Honkai: Oh No, I’ve Become the Herrscher of Corruption?! - Chapter 67

“Is this… a illusion created by Higokumaru based on my memories?” Gazing at the snowflakes swirling in the sky, Enoxia found herself back in Siberia, her appearance reverting to that of Erosion Elysia.

“Tch, if it weren’t for Higokumaru taking advantage of my guard being down—cheating, ambushing a comrade like me who’s not even 69 months old—I wouldn’t have fallen for its trap.”

Enoxia tried the same method she’d used against the Meteorite Ice Herrscher: focusing her power to erode the illusion. But another force pushed back, overwhelming her.

She wanted Higokumaru to become Jizo Mitama and serve as her personal weapon, but Higokumaru had its own agenda—digesting her to break free from Yae Sakura’s restraints. After all, their powers were the most compatible, minimizing the risk of rejection.

“So, the current situation is: I can’t escape, but it can’t do anything to me either… We’re both Erosion Herrschers. Whoever erodes the other first comes down to who’s stronger. But it’s not at full power, and it’s somewhat restricted by Yae Sakura. In terms of pure energy, there’s no way it’s stronger than me. It might have trapped me, but just like how Theresa and the Binding Herrscher locked each other in a Herrscher of Corruption domain, our Honkai energy is constantly depleting in this space. In a war of attrition, I’d win.”

“So its only bet is to gamble on this illusion crafted from my memories—to make me emotionally vulnerable, then seize the moment when my willpower crumbles… A world of despair? Pfft, I’ve survived the emotional gut-punches from ‘Spicy Chicken Teacher’ and ‘Lingyi Mom.’ Let’s see how you plan to break me.”

With unwavering confidence, Enoxia pressed forward. Within moments, she spotted Benares soaring through the sky, carrying Sirin toward space.

Since this was the Second Eruption, the Babylonia Tower was a must-visit. She needed to see just how much Higokumaru had distorted the personalities of key figures like Welt in this fabricated world.

Inside the tower, Tesla was, as usual, taking care of Welt. A band-aid was stuck to the back of her hand as she held that bizarrely modern-artistic apple.

“Sixty hours ago, Anti-Entropy launched three Silver Bullets toward the moon. Unfortunately, all three malfunctioned upon approach. Before the failure, we detected massive electromagnetic pulses.”

“The Second Herrscher… has evolved from a brute-force girl into something more…”

Tesla set down the fruit knife and moved to hand the peeled apple to Welt—only to slip, lurching forward and collapsing onto him. The apple tumbled to the ground.

Their breaths mingled, faces flushing instantly. Seeing Welt’s weakened expression, Tesla’s heart ached. Without thinking, she reached out and gently touched his cheek.

With the mood set, Welt went with the flow—leaning in to kiss Tesla’s lips.

Outside the door, Einstein peeked in, smiled, shook her head, and quietly walked away.

“Hmm… not bad, not bad—wait.” Enoxia, who had been happily indulging in this scene through the tower’s computers, suddenly noticed something off.

“I can’t interact with anyone? No one can see me? Oh… so this isn’t an illusion, but a forced, immersive VCR? Like tying a Honkai Impact 3rd player to a chair and making them rewatch heartwarming classics like ‘The Final Lesson,’ ‘Everlasting Flames,’ and ‘Because of You,’ accompanied by their respective emotional soundtracks—‘Nightglow,’ ‘Moon Halo,’ and ‘True’? Makes sense. Allowing interactions with this world’s characters would probably drain extra Honkai energy.”

“But this is just the original Second Eruption. With the Herrscher of Sentience present and no Abundance abominations running around, even Otto’s schemes wouldn’t be enough to derail things. The original plot would play out fine—it’s not like I’m needed here anyway.”

She knew all too well: after being manipulated by the Will of Honkai and hearing Welt declare “I declare war on behalf of all humanity,” Sirin’s hatred had expanded to encompass the entire human race. There was no saving her now—best to just end her suffering quickly.

The events that followed were identical to the original story: Sirin, blessed by the Herrscher of the End, hurled meteorites at Earth. Welt and Siegfried went up to fight—Siegfried returned, and Sirin became a six-core Herrscher…

But then… things diverged.

In this fabricated world, by March 2000, Sirin and Bella were still on the moon, casually tossing rocks at Earth every few days.

From March to April, meteorites struck southeastern China, northern India, eastern Africa, eastern North America, the capital of the Far East, and Southeast Asia—killing billions.

By the end of 2000, every habitable region on Earth had been bombarded. Global socio-economic order collapsed entirely.

This timeline’s Sirin wasn’t the overconfident blowhard of the original. She played it smart—after her near-death experience, she chose to play it safe. Since weapons like Silver Bullet couldn’t reach the moon, she simply stayed there. Even as a six-core Herrscher, even if all she could do was throw rocks, it didn’t matter. She could hit Earth, but Earth couldn’t hit her.

Building a spaceship? Good luck getting it off the ground under meteor showers. Even if one reached space, a flick of the Thunder Herrscher’s authority would disable it long before it got close. Enoxia couldn’t recall anyone in Honkai Impact 3rd teleporting straight from Earth to the moon.

Years passed. Over 99% of humanity had perished under Sirin’s meteorites. Welt might have kept resurrecting, but against a cautious Sirin, a mere second-generation Herrscher was powerless.

By the time humanity was nearly extinct, Sirin and Bella finally returned to Earth to hunt down the survivors hiding in the ruins—only to run into Kevin Kaslana emerging from the sea. She died by his hand.

Kevin, returning to World Serpent, took one look around: “What the hell is this? Is this even the Current Era?”

Only six Herrscher cores had appeared, yet the Current Era was in worse shape than the Previous Era at the same stage. The Previous Era’s seventh Herrscher only burned Australia, and civilization didn’t begin collapsing until the ninth Herrscher destroyed the Mu Continent. But now? Earth was already a shattered wasteland.

With Prometheus ensuring the order and number of Herrschers, the Current Era shouldn’t have ended up like this. Devastated, Kevin had no choice but to activate the Stigma Project—this time, without Fu Hua to stop him.

In this timeline where Sirin played smart, Otto Apocalypse—who’d let her escape for his own selfish desires—became history’s greatest sinner. Without the Star of Eden, he died without ever finding a way to revive Kallen.

The VCR ended. The world plunged into darkness, leaving Enoxia even more confused:

“Wait, I was ready for emotional devastation, but… a world of despair? That’s it? It’s just a ‘what if Sirin wasn’t an idiot’ scenario. What was the point of showing me this?”