"From the situation at the time, it was probably because they were hit by the Herrscher of Thunder's attack."
"After that, everything they constructed using the authority of the Herrscher of Reason completely dissipated."
Bronya added: "Mei must be somewhere out there, fighting side by side with us. Bronya can feel it too — although very faintly, the power of the Herrscher of Reason seems to be slowly flowing back into the core."
Fu Hua continued: "Mei's strike greatly weakened the puppets' power. They probably no longer have the spare capacity to control the Herrscher authorities."
Kiana understood: "In other words… as long as we keep weakening their power, we can take back the authorities they stole."
"Then… what we need to do is very simple."
"We just have to hold on until that moment — and that will be our victory."
Kiana charged toward the center of the theater first.
A puppet suddenly appeared to block her path: "Kiana… I didn't expect you really defeated that Herrscher of the Void?~"
Kiana said: "Yes. Sorry to disappoint you.—"
The puppet gritted its teeth and laughed: "Hahaha, fine, strong, really impressive…! The despair of losing your teacher couldn't crush you, the Herrscher of the Void couldn't defeat you, even those cores couldn't trap you…"
"Fine, fine, Kiana. I admit it — you might really be a hero."
Kiana firmly rejected: "I'm not a hero. The ones who led me, who guided me — they are the true heroes."
"I'm just walking the path they left behind, so that I can remember… that they once existed."
The puppet said: "Is that so? Maybe that's true."
"—But we're different!"
The Herrscher of Domination used the people in reality as threats.
"We're not heroes, and the people you want to save — they're not heroes either!"
"They're puppets just like us — failures who gave up struggling, who don't know why they're alive. They hate their own powerlessness and weakness, and they turn that hatred into resentment toward the world!"
Kiana declared firmly: "You do not represent humanity."
The puppet said: "But we are the real shadows that exist in the human heart — the unspeakable ugliness. What controls these thousand people is the unified will of a thousand!"
"A thousand sorrows, a thousand despairs, a thousand madnesses, a thousand curses — wanting to be destroyed, wanting to be imprisoned, wanting to be dominated—"
"Countless malice twisted and combined, together building this Theater of Domination, creating the Herrscher of Domination!!"
Kiana said: "You only see the dark side of the human heart, yet you close your eyes to anything beautiful."
"You dominate humans, make them give up, but you never listen to the other voice inside them."
"That's why you're nothing but puppets of Honkai. I will destroy this theater and let all the dominated people reclaim their own hearts."
The puppet said no more: "Fine, Kiana. The final stage has been set for you. Come! Next… it's the ultimate showdown between the hero and malice!"
Kiana stared ahead: "This is the final stage. We're here, Herrscher of Domination!"
The three of them stepped together into the center of the theater.
They watched their surroundings warily. The entire theater was empty.
But the moment Kiana took one step onto the platform, space surged above the theater. A gigantic hand, as if made of nothingness, emerged from it, holding countless threads in its grasp. Those threads controlled countless puppets.
The puppets laughed, went mad, and charged straight toward Kiana.
"Kiana, watch out!"
Fu Hua rushed forward immediately, using the power of Fenghuang Down to block the beam released by this Herrscher of Domination — this rabble.
Kiana seized the opportunity and charged into the crowd of puppets, beginning her slaughter.
The puppets raged: "Why won't you just stop? What's the point of doing these meaningless things?"
"You should be trapped here forever! Until you turn to ash and smoke!"
Kiana said nothing.
Her guns danced through the air. Bullets continuously struck the puppets. Each shot opened a small pocket of space, devouring part of the puppets.
Now she could fully use the power of the Herrscher of the Void.
Fu Hua kept a constant watch on the giant hand above. Whenever it tried to sneak attack Kiana, Fu Hua would rush in to block and counter it. But her strength was no longer sufficient.
After two consecutive clashes, she was grabbed by the hand and pulled up into the sky.
"Class Monitor!!"
Bronya provided cannon support: "Give the Class Monitor back!"
The puppet giggled: "Hehehehehehe! Don't rush, don't rush — it'll be your turn soon."
More and more puppets, controlled by the giant hand, descended onto the platform.
Individually they weren't strong, but they had numbers and no regard for their own lives…
They kept charging at Kiana and Bronya, draining their stamina and restricting their movements.
"Kiana! Watch out." Just as Kiana focused on dealing with the puppets, the rabble launched another attack. Bronya charged forward and knocked Kiana aside, taking the hit herself — and was then grabbed.
"Bronya!"
Kiana leaped into the air, trying to catch Bronya.
But the gravity of the field suddenly reversed. Kiana accelerated and fell downward, narrowly missing Bronya.
Kiana thought quickly.
This entire field had been the Herrscher of Domination's domain from the very beginning. They could control everything here.
The puppet taunted again: "Aww, angry now? Angry now?"
Kiana's response was a headshot from her gun.
Another puppet said: "Why struggle in vain? Why resist meaninglessly?"
Kiana answered with bullets once more.
As she cleared the puppets on the ground,
The floating rabble above combined into a single humanoid monster and landed on the platform.
This was the moment she had been waiting for!
Kiana instantly pulled the trigger, hitting the rabble.
She accelerated and charged in front of it. Her handgun, empowered by Herrscher energy, gradually transformed into a greatsword.
She swung the greatsword in three consecutive slashes, then leaped high and thrust it deep into the rabble's body.
A terrifying surge of Honkai energy was injected and detonated inside the rabble instantly.
The entire ground was left with nothing but wreckage.
"It's over!"
It should have been…
But suddenly, the puppets' laughter rang out around her.
The Herrscher of Domination: "Despair will not disappear. We will not disappear. You cannot change the malice in human hearts. You cannot change this ugly world."
"Kiana… give up struggling…"
The surrounding space suddenly lit up.
Kiana clearly saw Bronya and the Class Monitor both bound by the Herrscher of Domination's threads. The tough threads had even cut into their wrists, and blood dripped from the air…
"Bronya… Class Monitor…"
The puppets that should have been defeated stood up again, pulled by the threads.
The Herrscher of Domination: "Without Herrscher authority, you're nothing but an ordinary weakling."
With a slight tug, Bronya and Fu Hua let out pained sounds… The threads tightened even more.
"Let them go!"
Kiana was completely enraged. She swung her greatsword relentlessly, cutting down puppets, trying to get closer to the two.
But more puppets surged toward her from all directions like a tidal wave.
The Herrscher of Domination: "Relying on so-called justice and kindness — in the end, it's all just self-satisfaction. You cannot change the malice in human hearts. You cannot change this ugly world."
Under the endless siege of puppets, Kiana was finally knocked to the ground.
"Just… a little more…"
The instant she was tackled by the puppets, Kiana summoned Void lances, trying to sever the threads binding the two.
But everything… had already been anticipated by the Herrscher of Domination: "You can't even… protect them."
The Herrscher of Domination pulled the threads. Bronya and Fu Hua's bodies twisted instantly, blood spraying along the threads.
"This is… the end of humanity."
"We are all failures."
"Humans… are all failures."
The Herrscher of Domination's threads gradually wrapped around Kiana. This power wanted to control her, invade her heart, make her completely become one of them.
"They've already fallen. You are… the last one."
"I will not… submit to you! I refuse…" Just as Kiana's consciousness was about to fade, she seemed to see that crimson back: "They… never gave up. Now it's my turn… to do what I must!"
"Go tell everyone — their choices were not wrong!"
Countless flames surged from within her, blasting away the puppets holding her, burning the threads that bound her.
Kiana raised her greatsword once again and stood: "Is that all your attacks amount to?"
"Now it's my turn! Any objections?"
She ran again, fought again. The core of the Herrscher of the Void was embedded in the greatsword, its power greater than before. Every swing annihilated several puppets.
The Herrscher of Domination: "Why stand up again? No matter how much you struggle, the outcome won't change!"
The puppets drew weapons — some with grappling claws, some with machine guns.
Machine guns suppressed Kiana's movements while grappling claws seized the chance to grab her, binding her body.
Then all the puppets wielding longswords charged together, aiming to deliver the final blow.
At that moment,
Dozens of energy cannons constructed from the authority of the Herrscher of Reason pierced through the puppets.
"Hm?"
The Herrscher of Domination and Kiana looked over together.
Bronya lay on the ground, unable even to stand: "Kiana doesn't care about any of that, because she's an idiot. An idiot… who never gives up."
With her last strength, she embedded the core of the Herrscher of Reason into the greatsword, combining her will with Kiana's to construct hundreds of light cannons.
"Fire!"
The cannons fired in unison. All the puppets were annihilated.
At the very last moment, unnoticed by Kiana, she combed Kiana's scattered hair into a single ponytail.
The Herrscher of Domination raised its hand, pulling every pillar in the rest of the theater toward the center, smashing them down to crush this person who refused to die!
But a single feather drifted down quietly.
Fu Hua: "She changed me. She changed many people. In the future, she will change even more. I want to witness the day that arrives…"
The Herrscher of Domination followed the feather's path. Kiana, who should have been crushed to death, now appeared in the air. As feathers scattered around her, she transformed into a flaming meteor and plunged downward.
"We will not stop here!"
Seeing this, the Herrscher of Domination dared not hold back any longer. It summoned countless giant hands to intercept the flaming meteor, enveloping it, pushing it toward an even deeper abyss.
"Your ideals can never be realized. This world has never been beautiful!"
"No way!!!"
The last core on the greatsword — the Gem of Haste — shone with light.
"The world is certainly not beautiful enough, but someone told me not to give up. They guided me and proved to me that this world isn't so bad."
"I love them, and I love everything they love."
"This sword connects us."
"It will burn away the pitch-black sky and let light reach even farther places."
"This is… the way we go home!"
Endless flames surged from the greatsword, illuminating the abyss, igniting the sky, dispelling all darkness. Guided by Kiana and supported by everyone, it slashed toward the Herrscher of Domination.
The two collided — a clash of power and conviction!
In that moment,
Kiana seemed to see Himeko within the flames.
She was still smiling so gently — the greatest recognition she could give to her student.
For that, she could not lose!
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!"
The flames pierced through everything… incinerating all malice!
The battle came to an end.
Countless viewers in front of their screens burst into tears once more. Eyes that seemed to have run dry of tears became wet again.
This time it was different from before — these were tears of relief, tears of emotion.
Even those who hadn't cried earlier could no longer hold back their tears.
"Kiana has grown up… wuwuwuwu…"
"My tears really won't stop… Kiana…"
"This is Kiana's way home."
"Wuwuwu, this scene has so many details, so many parallels to the Final Lesson."
"Fight for all the beauty in the world!"
"Fight for all the beauty in the world!"
"Fight for all the beauty in the world!"
"Fight for all the beauty in the world!"
The audience was so moved that for a moment they were speechless, not knowing what to say. In the end, they simply flooded the screen with "Fight for all the beauty in the world!"
Inside the company,
Mobius, who rarely showed emotion, had only been quietly crying earlier. Now she was completely choked up, tears streaming uncontrollably.
Compared to the audience, they — the actors — could immerse themselves even more deeply and truly understand how hard it had been for Kiana.
They were moved by Kiana's growth and profoundly understood the weight behind the words "Fight for all the beauty in the world."
At this moment,
Not a single person spoke in the entire break room.
Everyone was crying. Everyone was happy for Kiana.
The little bug had finally grown into a hero. She had taken up Himeko's flame and illuminated the entire world.
This night!
Countless viewers would be unable to sleep because of her.
This night!
The entire internet would explode because of her alone.
This night!
Kiana had stepped forward to become this world's one and only hero.
And the drama continued.
Above the ruins of the Theater of Domination,
Kiana held her sword in one hand, pointing it at the last puppet: "You lost."
"…" The puppet knelt on the ground: "Lost… yes, we lost… but what did we lose to…?"
"Did we lose to justice? To hope? Or… did we simply lose to power…?"
Kiana said: "You wouldn't understand."
The puppet looked up at her: "But we want to understand, Kiana."
"Kiana, we really envy you… Why do you always win?"
"No matter what obstacles you face, you never waver… No matter what desperate situation, you can turn it around with your own strength…"
Kiana replied coldly: "I was never alone."
The puppet said: "But we're not alone either… We clearly… had a thousand companions…"
Kiana said: "What connected you wasn't ideals, wasn't understanding, and certainly wasn't trust in each other."
"You only gathered together for a common purpose — to vent the same polarized emotions."
"People like that are not companions."
"…" The puppet fell silent: "I see…"
After a moment, it spoke again: "But Kiana, let me ask one last thing… With your so-called belief, your so-called companions, your so-called protection… can you really defeat Honkai?"
"We may have failed, but the enemies to come will be far more contradictory, far stronger than us… When that time comes, can you really stand against them with these vague, intangible things?"
Kiana answered: "I will not give up."
"And these are not vague or intangible things at all."
"They are proof of what it means to be human."
"…" The puppet suddenly laughed: "Haha… Kiana. Honestly, you almost convinced me. I really envy you all… You're right. We're just puppets of Honkai… What connects us is only those disgusting threads… huh."