Honkai Impact: The Serpent's Tale

Chapter 35: A Moment to Rest

It took a few seconds for the group of three to regain their bearings after suddenly being sent out of the Theater and back to the warehouse.

"Looks like we're back." Said Raven.

"Did you sniping that puppet down allow us to escape?" Asked Alex.

"I'd say so. It seems like if the contact puppet is broken or damaged in any major way, the connection to the theater will be severed. This piece if info will be important to know going forward." Deduced Mei.

The three looked into the box and saw the puppet in there, now with its hear completely severed off, likely due to Raven having shot it a few minutes ago.

With it being taken care of, Alex turned his attention back to the still unconscious and tied up man from earlier.

"So, what do we do about him?" He asked.

"We'll just leave him there. Someone's bound to come across and take him eventually. He doesn't deserve our pity." Said Raven as the two nodded before Mei moved onto an important subject.

"Just now, the puppet managed to use the Herrscher of Reason's powers." She said.

"I know I saw it too." Said Raven as Mei began to ponder this deeply.

"The whole time we were there, the puppet kept trying to bait me into using my Herrscher powers. Thankfully Alex was able to figure out its plan and warned me beforehand. Still though, It has me wondering about something. Is there a method they have where they can strip a Herrscher of their powers without needing to yank the core itself?" She asked.

"Can that even be possible?" Wondered Raven.

"It can. I was there firsthand when the Herrscher of Reason had her powers stripped. She mentioned how even though she still felt the core inside, she had zero use of its innate abilities. Worst of all was that she still suffered from the effects of the Puppets using her powers since the core was still there. Long story short, it's 100% possible and they suffer no consequence from it." Explained Alex.

"Damn. Well, that answers on whether or not it's possible. But how is it possible?" Asked Raven.

The three began to think this over until Mei had a thought pop into her head.

"I believe I have a theory. Remember those Scepters of Duat that we used back in Coral to subdue the Ice Herrscher? I believe those scepters and what the puppets can do regarding taking Herrscher powers work in a similar way." Said Mei.

"How so?" Asked Raven.

"They're based on the same working idea. Separate the link between a Herrscher Core and its host. Think of the Herrscher Core as a faucet that's constantly pouring energy for the host to use. If the scepters worked by brutally blocking the flow, then puppets must be redirecting the flow away from the host and instead towards them. That must explain why the user still suffers from overusage. The core's still being utilized, just by an outside source." Explained Mei.

"That makes a lot sense." Said Alex as Raven nodded.

"I'm starting to see the similarities now." She added.

"Raven, could you take the puppet back with us?" Asked Mei.

"Of course, but just what do you plan to do?"

"I just need to confirm somethings for myself." She said.

Raven opted not to question her further as she carried the body and tossed the head over to Alex for him to carry despite the boy's obvious insistence to not do so.

Regardless, their mission had finally been completed as the group made their way out of the 4th and final warehouse as they made their awaited trip back to Serpent Quarters.