Chapter XII

A few weeks ago, Cocolia secretly came to a city perching at the Far East border. She secretly met Gray Serpent, a mysterious man who works for the World Serpent.
Gray Serpent wanted Cocolia to find the means of activating the Eye of the Deep and give them the Gem of Desire. In return, World Serpent promised to help her find a long-lost daughter, Seele Vollerei.

Having incorporated the Core of Reason, Bronya heard whispers from Welt Yang' residual mind in the Core.
Welt once lost his body in the 2nd Honkai War. Bronya felt confident that Einstein could figure out how to save him. But Welt was far more concerned with the Serpent's whereabouts in the Sea of Quanta.

After being consumed by the Serpent's Shadow, Seele woke up in a strange base. This place seemed more like a bubble universe instead of the Void that she had been drifting in.
Everything in this bubble universe seemed strange to Seele. Determined to find Bronya, Seele tried to find a way out.

A warrior named Sakura woke Seele. Seele had never seen this strange girl with bizarre animal ears before and was a little frightened, but Sakura turned out to be rather friendly.

It seemed that Sakura broke into this base to look for someone. Wishing to find out more about this bubble universe, Seele decided to join her.

When questioned by the MECH Patrols, Sakura revealed her identity: a warrior of The Moth Who Chases the Flames (MOTHs), an organization that fights against the Honkai.
Seele was confused. This huge military base belonged to the MOTHs. Why would Sakura fight against her allies? And who might she be looking for?

Base database revealed that this world had suffered 11 Honkai eruption events. Worse, the 11th Herrscher devastated humanity's last anti-Honkai organization. While humanity stood at the brink of extinction, discontent had begun to spread within the MOTHs.

Sakura was looking for the girl in the picture. Her name was Rin, and was Sakura's sister and only family. Rin was imprisoned by the MOTHs for some reason, leading to Sakura's intent to rebel against the MOTHs.
Sakura met Seele by accident. Sakura decided to bring Seele out of this place as the young girl reminded the warrior of her own sister.

At the other side of the Eye, Theresa and the Olenyevas continued to fight the Honkai while Cocolia confronted the Gray Serpent over Bronya's leap into the Eye. Negotiations broke down. Cocolia pointed her gun at the Gray Serpent. There was a gunshot. Cocolia fell to the ground. She looked back in surprise, only to find another Gray Serpent.

The presence of 2 Gray Serpents was surprising. Both of them then injected strange agents into their bodies and transformed into Honkai Beasts.
The horror did not stop there. The Gray Serpent's monster form caught Liliya and devoured her, changing its appearance almost at once...

Theresa and Rozaliya sensed that Liliya was still alive inside the monster.
The monster may have swallowed Liliya but failed to "incorporate" her. Perhaps it was due to Liliya's incomplete surgical augmentations. This was the girls' last chance to save the younger Olenyeva.

Einstein once warned Theresa that unlocking Blood Knight Phase 3 was risky, and reaching Phase 5 may have disastrous consequences.
But they both knew what choice Theresa would make. At this very moment, Blood Knight gave way to the Twilight Paladin.

Theresa and Rozaliya rescued Liliya after a titanic struggle. Schrodinger also saved Einstein and the two professors arrived on the scene. The battle at the Eye of the Deep finally ended. But the war was far from over......

MOTH warrior Kevin told Seele the reason behind Rin's captivity. Herrscher-level readings were detected on the young girl. She was confirmed as the 12th Herrscher. But oddly enough, this "Herrscher" did not show any sign of malice or hatred towards humanity, and did not resist the MOTHs when they captured her.

Seele thought the fight between Sakura and Kevin was inevitable. But Sakura drew her katana and Seele was surprised to realize they had reappeared before Kevin. She felt nothing at that instant. The next thing she knew was that she was dashing along the corridor with Sakura dragging her. Maybe the MANTIS warrior Sakura had secret powers that no one else knew about.

Seele was always fearful of the stigma she was born with, and this fear prevented her from mastering her innate powers. Every time she tried to use the powers, her stigma alter-ego would take over her mind and body.
But even the alter-ego failed to control the stigma's outburst in this instance. An unknown force, like a demon whispering in her ears, quickly took over.

More zombies appeared as Sakura and Seele went deeper into the Base. Though The Moth Who Chases the Flames may be the world's largest anti-Honkai organization, zombies had overrun its base.
Sakura broke into a run. She was not expecting the nightmare that waited her in the darkness.

The warrior found the mangled corpse of her sister in a cell at 33F. MOTH soldiers took matter into their hands and murdered the girl before Kevin could stop Sakura. No one knew what Rin went through. But when Rin died, her body erupted into a dense cloud of infectious virus that turned her murderers into zombies. Rin was the 12th, the Herrscher of Corruption.

Just when everyone believed the crisis was finally over, every electronic and mechanical system was suddenly infected as well. That innocent girl had turned into a vengeful Herrscher who unleashed a contagion capable of controlling inanimate objects as well.
Everyone believed so, except for one girl. She disappeared in front of Kevin and Seele. She would fight to restore her "future" that had died before her.

He remembers. Memories of friends, the will he inherited, and a future he promised to make. None of it was fulfilled.

Kevin Kaslana, hero of the Previous Era and bearer of its final hopes, and the true leader of the World Serpent.

Welt, hidden within the Herrscher Core, instantly manifested his physical form and stopped Kevin's attack at the nick of time.
Welt reconstituted himself in such a manner years ago, but the amount of time and energy spent was nothing compared to this moment. But the most shocking thing was Kevin's calmness upon seeing this.

The Serpent could not be stopped. Kevin escaped the Sea of Quanta with the Gem of Desire.
With Schrodinger's help, Einstein found the girls. They must now escape the roiling Sea with their lives.