This chapter has a big change from the original.
"What do you mean Stalker Carbon has no memory data of its fight against the assailant?" Otto Apocalypse raised an eyebrow at the report that was just given to him.
"It's as reported sir," The technician responsible for the repair of Rita's mechanical canine explained from their base in Korea. It had been around noon when the Vice Captain of the Immortal Blades had arrived at the base. "Stalker Carbon has no data regarding the period that Rita-sama wished information on."
Otto placed his elbow on the table before leaning his chin against his arm as he contemplated how that could possibly happen. "Are you sure?" He asked to ensure that at least something could possibly be recovered, even an audio file of some sort would be fine.
"Hai," The technician nodded before she forwarded the data that they had on Stalker Carbon. "We've run multiple checks on Stalker Carbon already, each time yields the same result."
The moment that Rita had arrived she had ordered the immediate repair of Stalker Carbon alongside the extraction of any data relating to the time she was separated from her hunting partner. The technicians on site went to work on the mechanical beast with utmost priority, making sure that it was as spotless as it was when it first took its first steps out of the Schicksal lab it was born in.
"What of Rita?" Otto asked as he filed away the report for later inspection, something like data didn't just mysteriously vanish into thin air. There was no evidence of tampering with the canine's internal data banks, no signs of damage to its body to suggest that something might've been taken, so that begged the question of how exactly Stalker Carbon lost its memory.
"Rita-sama has just arrived to check in on Stalker Carbon, shall I have her on the call?"
"Yes please."
"Very well then Otto-sama," The technician bowed before she walked out of the video's frame. In seconds Rita soon entered the chat, still clad in her Argent Knight battlesuit.
"Otto-sama." The maid bowed.
"You look quite tired Rita, are you sure that you don't want to rest up?" To the left of the Overseer of Schicksal, an entire screen was dedicated to the news about Nagazora. More specifically the buzz that Rita and her opponent caused and the fallout of it.
[Breaking News: Chiba Academy Student Hospitalized due to unknown assailant. Raiden Ryoma cracks down ever harder on police to find the culprits]
"I am quite fine Otto-sama," The valkyrie smiled, no trace of fatigue anywhere on her face. "I rested on the trip here," Even if Schicksal did have the fastest airships in the world, there was still the problem of distance from Nagazora to the Korean Schicksal base which gave the Valkyrie some much needed time to rest up.
"Well if you're doing as well as you say you are, I suppose that I have no other choice but to trust you," Otto leaned forward. "Can you tell what exactly happened in the fight against your opponent?"
Rita merely smiled before she recounted what had happened after she had donned her Argent Knight battlesuit.
Even with her Argent Knight suit on and Crescent Harvest hovering behind her, Rita was still outmatched against her opponent's Divine Key. She may have had one of the best battlesuits that Schicksal could develop but a Divine Key still trumped her in terms of raw power.
Raven smirked as she let loose a barrage from the Key of Sanction, each blue energy shot flying with a velocity faster than she could fire her arrows with. Just getting hit with one of these shots would be fatal for the valkyrie.
So Rita opted to use the surrounding air conditioning units on the rooftop as a way to both break Raven's line of sight and to also take a hit. In essence nothing had really changed from how she first approached fighting the mercenary.
Only this time a hit from the rifle would lead to certain death.
Running behind an air conditioning unit, Rita raised an eyebrow when an energy shot slammed into the unit. The power behind the shot completely melted the metal into a molten goop, the air sizzling from the raw power behind the shot.
"She's in a really good mood," Raven muttered as she too was surprised by how much power the Key of Sanction was outputting. The barrel was practically radiating with joy as it let loose on the valkyrie.
Rita slid behind another air conditioning unit as the unfortunate electronic appliance took another shot meant for her. At this rate valkyrie would run out of appliances to use as fodder and soon she would be an easy shot.
And it wasn't like she could slice through an energy shot like she did with the arrows. She wasn't sure if Skadi Ondurgud was able to slice through a shot from the Divine Key. Maybe the soulium material of the scythe could potentially take a hit but after that she wasn't sure if it could take multiple hits.
Charging the frostbite within the scythe, coupled alongside Crescent Harvest's natural ability to lower the temperature around them, Rita quickly casted a smokescreen that covered the entirety of the rooftop.
Raven cursed as frost quickly began to build on the barrel of the Key of Sanction, freezing the barrel solid. She had to applaud the valkyrie for being able to both hinder her ability to fire the Divine Key, but also setting up a smokescreen that was able to hinder her sight.
Acting on her instincts Raven was barely able to dodge a swipe from Crescent Harvest's massive scythe, the metal edge barely nicking a few strands of light gray hair from the mercenary.
Rita soon appeared before her as both she and her scythe wielding phantom took advantage of the fact that both the Divine Key was temporarily out and that the distance between them was once again favorable for the valkyrie.
Dodging Rita's scythe was hard enough, dodging her alongside her Crescent Harvest was another thing altogether. It was taking all of Raven's concentration to dodge every strike that came her way. However…
"It ends here Valkyrie!" She roared as the frostbite that had coated the Key of Sanction had finally dethawed, letting the mercenary aim the Divine Key point blank at a off-guard Rita.
Rita's eyes widened as she saw the barrel of the Key of Sanction begin to glow a bright blue. This was it, she had underestimated how fast the Divine Key would be able to dethaw from the ice and she was paying the price for it.
There was no way that she could dodge out of the way of the rifle, she wasn't far enough that if she tried to dodge out of the way she would still get hit by it. Crescent Phantom couldn't take a hit from the Divine Key and she was sure that she would still be hit by it if she tried to call the phantom in right now.
"Durandal-sama," She thought grimly as she closed her eyes and accepted her fate. "I'm sorry." As the blue energy of the Divine Key grew in intensity, the maid simply waited for the Divine Key to vaporize her entirely, leaving not even ash for anyone to find.
However it seems that fate was on the side of the valkyrie tonight. For as the Key of Sanction was about to release fire the shot…
A bright flash suddenly blinded her vision.
The rooftop that she was fighting on was replaced by a strange ethereal white plane.
In that strange white ethereal plane there was a single black haired child floating in space. As if noticing them the child turned towards them, smiling at them before outstretching his hand out.
Then just as suddenly had it arrived the blinding light had faded away, bringing Rita back to the rooftop that she had just been fighting Raven on.
A quick glance at the mercenary's wide pink eyes showed that she had also seen the same thing as she had. Their fight was quickly forgotten as the two stared at the other, each of them trying to come to terms with what they had just seen.
Both of them were drained from their fight, so much so that this period of silence presented the best opportunity for either one of them to finish their duel, to see who would come out on top.
"Rita-sama!" Midori's frantic shout suddenly came through the valkyrie's communicator, loud enough for the pair to hear. "You need to get out of there! Authorities are almost on the scene!"
The B-Rank Valkyrie's voice broke the silence that was shared between the two. Raven was the first to act as she dove for the Key of Sanction, which had been discarded when the bright light had occurred, lightly hissing as the barrel burned her hand. "You better not die until we finish this duel!" She shouted before she fled the scene.
Rita was tempted to pursue but the distant sounds of alarms forced her hand. "Stalker Carbon, return." She commanded as she spoke into her communicator before leaving the scene.
As the authorities arrived at the rooftop, the only thing that they could find was the burnt remains of air conditioning units and the cracked concrete of the roof with no explanation of how any of it was possible.
"And from there I evaded the authorities until I was able to reach my transport that brought me here," Rita bowed as she finished recounting her tale.
Otto leaned back into his chair as he processed everything he just heard. There were certainly a lot of surprises that he hadn't expected to hear from one of his most trusted valkyries yet it certainly was a boon.
To think the World Serpent would be this bold after so many years of secrecy, it made the Apocalypse heir truly wonder if the next major act in the war against the Honkai would soon begin.
"Thank you Rita, you should go and rest now. Amber has informed me that Durandal and the Immortal Blades have just finished clearing out the Honkai infestation in Korea and are now making preparations to head back to the base. I would think that you would wish to be fully rested when they arrived back at base, no?" The Overseer was no stranger to the strong bond that his two trusted Valkyries had with each other.
While he was unsure of all the details of the bond they shared, he wouldn't say it was romantic love from what he had seen. It was more along the lines of a familial bond. A bond that words could not describe how essential it was to those two people.
Some of the strongest bonds were forged in the toughest of battles, and the two have had more than enough battles fought together to show it.
"Of course, Otto-sama." Rita bowed in gratitude before the video ultimately ended between the two.
The Schicksal Overseer had a small smile on his face as he thought back to what Rita had just informed him about. The emergence of a Divine Key was a victory in itself. The more Divine Keys that were discovered, a better understanding of the Honkai would follow.
Not to mention the fact that the ever so elusive World Serpent was finally beginning to show themselves. It had been decades since he had last heard of any activity from the organization that he simply thought that they had just faded away into obscurity.
But this advantage was not going to last forever. Otto knew that the World Serpent would be scrambling back into the shadows, eager to cover up any tracks that they might've left behind.
While the idea of sending Durandal and Rita to track down this mercenary that went by the alias 'Raven' was tempting, he knew it would be wasted effort as they would simply cut off any connections they had with the mercenary.
And then they would be back to square one.
"Amber," He called out for his assistant.
Hearing his call, the orange visor wearing assistant appeared before him. "What is it that you wish of me, Otto-sama?"
"Remind me again the name of the valkyrie that we have stationed in Chiba Academy? The one that Wraith scouted out for the infiltration?"
"Midori Aki sir," Amber replied without missing a beat. Bringing up her tablet she began to send the B-rank Valkyrie's information to the Overseer's terminal. "Shall I take her out of her mission?"
"Oh nothing like that," Otto shook his head as he began to read over the valkyrie's information. "She has done a superb job there, it would be a waste if we pulled her out now. She has the ear of Mei Raiden, a feat I didn't think she could pull off."
"However, make an update to her mission objectives; add that she will now have to observe this 'Haruto Nakamura'. He is the only link we have to the World Serpent as of now and he is an unknown factor with Stalker Carbon's loss of memory." His lips curled upward as he thought of a good incentive for the valkyrie.
"Should she continue to perform admirably in her mission, she can find herself being transferred to the Immortal Blades for her reward."
"Are you sure?" Amber questioned as she was skeptical for a B-Rank to suddenly be transferred to the highest honor that a Valkyrie could have. Only the best of the best Valkyries got to be a part of this elite squad.
"Durandal is not one to shy from new recruits. If Midori has the drive to be like Durandal one day then we have increased the strength of the Immortal Blades, a win-win situation."
"Very well then, I shall update Midori's mission parameters. Is that all you wished for me Otto-sama?"
"Yes you may return to your duties now Amber," Otto dismissed his assistant, who bowed before returning to her station to update the valkyrie's mission.
"It has been some time," The Overseer mused as he shifted his attention to the window that overlooked the main Schicksal Headquarters. There wasn't much to see with the night out in fullforce, the only sources of light that you could see were the various lights of the facilities on sight.
It had been some years since the awakening of the Herrscher of the Void, some time since his divine revelation by the strange being he encountered when he dived into the mind of Sirin. The memory of that encounter was hazy in his mind, but he knew that he needed another audience with that entity.
For his beloved.
And if he needed to wage war against the final Herrscher themselves to see her again, so be it. "Now then Third Herrscher," A malicious smile formed on his lips.
"Your move."
The sounds of machines beeping was the first thing that I became aware of.
The smell of antiseptic came next, the faint odor of bleach slightly stinging my nose as I became accustomed to my new surroundings.
"Ugh," I groaned as the first thing that greeted me was the bright lights of the room that I was in. Squinting, I let my eyes adjust to the sudden intense light before opening them further. However before I could let my vision fully clear up, my body tensed up as something slammed into me.
"WAAH!" A distinctive voice wailed as I could feel someone's arms wrapping themselves around my chest as their tears began to soak my chest. "I-I thought you died and then y-you were brought here a-and-"
"That's good and all Sora," I wheezed before groaning in pain at the added pressure the child was adding to my torso. "B-But could you let go perhaps? You're going to break my ribs at the rate you're going."
Sora immediately let go as she gave a quick apology for causing me to feel more pain than I needed at the moment. I was about to reassure her that it was fine and that she could hug me albeit with less force until another familiar voice butted in.
"Nah I say that he needs some more loving to tell him he's alive." Recognizing the voice, I turned my head in disbelief to see the elderly man that I had played chess with in the Nagazora Plaza. "Give him another good hug with some more love, will you Sora." Akihiro Hata grinned at Sora who pouted in return.
"No ojisan, Haruto-niichan needs to rest!" She firmly stated as I couldn't help but smile at the child that was standing up-
Wait what did she just call me?!
My shock must've shown on my face as Akihiro gave me a cheeky grin. "Look who's impressed little Sora over here. You should've seen how worried she was when you were brought back from surgery," He pointed to Sora who had a light pink tinge on her cheeks.
"She was like 'I need to stand guard or the bad guys are going to come back and finish the job.' I can't name a single minute where she wasn't hovering over you or that cat of yours." He said to which Sora began to lightly kick his leg for telling me something so embarrassing.
"Kuro?" My ears perked up at the mention of the cat.
"Yeah to the right of you, the cat's in a banged up state but she'll pull through." I turned my head to see the black feline resting in a bed of her own. While she did now have more bandages to worry about than the one that was already on her left leg, it was a relief to see that she hadn't died.
"I'm glad," I smiled as the harrowing experience that the both of us had faced was now over. Even if both us were in states that weren't the best, at least they were still breathing.
"Did they catch them?" I asked the chess player, a small hope in my chest that they had somehow managed to capture Stalker Carbon. It was a long shot considering that if they captured Stalker Carbon, then Rita would be further involved.
The mere thought of Rita Rossweisse being here sent shivers down my spine. I knew how ruthless the maid could be when it was related to missions, how effective she could be breaking into the most fortified of places.
The last thing that I wanted to happen was accidentally have Otto be interested in me of all people. If that happened then I could kiss goodbye to this life as there was no way that I could hide myself from Otto, let alone fight to save my life.
The elderly man just shook his head. "Sorry the police haven't found anyone yet, by the time they arrived at the scene your assailants had already left." He moved his way towards the window of the room, opening the blinds to let the sunshine of the afternoon enter the room.
"To be honest this is quite a scary time even for us who have lived in Nagazora our entire lives." He watched on as he could see a crowd of reporters trying to force their way into the hospital, the heavy police security being the only thing stopping them.
"How bad is the situation?" I hesitatingly asked as I knew all of this was a result of me being here. Even if my knowledge on the events of Nagazora were scarce, I knew deep down that this wasn't canon.
"Raiden Ryoma has gotten every person he can scrounge up to scour the city for your assailants." He admitted as he took a seat. "No one in this city can breathe freely, it feels like someone has their foot on our throats but we don't know who it is and neither can we take it off."
Sora walked over to Akihiro as she placed her hand in his, to which he responded by assuringly squeezing her hand back.
"And yet," I couldn't help but throw a glare at the seated man. "You allowed Sora to go to the grocery store in the middle of the night," I narrowed my eyes.
"Alone."
In response Akihiro had a sheepish grin on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck embarrassingly. "Okay that was entirely my fault. I didn't think that Sora would actually follow what I said to her while I was drunk with my buddies."
"And that is?" I asked.
"If she really wanted to buy a chocolate bar then she should go by herself." He averted his eyes as his cheeks turned red, not his shining moment.
I turned my gaze from the seated man and moved it to Sora. "Really?!" I was astonished by how gullible she had been.
Now it was Sora's turn to be embarrassed. "I-I really wanted that chocolate bar okay! I didn't think it was anything different since I do it all the time in the day,"
The black haired man placed a hand on top of Sora's head, "You see Haruto-san both of Sora's parents work abroad, most of the time she lives with me until they both come back from their work with the little time that they have for a vacation.
He looked upward at the ceiling as he sighed tiredly. "I thought I raised my son well enough to know that money wasn't everything, but apparently I didn't get the message across. Sora stays with me for so long I'm practically her father."
"But," He looked at me with a hopeful expression. "Sora looks up to you now, I hope that you won't mind if she calls you nii-chan now."
My glare softened as I couldn't stay mad at the pink haired child's situation. I looked at Sora with a small smile. "Well if I'm your nii-chan now, can he get a hug from his imouto?" I opened my arms invitingly as a sparkle appeared in the wine eyed child's eyes as she opened her mouth in joy before she ran at me.
I braced myself for the pink haired rocket that was Sora slam into me as she wrapped her arms around me as best as she could. Even though she was mindful of the fact that I was still recovering, I still winced at how loving the hug was.
As if I had been her big brother for her entire life.
I didn't mind one bit though as I hugged her back while she giggled happily. Akirhiro had a shit eating grin on his face as he leaned back into his chair. "I hope you don't mind if I call you to babysit her while I'm out."
"And I hope you don't mind if I challenge you to another game of chess, old man." I mirrored his expression as I taunted him. "I got some new strategies I want to try out."
"You're on." We both shared a laugh as our stress slowly bled away as an atmosphere of calm settled in. It felt like we weren't in a hospital room to which I was confined because I was attacked.
It didn't feel as if Nagazora was being choked with fear and paranoia.
It didn't feel as if a looming tragedy wasn't approaching.
It felt as if all was right with the world and that the only thing one had to worry about was the end of the day.
But alas reality was a cruel mistress as someone knocked on the door, "May I come in?" An unfamiliar voice asked.
Sora slid off of me as Akihiro looked at me expectedly to answer the visitor. "Y-Yes you may come in," I responded as I tried to make myself as presentable as possible.
The door opened and in walked in the CEO of Massive Electric, Raiden Ryoma himself. I had only seen him on the television when he spoke at ME's public conference concerning the corporation attack and he looked the same the last time I had seen him.
Hair that was the same shade as Mei's, a determined expression in his eyes that Mei had whenever she focused on something, the air that reeked of confidence that Mei unknowingly carried at school.
It was as if Mei was an exact copy of her father.
"Akihiro-san, Sora-san," He kindly greeted as he looked at the pair. "If I could have a word alone with Nakamura-san."
Akihiro nodded his head before standing up from his chair and offering a hand to Sora to which she accepted. The pair left the room but not before the black haired man winked at me to which I tilted my head in confusion.
What was that all about?
"Haruto-san," Raiden began as he pulled out a chair near me and sat down next to my bed. "Firstly let me start off with my deepest apologies. It was because of my negligence that you ended up like this." The raven haired CEO bowed his head in regret.
I definitely wasn't expecting that from him. "O-Oh I don't blame you for my state of being right now." I assured him, suddenly mindful of the bandages that I could feel wrapped around my torso and on my head. "I mean it could be anyone else in my position right now, I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."
That didn't sway Ryoma one bit as he was adamant about it being his fault. "Even still, if I had put more work into finding the culprits that attacked my corporation no one would have to sleep worrying if they're the next victim."
I didn't want to say that he was looking at it all wrong, because he believed the intruder to be the one responsible for my injuries when in truth they were the ones who were responsible for getting me out of the attack in one piece.
Kuro, your act of bravery may go unheard of by everyone but not me because the moment that we are discharged from this hospital and life somewhat goes back to normal then I shall buy all the fatty tuna you wish for.
Depending on how much is in my wallet that is.
"So I made sure that you got the best care that Massive Electric has to offer. I've been assured by my doctors that you will be discharged by the end of the week." Raiden Ryoma assured me.
"R-Raiden-sama t-this is too much," I stuttered at what the man had given to me. " I've been in your debt ever since you gave me the scholarship to attend Chiba Academy, giving me a good future."
Was not going to mention that same scholarship was the reason why I was in this mess in the first place, nope that was suicide if I said that. "And now it's because of you I'm getting the best treatment possible right now."
"Haruto-san, this is the least that I can do for you." The father assured me.
"I-I can't accept this for free, there must be something that I can do to justify this," I tried pleading to the CEO of ME Corp. If I accepted the fact that he was doing all this for me then I'd start feeling guilty cause it would feel I was taking advantage of the man.
"Is that so," His purple eyes soon gained a different look as he leaned forward, a more calculating look in his gaze. I was no longer talking to the CEO of ME Corp, I was talking to a high-ranking Anti-Entropy official. "Then if you're so insistent on helping me, then can you describe to me how you were attacked?"
Ah, I just dug myself a hole didn't I?
If I refused then it would cast a bad image for the CEO but if I did try and tell the truth then I could effectively ruin me and Kuro's cover. I'm not sure how involved Raiden Ryoma was or how much he knew about Schicksal but I was sure that he knew what Stalker Carbon looked like if I described it to him.
My only hope was if I could weave the story as best as I could, then maybe he would be too focused on the fact Rita was trying to kill me and see me as an unfortunate victim.
"My only problem is that I don't think you'll believe it, I'm not even sure what I remembered is correct by how strange it is in my mind," I told him truthfully.
A week ago if you said that I'd be fighting against a mechanical canine with my pet cat I'd laugh at you.
Raiden Ryoma chuckled at that as he brought out a tiny notepad, "Believe me Haruto-san, I have seen things that make even the most religious doubt themselves."
So I told him everything that transpired, everything that went down the moment Stalker Carbon started chasing us. However I omitted the facts that Kuro could actually turn herself into a mechanical panther, or how I recognized the mechanical canine.
In essence I told him a story where I got my butt handed to me while Kuro tried to intervene at the last second and paid the price. It wasn't a perfect story but it was the best one that I could come up with.
Luckily Raiden Ryoma was nothing but attentive as he listened to me recount my story, nodding his head whilst also interrupting me for questions that he had in certain parts of my story.
"And then I was slammed into the dumpster and blacked out," I finished recounting my story as I closed my eyes. Whilst Ryoma was busy writing down what I said, all the while trying to stay awake.
Luckily I didn't need to wait that long for this talk as Mei's father finished writing up the last bits of my story. "I see, you've given me a lot to think about," Raiden Ryoma stood up from his seat and offered me a reassuring smile. "You should rest now, I'll be sure to notify the nurses to not disturb you for the rest of the day."
"Thank you," I smiled as Raiden Ryoma exited the room, leaving me alone with only my thoughts. Resting my head against the pillow of my bed, I mentally counted to ten to make sure that I was not going to be interrupted.
Though that didn't really matter as it didn't take long for my mind to drift into the realm of unconsciousness, where I was treated to yet another peculiar dream.
It was in the same place as my previous dream, expansive green plains with clear blue skies that didn't seem to end.
I expected my dreams to mark the end of a hectic day, I was very wrong about that apparently
Instead of drifting off into sleep I found myself sitting back in the seat of a familiar dark room with hanging multicolored quartz with the scent of burning candles…
And sitting directly opposite of the same purple haired woman I met last time I had been here.
"A joy it is," The woman moved her attention from the book she was reading and looked towards me, a small smile on her face. "To have you as my guest once more."
"So that wasn't some strange hectic dream then," I muttered as I took another look around the room that I had been mystically transported in once more, taking a much more critical look now that I knew this wasn't a strange dream. "And you weren't a figment of imagination, miss…"
She placed a hand on her chest before slightly bowing in her seat. "You may call me Black Swan." She introduced herself.
It wouldn't take a genius to know that wasn't her real name but I didn't find that I cared if it was. I had never seen or heard of this character before in Honkai Impact 3rd so even having a real name wouldn't really help me out all that much.
Which ultimately meant that right now I was in a situation that I was at a complete disadvantage in.
"I suppose you have questions for me?" The shawl wearing woman closed the book that she had been reading before she gave me her full attention. "Ask away, I shall answer them to the best of my ability."
I did not hesitate to jump on her offer. "Who are you?"
"One may call an observer of sorts, an archiver. I observe countless words and archive all that occurs during its many stories so that they will never be forgotten." She answered my question with no guarded tone or sorts.
That was good, it meant that she was more than amiable to answer my questions. "Worlds?" I asked.
"Yes worlds." She repeated as she pulled out a familiar deck of cards. I watched as she masterfully spread them out on the table between us, revealing the images of various worlds on them. "Worlds that lay far beyond your known universe. Worlds that are beyond your wildest imaginations. Worlds that may seem…out of this universe." She said that last part with a knowing smile directed at me.
"You know." Was all I said, knowing that she knew what I was referring to.
"Indeed I do." She confirmed as she swept her hand over the cards, each one she passed somehow disappearing until one remained at the center of the table. "Tis not a strange idea to encounter a soul of your circumstance in our vast universe. It's so rare however to find someone who can change a story so drastically by merely existing."
She flipped the sole card over to show an image of what looked to be an older self of myself in a white admiral's outfit. "Perhaps in another life you could have become a respectable Schicksal Captain, responsible for the Battleship Hyperion. Your role would be important in many events, though none would change the final chapter."
Her hand flipped the card again, revealing a different image on the other side. It was an outline of myself again yet with none of my features. It was looking at a marble, faceless clone of myself. "Yet I found myself at a loss of how drastic this story has changed, a rare scenario I assure you."
I could not help but raise my brow at her words. "You know what happens?"
"Know is a generous word my dear guest, I prefer the word 'surmise' to be a better term." She corrected as she waved her hand over the card once more, this time vanishing like the others and leaving nothing on the table. "Having observed so many stories of other civilizations it is no secret to me on how this story would've ended."
"A story about love, a story that was to end with love." She said with a wistful smile.
"And yet you enter the chapters of this unfolding story with an unexpected impact, changing the very narrative of an already interesting journey." She motioned to me with one of her gloved hands, eyes full of intrigue. "Consider my curiosity piqued."
"Were you the one responsible for saving me back there?" I asked.
"I'm afraid not," She shook her head. "As an observer I merely watch, I do not interfere."
"Then do you know who did it?" I pressed.
"Yes." She nodded simply.
"And who are they?" I added, a slight glare beginning to form on my face at how this was turning out now.
"That is not for me to say." She casually denied.
I opened my mouth to offer some sort of rebuttal for her nonchalance on how she was treating all of this.
"Before you say otherwise, allow me to impart some wisdom." She held her hand up, stopping me from speaking. "Once a secret is known it can never be unknown. What will you do when the answers you seek are not the ones you had hoped for hmm? What will you do when the answers you thought would bring you peace only give you more burden to carry?"
She slightly leaned forward, her hazel eyes twinkling like the rainbow quartz that were hanging in this room, as she continued to speak. "You know of the coming ordeals that you will face in the future, can you really afford the distractions that the answers you seek might give you?"
I opened my mouth to refute her claims that answers would hinder me but ultimately decided that she was in the right. She seemed to possess more knowledge than I did about the Honkai Universe and she had shown nothing but cordialship since the moment I had entered her abode.
And as much as I would like to believe that what meta knowledge I had would be enough to make it through, I knew deep down in my heart that would not be the case. I only needed to look toward my most recent encounter as proof.
"Worry not Haruto Nakamura," Black Swan was quick to assure me as she leaned back into her seat. "You shall know the answers to all your questions one day. Continue to walk forward, and discover more of the world you live in."
The shawl wearing woman snapped her fingers and like a spell casted upon me my eyelids began to grow dreary, signaling the end of our conversation.
"We shall meet again Haruto Nakamura. Your story continues to be written, and I am oh so curious to see what you shall encounter on your journey." The mysterious purple haired woman said as she pulled out her book once more.
A woman who had left me with more questions than answers, only the promise of them being answered
"And who knows? The answers you seek might not be as far away as you believed it to be."
Before I could fully process her final words a vision suddenly made its presence known in my mind that was slowly falling unconscious.
There was my child self pulling a girl with blond hair along with a big grin on his face. The girl that he was pulling along had a confused expression on her face "C'mon I wanna show you something!" He said excitedly.
"Not like I have anything else to do at the moment." The girl muttered with a small frown as she simply allowed the boy to pull her along. Just like the last memory I had there was nothing strange going on this memory, nothing special.
It just looked like two friends hanging out.
Yet another peculiar thing stuck out to me now, making me aware that these dreams I was having weren't anything as they seemed initially.
I did not have any recollection of the girl yet for some odd reason it felt like I knew her.
.
.
.
How strange.
It was late in the night at the Korean Schicksal Base when a ship landed on the airstrip. Rita was donned in her maid outfit as she approached the airship, flanked by two Immortal Blades.
The Vice Captain stopped right as the bay doors of the airship began to lower down and reveal a contingent of the Immortal Blades just waiting to get out of the airship that they were in and enjoy the nice cushioned beds of the base.
And the person leading the squad was…
"Durandal-sama," Rita bowed in greeting as the Captain of the Immortal Blades walked up to her, a tired but appreciative smile on her face.
"Rita," The S-Rank Valkyrie greeted in return
"Would you like any tea? Or perhaps dinner? Or maybe..." The maid teased as a mischievous glint took shape in her eyes. "You would like me~?"
"Some rest is what I would like," The blonde haired valkyrie answered as she all but deflected the question. In all her years of knowing Rita, Durandal was used to her friend's antics. The light brown haired valkyrie knew what teases could get you the most flustered, she would know.
She was on the receiving end of it the most.
"The Honkai Infestation was resilient, they had burrowed themselves quite deep into their nest but nothing we couldn't take care of." Durandal sighed tiredly as she saw how late it was. "If you could, could you debrief the Overseer on the mission? I wish to turn in for the night."
"Of course Durandal-sama," Rita accepted as Durandal walked past her. "I wish you only the sweetest of dreams."
The Captain of the Immortal Blades chuckled at the never breaking persona that Rita had. She truly didn't know how her friend was able to keep it up for most of the day. If she had to do that then she was going to take that persona and shatter it into a million pieces.
She greeted any of the base personnel she passed with a nod, careful not to show how tired she was. It would be improper of someone of her stature to show weakness after all, she was the top-ranked Valkyrie after all. She needed to be the beacon of hope for others in the war against the Honkai.
But as she made her way towards her room she couldn't help but wonder why she was so tired.
This wasn't normal for the S-Rank Valkyrie, if anything she should still have enough energy to complete another mission. She was sure that she didn't eat anything bad, Rita would never live with herself if she served anything that wasn't perfect and she didn't have any stomach problems throughout the day.
Opening the door to her room, Durandal just decided that maybe she just slept on the wrong side of the bed. Undressing out of her Bright Knight Excelsis Battlesuit and into the appropriate sleepwear before slipping under the covers of her bed.
Settling into a peaceful position on her bed, the number one ranked Valkyrie fell into a peaceful slumber as she found herself drifting into a dream.
Dreams were a rare occurrence for her, her circumstances made it almost impossible for her to have dreams as the moment she fell asleep she would just wake up the next morning ready for a new mission or some training.
And if she did have any dreams then they were a chaotic cluster of visions that she couldn't make any sense of. It was like taking multiple pieces of different puzzles and trying to make them form a complete set and after having two dreams of these distorted visions, she all but gave up trying to make sense of it.
She opened her eyes to suddenly find herself back in the Sea of Quanta, back in the place where she donned the name Durandal.
In a place as infinite as the Sea of Quanta, one would think that remembering a single place where multiple universes converged would be an impossible feat.
But for Bianca Ataegina, she remembered this place like she had been there since yesterday.
"So are you lost like me?" Her younger self asked as she approached a figure sitting by themselves on a rock, staring at the horizon as if searching for something.
The unknown figure turned around and her younger self took in all of the person's features. How they were masculine, the black hair that they had, the fact that they were almost the same age as she was.
But the one thing she noted above all else.
"I don't know, but Big Brother says that I'm in the right place. Says I just need to be patient for a bit longer." He said before turning around to face her with a smile. "Besides it doesn't matter because I have you with me for company!"
Were his hazel eyes.
I told you that I would answer the questions that I had left unanswered in the previous chapter but I would also add in some more questions of my own. How did you like the last bit of this chapter?
You can see my favoritism over Durandal showing and I have no shame in showing it!
To be honest the Rita and Raven fight kinda seemed short but at the same time appropriate considering that they were on a time limit with the delivery of the Argent Knight alerting Ryoma to their location.
What did you guys think of our now revealed character of Black Swan? Probably wasn't expecting there to be a character from HSR now did you? Before you get worried HSR is canonical after HI3 and some of its concepts can be applied to HI3 if you try hard enough.
Stay excited for what concepts I stole.
Things are beginning to move and I promise that this slow rate that we are going in will begin to move faster,
I really want to get to the Third Eruption but not at the sake of rushing chapters that I have planned.
ALSO WHO'S READY FOR THE ETERNAL FLAMES SHORT CAUSE I SURE AM. ALSO THE 1.7 GENSHIN IMPACT STREAM WHERE I MIGHT SEE BAAL, WHO I AM ALSO SIMPING FOR!
I also got highly hooked on Monster Hunter Stories Two so if the next update takes a while then you know what is taking up my time.
Support has been crazy and I want you to know that I deeply appreciate all of you.
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.
Peace!