Chapter 43: The Twelfth Herrscher

Serenade held the black box, which appeared completely sealed with no visible opening. It was unclear how the Twelfth Herrscher could have been sealed within such a small container.

Nonetheless, this box was not of the current era but rather an artifact from the previous epoch, eventually coming into the possession of Schicksal.

It represented the pinnacle of technology from the prior age.

To be precise, it was an incomplete divine key...

The Twelfth Herrscher, later known as Higokumaru, was originally a seemingly ordinary young woman living 50,000 years ago during the previous era of human civilization.

Due to emitting powerful Honkai energy, she was captured and imprisoned by an organization resisting Honkai, who suspected her to be the Twelfth Herrscher.

However, after examination by Dr. Mei, the scientist from the organization(Fire Moth), it was discovered that while her body exhibited intense Honkai energy reactions, she did not display any special abilities. Thus, they initially planned only to detain her and conduct research on the girl.

Nevertheless, the lower-ranked members of the Fire Moth... were filled with terror towards this girl suspected to be a Herrscher. After all, the power displayed by previous Herrschers had been overwhelmingly strong.

It was precisely because of these Herrschers that humanity was reduced to barely surviving in just three remaining cities. The human population plummeted from nearly ten billion to mere tens of millions, so... faced with the possibility of this girl being a Herrscher... in their fear, the lower-ranked personnel took the unauthorized action of killing her.

Then... unexpectedly, after her death, the ability of the "Herrscher of Corruption" that the girl possessed finally awakened.

After her Herrscher powers first awakened, the young girl wreaked havoc on the base's biosphere and machinery. She seized control of the armory and launched strategic weapons worldwide. This struck the final blow to humanity, which had already been decimated by the destruction wrought by the previous ten Herrschers.

In the end... the twelfth Herrscher was sealed in a unique box by Dr. Mei, with the attempt to transform the Herrscher core into a divine key. However, due to the sealed consciousness still resisting, the twelfth divine key was never completed by the time the world was annihilated by the Herrscher of Finale.

And so...

The twelfth Herrscher, Higokumaru's predecessor, spent over 50,000 years alone in the box...

For 50,000 years, the girl remained in the pitch-black box, unable to see or move, completely immobilized.

Just imagine enduring 50,000 years in that absolute darkness...

Forget about humans or even Herrschers— even true gods! Saints would descend into utter madness.

A human might endure a week in such isolation before contemplating suicide, but... 50,000 years...

The maiden had completely twisted into a grotesque. Her hatred towards humanity had spiraled into full madness. The seed of humanity within her heart was completely engulfed by the consciousness of the Herrscher...

And so, for fifty thousand years, this half-finished divine key remained sealed. Until the present age, when it was acquired by the Schicksal Corporation, who used it for research on Honkai energy.

Then, not long ago, under the pretext of studying the Black Death, Schicksal began conducting human experiments using the Black Boxes on human beings.

Those captured for experimentation, once they learned their fate, would feel profound terror and hatred towards their Schicksal captors...

These slowly began to be absorbed by the Twelfth Herrscher, and the seal on the box... was on the cusp of breaking.

In truth... what happened in the Sakura chapter, with the anger and resentment in the hearts of Sakura, was merely the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Even if they were sealed for such a short time, how could the single-minded hatred and void in Yae Sakura's heart be enough to break the seal of the Twelfth Herrscher?

The history of this age, though not incredibly long, still spanned several thousand years. Were there really no other people who existed who had more personal resentment than Yae Sakura? Yae Sakura's anger was fairly muted, really.

So, the real reason is that before Kallen brought the Twelfth Herrscher to the Far East, the seal was already on the verge of breaking. And Sakura was just unlucky enough to be the last straw.

However, this half-finished Divine Key's core program has been entirely set up. Even though it's been 50,000 years, it hasn't changed at all.

So, once the Twelfth Herrscher voluntarily relinquishes her resistance, the Herrsher Core will follow the previous generation's protocol set by Dr. Mei in the box, transforming into the Divine Key "Jizō Mitama."

Just one step away from becoming a Divine Key.

However, Serenade wasn't particularly eager for this Jizo Mitama, as she already possessed one.

What Serenade was truly interested in was...

If she were to transform into Gyakushinn Miko, and then once again hand over the "Jizo Mitama" from her inventory to her pet Higokumaru.

And then, if Higokumaru were to fight the Twelfth Herrscher, who would come out victorious?

This was an intriguing experiment. I'll make note of it now and try it out when I have time later.

At this point, the Twelfth Herrscher is still just a virus; she doesn't have a host yet. So aside from her corrosive ability, she doesn't seem to have any other powers.

However, this corrosive ability is incredibly potent. Even as an SSS-rank Valkyrie, Serenade isn't entirely confident that she could resist its control.

"You mean... inside the seal is... the Twelfth Herrscher?"

Upon hearing Serenade's words, Kallen's jaw dropped as she stared at the black box in her companion's hand. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine it would be the legendary Herrscher.

After all, the Schicksal had long chronicled the Herrschers, so it was only natural that Kallen would know of their existence.

However, Honkai had first struck 4,500 years ago, when human civilization was in its infancy. Naturally... the seeds of vengeance sown in the previous epoch began to awaken one after another at that time.

With the assistance of the Class Monitor, Nuwa had created "myths" to preserve the legacy of how humanity should confront Honkai during their primitive era.

As Honkai began to erupt on a small scale, during the Chiyou incident, Fuxi, Nuwa, and Jingwei guided Xuanyuan, who had awakened Stigmata powers, to use the divine key known as the Xuanyuan Sword to seal the Arbiter rank Honkai beast, Chiyou.

Then, from around 500 AD—just a few years ago in this timeline—Honkai finally began to erupt on a massive scale.

"What's this? You're scared now?" Serenade toyed with the black box in her hand, looking at Kallen with an utterly calm expression, as if the concept of a Herrscher held no weight for her whatsoever.

"Even with a sealed Herrscher, you're still like... this? Don't you know what a Herrscher represents? The apocalypse for all civilization!" The sight of Serenade's... well, her casual demeanor was intolerable to Kallen.