A/N: Thanks again to Darklord331 for his beta work on the chapter, and thanks to everyone for their feedback. Now I do feel I need to apologize, not so much for this chapter being late, but I had wanted to update one of my three major stories, the next one on the rotation being the Fate/Grand Order and Code Geass crossover, but problems arose which will delay it and the other two stories that are part of my rotation.

But that is one of the reasons why this story was made without Greatkingrat88 as a beta, so in the event of a delay for my three main stories, I got this to update to keep my readers occupied until the issue is resolved.

While there isn't a lot of fighting in this chapter, a few new characters are introduced while setting up what will be coming next in the coming chapters before a time skip happens once, I've taken care of what needs to be done.

Also a minor note, when Aponia uses her power I will bold the key word, please.

Since there are no reviews, I cannot reply to, let's move on…enjoy.

Chapter 10

Welcome to Belobog

A day had passed since Lelouch woke up at the Goethe Hotel; now fully recovered and well rested, Lelouch was invited to explore the city of Belobog with Bronya, as her thanks for their aid insisted on showing them around the city. In their company were Elysia, Vill-V, Eden, and Cyrille; because Mobius wanted to visit Klein, Nathaniel allowed for passage to the site she was overseeing, and Kalpas vanished; he was interested in finding supplies. He was interested in living out in the wild and hunting monsters, which Lelouch assumed was maybe to put some distance between himself and Nathaniel.

As they left the hotel and began walking through the streets, people seemed to be intrigued by Elysia, her pink hair and elf ears likely making her stand out.

Bronya was leading them through the city, while she was in the company of four guards.

It seems her mother is the overprotective type, but I guess that's not surprising given what happened, Lelouch thought.

"Now we'll bring our tour from Alisa Avenue, the heart of the city," Bronya began before showing them a large sculpture that towered over.

It was built upon a metal sphere with four rings surrounding it in an X-shaped pattern. Atop the sphere was fused sculptured ice that towered above them.

"It's quite pretty," Elysia remarked.

"Let's start with the Everwinter Monument," Bronya said before explaining its history. "It was constructed almost seven hundred years ago, to commemorate humanity's victory against the Everwinter and a tribute to the Architects who made it possible."

"It seems the city is well fortified and the temperature within the city is impressively warm, I say they achieved an impressive feat given what they faced," Vill-V remarked as she looked around the city, taking note of the cylinder-shaped geomarrow heaters dotted around the city.

"The early days following the start of the Eternal Freeze wasn't as easy as you suspected," Bronya acknowledged. "Even with Belobog's defenses it was chaotic as people were trying to recover as many survivors as they could and accommodate them, even then we had suffered considerable losses. Yet we survived and managed to thrive."

"I think the monument doesn't do your people Justice in the face of what they had to overcome?" Eden offered respectfully.

"I agree, but nevertheless it will serve as a reminder that we overcame the odds and survived," Bronya said with a smile. "Now let us move on to our next destination."

Walking down the street, the group headed for what seemed to be a store built into the corner of a building near the monument.

"I happen to be familiar with the owner of the shop here. If you are curious about any further technical details about Belobog, she would be best the person I would recommend for such questions," Bronya said as Lelouch read the sign above the door, Neverwinter Workshop.

"She," Lelouch inquired.

Bronya was the first to enter, gesturing for the others to follow her inside while the guards stay outside. Walking inside, Lelouch saw the interior was spacious with working gears built into the wall at various points, tools and other machinery.

Elysia and Eden were curious, but Vill-V on the other hand was like a kid in a candy store if her expression was anything to go by as Lelouch quietly observed.

It doesn't look busy, Lelouch noticed, looking around.

However, the workshop wasn't unoccupied, sitting behind the circular desk in the heart of the workshop with a pillar behind it, having tools and machinery built in was a woman. She seemed young, being in her late teens or early twenties using tools on the counter besides her to tinker with a pocket watch while humming a tune. But her appearance wasn't something you would expect from the owner of a workshop making her stand out.

She was tall with long blonde hair, dark blue streaks, light blue tips at the ends, and blue eyes. She wore a black tube top with what appeared to be half of a white lab coat attached to it covering part of her right side. The white sleeves were detached and a part of her outfit, such as the right sleeve, was held in place by a strap with a blue feather attached. The left sleeve was covered by a long black glove held in place by their own straps leaving a pink fingerless glove at the end.

She seems to belong more with a rock band than a mechanic, Lelouch thought while curious about the reason behind her attire. Maybe it's meant to help draw customers in, or this job could be just a side business?

"Well Lady Bronya, I didn't expect you to pay me a visit. Let alone bring along other kids, I am glad to see you making some interesting friends," the blonde-haired woman said, noticing Bronya's companions.

"Yes, well today is unique, I assume you heard about what happened recently?" Bronya asked, as the woman nodded.

"I heard; I got even more details from my brother. I know your mother has been on the warpath since morning rounding up those behind it," the woman replied before realizing something. She began looking at Lelouch, Elysia, Eden, Cyrille and Vill-V with surprise in her eyes. "Wait, are these the kids who fought off the Fragmentum monsters and saved all of you?"

"They did, although Cyrille you could say joined our group recently," Bronya said, earlier everyone had agreed to keep quiet about how she is a resurrected former Supreme Guardian since not many would likely believe it.

Probably for the best given the unfortunate history she left behind, Lelouch thought, knowing why they decided to keep quiet about Cyrille's resurrection considering the events that led to her death.

The group or rather Cyrille feared that even hundreds of years after her death, no one would approve of her revival or regard her with suspicion.

But Lelouch had agreed for different reasons, which he the others agreed with.

"Sorry if I say it's hard to imagine, but if my little bro confirms it happened then I'll believe it," The blonde woman said with equal parts surprise and admiration in her expression and tone.

"I can't say I blame you," Bronya said reassuringly. "Even I had a hard time believing they were so capable and experienced in combat despite their ages. Even as I saw it first-hand."

"Really, you kids must be really something," The woman replied.

"There's a bit of a story behind that," Elysia said with a knowing smile. "Uh miss…"

"I am terribly sorry, I should've provided introductions, she is Serval Landau, the owner of Neverwinter Workshop and the leader of her own band, Mechanical Fever," Bronya said politely after regaining her composure after realizing she overlooked giving introductions. "And Serval these are Elysia, Eden, Vill-V, Cyrille and Lelouch."

"Hi there girls and guy," Serval said, stepping out from behind the counter revealing the rest of her attire, consisting of a blue skirt, black shorts, black leggings and black ankle boots.

That explains the outfit then, Lelouch said, confirming his earlier suspicions.

"Oh, you perform on stage?" Elysia asked, clearly interested.

"I do, me and my band do night time performances at least four to three times a week," Serval replied proudly.

"Your confidence tells me you draw a crowd," Eden observed.

"It does, which is more than I can say for my workshop," Serval replied with a sigh. "Actually, the workshop is more of a hobby than a job, since everything I make from performances has been supporting me. Aside from the occasional work I do for the Silvermane Guards, conducting repair work and such."

"I see, I am sorry to hear that," Eden replied, worried she might have offended Serval.

"It's no big deal," Serval replied shrugging her shoulders. "So say how did you kids end up here?"

"That is a bit of a story," Lelouch pointed out.

"I got time to kill, if none of you mind indulging me," Serval said, with a laid-back expression.

Meanwhile on the Týr Station, Fuxi was approaching the door leading to her sister's cabin with an impatient and annoyed expression, because she had tried more than once to reach her sister. Pushing the button on the intercom, Fuxi spoke, aware her sister was hiding within her den.

"Nuwa, I know you are in there. Stop being childish and open the door," Fuxi said, but no reply came.

This was expected, but she had been hoping Nuwa would act her age.

Sighing, Fuxi used the device on her wrist to override the door allowing her inside, one of the perks to being among the overall supervisor of the research station. Walking inside was akin to entering a room belong to someone who lived as both an otaku and a shut in, as people on Earth call such shut-ins obsessed over anime, video games and anything related to them.

On the walls of Nuwa's room were posters for anime from their long dead era, such as Gun Girls, which was a popular anime and video game series from their time. On her shelves were dozens of anime on disc, manga, nearly a hundred books in all and some spaces on the sleeves set aside for figurines and statues of various anime characters.

A desk was nearby with paints for statues and mecha models, molding clay and related tools and finally a drawing tablet.

Aside from a door leading to Nuwa's bedroom, which Fuxi knew was filled with more anime-related memorabilia. But the subject of her search was ahead, Nuwa was seated on a gamer's chair with three holographic monitors before her playing a video game while wearing headphones, thus making her oblivious to her sister's presence.

Fuxi could only sigh, seeing her sister's gaming desk littered with empty candy wrappers, a large bag of cheese-flavored chips and big glass of soda with a white straw before Nuwa while her hands held a controller.

Fuxi could only fold her arms over her chest in her ever-growing annoyance, but out of her lingering consideration she waited until her sister was done before getting her attention by pulling her headphones off Nuwa's head.

"Sister, do you have a moment?" Fuxi said, almost causing Nuwa to jump out of her chair in shock.

"Waaah, did you ever hear of knocking!?"

"I did knock, but you didn't answer because of this," Fuxi said stoically, hanging Nuwa's headphones before her.

"Ugh, right," Nuwa said before turning around to face her exasperated sister. "So, what brings you here?"

"We need to talk about the royalties you should pay Eden, Kalpas, Sakura and the others," Fuxi said sternly, which caused Nuwa's face to pale in realization.

"Oh that, well….ugh could you handle that?"

"I will gladly help you determine their rightful share of the royalties," Fuxi said, causing Nuwa to sigh in relief until Fuxi added. "However, you should still explain to them why you created many video games, anime, manga and more based off of them."

What color Nuwa had left in her cheeks was gone.

"I warned you this would happen someday," Fuxi said, sternly.

"Yeah, but I was just trying to help keep their memories alive, just like how I did for Hua," Nuwa replied.

"Uh huh, well at least you didn't have to make "additional" changes to their images as you did for Hua," Fuxi said, looking at her coldly.

"Oh, come on, you're still upset at me for that?" Nuwa said, going from frightened to annoyed within seconds.

"Not really, but you know Hua was less than thrilled about the additions to the figurines you were making to make her legend much more "appealing" as I recall," Fuxi replied.

"But it worked, didn't it?" Nuwa countered.

"I suppose, but its not something we can debate on," Fuxi said, knowing that they could argue about it back and forth for days, because neither had the means to prove the other wrong. "I'll give you a week to come clean with them, that should be plenty of time for you since I'll be back from Pier Point by then."

"Oh, that must mean it's time for the annual stockholders' meeting of the IPC?"

"Yes, you are right and as a major stockholder I must attend, Nathaniel will be going since he also has considerable stock in the company too," Fuxi said.

"No surprise there since you have been far better with economics and finances than science, heck I remember it was you Dr. Mobius put in charge of setting up the lab's budget," Nuwa said, complimenting her sister.

"Yes, but she always managed to go over budget despite my best efforts."

"Yeah, but its that reason you are in charge of the finances for Heron?"

"Yes that is true too," Fuxi said, nodding, showing her acknowledgement as one of the highest ranked members of the organization. "Still it is because my high position within both the organization and the IPC as a stockholder were thanks to your efforts, or creating games, manga and anime based on our friends and what could be put back together from our era."

"That's right, but the video game Kalpas's Wrath, the anime Princess Elf and the Warriors of Beauty and Eden's music became huge interstellar best sellers," Nuwa said, clearly proud of herself.

"Yes, but remember trying to butter me up won't change the fact you'll need to admit what you did to them, otherwise I will when I give them their share of the royalties," Fuxi said, shutting down Nuwa's efforts to use flattery to get her to forget about telling the Flame Chasers how she used their images and stories for profit, and to satisfy her own desire to create her own anime and video games.

"I…alright, I'll figure out a good time to talk to them," Nuwa said, reluctantly admitting defeat.

"Good I'll see you in a week sister, and remember Klein will be returning to run things while I am gone," Fuxi said, as she began to leave Nuwa's room.

"What, you don't trust me to run things."

"Yes," Fuxi said flattery from the doorway. "You would spend all of your days here if I wasn't keeping an eye on you, so you wouldn't not be a good choice."

"Gee thanks," Nuwa pouted.

Now I just have one more thing to take care of, Fuxi thought, as she walked down the hallway to her next destination.

Back in the Neverwinter Workshop, Lelouch and Elysia had finished bringing Serval up to speed on where they came from and how they arrived. Bronya was even brought up to speed on details they weren't able to share before.

This included about Nathaniel, his geomarrow mining operations, excavating cities lost during the Eternal Freeze especially areas with salvable technology. Lastly Lelouch revealed his origins and the events that led to him meeting Elysia ultimately ending up on Jarilo-VI.

It was a long story to be told, Lelouch wasn't sure how much time had passed, but suspected a lot of time had passed.

Now that necessary explanations were over, it was time for questions and reactions to be known.

"I don't even know where to start," Serval said, understandably stunned by the revelations.

"I understand, I felt the same when I questioned Nathaniel himself," Bronya said, her expression was one of repressed outrage.

"You spoke to him," Lelouch said, intrigued.

"Yes, you were unconscious at the time," Bronya said before explaining. "I confronted him upon learning he had been spying on the people of Belobog, ransacking our world's lost cities and conducting his mining operations. Worst of all he was "legally" free to do so from what he told me."

"Legally, how?" Lelouch and Serval said together, confused and shocked by that detail.

"Before the Eternal Freeze and the Anti-Matter Legion invaded, Belobog took steps to prepare for the coming invasion. Many of our people choosing to remain than fleeing like others did, borrowed money from the IPC to build and ready our defenses," Bronya answered.

"The IPC," Serval asked.

"The Interastral Peace Corporation, a universe-wide corporation created by followers of the Amber Lord, Qlipoth. Originally it was a group of individuals seeking to aid Qlipoth's efforts to build cosmic fortifications, but soon realized their efforts were limited and trading construction materials for construction materials was insufficient for what Qlipoth needed, so they expanded and reformed into a corporation to expand their trading networks and what goods they offered to obtain more resources for Qlipoth," Bronya answered, likely reciting the same explanation Nathaniel had given her.

"If I recall they expanded over thousands of years until they've expanded across the known universe, shaping and building up the a vast interstellar economic and trading system used by virtually every world in the cosmos," Lelouch said, recalling what he had heard and what he had read about the corporation when he had time to couldn't research on the different noteworthy factions across the universe.

"Yes, and at one point they had a presence on our world. But they were among those who chose to flee before the invasion by Narook's followers," Bronya said, confirming what Lelouch said with a nod. "But before doing so our ancestors borrowed money to prepare the fortifications, machines and resources we needed. It was agreed for loan to be paid off over the next two centuries, but the invasion happened far sooner than anyone expected."

"Then the world was cut off from the rest of the universe," Lelouch said before he realized something, as it all came together. "Then Nathaniel paid off the loan after the IPC wrote off the planet as lost, allowing him to legally claim Jarilo-VI for himself. Likely assuming no one survived the invasion."

"That's insane, our world was just written off like that just because no one could check if anyone was alive?" Serval said in disbelief. "How could he even buy our planet because we couldn't pay back a loan?"

"Actually, he could, and the IPC has seized ownership of worlds who borrowed money from them, but failed to pay off the loan," Eden said with a disappointed sigh, it seemed Lelouch wasn't the only one who did some research on the different major factions among the cosmos. "I know the idea is crazy, but there have been cases of such things happening.

"How so," Lelouch inquired, curious even if he found the idea of a planet being repossessed absurd.

"Nathaniel mentioned the most common cause for a planet to end up the property of the IPC, was because they took a loan from them thinking they could make it big in the markets with some lofty business plan only for it to fall apart. Once they default on their loan, their planet becomes property of the IPC and its inhabitants life-long employees," Vill-V said before adding. "Is it insane, I completely agree for the record."

"Why do I feel such ventures were doomed to fail on purpose," Lelouch said, believing the IPC was likely hoping such planets would fail to pay back their loan or somehow sabotage them to ensure their failure.

"That's possible since it isn't unheard of for the IPC, to use underhanded tactics and ruthless business practices to aggressively expand. Any planets who don't accept their currency system end up with their own currency system collapsed and the planet left in chaos," Eden replied, causing Lelouch's face to harden, clearly holding back his anger at such predatory practices.

Lelouch wasn't the only one trying to hold back their outrage at such things, expect Vill-V was seemingly passive about it as was Elysia, but her expression was one of disappointment.

"I can't believe being owned by the guy who has been spying on us and strip-mining parts of our planet is actually better than the IPC," Serval said, using one hand to massage her forehead.

"Actually, as part of the deal he made with my mother, he intends to give us ownership of our world back. The money he made from the sale of Geomarrow, for the past seven hundred years has more than paid back the debt and more," Bronya said, seemingly hopeful, but Lelouch didn't need to study the expressions present to know this bargain clearly had strings attached.

"In exchange for what, I doubt he would give up ownership of a planet that easily," Lelouch inquired.

"As you guessed, there were additional conditions for this agreement," Bronya replied before explaining. "Part of it was that during your stay in our city were to ensure you are cared for and well protected."

Of course, he would, because of the Flame Chasers, Lelouch thought, noting Nathaniel's favoritism for the group.

"Naturally this doesn't mean you can do as you please, it was agreed you would obey and follow Belobog's laws," Bronya added. "Not that I feel none of you would do anything to require such a demand, but my mother insisted on that."

"No, but it's not unreasonable she would ask that," Eden said sagely.

"Yes, I agree," Elysia said, and Lelouch offered no word of objection.

But I wonder what will happen after this, and how has Nunnally been doing?

Aboard Tyr Station, Griseo, Nunnally, Rin and Pardo were spending time together with Sakura supervising them while her younger sister tried to draw her in. They were in one recreation area with a small forest and a lake in the middle. In a small cleaning by the lake, Griseo was painting a portrait while Nunnally sat on a tree stump acting as the model. Pardo was watching, but Rin and Sakura seemed to be arguing.

"Oh, come on sis, I want to see what kind of painting Griseo makes of you," Rin asked excitedly.

"I don't think it would be worth Griseo's time, besides she already did one for me before," Sakura said, politely, but firmly, folding her arms.

"Hey, I think she's done with Nunnally's portrait," Pardo said, intervening for Sakura's sake, halting Rin's efforts to get her sister to agree to Griseo making a painting of Sakura.

"Can I see," Nunnally exclaimed excitedly, jumping off the tree stump she had been sitting on.

Griseo stepped back allowing everyone to see the portrait she did of Nunnally, but instead of a traditional portrait it was a landscape painting with a pink, white and gold and some dark purple, but it was thin outlining a home, hills and the sun in the sky.

"Huh, not what I was expecting." Rin said, having not expected Griseo to make such a picture based on Nunnally.

"It's Griseo's unique style of art, based on the colors she can see from people," Sakura explained to her younger sister.

"She can see colors?" Rin said, puzzled, which was an odd explanation to use.

"It's not like how we see colors, but it seems the Honkai beast Griseo was infused with allows her to perceive the colors of others, representing their character and common emotions they feel," Sakura replied before explaining further. "Instead of making a traditional portrait of you, she paints your colors and how she seems them, creating more of a portrait reflecting the colors she sees that reflects what kind of individual you are."

"Yeah, she has made some interesting paintings thanks to this, when she painted pictures about the rest of us back in the day," Pardo remarked.

"I like how mine is very bright and colorful," Nunnally said, applauding Griseo, the latter only smiled at the appreciation she was being shown.

Watching from afar, as the group was enjoying the time they were spending with one another, Griseo's father, Ato was watching them along with Jeremiah.

"Your daughter has interesting talents that seems to have been complimented by the abilities the Honkai she was infused with had given her," Jeremiah complimented, as he and Ato were close enough to overhear the group.

"Indeed, I suppose Mobius chose a fitting Honkai beast to infuse into her. Its impressive given her Meta-Morph Surgery was done as a last-ditch effort to save her life," Ato said, seemingly at ease that while his wife didn't survive the incident that nearly claimed their only child's life, he was glad for Griseo's survival.

"But what of Project ARK?"

Ato could only sigh, but it seemed he was conflicted.

"On one hand I am glad she chose to take up the project as her own, but as her father I was not at ease with it. It would mean she would be alone for thousands of years exploring the cosmos. Then knowing what I know about what kind of dangers are out there didn't exactly ease my worries," Ato said, following a moment of consideration as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I understand, I can't even picture what made her make such a decision, but given what was facing Earth at the time I suppose escape may seem like the safer path to take," Jeremiah said, before noticing Kosma in the corner of his eye watching Griseo and others from behind a tree.

"True, but I know Kosma was originally intended for Project ARK, and his hesitation to accept is what prompted my daughter to take his place."

"The reason I guess he has been uneasy about being near you or Griseo."

"Yes, but I am not upset at him for what happened. In fact, given his hunger, I am not sure if he would've been able to carry out Project ARK once he did find a more suitable planet," Ato noted. "Even if I am sure Vill-V spared no effort to ensure Kosma's endless hunger for Honkai beasts wouldn't be a cause of concern."

"I suppose," Jeremiah said.

"By the way if you hadn't heard, Lelouch and the others are safe at Belobog."

"Thank you, I am grateful for that," Jeremiah said with a look of relief.

"Relax, Elysia and Eden, those two alone could handle anything they faced. Mobius might be a researcher, but she is a force to be reckoned with in a battle and Vill-V puts a new definition on the word overkill, and then there is Kalpas…so if you thought of it this way, Lelouch had the best bodyguard detail anyone could ask for," Ato replied with a smile.

Jeremiah chuckled, noticing the intended humor with the last part.

"I know, but after allowing his mother to die while I was on guard duty at their home, I have no desire to allow the loss of either of her children," Jeremiah said with a look of sadness.

"I heard about Lady Marianne's accomplishment, very impressive for someone with very humble origins."

"Indeed, she was a natural prodigy when it came to combat and later piloting Knightmare Frames. No one, save for Sir Bismarck, could beat her. Her rise through the ranks was astonishing given her age, so when I was assigned to be a guard at the Ares Villa, I was delighted to be near one I deemed to be a model soldier and warrior."

Ato smiled, "Forgive me for saying this, but it sounds to me if you were given the chance, you would've married her."

"Well," Jeremiah said, caught off guard by the compliment that had doubled as a joke regarding his devotion. "Perhaps, but the emperor beat me to her first."

The two men shared a good laugh.

"In that case, perhaps you might find yourself a wife as good as Lady Marianne one day. It seems like if nothing else she set the standards for your own expectations," Ato said, as a compliment.

Jeremiah smiled as the two men got along, "Perhaps, who knows."

Elsewhere on the space station, Kallen was in the training hall of the space station, used by the soldiers stationed there to defend it to keep up with their training. It was empty, save for Kallen, who had just finished a run around a jogging track, black shorts and a white shirt with sneakers. Walking to a bench where she left a towel lying and a bottle of water.

The running track had trees with a gentle breeze surrounding it, with an artificial sky providing a sunset with clouds.

Kallen sat on the bench, using the towel to dry her head and face of the sweat that had accumulated from her long run. She ran a total of ten miles in thirty minutes.

"I wonder, was that your strength, or the Honkai genes within?" Eleanor said, approaching Kallen from behind.

"What do you want? Given your grudge I doubt you are visiting me to say hello," Kallen said, alert as Eleanor joined her on the bench.

"Yes, I have a grudge against you for killing me, but I think telling you everything Otto did in his efforts to bring you back and letting you live with it, I think is worse than anything I could've done. Literal millions are dead because of it, so you must feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside," Eleanor replied with a grin.

"Just stop it and get to the point," Kallen said, she was in no mood for Eleanor's provocations.

"I am here on Nathaniel's behalf to offer you a chance to join Lelouch in undergoing his training he'll be having soon. A teacher has already been chosen for him, and it was decided he might need a partner. Someone experienced could be good for him as a training partner, and I think you'll benefit from it," Eleanor said, in a more business-like tone.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because the teacher chosen is the last student of the Celestial, you know the woman who kicked your ass about five hundred years ago," Eleanor replied, smiling as she recounted how Kallen was defeated by Hua, a veteran of the Previous Era, known back then as the Celestial, or better known as Master Phoenix.

"Where did she come from?"

"She was trained and even raised by Hua during modern times, but she did die during the battle against Sirin. Heroically she died by giving her life to hold Sirin back after Hua was left unconscious, forcing Otto to flee with her," Eleanor answered.

"So, she was brought back just to train Lelouch then?"

"No, she was brought back as part of a reward given to his agent who had infiltrated both Schicksal and Anti-Entropy as a triple agent. It was thanks to her that Nathaniel found out about Sirin and was able to meet her, ensuring that when she was killed, he could claim the Herrscher cores she possessed and leave behind perfect cloned copies before the two factions could fight over them," Eleanor answered with a smile before adding. "Her success must've put Nathaniel in a really good mood to revive her dead friends per her request as her reward, which included Hua's last disciple, and he even augmented their bodies making them MANTIS super soldiers as a freebie."

"Who was this woman?"

"Her name is Patricia Highsmith, formerly a Valkyrie of Schicksal who became a double agent for Anti-Entropy. Sometime after she became a double agent, Nathaniel encountered her and convinced her to side with him, seeing he was better table to contend with the Honkai," Eleanor replied, but Kallen suspected there was more to Patricia's reasons for becoming a triple agent. "Now she serves as the spymaster who oversees and gives orders to the other infiltrators we have within Schicksal, Anti-Entropy and World Serpent."

"I see and what about her friends?"

"They are members of her old squad in Schicksal who had all died during the Second Eruption and they are Salome Jokanaan, Shub-Niggurath and Lelouch's new instructor, Cheng Lixue," Eleanor replied. "I know the Supreme Guardian of Belobog's daughter and heir has been given an offer to receive instruction herself, but I haven't heard if she accepted or not."

"In any case, what was Cheng Lixue offered to be an instructor then?" Kallen said, suspecting something more behind this arrangement.

"Oh you noticed, well yes the agreement to help train Lelouch and Nunnally in how to best use their Herrscher powers and train and strengthen their bodies accordingly was done with something Lixue and her friends have been nagging at Nathaniel for some time now. He intends to give them what they want if they agree to teaching Lelouch and others, along with a few other details in the bargain he offered them," Eleanor answered.

"Sounds to me he had to do some extra negotiating," Kallen said, although she was wondering what else the trio offered to coax them into agreeing, or was it the other way around?

"Maybe, I wasn't involved, so will you accept or not?"

Kallen contemplated it for a moment, "I accept."

"Good, you'll hear something tomorrow once the last arrangements are made."

With that Eleanor departed, leaving Kallen alone.

"Making deals with someone like Nathaniel is dangerous, but I suppose I can understand why many would be tempted by the offer of being united with a loved one who died," Kallen said to herself. "But is the price worth it?"

Elsewhere in the space station, Suzaku Kururugi was sitting alone in his room, for days he had barely left it and ate very little with his body and appearance reflecting the current state of his mind. Lelouch and Nunnally had tried visiting him, ever since they had learned he had killed his own father out of a moment of anger.

One that Lelouch believed was justified, yet understandable. After all, how would you react to the news that your father, the Prime Minister of Japan, a leader that the nation's people trusted had sold them out just to secure a better life of wealth and privilege, something Genbu Kururugi should've had already. But it seemed his greed only grew as Prime Minister it would seem, and that greed cost thousands, if not potentially millions of people their lives.

But why did killing such a man fill Suzaku with such shame and regret, was it because he wouldn't be in this world if not for his father.

It was an undeniable biological fact, but why did Suzaku felt like he shouldn't be alive?

Suddenly his door opened, shaking Suzaku from his thoughts.

"It seems your mental and physical state has deteriorated as Nathaniel says," Aponia said, approaching Suzaku.

Suzaku said nothing, causing Aponia to sigh.

"I am sorry, but could you please clean yourself up and eat something," Aponia said, her words were sweet, kind and yet were hypnotic.

"Huh," Suzaku said, confused as his body rose, responding to Aponia's request.

"I shall wait for you, because it seems Nathaniel has asked me to help you recover from your trauma," Aponia said, as Suzaku wordlessly did what she asked, something that baffled him yet he couldn't stop himself.

He could've asked someone else, but I think he asked me because he knows my powers could hopefully speed up his recovery, Aponia thought, recalling her surprise when Nathaniel approached her.

He sought her help in helping Suzaku recover from the trauma of murdering his father.

Aponia understood instantly, Nathaniel was hoping she could use her powers and skills as someone who cared for and dealt with troubled and damaged individuals to quicken Suzaku's recovery. Well aware as large as Nathaniel's organization was, he no doubt probably had others he could've called on. Choosing Aponia meant Nathaniel likely wanted Suzaku's recovery to happen faster, confirming he was meant to be a cog in whatever he was planning.

The only reason she didn't refuse was because Aponia feared what he might do to Suzaku; he was already reaching out to her to intervene.

Even so, this will take time, Aponia thought, knowing that even with her skills and powers of persuasion Suzaku wasn't going to recover from the trauma overnight.

A/N: Somewhat short, but I got a couple things that had to be done, which included a short tour of Belobog. I thought about doing more, and having more places visited but I felt doing it would've felt boring and too much of a drag for readers. However, Lelouch and friends will visit some other notable places in Belobog in the coming chapters as I still have some characters left to introduce and some events to take care of as we near a upcoming time skip.

Aponia gets involved, deciding to help Suzaku given her past and what she did during her time in Fire MOTH and before being "recruited" into the organization. Clearly Nathaniel wants Suzaku to recover so he could be put through draining to draw out the power of the stigma to help further his overall plan.

Serval was met during this chapter, and she'll appear again, while Kalpas, decides to go out into the wild to live off the land for the time being. Mobius is likely with Klein who will be introduced in the coming chapters.

And lastly Nuwa showing her otaku side by having raised money for Heron by selling merchandise based on the Flame Chasers including Eden's music, which seemed to have become quite popular across the cosmos. I did consider how popular her music could be, but given her unbelievable popularity I didn't think it was outside the realm of possibility.

Figuring out how old Serval was, sixteen years before Honkai Star Rail was a difficult I should note.

In regards to the poll I began running, I decided to replace it with one more dedicated towards the characters I have concerns about than one listing all of those involved, or rather those candidates being considered for Lelouch. Now as a reminder, this won't be a story where Lelouch sleeps with all of the women, at max the harem will be seven at most with a minimum of two for a threesome.

Depending on how well it works, I might use this in planning for future stories, and just to be clear, winning the poll only tells me if people would be cool with them being in Lelouch's harem if conditions of the story favor them being a part of it, or even if a harem can form at all of course. And those not on it, are not out of the running for the harem. I have some concerns about these characters, which I wouldn't mind address well in advance before any relationships happen just so I don't have to be worried about being weighed down. This will be the last time I talk about, because I don't want to dedicate parts of my author notes to talks about Lelouch's harem, but if nothing else I share this and offer such polls because I do want to give reassurances that I am taking it very seriously and giving it a LOT of thought.

That's all I have, I hope you enjoyed the story and I thank you in advance for any feedback left behind.