‘Thinking’
“Talking”
“Attack”
Act 4 (Part 7) — Shadows, Wine, and a Knight’s Vow
[ Location: Astral Express – Party Car ]
[ POV: Himeko ]
Dan Heng set his cup down, the porcelain making a tiny, sharp clink against the wood.
His eyes stayed glued to Welt.
“You inherited it?
So…
you’re saying you’re one of them?
A Herrscher?”
Welt didn’t answer right away.
He reached back, grabbed an unopened bottle of red wine from the sideboard, pulled the cork with a blunt pop, and took a direct, unrefined drink straight from the glass neck.
For a man who usually wouldn’t let a speck of dust touch his coat, the sight was jarring.
March actually stopped breathing for a second.
“I am,” Welt said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
He looked down at the dark liquid sloshing inside the bottle.
“How I’m sitting here talking to you instead of tearing this train apart…
that started fifty thousand years ago.”
He took a slow breath, letting his shoulders drop.
“In the Previous Era, there was a girl named Elysia.
She was the First Herrscher born from the Honkai, but raised around human warmth.
She loved people.
She hid what she was, joined the defense force known as Fire Moth, and eventually became their Deputy Commander.
When the Eleventh Herrscher wiped out the last three cities on Earth, Elysia made a choice.
She allowed herself to be killed by her own comrades to sever the Honkai’s total mental grip on future Herrschers.
Her sacrifice was the only reason those of us in the next era kept our minds.”
Welt stared blankly at the tabletop, his voice dropping an octave.
“When humanity crawled back out of the dirt thousands of years later, two factions rose from the ashes.
Schicksal run by three old noble bloodlines: Kaslana, Apocalypse, and Schariac.
And the World Serpent, operating from the shadows under the surviving Flame Chasers.
Then came the modern age.
The First Herrscher descended during a Honkai eruption, pulling three hundred thousand dying souls into his mind at once.
That sheer weight of human consciousness didn’t break him it forged a man who chose to protect humanity.
He called himself Welt Joyce.”
A faint, bitter smile touched the corner of Welt’s mouth.
“He was my mentor.
My big brother.
When he realized how corrupt Schicksal’s leadership was, he split off and founded Anti-Entropy.
That sparked a cold war between us and Schicksal.
Years later, Schicksal’s Overseer, Otto Apocalypse, launched a tactical Honkai bomb at us.
Joyce took the full force of the blast to shield the city.
As he lay dying in my arms, he passed the Core of Reason to me.
I took his name so he wouldn’t be forgotten.”
Welt took another long pull from the bottle.
His hand was trembling now.
“Then came the Second Eruption.
A child named Sirin was tortured in a Schicksal lab until she broke, awakening as the Herrscher of Void.
She hated the world.
She went to the moon, gathered more power, and came back to wipe us out.
My best friend, Siegfried Kaslana, his wife Cecilia Schariac, and I fought her.”
Welt swallowed hard, his eyes glossing over with unshed tears.
“We were losing.
Siegfried forced his genetic limits to break Sirin’s offensive, while Cecilia used her bloodline to soothe the girl’s rampage.
But Siegfried was dying of Honkai radiation.
To save him, Cecilia unleashed the full power of her Divine Key, Abyss Flower, cleansing the entire battlefield.
And right then…
right when she was completely drained…
Otto dropped another bomb on us.
Cecilia used the absolute last spark of her life force to build a shield over Siegfried, their baby daughter Kiana, and me.
She took the blast head-on.
She died so we could live.
Siegfried and I collapsed…
and in the chaos, Otto stole the real baby Kiana from the wreckage.”
A heavy silence settled over the lounge car.
March was quietly dabbing her eyes with a napkin, her shoulders shaking.
Dan Heng sat frozen, staring at his hands on the table, all too familiar with the weight of bloodlines and lost lives.
Welt wiped his face quickly, his voice raspy as he pushed through the rest.
“When Siegfried woke up, he searched everywhere.
He eventually raided a Schicksal facility and found a clone Otto made using Sirin and Kiana’s DNA designated K-423.
He couldn’t find the real baby, so he took the clone, named her Kiana, and raised her as his own daughter on the run.
Before he had to go into hiding when she turned sixteen, he trained her to fight…
and, because he was an idiot, he taught the poor girl how to flirt with women.”
March, who had just tried to swallow a sip of tea to steady herself, instantly choked and sprayed water across the table.
“He taught her what?!” This story is hosted at g.com.
Welt let out a soft, genuine laugh before continuing.
“She spent years looking for him.
She ended up in Nagazora City, where she rescued a girl named Raiden Mei during a Honkai outbreak.
Kiana snapped Mei back to sanity when her Herrscher powers awakened, teamed up with Bronya Zaychik, and the three of them were taken in by St.
Freya Academy run by Kiana’s aunt, Theresa Apocalypse.”
Welt leaned his head back against the chair.
“Eventually, all three of them grew into Herrschers themselves.
I passed the Core of Reason to Bronya.
Kiana mastered Void and Flames, and later became the Herrscher of Finality.
Together, they defeated Kevin Kaslana the strongest survivor of the Previous Era and saved the world.
To clear the Honkai from Earth for good, Kiana absorbed ninety-nine percent of its energy and sealed herself on the moon.”
March sniffled, looking up.
“So…
she’s just up there all alone?”
“Mei visits her constantly,” Welt said gently.
“And the rest of us go up for a big reunion every two months.”
Himeko leaned her chin on her hand, a faint, teasing smirk breaking through her quiet solemnity.
“And why does Mei get to visit her constantly?”
Welt chuckled softly.
“Well…
you don’t leave your wife alone in space, do you?”
“Ah,” Himeko smiled warmly.
“I see.
I’m glad she has someone.
But Welt…
if your world was finally at peace, what brought you onto the Astral Express?”
Welt set the wine bottle down.
The subtle, nostalgic warmth in his eyes faded, replaced by something deep, steady, and entirely focused.
“Two years after the Honkai was sealed, I picked up a distress signal through the Quantum Sea from another timeline,” Welt said softly.
“Someone I knew was in danger someone I failed to save in my home world.
I left everything behind to make sure she was safe.”
Himeko raised her eyebrows, her smile turning lighthearted and curious.
“Oh?
Who was the lucky girl?
And why haven’t you found her yet?” She raised her coffee cup toward her lips, with March and Dan Heng following suit.
“How sad for her…
her knight in shining armor stopped searching.”
Welt waited until the rim of the cup touched Himeko’s lips.
“I didn’t stop,” Welt said quietly, looking directly into her eyes.
“I already found her.
She’s sitting right in front of me.
I came across the stars for you, Miss Himeko.”
PFFFT—!
Coffee and tea sprayed across the table in unison.
Himeko choked on her drink, her cheeks turning a vivid, sudden shade of red as she fumbled for a napkin, completely losing her usual composure.
“I..pardon?!”
March slammed both hands onto the table, her eyes wide.
“No way!
Mr.
Welt hopped across universes for you?!
That is ridiculously romantic!”
Dan Heng calmly wiped a drop of coffee off his cheek and gave Welt a single, resolute thumbs-up.
Welt gave a tiny, dignified nod back.
Pom-Pom gasped, clapping their paws together.
“Is Navigator Himeko going to get married now?!”
“P-Pom-Pom, please!” Himeko stammered, covering her blushing face with both hands.
It took a solid minute for the noise to settle.
Himeko took a slow breath, lowering her hands to look at Welt with a quiet, lingering realization.
“So that’s why…
when you first stepped onto the Express and looked at me…
you looked like you were seeing a ghost.”
An awkward, heavy quiet settled over the car, filled with unspoken thoughts.
Dan Heng cleared his throat, neatly shifting the topic.
“Welt…
how many Divine Keys were created in the Previous Era, and what can they do?”
Welt set the wine bottle down on the coasters, grateful for Dan Heng’s deliberate pivot.
The lingering blush on Himeko’s face was only just beginning to fade, and March was still trying to scrub the spilled tea off her coat with a paper towel.
“Thirteen Divine Keys,” Welt began, his tone shifting smoothly back into his familiar, measured lecture voice.
“Forged by Dr.
MEI and the Previous Era’s lead engineers using the Cores harvested from killed Herrschers.
Each key inherits and stabilizes the specific ‘Authority’ of the Herrscher it was built from.”
He tapped his fingers on the table, counting them off in order.
“The 1st Key: Void Archives.
Key of Revelation.
Built from the Core of Reason.
It takes the form of a golden cube containing the entire accumulated knowledge of the Previous Era.
It can replicate almost any weapon or device it understands though it also possessed a cold, scheming consciousness of its own.”
“Wait,” March paused mid-scrub, looking up.
“The very same,” Welt sighed, shaking his head.
“He’s an annoying artifact, but undeniably capable.”
Welt continued down the list:
The 2nd Key: Cosmic Juggernaut (Seed of Sumeru).
Key of Infinity.
Born from the 2nd Herrscher of Void.
It can rupture spacetime, observe parallel leaf worlds on the Imaginary Tree, and open stable gateways through the Sea of Quanta.
The 3rd Key: Seven Thunders of Retribution.
Key of Sanction.
Built from the 3rd Herrscher of Thunder.
A shapeshifting weapon often a sniper rifle or katana capable of firing concentrated electromagnetic blasts that disintegrate matter on a cellular level.
The 4th Key: Key of Restoration Zenith Tempest.
Born from the 4th Herrscher of Wind.
A massive orbital satellite designed to manipulate global wind currents, filter Honkai radiation, and restore damaged planetary biomes.
The 5th Key: Great Hybernation.
Born from the 5th Herrscher of Ice.
Capable of creating absolute-zero fields.
It served as the cryo-shelter that kept human survivors alive across fifty thousand years.
The 6th Key: Abyss Flower.
Key of Creation.
Born from the 6th Herrscher of Death.
Recreates and destroys matter through their atomic structure.
Can split into two separate weapons, with each taking either recreation or destruction.
Seperated known as White Flower and Black Abyss.
The 7th Key: Judgement of Shamash.
Key of Destruction.
Born from the 7th Herrscher of Fire.
A pair of dual pistols that merge into a colossal greatsword at full power the Might of Anutu.
It unleashes localized stellar heat, but it burns its wielder’s life force just as ruthlessly as its target.
It was the Kaslana family heirloom.
“That sounds terrifying,” March muttered.
“A sword that burns the person holding it?!”
“In the hands of a normal human, yes,” Welt agreed.
“Only those with mutated genetic resistance could survive drawing its full power.”
He moved to the remaining keys:
The 8th Key: Fenghuang Down.
Key of Consciousness.
Built from the 8th Herrscher of Sentience.
It creates absolute mental illusions, alters memories, and allows the wielder to anchor their soul inside someone else’s mind.
The 9th Key: Star of Eden.
Key of Devouring.
Built from the 9th Herrscher of Earth.
Welt tapped the heavy black cane leaning against his chair.
“This is the one I wield is replica I created with Herrscher of Reason’s Authority.
It controls gravitational fields, generating artificial black holes and crushing spatial mass.”
The 10th Key: Xuanyuan Swords.
Key of Domination.
Unlike the others, the 10th Herrscher split into one thousand individual minds.
Thus, one thousand elemental swords were forged.
They adapt to match the nature of whoever wields them.
The 11th Key: Oath of Judah.
Key of Binding.
Born from the 11th Herrscher.
A golden cross that deploys energy chains.
Within its field, all energy Honkai, elemental, or artificial is utterly nullified.
It is the ultimate anti-energy field.
The 12th Key: Jizo Mitama.
Key of Corruption.
Born from the 12th Herrscher, a sentient digital and biological virus sealed within a dark katana.
The 13th Key: The Blank Key.
Key of Humanity.
A specialized suit of armor that allows a human without Herrscher compatibility to temporarily channel a Herrscher Core’s power at severe cost to their own life.
Dan Heng listened attentively, processing the operational scope of each artifact.
“A arsenal built on the literal corpses of godlike entities…
Each one designed to counter specific physical laws.”
“Precisely,” Welt said softly.
“They were humanity’s desperate response to an existential threat.”
Himeko, having fully regained her composure, took a gentle sip of her coffee and smiled.
“A fascinating, tragic piece of history, Welt.
But now that we know Member #85 Kiana Kaslana and Void Archives are active…
what’s our next move?”
“We stick to our plan,” Welt said, his expression settling into a warm, grounded calm.
“We make our supply run at Herta Space Station.
If Void Archives or Kiana attempt to reach out to us…
we will welcome them as guests on the Express.”
Pom-Pom puffed out their chest and raised a small paw.
“And Pom-Pom will make sure the guest room is spotless!”