As Hajime went through the door, he was shocked to see that the first thing he saw was the Hyperion's Bridge and no one else was occupying it.
He raised an eyebrow as he was confused on what was going on.
"Wait... Why did that door led me to my bridge?" As he looked around in the bridge.
He saw a glowing power button on his desk which prompted him to turn on.
A Huge holoscreen was displayed in front of him and saw Himeko grinning.
What is odd to him is that this Himeko he was seeing quickly changed from her Kriegmesser into her Summer Party outfit.
"Was the outfit change really necessary?"
"It feels appropriate for my age." He gave her a flat look but sighed nevertheless and decided to go back straight to the point.
"I thought you said that this was a training ground, Ms. Guide? What is really going on?"
"I did. This dream world originally cannot make rooms similar like this on its own. It creates worlds or lands that are similar to the ones you have experienced or lived that has close association to a certain idea or aspect according to your subconscious."
"In other words, the bridge of the Hyperion is the 'communication center' according to my sub-conscious." Ms. Guide giggled.
"Oh~ You are clever. That makes it easier for me~"
"How is this created? Cause i am pretty sure a normal human cannot just create similar worlds like this on his own."
"You are right. Normal humans can't. But to you, This land was created by utilizing certain amount of Honkai energy you have absorbed so far."
"So higher honkai energy you have absorbed...
"The bigger and more definitive this dream world gets." As he finished her sentence which earned him a nod.
"Huh..."
"Is something wrong?"
"No... It just that...It just occurred to me that i should have turned by now due to the nature of my work." Ms. Guide raised her eyebrow with a smile.
"You were never curious why you were able to last this long?"
"No... Not really. I was mainly focused on making my valkyries' and friends' lives easier and all that. Other than that, irrelevant thoughts just goes over my head." Ms. Guide giggled.
"Guess i spoke too soon about you being smart." He pouted to that jab.
"Well... Setting that shade aside, what do you mean by 'Utilizing the honkai energy i have absorbed so far'? I thought females are able to do that due to their high resistance to honkai energy?"
"You have worked with these... valkyries as you call it?" He nodded.
"Hmmmmm... Let me examine your memories so that i could explain it to you entirely..." Ms. Guide pulled out a holotab and examined the data.
"Ah~ There it is. Good that you are also a very hardworking student~" He raised an eyebrow.
"Have you learned the main concept of how a valkyrie's battlesuits are used?"
"Well... Yeah. The functionality of the battlesuits depends on how much a valkyrie can resist honkai energy. One of which is from stigmata they bear. That is why Valkyrie ranking is a thing in Schicksal.
They can't have stronger battlesuits unless they are tested on how much honkai energy they can resist. It is like testing a bouyancy of a boat while taking account of its structural integrity for the future journey it will face."
"Good~ These battlesuits can be utilized due to valkyrie's unqiue resistance to honkai. And they can be powered directly from the energy itself."
"In that sense, yours is similar to the battlesuits in a way albeit indirectly~"
"What do you mean?"
"Certain females are capable of achieving this feat by their unique resistance while yours is based on how much you absorbed."
"I thought that is not possible due to high chance to zombify?"
"It's not but due to unique nature of your 'heart', it can utilize those absorbed energies and use them as your own."
"Are you saying that i am capable of 'converting' the chaotic energy into a weapon i could use? That sounds... a little far-fetched don't you think?" She giggled. Seeing how this conversation was heading and how are evidences are displayed in front of him, He sighed.
"How much can i convert?" He crossed his arms.
"Well... That honestly depends on how much you can resist. If you have a high resistance, then this dream wouldn't be possible as that convertion would only focused on one of its main priority of not turning you into a zombie."
"And since i have lower resistance to honkai... yeah. I get that much." He took noticed on how detailed the area is.
"Still... I am a bit surprised that my body is capable of generating this much simulation. "
"Your body shouldn't, to be honest."
"Eh? Why is that?"
"In theory, It shouldn't create this much but something overcharged it to generate this much and this quick." She smiled at the captain. "And assessing your memories, i think you know who you should be grateful for." He caressed his chest where Mei attacked him back at Nagazora.
"Are you saying that i should have died that night?" Ms. Guide nodded with a somber look. "You can still die from other causes. Death from Honkai-related incident will not be one of them."
"Well... Thanks for saving me. I appreciate it." The Himeko figure nodded with a soft smile.
"Care to explain why it is capable of doing so?" She shrugged.
"I have no idea. You are honestly the first test subject to go through this process."
"That's... reassuring." He sighed.
"Can i know what else this 'convertion' can do? Aside from preventing me to turn? I feel like what happened earlier was the cause of that." Ms. Guide nodded.
"Based from your battle with Templar earlier, you managed to activate 4 categories."
"Category 1 of your convertion is to initiate self-repair. Your body was severly injured from that fight."
"But i did my best to avoid every single of his attacks and none of them touched me. Well, Until i decided to rip out its lance and thrust it straight to its chest."
"That you did. Your internal organs however were still susceptible to honkai corruption long before that and they were getting destroyed due to your honkai corruption level has gone critical. You were gasping for air, correct?" He nodded.
"Then that was the sign of heart failure. Due to that, you activated category 1 in which causes your body to self-repair the damages your body has gone through and that includes damages caused by honkai corruption."
"In other words, my body can heal itself much like how valkyries are healed in battle with Honkai."
"Correct but yours is a different case. As long as you are injured and there is a honkai energy absorbed in your body or in the area, you can undergo accelerated healing. Well... As long as you avoid getting mutilated or disintegrated. After all, your body can't heal what it isn't entirely there."
Hajime nodded.
"Category 2 is to initiate stamina regeneration. If you are still willing to fight for honkai even if in a tired state, this will provide you honkai-powered stamina endlessly in theory."
"So I will still able to battle multiple honkai waves that could possibly last for more than a day?" She giggled as she was clearly amused how smart Hajime was.
"Category 3 is to initiate berserker's strength. This one is a bit more dangerous than the rest to use."
"Oh? Why so?"
"Were you able to control your anger with your battle with that Templar?"
"Otto trained me on how to control my emotions much like how he trained Rita. Only he was a bit harsher with me.
The best thing i could do that time is to focus all of my hate and anger into killing it once the Templar started insulting Himeko and her family. Why you asked?"
"That's a relief to hear. Category 3 mainly focuses your determination and will. The more determined you are, the more power and strength you can draw out from your 'convertion'."
"How does that relate to me being angry?"
"Anger and determination isn't always at odds with each other and sometimes the former strengthens the latter." He nodded.
"What kind of strength are we talking about here?"
"A kind where you can easily compete with multiple emperor class honkai beasts in theory. But if you can't control your anger, chances are you will also end up decimating everything in your path especially yourself." He sighed.
"Are there any backup plans in case I have gone berserk?"
"No clue. You haven't gone that far yet. After all, most of the knowledge we acquired are the ones you have activated yourself. And since you don't have any predecessor, this is something you will do for now." He rubbed the back of his head.
"Gee... Thanks..." He sighed. "Alright. What's the last category?"
"Category 6. Increase efficiency of Weapon usage. Whatever weapons you have that is fit for fighting Honkai, the 'convertion' can increase its damage output by inputting some of your absorbed energy into the weapon you are using."
"Basically what happened in my fight was... Convertion added an extra kick to my lightning bullets. And since i activated Category 3, those bullets got a lot stronger than it supposed to be because I was that determined which made it to draw out more power from honkai."
He remembered how back then made a bit sense. He was that determined and angry to kill that monstrosity of a templar. He was still curious at how these categories work.
"Do category 3 and 6 usually complements with each other?" She nodded at him in which he nodded and yet somehow he was curious on a small detail that hasnt yet been discussed.
"Wait... What happened to 4 & 5?"
"It didn't feel appropriate for you to activate them at the time. After all, the situation didn't call for it. However you almost activated Category 4 if it weren't for the fact that you still resisted the effects of the Honkai which is honestly impressive." He rolled his eyes as he looked around on the bridge.
"What's this trial i heard about from you?"
"Oh~ Are you really that eager to fight?" He was curious why she change her tone from innocent to dangerous because she wasn't like this when he met her in the lounge.
But seeing how he can't evade the question, he answered her question with a heavy feeling in his heart.
"How about this, Hajime? If i ever get married and have kids, do you promise me to be their godfather when that time comes?"
"Shouldn't it be cousin once-removed instead?"
"Hajime..."
"*sighs* Okay. I promise."
"I just want my girls to have a life just beyond being a valkyrie. I don't want them to constantly think about how to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of their mission every time they get deployed."
"Self-sacrifice is part of the job. You of all people should know that."
"I do... I just..." He sighed deeply as he thought of the main reason why his valkyries kept sacrificing themselves.
"For me, the idea of sacrificing yourself for the mission stems from the fact that you and only you can do this alone and you are ready to pay your life for it, throwing away your possible beautiful future along with it.
And often enough, It also means that you are leaving others and making yourself alone from the choice you made. This type of sacrifice means that you are robbing yourself of everything you care about and desire for."
"Himeko's sacrifice made her girls feel alone in the world, parentless again.
Kiana's left Mei and Bronya alone with their own grief.
Bronya's made Seele and the twins almost lost a sister based on what i read the reports and secrets they have told me.
Mei's made Kiana suffer alone with her own burdens and guilt.
Fu Hua thought that she alone must do it for the sake of this era when Kiana was right there." He sighed.
"I am just so sick of them thinking that self-sacrifice is an only choice when i could just provide them more and possibly safer options for their situation. That way, they could come back home safe, sound and contented."
"My~My~ Who would have thought that you are such a greedy hypocrite for your valkyries?" He shrugged.
"Call me whatever you want. As long i get to see them living their life aside from being a valkyrie, that is fine with me. "
"Are you that willing for them, even if it will cost your life?"
"Hopefully, i wouldn't go that far. After all, i want to see them settling down with someone and watch them raise their own kids in the future.
Like i said, I want them to experience what it's like to have a family of their own. An experience that Himeko didnt get to have.
And if this trial of yours is going to help me with that? Then so be it." She giggled and weirdly enough for him, her eyes changed from Himeko's amber color into green with few tints of pink.
"Let's see what you got, Legacy Bearer." Before he got to say anything about why her eyes changed, everything in the bridge has gone dark as if the power has gone out. He tried to look around but he was stuck to the floor.
He looked down to see that the floor he encountered earlier was beginning to rise. It honestly looked more like a tar and he doesn't want to know what happens when he gets drown in it.
"What's going on?!" As he tried to forcefully remove on his legs.
"This is one of your trials.
Your goal? Survive.
Because if you fail, we will be taking over from here on out." He was trapped in the bridge and he was about to get drowned.
"Don't disappoint us now." He watched her narrowed her eyes with a sinister smile.
Right now, Hajime felt like a trapped rat and this false Himeko through the screen was eyeing him like a predator.
"Don't worry. Test Subject. If you pass all of our trials, you get to have full control of these categories or 'our Legacies' as we would like to call it.
After all, we only activated them on our accord.
You want to do this for your valkyries? Survive first." He widened his eyes as he realized the true purpose of the trial.
One thing is certain for Hajime.
He isn't leaving this place without having to take full control of those legacies.
The red-haired woman on the lounge was sitting by the bench, holding a glass of champagne while waiting for the man to come out of the door.
Ms. Guide sighed with a deep sorrow.
"Hope that you go easy on him, ******." She swirled her wine.
She turned around to see 4 more silhouettes walking towards her.
"I trust that all of you know what to do?" Three out of the four nodded however one of them scoffed.
"Yeah...Yeah... I will keep his body safe from harm and from Honkai while i wait for him. But if he disappoints me..." Ms. Guide giggled.
"I assure you that he won't~" The male silhouette and the other three left the lounge, leaving Ms. Guide alone with her thoughts.
She pulled out a holoscreen and smiled at Hajime's Memory of being with Ellie.
"Maybe... Just Maybe..." Himeko-like figure stared at the sky with her golden eyes with a fond smile.
Kevin has been blocking Hua's attacks non-stop as he was letting her getting off some steam.
He just needed to prevent the situation from getting bad to worse.
He raised his Might of An-Utu to block Hua's Grips of Taixuan as a shield.
Before he got to say anything, He was interrupted by Raven and the Schicksal's Maid fighting each other.
Seeing how Raven was having a hard time following his order, He split them up by summoning a pillar of ice between them, causing both fire-weapon wielders to stop in their position.
"Thank you sire." He nodded as Raven finally took a breather.
"Oh? The head of the World Serpent is here? Good. I can report this to the Overseer and request for back-up." Kevin held the hilt of his greatsword to prepare himself. Killing the valkyries is not an option as they are integral part of Project Ember.
This was his mess and he intends to clean it on his own.
Confused at what was going on, Hua stopped her attacks and stared him in the eyes.
"Rita? Stand down for a moment. I need to ask him something." RIta was confused but nodded nonetheless.
"What's going on, Kevin?" She readied her grips.
Kevin relaxed his stance for a bit as he saw Hua calming down. He sighed.
"The Grey Serpents did this behind my back. All of it. I am just here to clean up the mess."
"Kevin Kaslana. I advise you to stop lying to Master Fu Hua or else things will be difficult for you." Rita readied her scythe with a dangerous look while Raven readied her bow to defend him.
"Rita. Stand Down." The maid looked at the immortal phoenix with a confused look.
"Kevin Kaslana is many things. A liar isn't one of them." Fu Hua still gave him an angry look.
"I am assuming that you ended the wave yourself that your organization created?" He shook his head.
"I was about to but someone beat me to it. I am guessing that your captain ended the wave himself since he was the only person that the grey serpents detected that had military training." Both Valkyries widened his eyes.
"WHERE. IS. HE?"
"We still haven't found him yet."
"I tried to search for him with Mei but somebody tried to be hostile with me, interrupted my search." Raven was still aiming her arrow at Rita.
"Oh Dear me... Here i thought a crow was just lost in the forest and i am just cleaning up the mess. After all, birds like you aren't allowed stray around in the city. A stray dog might mistake you for lunch." Fu Hua held Rita off from killing Raven.
"Stand down, Rita..." Fu Hua sighed.
"Why do this, Kevin? Why not order your own Grey Serpents to fix their own mess?" He hung his shoulders and deeply sighed.
"I just didn't want to disappoint her." Fu hua raised an eyebrow.
"Her? You are saying that as if..."
BOOM!
He turned to see there was a huge explosion occurred in the mall.
Seeing How Kevin was genuine about this, Fu Hua sighed.
"I will report to Theresa and tell her that i am calling for a truce until we have found Hajime safe and sound." He nodded.
"Rita? Assist with Kevin in any way you can to find Hajime." Rita nodded despite her dismay.
"But if you crossed the line one more time..." Kevin gave back a determined but sorrowful look.
"I won't."
"Let's hope that you won't. You and the World Serpent have done more than enough damage for today."
Susannah couldn't believe what she was watching.
The strongest valkyrie was having a difficult time with her enemy. She has summoned so many weapons on her hand and yet this pink haired enemy kept intercepting her attacks.
As much as she wanted to defend for Master Durandal, She couldn't bring herself to hate this Pink-haired.
She looked so graceful dancing around the battlefield while riding the horse but unlike Master Rita, watching Durandal's enemy dance in the battlefield felt like a trance and she couldn't look away.
"Durandal!" She was interrupted by a voice heard outside of the mall.
She saw Kiana, Bronya and Mei entering the mall. She tried calling them over to help her with her task.
"NO!" She was curious why Durandal yelled and turned around.
BOOM!
Susannah watched the entrance of the mall collapsed on itself and the source was from Durandal.
She wanted to ask why but her determined look intimidated her and went back to her task.
As she tried to break the crystal prison, she kept wondering why the area was getting hotter.
"My~My~ I didn't know that you are this clingy. Here i thought you are willing to share me with your other friends." Elysia giggled as she watched Durandal fired an arrow behind her, causing the entrance to be blocked by rubble and huge debris.
"I didn't want my sister see what is going with the captain nor do I want her to make her choose to mercy-kill him herself."
"Oh? Do you accept the consequences of her hating you once you mercy-killed him yourself?"
"Better getting hated than watching her grieve." Elysia sighed softly as she watched Bianka going through emotional struggle
"My sister has been through enough." She gave her an angry look.
"And you are definitely making this harder than it supposed to be." As she watched Susannah was struggling to get Hajime out of the crystal prison. Elysia giggled.
"Sorry for playing hard to get. But i rather keep him the way as is. He looks more handsome that way." Bianka growled as she was getting tired with this nonsense.
Durandal was releasing a lot of honkai energy from her body to the point where her horse was withdrawn to her master, causing Elysia to lose her ride but she did land on her feet causing Elysia sighed in disappointment as she started to talk to the Divine Key in her hand
"Just stay here for a while, alright?" Durandal's divine key glowed in response and Elysia laid the weapon on the ground as if it were a person.
Bianka Ataegina was glad that Elysia granted this much respect to her weapon but she still needs to get Hajime out of his prison.
Sensing that Bianka was still emitting large amounts of Honkai energy, Elysia decided to do the same.
After all, it wouldn't be a waltz if one failed to keep up with the other. And Elysia honestly prefers that she takes the lead.
Durandal charged right at Elysia with multiple simulated golden weapons on hand while the latter gave another mischievous smile as she aimed her arrow.
Right about their weapons was about to clash with each other, a huge explosion occurred and threw them off to the wall from the impact.
Once Bianka Ataegina woke up, everything was on fire and the heat they are giving off was intense. She coughed and removed the debris on top of her.
She looked around to see what was going on.
"What was that... SUSANNAH!" She was shocked to see Susannah fainted on the ground. She ran towards to one of her Immortal blades and checked to see if she was okay.
To her relief, she was okay. There was difficulty in her breathing but she was okay.
As she tried to find her enemy earlier, she saw the pink haired woman was fainted on the ground while a certain humanoid beast kneeling down next to her.
"ELYSIA!" The beast turned around and quickly evaded Durandal's attacks.
Elysia was her enemy but Bianka 'Durandal' Ataegina was still a Valkyrie and a Kaslana Knight.
Protecting everyone and Fighting for what's beautiful in the world are her oaths as a Valkyrie and as a Kaslana.
And Protecting her enemy from Honkai beasts is part of that job description.
Durandal examined its features as she stood in front of her previous enemy.
Black sharp claws.
Golden eyes.
Flames exuding from its body, covering most of the part of its body except the one exposed on the chest, which oddly has a horizontal slash mark.
She doesn't know that same area was glowing though.
She could faintly see that the flames on its back were taking form into some sort of a pair of wings despite there is nothing in them.
Height was similar to a large Templar.
Only this one didn't have a shield or lance.
But something about it scares her to the core.
Something about it felt... demonic.
She doesn't know why but her instincts say that this humanoid Honkai beast needs to be destroyed.
She recognized a flame emperor Honkai beast anywhere and this monstrosity isn't a flame emperor.
Only much, much worse.
She honestly feels like this one was stronger than an emperor class honkai beast.
Probably rivals that to a Judgement class.
She tried to get her White Flower Black Abyss weapon but the beast took the weapon first before she even got to.
It growled unintelligibly as it examined the weapon.
She was horrified to see that the weapon complied as it were its master.
It nodded and stabbed her weapon to the ground, causing a seismic shift in the area.
"Durandal? What's going on?" Bianka Ataegina turned around to see Kiana, Bronya and Mei approaching her.
As much she wanted to know why Mei was there, she was more focused on the demon in front of them.
"THAT." The three valkyries looked at where she was pointing and both Kiana and Bronya were horrified to see their enemy.
"What the hell is that?"
"Bronya cannot identify the Honkai beast."
Mei narrowed her eyes at it as if she almost recognized it. Seeing Mei's reaction, Kiana asked.
"Do you know this one, Mei?"
"I don't know it per se. It is more of I recognized the figure. Minus the black sharp claws and the flaming pair of wings on its back. This one is bigger than the one i fought before though." The three valkyries looked at the Herscherr of Thunder with confusion.
"Have you defeated one before?" Durandal asked.
"I barely survived that fight. All i know is it does not rest until it has completed its mission of destroying its enemy."
"Then we won't let it." The rest nodded to Kiana's suggestion.
The demon raised its right arm and aimed towards the valkyries.
To Mei's surprise, it fired a black lightning bolt from his flaming hand.
"That's new." As they all evaded the attack.
The demon didn't stop firing its lightning bolts to the valkyries and the girls needed the plan to eliminate this enemy quickly.
Little did they know that the valkyries are getting weaker and weaker due to the nearby flames absorbing their Honkai energy.