So the previous two chapters have been revised and I'm happy to say there wasn't alot that actually changed. The only major scene that's been changed was Neo's introduction for obvious reasons. The rescue performed by Raven isn't as long as the introduction of Neo but it should be pretty fun to read if you want to go back and reread it.
That means the Excalibur had been kept, which surprised me cause you guys really liked it. I recommend reading just the part right after Haruto says the word Excalibur, it's short but I feel that it's helpful in beginning to understand the origins of the sword.
Shoutout to vladbucur1997 and another person who shall not be named, because I don't want people spoiling themselves by looking for the review I was inspired by( Don't worry I've privately PM'd them), for letting me bounce off the idea of where to go in terms of the Excalibur and I think I was able to keep most of what I wanted to and was able to tie it in with the Honkai-verse.
Other than that, enjoy this chapter :)
A week had passed after the events at the docks, and what had followed after that night was a whirlwind of activity.
Firstly the statement from Anti-Entropy on what exactly had occurred at the docks for the public, who were dying for answers. To wake up to the sounds of explosions and smoke coming off the docks was something that not everyone looked forward to.
A public conference was held the following morning and the statement that was given was that a terrorist organization had set up operations in Nagazora and through the quick and decisive actions of Anti-Entropy that cell had been thoroughly destroyed and any survivors would be interrogated and sentenced to life in prison.
Praise was quickly given to the organization by every Nagazora citizen for their swift defense of their home. The Honkai fighting organization that were once looked with apprehension and worry were now looked upon as heroes.
It seems that the public image of Anti-Entropy has gone up quite a lot.
As for me, Kiana, and Midori?
Well for starters any information regarding our involvement in the mess was kept under heavily classified information. While we were still interrogated for any information that we had regarding what happened, it was decided to keep our involvement from the public knowledge.
Which was fine by me, I wanted to put this far behind me.
While I simply had to swear and sign a form to not mention the events of that night to anyone, Kiana drew the short end of the stick when it came to consequences. Even Midori, who was a Valkyrie and meant to be the nemesis of Anti-Entropy, was just given a stern lecture by the Anti-Entropy higher-ups.
Kiana not only had to go through a series of medical tests to ensure that there were no more harmful harmful toxins affecting her body, she had to wear a miniature ankle monitor for a week so that Anti-Entropy knew where the girl was at all times. A precaution that they said was necessary should the World Serpent try anything in the near future.
Though I felt that they went a bit over the top when she was also not allowed to leave the apartment complex for that same week...which also happened to be guarded 24/7 by undercover AE agents.
And though it might not feel any different for observers, living there for almost a year now has made me pretty knowledgeable on who would be there at any given time of the day. We were quite a distance away from the more popular areas of Nagazora so I pretty much knew every tenant by name now.
So to say it was quite awkward when you instantly knew who was a secret agent and how they seemed to congregate on our floor specifically with the excuse that they were visiting friends.
And as for Kiana? Well lets just say her being in a foul mood because of this predicament would be an understatement.
That didn't mean I tried my best to keep her happy. On her first day of home imprisonment I brought as many snacks as I could to cheer her up. Usually that tactic would work as she would go from sad to happy pretty quickly.
Though I found out soon enough that I too would be dragged into her predicament.
"Kiana," I muttered from my position on the ground. The TV was playing in the background with some sort of anime that I've never heard before while the sounds of noon traffic could be heard over the speakers.
"Yes Haru-senpai?" Kiana asked me innocently.
"Can you, y'know, let me go?" I deadpanned from where I was.
"...No," The white haired girl denied as she tightened her hold over me, sealing my fate for the rest of that day.
"Okay...," I sighed tiredly after half an hour of trying to get the Kaslana off of me with no success. "I didn't have anything important to do anyway today."
Kuro held a very smug look on her face as she watched my predicament play out from atop of the couch. The black cat even had the nerve to meow loudly when she stretched, flaunting the fact that she was not currently being held down.
And before I could curse her out, she simply got off the couch, walked out of the room and back to mine.
Cheeky little feline she was.
But I suppose that I was to blame for how Kiana was acting. I couldn't imagine how horrifying it was to see someone you cared about die before your eyes, even worse that died trying to save you.
Dying a second time...it definitely was much more vivid than dying the first time. Dying from the drunken truck driver happened as fast as snapping your finger. I was alive and in the next instant I was not.
I suppose I should be lucky that my first time was instantaneous as opposed to my slow, excruciatingly painful death at the hands of Iudex.
Thinking about that hulking Soulium Knight got a terrified shiver from my body.
...Huh what do you know, maybe that therapist wasn't a waste of time after all.
Alongside having to sign that waiver of agreeing not to mention anything about the events at the dock, I also had to attend a weekly session with one of their provided therapists. It was apparently something that did with all of their soldiers after they either had a close experience with death...or killed their first person.
And seeing how I checked both of those boxes in under one night, in their eyes I really needed some therapy.
The therapist that I got assigned to was nothing but kind and patient with me. Years of consoling countless soldiers had given her more than experience with how to approach me. Slow and steady was what she told me.
She didn't even bat an eyelash when I acted normal whenever she brought up anything regarding my second death. She simply said that she would be waiting for the time that I would wish to talk about that situation and she would be there to help me move on.
I simply nodded and thanked her for her patience, not mentioning how this wasn't the first that I've died.
But the therapist did warn me that I might develop some sort of PTSD regarding robots, specifically those the size of Iudex, and should I experience an episode that I should contact her immediately.
I really hoped that wasn't the case...
Though I suppose only time would tell.
I was broken out of my stupor when my phone buzzed with a notification. During my time of self contemplation Kiana had finally gotten off of me and took her spot at the couch, flipping through the channels of the television to try and alleviate her boredom.
Though I could feel her watching me from the corner of her eye. If I tried to attempt to leave her apartment I could almost guarantee that I would be getting football tacked into the ground before I could leave.
Resigning myself to my fate as Kiana's prisoner for the day, I pulled out my phone to see why my phone buzzed for a notification.
[From: Midori Aki]
How are you and Kiana? I hope that you guys are recovering without problems.
It was right before we left the Anti-Entropy garrison to go back to our respective homes that me and the undercover Valkyrie exchanged numbers. We promised to check up on each other throughout the recovery process.
I quickly typed in my response and hit the send button.
[From: Haruto Nakamura]
Doing as well as you can for being trapped in your apartment for an entire week. Kiana has all but forced me to share her predicament lol.
It did not take me long for Midori to answer back.
[From: Midori Aki]
That's something that I expected from the Kaslana to be honest. I'm glad that you're both doing fine. The doctors said that I should be able to take the bandages covering my head by the end of the week.
Being the one that had done the most work in freeing Kiana, one might expect her to be the one with the most injuries but in fact it was the complete opposite as she was the one to come out the least scathed.
Aside from minor cuts and bruises, her only biggest injury was the nasty blow to her head that was solved with just some stitches and a lot of rest.
Though it was not to say that I was not appreciative of the fact that she came out without major injuries. One simply had to laugh at the irony of how the three of us came out of this ordeal.
Speaking of said ordeal...
"Durandal," A memory of what I had experienced in that period of my second death played out in my head. What had followed after that was a bit of a blur to me but I knew enough that I had done something that I definitely was not supposed to.
I did not forget about what I had seen in that strange dark abyss I was in, about the boy who carried my name, the girl who I knew to be the S-Rank Valkyrie Durandal. Just thinking about the legendary Valkyrie brought me a pain that I didn't know how to feel about. It didn't feel like the pain of losing a limb or breaking a bone.
But the pain of losing a loved one.
I was unsure of what to think about this sudden revelation and the feelings that came with it. I did not want to jump to conclusions about what this bond meant but at the same time I desperately wanted answers.
"Apollo?" I called out inside my head, seeing if the reclusive spirit had returned. In unknown times like these they were the first person I turned to. When it became clear that they had yet to return from wherever they had gone, I tried calling out to the other spirit within my head. 'Hyperion?"
Only to get no response in return.
I resisted the urge to sign out loud as I knew that without the two of them to help answer this dying question I had, there was only one thing that I could do.
Wait.
My phone buzzed again with another message from Midori, a most welcome distraction from my current dilemma.
[From Midori Aki]
I've gotten a heads up from my superior, she'll be due to make a report about the situation at the docks to her superiors by the end of the day.
I mentally cringed at that update, an unwanted consequence from the night at the docks. I would never hate Midori for helping me save Kiana, if it wasn't for her I was sure that I wouldn't be able to reach Kiana in time.
But at the same time, I had to hate the fact that my classmate was a Valkyrie of Schicksal.
I wanted desperately to know who her partner Valkyrie was but I knew the answer that I would receive if I tried asking would be that it was classified information. For all I know it could be some random Valkyrie who could've been assigned to Nagazora.
But there was a chance, a small one at that, it could be someone instrumental to the plot. For all I know it could be Rita again that assisted in the docks and that spelled a disaster waiting to happen.
For if Rita knew what I had done at the docks, she would most certainly report it back to Otto.
And if he knew, I could kiss this life goodbye.
But there was nothing that I could do about that, so the only thing I could do yet again was wait.
Gosh there was a lot of waiting to do after these kinds of events weren't there?
[From: Midori Aki]
Did you know that Ishigami-sensei had those kinds of abilities in the first place? From what my superior told me he's someone on the level of A-Rank Valkyries. If that's the case, what's he doing as a teacher at Chiba Academy?
And the other revelation that my chess teacher was someone who possessed abilities similar, if not exactly, to the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy. A small part of me was not surprised by this revelation as I knew there was something more than meets the eyes with the teacher.
But it had been nothing more than a hunch without real evidence. When I had that radio in my hand after getting attacked in Kiana's apartment, I knew that it had been time to take a risk.
[From: Haruto Nakamura]
I had an idea that he was something special, but I'm not sure of his whole story.
I texted back before I pocketed my phone and joined Kiana at the couch. There were questions I had for my teacher but unlike my dilemma with Durandal, I knew that my patience would not go unrewarded for long.
Because I was sure that my teacher also had questions for me as well.
Haruto was not the only one in a dilemma. Deep within the recesses of his mind all one could hear was the ranting of a godly being.
"I've forgotten how tedious it was to get out of that form," Hyperion complained as a pair of wings were still being protruded from their back. The hooded spirit had their head turned around as they tried to get the wings to curl back into them, but to no avail. "But damn was that liberating!"
Off to the side Apollo was busy in his own little world, their hood was down to reveal hair the same bright shade of red that Haruto possessed as they tuned out Hyperion's loud boisterous voice.
"Oh did you see the look on her face when she saw me?! Oh that was something I needed to see again. I forgot the joy that comes from seeing faces like those." Hyperion's words went completely unheeded as the captain's focus was directed to something else.
Specifically the object that he was holding in his hand.
It was a very worn down Schicksal Captain badge. The illustrious metallic sheen that it once had was nowhere to be seen from weathering countless battles but it still remained a source of pride for him.
He could still remember the ceremony that was held like it had just been yesterday. There he was handed this badge by the Overseer himself, giving him the responsibility of being the Captain of the Battleship Hyperion. That day marked the beginning of a journey that not even his wildest imagination could prepare him for.
It also marked the day that he would be the Captain responsible for the wellbeing of Kiana, Mei, and Bronya.
Yet now instead of invoking joy, it now only reminded him of bittersweet memories.
"Shields at 25%!" A technician yelled as the Hyperion shook, the once calm bridge was the very definition of chaos.
"Air decks 5-7 are compromised!" Another shouted.
"We've lost weapons system controls!"
"Battleship Gaia is down!"
"Receiving multiple distress beacons from Battleship Daedalus!"
"The left wing of the formation is about to get swarmed from the Honkai!"
"We've lost contact with Valkyrie Squads 4 and 9!"
"What about-!" He shouted over the chaos, only for one of the bridge technicians to point out of the window of the bridge in terror.
"Brace for impact!" Was all that he heard before his world was consumed by white.
…
"Oi, did you hear me?" Hyperion's voice ripped the captain from memory lane and back to reality. He instantly clasped his fingers over the badge before pocketing it into his robe. Turning around he addressed the personification of Death. "Forgive me I was deep in thought, what did you say again?"
The avatar of destruction looked as if they wanted to say something, evident by how their red glowing eyes burned brighter than the captain had ever seen them. Though that could easily be due to the fact that they finally got the opportunity to exert their power quite a bit.
"...you know what forget about it," They dismissed as they took a seat on one of the rocks that littered this place they were in. "Now that I have your attention, let's talk seriously. More specifically..." Red eyes narrowed and the captain knew what they wanted to talk about.
"You're willingness to let the Herrscher of Sentience to survive,"
His hazel eyes narrowed in response, the captain more than willing to fight for this. "As I have said before, Fu Hua could not be allowed to die. If not for her Kiana would have never mastered controlling her Herrscher powers, let alone overpower Sirin's influence. With the early awakening of Hua, Fu Hua is now able to reign control over the persona in her own body before it can complete its transformation." He argued, fully believing his words.
"And what if you're wrong?" Hyperion challenged. "Fu Hua was able to fight against the Herrscher of Sentience only with the help of Kiana, who will save her now that Kiana is not even aware of the Herrscher sleeping within her?"
"Those were different circumstances than right now." The Captain countered. "Back then Fu Hua was not in control of her body whilst Hua was being empowered by the Honkai. Here Fu Hua is in complete control of her body whilst Hua has little to any Honkai energy within her."
"Have you learned nothing from the Herrscher of Domination?" Questioned the persona of Death, bringing up some rather unpleasant memories for the captain. "Just because Hua may not have the Honkai levels of a Herrscher does not make her any less of a threat. If anything she should be considered more of a threat than she originally was."
They were...right, the Herrscher of Domination was a perfect example that a Herrscher did not need to rely on raw destructive powers to be a threat. Not only was their Theater of Domination unreachable through ordinary means, the ability to get into anywhere with ease allowed the Herrscher puppets to wreck unimaginable damage.
It was only through a mix of high risks and luck that they were able to come out on top.
Hyperion held their hand up and out shot multiple projections of Fu Hua's life. From her first meeting with Moth's Squad V Leader Himeko in that dark alleyway, to when she awakened the ICHOR that was injected into her and became a MANTIS, to the betrayal of her disciples of the School of Taixuan.
"You fail to realize that the Fu Hua of now does not have her entire memories back. Even if she has begun to remember them you simply cannot remember countless millennia of memories at the snap of your fingers, especially ones as painful as hers." They lowered their hand, ceasing the projections as the hooded spirit looked at Apollo seriously.
"Not only does she have to remember every single memory, she has to make sense of it all which takes time. Time that Hua can use to manipulate Fu Hua into believing that she is the only ally that she has."
The captain's eyes narrowed at what Hyperion was trying to imply. "Do you think that Fu Hua is so easily manipulated that she would just believe the words of a voice in her head?"
"...Have you forgotten whose head we're currently in?" Hyperion deadpanned as he spread his arms out in reminder to whose mindscape that they were in. "From the start of your introduction you've been nothing but insistent on making sure Haruto follows your advice."
"...Fair enough," The captain conceded as if he had no argument for that.
"Though while I would want nothing more than to wipe Fu Hua out of existence and call it a day…" Hyperion leaned forward as his voice took a much more serious tone.
"It wouldn't do anything for us in the long run when the Herrscher of Sentience is no longer present in Fu Hua or Hua."
"Wait," Apollo's hazel eyes looked to the spirit in confusion at this sudden revelation. "What do you mean by 'no longer present'?"
"It's as I said, the Herrscher of Sentience is no longer present within Fu Hua; the core to be more specific" Hyperion crossed their legs together before beginning to explain.
"The Honkai has billions of people to choose fourteen candidates out of but it likes to keep tabs on the most promising people. Fu Hua's history made her a very promising candidate, a perfect host to cultivate a nasty Herrscher personality."
They began to list off all of the Valkyrie's 'promising' qualities. "An outcast for most of her life, bottling up her emotions, wiping out memories lest she goes insane…the list goes on. Point is that there were many avenues for the Honkai to make the perfect Herrscher."
"However it seems that those promising qualities also worked to Fu Hua's advantage. Her resilience in the face of such hardships made it hard for the seed of the Honkai to take shape when she received it back when her heart held a tiny whisper of hatred in it, only truly blooming in the wake of her death."
Apollo smirked as he pointed out the praise the apparition of death had just given. "And here I thought you hated her?"
"Please it's not everyday that someone stands up to me, she deserves a small sliver of my respect at the very least." They admitted with a shrug of their shoulders.
"But getting back on topic, her usage of the Fenghuang Down played a big part of how Hua came to be. Though she tried wiping her memories in order to forget the past, the soul will always remember."
"Leading to the creation of Hua, her other self." In a way it made sort of sense, even if the details regarding the birth of Hua were probably much more complicated. The human mind was only meant to live a certain number of years and Fu Hua had effectively lived way beyond what many might consider the limit of the human mind.
Even with the miraculous function of the Fenghuang Down being able to lock away memories there was no guarantee that her mind hadn't been affected in some minor way that could be noticed by the attentive MANTIS. Small things would go a long way if it kept piling up and somewhere down the road Hua was born, perhaps a byproduct of having her memories wiped so often.
It was only a shame that the Honkai took advantage of her and turned her into their Herrscher of Sentience.
"The seed of the Herrscher of Sentience corrupted Hua when Fu Hua was at her weakest, when she was unable to fight back. However the opposite has now happened with Fu Hua being the strongest while Hua is on the opposite end."
"And with how early she was awakened, the herrscher personality must've been weak then?" Apollo asked as he began to see where they were going with this conversation.
Hyperion nodded in confirmation. "So much so that when it awoke that it would have immediately tried to gain more energy to sustain its existence. Though when I was the first thing it met their flight or fight response must've kicked in. And going by the fact that we cannot find it…"
"And who do we have to blame for that?" Apollo cut in.
Death just shrugged his shoulders. "In a last ditch effort of preservation the Herrscher of Sentience separated itself from Hua by using what little honkai energy it had and physically manifested itself."
Apollo did not like where this was going. "So you're telling me…"
"That the Herrscher of Sentience, that is no longer Hua, grew a pair of legs and walked away?" Judging by the tone in Hyperion's voice, they did not like the conclusion that they had arrived at either.
"You seem calmer than I would've expected you to be," The captain pointed out. "I'd imagine you in a much more foul mood considering that the Herrscher is aware of both of our existences, the one thing that we were trying to avoid may I remind you?"
Yes both of their identities would make Haruto target number one for the force of destruction that was the Honkai. First off the captain was from the future and with it knowledge of how future events would play out. A boon that would give humanity an instrumental edge against the future Herrschers.
And Hyperion, Death itself.
That needed no explanation whatsoever.
"Only beings of high Honkai energy can commune directly with the will of the Herrscher. Even Herrschers have trouble with this, evident how Sirin needed to go to the moon in order to commune with the Will, where the palace there is seeped with high Honkai energy."
"Best case scenario is that the Herrscher gets jumped by some random thug, with how weak they must be right now they're as strong as a regular human right now. It can't even produce enough Honkai energy to corrupt someone." Hyperion laughed at the irony at that. A Herrscher unable to corrupt even a single human being, they would have laughed if the situation they were in wasn't serious.
"Wouldn't it try and absorb more Honkai?" Apollo questioned. "Try and complete its transformation?"
"That is a possibility and it will most likely try to do that, but not anytime soon. I imagine that it's trying to figure out where it is, get its bearings together seeing how it's awakened way too early. If it tries to gain more energy not only will we know but also Anti-Entropy and Schicksal as well. They could do the job of getting rid of it for us..." Hyperion silently prayed that would be the case, that would be one big headache dealt with. But knowing their luck that wouldn't be the case.
"But one thing is for certain, the Herrscher of Sentience has awakened and I have a feeling that it won't be staying idle for very long. It's just a matter of trying to guess what it's first move will be."
"It is a relief to see you in one piece my old friend," A smile was on the Overseer's face from the screen that he was in. "I feared the worst when your glasses' communicator stopped sending its signal back to us."
Fu Hua returned with a small smile of her own but on the inside she could feel repulsion beginning to rise as she thought back to the vision of her death by his hands. "Forgive me," She pushed that memory away. "The World Serpent had jamming devices all around the docks, preventing any communications to be sent."
Otto was oblivious to her inner dilemma as he nodded. "I suspected as much and seeing Anti-Entropy's statement all but confirmed it. I trust that there were no complications?"
Fu Hua shook her head as she began to give her report. "They were in possession of a fearsome Soulium Knight, Iudex was its name. The Knight eliminated four squadrons of mechs before it was destroyed."
"I see...and what of the remains?"
"In Anti-Entropy's care."
Otto cupped his chin with his hand. "...It is a shame that we could not salvage what remained, I'm sure that it was quite the creation. But the safety of K-423 is more than a reward, speaking of her I trust that nothing permanent has been inflicted on her?"
"You just want to know cause you plan on turning her into a Herrscher you bastard!" The voice in her head, Hua as she called herself, shouted.
"Under Anti-Entropy's care, I was last told that she is expected to make a full recovery by the end of this week. Fu Hua ignored her other self's proclamation. It was quite a learning experience in having a voice now living inside her head and something that she quickly had to get used to when they kept shouting all the time.
"I heard that!"
...Definitely something that she needed to get used to.
"What of Midori Aki?" Inquired the Overseer as on his end of the call, the blonde man was looking at the portfolio of the undercover Valkyrie. "I understand that you called upon her to help rescue K-423, and it was the B-Rank Valkyrie to be the one to ultimately free her."
The thought of the Apocalypse head taking an interest in her junior Valkyrie made Fu Hua clench her hand in anger. The way the video call was set up made such an action unnoticeable as she kept her face in its usual passive mask. "She performed admirably, so much so that she was able to distract Iudex for a while before I was able to finish the job."
He would not be getting his claws on Midori, not on her watch.
"A hidden gem that Valkyrie is, I originally planned to have her transferred into another squadron but at this rate I think that Durandal would more than be happy in having her in the Immortal Blades. Who knows, perhaps there will be a new addition to the S-Ranks in the future."
"I agree, she certainly has the drive to do so." She replied truthfully. Seeing that fire lit in Midori's green eyes the immortal Valkyrie knew the girl would go far.
"And while all of that is good," The glint that the Overseer's eyes gained was setting off alarms in Fu Hua's head. It was never a good sign when the blonde man's green eyes gained that sort of look. "I've heard some rather strange reports…"
"That Haruto Nakamura participated in the operation."
Fu Hua readied herself for what she was about to say next. "Yes, the redhead highschooler unknowingly participated in the attack after a soldier tried to kill him in Kiana's apartment. After disposing of his attacker, the highschooler followed the soldier's GPS to the docks and tried to save Kiana."
"And judging from the reports, he was more than a match for the soldiers present."
"It was due to a prototype Schicksal armor that he happened upon that gave him the edge. While his training with Mei Raiden has made him proficient with the blade, it was the gauntlet's abilities that ultimately gave him the edge."
"Ah yes," Otto pulled up the image of the white and gold gauntlet before it had been turned to a blackened scrap of steel. "Asplund's invention, I was sure that the eccentric scientist would never find a person able to use his lauded creation."
"I imagine that he will be quite furious when he finds the state of the gauntlet." Fu Hua knew of the scientist that Otto was talking about, how could she forget such an eccentric man like him during her time in St. Freya Academy. She knew that he would not be pleased when he got the remains of his prototype.
He treated it like it was his firstborn child after all.
"Oh I would not be so sure of that. For all his little...quirks, that man is one of the brightest minds of Schicksal. If anyone could find a silver lining in such a hopeless situation it's that man." The blond Overseer chuckled before he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table.
"But back on the topic of Haruto Nakamura, what is your opinion on him?"
"...He certainly has potential, but I do not think that he will be someone to watch out for." She lied, not even mentioning the power that she had seen him use to decimate Iudex. "At the very least he would make a great Knight to fight in the war against the Honkai."
A small part of her was worried that the Overseer knew about Haruto's little awakening. Ishigami had assured her that the soldiers who had been there to witness the miracle swore to secrecy but you could never be 100% sure about a man like Otto.
He was as predictable as the weather, one moment it could be all sunshine and the next it would be a raging storm.
Otto was silent for a while and Fu Hua feared that he would see his bluff. "I see, perhaps my reservations about him were slightly misplaced." The Valkyrie let out a silent breath of relief that she had not been caught.
"You have completed your mission in Nagazora, I will call upon you when I am in need of your services again old friend." With one last smile, Otto ended the call and left the Valkyrie alone in her room with only her thoughts.
And Hua.
"Why do we have to follow his orders again?!" Hua complained. "We should kill him now and rid ourselves of him and the problems that he creates!"
"It's not as simple as you believe it to be," Fu Hua calmly retorted as the Valkyrie stood up from her position and approached the closet in the bedroom. "He has countless clones at his disposal, it would be meaningless to kill him if he will be back in less than an hour."
"Ugh why does it have to be so complicated! I miss those days when you would punch a hole into somebody and they would stay dead." Hua whined as Fu Hua ignored her other self's complaints as she brought out a suitcase from the closet.
"Hey old timer where are we going?"
"To where Apollo mentioned that we would find evidence of the Overseer's depravity." She replied as she began to pack the suitcase with the clothes necessary for the trip.
"You still don't believe him?" Hua asked incredulously. "After all that you saw and heard in that place?"
She thought back to the aftermath of Haruto's mindscape, to when she was narrowly saved from the jaws of Death itself.
"You play a dangerous game, Captain. Though you have entertained me with this, know that I will not hesitate to finish what I have started if she finds herself near me without good reason."
Fu Hua slightly flinched when the massive dragon gave her a demented smile, revealing rows and rows of crooked teeth.
"Oh do not be afraid Phoenix, you cannot run from Death. I only hope the next time that we meet your fire burns as bright as the sun itself. Perhaps you may be able to burn me."
With one last demented laugh the dragon's neck slithered back into the shadowy abyss that surrounded them, the draconic monstrosity gone for the time being. But Fu Hua could not rest just yet as she turned her attention to the sole remaining occupant in this dark abyssal world.
"I know you have a lot of questions for me but know that I cannot answer them, not because I want to." The aged Haruto Nakamura gave her a sad smile that was full of regret as he waved his hand and the area around them began to construct itself back together.
"But know that I am on your side. You cannot trust Otto Apocalypse, not with what his plans entail for this-." He paused when he saw the scrutinizing gaze of Fu Hua, her still red eyes looking at him with distrust.
"...If you need proof of my words then head to this place," A piece of paper manifested itself right in front of Fu Hua's eyes "It will show you all that you need to know."
"Hearing something is one thing," Fu Hua answered as she finished packing her suitcase, lifting it off the bed. "Seeing it with your own eyes is something else."
The gray haired Valkyrie took one last look around the apartment to see if she forgot anything important before she left. Stepping into the brisk night of Nagazora, Fu Hua made her way to the airport to head to her destination. "I will come to my own conclusion when I see it with my own two eyes."
"That means we have to be stealthy about it then, ugh that's so boring!" Hua complained for the umpteenth time. It was strange to think about it but Hua was the complete opposite of her. Something that Fu Hua would pride herself on, Hua despised.
Yet for some odd reason...she did not mind Hua's commentary.
"But if you happen to across some kind of big baddie that you can't avoid…" Fu Hua could not stop the smile on her face as she knew what Hua was trying to say.
"I'll be sure to give them a good beatdown for you then." She assured to Hua's joy.
"Yatta!"
Yet as the Valkyrie continued walking down the streets of Nagazora, she was oblivious to the fact that there was someone watching them. Even if she was occupied with speaking to Hua, her senses as a Valkyrie should've told her about the fact that she was being watched.
In an alleyway on the opposite street, a hooded figure was watching them with rapt attention. Their hood however was unlike those of Hyperion and Apollo's as was more akin to something one might find in a dumpster with the stains that abundantly decorated it.
Yet even with wearing such repulsive clothing, the figure had a small smile on their face before they disappeared into the darkness.
"But that Herrscher will be a problem for our future selves, we need to focus on the problems of the present." Hyperion held his hand out where a projection of a golden sword was shown. "More specifically what Haruto has pulled out of his ass."
"The Excalibur," Even the captain did not know where that had come from. He knew that it was much more than a myth in this world but he was definitely sure that what he had seen was completely different.
"The one in this universe is a stigma if I am not mistaken," Informed Hyperion. "A rather strong stigma that I'm sure is lurking in some bloodline out there but what we saw was more akin to that of a Divine Construct, but that begs the question how it even got here in the first place since it's impossible for one to be here."
Apollo nodded as he knew this to be true. The King Arthur of this universe was a young boy that happened to survive the first tests of Project Stigma, the only survivor in his village as a matter of fact. After surviving his stigma's implantation it was the MANTIS Su who had taught him how to use his newfound powers.
It was that very same MANTIS who told him about this after all.
"Are we sure that Haruto did not bring it with him?" The captain knew that his family had no relation to the Arthurian legend whatsoever. "When he entered through this universe prior to his death could he have brought it with him?"
"No, that would be impossible," Hyperion debunked as he shook his head. "The Imaginary Tree would've thrown the entire Sea of Quanta in chaos if it detected a foreign construct. We were lucky that it didn't just vaporize his soul immediately and decided to stick him in your body instead."
Yes, the nature of the Imaginary Tree. If one was to describe how the Imaginary Tree worked it would be to think it functioned like a server of data. Said data contained all kinds of mechanisms that were responsible for the creation of other worlds, rules that would govern said worlds, even the creation of people.
Everything that would happen in said worlds, from ground breaking events like a Herrscher awakening to the mundane action of twitching your finger was recorded by the Imaginary Tree.
If the Imaginary Tree was the server that controlled this universe, then it could be said that the data it contained was its own unique language. After all, what might be considered normal in their universe could be completely foreign in a completely different universe.
Case point being with Haruto's original universe, where Honkai was just a narrative element rather than an actual force of nature.
The 'Imaginary Tree' of Haruto's universe function was almost identical to their Imaginary Tree with the key exception that it had its own 'language' that it controlled the universe through. Almost like computer programming, their universe was a completely different language than Haruto's but both held their universes together.
So what does the Imaginary Tree do when it detects a forgien entity in its server of data?
Easy, it destroys it the moment it detects it. Letting it stay would throw the entire framework of the universe into disarray, causing an unimaginable amount of damage to the bubble universes.
The captain thought it was mere luck that Haruto's soul winded up in his body, but after seeing that spectacle he had just done...
He was suspecting something else was in play.
"Seeing how the world we're in isn't collapsing by the second means that whatever that was, it was completely natural." It was the only reasonable explanation that the two had come up with at the moment, even if it barely answered anything.
Natural? But how could that be? How could a construct that seemingly contains the very definition of hope exist?! Many things could not be explained, even with the Honkai to explain many of those unknowns, but how could a force of absolute destruction give birth to a construct made of hope itself?!
"I'm unsure of how it came to be but I know for certain that was the real deal," Hyperion knew that feeling of hope in its rawest form and knew that it was the almost the same thing that Haruto had manifested. "The question remains how this came to be because we know for a fact that you did not have this special ability."
The captain nodded as the only special ability that he possessed in his previous life was a slightly higher adaptability to the Sea of Quanta than your average person, but it was nothing as groundbreaking as this. "But we have a lead on where this power might've come from."
Hyperion nodded as he held his hand out and the memory of a young Bianka and a young boy that looked alot like Haruto played out.
"The mysterious bond that exists between Haruto and Durandal, a bond that we have somehow never detected up until now."
In one of the many rooms of a Schicksal Base, Rita Rossweisse was calmly sipping a cup of tea. That in of itself would not be a strange sight to see as the Maid of Schicksal often took tea breaks whenever she wasn't tidying up the base or leading the Immortal Blades.
Setting the cup down, Rita had a calm smile on her face when the base suddenly shook. The vibrations that were sent through the base felt almost akin to an earthquake, a strong one at that.
Another tremor shook the base, shaking the tea cup and the rich herbal blend within. Yet while this would send others into a panic, Rita simply maintained her patience as she calmly looked at a calendar hanging on one of the walls. Her dark pink eyes focused on what the date of that day was as another tremor shook the base.
"I see…" She muttered in realization before she stood up from her seat and walked over to the fridge. Opening the fridge up revealed the sole item that the refrigerator held.
A perfectly made chocolate fudge parfait.
"So today's the day," Reaching inside, Rita grabbed the chocolate parfait and delicately pulled it out. Even as another tremor went through the base her hold on the frosted glass did not waiver.
Looking towards the clock, the maid raised an eyebrow with how early it was. "Durandal-sama must be in a very bad mood if I am resorting to this so early."
Yes because this day marked a very special occasion for the blond S-Rank Valkyrie. More specifically, it was the day that changed everything Rita knew about her friend Durandal, or rather Bianka.
Oh how a single day could change a person completely.
The door to the room suddenly slammed open as a gray haired Immortal Blade, Alvitr if she remembered it correctly, had a panicked expression on her face. "Rita-sama! We're under attack. The Immortal Blades are preparing for-,"
"There is no attack on the base Alvitr-san," Rita quickly calmed the panicking Valkyrie. "Everything is under control."
"But-," Another tremor, this one much more powerful than the rest, shook the base. The gray haired Valkyrie looked at her as if she was crazy for thinking that this wasn't something to be concerned about.
"It's simply Durandal-sama letting out some steam," Holding the parfait glass with both hands Rita walked over to Alvitr who looked at her as if she wasn't expecting that kind of answer from her. "Do not worry about anything, this is completely normal."
"Is everything...okay with Durandal-sama?" Alvitr asked worryingly, and for good reason. Durandal was a beacon of hope and inspiration for every Valkyrie. She was what they all aspired to be, she was their role model.
So hearing of her being in such a mood that could shake the entire base made them understandably worried.
"Yes, she's just a bit hungry." The maid teased as she held up the parfait in her hands. "You know how it is, you're not you when you're hungry."
Alvitr wanted to say more but simply decided to go along with it as she nodded her head. "I'll be sure to notify the rest of the Immortal Blades then," The Valkyrie saluted and began to head back to wherever she had come rushing from.
"...Oh Alvitr-san?" Rita called out, stopping the girl in her tracks and prompting her to turn around and look at the Vice-Captain of the Immortal Blades. "Take the Immortal Blades for some training exercises, perhaps some mock battles will do?"
"But do take the whole day, I shall attend to Durandal-sama's needs in the meantime."
"Of course Rita-sama!" Alvitr saluted one last time before she ran towards the barracks with the intent on relaying these new orders to the rest of the Immortal Blades.
With that out of the way Rita made her way, parfait in hand, to the only place Durandal would be at on this special day.
The training room.
As she made her way to the training room, the tremors were getting louder and louder with each step she took. The maid's mind couldn't help but drift down memory lane to the events that had happened on this fateful day all that time ago.
Back then it was to be their first mission together, their first time being entrusted to complete an assignment alone. While they certainly were powerful back when they were younger, that youthful age had others wary if they should even be at the ranks that they were in.
One might say that this mission was what started their journeys in becoming S-Rank Valkyries.
'Lonely Panthalassa' was what their mission was called, a top secret assignment personally tasked by the Overseer himself. The reason why it was so top secret that only a handful of individuals knew that involved delving into a realm that defied all current human knowledge of the universe that they lived in.
That their world was just a drop in a massive sea brimming with countless numbers of universes.
Trying to enter a bubble universe from the outside was practically impossible. Unless one originated from that bubble or knew the manner to be able to pierce the different dimensional barriers that made up the bubble, all one could do was try and observe it from the outside.
However there were special areas that could be found in between different bubble universes, Ether Anchor Points as they were called. They were topological formations but nobody knew if they were natural or man made.
Now these Anchor Points, while very interesting, were not important alone to justify pouring in precious resources to try and explore these places. Why waste the effort and time when it could be put into solving their world's much more pressing problems.
Until it was discovered that the coordinates of the Solar System almost aligned with the coordinates of an Ether Anchor Point.
The ramifications of this were groundbreaking. That if an Anchor Point existed almost on the same coordinates of their Solar System, theoretically it would be possible to observe a clone of their world.
Which opened up a whole realm of new possibilities.
So Schicksal had begun developing a device that would allow one to travel from this world into the Anchor Point. A Gnius Device it was called.
However the drawback of it was that it could only be used in extremely rare space time windows. So rare that you had a better chance of being able to watch the passing orbit of Venus, which only occurred four times every 243 years.
And it just so happened that on this day all those years ago that the space time window to that Anchor Point would be opened, allowing them to travel through the Sea of Quanta.
It was highly risky, there were too many unknowns about the nature of the Sea of Quanta that could change the mission and jeopardize their lives. The Gnius Device itself had its own share of technical problems that a trip to the Anchor Point was not guaranteed.
But as a Valkyrie you were never guaranteed to see the next day.
Even so…
"Bianka-sama?" A young Rita asked as a young Bianka turned to face her. "I do hope you aren't having any second thoughts?"
"Please, am I ever scared? I'm just wondering why this is taking so long!" She complained as Rita simply smiled in response. Yes the legendary S-Rank Valkyrie was what people might consider a brat when she was young. Always acting high and mighty to others, ever so impatient to finish whatever she was doing so that she could move on to the next thing.
It was why very few people wanted to interact with her.
But Rita saw past that, past what other people saw. For what lied beneath all of that bravado was a Valkyrie who truly cared about people, about those that she fought for and alongside with.
You just needed to get to know her better to see it.
"Ah my two favorite Valkyries," Otto greeted as he walked up to the two of them. If you were to compare the Overseer in that time and the present you would find very little difference in their appearances. "I hope that you are ready for your special mission."
Bianka proudly placed her hands on her hips. "Of course! This mission will be a breeze!" She proclaimed confidently while Rita simply nodded her head.
"I see, I see," Otto laughed from the girl's attitude before he looked at his watch. "Well our window of opportunity is merely upon us, in less than a minute you'll be the first ever to travel into this Ether Anchor Point."
"And we are ready to step up to the occasion Otto-sama," Rita placed a hand on her chest in affirmation.
The Overseer simply smiled as he turned away and walked over to the group of scientists that were making the jump possible. Though it was more as a precaution than anything as they had run through the calculations required several times already.
All that was left to do was to wait for the time of reckoning.
And not too soon the lead scientist was calling out everyone's attention. "Alright everybody, the time is upon us! I hope you girls are ready as I'll be counting down when the window's opening." He looked towards the monitor in front of him and began counting down.
"Three,"
"Two…"
Rita closed her eyes, ready for the jump.
"One!" He called out as the maid was ready to feel her entire body get transported through the Sea of Quanta.
However it soon became apparent that something went wrong when she could hear the frantic shouting of the scientists while the Overseer was trying to find out what the problem was whilst trying to maintain order.
Oh well, while a small part of her was disappointed she wouldn't be able to travel to another dimension but you couldn't win all of them.
Turning to face Bianka, the maid was ready to hear the complaints of her partner for yet another complication. Opening her dark pink eyes however…
Revealed that the blond girl was nowhere to be seen, the only indication that she had even been next to her was the slight press in the grass where the girl had once stamped her feet impatiently as they waited for the window of opportunity.
Their Gnius devices had obviously malfunctioned, however it became quite clear that their malfunctions were drastically different.
Rita's Gnius Device had simply not allowed the Valkyrie to go anywhere at all, the best case scenario to happen should the device malfunction.
However it seems that fate was playing a cruel joke on them as while she ended up lucky, Bianka drew the short end of the stick with her malfunctioning Gnius.
Instead of simply not allowing the girl to travel through the Sea of Quanta, it had slingshotted her towards the very ends of the known Sea of Quanta. It was quite ironic that a realm meant to hold an infinite number of universes would have an end but in reality it was more like the known area of the Sea of Quanta was the only known area that could support someone's existence.
In short Bianka had been theoretically flung into a void that would instantly rip her body into atoms, before they were scattered into nothingness.
Rita could barely feel the day pass by as the scientists work day and night in trying to pull Bianka from wherever she had ended up in. The Overseer himself worked alongside the scientists in trying every conceivable method that they had available to them to rescue Bianka.
All the while Rita prayed to a God that she had never prayed to before for Bianka's safe return.
Yet as the day rolled by, so too had everyone's hope in ever seeing the Valkyrie again.
It was late into the night when it became clear that Bianka would not be coming back. "Rita-san," One of the scientists delicately touched the towel that was over her shoulders. "...It's time to go."
The light brown haired Valkyrie took a second to register what she said before she slowly nodded her head. The realization that Bianka was no longer with them, it broke something within her. First it had been Ragna...now it was Bianka.
Yet when all hope seemed to be lost, it appeared her prayer had finally been answered when the fields that they were in was enveloped by a bright light.
Everyone present shielded their eyes from the sudden explosion of light and by the time that the light died down…
It revealed Bianka, who looked the same as she had before she had disappeared.
Rita could barely hear the shouts of surprise from the other scientists as she rushed towards Bianka. Reaching her she threw her arms around the Valkyrie, uncaring if she was about to get pushed away. Bianka was very against public displays of affection and openly avoided situations that involved them.
Yet the maid would be surprised when Bianka did not try and push her away, but rather brought up her own arms and hugged the girl back, and quite ferociously might she add.
As if she could disappear at any moment.
Rita did not know what to make of this sudden development as the moment that Bianka had done this, the small sounds of sobbing had begun to escape the blond Valkyrie. The maid could feel the stains of tears on her shoulder where Bianka's head was being covered by.
"Rita...thank you for being there for me."
It was a day that had changed the life of Bianka as she began to call herself Durandal, and with it the personality that Rita knew the Valkyrie for began to follow alongside as what followed was an almost exponential growth in Durandal's prowess.
A bubble universe that had once been the Ether Anchor Point now resided within her, granting her immeasurable strength.
Yet it was on this day for every year that Durandal would hide herself away from her duties as a Valkyrie. She would spend these days in recluse, not wishing to be bothered by others. Sometimes she would spend them training or very rarely take a trip to some undisclosed place that not even she knew of.
An outsider might think of this as her way of relaxing but for Rita she knew it was something more. Whatever had happened to her during that failed jump had changed her permanently. And while she was tight-lipped about the details...
She knew those eyes that Durandal would have during this day.
Sorrow.
Anguish.
"And today…" Rita was pulled out of memory lane when she stopped in front of the door that led into the training room, the sounds of shaking the most intense it had ever been. Only one thing was running through the maid's mind as she calmly held the chocolate parfait.
"She must be very angry."
Durandal slammed her fist into a training machine, a scowl on her face as her strength completely obliterated the machine as the ruined machinery sailed into the wall. The wall rumbled from the impact before the metal scrap joined the pile of scrap that had once been state of the art training equipment.
A training robot swung its weapon at the Valkyrie's seemingly unsuspected back. While these weapons would not be able to kill, they would most certainly hurt if you weren't paying attention
But there was no worry as Durandal easily turned around and caught the swung weapon with her bare hand. The training robot tried to move its arm free but the grip in the S-Rank Valkyries arm wasn't letting it go anywhere any time soon.
The robot's singular red eye looked up for a fraction of second before Durandal's other hand came soaring for its head, completely smashing into it and turning into scrap.
A flurry of emotions was running through the S-Rank Valkyrie's mind as she dropped the broken remains of the machine in her hands. She was so out of it that she wasn't even aware that another training robot had moved to take its fallen comrades' place or that her body was already moving to obliterate it.
It was on this day that the dauntless persona that she was renowned for fell down, the only time that the mask she used to hide what had happened on this day was casted away. It was on this day that the pain she felt all those years ago would come back as fresh as the moment that she had gotten them.
Yet despite that, she always held hope that the promise made would not be forgotten.
"If you're ever in trouble, call my name and I will come to your aid. No matter what walls I must break or enemies I will face, I will come to your aid."
And yesterday night, in the midst of a dreamless rest, she heard the words that she had waited to hear for so long.
"Durandal,"
She had woken up instantly, a hand unconsciously outstretched as if she was reaching for the person who spoke it. It took her mind a second to catch up with what had just happened before she immediately rushed out of the bed. Within minutes she had donned her Bright Knight Excelesis and was already flying through the crisp cool night.
She had no idea where she was flying towards but a part of her, in some way, was guiding her to somewhere. A part within her was worried about what predicament her friend had gotten into…
But such worry was overshadowed as in that moment her entire heart was soaring just like she was in that moment. How many years had it been since she had last seen them? To be able to meet them again after so long, to be able to show them how far she had grown.
All because of them, because of the journey that they went through.
Yet just how fast her elation came, it dropped just as fast when that unknown feeling that was guiding her suddenly dissipated.
Which soon left her alone in the cover of the midnight sky, distraught slowly growing within her when she realized what it had meant. Durandal tried to invoke that unknown feeling once more but to no avail.
The promise that she made to him all those years ago, a promise that they would see each other again, a promise that she made to him, a promise that she had intended to fulfill.
And she couldn't even fulfill it.
She was in so much shock that she didn't register the fact that it had been morning by the time she had returned back to the base and subconsciously entered the training room. When she looked up and saw the equipment that she trained with on a day to day basis to get stronger.
Distraught swiftly turned to anger.
Her mind was a whirlwind of emotions that destroyed any forms of rational thought as she destroyed whatever was in front of her. So much so that she showed no hesitation when she crushed the head of a training robot that had been trapped in her hand.
All that time training, all those dangerous missions that she partook in, all
those hours that she sacrificed so she could be the strongest Valkyrie that was out there…
ONLY FOR NONE OF IT TO MATTER WHEN IT MATTERED THE MOST!
She was in such a trance that she did not hear the sounds of the door opening, nor did she hear the footsteps that approached her as she continued destroying the training equipment without thought.
"Durandal-sama."
Without even bothering to try and recognize who the speaker was, Durandal's body was already moving as she mindlessly threw a punch in the direction of whoever who said that. It was only through a brief second of rationality that her fist stopped just inches away from Rita's face.
"R-Rita?!" She cried out in shock as she immediately lowered her hand away from her Vice Captain's face.
"Ara, ara," Rita's face showed no fear despite the fact that she had been seconds away from getting punched in the face by Durandal. The only visible change that you could see was her hair had slightly moved as a result of how much power was behind that punch. "If I didn't know any better I would've believed that you were a raging Honkai beast just now."
Durandal looked at her in confusion before she looked around and winced at just how much destruction she had unleashed on the training grounds, her mind finally catching up with her actions.
You couldn't even see the once blue and white painting that made the room up, all that was left was torn up concrete. State of the art Schicksal training machinery littered the floor as you could hear the faint sounds of machinery coming off the numerous piles of scrap.
"I…" Durandal tried to come up with some reasonable explanation for this but lowered her head in shame when she could not explain her behavior.
Rita's eyes softened as that simple action was all that she needed to know. The S-Rank Valkyrie had never been the best with words after all. "It has to do with 'them', doesn't it?"
Durandal's head shot back up from her gloomy state as blue eyes looked at the maid in shock. "How did you-"
Rita simply chuckled before she pushed the chocolate parfait into the blond Valkyrie's hands. "I've been your friend for so long, do you think that I wouldn't piece together something? Especially when you act so differently on this specific day every year?"
Durandal had a sheepish smile on her face as she thought back to how she had acted and had to admit it was fairly obvious of her change in behavior on this day. And here she thought that she was being secretive on how she was feeling.
"Yes you were quite obvious about it." The maid giggled, glad to see that Durandal was coming back to her usual self. "Even some of the Immortal Blades were coming up with theories about what this day means to you."
"Huh?" Durandal eyes widened in shock. "Wait, what do you mean by theories?"
"It's nothing to concern yourself Durandal-sama," Rita dismissively waved, mentally reminding herself to not accidentally mention the gossip mill of the Immortal Blades in Durandal's presence again. "It's nothing more than gossip, nothing to worry about."
A bell rang through the entire base, an indication that it had hit noon. The maid bowed as that was her cue to leave. "I won't force you to tell me what had happened on this day but I do hope that one day you can tell me," The maid turned on her heel and made her way to leave. As Rita approached the exit with each step, Durandal's eyes never left the chocolate parfait in her hands.
"I've got your back, always!"
"It happened right after the Gnius devices malfunctioned," The S-Rank Valkyrie suddenly spoke up, stopping the maid in her tracks. "I blacked out instantly and was put in what felt like a deep sleep."
"That was until I was woken up...by him."
Rita turned back around and listened with full attentiveness as the strongest Valkyrie finally told her the story of what happened to her during the failed mission.
"He happened to come across my sleeping form and woke me up, asking me what I was doing on the edge of the Sea of Quanta." The blond Valkyrie remembered waking up on that fateful vibrant green field all that long ago like it had just happened yesterday.
"You know there are better places to sleep, you know?" Was the first thing that he had said to her under that tree.
"If it wasn't for that bubble universe there for me to land on, I would have experienced a very painful death of getting ripped apart by the Sea of Quanta."
"And I trust that your first encounter with him was anything but spectacular?" Rita asked knowing full well how the old Bianka introduced herself to others, especially on missions.
Durandal had a nostalgic smile on her face as she nodded her head. "More so than you believe as for what felt like an entire month I gave him the cold shoulder. I would go to great lengths to try and leave the bubble universe and whenever those attempts ended up in failure he was always there with a reassuring smile on his face."
"He must be a very kind person to put up with you for that long."
"Yes he was," Durandal looked up to the ceiling in fondness. "Always trying to get closer to me even when I pushed him away. He kept asking me why I wanted to leave the bubble and when I finally decided to share with him the details of the mission, I was surprised when he vowed to help me accomplish it."
It had made no sense to her younger self when the offer of help was given. Here was a complete stranger that had come into his bubble universe without explanation and he was still offering his assistance. Had the thought that she could be an enemy ever crossed his mind?
Then again, there were many things about him that perplexed her.
"Lord Otto says that it is impossible to traverse through bubble universes but he did it with ease. Doors that allowed us to traverse through the bubbles would seemingly appear before him and no one else." She remembered the first time he had opened one of these doors. The outburst she had accidentally sputtered out were words someone her age at the time should not be saying.
Rita noted that little tidbit of information down for reference later as Durandal continued telling her story. For an individual able to easily transverse the Sea of Quanta? That would be invaluable to the cause of Schicksal.
But there was no harm in keeping this information to herself. Durandal had trusted her enough to tell her this story, she would not betray it by telling another soul lest it was of important cause.
"I'm not sure how he did it, and neither did he. It was just something that he said he could do when he woke up in that bubble universe." The doors that he would open up would lead them to strange bubble universes that varied greatly. Some were as normal as the world that they were in right now and others seemed to defy imagination.
The bubble universe that was most notable to her was a vast desert filled with red sand.
"We traveled through countless bubbles before finally arriving at the Ether Anchor Point. When we arrived we helped the people to overthrow a tyrannical king. It was there that I also came into possession of the bubble universe that now rests within me." Durandal had a smile as she recalled the memories of her time at the Ether Anchor Point, memories that she would treasure till the end of time.
"When we completed our mission in the Ether Anchor Point, it was time for us to say our goodbyes to the friends that the two of us made in that realm. Partaking in another, but smaller, journey we made it to the bubble universe that held the door that would've made it possible for me to get back here."
"And the rest is history." Durandal finished.
Rita held a small smile on her face as the story reached its conclusion. After hearing such a story, it was no wonder how much Durandal had changed. "You must've cared a lot about him, I can only imagine the bond you forged with him throughout your journey."
Durandal placed a hand on her chest. "They mean a lot to me, they were there when I did not wish them to be, there when I confronted demons I never dreamed of meeting. The person that I am today would not be possible without them."
She thought about the bright smile that never seemed to leave his face, no matter the situation that they were in. "No matter the situation he was always optimistic, even when all seemed lost he was there to assure everyone that it wasn't over."
"It was as if he was hope itself."
Rita knew that this kind praise was hard to earn from Durandal, and for her to be speaking so highly meant this person was quite something. "He must've been a very remarkable person."
Durandal felt at ease sharing this with her closest confidant, a huge weight that she had never known to exist was finally lifted. "My hope is that one day, somehow, I will be able to see him again. I wish to tell him all that has happened since our last meeting, and have him meet you and all of the Immortal Blades."
"I will hold you to that Durandal-sama," A sudden thought flashed through Rita's mind and her lips curled up at the thought of it. The blonde Valkyrie felt dread as she knew what that look meant.
"Though I must ask...when will the marriage letters be sent out?"
"R-R-Rita?!" The S-Rank Valkyrie's face went beet red.
"I jest, Durandal-sama." Rita lied as she wondered what kind of man had affected her friend in such a way. A small part of her was envious that someone had gotten this out of Bianka and not herself but she cared not for how it was done. They were able to bring out the true side of Bianka out, that was all she could ask for.
Now she could only hope that their meeting was not too long in the making. After all…
It was quite fun seeing this side of Bianka.
How's everyone doing!? I hope that each and everyone is doing super well!
What did you guys think about this chapter? Nothing groundbreaking like the last two chapters were but I think that we got some good stuff here for the world building of this story.
For starters what I've done with Hua and Herrscher of Sentience. You guys really liked her sudden introduction and while some of you did raise concerns that her appearance was not canon, that's sort of true in my opinion.
Out of all the Herrscher personalities I felt that Hua was the most unique as she didn't immediately start going off on a rampage destroying the world even if she totally could. So her awakening without the Honkai's help and due to meeting Death made kind of sense to me, but I can totally see where some of you are coming from. Just can't turn back from having the Yatta introduced.
And it didn't sit well with me if I just had Hua as a really weak Herrscher of Sentience. I felt that it would get resolved in like four chapters and that it would totally make Fu Hua lose her value in the story.
But if I made the Herrscher of Sentience a different entity all together...I could do some really really interesting things with them. And if you think that it'll be another Fu Hua clone…
Just wait and see who they look like, it'll be worth it.
Next thing is the Excalibur, I can't really write much about it here but only ask if the talking of Hyperion and Apollo sorta of helped. Obviously I won't explain everything about the Excalibur but I hope that it sorta of got you guys thinking about what it means.
The Fate references aren't done yet I can tell you that.
And finally the Durandal section. Too be honest I have not read the Visual Novel, only like the first part of it, but from what I've seen it's practically a very long story that's unrelated to the Honkai-verse. Only important things are Durandal's and Rita's character development and how Bianka becomes Durandal.
Well the first part is no longer true seeing 'Haruto' has taken over Rita's spot in the canon verse :)
Welp that's all for this chapter. If you enjoyed it, drop a fav/follow/kudos as they really help me out with creating great chapters. Reviews are deeply appreciated and if you have a question or a really interesting theory I am more than happy to reply. Please be patient if I don't respond to you super fast. Even if I don't respond to your comment for whatever reason, know that I read each and every one of them!
Peace!