The sky darkened above the Foundry.

Many days the girls had sparred here, the sound of shots, the clangs of metal sounding through the sky as they matched skills and prowess. But today it felt like there was something more ominous in the skies above the city, and it caused Mei to clutch her dress, her anxiety slowly rising as the fight commenced.

She was one to worry though - about Kiana, about Sirin, about the world.

"Nnnny-ha!" Sirin cried, her purple hair shimmering in the brief glimpses of sunlight that shone through the overcast sky. The orange aura rotating around her lance, met with the cobalt gun kata of the young Kaslana, pushing Kiana backwards on the autumn leaves and shifting her weight.

"Hehe~" Kiana smirked, her teeth gritting as she pushed backwards, the sheen of the guns swiping off the edge of the lance, knocking Sirin backwards and countering the blow with deft skill.

Kiana wasn't much in conventional smarts, but she was much stronger, faster, and quicker than she seemed at first glance. Combat came naturally to her, just as naturally as it did to the girl opposing her. They could never tell why - and they felt they'd only feel pain if they asked these questions, so the sisters put their minds to the side in combat and focused only on the moment.

At least, they usually did.

"You should've prepared a bit better Sirin~" Kiana said, that typical Kaslana grin gracing her face as she dashed forward, her white boots skidding across the autumn leaves, surfing on orange and red, until she leap into the air with a swift kick.

"It's Kiana time!"

The girl came crashing down and time seemed to stop. Maybe it did. Maybe it was only in the minds of the two sisters who clashed - either way, Sirin's yellow eyes opened wide and braced, her lance flaring with energy as she pushed back at Kiana and slowed time further, the strength of her blow colliding through the fractured space and doling out a forceful hit.

"Two can fight that way, idiotka!" Sirin cackled, watching Kiana fly backwards and sliding towards the locker that Mei was guarding.

Time swirled and warped, and the speed and pace seemed to return to normal. For the bystanders about, it seemed as if nothing had happened, but for Sirin, Kiana and Mei this was a common occurrence. They were different, and there was no mistaking it.

Cecilia had told them stories and Ziggy had too (his more lies than truth, though he did try)- about who they were, what they were destined for. And when those big blue eyes - or those sharp yellows - met with the glance of mother and father, they could see both hope and fear mixed within the sea of their parents' thoughts.

Kiana got up, but and in her usual fashion, she refused to acknowledge Sirin's move.

"Lucky strike, Sirin-san~" Kiana sung, clapping her guns together to make a threatening sound, the metal clanging in the air.

At this moment, the autumn breeze sung a hymn, it's soothing wind kicking up the leaves, their fluttering passing between Sirin and Kiana. As the shadows and shades passed them, the space between them seemed to close. Mei blinked, and then rubbed her eyes, checking to make sure she was seeing correctly.

They looked almost as one, Sirin and Kiana - the snowy white locks of Kiana, the simmering solar eyes of Sirin. The space between them seemed infinite but close. When Mei blinked again, the battle had stopped, Sirin and Kiana both panting out hurried breaths, still feet apart.

Do you hear it Sirin?

Sirin's ears perked up, and her head split with a sharp pain.

"W-Wha…." She clutched her purple locks, falling to her knees, her eyes expanding, the sounds of that voice echoing in her mind.

"S-Sirin?" Kiana queried, her eyes going blank, her expression clueless from a few feet away.

Do you hear the voice of GOD, SIRIN!? DO YOU HEAR IT!?

"SIRIN!" Kiana yelled, running over to her, Mei coming down from the locker as well - both of them on bended knee, observing Sirin's fearful and vulnerable state.

"Sirin-san, speak to me!" Kiana said, reaching in to place an arm on her.

"Sirin…" Mei commented, her arm reaching out as well. Both of the girls arms shivered and shook - they'd never felt or seen something like before.

This girl in front of you. She isn't your sister. She is your vessel. She is a husk to you. A shell. You are a Goddess, Sirin. This is the will of GOD.

"T-the will...o-of….God…." Sirin said, her mind racing.

She thought of it. The day that Cecilia Schariac gave her the same last name. The time when that woman's warm arms wrapped around her, and her loving stare penetrated her heart. Sirin knew at that moment that Cecilia wasn't her birth mother - but it didn't matter then. All that mattered was this….

"Ich liebe dich, Sirin…"She'd said that night, holding the girl close. At that moment Sirin felt all the fear wash away from her. All the hatred. All the voices, the pain, the lies, the suffering. She thought here, she'd feel powerless. But in truth, in Cecilia's arms Sirin felt even stronger than before.

This wasn't God speaking to her. This was Houkai.

It didn't matter to her. It didn't matter to her what the Houkai said. Cecilia was her actual God. She did not have to commune with her mother. Beg to her. Pray to her. Sacrifice to her. She was loved, unconditionally, along with Kiana, and she didn't need to use anyone else.

She could turn back the punishments and the tortures. She could end the Eruptions and the pain. She could eat waffles, lick ice cream, laugh with Mei, Kiana, Bella. She could find a power within love that was stronger than the forces which wanted to create her.

By her birth mother dying, she'd been so fortunate to be rewarded another chance.

These thoughts raced through her mind - whether implanted by Jingwei or not; they were not lies. They were truths. Humanity's imperfection was it's perfection.

I reject you, God. I reject the Houkai.

Fool. You do not reject Houkai. You are WILLED by it. YOU - ARE - IT.

"Kiana, Mei! Move!"

No sooner than Sirin had spoken than did a large black portal open near the foundry. Cecilia's lance shone in the locker near other weapons, blood red energy leaking from it.

"Sirin, wha-"

"MOVE!" She said, shoving Kiana and Mei to the side and flipping the lance in the air. As soon as she did so a massive purple and white claw ripped through the fabric of space time.

"H-Houkai!? How!?" Kiana yelped, scrambling to grab her pistols in the fray.

"Nggh…." Sirin held the lance below the wormhole, the giant houkai beast pressing down on it. She could hear the voice of God within it. Speaking to her, calling her to wake up and return. Her yellow eyes flared with energy and the aura around her increased.

"NYET! I REJECT THE HOUKAI!"

A blaze of yellow energy cascaded upwards, incinerating the Houkai Beast. But another void opened, and another, and another. Sirin quickly got to her feet, helping Mei up and nodding to Kiana.

"Mei, they want the lance. They are coming to claim the flower of the abyss."

Mei looked quizzical for only a moment, before dashing off towards the locker. She understood. As if she'd been told this story for thousands of years, the knowledge Sirin spoke coarsed through her. She ran towards the lance, but before she could do much else, more voids opened up, tearing through the fabric of the sky.

"Heh. These beasts are nothing. I'll protect you Mei-senpai...with just a bit of Neko Charm~~" Kiana meowed, dodging to the side and firing off two rounds, blue energy soaring out of the chambers. These weren't the rubber bullets they were loaded with inside - the young Kaslana had just fired a 'commandment' from her weapon, and she didn't even know it.

As Kiana and Mei worked to free the Abyss Flower from the locker, Sirin stared down the oncoming void army that sat in front of her.

In her dreams, these beasts had seemed like friends. The things the Houkai promised her, the way that it spoke to her - she realized that it all meant nothing. These beasts were tools, and nothing more. The very thing she didn't want to be. No. Sirin just wanted to be normal.

For Cecliia to pour ice cream on her waffles in the morning. For her and Kiana to play Kallen Fantasy V (the first with a job system…). She wanted this more than she wanted power. More than wanting to be chosen. She'd relinquish.

"I love my family." Sirin said, her voice weak.

"I want to grow to love humanity again. Slowly, but with honesty. You won't take that away from me. From them."

Sirin snarled, baring her teeth.

"NYET!"

She swung the lance, her yellow energy flashing wildly. She felled beast after beast, the white and purple ooze of their bodies disintegrating and fading as she slowly began to close voids.

The girls weren't fighting just monsters though, but the Will of Houkai itself. This wasn't a thing that one girl - a pawn of the Houkai at that - could fight alone. It didn't stop Sirin from trying - fighting, struggling for the right to live her own life free of shackles and in the arms of a family.

As the claws and arms of the beasts slammed down, Sirin countered and dodged, her former and current self melding and dancing as she managed to cut another one down. Still, she was bleeding now, and her energy was rapidly sapping.

As much as she wanted, this wasn't her reality. Not yet.

Kiana shot the commandments, her gun obeying her each and every order as she struck down Houkai beasts, covering Mei as she undid the combination. The latch eventually fell, and she held the Abyss Flower in her hands, the red energy sapping away at her from the moment she touched it.

"It never looked like this before…." Kiana commented, turning back momentarily as she shot round after round, her own exhaustion setting in. "It was like, super plain when you put it in there!"

Mei nodded, shrugging only for a moment as the energy of the Lance felt like hundreds of pounds of weight.

"I think...everyone is waking up...Kiana-chan…." Mei muttered, signaling between Sirin and Kiana.

"We'll….take it to her….." Mei muttered, purple energy coming from her body as the Abyss Flower sapped it.

"Right!" Kiana said, pocketing one pistol and grabbing the handle of the Abyss Flower with the other.

Instantly, she could feel her energy drained - the blue life force of the Kaslana line sinking into the lance, weighing her down, pulling at her soul. Kiana gritted her teeth, and her and Mei began to slow trudge to Sirin's location, the girl practically swamped in Houkai beasts as she swung the lance wildly and with wanton strength.

Kiana blasted a few more shots to hold them off, coming just within distance of Sirin.

"Sirin! Come on!"

Sirin turned, her hair fluttering in the rapidly flowing air of the fight. Her face, bloodied and bruised, seemed to freeze.

Am I really about to reject the will of God….for this life?

Images contrasted in her mind. She was torn. She acknowledged all things, knowing that this was nothing but her imagination. A trick. A plan. A ploy. But she could make this real. She could manifest the life that she wanted. She didn't have to be someone's toy. Or something greater.

She hesitated only a moment more, her eyes tracing over the battered bodies of Mei and Kiana.

"I accept this life. Forever."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she leapt forward, placing her hands on the Abyss Flower along with Kiana and Mei - their energies melding into a perfect prism of power, the colors dancing and intertwining in a whirlwind of auras. The powers from Herrschers immemorial flooded through the Divine Key - bursting into the sky and turning it to blinding ray of light.

Within the light, each void closed. Each Houkai erased. Each old memory, replaced with a new. The clouds parted, and when the white cleared and sight could again be seen, each of the three girls fell apart like freshly fallen petals, their bodies lying prone on the ground.

The scene around them was empty. Not a person. Not a blemish on their body or a bruise. They simply lay peacefully asleep - their hands interlocked and interwoven, their face at rest.

A figure, tall, feminine and refined, walked through the autumn leaves. Her heels made the only audible sound as she leaned down, her snow colored locks falling over her shoulder. A warm giggle and a smile gracing her face as only it could.

Her arm reached out and grabbed the handle of the lance, and with that, it reverted to nothing more than a regular weapon.

"You did well girls. I'll remember so that you can forget."

A knocking at the door, a loud rapping and an annoying sound. Purple, ruffled, and tangled locks rose from a satin pillow, a flustered and annoyed face emerging from the covers.

"Hehehe~ It's time for breakfast nyaaa~~~!" Kiana shouted, banging at Sirin's door like it was seemingly nothing.

The door swung open and Sirin emerged, her face tired, irritated and flustered. Her vision was blurry.

However, as soon as she saw Kiana, her look changed. She didn't know what it was, but she saw the girl in front of her differently. Sirin paused and reflected, her face turning from angered to friendly, seemingly within an instant.

"Good morning Kiana-chan~" Sirin said, a smile peaking up at the top of her cheeks.

"Ooooh~ In a good mood today, big sis?" Kiana said, puzzled at first, but accepting instantly. She extended her arm out to Sirin's - much like many mornings before. This time, instead of feeling conflict with Kiana, Sirin felt attached.

Her spindly fingers wrapped around Kiana's and she felt the warmth cover her body. She felt like they were one. Of the same blood, the same core, the same essence. This was her sister. This was her life, and she'd chosen to reclaim it.

"Waffles, right, idiotka?" Sirin said, laughing as her and Kiana made their way down the steps.

"Awww you are still mean, Sirin!" Kiana teased, poking and play fighting with Sirin on the way down.

"Actually, it's something else this morning!" Kiana exclaimed, detaching her hands from Sirin's and pushing her out into the kitchen.

"H-Hey!" Sirin whined, her back being pushed as she lunged forward into the kitchen. "S-something...different?" Sirin commented, her head slowly turning as she looked into the kitchen.

Her eyes widened. In front of her were cakes, cookies, waffles and pies, balloons, streamers and decorations, her name plastered on a banner across the kitchen. Cecilia, Ziggy and Mei all sat in the kitchen, a huge cake with candles sat right in the middle.

Sirin's eyes welled with tears as her yellow stare met with the kind eyes of Cecilia.

This is the power of God.

She thought, warmly.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIRIN!" The family yelled in unison, Cecilia, Ziggy and Mei all getting up and hugging Sirin along with Kiana.

"You planned this, idiotka!?" Sirin exclaimed, flustered as she was ambushed by her family members.

"Yea." Kiana said, breaking from the hug and putting her arms behind herself sheepishly.

"Cuz ich liebe dich~ Nya~"

Kiana winked and stuck out her tongue with that derpy smile, terrible pronunciation and that silly voice.

Finally, Sirin was at peace.

The voice sounded holy, and the words sounded sacred.

This was the will of humanity, and Herrscher who went rogue.