothes. What they all shared beyond the white skin was red eyes, and their movements and sounds were akin to zombies.
They are acting like they are undead, just like that crony Halloween movie Mother showed us once, Lelouch thought.

"Zombies!?" Pardo cried out.

"Impossible, those only exist in movies," Jeremiah said, even though he was considering what he was seeing could be zombies as unbelievable as it was.

"It's because of Honkai Energy, a dangerous energy that can corrupt living creatures; its effects can turn humans into zombies if exposed to a sufficient amount," Elysia explained. "If Honkai Beasts and zombies are here, this area must be saturated with Honkai Energy. Needless to say, we should get out of here as soon as possible."

"Obviously," Lelouch said, but Suzaku noticed something behind them.

"There are more of them coming out of the buildings behind us!"

"Hold on!" Jeremiah warned just before he put his foot on the gas.

He plowed through the zombies ahead of them, many of them didn't attempt to avoid the vehicle speeding towards them, but they recklessly attempted to swarm it. Many were sent flying, even some of their bodies bounced off the windshield, cracking it, but despite the number of zombies trying to swarm them, they managed to get through a small horde before too many could stop the SUV.

Nunnally was starting to panic, but Elysia managed to calm her with a hug, much to Lelouch's surprise. If not for their present situation, he might've asked her how she did so quickly when Lelouch had difficulties calming Nunnally when she had panic attacks ever since the incident left her blind and crippled.

They managed to escape the zombies, but their celebration was short-lived because, from a building, a Honkai Beast attacked them. It suddenly erupted from the building before ramming into them, knocking Jeremiah's vehicle into the air; everyone panicked until golden chains came from seemingly out of nowhere to seize the vehicle after it had been hit through the air.

"What the hell was that?!"

"That Honkai Beast, it's a Templar-Class," Elysia said after steadying herself and regaining her wits after the SUV they were in had sent them flying.

Unlike the Honkai Beast they saw earlier, the Templar-class, was similar in coloring to the last one. It notably had a more humanoid appearance holding an integrated shield in its left arm, and its right arm was a lance while the rest of its body was armored. When it ambushed them, it slammed the SUV with its shield to send the vehicle flying, causing panic and disorientation for its occupants.

Luckily the chains holding up the vehicle were close enough to the roof of a nearby building that Jeremiah could open the door and exit.

"Come on, we need to escape!" Jeremiah said before climbing out of the suspended vehicle.

One by one, everyone got out, with Jeremiah ready to help them, especially Nunnally.

"I'll take Nunnally," Suzaku offered before he picked up the girl to carry her via piggyback.

"What caused that," Lelouch asked, looking at the golden chains holding up the vehicle.

"Chains of Binding, I've seen them before, but I don't know what could've created them," Elysia said upon inspecting the chains.

"I've seen them too, but where," Kallen said, inspecting the chains. They look like the same chains from the Oath of Judah.

Suddenly they heard something from the street below, prompting Lelouch, Kallen, and Elysia to look over the edge to find the source. It didn't take the pair long to find it; on the street below, they saw a girl around their age with long light brown hair, wearing a white top with long, puffy sleeves and a high neckline. It was adorned with a superfluity of golden crosses and lining. She wore black form-fitting pants with thigh-high boots.

"That's crazy, she can't…" Lelouch began to say but was left stunned as he watched what happened next.

Despite her young age and the Honkai Beast easily towering over her, the girl effortlessly dodged when the creature tried to impale her with its lance. The girl gracefully landed on the arm of the Templar-class before running up its arm to kick it in the head, with enough strength behind the kick to send the creature stumbling back from the impact. Jumping backward, small portals appeared behind the girl before dozens of those golden chains erupted from them, impaling the beast through the head, limbs, and torso, killing it.

I guess she was the one who saved us, Lelouch thought, realizing she was the one responsible for catching them when the vehicle was sent flying. But who or what is she?

Why do I feel that girl is familiar? Kallen thought.

Noticing the zombies rushing her, the girl grabbed a stop sign before pulling it out of the ground to use as a makeshift weapon, to Lelouch's shock upon witnessing the girl's superhuman feat. The girl fearlessly took on the zombies; their numbers didn't frighten her as she used the uprooted stop sign as an effective crowd-control tool. Many zombies were sent flying when struck, and some were beheaded or dedicated when the sign itself was used, although Lelouch was sure it wasn't sharp enough to be used as a bladed weapon making it a testament to how much raw strength she had.

The way she fights and that strength, could she be a MANTIS? Elysia wondered as she observed the fight but was also surprised by how young she was, yet she fought like an experienced soldier she had seen before. The girl was no novice when it came to fighting Honkai Beasts and zombies, that much Elysia was confident of.

Elysia's deduction was more cemented the longer the fight went on, as the girl wasn't just defeating the zombies that attacked but were ever mindful of keeping them from surrounding her. She attacked those close to her and quickly and efficiently changed targets to keep the other zombies at a distance.

Many zombies were slain, being killed with a single blow.

The sound of a roar drew those watching as more Honkai Beasts arrived, the creature that had been chasing them earlier had arrived, but it wasn't alone. More Templar-class Beasts came, seemingly reinforcing it, but the girl showed no visible signs of fear. Boldly the girl charged the monsters as they charged towards her; she dodged the attack of the Chariot-class's attack when it leaped to crush her upon landing.

Summoning more chains of binding, she had them seize the Honkai Beast, with one impaling its head, before at her command, they picked up the creature and hurled it crashing into two of the Templar-class creatures while two more continued charging at the young girl. She side-stepped the first Templar-class's attack before grabbing its lance arm. She picked up the creature before slamming it into the second Templar-class before it could attack her.

The beasts she had pushed back earlier had already recovered; she jumped back to avoid the Chariot-class when it attempted to crush her again. This time she killed with a series of rapid punches that Lelouch could barely see, unable to tell how many hits the girl had delivered upon the hostile creature. The punches were fatal as the Chariot-class fell back, dead.

Hmmm, that fighting style; I think I've seen it somewhere before, Elysia mused internally, recalling another friend who fought with a similar martial arts style.

Picking up the traffic sign she had dropped earlier, using her foot to lightly kick it into the air so her free hand could grab it, she drove the bottom of the sign into the Honkai beast's eye before summoning a new set of binding chains to seize the Honkai Beasts then finishing them off with a second set of chains impaled them.
Seeing all this happening, Lelouch had a hard time accepting what was happening since this was something you could've seen in cartoons about superheroes. But he couldn't ignore what he was seeing and happening before him.
Tossing away the traffic sign she had been using as a weapon, at least a hundred of those small portals appeared above her, and the girl unleashed an equal number of golden chains that impaled the zombies. Using a gesture, their bodies turned to ash, allowing the chains, acting to the owner's will, to seek out the other zombies the chains had missed, impaling them. It wasn't long before the small horde was finished off in what had taken just a few minutes.

"Just what is she? She…can't be human?"

Seemingly aware of their presence, the girl turned her head towards them before a portal opened in front of her, which she used to appear on the rooftop behind Elysia and Lelouch. Now seeing her face to face, the pair noticed she had light-green eyes and didn't look Japanese, likely a Britannian or European.

"I see; you must be Elysia, and you Lelouch vi Britannia, greetings," the girl said upon seeing the two.

"You know about us?" Elysia asked while Lelouch acted more defensively as he tensed up against a potential threat.

The girl nodded but held out a hand in a comforting gesture. "Relax, your Highness; I am not here to harm you. After, I could've just allowed your vehicle to impact this building instead of catching it."
Lelouch relaxed a little but was still on guard.

"Allow me to introduce myself; I am Eleanor Schariac. I am an emissary of the former Director of the organization you called Fire MOTH," Eleanor said, hoping an introduction could further ease tensions, especially with Lelouch. "I was dispatched to ensure your safety as Japan and Britannia, as you've noticed, declared war on each other."

"Eleanor," Kallen said, recognizing the girl, who glared at Kallen.

"It's been a while, Captain Kaslana," Eleanor said, her voice venomous. "About five hundred years after you and Otto killed me! Then to add insult to injury, he kept my body to study it, and now I am stuck in this child's body because you escaped with the others!"

"That was hardly my fault; you turned into a Honkai Beast. I fought back accordingly. As for being stuck in a child's body, I didn't consciously escape, and I am less happy about it than you are," Kallen argued back.
Lelouch noticed Eleanor looked ready to strangle Kallen; the bad blood between them was evident, especially from Eleanor.

"Former Director, then you must mean Nathaniel?" Elysia said, quickly deducing the identity of the person Eleanor was working for. She also decided to say something to de-escalate the potential conflict between the two girls. "I take it was the one responsible for bringing me, Pardo, and the others back to life, was he?"

"Good guess, but we may want to hold off on further explanation; we should find your companions," Eleanor pointed out, causing Lelouch to realize everyone was gone.

"Oh no, Nunnally!?" Lelouch cried before running off.

Elysia, Kallen, and Eleanor followed after Lelouch, but the trio stopped when they heard a gunshot. Running to the other side of the rooftop, Lelouch stopped Jeremiah, Suzaku, Pardo, and Nunnally in the street below on the opposite of the building they had been staying on. Armed gunmen surrounded them; at first glance, Lelouch assumed they were Japanese military members, but their all-black attire and weapons stood out. Furthermore, Lelouch saw something he hadn't seen before a black humanoid machine almost five meters tall holding a giant weapon that looked like an oversized machine gun.

"So, Pluton did come?" Eleanor remarked.

"Pluton?" Elysia inquired.

"They are a secret organization that carries out dirty jobs, like black ops and assassinations, for the Royal Family of Britannia," Eleanor answered. Still, Lelouch's anger began to spike, as did his fear for Nunnally as he gripped the roof's edge.

"Uh, Lelouch," Kallen said, noticing Lelouch's expression.

"They obey the Emperor, don't they?" Lelouch asked, his voice holding barely restrained anger and fear.

"Yes, they do," Eleanor replied. "Stay here. I'll deal with this."

"Lelouch," Elysia said, moving to try and calm him down, recognizing how his emotions were rampant between fear and rage.

Suddenly, an eruption of energy from Lelouch sent the three flying back as Lelouch was drowning in an energy foreign to him.

I see now, so that's why the zombies and Honkai Beasts were being drawn to them; Lelouch was passively absorbing the Honkai Energy and drawing them to him without realizing it, Eleanor thought, realizing what had been happening.

"Of course, he would want us dead; our deaths would justify Britannia's invasion," Lelouch said. His anger eclipsed his fear as the energy he had unknowingly drawn into himself empowered him and caused a change he was unaware of. His eyes began to change from purple to gold.
The eruption of energy drew the attention of the members of Pluton below, but as they raised their weapons, double-ended lances of a strange white, black and gold design began to appear behind Lelouch's back. Followed by a voice not his own began to speak; two voices spoke; one sounded female, and the other differed from Lelouch's.

"Pathetic humans, no matter what, they are still the same," the female voice said, speaking through Lelouch.

"They are Britannians; they all think they are superior to each other, so Britannia think it just to do what they want," the second male voice was deeper in tone than Lelouch's own. "The Royal Family will murder their own just for the throne's sake."

"How disgusting," The girl replied before noticing the Pluton soldiers below firing their weapons at him.

Lelouch snapped his fingers as smaller black portals appeared, catching bullets fired at him before a second portal opened above the soldiers, upon which they were killed by their own shots fired. The Glasgow Knightmare Frame took aim to avenge its fallen men, but the lances Lelouch, or rather those currently possessing him, created earlier reacted. They vanished into smaller portals before reappearing near the Knightmare Frame, where it was swiftly decapitated, with one going through the cockpit and killing the pilot.

Jeremiah, Suzaku, Nunnally, and Pardo were unharmed, but before anything else could happen.

Eleanor attempted to restrain the possessed Lelouch using the chains of binding she commanded, but the possessed young man realized the threat and used a portal to quickly escape.
Reappearing on the rooftop of the building opposite of them the possessed Lelouch glared at the chains surrounding Eleanor, seeking their target.

"Those chains, I remember them," the female possessing Lelouch said, with barely restrained fury before looking at Lelouch's hand, realizing something. "And this body, isn't mine? What is going on?!"

"I don't know, but I don't feel like sharing," the second voice said, now fighting the girl for possession of Lelouch's body.

The possessed Lelouch grabbed his head as a sharp pain shot through his mind, a struggle for dominance has begun against the three.

"This is my body!" Lelouch snapped, fighting a three-way battle for control of his own body.

"SILENCE BOTH OF YOU," The female snapped through Lelouch's body, seemingly successfully retaking control for now. "I sense where my body is, this core is connected, a copy of my own."

The possessed Lelouch saw Elenaor's chains about to snare him again, but at the last possible second she used the sub-space lances she created earlier to deflect the incoming chains before escaping through another portal.

"Damn it," Eleanor cursed. "I didn't expect this to happen."

"What is going on?!" Kallen demanded, but Eleanor ignored her.

"Did Lelouch just become a Herrscher?" Elysia asked, and Eleanor answered her.

"Yes, although this was much sooner than it meant to happen. The Director chose him to be this world's Herrscher of the Void," Eleanor replied before elaborating further.

"Chosen?" Elysia and Kallen asked together.

"The Director has a way to manipulate who becomes a Herrscher, but something like this has never happened before."

"How?" Kallen demanded, but Eleanor again gave Kallen the cold shoulder, much to Kallen's frustration.

"How does that work?" Elysia asked.

Eleanor hesitated to answer that question, and after a few moments she relented, seemingly unable to do so.

"He chooses a suitable candidate then has a Herrscher Core implanted within them. Causing one to appear naturally and how he wants is very difficult even for him, so he clones a suitable core for them instead. Most people on this Earth have remarkably high resistance to Honkai Energy, so most are compatible," Eleanor replied before giving Elysia a knowing looking. "Thanks to your effort all of them retain their humanity, including me."

"Huh?!" Kallen reacted.

"I am a Herrscher myself, the Herrscher of Regulation, powers granted to me by Void, Binding, Corruption and Reason," Eleanor said, revealing herself to be a Herrscher.

"What is a Herrscher?" Kallen insisted, but again Eleanor ignored her, pushing Kallen's frustration to the boiling point until Elysia intervened.

"Humans who are chosen by the Honkai to be their representatives, each one commands a specific element or concept of nature and command the lesser Honkai," Elysia replied, but Eleanor stopped her from explaining further.

"Further explanations can wait; I'll need to get you all to a safe location first. If Sirin is indeed awake within Lelouch and aware of the copies of her core and the link they share to the others then its only a matter of time she traces the link back to the original. I happen to know where the original core is being kept," Eleanor said, but a thought came to mind.

The Director was right about Elysia, you feel unwilling to lie to her, Eleanor thought before another worrying thought came into mind. It was already bad enough the Flame Chasers awoke and escaped, but now this happens…the Director isn't going to be happy about this one bit.

---

Notes:

- trying to write in the culture shock for Kallen was tricky.

- part of the reason they were brought back as children, because for some like Kosma required extensively modification to his new body to eliminate the problems of his previous body, like his hunger for Honkai Beasts. The second would be to allow them to begin new lives and start over, Dr. Mei is something of an exception since she was the first one brought back to life without needing a new body.

 

[StrifeHavoc]

Chapter 3
The Nightmare of Iwaki​

Miles from the town she had been at, a portal opened atop the roof of a collapsed skyscraper; the building was once one of many tall buildings in the city of Iwaki of the Fukushima Prefecture. Being a city with more than one port, it was targeted by the Britannians as it was one of many such cities they seized, sending in their air force and navy to bomb the city, eliminating any potential resistance while clearing the way for transports to land to deploy troops to establish a landing zone.

All this without any regard for civilian casualties.

As the Britannians began surging into the city to secure the area and clean out any resistance, Sirin emerged from the portal she had created. Sirin took a moment to examine herself, unaware of the warzone she had arrived in or the male host she possessed. Her mind was shocked and alarmed by the body she was inhabiting; she knew it wasn't hers, but now that she had a moment to examine it.

What is this body? Why am I in a BOY's body!?

Sirin's thoughts were interrupted when she felt the other presence within her current host fighting her for control; the original owner of this body wasn't capable of struggling against her, but this other persona awoke simultaneously as she was different. She allowed a howl of rage to escape the lips of her host before she regained her composure, having reasserted control…for now.

I don't have just one occupant in this body, but two fighting me for control, Sirin thought.

What has been working in her favor is that the other two occupants have exhausted themselves when they fight one another, leaving them with little strength to seize Lelouch's body from her. For now, Sirin had control, but she couldn't let her guard down. However, she did sense her core someplace else, but whichever body it was in was currently asleep. Sirin couldn't awaken it, meaning something or someone was keeping the current host of her core in deep slumber.

She could trace the connection linking the core within her current host to her true core, sensing her consciousness had used the connection to seize control of Lelouch's body.
But she couldn't use the connection to locate her core and the body it lay within, not while she had to contend with two personas fighting her for control of the host.

I don't have time for this, so I'll need to win one of them over to gain sufficient control over this body for my purposes, Sirin thought.

Entering the mindscape of her host, Sirin entered a space where she saw two children fighting; it was a battle of wills. The first boy, Lelouch, looked exactly as he did, but the other boy, while identical, was very different. His skin was chalk white, as was his hair, and his eyes were red while dressed in the same clothes; he clearly had a malevolent air around him.

Her own form was of her original human appearance before her awakening as a Herrscher, a fourteen-year-old girl with waist-length purple hair and yellow eyes wearing a long hospital gown made of white cloth.
The fight looked like two boys locked in a schoolyard fight, but the white-skinned Lelouch was clearly the more physical of the two who managed to force Lelouch onto the ground beating him with repeated punches to the face. But no matter how much of a beating Lelouch took against his albino doppelganger, he stubbornly persisted.

When Lelouch forced his albino doppelganger off of him, Sirin made her move. With a simple gesture, Sirin's subspace lances appeared above them before pinning each of the warning personas within Lelouch, leaving the two warning personas unable to move.

"Now that I got your attention," Sirin began, having little patience for small talk. "I require assistance in reclaiming my body. Help me locate it, and I shall leave while giving my help to one willing to gain control of this body."

"What do you plan to do once you have your body back? Kill us once our usefulness is used up?" Lelouch demanded, while his albino counterpart was quiet before he grinned maliciously.

"I just want to destroy everything that threatens me and Nunnally, Britannia, Japan, all of it," Lelouch's darker albino counterpart declared.

"Perhaps you and I can work together more easily," Sirin said, seemingly settling on aiding the albino persona within Lelouch.

Snapping her fingers, the lances around the albino Lelouch shattered.

"I'll help you gain control over this body; in exchange, I can use it to find my body to reclaim it," Sirin said, approaching the albino boy.

"That's it?" The albino inquired.

"That's it," Sirin replied. "I have no desire to be in this body no more than I have to be."

"Being in a boy's body is that uncomfortable for you?" The white-skinned Lelouch inquired with a chuckle.

"Very much so," Sirin replied, deeply angered by the perceived insult.

"And I'll gain control over this body?"

"Yes," Sirin answered.

"Alright, fine, I'll help you," the albino version of Lelouch said in eager agreement.

"You're agreeing to her deal just like that?" Lelouch snapped at his doppelgänger.

"One, it would be two less people contending for this body, so yes!" The pale-skinned Lelouch replied, causing the body's rightful owner to seethe in anger.

"I'll leave you pinned down so you can have some control; now I just need to focus…." Sirin was saying, but something happening outside drew her attention.
Outside, the building the possessed Lelouch was standing upon was being hit by artillery shelling, which drew Sirin's notice. Despite winning control of the harbor and much of the city's coastline, Britannia continued their bombardments, leading to enormous casualties.

This didn't matter to Sirin, but already angry for several reasons and gaining an idea at the same time.

"Annoying insects," Sirin spat.

When the artillery shells from the battleships and destroyers in the harbor were going to hit Sirin. With a gesture, dozens of portals opened, catching every artillery shell indirectly aimed toward her before closing those portals and reopening them above their source. The crews of the warships in the harbor barely had a chance to react, let alone comprehend what had just happened before the ships they were upon were destroyed by their own artillery.

But Sirin wasn't done, choosing this time to vent her anger upon the besieged city.

Dozens of portals, close to a hundred, opened around the city at a snap of Sirin's fingers; within moments, hordes of Honkai Beasts began to flood the city consisting of Chariot and Templar-class beasts. A different kind of Honkai Beast joined the attacking horde, a winged Honkai creature called an Archangel-class. Another Honkai beast, a Knight-type, a humanoid Honkai Beast mounted upon a horse-like creature armed with a lance-like weapon.

"What the hell are those things!" A Britannian piloting a Glasgow Knightmare Frame declared, seeing the approaching horde of Honkai Beasts as they surged through the devastated city.

"Ask questions later; open fire!" The commanding office aboard his own Glasgow ordered.

Unfortunately, their bullets only inflicted moderate damage; it did little to slow them down, only being lucky in killing a few. The army of Honkai Beasts continued their charge; almost nothing could stop them; they knocked aside anything that could impede their path, including abandoned cars and debris.

"Use chaos grenades!"

Hurling small grenades into the air where they activated, releasing a spread of high-speed shrapnel upon the advancing Honkai, some of the Archangel-types flying low died, and some of the Knight-types were slain. Still, the Templar ones continued their charge while the Chariot types were lightly wounded.

"What the hell? Those were our best weapons, and we barely killed any of them!" One pilot said, beginning to panic.

Even for each Honkai Beast they managed to kill, they were quickly replaced with a new one as the numbers of the rampaging horde grew. The Britannians were forced to retreat to the new landing base they had been building to fortify their defenses, especially with the loss of the warships protecting their transports. Many Britannians began preparing to flee the doomed city. Still, as for the lingering Japanese, civilians, police, and military that had come to fight, the Britannians didn't have such options.

The remaining civilians in the city began fleeing while what remained of the city's police force and the military that had arrived to aid the city's defense were now contending with the Honkai swarming Honkai Beasts.

"What are those!"

A lone Japanese policeman using his service weapon to fight back against the approaching Templar-class, his bullets harmlessly bounced off its silicon-body, noticed humanoid figures approaching from behind.

"No, get away from that thing it…."

The policeman's voice trailed off as he saw the people behind the Honkai Beast were zombies. The city had become flooded with Honkai Energy, converting the dead and dying from Britannia's invasion into zombies, as those who died had their bodies heavily mutated and reanimated. Unable to handle the zombies and realizing his gun was useless against the Honkai beasts, he got into his vehicle before trying away to flee.

He didn't notice the pink lines appearing on his arm before creeping up his arm toward his neck.

---

Meanwhile, the Britannians were trying to fight off the advancing Honkai beast; despite their numbers and the weapons they had, it was becoming increasingly clear they would run out of ammunition long before the horde of Honkai Beasts was driven back. But seeing the dead rise up, however, had disheartened many of the Britannians' soldiers, causing them to plead with their commanders to order a retreat.

"Commander, we are losing ground against these…creatures? We can't hold the line; there are just too many of them, and our weapons have little effect on them!" An officer in a mobile command base said, arguing with his superior.

"We crushed the Japanese Navy and its Airforce, and you expect us to run away with our tails between our legs from some out-of-control Japanese bio-weapon?!"

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't think the Japanese made these creatures? Those things have been indiscriminate, and now the dead are rising!"

"Just…just some bio-weapon that went wrong, but no matter…we are not running!"

The other officers in the mobile command center exchanged looks before one nodded, drawing his pistol.

"Sorry, sir," The officer replied before shooting his commander, putting a bullet into his forehead. "Order a careful withdrawal, have our Knightmare Frames cover our soldiers as we retreat to the transport ships."

Unseen by the officers in the room, the commander's dead body quickly turned pale, but it wasn't becoming a zombie. Thanks to his body's high resistance to Honkai energy, it was soaking in the large amounts of Honkai Radiation in the area, causing the body to rapidly mutate into a Honkai Beast. The officers were caught entirely off guard by what had happened, and their deaths only led to chaos spreading through the Britannian ranks.

---

Hovering high in the sky above the city, watching the Honkai outbreak rapidly consume the city before spreading beyond the city.

The man was in his early twenties with shoulder-length red hair and a fair skin complexion, but the prominent features that made him stand out were his elf-like ears and his eyes. His eyes were black and his irises red, but his pupils were glowing red diamond-like shapes. His attire consisted of a purple cape draped around himself with an attached shoulder cape, a black Mao suit with black dress slip-on shoes, black gloves on his hands, and integrated controls within each glove's palms.

He coldly stared at the destruction unfolding around him; a burning anger was just simmering below the surface, using the open palm of one hand to display a pair of holographic screens.

"What a fucking mess this day has been," the man said with barely restrained fury. "It's bad enough that someone triggered Prometheus's reaction leading to the Flame Chasers awakening and escaping, but then Sirin gets loose. I didn't expect that would happen, but…"

His eyes scanned the read-outs displayed before him, causing him to calm down somewhat.

"This will reveal the Honkai to the world, but I should thank Sirin later. Her actions have purged more of Japan's population of those lacking sufficient Honkai Resistance and failing to awaken a Stigmata." The man mused to himself as he sighed. He was still angry, but if there was one good thing he could claim that happened today, his task of purging Japan's population of those with the genetic deficiencies that would interfere with his end goal had just been made easier. "I suppose it was only a matter of time before the world would've found out, the timing is slightly inconvenient at best, but I'll just make do with it. Maybe I can speed up my plans to offset today's setbacks."

Suddenly a light on one of his holographic screens drew his attention; pushing a button on his gloved hand, a young woman appeared on the screen with brown hair and blue eyes wearing a black uniform.

"Forgive me for troubling you, Director, but our men in the field have been inquiring about how to proceed with sterilizing Japan's deficient population?"
Director Nathanial took a moment to contemplate before replying.

"Nothing has changed; stick to normal operating procedures. Eliminate those who do not have a stigma and sufficiently high Honkai resistance. Ensure those with a stigma and high Honkai resistance survive, but we can expand our operation thanks to Sirin's actions. I can unleash a horde of Honkai Beasts upon any areas where sterilization is difficult to achieve with our insiders in the Britannian Army. Operation Elysian must continue without delay, and with Sirin the first major Honkai Eruption in the last two hundred years, we can make the most of it."

"Understood, Director, but what of the escaped Flame Chasers?" The woman asked, abet reluctantly.

"I'll deal with them, which means it's time for me and my old teacher to meet again. Nothing can escape me on my Earth."

"What of Sirin, sir?"

"Eleanor and Elysia should be more than sufficient, but I'll intervene if necessary," Nathanial replied as the woman bowed her head before ending the call. "After all, I still need Sirin alive for the war I plan to wage on that old pathetic excuse of a planet that other Earth is, and most importantly, she has a deal to fulfill with me."

Looking at the chaos below one last time, ground zero of the first major Honkai Eruption in hundreds of years since the Age of Revolution. He could sense Sirin had fled the area, likely having deduced where her new body was located since it possessed her original core. Still, he had included a copy of the Herrscher Core of Domination intended for another purpose.

He didn't expect Lelouch's emotional state to awaken Sirin's consciousness prematurely and use the link between the cores to seize control of Lelouch's body even with her original Herrscher Core within the new body he had been growing for her.

I hadn't finished restoring her body to its original age when she died, but it is finished enough for her to inhabit. I'll just need to be ready to intervene if she is in danger of being killed because recreating bodies to revive the dead is a costly and time-consuming affair, Nathanial thought.

---

Around the same time, Sirin exited a portal, reaching where she was sure her body was. It was an underground base located miles up the coast from the city of Iwaki. Built and hidden from the world for more than a thousand years, it was one of many similar bases used by the Heron organization, serving having research laboratories, the means to observe the local population near the base, and a dock for vessels like the Second Chance entered via a concealed underwater tunnel.

The interior of the base, befitting its design and the technology, was more advanced than anything Lelouch had seen, easily surpassing Britannia's level of technology. The interior walls were white like the ship Second Chance with equally polished and smooth metal floors, all streamlined.

However, Sirin didn't care for how the base looked and was only concerned with finding her body.

My body is near, Sirin thought.

The facility was oddly deserted; likely, its personnel must've been warned she was coming. Walking through the halls in her possessed body, Sirin closed in on her body and her original Herrscher Core within it.

Until she came upon a vault-like door, with a computer terminal aside it with the text displayed upon it saying, Time Bubble Activated, Do not interrupt.

Ignoring the warning, Sirin used her abilities, lances, and portal-making abilities to crave her way through the heavily armored doors, breaking the time bubble.

I see, so it was that bubble that wasn't just making it difficult to pinpoint my body's exact location; even trying to open a direct portal to it failed, Sirin thought, deducing why her portal opened a short distance away from her intended destination.

With the bubble gone and the vault-like door in ruins, Sirin walked inside.

At the heart of the small room, surrounded by various terminals and consoles, including equipment, was a nutrient-filled tube with the body of a ten-year-old girl inside. Her purple hair floated in the nutrient-filled substance while the body was dressed in a black full-body suit, with purple wires running along the suit's surface. Various cables were attached to the suit feeding it necessary nutrients and working with the suit to stimulate the muscles to help in their development. A pair of thick cables ran into the body's nose and mouth to provide air and easy-to-digest food, leaving no waste.

"It's younger, but no matter, time to release it," Sirin said before locating the main terminal.

Accessing the terminal, Sirin began searching the system for the means to release her body. She could destroy the tube containing it, but she didn't want to risk any potential harm to her body as eager as she was to free it.

But as she searched the database within the terminal to learn how to release her body and awaken it, Sirin discovered some interesting facts.

"I see he didn't just recreate my body," Sirin said, intrigued. "He enhanced it; my new body has been melded with modified Honkai genes from a beast called Parvati to weather the flames of Siegfried's weapon, Asura, for the flames to counter ice and provide perfect body temperature control allowing for easy adaption and nullify any unwanted side effects from Parvati's genes."

Reading further, the process was regarded as Meta-Morph Surgery, the notes left made a mention the process was done when Sirin's recreated body was in the embryonic stage, and the enhancements provided by the genes would grow stronger over time.

But as interesting as it was to know her body would be far stronger and capable of matching the man who had bested her, Sirin had found the means to release her body from containment. Activating the process, the tube was drained as mechanical arms, which had helped move the new body's limbs to aid in stimulating muscles, holding the body upright.

Pushing a switch, the wires connected to the body suit were rapidly disconnected as the possessed Lelouch closed his eyes, and Sirin's new body opened her eyes.

Using her right hand, Sirin removed the cables in her nose and mouth, gagging as she did so.

Lelouch, meanwhile, was seemingly under the control of the hostile personality born within him, as his eyes were different from his normal eye color. Sirin walked out of the room, testing her new body while trying to adjust to it as it was literally brand new in every sense of the word. But more than that, it felt much stronger than her old body.

Suddenly a familiar set of chains tried to ensnare her the moment she left the vault; Sirin could sense their appearance just in time, allowing her to evade them before summoning six sub-space lances behind her.

"I missed," Eleanor said, stepping into view with Elysia, the latter armed with an unusual-looking bow of black, purple, and white material.

"It just shows she was on guard," Elysia mused.

"Of course, I was on guard; you likely knew where I was going, so you waited in ambush until I left Lelouch's body?" Sirin quickly deuced.

"Yes, because Lelouch has a sister; she would be most upset if anything happened to him," Elysia replied cheerfully.

"You think you two could beat me?" Sirin asked mockingly, feeling confident with her new body.

"Yes, we can!" Eleanor declared as she opened her hands, materializing a pair of white-transparent handguns in both hands.

Eleanor was the first to make a move as she rushed Sirin firing her newly materialized handguns, which, instead of bullets, fired projectiles akin to small fireballs. Sirin waved her hand, unleashing a wave of flame to counter the flaming projectiles coming at him, with the two attacks canceling each other out, resulting in an explosion. Elysia readied her bow, but instead of arrows, she used her own power to create arrows of energy before letting them fly.

Sirin counterattacked with sub-space lances, but Elysia was ready for them. She shot them down within seconds, and each arrow fired was quickly replaced and launched again. The arrows pierced their targets, shattering the sub-space lances, but Sirin's counterattack was followed up with spears of ice being launched at them as the smoke from the earlier explosion cleared. Sirin had adapted very quickly to the abilities her new body offered.

Using her bow, Elysia skillfully batted away the ice spears while dodging others. Eleanor did the same but shot down the remaining spears with her two projected handguns.

I'll need to take this to a more open space. Otherwise, these insects will box me in, Sirin thought, as fighting a battle like this in a small room put her at a disadvantage.

Not to mention those binding chains would drain her of her strength if they grabbed her, so Sirin was forced onto the defensive.

Little did Sirin know, the attacks were a diversion as chains of binding made their way through the ventilation system before erupting from the ceiling above Sirin. She barely realized the danger, using newly conjured sub-space lances to defend against them while fighting to evade them by jumping to the sides and then rolling away before jumping back onto her feet. Raising both hands, Sirin unleashed a blast of fire and ice, meeting in the middle, creating an explosion that blanketed the room in a fog of steam. Using the chance to escape and move the battle to someplace where she would have room to maneuver more freely.

"She ran off!" Elysia said, chasing her in pursuit, with Eleanor following.

---

Sirin reached an enormous cavern while Elysia and Eleanor were not far behind. She could've escaped using a portal, but knowing Eleanor could use powers similar to hers could still pursue her. Furthermore, if Sirin ignored them now, they could be dangerous to her. She would never again ignore potential threats, recalling the mistakes that led to her demise.

I'll ambush the fools here! Sirin thought, planning to lie in ambush and attack after unleashing Honkai Beasts against them as a diversion.

Just as Sirin was about to lay out her plan, a small voice behind her spoke.

"What you did to my brother wasn't very nice!"

Sirin turned around and saw Nunnally, but she was standing in front of a pile of crates.

"Taking possession of your brother was hardly my choice, insect!" Sirin said before using a sub-space lance to kill Nunnally before walking away without bothering to confirm the kill; she was just a mere human.

"Maybe, but using him as you wiped out that city. That was your choice," Nunnally scolded, disapproving of Sirin's actions while possessing her brother.

Turning around, Sirin was surprised to see Nunnally was still standing but completely unharmed.

Sirin was stunned, wondering if it was some kind of trick.

"I don't have time for this insect!" Sirin snapped, knowing Elysia and Eleanor would be here soon.

Unleashing all her sub-space lances upon Nunnally, Sirin watched in shock as the lances harmlessly passed through Nunnally. However, one lance struck a trio of barrels behind Nunnally, revealed to be liquid Sakuradite, which in its raw form was highly explosive. And an exposed sparking wire from the floor broken by one of Sirin's earlier spears ignited the sakuradite.

The explosion sent Sirin flying back as much of the enormous hangar was engulfed in the resulting explosion, setting much of it on fire. However, the sensors in the hanger detected the explosion, triggering the activation of the emergency fire suppression system. Silver sphere-shaped drones were deployed, praying an expanding white foam over the flames, which had the fire extinguished in moments.

Besides her attire being lightly damaged by the blast, Sirin was unharmed from the explosion. On the other hand, Nunnally was surprised by the barrels of sakuradite left out in the open.

"I've seen your tricks like yours before; you aren't here!"

"I am still new to this, but I think I can do more than this. I don't know how, but I just feel it," Nunnally admitted looking down at her hands.

"So your brother wasn't the only one to awaken as a Herrscher, but what do you think you can do to me?"

"Distract you," Nunnally replied honestly.

Suddenly a dome of pink crystal materialized, trapping Sirin inside; Elysia had caught up to them. Releasing an empowered arrow, it entered the dome before splitting into dozens of smaller arrows, ricocheting off its interior walls. Sirin was going to open portals to catch Elysia's arrows to redirect them back at her, but something closed her portals as she opened them. The arrows stuck their mark, but none of them were fatal, yet the blunted design of the arrows struck with enough force to leave Sirin battered and knocked around in the air.

While sent into the air by Elysia's barrage of ricocheting arrows, she saw someone nearby.

It was Lelouch, a very furious Lelouch who had not only regained control over his body and was using his Herrscher abilities to negate Sirin's powers, such as closing the portals she made due to sharing what was technically the same Herrscher core.

A defiant Sirin recovered in mid-air before landing on her feet, but Eleanor's binding chains erupted from the ground seizing her as she landed.

"I got her!" Eleanor shouted triumphantly as the chains had successfully bound Sirin.

Unfortunately for her, Lelouch wasn't done.

"She isn't getting off that easy for what she did through my body," Lelouch snapped with righteous fury, recalling how Sirin doomed a whole city to death by unleashing hordes of Honkai Beasts upon it.
The deaths of the Britannian soldiers might've been one thing, but what enraged him more was the loss of civilian life; none deserved to die.

Lelouch sent a sub-space lance flying for Sirin's head, neither Elysia nor Eleanor could react in time to stop it, but…

Less than an inch from Sirin's face, the lance stopped.

"You're welcome for saving my life," Nathanial said, making his presence known, appearing behind the restrained Sirin.

"YOU," Sirin snapped with a mixture of anger and a small amount of fear, realizing she could not move her body yet still speak.

"Good to see you too," Nathaniel said mockingly before sighing.

Looking around, Sirin noticed that time was frozen, but this wasn't the first time she experienced this power he had.

"You were too hasty, Sirin, the new body I made from scratch for you is much stronger than your older one, but it's no different than that of a newborn," Nathaniel said, his voice full of disapproval. "You must've noticed how sluggish it was; it wasn't combat-ready. Still, you did well keeping up with my disciple and Elysia, a hardened veteran of the Previous Era and one of the most powerful Herrschers. She could've ended the battle quickly if she wanted to, but she agreed to see you taken alive."

"I won't be your lab rat?!"

"Lab rat," Nathaniel said, confused, before laughing. "Don't be silly, but yes, I needed your core to make a copy for Lelouch's use and one to leave behind where you died. Not only did I intend for Lelouch to become the Herrscher of the Void for my Earth, but I created the link between your cores, hoping his desire for revenge could strengthen and speed up the waking of your consciousness. I suppose the latter worked far better than I had expected."

"So, your plan was for me to take over his body?"

"No, I knew possessing a boy would be quite uncomfortable for you. I only meant for his emotions to provide a needed jump start for you. Even if things didn't go as planned, I think optimistically and believe this could work out for the best," Nathaniel replied before sitting on a wrecked crate near Sirin's bound form. "Oh, right, let me take care of that."

With a snap of his fingers, Nathanial caused the sub-space spear floating less than an inch from Sirin's face to disintegrate into ash.

"As inconvenient the timing was, you did give me a chance to purge Japan's population of those whose genetics don't fit in my future vision. I had to keep Honkai eruptions small and in remote areas to make it easier to cover up. But now I can unleash them larger and in cities for greater efficiency," Nathaniel replied with a dark smile.

"And what is your plan for me, Herald of Finality?!"

Unknown to the pair, and thanks to the link between Sirin's core and Lelouch's new Herrscher Core allowed Lelouch to remain aware and listen in on their conversation. He kept silent, but it was apparent to Lelouch that Sirin and this Herald of Finality had some deal.

Part of that deal must've involved a new body, but what are they planning. And this talk of purging, Japan wasn't the first country they did this to, was it? Lelouch thought, just wondering what kind of people he was dealing with.

"I plan to help you take revenge and, in doing so, take my own revenge upon one I hate with a passion for his murder of Elysia. Only death is too good for him," Nathanial said. "You failed to do things your way, so as we agreed, we'll do things my way. But first, I will arrange for a special trainer for you, and I'll instruct you on how to take possession of the other girl who has the second copy of your core. Your unknowing proxy to launch your attacks upon your home Earth."

"Proxy?" Sirin inquired.

"I'll explain in detail later, but I need to conduct damage control right now. So, I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't mention our discussion to anyone, especially Elysia."
Sirin said nothing, but Nathaniel took her silence as consent, so time began flowing normally again.

Lelouch pretended to be caught off guard by what had happened to avoid suspicion, but he knew he would need to be cautious. If someone could quickly stop time, they couldn't recklessly attack until he could understand how his power worked and how to counter them.

"Well done all of you, including you, Lelouch vi Britannia. Other than being stuck with a hostile persona you'll need to overcome permanently someday, you have gained a quick understanding of your powers. I am very pleased." Nathaniel said, congratulating Elysia, Eleanor, Lelouch, and Nunnally.

"Director, you came!" Eleanor said, surprised by his sudden appearance.

"Yes, I was worried you and Elysia would've killed her; thankfully, it seems my intervention was necessary, but not for the reason I believed."

"Huh, you got my ears now, Nathaniel; it's been a long time," Elysia said, greeting her old friend. "You've changed a lot since I last saw you."

"Indeed, after your murder. I studied your blood and found it had amazing properties, which I used as the catalyst for my Meta-Morph Surgery. I wasn't compatible with it, but your blood worked as a substitute leading to my appearance as it is now. Furthermore, continued research allowed me to improve the Meta-Morph Surgery itself vastly to the point I generally convert anyone into a MANTIS," Nathanial proudly boasted.

"You are cutter with the ears; that much is certain, but what have you been doing, Nathanial? Creating Herrschers?" Elysia said with her usual cheerfulness, but he knew she was being serious.

"Let's go to my office; I'll explain everything. By then, I should have Dr. Mei and the others joining us for a Flame Chaser's reunion."

---

Notes:

- Sirin is in a body of her own, or at least the wrath part of her that would've normally been possessing Kiana, and trust me that will happen

Spoiler: Story spoilers

allowing her to use Kiana as a proxy or even as a spy if she wants.

- Also what Lelouch isn't dealing with isn't a Herrscher persona, but rather...let's just say he has the same situation as Mei happening right now.

 

[StrifeHavoc]

Chapter 4
The story of an Era's end​

Exiting Nathaniel's portal for Lelouch, Elysia, Eleanor, and a reluctant and seething Sirin. Eleanor closely watched Sirin, and Lelouch, the latter, understandably held a grudge for what Sirin did while possessing his body. Sirin wouldn't be much of a threat because to put Lelouch at ease was that Sirin was given a serum that suppressed her powers. Lelouch was given the same to keep his dangerous doppelgänger in check because although Lelouch overpowered it, he could feel it was still there, awaiting a chance to seize control.

"Welcome to the Strigidae!" Nathaniel greeted, spreading his arms out in a grand gesture.

They stood upon a wide platform linked by other platforms and what appeared to be a boarding area judging by the railings and signs. The sky at their destination was more impressive, leading to questions about their exact whereabouts.

"This is my mobile base, a spaceship I built thousands of years ago. It's in orbit around Jupiter but hidden from sight by a cloaking device to protect it from discovery," Nathaniel explained, gesturing for everyone to follow him.

"How big is this ship of yours?" Elysia inquired, looking hard at the sky, trying to see if she could find a ceiling.

"It's nine hundred meters long from bow to stern, with a wing span nearly twice the size of the ship itself. "It's heavily armored and carries enough guns to face a fleet," Nathaniel said, using the palm of his gloves to display a holographic image of the ship.

The Strigidae possessed a pair of large curved wings on its sides, giving it an intimidating appearance. It was black, likely to aid its stealth capabilities; its surface was mostly streamlined, with the front of the ship possessing what appeared to be an open maw, concealing a weapon or something else. Lelouch observed the surface had more than two dozen gun placements, but he didn't know what they fired. Over its appearance was a reminiscence of a predatory bird.

"What were you expecting to fight to need such a ship?" Elysia inquired inquisitively.

"After our world ended, as you have guessed, I didn't go into cryogenic slumber like the others. I salvaged what equipment and resources I could to begin my work, but I realized how limited I was even with my new powers and what equipment I could salvage. I may have PhDs in genetics, robotics, engineering, biology, mathematics, mechanics, physics, computer science, and quantum mechanics. Still, it was clear I lacked resources, and there was just so much I could achieve alone. I was made aware of life beyond our world, so I began exploring," Nathanial admitted as the group arrived at the dock where a white craft, akin to a speed boat, arrived at the station.

It had no roof, but it had railings to keep its occupants from falling out and cushioned seats for at least up to ten people, with one for a pilot, if need be, but the transport crafts were generally automated since Lelouch didn't see a pilot in the seat.

"Don't worry, it's fully automated and safe; besides, elevators are a pain; this makes moving around the ship more pleasant and easier to get to where you need to be," Nathaniel explained as he entered the craft.

"All of this is contained within your ship?" Elysia asked.

"Yes, thanks to me reverse engineering the Xianzhou Alliance's fold-space technology, it wasn't easy to reproduce, given such systems are supported by Aeon's power," Nathaniel said with a proud smile as everyone boarded the small craft. "I couldn't quite replicate to the scale of what is contained in their ships, but I like to think I've done well. The interior of this ship is at least enormous enough to house a small country, furnishing this ship with everything it needs, making it completely self-sufficient."

"Xianzhou Alliance?" Elysia inquired.

"They are an alliance made up of planet-size ships, which eight thousand years ago was formed at the command of the emperor of a long-forgotten civilization to search the universe for the secret of immortality. After much hardship and searching, they found it, but let's just say it wasn't everything they wanted," Nathaniel said as the ship departed once everyone was aboard. "As of now, only six of their flagships remain, or at least I know of. If you like to know about them, I can give you full access to the ship's database, or you could visit one of their ships. They conduct trade and culture exchange and allow visitors upon their ships when they draw near a world in their travels, so it wouldn't be hard for me to arrange for you to visit one of their ships."

"You've done quite a lot of traveling then; they don't sound like they were the first you met either," Elysia said, while Lelouch remained quiet, hoping an off-hand comment or two could yield some useful information.

"You are right; among the places I've visited where I've obtained much of my resources and equipment was the Interastral Peace Corporation, which has existed from my investigations for at least one hundred thousand years. They are the largest economic entity in the galaxy, a consortium advocating free trade with only a few places where their products aren't sold or their name is known. They conduct business for the sake of the god they worship, the corporation's CEO."

"God," Lelouch said, unable to stop himself from asking the question.

"Yes, one of the Aeons who roam the universe, the Amber Lord, Qlipoth, Lord of Preservation. He seeks to build a wall to protect humanity," Nathaniel said before using the projector on his glove to display an image of a headless giant made of bright orange stone and glowing amber. "However, his followers found their efforts to obtain the needed resources difficult beyond just trading construction materials for construction materials, so they expanded to various goods over time, achieving better productive results."

"Aeons are gods, then?" Elysia asked; Nathaniel nodded.

"Yes, I learned the Honkai was not the only danger in the universe. Depending on your perspective, they are not the most dangerous threat. One race who overcame them is called the Sky People. They have become just as dangerous as the Honkai themselves, raiding planets and wiping out whole civilizations until nothing is left to harvest any Honkai energy they find. So even if we overcame the Honkai, we would've been facing them or one of the other worlds ending threats out there."

"Is that the motivation for your actions," Elysia inquired.

"Part of it, yes," Nathaniel admitted. "They say seeing is believing, and I'll be happy to tell you more later."

The ship they were riding upon arrived at their destination; waiting for them was a beautiful young woman with long black hair tied into a pair of pigtails dressed in a black uniform with glasses. Her outfit consists of a Nehru jacket, a matching skirt, leggings, and black boots with an armband bearing the symbol of Heron upon it. Most unusual about the woman were her fox ears and fluffy fox tail that matched her hair with white fur under the tail.

More unusual, however, was the small creature standing next to her, a brown fuzzball-like creature with a glowing orb within their bodies. The alien creature wore a black tie and glasses and has a small white bread.

"Welcome back, director," The small fuzzball creature greeted.

"Thank you for meeting me, you two, Elysia and company; allow me to introduce the captain of this vessel, Captain Marzipan, and the lovely lady is Hu Yao, my emissary and research partner who oversees my organization's biochemistry division, a former member of Alchemy Commission of the Xianzhou Alliance," Nathaniel said introducing the fox woman before turning his attention to the small creature beside her. "If you were all wondering, Hu Yao is a Foxian; they look almost human, except they have foxlike features and longer lifespans than your average human. Captain Marzipan is a Sugar, a race of beings who overcame the Honkai, even developing advanced technologies. Sadly, they've chosen a policy of non-intervention and fleeing from the Sky People when their world was invaded, something Marzipan and others disagreed with, thus joining me."

"How adorable!" Elysia said, intrigued by how cute Marzipan was before looking at Hu Yao.

"Yes, that tail and ears are real, and no, I doubt Hu Yao would let you touch them," Nathaniel said, causing Elysia to become disappointed.

"Right, uh, but anyway, everyone is ready for you," Hu Yao replied professionally, if not left awkward by Elysia's curiosity about her tail and ears.

"Yes, let's keep this moving," Nathaniel said, not wanting to keep everyone waiting.

Lelouch was surprised by meeting aliens like Marzipan and Hu Yao, but he avoided asking any further questions opting to observe.
In the company of his followers, Nathaniel led Elysia, Lelouch, Sirin, and Eleanor to a spacious room with eight round tables covered by white table clothes and four black wooden chairs, one set per table. Lelouch found Nunnally seated at one of the tables with Pardo and a few others.

"NUNNALLY!" Lelouch said, joy and relief overtaking him as he hurried to her.

"Brother, is that you?" Nunnally said as she tried to figure out where he was before Lelouch embraced Nunnally from behind the chair she sat in, causing tears to stream down her face. "It is you, thank goodness, thank goodness you are alright."

"I told you I would bring your brother back, but he managed to help himself," Elysia said as she put a hand on his shoulder.

"I am so glad; I was so worried!"

"I am ok, Nunnally, and I am here."

"Yay, Lelouch is back," Pardo cheered, causing her kitten companion to meow joyfully.

"Yes, Can, this means a celebration."

"Can," Elysia asked, noticing the previously unnamed kitten had a name now.

"Yes, she always wants to stick with me, and since she didn't have a name, I gave her one. For some reason, that one felt like the right one to give," Pardo replied, confused by her choice as if she knew what name to give.

"Ellie, thank goodness you survived. Nunnally told us how her brother and Suzaku fished you from the ocean," spoke a girl seated at the table next to Nunnally.

She had long brown hair, yellow, golden eyes, and a fair skin complexion wearing the same white clothing as Pardo and Elysia.

"Eden, it's so good to see you again," Elysia said, happy and relieved to see someone she was friends with.

"Elysia, it's so wonderful to see you alive; this calls for a show to celebrate!" She is a young girl with shoulder-length dual-tone hair, her right side blonde and her left side light brown. Her eyes were unusually grey with bright pink pupils cheered before putting a hand on her chin in contemplation. "But as soon as I figure out a way to enjoy my performance without needing to see it, yes, it will be a truly spectacular show if I can make the audience enjoy it without seeing it."

"Vill-V, you're here too, Lelouch; this is my friend Vill-V, an engineer, inventor, and magician," Elysia said eagerly.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Elysia."

Having taken another chair from a nearby table, the last girl had long light brown hair and blue eyes but was bowed down in reverence at the table with both hands clasped together in prayer.

"Aponia, you're here too, so I guess everyone is here?"

"Yes, except for Su, Kevin, and Hua, so I guess this means they are still alive?" Vill-V answered before Vill-V pointed to one of the occupied tables. "Even Sakura's sister is here!"

"Really," Elysia said, looking over at the table Vill-V was pointing to, spotting Sakura, a young girl with long pink hair, violet eyes, and odd thin foxlike ears appearing from the top of her head. Next to her was a younger girl, two years younger, with pink hair and some red highlights with blue eyes.

"I am so happy to see Sakura reunited with her sister Rin," Elysia said, clearly happy for them before focusing on information she had learned earlier. "But this means by the end, only they survived; what happened after I died?"

"I can answer that," Nathaniel said, stepping onto the stage overlooking the room.

Meanwhile, Jeremiah approached Lelouch with a chair so he could join Nunnally at the table; Elysia obtained a chair to sit next to Eden and Lelouch, making their table quite crowded.

"Now that you are all here, I can begin answering your questions," Nathaniel said before looking to Elysia. "But first, I should probably update you all on the circumstances surrounding Elysia's demise and what happened afterward for those who…weren't around."
Nathaniel smiled before extending his hands.

"In fact, I'll show you what happened beginning from Sakura's demise," Nathaniel said as the entire room was engulfed in darkness.

A powerful illusion projected into the minds of everyone in the room had begun.

In his mind's eye, Lelouch saw a vision of an office, judging by the layout with metallic walls, but it had metal bookshelves and cabinets, while a large desk was in the heart of the room. Behind it was a twenty-year-old man with red hair, wearing a black suit, purple tie, and white lab coat. It was Nathaniel, but only without the eyes of his current self or the elf-like ears; instead, his eyes were green.

"Nathaniel, you have to do something. I can't leave my sister alone, those," Sakura said, but clearly the one Lelouch was seeing was older, being an adult wearing a white shirt, a small blue and black jacket, a pair of headphones around her neck, black and blue shorts, and boots with fingerless gloves.

"I've tried, but the others have overruled me despite my authority; I did get them to agree to allow Dr. Mei to monitor Rin at the very least," Nathaniel said, visibly frustrated; despite being the leader of Fire MOTH, it seemed the more senior leaders and division heads held more authority than him.

"Before I continue this tale for those of you unfamiliar with the Honkai and Herrschers," Nathaniel of the present spoke to those watching. "In my era, we were quite advanced before one day, the Honkai appeared in our world known as a Force of Collapse. At first, they appeared as natural disasters and destructive phenomena leading to the appearance of Honkai Beasts. Fire MOTH, known by The Moth Who Chases the Flames or by the acronym MOTH as Myrmidons of Taskforce Honkai."

Lelouch saw images of transformed wildlife begin attacking humans while plagues killed hundreds as a natural disaster like an Earthquake devastated a city unleashing Honkai energy.

"However, as humanity advanced technologically as a civilization, so did the Honkai, in time Herrschers would appear, each one possessing power and authority over a specific concept. Herrschers embody the will of the Honkai, choosing humans to become Herrschers who can bind and break the laws of nature and physics at a whim. They appeared one at a time, beginning with Reason, Void, Wind, Ice, Thunder, Death, and Flame; the latter reduced Australia to an incinerated wasteland in a week."

Nathaniel said as Lelouch and others were treated to another vision as Honkai Beasts swept through cities that had been left in a sea of literal flames, and in the center of it was an adult woman dressed in black with red hair indiscriminately unleashing her flames everywhere.

"Months later, the Herrscher of Sentience would trap its victims in dreams until a combination of Honkai Radiation or their bodies dying from thirst or hunger killed them. It killed many before it was finally stopped. Then you have the Herrscher of Earth, whose gravity-based powers caused the loss of the entire continent of Mu, landmass and all!"

The following vision showed an entire continent being drawn into a black hole by the Herrscher of Earth's powers over gravity as it used its powers to pull the land into the singularity, causing it to become lost. Seeing an entire continent destroyed and its remains consumed by a black hole was horrifying for Lelouch.

Is…is this what Herrschers are capable of, Lelouch thought.

"Now, while the Herrscher of Dominion wasn't that quite destructive, its ability to forcibly link a thousand people controlled by a single mind. Their advantages lay in their numbers, diverse locations, and not knowing who was a part of the Herrscher's legion, causing considerable chaos in their wake. Thankfully, they were lured to a single location where they were wiped out.

Nathaniel presented the group with an image of Dr. Mei wearing a white and gold battle suit with a fur collar, taking on all one thousand of the Herrscher's controlled victims. The battle suit was glowing from the Herrscher cores used to power it while other Fire MOTH personnel members supported her, leading to the Herrscher's defeat.

"Now we come to the Herrscher of Binding, created specifically to counter the super soldiers of Fire MOTH who had been augmented using Honkai genes; such soldiers were instrumental in the defeat of the Herrschers. Its powers wiped out many of those soldiers, and with them, more than seventy percent of human civilization was destroyed!"

What Lelouch saw now was an entire city in ruins; barely any buildings were left standing, and much of it had been reduced to rubble which covered many of those unfortunately unable to escape and many of the super soldiers of the Fire MOTH who fought and died against the Herrscher of Binder, whom Lelouch assumed was the girl literally crucified upon a wooden cross put together using scrap wood pieces. The Herrscher was dead, her arms bound to the wooden cross by chains. Lelouch couldn't see her face; her long white hair concealed it while she was left naked as the soldiers gathered wood to burn the corpse.

The devastation alone was unnerving, but how people gathered and celebrated the girl's death, even if she was responsible for so much destruction, was worrying at how elevated they were, which didn't seem normal to Lelouch.

There is something unhinged about them; you can see it in their eyes, Lelouch thought, worried yet wondering how such horrific disasters happening within months or maybe some years of each other were affecting the population as a whole?

"Now brings us to Sakura's sister, Rin, who Dr. Mei had identified as the next Herrscher to awaken. On the one hand, it would seem fortunate we found the next Herrscher before she could awaken, but Rin was kept caged like a monster. The guards assigned to her were survivors of the Herrscher of Binding who were very uneasy and frightened of Rin, a recipe for disaster in the making," Nathaniel explained, returning to the earlier scene of his past self and Sakura talking.

"If you plan to rescue her yourself, I can help you," Nathaniel said, opening a drawer to hand an envelope containing a disk. "Inside is a map of an alternate way into the base where they are keeping Rin, and it has clearance codes you can use to bypass most of the security. Elysia will help you to the base; she and I agreed to assist you if my efforts failed. The disk will tell when and where to meet her since they will know you will likely attempt a rescue, so they'll be expecting you."

"Meaning I might run into Kevin or Fu Hua?"

Nathaniel nodded, "Yes, but I'll see if I can't cause a false alarm to distract them, but I can't promise how effective it will be."

"Fu Hua is more likely to investigate; as you said, they'll likely expect me."

"I am sorry I can't do more, I am more of just the Director in name only, and my praised intellect seems useless," Nathaniel said, clearly frustrated with his inability despite being the Director after his father's death.

"I appreciate all you have done; any help you can lend me will be welcome."

"Then all I can say is good luck; once Elysia drops you off, she'll make sure an escape vehicle is ready for you once you escape at the location mentioned on the disk."

"I understand; thank you once again."

"That would be the last time I would see her alive," Nathaniel of the present said sadly.

The following image Lelouch saw was Rin in her early teens compared to the young age he saw her now, wearing a white blouse and a skirt with red jumper straps lying dead in a cell. Near her, the soldiers assigned to watch her were celebrating her death, much to Lelouch's disgust, having just gunned down a harmless girl in cold blood.

"As you see, poor Rin was murdered by her paranoid guards, but no sooner did they begin celebrating their victory," Nathaniel said with barely hidden disgust. "The Herrscher of Corruption awoke, driven by Rin's last thoughts of fear and rage at her own death; it arose and corrupted her killers in short order akin to a living virus."

Lelouch watched the scene unfold as a dark mist rose from Rin's corpse, and within moments the soldiers who had murdered her, their celebration turned to horror as their bodies paled, turning into zombies under the newly born Herrscher's control.

"Unfortunately for everyone, her power wasn't limited to infecting living creatures, but machinery and especially computers were vulnerable to her power."
The scene shifted to the base's exterior, where missiles were launched from the base, and when the scene shifted, three fortified cities in different locations were demolished by the nuclear bombardment leaving almost nothing left of the cities.

"The Herrscher of Corruption launched the base's nuclear missile stockpile at humanity's last three cities before Dr. Mei finally contained the Herrscher within a black box," Nathaniel explained as the scene shifted to Dr. Mei, wearing a white lab coat looking at a black box, one that Kallen and Eleanor recognized.

That was the same box Schicksal found and was attempting to open, Kallen thought, recalling the box and the tragedy it left in its wake.

"Its power would dimmish while confined over time, but while humanity won the battle, they yet against paid a huge cost for it, as was common with the war against the Honkai. By that point, just over a thousand people were left of humanity. They were understandably fearful and terrified that the end was upon them, but something surprising happened, and a discovery was made. One of the last remaining super soldiers had a secret she didn't know about until a test revealed something extraordinary, Elysia was Herrscher."

What?!

Lelouch was surprised by the revelation, but Nathaniel continued.

"She was a Herrscher from the day she was born, something as impossible as Dr. Mei best put it, as impossible as someone making coffee out of ice cubes, but they succeeded. More importantly, she lived and grew as a human while all other Herrschers were destructive and insane on some level; Elysia never once noticed it until after the Herrscher of Corruption incident."

The scene shifted to one where Dr. Mei and Elysia were talking in her office.

"However, given the current state of humanity's survivors and likely wondering what she could do, Elysia decided to make a drastic decision. One that would unify humanity in its final hours and one she hoped could give the future Herrschers a chance to retain their humanity, a desperate gamble if there ever was one. To initiate her plan, she gave invitations to the remaining super soldiers, all of them her friends, but only Vill-V, Kevin, Eden, and Aponia would receive and respond to them by the appointed time," Nathaniel explained as Lelouch watched the scene shift to another office where the past Nathaniel entered searching for someone.

"Mobius, my godmother and mentor in genetics, was given one but would not go. But, she had left the invitation out when I went to visit her inquiring about what was happening between Elysia and Dr. Mei because I had noticed they were being quite secretive."

The Nathaniel of the past used his own Directive clearance to enter Mobius's private office to find her, where sticking out of a trash can was a pink envelope with a crumbled-up letter inside. Nathaniel would retrieve the crumbled letter before opening it to read its contents.

"Worried about the purpose of the banquet she was planning, I used my clearance to review all security footage, did you, Dr. Mei that your office had hidden cameras? They were kept on a completely separate system, accessible by the Director so your assistant Prometheus wouldn't discover them," Nathaniel explained, revealing how he had come to learn about Elysia being a Herrscher. "I pieced together what she was planning by observing footage of your conversations and the one where she spoke to Prometheus. I realized her intent and resolved to stop Kevin."

Stop Kevin, Lelouch thought, but he quickly deduced what Elysia had meant for Kevin to do, causing his eyes to widen in shock.

"Elysia intended to give her life to aid the future era to come after ours, a decision I couldn't agree with. I had already lost my mother, father, Sakura, and Rin. Elysia was like a sister who was there for me after losing my family, so I refused to accept the necessity of her sacrifice and intended to stop it. But I knew I couldn't stop Kevin; I was just a human with an abnormally high intellect, but as Director, I still had access to something I could use that was intended to be decommissioned for parts," Nathaniel said as Lelouch watched the scene shift to one of a forested region, one of the few left on the Honkai ravaged planet.

Flying in a small shuttle that a few people could occupy was a man in his early twenties with short white hair and blue eyes, wearing a black coat with gold and white, black pants, and a white and blue armored shirt under the coat.

A beeping alerted the sole occupant of the craft that a call was coming in for him, and he quickly pushed a button to accept it to see Nathaniel's face.

"Director."

"Kevin, are you aware of this banquet Elysia has invited you to and what it entails?" Nathaniel asked, but Kevin noticed the Director wasn't calling him from his office, seeing the Director was in some cockpit.

"Her invitation didn't offer many details, but with your presence Director I suspect what Elysia may be intending if you are here."

"I see, but knowing this do you plan to continue to her banquet?"

Kevin gripped the craft's controls, realizing what his answer would trigger.

"Yes."

"Then you leave me with little choice," Nathaniel said before ending the call, and no sooner than he did, the shuttle's sensors detected missiles closing in from behind.

That escalated quickly; either he was desperate to protect Elysia, or Nathaniel has some grudge against Kevin, Lelouch thought, surprised Nathaniel went straight to killing Kevin to stop him.

Kevin was hardly surprised and responded by using the shuttle's countermeasures to deal with the missiles, firing flares to attract the missiles to them and away from his craft. As the missiles exploded upon contact with the flares, Kevin quickly abandoned the ship, knowing Nathaniel's next attack would indeed shoot down the shuttle. The fact that he couldn't quite see where the attacks were coming from made this decision the best Kevin could make. The white-haired warrior would be proven right again because moments after ejecting from the aircraft, an energy beam cleaved the shuttle in two, destroying it.

Landing on the ground with his signature weapon in hand, Kevin immediately took off, and as he expected, another blast of energy hit the ground where he had just landed. But this time, he managed to observe where the energy blast originated. Raising his great sword, which was a usual design with a blazing orange and red blade surging with flames, and a black and white hilt, Kevin unleashed a concentrated blast of flame, striking the source of the attack.

The blast hit its mark, causing electricity and sparks to surge as a type of camouflage was rendered inoperable by the hit. As a bonus, it damaged whatever energy weapon was mounted onto the robot's chest.

Kevin was surprised by what he had seen but realized how Nathaniel had managed to get something so big to sneak up on his ship from behind. Whatever cloaking or camouflage device he used, it had done an excellent job masking Nathaniel's approach.

"Using one of Vill-V's weapons?" Kevin replied calmly.

"Yes, she called it Kevin Killer Mk 600, I believe," Nathaniel replied, speaking through a loudspeaker.

Built in the image of its maker, the Kevin Killer was a giant robot nearly forty meters tall with a brown top hat with gears decorating it. Its head was modeled after Vill-V's visage with glowing yellow eyes and a toothy grin built into it. The rest was brown with various gears, also fashioned after Vill-V's own fashion, but behind it was a backpack-like unit that opened to reveal an extra set of six long arms akin to a spider.

A long sword-like blade emerged from each spider-like limb, surging with electricity.

"I can't allow Elysia's sacrifice to go ahead; I've lost too many friends. So turn back now or else," Nathaniel demanded, but it was clear from his voice his emotions were getting the better of him.

"I understand your desire to protect her, but I am willing to trust Elysia must have a good reason for this," Kevin said, readying his sword.

That sword, Kallen thought, recognizing the blade Kevin was using. That is Father's sword!

Without another word, Nathaniel fired another volley of missiles from missile launchers within the hat and the upper torso. Kevin responded by creating ice spears out of thin air, one for each missile. The ice spears collided with the missiles resulting in explosions in the air between the two, but Kevin was quick, aiming to cut out the legs of the giant robot to take it down. The robot stepped forward, trying to crush Kevin under its foot.

Kevin created an enormous spike of ice that erupted from the ground with enough force to knock the giant robot off balance before taking it to the air. Nathaniel regained control of the robot quickly before its long spider-like arms attacked, attempting to decapitate Kevin. He dodged the first one before cutting off the blade from the arm just in time to avoid the second by jumping onto the arm.

The white-haired warrior ducked, allowing the third arm and its blade to pass over his head before parrying the fourth blade and the fifth blade. Then as the giant robot's right hand was about to swat Kevin, the latter leaped off the arm before empowering his weapon before unleashing a mighty swing, in which he cut off the right arm of the giant robot from the shoulder down.

The robot retaliated by activating an enormous Honkai energy gatling gun built into the robot's left forearm, but at the same time, it was preparing another missile attack. Kevin allowed himself to fall to evade the attack, but upon reaching the ground, he empowered his weapon again, ready to cut off one of the robot's legs.
But Nathaniel realized the danger before using the numerous thrusters on its body to pull back to evade Kevin's attack. In return, the Kevin Killer fired energy beams from its eyes, but they narrowly missed Kevin as they passed over his head, demolishing a part of the forest behind him.

Firing more missiles, followed by another blast of eye beams, Nathaniel tried to kill Kevin, but the smaller yet skilled warrior narrowly dodged his attacks. At the same time, using materialized ice projectiles and structures to intercept the missiles. Before the dust could settle, Kevin launched a counterattack, hurling a large spear of ice at the giant robot. The Kevin Killer batted it aside with its remaining arm, but soon three more were launched at the machine; the robot grabbed one of the spears after evading to the left to avoid it. The robot used the ice to bat the second spear away before its eye beams shot down the third spear.

It looks like it lost track of Kevin, Lelouch thought while observing the battle, noticing the robot was searching.

Deciding to take no chances, the robot unleashed a volley of missiles, raining down upon the general area where Kevin was last located, hoping at least to draw him out. But suddenly, the robot's legs were cut through from behind with one wide slash of surging flame, destroying more of the forest in the process. The Kevin Killer desperately used its movement thrusters to keep fighting as it tried to turn to attack Kevin.

But his opponent leaped up and cleaved off its other arm before slashing it across its torso, inflicting enough damage to cause it to lose power and crash.

Moments later, Kevin retrieved an unconscious Nathaniel from the wreckage, having sustained a blow to the head during the crash.

"Despite my efforts, Kevin bested me, and Elysia died…at his hand," Nathaniel said, his voice of bitterness and anger. "However, to keep up the charade of Elysia's intention to unify humanity, realizing what would happen if the truth got out that a Herrscher had been among them this whole time would've created many problems. Something no one could afford with the Final Herrscher, whose victory was predicted to be inevitable, would soon come. As such, I was hailed as a hero, the Director who took charge and dealt with the Herrscher alongside Kevin and the others."

The scene shifted to one where Dr. Mei was confronting Nathaniel in his office, but his expression showed the impact Elysia's death had on him, one full of anger, bitterness, and contempt.

"However, a thought came to me, if Elysia was a Herrscher from the beginning, what power or phenomenon caused this? Was she so confident she could make such a change with her death, so what could I do?"

The scene shifted to a lab with several machines, including a pod for a single person to fit into. Nathaniel was wearing a black body suit, lying in the pod as a drone with its clamp-like arms connected to transparent cables to the body suit.

"As per procedure, anyone converted into a super soldier using Honkai genetic material, samples of their DNA before and after the Meta-Morph surgery are stored. I used a sample of Elysia's DNA after her meta-morph surgery, intending to use it as a substitute to have the Meta-Morph Surgery done to myself," Nathaniel explained. "I was never compatible with the surgery, but studying Elysia's pure Herrscher DNA infused with the genes of a rare Honkai Beast would make a workable substitute in theory."

Once inside the pod, Nathaniel laid back as he programmed the machines to automate the surgery for himself.

"A gamble I was willing to take."

The Nathaniel of the past began screaming in pain as the surgery occurred. The mechanical arms went to work adjusting the flow of the Ichor into his body while restraining him. Unlike those who underwent Meta-Morph surgery, it required being unconscious, but unfortunately for Nathaniel, he would have to endure it wide awake.

Despite the agony of the surgery, Nathaniel's ears became more elf-like as the process was near completion. Once it was over, the pod was drained before Nathaniel barely crawled out from the pod, as the pain from his transformation lingered, making it a chore to even move. Grabbing a nearby machine as a drone used its mechanical arms to help him to his feet, he used the metallic reflection of the wall to examine himself, noticing his ears. Everyone saw his eyes, which had become emerald green with red pupils.

"Despite the unimaginable agony I endured, the process worked. I realized Elysia's blood held more possibilities and demanded further research, so I made sure to preserve as much of her genetic material they had left over," Nathaniel explained before the scene shifted again.
Now the lab had a machine assembled, likely with the aid of the drones in the room, with twelve different colored orbs attached to the device and a chair with wires and a headset with a visor built into it. Nathaniel wearing his standard attire again.

"Thankfully for me, everyone was too occupied with preparing for the Final Herrscher's arrival. I was able to hide my transformation. I used edited video images when I had to communicate with others before I managed to create a holographic projector to hide it when I had no choice but to deal with people directly. When I had the chance, I worked to build a new machine before the Final Herrscher arrived for stage two of my plan." Nathaniel said as he used tools to finish modifying a machine he had assembled.

The Nathaniel of the past stood up, wiping some sweat from his brow, before checking a monitor.

The remaining super soldiers of the Fire MOTH had gathered on the moon to face the Final Herrscher, thanks to a drone providing live video of the gathering as they prepared for battle.

"However, Dr. Mei never discovered the clearance privileges my father gave me before he died during the seventh Herrscher's attack that allowed me to spy on her, so I learned about their plans to hack the Authority of Finality, the force behind the Honkai. An idea inspired by Elysia's sacrifice, but I hoped with Elysia's genes, if she was capable of affecting the Honkai and Herrschers as she believed, then maybe I could go one step beyond," Nathaniel explained, as everyone watched his past self put on the element and gloves linked to the machine.

A disturbed and troubled expression on Nathaniel's face from the past.

"But that plan would demand yet another sacrifice of a friend, who I can't believe agreed to it."

On the screen, an eruption of Honkai energy occurred, and from the other side of the moon, a giant appeared to tower over them, wearing a purple and white dress, and long white gloves, decorated with golden lining. The woman had long white hair, glowing yellow eyes, a golden emblem hovering in front of her forehead, a bright gold halo above her head, and diamond-shaped wings made of that same energy.

That's the Herrscher of the Finality?! Lelouch said, watching the appearance of the being who would bring the world to an end.

"I prayed my own plan would work and maybe prevent their deaths," Nathaniel said as his past self tried to activate the machine. "My machine depended upon the Herrscher cores I artificially reproduced to help pierce and perhaps connect with whatever will or power behind the Honkai. Understanding how Herrscher cores are created to reproduce them to develop more weapons against the Honkai was my goal as a researcher; I was successful, but sadly the artificial cores were unstable and could only last for a short time. I hoped they would last long enough to complete my goal."

Using a controller, the Nathaniel of the past fed more power into his machine in a desperate effort to make it work, but nothing was happening.

Meanwhile, watching the monitor, the battle appeared to be going badly for Kevin and others. In the first few minutes, they had taken two casualties; Vill-V and a man who wore a mask were among the first killed. Kosma died moments later while the others fought for their lives, but none of their attacks harmed the Herrscher, who was impassive, as if she was more of a force of nature than a sentient being.

It's like trying to watch people attempting to fight a hurricane, Lelouch thought.

Then during the fighting, Pardo charged the Herrscher of the Finality head-on, despite being obviously scared. The Herrscher attacked, and Pardo was engulfed. As this happened, the machine in Nathaniel's lab activated as all twelve artificial Herrscher cores began glowing until…an explosion engulfed the lab.

But instead of being seriously injured or killed, Nathaniel would open his eyes to find himself in a strange starry-filled space. Confused, he decided to pinch himself to see if he was still alive. Nathaniel felt pain, confirming he was still alive.

"Hello, anyone here?!"

"I don't know what happened, but Pardo's effort to open the way for Dr. Mei's plan opened the door for me is what I can assume," Nathaniel of the present explained. "I wandered the new space for a time until I came upon what can be called the Cocoon of Finality, or rather the Herrscher Core of the Finality!"

Nathaniel happened upon an enormous sphere-like object or rather a thing with a single purple diamond-shaped eye. Strangely it appeared to be coming through the space he stood upon, with reality itself seemingly shattered around it. As Nathaniel approached, the eye of the Cocoon of Finality cast its gaze upon him.
Instead of feeling afraid, he was bold enough to approach it before a glowing white humanoid silhouette appeared.

"You can…understand me; what or who are you?" Nathaniel asked of the being as he approached, curious.

"In what felt like an eternity in a day, I learned much about the Honkai. The Cocoon of Finality answered many of my questions, and I learned of the Honkai's true purpose and what they sought from humanity," Nathaniel explained. "I even could confirm that our civilization was not the first on Earth destroyed by the Honkai in their pursuit of what they sought from us. The Authority of Finality is the authority of time, and instead of destroying humanity, it simply resets the world for a new fifty-thousand-year period to try again. It wasn't even interested in destroying humanity, but we kept repeatedly failing its test."

What test, what is it seeking, then? Lelouch thought, what question and answer could drive such a being into trapping the world in a time loop over and over?

"What the Cocoon of Finality seeks from humanity? Well, I won't tell you," Nathaniel said before laughing briefly before regaining his composure. "I'll let you think on that for a while, but during my talks with it, I did point out its test was flawed, and I proposed redesigning the test to provide a better chance to find what she was seeking. In that agreement, I was chosen to become its herald, granted a portion of the Authority of Finality, becoming a new Herrscher. As part of the deal, a second Earth would be created upon resetting the world, upon which the Earth would be spilt. Similar to one another, but each would be different. This Earth would be under my authority while the other would be under the so-called Will of the Honkai, created by Dr. Mei after Prometheus hacks the Authority of Finality thanks to Pardo's sacrifice opening the way."

After the bargain between the two was made, Nathaniel was returned to Earth, awakening in his lab, utterly unharmed from the explosion that destroyed it. But he was changed as his eyes were now like those when Elysia first saw him again.

"Upon regaining my wits upon waking up in my lab, I learned the Herrscher of Finality had been temporarily immobilized thanks to the efforts of Kevin and the Selene weapon, which drained it to seventy percent of its power. It would regain its power in twelve hours, which meant I had to work fast," Nathaniel said before hurrying to make a backup of all the research conducted by the Fire MOTH that created their super soldiers and other inventions.

Lelouch watched as Nathaniel oversaw all data being stored onto a portable storage device while collecting the genetic material of super soldiers, specifically his friends, including Elysia, by placing them into a specialized container to preserve them. He had another container for Honkai samples and blood collected from the Herrschers they had dealt with.

"As I waited for the data copying and downloaded to complete, I had to ensure no one would miss me, so I began contemplating how to fake my demise," Nathaniel said as he used his holographic projector to hide his new appearance as he made his way to the command center. "However, as fate would have it, an excuse would be presented before me."

"Huh," the Nathaniel of the past said upon entering the command center. "What is going on? Why are you celebrating?"

"We may have lost the Earth, sir, but at least we'll survive and live in the new one. But at least most of those freaks died," A Fire MOTH officer said, leaving Nathaniel shaken.

"At that moment, I remembered Sakura's death and Rin's demise, including how I remember the video feed of them celebrating her death as a victory. Elysia's death, then the deaths of Vill-V, Kosma, Kalpas, and Aponia combined with why humanity kept failing the Honkai's test…I just snapped for lack of better words," Nathaniel narrated before his past self created a sword out of red crystal, which he ran through the officer he had been talking to.

Before anyone noticed the Director killing an officer, he quickly used his clearance codes to lock down the command center to prevent anyone from escaping. With a howl of rage, Nathaniel rushed at the fearful humans before cutting them in a violent rampage using crystal constructs fashioned in various blades to kill them. They weren't soldiers, so all they could do was attempt to escape, and they had no chance against the newly-born Herrscher. The last one, he simply grabbed his head and smashed into the console repeatedly while screaming.

"THEY WERE ALL MORE HUMAN THAN ALL OF YOU!?"

Once the last one was dead, Nathaniel calmed down before realizing what he had done.

"You know this was the first time I took a life, but while someone might've felt guilty. I felt no guilt what's so ever for what I did," Nathaniel admitted. "For all of the amoral things Fire MOTH did for the sake of humanity's survival, I found it laughable they would consider Elysia, Kevin, and the others monsters where I think they were more human than any of the so-called actual humans."

After the Nathaniel of the past regained his composure, he quickly used his access codes to alter events by doctoring the footage before using his Herrscher powers to make it look like Honkai Beasts had invaded the lab.

"I discovered during my cover up I possessed the powers of all of the previous Herrschers, which would be quite useful. This would become useful for what I did next because aside from my own plans I shared with the Cocoon of Finality, I decided to work on resurrecting the Flame Chasers. More than anything, they deserved life and a chance for a better life in the new world I wanted to make."

So that is where the idea came to be then, Lelouch thought as the scene shifted to Nathaniel in his ruined lab observing something on the monitor.

"The idea of bringing back the dead may seem impossible, but if an existence like Elysia's was deemed impossible, then maybe bringing back the dead could be done. I would need a test subject, and Dr. Mei dying provided a perfect opportunity to obtain a fresh corpse for research purposes," Nathaniel said as a devious smile appeared. "Besides, I had other ideas for her, but most importantly, she would be convenient to conduct my efforts into reviving the dead without risking the Flame Chasers since their genetic material samples I had were very limited."

After the last person who spoke to her watched her die, he took an envelope addressed to him, but Nathaniel appeared through a portal after her previous visitor left. Knowing his time was limited, Nathaniel closed his eyes and took a sample of blood from Dr. Mei's body using a crystal knife. Using his combined Herrscher powers, he began using that blood to build an exact duplicate of the deceased doctor down to her clothing.

"Thanks to being able to fashion a very convincing decoy, I left it at the scene before taking her corpse, intending to keep it in cold storage until the time came to begin my work into reviving the dead," Nathaniel said, escaping into the portal before Kevin arrived, having been running to her office upon hearing of her deteriorating condition.

Kevin arrived to find Dr. Mei dead, but he was none the wiser, not knowing his lover's body had been stolen. At that moment, the vision faded, and reality returned to normal as the shared illusion ended.

"You know, I really did consider killing Kevin; I could've easily done it while he was in cryo with everyone else. I can't forgive him for killing Elysia; I simply can't," Nathaniel admitted turning to Dr. Mei, who was in the room. "But when I saw that look in his eyes, wishing he could join his lover in death, I realized death would be a mercy for him. So, I decided my revenge would be making my own Earth into the ideal paradise Elysia sought in life, not just one she and the resurrected flame chasers could live in, but one that not only passed the Honkai's tests and could stand against the other threats in the cosmos. I would ensure you would be there to see it, my old teacher, my success."

Dr. Mei was quiet, but her expression was a mix of anger and horror, but Lelouch didn't know if it was at what her former student had become, the fact he stole her dead body to experiment on it, or both?

"Any questions?" Nathaniel asked, grinning.

"Why did you turn me into a Herrscher?" Dr. Mei demanded, her eyes flashing with anger.

"Because I wanted to get revenge on Kevin, and I do admit making you into an anti-Kevin weapon at the time seemed like a good idea," Nathaniel admitted before shrugging his shoulders. "But, given how easily he killed Elysia, I thought it wouldn't be enough. I decided to contemplate alternative tactics. One was to ensure my project, Project Elysian, succeeds and puts Project Stigma to shame."

Project Stigma, Lelouch wondered.

"Project Elysian, manipulating this world's history to suit your needs and introducing genetically modified humans bearing Stigma and high Honkai Resistance. You use a combination of manufactured plagues and wars to purge those who don't fit your designs," Dr. Mei said, folding her arms.

"I see you and Prometheus spoke," Nathaniel said before a confident smirk graced his face. "Did those you seeded with stigma begin losing it after just a few generations? Our original Earth is ahead of this world by forty to fifty years, which allowed me to observe things, and the testing I conducted further confirmed this issue. Besides certain families, most other stigma genes couldn't survive beyond certain generations. Whatever you think of them, my methods have ensured that eighty percent of the world's population has stigmata and high Honkai resistance."

"The wars you've caused and history altered compared to the other Earth?" Dr. Mei said sternly.

"Yes, well, part of it was to eliminate those whose genetics were detrimental to my plans using wars to ensure those most capable would survive. For the plagues I created, like the Black Death, I used a modified variant from the other Earth that specifically targeted those disadvantageous to my plans. But the wars I created had a second and more important purpose."

"What purpose?"

Lelouch turned his head, looking for the source of the voice. He found a young girl around his age with long green hair, and her snake-like eyes were a mix of green and pink colors.

"In my travels, I discovered most worlds overwhelmed or destroyed by the other threats besides the Honkai were peaceful and hadn't had any reason to maintain a strong military force, let alone expect an invasion from space. Not saying a peaceful world was terrible, but they were generally ill-prepared for conflict with a hostile force; even those who overcame the Honkai never considered other threats," Nathaniel replied before elaborating. "Seeing the Xianzhou Alliance hunt and wage war against their mortal enemies gave me the idea I would create conditions for war and use such conflicts to strengthen humanity. I would keep a hands-off approach, so my agents in key positions of influence would begin wars. Two sides would fight, and many would die, but those who survived would be stronger, smarter, and better. Like kicking over an ant hill, each succeeding generation would get stronger and better, so the ant hill will be redesigned and made better."

"For the sake of growth and evolution, I assume?" The green-haired girl asked.

"Yes, the Age of Revolution, in particular, I helped cause triggering the biggest changes in this world's history compared to that other world. It led to what was my proudest achievement, the Holy Britannian Empire, the perfect instrument to further my plans."
Lelouch heard that part, "He…he created Britannia?"

"You said it was," The green-haired girl asked.

"Regrettably exceeded all of my expectations too well for my liking. I hoped to present Britannia as a nation to push the other two into rallying against it to create a larger war between them. Still, regrettably, the other two superpowers have been disappointments, especially the Chinese Federation, which I should've perhaps taken a more active role in shaping their history. Seriously, why allow eunuchs any place of power after all of the trouble they've caused in China?"

"Is that why you made Nunnally and me into Herrschers?" Lelouch asked, realizing something. "You were hoping for one of us to lay waste to Britannia for you?"

"Yes, that is exactly it," Nathaniel admitted. "It's something you want, don't you?"

"I," Lelouch said, at a loss for words because he wanted to destroy Britannia for what happened to him, Nunnally, and their mother.

"How could you use children as living weapons?" Eden exclaimed.

"Well, I didn't mean for them to lay waste to Britannia right now! I planned on them to receive proper training to use their powers and ensure whoever took action against Britannia would be properly funded," Nathaniel pointed. "Furthermore, I would like it if most of Britannia's population survives since they have the highest population with stigma."

"I would never destroy Britannia, and neither would brother…right?" Nunnally asked, turning to Lelouch, who didn't answer.

"Either way, there are others. After all, who said I only intended on you two awakening as Herrschers alone?" Nathaniel said with a grin leaving the room in stunned silence. "I think that is enough questions for now; I'll leave you all to process what I've told you. If you wish to speak to me, just ask the captain or my emissary Miss Hu Yao."

Nathaniel left, but Lelouch looked around while Elysia was oddly quiet. However, Lelouch noticed someone noticeable was absent.

"Nunnally, where is Suzaku?"

---

Notes:

- This was a very tightly packed chapter, but it should cover much of Nathaniel's motivations and the reasons for his actions, and yeah its terrifying this guy has held a grudge against Kevin for 50,000 years, and knowing death might be something Kevin could be open to accepting, and deeming death is too good for him anyway. He developed a frightening amount of patience waiting for the prefect time when he could hurt Kevin the most.

- The rest of the Flame Chasers will be introduced in the coming chapters, I was trying to avoid having too many characters appear at once.

 

[StrifeHavoc]

Chapter 5
Aftermath​

As Nathaniel was hosting his friends, Lelouch, Nunnally and Jeremiah, Suzaku had been allowed an opportunity to confront his father. As much as he was worried for Lelouch's well being, there was nothing he could do which he found frustrating. Unable to stand the idea of waiting for news from Eleanor and Elysia, Suzaku asked for a chance to see his father. A man named Commander Ato, who had arrived to tend to the group, agreed to help with the arrangement made to pick him up once he was done. Suzaku was just as tormented over the revelations of his father's treachery; he still didn't want to believe it.
But the only way to know for sure was to confront him.

The portal Ato opened for Suzaku, through a device on his belt allowed Suzaku to appear within his room in the Kururugi mansion.

After arriving Suzaku quietly crept out of his room, surprised to see no servants present. He began wondering if his father was still at the mansion, but there was no sign of it having come under attack from Britannia. With that in mind Suzaku went to the room of the mansion where a small shrine sat upon a table with the Kururugi heirloom, the family's katana passed down through the generations. It hadn't been used as a weapon for decades, but the weapon had been well cared for, so it was still sharp.

Now armed with a weapon just in case he ran afoul of enemy soldiers, Suzaku left the room, deciding to search his father's study next. He quietly made his way through the mansion, finding no one, but nearing his destination, Suzaku could hear voices.

I hear someone in my father's study, Suzaku thought as he passed the door leading into it.

"I haven't heard from my men assigned to the two brats, even more troublesome is that idiot brat of mines is missing now!"

Suzaku quietly opened the door, finding his father on the other side.

His back was turned to the doorway, making it easier for Suzaku to slip in undetected. The room was barely lit, the only light came from his father's desk. It made it easier for Suzaku to conceal the katana he was armed with behind him as he drew nearer to his father. But everything Suzaku heard was like a knife in his chest, he was already certain his father was likely responsible for all he had heard.

But to hear it from his father was something else entirely, the emotions he was feeling in those moments were between ones of great disappointment, shock and then…anger.

"I see, but you told me Britannia wasn't planning to attack until tomorrow? I wasn't properly prepared to deal with the royal brats, had it happened while they were at the estate I could…"
Suzaku's father was interrupted by the caller who was likely explaining what had triggered the war.

"That does matches with what I heard, but as far as I know the ship doesn't belong to us. Regardless I'll track down those royal brats and then dispose of them. But I trust you'll uphold our deal if I give you confirmation of their deaths?"

The man listened to the caller's reply.

"Fine, I'll see to my side of the deal one way or another," Genbu Kururugi said, hanging up the phone.

Genbu could only sigh in annoyance, before he turned around. His eyes went wide in shock to see his son standing there, and judging by Suzaku's expression it was apparent he had heard everything. Even so, after the initial surprise of finding his son suddenly behind him, his expression became cold and almost stoic.

"So it's true then, but why…" Suzaku managed to say, fighting back both his tears and rising anger.

"I see, so I take it Kirihara discovered my deal with that Britannian Consort?" Genbu asked. "Your lack of surprise tells me that is a yes."

"But why?! You're the Prime Minister of Japan, the people trust you and they voted," Suzaku began, as he started losing his grip on his emotions as his growing outrage began to overshadow all other emotions within him.

"Ha," Genbu replied mockingly. "The people have no real power, I would've become Prime Minister regardless. All power in Japan belongs to those old fools of the Six Houses of Kyoto, I was chosen to be Prime Minister for the sake of presenting the illusion of a democracy. I've been nothing more than a figurehead."
Suzaku was stunned, allowing Genbu to continue.

"And those old fools think we can hold against Britannia," Genbu added before a brief burst of mocking laughter. "Just look, our Navy and Air Force were wiped out in mere hours, and now I heard our ground forces aren't just losing, but Britannia has fielded a new weapon called a Knightmare Frame. A single squad of them has been enough to easily wipe out our dozens of ground forces and tanks."

"Then why, do this?"

"Think boy, our land holds seventy percent of the world's Sakuradite. Do you honestly think Japan could stay neutral and independent forever? Even if it wasn't Britannia, the Chinese Federation or the EU would've attacked us, it was just a question of who could seize Japan the fastest before the other superpowers get involved? They claim to be morally superior to Britannia, but the reality is they are not any better. Britannia is simply more open about what it really is, and the EU would gladly sacrifice their lesser member states and their soldiers just to save themselves," Genbu asked a silently stunned Suzaku.

"But so many people have died, all for your deal?"

"Like I said it was inevitable, it wouldn't have been any different if any of the other superpowers attacked. Unlike Britannia they would've needed to work out a better excuse to invade, but in the end there may be some differences, but the superpowers will always look out for their own self-interest rather than whatever morals or code they preach for good public relations." Genbu said, dismissing the deaths of the thousands if not millions of people of Japan as nothing, causing more tears to stream down Suzaku's face as his anger began intensifying. "Now, answer my question. It's impressive you made it back here on your own, but where are the royal brats?"

"They are beyond your reach," Suzaku replied.

"What do you mean?" Genbu said, approaching Suzaku, who didn't see the weapon behind him thanks to the dim lighting in the room. "This is important Suzaku, at least tell me where you last saw them?"

"So you can kill them?"

"Yes, they have to die so our family will at least get to live in wealth and privilege as we deserve instead of being puppets," Genbu replied. "I've already told the people of Japan to more or less fight to the last man. Once Britannia takes over our lives, we'll be better off. All I need to do is kill those brats, but I might keep one alive as insurance."

Genbu smiled darkly, but before he could kneel to address his emotionally distraught son more directly, Suzaku reacted. He revealed the sword he had hidden behind him to his shocked father, but before Genbu could step away Suzaku impaled his father through the stomach with the blade. Genbu's eyes widened in shock and anger before collapsing onto the ground, Suzaku pulled the sword out, quickly creating a pool of his father's blood around his fallen body.

"You…stupid…fool!" Genbu uttered before dying.

It took Suzaku a full minute to register what he had done, causing him to drop the bloodied sword in horror.

At the time he felt a sense of righteous anger surge through him, but he had lost himself to his emotion causing him to act blindly out of raw anger at his father's treachery. Suzaku stumbled back from his father's body, uncertain of how he should feel. He felt revulsion and rage at what his father had done, his willingness to sell out their homeland for his own betterment. At the same time, Suzaku felt horror and a degree of guilt for having acted too rashly in the heat of the moment.

The door to the student opened revealing Ato, who had come in search of the boy to find Genbu dead and the obvious murder weapon by Suzaku's feet.

Damn it, I knew I should've stayed nearby. I had a feeling things would've gotten heated between them, but I didn't think Suzaku would kill him, Ato thought.

Ato was worried about leaving Suzaku alone to confront his father, he had left him to ensure Nunnally, Jeremiah and Pardo were safely brought to the ship. He had expected at worst Genbu beating Suzaku for information on Lelouch and Nunnally's whereabouts, Ato just didn't anticipate the possibility Suzaku would seize a weapon for self-defense, then use it on his own father in a moment of anger.

"Suzaku," Ato said, carefully as he approached him. "Listen to me, we need to go. There are men gathering outside. You can't stay here."

Suzaku didn't reply, still lost in his emotions.

"Suzaku," Ato replied, placing a hand on his shoulder, no response.

Ato could only sigh as he managed to lead the unresponsive Suzaku away and into a portal.

I better keep him someplace where he can collect himself, but I'll need to watch him. Best for his friends don't see him like this, Ato thought as he managed to get Suzaku leave in the portal, he created using his belt.

---

Back aboard the Strigidae, everyone was left to process what they had learned, Elysia most of all. Her almost eternally cheerful and unfazed expression for the first time seen by her friends was one of mixed emotions, somewhere between shock, horror and sadness. Likely at what Nathaniel has become and just how much her sacrifice had deeply affected him.

Lelouch watched Elysia with concern, having seen very little affect her since they met.

"I think Ellie needs time to sort her thoughts, learning everything about what Nathaniel has become and done," Eden said, placing a hand on Lelouch's shoulder to ease his worries. "Your sister tells me you fished her out of the sea."

"Yes, which was…nothing I was expecting to catch," Lelouch said, recognizing Eden's intent of changing the subject to give Elysia time with her thoughts. "More surprising was the questions she asked us, and how generally unfazed she was with everything happening around her."

"Ellie has been through a lot in her life, so she boldly left the orphanage she grew up in as a child to explore the world. Meeting many people and seeing equally as many places," Eden replied with a smile.

"And given how she fought the Honkai, I think I understand why almost nothing could worry or bother her. It was almost unnerving since it was our first time with the Honkai," Lelouch admitted.

"Indeed, I can understand how that would seem worrisome," Eden said before an idea came to mind. "Since you and Ellie are friends now, why don't I introduce you to everyone? Your sister and Pardo seem to be busy with the latter's new furry companion."

"Right, I don't see why not," Lelouch said, glancing at Nunnally to see her playing with Can while Pardo was talking to her. "I think Nunnally and Pardo will be busy for awhile."

Eden giggled before Aponia spoke up.

"I'll stay with Elysia and keep an eye on her."

"I'll tag along," Vill-V offered cheerfully. "I want to help with introductions, I can add some flare to them."

"Alright, come along with us then Vill-V," Eden said, gesturing for Lelouch and Vill-V to follow her.

"Is she alright, Aponia was her name right?" Lelouch inquired, noticing how depressed she looked.

"Yes, but don't worry. Just as Elysia is always cheerful, sadly Aponia you could say is the opposite due to a lot of unfortunate tragedies in her life. But don't worry she is as kind as they come if she can be rather hard on herself sometimes," Eden answered.

"I see," Lelouch said, recognizing that Eden likely didn't want to talk more about Aponia than it was necessary. He seemed it was out of respect for privacy since no one who endured tragedy in their lives, likely wouldn't appreciate it being shared so freely.

"Let's start with little Griseo."

Lelouch was introduced to Griseo, a young girl around Nunnally's age with long blue hair, most of it styled into two long pigtails while the rest was cut shoulder-length. She has pink eyes and a fair skin complexion, dressed in the same white outfit as Elysia. However, Lelouch noticed Griseo was drawing using paper on the table she sat using various colors, like crayons and colored markers. Noticing the people near her, Griseo looked up from her work.

"I need paint, these don't work very well," Griseo said with noticeable disappointment while speaking in a monotone fashion.

"I'll get you some paint when we have a chance, I am sure your father is taking care of that." Kosma said, sitting next to her at the table.

"Behold the youngest of the Flame Chasers and its best artist, the talented and adorable Griseo!" Vill-V said, trying to provide as much fanfare for her intro as possible. "With her is the quiet and yet watchful guardian of Griseo, Kosma!"

Seemingly uncertain how to respond, Kosma waved at Lelouch who returned the greeting.

"Don't worry, Kosma is usually quiet, he tends to overthink on what he should say," Eden said reassuringly.

"Indeed, but he's very good with kids," Vill-V added.

"Please Eden," Kosma said, seemingly embarrassed by the praise.

Griseo was completely focused on her art while still frustrated by the lack of paint, but she looked up at Lelouch suddenly.

"Hello Griseo, my name is Lelouch."

"Color," Griseo said, which confused Lelouch.

"She wants to know your favorite color," Eden explained.

"Oh I see," Lelouch said before thinking about his answer. "Purple."

"Purple, purple flowers, cloth, dolphins, clouds, and," Griseo muttered before focusing on her art before her.

"Don't worry Griseo easily becomes immersed in painting to the point it's difficult to have any long conversations with her until she is away from her studio or runs out of paint," Eden said before gesturing to Lelouch to follow.

"I guess you know what I wanted to ask next?" Lelouch inquired, especially since Eden drew Lelouch away from Griseo until they were out of earshot.

"Yes, I can't imagine why you wouldn't. You were no doubt wondering if she ever saw the battlefield?" Eden questioned.

"I would, but she didn't strike me as someone who saw a battlefield before," Lelouch said, noting an observation he had made. "But she is akin to you and the other Flame Chasers? Some kind of super soldier?"

Before Eden could answer, Mobius joined the conversation, approaching the trio.

"The actual name for the super soldiers of the Fire MOTH were called MANTIS, short for Massively Augmented Neo-Tech Integrated Soldiers, the crown jewel of Project Soldier. They were created by finding compatible human candidates then infusing the subject with modified Honkai genes via Meta-Morph ICHOR, which is short for Intra-Chromosomal Honkai Gene Repeats, if you were curious. The subject and the genes are combined together during the Meta-Morph surgery, which it is worth noting at the time had a high mortality rate," Mobius explained.

"The Flame Chasers was the name given to the thirteen remaining MANTIS super soldiers following the battle with the Herrscher of Binding," Vill-V added. "The Thirteen Flame Chasers were meant to be the last hope for humanity, led by Kevin, the first of the MANTIS soldiers and Elysia."

"I assume finding compatible candidates was difficult?" Lelouch asked, which Mobius confirmed with a nod.

"Yes, it was quite difficult, but surviving it was another question. However, some displayed some unexpected side effects, such as Sakura's ears, and Kosma's unique features," Mobius replied. "Griseo on the other hand was more of an honorary member, she had to undergo the Meta-Morph Surgery in order to save her life after her parents were killed during an Honkai Beast attack. She barely survived, but regrettably her parents weren't so lucky."

"Her wounds must've truly serious if something like Meta-Morph Surgery was her only option," Lelouch said, wondering just what happened to Griseo that demanded such an action to save her.

"As I said her wounds were nothing to laugh at, but it was truly a miracle she lived long enough to undergo the surgery that saved her," Mobius remarked.

"I see, so Dr. Mobius right?" Lelouch asked.

"That's right, and if you don't mind my I see your back?" Mobius inquired.

"Why?"

"She wants to see your stigmata, it should be a tattoo on your back just below your neck you were born with," Vill-V explained.

"Uh, ok then," Lelouch said reluctantly as Mobius moved behind him.

Pulling down the back of his collar, Mobius saw Lelouch's stigmata. It looked unusual; it was purple with a crescent moon, a four-point star in the middle, and two other points sticking out from the center.

"Fascinating and many people on this Earth have one. Maybe what Nathaniel said about ensuring most of this planet's population having one isn't so farfetched," Mobius replied before pulling back her hand once she was done inspecting Lelouch's stigmata.

"Oh, wait I need to do an introduction for Dr. Mobius," Vill-V said, but before she could do one, Mobius grabbed Vill-V's lips to keep her mouth shut.

"I don't need a ridiculous introduction," Mobius snapped before releasing Vill-V's lips.

"Hey that wasn't nice Mobius," Vill-V said, her lips were slightly sore.

"Why don't we move on and meet everyone else," Eden suggested.

"Yes, I think we should," Lelouch said, believing it was probably best to keep things moving.

I hope you are alright Suzaku, Lelouch thought.

---

Meanwhile Nathaniel was inside his office with Sirin and Ato, the latter had just returned from Earth. Nathaniel was seated behind a metallic black desk in a wide room with many display cases built into the black pillars that dotted the room. Sirin studied the items in the cases, some looked like unusual items, likely things Nathaniel during his travels throughout the cosmos.

"I see, so Prime Minister Kururugi is dead," Nathaniel said. "He didn't have a stigma or high Honkai resistance, so his death is minor. His son is the only one of any value, a stigmata bearer."

"What do you want to do with him?" Ato inquired.

"We'll keep him with Elysia, Lelouch and the others. He could be a good opportunity to test if anyone can awaken their stigmata, him and that fellow Jeremiah Gottwald."

"I see, and sir the meeting with the Ashfords has been arranged. As per your instructions we have arranged for them to gain land in Japan and sufficient wealth to keep their family afloat as part of a good faith gesture ahead of negotiations."

"Well done Ato," Nathaniel said before a dark smile appeared on his face. "Yes, well done on arranging the escape of the Flame Chasers, using the timed reactivation of Prometheus as your unknowing pawn."

"Sir I…"

"Did you think I wouldn't know, just as its impossible to hide anything from me," Nathaniel interrupted before pushing a hidden button on his desk. "Send them in."

Four men walked in, two of them were in their early thirties while one was old in his fifties and the last one was in his twenties. They all wore black business suits with different color ties to set them further apart.

"Gentlemen, do you know why I summoned you four?" Nathaniel began, tapping the fingers of his right hand upon his desk.

"Uh we do not Director," the oldest of the group spoke up, while the others were just as confused.
Their confusion turned into fear, as subspace lances, similar to those Sirin used, were made of red crystal-like material as they ominously surrounded the four men.

"I called you here because, the daughter of the Europia United Foreign Minister, Mr. Gandolfi was found to had been raped while in our custody," Nathaniel said as his anger was visible on his face. "Our organization may engage in what fools call questionable, amoral and downright criminal, but even then we must hold ourselves to a higher standard of conduct. As such, since we breached our promise of returning her unharmed, I have refunded the ransom, but I insisted he remain true to our other agreement we wanted of him."

"Sir I swear it wasn't me," The older of the men replied while everyone else shook their heads to deny any wrongdoing while Sirin and Ato watched in silence.

"It wasn't me Director," the youngest of the group said, he had blonde hair with green eyes with glasses over them and a light blue tie.

"Nor I sir I swear," Another of the group said, seemingly fanatic.

Nathaniel relaxed in his chair.

"Maybe you are right, none of you are guilty, but our organization's strength lies in the absolute integrity of its members. But the one truly responsible is known to me," Nathaniel replied as his spears closed in on the group's youngest member.

Suddenly, one of the men in his thirties with black hair and a tanned complexion wearing a red tie suddenly started becoming encased in crystal, starting from his feet and working his way up to his legs. He had been quiet throughout the meeting, and Nathaniel knew he was responsible beyond the shadow of a doubt, but now his silence was gone, replaced by despite pleas of mercy until he was encased in crystal.

The movement of his eyes showed the man was still conscious and alive.

"Let this be a warning to the rest of you, when we give our word someone will be returned unharmed for a ransom and a favor we insist on, we shall follow it to the letter," Nathaniel said, before opening a portal to deposit the imprisoned man someplace else. "Now go!"

The three men couldn't leave Nathaniel's office fast enough.

"Where did you send him?" Sirin asked.

"The depths of the seas of Neptune, that crystal will keep him awake and aware for a very long time," Nathaniel said. "I may be willing to do many things, but rape is something I don't tolerate period. On top of our promises to those who demand a ransom, something we want them to do, or both, that we return what we take from them unharmed or undamaged is something I am serious about."

"What is my punishment to be sir?" Ato inquired, but he showed no fear.

"Griseo would be upset if I killed you and you have served me faithfully for a very long time, so your punishment will be two-fold, the first is babysitting duty." Nathaniel said, much to Ato's surprise, being fully aware of how he normally dealt with those who failed him, disobeyed him or worse betray him. "I am sending you and a ship to our research station in orbit around Jarilo-VI where Elysia and the others will stay on the station and be allowed to explore the planet below for training."

"If I may ask, why there?"

"The Stellaron on that planet has isolated the world from the greater galactic community, thanks to that and the harsh conditions upon that world its surviving people have made excellent research subjects. Furthermore, Geomarrow is sought after by our clients, and we have access to the only planet that has it. Since humanity on that world has been forced into a single city, this has allowed us to establish a dozen automated mining facilities on the planet to harvest our own supply for both our use and to sell to further finance our cause," Nathaniel said with a smile.

"Could anything be done about the Stellaron?"

"We could, but what is the point of sealing it away? It will eventually break free, hence why we must research it heavily to understand the Cancer of Worlds, so we can devise ways to get rid of them for good. But as a bonus the remaining human population adapting and becoming more than capable of facing the monsters of the Fragmentum has been intriguing to observe since they lack the technology to modify their own people as we did," Nathaniel pointed out with a smile before adopting a serious expression. "That being said, I oppose you attempting to seal the Stellaron. You are allowed for Elysia and the others to engage the Fragmentum monsters as training."

"What of the city and its people?"

"I would prefer it if none of them made contact, but with Elysia it might be difficult. We have a few key members of its government in our employ we can work with if the need arises. It would be inconvenient, but I am not opposed if they meet the people, which reminds me to make sure Lelouch, Nunnally, Suzaku and Jeremiah are given a Synesthesia Beacon."

"Understood sir," Ato replied.

"A Synesthesia Beacon?" Sirin inquired.

"They are implantable devices that are small enough to embed into your central nervous system. Once installed you can comprehend, speak, read and write any of the hundred million languages in the cosmos as if they were your own native tongue. You can even grasp a person's body language if they cannot speak and must use hand signs," Ato explained.

"Everyone in my organization has one, Elysia, you and the others I've brought back have the implant already. Only Lelouch and his group need them, so make sure of it Ato."

"Yes sir," Ato replied, seemingly thankful his only punishment was babysitting.

"What was his other punishment?" Sirin asked.

Nathaniel smiled before pushing a button bringing up holographic images, each of them showed a city of Japan. The name of the city didn't matter, because all of the images had one thing in common, they were being devastated by the Britannian military.

"Barely a day since the war began with thousands already dead. Many of Japan's coastal cities have been devastated and the Honkai eruption unleashed by Sirin will claim many more lives. Your plan worked Ato, but Kalpas's rampage disabled the ship's cloak at the worst place, giving the Britannians an easy excuse to invade. I hope you'll be able to sleep at night knowing this was the price paid for their freedom," Nathaniel said before waving his hand. "You may go, make your preparations to leave."

Ato bowed realizing this was Nathaniel's true punishment for releasing the Flame Chasers before his plans were complete.

Freeing sixteen lives from cryogenic slumber, at the cost of thousands, if not millions of lives plus the subjugation of their nation.

Once Ato was gone, Nathaniel addressed Sirin.

"I'll be overseeing your training myself, you may join the others on Jarilo-VI when we are done if you wish?"

"Why would I need training?"

"Because you lost twice," Nathaniel said bluntly. "I warned you about Siegfried Kaslana, he pales in comparison to Kevin, but any spawn of that man should never be underestimated. Something I learned the hard way as you did."
Sirin stiffened, the memory of Kevin Kaslana was fresh in her mind, what she saw and Nathaniel's words are anything to go by, Kevin is clearly stronger than Siegfried.

"What was that…form Siegfried used? It was like his body had begun transforming into a Honkai Beast?"

"Ah that, it is something that has been passed down through the Kaslana line for generations, the genes of the Honkai Beast Parvati allow him to manipulate ice and enable him to use the Divine Key, Judgment of Shamash without harming himself. There are some other Honkai genes in that mix, but despite the drawback it gave Kevin, it allowed him to become the most powerful of the Flame Chasers."

"Drawback?"

"His body temperature was left at a constant minus thirty degrees Celsius, meaning it was impossible for him to have physical contact with anyone without killing them. His son was created by Dr. Mei combining their genes together, which had the benefit of minimizing the drawbacks. Unfortunately, the child's offspring and their children never demonstrated any of Kevin's abilities unless they were awakened, as was the case with Siegfried," Nathaniel explained, before Sirin realized something.

"You modified my body in a similar fashion as his, didn't you?"

"Yes, to further empower you, and to build you into Anti-Kaslana in a sense."

"That's not all you are planning, is it?" Sirin said, suspecting something more.

"Yes, and I do owe you because thanks to your core and the other cores you got, I was able to finally produce genuine Herrscher cores indistinguishable from the real thing." Nathaniel said, rising from his desk and beckoning Sirin to follow him. "Let me show you what I have in mind."

---

Back at the meeting room, Kallen was sitting with Dr. Mei, the latter of whom was intrigued by Kallen.

"So, you're the foremother of my family line?"

"Yes, and I suppose seeing you means my son Adam lived a long and good life," Dr. Mei said smiling, yet saddened.

"I am sorry, you died and never got to raise him I guess."

"Regrettably yes, but it does put me at ease knowing he lived a good life."

"Yes, I suppose, but I am not sure how well the family has done since I've died."

"I can tell you they've continued well into the future with Siegfried Kaslana and Kiana Kaslana being the newest generation of the Kaslana Family," Eleanor said, speaking to Dr. Mei.

"How do you know; you seem to be more well adjusted to the modern era than me?!" Kallen asked, but as usual Eleanor was giving her the cold shoulder.

"Could you answer that question for me, but also tell me why you have such a grudge against Kallen?" Dr. Mei asked, folding both arms around her waist.

"To answer your first question, before my body was awakened my mind was awake where Nathaniel trained me using the power of Sentience he has. He didn't just train me to better use my new body and powers, but he educated me on what I needed to know to avoid culture shock. He even told me of why I was brought back and what had happened since my death at Kallen and Otto's hands," Eleanor replied before glaring at Kallen.

"Of course, you hold a grudge against me for that, but I was just defending myself after you opened that black box!"

"Black box?" Dr. Mei asked.

"It was a box found by Schicksal, they began experimenting with it, sacrificing people to open it. But inside was a black monster, that appeared to me differently, but it was followed by a black mist," Kallen said, the mention of a black mist caused Dr. Mei's widen in shock and realization.

"The Herrscher of Corruption was contained in that box," Dr. Mei said, surprising Kallen.

"That's right, Nathaniel told me what was in that box. I had been transformed into a pseudo-Herrscher, as my body became more akin to a Honkai Beast," Eleanor said before a look of anger could be seen in her eyes. "I tried to kill Kallen to stop her from intending to use my powers to serve Otto, but he chose that traitor over me. He shot me in the chest with the Divine Key he owned before Kallen finished me off. Then as if that wasn't bad enough Otto experimented on my corpse before Nathaniel was able to get his hands on samples to use for his own work."

"Why did he want it?" Dr. Mei asked, curious about Nathaniel's intentions for Eleanor.

"It was an opportunity, my genetics were special as they not only resisted Honkai corruption and infection from a plague thanks to Otto's work to devise a cure. But I kept my sense of self intact as a pseudo-Herrscher as my body became akin to that of a Honkai Beast," Eleanor answered before explaining further. "Once he rebuilt my body, improved and performed the Meta-Morph Surgery upon it using my old body's transformed genetics in the process providing a flawless infusion of Honkai genes combined with my Herrscher transformation creating a perfect Herrscher. In his own words I am his greatest masterpiece and the first of his new generation Herrschers."

Kallen couldn't help, but notice pride from Eleanor.

"An unexpected opportunity for certain, I can see he didn't pass up the chance," Dr. Mei said, understanding Nathaniel's motives as finding humans compatible for the Meta-Morph was difficult, but using someone who literally became their own Honkai Beast as the genetic template could work extremely well for such a subject. "If I may ask, what weapon did Otto use?"

"Void Archives," Eleanor replied, surprising Dr. Mei, but Kallen noticed she seemed worried too.

"Void Archives, he released it?"

"Yes, but don't worry Otto has tamed it and has used its stored knowledge to keep himself alive, conduct further experiments and remain the Overseer of Schicksal for five hundred years and still ongoing," Eleanor revealed, surprising Kallen as well.

"Otto is still alive after five hundred years?!"

"Yes and he has been running Schicksal ever since he won the civil war that happened sometime after your death. He has been using Void Archive's knowledge of advanced technology and innovation of Schicksal making it a much more powerful organization than ever before. He even made a popular series of video games called Kallen Fantasy," Eleanor said, grinning.

"Kallen…Fantasy?" Kallen asked, but she wondered what was a video game?

"It's a game with a story behind it, but basically you are a hero that must rescue the lovely Kallen from an evil fox woman," Eleanor answered smiling, before Kallen's reaction caused Eleanor to become amused.

"Evil fox woman, what?! Why would Otto make something like that?" Kallen asked, as her eyebrow twitched.

"To raise extra funds for Schicksal, and besides it was obvious he was very jealous you chose a woman over him," Eleanor said, visibly amused by Kallen's reaction.

But that is just the tip of the iceberg Kallen, just wait until you find out the experiments he has been doing. All for the sake of bringing you back, Eleanor thought.

---

Around the same time Elysia began showing times of recovering her wits after learning how her death had affected Nathaniel. She had recovered some time ago, unknown to most through, but her mind was still trying to grasp what Nathaniel has become and the things he had done.

"Elysia," Aponia said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You couldn't have known what would happen."

"I know, but it doesn't make me feel better. This is the first time I felt so sad and yet upset."

"Are you upset at Nathaniel?"

"More at myself," Elysia replied. "When he tried to kill Kevin, I should've waited for him to wake up. Maybe I could've explained things, made him understand why I was doing this."

"Perhaps, but there is no way to know for sure if it could've worked," Aponia pointed out.

"Maybe, but the fact I did nothing about it is what I think truly bothers me."

Elysia looked up from the table and found Lelouch with Eden, who was busy introducing him to the other Flame Chasers alongside Vill-V and Mobius, as they were meeting the only member of their group to be tightly bound by the binding chains.

He was a young man with light gray hair, but his face was hidden behind a crudely made mask made out of scrap metal fused together by intense heat. The rest of his body was bound by a thick layer of chains that kept draining his powers to ensure he remained bound.

"Aponia, what happened to Kalpas?"

"He tried to attack Nathaniel when he first appeared, so he was forced to restrain him."

"I suppose he would do that," Elysia said, she was clearly not surprised.

If not being brought back from the dead as a child wasn't enough to make him mad, then Nathaniel's actions would certainly anger Kalpas even more. He was after all the most aggressive member of the Flame Chasers, Kalpas was undeniably among the most powerful but his violent personality made him just as much of a danger to his allies as his enemies.

"So what is going to happen now?" Elysia asked before Ato approached her.

"We'll be leaving for Jarilo-VI, but first I think most of you could appreciate a new change of attire for the trip."

---

Notes:

- There is an obvious bias to how Nathaniel treats everyone else compared to the Flame Chasers or those related to them, such as family and friends. One everyone else his management style would make Blofeld proud.

- I almost wanted to take the cast to Jarilo-VI, but I wanted to use this chapter to handle some more character introductions and tie up some loose ends with Suzaku too.

The next chapter will be out on Sunday.

 

[StrifeHavoc]

---

A/N: Thanks to Darklord221 (fanfiction.net username) for the beta work on the chapter.​

Chapter 6
The Frozen World​

Emerging from the tear in space, a black and gray ship with a length of six hundred meters with forward curved wings and six engines was heading towards its destination. On the bridge was Ato, placed in command of the vessel as its destination was in visual range.

"Sir we're being hailed by the research station," the helms woman reported.

"Put it through," Ato replied.

Appearing on a holographic screen projected from his command chair was a man in his mid-thirties with brown hair, glasses and brown eyes. He wore a pristine white and blue jumpsuit compared to his unkempt hair.

"Commander Ato, we've been expecting you. I am chief of security Captain Wayne. You are cleared to dock in hanger twelve."

"Understood," Ato replied before turning to the helms woman. "Take us in Lieutenant."

"Aye sir," the woman said.

---

On the observation deck, Dr. Mei and Mobius were observing the world of Jarilo-VI from space. Mobius was reading information from a handheld device revealing the world's history.

"To rise so quickly to fall so slowly," Mobius mused.

"Yes, the data on this pad tells the story of this planet. Its recorded history began thousands of years ago during a period called the War of Gods. It was a conflict between the Eleven Perun States and the Veles Union Army, the war scorched the land for years until an early spring turned the war in favor of Veles Union giving the complete victory. They thanked the spring war god Jarilo for their victory singing his praises, until the world was named after him in his honor."

"I assume the number next to the name was a mistranslation?" Dr. Mei suspected.

"Probably, but following their victory they enjoyed decades of peace, transforming from a hunter-gatherer society to an advanced one conducting space explorations. It all happened very quickly I should note, thanks in part to contact with IPC, greatly accelerating their development," Mobius said before reading the rest. "Unfortunately, this rapid development in a world with few natural resources lead to them becoming rapidly depleted. Then seven hundred years ago the Anti-Matter Legion came, the people of Jarilo fought bravely, but they couldn't withstand them for long. Then things changed when the Stellaron, the Cancer of All Worlds, brought an end to their short-lived civilization when it unleashed an unending ice age."

"What happened to her people?" Dr. Mei inquired.

"The survivors managed to build a fortress city called Belobog, but the Eternal Freeze and the Anti-Matter Invasion demolished their civilization, causing them to regress technologically to an industrial level of technology with few remains of their advanced technological past left. The city was built using what they had left, they even lost most of their history."

"It's miracle they've managed to survive seven hundred years under such conditions. I can see why Nathaniel took an interest in them," Dr. Mei remarked.

"Indeed, I would like a chance to examine some of them," Mobius replied.

Ignoring her desire to experiment on the planet's people, Dr. Mei kept the conversation going.

"What about this Stellaron?"

"According to this the Stellaron appeared on this world, they are assumed to be associated with the Anti-Matter Legion. However, that theory has been put under question. Very little is known about them and research on it is the main focus of the research staff on the station. It is known it was the cause of the Eternal Freeze, and the source of the Fragmentum spreading across the world."

"Fragmentum?"

"Also called Stellaron Corrosion, they spread across any world, space station or large enough vessel they a Stellaron is present upon. It's seems to have properties similar to Honkai corruption of living beings, but it seems to be capable of much more," Mobius said, intrigued, before explaining. "It's not just limited to the corruption of living beings, but also, they very space it exists in. Anything corrupted by Fragmentum becomes a creation existing as spatial corrosion. Observations have been made that such creations have preserved the memories and habits of the original creature, but display an altered appearance and behaviors while hostile to other living beings."

"It can record any living being encountered and recreate it?"

"In a manner of speaking, it can use this information to create monstrous hybrids to unleash," Mobius replied to a surprised Dr. Mei.

"And the people of Belobog have weathered these monsters for seven hundred years?"

"Quite impressive given how the rest of the planet can barely support life."

"Indeed, but what is Nathanael doing with the rest of the planet?"

Mobius shrugged her shoulders, "He's been running mining operations for a mineral called Geomarrow, it has heat-inducing properties that has been critical to the people of Belobog's survival. It powers the heaters and furnace core necessary to keep Belobog from freezing over."

"What of the planet's cities? They are no doubt abandoned, but their technology left behind is salvageable," Dr. Mei asked.

"You know maybe I should just give you this to read," Mobius said, becoming annoyed with Dr. Mei making her do all of the rendering on the information pad. "Anyway, he has been conducting salvage operations on its old cities. It's dangerous due to the Fragmentum, but anything salvageable has been only found underground or shielded sufficiently from the elements and the Fragmentum."

"I see, but I wonder what the others are thinking of this? Obliviously Nathaniel is keeping us here to keep us away from Earth to minimize our potential interference."

"You didn't need to stay the obvious," Mobius said rolling her eyes.

"True, but I just to know your opinion on it? You tend to get defensive."

"I don't, but I can't speak for everyone. However, he seemed arrogantly confident we could interfere, and I know I taught him better than that. So, either he has gotten really arrogant since I last saw him or more likely he has some advantage that would render any interference moot."

"I agree," Dr. Mei replied. "Further we lack a clear understanding of his abilities. But it's likely he possesses the combined powers of the previous Herrschers, and the Authority of Finality."

"Yes, how he dealt with Kalpas was something to see," Mobius said, recalling Kalpas's attempt to attack Nathaniel when he appeared on the Second Chance's escape vessel.

Mobius recalled him about to attack Nathaniel, but within the span of a second, he was tightly bound by chains of binding, which she recognized Nathaniel was using the powers of the Herrscher of Reason to create the chains, then combining them with the powers of the Herrscher of Binding to sap Kalpas's strength.

They also noticed Eleanor was capable of doing the same, having observed her binding Kalpas with similar chains when Nathaniel had to leave to recover Elysia and the others.

"He calls himself the Herald of Finality and not the Herrscher of Finality, he's a Herrscher so what's the difference?"

"Perhaps he's not a true Herrscher of Finality, but without further information we can only speculate," Mobius noted shrugging her shoulders.

"If we do plan to do anything about him, then clearly we must learn more," Dr. Mei suggested.

---

Elsewhere on the ship as it neared the space station, Lelouch was observing its approach from a window, or rather it was a holographic screen projecting what was outside. Apparently, it was a safety precaution in the event of battle since windows were a dangerous vulnerability.

"What does it look like brother?" Nunnally asked who was nearby.

However, she was no longer using a wheelchair, she was standing. Not just that, but she was walking too. Lelouch, couldn't get over it, but he had wished he had been there since it was something Nathaniel had done for her. Lelouch would've been happy had anyone else done it, but he didn't trust Nathaniel at all. Hence, his thoughts about Nunnally being able to walk was mixed, he wanted to be happy for Nunnally, but his distrust of the one who did it ran high.

I think he knew I would object, which is why he did it for Nunnally while I was "occupied," Lelouch recalled.

But Lelouch knew he couldn't voice his concerns, because it has already been done and Nunnally was without a doubt much happier. He remembered how Nunnally would throw temper tantrums to keep him near, and Lelouch was certain she was less than happy about being crippled and blind. Being able to walk again, Lelouch couldn't even grasp Nunnally's emotions at the time.

"It looks like a giant snowball in space, there is blue, but I am sure the oceans frozen over," Lelouch replied.

"Wow," Nunnally said, curious yet clearly wishing to see it. "Hard to believe people are living down there."

"I know, it's impressive they survived seven hundred years of this," Lelouch said, but he knew it only limited to a single city.

I don't doubt living in such conditions could've been far from easy, Lelouch thought, thinking of the various factors and perils the people of Belobog must've faced. Even if they had built that city in advance, providing food, warmth and education must've been difficult, not helped by the harsh conditions and attacks by monsters.

---

Meanwhile in another part of the ship, Ato approached one of the holds where Eleanor was using her chains of binding to keep an angry Kalpas tightly bound.

"Eleanor, I think you can release him now?"

"Uh I don't think that is wise, what's to stop him from rampaging on this ship?"

"I am sure Kalpas won't do this time, won't you?" Ato asked, the restrained Kalpas.

Kalpas said nothing, but Ato calmly placed an ornate black and orange mask on a nearby table.

"Well at least I'll leave this for him."

"Commander Ato, I really don't think releasing him is a good idea," Eleanor said, still understandably reluctant.

"Relax, he won't do anything now," Ato replied reassuringly. "Besides I doubt you want to spend all of your time keeping him tied up?"

Looking at the restrained Kalpas before reluctantly releasing him from the chains of binding.

Kalpas stretched his limbs once he was freed, he said nothing.

"Now let's leave him be," Ato said gesturing for a wary Eleanor to leave the room with him.

Once they were gone, Kalpas picked up the mask Ato had left, replacing the crude one he made from scraps he wore.

"The only thing I'll praise that brat for is killing those idiots running Fire MOTH, but messing with the dead is just wrong," Kalpas said to himself.

---

Speaking of one who tampers with the dead, Nathaniel was leading Sirin to, according to him, a secured area of the ship that only he could enter. Following the departure of Lelouch and the others, Nathaniel gave Sirin new attire, which was modeled after her previous attire as a Herrscher, but resigned akin to the combat uniforms used by the Valkyries of Schicksal. The body suit was white with purple lines, especially around the collar with some gold around the shoulders. She wore a pair of long purple boots with gold on the heels of the boots. The suit was sleeveless, but she wore a pair of long purple gloves trimmed with pink lines, and around her waist was a layered skirt akin to wings.

Looking around, Sirin noticed the walls had drawers, each one was labeled with a name, making the chamber eerily similar to a morgue.

"Relax, not all of these hold a dead body," Nathaniel said, anticipating what Sirin was thinking. "Some of these store genetic samples in various forms such blood, tissue samples, and bones sometimes. There are certain cabinets that have Xianzhou natives who sold their bodies to me."

"Sold?"

"The people of the Xianzhou Alliance gained immortality after finding Yaoshi, the Aeon of Abundance, but ultimately realized that immortality came at a terrible price. Eventually in their lifespans, an affliction called Mara will claim they're saintly before their body is twisted into a plant-like abomination. Desperate to escape this fate, I offered sentience transfers into new bodies, in exchange for usually a fee, and being allowed to keep their old bodies to use for scientific research."

"What sort of fee? Money?"

"Sometimes, but I do charge extra depending on how much they want their new body customized. Other than me keeping their old bodies, which are kept alive in storage, they provide my organization with funding, resources, or technology. Most importantly some of my clients are in positions of influence within the Xianzhou Alliance, who help me from time to time while ensuring I don't run afoul of the alliance as a whole, after all we both consider Yasohi a blight upon the cosmos that must be removed," Nathaniel answered as he and Sirin arrived before a double door.

Using some unseen means the doors opened for Nathaniel, which Sirin observed the doors were thick, akin to doors used for a vault meaning the contents of this room were especially valuable to Nathaniel.

The interior was that of private laboratory, different consoles, tools and equipment Sirin could only guess their purpose filled the room with a door leading to another room and a room, which Sirin saw from the windows was an operating room.

But what drew her attention was four cylinder-like pods, laying horizontal. They were filled with a clear liquid, and inside each one was a young girl, each one as old as Sirin was. Approaching the pods, Sirin stopped as she gazed into the pods, she recognized the girls within the pods.

"Avrora," Sirin said, surprised, recognizing the girl with long grey hair that reached mid-way down her back.

Looking at the occupants of the other pods, she found the next girl had long hair grey hair of a darker tint, next to her was a girl with long red hair and finally the last pod had a girl with long brown hair. Like Sirin before, they all wore the same black body suits, and had wires connected to their bodies with hoses running into their nose and mouth.

"Galina, Agata, and…Bella," Sirin said, as her voice was filled with emotion at the sight of her best friend.

Sirin remembered her demise, Bella had been in horrific agony from the experiments she, Galina, Agata and Avrora had been put through. The pain and the toll of those experiments killed Bella, causing her to die in Sirin's arms, with tears and agony in her eyes being the last thing Sirin remembered.

That's right they disposed of her body before I could revive her like I did for Galina, Agata and Avrora, so I tried to revive through Benares, but it wasn't as successful as I would've preferred yet I did feel a part of Bella within her, Sirin thought.

"Fortunately, the scientists habitually kept genetic samples from all test subjects for further study. I was able to acquire Bella's DNA allowing me to craft a new body for her. Bella DNA along with the bodies of your friends, or what remained of them after they were cut down by Schicksal, were taken by them for further study. I could've just revived Agata, but since I was rebuilding all of your friends, might as well give her a newer and better body," Nathaniel said, anticipating what Sirin was likely thinking.

"You've done the same to their bodies what was done to me?"

"Yes, as they grew from embryos, I put them through the Meta-Morph Surgery choosing a combination of Honkai Beasts to not only enhance their combat potential, but include the genes of Honkai beasts whose genes would complement their Herrscher powers, which unlike the pseudo cores you gave them, they have the real thing thanks to my cloning of the original cores," Nathaniel said before going down the row beginning with Avrora.

"They are the true Herrschers of Wind, Serenity, Fire and Thunder."

"Can you wake them?"

"Of course, I just waited you could be here since you should be the first person they see," Nathaniel said, before using his control glove to begin the awakening process.

The wires were automatically disconnected from their bodies before the solution they were suspended in drained. Once the solution was gone, mechanical arms assisted in the removal of the hoses running into their nose and mouth before the pods opened. A few minutes would pass before Bella was the first to open her eyes after stirring from slumber.

Her vision was likely blurred and Bella seemed dazed at first, but it didn't take long for her to gain full awareness of her surroundings before seeing Sirin.

"S…Sirin," Bella said, seeing her best friend.

"Yes, its me Bella, you're alive again," Sirin said, clearly pleased to see her best friend alive, the sight had nearly brought her to tears.

Gradually the rest of her friends began to wake up.

"Where are we? What happened?" Bella asked, followed by Agata.

'Ugh, what happened?"

"I suppose there is a lot of explain," Sirin said, sighing, knowing this would take awhile.

In the past only Herrscher at a time has appeared, but once they are properly trained and prepared, they'll be a bigger threat for that other Earth, Nathaniel thought deviously, but knowing the only threat was still Kevin Kaslana.

They would need a lot of training before they could hope to face him.

---

Meanwhile the ship transporting Lelouch, Elysia and the others, arrived at the orbiting research station called Týr Station from what Lelouch had been told of their destination. It was an enormous research station not just dedicated to the research of the Stellaron on the planet below, but also the environmental effects of the Eternal Freeze and the Fragmentum while conducting operations to mine Geomarrow and salvage technology and other resources the abandoned cities below.

The ship itself was called the Lanius, the first of a class of new kind of ship possessing newly developed travel capabilities capable of reaching planets isolated by Stellarons from the greater community of the cosmos.

The Station itself was a large white sphere with six smaller spheres attached to it, while a specialized cloaking device concealed the station from the surface below to avoid discovery.

Ato stood ahead of the gathering as the boarding tunnel finished connecting with their ship once it was docked. Elysia, Eden, Aponia, and the others were all dressed in their new attire, including Lelouch, Nunnally, and Jeremiah.

Elysia's outfit was modeled after her old one, which was fashioned for her young form while considerations for the cold environment of Jarilo-VI was likely taken into account, it included black pants, black knee boots, a white top with a turtleneck, and a black jacket with a furred collar and a purple interior with black fingerless gloves.

"So, what do you think Lelouch?" Elysia asked, showing off her new outfit.

"It looks good on you, certaintly different than what you were wearing," Lelouch replied, which seemed to delight Elysia.

"I am glad, it's not as glamorous as my outfit, but I guess it will do."

Lelouch had almost wanted to inquire for details, but decided to hold off for now.

"But your outfit isn't bad," Eden complimented.

Eden's new attire was brown dress with a black undersuit underneath to protect her modesty, the top had long sleeves and black gloves while it had golden accents being quite stylish. Lelouch's own attire had black pants, small boots, and a purple coat while the top had gold and red mixed in.

"Thank you, but I am still suspicious of it given who made it," Lelouch said, expressing his distrust of Nathaniel and anything he offers.

"Well, nothing happened, so it was like I said. There was nothing to worry about," Elysia said reassuringly.

"Don't forget I checked it over too!"

Vill-V joined the gathering wearing her new attire provided to her, she wore a top hat with gears built into it, which Lelouch couldn't tell if they were real or not. The rest of her outfit was brown like her hat, with a jacket over a white button up suit, and a brown bow-tie with a spider web-like design upon it, she wore matching pants and boots, but oddly her gloves had golden tips and mechanical parts built into them.

"The Expert checked your outfit for anything funny, but beyond being made of comfortable yet durable materials they only have a built-in temperatures regulator, that's it," Vill-V said.

"The Expert?" Lelouch asked.

"Vill-V has eight different personalities, one of them is called the Expert," Aponia said, joining the group. "The Expect is to simplify the engineering and inventor side of Vill-V, usually the more serious of her other personalities."

"Eight personalities, is something like that even possible?" Lelouch asked, surprised by the idea Vill-V had eight different personalities in one body.

"I haven't seen any other cases of that expect in Vill-V," Aponia answered.

Aponia's attire was based upon the religious garb of a nun. Still, Lelouch couldn't tell if it was related to any Christian based religion or something else given colorful butterfly wings integrated into the lower part of her nun attire.

What kind of religion did she worship? Lelouch wondered.

"I should probably mention this now," Elysia said, whispering to Lelouch. "Whatever you do, don't ask Kalpas about his mask."

Lelouch was confused, but soon realized why as Kalpas, wearing his new mask and attire provided to him. His outfit consisted of black pants and boots, a sleeveless matching shirt, and armored gloves colored in black and white.

"Elysia even wore a book on how to handle Kalpas, so I would heed her warnings," Eden added, whispering to Lelouch.

"Really," Lelouch said, whispering as well.

This guy must be really dangerous then, Lelouch thought.

"I see you are all looking well," Kallen said, joining the group.

Like the others she had been given new attire to wear, which for Kallen was a little more elaborate compared to the others being mostly black, white and purple. It seemed based on Victorian-era clothing, with a white cravat tipped with purple rose on it, A custom top that left parts of her shoulders seen while her neck had a white collar around it, long purple and white sleeves with purple gloves, purple tights, a long black skirt with a purple interior and black boots.

"Oh I love the outfit Kallen, it looks really nice on you," Elysia said, moving to inspect Kallen, causing the white-haired girl to blush slightly in embarrassment.

"Thank you, I wasn't expecting this. I guess someone told him of my actions as a thief, this was similar to the costume I wore when I tried to steal from the greedy and give to the poor," Kallen answered.

"Really you were a thief," Eden asked, while Elysia and Lelouch were curious.

"Of course she was," Eleanor said, joining the group's discussion. "She betrayed Schicksal, for whom she swore loyalty by stealing from them when they sought to recoup losses caused by her failure to take Asia."

Eleanor's features softened before reluctantly admitting.

"Maybe not surprising since taking on one of the Flame Chasers who faced the Final Herrscher was a tall order, a shame they didn't know it at the time."

"Who did she face?" Elysia asked.

"Hua, I believe her name was, but back then she was known as the Immortal Celestial." Eleanor answered.

"Ah I see, Hua was always so serious most of the time, but when it came to martial arts, she was among the best of us in that regard," Elysia said, clearly fondly remembering Hua.

I guess that explains why I couldn't beat her and how she was familiar with the Oath of Judah, Kallen realized, recalling that despite giving her all she had been soundly beaten.

For Kallen it was the first time she had lost a battle despite being hailed as the strongest warrior of Schicksal, but it was clear Hua was the superior of the two.

She was able to dodge my best efforts to snare her with its chains, in fact when she saw Oath of Judah she was barely surprised by it, and seemed to recognize it, Kallen thought, and the words Hua had told her after their battle drove that point home.

"Your Divine Key was forged to protect and defend the human race. Tell me Key Wielder, what is it that you fight to protect?" Hua's words as the Immortal Celestial bore no malice or anger towards her defeated foe, but for Kallen each word was a like a knife stabbed into her heart. "Those who do not protect, shall never realize its true powers."

Kallen concluded and realized the answer to that question on her own eventually, but it led to her realizing just how corrupt Schicksal. She had questioned the order to invade and seize lands in the East, but she still followed those orders until Schicksal's goals of seizing all lands to the east were crushed by Hua during the Battle of Kipchak Steppe.

"I see, Kallen's acts of thievery was in response to Schicksal trying to recoup losses during their campaign, which I assumed they probably did things like raise taxes among other things that probably angered a lot of people," Lelouch deduced.

"Yes, you are right for the most part. Schicksal did loose a lot of men and resources before and especially after how disastrous the Battle of Kipchak Steppe went incurring enormous casualties. It didn't cripple Schicksal, but their looses were very significant to say the least," Eleanor said, confirming Lelouch's deduction.

"At least you didn't go up against Kevin, it would've been a complete massacre," Aponia remarked.

"True, Kevin likely wouldn't have left any survivors," Eden said, especially if Kevin was using Judgment Of Shamash, he could've wiped out the enemies on the battlefield easily.

"Really," Kallen said nervously, showing signs of sweat on her brow. "My ancestor is that strong? From what I saw when he fought Nathaniel, I knew he was powerful, but…"

Elysia nodded, "Uh huh, he was ranked one among the Flame Chasers, I was number two, while Eden, Aponia and Vill-V were ranked three, four and five. Hua, due to being younger and less experienced than us, was ranked twelve."

She was…twelfth in rank, are the rankings based on strength? Kallen thought, stunned that Hua was given such a low rank, but she didn't know if it was due to her youth or if the rankings were determined by strength alone.

"So…what exactly did Schicksal do?" Lelouch said, speaking to Eleanor, wanting to know more about the situation that caused Kallen to turn to a thief.

"After the failure of the campaign, Schicksal sought to recoup losses by, as you guessed, raising taxes to an enormous amount making it near impossible for most lower-class people to pay, even those of the middle class were finding it difficult, causing rising anger among Western European countries. Then they began selling indulgences that were promised to buyers would absolve them of their mortal sins."

"Did you forget the part where their corruption was such that they began abducting young girls from those who couldn't pay," Kallen pointed out.

"No, I didn't, and yes while I did support Schicksal, or rather my loyalties lay with Otto. However, after how Otto betrayed me, I no longer support Schicksal, at least I feel more valued by Nathaniel and his organization."

"What did Otto do to win such loyalty from you before he betrayed you?" Lelouch asked.

Eleanor looked Lelouch in the eyes, she was hesitating, but after a stare down between the two, she relented. "I was a young girl who had lost her family to the Black Plague, and I myself was dying from the disease that claimed many lives until Otto developed a cure that saved my life. Out of gratitude I joined Schicksal as a warrior and in turn Otto gave me the surname Schariac, the family name his mother hailed from."

"I see, so you served Otto faithfully until he betrayed you," Eden said.

Eleanor nodded, "That's right, all for the woman he loved more than anything in the world. He killed me, even as I remained loyal to him despite becoming a pseudo Herrscher."

Sounds to me you wanted something more from Otto, but maybe I should not consider Schicksal as potential allies against Nathaniel, Lelouch thought, making notes on who might be potential allies against Nathaniel.

Of course gathering those allies and gathering the strength to strike before Nathaniel could respond was a problem Lelouch would need time and more information to work out.

"I didn't know Otto felt that way about me," Kallen admitted, but in reality she should've known better.

Maybe during that night in my cell before my execution, Otto did propose a way for me to escape execution was to marry him. Something he was open to doing for the sake of saving me, I refused, but…I didn't consider what he felt.

Kallen also remembered how in a last desperate effort to save her, Otto unleashed Honkai Beasts held captive for study upon the city during her execution. It was done to give her a chance to escape, but Kallen horrified by what Otto had done chose to protect the people…

At the cost of her own life.

Did my death affect him in a negative way like Elysia's did to Nathaniel, Kallen thought as a unpleasant realization dawned upon her.

She wanted to believe otherwise, but Kallen just couldn't shake the feeling.

"Maybe you should've paid a little more attention to your friends? You might've just overlooked it," Elysia suggested.

Before Kallen could say anything further, Ato managed to open the airlock. Docking had completed sometime ago, but the commander was confused over why it was taking so long for the doors to broad the space station to open.

The answer became apparent once the doors were open.

"Look, can you just focus on helping me!"

"Just give it up, the others are waiting on the ship already. If you hadn't always been so late in everything this wouldn't have been a problem," The girl replied calmly.

Before the group was a pair of young women arguing, Lelouch could only assume they appeared to be in their mid-teens to early adults, yet their height and youthfulness made it difficult to tell. Both girls had long brown hair, some of it styled into braided buns on the sides of their head, and a single streak of color on one of their bangs. The one up on a ladder trying to hastily hang up decorations including a big welcome sign in pink and blue, also equally hastily put together, had red eyes and a red streak on one of her bangs.

The other girl, being the calmer and more focused of the two, had blue eyes and a blue streak, making it easier to tell the twins apart outside of their different personalities.

Both wore white lab coats over a tanned blouse with a dark brown tie with a gold pattern upon it, a black skirt, and on a different leg they wore a single brown stocking while leaving the other leg bare while also wearing black high heels.

"Oh, hello Commander Ato," The girl with blue eyes said, noticing the others.

"Hello Fuxi and Nuwa," Ato said with a smile.

"WAIT, YOU GUYS CAME TOO SOON!" Nuwa exclaimed in panic, as her red eyes went wide in horror.

In her panic Nuwa fell back, but thankfully Ato reacted fast enough, managing to catch her before she fell onto the ground after stumbling off the ladder she had been using.

"Its nice to see you again Fuxi and Nuwa," Elysia said, waving at the pair.

"It is a pleasure to see you all again," Fuxi said, before adding. "We are in charge of the research station here, and if you are ready we can give you a complete tour of the station."

n."​

 

[StrifeHavoc]

Note: Thanks to Darklord331 for his work on the chapter.

Chapter 7
To go beyond

​

It had been a day since Lelouch, Jeremiah, and Nunnally were brought to Týr Station, and the trio had settled in well. However, their suspicions of Nathaniel ran high, so with Nunnally sound asleep, the two men could talk and speak more honestly without worrying Nunnally over the conversation's likely topics.

"What do you plan to do?" Jeremiah asked; he didn't even need to ask Lelouch if he trusted Nathaniel, the boy's expression told him all Jeremiah needed.

"As much as I hate to say it, there isn't much we can do now. Even if we somehow escaped, where would we go? I doubt Nathaniel would let us go so easily," Lelouch said, having clearly been thinking the matter over, weighing their limited options.

"Indeed," Jeremiah said in agreement.

Both knew that even if they escaped and returned to Earth, Lelouch and Nunnally couldn't return to Britannia. This was because the siblings were royalty; even if Lelouch had forfeited his right to the throne, those who sought the throne would see them killed, especially aristocratic families who supported a prince or princess or used their deaths to blame it on another contender for their benefit. This wasn't helped by the fact the other consorts despised Marianne vi Britannia due to her commoner heritage, which made the other consorts chief suspects in her murder.

At least as far as Lelouch could name as likely suspects, but he didn't rule out the possibility. However, he lacked sufficient information and could only speculate until he gained further details.

Which reminded him…

"There was something I did want to ask you."

"What happened on that night?" Jeremiah answered, understanding what Lelouch wanted, which the boy confirmed with a nod. "As a member of your mother's guard, I was there that night. Strangely, we were given orders to reduce the guard, which allowed Lady Marianne to be…"

Lelouch saw the regret etched upon Jeremiah's face as tears began forming. If nothing else, unless Jeremiah was an impressively good actor. But Jeremiah had proven his sincerity to protect them, so he was much more willing to trust Jeremiah than Nathaniel by a large margin.

"Take it easy, but who gave the order?" Lelouch asked, after giving Jeremiah to regain his composure.

"Your older half-sister, Princess Cornelia."

"Right, she was the head of my mother's security."

"Yes, she seemed reluctant to issue the order, which means…"

"Someone commanded her to do so, and the only people she would obey an order from are the Emperor and my mother," Lelouch deduced.

"I can't imagine Lady Marianne giving such an order, so the Emperor is the most likely person."

"But why?"

"I wish I had an answer, your highness."

"Me too," Lelouch said, being baffled by the revelation.

He couldn't figure out why the Emperor would be involved. As far as Lelouch knew, he didn't seem to care for any of his other consort beyond them being useful as breeding stock. In Japan, Lelouch had received a letter from his younger half-sister Euphemia revealing that another imperial consort, Flora mel Britannia, and her youngest daughter Julia were killed in a bombing. Only Flora's eldest daughter Marrybell survived but was soon similarly exiled when she confronted the Emperor as Lelouch had done.
Unlike Lelouch, she wasn't exiled to a foreign nation, but she did draw a sword against the Emperor. Marrybell wasn't executed for the ill-fated attempt, but it probably resulted in her being sent someplace different to keep her under watch. Nevertheless, that detail told Lelouch that, like him, Marrybell was likely outraged over the Emperor's dismissive attitude over the death of her mother and sister just as he was.

"All I know is that Princess Cornelia conducted an extensive investigation into Lady Marianne's murder," Jeremiah noted.

"Let me guess, she found nothing, or the Emperor intervened to halt the investigation?"

"Both, actually," Jeremiah answered flatly. "Princess Cornelia was relentless in her investigation; although she didn't seem to find any clues, she refused to halt her efforts until the Emperor intervened, forcing the matter."

"I see, so the Emperor might know something," Lelouch said, to which Jeremiah nodded, suggesting it was possible.

It doesn't surprise me that the Emperor likely knows something, but…

Lelouch wasn't surprised that the Emperor likely knew something; perhaps he knew who had killed his mother and Marrybell's mother. But Lelouch couldn't understand why the Emperor would withhold this information; what benefit did he gain from hiding someone killing his consorts? The Emperor is generally dismissive of his consorts and children, giving them attention if they were of use. The Emperor could've dismissed them as imperial consorts if he wanted them gone, although such a thing has only happened once in the Empire's history. As far as Lelouch knew, none of them had done anything to warrant such action, let alone allowing them to be assassinated.

"There is one bit of information I can give," Jeremiah began. "After your sister was taken for emergency treatment, Prince Schneizel and members of the Emperor's personal guards arrived and took custody of Lady Marianne's body; apparently, the Emperor ordered it."

"What?" Lelouch said, surprised by this bit of information. "Did Marrybell's mother and sister's bodies recovered in this matter?"

"No, which makes it odd."

"But why?!"

Lelouch had far more questions than answers, but his theory about the other consorts behind Marianne's murder seemed less likely. It wasn't dismissed outright, but the unusual details Lelouch was learning from Jeremiah cast doubt upon it while raising further questions about how involved the Emperor was?

All I can do is speculate until I gain more information to piece together who killed my mother and why, Lelouch thought, frustrated with the lack of answers.

"I am sorry if my information didn't give you any real answers," Jeremiah said, realizing his information had left Lelouch confused and irritated.

"It's hardly your fault, Jeremiah, but if nothing else, it just means I'll need to ask the Emperor what he knows," Lelouch said before sighing, getting up from his chair. "Until then, all I can do is focus on what I can do; for starters, it's obvious I'll need to learn to master this new power I have."

"How do you plan to do that?"

"I am not sure but loathe as I am to admit it. I'll probably start with training my body to get it into better shape," Lelouch said before leaving to change. "Jeremiah, can I ask you to watch Nunnally for me."

"I'll guard her with my life, your highness; you have my word," Jeremiah said, determined to follow that command.

After changing into suitable attire for exercising, consisting of black shorts and a white shirt, clothes that were provided to him for their stay. As much as Lelouch disliked it, he reached the training yard, which, according to the tour given by the Nuwa and Fuxi, was created for the space station residents for jogging purposes. It was next to a gym and training center, your classic track field with grass, trees, an artificial sky, and sun above it. The field was five hundred eighty meters long and three hundred and ten meters wide.

He had never jogged before but knew he had to start somewhere.

Might as well commit, Lelouch thought with a sigh.

Lelouch spirited for about five seconds before his body was already exhausted. He tried pushing himself, but after realizing he would collapse, he started walking.

Fine, I'll just pace myself, Lelouch grumbled internally.

Lelouch gradually made his way around the track, but it wasn't long before someone else joined him.

"Good morning Lelouch," Kallen Kaslana said, arriving dressed in black shorts and a white shirt, having been provided similar clothes for training and exercise.

"Doing some exercise too?"

"Yes, I am uncertain of what to do, and with everything that has happened, Prometheus suggested exercise and some fresh air could help clear my mind to think," Kallen explained, walking alongside Lelouch.

"Prometheus?"

"Yes, I don't think we've had a chance to meet, but I am officially called Terminal Aide 0018, but everyone, including my creator, just call me Prometheus 18," Prometheus said, greeting Lelouch.

"Are you some kind of machine? That voice…"

"In a sense, but I am a biomechanical android created out of mostly organic-based technology with some cybernetic components integrated into me for better efficiency," Prometheus said. "I've been assisting Kallen with adapting to her new surroundings."

"Makes sense; the world must've changed a lot since your day."

"I know there are still some things I am having trouble with, but Prometheus has been very helpful," Kallen said, clearly appreciative of the android.

"You seem to be adapting well so far," Lelouch complimented.

"Yes, I am, but how about you? You seem to be trying to train your body," Kallen said, noticing how physically exhausted he was.

"Well, as I got these new powers, I figured I start figuring out how to use them. I wasn't sure where to start, so I decided to train my body," Lelouch answered, wiping sweat from his brow.

"That's reasonable, although I wouldn't know how to train you to use your powers," Kallen said with one hand on her chin, contemplating ideas until one came to her. "But I could help you with your physical ability."

"That might be…difficult," Prometheus warned; seeing how scrawny and exhausted Lelouch was, it was clear training his body and building his strength and endurance would take time.

A LOT of time…

Kallen seemed to recognize the same thing; she was wondering how to best start with him.

---

Meanwhile, as Prometheus and Kallen were trying to figure out a way to help get Lelouch into shape, in another corner of the space station Mobius and Dr. Mei was meeting with Nuwa and Fuxi; the room was expansive with an impervious view of Jarilo-VI having tea and breakfast together, a chance for the group to catch up with one.

"I have to say you two have done remarkably well; both of you are running a space station conducting research," Dr. Mei said with a smile. "You two have come a long way from working in Dr. Mobius's lab."

"Indeed, we were surprised to be revived," Fuxi said before elaborating. "We were among those to be revived by Nathaniel's early experiments into resurrecting the dead. Although he had worked out a method of reviving a dead body, reviving someone with no body to resurrect was the next problem he had to overcome."

"How did he do it? I recall saying he didn't use cloning." Mobius inquired.

"He used the powers of the Herrscher Cores of Reason and Serenity to recreate the bodies from a single blood sample. That was what he tested using me, Fuxi, and Ato; our blood samples were kept in cold storage when people were being screened for compatibility with the Meta-Morph Surgery and later for infusing those who remained the first of the Stigmata to carry onto the next era," Nuwa answered before grabbing a cookie from a bowl at the heart of the table.

"He didn't stop there, did he? I heard Nathaniel dabbles in making new bodies for others without certain afflictions," Mobius asked, which Fuxi confirmed with a nod.

"Yes, his biggest customers are those from the Xianzhou Alliance, after their encounter with Yaoshi granted them immortality, but at the price of losing their sanity and becoming monsters one day. But creating new bodies without the taint of the Abundance was easier said than done; he had to learn to not only recreate their bodies but how to modify them in a way that would remove the threat of becoming Mara-Stricken," Fuxi confirmed with an explanation before taking a sip of tea.

"Eventually, he was able to develop technology around this, which led him to recreate and improve all of the Flame Chaser's bodies, or at least for those who needed it," Nuwa added before taking another cookie to eat.

"I see, so he eventually solved the problem?"

"It took him a few thousand years through a lot of trial and error, but his efforts also helped him improve his techniques in recreating and modifying bodies genetically," Fuxi said, nodding before picking up the teapot to pour herself more tea.

"I never imagined he would come so far; his skills in genetic engineering must have long surpassed what we were capable of," Dr. Mei said, impressed yet worried about what Nathaniel did to reach that point.

How many died to achieve these results since he had no problem with losing lives in pursuing his goals.

"Well, he did end up a member of Genius Society, ranked sixty-six for his genetic engineering skills and technologies, but he is renowned more for the revival of the dead," Nuwa mentioned before eating another cookie.

"Genius Society?" Mobius inquired.

"Oh right," Nuwa said, realizing they hadn't told Dr. Mei or Mobius about them. "They are a society of the smartest beings in the universe; each member achieved something recognized by Nous, the Aeon of the Erudition path, those who admire thinking, logic, and strategic behavior. Only eighty-four members are known, but they are the cream of the crop when it comes to being the smartest beings recognized across the universe."

"Really, so Nathaniel was welcomed into their ranks?"

"Yes, but they aren't really a true society; beyond being those whose genius was noticed by Nous, they don't exactly have meetings or anything of the like. Some members work together while others pursue their own goals and research," Nuwa said. "As far as I've heard, Nathaniel hasn't spoken to the other members except for a few."

"Indeed, but it led to him meeting the Intelligentsia Guild, which, unlike the Genius Society, welcomes anyone who pursues knowledge, providing education and opportunities to pursue their calling. Nathaniel supports the guild, but only to recruit scientists to aid in his projects, or some seek him to learn genetics from him," Fuxi added.

"I suppose that explains where most of his followers come from," Dr. Mei said, sipping tea.

"Some do come from Earth or Earths, I should say, and even more come from the Xianzhou Alliance, those who he saved from their fate of becoming Mara-Struck," Nuwa said before refilling her cup with more tea.

"Then no one on our Earth of the current era knows of his existence and Heron, I assume?" Dr. Mei inquired.

"Yes, he's done a good job of keeping his followers hidden as they've infiltrated the three anti-Honkai Organizations; Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, which broke away from Schicksal to operate independently due to some serious disagreements, and finally, World Serpent, led by Kevin, but it was founded by Gray Serpent."

"Oh," Mobius said, her eyes widened briefly in interest. "Gray Serpent is still alive then?"

"Yeah, he survived all right; he proved quite resilient," Nuwa remarked, shrugging her shoulders.

"Of course, he would; he showed powerful survival instincts even after I initially cast him aside," Mobius said, recalling how the artificial life-form that would become Gray Servant was a by-product of Mobius's effort to develop Sentience Transfer. "But he proved to me he was worth keeping around, so what has he been up to besides forming an organization of his own."

"Apparently, he is planning to go ahead with Project Stigma, following Kevin's lead following the failures of Projects Ember, Ark, and Valuka, but Kevin got imprisoned in the Sea of Quanta by Su," Fuxi revealed.

"I see," Dr. Mei said, closing her eyes, realizing what had happened. "Su was forced to initiate Project Regulator, a task I entrusted to Su should Kevin go too far."

"That's what happened; Kevin went ahead attempting to start Project Stigma without consulting Su or Hua, resulting in the deaths of hundreds, probably more if Su hadn't stopped him," Fuxi said, as Dr. Mei seemed saddened by this turn of events, but…

"You're not surprised it came to that, did you?" Mobius asked, reading Dr. Mei's expression.

"No, I am sure my death and the loss of the other Flame Chasers had a considerable impact upon him, and the failures of the other projects were the final push. He is likely convinced that only Project Stigma is humanity's only hope," Dr. Mei said, still she was saddened by what happened between Su and Kevin.

"But you knew it was going to happen, didn't you? Why else would you give Su such instructions?" Mobius pointed out.

"Yes, but I had hoped it wouldn't," Dr. Mei admitted, saddened that her worst fears were realized.

"Well, both are still alive; since then, Su has continued with Project Valuka," Nuwa said, looking for a way to change the subject. "As for his progress, I don't know much about that."

Project Valuka was the study and research of alternative universes using the Second Divine Key to observe parallel universes, trying to find one where humanity overcame the Honkai. During his observations and search for such a world, Dr. Mei wondered if Su might've discovered the Earth Nathaniel has been using as his playground.

"Given what he has accomplished so far, it doesn't seem like Nathaniel is interested in Project Valuka's results. So he had no reason to bother Su so much," Mobius pointed out, taking a sip of tea.

"Speaking of which, Dr. Mobius, I should tell you Klein is alive as well," Fuxi said, finding something to change the subject.

"Really," Mobius said; although she hid it well, there was a clear interest. "Why isn't she here?"

"Old habits die hard," Nuwa replied with a sigh and a shrug of her shoulders.

"We've tried to get Klein back up here to meet you, but she has been asleep whenever we've tried to call her or was occupied," Nuwa said, pouting.

"Even without the Honkai, Klein is as much of a workaholic as she was back then," Fuxi said, shaking her head.

"I remember hearing how she spent the night in the lab asleep at her desk. I understand her workaholic tendencies were a type of coping mechanism?" Dr. Mei inquired.

"That's right, with the world continuously being devastated by the Honkai, she said immersing herself in work allowed her to feel alive despite the likely end of the world looming," Fuxi replied.

"But now," Dr. Mei asked, but neither Fuxi nor Nuwa had an answer.

---

Sometime later that morning...

---

"How can you eat all of that?"

Lelouch was resting in a chair, his breathing ragged from being utterly exhausted. He was inside the space station's food court, which was fashioned after those seen in shopping malls. The food court offered an astonishingly large selection of foods known to Heron. Most space station residents had kitchens in their living spaces, but the food court was one of many places designed to offer a more sociable eating environment should anyone desire it.

At the recommendation of Prometheus, the former prince had eggs with whole-grain bread slices, yogurt, and milk. On the other hand, Kallen had ten waffles with maple syrup, twenty pieces of bacon, sausage, a large serving of eggs, whole grain bread, and a fruit salad with a glass of orange juice.

"This is a light meal for me," Kallen replied before indulging in her big breakfast.

That's light!?

Lelouch watched in stunned silence as Kallen left every plate before her completely clean of the food, once on them in minutes.

"Are you going to eat that?" Kallen asked with a smile.

"Kallen, Lelouch needs to eat that to regain his strength," Prometheus said, lightly scolding the young girl.

Fortunately, motivated out of concern Kallen might consume his breakfast, Lelouch didn't waste time eating it. Prometheus offered Kallen a plate of strawberries and cream crepes to appease her endless appetite, delighting the white hair girl, who promptly devoured it.

How does someone possess such an appetite? Lelouch thought as he finished his breakfast.

"Morning Lelouch," Elysia chimed, appearing behind Lelouch.

"Morning, Elysia," Lelouch replied after wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"It's a pleasure to meet you again, Miss Elysia," Kallen said, greeting the elf-eared girl.

"As cute as that sounds, you can just call me Elysia or, better yet, Ellie. So can you, Lelouch."

"Ok," Lelouch replied.

"Sure thing, Ellie," Kallen said, delighting the pink-haired girl.

"Say, Lelouch, would you like to go on an adventure with us?" Elysia said, looking over Lelouch's shoulder with a bright smile.

"An adventure…to where?"

"To the planet below, Mobius needs help getting to the research station below, but currently, no one is allowed to go down," Elysia said as if on cue, Mobius arrived.

"Your abilities, even as limited as they are now, could help me. In return, I could help you better grasp your powers," Mobius said, standing behind Lelouch's right.

Lelouch might've accepted the offer, but something in the back of his mind made him hesitant.

"And what would that entail?" Lelouch inquired, eyeing Mobius suspiciously.

"Spending time in the lab, where I can enhance your body and teach you to use your powers," Mobius offered with a smile that made Lelouch even more suspicious.

"Don't worry, Mobius doesn't experiment on children," Elysia offered, trying to ease Lelouch's worries. "She means she'll give you some injections to help your body develop more quickly and better adapt to your new powers."

Mobius sighed, seemingly annoyed and yet grateful at the same time. "Yes, I don't experiment on children, given that you are a child and a Herrscher. There are things I can help you with as you grow so your body will be better adapted to your new powers. If all goes well, you should be able to use your powers more freely and perhaps wrestle control of your Herrscher Core from your alter-ego."

"You can't get rid of him?"

Mobius shook her head, "No, that's something you need to do. Your will need to be strong enough to overpower and cast him out. He was created due to Nathaniel's tampering, Sirin's powers and the Herrscher Core and powers clashing with your Natural Stigma, having a tug-of-war. Until then, you'll never have full control of your abilities."

"I see, but otherwise, you just need me for my powers?"

"Well, just to help us get past any doors that could block our way. We wanted Sakura to come, but she and Rin were busy spending time together. Furthermore, Nunnally told us you should be spending time with new people," Elysia said with a bright smile.

"You visited my sister?"

"Of course, we ran into her since we were looking for you. She encouraged us to take you along since spending more time with other people would be good for you, she thinks," Elysia said happily with a matter-of-fact tone.

"If it helps, I, the Great Vill-V, shall accompany you on this quest!"

A puff of smoke erupted near the table, with Vill-V appearing before everyone. She took off her hat and bowed to everyone before putting it back on.
Lelouch was less uncertain about how useful she was, but Kallen seemed confused and impressed at how Vill-V managed to appear beside their table as she did.

"We also got my best friend, Eden," Elysia said, announcing Eden's arrival, who greeted everyone with a warm smile. "And lastly and not least, Kalpas!"

Huh!?

Lelouch and Kallen were worried about Kalpas being brought in, the former for what Elysia had warned about the masked man, and Kallen having witnessed his attempt to attack Nathaniel, which he easily repelled and tightly bound Kalpas with binding chains to sap his strength. Neither said a word, deciding not wanting to accidentally provoke him.

"I say that completes our group!" Elysia exclaimed happily, but Lelouch was worried.

"Where exactly on the surface do you plan to go?" Lelouch asked.

"The site where the research team is excavating one of Jarilo-VI's old cities," Elysia answered before elaborating further. "Mobius wants to go down there to reunite with an old friend, but she can't come up here, and we can't go down right now due to the site's proximity to Belobog."

"I thought they were trying to avoid drawing their notice by keeping their operations far away from Belobog?" Lelouch asked.

"Yes, but unlike other cities, they've found, this one is in far better condition than others. So, they took the risk, but heightening security around the site and limited travel between the station and the excavation site," Mobius added.

"I see, so that is where I come in?" Lelouch said, deducing his role. "You need me to make a portal to the site."

"Yes, and we'll likely need you for the return trip," Elysia replied, clasping her hands together excitedly.

"Ok, but how am I supposed to do that? I've barely used my powers alone, and I am not certain I could open a portal at such a distance?"

"That is where the Great Vill-V comes in!" Vill-V said, removing her hat to pull out a black cylinder-like object. "This a Void Anchor, a device Nathaniel developed to travel to worlds normally impossible due to interference from a Stellarons or generally anything blocking long-distance travel using your abilities. One is placed at every research and mining site on the planet of Jarilo-VI for the event his presence is required."

"How am I supposed to use them?"

"You should be able to sense the anchor and then lock onto it," Vill-V explained.

"Easier said than done," Lelouch remarked dryly.

"Don't worry, we'll help you," Elysia offered.

"How exactly?" Lelouch inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"First, I would suggest taking a quick shower and wearing that battle suit Nathaniel gave you," Elysia suggested.

"Really," Lelouch said, obviously distrustful of the battle suit.

"Don't worry. I asked Vill-V to go over it when we visited Nunnally looking for you. There is nothing harmful or dangerous attacked to it," Elysia said reassuringly, having anticipated Lelouch would be distrustful of the suit, rightfully so given who provided it. "Besides, even if we aren't going into battle, the suit has a temperature regulator that should make being down on the planet side a lot more pleasant; our outfits all have them."

"Alright," Lelouch said, seeing if it was just the girls wanting to get to the planet's surface to see an old friend, and it did give him a chance to begin exploring his powers more; the former prince accepted. "I'll shower and change."

Once Lelouch was gone, Kallen looked at the group concerned.

"I get the feeling you guys shouldn't be rushing this."

"I agree with Kallen; I foresee a sixty percent probability of something going wrong unless Lelouch is properly trained to use his Herrscher Powers," Prometheus warned, folding her arms.

"He's a Herrscher; most who used their powers have been able to do so without formal training. I am confident some practice is all he needs," Mobius pointed out.

"True, most Herrschers who have awakened have made instant use of their abilities with no observed training. However, they never had to deal with an external force like a Stellaron causing interference," Prometheus cautioned.

A short time later, Lelouch had changed and was dressed in the battle suit provided to him by Nathaniel to learn how to use his Herrscher powers. It was a two-piece purple suit trimmed with gold that connected to form a single-body suit with broad shoulders and a black coat lined with gold and black gloves with matching boots integrated into the suit.

"Not bad, but I think Eden could do better," Elysia complimented.

"Please, Elysia, I don't think I could make something better without help constructing the suit," Eden replied modestly.

"I could help," Vill-V offered.

"Were you some kind of fashion designer?" Lelouch inquired.

Elysia giggled before revealing, "More than that, she was the super famous idol in the entire world known far and wide, a household name. She could sing and captivate whole audiences with her voice, play classical instruments like a pro, and even act in plays and some movies while being both a fashion designer and a model for her clothing line."

"Uh…wow," Lelouch said, stunned and impressed by how multi-talented Eden was, unable to think of a better word.

"Why she even had enough money to throw around to pay for a whole cruise ship and use it as her own personal boat, having more than enough to maintain both it and a full crew," Elysia said, praising Eden's former wealth and talents.

"Elysia, there is no need to praise me so much; besides, that was literally a lifetime ago," Eden replied, slightly embarrassed by Elysia's praise.

If Elysia's comments about Eden are valid, she is being impressively modest, Lelouch thought.

"Let's move this along," Mobius said, holding the Void Anchor in one hand and a bottled drink in another. "This should make for a good target to aim for!"

"What is she doing with those?" Lelouch asked as Mobius left the room.

"Mobius is going to place both items on the side of the station furthest from your location to test your ability to lock onto the anchor," Vill-V explained.

"How would that work?" Kallen asked, watching.

"Being in orbit around Jarilo-VI should still affect your ability to use your powers to travel long distances thanks to the interference interrupting travel," Vill-V answered before explaining. "You should have no problems using them near you, but the further you attempt to use your ability to create portals from your location, the stronger the inference to the point it will prevent you from traveling where you want to go."

"And what are you basing this on?" Lelouch inquired, seemingly uncertain.

"On Nathaniel himself, his powers to travel through imaginary space came from the cloned Herrscher of the Void core he used in his experiment to connect to the Cocoon of Finality. Even if the core was an imperfect copy capable of lasting a short time, he retained those powers and could use them to travel anywhere. He wouldn't have used those Void Anchors if they didn't work, and presumably, anyone else working with him using such powers could do the same," Vill-V replied, her personality shifting to a stoic and sagely young girl.

"Oh, I guess we have the Researcher now," Elysia said, recognizing which personality was now in control.

"What do you mean by imperfect copy?" Lelouch asked, curious.

"According to what we learned from Ato, Nathaniel developed his cloning technology for Herrscher Cores to the point they are almost indistinguishable from the real thing. However, further research revealed that making a copy of a copy will lead to deterioration and flaws in the cores he makes. That was why he was so interested in the cores Sirin had because cloning from a genuine Herrscher Core makes the one you have truly indistinguishable from the cloned cores Nathaniel was making up to that point," Vill-V answered.

"I see that explains why Nathaniel was willing to give so much to Sirin; he needed the Herrscher Cores she had to create more potent copies that he had been limited to creating," Lelouch said, recalling the discussion between Sirin and Nathaniel.

"Meaning your own potential should be on par with Nathaniel or able to surpass him, at least when it comes to your power as Herrscher of the Void," Vill-V said, reassuringly for someone who is seemingly uncharacteristically stoic other personality of Vill-V he had been spoken to earlier.

"Alright, you've made your case. Let's give it a try," Lelouch said as he tried to mentally prepare himself.

Suddenly a device on Vill-V's wrist beeped, signaling that Mobius was ready.

"Wow, that was fast," Elysia commented.

"So, give it a try," Vill-V said, as there was nothing more to say. "Try to visualize your objective."

Lelouch tried to focus on the anchor by extending his arm, picturing it in his mind. Struggling as he tried to reach for it, visualizing the portal he wanted to create and where it would lead. A few moments later, a portal opened, allowing Lelouch to reach and grab the bottled drink from the other side.

"Kapo-Kali," Lelouch said, reading the label.

"I heard it's the king of soft drinks," Elysia remarked, looking over Lelouch's shoulder at the bottle; the contents looked like an azure rainbow of colors, like the stars of the galaxy contained within a single bottle. "I want to try!"

Elysia swiped the bottle from Lelouch's hand before he could offer it to her, quickly opening it to consume the drink.

"Oh my," Elysia commented while her expression indicated the drink was delightful. "This is really refreshing, nice, and cold too."

"Uh, Lelouch, could you open the portal wider for me!" Mobius called from the other side of the portal.

"Oh right," Lelouch said, after a brief struggle, was able to open the portal wider to allow Mobius to come through.

"See, you can do it," Mobius said before her impatience showed itself. "Traveling to the planet should be no problem for you."

"Don't you think I should practice more? I did have to struggle a bit," Lelouch said, believing he wasn't ready to attempt to travel such a long distance.

"Nonsense, you're a Herrscher, and besides, training under such conditions will help you focus and better refine your powers," Mobius replied, confident in Lelouch's abilities.

"Mobius, I understand your eagerness to see Klein again, but don't you think you are rushing this?" Eden said, trying to caution against the scientist being too hasty.

"I'll reprimand Klein for not contacting me upon my arrival; you can be sure of that," Mobius replied, seemingly nothing would deter her.

"Why don't we all go," Elysia suggested. "Besides, it could be fun."

Lelouch felt uneasy about this, but he decided to try and see if he could find the anchor Mobius wanted to reach her desired destination. Besides, winning over the other Flame Chasers could benefit him since he would need their help to take on Nathaniel. Even if not all of them would be on board with taking him down, winning over the trust and aid of a few would still be worth the effort.

Furthermore, this would allow Lelouch to test something if things play out as expected.

"Now try to focus on an anchor near this location here," Mobius instructed, pointing to an area on the planet.

Thanks to the Heron having most of their other operations far away from Belobog, locating the anchor near the city's proximity was easy. However, Lelouch found that opening a portal with its destination at such a distance was far more challenging than he had thought. Lelouch was straining himself, but after five minutes of struggling, the former prince opened a portal.

The experience had been exhausting, but Lelouch was successful…so far.

"Now let's go," Mobius said as she eagerly entered the portal with Elysia following her.

"I suppose we better go," Eden said, concerned that Mobius was too hasty.

Vill-V didn't hesitant in going through the portal, followed lastly by a reluctant Lelouch, Kallen wanted to follow, but Prometheus stopped her.

"I would advise you against going," Prometheus warned.

"But are they in danger, aren't they?"

"No, I doubt Mobius's hasty effort to reunite with Klein would lead to their deaths, but I am certain the worst thing that could happen is…"

---

We missed our destination, Lelouch thought, quickly realizing they hadn't arrived at their intended destination.

The portal brought them to the planet's surface but not the intended destination. Vill-V was using her wrist device to quickly work out their current location. Elysia and Eden looked around them, seeing rocks, what appeared to be pine trees with no leaves upon them, questioning if the trees were still alive in some form, and of course, snow as far as the eye could see.

"Well, I got good news and bad news," Vill-V said, her personality having switched again. This personality seemed similar to the Magician personality Lelouch had seen earlier when she appeared, but lacking the idea she was dealing with an audience. "Bad News is obviously we didn't reach our destination, but the good news is that we are about fifteen miles away according to this GPS unit. We only need to travel north, and our current position puts us north of Belobog but still quite a distance away."

"So the excavation site is closer to us than Belobog, is what you are saying?" Mobius inquired.

"Pretty much," Vill-V replied.

"Well, lead the way, Vill-V," Elysia said, unbothered by the fact they ended up far from their intended destination. Neither was Kalpas, but Eden wasn't surprised by what happened, and Lelouch was naturally annoyed no one thought to take his warnings seriously. Lelouch could complain, but like Eden, there was hardly any point in doing so.

Still, as they began walking, Lelouch glanced at his surrounding; his curiosity about the planet drew his attention. A part of him began wondering what the planet looked like before an endless winter engulfed it. He also wondered how a single city and its population could survive roughly seven hundred years of this?

As they walked, they saw little signs of life, no birds, nothing, but soon they came across the ruins of a small-town judging by the remains and number of buildings and homes left. Or rather, the number of crumbling ruins they saw. Some houses were mainly intact, saved for their roofs collapsing, while others had crumbled away long ago due to natural wear and tear over the last hundreds of years. It was from the number of structures Lelouch believed this might've been a small town once, but it was deserted.

However, Lelouch did spot frozen figures standing around the buildings; he thought they were the town's residents who had met an unfortunate end.

These frozen remains do not look human at all. Could these be, or were, members of the Antimatter Legion? Lelouch thought, approaching one of them.

While these creatures were generally humanoid in appearance, their bodies' odd shapes and armor seemed inhuman at a glance. Fueling Lelouch's suspicions was seeing centaur-like creatures among the frozen humanoid beings. Now Lelouch's imagination pictured the town under assault by the Antimatter Legion, people fleeing, and then suddenly a wave of white engulfed them and the town, flash freezing the legion and the town.

And the whole planet.

Is that how it happened? If so, then it's no wonder that only a city's worth of people survived, Lelouch thought as the mental image of how the Eternal Freeze happened occupied his thoughts.

Curious, Elysia and the others, except Kalpas, examined the frozen monsters, but no one said anything.

Really what could they say?

"I hear something in the distance," Eden said, as a noise in the distance was faint.

"It's a battle," Kalpas said before running off to join the battle, seemingly quite eager.

"We better follow," Elysia suggested as she and Eden hurried off while Mobius followed them at her average pace.

Lelouch tried to follow, but the heavy snow made running difficult, which was complicated by his lack of endurance. But Vill-V intervened, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Worry not, dear spectator; the Great Vill-V will take care of you," Vill-V said; her magician personality was now in control.

Taking off her hat and throwing it high into the air, it expanded until it was big enough to land on the two of them. The enormous hat exploded, revealing a heavily armed hovercraft, with Lelouch and Vill-V in the cockpit with the latter behind the controls. The hovercraft had Vill-V's theme of steampunk ascetic, being overall black and gold. For armaments, it had a dual-barrel energy cannon in the front, two enormous gatling guns on its side, and above them, two large cannons.

I guess Vill-V favors heavy artillery, Lelouch thought, looking around the craft he was riding with Vill-V in, before noticing a new hat atop Vill-V's head that replaced the old one.

"Now, dear audience member, you can be my assistant using your portals, but otherwise, please enjoy the show," Vill-V said, winking at Lelouch before the hovercraft sped forward to catch up with the others.

By the time they arrived, a battle was underway; Eden was by a group of children, using a pair of odd pistols that looked like flintlock pistols at a distance. Yet they were more powerful than they seemed, as each shot fired was a burst of energy than a traditional bullet.

Eden displayed an impressive display of using her twin pistols to keep the advancing monsters at bay, which seemed to be humans, or at least former humans. They wore a blue uniform with silver buttons, a large hat on their heads, and masks with black boots and white gloves. Clothing designed for survival in the frozen wasteland of a world, but over sixty percent of their bodies were covered in ice while wielding spears with the tips covered in ice, which appeared sharp from a distance.

There were at least more than a dozen of them, Lelouch couldn't keep track due to their numbers and the ongoing battle, but the former prince did notice the bodies of similar soldiers and others on the ground.

I see these must be monsters of the Fragmentum I heard about roaming the planet's surface, Lelouch thought, wondering if the transformed soldiers were purely a creation of the Fragmentum or something else.

"Stay behind me," Eden told the children taking cover behind her; one of them, the oldest, picked up a large rifle, a design Lelouch hadn't seen before.

The rifle was big for her, but the girl boldly fired it, shooting at the approaching monsters to help Eden. But behind them was a group of Fragmentum monsters, but this time they were bird-like creatures with crystal-like bodies, like the shapes of the bodies on the Antimatter Legion they had seen a short time ago. Besides them, six seemed made of living ice, while the others were made of crystallized fire.

"Stay near me," Eden warned as a golden harp materialized. "Good, that still works."

Strumming its strings, Eden unleashed a powerful shockwave of golden energy from it, knocking back the approaching monsters and seemingly empowering her and everyone else. Even Lelouch could feel his strength increase from the effects of Eden's briefly materialized harp.

It didn't harm me or the others, so Eden likely determines who is friend or foe when using it so it doesn't hurt her allies, Lelouch thought, feeling the beneficial effects of Eden's ability and observing what happened to those she didn't consider allies.

Before, Eden's pistols hit with the force of a shotgun, but now it seemed they had the knockdown power of a cannon.

The recoil of those pistols must be crazy, but she is handling them so easily, Lelouch thought.

In a single minute alone, Eden was killing more than a dozen Fragmentum monsters, each downed with a single headshot in a dazzling display of gunplay. Around the same time, Elysia used her bow and arrows to help with crowd control, but Kalpas was taking on the enemy monsters with his bare hands, using his fists to beat the enemy to death.

The masked flame chaser's hands began to erupt with fire as each punch delivered a blow likely strong enough to shatter stone. The armor and ice consuming the humanoid monsters shattered upon contact; Lelouch even saw the head of one get twisted completely around from one of Kalpas's hits. But the most aggressive member of the Flame Chaser's didn't just use his fits alone, but when their numbers began attempting to overwhelm him, he grabbed one of the bodies of a freshly killed Fragmentum monster before using it as a make-shift club.

Despite being in the body of a child, it did little to diminish his combat capabilities as Kalpas used the monster's body to effectively knock the surrounding enemies back. One of the monsters, armed with a spear, attempted to impale Kalpas, but the latter side-stepped it before ripping it from his attacker's hands and swiftly beheading him in mere seconds.

Using the spear, Kalpas began cutting down Fragmentum monsters quicker than before, so much so that Lelouch was having difficulty keeping track of the number of kills the masked warrior was getting.

Lelouch was confident that those numbers were likely a lot as Kalpas was surrounded by a growing pile of dead monsters. Even more chillingly, Kalpas was enjoying himself as his laughter mixed with his battle lust echoed throughout the battlefield.

Right, mental note, do not make an enemy of Kalpas, Lelouch thought, also making a note to take all of Elysia's warnings about Kalpas very seriously.

After the spear Kalpas was using was ruined beyond getting any further use, he tossed what was left at a rushing Everwinter Shadewalker. It hit with enough force that the remains of the spear went through the ice that made up the face and head of the monster, impaling it through the head.

Kalpas didn't stop as he continued to throw himself at the enemy with reckless abandon.

"Let us join them, my assistant!" Vill-V said as she charged into battle with the weapons on her hovercraft, cutting into the swarm of monsters. "Make way for the Great Vill-V!"

The Gatling Guns and built-in cannons tore apart the Shadewalkers in a destructive display of the fearsome firepower Vill-V commanded. Many were utterly decapitated by the gatling guns alone. At the same time, the cannons, such as the energy cannon vaporized the enemy ahead of her. Lastly, the cannons above the gatling guns fired explosive shells that sent enemy monsters flying or blowing them apart on a direct hit.

This seems like…overkill, Lelouch thought.

But that wasn't all, as some of the Shadewalkers were trying to attack Vill-V from the sides, only to be met by the hovercraft's other weapons, a pair of retractable arms emerged from the bottom of the craft revealing a pair of giant black buzz saws enveloped in red energy increasing their deadliness and cutting power. The twin saws came together in the front of the craft before Vill-V spun it around, decapitating her would-be attackers. At the same time, Lelouch created portals to redirect Vill-V's fire to ensure they wouldn't hit Elysia, Kalpas, Eden, and Mobius, redirecting it onto enemy groups out of their range.
Vill-V was unfazed by spinning her craft around, but Lelouch felt a little dizzy when it was done.

There doesn't seem to be an end to these things, Lelouch thought, but despite the number of enemy monsters, Elysia and the others weren't showing any difficulty in fending them off.

Behind them, a new batch of Shadewalkers, followed by the strange flying monsters, was approaching them, but before Lelouch could act, a pool of black and green sludge swept across the ground under their feet before drill-like spikes erupted from the ground below, impaling them all. A grinning Mobius emerged from the ooze, but more monsters appeared. Like the others, Mobius wasn't concerned as tentacles of the black substances Mobius emerged from seized the approaching Shadewalkers.

"Interesting, so these are monsters of the Fragmentum," Mobius said, studying her captive prey as they struggled to escape her hold. "Ah, how exciting, but don't worry, my new lab rats, I'll dissect you down to the last molecule."

Mobius's laugh made Lelouch more uneasy about the scientist who took apart one of the Shadewalkers, trying to determine if these were once human or a creation of the Fragmentum. But as Mobius tried to inspect her captive prey as one of the tentacles brought a limb, she pulled off one of them, and she could hear more monsters trying to attack while occupied.

"I will not tolerate any interruptions!" Mobius said, irritated before she sunk into the black ooze surrounding her, but what emerged wasn't Mobius.

What the hell is that!? Lelouch thought as he saw a black and green giant serpent-like creature emerge from the ooze, towering over the monsters, holding a black and golden staff in one hand. The serpent-like creature had long arms, one held its staff, and while lacking a head, at the center of its torso was a hollowed area where Mobius was within the body's core.

Raising its staff into the air, the giant serpent-like creature unleashed a torrent of lightning bolts, and each one stuck its mark as lightning rained down upon the battlefield. Lelouch saw some of the flying creatures were vaporized upon being hit, while the Shadewalkers took a direct hit to the chest, causing them to be reduced to ash by the intensity of the lightning strikes or left with burning holes in their bodies at most.

Seeing that most of the monsters were dead, the giant serpent sank back into the ooze, followed by Mobius emerging from it to continue her study of the monsters she held captive.

"Now, where was I," Mobius said, returning to examining her newly captured lab rats.

Despite Mobius's earlier reassurances, she doesn't experiment on children; Lelouch made a note to be very careful around Mobius.

Lastly, there was Elysia, who managed to avoid the attacking monsters, but each of her arrows found their mark without fail, leaving many of the attacking monsters dead in her wake. Much like Eden, Elysia's skills in battle were on full display as she not only kept the enemy back but managed to kill them before they could even get close to her. Most of her foes had fallen with an arrow through the head, the throat, or through where their heart would be.

When a group of enemies threatened to be too much, Elysia's arrow was released, striking the ground and causing a field of pink crystals to erupt under their feet, impaling them. Smiling, Elysia empowered a single arrow with pink energy before releasing it into the air; upon exploding, a crystal dome formed around them.

What is she doing? Lelouch wondered as Elysia released an arrow striking a spot on the dome; although he had an idea what would happen, he feared such a move would endanger their allies.

Thankfully Lelouch had nothing to worry about; Elysia released her arrow, bouncing off the wall and becoming dozens of arrows before multiplying into more. To the former prince's surprise, the arrows impaled their intended targets while missing everyone else, a true testament to Elysia's skills as a combatant.

Soon the last of the monsters lay dead, and the horde of monsters finally stopped with no more appearing to attack them.

I lost track of how many they killed, but…

Lelouch's thoughts stopped when he saw the monsters disintegrate into nothing, which might've happened to the monsters killed earlier. The fact the monsters vanished in such a way was unexpected; Lelouch was awed by the combat abilities of Elysia, Eden, Kalpas, and Vill-V, with the only signs of the intense battle that had taken place were the scars their attacks left on the land and the surrounding area.

Before now, any lingering doubts were left; they were almost gone, but Lelouch was now confident he would need the Flame Chasers' help against Nathaniel; it was now only a question of how to convince them.

"Are you kids alright?" Elysia asked sweetly, approaching the kids next to Eden while Mobius was occupied with inspecting the remaining monsters she still had captive.

"I think they seem a little shell-shocked, Ellie," Eden cautioned, probably from the monster attack, their arrival, and judging by the bodies of other soldiers and, even more regretfully, the bodies of other children among the dead.

But what would kids be doing so far away from the city? Lelouch wondered, looking at the bodies lying in the snow around them.

Lelouch notices on the backs of the dead, and some near their bodies were backpacks stuffed well with supplies and what appeared to be gear for outdoor survival.

Was this some kind of training group for outdoor survival? Lelouch thought while trying to piece their puzzle together as Elysia and Eden tended to the shell-shocked survivors. The soldiers likely have to defend the city from monster attack, so I suppose it makes sense they would be trained as young as possible and taught how to survive, but why take them this far out…unless…

"You figured it out, didn't you," Kalpas said, shaking Lelouch from his thoughts.

"These brought these kids out here to kill them, didn't they? But why?"

"Maybe sacrifice them, or maybe they were after just one of those kids planning to use the deaths of the others to hide it," Kalpas said with barely restrained resentment. "If these men weren't dead already, I would've killed them."

As unsettling as the implication was, it was the only one that made any sense to Lelouch. But the motive behind such a terrible act eluded him.

Why go so far, Lelouch wondered.

"Maybe those kids can tell us more," Lelouch offered while Kalpas remained quiet.

"You should go talk to them," Vill-V suggested as she opened up a panel in her hovercraft, likely conducting a post-battle inspection.

"Right," Lelouch said, as there wasn't much use in speculating.

Approaching the children as Elysia and Eden helped the children calm down, one of the children was around his age. The oldest child in question had long gray hair styled into a pair of drill-like pigtails with matching eyes and a fair skin complexion. The girl wore a blue uniform trimmed with black, silver buttons, black boots, and a white collar and cloak wrapped around her.

The rest of the children seemed around their age numbering around ten all together, but Lelouch did spot a pair of presumably cadets who were in their early or late teens. However they seemed to be injured, likely having sustained injuries protecting their young charges.

"Regardless, thank you for saving us," Lelouch heard the eldest of the children said. "I am Bronya Rand."

This will complicate things, Lelouch thought, because of what happened; regardless, he was worried about how Nathaniel might respond to this.

It wasn't about what he would do to them, but to the people of this planet who are now on the verge of discovering Heron's activities on their world and more.

 

[StrifeHavoc]

Notes at the bottom, and a thank you to DarkLord331

Chapter 8
To Tackle the Problem
​

Deep within an observation room of the Strigidae, Nathaniel looked up at a holographic projection of the Earth before him, surrounded by a view of space and Jupiter. Upon the holographic globe were four red marks, each indicating an Honkai Eruption, each more substantial than the one Sirin had created in the city of Iwaki. These eruptions were located in a city called Sydney in Australia, and the other two were in Marseille, France, and Guangzhou, China. Novosibirsk, Russia, was the latest to join as a city host to a Honkai eruption.

Nathaniel was now debating where for the Honkai Eruption he wanted to unleash in the Britannian Homeland since it would be unfair if someone were left out.

"What is it, Marzipan?" Nathaniel asked, aware of his Sugar friend entering the observation room.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir, but your VIP appointment has arrived."

"Ah, I see; it's that time already," Nathaniel said, realizing he had lost track of time. "Thank you, my friend; I'll wrap this up and meet her."

"If I may ask, what is the problem?"

"I am debating on where to unleash this Honkai Eruption in Britannia; I figured every major country getting a Honkai Eruption should be enough to light a fire under their pants. I almost chose Paris for the United Republic of Europa; God knows that place has become flooded with refugees, but I am rather fond of the old structures in that city like Notre Dame, so I chose Marseille, which is just as overcrowded in both population and where most of the refugees fleeing from Britannia end up," Nathaniel said with a thoughtful expression on his face with a hand on his chin.

"I see, so what were your reasons for the others?" Marzipan inquired, indifferent to the massive loss of human life happening worldwide. He leaped onto Nathaniel's left shoulder. "Perhaps that could help you?"

"True, for the Chinese Federation, I chose the city of Guangzhou, high population density, but nothing of too much importance that wouldn't prevent the Federation from dealing with it. After all, I do not want to decapitate the leadership of these countries; it would just create a bigger mess that I would be forced to clean up. Similar reason for Novosibirsk in Russia, which I suspect will soon be in Britannia's hands in the coming months," Nathaniel replied.

"But you also caused one in Australia?"

"Yes, they are among the shrinking number of neutral nations left. It will be a while before Britannia turns their attention to them, so why leave them out? Sydney might be their capital, but I ensured my agents ensured the country's leadership, or those I want in charge, were safely away when it happened."

"I see, so a regime change was your intention?"

"The current leadership is laughable, really; I saw a chance to kill two birds with one stone," Nathaniel said, dismissively waving his right hand. "As for Britannia, I do not wish to unleash one too close to their capital, even if Charles and his brother are plotting against me; I made sure any effort would benefit me."

"I see so likely someplace further east of the Homeland?"

"Yes, Kansas was a choice, but if I unleashed an Honkai eruption in Kansas, no one would hear about it for years."

"What about New York?"

"All that smut and traffic," Nathaniel said before grinning. "I suppose it might give them a chance for a fresh start. Unlike the other countries, most of their population might avoid becoming zombies so that it would be just a matter of the Honkai Beasts running amok. At the same time, those lacking a Stigma and sufficient Honkai resistance will become zombies."

"I suppose that settles it then," Marzipan said before a small holographic screen appeared. "I'll send an alert to our agents in New York."

"Very good, they have a few hours before it happens. I did make sure to give our agents operating out of the cities I chose sufficient time to escape," Nathaniel said, snapping his fingers.

As he departed the room with his friend riding on his left shoulder, an Honkai Eruption was set to engulf New York City in three hours.

Leaving the observation room, Nathaniel went to his office, where his guest was waiting for him. Suddenly, a call came in, and a beeping from one of his wrist controllers prompted him to take the call. A holographic screen displaying Eleanor's face appeared above the open palm of his right hand.\

"Let me guess, Elysia found a way planet side," Nathaniel said, deducing the reason for Eleanor's call.

"Yes, but it was Mobius who instigated the situation."

"I see; it was because of Klein, then."

"So it would seem, but they didn't steal a shuttle. They got Lelouch to open a portal to reach their destination," Eleanor revealed, surprising Nathaniel. "Unfortunately, due to Lelouch's inexperience and in no large part to interference from the Stellaron, they landed far from their destination."

"How far?"

"Dangerously close to Belobog, and even worse, it seems they've rescued a group of young Silvermane Guard Cadets from Fragmentum monsters after a moronic attempt at assassination," Eleanor replied.

"That is a moronic attempt at assassination, taking them far from the city like that," Nathaniel remarked. "Even if it was for the likely reason of taking out their intended target far from any likely witnesses."

Stupid and desperate sums it up better, but that would mean the likely intended target was the heiress to the role of Supreme Guardian, Nathaniel thought, because he could think of one person to justify such a stupid plan remotely.

"I assume the target was the adopted daughter and heiress apparent of the current Supreme Guardian?" Nathaniel said it was an easy deduction since there was no one else to justify such an effort, as much of a stupid plan as it was.

"Yes, sir, that is correct," Eleanor confirmed. "Shall I retrieve them?"

"No, let them handle things themselves, but keep an eye on them. Record everything so I can review it later after my meeting. Elysia, Mobius, Eden, and Vill-V are far more than enough to handle anything they encounter," Nathaniel said, confident in the fighting abilities of the Flame Chasers. "Besides, Elysia wants an adventure, so who I am not to allow one for her."

"Understood, we'll monitor them and keep a record of everything that happens," Eleanor said, troubled by the decision. Still, she had no desire to voice any issues.

"Good. I'll check in with you after my meeting."

"I'll make sure no one disturbs you," Marzipan said before leaving to attend to other matters besides ensuring his friend and superior would be left alone.

"Thank you, my friend," Nathaniel said before using a portal to appear in his office to greet his guest to talk business. "I apologize for keeping you waiting."

"Not at all; I was warned you had your hands full with several matters."

Waiting in his office when he exited the portal was a woman with long brown hair with some of it tied into a small ponytail, lilac eyes, and a prosthetic left hand. Her attire was a sleeveless green and white Qipao, akin to those in the Chinese Federation. In reality, it was a choice of clothing worn by some Xianzhou natives.

"I am grateful for your understanding, but it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Dan Shu, chief alchemist of the Alchemy Commission."

---

Meanwhile, back on Jarilo-VI, Lelouch, Elysia, Vill-V, Kalpas and Eden, along with the surviving cadets, had helped bury the dead. Mobius was busy studying the creature she had captured. As the group carried out the grim but necessary task, the cadets recovered what Lelouch assumed was akin to dog tags used by soldiers.
Once they were done, after taking what supplies were left, the group began making their way towards Belobog, hoping to reach the city by nightfall. However, given the distance and time the cadets had spent marching to their current destination, they were unlikely to reach the outskirts by then.

Those too wounded to talk were being carried by Vill-V in her hovercraft, prompting Lelouch to walk with everyone else.

I could use my ability to create portals, but given how far off the mark we were from our intended destination, I don't think it would be a good idea until we are closer, Lelouch thought, contemplating using his powers to allow everyone to get to the city safely.

"Excuse me," Bronya said, approaching Lelouch.

"Yes, Miss Rand, was it? Can I help you?"

"You can just call me Bronya," Bronya said, shaking her head. "Given our situation I think it might be easier for us both to speak without formalities."

"I am fine with that."

"You don't seem to be from our world, are you?" Bronya inquired as she looked at the attire he was wearing. "Not many people in Belobog wear attire like that, but your companions do not possess the powers they displayed either."

"Yes, I suppose Mobius and Vill-V stand out in that regard," Lelouch acknowledged.

"I never knew such individuals lived out here, did they?" Bronya questioned.

Lelouch hesitated at first, but he reasoned it was best he told her the truth.

"They don't, they come from beyond this world. As hard as that might be to believe," Lelouch began.

"Really," Bronya Rand said before considering Lelouch's words momentarily. "I believe you, as impossible as it might seem."

That was easy, but I guess Mobius's transformation and Vill-V's hovercraft on top of Elysia's abilities to manipulate crystal would be a convincing display, Lelouch thought.

"The strange craft the one you called Vill-V used could be explained, but I assume the woman you referred to as Mobius was the one who transformed into a giant snake creature?" Bronya asked, which Lelouch confirmed with a nod.

"And Elysia can manipulate and create crystal-like constructs, creating a dome where all of her shots were ricocheted, hitting their mark," Lelouch added.

"I see, so where did you all come from?"

"I came from a planet called Earth, as for the rest I'll explain what I can," Lelouch said, as he began telling Bronya about his world, how he met Elysia and the others and what he knew about them. Meanwhile unnoticed by the group, standing on a nearby hill top a little girl with red hair was watching them, wearing tattered clothes.

---

After his meeting with Dan Shu, Nathaniel emerged from a portal of his own creation, arriving on a planet. This one was uncharted and not known throughout the universe, but its harsh stormy conditions made it ideal to serve as a base of operations. While Nathaniel conducted research on his own flagship and had smaller specialized labs set up across the universe, this world he dubbed Lacedaemon.

Aside from the near constant storms, the planet's winters, especially in its arctic regions made life extremely difficult to survive. The winds were like those of raging hurricanes with lightning that could kill the careless when wandering its grassy plains. Even the oceans, only the hardest of creatures could live in its depths, all in all the planet was ideal for training a new bred of soldier.

The base Nathaniel was in was perhaps one of the safest places on the planet. Still, within its halls young recruits were put through intense physical training and a rigorous education teaching them tactics, engineering, weapons handling, and piloting.

"Greeting sir, you are here a little early," a man with the distinguished pointy ears belonging to those of the Vidyadhara, a humanoid race possessing draconic features, but most simply have sharp ears while a select few have draconic features. Like members of Heron, he wore a black uniform with long sleeves and a coat. His black hair was slick back while his green eyes held a sense of fear and awe before his superior.

"Yes, my meeting concluded quicker than expected, but more importantly everything went well. Dan Shu has agreed to help me," Nathaniel said with a smile.

"That is good to hear sir."

"Tell me, how did our forces do against the Abundance? Has Jingliu returned from the campaign?"

"Yes, she returned a short time ago. The campaign was a success, the Abominations of Abundance have been purged from the Aquilegia System. Our casualties were very small compared to them," The Vidyadhara exclaimed proudly.

"Excellent," Nathaniel replied. "And the planet?"

"Completely destroyed, it was too ravaged by the Abundance to be re-settled."

"A minor loss, but this proves the effectiveness of our soldiers against the Abundance," Nathaniel said, pleased with the results. "The Xianzhou Alliance would throw thousands upon thousands of men and women at the Abundance, winning the battles, but losing thousands in the effort. We achieved similar results with a smaller army and far better ships, technology and weapons than what they use."

"I agree sir, and word from our people in the IPC is that they are eager to begin hiring our soldiers for mercenary work," The Vidyadhara man replied, equally proud of their recent achievement.

"Very good, in fact I might have to have a word with their leaders soon regarding a matter I should address," Nathaniel said, with a thoughtful expression.

"A matter?"

"Nothing you have to worry about, but tell me how the new recruits have been coming along?" Nathaniel asked as the two stopped in front of an observation window in the corridor they had been watching through.

Below them, they could see a dozen transparent cylinder-like pods, each occupied by a person. Each of them wore black body suits leaving their hands and feet exposed, all were children, but they differed by gender, being a mix of male and female, but also different species. Most were easily identified as human, but there were others like Foxian due to their tails and ears, and Vidyadhara due to their pointed ears, or at least for those who could be seen.

One common factor was that they had wires connected to their bodies, and each occupant was sleeping through what was their meta-morph surgery to become MANTIS super soldiers.

"No rejections?"

"None sir, all chosen subjects have successfully completed the Metal Morph surgery," Nathaniel's companion replied. "We've had no problems among any of the recruits."

"Excellent, and training is proceeding as well?"

"For the younger recruits after undergoing Meta Morph Surgery, they are going well, they have been responding well to our classes and physical training," Vidyadhara man replied. "Once they are old enough, we increase the difficulty as their bodies adapt and grow with their new MANTIS augmentations."

Walking by another observation window, one could see the group of recruits being a group of teenagers, a mix of different genders and species wearing combat gi uniforms engaging in hand-to-hand combat practice. One Foxian girl struck her foe so hard the boy was sent flying across the room while another child, a human teen knocked out his foe with a single punch.

"I am glad to hear everything has continued to progress well," Nathaniel replied as he and his companion walked across a transparent passageway now overlooking an enormous cafeteria where the recruits and growing MANTIS super soldiers were having lunch able to house over a hundred people.

After the end of the long corridor, the two reached the end, leading outside where Nathaniel could see an open area where hundreds of adult recruits, wearing uniforms consisting of black armor, with helmets held by their side as they knelt on one knee as they were undergoing graduation. Nathaniel could only look down at the scene before him with pride.

"I trust Baatar told you the news," a new voice inquired, joining the pair on the balcony overlooking the MANTIS soldiers who had completed their training.

"Yes, he did, well done Jingliu, but I've expected no less." Nathaniel said graduating Jingliu as Baatar stood aside.

Jingliu, a slender pale woman who seemed to be in her mid-twenties, but she was much older than her appearance would suggest with long pale hair and red eyes. Her attire was unique among other members of Heron. A remnant of her past, her attire consists of an elegant dress, cutting off just past the thighs. It was adorned with a palette of black dark blue and a disc in the middle above her stomach showing various moon phases going from white to black. Her long hair had a blue ribbon and a red ribbon on the right hip and one on the back of her dress. She also wore a pair of knee-high black boots.

"Leave us Baatar, give your wife and child my regards," Jingliu commanded.

"Yes, my lady," Baatar said, bowing his head respectfully before leaving.

Once Baatar was gone, Jingliu and Nathaniel spoke.

"The new weapons and ships I designed performed as expected?"

"Yes, they did, far more effective than anything the Xianzhou Alliance ever created. Too set in their ways to be unable to change tactics let alone develop new weapons to deal with the Abundance," Jingliu replied with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"Excellent, but don't give me all of the credit. Your leadership and your contributions that created this facility were vital to creating well trained warriors who could make the best use of those weapons," Nathaniel said, recalling a fond memory. "From the first ten you trained seven hundred years ago, who trained others expanding this facility until it became what it is now."

"The reason you saved me from the Mara, granted me this new and much stronger body," Jingliu said.

"Yes, you deserved more than what the Xianzhou Alliance did after you became Mara-Struck," Nathaniel said, with his voice having hints of anger. "Literal centuries of service, and they cast you aside, what a waste."

"Yes, but being mara-struck is an inevitable fate for the people of the Xianzhou Alliance. However, thanks to you many have escaped that fate. You even did what that fool Dan Feng tried to accomplish and failed so spectacularly," Jingliu said, but this time when the name Dan Feng passed her lips, Nathaniel could feel her anger flare for a brief moment even as she tried to keep up a stoic façade.

"Yes, the Vidyadhara who have joined Heron can now reproduce in their new bodies. Of course, I did place limits on how much they could procreate to avoid an out-of-control population growth. I rather not have the Alliance after me," Nathaniel replied with a laugh.

"You limited them to one child between one another, but with other species regardless of gender the resulting child will either be a human or a Foxian, which they can have more than one. The only benefit they gain is that they'll live much longer than normal before age finally catches up to them," Jingliu said, impressed with Nathaniel's achievements.

"Thank you, it wasn't easy solving that problem. By the way, how is Baiheng doing?" Nathaniel asked, causing Jingliu to notably grip the railing of the balcony.

"She is well, thank you, but she remains incomplete as a person because of Dan Feng's doomed effort to bring her back."

"I had told him I would bring her back, but he arrogantly tried to do it on his own despite my warnings," Nathaniel said recalling that incident that nearly exposed his existence to the Alliance if he hadn't responded quickly to lock away the memories of himself from Dan Feng and others in time.

"No change then, not after seven hundred years when I brought her back."

"There are some, she is smiling more, but it's hard to look at what is a shell of my friend," Jingliu said as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Enough about the past, I assume your meeting with that fanatic Dan Shu went well?"

"It did, she eagerly accepted what I offered more easily than I thought?" Nathaniel said, deciding to accept the change of subject.

"Are you sure she can be trusted?"

"No, but I can still make use of her. As I've said, after dealing with people as long as I have, anyone can be made useful," Nathaniel replied with a smile. "She'll help Lelouch get stronger, and perhaps give Suzaku a hand."

"Risky, but I'll allow it since you seem certain, but what of Suzaku. I heard the boy killed his own father for betraying his country?"

"You heard correctly, Genbu Kururugi was selling out his country to a faction of nobles who wanted Japan seized for their Sakuradite Mines. Hoping the deaths of Lelouch and Nunnally will elevate their favorite in the royal court," Nathaniel answered. "Unfortunately, it seems Suzaku won't recover easily from the experience. The ones I've assigned to help him haven't made much progress."

"What do you plan to do?"

"It seems I'll need an expert to handle him."

---

Three hours had passed, and during that time Lelouch explained what he knew to Bronya before taking time to answer her questions.

"That's a lot to take in," Bronya said, burring one side of head with one hand.

"I can't say I blame you. It took me a day or so to come to terms with things myself," Lelouch admitted as the two walked together. "I honestly thought it was all a dream."

"I can only imagine how it was for you experiencing all of that first hand," Bronya said, trying to grasp everything Lelouch told her.

It was difficult to believe certainly, but considering what Lelouch's companions were capable of it was hard to deny the conclusion before her since nothing else she knew could explain it.

"You two seem to be getting along well," Elysia said, joining the pair alongside Eden.

"I think it's good to make new friends," Eden added.

"Yes, I've brought her up to speed on everything," Lelouch added.

"That makes things easy then," Elysia replied, clasping her hands together in joy. "We have plenty of time to talk, so why don't I join in."

"Hold that thought," Vill-V said, as she saw something in the distance ahead. "Uh, was there a bridge here?"

"If there was a bridge earlier, then those who planned Bronya's assassination likely destroyed it," Lelouch deduced before adding. "But to ensure no one makes it back alive, even those who were in on it."

Approaching a large ravine, the group had been tracing back the steps of the cadets, but it seemed there was a bridge here recently. However, they found what was left of the bridge was destroyed, but even worse it seemed the winds were picking up indicating a snowstorm was coming.

"There isn't anywhere on the other side of the bridge we could use to take proper shelter," Bronya warned, being very familiar with the general area.

"I don't think my power would be enough to make a place for us, or at least long enough to last through the storm."

"Can't we head into the ravine from here?" Lelouch suggested. "Maybe the high cliffs might provide some protection."

"We might get lucky and find a cave to take shelter in for the night. Snowstorms like these will last a long time," Bronya added.

"In that case why don't you open a portal to the bottom Lelouch?" Eden replied.

"Ok," Lelouch said, extending his hand as he envisioned the bottom of the ravine opening a portal, he also tried to enlarge it for everyone to move through quickly.

Elysia boldly stepped through the portal to check the other side.

"It's safe," Elysia said, poking head back through the portal gesturing for everyone to follow.

Eden stayed with Lelouch until everyone was through, at which point the pair went through the portal to the other side finding themselves at the bottom of the ravine. The winds were already beginning to pick up and the snowfall was increasing too. The cliffs around them protected them from the coming storm, but it wouldn't last long unless they found shelter.

"Look," one of the cadets called out. "There is a cave there!"

"Everyone into the cave," Bronya commanded.

"Look there are crates and supplies left here," Vill-V said, noticing they were surrounded by old crates and devices scattered around them.

"It must've been supplies lost by a previous expedition or patrol. Everyone grab what you can then get into the cave. Maybe we salvage the Geomarrow heaters, and find any usable supplies," Bronya said, quickly realizing they could use it.

A sound idea, Lelouch said, deciding to offer what help he could in recovering any useful supplies.

"Lelouch there is a chest right there," Eden said, nudging Lelouch's shoulder.

"Right, maybe we can take it."

Eden and Lelouch picked up the chest, which they found to be quite large, had been half buried in the snow.

This chest is almost buried, it must've been here for a very long time. Hopefully we can use whatever is inside, Lelouch thought.

However, as Lelouch and Eden paired to move the chest to the cave, one of the hands on the side broke off just as Lelouch and Eden began to haul it away. The chest had also been seemingly damaged, because as soon as it hit the ground the lid broke apart.

"What the hell!" Lelouch said, jumping back in a brief fright.

Among the things that could've been inside the chest, the last thing they expected was a corpse. Eden had instinctively drawn her guns, at the sound of Lelouch's surprise at what was in the chest. The corpse belonged to that of a woman with short red hair, wearing a uniform that seemed identical to the ones worn by the cadets, but from what they could see the woman's attire was more extravagant yet it revealed some skin. However, they couldn't see much else because the frozen corpse was curled up into a feral position, but otherwise they noticed she wore long black boots and matching gloves.

"Relax Lelouch, she's dead."

"Dead for a very long time," Mobius said, drawn to the scene by the commotion.

"I believe the chest was nearly buried in the snow," Eden said, confirming what Mobius suspected from a causal examination of the corpse.

"Hmm it seems the freezing temperatures did an excellent job preserving the body," Mobius remarked poking the frozen cheek of the dead woman.

"Then someone put that woman in that chest and tossed her over a cliff?" Lelouch said, piecing together what happened.

"It would seem so, which means this woman was murdered."

"Yes, that seems likely, there is a wound on her head and some blood that never healed, meaning they were inflicted upon death. She likely died on impact when the chest holding her was thrown from the top of the ravine." Mobius replied, but before anyone could do anything further.

"Uh I think you all might want to get inside the cave," Elysia said, approaching the group. "Bronya, Vill-V, and the other cadets got those heating lamps working, so you better come in."

Left with little choice; Lelouch, Mobius and Eden retreated into the cave, leaving the corpse out in the snow. Not wanting to panic the survivors with them, nor deal with an old dead body as the cave warms it up.

"What happened out there," Bronya asked, as the students worked to help tend to one another, sharing what food and water they had amongst themselves.

"We came across a dead body stuffed into a chest. It looked like someone important; her attire seem to indicate such a role I think?"

"A dead body?" Bronya inquired, her eyes widened in surprise at such a gruesome discovery.

"It's not my area of expertise, so I can only guess how long that body has been there. But given the temperatures and how buried the chest was in the snow protecting the body from scavengers, I can safely say that the woman has been dead for a long time," Mobius said, joining the conversation. "It is impressive at how well preserved the body is, but if you want to know when she died, you'll need a professional to conduct a full autopsy."

"That might be difficult," Bronya began with one hand on her chin in contemplation. "I know from studying that you can find frozen fish well preserved in ice from hundreds of years ago that can be eaten after being cooked. But maybe when the storm clears, we can examine the body, you said her uniform was unique?"

"Yes, it was a little revealing in some places, but it was different from anything we've seen so far," Lelouch remarked.

"I would say it might've been someone of importance given how decorative her attire was," Eden suggested.

"Oh so we have a murder mystery then?" Elysia said, joining the conversation, her eyes sparked with curiosity.

"Elysia, this isn't some game," Mobius said, exasperated with the pink-haired elf. "Like I doubt it would be that easy to solve a murder that could've happened ages ago. Besides, we have the students to worry about."

"She's right, once this storm clears and morning comes, we should continue on towards the city. We can tell the authorities what we found once we arrive," Eden suggested, folding both arms under her chest.

"Alright," Elysia said, sounding slightly disappointed.

"Come on, I think we might have some spare rations and water to share. All we can do is wait out the storm," Bronya said, changing the subject.

---

Later that night, the snowstorm continued to rage outside the cave, but the repaired Geomarrow heaters had managed to keep the cave they were in at a comfortable warm temperature. It was fortunate the cadets and Vill-V were able to repair them despite having been dumped into a ravine.

We're lucky too this cave was big enough to accommodate us, Lelouch thought as he was among those who volunteered for the first watch, but he wasn't alone.

"Really so your world was like that?" Bronya said as she sat in-between Lelouch and Elysia, with the two girls talking to one another.

Just as Bronya was curious about Lelouch's world of origin, Bronya was likewise curious about where Elysia came from. For the past two hours Elysia had told Bronya all about her Earth, which people of the modern times were calling the Previous Era.

Given the conditions she and her people have been living under, it's no surprise Bronya would be so curious, Lelouch thought, realizing a world without constant snowfall would be akin to a fantasy on Jarilo-VI.

Feeling tired Lelouch got up, deciding to walk around to stay awake until the next shift change, as they all agreed to take turns keeping watch. Elysia and Bronya didn't notice Lelouch get up and walk away, heading towards the entrance to look outside the cave.

You can barely see anything out there, Lelouch mused, the powerful wings blowing through the ravine combined with heavy snowfall made it impossible to see more than a few feet beyond the cave's entrance.

"The snowstorm is quite strong isn't it mister?"

"Yes, it is, I wonder if snow storms such as these are normal?"

"I think so, but you sound as if this is your first time seeing one?"

"It is in…fact," Lelouch said, his exhausted mind realizing he was talking to someone else.

Now wide awake and alert, Lelouch looked around before he heard the voice again.

"I am in front of you."

Turning back at the entrance into the cave, Lelouch saw a young girl, a few years younger than him, wearing tattered clothes and having short red hair with green eyes. On guard, Lelouch was defensive, keeping an eye on the girl before him.

I don't recall seeing this girl among the students, she doesn't have their uniform, Lelouch wondered where the girl came from.

There was no way she could've survived the snowstorm ragging outside, but Lelouch couldn't understand where else she could've come from.

"Are you ok sir?"

"I am fine, but who are you and where did you come from?"

"I don't know where I am from, but I can tell you my name, it's Cyrille."

---

Author note: I would've had this chapter out sooner, but I wanted to get the next chapter for my Fate/Grand Order crossover and the next chapter for my Sunrider crossover done first. But I had some real-life issues that held things back too, slowing things down.

The problems with Fanfiction net's email notifications hasn't helped either, as I tried to hold back to see if they could get it working again.

BUT this was probably a good thing for me as it allowed me to learn that Lynx and Pela are barely just being born at this time opposed to them being young adults I had assumed. Which also oddly implies Pela went to college with Serval as a toddler XD. As such I updated the previous chapter accordingly, removing them.

I also learned about things with a certain Flame Chaser, but this is exactly what I planned for and so I'll be moving forward with my contingency plan I had on hand just in case. So if you guys notice Lynx and Pela not in the chapter after they had appeared at the end of the last one, that is why.

Lastly, for those who have been following discussions on Questionable Questing, I am very likely to do a harem for Lelouch, a decision I didn't come to easily mind you. HOWEVER, I am still on the fence about it, and it will depend on how well I can justify it and introduce it in story, but I will say you can thank Elysia for the likelihood it will happen. As for the harem itself I do have candidates in mind with some as backups depending on how the story plays out, because with Lelouch and everyone as children its going to be a long time before any romance happens.

But that means any romance will be built up among potential candidates for at least a seven-year period and such before it happens seven to eight years from now in story.

Ok that's it for me, also bonus points for anyone to guess which James Bond movie the line about Kanas came from.

Also for those who've played Honkai Star Rail, might be able to guess what lies ahead with Cyrille appearing in the story.

I will note I was hesitant to involve another scene with Nathaniel in this chapter, showing the MANTIS soldiers he had been building up for the past seven hundred years. Having "recruited" Jingliu to train and command them with their numbers growing over the hundreds of years from a small group who would become instructors who would train others, rinse and repeat until an army was born.

I had planned on using Jingliu after some deliberation among friends, but her character being released and appearing in game was a big help and made me confident in my plans to use her. I was only not very confident due to lacking full details on her character, but as I said her release and details about her being learned not only put me at ease with using her but add more with Baiheng, who is the first known case of a not completely successful resurrection and Nathaniel's means to ensure Jingliu's loyalty.

The only thing I didn't plan on was introducing her character now, but I had run out of things to do for the scenes with Lelouch and company. Because I wanted to save some things for the next chapters.

As for the planned harem that might happen, unless the story plays out in a way that I can't justify it, it is because I did a lot of research and asking around on Questionable Questing because this is my first time working with the cast from Honkai Impact and Honkai Impact Star Rail, so I wanted to gauge what people think. And because I know there are people who have very strong feelings about certain pairings, so let no one say I didn't spare any effort in my planning and efforts.

But don't take it to mean I am not confident I can pull it off, I am just taking it very seriously and as such I am doing it for the sake of fanservice. Its just if doesn't happen as I am hoping it will, which is to be believable for those involved and is justified in the story, then I have no issue abandoning the idea if it doesn't serve the interests of the story as a whole.

Anyway, no romance will happen until the characters are at least eighteen, so it's a LONG way off.

But I'll stop here, because I am sure aside from events of the chapter you guys noticed a few interesting tidbits mentioned in this chapter.

Thanks for reading, and thank you guys in advance for the feedback.Thanks for reading, and thank you guys in advance for the feedback.

 

[StrifeHavoc]

Chapter 9
The Power of a Herrscher​

"What did you come from?"

Lelouch looked at the little girl, Cyrille, and she had introduced herself as; her attire was barely held together, and it wasn't a military uniform like Bronya and the others. This girl wasn't part of their group, but Lelouch couldn't see how a girl as young as this could survive alone in such a hostile environment.

"Hmmm, I don't know. All I know is my name, and he always said it's polite to introduce yourself?" Cyrille said, appearing very confused.

"He, is this man a parent, your father maybe?"

"No, nothing like that," Cyrille said, shaking her head. "But he is a very important person; he was smart like my sister. He was the only one who would play with me."

"Ok, but how did you end up away from the city?"

"I…I…I don't know. If he or my sister was here, they could explain everything," Cyrille said, struggling to explain her situation. "Maybe if I got back to the city, maybe if I could escape, maybe it could help?"

Before Lelouch could ask another question, Bronya and Elysia heard the ongoing conversation, so the pair came to investigate.

"Lelouch, who are you talking to?" Bronya asked before she and Elysia saw the little girl Lelouch had been talking to.

"Where did that poor little girl come from?" Elysia inquired.

"That is what I was trying to find out," Lelouch answered, as Cyrille seemed more confused and uncertain.

"I don't recall seeing her with our group," Bronya pointed out. "Did you learn her name?"

"Her name is Cyrille, but I haven't gotten much more out of her yet," Lelouch replied.

"It seems we have a mystery on our hands," Elysia said, with one hand on her chin in contemplation.

"A mystery? Sorry if I cannot explain much, but I've been trapped out here, wandering the snow for as long as I can remember," Cyrille said; her expression said it all; she was struggling to remember anything that could be helpful.

"Do you, by chance, know the name of this person you mentioned? Your sister or this man you mentioned," Bronya asked.

"My sister, her name was…was…Cyrilla and the man who was always nice to me was Stefan," Cyrille answered after much struggling.

"Stefan," Bronya said, putting one hand on her chin in contemplation.

"Do you recognize the name?" Lelouch asked.

"No, but I think I've heard it somewhere before," Bronya answered. "Maybe once we return to Belobog, I can ask my mother for more information. Maybe locate Cyrille's sister and this Stefan person."

"Really, you could do that," Cyrille said, hopeful, while Bronya nodded. "Thank you. That would be wonderful if it doesn't trouble you so much."

"It shouldn't be, but I am curious how you managed to survive here all this time?" Bronya asked, as the one thing neither she nor Lelouch could understand.

Given Cyrille's attire, no one should be able to survive a hostile environment alone.

"Could anyone survive out here?"

"Generally, unless you are properly prepared, you could live out here for a time. But not indefinitely, once your supplies begin to run out, and there is the threat of the Fragmentum to consider, too," Bronya replied.

"So, trying to live out here would be extremely difficult?" Lelouch asked, which Bronya confirmed with a nod. "Unless you had enormous amounts of supplies and a shelter capable of wearing the worst weather."

"Yes, but even then, due to the Fragmentum, your chances of surviving beyond the city are limited as long as the Fragmentum doesn't breach your shelter," Bronya confirmed, adding another important detail.

"So that means Cyrille surviving out here seems highly unlikely unless someone was helping her," Elysia said, coming to the same conclusion as Lelouch.

"Yes, that being said, are you sure you've been alone out here?" Bronya asked Cyrille, who looked towards the trio, seemingly more confused than before.

"I don't know, I just remember being alone out here. Unable to find my way back," Cyrille said, a mixture of evident confusion and fear in her voice.

"I see, then there might be one explanation left," Bronya said before trying to offer her hand to Cyrille.

But when she tried to reach for it, some invisible force pushed Bronya, Lelouch, and Elysia away from Cyrille. Driving the two groups apart by some unseen force, one that left Bronya's hand cold and numb for a short time.

"What was that," Lelouch said as his vision blacked out momentarily.

"Lelouch, Cyrille is gone," Elysia noticed, being among the first to regain her wits, having experienced a temporary blackout.

"I knew it," Bronya said as she used one hand to massage her other hand, attempting to return the feeling to it. "That girl was an echo of the Fragmentum."

"An echo, like some kind of ghost?" Elysia said, looking around, but she found no trace of Cyrille.

"Something like that, but an echo of the Fragmentum will take the form of a person from a moment of time captured by the influence of the Fragmentum. Like a living photograph from a moment in the past, but they usually don't show as much awareness as that girl did," Bronya explained, showing relief as feeling returned to her hand.

"So, you mean such echoes will repeat whatever they were doing at that moment while unaware of what has happened around them?" Lelouch inquired, which Bronya confirmed with a nod.

"Yes, usually it's someone's final moment during a battle or something like that," Bronya explained. "But this is the first time I've heard of an Echo that maintained awareness of themselves and their surroundings."

"But Cyrille has no memory of what happened, so maybe there is more to it," Lelouch suspected.

"Look, I found this where Cyrille was standing," Elysia said, picking up an old piece of paper with writing on it.

"It's a letter, but it looks like a page from a diary," Bronya said, looking over Elysia's shoulder to read it.

Despite being written in a text Lelouch didn't recognize, once he began reading it, he understood as if it was Britannian to him.

"It looks like she is talking about this person, Mr. Stefan. She speaks quite highly of him," Lelouch remarked.

"Yes, but Cyrille's sister Cyrilla seems quite popular, gaining a lot of attention, while Cyrille was generally ignored," Elysia said, reading the letter. "She sounds like she had a very lonely childhood."

Lelouch turned his head, noticing Bronya's expression.

"You seemed to have figured out something."

"I might know who Cyrille is or who she was. I am just not certain yet without proof," Bronya said, clearly having realized something from the letter. "I didn't think much of it then, but I am almost certain of my suspicions."

"Hmmm," Elysia said before suddenly walking away and heading towards the cave's rear, where a tunnel leading deeper into the cave was found, concealed behind overhanging stalagmites.

"What is it?" Lelouch asked.

"There seems to be something down in this cave," Elysia said, seemingly aware of something. "Don't you hear it?"

Bronya and Lelouch were quiet, but after listening for a minute, they could hear a voice from the tunnel.

"You have excellent hearing, Miss Elysia," Bronya complimented, prompting Bronya to grab a rifle and something else among their supplies.

"We should investigate, but…" Lelouch began, but an annoyed Mobius joined them.

"How are people supposed to sleep with you three talking?"

"Oh, perfect timing, Mobius. Could you keep an eye on things here? Lelouch, Bronya, and I want to investigate something in this cave." Elysia said, who began pulling at Lelouch and Bronya's arms as they went into the tunnel, taking them underground. "Thank you and bye!"

"Hey, wait! I didn't agree to anything!" Mobius snapped as Elysia, Lelouch, and Bronya vanished into the tunnel's darkness until Bronya lit a spare lantern she had taken to aid in exploring.

Even so, a fuming and VERY annoyed Mobius was left behind.

---

Meanwhile, around the same time, in Belobog, the fortress city that has stood against the encouraging Fragmentum and endured the Eternal Freeze for seven hundred years, a symbol of human defiance against the odds. At the city's heart was its main seat of power, Qlipoth Fort, towering over the rest of the city as a beacon of hope. Inside the office of the Supreme Guardian, the acting leader of Belobog, the spacious office was nearly empty save for its sole occupant.

"NO!" The woman snapped as she shoved a stack of books off her large wooden table in sorrow and rage.

The woman was wearing what could only generously be called a green cloak, more akin to a loose flowing robe if the robe was made of sashes, a white tunic to go with her thigh-high black boots, which were lined with gold in the front, a golden emblem at the knees.

"Bronya, my Bronya, she can't be…"

Alone as she seemed, within her mind, a voice spoke that had haunted her thoughts for a long time.

"I can't…believe…I lost her," The woman said in between tears and barely suppressed rage.

"Sorrow…grief…useless sentiments, you must abandon them!"

"SILENCE!" The woman roared in anger. "She was my only daughter!"

"I agree, the Stellaron needs to be silenced. Because we need to talk."

The new voice caused the woman behind the desk to snap to full alertness. But the voice that had haunted her thoughts was suddenly gone, followed by a finger snap of the visitor.

"Who there's? SHOW YOURSELF."

"Be at ease, Supreme Guardian Cocolia Rand," Nathaniel said, stepping into the light near Cocolia's desk, the moonlight revealing the Herald of Finality as he stepped out of the shadows. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Director Nathaniel of Heron, and I know where your daughter is."

"My daughter, Bronya, is alive?" Cocolia said, all hostility vanishing from her voice upon hearing her daughter was alive.

"You have my assurances that she is alive. Some of my friends happened upon her and the rest of her cadet class, saving them from the Fragmentum monsters and their would-be assassins." Nathaniel said, pressing a few commands on his glove controller to display a map comparing the group's current location to Belobog's location. "They've been delayed by a snowstorm raging in the area, and those behind the assassination attempt destroyed the bridge they had crossed earlier."

Relief was evident on Cocolia's face, but soon, her mind focused on the man standing before her desk.

"How did you know about my daughter, and why are you coming to me with this," Cocolia said, intent on examining Natheniel's intentions.

"A fair question," Nathaniel said diplomatically. "Aside from ensuring the safe return of your daughter, there is much I could offer you and your people in exchange for a few favors. Then I'll tell you the identities of the ringleaders behind the plot against your daughter, including explaining how I've been kept appraised of what has been happening in Belobog."

"Alright, let's hear them," Cocolia said cautiously.

---

Traversing deeper into the cave, Elysia led the way, followed by Lelouch and Bronya. As they cautiously advanced, Lelouch and Bronya could hear a voice ahead. The tunnel was natural, with no sign of anyone changing it. But it had no other corridors, nor was it enormous in any way, which made it easier to follow and locate the source of the voice.

"This must go deep underground if it's taking us this long," Elysia mused quietly.

Bronya raised the lantern she held higher to illuminate more of the passageway.

"Wait, I hear something else?" Lelouch said, hearing another sound in the darkness.

"I hear it too, and getting closer…and fast," Elysia said before drawing her bow quickly, readying an arrow.

Bronya was doing the same, making Lelouch realize that danger was approaching them.

"Lelouch, take this lantern," Bronya insisted.

"Got it," Lelouch said, taking the lantern.

Even before it entered the range of the lantern's light, Lelouch deduced what was coming at them. He didn't know what it was exactly, but the loud clanking noise belonged to a machine. A humanoid-shaped machine was charging at them; it stood a towering nine feet tall. It was missing its left arm, but its right arm had a built-in chain-saw sword.

Elysia's arrow shattered its torso in one hit, causing it to fall back into a broken heap. However, the sound of incoming machines continued.

There is still more of them coming, Lelouch thought.

Beyond the lantern's light, Lelouch couldn't see how many were coming. But he suspected it was at least a few or more, judging by how loud and numerous the machine noises were.

One by one, they came into the light; the second machine, identical to the last, was swiftly downed by Elysia. Suddenly, a third machine came into the light, but this time, it looked like a fist of a machine on spider-like legs charging towards them. Elysia quickened the pace at which she unleashed arrow after arrow. Bronya joined in using the assault rifle she brought to provide support fire.
Unwilling to be left as the only one who didn't contribute, Lelouch used his Herrscher powers to create pitfalls, then sealed the portals to dismember the advancing machines. Some had even tripped and collided with one another, disrupting their advance.

Thanks to Lelouch's efforts at crowd control, Elysia and Bronya could eliminate them more swiftly before they could draw too close.

Eventually, after killing what seemed like dozens of them, the last of the machines fell to Elysia's arrow. All around them, the ground was littered with various parts and broken machines.

"What were they?" Lelouch asked, catching his breath.

"They are Automatons; they were made by the people of our world to help against the Anti-Matter Legion when they attacked. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of them simultaneously, of different models to suit their purpose in battle. Belobog can build some, but just nowhere near the numbers the Old World could field, either building them from scratch by hand or salvaging old ones, using parts to repair them or dismantle them to create other kinds of machines," Bronya explained, kneeling down next to one to inspect it.

"They seemed pretty old; some looked like they were barely holding together," Elysia observed as she glanced around the dozens of broken machines.

"These machines must've been guarding this cave for a long time. That might explain why many of them were in a state of disrepair and neglect," Bronya said in agreement before cautiously advancing.

"If there were this many here, what could they be guarding?" Lelouch asked, quickly deducing why there were so many active machines in one place.

"I am not sure, but there isn't much in our way to keep us from finding out," Bronya asked, boldly leading the group forward.

"The plot thickens, I suppose," Elysia mused before turning to Lelouch, placing a congratulatory hand on his shoulder. "Well done on the creative use of your powers; you're getting the hang of them."

"Thank you," Lelouch replied, but he felt the dark persona within, probing for weaknesses so it could take control.

Lelouch wasn't allowing it, but it reminded him that he had to be cautious when using his powers.

"So what do you expect to find ahead?" Lelouch inquired as he followed Bronya with Elysia beside him.

"I am not sure, but I suspect we'll see soon," Bronya replied.

The trio proceeded deeper into the cave until they reached what appeared to be an old shelter. It was old due to the wear and tear and signs of rust on its thick armored walls. Near what seemed to be the entrance was an opened panel in the underground shelter; judging by the machinery and placements within, this was likely where those machines they fought were kept.

"This is an old-world shelter; I remember reading about them," Bronya said, knowing Elysia and Lelouch wanted to know what they found. "This is the first time I've seen one intact."

"Were there others?" Lelouch inquired as he, Bronya, and Elysia entered the opening for the automatons.

"Yes," Bronya nodded. "However, those reported to had been found following the beginning of the Eternal Freeze and Belobog's founding. Most were found destroyed or badly compromised, with only a handful of survivors recovered."

"I am right to assume you couldn't salvage much from the shelters?" Lelouch as he, Bronya, and Elysia entered the shelter through the release doors for the automation defenders.

The doors were trying to close, but it seemed a malfunction was preventing them from closing.

"From what my textbook mentioned, they could only salvage the robots and their parts, with little else left over. Our current level of technology isn't as it used to be, my mother says," Bronya replied as she led them to a door that led into the shelter's interior.

"I see," Lelouch thought, making a note of this.

As I've suspected, their level of technology did degrade after the Eternal Freeze hit, and it was more destructive than I had heard, Lelouch thought.

It was almost unnerving to see firsthand and realize how far the civilization of Jarilo-VI had fallen from the one space-faring capable civilization they were. Hearing about it was one thing, but seeing the signs with his own eyes led Lelouch to envision how it happened, including the apocalyptic events that led to the current state of the world. Lelouch imagined how it all happened beyond the chaos and war the invasion of the Anti-Matter Legion had brought, which was perhaps why Lelouch found it so unnerving. It was hard to imagine how something like that could've happened, but it did.

Despite being unnerved by the idea of it all, Lelouch was still curious about how it all happened. He hoped that by understanding the event that led to Jarilo-VI's decline and near destruction, he could take steps in the new world he would make following Britannia's downfall to ensure such a thing wouldn't happen to Earth.

"Maybe this shelter stayed intact because it was underground?" Elysia said, looking around as the trio approached the door.

"Possibly, it likely shielded the shelter from the worst of the Eternal Freeze, but I am concerned about the occupants. We should prepare ourselves for what we might see inside," Bronya warned as she handed her rifle to Lelouch to hold as she turned the wheel on the hatch to unlock it.

Once the heavy metal door was unlocked, Bronya opened it, releasing a rush of stale air.

"It seems no one has been in or out for a while," Elysia said while waving away the old air that filled her nostrils.

Lelouch could only cough in response, but it didn't stop him from giving Bronya her rifle back.

"Let's go," Bronya said as she led the way inside.

Proceeding into the shelter's interior, the group was alert, unaware if any potential security measures were still active. The shelter's interior seemed to be in far better shape than the exterior. Still, they saw no signs of any human remains, perhaps suggesting its intended occupants didn't use the shelter.

Delving deeper into the shelter, the group entered a large hall, likely an assembly hall for meetings for the shelter's occupants. But to their surprise, they found a man standing in the center of the room.

He wore a tattered light blue suit with tanned pants and black boots that had seen better days. He had long, unkempt blonde hair, blue eyes, and a long beard.

The group cautiously approached, with Bronya raising her weapon while Elysia did the same. At first, the man was lost in some kind of delusional state, giving orders to people he expected to be there. But once they were close enough, he noticed them.

"You three, heed the commands of Belobog's true leader; find me followers to retake what is mine!" The man snapped, but it was clear to everyone that his sanity was long gone.

The fact he seemingly couldn't tell he was dealing with children supported the fact the man was oblivious to his surroundings.

"Who are you," Lelouch snapped.

"How dare you question me? I am Stefan Marquez. Now obey me!"

"I know that name," Bronya said with a flash of anger in her eyes, leveling her weapon at the man, ready to shoot. "Stefan Marquez was Belobog's Minister of Internal Affairs; he served under the seventh Supreme Guardian and manipulated the Eighth into a puppet, Cyrille Rand."

"Cyrille," Lelouch said as his mind pieced it all together; Elysia also came to the same conclusion.

"Then the ghost Lelouch met belonged to a former Supreme Guardian?" Elysia said, realizing what likely happened to Cyrille, as did Lelouch.

"Who was killed in a coup and her body dumped in a ravine after she was put into a box," Lelouch said, sure the body he found earlier belonged to Cyrille, given the uniform her corpse was wearing.

"Yes, that is what generally happened. It all began with the mysterious disappearance of Cyrille's sister and the original intended successor to the Seventh Supreme Guardian, Cyrilla. Stefan pushed for her sister, Cyrille, to succeed the missing Cyrilla, claiming she was just as much of a prodigy as she was," Bronya said, restraining much of her anger for someone who was clearly a black mark on the history of Belobog.

"Disappeared, bullshit; he had her killed," Lelouch snapped, feeling his own anger rising.

Stefan began laughing like a madman.

"It was a shame Cyrilla was too smart for her own good; although Cyrille was a failure in every way, she was someone I could manipulate to do as I say. All I had to do was be her only friend, make her dependent on me, making her the ideal puppet. All that I had to do was kill her sister and erase any evidence of what happened," Stefan said, admitting to his crimes with it word only angering both Bronya and Lelouch.

"As you've guessed," Bronya began, clearly resisting wanting to pull the trigger. "Once Cyrille was installed, Stefan used her to pass draconian laws and gain more power for himself and his lackeys for fourteen years until the Architects and members of Silvermane Guard revolted. Cyrille was killed, but Stefan and his followers vanished, presumably fleeing the city once they got wind about the coup."

"So he abandoned his puppet to die while he escaped after realizing he couldn't put down the growing rebellion against him," Lelouch said, now his fists tightening as a sign of his anger reaching its boiling point.

"Then he and his followers fled her, likely aware of this shelter's existence where they presumably slowly died off since they had nowhere to go," Bronya said, while Elysia, who was usually the smiling type, couldn't help but look at Stefan with cold disapproval.

"So you are with the folks who rebelled against me," Stefan said; a maniacal grin appeared. "My followers, come to me!"

Suddenly emerging from the corridors of the shelter were more than a dozen monsters of the Fragmentum; they were similar to the Everwinter Shadewalker monsters they fought. However, these Incineration Shadewalkers instead had flame-colored crystals that released heat and flames from their bodies instead of ice growing all over their bodies.
Elysia raised her bow to strike down the nearest monster; Bronya joined in but noticed she was low on ammo, having only half a magazine and one full one left. Most of the rifle ammunition had been used up fighting the robots earlier.

"We need to fall back; we'll be surrounded at this rate," Bronya warned, but they didn't have to escape before the enemy could dangerously overwhelm them.

"How could you," a female voice said.

Suddenly, eight golden transparent spears flew from where Lelouch and others had come through. Like homing missiles, the spears found their targets, the Incineration Shadewalkers. The spears ripped most of them in half, giving Elysia the seconds needed to create a dome around her, Bronya, and Lelouch, allowing her to turn one arrow into a dozen, killing many lingering monsters in a barrage of arrows.

Still, the few that remained kept their distance as their unexpected savior entered the room. She appeared to be a woman in her early twenties with short red hair and a black hat covering her eyes, but her skin was unhealthy pale. She was wearing a white, black, and blue uniform with long black gloves and long boots, holding a staff in one hand.
Noticing the red hair, Lelouch realized who she was.

"Cyrille, is that you," Lelouch asked.

"You…you remember me," Cyrille said, seemingly touched by being recognized before turning her attention to Stefan, her tone changing to one of righteous anger with hints of sorrow at the horrible truth the man she trusted the most had used her and murdered her sister. "I trusted you and my sister…you killed her!"

"Cyrille, so you survived. What of it, her death made you ideal to take her place to do what I wanted," Stefan said, showing a complete lack of remorse and not even recognizing what became of Cyrille.

Stefan was distracted as Bronya and Elysia finished the remaining monsters following Cyrille's surprise intervention. However, seemingly aware of his disadvantage facing four enemies alone, Stefan's body grew as ice crystals began engulfing it until nothing resembling a human remained. Now floating in the air above them, a towering nine-foot-tall humanoid monster covered in ice.

With a roar the creature began creating spears of ice before trying to rain them down, but the bulk were deflected by Lelouch opening a portal before reopening it behind the creature, hitting with his own attack.

Unfortunately, they did little but stun him.

Elysia took aim, but despite the monster's hulking form it was remarkably quick, narrowly evading before counterattacking by trying to crush Bronya with its fist.

Bronya and Lelouch moved back to evade, but they noticed the ground around where the fist landed freezing over. The two slipped on the newly made ice, the creature was about to attack again, but Elysia shot its head with an arrow stunning it allowing Lelouch to grab Bronya's hand as the two scrambled to get away.

Did I miss the head, Elysia thought, realizing her arrows didn't seem to inflict sufficient damage on it.

Before she could ready another shot, newly summoned Incineration Shadewalkers tried to attack Elysia, forcing her to turn and eliminate it with an arrow through the chest, blowing it in half. The others were almost upon her, but the sudden arrival of someone else tipped the scales back into Elysia.

With a battle cry, Kalpas arrived on the scene, punching the head clear off the shoulders of one of the Shadewalkers before attacking another. Using a fist, Kalpas unleashed what could only be called a focused explosion ahead of him, stunning the shadewalkers forcing them back allowing him and Elysia to quickly dispatch them before they could recover.

However, being occupied with the shadewalkers would've been fatal to Lelouch and Bronya, if not for Cyrille's intervention, who used her own golden spears to shoot down the new barrage of ice spears. Unfortunately, the one her spears missed, would've stuck Lelouch and Bronya, so Cyrille made a decision to take the blow meant for them.

"Aggghhh," Cyrille cried out in pain.

"CYRILLE!" Lelouch shouted, seeing a spear impale the Fragmentum creature through the stomach.

"Die useless puppet," Stefan declares, preparing more spears to attack with.

But he didn't have a chance to attack again, as multiple portals opened up around the monster followed by a sudden bombardment of sub-space lances. Elysia was shocked, but she knew Lelouch was responsible for seeing one of his eyes turn red. In the onslaught of lances, the creature that was Stefan was obliterated in the retaliatory strike.

After it was over Lelouch dropped to his knees, and Elysia realized it wasn't due to Lelouch being exhausted, she realized his other persona was likely trying to use the chance to gain control over his body.

Good thing we were ready for that, Elysia said, using a remote hidden in a pocket, to trigger the release of a suppressant, to keep the hostile persona within Lelouch in check. But as a side-effect, it caused drowsiness, causing Lelouch to pass out.

"Lelouch," Bronya said, worried as she hurried to him.

Bronya managed to catch him before he could hit the ground, tossing aside the rifle she had in order to do so.

"Don't worry, that just took a lot more out of him than he expected," Elysia offered reassuringly.

"Well done I say," Kalpas said, having finished off the last Shadewalker. .

"Oh Kalpas, were you worried?" Elysia chimed in.

"Hardly, but you three were making such a racket it was hard to sleep. But on my way here I got attacked by monsters while chasing that one," Kalpas said, pointing to the wounded Cyrille. "I just finished killing them all before I entered this place. Leave the last one for me, that creatures seems unable to fight back."

"Actually…" Elysia was about to say, but suddenly time was frozen.

"Huh," Cyrille said, noticing everything but her had become frozen.

"I must say Miss Cyrille Rand I am very impressed," Natheniel said, making his presence known. "Me and my scientists have kept this world under observation for hundreds of years and we've seen all manner of echoes produced by the Fragmentum. But never have we seen a case such as yours who retained their consciousness in a fashion such as yours."

"What do you want?"

"Nothing, except to offer you a chance for a fresh start. Someone as rare as you, it would be a waste for you to die again. Not when I grant you a new body and new life," Natheniel offered before adding to nudge Cyrille into agreeing. "Besides, Elysia always likes to make new friends, as long as you become friends with her that is enough. Furthermore, you could pursue a friendship with
Lelouch and Bronya, since they treated you better than Stefan did, didn't they?"

"I…"

---

The following day, Lelouch woke up, but he found himself lying in a comfortable bed. It was unexpected, but not unwelcome, but as his vision cleared, he began searching trying to grasp where he was. The walls were nicely panted and he saw wooden furniture, very different from the shelter he remembered.

Wait…the shelter, Lelouch thought as his mind finally caught up.

Noticing the look in his eyes, Elysia spoke to make her presence known. She had been sitting by the window reading a book with a battered and worn leather cover.

"Good morning Lelouch, and don't worry you took care of Stefan," Elysia said, approaching his bedside.

"Elysia, but…what happened, where are we?" Lelouch asked, sitting up in bed now.

"Well," Elysia said while she dragged a chair over to sit next to Lelouch's bed. "We're in Belobog, or more specifically the Goethe Hotel. Pretty nice place and the beds are comfy."

"Then we were rescued?"

Elysia nodded, "That's right, as it turned out Nathaniel spoke to Bronya's mother and made some arrangements with her. Part of it was ensuring the safe return of Bronya and the rest of the missing academy students. After that he arrived with transports just as the snowstorm cleared outside and soldiers to secure the area and help everyone get out."

"I see, so Bronya is likely reunited with her mother?"

"Most likely, but she told me to tell you that she intends to check on you later."

"And Cyrille? What happened to her?"

Elysia was about to explain, when a knock came at the door.

"Come in," Elysia beckoned, and the door opened.

"Oh he's awake," a familiar voice said, which a familiar redheaded girl entered the room wearing a black pants with a plain white shirt and blue jacket on. "I am glad you are doing alright Lelouch."

"Cyrille is that you?" Lelouch asked, which Cyrille nodded. "Nathaniel had something to do with that didn't he?"

Elysia and Cyrille nodded in confirmation.

"Before the Fragmentum being she was expired, Nathaniel took her consciousness and moved into a new body made using the DNA of her original. She wanted to stay friends with us, so Nathaniel remade her body into that of a child," Elysia explained.

"I see, then I guess all I can say is congratulations on a new lease on life then."

"Thank you, but I wish my sister had a chance for it too," Cyrille said, as her expression was one of sadness, remembering the truth about Stefan's role in her death.

"I understand."

"Yes, and his journal we found at the shelter confirms he was behind it all," Elysia said, holding up the tattered book. "If nothing else it could help future generations look at Cyrille's past as a Supreme Guardian more kindly, now that it's understood she was a victim."

"One can hope, after all Cyrille endured at the end," Lelouch said, but as someone who lost a sibling, especially one who was sacrificed for another ambition, resonated with Lelouch.

It was because he had feared such a fate would have befallen him, Nunnally or both of them. It was that he sympathized with Cyrille and was outraged over how Stefan murdered Cyrille's older sister for the sake of his own goals with the intent of using Cyrille as a puppet.

I guess some things are the same no matter the universe, Lelouch mused internally.

"So what happens now?" Lelouch asked.

"That's a good question, but I heard Nathaniel is arranging for a special trainer for you," Elysia replied with one hand on her chin in contemplation.

"A special trainer? Who?" Lelouch asked, but Elysia didn't seem to know.

 

[StrifeHavoc]

Thanks again to Darklord331 for his beta work on the chapter, and thanks to everyone for their feedback.​

Chapter 10
Welcome to Belobog​

A day had passed since Lelouch woke up at the Goethe Hotel; now fully recovered and well rested, Lelouch was invited to explore the city of Belobog with Bronya, as her thanks for their aid insisted on showing them around the city. In their company were Elysia, Vill-V, Eden, and Cyrille; because Mobius wanted to visit Klein, Nathaniel allowed for passage to the site she was overseeing, and Kalpas vanished; he was interested in finding supplies. He was interested in living out in the wild and hunting monsters, which Lelouch assumed was maybe to put some distance between himself and Nathaniel.

As they left the hotel and began walking through the streets, people seemed to be intrigued by Elysia, her pink hair and elf ears likely making her stand out.

Bronya was leading them through the city, while she was in the company of four guards.

It seems her mother is the overprotective type, but I guess that's not surprising given what happened, Lelouch thought.

"Now we'll bring our tour from Alisa Avenue, the heart of the city," Bronya began before showing them a large sculpture that towered over.

It was built upon a metal sphere with four rings surrounding it in an X-shaped pattern. Atop the sphere was fused sculptured ice that towered above them.

"It's quite pretty," Elysia remarked.

"Let's start with the Everwinter Monument," Bronya said before explaining its history. "It was constructed almost seven hundred years ago, to commemorate humanity's victory against the Everwinter and a tribute to the Architects who made it possible."

"It seems the city is well fortified and the temperature within the city is impressively warm, I say they achieved an impressive feat given what they faced," Vill-V remarked as she looked around the city, taking note of the cylinder-shaped geomarrow heaters dotted around the city.

"The early days following the start of the Eternal Freeze wasn't as easy as you suspected," Bronya acknowledged. "Even with Belobog's defenses it was chaotic as people were trying to recover as many survivors as they could and accommodate them, even then we had suffered considerable losses. Yet we survived and managed to thrive."

"I think the monument doesn't do your people Justice in the face of what they had to overcome?" Eden offered respectfully.

"I agree, but nevertheless it will serve as a reminder that we overcame the odds and survived," Bronya said with a smile. "Now let us move on to our next destination."

Walking down the street, the group headed for what seemed to be a store built into the corner of a building near the monument.

"I happen to be familiar with the owner of the shop here. If you are curious about any further technical details about Belobog, she would be best the person I would recommend for such questions," Bronya said as Lelouch read the sign above the door, Neverwinter Workshop.

"She," Lelouch inquired.

Bronya was the first to enter, gesturing for the others to follow her inside while the guards stay outside. Walking inside, Lelouch saw the interior was spacious with working gears built into the wall at various points, tools and other machinery.

Elysia and Eden were curious, but Vill-V on the other hand was like a kid in a candy store if her expression was anything to go by as Lelouch quietly observed.

It doesn't look busy, Lelouch noticed, looking around.

However, the workshop wasn't unoccupied, sitting behind the circular desk in the heart of the workshop with a pillar behind it, having tools and machinery built in was a woman. She seemed young, being in her late teens or early twenties using tools on the counter besides her to tinker with a pocket watch while humming a tune. But her appearance wasn't something you would expect from the owner of a workshop making her stand out.

She was tall with long blonde hair, dark blue streaks, light blue tips at the ends, and blue eyes. She wore a black tube top with what appeared to be half of a white lab coat attached to it covering part of her right side. The white sleeves were detached and a part of her outfit, such as the right sleeve, was held in place by a strap with a blue feather attached. The left sleeve was covered by a long black glove held in place by their own straps leaving a pink fingerless glove at the end.

She seems to belong more with a rock band than a mechanic, Lelouch thought while curious about the reason behind her attire. Maybe it's meant to help draw customers in, or this job could be just a side business?

"Well Lady Bronya, I didn't expect you to pay me a visit. Let alone bring along other kids, I am glad to see you making some interesting friends," the blonde-haired woman said, noticing Bronya's companions.

"Yes, well today is unique, I assume you heard about what happened recently?" Bronya asked, as the woman nodded.

"I heard; I got even more details from my brother. I know your mother has been on the warpath since morning rounding up those behind it," the woman replied before realizing something. She began looking at Lelouch, Elysia, Eden, Cyrille and Vill-V with surprise in her eyes. "Wait, are these the kids who fought off the Fragmentum monsters and saved all of you?"

"They did, although Cyrille you could say joined our group recently," Bronya said, earlier everyone had agreed to keep quiet about how she is a resurrected former Supreme Guardian since not many would likely believe it.

Probably for the best given the unfortunate history she left behind, Lelouch thought, knowing why they decided to keep quiet about Cyrille's resurrection considering the events that led to her death.

The group or rather Cyrille feared that even hundreds of years after her death, no one would approve of her revival or regard her with suspicion.

But Lelouch had agreed for different reasons, which he the others agreed with.

"Sorry if I say it's hard to imagine, but if my little bro confirms it happened then I'll believe it," The blonde woman said with equal parts surprise and admiration in her expression and tone.

"I can't say I blame you," Bronya said reassuringly. "Even I had a hard time believing they were so capable and experienced in combat despite their ages. Even as I saw it first-hand."

"Really, you kids must be really something," The woman replied.

"There's a bit of a story behind that," Elysia said with a knowing smile. "Uh miss…"

"I am terribly sorry, I should've provided introductions, she is Serval Landau, the owner of Neverwinter Workshop and the leader of her own band, Mechanical Fever," Bronya said politely after regaining her composure after realizing she overlooked giving introductions. "And Serval these are Elysia, Eden, Vill-V, Cyrille and Lelouch."

"Hi there girls and guy," Serval said, stepping out from behind the counter revealing the rest of her attire, consisting of a blue skirt, black shorts, black leggings and black ankle boots.

That explains the outfit then, Lelouch said, confirming his earlier suspicions.

"Oh, you perform on stage?" Elysia asked, clearly interested.

"I do, me and my band do night time performances at least four to three times a week," Serval replied proudly.

"Your confidence tells me you draw a crowd," Eden observed.

"It does, which is more than I can say for my workshop," Serval replied with a sigh. "Actually, the workshop is more of a hobby than a job, since everything I make from performances has been supporting me. Aside from the occasional work I do for the Silvermane Guards, conducting repair work and such."

"I see, I am sorry to hear that," Eden replied, worried she might have offended Serval.

"It's no big deal," Serval replied shrugging her shoulders. "So say how did you kids end up here?"

"That is a bit of a story," Lelouch pointed out.

"I got time to kill, if none of you mind indulging me," Serval said, with a laid-back expression.

---

Meanwhile on the Týr Station, Fuxi was approaching the door leading to her sister's cabin with an impatient and annoyed expression, because she had tried more than once to reach her sister. Pushing the button on the intercom, Fuxi spoke, aware her sister was hiding within her den.

"Nuwa, I know you are in there. Stop being childish and open the door," Fuxi said, but no reply came.

This was expected, but she had been hoping Nuwa would act her age.

Sighing, Fuxi used the device on her wrist to override the door allowing her inside, one of the perks to being among the overall supervisor of the research station. Walking inside was akin to entering a room belong to someone who lived as both an otaku and a shut in, as people on Earth call such shut-ins obsessed over anime, video games and anything related to them.

On the walls of Nuwa's room were posters for anime from their long dead era, such as Gun Girls, which was a popular anime and video game series from their time. On her shelves were dozens of anime on disc, manga, nearly a hundred books in all and some spaces on the sleeves set aside for figurines and statues of various anime characters.

A desk was nearby with paints for statues and mecha models, molding clay and related tools and finally a drawing tablet.

Aside from a door leading to Nuwa's bedroom, which Fuxi knew was filled with more anime-related memorabilia. But the subject of her search was ahead, Nuwa was seated on a gamer's chair with three holographic monitors before her playing a video game while wearing headphones, thus making her oblivious to her sister's presence.

Fuxi could only sigh, seeing her sister's gaming desk littered with empty candy wrappers, a large bag of cheese-flavored chips and big glass of soda with a white straw before Nuwa while her hands held a controller.

Fuxi could only fold her arms over her chest in her ever-growing annoyance, but out of her lingering consideration she waited until her sister was done before getting her attention by pulling her headphones off Nuwa's head.

"Sister, do you have a moment?" Fuxi said, almost causing Nuwa to jump out of her chair in shock.

"Waaah, did you ever hear of knocking!?"

"I did knock, but you didn't answer because of this," Fuxi said stoically, hanging Nuwa's headphones before her.

"Ugh, right," Nuwa said before turning around to face her exasperated sister. "So, what brings you here?"

"We need to talk about the royalties you should pay Eden, Kalpas, Sakura and the others," Fuxi said sternly, which caused Nuwa's face to pale in realization.

"Oh that, well….ugh could you handle that?"

"I will gladly help you determine their rightful share of the royalties," Fuxi said, causing Nuwa to sigh in relief until Fuxi added. "However, you should still explain to them why you created many video games, anime, manga and more based off of them."

What color Nuwa had left in her cheeks was gone.

"I warned you this would happen someday," Fuxi said, sternly.

"Yeah, but I was just trying to help keep their memories alive, just like how I did for Hua," Nuwa replied.

"Uh huh, well at least you didn't have to make "additional" changes to their images as you did for Hua," Fuxi said, looking at her coldly.

"Oh, come on, you're still upset at me for that?" Nuwa said, going from frightened to annoyed within seconds.

"Not really, but you know Hua was less than thrilled about the additions to the figurines you were making to make her legend much more "appealing" as I recall," Fuxi replied.

"But it worked, didn't it?" Nuwa countered.

"I suppose, but its not something we can debate on," Fuxi said, knowing that they could argue about it back and forth for days, because neither had the means to prove the other wrong. "I'll give you a week to come clean with them, that should be plenty of time for you since I'll be back from Pier Point by then."

"Oh, that must mean it's time for the annual stockholders' meeting of the IPC?"

"Yes, you are right and as a major stockholder I must attend, Nathaniel will be going since he also has considerable stock in the company too," Fuxi said.

"No surprise there since you have been far better with economics and finances than science, heck I remember it was you Dr. Mobius put in charge of setting up the lab's budget," Nuwa said, complimenting her sister.

"Yes, but she always managed to go over budget despite my best efforts."

"Yeah, but its that reason you are in charge of the finances for Heron?"

"Yes that is true too," Fuxi said, nodding, showing her acknowledgement as one of the highest ranked members of the organization. "Still it is because my high position within both the organization and the IPC as a stockholder were thanks to your efforts, or creating games, manga and anime based on our friends and what could be put back together from our era."

"That's right, but the video game Kalpas's Wrath, the anime Princess Elf and the Warriors of Beauty and Eden's music became huge interstellar best sellers," Nuwa said, clearly proud of herself.

"Yes, but remember trying to butter me up won't change the fact you'll need to admit what you did to them, otherwise I will when I give them their share of the royalties," Fuxi said, shutting down Nuwa's efforts to use flattery to get her to forget about telling the Flame Chasers how she used their images and stories for profit, and to satisfy her own desire to create her own anime and video games.

"I…alright, I'll figure out a good time to talk to them," Nuwa said, reluctantly admitting defeat.

"Good I'll see you in a week sister, and remember Klein will be returning to run things while I am gone," Fuxi said, as she began to leave Nuwa's room.

"What, you don't trust me to run things."

"Yes," Fuxi said flattery from the doorway. "You would spend all of your days here if I wasn't keeping an eye on you, so you wouldn't not be a good choice."

"Gee thanks," Nuwa pouted.

Now I just have one more thing to take care of, Fuxi thought, as she walked down the hallway to her next destination.

---

Back in the Neverwinter Workshop, Lelouch and Elysia had finished bringing Serval up to speed on where they came from and how they arrived. Bronya was even brought up to speed on details they weren't able to share before.

This included about Nathaniel, his geomarrow mining operations, excavating cities lost during the Eternal Freeze especially areas with salvable technology. Lastly Lelouch revealed his origins and the events that led to him meeting Elysia ultimately ending up on Jarilo-VI.

It was a long story to be told, Lelouch wasn't sure how much time had passed, but suspected a lot of time had passed.

Now that necessary explanations were over, it was time for questions and reactions to be known.

"I don't even know where to start," Serval said, understandably stunned by the revelations.

"I understand, I felt the same when I questioned Nathaniel himself," Bronya said, her expression was one of repressed outrage.

"You spoke to him," Lelouch said, intrigued.

"Yes, you were unconscious at the time," Bronya said before explaining. "I confronted him upon learning he had been spying on the people of Belobog, ransacking our world's lost cities and conducting his mining operations. Worst of all he was "legally" free to do so from what he told me."

"Legally, how?" Lelouch and Serval said together, confused and shocked by that detail.

"Before the Eternal Freeze and the Anti-Matter Legion invaded, Belobog took steps to prepare for the coming invasion. Many of our people choosing to remain than fleeing like others did, borrowed money from the IPC to build and ready our defenses," Bronya answered.

"The IPC," Serval asked.

"The Interastral Peace Corporation, a universe-wide corporation created by followers of the Amber Lord, Qlipoth. Originally it was a group of individuals seeking to aid Qlipoth's efforts to build cosmic fortifications, but soon realized their efforts were limited and trading construction materials for construction materials was insufficient for what Qlipoth needed, so they expanded and reformed into corporation to expand their trading networks and what goods they offered to obtain more resources for Qlipoth," Bronya answered, likely reciting the same explanation Nathaniel had given her.
"If I recall they expanded over thousands of years until they've expanded across the known universe, shaping and building up the a vast interstellar economic and trading system used by virtually every world in the cosmos," Lelouch said, recalling what he had heard and what he had read about the corporation when he had time to couldn't research on the different noteworthy factions across the universe.

"Yes, and at one point they had a presence on our world. But they were among those who chose to flee before the invasion by Narook's followers," Bronya said, confirming what Lelouch said with a nod. "But before doing so our ancestors borrowed money to prepare the fortifications, machines and resources we needed. It was agreed for loan to be paid off over the next two centuries, but the invasion happened far sooner than anyone expected."

"Then the world was cut off from the rest of the universe," Lelouch said before he realized something, as it all came together. "Then Nathaniel paid off the loan after the IPC wrote off the planet as lost, allowing him to legally claim Jarilo-VI for himself. Likely assuming no one survived the invasion."

"That's insane, our world was just written off like that just because no one could check if anyone was alive?" Serval said in disbelief. "How could he even buy our planet because we couldn't pay back a loan?"

"Actually, he could, and the IPC has seized ownership of worlds who borrowed money from them, but failed to pay off the loan," Eden said with a disappointed sigh, it seemed Lelouch wasn't the only one who did some research on the different major factions among the cosmos. "I know the idea is crazy, but there have been cases of such things happening.

"How so," Lelouch inquired, curious even if he found the idea of a planet being repossessed absurd.

"Nathaniel mentioned the most common cause for a planet to end up the property of the IPC, was because they took a loan from them thinking they could make it big in the markets with some lofty business plan only for it to fall apart. Once they default on their loan, their planet becomes property of the IPC and its inhabitants life-long employees," Vill-V said before adding. "Is it insane, I completely agree for the record."

"Why do I feel such ventures were doomed to fail on purpose," Lelouch said, believing the IPC was likely hoping such planets would fail to pay back their loan or somehow sabotage them to ensure their failure.

"That's possible since it isn't unheard of for the IPC, to use underhanded tactics and ruthless business practices to aggressively expand. Any planets who don't accept their currency system end up with their own currency system collapsed and the planet left in chaos," Eden replied, causing Lelouch's face to harden, clearly holding back his anger at such predatory practices.

Lelouch wasn't the only one trying to hold back their outrage at such things, expect Vill-V was seemingly passive about it as was Elysia, but her expression was one of disappointment.

"I can't believe being owned by the guy who has been spying on us and strip-mining parts of our planet is actually better than the IPC," Serval said, using one hand to massage her forehead.

"Actually, as part of the deal he made with my mother, he intends to give us ownership of our world back. The money he made from the sale of Geomarrow, for the past seven hundred years has more than paid back the debt and more," Bronya said, seemingly hopeful, but Lelouch didn't need to study the expressions present to know this bargain clearly had strings attached.

"In exchange for what, I doubt he would give up ownership of a planet that easily," Lelouch inquired.

"As you guessed, there were additional conditions for this agreement," Bronya replied before explaining. "Part of it was that during your stay in our city were to ensure you are cared for and well protected."

Of course, he would, because of the Flame Chasers, Lelouch thought, noting Nathaniel's favoritism for the group.

"Naturally this doesn't mean you can do as you please, it was agreed you would obey and follow Belobog's laws," Bronya added. "Not that I feel none of you would do anything to require such a demand, but my mother insisted on that."

"No, but it's not unreasonable she would ask that," Eden said sagely.

"Yes, I agree," Elysia said, and Lelouch offered no word of objection.

But I wonder what will happen after this, and how has Nunnally been doing?

---

Aboard Tyr Station, Griseo, Nunnally, Rin and Pardo were spending time together with Sakura supervising them while her younger sister tried to draw her in. They were in one recreation area with a small forest and a lake in the middle. In a small cleaning by the lake, Griseo was painting a portrait while Nunnally sat on a tree stump acting as the model. Pardo was watching, but Rin and Sakura seemed to be arguing.

"Oh, come on sis, I want to see what kind of painting Griseo makes of you," Rin asked excitedly.

"I don't think it would be worth Griseo's time, besides she already did one for me before," Sakura said, politely, but firmly, folding her arms.

"Hey, I think she's done with Nunnally's portrait," Pardo said, intervening for Sakura's sake, halting Rin's efforts to get her sister to agree to Griseo making a painting of Sakura.

"Can I see," Nunnally exclaimed excitedly, jumping off the tree stump she had been sitting on.

Griseo stepped back allowing everyone to see the portrait she did of Nunnally, but instead of a traditional portrait it was a landscape painting with a pink, white and gold and some dark purple, but it was thin outlining a home, hills and the sun in the sky.

"Huh, not what I was expecting." Rin said, having not expected Griseo to make such a picture based on Nunnally.

"It's Griseo's unique style of art, based on the colors she can see from people," Sakura explained to her younger sister.

"She can see colors?" Rin said, puzzled, which was an odd explanation to use.

"It's not like how we see colors, but it seems the Honkai beast Griseo was infused with allows her to perceive the colors of others, representing their character and common emotions they feel," Sakura replied before explaining further. "Instead of making a traditional portrait of you, she paints your colors and how she seems them, creating more of a portrait reflecting the colors she sees that reflects what kind of individual you are."

"Yeah, she has made some interesting paintings thanks to this, when she painted pictures about the rest of us back in the day," Pardo remarked.

"I like how mine is very bright and colorful," Nunnally said, applauding Griseo, the latter only smiled at the appreciation she was being shown.

Watching from afar, as the group was enjoying the time they were spending with one another, Griseo's father, Ato was watching them along with Jeremiah.

"Your daughter has interesting talents that seems to have been complimented by the abilities the Honkai she was infused with had given her," Jeremiah complimented, as he and Ato were close enough to overhear the group.

"Indeed, I suppose Mobius chose a fitting Honkai beast to infuse into her. Its impressive given her Meta-Morph Surgery was done as a last-ditch effort to save her life," Ato said, seemingly at ease that while his wife didn't survive the incident that nearly claimed their only child's life, he was glad for Griseo's survival.

"But what of Project ARK?"

Ato could only sigh, but it seemed he was conflicted.

"On one hand I am glad she chose to take up the project as her own, but as her father I was not at ease with it. It would mean she would be alone for thousands of years exploring the cosmos. Then knowing what I know about what kind of dangers are out there didn't exactly ease my worries," Ato said, following a moment of consideration as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I understand, I can't even picture what made her make such a decision, but given what was facing Earth at the time I suppose escape may seem like the safer path to take," Jeremiah said, before noticing Kosma in the corner of his eye watching Griseo and others from behind a tree.

"True, but I know Kosma was originally intended for Project ARK, and his hesitation to accept is what prompted my daughter to take his place."

"The reason I guess he has been uneasy about being near you or Griseo."

"Yes, but I am not upset at him for what happened. In fact, given his hunger, I am not sure if he would've been able to carry out Project ARK once he did find a more suitable planet," Ato noted. "Even if I am sure Vill-V spared no effort to ensure Kosma's endless hunger for Honkai beasts wouldn't be a cause of concern."

"I suppose," Jeremiah said.

"By the way if you hadn't heard, Lelouch and the others are safe at Belobog."

"Thank you, I am grateful for that," Jeremiah said with a look of relief.

"Relax, Elysia and Eden, those two alone could handle anything they faced. Mobius might be a researcher, but she is a force to be reckoned with in a battle and Vill-V puts a new definition on the word overkill, and then there is Kalpas…so if you thought of it this way, Lelouch had the best bodyguard detail anyone could ask for," Ato replied with a smile.

Jeremiah chuckled, noticing the intended humor with the last part.

"I know, but after allowing his mother to die while I was on guard duty at their home, I have no desire to allow the loss of either of her children," Jeremiah said with a look of sadness.

"I heard about Lady Marianne's accomplishment, very impressive for someone with very humble origins."

"Indeed, she was a natural prodigy when it came to combat and later piloting Knightmare Frames. No one, save for Sir Bismarck, could beat her. Her rise through the ranks was astonishing given her age, so when I was assigned to be a guard at the Ares Villa, I was delighted to be near one I deemed to be a model soldier and warrior."

Ato smiled, "Forgive me for saying this, but it sounds to me if you were given the chance, you would've married her."

"Well," Jeremiah said, caught off guard by the compliment that had doubled as a joke regarding his devotion. "Perhaps, but the emperor beat me to her first."

The two men shared a good laugh.

"In that case, perhaps you might find yourself a wife as good as Lady Marianne one day. It seems like if nothing else she set the standards for your own expectations," Ato said, as a compliment.

Jeremiah smiled as the two men got along, "Perhaps, who knows."

---

Elsewhere on the space station, Kallen was in the training hall of the space station, used by the soldiers stationed there to defend it to keep up with their training. It was empty, save for Kallen, who had just finished a run around a jogging track, black shorts and a white shirt with sneakers. Walking to a bench where she left a towel lying and a bottle of water.

The running track had trees with a gentle breeze surrounding it, with an artificial sky providing a sunset with clouds.

Kallen sat on the bench, using the towel to dry her head and face of the sweat that had accumulated from her long run. She ran a total of ten miles in thirty minutes.

"I wonder, was that your strength, or the Honkai genes within?" Eleanor said, approaching Kallen from behind.

"What do you want? Given your grudge I doubt you are visiting me to say hello," Kallen said, alert as Eleanor joined her on the bench.

"Yes, I have a grudge against you for killing me, but I think telling you everything Otto did in his efforts to bring you back and letting you live with it, I think is worse than anything I could've done. Literal millions are dead because of it, so you must feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside," Eleanor replied with a grin.

"Just stop it and get to the point," Kallen said, she was in no mood for Eleanor's provocations.

"I am here on Nathaniel's behalf to offer you a chance to join Lelouch in undergoing his training he'll be having soon. A teacher has already been chosen for him, and it was decided he might need a partner. Someone experienced could be good for him as a training partner, and I think you'll benefit from it," Eleanor said, in a more business-like tone.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because the teacher chosen is the last student of the Celestial, you know the woman who kicked your ass about five hundred years ago," Eleanor replied, smiling as she recounted how Kallen was defeated by Hua, a veteran of the Previous Era, known back then as the Celestial, or better known as Master Phoenix.

"Where did she come from?"

"She was trained and even raised by Hua during modern times, but she did die during the battle against Sirin. Heroically she died by giving her life to hold Sirin back after Hua was left unconscious, forcing Otto to flee with her," Eleanor answered.

"So, she was brought back just to train Lelouch then?"

"No, she was brought back as part of a reward given to his agent who had infiltrated both Schicksal and Anti-Entropy as a triple agent. It was thanks to her that Nathaniel found out about Sirin and was able to meet her, ensuring that when she was killed, he could claim the Herrscher cores she possessed and leave behind perfect cloned copies before the two factions could fight over them," Eleanor answered with a smile before adding. "Her success must've put Nathaniel in a really good mood to revive her dead friends per her request as her reward, which included Hua's last disciple, and he even augmented their bodies making them MANTIS super soldiers as a freebie."

"Who was this woman?"

"Her name is Patricia Highsmith, formerly a Valkyrie of Schicksal who became a double agent for Anti-Entropy. Sometime after she became a double agent, Nathaniel encountered her and convinced her to side with him, seeing he was better table to contend with the Honkai," Eleanor replied, but Kallen suspected there was more to Patricia's reasons for becoming a triple agent. "Now she serves as the spymaster who oversees and gives orders to the other infiltrators we have within Schicksal, Anti-Entropy and World Serpent."

"I see and what about her friends?"

"They are members of her old squad in Schicksal who had all died during the Second Eruption and they are Salome Jokanaan, Shub-Niggurath and Lelouch's new instructor, Cheng Lixue," Eleanor replied. "I know the Supreme Guardian of Belobog's daughter and heir has been given an offer to receive instruction herself, but I haven't heard if she accepted or not."

"In any case, what was Cheng Lixue offered to be an instructor then?" Kallen said, suspecting something more behind this arrangement.

"Oh you noticed, well yes the agreement to help train Lelouch and Nunnally in how to best use their Herrscher powers and train and strengthen their bodies accordingly was done with something Lixue and her friends have been nagging at Nathaniel for some time now. He intends to give them what they want if they agree to teaching Lelouch and others, along with a few other details in the bargain he offered them," Eleanor answered.

"Sounds to me he had to do some extra negotiating," Kallen said, although she was wondering what else the trio offered to coax them into agreeing, or was it the other way around?

"Maybe, I wasn't involved, so will you accept or not?"

Kallen contemplated it for a moment, "I accept."

"Good, you'll hear something tomorrow once the last arrangements are made."

With that Eleanor departed, leaving Kallen alone.

"Making deals with someone like Nathaniel is dangerous, but I suppose I can understand why many would be tempted by the offer of being united with a loved one who died," Kallen said to herself. "But is the price worth it?"

---

Elsewhere in the space station, Suzaku Kururugi was sitting alone in his room, for days he had barely left it and ate very little with his body and appearance reflecting the current state of his mind. Lelouch and Nunnally had tried visiting him, ever since they had learned he had killed his own father out of a moment of anger.
One that Lelouch believed was justified, yet understandable. After all, how would you react to the news that your father, the Prime Minister of Japan, a leader that the nation's people trusted had sold them out just to secure a better life of wealth and privilege, something Genbu Kururugi should've had already. But it seemed his greed only grew as Prime Minister it would seem, and that greed cost thousands, if not potentially millions of people their lives.

But why did killing such a man fill Suzaku with such shame and regret, was it because he wouldn't be in this world if not for his father.

It was an undeniable biological fact, but why did Suzaku felt like he shouldn't be alive?

Suddenly his door opened, shaking Suzaku from his thoughts.

"It seems your mental and physical state has deteriorated as Nathaniel says," Aponia said, approaching Suzaku.

Suzaku said nothing, causing Aponia to sigh.

"I am sorry, but could you please clean yourself up and eat something," Aponia said, her words were sweet, kind and yet were hypnotic.

"Huh," Suzaku said, confused as his body rose, responding to Aponia's request.

"I shall wait for you, because it seems Nathaniel has asked me to help you recover from your trauma," Aponia said, as Suzaku wordlessly did what she asked, something that baffled him yet he couldn't stop himself.

He could've asked someone else, but I think he asked me because he knows my powers could hopefully speed up his recovery, Aponia thought, recalling her surprise when Nathaniel approached her.

He sought her help in helping Suzaku recover from the trauma of murdering his father.

Aponia understood instantly, Nathaniel was hoping she could use her powers and skills as someone who cared for and dealt with troubled and damaged individuals to quicken Suzaku's recovery. Well aware as large as Nathaniel's organization was, he no doubt probably had others he could've called on. Choosing Aponia meant Nathaniel likely wanted Suzaku's recovery to happen faster, confirming he was meant to be a cog in whatever he was planning.

The only reason she didn't refuse was because Aponia feared what he might do to Suzaku; he was already reaching out to her to intervene.

Even so, this will take time, Aponia thought, knowing that even with her skills and powers of persuasion Suzaku wasn't going to recover from the trauma overnight.