Sunset ^beta

“Kiana-chan, no.”

The white-haired woman in question stared up at her girlfriend, pink-starred eyes wet with crocodile tears and hands clasped together in a pleading gesture as she pouted, “Pleeaasseee, Mei-senpai?” The Herrscher of Finality dropped to one knee in an even more dramatic show of begging, “We haven’t been able to just have a friendly spar since back when we were still students!”

Mei’s stern look turned thoughtful, “That’s true, but...” She hesitated for a moment before that sternness returned to her eyes, “You’re still in trouble with Theresa after you and Senti wrecked my classroom.”

“That was Senti’s fault!” Kiana protested, ponytail bouncing as she gesticulated wildly, “Come on, Mei! You know me! I can keep it perfectly within the rules if Senti isn’t trying to kill me!”

Mei’s eyes narrowed, “Yes, I do know you. That’s why I said no.”

“We- we can- uh,” Kiana stuttered as she desperately searched her mind for a solution. Her eyes darted around their dorm room in St. Freya in her search for an answer, but found none. The Herrscher sighed, “I just... I needed to get some practice in and I thought ‘What better way than to use it to get some quality time with Mei, too?’” She finally pushed herself back to her feet, pleading expression now fallen into something more serious and understanding. A Honkai stained hand came up to rub at the back of her head, “But I know I caused everyone trouble so if I needa go somewhere else, I will.” Her disappointment still shone through the smile she forced onto her face, yet smile she did.

Mei looked on in consternation as Kiana turned away. She knew the girl well enough to tell Kiana was truly being serious, and the buzz of Honkai energy gathering around her as she prepared to teleport only further cemented this. Seeing such a disappointed look on the Herrscher’s face... she really did just want an excuse to spend time with her, didn’t she? Mei released a small sigh, “Kiana, wait.”

“Huh?”

“Lets do it. Lets spar.”

A brilliant grin blossomed to life across her girlfriend’s face, “Yes!!!” Kiana jumped up and pumped both of her fists in excitement, “Kiana the knight and Mei the princess, back in action again, baby!”

Mei barely had time to giggle before a Honkai stained hand grabbed onto her and the world around her distorted and flickered out of existence.

Kiana let out a nostalgic sigh. It had been a long time since she’d last stepped foot in the open air arena St. Freya used for sparring matches and combat trials. Combat had been the only part of her schooling as a Valkyrie she’d been good at, so she’d seen this arena more than most other places in St. Freya. The holographic tech built into the ground and nearby pillars let it simulate a wide range of enemies for a Valkyrie or her squad to pit themselves against. Even she had been added recently, if Coralie’s messages were to be believed. Set at the highest of elite level threat alongside her sister, Bianka. Just the thought of her combat data being listed at the same level as the legendary Durandal almost pulled a disbelieving guffaw from her chest. Though she really shouldn’t be surprised that the Herrscher of Finality was considered one of the toughest challenges alongside the strongest human. Sometimes she almost forgot how the depth of inhuman power humming just under her skin looked to regular humans.

Kiana shook her head, pulling herself out of her reverie and focusing her eyes back on the woman standing a few metres in front of her, “Hey Mei-senpai, I just had a thought. I haven’t been absorbing Honkai energy on the moon for too long, do you think you still have enough power in your core to manifest your Herrscher battlesuits?”

Mei frowned, “I do, but I won’t be doing that. Remember what I told you about this arena and Herrscher powers?”

“I know, I know!” Kiana raised her hands in a placating gesture. Such movement did not hide the way her eyes drifted over the slacks and dress shirt her girlfriend had been wearing all day, however, “You look really hot in them though! Not that you don’t look hot in your formal getup!”

“Kiana...” Mei laughed, “Lets start before your thoughts have more time to run wild, shall we?”

Kiana’s giddy grin returned as Mei raised her katana, lightning darting across its honed edge. A quick flash and the sword she had gained as Finality manifested in her hand. Her tattered dress skirt flowed in a non-existent wind, the Honkai energy displayed by the battlesuit of the Herrscher of Finality seeming to breathe and pulse in anticipation. They were alone in the arena. Origin and Finality facing off with easy smiles and dropping into stances oh so familiar to each of them. The gleam of the sunlight off their weapons, the anticipation shining in their eyes and tension gathering in their limbs ready to release like a coiled spring.

Mei made the first move. She dashed across the short distance separating them, her sword already moving to strike. Kiana brought her blade up in a clean block, the sound of clanging metal echoing loud in their ears. Kiana’s grin widened as she pushed Mei’s blade away and launched a retaliatory swing. Even with the two years Kiana had so far spent siphoning away Earth’s Honkai energy, the weakened Herrscher of Thunder and Origin was more than capable of reacting to the quick attacks of the Herrscher of Finality. Ducking under the swing, Mei lashed out with a kick to Kiana’s midsection. Yet her foot met only air. Her target disappeared in a swirl of purple energy and reappeared above her, sword poised to strike.

Lighting wreathed Mei’s body and she launched herself backwards to a safer position faster than the eye could blink. Kiana’s thrust met only the stone of the arena floor. The Herrscher of Finality was forced onto the back foot as Mei dashed back towards her, refusing to give her time to regain her footing. Slashes came at blinding speed, turned away by the expert defence of the woman who’d become one with the Honkai. Kiana’s smile remained bright as she parried and weaved around Mei’s strikes. Her counterattacks were similarly turned aside by Mei’s katana, her own smile brightening as she even added some flourishes to her movement in this dance they were entwined in. Their strikes met one last time, both women allowing themselves to be pushed back by the force.

Mei spun her katana slowly with a twirl of her wrist before settling back into a guarded stance with the point held towards Kiana, “I see you haven’t gotten rusty in your time away, Kiana-chan. Good.”

“Praise from the strict Professor Raiden?” Kiana grinned, “I’m honoured.”

“I’m not that strict!” Mei protested.

“Yeah?” Kiana’s grin widened. A flash of purple and suddenly her free arm was around Mei’s shoulders and pulling her into a dip, bright grin still on her face as she brought their faces close, “Come on then, Thunder Queen! Show me what you’ve really got!” She said teasingly.

Mei scoffed at the use of her old high school nickname. Her eyes narrowing was the only warning Kiana received.

A surprised yelp fell from the Herrscher’s lips as she threw her torso backwards and crossed her blade over her body, just barely deflecting the lightning-fast stab from her partner. The sparks set off by their blades set alight the competitive excitement within Kiana’s heart. Utilising her powers as a Herrscher she kept herself levitating in place, pulling her legs up and launching Mei away with a sturdy kick. Mei spun in mid-air, landing on her feet with the grace one would expect of such a seasoned fighter. Kiana’s double-barrelled Honkai pistol flashed to life in her off-hand and she barely had time to get back to her feet before her girlfriend was upon her once more. This time instead of a more traditional exchange of parries and counterthrusts and the dance of trained footwork, Kiana was forced more and more into the acrobatic manoeuvres more in line with her advanced Valkyrie training. Ducking, leaping, flipping, anything to get a bit of distance between her and that electrically charged katana. Her pistol would raise, one blast, two, low powered shots from the lack of Honkai energy she was feeding her weapon. Just enough to sting if they slipped through Mei’s guard.

Yet as Kiana smiled and laughed at the close calls, the dodges, the crossed blades, Mei’s expression hardened into a serious, yet entertained close-lipped grin. More and more that katana began to lash out and slice apart her weak Honkai projectiles instead of evading. More and more Kiana allowed her power to flow through her body as Mei’s movements gradually ramped up their speed and precision. Mei’s footwork remained impeccable, expertly adjusting her weight to follow through her strikes or allow her the stability to resist Kiana’s own blows. As she moved, her dark purple ponytail flowed after her like the regalia of the noble princess Kiana so loved to refer to her as. The excited gleam in both women’s eyes never left even as both never seemed to gain any real ground on their opponent. In this call and response, each knew the other’s part by heart. They had long memorised what was coming next, how to turn it aside, how to manipulate it to flow into their own half of this tango of blades.

“Whoop!” Kiana let out as she ducked around another swing, “Come on, Mei-senpai! You’ve gotta be faster than that to catch me!” She giggled.

Eventually Mei could not help but join in Kiana’s unrestrained, raw joy, her infectious smile causing Mei’s to blooming brighter and laughter to bubble from her chest. Just as their smiled bloomed in unison, so too did Kiana’s rifts begin to blossom to life. Behind her, above her, diagonally in all directions, even below her, one by one Kiana would swap between positions and launch a few strikes before disappearing and coming at her from a new angle. The more responsible side of Mei whispered that she shouldn’t be doing this, but the pure happiness that flowed through her as she pit her skill against Kiana’s drowned it out just as quickly. As such, her weakened core began flooding her body with Honkai energy.

A flash of light, the scent of ozone, the gleam of the sun off of not one but several blades. This time it was Mei who twisted her blade and stepped past Kiana’s guard, arm firmly pulling around her shoulders as Kiana fell into the dip. The Herrscher of Origin smiled down at her most special person, a smug gleam in her eyes, eyes that were now glowing with the circular four-orbed eye pattern that accompanied her authority.

“You wished to see what I’ve really got? Then I expect to see a response in kind, my Moon Goddess,” Came Mei’s jovial laughter.

Kiana allowed her weaponry to disappear just long enough to wrap her arms around Mei’s neck and pull her into a meeting of their lips. The instant she felt Mei’s grip shift to trap her there, the Herrscher of Finality disappeared into another spatial rift and reappeared behind the newly armour-clad Mei. Kiana’s ecstatic expression was only matched by the determination sparkling in Mei’s own. A flash of lightning like the soft purple of lilacs, yet as fierce as the greatest thunderstorm, and the blade of Origin stuck with such force Kiana became the epicentre of a small shockwave. Kiana’s gaze remained sharp even through such a blow, always keeping a keen eye on Mei’s movements, the flash of her blade, the scuff of her boots against the stone. Kiana had never had to personally face the four katanas that Mei utilised as the Herrscher of Origin and the challenge was a refreshing one.

From the strength behind her two-handed swings, to the swiftness of her dual wielding, Kiana found herself having to rebuild her pistol several times as she was forced to use it to block an incoming strike and the weapon suddenly became several centimetres shorter. She portaled away to gain some distance only for Mei to unsheathe two of her blades from where they hovered beside her and launch them after her. Kiana jumped into a spin, putting all her momentum into turning aside the incoming blades with a kick and a swing of her sword. Again her pistol responded with several blasts, but Mei was too quick. Now empowered by her Herrscher core, even the bullets of Finality were too slow to hit the Queen of Thunder. However, they weren’t the only projectiles that Kiana had at her disposal.

Gravity lost its hold on her and she flew higher into the air, a multitude of purple rifts blooming to life behind her as she landed against her Honkai wings as if they were a hoverboard and she a skater jumping against a wall. From within pointed the blunted tips of black and white void lances. The former symbol of Sirin’s might flew at Kiana’s command, a successive rain of spines quickly destroyed as Mei leapt from lance to lance in a blur of lightning. Some flew past her and some she used to propel herself as she slashed it in two. Each lance destroyed disintegrated in a small explosion, a trail of destruction that traced Mei’s path into the sky.

Several of these lightning bolts leapt from Mei’s fingers and forced Kiana to twirl and duck out of the way on the solid Honkai energy between her detached wings, her feet never leaving this makeshift board as she let out whoops and hollers while narrowly avoiding Mei’s lightning. Mei shot one more bolt. Kiana dodged to the side only to realise too late that she was right where Mei wanted her. Now almost directly below her, Mei sheathed her blade. All four scabbards flared out like the claws of a predator, their curved faces flashing bright with an edge made of pure lightning. Kiana hurriedly constructed a barrier of Honkai energy, yet Mei’s words from all those years ago still held true. The power of Origin could slice through anything.

With a yell of exertion Mei’s claw of swords followed her arm around as she swung, cutting through Kiana’s barrier like it was butter and smashing into her with all the force of a speeding train. Such a mighty release of power would not be satisfied with only this small display. As if carefully planned with the choked gasp that broke from Kiana’s chest, the surrounding clouds roared with the power of Mei’s lightning. The thunderclap of one endowed with the Authority of Conquest was mighty indeed, and the sound was all that filled Kiana’s ears as one last soft smile spread across her lips and she allowed herself to fall. The wind whistled through her hair and past her ears and the scent of ozone burned at her nostrils. Yet her heart was thoroughly satisfied and her countenance was one of pure blissful peace as she watched the white armoured knight descending towards her with a hand outstretched.

As Mei fell closer, Kiana stretched out her own hand. Origin’s grip grasped Finality with the same surety and support that had so defined their entwined fates, and so it was that Kiana allowed herself to be pulled into Mei’s arms. One slid behind her shoulders and one under her knees. Mei used Kiana’s weight to twist herself as they fell so her legs properly faced the ground. Her feet crashed into the earth hard enough to crack the stone in a several metre radius around them, stance spread and powerful thighs tensing as she absorbed the impact and safely halted their descent. In that moment, smile lighting up her face and eyes both literally and figuratively glowing with glee, there was nothing more beautiful in the world to Kiana than Raiden Mei.

And so she wrapped her arms around her girlfriend’s neck once more and pressed a loving kiss to smiling lips, “Thank you, Mei,” She said softly.

Mei let out a short, breathy chuckle, “I didn’t hurt you too much, did I?”

Kiana shook her head, “Of course not,” She smiled, “I had a lot of fun.”

“Well I’m glad someone had fun!” Shouted a new, quite irritated voice, “But who’s gonna pay for all these repairs, huh?!”

The Herrschers cringed together. They were both intimately familiar with the approaching voice.

Mei set Kiana back onto her feet and the woman immediately spun towards their new arrival and grinned like a child who just got caught breaking something, “Oh h-hiii Aunt Teri! Funny seeing you here!”

A rather furious looking Theresa Apocalypse marched right up to the Herrscher duo and shoved a finger into Kiana’s face, “Don’t play with me, young lady! Look around you!”

The two lovers did so and Kiana’s expression was quickly morphing into a horrified grimace. The spectator seating of the arena was riddled with large holes from void lance explosions and the arena itself was covered in slashes, pieces blasted apart, and not to mention the nearly eight metre wide circle of shattered stone that marked Mei’s landing.

“And that’s not all!” Theresa continued, her small frame nearly shaking in anger, “Do you know how hard it is to justify how much of the budget gets allocated to St. Freya to the other Schicksal branch directors when a void lance flies into my office and blows up my fucking computer?! I had to leave Amber to start cleaning up the mess while I came out here to deal with you!”

Kiana and Mei shared a single, terrified look with each other. For the first time since gaining the power of Finality, Kiana found herself wishing she was back on the moon. She was so dead.

“You really should actually practice for once instead of sitting on the sideline playing games,” Helia sighed.

“Why would I ever do that?” Coralie replied, eyes never leaving the screen of her handheld console.

“Because getting in physical practice is important!”

Coralie spared a moment to shoot her companion an annoyed glance, “I believe I’ve already shown that I am more than capable of passing the practical exams without exerting myself pointlessly.”

“That’s not the point!” Helia insisted, exasperation bleeding into her steady voice.

“You’re right, there is no point. Hence my use of the word ‘pointlessly’.”

Helia growled softly as she desperately fought to hold back the urge to snap back and inevitably only encourage Coralie further. Fortunately for her, her attention was soon drawn to something else instead, “What happened to the arena?”

Coralie- and their other classmates trailing behind them- glanced up and saw that for once, Helia was not making a big deal out of nothing (as Coralie would say). Their path had taken them near the area and as they approached, the Valkyries could see the structure appeared to have suffered heavy attack. Large chunks of stone were missing from the amphitheatre-like seating, the ground around it for nearly a dozen metres was pockmarked with holes gouged out of the ground. As they got closer and were able to peer further into the arena itself even more of the damage was revealed to them.

The more canine of Coralie’s ears perked up ever so slightly as she peered into the damaged arena, “Is that Principal Theresa with Mei and... hey, is that Kiana?”

Helia’s gaze immediately snapped to the figures in the middle of the damaged grounds. They were close enough now they could almost make out what Theresa was saying and she sounded distinctly unhappy.

“Wow,” Coralie smirked at the kneeling figures of the Herrschers, “The Principal must really be letting them have it.”

Helia, however, appeared to barely be listening, “I’ve never seen Mei-sensei in such clothing before. What battlesuit is that?” Their classmates murmured along behind them as they noted Helia’s observation. Theresa’s voice began coming loud and clear as they chanced moving closer.

“-so you better help clean up this mess you made unless you want to explain to the rest of Schicksal why I’m giving St. Freya another couple extra hundreds of thousands of dollars! Or better yet! I’ll give you Ambers workload for the next week!”

Kiana’s eyes shot comically wide and she clasped her hands together in a desperate plea, “I’m sorry Aunt Teri, I’m sorry! I promise I’ll fix all this! You have to believe me! Just please for the love of fucking god don’t give me Amber’s paperwork, I’m begging you! I’d rather go back to the moon than deal with that never ending pile of horror!”

“And you, Mei!” Theresa said, turning and leaving Kiana to stew in her desperation, “I expected better from you! It’s only been a few days since we both told off Senti for using her Herrscher powers in this exact arena because it’s not built to withstand them! Now here you are using the authority of Origin of all things?!”

Mei grimaced, “I apologise, Theresa. It was just supposed to be a simple sparring session and I let myself get carried away.”

Coralie snorted, “This is quite the sight, isn’t it, Helia? I guess we know what caused that weird thunderstorm a few minutes ago.”

“Coralie this does not appear to be something we should be joking about,” Helia murmured to her companion.

All three older women snapped their gazes around at the sound. When the two Herrschers spotted the students watching them they shot to their feet, Mei’s face burning red while Kiana rushed over to them.

“Helia! Coralie!” She shouted in relief, “You can back me up right?! Tell Principal Theresa how reliable I am and I can definitely clean all this up and she really doesn’t need to kill me with the tedium of Amber’s paperwork!”

Helia looked taken aback, “Er...”

Coralie’s amused grin shifted back into a smirk, “I don’t know, I never saw the Goddess of Earth repair anything while she was training us, so I am perfectly ignorant of her ability to fix things like broken seating and exploded grass.” Coralie struggled to hold in her laugh at the absolutely devastated look that appeared on Kiana’s face.

Kiana slowly turned back to her Aunt, who still bore an absolutely murderous expression, though it was now paired with a sadistic smile. Kiana had never felt such hopeless terror before, not even as she bonded with the entirety of the remorseless, eldritch force of destruction that was the Honkai.

A flash of purple and now Kiana was the one scooping Mei up into a bridal carry, Mei’s yelp of surprise blending into Kiana’s panicked voice, “Don’t worry! Kiana the knight will save Mei the princess! It was nice seeing you two but- Oh shit-”

Kiana and Mei blinked out of existence just in time to escape the binding chains of the Oath of Judah. Theresa’s chest heaved as she breathed heavily, her anger so apparent Coralie almost expected smoke to billow from her nose like a dragon with how hot her fury was burning.

“I. Will be right back,” She told the students, her voice dangerously calm, “I have a niece to... deal with.”

Every Valkyrie trainee present shuddered as Theresa stomped away. Though in the next moment, Coralie shrugged, and resumed her walk towards their dorms. At least she’d never have to deal with anything as fear-inducing as a furious Theresa Apocalypse, right?