When Bronya awoke, pain coursed through every part of her body.
She slowly pushed herself upright and immediately noticed something was different.
She was no longer wearing her usual Valkyrie uniform.
The black-and-purple armor of the Black Nucleus battlesuit now covered her body.
Bronya: "Ugh…"
Bronya: "What's happening… to the Bronya?"
A sharp pain suddenly surged through her body.
Bronya: "Ugh!"
Bronya quickly looked around the devastated battlefield.
Bronya: "Seele? Where are you, Seele?"
A figure suddenly appeared behind her.
Bronya immediately turned.
It was Welt.
Or rather—
Something that wore Welt's face.
Welt: "Interesting. Your mind remained… human. I'm very intrigued."
Welt: "Congratulations, Valkyrie. You survived the Second Eruption."
Welt: "I don't know who Seele is, but it no longer matters. You are the sole survivor."
Bronya froze.
For several seconds, she could not process his words.
Bronya: "…What are you saying?"
Welt calmly looked across the ruined battlefield.
Welt: "All the Valkyries at the front… and other personnel in the rear…"
He paused.
Welt: "…They're all dead."
Bronya's eyes widened.
Welt: "I destroyed Schicksal."
A cold feeling spread through Bronya's body.
Bronya: "You killed them… you killed Seele…"
Welt stared into her eyes.
Welt: "I see surprise, sorrow, and hatred in your eyes. I felt those feelings… before…"
Welt: "She must be… someone important to you. Good. You must… remember this moment."
Welt: "Hatred… loss… despair… they are the pillars of pure power…"
Bronya clenched her fists.
Bronya: "Please tell the Bronya your reasons for doing this."
Welt's expression remained disturbingly calm.
Welt: "It is my destiny."
Welt: "The man named Welt Joyce gave me my destiny in 1955…"
Bronya's eyes narrowed.
Bronya: "Anti-Entropy was founded in 1955…"
Welt slowly shook his head.
Welt: "No. Anti-Entropy was… destroyed in 1955."
His expression finally began to change.
Welt: "Welt Joyce, Lieserl Albert Einstein, Frederica Nikola Tesla, Emma Planck, Erwin Reanna Schrodinger…"
Welt: "I remembered all their names. That was the only thing I could do."
His voice remained quiet.
Too quiet.
Welt: "Schicksal Valkyries killed them one by one. I ran away… in shame…"
Welt: "Like a terrified, wretched, little rat…"
He calmly narrated the tragedy as though he were completely detached from it.
Yet Bronya could sense something beneath that calmness.
Something dark.
Something twisted.
Something that had been festering for decades.
Bronya: "Anti-Entropy was… destroyed?"
Welt looked towards the darkened sky.
Welt: "I will always dream of him on dark, moonless nights…"
Welt: "Again and again I dreamed… he laid in a pool of his own blood… he gave me his name and the Core…"
His fingers slowly curled into fists.
Welt: "And I have finally returned, bearing his name and fulfilling his wish of fighting for humanity."
Bronya stared directly at him.
Bronya: "Destroying Schicksal has little to do with fighting for humanity."
Bronya: "Welt has only reproduced the tragedy of Anti-Entropy. Being a victim is no excuse for Welt to murder."
Bronya: "The founders of Anti-Entropy would never consent to what Welt has done…"
Welt fell silent.
Welt: "…"
Then he gave a quiet, bitter laugh.
Welt: "Humph, I guess you're right. They were weak and soft like that."
His expression twisted.
Welt: "…Though Schicksal destroyed what we had, they still set their hatred aside to fight for their beliefs."
Welt: "…And they paid dearly for it."
The Herrscher raised his hand.
Welt: "I bear the name of Welt and his might. I am the enforcer of his powers and vision."
Welt: "But I have nothing under this name. I'm a mere shadow… playing the roles of a dead man…"
His voice gradually grew louder.
More unstable.
Welt: "Why must I play the role of a tragic and failed hero?"
Suddenly—
Blood burst from Welt's body.
His broken physical form could barely withstand the tremendous power surging through it.
His voice became increasingly emotional.
Welt: "That's right. I slew the Herrscher of the Void. I saved this world."
Welt: "I achieved what that man couldn't. I have surpassed him."
Bronya's expression hardened.
Bronya: "…Welt has lost his mind."
Welt's eyes widened.
Welt: "I am not mad. I have conquered… Welt…"
A monstrous war machine suddenly materialized beside him.
Its enormous frame towered over the battlefield.
The Herrscher stared at it with eyes clouded by madness and hatred.
Welt: "This is my true power… my final destination… my grand vision…"
The figure before Bronya no longer felt like Welt Yang.
The madness within him had completely consumed him.
1st Herrscher: "This is what I'm supposed… to be!"
Bronya immediately grabbed the crystal necklace hanging around her neck.
Closing her eyes, she focused her will.
The crystal responded.
Blue light erupted from the necklace.
One after another, five transparent warriors appeared around Bronya.
Kamen Rider Zero-Two.
Kamen Rider Gattack.
Super Patren 1gou.
Premiere DekaRed.
Boukenred Accel Tector.
The five spectral warriors immediately moved.
Kamen Rider Zero-Two and Kamen Rider Gattack vanished.
Their speed was so incredible that they became nothing more than flashes of blue light as they attacked the giant war machine from every direction.
Before the machine could retaliate, Boukenred Accel Tector raised his weapon.
The Dual Crusher — Mixer Head fired.
A powerful blast struck the massive machine.
In an instant, its entire body was immobilized and encased in Hyper Concrete.
Bronya seized the opportunity.
Super Patren 1gou grabbed the handles on both sides of his shoulders.
Premiere DekaRed raised the D-Bazooka.
Boukenred Accel Tector switched to the Dual Crusher — Drill Head.
All three warriors unleashed their attacks simultaneously.
The battlefield was engulfed in a tremendous explosion.
The giant machine was completely annihilated.
1st Herrscher: "…!"
The armored vehicle exploded into a burning wreck.
The violent backlash surged through the Herrscher's body.
Blood erupted from his wounds as his unstable body was torn apart by the consequences of his own power.
The 1st Herrscher roared.
1st Herrscher: "Enough! KNEEL!"
The crimson Star of Eden floated above his palm.
Then—
Gravity itself distorted.
A crushing gravitational tsunami hurtled towards Bronya.
The ground beneath her shattered.
But Bronya continued walking forward.
The five transparent warriors advanced beside her.
1st Herrscher: "You have no right to judge me!"
1st Herrscher: "You hate me because I've killed your friends… HATRED DRIVES US BOTH!"
Bronya's expression did not change.
Bronya: "The Bronya is unable to hate. The Bronya identifies self-hatred and pity in you…"
The Herrscher's eyes widened.
Bronya: "The Bronya sees your fear… and cowardice…"
1st Herrscher: "Cowardice? Fool, I am stronger than any being in existence!"
Bronya continued forward.
The crushing gravity could not stop her.
Bronya: "Nyet. The Bronya has seen a stronger soul."
For a moment, Bronya remembered someone.
A girl who had stood against impossible odds.
A Valkyrie who continued fighting even when the world itself seemed determined to crush her.
Kiana Kaslana.
Bronya: "She stood against the impending cataclysm."
Bronya: "Though the skies darkened with roiling storms, she kept her head high with her fierce fighting spirit…"
Bronya: "She was just an ordinary girl… and just as confused and lost… but she endured pain and sorrow…"
Bronya's voice became firmer.
Bronya: "The Bronya knew that she would take up her responsibility no matter how hard it was…"
Bronya: "…She was the Valkyrie who defended hope when everyone thought it was lost."
The Herrscher stared at her.
1st Herrscher: "I don't understand a thing you said!"
Bronya stopped.
Her eyes met his.
Bronya: "Nyet. You do not. You are a vile and despicable thing."
Bronya: "The Bronya is not you, and will never become you."
Bronya: "You do not deserve the name of "Welt"."
The Herrscher's expression twisted with rage.
1st Herrscher: "SHUT UP! You know nothing about Welt… about me!"
1st Herrscher: "Star of Eden! Tear her apart!"
But—
Nothing happened.
The crimson orb trembled.
Then it fell.
The Star of Eden dropped through the air like a lifeless object.
The 1st Herrscher stared in disbelief.
As if responding to Bronya's outstretched hand, the Divine Key stopped directly in front of her.
A familiar voice suddenly whispered beside her ear.
Joachim: "You have found the answer, Bronya."
The 1st Herrscher's eyes widened.
1st Herrscher: "Impossible!"
Bronya reached forward.
Bronya: "The Bronya… knows more than you…"
Her fingers closed around the Star of Eden.
A tremendous power surged through her body.
Bronya: "Star of Eden… Zeroth Power…"
Bronya raised the Divine Key.
Bronya: "…Unleashed!"
Space distorted.
A massive black hole appeared.
Its gravitational force consumed everything around it.
The 1st Herrscher desperately attempted to resist.
But it was too late.
Bronya and the 1st Herrscher were swallowed together by the black hole.
The world shook.
Far away, Seele stood in the snow outside Babylon Labs.
She looked towards the red light glowing above the facility.
Then the shockwave reached her.
The impact of Bronya's attack rippled across the frozen wasteland.
Seele: "…"
Her hands tightened.
Seele: "Bronya…"
Then—
A voice appeared inside her mind.
???: "She's succeeded. The world is collapsing. We're only a step away from success."
???: "Seele, you know what to do."
Seele's expression immediately changed.
Seele: "…"
Seele: "Nyet… I cannot do this."
Seele: "Bronya would never agree."
Her voice trembled.
Seele: "I… I will never hurt Bronya."
The voice became cold.
???: "Do not forget the one who granted us our powers, Seele."
???: "We're completely at its mercy. Do you feel like returning to the void?"
Seele closed her eyes.
Seele: "…I trust in Bronya."
There was silence.
???: "…"
Then the voice spoke again.
Slowly.
Mockingly.
???: "…Trust? In Bronya?"
A shadow seemed to move beneath Seele's feet.
???: "Even after so many years, you have remained soft… hesitant… weak."
???: "You can't protect Bronya if you can't safeguard your own existence."
Seele suddenly grabbed her head.
Seele: "…What are you doing?"
Her body trembled.
Seele: "NYET! Let me… go…"
The voice laughed softly.
???: "Thank you, Seele. I appreciate the way you played your part."
Seele's eyes widened.
???: "I'm running this show from now on."