Honkai Impact 3rd - The Next Reality

by ANewFace

It had been many years ever since the downfall of the second civilization. The Honkai have now begun attacking the Earth once again after many years. The Earth is not prepared for these attacks, yet they fight on, hoping history would not repeat itself. During this time, an amnesiac man would be forced to become the central part of this conflict. CHAPTER 4 Rewritten.

8. Chapter 8 - Rising Levels

Disclaimer: I don't own Honkai Impact, anything related to it or Mihoyo, or any other piece of media referenced in this story.

The OCs are the only character I own.

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Honkai Impact 3rd : The Next Reality

Chapter 8 : Rising Levels

Date : Thursday, August 7, 2553.

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Reshia's Perspective

"Mom, Dad, where is this place?" I asked my parents.

"This place? This is the daycare." My mother answered.

"Daycare? Where are you going?"

My mother lowered herself to my small level, faking a smile on her face to persuade me to her 'truth'.

"Us? We're just….going out for a bit, isn't that right honey?" Mother lied to my face.

"Uhh…that's right dear. Your mother and I are just going out on a date for a bit." My father joined in.

I knew they were lying. We were at an orphanage, not a daycare. I knew what they were doing with me. I just want to know why though? I never did anything, did I?

"We'll be back for you soon dear." My father deceived.

He quickly grabbed my mother's hand as they walked away from me and the orphanage. Myself, who was currently clutching onto a doll right now, let it go as I tried to chase after them. I fell down on the dirt and looked up to my parents, who by now, were too far away to catch up too.

"Mom, Dad! Please don't leave me!" I cried out as they walked farther away, and the caretakers of the orphanage held me back and took me to the orphanage.

"Please, come back! I'm sorry for what I did!"

…..

…..

…..

"Tendou?" I weakly asked.

I was now in a completely different place. The atmosphere was solemn. It was raining heavily and there was slight thundering. Master Tendou and I were dressed in our battle suits. I was standing behind him with his back turned to me. I called out his name again, and he slowly twisted his head behind to stare at me, but something was off. Unlike the Master Tendou I knew, who seemed pretty relaxed, and normally happy, this one looked honestly depressed and gloomy. His hair was also a bit different too, with it being a bit longer as it was now covering a majority of his ears and the back completely covered his neck.

"Tendou, what's wrong?" I pleaded with him.

No reply. I opened my mouth again to plead with him again, but he turned his head away and started running away from me. Scared for what the implications of his actions meant, I chased after him to reason with him, but this felt too much like a dream sequence. No matter how hard I pushed myself, it didn't feel like I was sprinting at all. I was running as fast as how a turtle walks. Every passing second, Master Tendou got farther, and I couldn't do anything about it.

"Tendou please, don't do this! Don't leave me alone!"

"Reshia! Snap out of it!"

"Huh?"

I blinked a few times and checked my surroundings. I was on a bed inside one of the airships. Grabbing hold of me was Ino, who was terrified for me. Both of us, alongside Claudia, Kathlynn, and Maya were sent on a mission to Japan. Our location within Japan, Aokigahara, better known by its nickname, the Suicide Forest. Apparently, it was discovered that a large number of zombies and Honkai beast have been found here, but most importantly, a figure has been spotted containing massive amounts of Honkai Energy. It has been deducted that whoever, or whatever this may be, it proves to be a humongous threat. That's why people like the 4 Kaslanas and I were sent on this mission. There was also Desmond, Yelena, and Kyle too. While I appreciate the extra firepower, I fear the Kaslanas and Schariacs will argue a lot with each other. Also, Kyle will try to annoy the hell out of me.

Sadly, since this was such a high demanding mission, I couldn't allow my Master to enter. I couldn't risk his life just for me to keep him in check. Speaking of Master Tendou, he's actually on a mission in Japan too. His mission is much weaker than ours, though his team is much smaller. Compared to our squad of 40 people, 11 is really little. I worry for him, but if I read the file to his mission correctly, it's just a couple of beast.

His mission is actually taking place not too far off from me. If I can recall, Master Tendou is being deployed somewhere around the Saitama Prefecture, just northeast of my location. In my honest opinion, with 4 Kaslanas, 2 Schariacs, and Kyle on the team, I don't think I really needed to be here, especially when given the knowledge that everyone else on board are all A-Ranks and above. However, maybe I'm just misjudging things.

"You were having an extreme spasm in your sleep, I was worried for you." Ino mentioned.

"Sorry, I just went through a nightmare." I commented.

Technically, it was more so a combination of an actual nightmare and reliving a moment. The thing with my parents leaving me, that happened. I don't know the reason they left me at the orphanage, but I think it's because I may have been a mistake.

Growing up, my parents never abused me physically, nor did they try to abuse me mentally. They just neglected me, and when they did pay attention to me, it felt like they were putting a fake front. It didn't feel like I was receiving love from them, and it was possible that I interfered with my parent's relationship. I was a useless person inside of the family. That's just what I think.

"It's almost time for dinner to begin. The kitchen needs some extra help with cooking, so I went to grab you. However, you don't have to help if you want to, you still seem aghast from your nightmare." Ino explained.

"No, it's fine. I can help with dinner." I replied.

"Are you sure? I can take your place if needed-."

"I said I'm fine Ino. You don't need to worry about me that much."

I got off my bed and tied my hair back in twin tails. Looking at the mirror, I noticed that my bangs were starting to become longer. I should trim them once I get back. Hell, I might actually try to style them a bit differently. I should also cut my twin tails a bit too. They're almost reaching the floor by this point, and that could become a nuisance in both battle, and life.

Ino and I stepped out of our room and walked towards the kitchen. Looking outside the airship, the sky had already darkened, and the sun was barely visible. The internal clock on the ship stated that it was reaching 7:00 PM. We left midway during the 3rd class to enter the airship, so we missed our last class, though it won't affect me that much.

"What do you think is waiting for us in that forest?" Ino started a conversation.

"If I remember correctly, the main point of this mission is to find out what that gigantic source of Honkai energy is in the forest. It could be just an Emperor class Honkai beast out there, or even a Judgement class!" I hypothesized.

"Judgement class? Reshia, we haven't even fought nor seen a Judgement class at all! What makes you think it could be one?"

"I'm just pulling things out of my head. The energy detection is more than an Elite class, so it's either Emperor or Judgement."

"Hey, what are the chances that it's a Herrscher?"

"Don't joke about that Ino! You know how destructive the Herrschers can be! It's not good to joke around the existence of one during our mission. We already have two Herrschers in this world already, and we're fortunate enough to have one on our side, even if he is the weakest one."

"I know, I know. I won't joke about the possibility of facing a Herrscher. That being said, there is a chance that we face the Herrscher of Devastation. We haven't seen them in a while."

"Ino! I thought I told you-!"

"Ok, that's the last time. I'm sorry Reshia."

"Apology accepted. Now then, I have to get to business now."

Both of us reached the cafeteria, and I headed straight to the kitchen. Some of the airship staff were already working in the kitchen, trying to prepare dinner for everyone.

"Sorry for the delay everyone, I'm here now!" I announced.

A wave of relief splashed everyone as I arrived. While the crew on the airship isn't incompetent, none of them were real chefs. So the food they serve isn't bad, but it could be better, which is why I always offer help when cooking inside the aircraft. I immediately rushed towards the stove with the steak cooking. The stove was set towards high, something you never want to do when cooking a steak. I was fortunate enough that steak was still raw right now. Changing the heat to medium, I grilled the steak, alongside other steaks in the process. I rushed towards the sink to help wash the vegetables and carried them to several baskets to recreate a salad bar. However, when carrying the tomatoes, I slipped on myself and fell. I curved the basket within my hand to lower the amount of tomatoes that would fall out, though some still ended falling out anyways. This would happen again when I tried to carry the basket of red onions.

"Hey Reshia, are you ok?" A staff member asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about me-."

"Are you sure, you tripped twice, and you been close to bonking into so many objects into the kitchen. Maybe you should-."

"I told you I'm fine!"

The staff member backed away from my sudden burst. Realizing my mistake, I lifted myself up and apologized. It's rare for me to burst out like that.

"I'm very sorry for my outburst." I apologized.

"I just have a very bad memory of a similar event. Please excuse me if something like this ever happens again."

Despite it being many years since, I haven't gotten over my parents leaving me, or the other incident at the orphanage. It's the whole reason why I became a maid in the first place. I just want to find a way to forgive the sins that I may have caused.

"Alright then. Well, make sure you don't stress yourself too hard then, ok?" A staff member replied.

Nodding my head, I continued my kitchen duties normally. Everything from now on went smoothly, and dinner was served soon enough. I don't know how long we have left, but I assume that it wouldn't be long until we reach Japan. Whatever is waiting for us out there, I just hope we kill it before it goes too crazy. I wonder how Master is doing?

---

Tendou's Perspective

"So are you not going to join everyone else?"

It was dinner time, and everyone had already grabbed their serving. I arrived first, grabbed everything I needed, and left. For the couple of hours I spent on here, everyone had tried their best to avoid being close to me. The Valkyries on board were aware of the rumors about me and Lessica, and with Nailah also being on board, the suspicions were only made worse. It kind of sucks really. Not being able to talk to anyone sucks, especially for team synergy later on. Right now, I was just leaning against the rails in one of the hallways, staring outside the large windows.

"It's pretty useless to make an attempt to join anyone at the cafeteria. Everyone has been avoiding me today. I highly doubt I would get the chance to talk to anyone besides you Lessica." I stated.

"Quite sad really. While I do enjoy the time we have with just the two of us, I can't help but admit that this would be detrimental to the mission. Speaking of this mission…." Lessica trailed off.

"I can't help but feel like something is off. Reshia, a few Kaslanas, some Schariacs, and other S Rank Valkyries were sent inside the forest. That forest was detected to have a major Honkai energy being there. While everyone hypothesized that it might be an Emperor class, I fear for what might actually be there."

"You seem like you know what is inside that forest. Who, or what is it exactly?"

"I don't know what is in there. Again, like everyone else, I can only hypothesize right now. However, if the Overseer is sending all S Ranks to that place, I fear that an old 'friend' of mine might be there."

"What's with the emphasis on 'friend'?"

"I say 'friend', but in reality, that person only shares the same goal as me. Other than that, we butt heads with each other."

"I see, but what does Reshia's mission have to do with ours?"

"If the person I think is there in the forest, then I feel like her accomplice is also planning something with her. The reason why I'm saying this is because the location of our mission is close to the location of Reshia's. Usually, a Honkai outbreak never occurs close to each other, especially at the same time. I feel like these were timed too perfectly. If my hypothesis is true, then I'm afraid for both of us."

Light boomed outside of the window for a few seconds, which was later followed up by a crackling noise of thunder. It had begun to storm. Luckily for us, the airship was above the clouds, so neither rain nor lightning could hit us. However, once we land, all of us are bound to get wet. It's going to be a bother.

"I can't believe everyone still has the audacity to ignore us!" Lessica fumed.

"All of us are about to head into a mission with deadly repercussions. With a weak team like this, teamwork is most efficient, yet our supposed teammates still ignore us over some dumb rumors. I can't believe that despite knowing that there are entities trying to end humanity, humans still bicker with each other over some simple thing instead of bypassing it to work together. Fucking stupid and selfish I tell you!"

As much as I wanted to argue with Lessica with her human hatred, I can't deny that she is right. All of us here technically have the same goal, yet my allies still shun me over a rumor even though it would be a detriment. A bit sad when you think about it.

"Lessica, if the person you think is there, is actually there, what will you do?"

"If that person happens to be there, I'm forcing myself into your body." Lessica answered.

"As you are right now, there's no way you can even stand up to her. If you let me fight her, I can hopefully stall until Schicksal reinforcements arrive to help."

"Wait, stall?"

"Yes, stall. Even I can't stand up to her. I'm too weak to fight her, even if I was at my full power. The best I can do is stall, and I'm tasking myself with that objective since I'm more experienced with our abilities."

"Ah, got it."

Now I'm worried about who might be waiting for us down there. I'm not saying Lessica is the strongest person I know, but if there's someone that she admits that she can't beat herself, what does that say for all of us aboard this ship? Are we just fucking dead?

*RING* *RING* *RING*

My train of thought was cut short when my phone received a call from someone. Grabbing my phone, I answered the call without looking at who called me.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Tendou?" The voice replied back.

"Oh, Reshia. What do you need?"

"Nothing really, I just wanted to check up on you." Reshia responded.

"How's everyone on your ship?"

"Eh, I don't know. Everyone has been ignoring me for all of the time I've been on here. You?"

"Wait, why's everyone ignoring you?! Wouldn't that be detrimental to the team?"

"It is, and everyone's been ignoring me because of the rumors. With Nailah being on board, it makes it difficult to dispel them too. How are things on your end?"

"Fine, but forget about me! Tendou, you seem too relaxed about your situation! Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"I should hopefully be fine. In the likely scenario that my entire team ignores me, I can work by myself. I did so during my first mission, remember? And this mission should be an easier mission too."

I didn't tell Reshia about the information that Lessica gave to me to not make her worry for me, even if it was a dumb decision. The girl has her own personal problems regarding me. It's best if I don't add more fuel to a raging fire.

"Tendou, please don't jinx this, for the both of us." Reshia sighed.

"Sorry. I'll try to stay safe, alright?" I answered back.

"Please do." Reshia ended the call.

I put my phone away as the intercoms came on, announcing that we were an hour away from the destination. Looking at the clouds below, it looks like the storm will uphold itself for a while. That might make the mission more annoying. Well, unless Lessica's words are true, it's just a zombie extermination mission, so it shouldn't be that bad. Again, though, Lessica's words are still a possibility, and she has some evidence to back it up. Best not to let my guard down.

---

Ino's Perspective

"Attention all Valkyires! We have reached our destination. We will soon leave the ship and commence the mission in 5 minutes. Until then, being preparing yourself and make final adjustments to your small squadrons. I will meet you outside."

At the time of the announcement, I was in a room with Reshia as we spent time painting our fingernails to pass time. Unfortunately for Reshia, her nails haven't dried off yet, and it's raining outside, so it's probably going to wash off. Then again, mine might also wash off too, so I guess both of us are unfortunate.

"You ready Ino?" Reshia asked.

"Always girl. Though, I'm not ready to be paired up with Kathlynn, so I guess I'm not always ready huh?" I chuckled.

"I like my little sister, but her arrogance can get to her head sometimes."

"Well, it was either that, or be paired up with Yelena, so I'd say you got it off easy Ino." Reshia chimed in.

"At least you won't be stuck with Kyle, ugh."

"Kyle may be annoying, but you can't deny how strong he is Reshia. You're going to have to deal with it alright? In return, you will have extreme firepower backing you up."

"As much as I hate him, you're right about his prowess. There's a reason why Kyle rose up in the ranks quickly. Hell, he might even pass your family!"

"He might, but Kyle's going to have to do better than his current condition if he wants to ever surpass us!"

Reshia and I transformed into our battlesuits and headed off. For someone who is extremely renowned, I'm surprised Reshia hasn't gotten a Godsbane battlesuit yet. She's still stuck with an augmented battlesuit from her old battlesuit, and her augmentation happened nearly two years ago! I think it's about time she commissions a Godsbane battlesuit for herself.

We both traveled out the aircraft, meeting with other Valkyries outside, followed alongside others who were behind us. It was raining still, and heavier than ever. It won't bother us combat wise, but it will be a nuisance to always feel droplets of water crashing onto your head. It's also thundering too, though it seems the lightning bolts are pretty far away from us, so I don't think any of us will get struck by lightning. With the weather, the timing, and the backstory, the forest feels a lot like a haunted house, something that I don't like. Actually, I don't think Reshia or Claudia likes horror stuff either, so this is going to be a grim experience for us.

"I don't like the feel of this." I spouted.

"Everything just feels too well-timed. The poor weather, late timing, and this forest's reputation, it all comes together to create a horrifying experience. You feel the same Reshia?"

"I think you're forgetting the fact that we're about to fight some unknown entity, so that makes the situation even worse in my opinion." Reshia added.

"Don't remind me Reshia." I trembled on my words.

"I mean, we should be fine considering all of us here are S Rank minus Kathlynn and Maya, and there are 40 of us." Reshia lightened the mood a bit.

"I guess you're right." I replied back.

"Ah, what are you two cuties worried about? Surely there shouldn't be anything dangerous for us out there." Kyle interrupted us, wrapping his arms around both Reshia and I.

Kyle snuck up from behind us and wrapped his arms around us as if we were his friends, or chicks, or something. I don't hate the man with a passion like Reshia does, but he can bit pretty annoying and egotistical sometimes. Kind of sucks that he'll be in our squadron, but I can't complain too much. At least it's more tolerable than having to deal with Desmond or Yelena. Speaking of which, I heard that Kathlynn and Claudia are stuck with Yelena while Maya is stuck with Desmond. I guess I got the lucky end of the stick. I just hope my sisters and brother don't waste too much energy arguing with the Schariacs before the major threat.

"Alright Valkyries, as you remember on the mission files, there are swarms of Honkai inside this forest. While they aren't our main target, it is still best to eliminate them as to stop them from leaving the forest and spreading them to the rest of Japan. Our main objective is to find whatever that massive Honkai source inside the forest is, and eliminate it. It is unclear how strong this entity is, but in the case that anyone finds it, shoot a flare signal to alert every, and any squadron to its location. Any question?" The captain explained.

"No ma'am!" Everyone yelled back.

"Good. Alright Valkyries, now go get them!"

Everyone nodded and split apart into their squadrons. We all rushed into the forest in our own separate ways. After sprinting for a bit, everyone in our squadron slowed down and went back to walking speed for energy conservation. Due to the amount of trees inside the forest, it was pitch black inside, making it nearly impossible to see.

"Anyone here got a flashlight?" I asked.

"I believe I have one on my mech." Kyle replied.

"Just let me find it in the dark. Give me a few seconds…and there!"

Within a few seconds, Kyle brought out a flashlight, shining it ahead of us, and accidentally showing the body of a person hanging on a tree.

"Holy hell! That was not the first thing I wanted to see after turning on my flashlight!" Kyle shrieked.

"They don't call this forest the 'Suicide Forest' for nothing Kyle." Reshia added.

"Yeah I know, but what are the chances that I shine my light on a dead person?" Kyle fought back.

"Do you have any other flashlights Kyle?" I changed the topic.

Pointing his flashlight at his mech companion, he grabbed one more flashlight and tossed it to Reshia.

"These flashlights have a long duration so we can use them as long as we want. Since we only have two, I suggest that Reshia and I spread ourselves out a bit so we can light up more areas." Kyle recommended.

"Also, if we encounter any Honkai beast ahead of us, allow me to handle them. They are easy peasy to me, and I don't want you ladies wasting any energy."

And there goes his ego. Granted, it'll allow me to save energy for the entity that we have to fight, but staying back will only inflate Kyle's already inflated ego. Anyways, as recommended, Reshia and Kyle split up a bit to further light up more area for us. Our squadron walked for 30 minutes, encountering nothing. We didn't find our main priority, any Honkai beast, or even any dead bodies from past suicide victims, which, thank god for that last one. None of us really did anything, other than Kyle trying to flirt with all the girls in the squadron, including Reshia and I.

"I know it's night time, and it's raining, but does anyone think it feels colder than usual?" A Valkyrie brought up.

She was right, it was feeling a bit colder than usual, and the rain didn't help us in the slightest.

"Nope, feeling cold as well." I agreed.

Everyone else chimed in as well, agreeing that it was much colder than earlier. Suddenly, a tree nearby us crashed downward, luckily missing us by a few meters. Nearby where the tree fell, a small swarm of mosquito beast prepared to fight us. Before most of us could even do anything, Kyle's mech shot homing missiles at them, completely annihilating them. While he did his job, he clearly alerted every other beast within close proximity to us. Nevertheless, it's something we could handle easily.

"It seems like I alerted some Honkai." Kyle stated the obvious.

"We'll fight them off easily. Just make sure to conserve energy." I instructed everyone.

"Ino, I already told you that-."

"Kyle, you're not the leader of this squadron. I am, so my orders are the final decision alright? Plus, we can't have just one person more drained than the others."

Kyle grunted, but he followed my orders anyways. A wave of monsters came at us from all angles, though many of them were mostly mosquitoes. There were barely any cavaliers, ballistas, etc. With our overwhelming power, we easily shredded through the mobs, though I feel like this is a distraction for some reason. The Honkai is much smarter than this. They wouldn't just send mosquitoes towards highly capable adversaries.

"Hey, you hear that stomping in the distance?" Reshia pointed out.

Twisting my head to the stomping, I could see the shadows of many trees falling down from whatever was rampaging its way towards us. Whatever was coming after us, it was much larger than all of us. As the shadow got closer, it leapt towards us with its arm getting ready to hit us.

"Everyone, dodge!" I violently ordered.

I flew upwards to avoid the crash from the Honkai beast, while everyone rolled out of its way. Slowly landing back on the ground, I face the new enemy that appeared in the battleground. This new beast is something I have not seen before. It was enormously bulky, gigantic, and its stance portrayed them like a raging beast. It had many similarities to The Hulk in some way.

"Well hello there, our new adversary. Are you perhaps the entity we were looking for?" I acknowledged.

I aimed both of my guns down at its head and fired. The bullets lodged themselves into the monster's head, though it didn't seem like they did much. The bulky beast reached its hands out to grab me, which I dodged with ease by backflipping. Behind it, Reshia, alongside a few other Valkyries launched their own attacks at the beast. Similar to my bullets, their attacks didn't seem to faze the monster much, though they did stagger it a bit. The beast's attention was now towards Reshia and company, giving us some time to attack it.

"It looks like this monster's attention span is small." Reshia noted.

"Maybe we can exploit it to our benefit, but we need to figure out how to kill it."

A laser beam to my right zoomed towards the beast's back, charring it, and slamming it face forward. It did more damage than any of our attacks, though it still didn't seem to faze the raging beast that much.

"Damn, it's a resilient one." Kyle mentioned.

"Tanked my laser like it was nothing. If it is this resilient, it might take us a while to get rid of it."

"Didn't the captain mentioned that if we find the main target, we shoot a flare to alert everyone?" An ally mentioned.

"Shouldn't we shoot the flare now?"

She was right. The captain earlier mentioned that if we find our priority, we alert everyone with a flare. Looks like we have to use it now.

"Kyle, you have the flare on your mech partner, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, give me a moment." Kyle replied.

He went to his robot and grabbed the flare from its side. Loading the gun, he shot a bright blue flare into the sky. From our perspective, the flare was noticeable, though we can't confirm if it was for every other squadron. With the flare shot, and our allies hopefully signaling the other squadrons, we just now had to stall until everyone arrives.

"Alright gang, now we just need to stall until our allies reunite with us. If this is the entity that we were looking for, then you can go all out!" I informed everyone present.

With no further restrictions, all of us went ham on the hulking beast. Kyle fired many rockets and lasers at it, I fired many rounds with other ranged Valkyries, and Reshia went in with other close quarters Valkyries. Slowly, we weakened the hulking monster, but at the same time, it showed no sign of stopping, and we were all starting to get a bit tired.

"How long have we been fighting this thing?" Someone asked.

"I don't know, about 10 minutes or so." Another answered.

"10 minutes?! Where is everyone? Did no one notice our flare?"

"You two, just hang in there!" I cheered.

"I know it's been long, but if we can stall for much longer, than our allies-."

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

"Speak of the devil." I smirked.

A few random bullets came and lodged itself at the unexacting monster. Again, it didn't do much, but it got the beast off of us temporarily.

"Sorry to keep you waiting sis!" Maya yelled out.

Maya, alongside everyone else with him, leapt from tree to tree, shooting at the raging monster, or hitting it with melee weapons. The final attack came from Desmond, using his Divine Key in gauntlet form, and slamming his fist downwards on the monster's head, caving it in. The monster fell to the floor, seemingly dead from the impact.

"I can't believe you guys had a tough time handling this beast. Seemed like something easily handled." Desmond asserted.

"Maybe I guess the Kaslanas can't do anything."

"Shut up Desmond! Just because you landed one good shot doesn't automatically make you better than us!" I retorted back.

"Besides, we've been dealing with this tanky beast for a while before you showed up. We've weakened it for you, and not only that, but the monster is probably going to get up in a bit anyway."

"I caved its skull in, how the hell is that thing going to recover from that?!"

Just as Desmond finished his statement, the hulking monster slowly got up and released a mighty roar. I closed my ears with my palms as to not damage my eardrums in the slightest. I guess the monster roaring is helpful in a way though. At least now our allies who didn't see the flare signal will definitely know where we are. I slightly cocked my head at Desmond to show him how wrong he was.

"….ok, I miscalculated." Desmond admitted.

"So then, how tough is this guy?"

"We've fought it for a while now, and it barely budged. My plan now is to hopefully bank on my older sister to use her Divine Key." I informed Desmond.

"Seems like an arbitrary plan, but it's better than what I have, which is nothing because I haven't fought this thing yet."

"We'll just have to stall for now until-."

"No need to wait Ino!" Kathlynn yelled.

Kathlynn, Yelena, and Claudia rolled up with their own squad, with Claudia zooming past us with Black Abyss in her hand. She flew herself towards the furious monster and stabbed its head, letting the power of Black Abyss go in play. Slowly, the monster started to decay.

"Everyone, now's the time to gang up on the monster!" Yelena yelled.

Every close quarter's valkyrie jumped the monster, giving it many slashes, stabs, and holes. Afterward, they backed off, giving us ranged valkyries enough space to fire off rounds without causing friendly fire. The largest blast would come from Summanus's Wrath, Yelena's Divine Key as a blast of thunder would completely shock the already beaten beast, and pretty much pulverize it. The beast fell, seemingly lifeless again. This time though, Claudia tapped it multiple times with her weapon, checking if it was dead. After 5 minutes, no response.

"We fucking did it!" Kyle yelled.

Everyone huddled around in a circle together, cheering, and congratulating each other for their hard work. Of course, I, along with Maya and Kathlynn avoided the Schariacs, and Reshia avoided Kyle. The only one who wasn't part of the crowd was Claudia herself, who was staring deeper into the forest. My older sister was never apart of stuff like this, so her behavior was normal for the most part, but she would usually stay in the sidelines looking at us. Splitting from the crowd for a bit, I walked up to Claudia, asking her what was wrong.

"Sis, what's wrong? You seem distracted by something?" I asked Claudia.

Claudia turned to face me before turning back to the forest, pointing into the deep. Using her other hand, she pointed at her own ear, signaling me to listen carefully. Doing as she said, I tried my best to ignore everyone's voices and listen to the forest. It was difficult, but bit by bit, I would begin to hear the sound of a piano within the forest. It was faint, but it was there. What would a piano be doing in here? In fact, why was a piano in here, and why is someone playing it?

"I'm assuming you want to investigate this?" Requisitioning Claudia.

Claudia nodded, clanging her weapons together to grab everyone's attention. Helping her, I informed everyone of the situation.

"While we may have beaten the main threat of our mission, I believe we may need to have another investigation. Everyone, follow me into the forest."

Confusingly, but willingly, everyone followed Claudia and I as we traveled deeper into the forest. It was pretty cold earlier, but it was getting much colder the further we go into the forest. Sometimes I wonder why Schicksal doesn't install a heater system in our suits or at least give us a version that is made for winter-like weather. Seems pretty useful now.

"What the hell is going on up there?" Reshia pointed forward.

The entire forest was illuminated blue, and it was extremely cold going forward. Walking to the blue area, the rain close by had been frozen solid in the air, which should be physically impossible. The illuminated area Reshia was talking about, was an area made of all ice. The ground was made of ice, the trees were made of ice, pretty much everything here was either ice or covered in ice. Moving past the frozen rain, and slipping on the ice a few times, we finally encountered the strange piano noise that Claudia and I were hearing.

"Who is she?" Kyle asked, probably starting to gain another libido.

In front of us was a woman dressed in an all blue-tinted silver dress that flowed elegantly to the slight breeze in our area. Her hair, which was also silver, though with a more grayish tint, was tied into a long ponytail that reached down to her hips. Likewise, it was also flowing with the wind. If anything described this woman, it was elegance. The woman, whoever she was, was the source of our piano as she played a piano made out of ice. I don't know what song she was playing, but like her appearance, the song radiated an elegant energy. After a minute, she played the last note.

"I'll admit, you Valkyries came here pretty quickly." The woman stated.

She closed the piano and slowly turned herself around on her ice bench. She crossed her legs and rested her right elbow on top of her higher leg. Turning her hand into a fist, she gently rested her right cheek on it.

"That being said, for a group of Schicksal's mightiest warriors, I expected quicker."

Yelena came to the forefront\ of the squad, asking the most obvious question that everyone has.

"Who are you, and state your business?" Yelena ordered, aiming her sniper at the woman.

"Kind of a harsh introduction to who you are if you're threatening me, don't you think?" The woman answered back.

"What if I'm just a normal human being? Wouldn't that paint you in a bad light? Ah, who am I kidding, I think it's pretty obvious that I'm not normal by my situation here. I'll introduce myself."

The woman stood up to face us. Bending her right arm to grab the left side of her hips, grabbing her lower right arm with her left hand, and slightly cocking her head, the woman gave us a formal introduction.

"My name is Uryusume. It's a pleasure to meet you, well, at least for me anyways."

"Uryusume? Well, it was nice meeting you, but I'm afraid I'll have to end our ties here." Yelena threatened, firing her gun directly at Uryusume.

An icicle popped up from the ground, protecting Uryusume from Yelena's attack completely. Summoning a large icicle? That seems like an unnatural ability. I know there are some stigmatas that allow the user to manipulate ice, but I've never seen, nor know one that allows the user to manipulate it to this extent.

"Ah, I was hoping I could go about this without violence, but I guess that was thrown out of the window immediately. That's quite sad, but not for me." Uryusume sighed.

"I'll show you why provoking me was an abhorrent idea."

Summoning two spherical frost orbs, Uryusume shot mini ice spikes in our direction, splitting every single one of us up. Clapping her hands together, her hands would be surrounded by frost as her hands would split apart, creating an ice bow. Dragging the bowstring back as if she were drawing three arrows, Uryusume would leave a trail of frost, constructing three ice arrows which she fired at a random group of Valkyries. Uryusume's arrows would have landed, had it not been for the Valkyries being able to dodge. She continued firing more arrows at all of us, though she would always miss for some reason.

Viewing the situation, it was currently 40 against 1, so the odds were completely against Uryusume, yet she remained calm for some reason. To be fair for her, a majority of us were struggling to stay on the ice as we were slipping a lot. The only ones who weren't were every one with a Godsbane, so Claudia, Yelena, Desmond and I, and Kyle, who was sitting on his robotic companion. Speaking of Kyle, he hasn't done anything this entire bout.

"Kyle, are you just going to sit back and watch?!" I yelled at him.

"Can't do anything. My attacks have to potential to cause friendly fire." Kyle replied.

"But that's not the main reason I'm staying back. Uryusume doesn't look like she's even trying. If things get bad, some of us will have to reserve our energy in case Uryusume goes all out. If the woman has enough confidence to face all 40 of us, then what's saying that she is holding back a lot."

Kyle's logic is not unreasonable, it's always good to believe the possible unexpected, but Kyle doesn't have enough evidence to go off of.

"Your logic is sound, but I don't believe that gives you enough reason to stay back." I said.

"Don't worry, I have a plan in mind. Only problem is that with 40 of us here, and fighting a formidable foe, I don't think I can tell what the plan is without spoiling it to Uryusume. Just bear with me alright." Kyle retorted back.

"Fine then. I'll leave you to your own plan."

I flew away from Kyle and towards Uryusume. I let some rounds loose at her, which she managed to elegantly dodge by skating on the ice. Creating a sword made of ice, she let loose a vertical slash that I blocked with my pistols. Pushing her sword against my pistols, Uryusume would push me to my knees as her brute strength proved superior to my own, much to my surprise.

"So, what's your goal here? Is it to try to get rid of us?" I inquired Uryusume.

"Get rid of you and your friends? As much as I would like to, I can't have Schicksal chasing after me so soon. Besides, I have another goal I have to deal with anyways." Uryusume spoiled.

Changing her expression from a smirk to a serious one, Uryusume lifted her sword off of my pistols before sending a Sparta kick at my face. Turning around, she quickly sent Reshia, who attempted to attack her from behind, towards a tree by immediately reverse roundhouse kicking her stomach side. Uryusume would fend off a couple of other Valkyries away from her with relative ease. However, once Desmond and Claudia pursued her, she started to struggle a bit. I'm not saying that Claudia and Desmond were winning, because they clearly weren't, but they stalled her for a bit.

"Oooh, you two are a cut above the rest." Uryusume complimented.

"Abyss Flower, and the Xuanyuan Sword, combined with your strength, I can see why Schicksal would put the two of you at the highest."

"How the heck can you say that so nonchalantly?!" Desmond hissed in an aggravated tone.

"Because, while I complimented you, never did I once say that you were above me." Uryusume replied.

Uryusume would counter Desmond and Claudia with ease, but the two would still continue to stall her. With their stalling, everyone would slowly join in with them, causing Uryusume more trouble. Sadly, it was difficult for us ranged weapon users as we had to try to avoid friendly fire. However, even if we ganged up on her, Uryusume still held her ground, still with a content expression on her face.

"Applying strength in numbers I see. Not a bad plan, but you forget what the consequences can be." Uryusume said.

As every melee Valkyrie jumped her at once, Uryusume kneeled to the ground and placed her hands on the frozen floor. Changing her hands into fist, she summoned multiple ice pillars from the ground, breaking every close Valkyrie away and sending them flying. The ice pillars would continue to form towards every ranged valkyrie, sending them, including me, away from her. Getting hit by the pillars hurt a lot, but they weren't sharp enough to impale, nor did it do anything fatal.

"No matter what you do, you all will never defeat-."

Uryusume would cut herself short when she noticed that a plethora of homing missiles came right at her. Looking up, Uryusume's facial expression finally changed to a shocked one, albeit, not that shocked.

"Oh…..well I didn't see that com-."

*KABOOM*

The shockwave from the explosion sent all of us away towards the ice trees. Slowly getting up, I looked at the smoke created from the explosion.

"So that was your plan Kyle? To nuke her with homing missiles?" I looked at him.

"Yeah, and I couldn't do it when everyone was so close to Uryusume. I guess the wheels of fate were fortunate enough to give me the opportunity. Anyways, the plan worked." Kyle arrogantly boasted.

"Ahh, Kyle! I knew you could come up with a plan!" Kathlynn did nothing, but help boost his ego.

A chain of Valkyries would fangirl over Kyle over his successful plan. I mean, it was successful, but he had to rely on everyone to stall against Uryusume just for his plan to work. Kyle doesn't deserve all the credit, but I guess his fangirls think otherwise. I'm just glad I'm not the only one who sees it this way. Reshia is currently banging her head against a tree and every one of my siblings minus Kathlynn are just staring in slight disappointment. The same applies to the Schariacs. Heh, we hate each other, but I guess we do share a slight annoyance against Kyle.

"Of course I was able to come up with a plan! I'm not called an S-Rank Valkyrie for nothing. Anyways, thanks to my plan, we easily-."

"Ruined a perfectly good forest for no reason."

Everyone turned around in shock and fear. Looking into the smoke cloud, it quickly dissipated, revealing Uryusume who was completely fine.

"Oh I'm sorry. Did I accidentally put some words in your mouth? That wasn't my intention." She let out with a sassy tone.

"But how?! I sent so many missiles at you. You shouldn't have had time to block them at all." Kyle howled.

"You're right, I didn't block them. I didn't need to."

Uryusume's expression changed to a slightly insane, and cocky one as a cold aura surrounded her, sending frost waves at us, showing her dominance of power.

"It's just that you Valkyries are so weak! I've hardly been trying throughout this entire fight! I heard stories of Schicksal's S-Rank Valkyries, and how they have the power to combatant Herrschers, but I guess those stories were wrong. I can't help, but be severely disappointed at you people." Uryusume monologued.

"Please tell me that this squad of what, 30, 40? is not your entire squad."

No one replied. Uryusume's expression would change to a disappointed one once she realized that this was everyone.

"Oh dear, this is everyone, is it?" Uryusume grieved.

"That's sad. I can't seem to find whoever I need within this squad of 40. I hope Laevateinna is having better luck."

"Laevateinna? Tell me, who is she!" I ordered Uryusume.

"Her? She's my companion. Her and I are currently after the same person right now."

Uryusume has a friend working with her? If Uryusume is this strong, then how strong is Laevateinna? Is she the same in power, weaker, powerful?!

"How strong is this Laevateinna person?" Reshia asked.

"It's hard to judge correctly, but I would say that her and I are evenly matched, if not, then she's probably stronger by a bit." Uryusume informed everyone while blowing on her nails.

"She's currently doing her part in our mission over at the Saitama Prefecture not too far away from us. I don't know if our intended target is there or not, but I do know that Schicksal sent another team there."

"Saitama Prefecture? Wasn't that mission just a horde of weak zombies? If your partner is there, then that entire squad is in danger!" Desmond warned.

"Rightfully so. With how weak Laevateinna made the threat over there, Schicksal probably sent a much weaker squad to deal with her threat. I'll say that she'll have a pretty clean sweep." Uryusume shared.

"Oh no! Master Tendou was sent there, he's in danger!" Reshia panicked.

"Tendou?" Uryusume looked at Reshia.

Uryusume formed a smirk as she heard the name 'Tendou'.

"Bingo." She said.

Uryusume lifted her hand up, and swiped it horizontally, releasing a massive frost gust that pretty much immobilized us.

"I guess I'll take my leave now, but before I go….."

Uryusume snapped her fingers. From inside the forest surrounding us, a horde of zombies and Honkai beast came out. Mosquitos, Cavaliers, Ballistas, Chariots, and Sanctuaries surrounded us from all sides, with seemingly no end to them. Meanwhile, Uryusume flew off the ground. Some of us fired at here, but she blocked them by creating ice shields.

"Time to give an old friend a visit now. Goodbye, and good luck. You obviously won't need it since you'll handle this pretty easily, but that's not the point." Uryusume bid farewell.

Uryusume took flight and flew away from us, heading to the Saitama Prefecture.

"Damn it, we're stuck with a swarm in our hands. What the hell are we supposed to do with her gone?" Kyle asked.

Remaining silent, I dissected everything about the current situation. Currently, Uryusume and her friend, Laevateinna are on the loose. Laevateinna is in the Saitama Prefecture, with Uryusume heading there. If I wrapped my head around it correctly, they seem to be after Tendou. I don't know why, but they are. Currently, Tendou should be in the city with his small squad. If Laevateinna is there, then Tendou, and everyone else is in danger. However, we're stuck with a horde in our hands, but even if we could go to the Saitama Prefecture, there isn't much we could do. We barely proved to be a match against Uryusume, and if her words are true, then Laevateinna is, at minimum, just as strong as Uryusume. In shorter words, we're fucked either way. But maybe we could change this.

"I think I have a plan, but I don't know if it will work or not." I said.

"What, is it another arbitrary plan." Desmond mocked.

"No, it's not. The failure of this plan isn't based on luck." I scowled back.

"I need one of you to contact Schicksal HQ about this. I need you to tell Schicksal to send the rest of the S-Ranks currently active right now, alongside A-Ranks for safety measures. Tell HQ to send them to the Saitama Prefecture. However, they won't arrive immediately, so to give them time, I'll be flying over there myself while everyone here deals with the horde, got it?"

"But Ino, you won't be able to even hold a candle to Uryusume, let alone go against her and Laevateinna!" Maya cried out.

"That's not the point brother. I'm only buying time. We don't have much time to waste, I have to go now!"

I activated flight and flew away immediately before hearing whatever complaints everyone had. Passing by, crashing through, and breaking pass many tree branches, I finally got myself pass the roof of the forest and into the sky. With no delay, I flew at max speed towards the city. I hope I make it in time to reduce the amount of damage caused.

---

Nailah's Perspective

It hadn't been long since we arrived in the city. Unlike the last mission, where the city was completely obliterated, the Saitama Prefecture was all intact. The buildings, homes, windows, everything was fine. Had it not been for the empty streets, someone could have easily mistaken this as a safe city. However, everyone knows its not, and that's obviously why we're here. Like the previous mission, we had to split into 2 squads, though this time, our objectives were the same. We're only splitting to cover more ground as we are in a city. Fortunately for me, I wasn't paired with Tendou. That being said, I pity the poor man. Everyone has been avoiding him, and its partially my fault for doing so. He's in a different squad, but no one has made an attempt to get along with him. In fact, I think I heard some say that they might ditch him midway through. I get that he seems dangerous, but there's no need to dump him on his own.

"Oi, Nailah, you seem shaken up for some reason. What's bothering ya?" A Valkyrie asked.

"Huh, um…nothing. Just personal thoughts." I answered.

The mission has gone pretty well so far. We've exterminated a bunch of zombies and so far, no casualties. Only thing stopping us would be fatigue, and that'll take a while to hit. However, I fear that the situation could turn ugly at any moment.

"You think you can hold those thoughts off? It's bad to have things like that in your head during a mission."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry for worrying you."

My squad continued walking until we hit a park. There were zombies that were currently walking around aimlessly. It was a large crowd, but they were zombies. We all huddled together in a circle, and I fired one shot from my SMG into the head of a zombie, killing it, and alerting every other zombie. The zombies turned and limped their way towards us. Unlike every modern horror movie where the zombies have the ability to frantically sprint towards us, these zombies can only limp. Not saying that we can't handle frantic zombies, but the slacken zombies make this job so much more effortless.

Aiming my SMG carefully, I pulled the trigger one by one to conserve ammo. All of the bullets that did connect would bury themselves on the heads of the zombies, while the missed ones would hit any other surrounding objects. Some of my allies had an easier time as they were either using a sniper rifle, or an assault rifle, both of which are more powerful, and one is deadly accurate.

"We're almost down to the last wave." The squad leader informed.

After emptying the current magazine in my SMG, I reloaded the gun, put it away, and took out my tomahawk instead. Walking up, I decapitated multiple zombies faltering over to me. Meanwhile, my squad finished off the rest of the wave. After a couple of minutes, we eliminated all the zombies at the park.

"That was quite a lot." A Valkyrie mentioned.

"How many more are there left in the city?"

"I'll check up with the captain on that. Can someone message the other squad in the meantime?" Our squad leader asked.

"I'll call the other team." I offered.

Pulling up the earpiece communicator, I contacted everyone on the other squadron. Mysteriously, none of them picked up for a while, until Tendou picked up the call, alone.

"Tendou, how's your squad doing on the other side?" I asked him.

Tendou was silent for a bit before I heard him deeply inhale, then exhale.

"Oh god, your squad ditched you, didn't they?" I murmured.

"Ditch me they did. I suggest calling them instead to ask how they are doing." Tendou advised.

"I did, in fact, I called you, and everyone on the other squad. No one besides you picked up. Well, since you're here, how have things been going for you?"

"I have not seen a single zombie for a while now. I've seen dead corpses of zombies, but no actual living zombies…That sounds like a contradiction now that I think about it. I've been following them to hopefully reunite with my squad, even if they don't want to."

"I see. I can't help but be worried for your other teammates though. They still haven't picked up my call yet."

"I mean, they could be in the middle of a swarm right now, so they probably can't answer."

"You're probably right. Well, I hope you stay safe out there."

I abruptly ended the call before Tendou could say anything. Not like he probably had much to say anyway. I walked back to my team just in time to see one of the other Valkyries look behind me.

"Hey, isn't that one of the Valkyries from the other squad?" She asked.

She was another Valkyrie from the other squad. The lone Valkyrie seemed fine for the most part. She bore no injuries, at least ones that were visible. However, the girl seemed a bit demented. Her behavior was nearly like those of a baby. She was tumbling around and looking everywhere for seemingly no purpose. Her eyes even looked a bit lifeless for some reason.

"Hey, what are you doing here? And where's the rest of your squad?" Another Valkyrie asked the demented Valkyrie.

The questionnaire Valkyrie shook the demented one many times to get an answer out of here, and it worked, but her answer was not one we were looking for. Instead, it only gave us another question.

"Huh?….are you another of Mother's child? Why are you here?" The Valkyrie asked us.

Mother? Who was she referring to?

"Mother? What are you talking about?" I asked her.

"Do you not know who Mother is? Come, follow me."

The girl grabbed my arm and dragged me away. Everyone followed me, curious as to what this Valkyrie was referring to. We walked past many rotting corpses of zombies, corpses that we, or at least I don't remember encountering. It must have been bodies killed by the other squad. We continued passing by many other dead zombies until we reached another park, though this one seems livelier than the one we were just at. The Valkyrie that led us here let go of my arm and ran forwards, shouting the words 'Mama'. Curious, all of us followed her.

"Mama, Mama! I found more children to play with!"

We all looked ahead to face this 'Mama' person. This person that our ally was referring to was a mature lady, definitely one that would fit the 'Mama' name. Her hair was long and slightly jagged. It was silver, with a near-transparent celestial blue tint near the ends of each strand. Oddly enough, her dress resembled something similar to a maternity dress even though the woman wasn't pregnant. Around the woman were our other allies, minus Tendou. Like the girl we followed, they seemed to be entranced to 'Mama'. As of now, 'Mama' hadn't noticed us as she was ominously pampering our allies.

"Mama, I found new friends to play with." Our ally mentioned.

'Mama' looked up and towards our ally, and by extension, us. She stood up and smiled.

"Ah, new people to join us." Mama calmly mentioned.

She walked towards us with a smile.

"It's nice to meet all of you. I'm very sorry for the environment here in this city, not very ideal, is it?"

The woman seemed nice, but I can't help but feel a very sinister vibe from her. Her serene attitude while in a zombie-infested city seems too bizarre, and out of place.

"My name is Laevateinna. I hope I don't spook you all out."

"Nice to meet you Laevateinna, but I have so many questions for you." Our squad leader asked.

"Of course you would. That would be the obvious question you would ask anyways. Come sit down with me." Laevateinna responded.

I was getting a little bit frightened. I wanted to find out what Laevateinna was doing here, but I was too scared to follow her. Quick Nailah, make an excuse to get yourself out of this situation!

"Uh….excuse me for a bit, I need to relieve myself." I lied.

I ran away from the squad and hid behind a tree. I rapidly let out many breaths, though I eventually calmed down. Concealing myself behind the tree, I listened in to the conversation that was happening with everyone else and Laevateinna, only to hear nothing for a while. I even stayed behind the tree for an extra 10 minutes to try to hear what was going on, but instead of actual talking between two people, I just heard Laevateinna's faint voice. I stayed behind the tree again, until the Valkyrie we followed here popped out from the other side of the tree.

"Why are you still here?" She asked me.

The girl grabbed me and forcefully brought me back over to Laevateinna and my squad.

"Nailah, what took you so long?" A Valkyrie asked.

Like the girl that brought us here, my allies were now acting all demented like. Some of them were wandering around aimlessly, and the squad leader was currently being pampered in a hug with Laevateinna. I was now afraid. I was probably the only one sane here.

"I, uh….got lost." I lied to the Valkyrie.

Laevateinna walked over to me and patted me on my head. I just had to accept the head pat, or else, but I was starting to freak out. All of my allies were not acting normal at all, yet Laevateinna was still acting like herself. She's clearly doing something to them.

"Tell me Laevateinna, what the hell are you doing to my allies?" I asked her.

Laevateinna still kept her smile.

"I didn't do anything. I'm just bonding with them, that's all." She uttered, almost sounding like she was trying to lie.

"I'm just giving all my children some motherly love. Is that not something a mother is supposed to do?"

"It's fine for a mother to love their child, but we aren't your children. All of this time, I keep hearing my allies call someone they just met 'Mama'. No sane person would ever do that, and you're clearly doing something to my allies. What the hell are you doing, and who are you?!"

"As I told you, I'm Laevateinna. But you know little girl, you can just call me Mama-."

"Enough!"

Before Laevateinna could caress my cheek with her hand, I slapped it away and drew my SMG. I raised it to her hand and pulled the trigger once. Laevateinna dodged the bullet, but it still grazed and cut her cheek. Using her thumb to wipe the blood off. She still had her smile on her face, but her eyes now changed slightly. Her expression changed from a heartwarming smile to a more sinister and cocky smile.

"Oh dear, this was not what I expected. Children, would you be kind to your mama and get rid of her nuisance?" Laevateinna ordered.

Upon command, everyone from my team, and everyone from the other team looked at me in disgust. Taking out their weapons, they all charged at me. I pulled out my tomahawk and defended myself. My teammates were essentially brainwashed zombies now, but I can't kill them. I can take them out of their trance, right? I definitely can right?! I don't have to kill them like Tanya, right?!

"Girls, please stop attacking me!" I cried out.

"It's me, Nailah. I'm one of your allies that's been helping you kill zombies. Snap out of your mind control!"

My words had no effect. My allies continued to relentlessly attack me. I was outnumbered by a lot, making their job so much easier. I was beaten, sliced, and shot. I was tossed a few feet away by a Valkyrie. Crawling away, I grabbed onto the ground until Laevateinna stepped on my hand with her heel. It was a miracle that my former allies somehow didn't fatally injure me, but maybe that was Laevateinna's doing. Lifting my head up to look at her, Laevateinna crouched down, applying more weight on my arm, and stabbing her high heels into my hand. I yelped out in agony.

"Thank you, my children. You can go back to playing now." Laevateinna ordered.

Laevateinna stared me dead in the eyes, still keeping her sinister expression from earlier.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked Laevateinna.

"Why are you taking my allies away from me?"

Laevateinna chuckled a bit before she replied in a voice that oozed an even more sinister feeling than her expression.

"I'm just trying to create my own family. Do you not want to be apart of it?"

"Is there any way to snap them out from their trance?"

"Oh, I guess you're just going to ignore me then. Anyway, to answer your question, yes, there is a way to snap them back to themselves, and that is through me."

"Give me back my allies then!"

"Hmmm….I could easily give them back, but you can also join my famil-."

"Fuck off with your family already! I just want my allies back goddammit."

"Oh, well that is too sad. Oh well, I'll just turn them into zombies later after I have my fun with them. I hope you don't mind."

Hearing Laevateinna threaten to turn them into zombies started to bring back memories of Tanya. Helplessly, I flailed around to get myself free from Laevateinna's heels.

"Please, don't turn my teammates into zombies!" I cried out.

"I don't want to go through this again, and so soon!"

I started to whine and cry like a bitch. I guess it earned me some sympathy points from Laevateinna as she started to look at me with a slight sadness.

"Again? Tell me, did you lose a friend to a zombie?" Laevateinna interrogated.

"I-I….I had a friend who started to cascade into a zombie. She…she forced me to kill her b-before she became one." I told Laevateinna.

"That day still lives through my mind, and I still have nightmares about that moment. I don't want anyone else to die, and I don't want to kill anyone else. So please don't turn them into zombies. I don't know if I have the will to kill them." I begged.

Laevateinna remained silent. Her expression had completely changed to something new. Instead of smiling sinisterly or motherly, she looked pessimistic. Laevateinna lowered her hands down to wipe the tears off of my face.

"Ah, so you're afraid of living through a similar moment again." Laevateinna noted.

"Because you believe yourself to be weak, you don't want to go through the pain again. In some ways, I can relate. However, you have to learn that this world is a cruel mistress, little one. One day, you will have to face the truth of this reality, and you have to learn that you will be forced to do things that you never want to do. Even if you don't want to have the will to kill your friends, this world will force you to do that anyway. It's something I learned the hard way. However, if you so desire to become strong that a scenario like this will never happen again, maybe I can help you."

Lifting her heel of my hand, she lifted me up for me to kneel in front of her. Ripping a piece of cloth from her dress, she wrapped it around the hole she created from her heels to prevent more blood from leaking out. Laevateinna's expression went back to her motherly smile as she looked at me.

"You…can make me stronger?" I mouthed.

Laevateinna nodded her head.

"I can't tell you what lies down the road for you in the future, but my help can secure that you will never have to go through the pain of losing your friends again." Laevateinna admitted.

"If your words are true, then please, give me this power. I don't want to suffer through killing my friends ever again."

"There, there, my child. Soon, all of your pain will disappear."

Laevateinna lifted her hands to my cheek like she did earlier. However, I didn't resist her caress this time. I allowed her to become closer than last time. With Laevateinna's help, I won't have to fear again. I won't have to go through the pain of killing my friends ever again.

"Laevateinna!"

A hand grasped Laevateinna's head and fiercely dragged her against the ground.

"T-Tendou?!" I looked in awe.

---

Tendou's Perspective

"Great, they abandoned me."

I was left alone with a few zombies as my teammates suddenly vanished. I already heard that my teammates planned to abandon me on my own, but to think that they would actually pull it off. Not that it matters much, we're just fighting zombies. Running up towards them, I easily punched and kicked the heads of them off of their bodies. To ensure that they're dead, I stomped on the decapitated heads.

"The audacity of those bitches!" Lessica cursed.

"They actually abandoned you all on your own for no good reason. I thought this was supposed to be a team effort?!"

"Forget it Lessica, we're just fighting a bunch of zombies. I think we can handle this on our own." I rebutted back.

"We're only fighting zombies now, what happens if she is here?"

"Didn't you say that you were going to take over? I think we should be fine if we encounter her."

Walking under a small roof to take cover from the rain, I aimlessly wandered around the city. Other than the dead zombies, the city was pretty normal. The mission was pretty vague about what happened to the civilians living in this city, but seeing how the zombies here looked like decomposed people instead of some white, black, and orange valkyrie, I think it's safe to assume that the majority of the residents here suffered a terrible fate. I don't know how the people here got turned into zombies since there didn't seem to be a high Honkai radiation detected here, but maybe it has something to do with Lessica's 'friend'.

"The rain's not going to let up soon." I mentioned.

The rain has been pouring down constantly, and the thunders have shrieked through the sky consistently. I haven't seen it rain as badly since the time Lessica first took over. Oddly enough, there's barely any wind blowing so the rain is just falling straight down instead of falling at a curvature.

"Tell me Lessica, who's this 'friend' of yours?"

"This so-called 'friend' is named Laevateinna. She hasn't been around for that long, but within the time period where she gained her powers, she's grown considerably. In my prime, I actually struggled against her, and she's probably grown more since our last encounter. Only thing I have against her is experience by this point, and that's what I'm banking on if we encounter her. Now I know you're wondering, "If she's such a huge threat, then why hasn't Schicksal pursued her?". To answer your question, Laevateinna prefers to work in secret. That's why Schicksal hasn't pursued her, it's because they don't know of her existence, at least not yet." Lessica explained.

"I have a feeling that after this mission, Schicksal will find out about their existence, at least all of it will. I believe Otto might have already learned of Laevateinna's existence, and just prefers to keep her a secret from the rest of Schicksal. Hell, I think he's responsible for her becoming powerful!"

Amazing, so that's who Lessica's friend is. Laevateinna is her name, and she's a massive threat. Even in her prime, Lessica still had trouble dealing with her. With Lessica now deprived of most of her powers, and me being a complete amateur, I think Laevateinna will have a clean sweep against us.

*BEEP* *BEEP*

Someone was calling me through the earpiece given to us by the captain. Tapping it, I picked up the call, creating a holographic screen in front of my eyes. The holographic screen showed that Nailah was the only one in the call. Odd that she called me first, but ok. The call was short and brief as we talked about how my other teammates didn't pick up, how they abandoned me, and how after walking for many minutes, I haven't encountered any zombies besides the ones I've already killed awhile back. Ending the call, I continued to venture forth under the roofs. Pressing my battlesuit button to unequip it, I walked further.

"Why did you take your battlesuit off?" Lessica asked.

"I wanted to change into something that wasn't wet. I doubt unequipping my battlesuit will allow it to dry, but at least I won't feel cold for a while." I replied.

"Besides, it's not like I need my battlesuit to actually fight properly, and even if I need the armor given by my battlesuit, I can just easily equip it back."

Walking a few more meters, I started to get a massive headache for no reason. It became a huge pain, and it wasn't just a huge headache. Crashing my back into the building next to me while holding my head, I started getting those weird memory fragments again. Flashes of a lady standing above Nailah, caressing her face was the first thing that appeared. The next fragment showed Nailah being engulfed in light. Her entire figure was shaded black, but her shaded figure clearly showed her suffering. Next, I saw the corpses of all of the Valkyries that came along with me on this mission, minus Nailah. The woman that engulfed Nailah in light from the previous fragment was kneeling on the ground, caressing one of the corpses. The last fragment I saw included the same lady again, but she was now accompanied by another lady. They were standing in front of an injured Valkyrie, but it wasn't Nailah, it was…Ino?

"Agh, what the hell?!" Lessica howled.

The world in front of me went red as Lessica entered the world. She immediately came towards me and gave me a noogie to snap me out.

"What the hell?!" I yelled in confusion.

"Who the hell was that, and what the hell happened there?!"

Lessica was equally as confused as I was. This wasn't the first time we suffered through this enigma, but both of us were still confused as to what the hell these were, or what they were meant to be. Lessica went back into my mind, reverting the world back to normal.

"I don't know what the hell we just witnessed, but those two ladies." Lessica began.

"The first one we saw was Laevateinna. I don't know what she was doing, but it was clearly terrible. And the other lady, that was her friend, Uryusume. Why was she there? When did this happen? What does this mean-?!"

*BAM*

A faint gunshot echoed throughout the city. From where I was, it was very faint, probably meaning that I was far away from whoever fired that gun. Curious, and slightly worried, I ran towards the gunshot. With the noise only happening once, and it being so faint, I couldn't tell if I was getting closer, or getting farther. I don't know who was the one who shot the gun, but it's definitely one of the other Valkyries. I continued sprinting through the city, passing by dead zombie corpses. The more I ran, the more I could start hearing something. I heard a loud, pained screech in the distance, and it sounded closer than the gunshot. Maybe I was getting closer?

"On your left!" Lessica pointed out the direction of the scream.

I turned left and continued running. I was in such a hurry that I started to run out into the rain, wetting my set of clothes. Turning more time around corners and running past more buildings, and dead corpses, I finally ended up in a park. Running into it and scanning around, I saw the other Valkyries acting strangely. Not too far from them, I saw Nailah, who was kneeling in front of Laevateinna, who was about to put her hands on Nailah. This scenario that I was witnessing with Nailah and Laevateinna was eerily similar to that memory fragment I witnessed earlier. I had to intervene quickly before that event happened again.

"Lessica!" I screamed out

Within an instant my vision zoomed out instantaneously and I fell backward into Lessica's realm. Looking up at the monitor as she took control, Lessica launched herself forward by entering a portal and bouncing off of the glass shards within the portal dimension. I can't do anything but spectate her now. I'll leave everything in your hands, Lessica.

---

Lessica's Perspective

"Laevateinna!"

I blasted myself towards Laevateinna with my hand out to grab her face. With her not knowing that I was here, I successfully grabbed her face and dragged her against the ground. Letting go of Laevateinna's head and rolling across the ground, I pressed the battlesuit button to equip Tendou's battlesuit. Laevateinna got up, barely injured, but very surprised.

"Lessica, it seems like my plan worked out after all." Laevateinna grinned.

"To think that I could lure you out within my first attempt of doing this. I'm glad we could meet again."

"What do you want Laevateinna?" I asked her.

"It's already clear that you tried to get me here and succeeded, but there's clearly something else you wanted me here for."

"I'm here to take you back with me. You and I share the same ideals with each other, so why not team up? Hell, if you willingly join me, I can spare Tendou."

"You and I may share the same ideals, but I'm not just going to join you just for that. Also, spare Tendou? You saying that you're going to try to kill him or something?"

"If you resist, then I will have to. However, if you join willingly, then I can help find a way to extract you from him-."

"Then you can forget you deal!"

I squared myself up to face Laevateinna. I can't think of even beating her, not at this state. Laevateinna is probably stronger than the last time we met, and I've gotten weaker. I had a plan to stall Laevateinna out until backup arrives, but….

"Lessica, you plan on stalling her out, right?" Tendou asked.

"My original plan was to stall for backup, but our backup is….well….."

I looked over to every other Valkyrie close by. Other than Nailah, everyone else was under Laevateinna's mind control. It was a bad idea, but my original plan was to stall for everyone on this mission to arrive and help me. With everyone, minus Nailah under Laevateinna's control, that's impossible to do now.

"Were you banking on our allies to help us?!" Tendou squawked.

"How did it not pop to you that it would have been a bad idea banking on that?!"

"Shut up! I'm trying to focus on a new plan right now-!"

*SMACK*

In the midst of my conversation with Tendou, Laevateinna flew up and sucker-punched me in the face. I staggered backward and sent a headbutt towards Laevateinna. She took a few steps back and kneed me in the face, breaking my nose in the process. Using the force from her knee, I fell backward and launched an upwards kick at Laevateinna. Laevateinna grabbed my leg and jutted her heels straight into my crouch, causing monumental pain. I laid on the ground, grabbing hold of my, or rather, Tendou's crotch.

"Agh, motherfucker!" I cursed loudly.

"You've significantly gotten weaker Lessica. Your attacks don't seem to have as much oomph to them. I'll be kind and let you use your abilities against me." Laevateinna gave an opportunity.

Standing up and facing Laevateinna, I jumped back into a portal and bounced around the shattered dimension. Laevateinna didn't move an inch, nor did she move her head. I leapt out of a portal behind Laevateinna, but she smoothly anticipated my attack, raising her hand and backhanding me in the face. Stepping backward a few steps from her backhand, I jumped at her with a lightning orb. Laevateinna turned around and grabbed the orb. Both of us struggled against each other, but Laevateinna would gain the upper hand by destroying the orb and grabbing my fist. She threw me into a tree.

"Lessica, what happened to you dear?" Laevateinna asked.

"I thought only your physical strength depleted, but even your powers seemed to have weakened. Did staying in Tendou's body soften you up?"

"Oh shut up." I groaned.

"I feel really sorry for you. That boy really seems to have made things worse for you. You know, the offer is still up-."

"You know, I'm still going to turn down the offer anyway. While you're not wrong about Tendou weakening me."

"Hey!" Tendou shouted.

"I'm not going to split apart from him. It would cause problems for both him and me in the future. Arguably him more so than me."

"Hmmm, I see. I guess I'll have to follow Uryusume's method then. I shall be taking you by force-."

*BAM*

"Agfh! Nailah?!" Lavateinna looked back in shock.

Behind Laevateinna, Nailah was still kneeling a couple of meters away, her SMG shaking in response to her unstable hands. The poor girl was terrified. Despite the poor handling, Nailah was still able to lodge a bullet into Laevateinna's lower right back. Laevateinna turned her entire body around to look at Nailah.

"What a terrified little girl you are." Laevateinna breathed sinisterly.

"We already talked about your problem earlier, and I sadly wasn't able to help you before I was interfered. I was going to let you off, but seeing how you attacked me, I guess I have no choice."

Laevateinna snapped her fingers. The Valkyries that were under her control started to freak out. They began screaming and holding their heads. Slowly, purple Honkai lines showed up on their bodies, and they began to exponentially erode. Nailah was on her knees, begging for Laevateinna to stop, but Laevateinna only laughed at Nailah's begging and crying.

"The audacity of this bitch!" Tendou growled.

"Ah hahahaha! Oh seeing you cry just pleases my heart so much. Oh, you are so precious to me Nailah. I wish I could adopt you as one of my own. Oooh, maybe I should take you in as one of my-."

"Focus your attention on me jackass!"

I kicked Laevateinna in her crotch as payback for when she jutted her heels into mine. I grappled her stomach from behind and lifted her up from the ground a bit. I jumped, and slammed Laevateinna and myself on the ground, using my weight to apply heavy pressure on Laevateinna's back.

"Lessica, you need to go help Nailah!"

I looked over to Nailah, who was still on the ground, mourning over the loss of our allies as their zombified selves walked over to her.

"Nailah doesn't matter right now, we need to take care of Laevateinna!"

"Are you really going to let Nailah die?! If you do, you'll have more zombies to deal with alongside Laevateinna, and the death of a comrade will be placed on you!"

"….Tch, fine."

Kicking Laevateinna far away, I turned around and ran towards Nailah and our zombified allies. I jumped and lopped one of our ally's head off by punting it with both of my feet. Falling down, I materialized an energy blade with my right hand and sliced another ally diagonally starting from her torso. Landing on the ground with my back, I flipped up forward and stepped on the head of the ally I cut in half. Before I could advance to kill the rest, Nailah grabbed me by the stomach.

"Tendou, what are you doing?!" Nailah yelled.

"Killing them to protect you! Why do you have a problem against that?!" I argued back.

"Couldn't you spare them?! Maybe Laevateinna could have reverted them back to normal." Nailah fought back in denial.

"Nailah's right Lessica, Laevateinna could have reverted them back to-."

"No she can't! Laevateinna can't turn them back to normal!" I spoke back to Nailah and Tendou with past experience.

"Laevateinna can't revert them back from zombies, and even if she had the ability, she wouldn't do it anyway."

Pulling Nailah's hands off of me, I went back towards the zombies, only for me to get grabbed in the face by Laevateinna, and flung towards a muddy puddle created by the rain. Front flipping myself up, I met Laevateinna up close as she flew towards me with her fist pushing herself into my ribcage. I felt some of my ribs shatter on impact. I grabbed Laevateinna by the throat, but she smacked her fist down on my arm with enough force to break it. Falling to my knees from the impact, Laevateinna grabbed me and held me in a lock around my neck.

"Like I expected after fighting you for the first few minutes, this would be an easy sweep." Laevateinna said.

"Now sit still and let me take you."

No way in hell! Jointing my head down, I bit on Laevateinna's left arm. I held down on it tight as I generated lightning and coursed it to my teeth, shocking Laevateinna. With her grip now loosened, I slid under and kicked Laevateinna into the two zombies that were getting close to Nailah. I ran towards Nailah and fended off the other zombies. Nailah was in no state to fight. Not only was she an emotional mess, but she was very injured. Allowing her to fight would not only hold me back, but put her at greater risk.

"Nailah, you should stay back. You're in no state to fight." I ordered.

I ran towards Laevateinna, but as the distance was closing, a gigantic icicle came crashing down between Laevateinna and I. The resulting ice crash eliminated the rest of our zombified allies.

"Damn it, not her too!" I glowered up into the sky.

"It's been a while Lessica, I hope you're doing well." Uryusume greeted.

"I'm doing fine. How are you?" I accosted back.

"Lessica, isn't that the other woman in those fragments?" Tendou asked.

Recalling back to those fragments, I confirmed Tendou's question.

"If I recall those memories correctly, you're correct. That's Uryusume, Laevateinna's friend." I explained.

"She can manipulate ice to her liking, and she can control it very well."

Uryusume floated down to Laevateinna and picked her up. Laevateinna had no injuries on her, minus the slowly decaying teeth marks from me, which can't really be considered an injury. Uryusume wasn't injured either. Both were probably at full power. I already had no chance of beating Laevateinna, but with Uryusume here, I might as well give up. Problem is, I can't.

"You're late to the party, Uryusume." I growled.

"Yeah, but better late than never, am I right?" Uryusume called back.

"I would have preferred the never over the late. Makes this job hella easier."

"Uryusume, I would like to inform you that our dear Lessica over here isn't in tip-top shape." Laevateinna informed.

"If you came here from the forest expecting a challenge, I'm sorry to say, but you'll probably be disappointed."

"Is that so? That's sad. The Schicksal forces that went to the forest were underwhelming too. That sucks."

Laevateinna and Uryusume had a conversation, talking about the forest. If I recall correctly, I'm pretty sure Reshia and her friends were sent there. I don't know what their max potential is, but seeing how Uryusume was underwhelmed, I fear the worst for them. Hopefully they're fine for Tendou's sake.

While both were distracted in their conversation, I didn't bother pursuing them. Laevateinna left me banged up, and I need to take this time to recover. Luckily for myself, Uryusume did my job for me by eliminating the zombies, so I don't have to work. My ribs fully healed themselves, and my nose was in the process of fixing until both of them turned to me.

"So we're going to force her out?" Uryusume asked.

"That's the plan." Laevateinna replied.

Laevateinna and Uryusume zoomed towards me and I tried to block. It worked, but I was now being pressured by the both of them. Laevateinna was fighting me hand-to-hand while Uryusume stayed back to fire projectiles from a frozen bow. Uryusume is deadly accurate, and with Laevateinna pressuring me, all of her arrows would connect. With their chemistry, Laevateinna and Uryusume are a fearsome threat. They work off of each other so well since Laevateinna's whole point was to purposely pressure me, allowing Uryusume to accurately fire her arrows. An advantage of having the arrows stuck in me is that the bleeding will be reduced, but my muscles are now more restricted in movement. My healing factor can easily keep me standing for longer, but with me being so busy dealing with both of them, Laevateinna and Uryusume will out damage it.

"How much longer can you last Lessica?" Tendou worriedly asked.

"Not much longer." I admitted.

"I don't think reinforcements will arrive. Uryusume doesn't spell out the nicest fate for everyone else. Maybe I can try to escape, but who knows?"

Laevateinna kicked me to the ground, lodging the arrows into my back further in. I rolled to face sideways and groaned in pain. I rolled again and tried to crawl away, but Uryusume would pin my hand down with an arrow, and Laevateinna would pierce her heel into my other hand.

"Holy hell you are resilient." Laevateinna breathed.

Uryusume crouched down to look at me. She grinned as she created an ice knife.

"Now sit still as I get you out of there. It'll be a painful process, but you'll have your freedom soon Lessica."

*BAM*

A bullet knocked Uryusume's knife out of her hand. Uryusume turned her head to face the bullets direction, only to get another bullet grazing past her cheek. She leapt backward and covered herself with a shield of ice. A tomahawk would fly towards Laevateinna, cutting, and lodging itself in her shoulder. Laevateinna recoiled back, taking her heel off my hand. Using my free hand, I pulled the arrow from my hand out and got back up. I fumbled backward a bit, just for Nailah to catch me.

"I thought you were angry at me for killing everyone else." I groaned.

"Can we focus at the two threats at hand?" Nailah groaned back.

I didn't reply to Nailah, but she was right. With Laevateinna and Uryusume here, we can't rest. Sadly, it's not looking good for us. Nailah only had her gun since her tomahawk was stuck with Laevateinna, plus her uncared injuries. I have worse injuries, but I can at least heal them. Both of us are nowhere near full power. We have no hope of winning, which begs the question on why we're still fighting. I guess both of us are just stubborn. Well, Nailah and I are not going down without a last stand.

"Prepare yourself Nailah."

"I'm way ahead of you."

---

Ino's Perspective

"There's the city!"

I flew downwards and hovered above the city. Scouting the area, I saw piles of zombie corpses laying on the streets. It wasn't much, but it gave me a slight clue on where everyone might be. Flying around in the city, I found even more corpses, but I eventually didn't end up anywhere. Ultimately, I had to call out Tendou's name.

"Tendou, Tendou?! Where are you?!" I cried out.

No response. I guess he wouldn't be able to hear me when I'm high above the sky. I also doubt I would be able to hear him too. I continued flying around to see if I could find him, or any of the other Valkyries. I didn't find a single trace, though I am having a tough time trying to look at things when water is continually dripping down my face. Wiping the water away from my eyes didn't do much either since it would just return in a few seconds. Also, it may just be the collective rain, but it feels a bit colder. Wait, a bit colder?

"She's here somewhere!"

I stopped for a moment and tried feeling where the drop in temperature was coming from. I flew around my area for a bit, trying to figure out which direction the temperature drop was coming from. Figuring out that the coldness was coming from the northwest, I boosted there as quickly as I could. Off in the distance, I could see a glacier sticking itself high on the ground. Bingo. I flew as fast as I could and landed near the glacier.

"AHHHGG!"

"UUAAGHH!"

Just as I landed, Tendou and Nailah were launched towards me, both of them rolling on the ground and dying some parts of the ground red. Tendou had changed yet again, with his braid being silver yet again. That wasn't my main concern. My main issue was that not only was Uryusume here, along with who I suppose is Laevateinna, but also the fact that it's just Tendou and Nailah fighting them.

"Tendou, Nailah!" I cried out.

I ran in front of them and shot at both Laevateinna and Uryusume. Uryusume blocked all of them with ice.

"Huh, it looks like one of the Valkyries from the forest followed me all the way over here." Uryusume displayed her dismay.

I ignored Uryusume and went over to the injured Tendou and Nailah. They were on the verge of decimation, especially Nailah, who looked like she was barely hanging on the last thread of her life. I picked her up and went to go pick up Tendou, but he was able to get up on his own, though he was struggling.

"How long were you two fighting them for, and where is everyone else?" I asked Tendou.

"About 15 minutes, give or take. As for our other allies, they're dead."

I looked at Tendou in disbelief. He and Nailah fought both Uryusume and Laevateinna for 15 minutes. Actually, I doubt they fought them for 15 minutes. I think they were dominated for 15 minutes. How they are still alive, is something that I'll never understand, considering I struggled against just Uryusume. Also, everyone else is dead?! How?!

"Where the hell is everyone else?"

"Still back in the forest dealing with the Honkai. Only I came here to assist you."

"Well….you came a bit…..too late." Nailah groaned.

Nailah laid her feet on the ground, but she relied on me to stand up. I carried Nailah over to a tree for her to sit down against. Quickly examining her injuries, Nailah won't be able to battle anymore, and if reinforcements don't arrive fast enough, she might bleed out. Standing up, I turned back to Tendou, just in time to see both Uryusume and Laevateinna fly towards him, grabbing him and flying him into a building.

"AGGH!" I heard Tendou scream.

"Tendou!" I screamed back.

I flew after him into the building. Laevateinna and Uryusume stopped their flight inside the building while Tendou flying until he hit a wall. Flying full force, I tackled Uryusume and grinded her against the building floor. I grabbed Uryusume by the throat and threw her back at Laevateinna, who caught her. I floated hastily towards Tendou and lifted him up.

"There you go, just take it easy." I told him.

Across from us, Uryusume stood up and created a bow. She grimaced over at our direction, mostly towards me.

"Why the hell did you follow me here? Can't you just let us take Lessica away? It would have done anything to you, so why do you care?" Uryusume asked me.

"Lessica? Who's Lessica?" I looked at Uryusume, confused.

"It's…complicated." I heard Tendou say.

Tendou lifted himself off of me and stumbled towards Laevateinna and Uryusume. He prepared himself in a fighting stance, but he barely had any energy to even sustain his form.

"Ino look, this matter at hand doesn't concern you. I need you to stand down." Tendou stubbornly ordered.

"No!" I yelled.

I walked over and stood next to Tendou, guns ready in hand.

"I don't know what the relationship between you and those two are, but seeing how they are harming you, I can't allow myself to stand back. You're clearly struggling against them Tendou, you need all the help you can get."

"Ino, this is my-."

I grabbed Tendou by the cheeks and forced him to look at me.

"Don't argue with me on this one! Tendou, it doesn't matter what background is at play here. I won't allow anyone to harm my friends, and I will always fight for them."

I smiled at Tendou, garnering a slight shock from him.

"After all, that's our jobs as humans. We're here to help each other through tough times!"

Tendou eyes widened in surprise a bit, confusing me a bit too. In the distance, I could hear Laevateinna squeeing at what was going on between Tendou and I.

"Eeeeeeee! Aww, look at how adorable those two are." Laevateinna blushed as if she was a parent seeing her child fall in love.

"Oh shut up Laevateinna." Tendou scoffed at her

Tendou lifted up a finger gun and shot a bolt of thunder at Laevateinna. She dodged it, barely though. I fired a bullet at Uryusume, expecting her to block it, which she did. I ran up to her and slid down to kick her ankles. Uryusume spun out of the way of my legs, but it gave me a good window to lodge a bullet into her abdomen. The bullet penetrated through her, making it the first attack I ever landed on her. Guess I have something to brag to everyone about now, heh. In retaliation, Uryusume threw a small ice pike into my own abdomen. I'd say that I got the worse end of it. Both of us have something stuck in us, but the ice pike is freezing my own innards.

Close by, Tendou and Laevateinna were having their own bout. Laevateinna landed all of her hits against Tendou while the best Tendou landed was a graze to her cheek. Uryusume dashed towards me and pushed my arms upwards just in time for me to pull the trigger to my guns and miss. With my arms help up, I sent my head towards Uryusume's own head. She did the same thing, parrying my headbutt with her own. Uryusume let go of my arms and sparta kicked near the hole that she and Laevateinna created when crashing Tendou into here. Speaking of Tendou, Laevateinna grabbed him by the legs and spun him around. She released his legs and threw Tendou directly at me, knocking us out of the hole, and back onto the ground.

"Ino, how much you do have left?" Tendou asked me.

"What do you even mean by how much I have left? Are you talking ammo in my pistols, or how much energy I have left?"

"Yes!"

An ice boulder came flying down at us. I grabbed onto Tendou and flew us out of the way of the boulder before it could crush the both of us. We slid on the ground, but Tendou took all the impact from scraping the ground as I was on top of him. On top of the boulder, Laevateinna, and Uryusume jumped off and ran towards Tendou and I.

"Ino, I'm going to need you to prepare some accurate shots." Tendou ordered.

Tendou punched the ground with his fist, cracking it and sending flames through them. I prepared my guns to shoot at Laevateinna and Uryusume, though I don't know why Tendou asked for accurate shots. With how reactive the two are, I don't think I can even land a bullet on them. As expected, I missed since Laevateinna and Uryusume jumped from the fire, but unexpectedly, Tendou somehow managed to come out of a portal behind both of them, surprising me, and somehow the other two. He grabbed them from behind, giving me an opportunity to shoot at the two.

"So that's what you meant." I smirked.

I pulled the trigger on my guns, successfully lodging a bullet each into Laevateinna and Uryusume. Pulling the trigger a second time, I lodged another bullet into Laevateinna but missed Uryusume. Betting my luck a third time, I fired 2 more bullets, followed by another 2, but Urysume was able to grab Tendou and get him off of them. Throwing him at me, Tendou became a human shield for them as he took all 4 bullets. I caught Tendou and nearly fell backward. He placed his feet on the ground and faced towards Laevateinna and Uryusume. He was breathing heavily. Something strange that caught my eye was his silver braid. It still had some silver at the bottom, but a majority of it had gone back to brown.

"Lessica, why do you have to make this so hard for us?" Laevateinna sighed.

"I don't know. Why do you have to make it hard for us?" Tendou snickered back.

Uryusume sighed. She looked over to Tendou with a very confused expression.

"I don't understand Lessica. Why are you so hesitant to join us? Actually, better yet, why are you attached to this man. What was his name again? Senku, Touken, Renka?"

"It's Tendou." Tendou told Uryusume.

As an outsider who knows pretty much nothing, I was confused. I don't know why Laevateinna and Uryusume were referring to Tendou by the name, Lessica, nor do I understand why this 'Lessica' person is hesitant to join the two. Wait, is Tendou possessed by another person right now? I mean, it would make some sense. Braid becomes a different color, his voice has an echo after it, and most of all, his personality becomes very different. Actually, if I recall correctly, back during the first mission, Tendou was talking to a person he called 'Lessica' too. If and somehow, Tendou, this 'Lessica' person, and I make it out alive, I'm going to have to consult Tendou about Lessica.

"Yeah, Tendou, that's his name. I don't understand how you have an attachment to this man. You've been stuck with him for like what, a minimum of 14 years? He didn't even gain his own consciousness until recently, so I don't understand why you won't leave your vessel behind." Uryusume rubbed her eyes and head in confusion.

"I'm not obligated to tell you why, and I would rather keep it secret." Tendou, or I guess Lessica responded back.

"He and I have a past together, and it's a special one, at least for me. Tendou himself doesn't remember it."

"Aw, how cute." Laevateinna cooed

"Wow, look at all the fucks we give about your relationship with Tendou." Uryusume scoffed.

Laevateinna instantly reared her head over to Uryusume, squinting at her since Uryusume just went over the fact that Laevateinna actually gave a fuck. Uryusume looked back at Laevateinna, confused as to why she was agitated.

"What?" Uryusume asked, baffled.

Tendou flew towards Uryusume, grabbed her, and threw her on the ground. It surprised all of us, but I snapped out of my shock first. I flew towards Laevateinna and kicked her face in. The kick landed and pushed her back a bit, but she wasn't fazed by the kick. Grabbing my leg she began to perform her spin throw again. I activated the thrusters on my suit and flew up with Laevateinna still holding onto me. My full intention was to kick Laevateinna off of my leg using my other leg and let her fall to the ground. Lifting my other foot up, I shoved it harshly into Laevateinna's. Like my other kicks, it wasn't affecting her, but she was getting really agitated.

"God, stop it." Laevateinna sighed.

"No." I spat back.

"Stop it.

"No.

"Stop, it!"

I stuck my tongue out at Laevateinna. Reluctantly, Laevateinna let go of my foot, giving me a short time to celebrate until Laevateinna flew up to my level, shutting me up immediately. Laevateinna raised an eyebrow at me, disappointed at my plan, which I should have known would have failed.

"Did you really bet on me falling down to the ground? You do realize I can fly, right?"

I definitely knew that she could fly. It just slipped from my mind when trying to think of a plan on the spot. Well seeing how I struggled against Uryusume when fighting alongside 40 other equals, and now I'm alone with Laevateinna, someone who is equally as strong as Uryusume at minimum, I think I'll be able to-.

*SMACK*

Laevateinna continued to pound me over with her fist and legs. Her blows felt like they were shattering my bones slowly with every single blow. Her relentless combo would end by doing something similar to what I was intending to do with her. She grabbed my arm, kicked me in the face, and let me fall down, not before destroying my thrusters to ensure that I won't fly back up. I crashed into the ground close to where I placed Nailah. My descent created a small crater on the ground. The crater would become larger when Laevateinna would crash down into my stomach from her own descent. Over in the distance, I could hear Tendou being sent flying towards where Laevateinna and I were. His body slid against the ground near us, removing the grass on the dirt.

"So….you're telling me that Ino can't handle these two?" Nailah coughed near us.

"I didn't really expect her to. Then again, I at least hoped she wouldn't get manhandled so easily." Tendou stated.

"Either I overestimated you Ino, or Laevateinna, and Uryusume have gotten stronger than I expected. I can't tell which."

Tendou stood up and faced Uryusume. Laevateinna stood off of me and walked behind Tendou.

"Just give it up already Lessica. You clearly are fatigued of energy, and you can't heal fast enough." Laevateinna said.

"We've been in these types of situations multiple times before Laevateinna, and if you recall correctly, I still managed to get away."

"And that was because we were equals then. Can you say that we're equals now?"

Tendou looked back at Laevateinna and then looked at the ground, cursing under his breath. Showing some agitation, he launched himself towards Laevateinna, biting her arm. She wasn't fazed much since Tendou didn't much strength, but she clearly didn't appreciate it. Slapping his face, Laevateinna leapt back a bit, giving Tendou a free window to attack. He took this opportunity to run at Laevateinna and jump kick her. However, midway into the air, Tendou released a panicked look. Laevateinna dodged the kick regardless, but Tendou failed his landing. Getting up immediately, Tendou was panicking. I was confused at first, but upon further inspection, I realized what might be wrong. His braid was now fully brown, and his eyes were no longer purple.

"Shit, shit, shit! Not now!" Tendou cursed.

Laevateinna and Uryusume were caught off guard before they started to smile sinisterly.

"Aw, it looks like Lessica retreated back in her little home. Welcome back Tendou." Laevateinna creepily greeted Tendou.

"I don't know if I want to be back…..the amount…..of pain I received all at once when I came back is making me a bit groggy. I don't know if I can hold up any more, and I know that I can't do shit against you two. Is there any way I can get out of this alive?" Tendou unconfidently asked.

"Hmmmm….well, we came here to get Lessica, and only her. We can try to get her out of you, though with your state, I highly doubt you would survive. I mean, I could allow you to keep Lessica, but you'll have to be one of my children. That sounds like a good deal, right?" Laevateinna optimistically offered.

"Huh…..yeah, no thanks."

"Doesn't matter anyway." Uryusume intervened.

"I was going to take Lessica out of you painfully anyway. You're not someone important enough for us to care about. I'm sending you straight to hell!"

Uryusume summoned a gust of cold wind. The chilling breeze ran through all of our skin, feeling like it would give Tendou, Nailah, and I frostbites. Even Laevateinna was feeling the cold as she was shivering and rubbing her arms repeatedly. Tendou was blocking the breeze with his arms, but Uryusume broke his block formation and grabbed him by the throat.

"Just stay still Tendou, this wind should hopefully numb your last pain."

She created an ice blade around her other hand, pointing it at his chest. Before she could stab it into him, I shot a bullet from one of my guns at Uryusume's leg. At the same time, to my own surprise, Nailah managed to muster enough strength to fire a bullet at Uryusume's throat, which came out of her, unlike mine which got lodged inside. Her bullet wouldn't have killed her since it missed everything vital, but it was enough to stop Uryusume from stabbing Tendou.

"Agh, you jackasses!" Uryusume shouted in pain.

Her ice blade shattered and she dropped Tendou. Her left hand grabbed the hole made by Nailah's gun. Laevateinna looked at us in disgust.

"Goddamnit, every time we've always had a chance, some interference has to happen. Why can't we just do what we want!" Laevateinna shouted.

A gust of wind came from above us, but in contrast to Uryusume's gust of wind, this breeze was pretty hot. The blazing breeze was accompanied by a blinding light, and with me facing upwards, I was blinded. I heard a bunch of things crash down around us, and heard weapons being pulled out. Realizing what it was, I smiled.

"Hey, looks like reinforcements arrived just in time." I weakly cheered.

I was picked up alongside Nailah by two valkyries. There was a squadron of over 70 valkyries out here with us. Uryusume and Laevateinna weren't afraid or worried in the slightest. In fact, they were quite unfazed by the appearance of many valkyries. I can't tell if their hubris is at play, or they actually know that they can handle 70 of us. Seeing how Uryusume easily dealt with 40 of us, and Laevateinna is here too, I'm pretty sure they aren't acting on their hubris.

"Damn, they called reinforcements, how troublesome." Uryusume blankly stated, oozing sarcasm within her words.

"We have time to spare right Laevateinna? I think we can-…"

Uryusume's expression changed for a bit when she looked up. I couldn't understand why, but she was intrigued by something.

"Laevateinna, you feel that too right?"

Looking over to Laevateinna, she nodded her head, her expression was a very serious one now.

"Should we still fight him?"

"With the both of us, we can definitely defeat him, but he'll be able to stall long enough for everyone else to get away. Might as well call this mission a quit." Laevateinna reluctantly said.

"Tch, fine."

Uryusume threw Tendou harshly on the ground, making him cough up some blood. Uryusume raised her hand and generated a gigantic ice wind that would blind us temporarily. Once the wind disappeared, Uryusume had disappeared, using the gust as a distraction. Laevateinna on the other hand started to glow a mixture of white and celestial blue. Her entire body disappeared and a bunch of feathers reminiscent of her hair color flew away swiftly, being carried away by an unseeable wind. The aircraft sent by the reinforcement crew landed. The staff aboard came out to help us. The last person to exit was unexpectedly Doctor Enmu. Now I understand who Laevateinna and Uryusume were talking about.

"What the hell happened here?" Doctor Enmu asked.

With the help of two valkyries, I walked over to Doctor Enmu and the other medical team. I was placed onto a bed and carried away. Nailah was shortly brought in after me. Before the entrance would be blocked by the wall from my view, Tendou walked up to Doctor Enmu, having visible blood on him, but he seemed fine mostly. I don't know how the hell he came off better than Nailah and I considering he was probably fighting Laevateinna and Uryusume the longest, but the guy is mysterious as hell! Maybe had something within him to help with his injuries. Wouldn't be surprised if I was right.

I was rushed into a medical bay on the ship, being treated. Never in my entire Valkyrie career, have I fought someone as strong as Laevateinna and Uryusume. I've been injured a lot by a single entity in my rookie years, but never would I ever believe to encounter such a threat as my days as an S Rank. I need to start training harder starting from now, because if Laevateinna and Uryusume were not lying about them suppressing themselves, then they are probably the biggest threat to Schicksal currently known. I don't know if they have any care for Schicksal, but since they care about Tendou, by extension, they have something to care about in Schicksal. By that logic, they are definitely a threat to us. I'll need to warn the Overseer about this…

---

Otto's Perspective

A few hours after the incident in the Saitama Prefecture…

I was riding an elevator up the student dorms, up to Tendou's room. I was just informed by Doctor Enmu about the incident at the Saitama Prefecture. Laevateinna and Uryusume. I don't know who Uryusume is or where she came from, but this is becoming a slightly worrisome problem. I caused Laevateinna to become what she is, but I thought my eyes were mistaken once I witnessed her powers. Now with Uryusume confirming my suspicion, I can't help but be both fascinated, and slightly worried.

Once the elevator door opened, I walked over to Tendou's room and forced the lock to let me in. I walked over to the bookshelves and rearranged some books. Correctly rearranging them, the center bookshelf pushed itself inward, before sliding to the right into the wall, revealing a secret passage. Walking down the dark passage, I would enter a laboratory. It's been a while since I've been down here, I believe the last time was about 20 to 22 years ago? It's quite nostalgic for me to be down here. I saw a messy pile of documents of failed projects and successful projects. Walking to a desk near a gigantic cryopod, I looked at the documents referring to Project:L, or as I fondly remember it, END Replication. It was probably our most successful project here, even though our final product became rampant. But that's not what I'm mainly here for.

It's quite fascinating indeed. With Laevateinna and Uryusume, we can finally now put the Herrscher count up to 4. We have one Herrscher working for us, another one who is currently dormant right now, and 2 others who have now shown themselves to us. It's interesting that 4 have already awakened, but what intrigues me the most is the order of their awakening. Herrschers usually have an order that they awaken in, but that order was not present in this era like the other one. Minus the one who is working for us and the dormant one who wasn't an original Herrscher, Laevateinna, and Uryusume, according to Doctor Enmu's description of them at least, seem to show powers of Herrschers that shouldn't be awake yet. Laevateinna, the Herrscher of Clairvoyance, and Uryusume, the Herrscher of Ice. The 8th and the 5th Herrschers respectively. Those two awakened out of order of the supposed Herrscher order from the First and Second Civilization. If this trend continues, I fear for the worst, as my goals might not be able to be accomplished.

Walking over to the cryopod. I put my hand on the frozen chamber, wiping off all the fog on the glass frame. Inside laid a small, white-haired girl. She has been in a cryostasis for many, many years now. If the other one awakens too early, she'll definitely come for her.

"Don't worry." I tell the girl in the cryopod.

"We won't give you to her, at least not yet. When the time comes, I will come here and wake you up. But until then, continue resting…..Kiana…"

---

Chapter 9 End