Yama had never drowned. Among her many skills, swimming was not missing, though she rarely went swimming. But now, as she looked up at the flickering lights above that seemed ready to vanish at any moment, her body sent warnings of suffocation. The colorful, noisy sounds of human voices buzzed in her ears as death flowed into her body drop by drop.
This was perhaps what drowning felt like... It was said that when people were close to death, they would see things they couldn't see before. Many points of light flashed before her, making indistinct sounds—wailing, calling. Many things that didn't belong to her were crammed into her brain. The world was about to burst. Her body was about to be torn apart.
Everything— Kill kill kill kill kill kill kill.
"AAAAAAAAAA!"
It wasn't pain. A sensation far more intense than pain crashed through her body, wanting to take everything from her.
"Continue the injection, 200CC confirmed..."
"No! CM-000's consciousness can't handle it anymore!"
"It hasn't reached the critical point yet!"
"If this continues, we'll only create a new Herrscher!"
"We can't stop! Stopping the surgery will cease CM-000's vital signs!"
"But we can't create a new Herrscher of Reason!"
What were they discussing? Are they going to give up on me...
In this moment, Yama thought of many things. From her aching brain, many images burst from the cracks. From a cold machine to the present, she had gained many things and lost many people. She had wanted to trade her life for something more than once, but every time... someone else would come to save her.
By now, her life was no longer just her own. She carried the past of those people. She had to live, or she would tarnish the meaning of their lives. She couldn't die... at least not here...
"AAAAAAAA!"
To the astonishment of everyone, the bloodied figure on the operating table let out a howl that sounded almost synthesized. Her brilliant black hair lost its color in the blink of an eye. When her closed eyes snapped open, they looked as if colorful paints had been poured into them—her pupils were overtaken by shifting rainbow colors.
At that moment, one of the researchers suddenly pulled out a pistol hidden under his white lab coat, aimed it at the others in front of him, and pulled the trigger without hesitation. The researcher's pupils had turned a strange azure blue.
Bang!
The Fire Moth headquarters, filled with laughter and joy, met its end today. Simultaneously, "humans" possessing minor Herrscher abilities appeared across the world, totaling a thousand. The new Herrscher of Reason, born in the project titled "Abaddon Yama"—a product of the old serpent that tempted humanity to eat the forbidden fruit and the Great Red Dragon—led this group of Herrschers and began the cleansing of the world.
Namely, the Tenth Honkai.
Half a year after this Honkai began, the human population was reduced to only ten million.
...
"Get out of my head..."
Yama slumped over her desk, burying her head in her arms. If anyone had looked at her eyes from below, they would have found that her black eyes had turned into a faintly glowing rainbow color. She held her head, gasping for breath. Two people were fighting in her mind, desperately trying to evict the other.
She didn't know what was happening. Suddenly, a consciousness that didn't belong to her wanted to occupy her body. This feeling was familiar, as if she had experienced it somewhere before. As the light in her eyes reached its brightest point—like two bright lamps—she gritted her teeth and growled:
"Get... out—!"
The burden in her brain suddenly vanished. Her head struck the desk. She breathed heavily, soaked in sweat. She had already lost once; she absolutely could not lose a second time—
Yama, who was gasping for air, suddenly froze. What was... "losing once"...
...
To Lin astonished gaze, the flickering clock tower suddenly solidified. Immediately after, a brilliant light appeared in front of the giant clock.
An ominous premonition surged in his heart. Lin shielded his eyes from the piercing light with one hand. He did his best to adapt to this light that seemed to scorch everything in the world. He vaguely saw a human figure deep within the light.
"A person?"
After the light completely dissipated, he slowly opened his eyes wide to see a figure floating beneath the sunlight, like a deity descending to the world. A familiar face and a head of flawless silver-white hair. She wore nothing, her body merely wrapped in bandages. Her pale face looked like that of a patient newly recovered from a serious illness.
Danger!
The moment Lin saw her, the instinctive soul-trembling he felt when he first met Yama surged back. The next moment, the person floating in the air opened her eyes without warning. A pair of rainbow pupils that stole the sun's radiance fixed firmly on Lin.
Lin turned and ran without a second thought. She could fly, her eyes were abnormal, her dress was strange, and she made him feel danger... All these factors combined led him to think of only one thing.
A Herrscher.
Why did Yama suddenly recover her Herrscher abilities? And why was she attacking him?
Lin leaped over the wire fence, falling rapidly toward the ground below the teaching building. Two turrets appeared behind the "Yama" in the sky. Without command, the dark barrels lit up with destructive light, firing half a second later and arriving instantly in front of Lin!
His pupils shrank—not because of the attack, but because the two beams passed directly through the building and the people inside. They were pierced by the high-temperature beams but felt nothing!
This was an attack directed only at him!
Lin grabbed a windowsill with one hand, his muscles tensing to stop his fall, then used the momentum to swing himself out. The beams had predicted his landing spot, so they missed. After hitting the ground, they left no trace.
In mid-air, Lin saw the Yama inside the classroom; she was currently reading her book as if nothing had happened. That Herrscher... wasn't Yama? No... he wouldn't mistake her. That was Yama appearance, and even the pressure she exuded was identical to the original.
Attacks that didn't damage physical objects, directed only at him, a Herrscher that looked exactly like Yama...
Lin understood. This was Yama world. He had mentioned more than once that this was Yama world, cast by her heart's desire. In this world, everything she sought had returned to her, and she would evict anything that shouldn't exist.
Like the Honkai. Like... Lin.
This was a Herrscher derived from her will—a Herrscher specifically created to evict Lin!