Resolve was written across her brow, certainty ringing in every word she spoke. Even Rita, who had been gazing absently at Little Bianca, turned her eyes back toward her own Lady Durandal.
Sunlight broke through a drifting cloud and fell upon Durandal. Kiana blinked, momentarily stunned — then a brilliant smile spread slowly across her face.
"Sis~"
Some vague awkwardness dissolved without a sound. The word came just as naturally as when she'd called out to Bianca before — no different, no hesitation.
Like a little white cat swishing its tail, the girl called out that warm and sweet address with breezy ease. Durandal felt as though something had struck her square in the chest. Her mind went completely blank.
Kiana's cat-like nature combined with her status as a little sister — colliding with a known cat-lover and certified sister-con who was already familiar with scatterbrained oblivious geese — produced a lethality second only to Little Bianca's effect on Rita.
Maybe she should just quit [Schicksal] entirely and join Anti-Entropy with her sister?
But… what would she do about that one matter?
Durandal pressed her lips together and quietly touched her own chest.
Four years ago, that journey through the Sea of Quanta — for Durandal, it felt like yesterday.
She could clearly remember every face, every smile, every piece of scenery impossible to forget, and every person who was no longer here.
Without the Archbishop's knowledge and [Schicksal]'s resources, she alone could never have saved that Bubble Universe at its root.
On one side: the family she had once yearned for and could now almost reach out and touch. On the other: the world she had once sworn she would save, and Archbishop Otto, who had invested so much in cultivating her.
Caught between the two, Durandal's heart was a tangle — advancing felt dangerous, retreating felt wrong.
"Are you troubled about the Bubble Universe?"
Before this moment, the person who understood Durandal best in the world had been Rita — no contest. Now Little Bianca had been added to that short list. Who wouldn't understand her?
Seeing the conflicted look on Durandal's face, Little Bianca knew exactly what she was thinking.
She understood Durandal's feelings, too. Just like herself, once upon a time, when she had first learned the truth.
Anger — yes, there was anger. But years of the bond between master and disciple made it impossible to summon bone-deep hatred for Otto all at once.
"Bubble Universe? What Bubble Universe?"
Kiana's small eyes blinked with great big confusion. She hadn't followed what her sisters were talking about at all.
"It's the origin of Durandal's title."
Noticing the curiosity and puzzlement on the faces of the little white-haired dumpling and Mei, Silver Wing offered a timely explanation — keeping it simple, just a broad overview.
"…The only way to save that world is to reattach the Bubble Universe to the Imaginary Tree, and that process is an extraordinarily complex procedure — it requires a precise and complete experimental framework and a great deal of data."
Silver Wing plucked a deep reddish-purple flower and tucked it behind Mei's ear.
"Otto may not strictly be necessary for this, but putting his remaining usefulness to work isn't a bad idea… So, how about it — next stop, a little sightseeing trip to England?"
"A trip to England, yes, yes!"
Kiana's eyes lit up with enthusiasm. She raised her hand and clapped in delight.
"A trip? Can I come too?"
Not far away, the plump pink figure walking side by side with Sakura caught the word "trip" and her eyes immediately lit up. She teleported over at a speed befitting a member of the Cho family, filling the air with cheerful, lilting chatter.
Only Little Bianca paused for a brief moment before lifting her head in sudden realization: "Right — England."
"What about England?"
Durandal raised an eyebrow.
"The core equipment needed to reattach the Bubble Universe to the Imaginary Tree is in England."
Silver Wing smiled lightly.
Being forewarned and forearmed could unlock more than just one limited-run weapon in the Honkai World. Aside from Jizo Mitama, there was also the Second Divine Key hidden away by Su — the, Cosmic Juggernaut.
In the original timeline, Otto discovered clues to Cosmic Juggernaut in the autumn of 2015, dispatched a massive wave of sub-divine Eibus units to search on a wide scale, and ultimately located it above the Thames.
Silver Wing could just go fish it out of the Thames directly.
Once the Second Divine Key was in hand, she could hand it to Tesla and Einstein to study — or she could use it to farm a fat stack of gold coins off Otto.
By exploiting Otto to help Durandal reattach her Bubble Universe, the Otto who'd been farmed for coins and exploited would still have to thank Silver Wing — because Cosmic Juggernaut was a pivotal piece of Otto's plan, and he needed the experimental data.
What a shame she'd already promised Star-baby the last equipment-refinement card to forge a Weapon Girl. Otherwise Silver Wing would've turned Cosmic Juggernaut into her own equipment, grind up the intimacy, and after Divine Awakening it would become an evolvable Astral Express.
"Really?!"
Durandal was visibly excited.
If Silver Wing could help her with this, then she'd have no more shackles binding her on Otto's side. But as for whether to actually leave [Schicksal], Durandal still needed to think it over seriously.
Setting aside the personal enmity between her past self as Kiana and Otto — Otto, as Archbishop of [Schicksal], was competent at his role. That much was evident from how the [Schicksal] Valkyries regarded him.
His sins were beyond question. But his contributions were equally impossible to erase.
Durandal was the type who weighed the bigger picture above all else.
"Mm."
Silver Wing gave a nod.
"Those experiments were a long time ago for me now, but I still remember some of it. I can offer you some pointers."
Little Bianca held up a finger and smiled.
Anti-Entropy Airship — Central Control Room.
"Your brand of 'persuasion by reasoning' is fairly heavy-handed… but looking at the results, it seems to work."
The red-haired lobster doctor held Wendy's psychological assessment report and delivered her deadpan commentary to the silver-haired girl.
Beating a negative-emotion-spawned Herrscher personality into submission through sheer physical force — beating it until it was well-behaved and docile — was, frankly, an absurd thing to hear about!
Even more absurd was that Silver Wing had somehow split Wendy in two, leaving both Wendy and the Herrscher of Wind in possession of Herrscher authority. It was utterly baffling, and made absolutely no logical sense.
"But of course — this is my proprietary formula."
Silver Wing took the assessment report and flipped through a couple of pages before skipping straight to the final summary at the back.
"Miss Silver Wing, have you ever considered joining Anti-Entropy?"
While Silver Wing was reading the report, Einstein — seated across from her — slid a cup of coffee over.
This was not the first time she had extended an invitation to the silver-haired girl.
All things considered, Anti-Entropy was the weakest of the three major anti-Honkai organizations — it was very hard to go head-to-head with either [Schicksal] or the World Serpent. Silver Wing's team was small, yet utterly outrageous in what it could do!
If she could poach [Schicksal]'s two S-rank Valkyries, add those two Flame-Chasers, and then…
Einstein tilted her head, gazing through the porthole at the Judgment-class Honkai Beast Vayu circling the airship in the sky outside.
At Elysia's suggestion and instigation, Wendy was currently out there with Kiana, Mei, and Miss Chubby-Pink, riding their newly adopted pet through the sky — sightseeing and dragon-surfing.
"Join Anti-Entropy, hmm. Let me think about it."
Silver Wing took a sip of coffee, propping her small, fair chin in her hand in thought.
The Elysian Realm was a fine place, but Kiana and Mei couldn't stay in there forever. They had already made tremendous progress over the past four-plus months.
In the original timeline, Mei's in-realm story time was only three months — from September to November 2017.
Now both of them had improved to varying degrees in power and temperament. The next stage of their cultivation could begin: learning physics under Tesla and Einstein, paying a visit to St. Freya to see some family, unwinding a little.
Kiana still hadn't met Theresa yet.
And once Durandal learned the truth, she'd surely want to meet her other relatives too.
Daylight — little Bianca from the future — had arrived and made many things so much simpler. Time was no longer so pressing.
There was also one other matter.
If she wanted to perfectly navigate the Honkai, she couldn't forget about Sister Himeko. Even without the battle of the Queen's Descent, her body — modified with artificial Stigmata — didn't have many years left.
Natural Stigmata could repair an incomplete circuit, thereby extending a Valkyrie's shortened lifespan.
Getting a Stigmata — the target was easy enough to identify: Ji Xuanyuan, inside the Judgment-class Chiyou.
Adding it all up, things were going to stay fairly busy for a while.
"By the way — Old Yang still hasn't come back? When you two see him, tell him — how about giving me the Herrscher of Reason's Core? I only need to borrow it for a while."
Get some advance training in the Authority of Reason — preparation for when she eventually pulled the Herrscher of Reason character card.
"Huh?"
Tesla and Einstein exchanged a glance.
...
Elsewhere in the airship, in a separate cabin, the little golden-haired girl was having a heart-to-heart with her past self.
"…Aren't you already back at their side now? From here on, you have to protect your family. Family… is an irreplaceable treasure."
The little golden-haired girl spoke warmly, sincerely, with words of gentle comfort.
"The meaning of an action is decided only by the one who takes it. I hope that 'I' can live up to this gun's name — a heart set toward a new beginning."
"As long as you hold on to the most honest part of yourself, that's enough. The road ahead — walk it with courage."
Durandal stared at the small girl beaming with a brilliant smile, dazed for a long moment — then broke into a radiant smile of her own:
"Having a heart-to-heart with your future self really is a strange experience, isn't it."
"But thanks to you, my heart feels so much lighter."
The conversation wrapped up, and Daylight reclaimed control of the body. "Oh right — where's Rita?"
That boded ill.
Daylight seemed to have contracted a chronic condition of I-Can't-Be-Comfortable-Unless-I'm-Teasing-Tower-Sis.
"Rita should be next door."
Durandal stood up and stretched lazily, the magnificent endowments at the front of her figure sending a dramatic tidal surge rippling through the air with the movement.
The two of them walked over to the next cabin, chatting and laughing — and before they even had a chance to say hello, they found Rita with a deeply grave look on her face, brow furrowed in concentration.
"I'll have to temporarily sever contact with the Archbishop. All the work assignments from headquarters will have to be cancelled too."
Hearing Rita's murmur to herself, Durandal scratched the back of her head apologetically and said to Daylight:
"All of this because of my situation — I've caused Rita a lot of trouble."
"Have you?"
Daylight blinked.
Just as Durandal was about to go apologize to Rita, the Rita who had been sunk deep in concentrated thought suddenly spun around, yanked out a pen and a thick stack of A4 paper.
The maid's expression was lit with feverish excitement. She began scrawling lines of text across the paper at a furious, fluid pace.
"Commencing development of the Plan to Secure Alone-Time with Lady Little Bianca…"
"Little~ Little~ Lady Bianca~!"
"I want so badly to her and then and then "
Rita clutched the plan to her chest with both arms, as though she had fallen into some kind of waking dream — her entire being beginning to warp and distort like some kind of eldritch creature.
"First, I'll cover myself head to toe in cameras to record every single movement Lady Little Bianca makes from every angle."
Durandal watched the bizarre side of her maid emerge before her eyes, her own expression crumbling completely — jaw dropped, eyes wide, a dark stress mark drooping down her forehead.
"N-no. Surely not that far…"
"Then I'll buy so many adorable outfits~"
As she said it, Rita actually pulled out her phone, opened a shopping app, and began slam-adding items to her cart in a frenzy: "Let me see~ This one! This one! This one!"
"That's way too many purchases, isn't it?"
Durandal's cheek twitched.
"None~ of~ these~!"
Rita's sweet smile abruptly curdled into something that looked, inexplicably, almost vicious. "Order everything else!"
"…"
Durandal immediately grabbed Daylight's arm: "Future me — tell me more about the future, please."
She had decided it was necessary to keep Little Bianca at a safe distance from Rita. 'Future-her' was dangerous!
"This seems perfectly fine to me."
Daylight smiled.
It even saved her the trouble of buying clothes herself. She'd have Silver Wing take the photos later and then sell them to Rita.
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