"I've been frail and sickly since I was a child, so I had to spend most of my time in bed. Books became my only friends, and that's when I started to get into history.
Looking at the tens of thousands of years of brilliant human civilization on this planet, I always feel so small. When I think about it that way, the pain in my body doesn't seem so important anymore."
"Waaah, Miss Catherine, you have to stay strong!" Susanna clutched Catherine's hand tightly, moved to tears by her story.
"Thank you, Susanna. But don't worry so much, I'm fine now."
"Miss Catherine, after this mission is over, I'll ask Miss Rita to take you on a tour of a Schicksal base. There are so many Valkyries there!"
"Okay, it's a promise."
"Yes, it's a promise!"
Susanna and Catherine smiled and held hands, making a promise together.
——————————————
Watching Susanna and Catherine, who had become like best friends in an instant, Rita couldn't smile.
Because it was too strange. Everything was too strange. The clues, the locations, everything seemed to have been deliberately arranged, presented to her one by one.
There was definitely something wrong with Catherine. She shouldn't know so many things. Rita had tried to bring up the topic of the Divine Key to Catherine before, but Catherine was able to naturally continue the conversation... without even asking what a Divine Key was.
If Rita wasn't mistaken, then next would be...
"Miss Rita, I found it! There's a passage under the Tor that leads directly underground. And there's an even bigger space down there!" Susanna shouted to Rita happily, holding her instrument.
"In that case... let's begin." Rita revealed her signature smile and started digging with a shovel alongside Susanna and the others.
Even if she knew it was a trap, as long as there was even a slim chance of it being the Divine Key, she couldn't give up...
Soon, Rita had dug out the entrance to the passage. Opening the stone slab that sealed the entrance, below was a bottomless passage.
"Miss Catherine should wait for us up here. It might be dangerous down there."
Catherine shook her head, rejecting Rita's kind offer, and said sternly, "Miss Rita, this is an exciting discovery. As a historian, please allow me to accompany you."
"Miss Rita, I will definitely protect Miss Catherine!" Susanna also shouted.
Then Catherine pulled Susanna along, bypassing Rita and heading straight for the underground passage.
"..."
Rita didn't say anything more about it, just gave Catherine a cold glance from behind.
Only a fool like Susanna would fail to notice anything.
Rita shook her head and summoned Argent Knight: Artemis, having it attach to her in stealth mode, then followed Susanna and the others.
Not long after they entered, a few blades of grass also hopped along and followed them.
——————————————
The three of them walked along the passage for a long time. Catherine couldn't help but exclaim, "This place is really deep..."
"Yeah, according to the instrument, this passage goes down nearly six thousand inches! What a massive project. I wonder how the ancients managed to complete it," Susanna said, looking around curiously.
Rita: "If a Divine Key is really buried here, then it's very likely that the technology of the Previous Era built these ruins. Anything, no matter how incredible, is possible."
After reaching the end of the passage, their view suddenly opened up.
A vast, empty space appeared before them, and in the center of the ground not far away, a sword was stuck in a stone.
"Look over there!" Catherine saw the Sword in the Stone and immediately ran towards it.
"Miss Catherine! Wait for me!" Susanna immediately chased after her.
Rita saw this and wanted to stop them, but they had already run to the side of the Sword in the Stone. Rita had no choice but to carefully observe the surroundings in case of any trouble.
"Is this the legendary holy sword?" Catherine couldn't help but want to reach out and touch the holy sword.
"Miss Catherine, wait!" Rita shouted, trying to stop Catherine's action, but Catherine ignored the warning and touched it directly.
Then the entire ruin began to shake, and massive walls rose from the ground, sealing off the surroundings and separating Rita from Catherine and Susanna.
"This is... we're separated, there's a mechanism!" Susanna, who had just realized what was happening, quickly leaned against the stone wall and shouted to Rita on the other side. "Miss Rita, Miss Rita! Are you okay? What should we do?!"
"Calm down, Susanna. You protect Miss Catherine first. I'll get you out soon." Rita leaned against the stone wall and began to think of a way to break the deadlock.
"Meow." (Little girl, we meet again.) With a meow, Stan suddenly burst out from a crack in the stone wall. "Meow." (You escaped last time, but you won't be so lucky this time.)
"It seems this really is all a trap." Rita smiled faintly, and the Argent Knight: Artemis on her body became fully visible. "But that's perfect. I hold quite a grudge, you know~ Get ready to face my revenge!"
"Meow—" (These past two days, I have undergone demonic training and suppressed my desire for cat food. This is the secret I learned from my tearful life: the greatest power erupts at the limit.)
"Meow meow." (As long as I can kill you, I can go back and have a big meal. Die!)
Stan transformed into a giant cat-like Honkai Beast and pounced on Rita, and the two engaged in battle.
——————————————
The commotion from Rita and Stan's battle passed through the stone wall to Susanna's side.
"Miss Rita! What's happening over there!" Susanna shouted nervously.
But then, Susanna heard the sound of guns being loaded.
Turning around, in front of Susanna and Catherine, enemies had also appeared.
A group of fully armed Gray Serpent-brand robots...
"Miss Catherine, please hide behind me!" Susanna summoned her bear paw weapons and watched the dark gun muzzles warily.
"Although I'm only a B-rank, I can't dishonor the name of the Phosphorus Sand Squad!"
Susanna charged into the crowd and began to fight. Fodder is fodder, after all. Even if Susanna was only a B-rank, she was not someone they could provoke.
"Hmph, now you know how strong I am!" After finishing off the last enemy, Susanna patted her little bear paws and turned back confidently. "Miss Catherine, all the enemies have been cleared. You're sa... safe now..."
When Susanna turned her head, a pistol was pressed against her forehead.
"Catherine... Miss?"
"Sorry, Susanna."
Without even blinking, Catherine emptied the magazine, shooting all the bullets into Susanna's brain.
"I guess I won't be going to Schicksal after all."