Chapter 44 : A Helping Hand
Kiana rushed toward the girl hovering in the air. But there are many zombies on the way and she needs to bash heads to get there.
"Get!" she bashed her bat to the zombie at the right. "Out!" to the zombie at the left. "Of!" she jumped to the back to dodge the claw coming to her face. "My!" she swung the bat upward, right toward the zombie's chin. "Way!" she kicked the stomach of a zombie, making it fly far away.
Kiana looks up and glares daggers at the long hair girl who is just looking at her with a smirk on her face.
"No normal person can survive the Honkai eruption! What are you?!" Kiana yelled but she got the answer in the form of a lightning bolt.
The Herrscher in Raiden Mei's body is underestimating Kiana. That's why she is not using her full power. She was trying to play around before finally killing the whitehead.
"Don't worry! I will save you no matter what!" she told the long-haired girl with determination on her face even when she was busy dodging the series of thunderbolts coming toward her skillfully. But the area is too small and there was some time she almost got zapped. But luckily, she managed to use the bench near her to cover herself.
After seeing the bench get destroyed because of the thunder, the expression on Raiden Mei's face turned 180 degrees. Before, she was looking down on Kiana and had a smirk on her face. But now, her face shows nothing but fury.
"How dare you?!" she screamed. "how darE YOU?! how dAre yOu?! How dARe YOU?! hoW DARe yOU?! hOW dare You?! how DARe yoU?! HOw dAre yOu?! hOw daRE YOU?! HOw DAre YOu?!" Thunders are striking at random places at a radius of 100 meters.
Kyuushou who is looking over the two of them smiled a little. "Uwahh… She is pissed," she chuckled.
"Is it okay for you not to interfere, Miss Houraiji? They seem to be acting out of the script," Luna asked the chuunibyou. From what Kyuushou told her, Raiden Mei was not supposed to take Kiana Kaslana seriously.
"Don't worry. Just believe in Kiana," Kyuushou replied while bending the incoming lightning bolt away from her.
"As you wish, Miss Houraiji," Luna nodded. Looking at the way Kyuushou talk, she still can't understand why the Savior refused to talk normally in front of her Master. Every time Kyuushou opens her mouth, she always talks the way what her Master called "Eighth-Grader Syndrome".
"By the way, Luna. I was meaning to ask you something," getting annoyed by the coming thunderbolts, she created a shield around her and Luna so that the thunderbolts bend away from them.
"Yes?" Luna tilts her head.
"How many sedative pills did you put inside Urien's coffee?" Kyuushou asked. Yesterday, she and Luna told Urien that they will be going to Kyoto for a week. And just after they walked out of the house, Luna stopped the time and put the sedative pills inside Urien's coffee.
Luna looked at her watch and thought a little. "He won't be awake for another 4 hours," Luna replied.
Kyuushou couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth at Luna's reply. Even then, she chose not to say anything. Looking over the fight, Kyuushou calculates a little. "The fight will last for another 15 minutes. For another five minutes, Mei will try to suicide and Kiana will try to save her. The two of them will take a break for another 30 minutes. Bronya will meet with them in an hour after they pass through the school gate. It will take 3 hours from school to our home if they were to go on foot," Kyuushou thought while planning for the future.
"Luna, the timing is perfect," Kyuushou smirks. "Did you put everything necessary back at our house?" Kyuushou turned around and asked.
"I put all the food and drinks as you told me, Miss Houraiji. I am sure Miss Raiden will be able to prepare for them," Luna nodded.
"Well, help won't arrive until next month after all," Kyuushou sighed. "Well, let's keep on watching over them, shall we?" she smiles as her gaze falls upon the two figures fighting each other.
The Herrscher inside Raiden Mei's body does not understand why she is feeling angry. It was just a simple bench. But why did the owner of this body get angry when it got destroyed? She doesn't like the fact that she was being controlled by the emotions of her host.
"Die! Die! Die!" She shoots lightning after lightning toward the whitehead.
"Tch!" Kiana clicks her tongue and dodges the lightning coming her way. She can't get close to the one controlling the lightning as she was still busy dodging.
Knowing she won't be able to do anything with the girl that keeps on dodging, the Herrscher summons a huge thunder and shoots it toward herself.
"What is she… That thunder! It is filled with Honkai Energy!" Kiana exclaimed after seeing the unbelievable scene. "A human who can absorb Honkai Energy and still come out without a single scratch," Kiana analyzed. "I see… It seems I got involved in a pretty terrible thing," she sighed as she finally reached the conclusion.
A wing made out of thunder appeared behind the right side of the Herrscher's back. Kiana gazed at the wing as the pattern on it was eye-catching.
"This time, I will kill you for sure," the Herrscher snares.
Many zombies also arrived on the roof. Kiana knows that she won't be able to win if she keeps doing things half-ass. She slapped both of her cheeks and concentrated her focus on the Herrscher. In order to save the girl, she needs to approach the Herrscher. She believes that she will be able to return her back into a human.
Without caring about the zombies, Kiana ran toward Herrscher. But the Herrscher is not underestimating her now. She is using her full power. She creates a thunder ball compressed between her hands and shoots it toward Kiana.
The silver-haired girl tried to strike it back to the Herrscher with her bat but looking at her bat, it is unusable now. So, Kiana dodged the thunder ball and started using both of her pistols. This is when her Kaslana Gun Kata truly shines.
The Herrscher tried to kill her with the next strike but a memory suddenly surfaced from her mind.
Flashback start
"Mei," she saw a silver-haired boy sitting beside her on the bench. "You know? Although I am called Gregorios, it is actually not my real name," the boy she had fallen in love with told her one of his secrets. "My father is an Apocalypse and mother is a Kaslana," he added.
"Kaslana… isn't that the same last name as that transfer student from Class C?"
"Yes, the same Kaslana. I think she is some kind of my family," the boy chuckles and holds her hand. "So, can you help me protect her? She might be the only lead I have on my mother's side of the family," he requests.
Flashback end
Just before she deals the final blow, she hesitates. The feelings of Raiden Mei are flowing into her. She knows the fact that she is not Raiden Mei. But she can feel both her sufferings and happiness. All the memories of her host flow into her. But she knew that the memories were not hers.
She doesn't want to kill the girl in front of her. But she must if she wants to change the world to her liking. She must if she wants to fulfill the wish of her host. Even though she is not Raiden Mei, she is also one and her host also agrees with her. Her host accepts her. That is enough for her to fulfill the wish of her host. The world where she and her friend can live freely, without being ostracized by the people around them. She will fulfill the way she is proficient in. By destroying all the humans aside from her host and her human friend, even if he had turned into a zombie.
But… she also doesn't want to kill the girl. She was torn between killing her and not killing her. The silver-haired girl is the only one who wasn't affected by her power. She is the only one she can talk to right now. The memory of her host came up again. It will be like when she was outcast by everyone in the class. It will be like the same situation as when Urien was not her friend yet. She will be all alone again and she doesn't want that.
"Save me?!" For the first time since the two of them started fighting, the Herrscher started talking about what came inside her mind. "I don't know what you mean by that!" she rushed toward the whitehead with a ball made out of thunder on her hand.
For the first time since she existed in this world, she felt fear. She doesn't know why she wanted to be saved. It is not what she was supposed to do. She was supposed to destroy humanity, not to get saved by one.
"Yes! I will save you! Your face looks like you were asking for help!" Kiana screamed back, shooting the Herrscher with her guns. She is using the bullets specially manufactured to fight against Honkai.
The Herrscher couldn't believe it. Was she making that face all this time? Was she asking for help? Why was she asking for help? She doesn't know. But she let her guard down and the girl rushed toward her and hugged her, grabbing her thunder wing with her hand.
"What?! Release me!" she screamed and the electricity was released from her body.
"Never!" Kiana replied. "Kaslana blood, our blood, my body can stop the Honkai Energy!" she added and started taking the Honkai Energy as if taking the burden off the shoulder of the long-haired girl.
"Don't touch me! Leave me alone!" the Herrscher started thrashing around.
"Tch! Honkai Energy is starting to attack me. It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!" She screams internally. But even if she got hurt, even if she feels like her body is going to break apart, she won't release her hands. She will save the girl no matter what.
"Please! Let me save you! Let me carry your burdens too! You don't have to be alone!" Kiana begged the Herrscher. She truly wanted to save the girl in front of her. Through Honkai Energy, she felt some of the feelings the girl is feeling right now. Loneliness, sadness, depression, hatred, and many more.
"No... ," the Herrscher whispered. Her mind is in turmoil. She wanted to accept the girl really bad. But she held herself.
"Please? At least think about him. What will he say if he sees you like this?" Although Kiana doesn't want to bring it up, she did anyway. She brought up the boy with whom Raiden Mei always hung out. She doesn't know about him that much but he seems to be like the guy whom she can relate to.
"For my sake…," Herrscher mumbled. She had lost her only friend. But she knew what he will tell her after looking over her host's memories.
"Yes, he would say that. He will tell you to live for yourself. So, what do you want to do?" Kiana keeps pushing.
Tears are falling down from the Herrscher's face. "I want to be saved," she whispered. "I want to be saved," finally, like a broken dam, tears started falling down from her face, and yelled at the girl.
"Then please take my hand!" Kiana held out her hand and prepared to save the girl from her own misery.