Back at the Hyperion
Theresa Apocalypse was now overseeing the expediton led by Dr. Lieserl Albert Einstein. The Physicist suspected that one of the source locations of abnormal fluctuating honkai energy readings was found in Australia. Specifically the cave near Ayer's Rock.
She watched Dr. Frederica Nikola Tesla operated a giant mechanized construct with drill as one of its appendages after building one in a few minutes as they detected a high energy readings on one of the cavern walls.
"Kiana? How are the valkyries doing?" She turned to her niece, who was taller than her.
"Durandal, Rita and the rest of the immortal blades are accompanying the expedition team for safety reasons. They have encountered multiple Arch-angel class honkai beasts but it is something that they can easily handle." Theresa smiled at that news.
Both Olenyeva twins are taking the tour of the place while being accompanied by Seele and Bronya to babysit them. And Fu Hua decided to stay at the camp for protection." Kiana read the holotab thoroughly.
Theresa grinned at Kiana. She honestly thought that Kiana was a hopeless case when it comes to analyzing things. She also hesitated when she was her bridge duty valkyrie for the week.
But Hajime assured her that Kiana isn't dumb as she would think. He even gave the overseer one of his confident smile that Kiana can be actually be as smart as Himeko which surprises Theresa.
He said that the only problem with Kiana is how and what she focuses on and she often get excited on the lesser details.
Much like how Himeko reacts on the sight of an alcoholic beverage, she just lacks the discipline to say the least.
She asked Hajime on how did he came to that conclusion. He answered that it was apparent on the first day as her first bridge duty valkyrie and she relentlessly pressed every button on his desk which caused his system to malfunction.
Theresa laughed as she remembered Hajime telling her that Kiana tried to fix her mistake by pressing the huge red blinking button assuming that it was a reset button.
It was.
The problem was that she slammed it too hard, causing his whole desk to explode from the absurdity of her strength which ended up her gaining a huge scolding from Himeko.
As for him leading the conclusion of her being smart, it was a funny realization to him.
He has observed her when she isn't focused on her hunger pangs, building a better relationship with other valkyries or daydreaming about a certain someone. And he was genuinely surprised that Kiana is a very capable and very smart valkyrie.
The only thing with her is that she tends focus a bit more on her beliefs and self-needs rather than what's the greater good.
This was a problem to Kiana since St. Freya assesses the valkyrie on the latter. Why would she focus on the greater good if she is willing to save everyone? There will be no need for that if she is strong and confident enough to do so. She doesn't need anything else for that.
Theresa asked him why he isn't having problems with Kiana and why he just let Kiana do whatever she wants. He laughed at the Overseer and said:
"I am guessing you never met Himeko before she became a model teacher in St. Freya? Kiana is basically that kind of Himeko. Only Kiana is much less of a boozehound and has her eyes on a certain lady. And besides, You and I both know that her heart is always in the right place. If that how it is, then i got to guide her through the ropes."
Theresa trusted Himeko with her life but she never entirely knew who the Red-haired valkyrie was. But she was glad that Himeko's cousin shared this tidbit of detail to her.
"Aunt Teri? Is there something wrong?" Kiana looked at the overseer with worry on her face.
"No. I just never seen you this focused before. Kiana." The taller silver haired woman rubbed her head.
"Well... Hajime would often snapped me out of it whenever i get lost into my own thoughts and fantasies."
"Does he get tired of doing it?" Theresa raised an eyebrow to her.
"Never, actually. He would often wake me up when i fall asleep during breaks and let me have a few minutes in the simulation room whenever i feel bored." Kiana blushed as she twiddled her thumbs. "He knows that i'd make a good valkyrie and he is welcomed to keep guiding me through it. Even if it takes him dealing with my flaws now and then." Theresa chuckled at how shy Kiana was right now.
"That's Hajime for you. He always know what to do when it comes to his valkyries." Theresa turned around to look at the camp.
"I haven't still thanked him about what he did for me before i had my exams, you know?" Theresa turned her attention to Kiana.
"When did you figure it out?"
"When i saw his handwriting and signature on his notes before my final exams, i knew it was him guiding me by helping me focused on the more important parts. It's like..." Theresa chuckled at the sight of Kiana's grateful but fond look for Hajime.
"It's like Hajime truly understood you, right?" Kiana nodded.
"That's one of his job requirements as a Captain. Being your handler. He should know how to handle you and how to handle with your little problem now and then." Kiana nodded and hummed in agreement.
"When he comes back, you can have all the time to be thankful for him." Kiana cheered with glee which caused Theresa to smile. The overseer doesn't mind her this cheery. She actually missed this old Kiana. And after what she has gone through, she deserved this much.
After a few moments, they both received a holocall from Dr. Einstein.
"Is there something you need, Dr. Einstein?" The physicist's face appeared on the screen.
"Yes, Miss Overseer. Would you kindly call Dr. Nagamitsu? Her expertise is needed here in the chasm. There seems to be a problem with the communications because she is not answering our call and both Dr. Tesla and I are looking at a certain dilemma on our hands."
"Understood. I will try to call her with our communications. If anything else, I will come to her personally. Any ideas where she might be?"
"I believe she is at her usual R&D labs, Miss Overseer."
"Understood." Theresa dismissed the call and decided to call for Dr. Nagamitsu. To her surprise, she isn't responding to Theresa's call.
"Huh... The walls must be jamming the signal." She turned to her bridge duty Valkyrie. "Kiana, you don't mind overlooking the camp for me? I need to stretch my legs and check up the ship for status report anyways." Her niece shook her head with a smile.
"No need to worry, Aunt Teri. I can handle things down here." Kiana smiled which reassured the overseer as the latter left.
Theresa entered the R&D labs just to see how huge of a mess it is.
"DR. NAGAMITSU! ARE YOU HERE?" She heard a response under a pile of papers and saw her haggard look.
Dr. Nagamitsu looked like she hasn't a proper sleep and she looked tired and frustrated as if someone or something defeated her.
"What on Earth happened to you?" Theresa sweatdropped at her sorry state.
"I apologized, overseer. It seems like i hit a stump on my research. Is there something you need from me?"
"Yeah... Uh... Dr. Einstein and Dr. Tesla has been calling you for your help down at the chasm." The doctor looked at the time and sighed.
"I see. I must have missed their call. I will try to compose myself and head down there as soon as possible." Pitying the doctor, Theresa sighed and decided to give her a few moment of rest with a smile.
"Why don't you take a rest first? I am sure that Dr. Einstein and Dr. Tesla can wait for a few minutes." Dr. Nagamitsu tried to argue but Theresa beat her to it.
"That's an order, Dr. Nagamitsu." The doctor nodded with a smile and said her thanks.
Theresa looked around and saw what was she working on.
On one screen displayed the components of the Crystal that Hajime found in his investigations.
On the other showed Hajime's medical status records which baffled the overseer.
"Are these what were you working on?" The doctor took a cup of coffee.
"Yeah. I was." Seeing Overseer's curiosity, the doctor smiled and explained what she was doing.
"Hajime asked me to make a weapon that fits perfectly for him. It would be problem for him at first due to his lack of stigmata or sufficient honkai energy."
"Oh right... He did mention something like that. Did you manage to create a good one though?" She pouted.
"It was a no at first but turned into a yes." Theresa gave her a confused look.
"I tried my best creating a good one but managed to make a sub-par weapon for him. I managed to create a weapon that absorbs any nearby at honkai energy that isn't based on the valkyries' unique resistability to Honkai but it is sadly not enough."
"How did it turned into a yes then?" the doctor pointed at a screen which displayed the pink crystal.
"Hajime managed to pick that one up on the aftermath of your battle in Soukai City. And to my surprise, that crystal manages fit the requirements for the weapon. We both tested it and the lightning pistols i made for him packed a lot of punch. Granted it is still at the prototype stage but Hajime was still happy with the results."
"But that was almost a month ago. What got you stumped on the breakthrough?" Theresa crossed her arms
"I decided to look on to the crystal a bit further but some things about it doesn't make any sense." The red-haired doctor scratched her head.
"Can you tell me why?"
"Pleasure. The crystal is capable of regulating any nearby honkai energy. The power it exudes equates the power it absorbs like how you use a funnel or modem."
"That sounds like a great requirement for our weapons. Honestly, if you research on that concept more, you would make a great self-defensive weapons for the non-valkyries. Why am i the only one who has heard of this crystal aside from you and Hajime?"
"Because i haven't fully looked up the side-effects of the crystal yet."
"What do you mean by side-effects?"
"I managed to embed the crystal on the pistol that exuded the right amount of power and yet there are still probable side effects like slight electrical discharge."
"How slight are we talking about here?"
"Ever accidentally touched a broken wire that is attached to the outlet? It's like that."
"You knew the side effects and you let him take the weapon anyways!?"
"I tried telling him but he was stubborn and persistent." The doctor gave Theresa a flat look which made the short silver hair to facepalm.
Dang it, Hajime.
"Did you at least make it not fatal for him? I still want him alive after this."
"Trust me overseer. I tried my best to at least make it feel like an electrical ant bite for him. It hurts like hell, sure but it is at least something he won't die from... I hope..." Theresa sighed at Hajime's stupidity.
"Well... At least Hajime is still safe. What else do you know about the crystal? Is there a specific place in the globe that we could procure it for future development? Maybe Dr. Einstein and Dr. Tesla could help you with this if they have the time."
"Hajime is working on procuring them as he thinks it would lead them to Mei. Other than that, there are no other places to get them."
"Huh... Based on his reports earlier, it ended badly. Are there any other alternatives that you could use for you to produce similar effects?"
"That's what got me stumped." Dr. Nagamitsu displayed a tab to show to Theresa.
"Wait... Isn't that a..." Theresa widened her eyes at the display.
"Yeah. The herscherr core that Dr. Tesla analyzed from the Herscherr of Domination."
"Are you saying that the crystal he found is based from a herscherr core? But we didn't get any readings or alert about a Honkai eruption. Even if we did missed it due to our current circumstances, Our resident herscherrs would have sensed it."
"Thing is...This is widely differently from other herscherr core because unlike a normal Herscherr core, this one isn't generating honkai energies like a battery. The pink crystal that Hajime found only regulates." The doctor drank another coffee from frustration.
"Well... I can see why this one got you stumped." Theresa crossed her arms and pondered deeply.
What is going on?
"Okay... Could you tell me why are you looking onto Hajime's Medical records?" The doctor sighed deeply.
"When i decided to take a break from this research, i was curious on Hajime's medicals."
"What for? He looks fine to me."
"On the outside? Sure. But I had a hunch that something about him feels off."
"Oh? What gave you that idea?"
"Has he ever told you how he got that big scar on his chest?"
"Yeah... Hajime told me that Mei gave it to him before leaving him to die but he wanted to keep it under wraps because he didn't want the Hyperion to brand Mei as an enemy." As Theresa remembered Hajime telling her that to ease her worry.
"Huh... He would go that far for Mei?"
"For all of his valkyries? Always." Dr. Nagamitsu widened her eyes at her boss but the latter responded with a smile.
"He wasn't there with you in Kolosten right?" Theresa nodded. "May i know why?"As Nagamitsu asked Theresa while finding her papers to pass the time.
"After Otto appointed me as his new Overseer, there has been a severe public backlash. We were focused on what was Otto up to but we couldn't leave the public on the dark or else we would be having problems back in Soukai." Theresa sighed in sorrow.
"So Hajime volunteered to be the spokeperson to mitigate the chaos along side with Mr. Welt while the rest of us were focusing on Otto."
"Well... I am glad that it ended well for all of us." The doctor compiled her papers.
"Not exactly. When we came back, I saw him collapsed on the floor in his office from the exhaustion accompanied by Welt.
Welt told me that Hajime did most of the diplomacy talking while Welt was there to provide scientific evidence and reasoning."
"Those self-centered arrogant diplomatic bureaucrats..." Theresa sighed in frustration.
"I see..." Dr. Nagamitsu's attention returned to Hajime's medical records on the screen and emphasized on his Honkai corruption level.
A few moments later, Dr. Nagamitsu reached out her papers to the short silver haired.
"What are you getting at, Doctor?"
"These are his honkai corruption level prior to his last medical check up." She showed her Hajime's medical records.
"It shows that he is at the sweet spot. He is not at the safe zone but it is almost high. That's what medical check up for, right?"
"That is just his most recent and i get that it has decreased due to acquiring the crystal. But take a look at previous ones. Before Kolosten Incident." Theresa was confused but indulged the doctor.
Hajime's Total Honkai Energy Level Assessment:
During Herscherr of Dominance's Arrival: Dangerously High.
After the Herscherr of Sentience's Defeat: Dangerously High
After Nagazora Incident: Dangerously High
At the time of Sirin's Arrival: Dangerously High
"Wait... Are these after his medical check-up and honkai corruption detoxification?" The doctor nodded.
"You also told me that Mei did that to him and she was already a herscherr?" Theresa nodded.
"Mei has been suppressing her Herscherr powers before any of this happened."
"Same thing with Kiana's?"
"A different case with Kiana but yeah. Their Herscherr core hadn't been fully awakened prior to Sirin's arrival."
"Well... That means Hajime has a lot of explaining to do.
Because being surrounded with valkyries that had their herscherr's powers suppressed would make a normal man get corrupted from a high honkai energy overdose.
I understand that if it's just one because that is the limit of how much the detoxification process can do
But Hajime is basically with them 24/7. And I count 3 of them. 4 if you include Mei." Dr. Nagamitsu raised her eyebrows at her boss. "I am genuinely surprised he hasn't been turned yet even after what Mei did to him. Calling it a miracle would be a severe understatement."
"How are you still alive after all this time?" Theresa leaned on the desk with a pondering look while looking at Hajime's medical records.
Before she tried to say something else, she received an alert from Ai-chan.
"What's wrong, Ai-chan?"
"Theresa! We have a problem. The Hyperion system's has been breached." Theresa widened her eyes.
"By who?" Her answer was revealed in the form of a snake eating its own tail.
World Serpent.
Theresa gritted her teeth as the face of a grey serpent was revealed to her.
"Didn't you learn your lesson already?"
"The World Serpent will do everything for Sire. And destroying potential adversaries such as you will help Sire proceed with his Project Stigma with ease."
"Good luck with that. Bronya has installed countermeasures whenever you jerks want to do this shtick again." Theresa crossed her arms as Ai-chan initiated the Zaychik protocol.
Multiple firewall has been displayed and multiple system breach has been resolved faster than the organization can create.
To Theresa, The Zaychik Protocol was working smoothly.
The World Serpent isn't going to stop but Theresa can keep with this charade all day. Same with Ai-chan.
She heard the Grey Serpent chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Theresa raised her eyebrow at the android.
"Have a closer look on what i am about to send you." The Hyperion received a live video.
Theresa recognized the place. It was the Mall district in Soukai City.
Before she try to say something else, she was shocked to see that there has been a large Honkai Wave occuring in there.
"Wait... The Hyperion should have detected that! Unless..." Theresa glared at the screen.
"You did this."
"That's not the best part, Miss Theresa. Take a look again." Theresa complied as she watched along.
She can see that few parts near mall district were entrapped in the dome.
Multiple honkai beasts and zombies has been spawning left and right.
They are rampaging all around in there.
But in the middle of it all, She was horrified to see that Hajime is trapped within it. Fighting back to save them.
Her heart broke to see Hajime fighting them off alone.
It didn't help her worries that he isn't allowed to take any damage directly or else he will immediately turn.
"No... Hajime..." Theresa gripped the desk so tight that it was to break.
"I told you, Miss Overseer. We will destroy forces such as yours. And what better way to destroy the Hyperion crew than to destroy their morale?"
"No. NOT AGAIN." She quickly headed towards the exit but the chuckle from the grey Serpent gave a shiver in her spine.
"I am afraid that i will not let you interfere with our work." Theresa saw the weapons of the Hyperion aimed towards at the cave. She widened her eyes.
"NO!" She couldn't stop the ship from firing at the entrance of the cave, causing a cave-in.
"Don't worry, Overseer. The grey serpents know how to share their resources. The other valkyries get to watch him fight the Honkai. After all, he is their captain. I will bring your communications back to you."
Theresa received multiple alerts from the other valkyries as she let Ai-chan kept working on Zaychik Protocol.
It could stop the Grey Serpent from fully hacking the ship but that doesn't mean they can't toy with their weapons temporarily.
The weapons were taken back from the Grey Serpent's hands but the damage was already done.
With a sigh, Theresa accepted Kiana's call. She saw all of the valkyries on call led by Kiana.
"Aunt Teri? Please tell me this isn't true.
PLEASE TELL ME THAT ISN'T HAJIME FIGHTING HONKAI ALONE!" Theresa nodded with a sorrowful look as Kiana was about to emotionally break.
"I DONT WANT TO LOSE ANOTHER CAPTAIN, AUNT TERI! PLEASE, I ALREADY LOST AUNT HIMEKO. DON'T MAKE ME LOSE HAJIME AS WELL!" Theresa wanted to scream back as she deeply cared the red-haired captain as well.
But she needed to stay strong for Kiana.
"We will save him, Kiana. Have everyone withdraw to the Hyperion. We will save him, Kiana. ALL OF YOU, WE WILL SAVE THE CAPTAIN." The rest of the valkyries nodded to the Overseer but their expression remained sorrowful.
Theresa took a deep breath after dismissing the call as she needed to compose herself. She felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Go. Go help with the valkyries. I will help Ai-chan take back the Hyperion." Theresa nodded with a grateful look to Dr. Nagamitsu.
As She went down to the loading bay, she saw multiple ancient mech guards patrolling the area.
"NOT NOW! I NEED TO GET TO THE VALKYRIES." The mech guards wouldn't comply with her wishes as they attacked the Overseer.
Theresa assumed that the Mech Guards were activated due to the nature of the weapon upon firing. And it activated a lot of Ancient Mech guards.
She called Kiana as she kept dodging their missiles.
"Kiana! Have the valkyries move the boulders from the rubble so the crew can easily head back to the ship!"
"Not an option, Theresa. Bronya suspects that what caused the cave-in also triggered multiple ancient mech guards to activate and also caused multiple number of honkai zombies and Honkai beasts to spawn." Theresa clicked her tongue as she stabbed one of the mech guards with one of her swords.
"Fine. Have the non-combatants remove the boulders while the rest of you defend them." Bronya nodded.
"I assure you. WE WILL SAVE THE CAPTAIN. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" The younger and inexperienced valkyries was shocked to see Theresa this fierce but the other nodded.
We will save you, Hajime.
Just Hold on...
Theresa took a deep breath after detaching one of the heads of the mech guards from the body.
Elysia finally arrived at what was remained to be the Golden Courtyard after entering a portal hidden in Raven's Bar.
She looked around at the Ruins of the forgotten place but she still remembered how shiny and pristine it was like it was yesterday.
The place has seen better days but i guessed things don't stay the same as time goes by.
She let her fingers rubbed the walls and pouted to see that the place has gathered a lot of dust.
I was gone for who knows how long and Kevin still don't know how to clean the place without me.
She sighed but smiled afterwards.
She was glad that even if she hasn't seen Kevin yet, she knows that he was still the same as she remembered.
A shy hopelessly-romantic boy who hates being alone.
"Elysia?" The pink haired woman turned around to see tall silver haired man. She smiled.
"Is that really you?" Elysia giggled at the puzzled man.
"Awww... Does Kevin want a hug? Your Miss Pink Elf can give plenty." Elysia joked to verify his confusion.
Much to her surprise, Kevin ran up to her and gave her a hug.
"It is you..."
"Yeah. It's me." She gave him a pat on the back with a smile.
"A lot of things have changed and yet some things remain the same." As Elysia savored Kevin's tight but cold hug.
After letting go from each other's embrace, She grinned at the man.
"Love what you done to the place. Dark, Cold and Gloomy." She tapped her lips with a taunting smile.
"So very much you." Kevin just smiled as if he was this glad seeing a very old friend again.
"So... You have your own organization now, huh? Mind telling me why it took you this long to come up with that idea after i came up with the Flamechasers?"
"I... didn't thought of this. The Grey Serpents founded the idea and decided to serve for me as their Sire."
"Kevin Kaslana as leader and King of a hidden organization." Elysia tapped the corner of lips and pouted. "I am not sure if i like that. I rather see you as a hero, to be honest." Elysia pouted.
"But still... Congratulations are still in order, Kevin. Where's Eden? She's usually the first one i see whenever i come here." Kevin frowned.
"Come to think of it... Where is everyone?" Elysia looked around to see the dark empty room with no other occupants.
Just the throne where Kevin usually sits.
Kevin Kaslana sighed and placed both of his hands on Elysia's shoulders. The pink haired woman turned to him and realized what was going on.
"..." Elysia couldn't believe what she was seeing. She has been with Kevin for a long time as his second-in-command and she has seen him deliver a bad news to someone who have lost their loved ones in the battle field.
Elysia connected the dots before trying to hold everything together in her mind.
"How long was i gone?" Elysia couldn't keep her smile.
"... 50,000 years. Give or take."
"Then how are you still alive?"
"Project Sanctuary. One of the four Projects that DR. MEI was working on. It made some of us immortal."
"Oh. That's good. Where are the others then?" Kevin sighed as he sat on the steps near the throne while Elysia bent on her knees to look him in the eye.
"Sakura died because of the 12th herscherr." Elysia sighed as she just remembered that Sakura told her that she doesnt want the SIM to know what happened to the real Rin. Her sister.
"Griseo left with Project Ark." Elysia remembered how cute the painter was and how she was always eager to pinch her cheeks.
"And Project Ark is?"
"It is find another planet or world that is Free from Honkai. We... still haven't had any contact back with her. But i doubt she ever make it because she never took part in Project Sanctuary."
"I thought it was Kosma's job?" Finally remembering the bits of details of what Project Ark is about, she raised an eyebrow to him. She remembered Vill-V was tasked to create the spaceship.
"She didn't want him to be alone in space so she took it upon herself." Elysia sighed as the thought of the child sending into space alone.
Such idea would be cruel and painful to a young girl like Griseo.
She can't imagine how much pain Aponia is in knowing that.
"During the battle with the Herscherr of the end in the moon, Pardofelis, Kalpas and Kosma didn't make it." Elysia didn't have any words to say about that because her heart was doing all of the emotional work.
"The rest?"
"Before Finality came, Su, Hua and I managed to get on with Project Sanctuary. Vill-V, Aponia, Mobius and Eden didn't."
No...
That one broke Elysia's heart as Vill-V, Aponia and Eden were the only ones who attended her banquet aside from Kevin.
"What hapened to Project Ember then?" Elysia may have left but she does remember that she has heard Dr. MEI entrusting Eden with that Project as it was one of the first last resort to fight against Honkai.
"Eden entrusted it to Hua."
Elysia was barely holding on and she just wished everyone was there. Even Eden.
"Dr. MEI?" Kevin clenched his fingers.
"She died because of her illness. Even before the finality came."
"Then how is it possible that i saw two girls much like you in the news one time?"
"Dr. MEI left me with a baby boy that had natural stigmata. She grew him from a test tube based on our DNA and named him Adam. The girls you saw are my descendants." Elysia was this close to losing it.
"Okay... Okay...Where is Su and Hua now? Are they here?"
"...We had a fight."
"Nooooooooo... Even Su, Kevin?" He weakly nodded.
"You can still apologize to him right? You can talk it out with him. Where is he?"
"He was in Seed of Sumeru, a bubble universe, last i saw after he almost sacrificed himself trapping me in the Sea of Quanta as part of Project Regulator."
"What? He trapped you there? Why?"
"...For initiating Project Stigma. Only Su had access with that bubble universe. I couldn't go back to check up on him."
"Couldn't? Or are you just afraid to?" Elysia pouted at the man as he flinched.
She knew Kevin Kaslana well. So well that he was afraid to disappoint his best friends.
Much like how he disappointed her.
"Did Project Ember failed? Did Hua fail?"
"... I don't know. Hua left after i initiated Project Stigma. We haven't made contact since." Elysia couldn't believe the news herself and she just sat down on the steps besides him.
"I... I am sorry, Elysia." Elysia sighed as she watched the silver haired man hung his head low.
"But if you are here, Maybe we could plan for..." Elysfia raised her hand in front of him with a sweet smile.
"Please, I don't want to talk about it right now, Kevin." Kevin immediately understood as Elysia breathed deeply with a frown.
"Is Elysian Realm still here? I want to see the others." Kevin Kaslana couldn't blame how upset Elysia was so he led her to the Elysian Realm.
Where Memories are stored and later to be told for the future generation of Anti-Honkai force.
The SIMs couldn't believe what they saw.
Mobius had Klein check on Elysia's medical to see that this was genuinely the real deal.
SIM Elysia was confused but cheerful to see the original standing there.
The Original decided to check her copy out.
"Mmmmmmm... Leave it to Vill-V to make a great copy of me. She made me look good in every angle." The SIM Elysia giggled as she flaunted her looks.
"Oh goodness. There's two of them." Mei, who was leaning on the walls, made a flat look at Elysia's comment. Both Elysia giggled to Mei.
"Oh, Silly me~ I forgot to mention it when you came~ Raiden Mei is my bestest friend, Ellie~" The SIM clapped her hands and ran towards Mei with a hug.
"Oh? That means Mei and I can be best friends too, right Mei?" The original ran towards to her while holding her hand with a cutesy look.
"I don't seem to remember that we agreed to be best friends, Elysia." The blue-haired woman glared at the SIM.
"Oh? I didn't know you can be this Shy~ That's alright. I like shy people. They tend to keep more interesting secrets than they let on." The Original giggled with a grin as she leaned closer to Mei. Raiden Mei sighed deeply with a groan.
"I really don't know how Hajime does it. You two are just impossible." Both Elysia giggled.
"Who's Hajime, Elysia?" The SIM Kevin who had his arms crossed, raised an eyebrow to her. The original didn't want to stay in the Elysian realm and decided to work on other things. Raven left with him, leaving Original Elysia and Mei with the 13 flamechasers.
"Another best friend of mine i met in my travels." Elysia relied with a wink.
"And he just deals with your nonsense with ease?" Mobius widened her eyes with curiousity.
"Believe it or not, Yeah. He can do it smoothly too. I was there to see it." As Mei responded with widened eyes.
"Hmmm... He is the captain of the Hyperion, Correct? Impressive." Most of the Flamechasers agreed on the SIM Kevin's assessment.
"Is there anything else about him? I want to know how he does it so i can finally stop her from bugging me in my lab." Mobius glared at the SIM Elysia.
"A cute girl like me has to keep some of her secrets to herself. Right, Mobius?" The 10th Flamechaser clicked her tongue and left to her lab as she heard her giggled.
"So, My dearest Ellie, How are you back here, alive?" Elysia sighed deeply to Eden's question.
"I honestly don't know. I remember what happened after the party. But after that, i woke up on the bed of pink tulips. I looked everywhere to see if you guys were there. I even traveled around to see if you guys were at different places." She sat on the red velvet couch in the lounge. "Imagine my surprise to see what really happened to you guys."
Eden sat besides her and offered her a goblet filled with red wine. Elysia knew that it wouldn't cheer her up as this was just a SIM but she gave her a side hug after drinking the wine anyways. Eden gave her a heartwarming smile to her dearest best friend.
"Is Big Sis Ellie okay?" The painter walked towards to Ellie with a frown but the latter reassured her that she was fine.
"Do you have any idea how is it possible?" Elysia shook her head as she rubbed the tired painter's head.
"No. Not really. All i know or felt is that something brought me back to the Current Era." Kosma nodded to her reply as he took the girl and let her sleep in his arms.
Hearing what he needed to know, He left while carrying Griseo to let her have a quiet nice nap.
Pardofelis and Can finally processed what happened after a while and ran up to her crying.
Elysia chuckled as she rubbed their back and heads, respectively.
Kalpas couldn't understand what was going on with the news decided to help himself by fighting every enemy mob he sees in the Elysian Realm.
Kevin, Hua, Su and Sakura understood Elysia's confusion and respected to leave the topic alone as they waited for successors to challenge the realm.
Seeing how her original needed a moment with her best friends, SIM Elysia dragged Mei out the lounge and began to chat with her with absurd stories despite Mei's dismay.
Leaving very confused but grateful Vill-V, Aponia and Eden with Elysia.
"Are you three going to say something? You are going to break my heart." Elysia pouted as the original petted the sleeping Pardofelis.
"I am really glad that you are back." Eden gave Elysia a tight hug as the latter responded with a kiss on her cheek.
"Us too. All 8 of us." Vill-V ran to Elysia with pure enthusiasm.
"Me too, 'Conductor'. Say hi to others for me?" Vill-V nodded.
Elysia looked at the shocked Aponia. She wasn't holding both of her own hands like she normally would. She just stared at her at shock.
She placed the sleeping Pardofelis on the couch and walked to Aponia but Aponia distanced herself just to be safe.
"Aponia? It's You can 'discipline' me if you want to check that i am a real deal or not." Elysia opened her arms to Aponia as if she was ready For Aponia to discipline her.
"Is it really you, Ellie?" Elysia giggled at the nervous 3rd Flamechaser.
She ran towards to Aponia, who was the most distant of the three, held her hands close to her heart and leaned towards to her face.
"Are you still worried that i will distance myself from you? That you might steal the audience and limelight from your beauty?" Aponia widened her eyes as this was the same thing she said when Apona first came to the MOTHs.
"Do not be afraid, Aponia. I am still the flawless and pristine Elysia you know and love." As soon as Aponia heard that, every bits of Elysian realm shone on light on them as if they were on the center of the stage. Aponia couldn't resist crying but the sudden weirdness in the Elysian realm made Elysia confused.
Elysia felt a weird breeze coming towards to her as Aponia kept crying. As if the breeze continued to hug her lovingly.
Aponia couldn't stop crying and the breeze kept coming.
Elysia connected the dots on what's going on and smiled at the Elysian realm.
"Aponia? Is that you? The real one?" As she looked at the crying SIM. The courtyard responded for her to Elysia's question by having multiple chandelier lights blinked.
"Oh... Aponia..." Elysia sighed deeply as she let the SIM hugged her tight after realizing what really happened to her dear Aponia.
It was a rare sight to see Aponia get emotional since she always focused on making things right, preventing someone's demise and taking care of Griseo.
But She recognized that feeling of relief anywhere. Especially it is from Aponia.
She's just disappointed at the thought of Aponia sacrificing her own consiciousness to maintain the Elysian Realm forever.
At least to her relief, The SIM Aponia that was hugging her was the real deal.
Hajime's tired and the only things that were keeping him awake were the self-inflicting zap from his pistols, his headache from earlier and the andrenaline in his veins.
And the adrenaline in his system was starting to wear off.
The weapon that Dr. Nagamitsu made for him worked wonderfully. Especially how Ellie's crystal were regulating the energy required for his ammos.
Multiple Honkai Zombie corpse and Beast were coming to him left and right.
And he was evading every single one of them to avoid getting turned into one of them.
He still remembered his training in Schicksal and experiences from being Rita's Handler.
Rita, as a valkyrie, was a maid assassin so her only goal from their mission is to handle the ones that Otto deemed a liability rather than an asset.
Hajime's mission is to handle the clean-up right after Rita's mission as most assassination missions has a big consequences that might affect the city.
He hated those missions and he hated how he kept secret from Himeko.
But He made a deal with Otto.
Otto would try to avoid deploying Himeko to much dangerous mission. In return, Hajime would help Rita clean up the mess.
Otto himself would personally train Hajime as Schicksal's best operative in secret, much like how he did to Rita.
But he always maintained his morals thanks to Himeko and Ragna.
Ragna were both Himeko's and Rita's mentor and teacher but He was always there when Ragna starts to talk about moral philosophy.
As soon as she starts, he was always attentive from start to the end.
A lot of young valkyries at his age gave him weird looks but Ragna never seemed to mind, saying that gender should never be an issue when someone starts teaching.
A lot of valkyries always go to her for her strength and accomplishment but rare admires for her views in life.
He was glad that Himeko and him were the rare ones that did.
Though He can argue that Himeko needed a little bit of work.
"Grrrrrrrrrr..."
His mind immediately snapped back to reality as he heard a guttural growl.
He saw multiple Catapult class firing their bombs at him. He immediately moved aside and let the heat of the explosion warm his back.
He was getting tired and he was starting to space out.
He fired multiple lightning bullets to the mobs and ran towards the other way, not caring about their disintegration nor the tingling sensation from his hands.
He was finally back at the parking lot where his car resided.
He was surprised to see that among the mob of honkai beast around the area, his car was safe and sound.
Wanting to find out why, he had cleared the area with difficulty.
As he was looking around in his hood, he failed to notice that there was a ninja zombie standing behind him, ready to stab him.
As soon he saw the corpse on the reflection of his car, he didn't have the time to react.
He closed his eyes and waited for the stab through his chest and yet nothing happened.
When he opened his eyes, He was surrounded a pink crystal dome that was protecting him and keeping the ninja out.
He felt something warm in the hood of his car and turned to see multiple pink crystal glowing in pink light.
He smiled gratefully at the crystal.
Thank you, Ellie.
He thought that he could rest a bit for a while as the crystal keep shielding him from danger and hopefully back-up arrives.
He was about to enter to his car to take a rest...
"SOMEONE... HELP US! PLEASE!"
Hajime failed to realize that there are always casualties in the battle with Honkai.
He aimed at the ninja and pulled the trigger before driving towards to the source of the scream.
After all of this, he still fails to realize that he was getting weaker and more tired because the adrenaline in his blood already wore off.
And his mind were starting to compensate for the lack of rest.
Hajime's mind was starting to lose its hold on to reality as he was beginning to see Honkai zombies as terrified civilian.
He often swerved to avoid hitting one of the civilians as he couldn't take the chance.
He does know that Honkai zombies are always make unintelligible noises.
But that didn't last long as he crashed through the entrance of the mall, making his vehicle useless.
"Please! Help us." The scream gave Hajime a jolt as he immediately took out his pistols and aimed toward his side to defend himself.
To his relief, there wasn't.
As he head towards to the noise after picking up all of Ellie's crystal including the red flower, he was starting to hallucinate and mistaking zombies to civilians.
He took deep breaths and decided to come up with a plan.
Honkai beast were always easy to differentiate and their animalistic and feral roar were always a giveaway.
He however has a plan for Honkai Zombies.
He would start aiming for the zombie once he sees them.
If the mob responded with a guttural growl and start to pounce on him, he would immediately fire at them without giving them a chance to feed on him.
If responded differently, he would try to save them.
The plan worked swimmingly as multiple honkai enemy mobs were gone without a trace.
As he finally arrived at the source of the scream, he saw multiple civilians hiding in one of the abandoned stores while barricading themselves from the battering honkai beasts. He identified them as Chariot class.
He was glad to see that he arrived on time and he cleared out the mobs. But he knew that honkai wave such as this will never going to stop anytime soon.
"Are you guys hurt?" He stared at the panicked civilian.
"Please save us!" He clicked his tongue as he took deep breaths.
He wants to save the other civilians but he couldn't leave these ones behind as he saw more spawning and heading their way.
As he began to assess the situation, he thought of a crazy plan and hoped that it will work.
He took out a pink crystal and placed it on the main entrance.
"This will attract a horde of them but i have to give it a try." He fired at the pink crystal with lightning bullets.
Certain Arch-Angels and knights headed straight towards to the loud noise but Hajime was satisfied with the result.
His crazy plan resulted a big crystal barrier that could protect the civilians.
He immediately moved out of the way as an arch-angel flew towards him, causing it to crash at the crystal barrier.
To his disappointment, It only withstood one attack as he watched it fade.
After firing lightning bullets at the horde of honkai beasts to their heads that led to their disintegration, he tried to give his plan another try and placed two more nearby.
He fired at the three simultaneously and it resulted a stronger barrier.
To see how sturdy it was, He gave it a few shots. The barrier withstood the onslaught of bullets, much to his relief.
He nodded and looked at the panicked civilians who were confused at what happened.
"Stay there and wait for your rescue. Don't make any noise or else they will find you and start ramming at the barrier."
"Where are you going?!"
"I will try to clear them out while find more civilians to protect."
"Are you insane?! It's dangerous." He shushed them to prevent them attracting more honkai beasts.
"I will be fine. You guys stay down and stay quiet. Wait for the valkyries to come and save you." He gave them a warm and gentle smile.
"May i know your name, at least?" One of the red-haired civilians asked the name of her savior as she held closely to the kids nearby.
"Name's Hajime. Now, please. Stay quiet. The crystal might not last long and the last thing i want is for it to get assaulted from these beasts." The civilians were not panicking anymore and complied with his command.
Hajime left with an assurance that the civilians were safe.
He held his temple as he can't stop ignoring his headache anymore.
"I need to make this quick. I am starting to see Himeko and the girls." As he rubbed his eyes to keep himself sane.