During the long Spring Festival holiday, now already halfway through, those staying in the academy's villas were still immersed in festive joy.
Whether they truly understood it or not, everyone tried out some new holiday activities.
As for gacha game players, the latest updates were particularly active. Even characters that were once overlooked could be drawn in just a few short New Year days… All you needed was either the luck of a golden god or a seriously thick wallet.
At the very least, the late-arriving Brownie was quite satisfied with that.
Bang —
The door closed as Luo Mo returned from work. He glanced around the living room but didn't see the familiar figure owner, and asked in surprise, "Where's Theresa? She's not home?"
"Big sis Theresa… Oh right, I think she hasn't even gotten out of bed today," came the reply from Luna, after a brief moment of thought.
Then she continued watching the TV, her smooth, pale legs swinging in the air, not quite reaching the floor.
Sure, Human was important, but he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Besides, she really liked this Homu program.
Wasn't it thanks to Theresa that she had become a Homu fan in the first place?
Even Luna had slowly been converted into a Homu believer.
Luo Mo's face showed a look of resignation.
Not that it was surprising—these days, with nothing urgent to do, every time he came home from work he would find Theresa lounging on the sofa reading manga, her little feet dangling and swaying in the air. It was like she owned the place… Sleeping in late every day was understandable.
Wait—this was her house in the first place.
He was the one squatting in someone else's nest.
Luo Mo felt a small pang of awkwardness, barely noticeable even to himself, but it quickly faded thanks to some internal self-soothing.
After all… he had compensated her. At the very least, Theresa's various projects rarely suffered from a lack of funding.
Which had led to this current holiday, where the academy's headmaster spent her days lounging around.
He thought to himself, With a headmaster like this, how is the academy supposed to grow?
In the end, it all depended on him to rally a group of elite students!
Look—who still dared say the Far East Branch was the weakest? Who still dared say St. Freya's overall strength couldn't compare to his own handpicked team?
He dared claim that even a single branch unit from St. Freya could defeat World Serpent or Schicksal in combat—and maybe even take both down on the same run.
Of course… that was just a fantasy in his head.
After all, why would Theresa suddenly rebel against Schicksal for no reason?
These days, Luo Mo had been swamped with post-production script work, and had to stick to a strict schedule. Even though there were others doing voice work alongside him, who didn't wish for some slack time to laze around?
That said, Miss Su Lu was actually quite happy. Their boss was working overtime with them—how could they not be motivated?
She even had more appetite at mealtimes now.
"Huh? Then she's probably just about done. Kallen said she'd be dropping by. If she finds Theresa still dead asleep…"
Luo Mo chuckled quietly and sat on the couch, calmly waiting for Kallen's arrival.
He could practically picture the scene of Theresa being yanked out of bed—this wasn't his fault.
It was just that Theresa was too lazy.
"Hmm…"
Luna frowned thoughtfully, then pressed the button to call her big sister.
There was a mutual promise between her and Theresa: if either of them seemed out of it, the other would give a reminder.
But the line was busy—no sign the call had connected.
–Ding-dong.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
Kallen, Durandal, and Rita were already at the door—arriving even faster than Luo Mo had expected. Maybe it had something to do with being near Cecilia's place.
Speaking of which—here they were.
"I'll go get it! The game wasn't going well anyway! What the heck were they doing…"
Brownie muttered as she put down her game console, got up, opened the door, and greeted them all in one go. Though a little rushed and informal, it was still more than what she gave most people.
For someone as stubborn and wary as her, even being a little informal meant she had already accepted them in her heart.
Without realizing it, not just Luo Mo but the others, too, had slowly gotten used to living together. And although they would only part ways after the Honkai was over, Brownie had, on more than one occasion, cursed herself for boarding this pirate ship.
Luna, their bonds—Brownie, Delta, and the others—were gradually deepening.
Irene, on the other hand, seemed to know everything from the start. She simply smiled quietly and managed things flawlessly.
…That was the charm of having a face like Rita's, after all.
A true social powerhouse.
As for Kongming, she belonged to the "afraid of socializing" type.
Quite the contrast from earlier—she was more like someone who shut herself in, preferring to stay alone in her room.
Kallen stepped inside, smiling. After glancing around the room, she curiously asked why Theresa wasn't there.
....
Upstairs in the villa, inside her room, Theresa was sleeping deeply.
Even though it was nearly noon, there were no signs that she planned to wake up anytime soon.
Since the holiday began, her tendency to sleep in had increased drastically. With no classes scheduled like during the semester, and no one around to bother her, she had no reason to get up early.
Financial support from the company had also eased many of her worries. But with it came something else—Luo Mo bringing in Herrscher candidates to the academy. That made her occasionally rub her temples in discomfort, finding it all a bit unnatural.
It wasn't that she felt unsafe… It was more like holding a nuclear bomb in her hands.
Still, no matter how you looked at it, Luo Mo's appearance had helped stabilize the Honkai situation, allowing the academy and her precious students to live in peace. He had prevented the academy's collapse and avoided further conflicts with World Serpent.
She didn't dislike him.
It was just… he didn't have to stir up trouble so often. She was genuinely afraid that one day she'd wake up to find everyone had turned into Herrschers.
And this time, she had a feeling something might really happen.
That thing she kept talking about nonstop… it might be about to come true.
"Riiing… riiing…"
The phone next to her rang, but Theresa didn't seem to hear it at all. She kept sleeping, as if trapped in a dream she couldn't escape.
The warm blanket had been kicked aside. Her soft, pale skin was exposed, glistening with a fine layer of sweat. It was as if a blazing fire was burning from within her body.
From time to time, her eyebrows would furrow in pain, and her breath caught in her throat as if struggling through a terrible nightmare.
Her smooth back stuck to the sheets, dampening the once-clean bed with moisture. A faint golden Stigmata glowed on her back, flickering with a holy light.
It was her original Stigmata—one that belonged solely to her.
But near that same area on her back, something else was happening. Glowing fragments began to break off and scatter into the air, disintegrating with a dazzling shimmer. The Stigmata card could no longer contain the surging power within and was slowly breaking apart, its energy dissipating.
It was as if some unseen force was suppressing it.
She was dreaming.
A dream that felt eternal, an endless, hazy journey through illusions without destination.
Time didn't seem to exist in the dream. Layer upon layer of dreams overlapped like a labyrinth, trapping her inside.
Though the scenes in the dream were vibrant and dazzling, they were all incomplete. A golden haze covered everything, and the sky had been replaced by massive golden gears turning endlessly overhead.
All of it was a reminder: This is not reality.
She wanted to cry out, but no one answered.
All she could do was keep walking forward, wandering through a colorless white space, reliving countless moments from her life—like watching her memories play back one by one.
"Back then, I mocked Luo Mo for having a ridiculously pure-white mental space… but now… I'm really seeing it for myself."
She gave a bitter smile. But there was nothing she could do—only accept her fate and keep walking forward.
Her memories began from the moment she inherited the Apocalypse bloodline… and ended as the leader of the Far East Branch.
She had met many people in her life. The faces in those memories flashed by like train cars that never ended—one after another, never looking back, never stopping.
The deeper the memories went, the more her consciousness drowned in them.
She no longer knew how long she had been asleep, or how long she had been fighting. Even if, in reality, only a single night had passed… this battle—this inner conflict—left her with no sense of self or direction.
She traveled through the story of her own life and saw far more than she ever expected.
Endless memories surrounded her, suffocating in their sheer volume.
She dreamed of countless possibilities:
– Of becoming the Archbishop of Schicksal, crowned in a grand ceremony under her grandmother's watchful eyes.
– Of Luo Mo serving loyally at her side, following every order, even turning against others without hesitation.
– Of Himeko's tragic death in her dreams, falling under a pitch-black sky while Theresa stood by, helpless and crying.
She saw a sea of flames.
She saw a land of ice.
She saw a silent swordsman standing tall, declaring something without words.
She saw humans, once thriving like bamboo shoots after rain, now lying dead across the earth.
And then…
She saw herself.
Her own reflection stared back at her.
Reaching the "End"—or perhaps what the enemy believed should be the end—Theresa saw another version of herself.
The white space around her abruptly ended, blocked by a transparent, flowing barrier like water. In front of her was a vast, empty starry void; behind her, only a spotless, white path.
Above her, countless golden gears hovered in the sky like the heart of the universe itself. They turned continuously, clicking with a deep, faint echo like the ticking of a giant clock's pendulum.
Standing before her was someone with her exact appearance.
The only difference—those golden eyes. Emotionless and cold, locked onto her.
"You… you are…?" Theresa clenched her small fists, her face tense as she stared at the figure.
None of this was unexpected.
(T/C: .. is she tall?)
If, at first, she could convince herself it was just a waking dream, the golden gears above and the figure before her erased any such hope. These things… could not have come from a mere dream.
The next Herrscher had arrived.
And she had been chosen.
The Herrscher of Binding.
The figure's lips curled in a cold smirk as she silently stared at Theresa. Her lips moved… but no sound came.
Still, Theresa understood the meaning behind them.
"I will kill them all."
Theresa panicked. She banged her fists against the barrier with all her might, but only faint ripples of blue light spread out—no cracks, no damage.
No matter how hard she tried, it was meaningless.
The other Theresa closed her eyes… and then opened them again.
She gazed at the golden gears in the sky. In the starry blackness, massive shadows danced like cosmic titans playing an eternal harmony.
Within those golden eyes, calm and ominous power stirred.
Theresa stared at her, a flicker of madness flashing across her own expression—yet a gentle heart tugged her back to clarity.
Then she understood.
Looking down at her hands, she saw a faint golden glow beginning to spread across her skin.
"How… how is this happening?" she sobbed, her voice shaking.
When she looked up again, the figure had vanished.
In the pure white void, only she remained.
She hadn't awakened.
But she would.
And so—It awakened.
(T/C: remind me of Albedo fanmade videos)
....
Luna, a phone buzzed with static before being abruptly silenced by a tremendous roar. Before she could react, an immense pressure crushed down on her body. Every cell felt compressed, as though the end of her life was moments away.
At that very moment.
A golden light enveloped all of St. Freya Academy, not long after the Lunar New Year.
The Herrscher of Binding had descended.
At a time no one had predicted.
Most students were away for their break, which was perhaps the only fortunate thing.
But now, a golden barrier covered the entire academy, leaving not a single gap—like sunlight sealing everything beneath a golden sheen.
And it brought with it a crushing, invisible pressure.
All internal energy was forcibly sealed. Even the usually active Honkai Energy fell completely still.
If the domain extended over a 100km radius, it would cover half the island—and the company would surely lose control. Maybe even parts of the surrounding sea.
But the Herrscher of Binding's domain wasn't just large—it was expanding. In previous eras, this had only happened because the enemy was given too much time.
But here, at St. Freya—this was Herrscher territory.
Faced with the combined resistance of multiple Herrschers, the field couldn't immediately expand further.
But now, every Herrscher present felt a crushing weight fall upon them. Their Herrscher cores went still for a blink—and all eyes turned to the villa.
Because this energy… felt familiar.
The few ordinary students who remained at school fell unconscious instantly. Their energy signatures began to weaken. Breathing slowed—some were suddenly at risk of death.
Though the barrier's force decreased with distance, those at the center—Luo Mo and the others—felt it most acutely.
Before Luo Mo could even react, he cried out in pain, staring up at the villa—where Theresa was.
The force had slammed him down almost instantly.
His previously enhanced three Stigmata vanished on the spot. His body reverted to normal—worse than before.
And yet, like before—when he didn't equip Stigmata—he still couldn't channel Honkai Energy. So strangely, he was under less pressure than the others.
Because this domain targeted all energy types, but especially Honkai Energy.
For Mutant fighters and Herrschers, it was a natural nemesis.
Even the strongest present—Durandal—collapsed once before staggering up again with her lance, stunned as she took in the scene.
Clearly, even she couldn't understand what was happening.
The Herrscher of Binding hadn't even appeared properly—and yet this was already the result.
"Cough—cough—"
"…Binding… why is it here?"
Kallen propped herself up with one hand, suppressing the blood threatening to rise in her throat. She coughed violently, her voice hoarse.
Her gaze was complicated. Luo Mo didn't need to speak—he already knew who the Herrscher of Binding was.
He had once said, the most likely candidates for its emergence… were either him or Theresa.
Now, the answer was clear.
The Herrscher of Binding had awakened. It needed to be dealt with immediately—or it would become untouchable as the field expanded.
Everything was falling apart.
Even though they had planned thoroughly… there were backup contingencies…
That's why he had moved here.
They had made their best preparations, and at the very least, they couldn't allow the Herrscher of Binding to develop further.
After all…
Back when the subject of the Herrscher of Binding first arose, Luo Mo had once spoken aloud to himself:
"Even if it's a Herrscher specifically designed to suppress Honkai… can one Herrscher really hold down all the others at once? Honestly, I don't believe it."
"Even if it's a tier above… isn't that like just adding one more tier to our side?"
(T/C: bro used Otto gaslighting)
He had smiled then—gently, yet with madness in his eyes.
Because he couldn't find a better solution.
He never thought his words would be prophetic.
But now… the Herrscher of Binding had really awakened—right in the middle of the Herrscher-dense academy.
___
(T/N)
[That right. I'm finally back Captain. And just as I promised (I never promised anything) I will be uploaded the rest of the chapter after translating in full this week.
In other word.
Massive Drops!
Anyway, here you go minions *throwing chapters at you*]