Chapter 46 : Goodbye, Partner

Sometime before Urien meet the trio at his doorsteps,

"Why am I feeling suddenly refreshed?" Urien muttered as he woke up from his sleep. Rubbing his eyes, he looked at the alarm clock beside him. "Wait… it's already 1 P.M? Crap… I guess I am skipping school today," he thought as he stretched his body.

He walked toward the bathroom to wash his face, then toward the kitchen to prepare some snacks for him to eat. Just as he was about to eat some sandwiches he prepared, he heard some noise coming from the door.

"Three people at the door," he muttered. "Kyuushou and Luna went on a vacation yesterday, so I can rule them out. I didn't give my address to Bianka and Rita. But knowing them, it won't be hard to find my home. And I asked for their help to deal with the corpse of the pseudo-Herrscher and the police," Urien thought as he walked toward the door with Oath of Innocence hiding behind his back.

When he got in front of the door, he heard Mei's voice from the other side. He opened the door and yawned. "Why is it so noisy out here?" he asked.

But he got confused when he saw Mei, Kiana Kaslana and a girl he didn't know in front of his house. But what made him more confused was their dirty clothes and Mei's face full of tears.

So, he asked just what came into his mind. "What are you guys doing here instead of going to school," he deadpanned at them.

"Urien!" Mei suddenly hugged him and sobbed. Kiana is staring daggers at him and Bronya is lost in thought after hearing his name.

"Uwahh… Mei, you smell like a corpse," Urien stated while pushing Mei back a little. "Go and take a bath," he added, not knowing what they had gone through.

A blush appeared on Mei's face. "Wait… do I really smell like that?" Mei asked while sniffing herself.

"You! How dare you say something like—," Kiana tried to reprimand Urien but she closed her mouth and retreated immediately after sniffing Mei's clothes. That made Mei depressed even more.

*Roar!* *Roar!*

They heard the zombies coming from the back. "Urien! Go back inside! We will handle this," Mei prepared and positioned herself to protect Urien.

Seeing the zombies, he was reminded of the time when he, together with MEI and KEVIN needed to use their everything to survive the Honkai outbreak. It was hard for them to survive until Fire Moth came and picked them up.

Many thoughts are going through Urien's mind. The sight of seeing Honkai Zombies again after all these years of peace made him feel miserable. But what made him even more miserable was that he had failed to prevent Mei from becoming a Herrscher.

He heaved out a sigh. "You three must be tired after coming here," Urien said as he took a step forward. "Leave these Honkai Zombies to me and go and take a shower in the house," he added after taking out the Oath of Innocence.

"Wha?" Mei was confused about how Urien knew about Honkai. Even she knew about it because Kiana explained about them. And even though she had seen those pistols, she had never seen Urien hold those in his hands.

Not wanting to lose to Urien, Kiana also stepped up and prepared her pistols. Looking at the girl beside him, he cannot say he is surprised. She is a Kaslana and he knew their oath.

"Do you have enough ammo?" he asked the girl.

"I still have a magazine worth of bullets left," she answered after noticing that he was not trying to make her go away.

"Then, stop whatever you are doing after you are out of bullets and go take a shower in the house," Urien nodded his head and rushed headfirst into the zombie hoard.

He started off with Gyrodrive Kata from Kaslana Gun Kata. He fires 4 shots in rapid succession. He then follows up with Nocturnal Cantata, which is a 3-hit Gun Kata sequence followed up by Sturmgeschütz AOE spray.

Gyrodrive Kata

Nocturnal Cantata

Looking at Urien from behind, Kiana's mouth was hanging open. She had seen these before. It is the technique of her house! She was shocked to see someone else using the Gun Kata technique of Kaslana!

"Get a grip, Kiana! This is not the time to be shocked! Show Mei-senpai how much stronger you are than this man." With that in her mind, Kiana also rushed toward the zombie hoard.

As for Mei and Bronya, both of them went inside the house since they didn't have anything to do. The two whiteheads in front of them are enough. Even though Mei wanted to ask Urien how he knew about Honkai, she went and took a shower as instructed by him.

After a while, Kiana had used all her ammo and went back inside the house to peek at Mei's bathing scene and join her if possible.

As for Urien, he kept killing and killing and killing. He was so immersed in killing the zombies that he didn't notice he had killed all of them. Over hundreds of zombies came here because of the sound of the gunshot and there were even some Honkai Beasts joining from time to time.

After making sure all the zombies in the area are gone, he sighed in relief. "I should check my temper," he thought. He almost lost his temper during the fight and almost returned back to his previous life self.

He swore not to return to his old self. He doesn't want to sacrifice his loved ones like that guy. Current him is not someone who would sacrifice something in a heartbeat for the greater good. He will still do it if there is no other choice but he will sacrifice himself first before he sacrifices others.

「Partner」 Urien suddenly heard his other personality calling out to him.

『Yes?』 He answered.

「Don't you think that it is also time for you to become a Herrscher?」 He asked.

『I… don't know』 Urien honestly don't know if he is ready. Being a Herrscher is a heavy burden. Even more so if he can be himself instead of the enemy of humanity.

「You shouldn't doubt yourself, Partner. You are more than ready」 His other personality urged him to become one.

『But...』 He still hesitates.

「Humanity has the 1st Herrscher by their side in this world. Don't try to burden yourself. The reason why I am telling you to become a Herrscher right now is that there won't be any more Honkai Zombies after you become a Herrscher. Well, you know? Because of that…」

『Then, I accept』 Urien, finally gave in. If it is to save humanity, throwing away his humanity is nothing. After all, he threw away his humanity to become a MANTIS to fight against Honkai in his past life.

「That's what I want to hear!」 The voice of his Herrscher Consciousness rang out in his mind.

Later, Urien could feel his body starting to change. It hurt him so much but he refused to scream. After a while, the pain fades and he notices that his hair turned blonde.

「I will be forming a core now」 The other voice rang out in Urien's mind.

『I don't think Honkai Energy in this area is enough to form one』 he replied, earning a chuckle from the other personality.

「Who said I am getting it from around here?」

『You aren't? Then where?』

「Secret」

『Sure, you and your secret』

Just like that, the Herrscher Consciousness inside Urien started absorbing Honkai Energy from who knows where after taking control of Urien's body. The ex-whitehead noticed that a core was forming inside his body.

「Well… I guess this is goodbye」 His other personality started, earning a stare from Urien.

『Wait… what do you mean?』 He asked, not sure what he heard before.

「I said, it is time for me to go. Seriously, what will you do without me?」 The other voice sighed and joked.

『I… what? You are going?』 Urien is still in shock. It was too sudden. He thought the other personality would stay with him even after he had become a Herrscher.

「You didn't know? Jeeze, you are an idiot」

『But… you are going to leave just like that? After tormenting me in my sleep for the previous 5 years?』

「Well, I have my reasons to give you nightmare」

『Just… What am I supposed to do after you leave? You had my back in all these years』

「I don't know… just kick more butts for my sake」

『I will』 Urien nodded.

「Then, I will be going. Just… don't forget to flip a bird toward that old hag for me」 His other personality jokes. That old hag he talked about was the Honkai.

『Don't worry. I will even punch her in the face for you… Partner』 He is not crying. He was used to losing people. So, he doesn't cry when his friend is leaving him. But it doesn't mean he is doing well.

「Heh, you finally call me your Partner」 The voice fades until he can't hear any more voices in his mind.

『Goodbye, Partner』

It will take a while for him to get used to the emptiness inside his mindscape but he will do just fine. After all, he promised to punch the face of Honkai and he must survive to do so. That's why he will live on no matter what.