"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Siegfried really isn't holding back even a little while hitting his own daughter," Xia Yu remarked, her arm draped over Himeko's shoulder. She was standing on the edge of the rooftop, dominating the view as she watched the clouds of dust billow from the streets in the distance.
Boom!
"Listen to that commotion. I wonder which of them is hitting harder, the father or the daughter."
Her voice wasn't particularly loud. Besides, the Kiana nearby had been teased into a giddy state by the fragrant, soft Mei in her arms and wasn't paying any attention to this side.
At the mention of the name Siegfried, Himeko glanced at her and remained silent.
There was nothing else she could do. What else was there besides silence?
Himeko felt utterly powerless.
The core of her Valkyrie Battlesuit had been destroyed by the Herrscher before her. Seeing how rational the girl seemed, she didn't look like she intended to destroy humanity or anything... so she could only let things be.
"If I had known it would turn out like this, I might as well have just applied for retirement..." she grumbled under her breath.
She had expected a soul-stirring battle to the death, or at the very least, a situation where she would have to persuade the other to defect to humanity's side. Instead, just as she had prepared herself for a heroic sacrifice and made her descent, the girl had practically stuck herself to her. The sheer abundance of emotion...
That unfinished call of teacher had scared her into checking her memories. No, I definitely haven't taught a student like this!
But the girl had said it, and the intimacy in her eyes couldn't be faked.
So what could she do?
Nothing!
"But Himeko, I really missed you," Xia Yu said, turning to face her. "We... we all missed you."
"We?" Himeko's heart skipped a beat. "You mean, it's not just you..."
"They weren't as lucky as me," Xia Yu nodded candidly, paving the way for her future return to stir up trouble. "Himeko, rest easy and just leave everything to us."
"If that's the case, why not show a little sincerity first?" Himeko smiled and put an arm around her shoulder. "For example, how about withdrawing this Honkai Energy? Nagazora City... no, the Far East can't handle a baptism of Honkai Energy this massive."
While making the gesture, her heart was thumping. This was a Herrscher, after all. If the girl didn't mind them being so casual and buddy-buddy... that would also prove a few things.
As for Xia Yu... she felt the startling softness of Himeko's arm as she leaned in, and her eyes nearly narrowed in delight. Fortunately, the Power of Nihility was effective enough to keep her face indifferent.
Otherwise, she really would have broken character.
"Not yet," Xia Yu shook her head. "I still have a use for it."
In truth, the Great Runes made of extracted Honkai Energy were ready to be absorbed at any time. But since I'm already here, if I don't make Otto bleed a little, wouldn't my trip be in vain?
Xia Yu had long since made her plan.
"You plan to use this Honkai Energy to threaten someone?" Himeko's brow furrowed instantly. "If I may be blunt, doing that will make the world's impression of you not very... good."
"The world? Who?" Xia Yu raised an eyebrow, a look of total indifference on Acheron's heroic face. "Schicksal? Hmph. That dog Otto... I heard from Xiao Shi long ago that the sound of a fist hitting his Soulium face is wonderful. Sooner or later, I'll have to try it for myself."
"Anti-Entropy? Welt... he's a decent guy; he'll risk it all when it's time to fight to the death. It's just that his management and operational skills are truly concerning..."
"Or the serpent? Kevin... I admire him, but he can't beat me," Xia Yu said indifferently. "On Earth, at this moment, I am invincible. Why should I care what they think?"
As she was critiquing the heroes of the world, the father-daughter duel in the distance finally came to a temporary halt.
"You two, now is not the time for internal strife," Welt said, holding the Star of Eden—or as he called it, the Starry Harmony—as he stepped between them to force a stop.
"Welt Yang, the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy," Durandal said, warily lifting Abyss Flower. "Is it two against one now?"
"No, it's two against two," Rita said, stepping out from a nearby alley to stand by her side. "Anti-Entropy (Ni Sui) has obstructed our investigation into the Honkai for no reason. Coupled with the fact that your Enforcer, Cocolia, triggered all of this, am I allowed to suspect that you have completely betrayed humanity?"
"There is no need for Miss Rita to provoke me," Welt said calmly. "Cocolia going rogue was beyond all of our expectations. No one knows why she would do such a thing."
"As for why Siegfried stopped Miss Durandal..."
He turned to look at Siegfried. To be honest, Welt didn't know why he was doing it either; he had arrived only to see the two of them fighting fiercely.
"I'm stopping her from going to her death," Siegfried repeated his line. "Facing someone as terrifying as Acheron, even an S-Rank Valkyrie will only live a little longer."
"Humanity's strength should not be wasted on meaningless probing. You should be well aware of this, Miss Rita."
"...I really want to refute you, Mr. Siegfried," Rita sighed. "But having been subdued by a single glance, it seems I truly have no right to speak."
"Then, we now have four top-tier combat powers," Durandal said, looking around. "Next, it's time to go and negotiate."
"An A-rank Valkyrie from our Schicksal has already held off the Herrscher of Thunder for an hour. Based on the intelligence, the opponent doesn't seem to intend to take direct action."
"A-rank?!" Siegfried was dumbfounded. "Wait, since when were A-rank Valkyries this valiant?"
'It's Himeko,' Welt thought, seeming to know more. After all, he had come from St. Freya Academy. However, for Himeko to hold the opponent off for an hour... even he found it fantastical.
Unless the Herrscher of Thunder simply had no intention of acting against her!
If that was the case... Welt felt a surge of excitement. He was no longer alone!
"In the face of a great enemy, we should set aside our disputes," Welt said, looking at the two Valkyries. "Just as our two sides cooperated fully during the Second Great Honkai."
"Hmph, Welt, those words are bad luck," Siegfried muttered, annoyed. "Aren't you afraid that dog Otto will drop a few more Honkai Fission Bombs?"
"..." Durandal and Rita glanced at each other, choosing to act as if they hadn't heard.
After all, Schicksal was indeed in the wrong regarding that incident. If it were anyone else, they might have talked back, but the two men before them had both been hit by a nuclear bomb... they had both paid an unimaginably heavy price.
Siegfried's family was torn apart, and Welt hadn't appeared since then, spending all his time recovering.
Fine, forget it. They had risked their lives to fight the Second Herrscher back then. Others had no right to criticize heroes.
"Shall we go now?" Durandal immediately wanted to end the topic, but just as the words left her mouth, both of them received an order from Otto.
"Wait, Senpai Theresa is coming to support us," she hurriedly called for a halt. "Overseer Otto has ordered that this Honkai must be quelled at all costs!"
"Ordered? Who does he think he is, ordering us?" Siegfried instinctively started to glare, but then he saw Durandal's innocent face... and swallowed his words.
Otto, you bastard!
Welt was also disgusted. "Anti-Entropy is not a subordinate of Schicksal."
"My phrasing was incorrect," Durandal quickly tried to make amends. "I have offended you both."
As for Otto, far away at Schicksal headquarters... normally he would have popped up to trade barbs with Siegfried and Welt.
But he couldn't be bothered with anything else right now.
After analyzing that tiny possibility, Otto was nearly losing his mind.
'Since Acheron has no Honkai Energy on her... yet is incredibly powerful, does that power come from the Sea of Stars?'
'If she were to become the Herrscher of Thunder, it would be fine. The Key of Binding would work, meaning she would have implanted a fatal weakness into herself, and perhaps we could try to capture her then.'
'But the most likely scenario is that Raiden Mei is still the Herrscher, and she is merely using the title. If that's the case... the Key of Binding can only bind Honkai Energy. Against her, it would just be a sufficiently sturdy weapon.'
'Conciliation?'
'That's the only way.'
'But judging from everything she has done, it's all very purposeful. Mocking me in front of that Valkyrie... is there really a need for that? With her power, if she hated me to the bone, she should have appeared at headquarters.'
'So is it some kind of signal? She knows I will definitely notice, which is why she said it? She wants me to... not interfere with K423.'
'But if she truly comes from the future and knows my plans, then she should understand that K423 is irreplaceable in my scheme. So is it a declaration of war?'
Based on the limited information, this was all Otto could analyze.
Continuing was pointless; he could only wait to see if the upcoming contact would yield more information to refine his plan.
"I'll be there in half an hour," Durandal said as she connected to Theresa's communication on the front line. "But there's bad news. St. Freya Academy has detected a fleet of five warships carrying a massive amount of Titans about to arrive in Nagazora City."
"Siegfried! Welt! You have to stop them for me!"
"Difficult," Welt said, shaking his head and using a disguised voice. "Miss Theresa, Cocolia's fleet has completely broken through Anti-Entropy's restrictions. We don't know where she got the technology, but all the backdoors left by Anti-Entropy have been blocked."
"So, we'll have to go and shoot down those five warships ourselves. And as far as I know, Cocolia's Siberia Branch has spent these years militarizing but only managed to bring out three warships... I don't know where the other two came from."
"There must be a mystery power behind her. We must be careful!"
And at that moment, as the mystery power Welt was worried about, Raven had just dodged a Valkyrie evacuation squad and arrived in a secluded hallway.
Yes, the serpent had truly only sent her alone.