She laid amidst the metal debris like a flower blooming in endless ruins.
Her treasured pendant had withered along with her.
The sound of heavy footsteps was caught by her fox-like ears, with each thumping approaching closer and closer until she heard his breath heaving relentlessly.
She couldn't help but slightly smile.
"I was with her…" the woman trailed off, the heavy burden carried in her voice was dimmed and filled with sorrow. Yet, the small smile crossed her broken expression remained the same. "She was still my sister…till the very end. I'm proud to be her sister."
"Sakura." His voice was shaken, and the turmoil clashing inside him was beginning to surge out. Shackled by his emotions, the young man crouched down across her, his hand gently caressing her soft, battered and cold cheek.
"Don't give me that look…" she whispered, her words carried by the tranquility of the evening, and on her deathbed, she for the first time could see the millions of expressions glimmering in his eyes.
"I heard everything from Elysia."
That simple words caused a heavy burden on her heart.
Was everything truly for naught?
The question that crossed her mind was left unanswered.
Yae Sakura gave up on her thoughtless thought and closed her eyes shut, the pain from her breakthrough has subdued, and everything feels numb, struggling with her breathing soon she could see his face distorting. Even by then the young man never left her side, even till this last moment she could feel his presence by her and his warmth that seeped into hers'.
"You shouldn't blame …nor was it anyone's fault but me…"
Those were the words that were unable to escape her mouth.
'Such a pity…one's filled with rage…despite such favor ne'r suits thy brow'
The smile stayed momentarily, as life ebbed from her eyes
The bubble slowly extinguished with the life of the MANTIS and he stood there in silence with his head cast down.
The fire burning within him burst forth causing the whole facility to tremble under such pressure.
A static sound reverberates, as he listened to a sweet voice cutting through.
"Kent how's Sakura!? Did she succeed in saving her sister!? Heyy are you listening!? If she's there with you I want to talk to her!"
Unfortunately, his response was not one she expected.
"I'm cutting off the comm now Elysia."
The last thing the receiver heard was the sound of statics coming from his end.
Elysia concluded the mission was a failure.
With no time left, she rushed to find Su.
"I hope I'm not too late."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Back then, he wondered.
Did he make the right decision?
"Reminiscing with the past again human?" A feminine voice awoke him from his deep slumber.
The first thing that greeted his vision was eternal darkness until he averted his gaze towards the source of the voice to look at the woman with silver-haired bound by the abyss.
The Herrscher of the End smirked.
The man paid no mind to it, yet he pondered over her words.
The past she mentioned was buried deep within the thousand memories inside his mind, locked and forgotten by time and for some reason, it began to resurface.
Did he regret his action?
Was there truly no other way?
Yae Sakura died, and nothing could change that.
He lost a dear friend, but that didn't stop there; it continued creating a fissure within the fourteen Flame Chasers and a battle ensued. It took everyone in the Flame Chaser to stop him from destroying the facility and killing Dr. Mei.
In the end, he was banished, and the Flame Chaser was disbanded. The MOTH went wary of him, and his action send him towards the Deep End.
By then, the only person that regularly visited him aside from 'them' was her, the person he despised the most.
Dr. Mei
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Back then, you asked me... if there could be another way to save Yae Rin…" The violet-haired doctor paused midsentence and stole a glance to look at him. He was sitting on steel concrete, half naked with his hands shackled together by chains and a device on his broad chest. Mei was cautious, yet that doesn't hinder her from approaching him.
She was worried about the wounds that refused to get healed on his body; the wounds caused by both Kalpas and Kevin are visible on his chest.
Dr. Mei regretted all her actions past this moment. Her action ruined everything, but to save humanity she's willing to take even the darkest path possible.
"Perhaps…there could be another way to save her, to save the two of them. But…the longer it takes, the faster the Herrscher transformation could take place. We suffered heavy casualties because I was careless…" the doctor bit her lips before finishing her sentence with a heavy sigh, "even so, everything wasn't for naught! We save humanity and we prevent a calamity!"
Maybe, she's right.
But there's no point in talking anymore.
Enough is enough.
"I'm done with you Mei…don't talk to me ever again." He stated coldly and send a death glare toward her.
Dr. Mei had her eyes widened, before gritting her teeth and clenching her mouth shut.
The memories she spent between them feel like it was just yesterday, however now...she could see him getting further distance away from her.
He made his resolve, and she's going to respect that.
At least that's the only right thing she could do to quench his anger.
Dr. Mei took a deep breath, calming herself down before she let out one final sentence.
"Earlier today, I talked with the higher-ups… From this moment within 86400 seconds, you're exiled…never to step into here ever again… That's the only thing I could do…to you…my dearest person."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Snap out of it…the seal is corrupting your mind!"
How amusing.
Even a Herrscher such as herself was corrupted by it.
Such mastery over sealing technique that it cost a distortion over her mind and emotions.
How can this mortal be so powerful?
Such thought might sound impossible to her…but there was never any doubt in it. She lost to him, to this sole mortal who appeared suddenly and turned the tides back towards Humanity.
Due to his heroic action, the remaining humans were put to sleep and he who remained as the last soldier for humanity stayed behind as an overseer over the seal.
Although, millions of years have passed since then.
"What's this…?" He pondered out loud, amused by the way humanity number one enemy reacted. "How can someone like you display such emotions, especially towards someone like me…a human whom you used to look down? Are you mocking me Herrscher?" The last mortal inquired; his expression wasn't those of anger but a genuine surprise and amusement.
The Herrscher snorted, bemused at the fact he was right.
"We're stuck within this void for eternity. There's no turning back, nor was there ever hope for salvation. You took everything from me and humanity. It is only right for you to suffer this kind of punishment."
He was right.
Why should someone like her care over such trivial matters?
These emotions would never resurface if not for this goddamn seal that kept the two trapped forever.
Nonetheless, the million years she spends time with him in this seal, she learned and was slowly beginning to understand…humanity aren't as terrible as she thought. The good between evil with humanity was a mixture of black and white on a white canvas. She loathed them for everything they had done to her but the same could be said about them.
Humanity despised the Honkai and everything related to it including beings like her; the Herrscher. The gruesome war between the two eventually concluded.
And thus, the Herrscher spoke,
"Do you wish to escape this calamity and reached the daybreak humanity has always sought and strived for?"
The last mortal stayed silence before his lips twitched and widened into a smirk.
"Took you long enough to surrender Herrscher of the End."
For the first time after spending time with each other within the void dimension the eternal darkness that surrounded the dimension began to diminish seemingly like the sun rising across the horizon as the two saw a blinding light that enveloped the voidness dimension as the new dawn arrived.