From Fire Chasing to Behind Bars

"Hmm, it depends on how bearable you are." Sirin looked at the pink-haired girl; she felt a small urge to choke her to death. That over-the-top friendly voice was making her cynical heart twitch from displeasure.

"Oh, we will behave~ now that Honkai issues are dealt with. We can relax." Elysia smiled, but Sirin's eyebrows twitched for a second.

She looked at one of her Assault Knights. She motioned with her chin.

The knight shot balls of light at the over-the-top, friendly, pink-haired girl.

Elysia's eyes widened for a second. She was in disbelief as, the next moment, she collapsed on the ground.

"Elysia!!!"

"Don't move!" Sirin got snappy. The people from MOTH stopped in their tracks.

"Her voice started to bug me, so I knocked her out." 

"..." They looked at her with more caution. They thought that something like this wouldn't happen after Mobius' surrender.

"Now then… according to protocol…" Sirin looked at her knights.

"You know what to do."

"Yes, Mistress!" The Knights sharply nodded.

They all proceeded to shoot at the group. 

The people from MOTH looked with disbelief as one after another got knocked out.

"...That's… over…the top…" Mobius mumbled as she could not keep her eyes open. She collapsed on the hard floor.

"Rules are rules," Sirin mumbled under her breath. There is one thing for sure: she won't break the protocol. The girl doesn't want billions of soldiers; she has to turn on her. 

It would be embarrassing to return to Marcus in chains. Hell, he could even break the engagement. Now, that makes her whole body tremble from fear.

"Separate them. I want Mei and this pink-haired girl; the rest can go to the storage units."

She wants to learn more about Mei and this… pink thing. She has this weird feeling about this girl.

Sirin walked over and grabbed Elysia's hair; she narrowed her eyes and sent her nanites into her.

Moments later, she saw the biometrics of this girl.

"...Hahahahahaha…. Now this… is hilarious!" 

The Herrscher learned who she was!

"Does this make her a traitor to… both sides?" 

For a second, she wondered, but that is something she can learn after interrogating her. 

"The rest of you collect all the research data and any valuable materials." The girl got over her laughter and then instructed to ransack the whole place. While the tech here is primitive compared to Technocracy, the smallest thingies found here could help Marcus invent or improve something.

"Understood."

~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~

"Haaah—Haah—Haah." Sakura, who has been running for god knows how long, looked around. 

Behind her were feathered creatures with big and sharp claws. They looked like oversized chickens. But what made her skin crawl from fear were those armours they were wearing. 

The claw extension they had allowed them to cut through everything she had been throwing at them.

"Shit… what are you!? I thought you wanted me alive!" She said with a sweaty forehead.

*Screech*

*Growls*

The group of animals barked and growled at each other in some weird sounds. They separated and surrounded her from all sides.

The animals proceeded to circle her.

Sakura felt like a prey to these things.

'Damn, I need to get out of here, I need to get to Rin as soon as possible.'

She looked around nervously, looking for means to escape these raptors.

But a couple of moments later, the sounds of flying objects got her attention. She looked up and saw flying shuttles or, more accurately, gunships.

"...This is just great… they sent a whole regiment after me. I am feeling touched." The girl sarcastically said to herself.

One of the shuttle's sides opens, revealing more knights.

'Just great! It feels like there are millions of these guys! Where do they come from!?' Sakura grimaced as she saw many… countless of these guys on the streets! 

One of the knights pulled out a large rifle with glowing lights, and the gun barrel started to transform, spreading out to reveal something akin to a net.

'I see! These chickens are for pinning me down! In that case…'

Sakura waited for them to start shooting, and the moment they shot, she dashed at the closest raptor. 

Behind her, several nets hit the ground. She got behind a raptor, and one of the nets hit the raptor.

Seeing friendly fire, the beasts started to growl and screech at the gunships. 

'Now, this is my chance!'

The pink-haired girl flipped over and dashed into the street alleys.

Without wasting time, she continued to run, eventually arriving at a wide street.

Her eyes bulged out, and she saw huge machines walking in the streets, with their projector lights scouting the roads.

'Holy… they already took over the city!?'

Sakura swiftly leaned against the wall as she hid from a light. But the light stopped on her anyway.

'Damn it all… why they are this advance!?'

***Metallic Screech***

"Oh crap…"

She swore under her breath as she decided to 'fuck it' and started to dash towards the massive spider walker.

But at that moment, flying knights arrived and proceeded to circle her.

"Sakura, surrender at once. There is no point in running away."

"Don't tell me what to do! I WILL escape!" She said that while pulling out the pike she stole from a knight, she discovered that the weapon was very versatile and that she could holster it.

"Suit yourself. We will capture you by the orders of our Mistress! For the sake of Technocracy and our Supreme Commander!" The knights proceeded to shoot balls of light at her, and Sakura showed them why she was one of the best assassins for Cocoon, the secred branch of MOTH.

However, her exhaustion started to slow her down, and more knights arrived, either by foot or by shuttle.

One of the balls of light slammed into her side, shaking her whole body as she realised that it was high-voltage!

'Damn!!! DAMN!!!'

The girl swore under her breath as one of her legs gave in as she dropped on one of her knees. At that moment, other knights shoot nets into her, wrapping her tightly.

"Sakura secured."

The flying knights notified the command as they saw the girl pass out on the ground.

~~~~~~On Other Branch of Illusionary Tree~~~~~~

Bronya looked at Marcus as they were in her office. The Inventor's maid poured some tea for the pair. The Heir wondered where this maid was keeping her stuff as it just magically appeared in her hands.

"Tell me what is on your mind." Marcus blew some steam away as he took a sip of his tea.

"Hmm~~~, this is amazing, Bell." He praised his maid before looking at Bronya. The silver-haired maid slightly bowed at his praise, but she didn't say anything as, at this moment, she was allowing Bronya to speak.

"...I do not know what to do, or more precisely what to do. I understand the general idea of what is expected of me, but I do not know if my norms are similar to yours." The girl tried to explain in the most normal possible. She has no idea how to interact with a being that she believes is some sort of self-made Deity.

"The most astute observation, as expected from someone who is genius one way or another."

"I am no genius…" She replied the very next second.

"Hah, it's quite amusing. I say the same thing when someone calls me 'genius'. But I am just a guy who loves to tinker in my father's garage." He shrugged while closing his eyes and taking another sip of his tea.

"..."

"I suppose my comment has ended the conversation. Let's return to what you just said." He returned to the previous conversation as Bronya took a relieved sigh. She had no idea what to say to the earlier comment.

"The best thing right now is to spend time together." He slightly smiled at her.

"We should explore your city. You can show me around." Marcus suggested to her.

Her eyes slightly widened when she heard that.

"I can do that… But are you sure? I doubt my city—"

"Bronya, don't decide on what I like by using your definitions. I come from a place with great winters, and I like them just as much as I like summer."

'Summer… that's a word I haven't heard for a while…'

"Very well. Then we can explore tomorrow." 

"Indeed, for now, I shall take you onboard my mothership. It's time for you to meet one of my fiances."

Bronya's brain stopped for a second when she heard that.

'One of!? How many does he even have!?'

"H-How many you have?" She asked with a gulp, with how many she would need to share her future husband!? Honestly, now that she started to think it made sense that someone of this calibre has a harem of some sort… But it makes her feel slightly annoyed.

"You are forth. My first one is a Wisdom Goddess. Second is one of the greatest cooks in my homeworld. The third one is something similar to Eminator from your reality."

"...I-I see."

"My cook fiance has arrived with me. She is not a great fighter, so she stayed in the mothership while I descended to see your world in person." 

He explained to her while finishing his tea that Bronya still hadn't taken a sip of it, something he had noticed.

"Do drink your tea, darling. My Bell worked hard to make it." 

"R-Right!" Bronya swiftly took her cup and took a sip. Her eyes widened in small surprise as she looked at the cup. 

"This is amazing! What is this tea?" She asked them with an excited tone.

"Hehehe, that is my Bell. I created her using memories of several maids. One of them is close to a thousand years old. As you can imagine, she has a lot of experience when it comes to making something like tea."

"Oh…" How Bronya looked at Belfast changed as she never expected this maid to be that… experienced! Who knows what she can do! Maybe she is even stronger than that other officer girl! 

"Master, you do not need to praise me this much. I am simply doing what you intended to make me do." Belfast said with a sigh.

She then looked at Bronya, who was observing their interaction closely and trying to learn more about them.

"Miss Bronya, my creator, tries to downplay his achievements quite a bit. What you witnessed was him slightly showing off, but most of the time, he downplays many things." Belfast explained in a single breath.

"...I see…" The Heiress to the last human settlement on the planet slightly nodded at what the maid said.

But Marcus shrugged at those remarks.

"Is it?"

"Yes. Us visiting this place is proof." the ship girl deadpanned.

"I guess." 

"Indeed. For example, my existence is another proof." Belfast raised her hands and brought them closer to each other. Nanites rushed out of her body and formed a small model of a warship.

Once completed, she brought it over and placed it on the table close to Bronya.

"Do you see this? This is my 'true form', " the silver-haired girl said with a mysterious smile.

"....what do you mean by your 'true form'?" 

"Exactly what I just said." Belfast then looked at Marcus, who rolled his eyes at her in small annoyance. He wanted to reveal stuff little by little and not make Bronya go insane or something. But then again, he had no idea how to start slowly. Maybe revealing millions of soldiers at once is not the best decision.

"Originally, I was a sunken warship at the bottom of a channel. There was a global-scale war in our homeworld. It became extremely popular as time went on; many forms of media reviewed it, and historians liked to retell the stories from this war.

Eventually, Master rose to power and visited the world's oceans to collect several of us." Belfast got into a storytelling mood as she recalled a couple of things.

Bronya dumbly stared at Belfast as she wondered how the metal vessel became a being of flesh!?

"Once he recovered the wreckages, he fixed them and then upgraded with his latest technology and lastly… creating us." The ship girl slightly smirked as she liked the look she was receiving.

"But... but… does it make you a robot? An automata?" Bronya asked, but then Belfast got closer to her, grabbing her hand and placing it on her left chest.

"Can you feel that?"

"Umm…" Bronya didn't know where to look…

"Can you feel my heartbeat? Hmm?" The maid slightly teased the Heiress.

"...Y-Yes…" She eventually focused and, indeed, sensed the heartbeat.

Marcus looked at this with some curiosity. It appears his Belfast has her teasing side, too. 

Eventually, the maid pulled back and got behind her Master with a small smirk.

"It appears the memories of a specific devil show their fangs, Bell." The inventor commented.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Master~," Belfast replied with a teasing tone.

"But I do love teasing this pure and innocent but very serious and responsible girl. She did sell herself to you." 

The ship-girl maid said to him via telepathy, making Marcus chuckle.

"...H-How then? How did you make a person from a metal ship?" Bronya got over her embarrassment and looked at Marcus with a questioning gaze.

"Waves."

"...Waves?" His response only confused her.

"When something moves, it creates a ripple. Everything leaves behind a ripple, even time…" He replied to her question while gazing at something; it was as if he was looking past these walls and into something far away.

"So I simply figure ripples the wreckage make, copying that and then applying to a physical human body," Marcus explained to her while looking at something before returning his gaze to Bronya.

"...That is… how is that even possible? Where do you even start with something like that?" She mumbled to herself while looking at the table in front of her. 

"See? What did I tell you?" Belfast chipped in from behind Marcus.

"Why don't you tell her about your resource management skills, Master?" 

"Bell, there is time and place for all of that. We need to allow Bronya to digest all she saw first before moving on to other things." Marcus didn't want to get into his resource 'management' yet. The beauty before him first needs to digest what is before her.

"...What do you mean by what you said?" Bronya feels that something is going on here.

"You should see how Master applies his technological advancements on resources," Belfast commented from behind Marcus.

"Bell~, if you speak more than necessary, I will spank you," Marcus said, slightly annoyed.

"Fufufu, sorry, but I simply want to help you, Master. That is what maids do~" The ship-girl maid giggled, her tone telling them that she is not afraid of 'spanking'.

"...I am interested, please tell me! My city always lacks vital resources!" Bronya exclaimed with a curious tone.

"Then we should go to the mothership." He sighed. Since Belfast mentioned this, there is no way to cover it up now.

"Then let's go."

There was no hesitation in Bronya's voice anymore.

~~~~~~Back with Sirin's Fleet~~~~~~

MEI's eyes trembled as they slowly opened. The first thing she saw was the metal-like ceiling of an unfamiliar place.

"W-Where am I?"

"Well, you took your sweet time to wake up~." A friendly voice from the side got her attention. MEI knows this voice quite well. She slightly stretched out as she got one of the best sleeps she had in a while.

"Elysia, where are we?" the blue-haired girl asked. She looked around and finally saw her glasses left on a simple table. 

Once she got them on, the doctor could see her surroundings properly. She realised that she was in a prison cell!

She saw Elysia on the other side of a corridor, in a cell in front of hers. The girl was sitting on the bed while hugging her legs.

"As you can see, we are in a prison."

"I can see that." MEI deadpanned with small annoyance. That doesn't help at all!

"I woke up a while ago, and no one was here to see us or bring us some food. I am hungry," Elysia explained while simultaneously complaining.

"..."

MEI didn't comment as she stood up and walked to the bars. She tried to look at the corridor on both sides. On the right side were empty cells, and on the left side, the doors very close to them. The pair of them were the first prisoners in this prison. No doubt they were in a spaceship, not a jail on the planet's surface.

After looking around, she returned to the bed and sat on the edge, trying to think of something. At the same time, she wondered what was happening with their home.

A few minutes later, the doors opened, and the knights brought another prisoner!

"...Sakura?" MEI knew the girl. It was an Assassin from Cocoon!

"It appears we have a new friend." Elysia looked curious at the newcomer. She wanted to speak with her, but the girl was out cold.

"Is there a chance we can speak with your commanding officer?" MEI asked one of the knights.

"Mistress will speak with you at her convenience." One of the knights replied.

"What happened to Earth?" MEI pushed for more answers.

"It has been conquered, and our troops are sorting out the population." The knight replied as the other one laid down the knocked-out girl on her bed before sealing the bars. 

"...Conquered…already? How long has it been?" The scientist girl looked horrified to hear that!

"14 hours 32 minutes and 48 seconds."

The MOTH scientist gulped nervously as she heard that the whole planet had been taken over in less than a day!

"It's not nice to just invade like that. You guys still haven't explained why the whole thing happened in the first place." 

Elysia asked as she was concerned with this whole thing. She already had an idea of how to solve the Herrscher issue, but then these guys appeared, shuffled the entire thing, and made it unrecognisable.

"Ask Mistress. We are created to follow orders."

"And you don't think that some orders are simply wrong?" Elysia tried to speak with the knights.

"There is no such thing. We exist to fight and serve Technocracy, just like the sun exists to illuminate the world and how oxygen allows organic species to live. Our purpose is decided upon our creation."

MEI's eyes widened as she realised these guys were not citizens of some alien society but created entities of some faction! If this is the case, then their logistics were way different from those of regular people!

"That is quite the dedication you guys have. Who created you, then? I want to meet his individual." Elysia looked surprised before asking them.

"Our Supreme Commander is the ruler of Technocracy and creator of everything you see around: technology, individuals, spaceships, and unique abilities of the commanding officers. He made it all, and you shall be part of it." The knight walked over and stood in front of Elysia's cell.

"...and if we try to rebel? Not that we would try." She asked curiously.

The knights snorted as they were about to exit the prison, and one of them stopped before replying to the pink-haired girl.

"First, rebel against your basic needs, as it's easier to rebel against them than against our Technocracy."

"..."

"..."

Once they left, Elysia finally commented.

"It appears they are quite certain that we can't rebel."

MEI didn't say a thing for a while before finally opening up.

"There has to be a basis for their belief." She crossed her arms.

"It means that their military might is so powerful that they believe that we have no chance of rebelling, " the scientist said in a calculating tone.

"...There is some truth in that." Another voice said from the side.

"...Sakura?"

"Yes, Dr MEI."

Elysia and MEI could hear the girl slowly getting up as she walked over and inspected the bars.

"...Unknown metal… huh." 

The girl tried kicking it, but she quickly realised it was very sturdy as she dropped to one knee and massaged her foot from pain.

***Painful Hiss***

"You should not do that." Elysia chipped in after grimacing alongside Sakura. It looked painful.

"...Yeah…"

After a couple of moments, MEI decided to ask Sakura.

"Do you have any information to share about these people?" The scientist asked.

"...Well, their technology is extremely advanced. They can control beasts, their armour has force fields, and they share information at extreme speeds. I could barely hide from them, and the moment I revealed myself, all the surrounding armies rushed towards me." Sakura explained what she experienced while gazing at the empty cell, her eyes trying to dig through the metal walls.

"...Those force fields you speak of could be actual gravity manipulation; we have similar technology, but not at this level." MEI slightly grimaced as she realised these guys could be a couple of hundred years more advanced than their civilisation.

"...I wouldn't be surprised. The way they were flying defies any norms we are used to."

"..." Elysia listens to them speak. She is creating a portfolio of these guys on her own. She wants to know why they are here in the first place. She finds it hard to believe they would invade to please one man…

"Anything else?" 

"Well, they did everything they could not to kill me. They tried to capture me alive. They avoided all the close calls." 

"...Hmm…" Dr MEI found it interesting.

'So they are collecting us in some fashion… but for what exactly?' The scientist tried to think of a reason but needed more information.

"You are quite a stubborn one, aren't you?" A familiar voice spoke as the doors opened, and Sirin walked in. Her voice had lost its unnatural and inhuman Herrscher echo. Now, she sounded like a simple teenage girl.

"You remind me of my Fiance's pet. Atalanta is similar to you with that drive." 

"Are you comparing me to some animal!?" Sakura hissed angrily at Sirin.

"Animal? Not at all. She used to be second in command in a Hunt of a Goddess of a Hunt. She is several thousand years old and is a hybrid between a lion and a girl." 

To ensure they believed what she said, she summoned her interface and showed a picture of her in a maid uniform.

"Whoa, they do look similar!" Elysia gasped slightly as she looked curious.

"Indeed, I am sure my future husband will find your resolve interesting." 

"...Why did you invade Earth?" Dr MEI asked the more important question.

"There has to be something more important than please your future husband. I don't believe you would use such a large force for such a minor thing." 

"...hah… I expected you to be smarter than this, Doctor MEI." Sirin, on purpose, highlighted her title in a sarcastic tone.

"...What do you mean?" MEI didn't like it when someone challenged her intelligence in this way.

"Technocracy is built by him."

"Yes, but what about—" Her eyes widened in pure horror as she made a connection. Her face paled as she understood what she meant by that sentence.

"So you understand."

"...You want me to say that he is Technocracy? His whole faction exists to stroke his ego?" MEI asked with a growing grimace.

Elysia's gaze snapped at MEI as she wanted to hear more.

"That's precisely what I mean. He designed everything and built everything to satiate his hobbies." Sirin spread her arms, declaring in pompous fashion.

"And like any other man, someone like him needs a wife, an Empress who would help him maintain his Empire, which spans the whole space and time." 

"Ridiculous, what about other people? Their lives and their struggles." Sakura snorted in the distance.

"What about them? If you behave, you and your sister will be fine. If we are satisfied, we could even bring your parents back to life, too."

"!!!"

"Bring back life!?" MEI exclaimed with disbelief.

"Of course. Did you forget what I said to you a while ago? My future husband mastered fundamental forces through science and technology; one of them is death as we conquered the afterlife in a major conflict against Gods of Death." 

"..."

"..."

"How do we know you are not lying?" Sakura asked with narrowed eyes.

"Fufufu… You don't, but that's beside the point."

The Herrsher snapped her finger, and the cells opened.

"I will show you something else. Follow me. My forces shall enslave Honkai. You three will watch it next to me." She motioned for them to follow her, but at that moment, Sakura tried to grab her… only for Sirin to appear a few metres away.

Sakura's eyes widened as she was certain she had grabbed her!

"You can't defeat me; no one who is a three-dimensional being could even touch me." Sirin snorted in a mocking tone.

"Oh yeah?"

"Please… use your brain for once." Sirin sighed, disappointed at how similar this girl was to Atalanta. She knew that Marcus had broken the lion girl and made her into a pet, but he needed to humiliate her quite a bit before that.

"Sakura, stop. If you continue, she could do something…bad." Dr. MEI said with a slightly nervous tone. If what she says about being a being from a higher dimension is true, then there is not much they could do to stop her…

"Hah, you have some common sense and not just cold, calculating logic," Sirin said while looking at MEI.

"..."

The scientist version of Mei looked annoyed for a second, but she didn't comment back, knowing that this girl could easily be triggered and could do something to her.

"You should pick on cute girls like that. We are girls here." Elysia chipped in from the side as she got between Sirin and Dr MEI.

"I don't need to hear that from a Herrscher pretending to be a human." Sirin snapped at Elysia, making Dr MEI and Sakura look at Elysia with confused gazes.

"So you didn't know? She has a Herrscher core. A Dormant one, but it's there. You are a Herrscher, are you not?" The white-haired girl smirked while saying that.

"Moh! Why are you telling my secrets like that!" Elysia pouted at Sirin, making the Void Queen's hand twitch. She is starting to feel the urge to smack her.

"...W-Wait! You are a Herrscher!? Why did you never tell us!?" Dr MEI exclaimed with disbelief. She looked hurt, and Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"I could not. I needed a proper time for it," Elysia clarified… sorta… while looking at Sirin.

"How did you figure it out?" The pink-haired girl asked curiously. 

"My nanites are in your body. I could kill you any second." The Void Queen threatened her.

"But you won't because we all are gifts to your future husband." the girl smiled while saying that to Sirin, the Void Queen clicked her tongue.

"You should not reveal such cards so easily." Elysia began to tease her.

"Don't test your luck." 

At that moment, Elysia realised this girl was a tsundere—similar to Kevin! Then… she realised that she was a Herrscher too!

*GASP*

"Doesn't that mean we are like sisters? That is totally amazing!~~~" 

Elysia clapped her hands in happiness, making Sirin take a step back.

"What nonsense are you speaking!?" The Void Queen blushed while snapping at her with annoyance.

"You are Herrscher, and I am one too! That makes us siblings!"

'I think I am going to vomit.'

Sakura looked away as if she was not feeling well. She had been fighting this world-ending threat with all of her might, but now the whole thing had turned around and become a comedy. It made her sick! 

While Dr MEI looked at this with a calculative look, they could use Elysia to fight back in some way. But for this to work, they need to speak with this Supreme Commander of Technocracy. The blue-haired girl needs to see his character in person.

"Is there a way for us to speak with Supreme Commander?" Dr MEI asked the White-Haired girl who is fighting back those over the top friendly vibes of Elysia

"Ha! you wish, he is realities away developing sapient dinosaur species for his amusement. I left for this Honkai infested reality which he summoned me from originally to get my revenge and collect some gifts for him." 

'The way she worded… there is no Honkai in the worlds he is from?'

"I see… so there is no way to communicate with him…"

"Pity, I wanted to speak with big bad wolf." Elysia pouted making Sirin look at her with annoyance.

"If you annoy me any more I will make you into a maid!"

Instead of having any negative effect Elysia simply smiled at this proposal.

"No worries, I been one before~."

The white haired girl clicked her tongue while looking away.

"Let's get this over with, I want you see my revenge become reality." Sirin looked away and began walking towards the doors.

The three girls having nothing else to do followed after her. The first thing they saw was that there were a lot of knights and the place was simply enormous, there were trains going back and forth everywhere.

They eventually arrived at the bridge of the warship. Elysia and Dr MEI noticed that the place was full of girls.

"Oh wow… so many cute girls!"

"...My Fiance's choice, he prefers looking at beautiful girl's while travelling the stars or realities. Don't ask me why…"

"That's because he is a healthy guy no?" Elysia suggested.

"...You don't even know half of it." Sirin ended up casually commenting while having a small blush.

"OH… OHH…" 

Elysia realised how naughty this guy was! 

"I see! I see! You need to tell your sister how it is! I want to know the details!" All of sudden the girl got much closer to the Void Queen.

~~~

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