Humans are in chaos, despicable outsiders.

"...Based on the information gathered so far, Miss Jiuxiao, your guess seems to be correct. This Ms. Cecilia seems to hold a very special place in Miss Kiana's heart."

Joyce nodded, breaking the silence in the command room.

"That means that ordinary kinship... simply cannot awaken her—in the true historical record, Cecilia and Sirin were both buried in the snowfields of Siberia by the Honkai Fission Bomb."

"Himeko-sensei, do you remember? Kiana's impression of the Second Honkai Impact was always incredibly vague, no matter how we taught her, she just couldn't understand it... This must be her instinct and Herrscher consciousness at work; she was resisting the truth."

"As for the girl who already knows the truth and understands that she herself is the culprit who killed her 'mother'... she has probably fallen into a deep state of autism..."

"This kind of superficial talk about feelings is probably useless. Even if we beat down that Second Herrscher, as long as Kiana's consciousness is unwilling to take over the body, it will still be that Herrscher's consciousness that wakes up later."

“…”

The meeting room fell into complete silence until Himeko Murata slapped her hand on the ground.

"Nine Heavens, do you know of any items that can temporarily rival such power? Or has Snow ever mentioned them?"

The red-haired Valkyrie stared solemnly at the Nine Heavens of Houraiji Temple before her.

"...Lady Himeko, what do you want to do?"

"Stop talking nonsense, little girl, just tell me."

"Her purpose is too obvious, Ms. Himeko Murata....—In Schicksal's Helheim Laboratory, there are the prototypes of all the Valkyrie armors...the [Blank Key] from the previous era, and the Godslayer Armor created by fusing the Plague Gems recovered by Schicksal during the Second Honkai Impact."

"According to research records, the [Blank Key] can exert power comparable to a Herrscher for a short period of time after being equipped with a core... Of course, it is only temporary - no human can withstand the Honkai energy output of a Herrscher core for an extended period of time."

"...You can't use that thing, Himeko Murata-sensei."

"Any one of us would be better off using that armor than you; your body doesn't have much time left..."

"You will die, die in the battle against the Second Herrscher..."

Jiuxiao stared at Himeko Murata, who had already turned and walked towards the gate, and said with a serious expression.

"Do you expect me, as your teacher, to cower behind you students and watch you fight to the death?"

"Himeko..."

Theresa called her name, seemingly intending to dissuade her.

"Stop talking. My mind is made up—and there's no one more suitable than me to awaken Kiana. I'm her teacher, and a teacher must be responsible for their student to the end—"

"If Cecilia Schariac could sacrifice herself to bring about the birth of a benevolent Second Herrscher, why can't I, Himeko Murata, do the same?"

"...You will die."

Jiuxiao looked at Jizi standing at the door and repeated heavily the words: "The fate that the red-haired woman will face."

"I am no longer afraid."

The Valkyrie turned and left the command center, intending to search for the [Key of Blank].

"Himeko—!"

Theresa shouted at the departing woman. She knew her companion's temperament; once she made up her mind, no one could change it.

"I'll leave the rest to you two. I'll go talk to Himeko... The two doctors and the Hyperion will be arriving at headquarters soon. I'd like to ask the doctors if there are any other solutions."

Theresa quickly greeted Jiuxiao and Joyce, and then hurriedly chased after them.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you, Miss Penglai Temple..."

"Of course... otherwise how would we get this troublesome teacher to retire and rest? We both know perfectly well what kind of situation Miss Kiana is in now."

"To be honest, Miss Jiuxiao, that Lady Wuliangta would probably be very unwilling... Even if we repair her body afterwards and erase the damage caused by the artificial holy marks, it would be a hundred times more unacceptable for such a lady who is unwilling to be second best to stay in the back."

"Ah, I know, so—actually, we have another plan in mind..."

"Fusion Warrior—Mr. Joyce, what do you think?"

...

"Emmmm...it sounds good, but where do we get the technology?"

"Why not ask the amazing Snow?"

Chapter 163 The two supreme beings fought until even the Great Dao was annihilated.

A massive white warship emerged from the horizon. The fully refitted Hyperion, carrying the last support force of the Far East Branch, was about to arrive at Schicksal's Third Airport.

"Commander Himeko, all Valkyries of the Far East Branch on the Hyperion have assembled, except for the four rapid response teams responsible for overseeing and handling the Far East region."

The last available force of the Far East Branch has been assembled, and the Allied forces can be deployed to the battle after completing their final rest and reorganization.

By this point, the armed forces of the New Destiny Organization and the Old Destiny Organization, including the Valkyries of Light, who had been mobilized on their headquarters island, had reached a scale approaching that of the counterattack during the Second Honkai Impact, numbering nearly five hundred.

"However, only a handful of less than ten people actually made a difference. The remaining troops were deployed to important facilities to protect non-combat personnel and to clear out any potential Honkai beast hordes."

"Grandpa will definitely send his S-rank Valkyries to the battlefield... The headquarters has two S-rank Valkyries on the surface: Durandal and Rita Rossweisse. If nothing unexpected happens, Fu Hua is also S-rank... And Grandpa... Grandpa himself has combat power no less than a standard S-rank Valkyrie. If you include the strange and unusual items Grandpa has, it might be even higher..."

Theresa sighed; taking away half of the Destiny did not bring her much comfort.

"And we... the leader of Anti-Entropy, the First Herrscher Welt Joyce—the leader is going to face off against Grandpa. Even if Mr. Joyce wants to cause trouble for others, Grandpa will definitely attack the leader. If we don't make the two face off openly from the beginning..."

“New intelligence, Dean Theresa: The Honkai beast horde from Siberia has breached two layers of the Destiny Triple Defense Satellite Network. The leader of the horde has been identified as a Judgment-class individual—confirmed. The leader is Benares, a Judgment-class dragon-type Honkai beast that appeared during the Second Honkai Impact.”

"At present, Bishop Otto's side has dispatched an S-rank Valkyrie to deal with that Judgment-class Honkai Beast. According to the comparison of the images transmitted back by the reconnaissance drone, it is Fu Hua who took Miss Kiana away."

"Dean, do we need any support?"

The intelligence officer looked at Theresa, who was deep in thought.

"...No, we don't have the extra resources to deal with this. Order the troops to speed up preparations and prepare for the arrival of the Herrscher."

"Yes!"

"Fu Hua, who is dealing with the Judgment-class Honkai Beasts, probably won't have the energy to cause us trouble for a while. Grandpa will be tied up with Joyce, and Fu Hua won't be able to spare the energy. That leaves only Durandal and Rita..."

"That straightforward fellow was, I remember, a very upright Valkyrie... if we could persuade Durandal—"

"Don't even think about it, Dean, we can't persuade her."

Unbeknownst to him, Jiu Xiao found himself standing alone in the deserted airport, talking to himself.

"Why? I took care of that child; she should be a..."

"She beat you to a pulp before, and together with Fu Hua, they took Kiana away from inside—"

Jiuxiao interrupted Theresa's rebuttal.

“Since Otto Apocalypse dared to send her into this match, he must be confident that we can’t persuade her, and—perhaps in our eyes Kiana is a friend, student, or family member who needs us to save her.”

"But it's different in the eyes of the Valkyries at Schicksal headquarters. I heard from the Valkyries who were with you on the Hermes that Otto and Fu Hua contacted you before we even arrived, right?"

“That’s right…Grandpa initially tried to persuade me to go back, and so did Fu Hua—”

"Do you remember what they called Kiana...?"

[Headmaster, Teacher Himeko, let's go back—this Herrscher girl isn't worth it, she's not even yours, Headmaster...]

[My little Theresa, don't throw a tantrum like a child. A Herrscher girl isn't worth you doing this... My dear granddaughter, go back and forget about it.]

"The Herald..."

Theresa managed to utter a single word.

“That’s right, Herrscher. This is how most people in headquarters view Kiana. Even the Valkyries and researchers from the former headquarters under our control, East Mandate, would only have this attitude after we told them the current situation.”

“We can’t convince them. Kiana’s bond is limited to St. Freya Academy in the Far East branch. Only we would want to save her—while the others just want to stay far away or eliminate a potential threat.”

"...That bishop was indeed shrewd—he threw us a bunch of burdens in some sense, burdens that would turn against us if we didn't deal with them properly—"

Jiuxiao pursed his lips unhappily.

"For this burden to truly become our asset, besides our promotion, Kiana herself needs to set an example, but these are not things we can do right now."

"This deeply ingrained belief in people's minds will not change until that girl uses her own will and the power of the Herrscher to make a definite statement."

"Theresa, you should have noticed—those former headquarters Valkyries who were integrated into the new Schicksal couldn't help but whisper among themselves when they saw Raiden Mei..."

Jiuxiao stopped his incessant chatter and looked at Theresa, who seemed to have made a decision based on the purple-haired Valkyrie's words...

-

"Nine Heavens, how long can you, Durandal, and Rita hold out against each other?"

“I can fight them until the Great Dao is obliterated… Don’t look at me like that. You want me to delay the captain and vice-captain of the Undying Blade. Coincidentally, that bishop thinks the same thing.”

"Based on the current analysis, everything suggests that the bishop prefers you, Kiana's closest friends and family, to confront her."

“Even if Mr. Walter and I were to step aside to help, that bishop would do everything in his power to stop us… We are the ones with the most free time. In fact, if we didn’t show any desire to support you, I could probably sit down and have a cup of tea and some snacks with those two.”

"Mr. Joyce's situation is similar. Bishop Otto will probably go and confront him personally...emmm, and then it'll be a friendly exchange between men—a brawl. I think Joyce will likely have the upper hand; he just found some theoretical data on the fourth-generation Valkyrie armor in his experiments—"

"How about a Stand user and a double-door refrigerator—?"

"Ahem, alright, enough joking around, Theresa—Joyce and I, and even most of the members of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, will not be in any danger to our lives or suffer any property loss. In this battle between Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, the only ones in real danger are you—Raiden Mei, Bronya, Himeko Murata, and you, Theresa."

"You guys are all too close to Kiana..."

Jiuxiao looked at Theresa with a serious expression.

Chapter 164 Judas may not be a pushover, but what about you, Headmaster?

"Danger? Hmph, the one thing I fear least is danger! My Judas is no pushover."

Seeing Jiu Xiao's somewhat concerned gaze, Theresa took out Judah and brandished it with great force, indicating that she was not someone to be trifled with.

"Don't worry, Jiuxiao. A revived Herrscher will definitely have a period of weakness. Watch me bring Kiana back myself! As for Himeko... I won't agree to her plan. I'll leave it to you to keep an eye on that bomb-wielding girl and make sure she doesn't go to the battlefield!"

Theresa waved confidently at Jiuxiao, then turned and her expression changed as she walked towards the Hyperion. The huge white warship was already docked, and she needed to meet with the two doctors from Anti-Entropy to seek more solutions.

The purple-haired Valkyrie watched Theresa walk away silently, her expression of concern vanishing as well.

"Everything is proceeding as planned... However, Judas is no pushover... But what does that have to do with the Dean..."

She was muttering to herself until she was interrupted by a communication, which was signed by [Otto].

“Good analysis, Penglai Temple Nine Heavens, my good son-in-law, and you guessed almost everything correctly.”

Jiuxiao answered the call, and a man's voice with a somewhat cynical tone came through.

"Oh—isn't this my father-in-law?"