Fu Hua pulled herself out of drifting thoughts and ignored the lively livestream chat, returning her focus to the game.
She was controlling a half-Herrscher Kiana to confront the Herrscher of Sentience.
Despite being attacked by both Kiana and Bronya in this battle, the Herrscher of Sentience was clearly holding her own with ease—
She even had time to comment mid-fight.
"Hm? So you're an incomplete Herrscher, Kiana? I see—you're suppressing your power, only using the controllable portion in battle."
"Very good! Well done, Kiana! Don't ever lose to the Honkai!"
Even while fighting, she analyzed Kiana's state and gave her encouragement.
Kiana and Bronya's attacks faltered for a moment.
What kind of 'villain' acts like this?
Was this supposed to be some special kind of trash talk? A mental tactic to throw them off?
But they quickly realized… they were overthinking it.
Because the Herrscher of Sentience was simply far too strong—they were completely outmatched.
She hadn't even gotten serious, yet she had already overwhelmed them.
It was like… they weren't even fighting on the same level.
From the player's perspective, every one of Kiana's attacks against the Herrscher of Sentience felt like a gentle scrape, barely shaving off any HP.
Meanwhile, one casual blow from the enemy would slash through Kiana's health bar.
It was obvious Kiana had no chance of victory.
Just then, Fu Hua's voice echoed in Kiana and Bronya's minds.
"Shh—quiet. It's me."
"She's caught up in the moment and hasn't noticed me. Listen, Kiana, Bronya—she's a Herrscher."
Fu Hua explained the situation in detail: the Herrscher of Sentience was a Herrscher, her body belonged to Fu Hua, and due to memories blending into her personality, she mistakenly believed herself to be Fu Hua.
To plan a proper counterattack in peace, Fu Hua and Kiana came up with a strategy.
Bronya volunteered to hold off the Herrscher of Sentience alone—she mounted the transformed Heavy Bunny motorcycle and unleashed full firepower.
The two engaged in a furious battle within the illusion.
Bronya raced through the city, attacking while dodging, until the Herrscher of Sentience destroyed Heavy Bunny, and she fell unconscious.
Seeing this, Fu Shibao rubbed her chin and said:
"Why does Bronya keep losing ever since becoming the Herrscher of Reason?"
She analyzed seriously:
"Just like the Herrscher of Sentience said, the Core of Reason is ominous. Everyone who touches it ends up worse off."
"As expected of the Herrscher of Sentience!!"
Her stance was clearly biased, but technically, what she said wasn't wrong either.
[Tsk~~ She's kind of right. Ever since Bronya got the Herrscher of Reason core, she hasn't won a fight.]
[Duckie! Get up and fight back!]
Some viewers began riling up the chat.
One user couldn't resist jumping in:
['Alahat is #1': Bronya's two losses were against Kevin and the Herrscher of Sentience—who was fighting at class monitor peak form. Losing is totally normal!?]
[Exactly, if Duckie actually won, it would break the power scaling!]
[She only lost twice! She even won once before—2:1, still fine.]
Thanks to Duckie fans defending her, the mockery was soon suppressed.
Everyone was just joking—no one really took the "Herrscher of Reason Core is cursed" joke seriously.
...Although honestly, who could say for sure?
After Bronya fell unconscious,
Kiana and Fu Hua finalized their plan to confront the Herrscher of Sentience.
The idea: make the Herrscher of Sentience realize she is not Fu Hua. That panic would expose a weakness—Kiana could exploit it.
At that moment, the victorious Herrscher of Sentience dissolved the illusion and reappeared before Kiana—
Forcing her to choose between her and Fu Hua.
Kiana pointed out: the Herrscher expected her to pass judgment, but she knew nothing about her. That wasn't fair.
Naive as ever, the Herrscher of Sentience didn't account for human cunning. Kiana's words tricked her easily.
She decided to take Kiana into another illusion—
To relive Fu Hua's past, hoping that Kiana would realize that a better Fu Hua would've made better, more perfect decisions.
[Disaster incoming! The paramecium evolved a brain!]
[Kiana: You didn't expect me to have a brain now, huh?!]
[Bug, bullying a little kid like this—is this okay? Yes. Very okay.]
[This is called therapy through dialogue.]
...
As the chat erupted, Fu Shibao furrowed her brows deeply.
But after being "memory-blasted into stupidity" earlier,
a few sarcastic jabs couldn't faze her anymore!
(ˉ▽￣～) Tch~~
"Old fossil, hurry up, keep pushing main story."
Fu Shibao very subtly urged Fu Hua.
Fu Hua blinked. Maybe she'd finally learned something from Rita's earlier advice.
She smartened up—saying nothing more and simply continued the story.
The Herrscher of Sentience and Kiana's first stop was the Battle of Schicksal.
The Herrscher lectured her about things like "Fu Hua needs to think for herself" and "giving up thought is shirking responsibility."
But in action, she just acted on impulse.
Whether it was Rita or the revival of the 2nd Herrscher, her answer was brute force.
Clearly, the Herrscher wasn't nearly as noble as her words made her sound.
Kiana, now much more mature, immediately spotted the contradiction and launched a verbal counterattack.
And Fu Hua chipped in with a little trickery.
The Herrscher's mindset instantly destabilized.
Then—
The screen shifted.
Players heard the familiar apocalyptic anthem.
Upon hearing that track, their collective PTSD flared at once.
Nothing good ever happened when this song played.
No matter how much they'd just been laughing, everyone now fell silent.
On screen, Fu Hua was sitting cross-legged in white light, deep in thought.
Her power was so fragile—
Even a small action almost depleted her entirely.
Now, she was like a newborn child, relying completely on the Herrscher—
Only through her generosity could this weathered Feather remain.
But… what the Herrscher didn't expect was that this tiny Feather was trying to think of a way to defeat her.
How could that be? If she died, wouldn't Jade Knight disappear as well?
The Herrscher didn't believe it.
She never even considered it.
—That was the fundamental difference between her and the real Fu Hua.
"This time… this has to be the end, right?"
In the face of death, Fu Hua felt a tinge of guilt.
"Everyone…"
...
Right now, the meme most widely spread about class monitor online was:
Fu Hua: "Kiana, I can only accompany you this far."
Kiana: "Class Monitor!!" (sobbing)
Fu Hua: "Kiana, I can only accompany—"
Kiana: "Shut up. I'm not falling for that again."
That famous Fu Push-Up joke.
But this time…
With all the flashbacks, all the buildup—and the ambiguous reactions from players who had already completed the story—
[Class monitor, don't leave!! Damn it, scriptwriter you heartless fiend!]
[Is Fu really gone?! I can't take this!!]
[This song played when Himeko fell into the Imaginary Space. When Mei left Kiana as a Herrscher. Now it's here again. I don't need to say what that means, right?]
[Enough talk, brothers—grab your blades! Target: the scriptwriter!]
[Scriptwriter and Fu live or die together! If Fu dies, you die too!! (twisted face)]
Even if they could understand how exhausted Fu Hua must be after fifty millennia,
they still couldn't accept losing her.
Class Monitor! You're not allowed to die! No way!
"Old fossil's popularity is... really high."
Fu Shibao mumbled softly, glancing at Fu Hua, who was silently playing Honkai Impact 3rd with full focus.
She had to admit—
Right now, Fu Hua had the upper hand in popularity.
But someday, she would catch up.
Probably?
In the game—
The Herrscher of Sentience brought Kiana to their second stop: Shenxian Medical.
Here, Kiana asked what the Herrscher would do if she lost her power—how would she help then?
Back then, with Fu Hua's help, Kiana had infiltrated Shenxian Medical and gathered critical intel, thwarting World Serpent's plot in Arc City.
Faced with a similar situation, the Herrscher chose brute force again.
She even used her inability to "pretend to be weak" as an excuse.
Clearly, the Herrscher was entirely self-centered—
Her difference from Fu Hua was now obvious.
After several scenes like this,
Kiana finally said—even if the Herrscher was stronger, better, more outstanding than Fu Hua—
She still wouldn't recognize her as her Fu Hua.
It didn't matter what Fu Hua should have become.
They loved the Fu Hua they knew in the past.
The Herrscher couldn't replace her.
Kiana's words clearly infuriated the Herrscher.
She flung Fu Hua's Feather at Kiana, declaring she'd no longer empower it—leaving Fu Hua to die.
To save Fu Hua from fading away,
Kiana resolved to defeat the Herrscher and reclaim her body—so Fu Hua could live on.
"Looks like the old fossil didn't tell you everything, huh, Kiana?! You want to save her? ...Forget winning—even if you win, saving her is pure delusion!"
"This body is mine! With her current power, she couldn't take it even if she tried! Without my body, she's finished."
"Get it? It's a dead end. DEAD END! She's done for! Ahahaha, she's DONE!"
Even so, Kiana still clenched the Spear of the Void.
The Herrscher, who had been laughing hysterically, now scowled:
"Idiot! Fine! You want to fight? Then FIGHT! I'll go all out!"
As she spoke, the world bent and twisted.
"Kiana. Old fossil. Since you both insist on being stubborn—don't blame me for getting serious."
"To friends, I show mercy.
To enemies—I NEVER do."
"This is the complete Chiyou.
The complete Fu Hua—
The complete ME!"
As her words fell, terrifying Honkai energy erupted.
Countless black Feathers rained down.
Her appearance changed—a crimson prism formed on her forehead, her pupils glowed blood-red.
Various weapons floated around her like loyal attendants.
The game transitioned into the result screen.
...
[Why can't we just talk it out? Do we HAVE to fight? Isn't this forcing us to pick between class monitor and Shibao?!]
[Shibao wants Kiana to acknowledge her as Fu Hua—but what is Kiana supposed to do? Lie? You think that lie won't be exposed?]
[Exactly—don't forget there's Honkai Will inside her. If she genuinely accepted herself as a Herrscher, maybe it'd be okay. But if not, when the truth breaks—it's even worse.]
[So we have to pick one, huh? I can't take this... (crushed)]
[Or maybe... full party wipe.]
From the players' perspective,
class monitor's chances of survival seemed bleak.
Or rather—completely nonexistent.
Given Fu Hua's personality…
She was practically guaranteed to sacrifice herself.
The only mystery was how she'd die.
Everyone felt Fu Hua already had one foot in the grave.
It seemed she could no longer do the Fu Push-Up.
Fu Hua gripped the controller, took a deep breath, and focused—ready to face the coming triple battle with the Herrscher of Sentience.
With her mind made up, she opened the final interlude chapter.