A/N: So I've written the last few chapters of the Volume so I'll just upload them daily until its complete.
***
As the camera footage played, it showed a woman who bore an uncanny resemblance to the Herrscher, walking down a back alley street, behind her two other women, or NPC's as you'd call them, were following her, giggling between themselves.
Suddenly the two women broke into sprints towards her. Noticing too late the woman had no time to react as she was tackled to the floor by one of the attackers. Unable to see the faces of the two attackers from this angle, they both pulled out knives.
Just as the blades came close to her body, they suddenly stopped. Then quickly froze over completely before ice started to spread to the attackers arms as they panicked, unable to do anything and were soon completely encased in it.
Finally, the 'victims' hair turned pure white, she began to rise into the air, and in a swift hand motion, the whole area became white, and the feed cut off.
"…" No one said a word, everyone knew that anyone can become a Herrscher, but to see the process of how one was born, it also matched with Aurora's report of her interaction with the fifth.
"Su. Who was she?" Mei muttered, Su immediately snapped out of his daze and searched any of the local databases for a match and found one.
"Riley Astera, 22 years old, model for…" He trailed off before ending, "Expelled from her university after being framed for attacking the two people in the footage…"
As the room was silent yet again, only the sounds of typing could be heard.
"No matter, save the footage for later analysis, maybe we can find out how to prevent a Herrscher from appearing with the right steps." Once Mei finished, she turned and headed for the exit.
"But–" Klein quickly held his shoulder shaking her head.
–Shhhhh–
***
The following couple weeks was anything but good, for Thor, he was used to it, the amount of casualties surprised him, he did run around the world taking out a few hordes and saving groups before going to Aurora, but for the others. It was a major shock for them.
Elysia being the caring soul she is, was on the verge of tears, but held them until she was with Thor and Eden that night, Eden was the same, she just knew how to hide it better.
Himeko took it better, considering all she's lost on the battlefield, but her mood was noticeably worse for the rest of that week, she even changed the training regimen the troops go through to be more focused on their survival.
Kevin and Hua however, they took it hard, Kevin turned colder. Both figuratively and literally, he spent most of his days training and barely smiling or joking outside of the time they all spent together, even Mei started to become concerned for him.
Hua didn't leave her room for the day, Himeko and Vill were constantly trying to comfort her and get her to come out of her room for food at the very least.
Vill's reaction was more concerning as if he didn't know any better, he'd say she had a split personality, one moment she was her normal self, the next she'd be obsessed with finding ways to kill Honkai easier.
"Haah." He sighed to himself.
"Mr Thor? Are you okay?" Thor glanced down at the bundle of joy, internally promising to himself to protect his 'little sister', yeah he might be treating her like his actual sister, but they were so alike in these aspects.
"It's nothing for you to worry about. Just eat your ice cream okay. I even added a special ingredient just for you." He patted her head, she melted into it, almost like her ice cream was melting under the sun.
"Mmm, Okay!" Rin nodded, going back to her ice cream, more determined to taste what he put in it.
'So Cute.' Then he felt a gaze on them and looked towards the canopy, catching Sakura's eyes on them. She gestured to her wrist, signalling that it's time.
Understanding, he told Rin that he had some work to do and that she should enjoy her ice cream before going to see Blanca and Ato.
"Please take care of Sakura Thor." Rin said before putting another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and smiling again.
"Haha, I will."
…
–Shhhh–
As Thor and Sakura walk into the lab Mobius calls out. "Finally you're here."
Without asking, Mobius dragged Sakura off with her to another room, passing her what she'll wear for the surgery.
…
Su looked up from the console, "How are you doing Sakura?" looking at the pinkette within the chamber.
She gave him a nod to which Su then turned his head to Mobius, giving her the go as well.
Thor stepped in front of the capsule and began to explain to Sakura what honkai she'll be integrating with.
"The Honkai was designated as Yaksha, an Emperor–Class in power, but given the Judgement level, due to its spiritual nature, intangibility, feats that seemed to mimic magic, it was also able to shapeshift. Hence the name Yaksha." He waited for Sakura to nod, showing she understood his words.
"While we've been lucky so far, we know that there is a chance for a mutation to occur, whether that be internally or externally is up to fate, we've taken as many precautions as we could, I'll even be watching over you the whole time okay?"
"Yeah. Thanks Thor."
Hearing her response Thor smiled and let Mobius begin the procedure.
***
Wandering through the halls of Moth, Rin was looking for Uncle Ato and Aunt Blanca. She'd never been to their place directly, but she has interacted with them enough to call them that.
"Where did Onii-Chan say they were?" Pausing in the middle of the halfway, Rin held the sides of her head as she tried her hardest to try and remember where Thor said they were.
But all she could remember was the incredible bowl of ice cream, she had quite literally been so invested in the treat that she tuned out what he said.
"Curse Thor's incredible food skills… Wait, don't actually, who'll give me such good treats otherwise." Rin was torn, she didn't know which to think.
"Arghhh! Forget it. Hmph, I'll just keep looking for them." Throwing the thought to the back of her mind Rin continued her journey.
…
'A child?' Amidst her wandering, she entered room after room, finding nothing, but boring adults in meetings, none of them were Ato or Blanca, much to her disappointment.
But now she came across a child alone in a room… Painting.
Letting her curiosity get the better of her, and happy that she might not be the youngest person at Moth beside Hua, but she didn't count in Rin's mind.
As she approached, the little girl's head turned to her instantly, her sleepy purple eyes scanned Rin before she slowly said,
"Yellow, white, good." Rin had question marks next to her head, confused at the girl's words. Before she could ask what it meant, the girl turned back and continued her painting.
Seeing that the girl was kneeling on the paper, Rin thought to sit down next to her.
Rin sat in silence, somehow, with only the girl's paint brushing, brushing against the paper, a blank expression on her face.
…
"Rin."
The girl paused and looked at Rin. Tilting her head slightly, a questioning look as if trying to understand.
"My name, it's Rin. What's yours?"
"..."
"..."
"Griseo." The now named Griseo said, before reaching for a second brush from her pot and holding it out to Rin.
Rin smiled joyfully as she gently took the brush, Griseo pointed to an empty spot on the paper and Rin understood what she wanted.
Completely forgetting about finding Ato and Blanca, Rin and what she hoped was a new friend Griseo, painted for the next couple hours.
…
Without the two painters knowing, a few minutes ago, both Ato and Blanca had come for Griseo, they wanted to make sure she came for dinner. They had been a little concerned at not seeing Rin, but they knew that the overseer wouldn't let anything happen to the pink gremlin.
And what do you know, they find the girl painting with their daughter. Rather than interrupting them, they chose to stand away from them and watch them be too invested in painting to notice.
Whispering to his wife, "When was the last time she let someone paint with her?" He watched her fall into thought before she whispered back.
"When she first met Dr Mobius… 4 years ago…"
Both parents glanced at the paintresses and gave warm smiles as Griseo gave Rin some help and guidance every so often.
***
As Thor helped Sakura out of the chamber he noticed her two new appendages on the top of her head. They even seemed to twitch and move, 'Maybe they're actually functional.'
Su came out with a scanner and a data pad that he was already entering information into.
"How is she?" Su noticed the two new additions to the top of her head.
"She'll be fine, there's nothing wrong I can notice, but she is a bit out of it, but for now I won't force any changes in her body, it's better to let her adapt properly."
Su agreed and held the scanner just above Sakura's chest as it started to get a read on the numerical amount of her internal Honkai energy. Due to Thor's suppression of her energy, he can actually do this, otherwise they'd have to wait days or even weeks until she fully stabilises.
Ding~
Seeing that it had finished scanning Su took a look at the results.
[Honkai Energy Level]
[HW - 1867]
[Fluctuation - 7~%]
"That's a good amount, guess being compatible really does have its benefits outside of surviving." Su mentioned to which Thor snickered.
"Come on, let me get her to the room, before we do anything else." Thor then lifted the semi-conscious MANTIS into a princess carry and moved her to the side room designed for new MANTISs to contain their uncontrolled Honkai.
***
A/N: As you can see, these chapters will be a bit slower as they are more so the aftermath stuff for the 5th eruption, a few changes happen.
Oh also, give me some ideas for some original arcs based on the story so far, I don't really want to just stick with certain cannon events or slip a few changes in, a few original mini arcs could be good to write.
Ciao