Humans are in chaos, despicable outsiders.

"Meow—! (Who's talking about me?)"

Chapter 53 You call this an irresistible condition?

Inside the British Museum, Rita stood in the lobby, waiting for her meeting person. She didn't have to wait long before a mature woman with long, wine-red hair and glasses hurried in.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, miss. Are you the Valkyrie of Destiny?" The woman greeted Rita and introduced herself.

"I am Catherine, the current director of the British Museum."

"Hello, you can call me Rita. I presume you already know the purpose of my visit," Rita said, pulling out an identification document to show her identity.

“Of course, Miss Rita, please follow me,” Curator Catherine said warmly, making an inviting gesture.

The British Museum houses historical and cultural treasures from around the world.

"What you have requested to investigate this time pertains to British history, but its value is in no way inferior to the other exhibits."

Catherine led Rita through the museum, explaining its history, until they arrived at a stone monument.

"This is a Celtic scroll that has been preserved from around the 6th century AD, and it records a very ancient history."

"—The Legend of King Arthur"

"A boy named Arthur, with the help of the great magician Merlin, pulled the sword from the stone and became the King of Britain..."

--

Just as the curator was telling Miss Rita the story of King Arthur, the British Museum, which had been booked out by Destiny, welcomed another guest.

A blonde Valkyrie strolled through the deserted exhibition area, admiring cultural treasures from around the world.

Then, a painting caught her attention. It depicted a blond, blue-eyed man, just like her father, but what drew her attention was the man's clothing.

That was the robe of the Bishop of Destiny. The white robe of the man in the painting was stained red with blood, and several sharp swords were stuck in his torso. The man's eyes were wide open in anger, as if he were roaring at something.

Shifting his gaze downwards, Snow saw the title of the painting.

—The Death of a Tyrant

"This is a silhouette of your father Otto Apocalypse's nephew, your cousin, the former tyrant Marcel Apocalypse, when your father overthrew his rule 500 years ago."

"However, he forgot—the dragon slayer is still a dragon..."

A man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and a one-eyed mask appeared behind the girl, telling the story depicted in the painting.

"And I have brought you a condition that you cannot refuse, nor do you have the right to refuse."

"Snow Apocalypse, you will replace your father as the new Archbishop of Destiny."

"—And the price is submission to the World Serpent." The blonde girl turned her mocking gaze to the man behind her.

The once arrogant man was now drenched in cold sweat; he knew he had lost the upper hand in the conversation.

—Because the lines that originally belonged to him were being stolen away, one by one, by the girl in front of him.

"A good play," the Valkyrie commented.

"The death of the tyrannical puppet bishop Marcel Apocalypse five hundred years ago is used as a metaphor."

"The concept of tyrant was transferred to the current Archbishop, Otto Apocalypse, my father, who has ruled for 500 years."

"And the uncle-nephew relationship between that puppet bishop Marcel and Otto Apocalypse further suggests to me that the current archbishop is a cold-blooded creature who has no regard for family or relationships."

"Then all we need to do is bring up some more of his human experiments and what he did during the Second Honkai Impact... to solidify that impression."

"Finally, they offered me the tempting condition of overthrowing this tyrant and allowing me to ascend to the throne of Archbishop of Destiny—"

"To you, a cadre of the World Serpent, Gray Serpent..."

"This is indeed a very attractive offer with a high degree of certainty."

The Valkyrie turned around and slowly walked towards the laughable rat in front of her.

"However... there's a condition I can't refuse?"

Black ice crystals began to spread, and the single eye beneath the gray snake mask shrank slightly.

"A condition I have no right to refuse?"

Ice crystals climbed onto the man's body

"Hilarious and laughable—"

The girl reached out and grabbed the mask on the face of the immobilized man, or rather, his head.

"When did you develop...the confidence that you have the right to bark at me like that?"

The man's mask began to creak and groan under the weight of the pressure.

"Even if you find the gem and open the gates to the Sea of ​​Quanta—"

"Let the hero, the savior Kevin Kaslana, who was sealed away in the past, once again grace this world with his presence—"

"Your so-called conditions are only something I can consider... just consider—"

"Like my ancestors, I am a gray serpent..."

"We don't need anyone's promises. For us, it's never been a complex analytical problem... but rather a choice between surrender or death—"

"The premise of any transaction or negotiation is always equality—power, status, identity, and you? You don't meet any of those requirements."

The mechanical mask was crushed along with his head, leaving only the man's final question echoing in the wreckage.

"Where did you get our intelligence and plans from...?!"

"Ha—" With a single stomp, the mechanical head of the fallen body was completely crushed into dust, and black ice crystals surged forth, leading his remains to the same fate.

"I know everything—"

……

In the dimly lit monitoring room, Gray Serpent opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and stared at the red "lost" warning on the clone in front of him that had lost contact.

Grey Serpent, a business enthusiast who always fulfills his promises regardless of the client, has for the first time added one person's name to his blacklist of people he absolutely cannot do business with.

Snow Apocalypse

"Who exactly are you...?"

The man looked at the blonde girl on the screen, a member of the World Serpent that observes the development of human civilization.

The arrogance that Grey Serpent had maintained until now had been utterly torn to shreds by the Valkyrie on screen.

After a long silence, the man dialed a communication channel.

"Raven... Set the highest priority target for the Third Divine Key to the S-rank Valkyrie Snow Apocalypse—no... never mind... Continue to set the target as Durandal..."

Gray Serpent gave an order to another executive of World Serpent, then seemed to remember something and withdrew it.

"The chilling power to freeze everything... Why does she possess such an ability...? The Lord should have sealed this power away from his descendants back then..." The Gray Serpent fell into deep thought once more.

……

Later, perhaps Grey Serpent can find some fragments of the pride that was trampled by that Valkyrie in someone else.

But at least for now, he could only see a sparse amount of information about Snow Apocalypse on a whiteboard. He sighed deeply and put his questions aside.

"There's too little information... Snow Apocalypse... You're the real serpent, completely shrouded in mist..."

Meanwhile, on the other end of the communication, Raven kept muttering to himself about what Gray Serpent was up to now after the communication was cut off.

"Has Gray Serpent lost his mind lately? Snow Apocalypse? Sounds like someone connected to that Bishop of Destiny."

"Don't tell me she's that archbishop's illegitimate daughter."

Chapter 54 Go to Tmall

While Snow manipulated the gray snake in another part of the exhibition hall, Catherine's explanation continued.

"After King Arthur ascended the throne, he founded the powerful Knights of the Round Table and swore an oath to jointly defend Britain."

"Through the valiant efforts of that king and his knights, Britain drove out countless invaders, achieving strength and unity. The story of King Arthur has been passed down to this day, becoming a household tale in England."

After explaining the story depicted in the mural to Rita, Curator Catherine asked the pensive Valkyrie with some curiosity.

"So, Miss Rita, is there any special information hidden in this mural?"

"It's a secret," Rita said with a polite smile.

"Ah... I'm very sorry, I was just curious about it academically. You know, we scholars always have all sorts of curiosities."

Curator Catherine made an apologetic gesture with her hands and explained to Rita...

“Well, I won’t disturb your investigation any longer. Please feel free to contact me if you need anything,” Catherine waved goodbye to Rita, seemingly having other matters to attend to.

"The clue to the Key of God should be this mural; the only items that can connect to it are the Sword in the Stone and the Round Table..."

"Based on Lord Snow's speculation last night, the possibility of the Sword in the Stone being a key to the gods is far higher than that of the Round Table..."

Rita stared at the stone tablet in front of her, lost in thought, until a cat's meow interrupted her.

"Meow—" It was a harmless white-gray Siamese cat with purple eyes, wagging its tail as it approached Rita.

"A cat...why is there a cat here?" Rita's wary instincts, typical of a Valkyrie, made her take a slight step back. Then, a sudden change occurred: a giant Honkai Beast cat appeared before Rita and pounced on her.

It has experienced the baptism of war, the bonds of family and friendship, and the pain of separation and death.

Its life was filled with hardship and displacement, which taught it that only power is the truth of this world.

In its quest for power, it didn't hesitate to step into forbidden territory, putting in extraordinary effort compared to other cats. In the fierce competition, it eliminated countless of its kind.

After enduring brutal experiments, it finally gained power that surpassed all others.

—The strongest ultimate life form on this planet was created!

As Stan pondered this, the Valkyrie before him had already cast aside her confusion about why a cat could suddenly transform into a Honkai Beast, and summoned her Valkyrie Armor.

"Meow~" It is said that the Valkyries of Destiny all possess their own armor. Little girl, let me see your full power!

"Let me investigate properly after I defeat you!"

Rita charged at the cat-shaped Honkai Beast, scythe in hand, while a beam of light began to gather on Stan's tail, as if it were about to unleash a powerful energy attack.

"It's so noisy... Rita, what are you doing...?" The girl's voice interrupted the two who were about to clash.