Chapter Text
Theresa seemed to completely miss the way Mei fought against the instinctive widening of her eyes at the name. Instead she tilted her head curiously, “Huh, I didn’t know Ryoma had a daughter your age.”
Mei managed to keep her grimace internal. What were the chances another Raiden Ryoma was alive at this time? “I… prefer my privacy.”
Theresa shrugged, “Fair enough,” She glanced behind the priestess and a bright smile burst to life on her face, “Pat! It’s you!”
Mei spun to find another Valkyrie approaching them from the walkway bridge to the tower. She was darker skinned than Theresa and her clothing seemed much too little for the cold. She wore only black pants with a brown belt, a tank top with a large collar she had flipped up that seemed much too small- the woman leaving her belly and cleavage greatly exposed- and a similarly small furred jacket that she left draped around her arms instead of wearing over her shoulders.
“Howdy! Welcome to Yugra, Theresa. I received orders from the Overseer to ah, make your stay comfy,” The woman smiled. She quickly turned to Mei, “Who’s this?”
Mei repeated her bow, “My name is Raiden Mei. I was sent as a bit of extra security.”
Pat nodded slowly, “Right,” Her eyes narrowed, however she did not press further, “Patricia Highsmith. A pleasure.”
Pat beckoned them to follow, and Mei fell into step behind the women. They walked down the long bridge from the landing pad to the entrance to the massive tower, Mei taking in every detail she could as they travelled, keeping an ear trained on the small talk between the two women. The base disc had several glowing pink cylinders jutting several stories tall from the metal. She could only guess it was some kind of Honkai energy device utilized by Schicksal at some point, though it matched no technology she knew of. Her suspicions were confirmed as the closer they approached the more she could feel the hum of Honkai energy, the hair on her arms standing on end as her gems resonated with the ambient energy getting pulled into the pillars. The rest of the walk was uneventful, the other two women often lapsing into silence until they got into the lift inside.
Theresa sighed, “Thank goodness you’re here, Pat. The briefing read like a horror show. But since an expert like you is around, I think we can find out what really happened. Any leads so far?”
Pat shook her head, “Sorry, Theresa. Nothing yet. The cameras were never broken and monitored things as usual but we couldn’t find the culprit,” The women soon stepped out of the lift and walked down a flight of stairs to a massive computer bank in the room below.
“I got a crew reviewing the footage frame by frame,” Pat continued, “Each of the lab staff was gone in an instant, even when there was no one next to them. We did notice some strange footage noise,” She quickly typed out a command into the console and pulled up a video file.
Mei and Theresa immediately spotted the noise, a vaguely humanoid shape of faint static present in front of a computer bank just like the one they were standing in front of. Though what was more pressing to the priestess was the date in the upper left corner of the security feed. February 1st, 2000. She was walking through and experiencing events nearly three thousand years ago. While she had expected Seele to show her events from the past, the sheer amount of time at play here… to be walking through it, feeling it, and seeing it like she was really living it was still shocking. Holographic experiences were not new, however one that could pull from data that spanned multiple thousands of years as if it happened yesterday was nearly unheard of in the wake of threats such as the Herrscher of Corruption. Never mind that this device was apparently also powered with the assistance of the Herrscher of Sentience, master of illusions. However, Mei could not allow herself to stumble at this revelation as Theresa and Pat continued to converse about the image ghost.
“-Almost all supernatural sightings of this world can be traced back to the Honkai. I don’t think this would be an exception,” Pat said. She tapped a few more commands into the console as Theresa glanced up at Mei worriedly, “Here. I’ve brought up the log for the Babylon reactor pile energy output levels,” She jabbed her finger at a smaller holographic screen that had popped up behind her keyboard, “See this? Five minutes worth of data at about 2200 last night went missing. So… My gut tells me that the reactor pile may give us some clues. But the other monitoring records of the reactor pile sector are placed behind a security lock. Even I lack the clearance to access them,” Pat turned back to the two women, “Honkai levels are extremely high at the reactor pile. Our crew wouldn’t survive in that place. We have to go down and check it ourselves, we are Valkyries after all.”
“Just the three of us?” Theresa’s voice wavered.
“Alright,” Mei nodded and gripped the scabbard of her katana, “Lets get it done.”
The reactor room was a massive, circular, open space dominated by a smaller circular recess in the centre of the room. The reactor pile descended from the ceiling and into the reactor proper. The three women had split up almost immediately to search for anything out of place in the massive room. By the time Pat and Mei had reached the point they were at opposite points on either side of the reactor, she found Theresa had strayed rather close to her. As Mei observed from her spot kneeling to observe strange discolouration, the young girl looked around almost fearfully, her arms pulled close to her body and her steps cautious as if ready to jump back at the slightest provocation.
“Theresa?” Mei called out.
The girl- expectedly- jumped back at the sudden voice, “M-Mei! Hi! Uh, have you found anything yet? Are we done?”
Mei looked back down to the spot that had caught her eye. Gently dragging the pad of her finger against it, she brought the finger close to her face and studied what she had wiped from the floor, “There appears to be some Honkai residue on the floor around this upper walkway. We should meet back up with Pat.”
Theresa nodded fervently and hurried along close behind Mei as they walked back to the entrance. Pat noticed them moving back and also began moving to join them. A few minutes later and Mei had filled the Valkyrie in on what she had found.
“Hmmm…” Pat held her chin between her forefinger and thumb as she thought, “And it was only a small amount?”
“Yes,” Mei confirmed, “Just enough to leave a few crystals on the pad of my finger.”
“That’s odd… That’s too little to indicate an actual reactor leak,” Pat clicked her tongue, “We’ll need to run a full spectrum scan of this area. Lets head back.”
Theresa sighed in relief and quickly skittered towards the lift. The other two women took a much more leisurely pace, Pat chuckling to herself as they watched Theresa retreat towards the lift. She leaned over to Mei, “To be honest, I expected a seasoned veteran who’s fought Emperor-class Honkai beasts to be a lot braver than this.”
Mei’s brow shot up for just a moment before she brought her expression back under control, “Emperor-class? Yes, I can see why, then.”
Pat hummed, “She did get spooked out by a phantom horse at ‘The Intangible Fairyland’, that was pretty cute.”
A small smile flit across Mei’s face, “We all have our weaknesses.”
“Hah, true enough,” Pat smiled.
“HELP!”
Pat and Mei immediately dropped into alert stances as a desperate voice echoed off the metal walls from somewhere below them.
“IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE? HELP US!”
Theresa was back at their sides before Mei could even blink, the small girl crying out in fear, “It must be that image ghost we saw in the video! It’s coming for us!”
“No, Theresa. This…” Pat spoke quietly, as if fearing her words even as they slipped from her lips, “This is the voice of a human girl.”
The moment the trio stepped from the lift Mei’s blood ran cold. Below the reactor was another large room within a slice of the circular structure of the tower. Four stories tall stood row after row of what were unmistakably holding cells.
“The call for help came from here, right?” Theresa asked, voice nearly a whisper.
A deep frown had formed on Mei’s face, “Why would a lab need holding cells like these?” The truth hovered at the edge of her consciousness, but the mere idea of that truth being reality was too frightening for Mei to accept without proof.
The three women approached the nearest of the holding cells, the only one that appeared to have been locked shut. Apprehension weighed down their steps as the closing distance brought with it a clearer view of the inside of the cell. Shapes moved in the darkened interiors. Shapes all too human for any of their likings.
“Help us…” A scratchy voice pleaded with them. A pale arm reached through the square gaps in the metal door, a desperate reach for salvation.
“It’s the ghost!” Theresa cried.
“No,” Mei grit her teeth as she could no longer deny the horror that was unfolding before them, “These are humans. Children.”
“Please,” The young girl’s weak voice sounded out once more, “Good people, please save us from this horrible place.”
“Alright,” Theresa stepped forward and steeled herself, “Step back, kid,” Once she was sure the child was clear of the door, Theresa grabbed ahold of the offending metal and with a grunt of exertion ripped it clean off its hinges. She quickly threw the large door to the side like a sack of potatoes, the loud crash of metal against metal grating against the ears of all present. Theresa flapped her hands and hissed in pain. But just as quickly she turned to the newly opened cell and smiled, “It’s alright, girls!” Theresa bent down and reached out a hand in the hope she could coax out the frightened children, “You can come out now!”
Mei quickly filed away the girl’s apparent inhuman strength. She stepped forward, praying that her training didn’t make her too stiff and awkward with kids. The inhabitants of the cell slowly stepped forward, the girl who had called out to them timidly bowing and thanking Theresa for tearing down the door.
“Don’t thank me! I just couldn’t find the key!” Theresa held her hands up as if to stop the girl’s first impression of her, “That’s definitely not my usual way of opening doors!”
Some of the girls thanked Mei as they padded by on bare feet, Mei doing her best to return their thanks with a kind smile, keeping her white-knuckeld grip on her katana hidden with her shoulder cape. The priestess stepped further inside the cell to make sure there were no girls left, eyes quickly scanning around the room. None in the beds, none on the uncomfortable metal benches, and none in the back corners- Mei froze. No. There was one more girl sitting in the back. Mei’s heart pounded like a drum in her ears as her eyes fell on long purple hair framing a thin body covered in the same rags and bandages as the rest of the girls. Swallowing the lump in her throat at the frighteningly familiar sight, she finished approaching the girl.
“Hey,” She kept her voice soft, “You can come out now, it’s okay.”
The girl raised her head and Mei had to use every ounce of her willpower to keep the smile on her face even as her heart dropped into her stomach, burning golden eyes with irises like the shape of an X locking onto her own. Mei extended her hand to help the girl up. Said hand was quickly slapped away by the purple haired girl, who then pushed herself to her feet and walked out with her head bowed and fists clenched. Mei followed behind, still attempting to calm the terrified nerves burning under her skin. It was impossible. It was insane.
Sirin…
As Mei stepped back into the main room Pat looked up from a tablet she had procured, “Looks like these girls are test subjects under the advanced systems lab. Part of the Honkai adaptability trials, it seems.”
Theresa’s brows pulled together in concern as she worriedly looked over the gathered girls, “That explains the wounds and the bandages on them.”
“What exactly were they doing to them?” Mei’s frown only seemed to grow deeper.
“You should know what Honkai adaptability trials mean if HQ sent you here,” Pat shot her a sharp glance.
“Just tell me,” Mei growled.
Pat sighed, “From what I can see here, they were injecting these girls with various amounts of liquid Honkai in order to observe its effects on the human body and develop new techniques for our artificial stigmata. This cell is all that’s left of hundreds of original test subjects.”
Mei’s grip on her katana was so tight by now her hand was shaking. She had heard of Schicksal previously being sanctioned by several nations for inhumane experiments to advance Honkai technology, but this? This was beyond anything she could have imagined even in her deepest nightmares.
“The briefing mentioned none of this,” Theresa frowned.
“Perhaps someone doesn’t want you to find out,” Pat shrugged, “The truth is that Schicksal recruits thousands of orphans like them every year. Nobody cares if these orphans die.”
The callous casualness with which Pat delivered such information lit aflame that familiar overwhelming anger in her chest, forcing Mei to take deep, steadying breaths to restrain the violent urges that always seemed to come with it. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied golden eyes studying her from their shroud of purple bangs.
“No, Pat,” Theresa shook her head, “Somebody does care about them,” The Valkyrie gently rubbed one of the girl’s arms, “We’re gonna take you to some better shelter, okay?” She gave the girl a gentle smile, “I’ll send people to pick you up after we’re done here.”
In a flash Pat had grabbed Theresa’s shoulder, “Wait, Theresa! That would be a major violation! These test subjects are Schicksal property, we should return them to HQ.”
That overwhelming storm of emotion in the back of Mei’s mind and chest grew stronger, “Schicksal’s property? You want to hand them back to the very people that did this to them?” Mei practically snarled.
“The eggheads probably injected them with plenty of Honkai,” Pat snapped back, “It’s madness to turn them loose!”
From her stance holding onto her scabbard, Mei’s hand tensed, her thumb quickly extending to its full length and pushing her katana ever so slightly from its sheath with a soft metallic click.
“Mei, wait,” Theresa placed a gentle, but firm hand on Mei’s own, “Pat, have you heard about St. Freya high?” Theresa began as she turned to the Valkyrie, “Grampa finally agreed on giving me reclaimed land in the far east. I’m planning to build a special sanctuary for victims of Honkai testing. It will serve as a school that teaches them how to wield and master their powers. When they graduate, they’ll become Valkyries with happy lives like you and me, Pat,” Theresa looked up at her with a pleading smile, “Please have faith in me,” She turned back to the children, “This will be our pledge. Follow us!”
Pat sighed dramatically, “Well, Theresa, I have orders to make your stay comfy and avoid getting in your way. Since you’re also the mission lead, I guess I have no choice but to obey.”
Theresa was beaming, “Thank you so much, Pat! Come on, Mei, lets get these kids outta here.”
With a small click, Mei pushed her katana firmly back into its sheath. The anger still stormed in the back of her mind and burned in her chest. However, if it wanted release it would have to wait. Though that did not mean she could drop her guard. As they herded the children towards the lift, the sound of Sirin hissing in anger just barely audible flit past her ears.
“A stupid Valkyrie with a stupid dream,” She murmured harshly, just quiet enough that Theresa did not hear. It seemed at least one person was not happy with the idea of St. Freya. Curiosity at what the real Sirin thought of the modern St. Freya skittered through Mei’s thoughts. Such scattered thinking was quickly squashed by the priestess. Whatever the real Sirin thought, she would not be able to rest easy with the Herrscher’s child self roaming free. However she had no choice but to allow it. And so she would watch. And listen.
Mei quickly found herself searching through the disturbingly empty tower and raiding various nearby break rooms with Theresa searching for food and water to provide the children. It took nearly fifteen minutes, but they were successful. Even snack food was better than nothing for the emaciated girls the researchers here had kept as test subjects. As they approached the small area of the tower they had commandeered for their operation, Theresa stacked her own box of collected food on top of Mei’s.
The Valkyrie smiled up at the priestess, “You take these to the kids, Mei. I’ll go check in with Pat and her crew.”
“Wha- By myself?” The flustered priestess stumbled slightly as she adjusted the boxes in her grip.
Theresa laughed, “Yeah! I have a feeling you’ll be a hit with the kids. I can’t really be the adult figure for them, looking like I do,” She gave the priestess a wry smile while gesturing at her small stature, “I just come off like another kid without some kinda awkward explaining.”
“Right...” Mei awkwardly returned the smile.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it! I’ll come check on you in a bit!” Theresa beamed and quickly walked away.
Mei sighed, sending a quick prayer to the Moon before she hit the panel to open the repurposed presentation room they had set up the children in. There were about a dozen in total, including Sirin, several of which tiredly pushed themselves to their feet and padded over to meet her as the hydraulic door hissed open.
“Did you bring us something, miss?” One asked curiously.
Mei smiled reassuringly, “Miss Theresa and I found some food.”
That got the attention of the rest of the sullen girls. Mei took the boxes to the long conference table they had pushed up against the wall and began handing out food to the girls that had gathered around her.
“Um...” one of the girls shyly tugged on her cape, “Miss... uh...”
Mei squatted down so she could sit eye level with the girl, “My name’s Mei. What’s yours?”
“Um... Anna, Miss Mei.”
The priestess smiled, “What seems to be the problem, Anna?”
“I’m sorry to bother you...” The girl murmured, “But the pie... it’s uh, cold.”
A scoff from the wall behind the girl drew Mei’s gaze over her shoulder. There sat Sirin, having bundled up the sheets she’d been given to form some level of padding between her and the metal wall. Her own meat pie was in her hands which she was slowly nibbling on, not seeming to enjoy it either.
Mei hummed, “It doesn’t taste that good cold out of the package, huh?”
Anna shook her head slowly, a hesitance in her movements like she was unsure how she should answer.
Mei held out her hand, “Can I see that for a moment?” Once the girl had placed the pie in her palm, Mei closed her eyes. It only took a moment for her to tread the ever more familiar path to opening herself up to the reservoir of Honkai within her. Thanks to the rigorous training Kiana and Bronya had put her through, feeling of the gems had gone from a convoluted mixture of pure Honkai to a gradually more distinct separation between the gem of Conquest and gem of Conviction. While far from perfect, it was just enough to allow her to call upon one over the other.
A moment. Then another. Then little eyes widened in amazement as a gentle pink flame bloomed to life along her palm. Mei opened her eyes, brow creasing as she kept careful focus on the intensity of her flames. She counted down one minute. Then two. Every so often she’d carefully probe the meal with the fingers of her free hand.
“Here,” She turned the part the girl had bitten into towards her, “Try that. Careful now,” She watched as the girl bit into the pie and immediately beamed.
“It’s warm now! You’re amazing, Miss Mei!”
“Hah,” Mei grinned, “A lot faster than walking all the way to the break room for a microwave, huh?” Mei watched as the girl excitedly shuffled back over to what seemed to be her friends, smiling softly. It was... nice, to be able to use the Honkai to help. Even if it was just something as small as this. Several pairs of awestruck eyes turned to her from where the girl had gone and Mei knew her job was far from complete. She stood back up, straightened her jacket, and turned to the rest of the girls. Ten minutes later and every child who’d wanted it now sat comfortably eating their freshly warmed food.
Well, all except one.
“Hey,” Mei asked quietly, “Does the girl with purple hair always sit by herself?”
One of the girls nodded, “Her name’s Sirin, I think...”
“She used to be close to three of the others,” Another spoke up, “But... they all died to the experiments. She used to hug and cry with the rest of us, but once those others died she got angry and mean... She doesn’t really talk to us anymore.”
The other girl nodded along, “She’s mean, but... I think she’s really just lonely.”
Mei pursed her lips and nodded in understanding, “I see. Thank you for telling me. Let me know if any of you need anything, okay? I’m going to have a chat with Sirin,” Mei carefully made her way around the other children finishing up their food or laying down to rest on the blankets Theresa had placed out for them, “Hey,” The priestess cautiously adjusted how she sat down, trying to avoid possibly hitting Sirin with her ponytail, “I’m Mei. Sirin, right?”
Those golden eyes snapped to her only long enough to make her glare of displeasure known, “What do you want?” Sirin grumbled.
“Well...” Mei drawled, “You’re the only one left that’s still nibbling on a cold meat pie. All by yourself, I might add.”
“So what? Did you come here just to annoy me?”
Mei offered her hand, “Well the others seem to be enjoying it a lot more heated up,” Her brows pulled down again as she focused on flickering the flames across her palm once again.
Sirin’s eyes darted between Mei’s face and the flames, the girl seemingly trying to decide if this was some kind of trick.
“If you really don’t want me here, I will respect that and leave you alone. But I wanted to at least extend you the same offer,” She met the girl’s gaze, a small grin on her face, “It’s a lot better warm.”
“Fine,” Sirin grumbled.
A couple minutes later and Sirin was still rather grumpy (understandable considering what she’d been through), but she was now taking much larger, eager bites from her food. Small victories, Mei told herself.
Soon enough Sirin had finished and licked her fingers clean. Those harsh golden eyes flicked back to the table where Mei had set down the boxes filled with more snacks.
The rustling of Mei’s uniform immediately drew Sirin’s attention back to the woman beside her, “Napkin?”
Sirin glared at the offending item like Mei had just insulted her family, “If I wanted one I’d get it myself,” She snapped, “I’m not weak.”
Ah. Mei nodded, “You’re right. You are anything, but weak, Sirin,” Mei’s eyes dropped to the metal flooring in front of her, the priestess chewing on her lip as she searched for a way to voice her thoughts properly, “I... cannot say I can fully understand what it’s like to go through what you have. But I hope that... I can serve to show you there is a brighter side to humanity than this cruelty you have suffered.”
“You’re wasting your time.”
Mei shrugged, “Maybe I can’t convince you with words and small actions seeing as how we’ve only just met. But I’d say getting you out of there was anything but wasting my time.”
Sirin scoffed and hugged her legs to her chest. Mei gave her one last look before pushing herself to her feet and leaving the girl to her thoughts. She would have been surprised if it had gone any differently. The Herrscher of the Void’s anger was legendary. It had to have begun somewhere. And the more Mei saw of how Schicksal had treated, and wanted to continue treating Sirin, Mei was beginning to wonder if she could really blame the girl for holding such a murderous anger in her heart.
It was nearly midnight when Mei’s sharpened senses picked up a certain head of purple hair quietly sneaking away from the sleeping children. She had allowed her eyes to fall shut as she guarded their sleeping forms, the Honkai energy flowing through her body allowing her other senses to increase in sensitivity exponentially. It would seem Sirin had thought her asleep, and had now slipped out the door. Theresa truly was asleep in another room, and Pat… Well, the experienced Valkyrie had refused to tell Mei where exactly she was going when she slipped away a couple hours ago. At first she had been worried she wouldn’t be able to track Sirin through the massive laboratory, however if such a destructive Herrscher wasn’t currently destroying anything there was only one reasonable place to go.
That was how Mei found herself taking the lift down to a level above the reactor and creeping the rest of the way down the stairs to the room proper. The open walkway offered no real cover, but it allowed her to be stealthier than walking straight out of the lift. She attempted to sense Sirin’s Honkai energy, but such a feat proved impossible for the inexperienced priestess so close to the massive Honkai reactor. Voices rose up from the reactor room as she descended. The stairs moved down until they were behind the shaft for the lift, the exit from the lift itself on a raised square platform. Mei’s path would take her to the rear of the lift, while there were two more sets of stairs at the corners to the left and right to offer a path for those exiting the lift. It was down these left stairs that Pat had travelled and she now stood several meters past them in the open space of the reactor room.
“You…” She could just make out Sirin’s growl as she attempted to sneak closer, “The one that wanted to return us to those who tested on us. How did you find me out?”
Mei frowned. It would seem she had discovered why Pat had been tight lipped about her activities. Mei carefully slunk towards the metal plating forming a guard rail around the lift platform, using it to shield herself from view.
“Oh, I just have a keen eye for dirt that girls like you leave around,” Pat replied casually. Mei chanced a peek around the plating just in time to hear a metal thunk as Pat opened a large case she had stood next to herself and withdrew two miniguns each nearly the size of her whole body, “Residues on the prison door matches that of those Mei found in here. Then there’s the issue of missing readings from the reactor pile.”
Sirin stared at Pat, unmoving, “Where is that little nun? Or that ostentatious Valkyrie? Are you here alone?”
Pat laughed, “Don’t mean to scare you, little ‘ghost’, but I actually brought two friends with me!” A mechanical whirr filled the air as the barrels of the miniguns began to spin, “Wanna say ‘Hello’ to them?”
Sirin’s unflinching laughter chilled Mei to the bone, “You think you can scare me, Valkyrie? You’re just the start of my path of revenge!” The girl yelled out, spreading her arms wide, the purple ribbons from Mei’s dreams beginning to wrap around her limbs as she spoke, “Those people who injected us with the Honkai, the people who ran all those tests on us, they told us that we were serving a divine purpose! That we were perfecting the so-called stigmata for Schicksal Valkyries like you! They said orphans like us should feel grateful that we can die for your sake,” Sirin’s voice had steadily grown louder until she was shouting every word, “I refuse to die for anyone’s sake! To hell with Schicksal! To hell with the Valkyries! You should feel grateful that you’ll be the first of many to taste my true powers!”
Mei’s concern increased exponentially as she once again focused on enhancing her perception of the ambient Honkai energy just in time to feel the output of the nearby reactor shrink drastically. She closed her eyes.
“Well I’ll take that as hello to these little friends of mine,” Pat quipped, “Wait, what’s- Oh fuck-” Mei winced as a sudden burst of energy filled the room and a rush of nausea rolled over the priestess like a wave as a sickening crunch came from Pat’s direction. Another burst of energy and when Mei looked again Sirin was gone. The clank of boots against metal was the only sound that remained as Pat rushed to a seemingly insignificant corner of the room, panic strewn across her face and a bloody stump where her right arm once was. The Valkyrie did not notice the priestess, so single minded was her retreat as she pulled open a maintenance hatch and slipped away.
In the morning Mei reported the woman as MIA.
Theresa was distraught at the news and had immediately rushed down to the reactor room. Mei had followed, pushing away the voice insisting she find Sirin and crush her before she absorbed enough Honkai energy to pose even more of a threat. She was here to witness the Eruption, not stop it. As callous as that may seem when in an illusion such as this. Mei was also unsure just how much Sirin might be capable of hurting her within an illusion created with the power of Sentience. Everything felt startlingly real.
It did not take long for one of Pat’s crew to inform them that Overseer Otto Apocalypse had dispatched reinforcements, the names Salome, Niggurath, and Siegfried completely foreign to the priestess. If that hadn’t been enough, it only took another few minutes for a frantic scientist to sprint out of the lift yelling that the lab’s scanners had detected a massive horde of Honkai beasts emerging from the tundra. When they had gotten back to the command centre one of the crew observed that the beasts had lit up their scanners all at once, as if emerging from the land itself. Such tactics were unusual for Honkai beasts, to say the least.
Still, that tug at the back of her mind insisting she find the purple-haired girl did not cease. Even as Theresa received a call that the three reinforcements Otto had sent were engaging the horde of Honkai beasts, Mei found herself in an internal debate. Her lips pursed, watching the chaos of their makeshift command centre as the urge to act beat against her wavering resolve to stay back and observe.
“You’re running out of time.”
Mei clicked her tongue in annoyance, the familiarly strange thought finally breaking her resolve to simply wait. Her cape flared as she spun and ran towards the lift that would take her to the reactor pylon.
“Mei!” Theresa called out to her, but Mei kept her focus forwards.
The journey to the reactor only took a few minutes, but for Mei that was several minutes too long. The lift hummed as the expertly designed mechanics lowered her towards the base of the labs. Her finger was once again steadily tapping against the hilt of her katana, Mei’s features riddled with impatience. The door opened with a metallic thunk, and Mei finally stepped back into the massive reactor chamber. She took her time walking down the steps, Sirin back near the spot she had stood when she’d wounded Patricia. Mei spent little effort keeping her boots from thumping against the metal flooring. Sirin was no doubt aware she was not alone.
Mei stopped several meters behind the girl, her carefully schooled features veiling her rapidly pounding heart, “You’re a long way from the others.”
Sirin turned slowly, body language far from the wounded girl Mei had first seen in that holding cell. The girl stood tall, a wide smile on her face as she laughed, “The next Valkyrie takes her turn to face me! Why would you help them? I saw your reaction to our treatment,” Sirin’s expression fell into a furious glare as she growled, “Would you still help them regardless?”
“I’m not here to fight you. Or take you back to Schicksal,” Mei replied calmly, “I actually just wanted to talk to you,” Mei shifted her weight into a more relaxed stance, forcing her hand to drop from her weapon, “I know you’re a Herrscher. My only question is, what do you plan to do with that power?”
“To take revenge on those that ruined our lives, of course,” Sirin snarled, “I know you heard what I told that other Valkyrie, I could sense you hiding in the shadows!”
“Yet all the scientists that mistreated you are already dead,” Mei pointed out.
“And if I stop here, how many others will Schicksal torture?! All for the sake of their precious Valkyries,” She spat the word like a curse, “How can you not understand? All of Schicksal deserves to burn!”
“No, I understand,” Mei said gently, “Something within me... understands your anger all too well,” Mei’s eyes fell as that roiling storm in the back of her mind seemed to brighten at her acknowledgement. Her eyes pulled back up to that angry gold a moment later, “But-”
“Then join me!” Sirin cut in, “If you understand my revenge then help me! Help me put an end to Schicksal!”
Mei shook her head, “And how many innocents will die? Will you rain your power down on Schicksal territory in the middle of cities of innocents? Damn those that had nothing to do with it?”
“They all had something to do with it!” Sirin screamed, “Just like that other Valkyrie! All of humanity stands aside and allows Schicksal to do as it pleases! You’re all guilty!” Sirin threw her arms down in anger and the force of power unleashed in her anger battered Mei with a shock-wave of Honkai energy. The priestess stumbled back, shielding her face with an arm as the output of the reactor began to fall once again.
“Sirin, please!” Mei pleaded, “I understand your hatred for Schicksal, but there are ways to act on your anger without hurting the ignorant! The innocent! Don’t use your abilities as a Herrscher just for wanton destruction!”
“No, you don’t understand! No one could ever understand what we went through in this hellhole!” A small creature flit about Sirin’s head, silhouetted against the pink light of the reactor. The Herrscher pulled her eyes from Mei as she turned to seemingly listen to it.
“Then show me,” Mei offered an open hand, her eyes pleading with the hurting girl, “Help me understand you.”
“You still...” Sirin trailed off and glanced at the strange creature hovering near her ear. A huff, and suddenly a swirling purple portal bloomed to life behind her. Mei stayed where she was, her hand still offered, as Sirin walked into the whirlpool of Honkai energy and disappeared.
“Do you think we can follow her?”
Mei sighed, “I’m not sure,” she replied to her own thoughts, “I’m unsure if I want to chance being alone with Sirin again in an even more unfamiliar place.”
“Are you afraid? You are the personification of Conquest. Do not let this pathetic child frighten you off.”
Mei frowned. Regardless of these strange thoughts, if she wanted to learn more about Sirin, she needed to stay near the girl as much as she could. With that in her mind, she stepped forward and through the rift in the air without hesitation. The Honkai energy keeping this rift in space open seemed to welcome her presence eagerly as she pushed her way through, tingling along her skin and leaving her mind disoriented as the space around her warped and twisted, shooting her towards the exit Sirin had created.
The dizzying disorientation along with the portal being a meter off the ground combined into the perfect blend to trip up anyone coming through. As such Mei found herself painfully stumbling to her knees with an explosive exhale as she fell from the portal.
“I’ve never warped this far before...” Sirin panted in the snow beside her, “It feels like my body is completely drained,” Her wary eyes burned into the priestess, “How did you follow me?”
Mei shrugged and slowly pushed herself to her feet, “I just walked through the portal after you,” She closed what little distance remained between them, the small girl obviously exhausted. Mei once again extended her hand. A small glance up revealed that behind Sirin was a strange orb-like structure covered in bands of Honkai chitin armour and an unknown dark substance flowing beneath. A noticeably large armour-less section near ground level retained its smooth shape despite the lack of chitin. Some other force must help it retain its shape.
Sirin glared at the limb as if debating on whether the woman was attempting some kind of trick for several seconds, “Why haven’t you tried to kill me yet like your other friend, Valkyrie?”
“What if I told you I’m not a Valkyrie?” Mei asked.
“Don’t lie to me,” She snarled, though its bite was noticeably weaker than back in the reactor room, “I could sense the touch of the Honkai on you. In your clothes. Just like the Valkyries and their cursed stigmata.”
Mei hummed, “Yes, my uniform is designed similarly to how Valkyrie battlesuits are meant to function, I’m sure. But it’s not quite the same. I also lack any stigmata or insignia of Schicksal. Shall I spin for you so you can observe my outfit?” Mei smiled wryly, “If I really wanted you dead, I would have drawn my sword already.”
The dissonance between Mei’s words and what Sirin could sense was obviously troubling the girl. That strange creature returned to flutter next to her ear and once again her eyes shifted as if listening to words only she could hear, “Whatever,” She finally grunted. Batting away Mei’s offered hand, she pushed herself to her feet.
While the girl was still wary and would no doubt attack her if she sensed trouble and had a suitable source of Honkai, Mei could not help but feel she had won another small victory as she fell into step next to the small girl.
“Why do you want me to run away?” Sirin hissed to the miniscule creature, “Those Valkyries are no match against me,” Sirin glanced at Mei before turning back to the creature with a small huff. Now that Mei was closer she could see that the strange creature seemed to be some kind of Honkai beast. The white chitin over pink innards and veins was instantly recognisable. The Honkai insect darted around her and Sirin finally beheld the thing resting behind her. Mei walked along beside the girl as she followed the Honkai insect towards a gap in the thick chitin. Once Sirin approached, the insect darted into the purple material showing from underneath the armour and wiggled its way inside, “Hey, where are you going?” Sirin approached to within arms reach of the strange substance.
“Have no fear,” A voice echoed inside Mei’s mind as if spoken directly into her thoughts, “You may pass as well,” Mei watched with a frown as Sirin hesitantly extended her hand towards the dark substance. She was... being guided by something? In all her research, Mei had never come across even the barest suggestion that there was some other force capable of guiding Herrschers towards greater power. Or was this... a manifestation of the Honkai itself? She breathed deep and steeled herself, stepping into the viscous fluid and following Sirin inside. It rippled and left an uncomfortable tingling feeling along her body. She could feel her gems flare in response, for the barrier and space behind it were saturated with incredible amounts of Honkai energy.
“What is this place?” Sirin’s voice echoed through the black void within this Honkai structure. Small fingers wrapped around Mei’s hand, nearly startling the priestess. Mei kept her eyes forward, sending a small prayer to the Moon that Sirin didn’t notice the small grin on her lips. The ground rippled with their every step like water, though it appeared to still be the substance they had pushed through. The splash of a falling droplet pulled their attention behind, to a place that had been out of sight upon their entrance. Sirin gasped at the sight before them. A frail voice cried out.
“Mama...”
Behind them had appeared a scene like out of a nightmare. A hospital bed surrounded by various drip-fed lines and monitoring devices beeping away. A figure lay in the bed underneath the thin hospital sheets. At the bedside was a sobbing, smaller version of the Herrscher Mei now stood next to. Sirin released Mei’s hand, taking a few hesitant steps forward before stopping just out of the light that lit this terrible scene.
“Mama!” The younger vision of Sirin cried out. Mei approached closer and the realisation settled in her gut as she spied the white sheet pulled over the bedridden figure’s head, “Don’t leave me behind!” The younger Sirin begged.
She stopped a step further than Sirin, hoping to give some sense of protection. Mei’s saddened gaze trailed back to the older Sirin. Her heart twisted at the sight of moisture welling in the Herrscher’s eyes. In that moment, Mei could not see the deadly monster she had always considered the Herrscher to be. Before her stood only a broken girl who had lost everything. The thought of trying to comfort the girl even flitted through her mind, the strange image of herself hugging a crying Sirin quickly flashing through the front of her mind. Instead she hesitated.
The reconstruction of Sirin’s past slowly disintegrated into particles of pink energy that coalesced into a hovering flame in the darkness. A burning ball pulsing with Honkai energy that seemed to burn maliciously as all other light faded around them.
“Alright, Dr. Einstein, did you find anything?”
Einstein frowned, first at the brown haired man next to her, and then at the Honkai measuring device in her hand, “No. No one here has Honkai levels above the critical threshold.”
“Wait!” Theresa interrupted the doctor, “I think a girl with purple hair went missing! Mei rushed out just before you got here and I haven’t seen her since either!”
Einstein hummed, “Perhaps she’s the one and this Mei caught on and spooked her too early. Welt, can you locate her for us?”
The brown haired man closed his eyes. After a few seconds he hummed a negative, “I can’t sense her presence in the tower.”
“There’s plenty of Honkai residue left behind,” Einstein observed, “Our instruments are picking up spatial distortions as well,” She scuffed her boot against the spattering of Honkai residue crystals that had formed on the flooring, “My best guess is that she left the place via a spatial rift.”
Welt held his chin between his knuckle and thumb in thought, “I sense a strange residual energy near these spatial rifts. Theresa,” He turned to the smaller girl, “Is this Mei a Valkyrie?”
“Yeah, she met me at the landing pad when I got here and helped me and Pat rescue the kids and find this residue,” Theresa replied, “Why?”
Welt hummed softly, “No particular reason.”
Theresa whined worriedly, “I hope Mei’s alright.”
The white haired man behind them finally spoke up, “We’re in serious trouble if that girl really left the tower. The Yugran weather rendered our auto-scanners almost completely useless. I hope you have a better solution for finding someone in that tundra.”
“Actually, Siegfried,” Einstein said, pulling out a sealed test tube, “We do have a backup plan,” She held the tube out towards Theresa, “Madame Theresa, would you mind lending us the Oath of Judah?”
“I don’t want to feel weak ever again,” Sirin declared to the void.
“Very good, Sirin,” That voice echoed in their heads once more, “Tear apart your human heart and rise as a true Herrscher!”
“Sirin,” Mei pleaded, “Your human heart is the most important part of who we are. Power with no heart to connect with others is simply cold destruction. I-” What could she even do here, she pondered? Sirin had been through so much pain, suffered the worst of humanity’s cruelty. Mei desperately wanted to turn the girl from this path despite the knowledge that beyond this illusion nothing will have changed.
“Humans poisoned your mother, Sirin. Kidnapped you for their torturous, inhumane experiments. And who cared enough to save you? No one. Nobody cares about you. They all sit by and let Schicksal do as it pleases as long as they offer empty platitudes of working to save humanity. Throw away the part of you that still holds their weakness and show them how powerless they really are!”
“Silence, creature!” Mei snapped. Mei glanced back to the girl to find her fists clenched tight, her features hardening even as a single tear slid down her cheek, and Mei knew that she had failed.
“I do not know why you suddenly appeared now. Nor why you seem so intent on convincing me of the good in people,” Sirin said quietly, “But you’re too late. I refuse to ever again feel the same helplessness I felt in that cell. I refuse to ever be under anyone’s power again,” Her voice fell to a low growl of anger, “I refuse to let any of them get away with what they did to us!” Her eyes turned up to Mei, her anger swimming in a sea of tears, “Are you going to try and stop me?”
Mei pursed her lips, emotions warring in her chest as she met the Herrscher’s wounded gaze, “No,” Mei answered softly, “I cannot stop you. I only pray you keep my words in your mind even as you become something more than human,” Mei slowly dropped to one knee, cupping her wrist with her left hand and holding her right hand out palm up with a bent elbow.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“If you will allow me,” Mei said softly, “I would like to pray for you as you take this next step on your journey.”
“Why?”
“Because...” Mei hesitated, the pink flame flaring brighter as if glaring at her for stealing Sirin’s attention, “I suppose the simplest explanation is that... I’ve always kind of fancied myself like a big sister,” A small smile flickered across her lips, “It is selfish of me, but I almost wanted to see you as a little sister of sorts. I was too late to protect you and the other girls here or guide you from this destructive path you feel the need to tread. In my selfishness, this is the last thing I can offer you. Sirin. I cannot promise your actions won’t lead to us crossing blades at some point in the future. But I hope that you can at least remember my short presence here as a reminder that humanity has kindness and love to offer just as much as it does the cruelty you have experienced.”
“Empty words from someone that arrived to late to change anything,” Sirin said sharply, though her eyes darted away to prevent Mei from reading any emotion that may be within, “Your prayer is meaningless. I am about to become humanity’s new god! I will never know weakness again.”
Mei pushed herself to her feet, her smile growing sad as the girl walked towards the glowing flame, “Very well,” She murmured softly, “I’m sorry, Sirin.”
Blue flames flickered to life around Sirin’s body as she formed a clawed shape with her fingers and placed her hand over her heart. Her tattered dress began to burn from her body as the massive amounts of ambient Honkai energy began to surge and rush into her.
Mei could do nothing but watch as the tortured, shattered girl died. And Humanity’s greatest living foe was born from the ashes of her grief.