It had taken several minutes for Ceci to calm herself down. Even with Theresa's monstrous strength, it was very difficult for the smaller woman to pull her off Siegfried. She had clung to her father with every ounce of energy she could muster, afraid that if she ever let go, her father would burst into flames like he did all those years ago.

Ceci sniffled as she rubbed her eyes. "I… I'm sorry," Ceci said, sniffling every few seconds. She saw the massive wet stain on her father's shirt. "I'm sorry for getting your shirt wet, Old Ma- I mean, Siegfried, sir." Her tone became uncharacteristically polite.

"No, no, you're fine," Siegfried said, using a soft, soothing voice to calm her down. It was the same voice he used to calm her down whenever she had a fit. Ceci remembered it quite well. Those nights when they moved to Siberia and she had nightmares.

She wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and coughed into her hand.

"I'm… I'm okay," Ceci said.

"Jeez, you surprised me there, calling me Dad all of a sudden, Miss," Siegfried said. I almost felt a chill running down my spine too…

"You idiot, she-" Theresa stopped when she saw Ceci giving her a look that said not to say anything.

"Sorry, it's just… you really remind me of my Dad," Ceci replied.

"Ahaha! I bet your Dad must have been one good-looking man. Your Mom must have been a very happy woman," Siegfried said, not knowing that Ceci was referring to him the entire time.

Ceci almost burst out laughing at his words. Her father was always self-assured and confident. Such words were no surprise to her but the annoyed look on her aunt's face was what almost pushed her to the brink of laughter. However, there was one thing she knew for sure. Her father and mother loved each other very much.

"She was. But she passed a while back," Ceci said.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Siegfried said as an awkward atmosphere set in.

Theresa watched the father-daughter duo with some interest in her eyes. After a few seconds, she coughed into her hand in order to get their attention.

The two turned to her and saw her standing with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. She tapped her boot impatiently in the snow. "Well? Are you two done? Do you have anything yet?"

"Hmph, you're actually acting like a Princess. Well, I guess you kind of are," Siegfried said.

A tick mark appeared on Theresa's head. "Don't call me a Princess, you perv!"

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, there's bad news and worse news," Siegfried said, turning around. He turned to face the screen behind him. "The bad news is that Squad Snow Wolf and the other Valkyrie Squads have yet to locate the Second Herrscher. They're searching for them now but there's no word from them yet."

"So nothing? Not even from them?" Theresa asked.

"No, not even from them. And I saw nothing from my rounds aside from a few Emperor Class Honkai Beasts," Siegfried said.

"And what's the worse news?" Ceci asked.

Siegfried sighed and ran a hand through his silver locks. His eyes burned with anger. "Due to the lack of progress and… tch, the Overseer saw fit to send her. Cecilia and the others are coming to reinforce us. She and the S-1 Formation will be here in about 30 minutes, moving up from Southern Siberia"

"E- Eh? Cecilia? Cecilia's not fit to fight against an actual Herrscher! It was bad enough that Grandfather allowed her to fight but… Tch…" Theresa clenched her fists.

"I'll relay the message to Snow Wolf Squad. We, here at the N-1 Formation will fan out and locate the Herrscher in the remaining half hour that we have," Siegfried said.

"30 minutes? Siegfried, are you going to…?" Theresa asked.

Siegfried smiled sadly and his hand gently unholstered one of Shamash's pistols. "If I have to…"

Ceci watched the exchange between the two.

The sound of radio static caught their attention as a voice broke through.

"Reporting in. We have received communication from Valkyrie Squads in Zone O-23 and O-17. They've detected traces of the Second Herrscher in both areas."

"One of them… has to be for sure a distraction. Our enemy has proven herself to be rather cunning for a child for a child throwing an apocalyptic temper tantrum," Theresa said.

"Apocalyptic temper tantrum. That's a new one," Siegfried said. "But…" He turned to face them. "Looks like we have no other choice. We'll split up. I'll go to Zone O-23 and you'll go to O-17. Whoever finds the 2nd Herrscher first gets to take her down."

"Oh? Is that a challenge?" Theresa asked. "But whatever, that's fine by me. Ceci, you stay here. It's safer for you here."

"What? No! I can fight! I won't stay down and be idle," Cecilia protested.

"Eh? But…"

"It's fine. She can go. I can tell from the fire in her eyes that she's a great warrior," Siegfried said. "Just bring her along, Theresa."

"How about we switch then?" Theresa said.

"Hmmm?" The two simultaneously turned to face her.

Theresa blinked. The two were extremely alike in personality. "I don't want to be stuck on babysitting duty-"

"B- Babysitting! I can fight too! You've seen me fight, Theresa! I was able to hit you at least once," Cecilia said indignantly. The mere mention of the word 'babysit' was enough to make her act out. She was not a child. She was an A-Rank Valkyrie now.

"You hit me in the face with snow. You had to use dirty tricks in order to hit me," she said, placing her hands on her hips.

"E- Er… so what-"

"That's fine by me. We can head to Babylon Towers while you go see what's going on down in Zone O-23. Ceci and I will head to Zone O-17 to see if the Second Herrscher is there too. Remember, whoever finds her gets to be the one to take her out," Siegfried said.

"Y-You're fine with this?" Ceci asked.

"It's a mission. There's no time to argue. Cecilia is going to be here in half an hour so we need to move out now and take out the Second Herrscher before she gets here," Siegfried replied.

"That's a first. I've never seen you being so pragmatic, Siegfried," Theresa said.

"There's no point in arguing, Theresa. Besides, I think they'd be pretty happy to see you down there instead of me. Let's go, Ceci," Siegfried said, patting her shoulder as he walked by.

Ceci felt a warm feeling in her chest as she heard her father calling her by her pet name.

"Don't do anything to her, Siegfried. You're a married man and she's a child, remember?" Theresa said, crossing her arms.

Siegfried sputtered and looked over his shoulder. "Do you really have that low an opinion of me?" he asked before turning around to keep moving onward.

"Alright, let's go-"

"Wait, Ceci. There's something I need to tell you," Theresa said, grabbing her arm.

"Mmm?" she turned to face her diminutive aunt.

"Be safe and rely on him. Siegfried may be a sorry excuse for a human being but he loves Cecilia very much so I know he won't try anything on you. And… if he uses it then run," Theresa said.

"It? What's it-?"

"Oi! Ceci! Come on! We're burning daylight!"

She heard her father's voice call for her out in the distance.

Theresa smiled. "Go on."

Cecilia nodded and sprinted down the snowy path to catch up with her father.

Theresa watched as the two made their way toward the tower before turning around and heading to her intended destination.

Cecilia had never fought alongside her old man. She had dreamt of it as a child, going on adventures with her father and older sister. Saving people and hunting Honkai. She could almost call it their family business. And so, provided with a rare opportunity, Cecilia capitalized upon it by watching her father's every move. Albeit, this was a simulation but it was not as if she minded anyway.

"Mm? Is there something on me?"

Ceci blinked when she saw Siegfried staring at her oddly.

"You've been burning holes into me for a few minutes now," Siegfried said.

"Er… sorry, it's just I've never been this close before," she said.

"To me or to snow?" Siegfried asked.

Ceci remained silent.

"Well, I never knew I had fans in other Valkyrie squads. I'm pretty unpopular among the Valkyries for taking their beloved idol from them, ahaha," Siegfried said, rubbing the back of his neck.

This was a rare opportunity for Ceci. If this was a memory simulation, then this version of Siegfried should be able to tell her as well. And so, Ceci asked the question she always wanted to ask.

"How did you meet Mo- I mean, Cecilia Schariac?" she asked.

"Me? Man, I've never had someone ask me that. That's a really embarrassing story," he laughed. A look of nostalgia spread across his face as he scanned the snow for any traces of the Second Herrscher.

"I guess it was completely by accident. It's weird to say but she literally fell into my lap, ahahaha!" Siegfried said.

"Back then, I was a bit of a rebel. I followed the way of the Ninja, swooping in to save the day. Hmph, to think I'd end up back here in Schicksal as a Knight like my family wanted me to," he said.

"You… didn't want to be a Schicksal Knight?" she asked.

"Nope! Never wanted to. Organizations are too stiff. Too many rules. Too many people to answer to. And there's always this red tape that you gotta get across you know? No, I was a free bird. That… did carve a rift between me and my family. Before I knew it, my parents wanted nothing to do with me and my little sister barely spoke to me. Of course, I loved the looks on their faces when the Overseer let me back in," Siegfried said.

"How did… How did he let you back in?" Ceci asked.

"Well, it has to do with how Cecilia and I started officially dating. I spent 2 years trying to beat all of his Valkyries. Did you know that I couldn't even beat an A-Rank Valkyrie at first? Man, I had 9 broken ribs and my sister almost killed me, ahaha!"

Huh? Her father was weak? No, it was not that her father was weak. Compared to a Valkyrie who had undergone rigorous training, her father had none of that prior to running away. All he had was his natural instinct and the wits he had acquired from his journey. However, it only took 2 years for him to surpass virtually every Valkyrie in Schicksal and reach the territory of an S-Rank.

Ceci grimaced. She remembered her own sister's explosive growth in strength several years ago. Would she undergo that same rapid development? She had to. She was a Kaslana after all.

"Then, you guys got married and had a child?" Ceci asked.

"Yep, our pride and joy. Our lovely daughter, Kiana," he said.

"Kiana? Don't you have another daughter?" she asked.

"Another? We- Wait." Siegfried held his hand up and the two came to a stop. He knelt in the snow and eyed several indentations. He stood up and pressed a button on his earpiece. A holographic visor appeared around his eyes.

After a few seconds, Siegfried unholstered Shamash from its straps.

"Is there…?" Ceci asked.

"There are Honkai beasts nearby. Get ready," he said, spreading his feet slightly apart.

The ground shook slightly and out of the blue, a massive white blur came charging at the two.

Siegfried jumped into the air, flipping over it, and fired several flaming rounds into its carapace, killing it instantly. He landed on the ground and kicked his leg outward, knocking another Chariot off course.

"I can help too!" Ceci said, charging forward and shooting it in the lone spot on its head where its eye lay.

In an instant, the Chariot was killed.

"Is that…?"

"No, there's more," Siegfried said, keeping his grip on Shamash tight.

Ceci clenched her jaw and turned to face a horde of beasts coming out. The tremors grew louder and the beasts scattered as a large mass of white came rolling toward them at breakneck speeds.

Rolling? Big? White and pink? This is a Ganesha! Ceci thought.

She looked to Siegfried, wondering how he would deal with such a beast.

Siegfried smirked and ran forward to meet it. As the Ganesha neared him, Siegfried vanished.

He… He's even faster than Aunt Teri! Ceci watched in awe as her father appeared next to it and kicked it as it spun, sending it off course and slamming into a nearby rock formation. The formation trembled and snow fell from the top, burying it.

Siegfried landed on the ground, carefully observing it and the Honkai Beasts that were beginning to converge on their location. "Oi, Ceci, now's not that time to be ogling the scene with your mouth open. We got company," Siegfried said.

"R- Right!" she said, eyeing the several Honkai beasts that had decided to make them their next victim.

"We have to get to the zone to find the Second Herrscher before Cecilia gets here," Siegfried said. "I guess I can't really hold back for this since we're in such a rush."

A torrent of white hot flames surged from his hands and converged. The flames faded, revealing the familiar glowing blade of the Judgement of Shamash. Siegfried gripped the blade tightly in his hands. Seeing her father wield the blade once more brought back a terrible feeling inside her.

"Jump!"

Ceci nodded and ran toward a Cassiel, using it as a launchpad and kicking off into the air.

Siegfried swung the blade, unleashing an all-consuming wave of flames that incinerated the Honkai Beasts in their vicinity.

Ceci landed on the ground. The snow had been vaporized, leaving no moisture behind and the soil had instantly dried from the intense heat. She glanced down at the few Honkai carcasses that managed to survive Shamash's omnipotent flames.

"Wow… that was- Behind you!"

Siegfried glanced over his shoulder and saw the Ganesha charging at him. He sighed and quickly spun on the balls of his feet. He swung his arm, bringing Shamash down in a single powerful overhead slash.

Ceci watched with awe as a straight line traveled across the ground, splitting it open and cutting both the Ganesha and the rock formation behind it in half with a single strike.

"W- Woah…" was all she could utter.

"Come on," Siegfried said, returning Shamash to its base form.

"R- Right!" Ceci nodded and followed after him.

The two slowed down to a halt after several minutes. Siegfried checked his watch before looking around. The area was completely deserted, however, there were clear signs that people had been there. There were also various signs that a battle had happened there.

Ceci almost vomited when the scent entered her nose. The strong scent of blood filled her nose.

Siegfried took a step forward and stopped when he heard something crunch underneath his boot. He looked down and knelt, brushing the snow aside.

"There are fragments of battlesuits here but no bodies. But you can smell the death," Siegfried said, picking it up. "She's killed every Valkyrie in this area from the looks of it."

"What do we do?" Ceci asked.

Siegfried sighed and crushed the transponder in his hand. "From what it looks like, HQ probably thinks that the Second Herrscher is still here. I have to admit. For a bratty kid, she's pretty devious, I'll give her that."

"So…?"

"It's quite obvious, isn't it? The Second Herrscher is somewhere else. We need to get there and take it down before-"

Siegfried was interrupted by the sound of engines filling the area. The two turned around to see a VTOL flying in their direction.

"Is that…?"

Siegfried reacted immediately, pushing Ceci aside before jumping back. A trail of bullets struck the Earth between them as the VTOL made a flyby.

"W- What? I thought they were on our side!" Ceci yelled.

"Hmph, looks like this thing can control our tech too. Damn, this shit just keeps getting worse and worse," Siegfried said, holding Shamash in his hand.

Ceci gripped her pistols tightly as she watched the VTOL make a sharp turn before flying back in their direction.

"Get ready. On my count, I'll try to knock it out of the air-"

"I can do that. My Battlesuit has an overdrive feature that can let me hit it with something heavy. After that, you can clip its wings," Ceci said.

"What-"

"No time to argue!" Ceci rushed forward before Siegfried could finish his sentence. She jumped into the air, avoiding the cockpit. "NEKO CHARM!"

She performed an axe kick, sending a high-speed cat's paw slamming into the cockpit. The window shattered and the sheer force of the impact was enough to knock it off-course.

"That crazy girl!" Siegfried grinned and watched the VTOL crash into the ground. It began sliding toward him. "I guess this is where…" He raised Shamash into the air and swung it, slicing one of the VTOL's wings off. "I come in!"

The machine slid to a stop and Ceci landed on the ground. "Did it-" her words were interrupted when the engine roared to life and the vehicle attempted to take off. However, its lack of a second wing grounded it and the vehicle opted to use its wheels to run over its closest target.

It charged toward Siegfried at high speeds.

"OLD MAN!" Ceci called out.

Siegfried stood his ground and waited for it to approach. He grinned and charged forward, swinging Shamash in an upward diagonal slash.

The flaming blade cut through the metal chassis like a hot knife through butter, slicing the vehicle in half with a single blow.

Even a Schicksal vehicle that even Aunt Himeko would have a hard time taking down… and Dad just cut it in half with a blade.

Ceci watched as her father dusted himself off.

"We need to get to zone O-23 as fast as possible. Ceci, try to get in contact with Theresa," Siegfried said.

"R- Right!" she answered.

The two began running back in the direction of the camp, making a beeline for Theresa's area as fast as they could.

"Call Theresa Apocalypse!" Ceci said.

[Calling Theresa Apocalypse]

"Ceci? What's going on?" Theresa answered.

"The Second Herrscher isn't in our area. She might be headed in your direction right now!" Ceci yelled.

"What? Then that really explains the call I just got," Theresa said.

"What call?" Siegfried said, tuning in to the channel.

"Did you really just make this a conference call?" Theresa said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Yeah. But to think luck is on our side. Stay put, Squirt. We're ten minutes from your location so don't do anything stupid," Siegfried said.

"Did you just call me a-? You know what never mind. I swear to God, Siegfried. I got beat in 4 minutes and 50 seconds last time," Theresa said.

That's about 5 minutes. It took a Herrscher 5 minutes to beat Aunt Teri? Wendy wasn't this strong when we fought her, Ceci thought as she listened to them banter.

"Guess you'll just have to up your game. Keep her there for me, yeah? You know how much I like a face-to-face challenge," Siegfried replied.

"You goddamn idiot. I guess I'll have to then. I'll try to keep her here. Don't keep me waiting for too long, you pervert. I know I'm not Cecilia but at least have some class and don't keep a lady waiting," she said.

"Gotcha. Let's hope you're short enough to let you hide from the Second Herrscher," Siegfried said.

"I have a visual on her. Get here fast, you two. Theresa out," Theresa said.

"You got that, Ceci? That means we need to do double time," Siegfried said, increasing his speed.

"Right! We can't let Theresa die here," she said.

"Yeah, Cecilia would kill me if she found out anything happened to her best friend. Come on," he said.

The run toward Theresa's location was more of a frenzied rampage on Siegfried's part. The man had taken it upon himself to be a human battering ram, slicing through the zombies and honkai beasts that stood in their way.

Ceci could very well see where her older sister had gotten her deadly fighting style from. Her father's mastery of the Kaslana Gun Kata and his own skill with a blade were clearly things her older sister learned and inherited from him. Despite his rudimentary training in order to win her mother's hand, Siegfried was a natural-born warrior as expected of someone from the Kaslana Clan.

If her mother was regarded as history's strongest Valkyrie, then she could confidently say that her father was the world's strongest swordsman.

Each swing left a visible trail of orange light that left a trail of corpses in their wake.

"Get out of the way!" Siegfried yelled as he swung Shamash with such speeds that it looked as if his two swings happened simultaneously.

"Leave some for me too!" Ceci complained, watching her father steal another of her kills.

"My bad, kid. But there's no rules against kill stealing in real life so-"

A bullet flew past his head, striking down a zombie before Siegfried could bifurcate it.

"You were saying?" Ceci asked, grinning at his slightly dumbstruck face.

"We're almost there. Come on, Theresa. You were the biggest pain in my ass all those years ago. Don't go dying here now of all places!" Siegfried said, hoping against all hope that his close friend would still be alive.

Ceci bit her cheek as she and her father increased their pace.

Upon reaching their destination, the duo was met with a battlefield littered with golden spears and twisted white lances. The bodies of various valkyries littered the battlefield. Some of them were injured and others lay dead, impaled by the lances. All of these images together stitched a very horrid and familiar scene in her mind. Her breath hitched as horrid images flashed through her mind.

"Ceci, RUN!"

"Capture her! Don't let her escape!"

A gloved hand suddenly blocked her vision.

"What-"

"Don't look. I know you're a Valkyrie but you're still just a kid," Siegfried said.

"I- I've seen worse. I'll be fine," she said.

"Theresa!" Siegfried called out.

"Down…"

"Huh?" Siegfried looked down and saw a Valkyrie leaning against a tree. She had a gaping hole in her torso that she was uselessly covering with her hand.

Siegfried knelt before her and placed his hands over her, attempting to put more pressure over her wound, despite knowing that his efforts were completely futile.

"No… don't worry about me," she said.

"Tch…"

"Lady Theresa is… she's further down. She… Second Herrscher… fight…" With that, her head fell forward and her body fell limp.

Ceci closed her eyes tightly as the woman drew her last breath.

Siegfried bit his cheek and got up.

"We need to go," he said.

"What about these other Valkyries?" Ceci asked.

"They deserved it. You know that. These people are the same as those from that time. Monsters… Humans are nothing more than-"

"They… They'll be fine. Hopefully. If their transponders are still working, then our backup should be here in a couple of minutes. Hopefully. Right now, our priority is finding Theresa and the Second Herrscher," Siegfried said. His voice cut through the hateful whispers bubbling in the recesses of her subconscious.

Ceci almost flinched at his change of tone. It almost sounded like…

Kiana… She clenched her fists and nodded.

"The Valkyrie said that she's further down in the area. Look for anything that could find-"

As if on cue, an explosion caught their attention. A massive cloud of dust rose into the sky in the distance. A massive gust of wind washed over them, blowing their hair back and causing them to slide back a few meters.

"I think… I think we found her," Ceci said.

"Come on, let's go," Siegfried said.

Theresa limped and collapsed behind a tree. Her chest heaved up and down as she fought to catch her breath. "Goddamn brat." She winced as she placed a hand on her torso. Her wound was rapidly healing but that did not mean the pain would go away.

"I got really lucky back there…"

Her mind flashed back to when her blow had struck the Second Herrscher in the side.

"Cheater…" Theresa mocked, imitating the Second Herrscher. "Damnit, Siegfried, where are you? Are you always late whenever Cecilia calls?"

"Theresa!"

Her eyes lit up as if her words had summoned the person she had been talking about. "O… Over here…" she weakly called out, grabbing Judah and using it as support. She shuffled out from behind the tree.

"Over here, you bumbling pervert," Theresa yelled.

Her weakened voice caught their attention and she spotted the two running toward her.

Those two… really are Father and Daughter, she thought absentmindedly as she fell forward.

Siegfried rushed and caught her before she could fall to the ground.

"Haha… making moves on your wife's best friend?" she jokingly said.

"As if, you know there's no woman in the world that can match up to Cecilia," Siegfried said.

"Pfft, that's true. Men are all the same," Theresa rasped, wincing as she felt Siegfried pick her up. "Watch it, you oaf. It hurts a lot."

Siegfried nodded and walked over to a large tree before setting her down and leaning her against it.

"Where's the Second Herrscher?" he asked. "Did you…?"

"Hah, as if. I did last longer this time though," Theresa said.

"Hmph, I guess being short has its perks," he said.

"Fuck you," Theresa said, understanding the implications behind his statement.

"What do we do now?" Ceci asked.

"You two need to stop the Second Herrscher. She's headed to the Tower. If she absorbs the Honkai Energy from the Reactor, we're nine shades of fucked," Theresa said.

Wow… I've never heard Aunt Teri curse this many times in one sitting, she thought.

"Right. Tower?" he said.

"Tower. I'll catch up. You need to go now," Theresa urged.

"But-"

"No buts, Ceci. Go," Theresa said, cutting Ceci off.

After several minutes of urging, Siegfried managed to pry Ceci off Theresa. The two ran down the path, making their way to the large obsidian tower in the distance. The closer they got to the tower, the more her unease began to grow. The tower was so alien yet familiar. She had only seen it in history texts yet she felt as if she had seen it in real life as well.

It was almost as if…

"Everything had started here… right? Like we had been here before oh so long ago…"

Ceci slowed down. She looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Ceci?"

She blinked and turned to see Siegfried looking at her with a worried expression on his face.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Sorry, it's just… seeing all of those Valkyries. It brought back some bad memories," Ceci said. It was half-true.

"I can understand where you're coming from with that. Seeing Theresa beat up like that brings back some bad memories of our first mission together," he said.

"You really do care about her, a lot, don't you?" Ceci said.

"You really do care about my best friend a lot, don't you, Ziggy?"

Siegfried stopped in his tracks, causing Ceci to bump into him. She stumbled back slightly and rubbed her nose, having been caught off-guard by the sudden impact. "What's going on-"

"Do I have to worry about you and Theresa running off on me?"

"Cecilia? You're here?" Siegfried replied.

Ceci froze. That voice came in through their comm link so suddenly. That was her mother? She smiled, heart beating slightly faster than before. Her voice felt so warm and welcoming. Just hearing it through a simulated memory gave her a feeling of warmth that wrapped around her. "So this is Mom's voice…" she whispered, ignoring the frantic attempts of her father to calm her mother down.

"Oi… Oi! Cecilia, dear! You don't really think I would go for Theresa, would you?" he asked.

"Are you implying that if it wasn't Theresa, then it would be someone else?" she retorted.

"Er… that's…"

"Pfft… ahaha, calm down, Dear. I'm just joking. I'm here with Theresa right now," Cecilia said.

"Eh? You're with Teri?" Siegfried asked.

"Mmm, I'm here with the rest of S-1 Formation as backup. I'm healing up the others right now," Cecilia said.

"With Abyss Flower? Are you sure you'll be fine?" Siegfried asked.

"Of course. You need to stop worrying. I've been fighting in these battles longer than we've been married," Cecilia chuckled.

"Hmph, you're right about that. Just don't overdo it. You're still recovering from childbirth and Abyss Flower will put a really heavy strain on you," Siegfried said.

"I'm really starting to think you and Theresa are closer than I think. She's telling me the same thing right now-"

"SIEGFRIED! TELL THIS LUNATIC TO STOP HEALING ME!"

The two flinched when they heard Theresa's high-pitched voice over the channel.

"Anyway dear, I'll meet you at the tower. I also want to meet this girl Theresa's been telling me about. The one who has the same name as me and has… a rather sordid history with you" Cecilia said.

Siegfried felt a shiver run down his spine at the change in her tone at the end.

"R- Right. Siegfried out."

"Cecilia out."

"So?" Ceci asked.

"We make a beeline for the tower and meet Cecilia there. Hopefully, with the both of us, we can take down the Second Herrscher. Bonus points if Theresa gets back on her feet," Siegfried said, eyeing the obsidian bastion in the distance.

Ceci gripped her pistols and nodded. She followed after Siegfried with only a single thought in her mind driving her forward. A desire that was beginning to override her initial reason for being here. A selfish want that she has wished for since she was a child.

I… I can finally meet Mom…

Yes, I started changing Cecilia to Ceci so we don't confuse her with Cecilia Schariac. I changed the entire chapter from having Theresa accompany K-423 to having her go with Siegfried. It felt right. Besides, I can write a more twisted ending for this arc instead of her just being deluded into believing Cecilia was real, hehe. Anyway, it might look like this chapter jumped around a lot but it's really five or so story missions strung together because the dialogue is all interconnected together and I saw no point in making a chapter per mission. Really counterintuitive. It reminded me of how dry and slow Pre Chapter 9 Honkai was until we started getting close to the Befall animation. Anyway, let's let Ceci play happy family with Mom and Dad and get back to Kiana reliving her worst memory. See ya'll later.