Siegfried walked into a narrow alleyway, with KIANA following him, watching him warily.
She let her gaze flicker down to Siegfried's coat, where she knew the 7th Divine Key was resting.
KIANA couldn't help but be on edge throughout the entire walk, seeing as she had just recently been harmed for the third time in her entire life, and yet another one of the weapons that could also harm her was sitting a couple feet away.
However, she couldn't deny that Siegfried seemed… friendly enough, at least. She doubted he was likely to pull the flaming sword on her without ample provocation.
"All right, here we are." Siegfried said, looking over at a door further down the alley. His words dragged KIANA out of her thoughts as she looked up at him. "First things first," Siegfried added as he pulled out a device, pressing a button on it. The device let out a pulse of sorts.
KIANA just stared at Siegfried, wondering what that was supposed to accomplish.
"Oh don't give me that look! It's an EMP one of my buddies got me. We wouldn't want Schicksal to know we're coming." At his words, KIANA glanced at him with a confused look.
"Schicksal? But I heard that this city…"
"Schicksal doesn't have a presence in this city, yeah? You'd best learn quickly that the Overseer of theirs doesn't quite like playing by the rules. Of course, Anti-Entropy isn't all that better in that regard, given the current incident."
He looked at her confusion only increasing with his words. "Hang on, you do know that the Honkai buildup is Anti-Entropy's work, right?"
She thought over the new information. Einstein and Tesla both didn't seem to be the types to purposely cause an Eruption, not to mention Reason should still be undercover at that school. So that meant this was probably…
"Cocolia?" That was the name of Rozaliya and Liliya's Matushka, wasn't it? Their Matushka was behind this? Reason had said she was planning something, was this it? A man-made Eruption?
"So you knew about what was going on, but you didn't know who was responsible? You grow ever stranger, lady." Siegfried said.
She was still trying to fathom why a human would want to cause an Eruption. "Don't worry, I'll explain what's going on when we get to our allies. Let's get going."
"Ever considered giving your security technicians a raise, Schicksal?" Siegfried called out as he entered the door.
Fu Hua and her compatriot Wraith stared in shock as none other than Siegfried Kaslana entered the bar, followed by a white haired girl. How had he gotten past the alarm?
KIANA just raised a brow as she followed. Hadn't he disabled all security? He was just trying to act cool, wasn't he?
"You're- Siegfried Kaslana!" Wraith called out, while Fu Hua stared at him. Her gaze was strict but confused. Why would Siegfried Kaslana appear here and now?
She turned her attention to the companion at Siegfried's side, staring into golden eyes.
At the same time, KIANA had looked to Wraith who yelled first, taking note of what was apparently Siegfried's last name, Kaslana.
She turned her gaze to the gray haired woman at the bar, staring into azure eyes.
The MANTIS and the Herrscher of Finality who battled on the Moon 50,000 years ago stared at each other.
.
.
.
"Nice to meet you." KIANA said. Fu Hua gave a short nod in greeting.
The two simply stared at each other for a moment after that.
Fu Hua gazed into the golden eyes of the girl who looked oh so similar to one Kiana Kaslana, an odd itch at the back of her mind. Something about this girl told her that Fu Hua should know her, that they've met somewhere before. Alas, a great many of her memories had been lost over the countless years. Hardly any of her memories of the Previous Era existed anymore, scattered like feathers in the wind.
Unknown to Fu Hua, the girl across from her was having similar thoughts. KIANA stared deep into the eyes of the gray haired girl across from her, trying to piece together why she seemed so familiar. It wasn't the same sense of familiarity she got from her fellow Herrschers. It was more subdued, not nearly something she figured she should be alarmed by.
Indeed, KIANA didn't realize that this was in fact the very same face she had seen on the Moon 50,000 years ago, simply because the one she fought back then had white hair and red eyes, wielding the powers of the Phoenix.
"What are you doing here, Siegfried Kaslana?" Wraith asked, unknowingly interrupting the thoughts of the two. This just wasn't her day. First Fu Hua shows up and shoots down any of her jokes, then a fugitive of Schicksal shows up at her doorstep? Not funny.
"I thought you said these were your allies? Why are they so surprised to see you?" KIANA asked, turning to Siegfried.
"Any chance a man can get a drink in a bar like this?" Siegfried answered, addressing Wraith who stood behind the bar.
Wraith stood there in silence for a moment, baffled at his request. Ultimately she found her voice and groaned.
"Ughh, fine! But only if you take whatever this is outside!" Wraith motioned to Siegfried and Fu Hua as she spoke. "I don't want to risk you guys wrecking my bar." She slid a bottle over to Siegfried.
"Hey thanks!" Siegfried took the drink and turned to KIANA and Fu Hua. "Well, you heard the lady. Let's bring this outside for now."
KIANA followed Siegfried out the door and Fu Hua followed, neither of them the wiser to their proximity to their ancient enemy.
Fu Hua gazed ahead at the pair who managed to find and enter Wraith's bar without tripping the security. She had no idea what they wanted and she had to be on guard in case things went poorly.
She looked at Siegfried who had stopped and started downing the drink Wraith had given him. She tried evaluating how well she'd do if she had to fight him, but it didn't go well. Even missing an arm he was still a dangerous opponent, with a Divine Key to boot.
She then turned her gaze to his companion, who was watching Siegfried chug the drink with a blank expression on her face. She was a complete wild card that Fu Hua didn't know anything about. She already didn't like her odds against Siegfried alone, but add her in and she'd likely suffer a complete loss.
Fu Hua also noted that she seemed to carry herself in a way that suggested she was in pain. Fu Hua was keen enough to notice such things. But the girl didn't seem to have any wounds on her body. Something within, then?
Whether it was something minor like a stomachache or something major like internal bleeding, Fu Hua couldn't quite tell. She kept watching the girl, as though whatever was afflicting her would naturally reveal itself.
She felt familiar, certainly similar to Kiana appearance wise. But Fu Hua couldn't help but feel she had met this person before. Her instincts were screaming at her that compared to Siegfried, she was actually the more dangerous of the two, despite the pain she was in.
Fu Hua shook herself out of her thoughts. It was clear she wouldn't win a fight against the two if it came to that. So instead she would focus on diplomacy.
"Nobody's been able to find you since you went rogue. Yet now you appear before a Valkyrie yourself? What's your game here?" She asked directly.
"You think your buddy would mind giving me a couple more of this drink? It's been ages since I had something this good." Siegfried diverted indirectly.
Fu Hua ignored him and looked at the girl who resembled Kiana. Was she another clone from Project Sirin? Only K-423 was able to reach consciousness according to Otto, and Siegfried had only taken that one. He never took a second clone.
"What about your friend here? They say that back with Schicksal you were infamous for your womanizing ways. Is this another of your pickups?"
At that Siegfried stopped drinking and actually looked offended.
"Give me some credit, I wouldn't go after a lady who looks so similar to my own daughter. That's just creepy." He replied.
"Then who is she? You leave your daughter behind then pick up someone who looks like her?" Fu Hua pressed the attack. Keep pushing until he leaves an opening, then exploit that opening to hell and back. It was the same in dialogue as it was in battle.
Siegfried flinched as if struck, and Fu Hua allowed herself a small sense of victory. Her words seemed to punch deeper than she expected, so now she could take advantage of the opening.
However, then Siegfried relaxed and carried on as if nothing happened.
"Dunno who she is. I just met her earlier today and we happen to share a goal." He shrugged as he spoke, and Fu Hua felt a rising urge to try fighting him anyways.
"My name's KIANA." The girl spoke up. A similar face, voice, and now even name? Fu Hua would have to ask Otto about this later. "By the way, I'd rather not be kidnapped." Kidnapped?
"Why would I want to kidnap you?" Fu Hua has seen a lot, but this may have been the strangest introduction she's seen in a long time.
"Because that's what Schicksal does, isn't it? Kidnap girls to make soldiers."
.
.
.
What?
Did this girl have some grudge against Schicksal or something? No, wait, Fu Hua realized that this girl was asking that question without the slightest bit of malice. Did she really think Schicksal went around kidnapping people?
Siegfried clearly wasn't helping matters, currently laughing his ass off at KIANA's question.
"...No, Schicksal does not kidnap girls, they recruit anyone who wants to be a Valkyrie with full consent." Fu Hua replied curtly. This was not the conversation she wanted to be having right now.
"Oh. Did Liliya lie…?" KIANA muttered to herself.
Siegfried coughed after getting his laughs out.
"As hilarious as this is, I suppose I should get started on what's going on. KIANA here knows some of the details but not all of them, so listen up!" Siegfried spoke up. Fu Hua turned her attention to him. Finally, some answers.
"Cocolia's planning to use the Gem of Serenity to create a Honkai Eruption and give rise to a Herrscher, just like what she did in Nagazora." Fu Hua stared in shock at his words. Has Cocolia gone insane?
Siegfried wasn't done. "Since this is the Gem of Serenity in particular, the Herrscher born is likely to be that of Death, which is why your precious Overseer isn't interfering further." Ah, that would explain her lack of back up. Otto had been trying to awaken the Herrscher of Death for a long time now, as one of his many plans to revive the Holy Maid.
"So this Overseer is standing by because he wants the Herrscher to descend?" KIANA asked.
Fu Hua nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. It's his goal to have the Herrscher of Death's powers under his thumb."
KIANA seemed to think over Fu Hua's words.
"So he wants to kidnap the Herrscher and turn them into his soldier?" Oh you have got to be-
"Shicksal does not-!" Fu Hua froze as she realized that, yes, that was pretty much exactly what Otto was trying right now. She pushed her glasses up and remained silent.
Siegfried was laughing again.
"Hoo boy, you're a riot, you know that?" He said, wiping away tears. "Oh, right. Before I forget, here." He tossed Fu Hua a small box. "That Soulium container can block out Honkai reactions, so once you've got the Gem, secure it with that."
"What about you? Am I to do this on my own?" She asked. She was more than capable of accomplishing the mission on her own, but she was confused at why Siegfried came to her instead of doing it himself or with his new friend.
"I have to stay out of sight, it wouldn't do for me to be hunted down by Schicksal the moment I leave the city."
"You just want to stay away from your daughter, don't you?" KIANA chimed in with a deadpan expression. Though admittedly it wasn't all that different from her standard expression.
"I admit, that too. As I said, she could be in danger if I'm near her." Siegfried answered without a hint of shame. He then turned back to Fu Hua. "Though, luckily, you won't be on your own. KIANA here will be helping you out." As he spoke, he gestured to the white haired girl in question. Fu Hua glanced at her for a moment before turning back to Siegfried.
"Is she able to hold herself in a fight? She also seems to be injured, though I can't tell how so." She didn't want to be working with a liability.
"I was injected with something that drained most of my energy, but it's been recovering ever since. There's only a minor ache now, I can fight." KIANA answered.
"Injected? An Anti-Honkai serum perhaps? Has Dr. Magi truly made something like that?" Fu Hua asked to herself.
"Anti-Honkai? That would explain a lot…" KIANA muttered.
Fu Hua turned back to Siegfried, who was finishing his drink while they talked.
"But why trust me with this? You know that I'm a Valkyrie that answers to Otto." She asked.
"I've been watching you. I saw how you tried to save Kiana back at the hotel. That makes you trustworthy in my book." He answered.
He began leaving the alley, waving a hand behind him.
"I know that you two can do it. Good luck!" He called out as he left.
KIANA stared at him as he left.
"He just walks away, just like that? Is he that desperate to stay away from his daughter?" She asked, though she didn't seem to expect an answer.
Fu Hua sighed and turned back to Wraith's bar.
"Let's head back inside. We'll want Wraith involved too. She's a pain, but she's a talented mimic. She can get us inside the building easily."
She opened the door and called out to Wraith and KIANA. "It's time to recover the Gem and save Kiana."
Siegfried walked along the streets of Singapore, planning his escape from the city. Schicksal probably wouldn't move in until after either the Eruption started or if Fu Hua succeeded. Cocolia's Anti-Entropy was in the same boat, probably waiting just outside the city with an army of mechs.
That meant that for now, Siegfried was in the clear, it was only after he left the city that they would become a problem.
He held up a hand to his chin in deep thought.
'Hmm, neither of them should know that I'm in the city, unless one of those Valkyries decided to rat me out.' Admittedly, it had been a gamble to go to them for help, but he was confident that they were trustworthy.
The plan had initially been for him to sneak in and dismantle Cocolia's operation by himself, but that plan fell apart once he saw who Schicksal had sent.
Namely his daughter, Kiana.
From there, he had been forced to put his faith in Kiana and Fu Hua.
He would have helped if he could, honestly! But his presence alone was enough of a catalyst for Sirin to wake up from within Kiana, and if that happened then Cocolia's Eruption would have been the least of their problems.
So he had no choice but to hope that Kiana and Fu Hua could prevent the Eruption themselves.
Oh, and KIANA too.
That had been quite a surprise, to learn that there was a third party trying to stop the Eruption themselves.
What's more, her appearance…
When he first found her, lying unconscious on a dumpster, he really had thought that she was Kiana for a moment.
It was only after he realized her outfit didn't match up to what Kiana had been wearing at all and that Kiana was still in the hotel that he realized that this person was a stranger.
Even with that revelation, he had still panicked when she first opened her eyes, revealing the same golden as the Herrscher of the Void.
Siegfried already had Shamash pulled halfway out of its holster when he realized the key differences between her and the Sirin possessed Kiana.
Her eyes had lacked the distinctive crosses that she had years ago, and furthermore…
Her face lacked the burning malice of Sirin. It didn't even have the naïve cheer of Kiana. Instead, it was a completely neutral face, as though its wearer didn't know how to emote properly.
It had only been once he realized that, and further forced himself to remember that Kiana was still in the hotel, that he put Shamash away.
That said, even if she wasn't Sirin or Kiana, she was still full of her own mysteries. From her similarities to Kiana to her limited knowledge about the crisis at Singapore, she was clearly involved in some way with mankind's battle against the Honkai.
Not to mention her reaction to Shamash…
The fact that she knew about the Divine Key wasn't all that odd, given that she also knew about Schicksal and the brewing Eruption.
Rather, he took note of how she had been terrified of the Judgement of Shamash.
Not that he could blame her, he was also somewhat terrified of Shamash's power, after seeing what it was capable of back in the Second Eruption.
But that was just it. Siegfried was scared because he had seen its tremendous power firsthand.
So why was she also scared?
To him, that was the most confusing part. If she had been Sirin, then the answer would have been as simple as 'she remembered what it had done to her.'
But he had already established that she wasn't Sirin.
Too many things about her seemed to add up, only to be completely torn apart by some conflicting evidence.
"Gah, this is hopeless! I'm just going around in circles here!" He yelled out, only to remember where he was and sheepishly apologize to the crowd of people around him, all staring at him after his outburst.
Solving these mysteries was more the Doctor's expertise. For now, he should focus on just getting himself out of the city before Schicksal comes down over his head.
"I wonder if a taxi could get me out safely…?"
KIANA, Fu Hua, and Wraith stood outside the Hotel, hiding behind a building out of sight. KIANA looked out and saw that the entrance to the hotel was covered by guards.
Wraith was looking at her phone, and called out to Fu Hua.
"I've located your friend. Seems she's dragging Dr. Magi down a corridor on the 55th floor. He seems to have a leg wound, but other than that they're fine." She then flipped over to a picture of a familiar face. The Pretender. "The perv you mentioned is hot on their trails."
"That man, he's the one in charge of Anti-Entropy here?" KIANA asked.
"Yes, he is. I had a run in with him myself yesterday, as well as a month ago. Not a pleasant fellow." Fu Hua answered.
"I'm aware. I met him a while back myself." She also killed him then, though she didn't say that to Fu Hua and Wraith. Einstein had called that one a clone, so did that mean this was another?
"Any information you can give us on him?" Fu Hua asked.
"He uses power over gravity. He calls himself a Herrscher, but in truth he's just a Pretender."
"I could guess at the Pretender part, and the rest I knew already. I suppose it was worth asking though." Fu Hua sighed. "Don't worry, I can deal with him quickly. I have a secret weapon that ought to help." At that, it almost looked like her hair tie seemed to glow. Wait, was that…?
KIANA took a closer look and realized that while faint, the hair tie glowed with the power of Sentience. Another Divine Key?
Fu Hua spoke again. "We at least know that the Gem is stored in a bunker underground, so while I deal with the creep, you'll go find out where exactly the Gem is, ok?" KIANA nodded in response before turning to Wraith.
"But what about her?"
"I'm not a battle ready Valkyrie like Fu Hua here, so I'll be getting out of your way once I get you inside. Here, how do I look?" She turned, revealing not the long haired woman from before, but instead the clone of Welt Joyce. KIANA tensed for a moment before realizing that he gave off no energy.
This was actually Wraith in disguise. Now the name made sense.
KIANA stared at Wraith while Fu Hua gave information on how he acted so Wraith could mimic his mannerisms. How did she manage to do that? She didn't even have the power of Sentience, so it wasn't an illusion.
Humans had a wide array of talents, didn't they?
Wraith had managed to get them in the building without too much trouble, though there had been some suspicion at KIANA's presence with Fu Hua, since Anti-Entropy hadn't been aware she was there beforehand like they had Fu Hua.
Luckily Wraith had managed to come up with a believable excuse of KIANA being found colluding with Fu Hua and thus taken in as well, and they were let in without further interruptions.
Fu Hua had gone upstairs to find the Joyce clone and Kiana, while Wraith had left to escape the building through another exit, leaving KIANA to search for the bunker underground.
She walked around keeping her eyes peeled for any stairs leading down, but she stopped before realizing that she had another trick up her sleeve to help her.
She reached inwards for her extra 'eyes'.
Shade of Finality: Void
The now familiar surge of power came with an added ache though. That Anti-Honkai serum was still inhibiting her, it seemed.
With some added discomfort, she spread her sight out across and under the building, looking for any underground bunkers.
Unlike the last time when she was searching for Rozaliya and Liliya, this time her target was a large stationary room, so it was a simple matter to find.
One warp later and she found herself standing before the bunker. From here she could feel the Honkai oozing out of the bunker. They were running out of time.
KIANA prepared to warp inside and secure the Gem when a sharp pain stung through her body.
'Should have expected more drawbacks from that serum.' She thought to herself. She allowed herself a brief pause to recover her strength before turning her attention back to the door.
She was once again interrupted from warping in however, when she heard footsteps coming towards her location. Of all times, now someone showed up? She turned and prepared to deal with whatever guards had decided to come near.
She stopped as she turned and her yellow eyes met blue eyes, on a face so like her own.
KIANA stared face to face with Kiana Kaslana.