Humans are in chaos, despicable outsiders.

The greetings from several people outside the door rang out immediately after the doorbell.

"Okay!"

Kiana called out towards the door, then hugged her blanket and shrank back into bed, wrapping herself up like a caterpillar.

"Just a little more sleep... just a little longer..."

The girl drifted off to sleep, relaxing her nerves and brain after a night of tossing and turning.

"Hehe, Mei's hands are so soft..."

Lost in her dream, the girl curled up on the bed, drool dripping from the corner of her mouth and onto the pillow.

......

Sunlight streamed down the street as the girl, holding Mei's hand, walked along the deserted street, enjoying their precious time alone together.

This beautiful sweetness was shattered when the woman walking towards them approached.

"What are you doing here? Get out of my sight!"

The white-fuzzy ball waved its hand, trying to shoo the woman away, but she remained unmoved, continuing to remind her in her eerie voice—

"I won't comment on your having erotic dreams in broad daylight... I'm just here to tell you something, little girl—if you don't wake up soon, you're going to get a beating."

"What?! I don't want to wake up! Mei, my Mei.... Aww—!!!"

"This isn't up to you... nor is it up to me." Seeing the girl before him seemingly suffer some severe blow in the outside world, and the entire dream world beginning to shatter, the hermit vanished once more from the dream.

When Kiana opened her eyes in a fit of rage, she was met with a murderous intent even more terrifying than herself.

Himeko Murata stood before her, watching as she unleashed her Lion's Roar—

"Kiana Kaslana, at your age! With grades like yours! How can you sleep?!"

"Aunt Himeko, I'm so sorry—!!"

--

"Ugh...it's finally over. Tonight I'll be dreaming about that weirdo telling stories again..."

"Never mind, I'll just pretend she's telling history. At least it's more interesting than the new history teacher."

The complaining girl changed into her pajamas, collapsed onto the bed, and fell asleep at lightning speed. The raven on the windowsill, Foggin, rolled its eyes in a very human way as Kiana fell asleep at lightning speed.

.....

When Kiana regained consciousness, she found herself on a sunny lawn, where four white-haired creatures, two large and two small, were frolicking in another part of the garden.

"Huh? That's Daddy and Theresa! And what about the one next to them..."

“That was Cecilia Schariac, the most powerful Valkyrie in Schicksal at the time, and Siegfried Kaslana’s consort.”

The hermit suddenly appeared beside the girl, startling Kiana.

So, the one riding on his stinky old man's head...

"Who else could it be but Kiana Kaslana?"

The hermit glanced at the white fur ball beside him, who was currently frowning and pondering her memories—

"No, my memories before I was eight are completely blank... I should go up and see what Theresa and the others are saying..."

The white fluffy ball darted off in two strides, heading towards the four of them... The hermit didn't follow, but calmly watched the departing figures...

"That's not you..."

A soft sigh escaped her lips, but the girl, who had already darted towards the four, could no longer hear it.

...

"...You're back. How does it feel?"

The hermit looked at Kiana, who had returned to his side, her brows furrowed in deep thought.

"Hmm...I have absolutely no recollection of it..."

The white fluffy ball shook its head dejectedly.

"...This is the first airport of Schicksal headquarters on February 2nd. Theresa Apocalypse received her grandfather Otto Apocalypse's mission here—to investigate the Babel Tower researchers who disappeared without a trace last midnight..."

The scene changes, and the two find themselves on an airplane. Theresa, sitting in her seat, is muttering something to herself, and Kiana curiously leans in to listen.

"The wasteland... late at night... and mysterious disappearances... could it be haunted... Eek!!!"

The diminutive Valkyrie, dressed in a nun's habit, trembled all over before finally making up her mind by slapping her hand on the photo of herself and Kiana.

"No! For Kiana and Cecilia, I have to pull myself together!"

Theresa stood up, walked past Kiana's approaching figure, and stood at the cabin door. This Chinook helicopter, modified by Schicksal, was about to arrive at her destination.

"What? My aunt used to be afraid of ghosts? We need to think of a way to scare her."

"...If you want to be crushed by that Judas in the hands of that academy dean, it's definitely worth a try."

The Hermit ruthlessly interrupted Kiana's reverie and stood beside the cabin door with Theresa.

"Come on, we've arrived at our stop."

Following the diminutive Valkyrie off the helicopter, the two returned to the open space outside the Babylonian Laboratory.

"Welcome, Theresa. Lord Otto has ordered me to assist you."

A mature woman with short, gray-white hair, dressed in revealing clothing, greeted Theresa, her purple eyes filled with the joy of a long-awaited reunion.

"Phew, Patrick, I'm relieved to have you here... This incident was somewhat terrifying... or rather, bizarre. But with an expert like you here, the truth should come to light."

Theresa breathed a sigh of relief, as if the Valkyrie before her was an expert in investigating paranormal events.

"Patrick Highsmith, codename [Genius], an A-rank Valkyrie of the Destiny Intelligence Department, and a former member of the Snow Wolf Squad."

The hermit explained to Kiana, who was standing to the side in a daze, then seemed to have thought of something and added to Kiana:

"The Snow Wolf Squad was the squad led by Cecilia Schariac, the S-rank Valkyrie of Schicksal at the time. However, it was temporarily disbanded because of your father."

"Huh? Why!"

"...Ms. Cecilia is pregnant."

"Uh... as expected of Dad."

Kiana gave an awkward smile, while the Hermit remained silent, his face hidden behind a black mask revealing no emotion.

"They're going in... Let's follow them."

Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Dark Side of the Tower of Babel

The Hermit and Kiana followed behind the two. The laboratory door opened, but the researcher's body that Kiana had expected was not there. She looked at the Hermit in confusion.

"Where is the body...?"

"Naturally, the Second Herrscher took care of it... What's so strange about that?"

"Huh? How are Theresa and the others going to get in...?"

"...I remember the Kaslana family was just stubborn and inflexible...Why are you such an idiot???"

The hermit turned her head, and Kiana could feel the incredulous look in her eyes even through the mask.

"Hey. Who are you calling an idiot?!"

"Your dear auntie is here on orders to investigate this research institute owned by Destiny... You're asking me how she got in...?"

"If you're not stupid, then who is...?"

The woman behind the mask rolled her eyes, ignoring Kiana who was still in a daze, and followed Theresa and the other woman ahead.

"Hey, wait for me!!"

Kiana, regaining her senses, chased after the group in the direction they had gone.

.....

"Patrick discovered something amiss in the surveillance footage. The historical data of the Babylon Collapse Reactor showed that, starting at 10 p.m. last night, the reactor's output power disappeared for a full five minutes."

"That's the world's third largest Honkai energy reactor. The power output in 5 minutes is no small amount... However, the monitoring there is encrypted, and Patrick's permissions are simply not enough to access it."

"So they decided to go down and investigate themselves..." The hermit, following behind Theresa and Patrick, patiently explained to the white-furred ball of fur.

Soon the group arrived at the reactor area at the bottom of the Tower of Babylon. The central pillar of the reactor connected to all the upper floors of the Tower of Babylon, supplying them with energy.

Patrick, who was walking at the front, seemed to have suddenly noticed something and bent down to check it, while Theresa timidly shrank back and looked around.

"Even Aunt Flo has these moments, huh? Pfft... Hahahaha!"

"It seems Patrick has found the oversight left in the Second Herrscher's operation..."

The hermit watched the silver-haired Valkyrie's actions, while Kiana, following behind, loudly mocked Theresa for peeking out, until a somewhat eerie cry for help echoed through the circular hall—

"Help...help me..."

"Is anyone there...?! Please come and save us!"

A hollow and weak cry for help echoed in the hall—

"Wow! A ghost—!" *2

Theresa in front and Kiana beside the Hermit made the same reaction....

"You two are equally bad... What's so funny? That's just the voice of an ordinary human girl, it just sounds a bit hollow from a distance."

The hermit shook his head and dragged Kiana toward the direction of the sound. They passed through a gate and took an elevator down below.

A four-story prison came into Kiana's view; the cries for help she had heard earlier at the reactor had originated from here.

Having learned her lesson, Kiana didn't foolishly rush forward to try and pry open the iron bars this time. Instead, she looked at the hermit shrouded in a hood and mask and posed her question:

"Didn't you say everyone in this tower is dead? Then who are these children?"

The white-furred ball pointed to the few surviving children in the cage, looked at the hermit, and its eyes were full of suspicion.

"Do you really think... to this laboratory, they're even human...?"

"Those were test subjects from the Advanced Systems Department. Most of them won't live to see the next test... The erosion of Honkai energy, along with malnutrition and abuse, has worn down their bodies."

"How could this happen... How could those researchers treat these children like this! Aren't they living, breathing human beings just like those guys!?"