Chapter 111: Where the Dream Begins
"These Sakura Mochi still taste pretty good." Irene waved the Sakura Mochi that Yae Sakura had made in her free time within the memory space at everyone.
Yae Sakura had also said they could eat as much as they wanted. After all, she couldn't finish them all by herself; she was just doing it to kill time.
"I'm back, Kallen." At this moment, Yae Sakura pushed the door open from the outside, pulling in Yae Rin, who looked like a ghost surrounded by will-o'-wisps.
"Welcome back, Sakura." Kallen waved at Yae Sakura, holding a super, super large rice ball that was clearly tailor-made for her.
Judging by these snacks, Yae Sakura was quite idle here, so much so that she made all sorts of treats when she had nothing to do. But since she couldn't eat them all, she left this massive pile behind.
"Looks like things went smoothly." Kallen waved her hand at Rin. However, in her time, Rin was already dead, so they weren't familiar. "Hello there."
"Hello." Rin hid somewhat timidly behind Yae Sakura. "I know you. You saved my sister. I've always wanted to say thank you, but you never came."
"Then I'll gladly accept your thanks." Irene looked at Rin and smiled. "Though, speaking of which, what's with these will-o'-wisps on your body?"
"Looks like the Corruption virus." Little Corruption leaned closer with a Sakura Mochi dangling from her mouth. "Did Rin do this?"
"Mm, it's probably something the other me came up with, right?" Right at that moment, Rin also returned. "As for why it looks like will-o'-wisps, I'm not sure either.
"Mm, but the effect is quite obvious. It preserves the soul's memories through the transcription of the Corruption virus.
"But precisely because it was transcribed, mm, it looks relatively transparent. Coupled with these will-o'-wisps, it ends up looking quite like a ghost."
"Sigh, to put it plainly, we're all ghosts here." Nuwa shrugged, stuffing a rice ball into her mouth. Sigh, ever since coming to Irene's place, they hadn't eaten a single meal.
Last time they returned to the Realm, they didn't remember that they could eat either. It was all Dr. Mobius's fault; it was all work. They had even forgotten about the whole concept of eating.
Fortunately, they still had a sense of taste after becoming souls. Otherwise, not being able to eat and not being able to taste anything would truly be a great torture.
"I suppose you could understand it that way." Irene nodded, then looked at Rin. "How did it go? Is it done? There shouldn't have been any accidents, right?"
"Relax, who do you think I am?" Rin put her hands on her hips, looking proud, as the large, bushy fox tail behind her swished boastfully.
"It was a piece of cake, of course. The Core of Corruption naturally surrendered at once."
"That's good." Irene nodded. As long as things went smoothly here, there would be no problem. "As long as the situation went smoothly. I was constantly worried there might be some unexpected accidents."
Rin narrowed her eyes at Irene, then glanced at the Sakura Mochi in her hand. "I completely fail to see any sign of Elder Sister Irene worrying about me."
"Well~" Irene had a smile on her face as she stuffed a Sakura Mochi into Rin's hand. "Come on, eating a little something is good for the body."
On the other side, Yae Sakura glanced at Irene and Rin, who were bickering. After a light chuckle, she turned to Kallen. "Kallen, do you really not need my help?"
"No need." Kallen shook her head. "After all, you don't have a way to go outside right now. You can't possibly borrow Miss Theresa's body."
Yae Sakura opened her mouth; she actually did have that idea. As long as she used her Stigmata, she could indeed briefly borrow Theresa's body to fight.
After all, Yae Sakura's current definition was probably closer to a dependent of the Herrscher of Corruption. If she actively utilized the Stigmata to corrupt Theresa's body, there really wouldn't be any problem.
Of course, how much power she could unleash was another matter entirely. Leaving everything else aside, the difference in their physical figures was worlds apart.
And for most, being just a few centimeters shorter could be a world of difference.
"I really don't need it." Kallen seemed to see through Yae Sakura's hesitation. She patted Yae Sakura's head, stroking her ears in passing. "Believe in me."
As for Yae Sakura's thoughts, she no longer had much interest in the outside world. After all, the outside environment had long since changed beyond recognition to her. If it weren't for Kallen, she would actually prefer to stay in the Stigmata Space for the rest of her life.
Not to mention she now had Rin. Yae Sakura was even more willing to be a homebody. After all, she was originally someone who only moved about within the shrine and the village.
But if Kallen needed it, Yae Sakura was willing to offer her everything.
But there was no need to explain Kallen's personality. As a member of the Kaslana Family, Kallen preferred to stand on her own and shield everyone from danger.
Although she currently still had to fight alongside Irene, it didn't stop her from not wanting Yae Sakura to adventure with them; she much preferred Yae Sakura to live peacefully.
And as for Irene, Yae Sakura's combat prowess wasn't very necessary for them either. A dependent of the Herrscher of Corruption sounded very strong—and to most Valkyries, it was indeed very strong.
But the problem was, Irene had a Herrscher of Corruption on her left and another on her right; she didn't need Yae Sakura at all. In terms of direct combat power, which card in Irene's hand wasn't stronger than Yae Sakura?
Take Klein, for instance, who seemed the least likely to know how to fight. But she was also a Herrscher—the Herrscher of the Legion, a proper Herrscher. They really didn't lack Yae Sakura's combat power.
Furthermore, there was one more point: Yae Sakura couldn't fight independently. Mm. If she wanted to devote herself to battle, she could only use Theresa's body.
When that time came, the scenario might look something like: "I overlay Yae Sakura's Stigmata with Theresa to summon Theresa's Sakuno Rondo form"?
This was truly unnecessary. Theresa knew how to fight herself. Moreover, excluding factors like slipping up or carelessness, Theresa was actually a better fighter than Yae Sakura.
At the end of the day, Theresa was a genuine Valkyrie. For Valkyries, there was no such thing as getting their ranks boosted through the backdoor. You took on as much responsibility as you had ability.
Theresa's status as an S-Rank Valkyrie wasn't entirely reliant on her Grandpa.
"By the way, Elder Sister Irene, what do we need to do next?" Pardo looked at Irene. "There's bound to be something else we need to do, right?"
"Wait."
"...What?"
"Wait. There is nothing left for us to do right now." Irene shook her head. There were many things she couldn't intervene in at the moment; taking even one extra step could lead to massive butterfly effects.
She couldn't be sure if those changes would be good or bad. She had already done many things, and of course, there were still many things she wanted to do, but she didn't know how to go about them.
Moreover, she was stretched a bit thin. She was, after all, a Schicksal Valkyrie now. Many of her actions were exposed to the public eye, so she couldn't just disappear without a reason.
It could be said that she had finished all the things she could do. So now, she could only wait for the story to truly begin. She had already planted many foreshadowings that could be utilized in the story.
She only needed to gently pull the strings to stir up a storm, correcting the final ending within the narrative.
Irene propped herself against the ground and looked up at the sky of the Stigmata Space. "Everyone, let us just wait. Wait until we can turn this story into a truly perfect ending."
"In our dear's words, that would be..." [Irene] gently leaned beside Irene. "'May this story have a true Happy Ending', right?"
"Perhaps it's just wishful thinking," Irene nodded, looking at the sky. "But you're right. Whether it's wishful thinking or not, all I want to do is turn this story into the one I desire."
—Canghai City
"K64 reporting mission status."
"K64 reporting. An unidentified battleship has appeared in the airspace above Canghai City. All communication channels are experiencing radio silence."
"Scanning target surface... no life signs detected. Correction... detecting massive amounts of Honkai Beasts. Internal situation unknown."
"Understood." Himeko nodded from the captain's seat of the Hyperion, then pressed the ship-wide broadcast button. "Everyone, an unidentified flying object has appeared above Canghai City, accompanied by a massive horde of Honkai Beasts. Canghai City is currently in imminent..."
Irene stood behind Himeko, watching the various Honkai Beasts flying down from the battleship on the screen.
The place where the dream begins. Twilight, the young girl, the battleship.
Irene's memories drifted back to a long time ago. Back then, it was the CG of Kiana leaping down from high in the sky that had pulled her into the fandom, keeping her hooked until now.
In her previous life, it was amidst this exact background audio that she watched Kiana land heavily on the drone, starting the story of everything. Now, she had become the one witnessing Himeko issue the warning broadcast firsthand.
"[This is where all stories begin,]" [Irene] spoke softly at this moment. "[It is also the beginning of our resolve, right?]"
"[Exactly.]" Irene gave a slight mental nod. "[The beginning of it all. Now we have finally truly stepped into the start of the story. Everything will be changed by us.]"
"Colonel Irene, prepare for sortie." Himeko turned to look at Irene. "Once the majority of the Honkai Beasts are cleared, board the battleship."
"I'll leave the situation on the battleship to you. The drones and the other Valkyries will handle the remaining Honkai Beasts."
"Understood." Irene nodded, simultaneously pressing her earpiece. "Everyone, prepare for sortie. Head to the deployment room."
"Note that this battle will not take place on the ground. When fighting on the drones, remember to activate your magnetic boots. I don't want to have to fly all over the place to rescue people later."
"Understood!" The responses of the Valkyries continuously rang out from the earpieces, their tones laced with tension and a sense of duty.
Hyperion · Sortie Deck
Irene stood at the front of the deck, looking at the numerous Valkyries already standing on the drones behind her. "Everyone, prepare to deploy. I wish you all a triumphant return."
"Understood!"
"Then let's move out. I do not want to receive any casualty reports." Honkai energy thrusters materialized beneath Irene's feet, while she hoisted a lance that seemed to be forged from pink crystals, though it was covered in cracks.
This was a simplified derivative of the Explosive Blossom developed previously by[Irene]. It lacked the Explosive Blossom's ability to infinitely divide and detonate.
It could only rapidly absorb surrounding Honkai energy upon impact and then explode, and only in a single stage. But as a conventional weapon, it was decent enough.
After all, as an A-Rank Valkyrie, she had to lead teams in many situations. She couldn't possibly use the Explosive Blossom every time; the black mist and white mist were far too conspicuous.
So she tinkered around a bit and came up with this low-spec version, the Burst Lance, which was more than enough to deal with regular Deadwalkers and Honkai Beasts.
"Understood." Irene half-crouched, the steel wings behind her spreading out to the sides. Finally, her entire figure vanished from the deck. "Everyone, deploy."
The thrusters on the backs of the drones carrying the Valkyries also emitted dazzling light as they took off from the deck one after another.
"Here we go!" Kiana crouched her body, embracing the fierce winds. The visor on her Valkyrie armor deployed automatically, covering her eyes.
Because of the mission parameters, this was Kiana's first time riding a drone onto the battlefield in this manner. Her eyes were filled with excitement. "This feeling of the wind blowing against my face is inexplicably exhilarating!"
"You think this is something?" Irene suddenly appeared beside Kiana. "Just wait until you learn how to fly on your own later; that's when it gets really exhilarating."
Compared to Kiana, who had to rely on the magnetic boots on her armor to stand firmly on the drone's back, Irene was completely at ease in this situation. Which Herrscher didn't know how to fly, right?
Kiana clenched her fists. After undergoing that intensive special training, Kiana had actually put in quite a lot of effort. Although she hadn't grown much in terms of academics, she was much stronger in combat than before.
Whenever Theresa had free time, she would throw Kiana into that thing called the Memorial Arena. Kiana had certainly endured plenty of 'extra courses' from Theresa during her daily life.
Theresa was exceptionally skilled at piling on Honkai Beast hordes and slapping affixes onto them, making Kiana suffer miserably as she tried to cope. Even if she knew what moves the opponent was going to make, she just couldn't block them.
Now, after undergoing all that grueling defensive training, she couldn't wait to test just how strong she had become.
Right as Kiana was deep in thought, the battleship behind her suddenly erupted with fierce artillery fire. A massive barrage of energy streams flew toward the distant pink specks, setting off a multitude of fiery explosions in the sky.
"Area clear." Irene's voice came through their earpieces. "The majority of the enemies have been eliminated."
"Valkyries, hear my orders. Squads Four and Five, conduct search and rescue for survivors; minimize casualties to the best of your abilities. Squads Two and Three, establish a defensive perimeter in the sky and eliminate the Honkai Beasts.
"Squad One, assist me in boarding the battleship and prepare for contact."
"Understood!" xN
Although the artillery fire was effective, it mostly served to clear out the small fry. The majority of the stronger Honkai Beasts weren't afraid of this level of bombardment, so they still had to be handled by the Valkyries.
"Kiana, Bronya, Mei—stay safe." Himeko gave them a brief reminder over the earpiece. "Once the cleanup is complete, remember to regroup with Irene."
"Understood."
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