Honkai: Oh No, I’ve Become the Herrscher of Corruption?! - Chapter 114

“Bzzz… crack!”

“My Queen… it should be… done now.”

Exhausted and drenched in sweat, Bella collapsed into Sirin’s arms. Sirin activated the Authority of the Void Herrscher once more, and though countless numbers still flickered before her eyes, many of them had now stabilized from variables into constants.

Yet Sirin still scratched her head in confusion, unsure of what to do next.

“Hmm… it’s not as headache-inducing as before, but I still don’t understand what any of this means… Oh well, I’ll just focus on what I can make sense of and skip the rest.”

“The coordinates [Enoxia] gave me are… and our current position is… Ah, great! After Bella fixed the magnetic field, even the coordinate errors became fixed values.”

Using the error margin as a reference, Sirin opened a portal and jumped through with Bella in tow.

Given how bizarre this space was, Sirin had mentally prepared herself for any surreal world they might step into. Yet when she emerged on the other side, she froze in place.

She recognized it instantly—a research laboratory, the kind used for highly specialized experiments. The data terminal before her was unmistakably the same model as the ones in Babylon Tower, and the entire setting felt eerily familiar.

Glancing down at Bella in her arms, Sirin could tell she was fine. If ordered, Bella would undoubtedly spring back into action without hesitation.

But seeing Bella nestled comfortably against her, a blissful expression on her face, Sirin simply smiled and shook her head.

“Never mind. Let her rest a little longer.”

Carrying Bella, Sirin approached the data terminal. Before she could even interact with it, lines of text automatically appeared on the screen:

“Latest research indicates that even Herrschers—beings capable of overturning physical laws at will—have their limits in various aspects.”

“Among them, the Herrscher of the Void, while capable of directly accessing Imaginary Space and theoretically possessing an inexhaustible supply of Honkai energy, still has a finite output threshold.”

Reading this, Sirin recalled Enoxia mentioning something similar after the Second Honkai War.

But as someone who had personally experienced Honkai energy depletion, Sirin had always found such conclusions hard to believe—until one day, after a massive spatial transfer, she inspected the connection between her Void Core and Imaginary Space. Then, she could only lower her head in shame.

If the Herrscher Core was a water tank and Honkai energy was water, the Herrscher of the Void was like having a direct pipeline to the ocean. As long as the “faucet” was open, Honkai energy would flow endlessly into her body.

However… due to Sirin’s mishandling, after expending a large amount of energy, some of it had flowed back into the “pipe” and, like water freezing into ice, clogged the passage.

So, until the “ice” melted, if her existing Honkai energy ran dry, Sirin would naturally feel drained.

Just then, new text appeared on the screen under the title: “Investigation and Research on the Authority of the Herrscher of Corruption.” Sirin pressed the enter key, and a report over a hundred pages long instantly unfolded before her.

“…Undoubtedly, each of the twelve Herrschers possesses unique traits. But if we had to name the least special among them, it would undoubtedly be the Herrscher of Domination. While it can usurp the Authorities of weaker Herrschers, its strength is not inherent—it depends entirely on external factors. If all other Herrschers remain above the threshold of what the Herrscher of Domination can control, then without question, its overall power would rank dead last among the twelve.”

“However, if we were to name the most unique, the Herrscher of Corruption would undoubtedly take first place, followed by the Herrscher of Binding.”

“It goes without saying that the dead cannot return to life. Yet the Herrscher of Corruption can [copy] a person’s entire soul before their complete demise, converting it into a digital memory within data space. Whether these memory constructs can truly be considered the same as their original selves remains hotly debated. Nevertheless, the fact that the Herrscher of Corruption can create a being with identical memories, personality, and cognition to the original is, in a way, a form of resurrection.”

“In some respects, the Herrscher of Corruption is even more formidable than the Herrscher of Death. While the latter can only preserve the body, the former can, quite literally, save a person’s soul.”

“But what is the cost of this power? Can the Herrscher of Corruption truly elevate all of humanity into digital immortality?”

“After extensive research, we’ve concluded: no. We must not forget that Herrschers are messengers of the Honkai, born destroyers. If the Herrscher of Corruption seeks to corrupt or erase a soul, it may expend only a trivial amount of energy. But to save a life? The price would be far greater.”

“We know that the Herrscher of Corruption is, at its core, a sentient super-virus capable of shifting between data and physical form. Thus, we hypothesize that every time it converts a dying person into a digital memory, it permanently loses a portion of its own data—a piece of its own soul.”

“In short, for every soul the Herrscher of Corruption saves or creates, it sacrifices a fragment of itself.”

“Therefore, if it attempted to digitize billions of humans, the cost would be astronomical. Success is far from guaranteed, and the Herrscher itself would likely vanish into oblivion.”

“However—”

“Bzzzt—”

A burst of static cut through the air, and the terminal abruptly shut down, forcing Sirin to stop reading.

The mention of Cecilia and Alexandra made Sirin’s heart tighten.

Sensing the sudden shift, Bella—though reluctant—instinctively pulled away from Sirin’s embrace, scanning their surroundings warily.

Sirin patted her reassuringly, signaling that there was no danger.

Just as the two relaxed, the terminal flickered back to life—this time displaying not text, but footage. The title read: “The Honkai May Not Be a Threat to Humanity.”

Yet the scene that followed showed the Siberian tundra, with two figures Sirin recognized immediately—Cecilia and herself.

“Sirin, I’m sorry… I truly wanted to be your mother, to make up for everything you lost… But in the end, I failed.”

“At the very least… let me give you warmth in these final moments.”

“Ich liebe dich.”

The next instant, multiple Honkai fission bombs struck them with pinpoint accuracy, engulfing their bodies in flames…

The video cut off abruptly, shifting to another clip before Sirin could process what she had just seen.

Soon, Sirin understood—if she had died in Siberia, her body would have been taken by Schicksal for research. The kindness she showed in her final moments would eventually lead to the creation of the clone K423. After being given the name “Kiana,” this clone would overcome countless trials… and ultimately transcend the Finality.

The terminal shut down once more, but Sirin’s mind was now a storm of turmoil. Piecing together the footage and the knowledge Enoxia had shared about the Honkai, she reached a chilling conclusion:

“Does my survival… mean this era is doomed to fail?”