Slap!
Siegfried gave himself a loud, sharp slap.
"What is the meaning of this?" Seeing this, Durandal looked on with confusion, while warily gripping Abyss Flower in her hands.
Hearing her words, Siegfried looked up at her, then looked back down at the piece of paper in his hand.
Slap!
Another slap across the face, loud and clear.
Feeling the stinging pain on his face, he looked up at Durandal once more.
Those eyes, that expression, that hair... oh, the hair color was wrong, but if the color were changed and that stern expression softened just a bit, wasn't this the living image of Cecilia at seventeen or eighteen?
How had he never noticed it before... he had let her suffer for so many years under Otto.
Slap!
Siegfried swung his arm in a full arc.
Durandal, standing across from him, was truly at a loss. This man had stopped her claiming to be doing a favor for someone, yet after reading a single letter, he started slapping his own face like his life depended on it? What on earth?
"What exactly do you want?" Watching this bizarre scene, she didn't dare to simply bypass him. After all, Siegfried possessed former Schicksal S-Rank combat power, and with Shamash in hand, he was an enemy that could not be underestimated.
"Forgive me for asking," Siegfried's eyes were bloodshot as he croaked, "Do you... do you have no memories from before the age of eight?"
"...What if I do? What if I don't?" Durandal frowned. "Siegfried, I don't have time to entangle with you here. The Honkai problem must be—"
"I am only asking this one question!" Siegfried knew that asking alone wouldn't get him the truth, so Flame ignited upon Shamash. "Bianka Durandal Ataegina, do you really... have no memories from before the age of eight?"
"Yes," Durandal replied, not knowing what he was after but answering anyway. "However, that has no impact on me."
Hearing this, Siegfried closed his eyes.
She really doesn't have those memories... which means... she really could be Kiana...
No, she must be Kiana!
Otherwise... how... how could I ever face Cecilia after I die!
She is Kiana, she has to be Kiana. Look, if you put aside the hair color, they really look alike, don't they?
Wait, I think I just flippantly asked her to go get a drink with me...
Slap!
I'm truly a subhuman piece of trash...
Durandal watched as Siegfried slapped himself yet again. Faced with such nonsensical behavior, she truly couldn't take it anymore.
The reason she hadn't started fighting earlier was that the Great Honkai was right in front of her; she still cared about human unity and recognized that Siegfried was not weak. If she fought a major battle here, she didn't know how long she would be delayed.
But now, facing his repeated, inexplicable behavior, Durandal felt there was no longer any need for further conversation.
She leveled Abyss Flower and said sternly, "Final warning, Siegfried. Get out of my way!"
"...No, Ki—Durandal, I will not move," Siegfried said, snapping out of his massive shock. After thinking for two seconds, he still decided to raise his sword against her.
"You don't know what kind of enemy you'll face if you go through, Durandal. You're still young; don't throw your life away here."
Siegfried realized exactly what that person was trying to do. She had anticipated Durandal's arrival long ago and set things up in advance for him to intercept her.
At the time, he had been foolish enough to think Acheron wanted him to stop Theresa.
At the same time, Siegfried was well aware of Acheron's strength.
Before she even obtained Herrscher power, she could hang him up and beat him. That sense of pressure... honestly, even Sirin hadn't given him such a powerful sense of oppression. At least Sirin's power was something he could understand, but Acheron... Siegfried couldn't see through her.
She was already that strong before the Great Honkai; as for now? Just look at that Erdtree. Who knew how strong she was now?
In Siegfried's view, even if he and Durandal charged in together, the outcome might not be very good.
Acheron singling him out to stop Durandal certainly wasn't just to watch him make a fool of himself.
She definitely knew that once he read that paper, he would never let the latter pass.
The facts were exactly as she had planned.
Even though Siegfried saw through this, he was powerless. Could he really watch Durandal—his daughter, lost and now found—go to her death?
No, absolutely impossible!
"I don't care about anything else right now," Siegfried also raised Shamash. "I only care about one thing: I cannot let you pass."
He didn't directly state their relationship. After all, Durandal wasn't some helpless little girl; though she wasn't yet twenty, her years in Schicksal had long since shaped her into a warrior with a firm will.
A few words wouldn't shake her mindset.
Siegfried knew that whatever he said now would be useless; Durandal wouldn't believe him, and it would only alert the enemy, putting Otto on guard.
"So, let's fight," Siegfried said to his daughter. "Let us communicate with sword and spear!"
Durandal had long since lost her patience. Hearing this, she gripped Abyss Flower, her body sinking slightly. With a surge of strength from her ankles, she became like a taut bow. Then, with a sudden burst of power, her figure whipped up a gale, and in the blink of an eye, she was in front of Siegfried!
She swung Abyss Flower horizontally, aiming a sweep at Siegfried's midsection.
Clang!
Siegfried was prepared. With the tip of Shamash pointed downward in his right hand and his mechanical arm built by Anti-Entropy bracing the blade, he used the sword as a shield to block Durandal's sweep.
Seizing the moment as the two weapons recoiled from the impact, he didn't retreat but advanced instead. With a twist of his body and a step forward, he raised Shamash high with his right hand and hacked down!
Seeing this, Durandal naturally raised Abyss Flower to block, but the moment the weapons met, she sensed something was wrong. The force coming from Shamash was too small; Siegfried must have a follow-up move.
Sure enough, the downward hack was a feint. Siegfried's mechanical arm from Anti-Entropy lunged out, slamming a fist directly into Abyss Flower! Durandal was knocked back dozens of steps.
Something's wrong!
She felt no frustration, but rather narrowed her eyes slightly.
Siegfried's movements were seasoned, but as a Schicksal S-Rank Valkyrie, she could have reacted to that feint. Durandal had already prepared to be ambushed by his left mechanical arm and change her stance to defend.
But in the end, she hadn't needed to do anything, because she saw that ambush clearly—it was aimed at Abyss Flower from the start.
It wasn't targeting her at all.
This defied combat common sense.
"Continue!" Siegfried watched her pondering look and gestured for her to come at him.
Durandal launched her attack again without a word.
On the deserted street, two figures blurred together. Every strike was heavy and powerful. The surrounding buildings suffered; traffic lights were sliced off, trash cans were flattened into sheets, and under one particularly heavy clash of weapons, the glass of nearby shop windows shattered all at once.
Durandal, however, felt more and more uneasy as they fought.
It was too strange.
For some reason, this Siegfried was holding back with every move. Shamash struck Abyss Flower every single time; not a single blow was aimed at her person.
Even after she intentionally left several openings to test him, he still stubbornly insisted on clashing weapons... and then there was that look. The way Siegfried looked at her held no fighting spirit, no hatred, not even the will to battle!
On the contrary, it was filled with an indescribable gentleness.
This left Durandal—a block of wood that even Rita found despairing—somewhat at a loss.
After another clash of weapons, Durandal truly couldn't take it anymore and used the opportunity to retreat.
"Siegfried, if you are being coerced, then blink," she said with a heavy tone. "You are a Hero who fought against the Second Great Honkai. I have seen your files, and I admire the sacrifice of Ms. Cecilia. I am honored to take up Abyss Flower, the weapon she once used."
"I believe you wouldn't side with the Honkai; it took everything from you, didn't it? Yet now you stand in my way... even though we are fighting, you are holding back with every move. Are you being coerced by someone?"
She spoke with a face full of righteousness. "If you are, I hope you can tell me. Although Schicksal has never rescinded the warrant for your arrest, in the face of the Great Honkai, humanity must put aside all past grudges to win a future."
"Schicksal will help you. I will help you, Mr. Siegfried!"
Durandal knew she couldn't take down Siegfried in a short time, even if he was holding back. The terrifying power of Shamash was something no one could ignore, so she could only try to negotiate again.
But what she didn't know was how familiar she looked to Siegfried—holding Abyss Flower, full of righteousness, and speaking loudly about saving humanity...
"Cecilia..." Siegfried seemed to see his late wife. Theirs had been a political marriage, but the moment that familiar young girl had held a weapon and made such a declaration before him, Siegfried knew his heart had been completely captured by her.
He could never escape.
"If you go, you'll only be sending yourself to your death," Siegfried snapped out of his daze and looked at the daughter before him. "Look, you can't even deal with me instantly, and you want to face her?"
"In front of her, I couldn't even draw my sword!"
In truth, he simply hadn't drawn his sword intending to fight, but as a battle-hardened warrior, the fact that he hadn't even considered drawing his sword as an option in that situation spoke volumes.
"But I cannot just watch as the situation collapses," Durandal countered. "Who knows how much longer that Mystery person calling herself Acheron plans to constrain this Honkai Energy?"
"The lives of millions in Nagazora City depend on her whim. I must go find an answer!"
She naturally interpreted Siegfried's words to mean that human strength should not be wasted.
"And then what? Fight her to the death?" Siegfried retorted sharply. "Setting aside whether you can win, even if you do, without her maintenance, that constrained Honkai Energy would instantly turn the entire Far East into a dead zone!"
In the original timeline, Cocolia's Honkai only affected Nagazora City. Although it birthed the Herrscher of Thunder, the latter didn't draw massive amounts of Honkai Energy to trigger a true Great Honkai like Sirin. She first hid inside Mei's body to watch everything unfold, then emerged in a rage to wipe out the Honkai Beast that hurt Kiana.
After that, she went into self-isolation because Kiana risked her life for Mei, retreating back into Mei's body.
The Second Great Honkai had swept across all of Siberia, whereas this third one only affected Nagazora City. No matter how you looked at it, the disaster zone was already very small.
But now, because Xia Yu had drawn too much Honkai Energy from Mei, if that energy leaked, it would be enough to affect the entire Far East.
Perhaps the Cocolia in the original timeline only felt she was qualified to challenge the Herrscher because the impact area was so small...
"If you win, you lose the entire Far East," Siegfried said. "If you lose... as one of humanity's most promising assets, we cannot afford the loss of you."
Especially me. If you really are Kiana... how can I watch you walk to your death?
Otto! You damn well wait for me! To actually send her alone to perform this kind of mission! Do you want to repeat what happened in Siberia?
Last time it was Cecilia, this time it's Durandal... I absolutely won't allow it!
"But I can't just stand by and watch!" Durandal shook her head. "We know nothing of what Acheron is doing. Schicksal must understand her actions!"
"Just wait," Siegfried said, having no other choice but to grit his teeth. "The Sovereign will arrive soon. Combined with Rita, who is already in Nagazora City, and if we pull in Theresa, that makes five S-Rank combat powers—at least there's some security then."
"If you go alone, you'll only trap yourself in there!"
He could only use this method to persuade Durandal. He didn't know what this child grew up eating to be so strong at such a young age... after a few rounds, Siegfried felt that unless he risked his life, he truly couldn't stop her for long.
But to unleash Shamash against her... Siegfried would rather take his own life. Impossible, absolutely impossible.
Hearing this, Durandal was somewhat moved. "In the past, there were many frictions with Anti-Entropy, and I felt Anti-Entropy lacked a sense of the big picture. I didn't expect... according to Anti-Entropy's usual ways, shouldn't you be happy to see an S-Rank Valkyrie like me die at her hands?"
"Only Otto would do such a thing!" Siegfried said through gritted teeth. "That bastard is capable of anything. We were so close to succeeding back then! Cecilia was almost there!"
"Even though she gave a massive amount of Holy Blood to neutralize Sirin's Honkai Energy and was herself at death's door, with Schicksal's technology, there was still a sliver of a chance to save her life, even if she could never step onto a battlefield again."
"And the result? Otto launched the Honkai Fission Bomb and turned everything to ash... I was completely disheartened and wanted to take my daughter and flee Schicksal, only to find... to find that Otto was actually trying to resurrect the Herrscher of the Void!"
Siegfried said hatefully, "He is the biggest cancer in this world!"