To create Honkai Impact 3rd in a world where Kallen exists.

Looking at Bronya and the weakened Fu Hua, and those limping, even more bizarrely twisting puppets.

Many questions flashed through her mind, but she didn't. She simply gripped her two guns tightly and looked at the other person.

"Come on, it's time to settle this!"

The girl's voice remained as firm as ever.

But the doll remained silent, perhaps too wounded to speak, as it struggled forward step by step.

"That was the red lightning just now. Mei must be somewhere, fighting alongside us," Bronya said.

Moreover, after that attack, she discovered that the power was gradually returning to her core.

"Heh—then the next thing to do is obvious,"

Kiana smiled, her eyes shining even brighter as she looked at the puppet before her. She knew that if she weakened the puppet again, she could reclaim all her power.

"...You actually defeated that Herrscher of the Void?"

The doll looked at the three people rushing towards it and said with some difficulty.

It did so much, paving the way for everything, never imagining that Kiana could defeat the Herrscher of the Void... All along, wasn't she only temporarily sealed away with the help of that Crimson Kite Immortal?

"Hehe, hahaha... Okay—"

The doll looked at the other and let out a shrill laugh, tinged with sadness and helplessness.

"The despair of losing your teacher cannot crush you, the Herrscher of the Void cannot defeat you, and even those cores cannot imprison you..."

"Okay, okay, Kiana. I admit, you might really be a hero."

"I am not a hero," Kiana explained calmly, a flicker of fire seeming to appear in her eyes.

"Those who lead and guide me are the real heroes."

"I am simply following the path they left behind, in order to remember... that they existed."

"Hehe—is that so? Perhaps…" The doll tilted its head, neither agreeing nor denying.

Something strange happened in the theater; an unsettling feeling spread through everyone's hearts.

The puppet's voice grew louder and more extreme, echoing throughout the theater and spreading malice among the audience.

"But we are not!—"

“We are not heroes, and the people you are trying to save—neither are they!”

"They are 'dolls' just like us, losers who have given up the struggle and don't know why they live. They hate their own powerlessness and weakness, and transform it into resentment towards the world."

“You don’t represent humanity!” Kiana couldn’t help but retort.

Just as the Herrscher of the Void cannot represent Sirin, how can a puppet with only malice represent humanity?

"But we are the shadows that truly exist within the human heart, the unspeakable ugliness—what manipulates these thousand people is the unification of their will!"

The doll said this: it represents a thousand people, it represents the majority, it represents humanity more than the few people mentioned earlier.

"A thousand sorrows, a thousand despairs, a thousand madnesses, a thousand curses—a desire to be destroyed, a desire to be imprisoned, a desire to be dominated—"

"Countless acts of malice twisted and combined to construct this 'Theater of Domination,' creating the 'Herrscher of Domination'!"

"You only see the dark side of people's hearts, but you blind yourself to the good."

"You dominate humanity and make them give up, but you never listen to the other voice in their hearts."

"So you are just broken puppets. We will destroy this theater and let all those who have been dominated reclaim their hearts."

Hearing Kiana's words, the doll gave up arguing. Having witnessed Kiana's unwavering will along the way, it realized that...

Neither it nor the other party will think it's wrong.

Since that's the case, in the end, it will still have to end in a battle.

It gently drew back the curtain, awaiting the final performance.

"Alright, Kiana, the final stage has been set up for you."

"Come on! Next... is the final battle between heroes and malice!"

An endless red carpet stretched up the dark steps, and the stage erected in the distance filled the air with a sense of unease.

Kiana stepped firmly up the stairs, the dark exterior of the theater swallowing up all light.

As the doll said, this is the final battle.

I envy Kiana for having such a great teacher... Perhaps, without Himeko...

[Although I mentioned before that I wanted to join the Herrscher of a Thousand and didn't believe this was a wonderful world... but, Kiana, do your best!]

[Heroes and malice...that's quite a fitting description, but if it's Kiana, I'm willing to believe in the good she represents.]

Kiana will become a hero... because the world is waiting for her to become a hero. I have a deeper understanding of this sentence now. Whether she likes it or not, she can only move forward.

Chapter 172 The Oppressive Force of a Thousand Herrschers