2

Chapter 2

Kiana's life turns strange when out of nowhere she is kidnapped by a Herrscher. Sorta? She doesn't know herself.

Raynold's parents say that he is one while he says that he is just strong.

Eventually, she finally understood what is 'cultivation' he keeps talking about.

It made her itch to start doing it. According to him, once she is powerful she can help him remove all these pests around the town and the countryside.

Until then she needs to train.

"Morning Kiana."

"Morning…." The white-haired girl, like a lazy cat, slipped into her seat in front of the morning table. Raynold's mother smiled seeing the girl. It has been a week but she was already attached to this adorable girl.

"...is… Raynold—"

"...Busy, he is cleaning another band of Honkai beasts in the east." His mother said with some worry.

"..." Kiana that moment woke up. She had a core just like him. It didn't take her much to understand what this meant.

She is a Herrscher just like him. If only she knew how to access her power and cultivate she would help him! With both of them, they could make short work of anyone!

Seeing how Kiana was serious about this made the older woman smile. It appears she is already worrying about him.

"Don't worry much about him. He has been doing this before he even was a Herrscher."

"...How did he achieve his Herrscher powers?"

"Oh that. According to him, he achieved his Ki first. Ki is the life force of a person. Once he grasped it he used it to refine Honkai energy which he absorbed and created his core.

Sounds crazy but people around the town think this is the reason why he has his Herrscher powers without going crazy like how it was with the first and second eruptions.

Oh sorry, did you learn about the eruptions?"

Kiana slowly nodded.

"Yes—"

At that moment a space warped several metres away from the table as Raynold walked out from a wormhole.

"Just on time. Good morning mom, kitten." The boy said as he walked over to the sink and washed his hands. The wormhole closed a few seconds later.

All that was almost a daily occurrence in this household.

"..." Kiana looked at this without saying a word. She has been thinking about how to approach this subject. The girl has understood some basic things over the days.

Like how she got her core… this is just an idea but… it's worth talking with another Herrscher about it.

"Morning sweaty, how were the morning exercises?" She calls it 'exercises' since he calls it as well. There is no point sugarcoating it if he doesn't accept that killing honkai beasts is a huge thing.

"It was alright. Some basic pests. Though I had to help with some trucks that got stuck in traffic.

Got some gifts out of it." As he explained another wormhole appeared and several wooden crates came out of it.

"Oranges from Spain, chocolate from Ivory Coast, and some vine from Italy," Raynold explained casually as he was making his morning tea.

"Oh, so nice of them!" His mother exclaimed happily while Kiana dumbly nodded. Did he just bring a crate of chocolate!?

"Yeah. They were thankful that I dealt with Honkai Beasts. The number of beasts, while still there, has been dwindling since the second eruption. However, they still appear though."

Kiana slightly flinched when he mentioned the second eruption. She still thinks that she has the core of that Herrscher.

"Good to hear that they are dwindling, hopefully, there won't be a third one any time soon." His mother said with a relieved tone.

Raynold had a thoughtful look.

"Depends on those cultists and their shenanigans." He said with a shrug.

Hearing him call them cultists could only make his mother release a resigned sigh. The only tech her son accepts is to help him train and entertain. So something like Schicksal Valkyries is something so alien to him that he is calling them cultists who want to rule the world and hog the resources for themselves.

It didn't help that all encounters they had with Schicksal ended up showing them in a bad image to Raynold. This reinforces his cultist-like perception of the anti-honkai organisation Schicksal.

Kiana, who was looking at the interaction between mother and son, decided to stay quiet about the fact that her father was with Schicksal. And most likely her mother was a Valkyrie as well.

Nope, she will stay quiet about that!

After breakfast and split up the chocolate and the fruits. Raynold's mother made some milkshakes with fruits for Kiana who never tasted anything like that before.

The pair of son and mother were shocked to learn how little the girl had to eat or taste before. As she was living in the wilderness.

This made the martial artist decide to pamper his kitten as much as possible as the poor girl didn't have basic luxuries like tasting milkshakes!

After all was done, a short break followed. Though Kiana could not control herself anymore and wanted to start training.

So they went outside to his training field. It was an empty area with no grass on it at all. The grass stopped growing after the area was bombarded by a constant increase in gravity.

It was a plain field full of gravel. Made for heavy-duty use like training for someone who has supernatural powers. Even then this was nothing more than a morning exercise area. As for his real training he uses tundra fields in Siberia.

"Well, what is with all this hurry, worry, and anxiety you've been channelling," Raynold said with crossed arms as he turned around and looked at Kiana. The girl in question for a second freaked out as he explained pretty much everything she was feeling! Is this his Herrscher power!?

"This… Do you have to put it like that?"

"How do you want me to put it?" He asked her with an eye roll.

"Never mind! Anyway! I want you to train me."

"That's something I will do anyway. My kitten can't be weak, especially as you are in the golden core stage without access to the core."

"Yeah…about that…"

Now she got nervous and anxious out of nowhere.

"This…about my core."

"What about it?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I might know how I got it?"

"Okay?"

"Are you not curious?"

"Nope. Your core is your core. It's your power, you train it, and you use it to beat up people which you consider bad. There is nothing more to it." He said while shrugging.

"You serious? Even if it's the core of the second Herrscher?" Kiana said with a baffled tone. Though she doesn't know for 100% that it's Second Herrscher core. These things just don't appear randomly.

"Oh? Curious? If my studies about the second eruption are right, then it should be Herrscher with power over the void. Not bad at all!"

Kiana's blue eyes widened for a second, she wanted to facepalm. And here she was supposed to be the troubled child! Honestly! Raynold's behaviour makes her reflect on her actions!

"Aren't you terrified that I could get out of control?" She asked curious with some anxiety and worry underneath that curiosity.

*Snort*

Raynold snorted before launching for a bit.

"Kitten, I have trained my Gravity powers for over two years. My power is far superior to your berserker use any time of the day. Even if you berserk I would defeat you and bring you back to sanity."

Before she could challenge him, as she felt that he was looking down on her she felt weak…like her knees gave up and she was down on her knees.

"...What…what was that?"

"I used my gravity on you." He said with crossed arms. His voice was quite serious.

"Do you see? This is what power looks like when it's under control and is used by a sane individual.

You might be afraid of the power which comes with the core I am not. It's my power and I use it as I see fit. While you, you are afraid, and because you are afraid it makes you see it as terrifying.

Now. The question is do you want to stop being afraid? Terrified of that boogeyman you have inside of you?"

"... I am not afraid! I am just worried that I could cause another—"

"That's what afraid people say. You are or you are not. There is no in-between. Now pick or we gonna skip. this for another week."

Hearing this made her grind her teeth for a moment.

"Fine! Let's do it!"

Raynold nodded at her with a satisfied grin. It appears he pumped her enough.

He made her float before helping her to stand up with his gravity control.

Once this was done he walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. He then injected his Ki and did a scan of her core.

His eyebrow went up when he sensed it.

"Holy… So that's how a wild core feels like… " Raynold said with a shocked tone.

"I-Is everything okay?"

"Yes. Strangely, my core is like a pure white glass diamond-like structure, yours is pitch black dark purple. I guess that the core has been created with negative emotions as a base. That's why when Wild Honkai energy is released via the core negative emotions run utterly rampant.

I guess that we need to purify the core before you can access your transformation."

Kiana listened to his explanation. It was basic enough. Though… How the hell are they gonna purify a Herrscher core!?

"...Sounds good enough… But how?"

"Ki and your positive emotions." He said very simply, which made her think that this was far too easy.

"...Umm…how do I channel my 'positive emotions'?" She asked curiously.

Instead of saying anything he channelled his into her.

Her eyes widened to a large degree as she felt extreme warmth feeling wash her whole body!

"W-What…"

"These are positive emotions."

She stopped in her tracks and looked at him as if he was an alien!

"Wow…"

"Yes. Now before you can even think of channels that you need to awaken and access your Ki naturally.* As he said that he took several steps back.

Honestly… By this point Kiana wanted him to pamper her more. That feeling was like a warm blank on a cold day. VERY hard to forget.

"Okay…how do I do that?"

"Burning muscles."

He motioned for her to come at him.

"Attack me. And I mean seriously attack me. If you impress me I will consider nurturing you back into full health with my positive emotions."

This… was like magic words for her! As Kiana roared and lunged at him.

Raynold knows she wants family love, or just love in general so he is going to feed her with what she needs. This will make her grow even faster than him. But, such a thing won't last for long.

As the moment her need is satisfied her speed…should slow down. But he never trained someone like Kiana before.

Well, it will be interesting to observe.

Kiana lunged forward and tried to punch him hard. She doesn't need to be reminded of what is at stake. Her attack was easily intercepted and parried as Raynold just brushed the hand away.

This made her pass him and run forward out of control. She stopped midway and turned around and lunged at him once more.

The whole sequence happened several times before the girl realised that this doesn't work.

This was where she started to use her legs as well. As she tried to kick him.

But Raynold started to punish her for trying to use her legs nonstop.

Which made her fall on her ass. As he would force her to lose her balance.

"Not bad for the first time. But using legs that much? You are asking to be punished." He said while shaking his head.

Instead of saying anything she just pouted at him.

Seeing her acting like a cat makes him sigh in resignation. He can't be serious when she is like that!