This chapter has a medium change from the original.

Please read the note at the end of the chapter but other than that enjoy :)

It was silent in a certain area of the Nagazora Docks. What might've been a busy day of receiving and transporting shipments to and from across the world was unusually silent in this area.

No incoming ships full of cargo, no trucks dropping off their shipments, no signs of cranes moving massive crates around the docks, no sign of yellow hard hat wearing employees could be seen anywhere.

It was essentially just a ghost dock.

"North side clear."

"West side clear."

"East side clear."

"South side clear."

"Commander Owl, we have the docks under lockdown."

"Good, maintain cover and ensure that it is not blown. Set up rotating patrols, I want anything suspicious to be reported immediately." In a warehouse, the intelligence officer gave his orders to the soldier standing before him. "I don't care how unimportant it is, if it's out of the ordinary then it's reported."

"Of course sir," The soldier saluted before he exited the office, leaving Owl alone in the office.

To his left was a screen filled with the feedback of all the security cameras that covered this section of the docks that he had managed to commandeer. Ranging from World Serpent soldiers patrolling the perimeter to the hulking form of Iudex that stood unresponsive in the middle of a warehouse.

Taking control of the docks wasn't his ideal plan but when you were essentially just handed an assignment without any prior warning, you worked with what you were able to get.

Infiltrating Nagazora had been the first obstacle that he had to solve. Ever since the attack on Massive Electric Ryoma Raiden had increased the security for anyone entering the city. The numerous checks that were performed at customs made any of the ordinary ways of sneaking his forces in the city practically impossible.

If it was just him? Then he could easily get into Nagazora no problem.

But trying to get two battalions worth of soldiers in? Now that was almost next to impossible, excluding the fact that he had to also sneak in a several foot tall armored knight as well.

You couldn't exactly stick them inside a semi truck and just drive up into the city without Anti-Entropy getting alerted and sending the entirety of their military might onto him.

But if there is a will then there is a way. Utilizing one of the many allies that the World Serpent had to help, Owl was able to have him and his battalions disguise themselves as a shipping company.

Ranging from legit documents to actual cargo that they had to transport, to any regular person they seemed like an actual company. Unless someone actually knew that they had disguised themselves as a shipping company then they had nothing to worry about.

However life just loves to throw its twist and turns at the worst of moments.

The cybernetic officer sighed as another one of his owl familiars went offline. Ever since he had discovered Kiana Kaslana in Nagazora, there was a noticeable decrease in the owls present within the city. If he were to count this owl the number of lost owls would rise to ten.

One or two of them were normal, but ten of them was an indicator that someone was hot on their trails. It wasn't Anti-Entropy as they had made no moves to increase their security or made any signs that they were on high-alert. He had monitored Schicksal deployments to see if any Valkyries had been deployed nearby but to no avail.

Either a third party was in play or someone had been deployed in secret. He wasn't as concerned with the former more so than he was with the latter. If there truly was a third party then they would've already been on World Serpent's radar, meaning that they weren't a risk to his operations.

But if it was the latter then that was a major concern. That meant that not only did they know that he was here, it also meant that they had reacted accordingly. If that was the case then he would need to step up his surveillance across the city.

Some might call him paranoid considering he had Iudex as a bodyguard but Owl would not leave things to chance. Unless it was absolutely guaranteed he would not take his chances.

Before he could think of how to increase security throughout the city, someone knocked on his door. "Who is it?" He called out.

"Uh sir," It was the soldier from earlier. "We might have a slight problem."

The tone in the soldier's voice made Owl narrow his eyes. Had they already been discovered? Had Schicksal or Anti-Entropy already locate their base of operations? "What seems to be the problem then?" As a precaution he brought up his arm that held the bracelet to command Iudex, a pin's drop away from ordering the knight to his location.

"Well uh…." The soldier trailed off as he tried to find the right words. What could the problem possibly be if he couldn't just spit out already? Just as Owl was about to rebuke the soldier, he got an answer.

"We found a Shicksal shipment in our ship."

Hearing those words, the World Serpent officer felt his stomach drop and he wanted nothing more than to rip his hair out in frustration. For all the possible things that could have happened it had to be-!

He took a deep breath before he did anything rash, acting out in anger was not going to do anything for him. "Iudex head to the storage area," He spoke into his bracelet before exiting his office as he headed for the container, the soldier following close behind him.

When he arrived at the storage area, Iudex and five other soldiers were waiting by the container. Throwing a quick glance at the grey container, Owl could confirm that it indeed belonged to Schicksal. Their infamous emblem was painted on the side of the steel storage.

"How did we miss this, I thought we triple checked every container that we loaded up on our ship?!" He demanded as he walked over to the container.

"It was a last minute change," A soldier handed him the ship's manifest for him to read over. Owl scanned through the papers while the soldier continued explaining. "It was delivered under a different name, hence why no-one noticed it until now."

The intelligence officer sighed as pinched the bridge of his nose. Great now they possessed a shipment from the very same organization that they were trying to avoid. "Do you know where it was supposed to be delivered to?" He asked, trying to find the silver lining in all of this.

"From the paperwork this was supposed to be delivered to the Far East Branch.

Irritation and bubbling anger swiftly turned into confusion. The Far East Branch? Wasn't that the branch that revolved around St. Freya Academy? From what he remembered the academy was where young girls who had stigmas would go to train and become a Valkyrie.

If that was the case then what was an academy shipment doing on their ship?

"Do we know the contents of this container?" He asked, trying to wrap his head around what was happening.

The soldier who was relaying the information just shook his head. "Whoever sent this container made sure that it's contents were classified. The only way we will know what's inside is to open it ourselves."

Hearing those words, every soldier in the room instantly readied themselves. Flicking off the safety switches on their guns they began to encircle the container, fully expecting something to attack them should they inspect the insides of the container.

Iudex remained passive as the soldiers fanned out but a single command would have the knight drawing its massive zweihander that was strapped to its back.

Owl was curious to what was inside the container, he didn't need to fear for his safety as he had Iudex here to mercilessly destroy anything that dared to attack. It wasn't everyday that one could explore a Schicksal container.

Schicksal had its own transports to transport their resources around the world to lessen the risk of their secrets getting accidentally leaked out. So what reason would this container be an exception to that?

"We do nothing," He finally decided. If anything this could've been an administrative error and this container could've contained clothes or food for the academy. "We might accidentally set off an alarm or beacon if we opened this container."

"Relocate this container to another warehouse, if it is indeed a threat then we can have Iudex freely handle the problem without posing a risk to our base of operations." He commanded before he began to walk away, the soldiers scrambling to accomplish their orders.

Still…

He couldn't shake off the feeling that he would be seeing the container once more in the near future.

A few days had passed after the little celebratory feast that was held at Mei's manor, a few days since I stuffed my stomach with the best delicacies that the world could possibly offer me. If I had just suddenly dropped down dead after that experience.

I wouldn't have cared.

Kiana had the time of her life as she devoured plate after plate of food that was offered to her. After a while it began to look like a cycle of perpetual food constantly getting eaten and refilled.

It went a little like this.

In the beginning we have Ayaka bring over a plate of freshly cooked food to the table, you knew it was good just by the visible scrumptious aroma just wafting out of the plate. The head maid would then place the plate of food on the table while picking up any dirty plates before leaving.

What followed was said plate to be instantly snatched up by Kiana and in world record time that plate would be cleaned out. Kiana's stomach was something to truly be feared, me and Mei's had reached our limits while the white haired girl seemed to be just getting warmed up.

It eventually became just the two of us watching her add plate after plate to her food killstreak. Her appetite was so convincing that I was sure that if I signed her up for any food competition that she would win hands down.

Though I also had to give props to the manor's kitchen staff because they certainly knew how to perform. It felt as if they were in sync with Kiana's appetite for the moment that she would be finished with her current plate of food, Ayaka would enter with a newly cooked plate of food in hand.

And after what seemed like hours the unkillable beast that was Kiana's stomach had finally been conquered.

The days that followed after that dinner were as normal as normal could be in the Honkai Universe. When you were with Kiana Kaslana the definition of normal was just as unpredictable as the weather.

It could be calm and sunny in one moment and a raging thunderstorm the next.

"When you mentioned that you had something important I wasn't expecting this," Keji deadpanned as he took in what was exactly happening in my apartment. I turned my head back to see what he was referring to and adopted a slightly guilty look. "Uh, I can explain."

No I couldn't.

"No fair!" Sora pouted as she watched her character's health bar drop to zero. The pink-haired child put down her controller and glared at the person she was playing against. "I thought you said you would go easy on me Kiana-neechan!"

The Kaslana just stuck her tongue out in playful retaliation. "We Kaslanas don't know the definition of 'going easy' on people!" The white haired girl then selected the rematch option on the screen as she got ready to win another match.

And what might they be playing?

None other than the acclaimed fighting game Homu Kombat Ultimate.

You essentially mash Mortal Kombat and Super Smash Bros together, sprinkle in the inspiration of the Honkai Universe…

And BAM! You get Honkai Kombat Ultimate.

"Ishigami-sensei, why did you cancel today's club activities today of all days?" I silently lamented knowing that this was all possible because of my teacher's change of plans. It was definitely strange as the chess loving teacher had never canceled a day of club activities before.

Actually, the only time that he had canceled a day of club activities was the day that Kiana had passed her quiz. And ever since that day it's either been the case of him cutting the club time short, or just outright canceling it.

It was really, really suspicious timing. Factoring the serious expression that he would adopt for a fraction of a second whenever Kiana was near him did not help matters, or when I might catch him watching the two of us from the classroom windows when we left the academy grounds.

But I couldn't really do anything about it since all I had to go off on was a hunch and even then that hunch could just be my paranoia at play. So the only option that I had available was to just wait it out.

And doing nothing was worse when you knew something was brewing in the shadows.

Kuro's challenging hiss brought me back from my thoughts to see the feline descending from her scratching post and in front of Sora, protectively shielding her from Kiana as if she was actually going to harm the child.

Ever since the two's little fight, Kiana had followed my advice and did bring an offering as an apology for what she had done to the feline. Kuro had grudgingly accepted the offering of tuna but she was anything but pleased with the white haired girl.

Some things were not just so easily forgiven.

But at the very least the offering was able to get their relationship to a somewhat passive aggressive level, Kuro would tolerate Kiana's presence so long as the girl did nothing to aggravate her..

In Kuro's eyes, she much preferred Sora as opposed to Kiana. Also the fact that she had no idea what a video game was and that what they were having was 'gamer talk did not help either. In fact I wasn't so sure that the feline had any understanding of anything that was digital.

And oh my god Kiana is rising up to accept Kuro's challenge. "Please help me," I mouthed to Keji as I knew if I tried to intervene then the one who I ended up not siding with would be very displeased.

And despite their shared appreciation for food, I doubt that would be enough for either of them to forgive me.

Keji just sighed tiredly before nodding his head. I gave my heartfelt thanks as he walked past me and the chess fanatic made his presence known. "You need some help there Sora-chan?

Sora's face lit up as she waved excitedly at him. "Keji-niichan!"

"What's up Sora-san, your nii-chan has come to save the day" Keji affectionately ruffled Sora's hair before sitting down right next to her, picking up the controller from the ground. He looked towards Kiana, a cocky smile on his face as he selected his fighting character without even looking.

"Fair warning Kiana-san, I'm not your ordinary opponent. Would be quite a shame if you were to embarrass yourself in front of everyone here when you can only beat Sora."

A fire began to burn in the white haired girls at the declaration. "Oh you are so on Keji! I'll make you regret ever challenging Kiana Kaslana!" Selecting her fighter, the two were soon at it. The sounds of them exchanging 'gamer's talk' were overshadowed by the sounds of furious button mashing.

Seeing how the crisis had been averted, I let out a breath of relief. No more having to worry about the potential fight of Kuro against Kiana, no more worrying about my apartment getting destroyed, and no more worrying about having to explain it all to my grandmother.

...For today at least.

This was going to be a long and arduous week if this continued on. I prayed that somehow or some way that the two would make-up, though I felt that I would need a miracle for that to happen.

"Meow," Kuro got my attention as she walked over, looking at me with a rare seriousness in her blue eyes.

"Yes Kuro?" I asked.

"Meow," She looked at Keji celebrating his victory against Kiana with Sora joining in. Kiana had an expression of horror as she stared at her character's empty health bar . Soon enough she was on her feet demanding a rematch from Keji.

"Meow," She decided before walking towards my room, stopping halfway to look back at me and motioning with her head to follow.

I threw a glance at the trio before reluctantly following Kuro into my bedroom. If we were in any other universe I would've laughed at the idea of following a cat into my bedroom.

But I guess in the Honkai Universe anything was possible.

"Alright Kuro," I locked the door behind me and crossed my arms as the two of us were now alone in my room. "What's going on?"

Kuro looked around cautiously to ensure that they were truly alone, that they had no uninvited eavesdroppers listening in. Once she was sure, the feline walked her way towards the back of my closet and pulled something out.

"Oh god Kuro what the hell!" I shouted as the cat brought out the limp body of an owl. For crying out loud when did she have the time to go kill and hide an owl?! "How the hell did you get an owl in here without me knowing?!"

Kuro opened her mouth and brought down her fangs on the neck of the dead bird. "Oh for crying out loud not here!" I rushed forward with the intent of prying the cat's fangs from the owl. Not only did she bring in a dead bird, she was about to spew its guts everywhere and stain the carpet in a rich red.

I did not want to spend the rest of the day cleaning my room from owl blood. Not to mention that I now needed to check the entire apartment to see if Kuro was hiding any more owls in random discrete areas.

However I was stopped in my tracks when Kuro pried the head of the owl from its body, revealing the circuitry that lay within.

"What the…" I mumbled in surprise as I kneeled right before the mechanical owl. Running my hand through the circuits that made the 'organs' of the bird and the metal exoskeleton that looked like any regular owl from a distance.

All of it felt authentic.

"Wait, isn't the same owl that Kiana met?" Realization overtook me as I remembered the owl that landed near Kiana. I looked towards Kuro who nodded in confirmation that it was indeed the same owl that the both of us met on the second day of school.

I stood up and nervously began to pace around the room. Was I about to relive another grocery attack situation again? Could I even handle surviving another experience like that? Could I even survive now knowing Kiana was also a part of this?

How much more chaotic could it get now that Kiana was now a part of this mess?!

What if-!

"Okay calm down Haruto," I patted my cheeks in an attempt to stop myself from spiraling out of control. Overthinking now would not end well in the long run, I had to approach this with a calm mind and not a stressed one.

Taking in a deep breath, I exhaled calmly before looking at Kuro. "First things first Kuro, does this belong to the 'people' you work with?"

It had been a long while since they, I had my suspicions on who Kuro was working with, or anyone else had tried to do something. I knew that the peace that Nagazora had been experiencing ever since my run-in with Stalker Carbon was just a prelude to something else brewing in the background.

And seeing Kuro nod her told me that whatever was coming finally struck, it would be much bigger than a simple grocery attack.

But what could I even do with this confirmation? I couldn't exactly notify the authorities without any definitive proof of the World Serpent's plans. Even if I could uncover some proof how would I be able to explain how a regular highschooler obtained, let alone knew the plans of a terrorist organization?

Even if I was able to get away with that how I knew that I would definitely be under heavy scrutiny, scrutiny that I knew would backfire on me.

So that left me with only one path that I realistically could take.

To wait and react to whatever happened.

It was definitely frustrating to not be unable to do anything when you knew something was looming over the horizon but what else could I do? Prior knowledge of this world was certainly helpful but it didn't help when the timeline shifted and the events alongside it.

My dissatisfaction about the situation must've shown on my face as Kuro tilted her head in confusion. "Ah, sorry Kuro. Just thought of something, no need to worry." I lied.

If Kuro bought it or not was unclear but the cat just shrugged before walking over to the corpse of the mechanical owl and proceeded to drag back to wherever she was hiding it.

It could've been worse honestly. Going it into blind would've been infinitely worse and Kuro at least had an inkling of what might happen so I guess I was a little prepared for what was to come.

"HARU-SENPAI!" Kiana shouted from the living room. "I need a partner to help me whoop Keji's sorry butt!"

"I doubt that having Haruto help is going to change anything!" Keji smugly argued. "I'm not champion status in this game for nothing."

"Well be prepared to kiss that title goodbye when I pry it from your cold dead hands!"

"In your dreams Kiana-san!"

"Haruto-niichan! Come and play with us!"

"Coming Sora!" I shouted back before I left my room, Kuro following close behind me.

At the very least, I could enjoy the calm before the storm.

Unknownst to Haruto, a figure had been watching him the entire time. On a rooftop not too far from the apartment that he lived in, Fu Hua was observing the household and those within it.

More specifically she was observing the state of K-423, the future Herrscher of the Void.

"That cat has good senses," She mused as she left her hiding spot. "She must have a good sixth sense if she was able to detect my presence." It was only through her quick reaction that she had been able to hide herself before the black feline scanned the building that she was on.

"Um Fu Hua-san?" Midori's voice came through her communicator. "May I ask what exactly you are doing there?"

"I am just observing Kiana," She replied as she watched her white haired target throw the controller at the ground as the child and her partner celebrated their victory. "Why do you ask Midori-san?"

"She's not dangerous is she?" The B-Rank Valkyrie asked apprehensively.

"No, Kiana might belong to the Kaslana Family but her natural talent has not been trained upon." She truthfully said. "She will not pose a threat to any of us." Against a Valkyrie who trained to fight against the horrors of Honkai, Kiana would lose every time.

"If she's not dangerous, then why does she have a bounty on her head?"

Fu Hua had to applaud her partner's intuition. Even if she was only B-Rank, she knew how to ask the right questions as if she was A-Ranked. "Midori-san, do you know who her father is?"

"It's Siegfried Kaslana right?" The B-ranked Valkyrie asked confusingly, unsure where this was going.

"So you know he possesses the Judgement of Shamash, a Divine Key that has the ability to obliterate an entire city." The blue gray haired Valkyrie was sure that only Durandal would have the means to match the male ex-knight.

"As a precaution we have placed a bounty on Kiana Kaslana as well for wherever she is, then her father is not that far away. Rest assured that orders are to capture her alive." Fu Hua assured her partner.

"That's a relief, I didn't want to complicate everyone else she's close with." The blue gray haired Valkyrie smiled at the valkyrie's distaste of involving the innocent but frowned when she could hear the sounds of other people on the other end of the communicator.

"Midori-san, where exactly are you?"

"I'm in the girl's changing room," In the empty locker room at Chiba Academy Midori Aki was sitting alone, her kendo armor sitting beside her as she held the phone to her ear. "Why do you ask Fu Hua-san?"

"I thought we agreed that you are to not endanger your cover when you are at school." While the B-Rank Valkyrie's help was appreciated, she did not wish for the young girl to lose her cover at the academy.

Neither did she wish for the highschooler to uncover the true purpose of why she was in Nagazora to begin with.

"But-" The black haired girl tried to argue.

"You have your mission to complete, so do I." Fu Hua's firm voice wasn't going to allow any arguments. "Your classmates are probably looking for you right now, we will talk later."

"...I wish you the best of luck then Fu Hua-san," With a dejected goodbye Midori ended the call, leaving Fu Hua alone on the rooftop.

Or so she wished.

"Who knew you could be such a harsh critic, old friend," Otto laughed through the glasses' communicator. The Overseer had been listening in the entire time that the two valkyries had been talking.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't listen uninvited." She flatly said.

"I'll make sure to make a note of it." He assured, even though both of them knew that this wouldn't be the last time that they would be having this conversation.

Fu Hua casted one last look at the people inside the Nakamura household before walking away. "I thought that you were confident in my abilities, Overseer. Unless the situation has changed I prefer unneeded distractions. "

Back in his personal office, Otto Apocalypse was monitoring the grey blue haired Valkyrie's movements. "Of course, of course. I know better than to distract you when it comes to completing missions."

"But I am surprised by the fact that you are so adamant in making sure that Midori Aki isn't involved in your task." Otto smiled as he pulled up the B-Rank Valkyrie's dossier. "I'm sure that she wouldn't mind getting involved-"

"Do not push your boundaries Otto," Fu Hua reprimanded as she walked down the streets of Nagazora. No one paid her any attention as she continued her conversation with the Overseer. "I alone am enough for this mission."

"Such bold words Phoenix," Otto thought to himself. "You are just a hollow shell of your past self." To think that the mighty immortal defender of Shenzhou would be reduced to a mere puppet. He could still remember the day when the Phoenix of Shenzou descended into the battlefield all that long ago.

The mighty army of Schicksal learned that day how insignificant their power truly was.

But even if she was far from the being that she once was, Fu Hua was still a valued friend. Her dedication to defend Shenzhou, even if she no longer remembered the reason why she still defended it, was the same as his in reviving Kallen.

And for that he had nothing but respect for her.

"If you say so," He relented. "But I do hope that you haven't forgotten your other objective now have you?"

Ah yes that objective. "What is your fascination with Haruto Nakamura?" The age old immortal could not understand why a man such as Otto would be so interested in someone like Haruto Nakamura.

Her true objective was simple really. Whilst gathering intel on Kiana Kaslana, she would also do the same on Haruto Nakamura. Anything ranging from the most basic of information like his eating habits to his connection with the World Serpent, his bond with his cat in particular.

And should she find something that requires much more questioning, which she doubted seeing as her initial assumptions of the red head who bore a striking resemblance to Himeko wasn't anything special.

Then she would use the Fenghuang Down on him and investigate for herself.

"Call it a hunch my old friend. I find myself intrigued by him in some way." Otto pulled up the dossier that he had on the redheaded student. From a normal perspective there wouldn't be anything too special about him.

A normal childhood, a normal family, exemplary grades at school.

But fortune favors the bold and Otto decided that he would dig deeper into who Haruto Nakamura was. If his gambit was successful then the very nature of the game against the Honkai would change. If not?

Well the news would have their breaking news of the day when they found his dead body.

"I'll leave you be for now, but I expect you to make progress on your mission the next time I check in." With that final remark, Otto ended the conversation.

With the conversation finished the undercover Valkyrie made her way to the next location that she needed to scout out.

However, on the street opposite of her, Akira Ishigami lowered his newspaper as he watched the valkyrie leave the area. Folding his newspaper up, the science teacher stood up from his position and began to follow his target of interest.

A tranquil expression was on the sole resident of the Seed of Sumeru, the leaves of the Imaginary Tree fell around him as the gray haired pioneer mediated in the bubble reality, focused on the sole task at hand.

Floating in front of him was a leaf of chalk, one of the countless new realities that he devoted his entire attention to uncovering.

A large steel knight stood in a dark space, its glowing red visage cutting through the darkness as it stared down its target. A massive zweihander was held above its form, a red tinge surrounding the blade before it was brought down with extreme force.

The red head human that had piqued his interest brought up his own weapon to try and defend himself from the incoming strike.

However, before the zweihander could make contact with the other weapon…

The vision was filled with static before it ultimately cut out.

With a sigh Su released his concentration on trying to extract more information from the leaf. His eyes opened as he stood up from his seated position, the chalk leaf in front of him disintegrating into ash.

For the countless years that he had remained in the 2nd Divine Key, observing the infinite number of parallel universes for an answer to defeat the Honkai.

He was sure that he had found it in the form of Haruto Nakamura.

For someone to change the very nature of the Imaginary Tree was no ordinary person, no ordinary pawn of fate.

To change his role from that of being once a sidelined character to that of the main cast of the story of the Honkai Universe.

Su was sure that Haruto held the key to everything.

But as he began to observe the universes in which Haruto Nakamura would be a main player, he found himself hitting a roadblock that confounded him to no end.

Normally if something caught his attention the pioneer would watch the selected universe, taking note of all that transpired and comparing the differences between the other universes for future references.

And in all of his years he spent fulfilling the purpose of Project Valuka, the pioneer had never met an individual like Haruto. Never had he encountered an individual who could simply 'end' a vision.

When he was observing a universe, Su would watch what transpired up until the end of the universe. Most often than not the Honkai would lay waste to humanity but each universe had their own positives when dealing with the ancient enemy along with what didn't work as well.

He would take note of what went well from different and use the Seed of Sumeru to create simulated universes where he would test each and every plan that he devised. The number of combinations that he could create numbered in the millions, and that was without accounting for even the smallest of details.

For even a butterfly in the wrong place could make the difference between victory and defeat.

Yet each vision that he watched that involved Haruto Nakamura would somehow unexpectedly end with no explanation. The red head would be in the midst of some important event and then it would be cut as if someone had pulled the plug.

At first he had theorized the universes to be unstable, that after a certain event the Seed of Sumeru would be unable to continue viewing it but after some time Su had debunked that theory. The way that the visions were being cut felt too…deliberate.

As if something or someone was aware of his efforts.

It was only when the Pioneer had attempted to scry Haruto himself that he found this new theory to be more plausible. Whenever he had attempted to peer into his existence it was like a curtain would be draped over him, preventing even the Cosmic Juggernaut from learning about the red haired teenager. The only things he did know about him were from observations made during the various universes had watched.

So he decided to prove his theory.

Eyes closed Su used the Cosmic Juggernaut in an attempt to discern the true nature of the one who was obscuring Haruto from him. The Flamechaser felt his mind be guided by the Divine Key to where it had detected something originating from Haruto, something that he had been unable to detect originally.

Opening his fuschia eyes the Flamechaser found himself in green luscious plains that seemed to stretch on for miles. Standing up from his kneeling position the gray haired man observed the blue skies and the wind that was gently breezing by.

It reminded him of being back on Earth, back before everything had been ravaged by the Honkai.

He stopped himself before the nostalgia hit any further. He was not here to reminisce on the past, he was here on a mission.

Luckily he did not need to travel that far to accomplish it.

"You're….You're not supposed to be here." The voice of a kid spoke behind him.

Turning around, Su was greeted by the sight of a kid that was nearly identical to Haruto. The only difference was that instead of sporting bright red hair the child had black hair. Other than that, the child standing in front of him looked to be an identical copy of Haruto as a kid.

"Greetings," He greeted the child cordially, noting the suspicious look that he was being given. "I am-"

"You're the man that she was talking about," The child interrupted him, a stern look on his face. "The one that would be the first to be curious about Big Brother."

The mention of a female foretelling his arrival had Su on edge. The gentle atmosphere that was surrounding had begun to lose its disposition in favor of a tense atmosphere.

"I can assure you that I mean no harm to Haruto," He said in reassurement, hoping to deescalate the situation. "I only mean to help him."

"Big Brother says Haruto nii-san should not be disturbed until the time is right," The child stated seriously, much to Su's confusion.

"Haruto is being differentiated from this Big Brother title, does that mean there is someone else present that I have not accounted for?" He thought to himself as he processed this new information. If that was the case then he needed to fish for more information.

"Then may I-!" But before he could even attempt to ask a question a harsh breeze suddenly made its presence known in the plains. .

"Big Brother says that you've overstayed your welcome." The kid spoke, the telltale signs of a glare slowly making themselves apparent.

Su opened his mouth to possibly refute this but before he could a sudden migraine made its presence known. Narrowing his eyes in an attempt to weather the pressure, something began to play out in his mind.

Light.

A light so bright it threatened to blind him in his mind's eye. It shined so brilliantly that if it were placed inside darkness itself it would completely eradicate the inky veil.

The light began to die down a bit and Su strained the extent of his abilities to try and determine the source of it all. A few more seconds and he would be able to-!

And just as fast as it had come the light had disappeared. Opening his eyes the Flamechaser found himself back inside the Seed of Sumeru, no longer in the mindscape he had traveled to.

You would've made a great disciple of Nous.

Thy thirst for knowledge is unrivaled by very few.

However I must ask you to cease your task.

"If the truth of the universe is cruel and stale, would you still yearn for the answer to the ultimate question?"

And the truth that you seek is not one that will bring you peace, neigh it will bring you despair.

The Flamechaser did not know where the voice had come from, but it had left as quick as it had arrived. There was two things that he was fairly certain of. The first was that whoever had spoken to him in those brief moments must've been the 'Big Brother' that had been referred.

And the second was that this entity was all-powerful.

So much so that Su decided he would not attempt another visit. There was no need to antagonize the two entities that he had met. The young child was suspicious and on guard, as he rightfully should as he had arrived uninvited.

It was the other entity that Su was wary of. His physical combat capabilities may not be on par with Kevin's or the other Flamechasers but his mental abilities were rivaled only by Aponia.

It was very rare that he encountered an individual that could seamlessly overpower his field of strength. The gray haired pioneer knew that if it came down to mental combat he would lose.

So in the end he decided to heed the entity's words and wait for 'right time'. Adopting a meditative position he began to resume his duty of peering through the leaves of the Seed of Sumeru. Yet as he threw himself back into the duty of an observer something was on his mind.

Back to the vision of blinding light.

For in those final moments he was sure had seen it, faint as it was being bathed in the illuminating light…

The outline of a sword.

Omake: The Tuna Vs. The Bunny

[ChessFanatic213: What have you done Haruto]

[LordChaldea: ...On paper this seemed like a great idea].

[ChessFanatic213: Clearly you thought wrong.]

[Homu_Bunny: Neko_Charm is a baka.]

[Neko_Charm: Excuse me?!]

[Homu_Bunny: Neko_Charm has equipped low level gear, leading you to die over and over. Your idiotic actions have cost us the dunegon run.]

[Neko_Charm: It's not my problem that the healers don't do anything!]

[Homu_Bunny: Healers cannot save idiots that die in two hits.]

[Neko_Charm: What did you call me?!]

[LordChaldea: Um Homu_Bunny it's my fault, I told her that it was fine equipping them for the sake of fashion.]

[Homu_Bunny: Then LordChaldea is an idiot.]

[Neko_Charm: Hah!]

[Homu_Bunny: But Neko_Charm is a bigger idiot for believing you in the first place.]

[Neko_Charm: I'll show you who's an idiot!]

And as me and Keji watched the ensuing firestorm between the two in the chat, a thought suddenly hit me.

Why did this interaction seem so familiar?!

I'm not dead...yet!

It's been 2-ish weeks since my last update and too be honest I didn't want to have the next update be a month later. Technically I started college this week as the two weeks before that I wanted to rest my brain from writing fanfiction.

Even if I was writing fanfiction in my free time lol.

So...alot happens in this chapter. Like alot happened and I'm not sure if it will bite me in the ass later on. I knew that I can't do regular updates so I wanted the chapters to be bigger than normal so you guys don't suffer from waiting.

I saw that Ishigami got really good feedback as even if his true identity was fairly obvious, you guys really enjoyed it. So I applied it to Hyperion and Apollo here. Apollo is much more obvious than Hyperion but you guys might start getting some ideas about who they were.

You might know who they might be but their circumstances on how it came to be will definitely come as a shocker for you guys.

I hope that Elysia was written well. I know that Elysian Realm is out and I could gleam more of her character but when you have poorly built teams it's hard to get far. And Su may or may not start having more cameos this arc, and maybe future arcs.

I saw some comments of wanting Bronya and I too wanted to add her in but decided against it ultimately because there would simply be too many characters to write about. If you've read my other works then you know that I've learned that adding too many characters shot me in the foot.

So I opted for the omake instead, hope you all enjoyed it :)

And that Schicksal Container….lets just say it has a very very pivotal role in this arc. If I had to make a comparison then it would be that of a Pandora's Box. Things get interesting when it gets opened up.

Sorry if I didn't respond to you in the previous chapter, I took a break and totally forgot to respond to you guys!

Also 500 Follows! That's a huge milestone that I didn't think I'd be hitting so thank you so much guys!

BAAL WANTERS WILL BE BAAL HAVERS!

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. Even if I don't respond to your comment for whatever reason, know that I read each and every one of them!

Peace!