Three months went by, and Rita still had no leads about Bianka's past. The orphanage, the nearby towns, the nuns... No one knew a thing about her. It was as if she had never existed before and suddenly appeared in Sochi (a Russian city stretching on the coasts of the Black Sea). So far Rita had noted down five peculiar things about her younger roommate.

First, Bianka's past memories were wiped clean as if it had been set on factory default. Upon waking up she had forgotten her name, her parent's name, her home and every piece of her life that had shaped her into this young girl she was now. She had chosen her own name based on a certain goddess. She was brought into Schicksal by the Overseer himself, which did not surprise Rita as he would often visit orphanages to find children with hidden talents.

Bianka's story deferred from Rita's who, on the contrary, remembered everything about her past. She knew she was the daughter of a famous florist who often frequented the high society. Unfortunately, her life was turned upside down when the Honkai plague hit her hometown. She was saved by Ragna Lodbrok and was brought into Schicksal.

Second, Bianka was culturally knowledgeable though she had lost her memories. She could speak Russian, German and French and was most fluent in English, which Rita guessed was her mother tongue. Her accent had a soft tune to it which made it hard for the maid to pinpoint where exactly her new mistress had come from. Being multilingual allowed Bianka to get along with most of the S-rank Valkyries at Schicksal's HQ.

Third, she was called both an idiot and a genius. During Rita's secret investigation at Sochi, she remembered the orphanage counselor had called Bianka an idiot who acted before thinking. Rita could attest to it given that she had received several bold and embarrassing questions from Bianka. But the young lady was also academically smart and never hesitated to ask or answer questions in class.

Fourth, she was egotistic. She had an inflated sense of superiority, making her hold her head higher than needed and have a chest that could burst from self pride. She would often publicize around her that she was the future great leader of the Immortal Blades. While it was true, it was not necessarily wise to announce it so openly. Rita did criticize her several times over it. Unbeknownst to Bianka, she was disliked by all of her classmates at St Freya. Humility was often valued more than blatant honesty.

Fifth, the young mistress was very agitated at night, and Rita would often tease her about it. Bianka would put her head under her pillow, kick her sheets out of the bed at least 5 times throughout the night, and when it seemed it was over, one would find the sheets drenched in saliva. Waking her up every morning was a tiring chore as she was a heavy sleeper, and therefore her maid felt obliged to come up with creative ways to forcefully wake up the sleeping beauty with morning dragon breath. Rita's favorite weapon of the month was the water spray which blissfully brightened her mornings.

"Ack! Stop it! Rita, let me sleep!" Bianka grumbled before crawling back under her bedsheets.

Of course, after a while, Rita's favorite weapon would become obsolete as well. So, she tossed aside her water spray, tied up her hair and rolled up her sleeves. Half a minute later, Bianka was pulled out of bed by force like a radish being pulled out of earth.

"One more minute," she muttered while hugging her pillow.

"Miss Ataegina, you must've forgotten that your first trimester physical exams start today. Didn't you say you wanted to become an S-ranker, oh future great leader of the Immortal Blades?"

At once, Bianka leapt from her slumber and rushed to the bathroom without any further complaints. She was a stubborn child who at first did not want to attend St Freya Academy and found Schicksal's HQ more interesting. After carefully reasoning with her, Bianka had finally accepted to enroll in the academy. As a D-rank Valkyrie, the lowest Valkyrie rank, she had to prove herself first before she could think of going onto expeditions with the Immortal Blades. For now, she was a nobody among the public despite having Otto Apocalypse's favour.

St Freya Academy had two sets of exams per trimester: one that consisted of pure academical knowledge such as History, Science and Mathematics; the other set was based on their physical prowess like hand-to-hand combat, offensive and defensive strategies, ranged or melee weapon skills and evasion techniques. The candidates were to perform in front of everyone. All of these were organised by the school's principal, Theresa Apocalypse, granddaughter of the Overseer.

In the past, Theresa had always sent invitations to the Immortal Blades a week prior the exams. She thought that having Ragna Lodbrok's presence among the audience would motivate the young Valkyries while they fight for higher marks. Much to her disappointment, however, Ragna never liked parading her troops in public for entertainment and her invitation had always been declined for whatsoever excuse Ragna could cleverly come up with. Theresa guessed that it was due to her grandfather being one of the special guests; if Ragna were to attend it, she would have to sit either next to him or in the same row. Now Theresa only sent the invitations to annoy Ragna, but the teachers at St Freya thought that the principal was just being polite and kind.

Rita combed her mistress' tangled straw-like hair for her first trimester exams, which to the latter felt more like violent pulls.

The young master babbled lots of words that sounded like childish complaints while her maid's hands were at work. "Leave it! How can you tame— can't you be gentler? — that haystack over my head with a comb? Hay cannot become— ouch! ack! — as lustrous and healthy as you want it to be."

"Miss Ataegina, when your hair has the color of hay it does not mean that it has to become hay," Rita said in a gentle tone as she ripped the comb free, "If you let me take care of it every morning, then it will not become such a mess." She tied it up into a high ponytail.

.

.

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"The sun heat is another opponent not to be taken lightly," Rita cautioned, arms crossed over her chest and with a severe look on her face. "I have unfortunately witnessed quite a number of Valkyries fainting during their physical examinations. Miss Ataegina, remember to stay hydrated at all times. "

"Yes, Rita."

"Here is your lunchbox. Usually, gratins are laden with salted butter or heavy cream, so I have made a lightweight version for you with cheese, potatoes and mushrooms. I have added roast meat to another section of your lunchbox so please eat up to your fill."

"Thank you, Rita."

"Do a proper warm up. The instructors will let you take all your time. Ask the instructor's help if you find it hard to adjust your battlesuit. Oh, and don't rush to the enemy. Study its movements first before you act. Fight with elegance and mind your clothes while you move around. The judges do give additional points for gracefulness and mannerism."

"Understood Rita."

"Do not flaunt your strength. Be humble and help your classmates when needed."

"What if I don't want to help them?" Bianka asked sheepishly.

"It will be seen as a reprehensible behavior. You will get additional points for excellent leadership skills and teamwork."

"Additional points...?" she mumbled to herself. At once, her eyes sparkled and a huge smile was plastered on her face. "Okay! I will help them as much as I can!" she said in a sudden excitement.

"Fantastic then! I shall make myself scarce for now. May luck shine upon you, miss Ataegina."

Rita slightly bowed to her, and as she turned to leave, she received a back hug from her mistress. Rita could only smile at this brief interaction. Just a little after Bianka had left, light clacking sounds approached her from behind. From the footsteps, she could tell there were two people heading towards her.

"Miss Lodbrok?"

Ragna was present much to Rita's surprise.

She usually donned a maid outfit similar to Rita's. Her odd taste in clothes also added to the reason why she was a gossip-starter pack. One day in her drunken state, she had confessed to a younger Rita that dressing as a maid was some sort of kink that brought her inner peace. Rita never brought up that conversation again due to the second-hand embarrassment she had felt that day. Today her former mistress looked different, but different in a good way. Ragna spiced up her monochrome outfit with some St Freya colors: a long black cape with flame-orange colored hems matching the outlines of her unbuttoned black coat which she wore underneath; under her coat was a white shirt which had an embroidered logo of the Schicksal wings, an emblem that meant victory and freedom to many and was mostly worn by St Freya students; white thigh highs which she wore with a black high-waist corset shorts on top, which was a common outfit choice to the junior Valkyries; and thick black boots.

Rita's eyes then went to Ragna's new personal assistant — Ana Schariac, an A-rank Valkyrie. The maid noted nothing interesting about her. They exchanged their quiet greetings but that was it. She felt a pinch in her heart because she was not the one standing beside Ragna. Perhaps she had become too accustomed to serving her every day. Rita followed them back to the stadium where they all occupied the reserved front seats.

Theresa Apocalypse announced the candidate names in ascending order. They arranged themselves into groups of three and the first group entered the stage. Bianka Ataegina was among them, and she walked in oozing with confidence, waving at Rita and at Ragna who acknowledged her in return. With a cocky smile on her lips, she turned back to her two teammates who glared at her in response. Himeko Murata stood on a pedestal and made a long speech, which Rita half-listened to, and when she was done the whole stadium clapped and cheered. The arena was now enclosed in a holographic dome where random Honkai beasts of equal strength would be generated in the simulation mechanism. Those inside the dome were expected to defeat the simulations by employing various techniques in front of the judges. Himeko Murata climbed up to the front row seats and sat next to her friend Ragna.

It usually took the system less than a minute to start, but for the first time in history it was frozen.

A whole five minutes went by and nothing was happening. The system was supposed to go through an automatic shutdown if it were to malfunction, but strangely the holographic dome was still on. Impatient and restless, Himeko threw in five curse words from her usual colorful language and descended onto the stage but strangely could not get inside of the dome. Thin transparent fibers webbed with one another had created a strong barrier where no one outside could get inside, and vice versa. Bianka and her two teammates pounded on the dome in vain. Frustrated, Himeko disappeared in the St Freya halls to look for the technicians.

Meanwhile, the dome glowed an eerie pink, the stage ground rumbled throwing the girls off balance and a horrific roar echoed, silencing everyone in the stadium. The three girls were trapped on the stage forced to face a gigantic anomaly that was known to have killed A-rankers and even some S-rankers before. The simulation system had generated an Emperor-class Honkai beast — the Ganesha.

Bianka herself was shaken by the sight of it. It had the face of both a goat and a bull with two long horns pointing up and two smaller curved horns on its lower jaw. Its maw opened and drooled an icky fluorescent pink fluid. Thick scales protected its massive body. Bianka waited to observe its movements like Rita had advised her, but the beast made a second roar, tugged its body into a ball and began rolling towards her with tremendous power threatening to crush her. She evaded in time but it was a close call. The spectators fidgeted and some ran down to offer their help. Ragna and her assistant tried to pry open the barrier with bare hands, but it was to no avail.

Himeko ran back onto the stadium, frantically shooting curse words at the technicians she deemed useless. Exasperated, both Ragna and Himeko turned to their greatswords and charged at the barrier to perforate it. It did work but their victory lasted less than two seconds: the transparent barrier constituted of an odd type of material capable of weaving itself back to its original form the moment it was cut, so no matter how quick or how deep the fissures were, the fibres would eventually mend themselves back again.

Rita Rossweisse retained her usual composure amidst the chaos. For there was one thing that no one had noticed — Otto Apocalypse was missing.