Sirin’s Honkai surge had overloaded the feather of [Fenghuang Down] and shattered the illusion.
That backlog of rage and memories that had coursed through Sirin were now being transmitted back to the divine key.
Fenghuang Down worked as an intercourse of memories.
It acted as an interface.
Provided the basis to connect Cecilia’s memories and thoughts with Sirin’s to create a working illusion.
A simple trick of the senses was unable to affect a Herrscher.
To circumvent such a pitiful thing as a basic illusionary spell, the Divine Key of the Red Kite Immortal had fully connected itself, and therefore Fu Hua, to Sirin’s brain as well.
Cecilia’s memories flowed through [Fenghuang Down] and then were redirected into Sirin, an entire illusionary realm created based on the connection and the power of the divine key.
It sustained itself using Fu Hua as an anchor, while simultaneously protecting Fu Hua’s memories from being tampered with while the illusion was being sustained and Sirin was kept in the mental mindscape.
This worked as a two-way street.
While Cecilia’s memories were being flooded into Sirin to sustain the [False Paradise], the middle ground was Fu Hua.
During regular functioning, [Fenghuang Down] protected Fu Hua by creating a barrier between the memory and neural flow of the two involved participants.
However, the surge of Honkai energy caused by the Core of the Void alone would have been enough to damage the barrier, and let Sirin’s memories seep into Fu Hua partly, but with the added power of the partial Herrscher cores of the next few Herrschers–The Gems of Conquest, Desire and Haste–the barrier of the divine key broke.
In her rage and emotion, the depths of Sirin’s heart poured into Fu Hua’s mind, akin to the raging water of a dam after flooding season, breaking the concrete wall that was supposed to keep it at bay.
Nearly 14 years of memories flooded into Fu Hua.
From the muddled memory of Sirin’s early childhood including the death of her parents, to the far more recent memories of her encounter with the will of the Honkai and the torture she had faced at Babylon Labs in the name of Otto Apocalypse.
Hatred surged in Fu Hua’s veins for a second, overloaded by the [Ideal] known as Sirin.
But then, all of the murkiness and hatred-fueled rage was completely overwritten by the light that shone through the darkest depths of the abyss for Sirin.
The predominant and most beloved memories of Sirin now fully encompassed Fu Hua.
The years she was raised by Seiya and Seiya alone.
All the love and admiration the Herrscher of the Void held for her brother now fully flowed into Fu Hua as a result of the double-edged sword known as [Fenghuang Down].
The Devotion and Awe Sirin held for the only person who truly mattered to her.
These memories were few compared to the thousands of years the Red Kite Immortal had lived, but they were powerful.
The intensity in these were far beyond what she had felt for centuries, perhaps even Millenia.
Although these years flooding in from Sirin weren’t enough for a complete personality change, it did cause the otherwise strict woman to soften at her heart.
Enough to have a tangible effect on the Fenghuang Of Vicissitude known as Fu Hua.
Fu Hua’s affection for Seiya skyrocketed.
The already favourable impression she had for the boy who risked his life to protect his sister, now being turned into an intrinsic, instinctive feeling that would persist indefinitely.
Fu Hua was platonically smitten.
Sirin woke up a split-second earlier than Cecilia and immediately summoned her void lance in rage to impale the woman, the urge for destruction overwhelming her.
Seiya moved faster than should be possible.
Or rather, he had already anticipated Sirin’s reaction after being explained the details of the illusion from Fu Hua…who now seemed strangely still and overloaded to him.
He hugged Sirin in a gigantic embrace.
Unfearing of the Honkai energy radiating from her (The Gem of Serenity took care of it, brimming with red power) or the Void Lance in her grip.
Sirin dropped the lance, the metallic clang clattering on the floor and then disappearing into the depths of a void portal.
Sirin cried and wept, louder than she’d ever cried before, leaving Seiya’s shirt utterly damp.
He didn’t pull away.
Didn’t try to silence her or offer words of encouragement.
Just hugged her.
Held her in his arms until she calmed down by herself.
Her Honkai energy slowly dissipated.
Cecilia felt unimaginably guilty.
Self-loathing coursed through her as she backed away slightly.
Her maternal instincts were already unstable from the hormonal imbalance leftover from the birth of her daughter.
And now, they were judging her like scorned feudal lords for her actions in making the girl cry.
Welt looked down while still seated.
Every trace of anticipation and wariness he had still reserved for Sirin now completely depleted.
She wasn’t an adult like he was when he inherited the Herrsher core from Welt Joyce.
She was a fourteen year old—a child, crying into the arms of her brother.
Joachim Noachvarten, for the umpteenth time in his life, regretted he could not do anything.
Sirin’s wails quieted down slightly, and her body still shaking from sobs, she fell asleep in Seiya’s arms.
Her safe place.
Theresa and Siegfried arrived at the area, and both white headed warriors froze upon seeing Cecilia crying into her palms.
Fu Hua was crouched down besides the two purple haired figures now, her expression unusually soft and loving now that she’d recovered from the stupor caused by the backflow of memories.
They made to attack Sirin, but Cecilia, through a raspy, teary voice, shouted a resounding;
“NO!!
Don’t you dare!”
Clutching the Judgement of Shamash and Oath of Judah respectively.
Siegfried and Theresa both froze in place…and then quietly took their seats on the couches beside Welt Yang, like scolded children.
Otto Apocalypse sipped his wine with an enraptured feeling on his face and an astounded expression in his heart, watching the entire scene from the drone that had been spying and listening into the situation.
As he had hypothesised, the feeling of love could overpower even the Honkai.
Though these findings were extraordinary.
Not just romantic will but platonic love could reign supreme over destruction as well.
He would have to make changes to his hypothesis.
Otto sighed, dumping his expensive wine beside him, as his secretary ‘Amber’ looked upon it, for once not chiding him for it.
She, too, felt moved by all that had happened.
Otto was resigned.
It was clear that both Sirin and Seiya would go over to Anti-Entropy instead of Schicksal.
The Herrscher of the Void aside, his interest in Seiya was far greater than that in Sirin.
It was truly a shame, but he couldn’t allow such assets to fall into the enemy’s hands.
His old friend would survive, and the S rank Valkyries…were a loss he was willing to accept.
The divine keys would survive, and little Kiana would surely grow up to be a force much stronger than her parents.
His granddaughter would escape, he’d use the manual override he placed on her to ensure so.
‘Ah…What a loss.’
Otto swirled a fresh cup of wine, though this thought was dictated more towards Seiya than towards the Valkyrie or even the divine key.
He could see it from here.
Seiya was Sirin’s ‘Kallen’.
And any person resembling Kallen was already held in Otto Apocalypse’s eyes in highest esteem.
Seiya was considered by him to be in the upper echelons of humanity, a true saint, on the same level as his beloved Saintess.
“I am about to erase something I can no longer justify erasing—even to myself.”
That was why what he was about to do was such a loss.
He issued a command, a complicated expression of mourning on his face.
His actions would lead to the death of another saint of humanity, like he had inadvertently killed his Saintess.
“Amber…Launch the Honkai Fissile Bombs”
Haii~ My proudest chapter yet.
I think its beautifully written, pulling at my heartstrings as I wrote it.
Review if you can.
Just..enjoy my magnum Opus.
Farewell~