Humans are in chaos, despicable outsiders.

"—Who gave you such supreme courage... to wield your laughable power in the kingdom of kings?! You... a worm dwelling beneath a tree!!!" A crystal-like longsword pierced the deck, boundless crimson spreading to everything around it, golden buds growing wildly within it.

Crimson blood covered the deck and enveloped the land of Changkong City. The once thunderous sky fell silent, replaced by an eerie scene reflecting a crimson starry sky, with golden patterns freely drawn within it, ultimately forming a towering tree.

The converging lightning was extinguished in an instant by an invisible force, and the high and mighty Herrscher, who had been hovering above the starry sky, plummeted from the heavens and crashed heavily onto the deck of the airship.

The monarch of the [Kingdom], carrying the longsword embedded in the deck, strode towards the direction where the Herrscher had fallen. The sharp blade left shocking scratches on the deck. Himeko Murata, standing nearby, stared at the sword marks carved into the deck, opened her mouth, glanced at the world bathed in red and gold, and ultimately chose to remain silent.

"Sinner, you...deserve death—!" He made the final decision, raising his blood-red sword. Beneath the blade lay the Third Herrscher, who had once again fallen unconscious. This time, [Snow] seemed determined not to let her go.

The longsword was swung down, stopping before the white-haired girl's forehead. The girl, who had awakened at some unknown time, stood between her companions, her stubborn azure eyes staring into the deep, dark blue pupils of the blonde girl before her, showing no sign of backing down.

"Step back—!" He commanded.

"No!" The stubborn white-haired girl stood in front of the Third Herrscher, blocking her companion's blade.

"..." The scene fell into a deathly silence and stalemate.

"Um, I mean..." the red Valkyrie tried to intervene in the stalemate.

"Silence! You have no right to speak here—" The blonde girl's shout echoed throughout the city, abruptly cutting off Himeko's words. Her face was ashen as she stared at the three people locked in a tense standoff. She seemed to be weighing whether it was worthwhile to deliver a powerful blow to these unfortunate girls at this moment.

The two remained locked in a stalemate... As time passed, the girl wielding the longsword finally made her compromise—

"...You'd better have made the right choice, better—" The deep, dark blue pupils glanced one last time at the stubborn girl before returning to their original azure. The sky, composed of starlight and golden trees, shattered in the next instant. The blood-red blade vanished in the girl's hand, and then, the golden-haired girl collapsed forward as if she had lost her footing.

The white-haired girl instinctively reached out her arm to catch her falling companion.

[It's so light, and it feels a little soft?] Kiana thought to herself.

Everything in this world has a price, a fact the young, white-haired girl doesn't yet understand.

—The price to pay for ruling above the apostles of God, as a king, is something only the girl lying in her arms truly knows.

--

Mini-theater time

Next, let's interview Mr. Kai, the noodle-eating guy, and ask him what his thoughts are on Raiden Mei becoming a Herrscher.

Kevin: [Slurp] She can't win. She just can't play this position, you know? Even the Honkai Beasts have something to say. What kind of people did she lead before? She used to lead a whole bunch of warriors. You tell me, if you throw a high school student up there, can she fight? She can't. If this keeps up, we'll lose to Paramecium, then to Bronya, then to Honkai Beasts, and then there'll be no one left to lose to, you know?

Jiuxiao: But in a way, Mei was the first person to prepare for the Herrscher version.

Kevin: [Slurp slurp] Oh my god, thank goodness!

————————————————————

Chapter Seven: The Mystery of the Past

On the Hyperion, a team of Valkyries hurriedly carried stretchers toward the deck.

With the Herrscher defeated, the oppressive atmosphere on the entire warship eased considerably, and many crew members whispered and discussed what had just happened.

The three unconscious men on deck were carried onto stretchers and taken to the warship's medical bay. The Hyperion's engines were quickly restarted, and it headed towards the Far East branch's location.

The damage the airships sustained in the battle against the Herrschers was no longer sufficient to sustain them in the upcoming fight. The Valkyries of the Far East Branch established a temporary outpost on the cross-sea bridge in Changkong City to prevent the spread of Honkai creatures. Several Valkyrie squads ventured into the city's interior to search for any potential survivors.

Meanwhile, in the hangar of the Hyperion, the airship's first mate, her right hand trembling slightly, adjusted her glasses. Before her stood two girls: one crouching in a corner, clutching a Homu plush toy, and the other greeting her with an awkward smile.

"Hello, ma'am..."

"Are the security forces on the Hyperion all pushovers?!"

--

In the office of the dean of the Far East Branch of St. Freya Academy, Himeko Murata pushed open the office door, loudly complaining...

"Honestly, it's been three days, and my whole body still aches like it's going to split open," the woman said, rubbing her shoulders as she walked into the empty office.

"You dared to use the still-under-development Nexus system without authorization, and then forcibly blocked a Herrscher's attack at maximum output. You should thank God you're not lying in the ICU now! You reckless bomb woman!"

A second voice rang out in the usually quiet office. Looking towards the source of the voice, a strand of snow-white hair swayed behind the dean's desk.

"Hey Dean, you're here! You're so petite and cute, I almost didn't notice you!" The woman's words were full of teasing.

"Stop talking nonsense! Where's the report?!" The owner of the voice seemed to have been hit where it hurt, and asked somewhat exasperatedly.

"Wait a moment... I'll get it for you right away." Himeko Murata reached into the cleavage of her chest and retrieved a storage device.

"You, you, you, Himeko, why did you put the documents there?!"

"Oh? Theresa, have you forgotten? We collected this information without your dear grandfather's knowledge."

"To prevent it from being discovered by others in the organization, of course I have to hide it in the safest place!"

"Enough! Give it to me now!" Having been maliciously mocked repeatedly, Theresa was finally on the verge of exploding.

The storage device was placed on the desk, and the holographic projection on the device was activated. Several character files appeared in front of the two people along with a video.

"Then, Major Himeko, please explain what happened at the end of that day..." As the video began to play, Theresa's gaze fell upon Himeko Murata beside her.

...............

"You better have made the right choice, better—" The video ended as the blonde girl collapsed into the white-haired girl's arms.

Himeko reached out and swiped across the holographic projection, switching to the white-haired girl's information.

"Kiana Kaslana, she was the little girl who ultimately stood between the blonde girl and the Herrscher, and also the girl who was initially held in the Herrscher's arms."

"It's really strange. An ordinary person would have started to turn into a zombie long ago after being around a Herrscher with such a high concentration of Honkai entities..." Himeko Murata looked at Kiana's image in the data with some curiosity.

“She’s no ordinary person, Himeko,” Theresa interrupted Himeko.

"Do you still remember which three families are the Heavenly Mandate?"

"The Apocalypse family, representing the bishops; the Shaniat family, representing the saints; and the Kaslana family, representing the knights—aren't these history questions from the Valkyrie entrance exam...?" Himeko, acting on instinct as an academy teacher, answered Theresa's question.

"Wait, Kaslana?!" Himeko caught the key point in the words and looked at the file on the projection with disbelief.

"Yes, it's the Kaslana family..."

"Long time no see, Kiana... I never thought I'd see you again after all these years... So it seems the Kaslana family has an inextricable karmic ties with Honkai," Theresa muttered softly as she climbed onto the edge of the desk.

"Alright, let's move on to the next one."

The projection continued to slide with the finger, landing on the black-haired girl's file.

"Raiden Mei, the original body of the Third Herrscher... Wait? She's the young lady of ME Company?!"

"You were startled too, weren't you? The organization behind ME Corporation—Anti-Entropy—is Schicksal's greatest adversary."

"Their young lady became a Herrscher, and Anti-Entropy's forces didn't launch a full-scale attack to capture her. It's really unbelievable..."

"The intelligence department is already investigating this matter. It doesn't seem like it's true that ME Corporation's president, Raiden Ryoma, was arrested and imprisoned for economic fraud—he's an executor of Anti-Entropy."

“Then there’s only one left, and she’s the most problematic person in this operation. Even that Herrscher lady’s troubles are probably less troublesome than hers.” Theresa stretched out her short hand, stood on tiptoe, and laboriously traced it across the holographic projection.

"Yes... the biggest problem... although it helped us defeat and capture the Herrscher..."

"—Snow claims to have no surname, was born in Vienna, the capital of Austria, and is currently traveling the world. His adoptive father is a very wealthy church believer. This is the information we obtained from Raiden Mei and Kiana after they woke up."

"Our undercover intelligence investigations revealed that all those assets around the world were registered under her own name."

"As for her adoptive father and maid... no such people have been found. Our intelligence department has not been able to find any individuals matching the description within its permitted scope."

"Then where did her funds come from? So many assets couldn't have just fallen from the sky, could they?" Theresa pressed on, realizing something.

"I'm afraid it really was brought by a strong wind... because her funding chain—our intelligence agencies can't find it either."

"And going directly to her hometown to investigate is impractical... Vienna, that's the old headquarters of Schicksal... and it remains an important hub for operations within the European headquarters to this day."

"Grandpa's jurisdiction..."

"Himeko, do you think this guy might also be the young lady of one of the Anti-Entropy Executors' families?" Theresa made a bold guess.

"The Entropy Heiress who grew up in Europe, where Schicksal has the strongest control? Theresa... You'd be more believable if you said she was the daughter of some high-ranking Schicksal official."

"Well, it's just a guess, a guess!"

"In short, this guy is far too dangerous. From the description you gave me, Himeko, and the video footage from the scene, the Third Herrscher was defeated without even putting up a fight."

"The only thing to be thankful for is her attitude towards Herrschers, but... that attitude of treating Herrschers like dirt."

"What kind of existence are humans in her eyes...?"

.....

"Ugh, this is so annoying! Why does this kind of thing have to happen in the Far East Branch's jurisdiction?!"

Just as the two were deep in discussion, a communication request was transmitted to them via a holographic projection in the office.

Somewhat flustered, Theresa hurriedly put away the holographic storage device on the table and connected the communication.

----------

Chapter 8 I shall sit with Him

"Lady Theresa, oh, is Miss Himeko here too? Perfect timing, the person you instructed us to keep a close watch on has woken up..." The head of the medical department, wearing a white coat, reported to the two of them in the video.

"She's awake?! When?! She didn't do anything drastic, did she?" The two people in the office became somewhat tense upon hearing that the person they were discussing had woken up.

"Uh...no! Miss Snow has been very quiet since she woke up, just lying in bed reading a book. We haven't spoken to her yet." On the other side of the projector, watching their two superiors tense up, the head of the medical department was also caught up in the tension.

"Maintain the status quo, don't communicate with the target yet, let's head over there now!" the two people in the office said in unison.

"Yes! Headmaster, and Instructor Himeko too!"

Communication interruption

"Judas!" Theresa shouted, disregarding her image, as she climbed onto the desk.

A huge golden cross flew onto the table like a hovering skateboard the instant Theresa finished speaking.

The headmistress leaped onto her personal vehicle and, as if riding a somersault cloud, flew directly out of the wide-open office window, leaving Himeko bewildered in the wind.

"Theresa, you haven't brought me with you yet!"

--

In the pristine white hospital room, a blonde girl sat leaning against the bed, flipping through a book on the bedside table—the Book of Isaiah—she turned the pages with keen interest.

The brief silence was broken... hurried footsteps approached in the hallway outside the door, and the roar of a high-speed vehicle came from outside the window.

The door was flung open by a mature, red-haired woman—along with the door panel—while the glass window beside it was shattered by a short boy riding a golden cross hoverboard.