"Bronya is being difficult, but are you as well?" Cocolia spoke with an air of complete indifference, her back turned to him. "Anti-Entropy's mission is to fight Honkai. What reason would I have to trigger an eruption?"
"No, you have one—for your daughters," Andrei said, his teeth gritted so hard they nearly shattered. "I told you! I heard everything!"
"Your argument laid everything bare! Right in front of me, do you still want to deny it?"
"Why? Lady Cocolia? No, Cocolia!" Andrei looked at the familiar back before him. "We are all survivors of the Second Great Honkai Eruption. Do you remember? It was you!"
"It was you who gathered those of us who had lost everything under the slogan of seeking revenge against Honkai. It was you who led everyone step by step. Why do so many brothers in the Siberia Branch follow you to the death! Do you remember?"
"But why... must you become the person we hate the most? What exactly are you thinking, Cocolia! You actually want to trigger a Great Honkai?"
"I have no choice, Andrei." While speaking, Cocolia observed his reflection in a shard of upright glass Bronya had shattered earlier. She said coldly, "How many survivors from back then contracted Honkai Sickness? Seventy or eighty percent? After all, we were soaked in a Great Honkai. We're lucky enough not to have turned into Zombies."
"Over these years, watching these patients being tortured one by one until they die—do you know how much it hurts me?" Cocolia questioned him without turning around. "Andrei, your family all died in the Great Honkai, so you can seek revenge against Honkai without reservation. But I can't. The brothers under me who still have families can't."
"Before revenge, we must at least let those we care about survive. Andrei, this is a necessary price."
"So a whole city of over a million people is the price you're willing to pay?" Andrei trembled with rage. "Acting like this, how are you any different from Schicksal's—"
Bang!
At the peak of his agitation, Cocolia spun around with lightning speed and drew her gun, firing instantly!
Caught off guard, Andrei felt a sharp pain in his chest. He lost all his strength and collapsed at the doorway.
Cocolia walked over. "Andrei, your skills have regressed. Long-term logistics work has eroded too much of your past experience. You should have shot me the moment you had the chance."
"Instead of listening to me talk so much."
"Co... Cocolia..." Blood froth continuously bubbled from Andrei's mouth. "I'll be... waiting for you in hell..."
"Yes, I know," Cocolia said expressionlessly. "In any case... I'm not so confident as to think I'll go to heaven. When this is all over, I will go to hell to find you."
She watched as the light in the eyes of Andrei—one of the first to ever follow her—dimmed bit by bit until the last breath left him.
Faster, faster!
Siegfried was sprinting toward the Raiden Family home at full speed.
"Damn that Cocolia!" he cursed as he ran. "When this is over... I'll definitely..."
Siegfried wished he could simply take flight, but he truly lacked that ability. Fortunately, there were no signs of a Great Honkai yet, which meant Kiana was safe for the time being.
"Hang in there, Kiana!"
He was truly at his wit's end. For all these years, he hadn't appeared before Kiana for fear of stimulating the sleeping Herrscher of the Void, causing her to awaken as she did years ago on the Snowfield. Thus, he could only watch from afar as his daughter wandered alone... and because he was active again, he couldn't arrange for Kiana's future life.
With Schicksal's resources, anything done would surely be impossible to hide. Siegfried feared Otto would follow the clues and find Kiana.
So while his daughter wandered, he could only watch silently from a distance.
This was the situation Siegfried was facing now.
If he didn't make it in time, either Kiana would be killed by the Titans, or the Herrscher of the Void would sense the mortal danger and awaken, triggering Honkai within the city. These were two paths he did not want to see under any circumstances.
And if he did arrive and destroyed the Herrscher... he would inevitably be exposed to Kiana, and the Herrscher of the Void might awaken regardless.
Sigh, a dead end no matter which way I turn.
Now he could only gamble—either catch up to the Titan units and deal with them before they attacked Kiana, or if he couldn't... pray.
Pray that if he appeared before Kiana, the Herrscher of the Void would not awaken.
Siegfried truly had no other options.
But there was some good news.
To make it convenient for Mei to go to school, the villa was located not far from Chiba Academy.
And as the largest sponsor of Nagazora City's entire academic circle, ME Corp's headquarters was also near Chiba Academy.
So he would be able to arrive very soon.
But as the distance closed, his heart slowly sank.
He couldn't hear a single sound.
The noise of Titans... that wouldn't be quiet.
Yet he was so close and could hear nothing... either they hadn't arrived yet, or... it was already over.
Siegfried didn't dare think of the most terrifying possibility. He simply put his head down and rushed forward, Shamash transforming from twin pistols into a greatsword in his hands.
Step by step, the surroundings grew quieter, and his face grew darker.
Until he rounded a corner.
"Whoa, Sister Rita, this thing is so sci-fi!"
A familiar voice rang out from the distance.
He looked from afar and saw that familiar figure with her back to him, her two braided pigtails swinging as she poked around a Titan wreck.
"Can I take some parts back as a souvenir?" Kiana said excitedly. "Wow, this armor is great, it's really thick. If I ran into this alone, I'd definitely be a goner."
"Aunt..." Raiden Mei looked at the dozen or so Titan wrecks before her, then looked up at her Aunt, who was calmly sheathing her blade. She felt her entire worldview had been overturned.
In her perspective, just moments ago while they were cleaning the yard, Xia Yu had suddenly produced a blade from thin air and slashed at the empty air several times. These giants had suddenly appeared in the previously empty space.
Of course, they appeared in the form of shattered wrecks.
Initially, what Kiana said made her think the two sides were like rival gangs.
Then, her Aunt told her it wasn't that simple—that the opposing sides were both shadow organizations controlling the world from behind the scenes.
But Raiden Mei didn't have much of a sense of reality regarding it. The only supernatural thing she had seen before was Kiana smashing a desk with a bat... it looked impressive, after all, for a cheerful girl to have such strength...
But she still lacked a sense of reality for this so-called true world.
And now, over a dozen large robots had been maliciously lurking around them, only to be dealt with by her Aunt in a few slashes... Looking at those massive wrecks, she finally had a sense of reality regarding the true side of this world.
"Aunt," thinking of this, Raiden Mei felt a bit aggrieved. She reached out and tugged on Xia Yu's sleeve. "Our family is so powerful... then why haven't I learned anything? I only learned a little kendo."
"First, let me clarify," Xia Yu reached out and patted her head. "It's not that the Raiden Family is powerful. Your father is a weakling."
"The only powerful one is me. And I am an anomaly; there isn't another person like me in the entire world. You don't need to be discouraged. As for why you didn't receive this education, Raiden Ryoma probably wanted you to have a beautiful childhood."
"He kept you from these things for your own good, Mei. At least, that's what he believed. The true side of this world is not beautiful. Even if I don't quite agree with his methods, it all stems from a father's protection for his daughter. This is his love for you."
"Of course, the reason you don't have Kiana's freakish strength is related to your body. Honkai Energy can subtly strengthen a person's body; Kiana is an example. But as for you, the Honkai Energy in your body was absorbed by something due to Raiden Ryoma's surgery. That's why you are like this."
"It will be better in the future."
"Mm, I understand," Raiden Mei nodded obediently, then looked up at Xia Yu and continued to ask, "Aunt... do you have... some issue with my father?"
She had sensed it long ago and had asked before, but the answers she got were always vague.
"That's adult business," Xia Yu shook her head. "You don't need to worry about it. I just find him a bit hard to stomach, it's no big deal."
In truth, it was because Xia Yu had no impression of Raiden Ryoma. Her disguised identity was his sister-in-law; if she pretended to be too familiar, it would be easy to slip up in front of his biological daughter, Raiden Mei.
It was easier to simply establish a persona where the two didn't get along.
Just then, Kiana came running over.
"Sister Acheron, Sister Acheron!" She excitedly grabbed Xia Yu's arm. "Are there a lot more of these big guys in Nagazora City?"
"Hmm? Why are you asking that?" Xia Yu was somewhat confused.
"Hehe, of course I want to find one to drive!" Kiana's eyes shone. "Sister Acheron, don't you think these Mecha are cool?"
"And I saw a cockpit, though it's weird why there's no one inside..."
Titans usually have pilots, but this batch of Cocolia's were Unmanned Titans. It was mainly because her subordinates didn't know her plan, so she needed a batch of loyal followers to do the dirty work.
After all, she couldn't complete such a massive plan alone.
So she specifically brought these Unmanned Titans using autonomous AI combat. This batch was experimental equipment, so she had openly brought them out under the pretext of testing.
After all, it wasn't easy for Anti-Entropy to train a qualified pilot, and Titans were the most basic cannon fodder. To deal with the hypothetical enemies of Schicksal and Honkai, they needed massive quantities.
Thus, unmanned wingmen and AI legions were key research projects for Anti-Entropy.
However, just in case, these Titans still retained the cockpit space. Since they were experimental, they could be adjusted later based on performance.
"They're okay, just average," Xia Yu looked up at the wrecks of those Titans; they were just very common models.
"Then Sister Acheron, if there's an operation later, can you leave one for me?" Kiana hugged her arm and acted spoiled. "I want to drive a Mecha too!"
At this age, she was interested in everything.
"Do you think this is some little pet? Leave one for you?" Xia Yu flicked her forehead. "The various programs inside have backdoors. Do you think you can just drive it whenever you want?"
"Oh, I see," Kiana sighed.
"However, if you really want to, it's not impossible," Xia Yu continued, seeing her disappointed look. "But it's useless to ask me. I don't understand these things. You have to go find Bronya."
"Ah, that brat," Kiana immediately lost her energy.
She didn't know why she was always at odds with that brat. It was mainly that the other girl was like a powder keg.
She clearly looked like a cute little loli, and Kiana wanted to hold her and rub faces... but her mouth was so foul.
"Alright, decide for yourself," Xia Yu shrugged and looked at Rita. "Rita, take good care of them. I still have some business."
"Rest assured, Miss Acheron," Rita gave her a brilliant smile. "I will take good care of both of them."
"Mm, I trust your ability." Xia Yu smiled at her, then directly took her blade and—still sheathed—swung a powerful (to the others) slash toward the distant open ground!
Then she vanished instantly, giving chase.
On Siegfried's side, he was completely stunned as he watched Kiana climbing up and down the Titan wrecks.
Then, he saw Rita.
Siegfried's entire body was trembling.
As an S-Rank Valkyrie of Schicksal, he naturally knew her appearance; they had even crossed blades before.
She was standing right there beside Kiana, her face full of a malicious (in Siegfried's subjective view) smile.
Kiana had been discovered by Schicksal.
Otto... had found her after all.
At this thought, Siegfried's very blood began to tremble.
He couldn't wait any longer.
He watched Kiana run over to another person he didn't recognize and make very intimate gestures.
Siegfried raised Shamash.
He absolutely could not let Kiana be deceived by Schicksal!
His heart was filled with determination.
Then, he was sent flying.
He was struck away by a purple blade light.
Xia Yu had held back a lot, specifically hitting Shamash so that the Divine Key absorbed the maximum damage.
But Siegfried still flew a great distance.
"Cough, cough..." He landed in the lake of a distant park and struggled to crawl ashore.
"Siegfried, what are you trying to do?" Xia Yu had actually noticed Siegfried long ago. She hadn't intended to act, but the man looked like he was about to blow them all up... It was difficult for her.
Xia Yu could guess that he had likely had a stress response the moment he saw Rita.
"Otto's lackey!" Siegfried grit his teeth as he looked at the mysteriously familiar figure before him. "Are you his secret trump card? I've never heard of Schicksal having someone this strong."
"Put down your Shamash," Xia Yu glanced at him. "And Otto?"
"Who does he think he is?"