The young Miss Memokeeper just stood there, watching Godzilla as he lowered his tail into the stream like a fisherman casting a line. Before long, he began to pull it back up.
In her mind, this strange, suddenly-appearing tributary almost certainly contained something unknown, something beyond the world she understood.
Thinking of the "quantum shadows" she had encountered in the Sea of Quanta, and those fleeting projections from reality itself, Miss Memokeeper had reason to suspect this was one of the links between the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta.
She hadn't been a top student back in school, but after joining the Garden of Recollection, she'd seen her share of strange things.
Two sides of the same coin, novel, yes, but hardly rare.
So she told herself she wouldn't be surprised. Until Godzilla fished up two people from the stream.
"…" Miss Memokeeper didn't understand.
"Eh?" Miss Memokeeper was utterly dumbfounded.
She blinked, then stared, eyes wide in disbelief.
On the other side, Sakura, who had been pulled from the "surface" of the stream, shook her head, dizzy from passing through a zone thick with condensed imaginary energy.
Holding Rin close against her chest, she forced herself to focus and assess the situation.
"There seems to be a wall ahead. No signs of many living things nearby… but one enormous life signature. That must be the one who brought Rin here."
Sakura analyzed calmly.
Any successful assassin knows that the more tense the moment, the more one must stay calm.Tension dulls the mind, leaves openings.
And besides, she was holding her most precious treasure. For that alone, she could not allow her resolve to waver.
Just as her nerves were stretched to their limit,
"Um, are you all right?" A gentle voice reached her ears.
Instinctively, Sakura spun and drew her blade in a flash.
Its edge was so sharp that even Herrschers dared not block it.
Anyone Sakura struck within reach was always cut in two, without exception.
"Uwaaah!!" The high-pitched scream rattled Sakura's eardrums. Even she, whose mind was as steady as iron, found it hard to stay composed under that sonic assault.
Still, her combat instincts steadied her body. She looked coldly, blankly, at the "person" she had just cut clean in half, who was still somehow lively and animated.
"Ow, ow, that really hurt! I've been cut in two!" Miss Memokeeper's upper and lower halves both flopped onto Godzilla's head, crying miserably.
A flicker of puzzlement crossed Godzilla's enormous golden eye.
By all logic, Miss Memokeeper possessed a certain degree of privilege within his dream.
Among them was a protection unlike those who entered Penacony's dreamscape through artificial means.
In other words, even though Miss Memokeeper had entered this dream in memetic form, she was essentially the same as anyone else who entered through devices or abilities.
As long as Godzilla didn't allow them to be harmed, they could never truly be hurt.
Well, perhaps not entirely accurate.
They could be injured, yes, but pain or any negative sensations simply wouldn't exist here.
So even if Miss Memokeeper were hacked to pieces, she shouldn't have felt a single twinge of pain.
"Did I… forget to turn it off?" Godzilla wondered.
Holding her head in both hands, Miss Memokeeper sobbed quietly, but not from pain.
Blinking, she carefully reattached her body, took a few cautious steps, then exhaled in relief when she found herself fine.
She had long ago figured out the basic logic of this place.
That blow just now wasn't enough to kill her.
Still, for a Miss Memokeeper who had never once stepped onto a battlefield, Garden of Recollection didn't interfere in cosmic wars, most of what she knew of battle came from the memories she delivered, glimpses of how brutal they were.
But to see herself bisected… that was another matter entirely.
In short, she had been truly, utterly frightened just now.
Meanwhile, hearing Miss Memokeeper's wail, Sakura expanded her perception instead of focusing only ahead.
Following the direction of the voice, she saw a mountain stretching endlessly into the distance.
The surface gleamed with a hardness beyond obsidian.
With each deep breath, the enormous chest before her rose and fell, and the sound was like rolling thunder.
With her senses fully open, Sakura felt as if she had stepped onto a mythical ancient battlefield.
She herself was nothing but a foot soldier with a chipped blade, facing a warlord in full armor astride a warhorse, halberd in hand, a being of absolute power.
Unconsciously, Sakura slowed her breathing, not daring even to blink for fear of drawing that immense being's attention.
What was this thing? A Judgment-class Honkai beast?
Impossible. No Judgment-class beast could be this strong. Even something beyond Judgment-class couldn't be this overwhelming.
Sakura was certain: for beings like them, even the weakest of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers could handle a Judgment-class beast.
Even against something higher, she would never feel so powerless that she dared not even harbor hostility.
This feeling, it was like a lamb before a mountain tiger.
And before such a king of beasts, all a lamb could do was crouch low and pray the tiger was in a good mood or had already eaten.
Her only comfort now was that Rin was still asleep, spared from facing this terror.
"You all right?" Miss Memokeeper floated over again, smiling kindly as Sakura's fight-or-flight state eased.
Under the influence of her warmth, and of Godzilla's vast, all-pervading presence behind her, Sakura forced herself to calm down and face the unprecedented scene before her as steadily as she could.
"…Sorry." When she had calmed, her face showed faint embarrassment.
That strike earlier had been full force. Anyone else, even a fusion warrior, would not have survived it.
How this person was still unscathed was beyond her. Her blade was powerful, yes, but not one that could sever souls.
"Eh? It's fine, see? I'm all good!" To prove it, Miss Memokeeper spun a few cheerful loops in front of her, perfectly unharmed.
Feeling her goodwill, Sakura exhaled slowly, then asked with quiet tension, "Excuse me… where are we?"
Touching her lips lightly, Miss Memokeeper smiled. "This is the Imaginary Tree."
"The Imaginary… Tree?" Sakura's face froze in disbelief.
She had heard of it, it was a subject even Dr. Mei had confirmed as real.
The Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta were always mentioned together.
But still… she looked around at the vast space beneath her feet, unable to believe she was standing within what had only ever existed as theory.
Not that it mattered to her.
Whether Imaginary Tree or Sea of Quanta, neither tempted her.
As long as her little sister was safe, nothing else was worth her heart's concern.
Gently, she stroked Rin's soft cheek, her restless heart finally easing.
"Do you… need me to do something?" she asked softly.
By an assassin's logic, one only earned notice by having value.
And the only value she possessed was her strength.
'…Strength.' Looking up at the towering being before her, Sakura felt her confidence waver for the first time.
Against such a being, whose very presence could crush all foes, what could her blade possibly do, even if there were enemies to fight?
"No, not at all." Miss Memokeeper shook her head and smiled.
"Godzilla doesn't need you to do anything. From what I know of him, he probably did this just out of curiosity."
"Curiosity, huh…" Sakura nodded silently.
Such an overwhelmingly powerful existence certainly had the right to be whimsical.
"Yes, for those who dwell within the Imaginary Tree, the weight of mortal events below means little."Sakura sighed softly, mocking herself.
But before her words even faded, she felt the Tree itself ripple, as if its branches were stirring in response.
She glanced at it briefly, then looked away.
The Imaginary Tree was too mysterious. For someone newly arrived, this might well be normal.
Godzilla's massive tail flicked lazily, feeling the vibration echo through the roots and trunk.
He paid it no mind. Just a defeated cur, nothing more.
Miss Memokeeper had been right, he'd brought them here purely out of interest.
…
The disturbance before him was unusual.
It wasn't a tributary the Imaginary Tree had formed on its own.
Rather, it felt like an external force had used some unknown means to connect to the Tree, entering the dream passage, using that dream to observe the past.
For most beings, such a method allowed only viewing what had already happened.
But for Godzilla, his sheer power let him interfere directly, even enter that past world.
As for why Sakura and Rin had been pulled out, it had only been Rin he'd meant to retrieve.
That faint energy fluctuation had intrigued him. Weak, yes, but still amusing, a small, harmless curiosity.
Except… this little snack was apparently inedible.
Godzilla glanced at the sleeping Rin in Sakura's arms, and at the one beside her who was clearly pretending to sleep, then looked away again.
"Was that… disdain?" Sakura wondered, confused by his gaze.
"That connection just now, it looked like Little Sirin's doing," Godzilla mused, ignoring the flowing tributary before him and turning his gaze toward its source.
He'd sensed Herrscher's of the Void's signature earlier and hadn't cared. But after seeing Sakura, he doubted it was her style.
His golden eyes pierced through time and space, tracing the flow to its origin.
Five figures appeared before him.
One served as the anchor, stabilizing the coordinates and maintaining the output.
…
"Sakura! Rin!"
Kevin's voice trembled, an emotion he hadn't felt in ages, laced with excitement, as he stared at the spot where they'd vanished.
Even though they'd only met a few times, he recognized that figure immediately.
Godzilla.
Clearly, their plan had worked.
Godzilla had noticed that spacetime and achieved what they had hoped for: he could influence the past, even fifty thousand years in the past.
"Heh. Just as we predicted. Aside from a few individuals, Godzilla shows little interest in humanity. As long as we don't provoke him, he won't act against us."
In Void Archives' eyes flickered a trace of simulated delight.
In theory, its base logic, protect humanity, fight Honkai, should leave it emotionless.
But exceptions always existed.
Though emotionless by design, Void Archives could imitate emotion.
And after spending centuries in the hands of a human named Otto, his "polluted" human thought patterns had left their mark.
Now, when something pleasing occurred, he showed emotions like a human would, albeit simulated.
Hope, it was a word Kevin hadn't felt in so long.
He turned slightly, glancing at the puzzled Void Herrscher.
Never had he imagined that sunlight could still make his ruined body feel warm.
As for retrieving Sakura and Rin…
His plan had been to enter the Imaginary Tree himself. If that failed, he would pay the price and ask Stelle to help.
Once was possible, so would twice.
Kevin believed that if he persisted, one day his beloved comrades would return, and he would no longer be alone.
"For now, hold," Void Archives suddenly said with a sigh.
"The Hyperion crew has arrived, including our old friends."
Kevin glanced sideways at the ever-posturing Void Archives, unwilling to reply.
'Hua and you are no "old friends."'
"Leave it to me," he said, lifting Judgment of Shamash to prepare for battle.
But Void Archives stopped him.
"No need to hurry," it said lightly.
"This is Schicksal, after all."
Schicksal, the headquarters of the Valkyries, the place every one of them dreamed of.
Once, it had been guarded by countless elite Valkyries, its defenses unbreakable by any force.
Yet now, before the Hyperion's assembled team, those same troops were powerless.
Leaving them in place would only complicate Theresa's later takeover.
Thus, under Otto's final directives, the Valkyrie units had been withdrawn.
And at this very moment, what guarded Schicksal's headquarters was a vast army of mechanical soldiers.