Herrscher of Dominance in Honkai, starting with the abduction of Kiana

"Be careful."

Click.

With the sound of the door lock clicking shut, the drizzling rain outside was completely sealed off. The spacious room instantly fell into silence, as if it belonged to a different world.

Himeko stood by the window, watching the girl's retreating figure disappearing into the rainy night, her eyes filled with unspoken worry.

More than ten minutes ago, because Ren had fallen asleep, only she and Kiana were left in the house. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the teacher and student had another heart-to-heart talk.

This time was different from the past. Kiana clearly knew much more than Himeko had imagined, so much so that she couldn't continue to hide things from the girl for a while.

However, halfway through their conversation, a violent explosion came from the city. Although the noise of the heavy rain masked a lot of the commotion, the subsequent Honkai energy pulse was unmistakable to a Herrscher.

Knowing the reason for Ren's sleep, Himeko was well aware of the cause of these commotions. In order not to interfere with Ren's actions, she also tried her best to divert Kiana's attention.

But unfortunately, the girl was no longer the easily fooled idiot from before. Even with the pouring rain outside, she was determined to go out and check the situation.

"I can't ignore the Honkai, not to mention there seems to be a familiar aura in the Honkai energy fluctuation just now."

That was what Kiana had said, and then she went alone to investigate the situation in the rain, leaving Himeko worried. She knew very well that the current Ren was definitely at the center of the Honkai eruption. If the two met, with Kiana's current sharpness, she was very likely to notice some clues.

"I hope Ren acts quickly. It will be troublesome if he's discovered."

"She left?"

Just as Himeko was worrying, Ren's voice finally came. Looking at the young man slowly opening his eyes on the sofa, she let out a long sigh of relief, her worried heart finally settling down.

"Just left. She seems to have sensed your aura."

After saying that, Himeko looked at Ren's golden eyes, which showed no sign of fading, and asked with some concern, "Was the enemy very powerful?"

She knew that Ren wouldn't normally activate his Herrscher golden eyes unless he needed to mobilize a large amount of authority. Maintaining them in a constantly lit state like this basically meant he had just experienced an extremely strenuous battle.

"The Eighth Herrscher. Not very strong, just a bit troublesome to deal with."

"Herrscher?" Himeko was startled. Herrschers were an absolute disaster for civilization. Even the recent Coral Island incident, which she had participated in, had cost an entire island as the price.

But now, after sleeping for less than an hour, Ren had casually resolved the Eighth Herrscher's trouble.

Even Himeko, who had seen many storms, found it hard to believe.

Having followed Ren for so long, although he had never explicitly told her his true combat strength, through a series of events, she also guessed that Ren's combat strength absolutely far surpassed that of ordinary Herrschers.

However, defeating a Herrscher and silently defeating a Herrscher were two completely different concepts. This meant that Ren's strength was probably much higher than she had expected.

"Just used some clever tricks." Ren shook his head.

"I see." Hearing Ren say this, Himeko finally felt a bit more balanced. After all, she had already tried her best to overestimate Ren's combat strength. If he was even stronger than this, it would be too shocking.

Of course, she didn't know that the strength she had overestimated was only Ren's current normal combat strength. Defeating Senti wasn't really that difficult for Ren. The reason he used his full power was actually just to take the Taixu Sword God without any defense.

"By the way, Kiana said you told her all the secrets the other night? She chatted with me just now, and told me a lot about you."

"I thought since you told her, I didn't hide some of the details…"

"Cough, cough, cough."

Himeko was just about to report the previous situation when she saw Ren coughing violently, then spitting out a mouthful of blood. Startled, she quickly stopped talking and fetched the special medical drugs.

"Are you alright?"

The Thousand Person Core wasn't entirely composed of individual puppets. Ren's body bore a much heavier burden than other puppets. Therefore, part of the damage K424 puppet suffered in the fight with Senti would also be transferred to this body.

Ren didn't speak, just focused on adjusting his state.

However, in Himeko's view, it was probably the news she just mentioned that caused Ren to vomit blood. She panicked a little, her voice involuntarily lowering, "You… didn't tell her?"

"..."

"Wait, do you mean she lied to me?"

Ren continued to remain silent. Naturally, Himeko's heart-to-heart talk with Kiana hadn't been hidden from him. With the Dominance authority's blockade, Himeko couldn't leak secrets even if she wanted to. Therefore, the content of their conversation was mostly what he had deliberately leaked to Himeko, or rather, what he originally wanted to tell Kiana.

However, recently, as his relationship with Kiana had become closer, Himeko, relying on her teacher status, had become increasingly presumptuous. If this continued, unexpected situations were bound to occur in the future.

It would be better to take advantage of this "leak" incident to nip this behavior in the bud.

As Ren's silence stretched on, Himeko's psychological pressure gradually increased. She realized that she might have messed up Ren's plans.

"I… I don't know." Himeko wanted to explain, but Ren's silence was suffocating her.

She finally remembered that beneath those golden eyes was, after all, a Herrscher. No matter how close the other party was to Kiana, it wasn't something she could interfere with.

"I am a true Herrscher."

At the end of the Coral Island incident, Ren had said this. She hadn't taken it seriously at the time, but now thinking back, it was probably a warning to her.

In an instant, Himeko recalled the soul-wrenching pain from before. More importantly, she didn't know what impact this leak would have on the relationship between Ren and Kiana.

The oppressive atmosphere lasted for a long time, so much so that Himeko couldn't help but tremble towards the end, until the sound of the door opening rang out again.

…

"I'm back."

Kiana walked into the house and greeted them, taking off the hood of her wet coat. Her rain-soaked long hair instantly cascaded down like silver threads. She subconsciously shook her head, drying the water from her hair like a kitten.

"Eh? Ren, are you awake?"

"Mm, thanks to your care, I slept very soundly." Ren smiled gently, getting up from the sofa and handing the towel in his hand to the girl.

"Thanks."

Wait, weren't you just vomiting blood?

Himeko, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown because of the Herrscher's pressure, was dumbfounded. In just the few seconds it took for Kiana to open the door, Ren had not only dealt with the bloodstains but also perfectly adjusted his aura back to normal.

The change was so drastic that she thought the golden eyes she had seen earlier were just an illusion. Of course, this was a good thing for her, at least she didn't have to face the pressure from Ren anymore.

"I'll go get you some dry clothes." Taking the opportunity, Himeko fled back to the bedroom, leaving only Ren and Kiana in the living room.