[Adding another Stigmata wouldn't be technically difficult... but Lynelle, you already have that Elysia's Disguise Stigmata on you. Is it really okay to add another one?]
"No big deal. As everyone knows, a Valkyrie can have three Stigmata slots: upper, middle, and lower." Lynelle said, completely unconcerned. "If we're going by in-game logic, I've still got an empty slot on me."
[Alright then...]
For some reason, Lynelle felt a hint of jealousy in the system sprite's tone. It made her seriously consider whether she should add a Finality Stigmata to herself, just to placate a certain fishy cat.
Anyway, after sorting out the matters in the system space, Lynelle opened her eyes and looked at Einstein. "I'm all set. Shall we go?"
"Mm." Einstein nodded and then led the way.
From the feel of it, this Anti-Entropy base Einstein was in seemed just as vast as the space station. After walking for nearly ten minutes, the two finally arrived at their destination.
Through the partially open door, they could hear the voices of Siegfried and Welt conversing.
"Hey, Welt, just who did you call me here to see this time?" Siegfried took a big swig of liquor, glanced around, and said with confusion.
"It can't be that you brought Kiana here, can it? Because if that's the case, I'd have to turn around and leave right now..."
"Heh, rest assured, it's not Kiana. But honestly, when I saw Kiana's report card with all six subjects adding up to a mere sixty points, I really wanted to call you over for a little chat... Were your grades this bad when you were a kid?"
"Ahahaha... How could that be? I, Siegfried, was a former S-rank Schicksal Knight. There's no way I could've been S-rank if I failed my cultural classes..." Siegfried's voice clearly lacked confidence.
"Ah, these two..." Einstein let out a helpless sigh and gently knocked on the door.
"Joachim, I've brought her."
"Oh?" Siegfried immediately looked towards the doorway. But the moment he did, he nearly slid right off the couch in shock.
"Ly-Lynelle?! You're alive?!"
"What kind of question is that? Did you think you were seeing a ghost?... Didn't Welt have you retrieve my body back then precisely because I could revive?"
Lynelle gave a slight smile and walked straight over to the empty spot left for her in the room, taking a seat.
"But your revival back then only took a few days at most... It's been over ten years. I thought..."
A faint trace of excitement appeared on Siegfried's face.
After all, his life had been turned upside down after the Second Honkai Eruption. Being able to see a friend he had long thought dead over a decade later stirred up quite a bit of emotion in him.
"Alright, alright, stop jinxing me. I didn't come here to listen to you marvel at why I'm still alive..." As she spoke, Lynelle turned her gaze to Welt beside her.
"Einstein said a lot has happened in the world while I was asleep? Can you give me a rough idea?"
"Mm." Welt nodded. Compared to the last time she saw him, he seemed more... composed now? It looked like Welt had been through the wringer in the years Lynelle was absent.
"After the Second Honkai Eruption concluded, the relationship between Schicksal and Anti-Entropy kept changing, generally following a pattern of détente—tension—détente again."
"The first period of détente was largely thanks to you, Lynelle. After the Second Eruption, Schicksal's high-level combat strength was significantly weakened, you destroyed the network of Honkai-body vessels Otto had spent years preparing, and additionally, during post-Eruption containment efforts, a great number of Schicksal's rank-and-file Valkyries received assistance from Anti-Entropy's mech units."
"Overall, neither side was really in the mood for conflict."
"The second period of détente was due to shifts in the global landscape. Many neutral nations had no desire to be dragged into the conflict between the two major powers."
"Furthermore, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy's research priorities diverged, so while we had friction in some areas, we also maintained cooperation in other specific fields."
"The task of managing these cooperative efforts was handed over to a former member of the Snowwolf Squad, Patricia."
"She's friends with quite a few Valkyries at Schicksal who have since moved to support roles, including several other former Snowwolf members, which helped reduce a lot of unnecessary disputes."
"Former Snowwolf Squad members?" Lynelle was taken aback.
"But if I remember correctly, those Snowwolf members shouldn't be that old. And considering their high compatibility with artificial Stigmata, they shouldn't have reached the age to retire to support roles yet... I mean, Siegfried here is still combat-ready, isn't he?"
"Normally, that's true." Welt nodded. "But... due to a certain incident, we had a major clash with Schicksal. Most of the Snowwolf Squad members chose to retire afterwards as a form of protest... This is also what I mentioned earlier, the period of tension between Schicksal and Anti-Entropy."
"And that incident..."
"That incident was me defecting from Schicksal with Kiana." Siegfried let out a sigh, his fist unconsciously clenching tightly as he took over the conversation.
"During that escape... my daughter, Kiana, fell from the aircraft. And by that point, we were already several thousand meters up."
As Siegfried's words fell, Lynelle suddenly felt the Stigmata on her body representing Cecilia grow intensely hot, almost burning.
"Yowch..." Lynelle sucked in a sharp breath, half in feigned shock and half from the genuine heat.
While mentally signaling Kiana-chan to calm Cecilia down, she hurriedly asked, "But, just before we came in, I heard you and Welt discussing Kiana's grades... What's that about then?"
"It was Otto's doing." This time, Siegfried's words came faster, as if he didn't really want to recall that part of the past.
"After the Second Eruption ended, I returned to Schicksal full of resentment towards Otto. But I didn't confront him immediately, because Kiana was still at Schicksal then, Theresa's memories had been altered by Otto, and my friends in the Snowwolf Squad... none of them knew what really happened during the Second Eruption..."
As Siegfried slowly recounted the events, Lynelle gradually pieced together the general sequence of events.
The entire Siegfried defection incident was basically the same as in the original story, even going more smoothly with the Snowwolf Squad's help.
After that came Kiana's fall from the aircraft, a despondent Siegfried wandering with K-423, until he eventually found the will to carry on thanks to K-423's encouragement, and bestowed the name 'Kiana' upon her.
But... then, Lynelle heard a part of the story that took her by surprise.
"You're saying..." Lynelle asked, somewhat puzzled, "That after you took Kiana away, she lost control again due to the Herrscher core's instability. It wasn't until you paid the price of an arm to activate the Judgement of Shamash that you managed to wake Kiana's consciousness."
"And precisely because of this, you're afraid of triggering the 'Herrscher personality' inside Kiana, so you've never dared to see her again?"
"Yes... that's about right." Siegfried nodded with a pained smile.
"I suppose I'm really not a fit father... Not only could I not protect my daughter, but I don't even dare to see her. I even let her wander alone at such a young age..."
"But, leaving aside how you determined Kiana's loss of control was due to a so-called 'Herrscher personality'..." Lynelle frowned slightly.
"You should know that you spent nearly three years with Kiana before her Herrscher core went out of control."
"Even if it went out of control once, it shouldn't have reached the point where she loses control just at the sight of you... It's been so many years. Have you really never gone to see her again, even knowing she's been looking for you all this time?"
"I was afraid of triggering her again, causing the situation that had finally stabilized to spiral out of control..."
"Avoiding her like this is the biggest trigger for her... Forget it, give me a moment. I need to sort this out."
Feeling a headache coming on, Lynelle shifted her consciousness back to the system space. After all, Cecilia was visibly 'overheating' by now. If she were let out at this moment, Siegfried would probably get a sound thrashing.
"Senior Cecilia, please, calm down a little... If you want to hit Siegfried, at least let me finish asking my questions first. And also... Kiana might not necessarily be truly gone."
"...It's alright, Lynelle. I told you, you don't need to worry about my feelings." Cecilia took a deep breath and managed a gentle smile.
"What Siegfried said just now was very clear. Whether it was saving the other Kiana, or escaping with her, or what came after... In any case, those were Kiana's own decisions."
"While it truly breaks my heart, I am also proud of her."
"What I'm angry about right now is Siegfried. Does that decadent state of his really look like that of a father?"
"Throwing Kiana at Theresa's place, and even having Theresa use 'I'll tell you where Siegfried is when you become an A-rank Valkyrie' as motivation... Ah, forget it, just thinking about it makes me angry."
"Regarding Mr. Siegfried, it's actually quite normal for him to end up like this. He's lost too much, and that makes him prone to being overly cautious…"
"Don't worry, later I'll transmit your feelings to him through my authority."
After briefly appeasing the 'overheating' Cecilia, Lynelle immediately pulled up the system screen. As she laid out the timeline of the entire incident, her expression grew increasingly strange.
Because this development clearly deviated from what she had expected.
"This shouldn't be... In the original story, the Herrscher of the Void personality emerged because Sirin's pre-death memories, her anger, and all those painful experiences were inherited by the Herrscher."
"That's why, despite both starting with a blank slate, Kiana leaned towards the 'good' side, while the Herrscher, influenced by those memories, leaned towards the so-called 'evil' side. But..."
"Would that Herrscher personality even emerge in this world's Sirin? I didn't have time to tell her before she died that I could preserve her soul, true... but when Sirin gave me the Core of Corruption, her mood was clearly quite positive."
"Furthermore, throughout the entire Second Eruption, aside from those people at the Babylon Labs, Sirin didn't kill anyone."
"She even saved a number of local residents... Even if Kiana did develop two personalities like in the original, and one inherited all of Sirin's memories, it shouldn't lead to the extreme situation with the Herrscher like in the original story..."
After carefully combing her thoughts, the mysteries surrounding Kiana had only multiplied.
"...As I thought, I'll have to go to St. Freya in person to check on Kiana's condition. Anti-Entropy doesn't have any other psychic-type ability users. This task falls to me. I can also place Sirin inside Kiana's body to recuperate for a while. Her recovery rate is too slow with me."
"Also, if I want to make a move on Cocolia, I need to use the pretext of the 'Anti-Entropy Invasion' incident from the original story."
"On top of that, I need to go to the Central Dogma area to find a temporary usable body for Cecilia... Looks like my schedule is pretty packed."
Realizing she seemed to be trending towards overwork herself, Lynelle let out a deep sigh.
"Oh, and I also need to inform Siegfried and Welt about Sirin and Cecilia. After all, I'll need their cooperation for the follow-up... Maybe I should put on a little act. Let Senior Cecilia vent her anger, and see if we can knock some sense back into Siegfried..."
Having formed a plan, Lynelle reopened her eyes and simultaneously synchronized her idea with the fuming Cecilia.
Feeling immediate agreement emanating from the Stigmata, a slight curve touched Lynelle's lips. Then, her face turning cold, she stood up.
"Mr. Welt, could I trouble you with something?"
"Hm?" Welt looked at Lynelle, confused.
"Please, don't try to break up any fight later. After all..." "While I personally don't have any issues with Siegfried, it seems Senior Cecilia is just about ready to explode."
"?!"
Before Siegfried and Welt could fully process the immense amount of information in that statement, Lynelle had already swiftly walked up to Siegfried.
Simultaneously, a faint silhouette emerged from behind Lynelle, embraced her, and merged into her body. And then...
A fist slammed squarely into Siegfried's face.
"Guh...!"
Despite the vast difference in strength between Siegfried and Lynelle, which should have allowed him to easily block her move, the sheer shock of what he had just heard left him momentarily stunned.
He was caught completely off guard, the punch sending him reeling backwards.
Then, with Lynelle's body now piloted by Cecilia, she took advantage of Siegfried's loss of balance.
Her petite frame spun, leveraging the momentum, and she delivered a precise kick to his center of gravity, sending both him and the couch tumbling over.
The fluid combination of movements and the impeccable timing showcased the unflappable composure of a veteran S-rank Valkyrie, making Lynelle, who had switched to spectator mode within the system, click her tongue in admiration, wishing she could study the sequence frame by frame.
"You let your daughter get hurt! You refuse to see Kiana! You left her to wander alone! You...!"
"Yikes..."
Welt, witnessing Siegfried's plight, sucked in a cold breath.
His initially raised hand, meant to intervene, now rested properly on his own knee. He discreetly used his powers to layer a soundproof barrier over the room.
After all, Siegfried still had to work here. They had to save him some face.
But... is this what married life is like? It's kind of terrifying...
The thought that even the usually gentle Cecilia could be this fearsome when angered, coupled with the fact that the red-haired, twin-tailed lady he fancied was famously short-tempered, made Welt break out in a cold sweat for his own future.
He could only hope... that his future self wouldn't do anything to make her too angry...
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.