A short time earlier...
[Warning! Warning! Detected massive Honkai energy reaction!]
[100HW… 200HW… levels rapidly rising! Location identified: Nagazora City!]
"Damn it. My date didn't even start before it was ruined."
Far above a sea somewhere in the Far East, a massive white warship sliced through the turbulent clouds at high speed, heading straight for Nagazora City.
Striding across the bridge with hurried steps, a mature red-haired woman clenched her jaw as the blaring alarms echoed through the entire vessel.
Her frustration was written all over her face.
She was still wearing the crimson evening dress she had picked out for the date, and the makeup she'd carefully applied was now utterly useless given the circumstances.
She was Himeko Murata—Valkyrie instructor of Schicksal's Far East Branch, captain of the Valkyrie 5th Squad's floating warship Hyperion, and a major in rank.
Worse than her last ruined date, this time she didn't even get to see her date before she was yanked back to work.
[Energy surge still increasing—400HW!]
Another spike in the alarm wiped the complaints from the seasoned single woman's face.
In its place, a grave expression took over—one she rarely wore.
This was no ordinary Honkai event anymore.
Her elegant figure sprinted toward the captain's quarters, red hair flying and chest heaving as she moved with urgency.
'Could this be...?'
———————————————————————
Meanwhile, the events inside Nagami's consciousness were completely unknown to the outside world.
Time, accelerated by his mental abilities, flowed differently here.
To an outside observer, only a few dozen seconds had passed.
The energy torrents, beams of light like crashing waterfalls and tsunamis of chaos—showed no sign of settling.
On the contrary, they were growing more violent.
And since no Herrscher had been born yet, the Honkai energy attracted by the evolving Gem of Conquest continued to pour in without pause.
That was the rule of the Honkai.
After all, it's not like anyone has ever hit "undo" halfway through childbirth.
Normally, if a suitable vessel were exposed to a high enough concentration of Honkai energy, and also possessed a Herrscher Core or Gem, a Herrscher would inevitably be born.
But that didn't mean all the Honkai energy was used to create one.
It was also needed to create Honkai beasts, deadwalkers, and natural disasters.
Only a small portion was actually used to give birth to a Herrscher.
But this time was different.
All the Honkai energy that would normally be diverted to cause other disasters was being drawn into one place.
And more importantly... it had been hijacked.
Worst of all, if no Herrscher emerged soon, this abnormal state would just keep going.
The brilliant violet current swirled around Nagami and C.C., concentrating into a radiant mass of pure energy, glowing like a miniature sun.
Only the tiniest sliver of energy managed to seep past them into the Gem of Conquest inside Mei.
Even the environment was beginning to transform under the overwhelming pressure—leaves and stems of nearby plants turned purple, disintegrating into glowing particles that floated into the air.
The heiress Kiana frowned deeply, clearly troubled.
The amount of Honkai energy Nagami and C.C. were absorbing had already far exceeded what it took to birth a typical Herrscher.
'What the hell is he doing?'
She knew Nagami wasn't the type to do anything without a plan—but still, believing in him was one thing...
Staying calm in the face of this much Honkai energy was another story entirely!
And then—
She turned toward the other her standing beside her.
The black robe wrapped around the her other self-body had long since been torn away by the energy-charged storm.
The normally lively girl now stood blank and dazed, her once-bright blue eyes glowing with a golden hue.
Her pupils flickered between blue and a fiery orange-gold, and from the surrounding vortex of energy, another small stream broke away—floating directly toward her.
It was clear.
The Herrscher of the Pufferfish inside her was waking up under the influence of this extreme energy environment—and joining the feeding frenzy.
Without a change in expression, the heiress Kiana channeled her saintly powers and struck the stream down, sending it flying back where it came from.
Another herrscher? No thanks.
Want Honkai energy? Dream on.
Still, if Sirin were to awaken now… even with her full strength, the heiress Kiana knew she had no chance of winning.
So—
'Nagami, what the hell are you doing?! Wake up already!!'
She screamed in her heart.
Two girls who looked exactly the same stood side by side.
But at this moment, no one had the luxury to pay attention to that bizarre sight.
Not Bronya.
Not Cocolia, watching through Bronya's eyes.
No one dared to move.
[Detected high-intensity Honkai energy: 1000HW… 2000HW… 3000HW… still rising…]
As the research team reported the rapidly climbing numbers, the once-busy room gradually fell silent.
One by one, their hands froze, tools forgotten.
All they could do was stare at the screen, watching the boy and girl bathed in that apocalyptic storm of light—eyes filled with heavy, helpless dread.
The purpose of Cocolia's experiment this time was to test a theory: transform a human into a Herrscher, reclaim that Herrscher, and see if the resulting energy could fuel a quantum-to-reality leap.
She was halfway to success.
That is—she was about to turn a human into a Herrscher.
[4000HW... 5000HW...]
The readings might still have been climbing, but by now, no one was paying attention.
When you're standing next to a bomb, whether it's one kiloton or ten makes no difference to you.
Cocolia's full chest rose and fell slightly with her increasingly uneven breathing.
Beads of sweat shimmered on her forehead as she swallowed hard.
Regret was already setting in—she shouldn't have unleashed so much Honkai energy on Nagazora City.
She had no idea how those two mysterious individuals were doing it, but the energy they were absorbing had already exceeded—conservatively estimated—five times the amount typically needed to birth a Herrscher.
Five times.
And that was a conservative estimate.
Under normal circumstances, if an average human male came into contact with even a billionth of what Nagami was absorbing, they would've been vaporized on the spot.
And if anyone were foolish enough to attack—or even touch—those two now standing protectively in front of Mei, the floodgates would open.
Without the constraints of their physical bodies, all the Honkai energy they had taken in so far would erupt in an instant.
With the Herrscher core and its vessel nearby, that explosion of Honkai would instantly give rise to a new Herrscher of Thunder—one born from the energy of an entire city.
There was no way Cocolia could reclaim something of that scale.
The success rate would be zero.
A third Herrscher born from the total Honkai output of a metropolis…
The entire Far East might not survive it.
At the heart of it all, Nagami and C.C. remained still, eyes tightly shut.
But something had changed.
The purple corruption—those ominous lines that marked Honkai erosion was slowly fading from their bodies.
It would reappear with each new surge of energy but then dissipate again not long after.
They were absorbing an ocean of Honkai energy.
And within that sea of energy, if the fragments of Honkai Will pooled together and truly awakened the Honkai God…
Then no matter how evolved Nagami's soul had become, even with the power of Code and the world of C, it still wouldn't be enough to control that.
But…
"You can't eat an entire feast in one bite, right? I'll just pace myself."
Each time the Honkai Will began to gather—reaching just enough sentience to stir but not fully awaken—Nagami would activate Code, dragging it into his personal "black room."
Then he would "discipline" it with the full force of Code until that lofty, superior consciousness of the Honkai God became… obedient.
The next time a piece of Honkai Will arrived, Nagami wouldn't be fighting alone.
He'd have a "tamed" fragment of it helping him subdue the other part—until the main one brought under his control.
Eventually, all of the Will fragments would merge into one obedient whole—loyal and devoted—waiting in the C-world for the next piece to arrive.
With this power, Nagami gained full control over the Honkai energy in his body.
He had reached a point where magic practically cast itself.
The Honkai energy—infused now with emotion, with affection toward him—would respond to his will, reshaping itself however he desired.
But just as Nagami was hard at work within the depths of his soul, something unexpected occurred.
Every ounce of Honkai energy in Nagazora City was now converging on this spot.
The deep violet particles condensed, purified, and transformed into light, rushing toward Nagami and C.C.
Among the dazzling violet, a single wisp of cherry blossom pink stood out.
Without hesitation, this strange hue flowed straight into C.C., following the current of light.
A crimson sigil appeared on the girl's flawless back—though no one was there to see it.
A Stigmata.
Not some divine miracle out of Christian lore.
No, in this world, Stigmata were a legacy of the last era's research into fighting the Honkai—part of what was once known as the "Fire Moth Project."
It was a form of inherited power—more precisely, a biological storage unit for energy.
A Stigmata could significantly enhance a Valkyrie's strength, increasing her internal Honkai reserves while shielding her from its corrosive effects.
In the howling storm, the girl's soft, silky hair flew wildly, the green tips slowly turning… pink.