Two Sides of the Same Coin

Bronya leaned forward and slowly kissed Marcus on the lips. It was awkward for her as she had never done this before. It was unexplored territory to her.

But this was where the Inventor stepped in as he wrapped his hands around her waist, pulled her closer, and began leading her in the kiss.

A while later, the girl needed to breathe, so she pulled back and looked at him with rosy cheeks.

"W-Was it satisfactory?" She asked with a hopeful voice.

Marcus chuckled. Hearing that, he pulled her head closer and whispered into her ear.

"Relax, it's fine~. Look at the surroundings~." As he teased, the girl looked around. Her eyes widened as she saw the residence whispering how bold the girl was!

'O-Oh… thankfully they can't recognise me!' The girl wanted to find a hole and hide! This was so embarrassing!

"Umm…" Bronya pulled back as she looked for a way to get out of his grip! She embarrassed herself enough!

The inventor kept her close as he looked at her face. She was trying to look everywhere but at him.

"You know that it is normal? Right?" He chuckled while shaking his head.

"Not to me."

"But it is now." He slightly narrowed his eyes before looking for a place to sit. There was a bench, so he pulled her there and sat down.

He made her sit on his lap as they continued to wait for the tram.

Bronya tried to figure out how to get out of this embarrassing situation. An excuse is needed, but what? She could see that the citizens of her city were whispering around, wondering who this bold girl was. They had never seen the guy or the girl before!

Who could they be?

"Say… your hair. These drills are a hairstyle, right?"

"Of course they are!" Bronya got all puffy and defensive. " Do you know how long I spend every day making sure they are like this?" The Heiress explained to him with a proud tone.

"Amazing, as expected of the next Supreme Guardian." Marcus praised her." You would get along well with my sister."

"Y-Your sister?" The girl got a sense of dread! She realised that she would need to meet his parents and siblings at some point! 

She immediately wondered how these meetings would happen, what kind of personalities they had, and if they approved of her. 

All of these questions began to circle in her head.

"She is a hairdresser and a witch. Honestly, I am still surprised she hid that from me." He frowned as he recalled that shocking reveal.

"A-A witch!?" Bronya immediately got an image of some evil-looking woman cackling in an evil laugh! Only on a much grander scale! With huge armies and hordes of monsters under her control!

If Marcus had his armies and spaceships, then his family would have similar stuff, right?

"Relax, she is harmless, or I think she is."

"...you think?"

"Yep, you can say she is a part-timer in that regard. While my dad is a mechanic, my mother is a cashier."

The ash-silver-haired girl turned her head and looked at him. She is trying to look for traces of joking because she doesn't believe they are normal!

"What? I am one, too. I love tinkering." He shrugged at her.

"And I work on machines when I am not busy with my experiments."

"..."

She could accept it as a hobby, as the facts point differently.

"Oh, look!" Marcus looked at the approaching tram.

"Let's go." He effortlessly picked her up and walked towards the transport.

"I-I can walk! There's no need to carry me like this!" Bronya complained to him, as she was being carried like this, which embarrassed her!

"I know, but I don't care~~. I want to cuddle my Bronya~." He squeezed her in his hands as he entered the grey tram. Now that he noticed, the texture of the city was quite bleak.

It does make sense that to have colours, one needs colourful materials that come from an array of things, like animals or plants.

'But then again… this is a video game world. Bronya's clothes contradict that.'

As Marcus sat down, he had Bronya in his lap. He continued with his hold, and more people looked at him doing this. It was quite weird for them, to say the least.

But he didn't care as he simply smiled back at them.

"...Are you going to keep doing this?" The ash-silver-haired girl complained as she was at straw's end.

His actions to her make no sense…

"I wil continue until we are at our next stop." He clarified before getting somewhat disappointed. " besides, you should be happy with the attention." He leaned forward as he whispered a 'secret' to her.

"As tomorrow Sirin, one of my fiances will arrive. She was naughty with the privileges I gave her, so I will be punishing her."

Bronya wasn't expecting that! It came out of nowhere. When did he communicate with his troops or fleet?

Then she recalled him spacing out for a couple of seconds! That was it?

"See? Now you are starting to think! That's why you should just cuddle with me when you can." Marcus hugged her more, emphasising what he meant.

"...R-Right…"

~~~~~~Later, In the Orbit~~~~~~

A large magical circle manifested, humming with power as a dagger-shaped Dreadnought blasted out of it.

Aboard the ship, the girls looked at the frozen world. It was a strange sight, as the land was frozen, but the oceans, seas, and lakes were not.

It was a confusing sight.

"Where are we?" Kiana asked, uncertain; this much snow reminded her of her past.

"An alien world, that is for sure. The landmasses are foreign." Dr MEI chipped in as she looked at the world before her.

"More importantly, look at the number of spaceships around this world," SAKURA commented on the other thing happening before them!

There were hundreds of warships of all different shapes and sizes. Floating in formation, some of them were in battle formation, sending…beams of light into the world below.

The girls were not too sure about this as they had no idea about the specifics of the technology of these warships.

Were they attacking or sending something down?

"Yes. It would seem he is busy." Elysia was looking at this with crossed arms. She wonders what is going on with this situation.

Only Sirin was at the back, looking at this from a different angle. She doesn't want to be here at all.

"Mistress, we have received orders from the command. Our ship is to join defensive formation next to the core module of Supreme Commander's Assimilator."

The captain of the vessel said to the white-haired girl.

"Then follow the command." She instructed him to do what the command wanted.

"Of course." The captain nodded as she instructed the crew to begin to move the ship towards the formation.

"...and…the command said that they will send a boarding party to pick you up." 

Sirin trembled when she heard that. She tried to play it down.

"I see…"

She couldn't hide it well, as the rest saw through her poker face.

As the ship got into the position, the girls walked to the hangar bay.

Not long after three gunships arrived, the middle one landed at the end of the red carpet, revealing more Royal Guards. However, one of them had no helmet.

"?"

Sirin had seen many Royal Guards before, but this one… was new…

As the heavily armoured knights left the transporter, they walked over to the white-haired girl.

"I am Rex, Captain of the Royal Guards. Mistress Sirin, come with us. Supreme Commander is waiting for your arrival. You don't want to make him wait any longer." 

The orange-golden-eyed girl's eyes widened for a bit. Does Marcus know that she purposely delayed her arrival?

"I understand." Sirin stiffly nodded as she then turned around and looked behind her.

"They will be coming with us as well. Supreme Commander wants to meet you all in person." 

Dr MEI and Elysia smiled at that idea, and even SAKURA showed a small smile. This was great for them.

Only Kiana looked at Sirin, one way or another… They are both the same individual, so Kiana is feeling nervous about what will happen to Sirin.

If Sirin is to find out that, she would most likely throw up how naive her goody-two-shoes counterpart can be.

"Then we shouldn't waste his time." MEI took a step forward.

"Indeed, follow me." The captain motioned to get into the gunship that would take them to the Core module of the Assimilator.

~~~

'It's huge… are we inside a city of some sort?' Kiana had never been in such an enormous construct before. She already considered that Dreadnought too big, but this is even worse.

Why so much space? Why would a person need that much space?

It's far too crazy for her!

Eventually, the train that took them from the hangar arrived at a platform that had a lift.

The group took this lift to higher levels.

Eventually, they arrived at a floor that had double doors.

Kiana looked at Sirin. She could see her counterpart was nervous, and it was extremely strange to see her like that.

'Strange… the moment we left Earth, the evil self part in me stopped responding.'

The white-haired girl was confused by this. Not that she asked anyone about the change. 

As Kiana pondered this, Sirin stood in front of the door for a second before stepping forward. The doors opened.

Revealing a hall. In truth, this was the balcony that observed the whole command structure of the fleet.

On this floor, there was only a single piece of furniture, and that was Marcus' throne.

As Sirin entered first, she was followed by the new maids and the Royal Guards. Among them was Kiana, who was feeling sort of… out of place.

She has no idea what to expect from Marcus… Kiana knows that Dr MEI, SAKURA and Elysia are the maids, while Kallen is a random addition as she is a 'collection piece'.

This leads to her question: What is her place in all of this?

"...Sirin…"

Marcus' voice spread through the hall as the throne turned around. Everyone saw him sitting there on the throne; he looked lazy.

But there was another person standing next to him.

'Bronya!?'

Kiana's eyes bulged for a second. What she saw was Bronya. This Bronya was all grown up, tall and well-developed, and she had the aura of a leader.

'Who is this girl!? She can't be Bronya!'

The white-haired Valkyrie was not the only one concerned about this new girl; Sirin was the same! She was worried, and the moment she saw her, she knew this was her new opposition.

"M-Marcus, I can explain—" She couldn't even finish as invisible pressure descended and crushed her, making her drop to her knees.

Sirin couldn't even lift her head.

"Do you know why I am mad at you?" he asked her. His voice was soft and did not express anger or annoyance. Yet, all of the girls could hear it perfectly, even if they were a considerable distance away.

It was as if he was talking directly into their very souls.

"...B-B-Because I-I-I used time manipulation?" The girl tried to resist the crushing force and reply to his question.

"No, we had a promise that we would conquer the era you originated from. Instead, you already conquered it and nearly fulfilled your revenge, which we should have done together."

Sirin's eyes trembled as she looked at the floor. She had messed up in an angle she didn't consider. Yes, now she did recall what Marcus said before she left for a version of her Earth.

His reply was bad! What should she say?

"...I…I did this so that I could focus on being your fiance! I needed to deal with my past!" 

Kiana frowned when she heard that. Was she that bad? So bad that a version of her needs to kill her? In a way, this was a wake-up call to her.

Sirin was dissatisfied with her to this degree? 

'We truly are that different?'

"I know. But as my fiance, your only concern should be me. Instead, you took my troops my technology and went to chase your past on your own.

That is not how this works."

Sirin turned pale when she felt a hidden undertone of anger in his voice.

"You failed a basic test." 

A gulp escaped from the Ex-Herrscher's mouth. She knows what happens when someone fails Marcus' test!

"You know what my grandmother used to say?"

This time around, all of the girls turned ghastly. If Marcus puts his grandmother into the picture, it's not good!

"If your future wife fails tests like these, then she is not worth the effort."

"W-Wait! A Second! It was for the sake that I could be with you! I felt that I was not whole without dealing with my past!" Sirin gnashed her teeth and clenched her hand, not liking the idea of telling the truth in this kind of situation.

"I know that I am not worth it when I am like this—" The white-haired girl had no time to finish when Marcus appeared before her, grabbed her by her hair, and lifted her head up to look at him.

Sirin trembled in fear when she saw his glowing purple eyes.

"You do not decide such a thing! Do you think you have the right to judge if my creation is worth me or not?" He was pissed beyond reason, but at that time, he remembered something crucial and dropped her.

By then, Sirin had forgotten to breathe; she had never seen him that angry. Hell, an entire section of the station's personnel stopped breathing when he was like that.

The pressure he generates subconsciously is unreal!

"...However…"

All of a sudden, everything calmed down, and he turned around and looked at his throne.

"I realised that I created you with all of your faults."

Sirin' slowly lifted her head and looked at him with disbelief.

'Wait, does that mean!?!'

"I am only stripping your access to the military; from now on, you won't leave my sight." He came to a decision, and her brain turned blank for a second.

The girl slowly stood up, and a huge disbelief was written all over her face.

It's amazing to think that she will survive this like that! The Ex-Herrscher expected to be reduced to a maid, but this is far better than she expected!

"I-I understand… this won't happen ever again." Sirin nodded as she very seriously replied to his decision.

"We will see. Actions speak louder than words." He then turned around and looked at other new arrivals behind Sirin. His attention was on them now.

"I can guess that these are the gifts you brought from the world you conquered for me." 

Sirin immediately knew this was her chance to start regaining his trust!

"Yes! Doctor MEI, the head scientist and brightest individual in her world." The white-haired girl started with Raiden Mei's nerd version.

"She could assist you in your scientific endeavours and ideas." Then she moved to the one next to MEI.

"And the long pink-haired girl is SAKURA, the best assassin in their world." 

"Hoh… not bad at all." Marcus nodded as he stroked his chin. He knew them already, but he was entertaining Sirin and her attempt to curry favours and regain her trust.

"And the other one—"

"I am Elysia~~" The pink menace waved her hand in a friendly manner before walking forward.

"I am happy that you didn't do anything bad to my sister Sirin~." 

Kiana coughed when she heard that! 'Sister!? Since when!?'

"Sister?" Marcus was confused, too. The last time he checked, he had not created a second version of Sirin, who had pink hair and called herself Elysia.

"Yep! She is— was, a Herrscher, so am I, so we are like siblings." Elysia explained to Marcus how she came to this conclusion.

"Oh, so it's like that." The Inventor nodded to her explanation before beginning to walk towards them.

The new maids and the pair of white-haired girls became alert, wondering what he was up to…

Marcus quickly arrived in front of Kiana and Kallen.

"Well, well… this is one of the best parts of these gifts…" 

"Hmph!"

Elysia puffed her cheeks when she heard that.

"Are we not good enough?" She asked him.

The inventor looked at her for a second.

"You are good enough, but these two are amazing." He clarified, but his clarification did not improve Elysia's mood at all.

"You see, when I created Sirin's body, it was from scratch. After all, she didn't exist in my world. 

At first, I needed to draw her, then create DNA from scratch, followed by the body, age it properly, and ensure it matches the soul."

Marcus, with deep passion, explained how he created Sirin's body.

"Do you realise how difficult it is? Without DNA, she didn't exist in my world.

However—" He looked at Kiana, nervously looking anywhere but him. She didn't realise how crazy this guy could be for her bad side!

"Sirin was not the only possible inhabitant of that body. The other 50% was Kiana Kaslana." 

The white-haired Valkyrie stopped fiddling and looked at him in shock.

"...I was a possibility!?"

"Indeed." 

He used holograms to show her his drawings of her…

They all had blue eyes and her classic Valkyrie uniform. This was indeed… Kiana Kaslana.

"...Whoa…" Kiana was surprised to see that it was her! This was… crazy!

"Precisely…"

"Is this why her clearance is that high?" Sirin asked from behind him. She didn't even look angry. Nope, her opinion was no longer relevant. The girl was hiding her annoyance in her soul.

"Look at this."

[DNA Compatibility to Sirin 99.9999%]

"If Kiana tried to order the knights without my interference, she could have done so. You two are the same person. Your plan to attack her without my assistance couldn't work even if you tried." 

Sirin reaction to that was an embarrassed blush as she looked away.

"To say it plainly as possible, you are doomed to fail from the very beginning." He clarified while looking at her before gazing back at Kiana, who was confused but somewhat understood what was happening.

Yes, they originated from the same source: Sirin, the Void Queen. The white-haired Sirin and Kiana are two halves of the Void Queen, the Second Herrscher Soul. They are clones of the original Kiana Kaslana with the Herrscher Core of the Void Queen.

So yeah, she gets the idea, but how did he create an exact body copy just from a drawing? She doesn't exist in his world in the first place.

It was both… strange and… shock-inducing of his talent in creation.

"HOLD IT!" Dr MEI exclaimed loudly as her brain caught up to all this information.

"Are you saying that you created her body… from nothing!? No strand of hair or tissue…nothing!?"

The nerd version of Raiden Mei looked with a gobsmacked expression as she understood what he meant by that!

Kiana, Kallen, SAKURA, and Elysia's expressions tell Dr. MEI to explain what she is getting at.

"Imagine… a puzzle with trillions of pieces, without hints of any kind. More difficult than secrets of life— way harder than life itself

What he did create is a specific life, so precise that even her hair had to be specific to reach that 99.999%... to a person from another reality." 

"Oh…" 

Kiana's mouth opened and then closed. What Mei said… finally made sense.

"...But how?" 

The girl asked him.

"A good question. Let's just say I really like girls~" he shrugged with a smile, making Kiana deadpan at him.

"...Right…"

"He is not wrong." Sirin chipped in from the back.

"Let's just say that he knows of our world for a while. He observed them and found fascination with us." The evil version of Kiana commented specifically to Kiana.

"I-I see… so…" The question was where this was leading to.

"...What now?" She asked him, while trying to think where to look at. The girl was awkward when it came to these situations.

"What do you suggest?" Marcus asked with a small smirk, making the girl even more self-conscious. This was almost like a confession to her. But, far-far more crazy than she has ever expected.

'No wonder my evil self went on such a rampage! Even then, her punishment was the removal of her military rank! She could easily regain it and then let loose again! Involving other versions of me!

This can't continue!'

Kiana realised what she needed to do!

A smirk morphed on the white-haired valkyries lips as she slowly leaned forward.

"Same treatment as my other self? Since you are engaged to half of me, it's only fair that you engage to the rest of it~," the girl suggested, making others look at her with wonder. How did she come to such a conclusion?

Sirin's eyes trembled. She could barely hide her fury. The goody-two-shoes is biting more than she can chew!

"Hmm, that does make sense." Marcus nodded at Kiana's suggestion.

"However, do you know what it entails? Engaging and all that stuff is fine, but you will have your duties as official fiance, " the inventor explained in a more serious tone.

"I know~~~" Elysia from the side chipped in.

"If she doesn't know, we can substitute her~" the pink menace commented with a bright smile.

"Excuse me, but I am well aware! Besides, he is already halfway engaged to me." Kiana puffed her cheeks; she was offended by this girl.

"Oh, but I thought you already had someone you like~" Elysia placed her index finger on the side of her lips while looking up as if she was thinking about the previous comments.

Kiana trembled like a leaf on a windy autumn day. She looked like someone pulled a rug under her feet. Why is Elysia pulling that card now?

'Does she want to take the spot from me!?'

The white-haired Valkyrie doesn't realise it yet, but Elysia wants to 'save' Kiana and Dr MEI from Marcus by putting herself in front of him.

Sadly for Elysia, Marcus knows all the little secrets of these girls.

"But this different! This situation is far more important than my delusions!" The good version of the white-haired girl swiftly adjusted to attack from Elysia. 

"Oh? Is Kiana a serious girl?" Marcus joked as he looked at nervous Kiana's reaction.

"O-Of course I am!" The girl swiftly replied as she got jumpy and didn't want him to get the wrong idea.

"I am no longer naive girl! After what my evil self did, I learned my lesson." Kiana dropped her gaze on Sirin for a second.

"Well, you needed to learn that Honkai is dangerous," Sirin said her part, explaining what she was thinking while torturing the girl.

"And that body was created for me, after all." 

"...Right. mind games and torture sound about right!" The White-haired Valkyrie sarcastically replied to her.

"Part of it, yes. You do realise that I am evil?" The golden-orange-eyed girl rolled her eyes while crossing her hands. 

"...I know."

"Then why are you complaining?" The ex-Herrscher sighed in annoyance.

Kiana's eyes trembled from anger. She is feeling like punching her right about now.

But she quickly controlled herself.

"Hmm, you are right~ I think the situation with Marcus is far more important than silly me almost dying to you." White-haired Valkyrie took the inventor's hand and hugged him closely.

Marcus looked at the girl. He realised what kind of game she was playing.

Internally, he smirked. He wondered how far he could push her before she became a scared cat and ran away into the 'hills'.

"Oh? I suppose Kiana wants all of the attention she can get?" He pulled her closer to his chest, getting quite close to her face.

His actions made her blue eyes widen, and she felt that he was about to kiss her right on the spot.

Internally, she started to panic! This guy wasn't playing around!

"Shall we begin the 'initiation'?"

At that moment, she started to see 'images' of what could happen to her.

Naked bodies, in all sorts of positions, Kiana being dominated and filled up with Marcus essence. All of them were extremely vivid images.

One could say she has experienced that already.

"!!!"

Kiana immediately pulled away from him. Her cheeks exploded in deep red, and her eyes darted from one side to another.

"Umm…umm…."

"What? Don't you want to be my fiance? Already changed your mind?"

"N-No… I didn't… its just…" For other girls, it looked strange that she had pulled away like that.

"Hmm?" Marcus got closer once again. He had a knowing look; after all, he was the one who fed her mind with memories of what he did to Sirin…

"Did my memories of what I did to your counterpart spooked you?" He spoke directly into her mind.

Kiana's eyes widened as she realised that it was Marcus who did it.

"You realise you are trying to play with someone who keeps Goddesses as maids." 

He showed more images of him conquering goddesses like Artemis and Hel. How he made Greeks, simply put… surrender.

So one could say Kiana's game was a joke, something he could sweep with a simple hand motion, and he did as the girl quickly turned pale.

"So what is it going to be? Darling?" Marcus appeared right in front of her face. His eyes were glowing purple, and lightning continuously flowed around his pupil. He showed her that he was an esper of a level she couldn't fathom.

'Umm… can we take this slow…at first?'

Realising that she was cornered and couldn't pretend anymore, she decided to give up and stop playing.

'It's not that I am pulling out! It's that I need to get used to such changes.' 

"I see… you two are very similar." Marcus hinted at Sirin, who was like that at first.

But then he showed her how quickly Kiana had fallen in love with Raiden Mei; it was love at first sight.

Kiana's eyes bulged out as she got cornered again! How does he know that!?

"You do realise that you are not dealing with someone you can play around with."  He chuckled before pulling out from her mind.

"Until you get your act together, we can postpone our engagement, Kiana." 

Marcus' words were like gospel to Sirin as her eyes perked up!

'Of course, it's not that easy! Kiana is in love with that Mei! Marcus won't accept such an easy camp switch!' The ex-Herrscher sighed in relief; she felt like a rock had moved off her chest.

"For now, I will test you." 

Kiana grimaced as she realised that Sirin's act touched her, too! Because her evil self messed up, she had to suffer, too!

"You will be part of my entourage. Maybe even assist in some things." He shrugged before he finally looked at Bronya, who was a distance away.

"Bronya, come over, darling. It's time for you to introduce yourself."

'Bronya! She IS Bronya!'

Both Sirin and Kiana looked at the Ash-silver coloured girl. The Future Supreme Guardian slowly walked up next to Marcus. 

Even if she had no idea who these girls were or what their games/play/intrigue were.

She behaved like a proper Leader and nobility with her head held high.

"This is Bronya Rand. She is the Heiress and Future Supreme Guardian of the remaining city on this planet—"

Everyone looked at her curiously for different reasons. People from a previous era wondered what was going on, and people who knew Bronya wanted to see if this girl had any similarities with Bronya they knew.

"And most importantly… she is my Fiance." 

"!!!"

"!!!"

Kiana and Sirin looked stupefied by that revelation. They can't imagine that Bronya, the emotionless girl, would be his Fiancée!

But they quickly recovered, as this was different, Bronya. She didn't have that hollow look in her eyes. Nope, this girl is different.

"...It's an honour to meet you, Sirin." Bronya cutesy introduced herself. One could say she ignored how Sirin lost her rank and Marcus' outburst.

Yes, she is smart enough to ignore… certain things.

"I have heard great things from Marcus about you." The Heiress slightly smiled, trying to hide her nervousness. She was terrified, too, when Marcus showed his absurd power.

One thing that she will never do in her life is provoke him enough to show his absurd power.

What she saw here is enough of an indicator of what he can do when he snaps.

Yep, she will be as civil as possible!

"...I hope… great things." Sirin nodded back. She was replying in civil fashion, too.

"Yes, he said you were conquering land in his name. He was excited about that."

"Indeed. I WAS." Marcus highlighted the word 'WAS'.

"The planet IS under Technocracy control. Honkai doesn't exist anymore. There is no resistance left." Sirin ignored the jab and focused on her duties.

"I see, but the damage of 50 thousand years has been done. The world is no longer how it was." He pointed out the issue.

"...You can reverse it…" Sirin tried to argue, but she knew him enough that it was pointless.

"I could, but it won't be the same." He rolled his eyes before taking Bronya's hand.

He then looked at the new maids.

"My maid Belfast will instruct you girls on your duties." He then looked at Sirin. "You can return to your room and relax, process what happened here." 

Sirin bit her lower lips, knowing what it meant when she was being sent to her room. This was a total defeat to her!

"While you two will be coming with me." Marcus finished with Kiana and Kallen. The Saint of Schnicsal was quiet all the time. She was far …too terrified of Marcus' abilities to even speak unless spoken to her specifically!

"...Understood."

"Yes…"

"Okay~."

Sirin didn't say anything as she turned around and began to walk away.

By the time she was in front of the double doors, they opened up, and Belfast walked in. She was right on time, like a proper supermaid!

~~~

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