"The First Honkai War, the Second Eruption, the Schicksal War—"
"The things that could be salvaged, the ones that could be redeemed, have quietly been rewritten at this very moment... While those that cannot be salvaged will be forever remembered and passed down by people..."
"The mistakes he made on his journey forward are constantly being amended by his successors... St. Freya Academy, Welt Joyce in the Schicksal War, Murata Himeko..."
"These small patches may not be enough to fill the gaping holes left by those enormous mistakes... but they are still enough to offer some comfort."
"So now... it's time to respond, Mother. What is your attitude toward that man? What will your response be?"
The mother and daughter strolled through the silent forest. The pursuers from St. Freya had long been left behind, and the Herrscher of Corruption, watching the two discuss family matters, also shut her incessant mouth quite sensibly.
"That man has walked through five hundred years of time, shouldering five hundred years of suffering... Although suffering is just suffering, suffering does not bring success, nor is it worth pursuing, but it is enough to temper his will, making it as hard as iron."
"But he still reserved the last shred of tenderness and weakness for his family—"
"Alright... Snow, don't say any more—no matter how eloquently you put it, I'm determined to beat Otto up!"
Kallen interrupted Miss Snow, who was about to continue rambling on and venting her emotions.
The invincible Saintess Kallen began to perform her own class-change ceremony, cracking her knuckles—the Iron Fist Saintess.
"...As long as you're happy, Mother."
Staring at the branch crushed into sawdust, the blonde girl wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
"Beat up Otto?! Who's beating up Otto? Count me in!"
An ill-timed voice rang out from the surroundings, filled with excitement and curiosity.
"Come out... or I'll drag you back to that old antique Fu Hua you were just talking about to get beaten up—"
Snow, recognizing the voice, twitched her eyebrows.
[Why is this unlucky kid not going to find Kevin or Su, or even go torment Imhotep? Why did she come to find me???]
The girl, heartlessly persecuting another version of herself in her mind, stared sternly in the direction the voice had come from. A Shenzhou Tablet Unit 2, dressed in a casual style and designed by who-knows-who, popped out.
"Wait, are you that Immortal from Shenzhou???"
Kallen looked at this woman with a familiar face but a very strange aura and asked uncertainly.
"Yes, yes, yes! I like the sound of that! Kallen Kaslana, right? I, Fu Hua, am definitely making you my friend—"
Hearing Kallen's question, Senti threw the unpleasant experience of being beaten by four people in a "justified" four-on-one fight at Schicksal behind her, and started acting all chummy and familiar with Kallen, putting her arm around her shoulders.
But acting all chummy with Miss Kallen Kaslana came at a price... for example, being taken advantage of, the very displeased Lord Snow Apocalypse—
"Oh, really? Didn't someone just get beaten up on Schicksal Floating Island by the real Azure Empyrea and her crew until they couldn't tell north from south?"
"Oh my... how pitiful—even though she's the Herrscher of Sentience, she got knocked flat by another Herrscher, Miss Kiana Kaslana, with a folding chair... oh wait, a park bench."
"Can't beat her own old antique, and even got soundly beaten by the Kaslana family's coalition... Now she can only go around swindling people using some Immortal's name, oh my, how pitiful—"
It had to be admitted, the Apocalypse family's mouths could truly infuriate people to death. Even Kallen, who stood by and listened to her nominal daughter's sarcastic tone, thought about giving her little head a good smack...
Naturally, not to mention the Herrscher of Sentience herself, whose temper was even more impatient—
"You bastard! Don't think I'll be afraid of you just because you're a god—"
Having her past exposed, or rather, having salt rubbed into her unhealed wounds, Miss Snow successfully enraged Senti, who was only a few hours old.
The latter glared at the blonde girl, her face a mix of wanting to punch her but not daring to.
"Aha! Who's the one who ran away from home and abandoned her own antique parent? Who's the one who entered her rebellious phase the moment she was born, had a huge fight with her family, and now has nowhere to go, sleeping rough in the wild—!!!"
"That's you, Herrscher of Sentience!!!"
"You bastard!!! Why are you even more annoying than that old antique!"
Senti, nearly driven to tears by this vicious blonde, pointed a finger right at Snow's nose and yelled.
"Not only am I annoying, but you also have to beg me for help. Does that piss you off, Herrscher of Sentience? Just tell me, does it piss you off—Ow!!!"
"Mom, why are you hitting me?! If you're going to hit someone, hit this Herrscher instead!"
"Between the two of you, I think hitting you is the right choice at this moment—"
Kallen Kaslana, who had just given her own daughter two hard knocks on the head, looked at the aggrieved Herrscher of Sentience.
"So, Miss Immortal, is there something you need our help with?"
"Hmph... Not really, but hey, God—I'm switching jobs to work for you from now on! As long as you back me up when that old antique tries to discipline me later!"
"Switching jobs...? How... as a Herrscher, shouldn't you be working for the Will of Honkai? Even if you wanted to rebel and go on strike... jumping straight to a new boss like this is a bit too much, isn't it?"
The blonde girl rubbed her head, which had been gently knocked by her own mother, and stared with a strange expression at this newborn Herrscher born with a rebellious streak.
"Ha? Who wants to work for that invisible and intangible Will of Honkai—that pyramid scheme boss better not get caught by me, I'll beat her every time I see her!"
"But you're different. First, you're visible and tangible, not some ethereal abstract thing. Second, you're also the successor to that organization called Schicksal, right? Working for you means I can get those... what were they called... five major insurances and a housing fund? You'd definitely provide those, right??"
Fu Hua casually scratched her own clothes, then paused to organize her thoughts.
"And most importantly... did you guys just say you were going to beat up Otto? I'm an expert at that! Little sister Kallen, let me tell you... if you want to hit that old bastard named Otto Apocalypse, aim for his face. The sound of that Soulium face crunching under your fist is truly, truly wonderful—"
-
"You're discussing beating up your new boss's dad right in front of her... Are you stupid?"
Standing to the side, Snow's expression began to gradually distort as she listened to Senti chatting enthusiastically.
"Bad! Then let me ask you one thing, Little Boss, do you want to beat him up? Do you want to? Hurry up and decide, or I won't bring you along when I hit him!"
"Fine, count me in. I suggest you go to Anti-Entropy and recruit a few more people..."