Chapter 6: Silver Wolf

"Alright, so I know I said I'd meet them halfway to the station… JUST WHERE THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE?!"

Soleil's skyward yelling was certainly reasonable. Since he'd set off after his tumble from the railway to meet up with Mei and Kiana, in a twist he really should have seen coming sooner, he now found himself completely lost. Of all the things he'd come to let slip his memory thanks to the previously tumultuous day, his severe lack of direction was the main culprit.

And could one say he really shouldn't be getting lost since he had plenty of visible landmarks to use?

Yes.

Did that mean he wouldn't get lost because somehow, the path to that landmark alluded him like a fly?

Also yes.

"It's all HOMU themed, so it all just blends together! AHHHHH!"

To illustrate just how bad Soleil was at finding a sensible path on his own. Much like the chaos that had led to his encounter with Kiana, he'd gone to the opposite end of the park from where he started within the ten minutes since he fell from the rail line. And the Ferris Wheel wasn't any closer.

"JUST MY ROTTEN LUUUUUCK!"

"It's… a little impressive you wound up here. By accident." That butterfly flitted into Soleil's view, the young man grumbling as he tapped his foot. "Just get to the Ferris Wheel. That's the center."

"I know that captain obvious!" Soleil stamped his foot as he snapped at the butterfly, which flitted back at his yelling. "But all the HOMU stuff just blends together, then my head starts spinning, and where I went seems all backward, so I just go another way, and before I know it, I'm completely lost!"

"You have it really bad huh?"

"Speaking of having it bad…"

No doubt in answer to his yelling, a group of zombies shuffled out of the woodwork and towards him. Soleil grumbled as he drew his guns out, quickly aiming and downing the zombies in rapid turn. His gunplay wasn't at the level of Kiana's well-trained gun-kata, but if there was one skill Soleil could say he had, it was pin-point aim. Each zombie fell quickly, with clean shots being landed in their skulls. When they were all down, Soleil clicked the switches on the weapons, the chambers flipping out and pouring out steam.

"Ever so convenient, Honkai batteries." Soleil chuckled as he flipped the chambers back and holstered the weapons, scanning around to be safe. "Looks clear… for now."

CRASH!

"I spoke too soon…"

Soleil whipped around as he drew his sword and one gun, right in time to face a knight-looking Honkai Beast come charging at him by way of crashing through one of the buildings. The opening shots Soleil fired slammed into the beast's shield-like structure, damaging it but not doing a thing to the main body. And as he dodged the creature's natural blade, before he could make a move against it, a faint sound suddenly hit his ears.

"Project Bunny 19C, deploy."

A soft voice carried through the air. A sudden crash came with enough force that Soleil was knocked back as something descended on the beast and kicked up a cloud of dust. Soleil saw one and then two silhouettes appear in the dust, coming to a stop with a quick roll and using his sword as a break. A gust of wind blew the dust aside to reveal who'd inadvertently lent a hand to the teenager.

Standing over the fading remains of the beast was a small girl. Wearing a brown outfit littered with HOMU themed decorations, her thin arms carrying a doll of said character as well, though somewhat oddly with metallic leggings going all the way up to her thighs. She bore silver hair tied into a pair of tight curls from the side of her head, her eyes of a near similar shade of the color. Despite the situation, the girl's pale face was entirely expressionless, totally blank even as she turned to look at Soleil and tilted her head as if curious about his presence.

As for the entity behind her, it was a large machine of some kind, like nothing Soleil had ever seen. Large enough to dwarf both the girl and Soleil, its massive right arm shifting in front of the girl a bit. Simultaneously, its left arm was retracting an equally massive spike into it before the shape reformed into a proper arm. Its head also turned to Soleil, and a few lights flickered across its dark "visor" for a few moments.

"Odd… The Bronya wasn't expecting a survivor to be here." The girl spoke in total deadpan, only the barest of intonation in her voice as its soft tone carried out. Soleil winced a bit as his head began to ache again, seeing flashes with that exact girl, Bronya by her own words, present within them. "Who are you? You aren't one the Bronya was watching."

"Well, at least you saved me the trouble of asking your name." Soleil said, shaking his head as he holstered his pistol, though keeping a hold of his sword out of caution more than anything. "And it's like you said, just a survivor trying to get out of this city before it goes even deeper into hell. Though you came right the hell out of nowhere."

"Nyet. The Bronya has been here the entire time." Soleil felt that there was a bit of obstinance behind Bronya's statement for some reason.

"Alright, alright." Soleil sighed, making a noise as he also about now registered both of them were speaking Russian rather than Japanese. "Been way too long since I spoke Russian…"

"The Bronya will ask again, who are you?" Along with the repeat question, the robot floating behind Bronya raised its arm up, the limb morphing into a cannon that began glowing. "Answer or the Bronya will have to consider you a potential threat."

"Whoa whoa whoa! Put the cannon down, will ya?! I'm not a threat! Why would I be?!"

"Project Bunny 19C detects odd signatures from the subject." Bronya said, Soleil raising a brow and lowering the panicked arm he'd raised. "One who can combat Honkai should have some kind of Honkai signature… you do not. It's a negative value as if Honkai energy around you weakens. This does not make sense to the Bronya. As such, logical process leads the Bronya to assume you are a potential enemy."

"I uh… have no idea how to respond to that."

"Then combat will initiate."

"SERIOUSLY?!"

Soleil dove out of the way as the cannon fired, the shot sailing past him and slamming into the building behind him, demolishing the wall in a gout of fire.

"ARE YOU NUTS?! You'd attack another human just like that?!"

Soleil's answer was a nod, and another cannon shot going for him. He rolled out of the way of it and started running as more shots began to follow him. It was one thing to fight zombies and beasts or a Herrscher, but fighting another human was not something Soleil had on his list of things to do in this situation. But not like running would get him much of anywhere in this situation. I'll have to fight back. That robot seems like it does most of the legwork, which means that Bronya girl herself can't be that strong on her own… though if I let that make me think it'll be easy, I'll just be taking too many chances. And I could be dead wrong about it.

When he had a chance, Soleil drew his gun again, aiming more at the so-called Project Bunny 19C than Bronya. He found that his shots bounced off the robot's armor. That at least confirmed to him the thing had to be tougher, much tougher than a Honkai beast's carapace if the shots didn't easily damage it.

"So then… no use hiding away, time to get close!" Soleil readied his sword and dashed forward, shifting past cannon shots as they were fired at him. When he got close to Bronya, she drifted back, lifting off of the ground a bit. Simultaneously, Project Bunny's left arm shifted into the pile-bunker form, Soleil quickly moving as it started to fire. When the rod slammed forward and missed, digging into the ground, Soleil stamped on it before it could retract. Using it to jump up and land on the machine itself, he aimed his gun at Bronya before it could move.

"You're fast." Bronya started moving a hand to her back, Soleil pulling the hammer of his gun.

"Nope. Let's stop before things get worse, yeah? I'm not an enemy; I swear that much."

"The Bronya feels what just happened doesn't diminish the sense of danger."

"You attacked first!"

As if Bronya had seen the chance with Soleil's tsukkomi response, her small hand quickly shot up and grabbed the boy by the arm. Soleil looked surprised for a moment. Then as if it was easy, Bronya threw Soleil right off Project Bunny and through the air. Though as Soleil went flying while screaming in shock, Bronya's blank expression seemed to shift ever so slightly as he went sailing over her head. Soleil landed back to Bronya, shooting around and ready to go again… yet Bronya seemed more intent on something else suddenly.

"What's with the doe eyes?!"

"The HOMU straps on your bag." Soleil glanced back as Bronya pointed, and then she was right in front of his face. This also, unfortunately, meant Project Bunny was looming over him. "Those are super limited run variants that were exclusive to an event here in Japan. How did you get them?"

"Wait, is that what that was?" Soleil said, tilting his head. "I just kind of ended up here at random a few months ago and did some gashapon spins… people encouraged me to keep going after I got the first one for some reason. Are they that special?"

"Ja!" There actually seemed to be a bit of animation to Bronya's voice that time, Soleil backing up a bit as she got uncomfortably close. "The Bronya wasn't in Japan at the time, missing my chance to get them for my own collection. And you got all of them?"

"In a row, yeah."

"Unbelievable." Bronya then floated back, looking at the ground as her back slumped. "The odds of getting all four sequentially from a typical machine are exceptionally low, around maybe zero point one percent. Such fortune defies any logical reasoning. The Bronya does not understand."

"Neither do I." Soleil tilted his head the other way as his eye twitched. The fact they'd gone from fighting to this all because the tiny girl had seen the character straps Soleil didn't even see as that special was catching him off guard. Then again, he remembered the people in the shop had lost their minds about it. "Uhm… I actually have copies of them. Do you… want them?"

"Eh?"

"Yeah, hold on… I think I keep them in my bag." Soleil holstered his gun and pulled his bag off, digging around in the pockets for a bit, past the medical supplies still shoved in there from his and Kiana's raiding of the school infirmary. "Ah-ha!"

Soleil brought his hand out swiftly, and in it were copies of the same character straps dangling from his bag. Bronya looked shocked at seeing his statement about it was indeed true. Soleil then gently pulled one of the girl's hands out and placed the items there, Bronya staring at them as she pulled her hand closer. And even with her blank expression, the sudden twinkling in her eyes plus the somehow fluffier air around her made it clear what she was thinking.

"You're surprisingly transparent, huh?" Soleil placed his bag back on, Bronya looking at him, obviously questioning if she could keep the things. "They're yours. I don't need two of them."

"Spasiba." Bronya nodded and then opened up a pocket on the back of her HOMU doll, placing the newly acquired items into it, patting the doll once they were in. "Safe storage of collector's items assured. No chance for damage."

"So uh, can we say there's no reason to fight now?"

"No reason to continue hostilities found. The Bronya apologizes for recklessly attacking." Bronya and Project Bunny made small bows, Soleil raising his hands up.

"No reason for you to apologize. Things are kind of dangerous as is… but, well, what're you doing… actually no, I guess you're not on your own with that robot I guess." Soleil put a hand to his head as he thought about it, then shaking his head as he shrugged. "Well, either way, why are you on your own here? It's dangerous with all the zombies and beasts around… actually, now this entire situation is just worth a ton of questions. Who are you anyway?"

"Bronya Zaychik. And this is Project Bunny 19C."

"I got that much. I mean past your name."

"Until recently, the Bronya was a student at Senba Junior High."

"A normal middle school girl wouldn't have a robot companion." Soleil pointed to Project Bunny as he made his point, and the robot promptly vanished from sight. "Don't hide it like it's still not there! You're obviously not a Schicksal Valkyrie, by the looks of it. If they'd picked up on this mess by now, we'd have seen deployments rolling in. Either you're part of some independent group I don't know about, or you're with Anti-Entropy."

"What's your name? The Bronya wishes to confirm something." Bronya seemed a bit more cautious. Soleil couldn't peg why, but maybe his guess had been more spot-on than he was thinking.

"Soleil Empyrean."

Bronya audibly gasped at hearing "Empyrean." Soleil raised a questioning brow at the girl's apparent surprise. Bronya also started to visibly mull over something, like she was running options through in her head.

"Then that means you're Sigurd Empyrean's son." And that statement made Soleil gasp in turn. Out of impulse, he grabbed Bronya by the shoulders.

"You know where dad is?! How?!"

"Please do not grab so tightly. The Bronya doesn't know where Sigurd Empyrean is." Bronya brushed Soleil's arm, and he let go of her, clicking his tongue in frustration. "But the Bronya has met him before, elsewhere than here. The Bronya also knew your name, as he mentioned a son who lived here in Nagazora."

"That damn old man… but that doesn't answer my original question, who are you even with anyway?"

"The Bronya cannot say right now."

"Uh, whatever, no use pressing it." As Soleil moved back and rubbed the back of his head, Bronya tilted her head as she started looking at Soleil a lot more closely… like she was noticing something now. "Why are you staring?"

"You look like her." Bronya's statement had no context, Soleil raising a brow, though Bronya shook her head. "Never mind, not important. The Bronya has a request."

"Okay."

"Are you traveling with anybody else?"

"Uh… yeah. Two others. We got split up after I uh… fell off the monorails walkway." Soleil looked to the side as he remembered that incident that caused this mess to begin with. Bronya was giving off clear confusion now.

"How would one fall from the maintenance walkway?"

"I'm just unlucky, alright?!"

"You continue to defy the Bronya's sense of probability." Bronya then gave a hum and nodded, Soleil tilting his head at her. "The Bronya has another request. Would joining you and your companions be possible? The Bronya calculates that by going with you, the chances of making it out of this city safely are significantly higher than otherwise."

"Well… I don't see a reason not so. Why the hell not? The more, the merrier, I'd say." Soleil then held a hand out, Bronya nodding and taking it, the two giving a shake to solidify the new partnership. "Nice to have you onboard, Bronya… now, as for getting to the center…"

"SOLEIL-SENPAIIII!"

"GWAGH!"

Though no sooner that he turned did Soleil get barreled over by a particular flying object with white hair. When he collected himself, he was greeted by Kiana burying her face in his chest as she held him tight enough to cause more than a bit of pain in his spine.

"Kiana-chan, you can't just go running ahead like that! And don't tackle people either!" And Mei was soon to follow, Soleil letting out a groan, Kiana shooting up. Neither noticed Bronya, though the small girl was staring. Her head was cocked to the side as the disbelief about things continued to mount for her.

"But we looked everywhere after we couldn't find him at the Ferris Wheel! Soleil-senpai, why are you all the way over here anyway? We would've met up ages ago!" Kiana grabbed Soleil by the shirt and yanked him up, Soleil looking to the side with a stilted look.

"Would you believe me if I said I got lost?"

"How did you get lost?!"

"I just did alright?!"

"In under half an hour?!"

"Hostile actions confirmed." And then Bronya's deadpan voice hit Kiana's ear, the white-haired girl yelping and skittering away as Project Bunny's cannon arm appeared. "Starting retaliation."

"What the heck is this?! Where'd that crazy robot come from?!" Kiana yelled, Soleil shooting between the two with his arms wide.

"Wait, wait, wait! Bronya put the robot away!" Soleil shouted, Bronya tilting her head. "She's not an enemy. These two are the ones I'm with!"

"Ehhh?! Soleil-senpai, is this what you were doing?!" Kiana yelped, shooting up and getting in Soleil's face, pointing off at Bronya. "Flirting with some short girl?! Whyyyy?! Look at her; she's small and flat and small!"

"Hostile intent confirmed." Bronya readied the cannon again, Kiana grabbing her guns, Soleil putting a hand to his head.

"Soleil-kun…" And Mei had a hand near her mouth with a shocked look, Soleil letting out a groan.

"Oh, don't look at me like that! Look, can we stop with the hostilities! Kiana, guns down, Bronya, Project Bunny, back wherever it goes, please!" After a moment, with Soleil looking around, any drawn weapons were put down. However, Kiana and Bronya had lightning shooting between them. "Well, that got established quickly. Look, just let me explain… somewhere else than right in the open."

Kiana let out a hum as she set down the water bottle she was holding. Soleil finished his explanation of the meeting with Bronya, mostly leaving out their short fight's finer details. In the meantime, the party retreated into a fast food joint located in the park near the monorail station, barring the door off with moved trash containers. They'd managed to find some food and supplies there, as much as could work for the lot anyway. Even if Kiana and Bronya couldn't stop their glaring contest.

Mostly because Bronya had decided to use Soleil's lap as a seat.

"So she was from Senba too, hmm? Bronya-chan, did anybody else from the middle school make it out too?" Mei said, Kiana flinching at the sudden use of the endearing honorific towards the small girl. Bronya shook her head in response, Mei's hands curling together. "I at least hoped a few others could have made it out. Are we really all that's left? Nagazora had millions of people here."

"Nagazora isn't the only place affected." Bronya said, the three older teenagers gasping. "The Bronya has confirmed that the Impact that occurred also affected several other locations across the world. Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East were all affected in different locations."

"The entire world got hit?" Mei murmured.

"It is not unusual." Bronya added. "However, the damage is always most severe at the epicenter of the Impact."

"Like 14 years ago." Kiana said, folding her arms. "Siberia was the most heavily affected region, but the damage spread as outbreaks started happening across the world, not to mention all the damage done by those meteors that fell too."

"Well, no wonder we haven't seen any signs of Schicksal or Anti-Entropy yet. They're probably occupied just dealing with the smaller outbreaks. Since Nagazora was the epicenter, not like any news about it could get out. This place isn't exactly Soukai City or Arc City; places fit with Honkai detectors that can send out warnings when outbreaks happen." Soleil noted, scanning over files on his phone.

"And who knows how much longer until one of them eventually notices? If Beasts are showing up, that means there's still a powerful enough Source to cause problems." Kiana said, then jabbing a finger at Bronya. "Also, why have you been sitting on Soleil-senpai's lap this entire time?! That spot isn't yours!"

"It's not yours either." Soleil muttered, Kiana giving him a "why?!" expression.

"Because the Bronya has little sister privileges." Bronya said, holding up a v-sign while Project Bunny, wherever it was, let out a very familiar sound for anyone who was an avid gamer.

"Why the Trophy sound effect?!" Soleil said, looking to the faint shimmer that was Project Bunny.

"Well, either way, now we're a group of four!" Mei clapped her hands together, the happier look causing the tension to die away immediately. "And I say the more, the merrier. And if there's a chance help might arrive soon, all the better! Though, where should we get moving too from here is the question? If we leave the park by the rail line, we'll head towards the city center if we go along the monorail. But would that area be safe?"

"If we get to a place with lots of places to hide out and supplies, then we should be fine." Soleil said, turning his phone and setting it onto the table, a holographic map appearing out of it. "I managed to pull some map data from the ME Corp facility, among other things. We'll be heading right through the market district on our way to the center. And while I hate to do some looting, not like we have a choice."

"We should try and find a convenience store along the way too. It's only been a couple of days since the outbreak, so there shouldn't be anything that'll have expired yet, so we should be good as long as we go that route." Kiana added, looking eager at the idea of getting her hands on a full stock of food.

"My bag can only carry so much. Let's remember that." Soleil pat said bag, which was set to the side for now.

"I'd also like to try and find a place to maybe take a shower." Mei spoke under her breath, but Soleil and Kiana still caught it, both immediately checking themselves by scent, and a general mutter went about. "Eh?! Did I say that too loud?"

Bronya looked around the group as they all started laughing. However, the mirth was interrupted when the door got slammed by a zombie.

"Hah! Can't get in here past that, you stupid zombie!" Kiana turned and laughed at the shambling body, which proceeded on its way. Though now it was also apparent that a crowd was forming outside of the building. "Uh oh… we're going to have to go out the back, aren't we?"

"Ir would be safer." Bronya said. "It would only waste time if we fought our way through. The Bronya advises avoiding combat unless necessary."

"Why do you talk like that?" Kiana said, Bronya tilting her head.

"The Bronya doesn't understand Kianaidiotka's question."

"What's with that phrase?! I'm not an idiot!"

"Says the girl who told us she hates taking tests." Soleil looked at Kiana with a snide look, and she let out a whine as she gave a pouting face.

"Soleil-senpai, don't take her side!"

"Who said I was taking sides?"

"Geez, both of you." Mei sighed as Kiana started swinging at Soleil, Bronya just shrinking down as Soleil laughed off Kiana's pouting. For a bunch of teenagers stuck in a zombie and now likely monster-infested city, at least they were making a good time about it.

"Sheesh, how deep am I going to need to go? Dammit, Frederika, be clearer about things sometimes."

Sigurd traced a hand along the wall of the ruined building he was passing, rubbing his fingers as some of the structure flaked off. Despite being "ancient" ruins, the designs themselves looked awfully close to modern-day constructions even while dilapidated. Like the city had been thrown out of time and landed in the present by some turn of fate.

Of course, though, the man knew better than that. The Previous Civilization, as it was called, the one that pre-dated "modern" historical records. So readily lost and kept under cover by groups across the centuries, only a few knew of the fact it existed. That was the origin of this place.

But, it was what Sigurd was looking for in these particular ruins that were proving to be a problem. It wasn't like there was some spire that stood out against everything else that said, "this is where you need to go," or anything like that. No, he could only be so lucky after all.

Sigurd sighed to himself and pulled his left glove aside, looking at the blue Stigma mark located there. Ever since he had arrived, he'd felt this sensation from it, like the Stigma was somehow reacting to something.

"That at least tells me I have to be going in the right direction. Stigmata was a technology derived from records found at these places. Yet somehow, we Empyreans have a natural one. That has to mean something." Sigurd looked around at the span before him, ducking into an alleyway as he spotted Honkai Beasts a ways off. He didn't want to tire himself getting into constant fights, so even if in the end he was still leaving a bit of a trail of soon to fade Beasts behind him, he kept his search a priority.

Though perhaps he should've looked a bit more as his foot moved back, because like father, like son, Sigurd's foot ended up pressing down and immediately tripped on a piece of rubble.

"Crap!" Flailing a bit to get his balance, Sigurd pulled out his weapon. It slammed it into the wall to make a break for himself, sighing as he stopped the sudden fall, grumbling as he pulled himself up and leaned back against it. "Ugh, damn my luck. Seriously Sigurd, tripping on a chunk of rubble? Thought I'd gotten over this misfortune of mine by now."

The man sighed and then tapped his left hand against the dead end. His eyes went wide when it suddenly gave out a glow. A segment of the wall shifted away, revealing a corridor. But what stood out to him was what showed as the secret door had opened, an emblem he learned about from the old records—a flaming bird above the earth.

"Well, well, guess it wasn't so unlucky after all. There really is a hidden Fire Moth station around here. Now, let's hope my luck actually holds out, and I find what I'm looking for down here." As the man strode into the dark before him, he gave out a single thought as well. And whatever is going on with you, Soleil, good luck. I'll be seeing you soon enough, kid. Just give a bit longer… I'm still looking for someone.

Back in Nagazora, the party was again making their way across the monorail. Now with the addition of Bronya and hopefully without any more trouble from random flares of lousy luck. Which meant there were high spirits among the four that they could make good progress. Kiana and Mei were at the front chattering on, mostly about some things Soleil didn't pay mind to, while Bronya floated along on Project Bunny in the center. Soleil stayed at the back, his eyes at his phone as he was scanning it, taking the time now to read the files he had found and closed back at the ME Corp facility.

And the knitted look on his face showed his troubled thoughts as he read the files from top to bottom.

"Project MEI…" Soleil looked to Mei, then glancing down at the phone again as he scrolled the page. The open file scrolled to a section with a younger Mei's picture and a mysterious, dark blue gem next to it. "One of the Cores recovered after the Second Impact… the Core of Conquest. And according to this… Mei has that Core inside of her?"

The Herrscher Core, a fundamental thing that made a Herrscher what it was. Effectively, it was a dense collection of Honkai Energy that contained massive amounts of power. The Second Impact had been defined by having been executed by a Herrscher with incredible power. A power that was brought about because she had somehow obtained and used multiple Cores at once. Soleil only knew about this fact because his father had informed him of that matter.

And of the Cores recovered from the Second after her defeat, the Core of Conquest was one of them. Due to the hectic situation, a few of them were retrieved by Anti-Entropy and others by Schicksal. Soleil knew that both organizations were likely using them for experiments to see what kind of power they could claim from the things. But putting a Core inside of a person? It's like… it's like they were trying to make a Herrscher of their own. Who in their right damn mind would do that?

That brought back to mind one of the problems Soleil had nagging at him. They may have been able to get Mei back to normal the first time, but there was also always the risk that something could trigger her Herrscher side to resurface and attack again. He just worried about what that could end up being.

His hand went to his pendant as he closed his phone and let out a breath. At the least, he figured there was no express use worrying about it too much, for now. He'd keep that thought there, to be prepared in the case it did happen. But he was going to put trust in his friend first and foremost.

"If it does happen again, I'll snap her out of it as many times as I have to."

"Heyyy! Soleil-senpai, don't start lagging behind us!" Kiana called. Soleil stopped, seeing the three girls had started to get ahead of him. "We'll be able to get off soon, so come on, let's hurry up so we can get some food already!"

"Yeah, sorry!" Soleil stepped off to catch up, nodding to himself. "Yeah… for any of them too. I'll make sure we get out of here."