"Who!?"
The word had barely left Wendy's mouth.
Before she could even unleash the power of the [Gem of Desire], she felt a slight pain and looked down to see an arm that had pierced straight through her chest from behind.
Not a single drop of blood stained the fair, slender fingers.
"Urgh—"
Immediately following, a suffocating sensation, as if someone were strangling her, converged on the wound from all over her body. It felt as if tiny blades were flaying every inch of her flesh.
Each tick of the second hand was as slow as an animal caught in a swamp.
Until...
"ARGH!!!"
The accumulated pain could no longer be suppressed, and a hoarse scream tore from the depths of her throat.
"Hm?"
"So this is the Gem of Desire?"
"Thud."
Wendy collapsed to the ground as a somewhat curious voice sounded from behind her ear.
"Whatever."
"Besides the power of wind, it contains some other strange attribute. It should be what the Emperor needs."
A liquid "stream" coalesced in her palm. The blue-green gem in the hand of Imperial Wendy (as she will be called in this chapter for differentiation) slowly dissipated into the void.
"You are..."
Wendy, half-kneeling on the floor, struggled to turn around.
The physiological reaction to the intense pain had smeared her once-beautiful face with tears and snot. Her vision was blurry, and she lacked the strength to recover.
"Another you."
Imperial Wendy had no intention of hiding her identity.
"Tsk."
"Hurry up and stand. Don't make me think of a certain three-colored flag counterpart."
Imperial Wendy clicked her tongue and casually kicked Wendy in the back. The latter's body slammed into the command console in front of her, then ricocheted off at an angle into the wall!
"BANG!"
A dull thud echoed.
"You can't even handle this little bit of pain?"
"I saw you were quite decisive when you were killing those people. The pain you're feeling now is just a small replication of their final moments."
Imperial Wendy glanced at the surrounding walls, stained with red and white.
"To kill and to be killed."
"They require the same resolve."
"...You."
Wendy pushed herself up, leaning against the sticky wall. As she prepared to act, she immediately noticed a change within her body—
"What did you do to me?"
Wendy looked at her own hands with an expression of disbelief.
"A Herrscher? An S-rank Valkyrie?"
"Whatever you want to call it."
Imperial Wendy was clearly unconcerned.
"Your so-called power is nothing more than an abundance of Honkai energy."
"Now,"
"I've given you Honkai energy, and thrown in a completely harmless energy core for free."
"Everything has been done according to Imperial regulations and the contract."
Imperial Wendy's mission was very simple.
In this time period, the civilization's overall combat power was still at a low level. There were very few beings capable of interfering with her acquisition of the [Gem of Desire].
"An equivalent exchange. Mission complete."
Imperial Wendy left her with those final words.
This counterpart was utterly uninteresting. Her obsessions were childish, her desire for power lacked foundation. Even a newborn of the Empire's [Primordial Species] had more resolve than her.
"W-wait a minute!"
"..."
Imperial Wendy, who had already stepped out of the command room, paused for a moment.
"Hm?" A single word escaped her lips.
"What are you going to do?"
"Do?"
Imperial Wendy slowly turned her body.
Her pure white silk dress swirled gently in the air, the palm-width strips of light fabric failing to conceal the delicate skin at her midriff and sides.
"I can understand the importance of 'split personalities'; quite a few in the legion do it. But they split their minds voluntarily, as an attempt to achieve a breakthrough when the main path is blocked."
"To actively or passively fragment one's mind just to escape hardship..."
Imperial Wendy sized up her meek counterpart. It was obvious that after losing the protection of her "Herrscher personality," a mere increase in power could not fill the mental deficiencies she had tried so hard to suppress.
"Tsk."
Imperial Wendy was not the strongest legion commander in the Empire, but she was definitely the most experienced in combat, especially in leading charges. As for the counterpart before her... she was neither a mother nor a psychologist and had no interest in educating a problem child.
"What were you originally planning to do?"
"..."
Wendy didn't answer, but she understood Imperial Wendy's meaning—from the wrong perspective.
Mission complete.
This meant Imperial Wendy had a week to vacation in this world.
Of course, her idea of a vacation was definitely not rest. Only battle could keep her in a pleasant mood, especially after seeing such a useless counterpart.
She was useless in every other respect, but the plan Wendy had formulated was actually quite suited to Imperial Wendy's needs. Fighting from the Valkyrie squad all the way to St. Freya Academy, and from the Far East Branch to Schicksal's European HQ—no matter how few masters there were, she was bound to run into a few.
Clearly, at this moment, Imperial Wendy had forgotten the Apostle's instructions from before their departure.
But by the same token, her large-scale actions would also draw the attention of Prometheus No. 17. The "Honkai Consciousness" possessed no time-related Authority; doing this would significantly reduce its focus on the "main battlefield."
The selection of the mission's executor, and that executor's personality and attitude... were all part of the Monarch's plan.
---o---
"Wendy!?"
Kiana was the first to react, spotting them almost the instant they appeared... the two of them.
Two identical Wendys.
And according to the feedback from the life detector, the second one was no illusion.
"But why..."
"Don't worry about the details."
Imperial Wendy did not directly answer Kiana's question. Instead, she looked at Himeko, who stood at the front of the group in a ready stance.
"Primordial Species..."
"No, by this world's standards, it should be called Emperor-class combat power."
Imperial Wendy frowned imperceptibly.
She didn't object to the other Wendy following her. Whether she wanted to broaden her horizons or help the other side out of a sense of "atonement," it would not affect her plans in the slightest.
"Too weak."
"Looks like she can only serve as bait."
Imperial Wendy stretched her right arm out straight.
"However..."
Formless wind unfurled into wings from her back.
"Although one gem is missing, if I push a little, I might be able to force the others out."
This wasn't part of Imperial Wendy's mission, but that didn't mean she couldn't try to extract the Gem of Conquest from Mei's body. Not to mention Kiana, who had Herrscher potential and a Gem of Serenity symbolizing the [Authority of Death] within her. (Due to the interference from the Herrscher of the Void's core, Imperial Wendy was unaware that the "Origin" power within the Gem of Serenity had already been taken by the Monarch).
"1000, 2500, 5000..."
The moment Imperial Wendy raised her arm, the Honkai energy detectors carried by all four of them blared with piercing alarms.
Except for Himeko, who stood at the front, the other three subconsciously glanced at the numbers displayed on their detectors.
The entire Oceania Branch base began to shake violently, as if struck by a hurricane and tsunami!
"Crack!"
The thin screen wafers shattered instantly. With a small flash and a sizzling sound, all three of their detectors simultaneously emitted wisps of acrid green smoke.
"Kiana, what's the reading?"
"..."
"Above 10000 HW."
Bronya answered Himeko's question in Kiana's stead.
A reading above 1500 HW was already Herrscher-level. The power Mei had unleashed in Nagazora had once reached 3400 HW, but compared to the reading before them...
"Are you the Will of Honkai?"
Himeko ignored the beads of sweat that trickled down her cheeks, feeling slightly itchy.
What did "above 10000 HW" even mean?
Even during the Great Honkai in Siberia, the Second Herrscher, possessing the power of five cores, had not displayed such terrifying strength. The only recorded reading above 10000 HW in Schicksal's database came from the power of Imaginary Space that the Second Herrscher drew upon when she "self-destructed."
If the tragedy at the Oceania Branch was caused by Wendy becoming a Herrscher, then as a newly awakened Herrscher with only one core, she absolutely would not have such immense power.
Coupled with an aura so identical that not even twins could be this similar... Himeko had reason to suspect that the "Wendy" before her was an incarnation of the Honkai Consciousness.
The theory that Herrschers possessed a second will distinct from their own had already been verified with Mei. The materialization of a thought-form didn't seem entirely unbelievable.
"The Will of Honkai?"
"Ah~!"
"That's not entirely wrong, I suppose. Given His Majesty the Emperor's status, I am indeed carrying out His will."
Unlike her previous internal monologue, this was the first time Imperial Wendy had transmitted her consciousness to the four-person squad in "clear text."
"His Majesty the Emperor?"
Himeko heard a strange title.
There were still kingdoms on Earth, but there were no heads of state who could be called "Emperor," let alone one who could command a Herrscher.
Himeko was a true genius. Before she sorted through her father's belongings, dropped out of school, and joined Schicksal, she was, without a doubt, a top student from Caltech.
"Aliens!?"
"..."
"Oh?"
"It seems that counterparts do influence each other, after all."
Imperial Wendy raised an eyebrow with interest, but she had no intention of continuing the topic.
"I'm not fond of chatting."
"Communication is best conducted through the clash of fists."
A storm, compressed an unknown number of times, gathered into a single point in Imperial Wendy's palm.
"As long as..."
"You can survive this next move."
Faint runes materialized behind Imperial Wendy's head.
As a skill that touched the threshold of a [Flawed Herrscher] and an [Apostle], this [Wind Pressure Cannon] possessed the destructive power to level a continent with a single shot.
None of the opponents who had ever fought Imperial Wendy would harbor even a sliver of hope that she might hold back. Except for rare moments of calm, regardless of whether she was happy or angry, no matter the opponent, once they became her target, she would never show mercy.
With her mission now complete, Imperial Wendy, in her "vacationing abroad" state, naturally had no need to consider rules, regulations, or minor details.
Therefore—
"BOOM!!!"
It was a speed that not even the dynamic vision of the naked eye, let alone a detector, could capture!
In an instant, a gentle breeze brushed past them.
"BOOM!!!!!"
---o---
If this were another continent, Imperial Wendy's attack would have been enough to wipe out every country on a mid-sized landmass.
Fortunately, this was Oceania. Considering the trajectory of the [Wind Pressure Cannon] (towards the central Pacific Ocean), the number of humans directly killed was likely not high. However, the massive waves and tsunamis displaced by the pure fluid force would likely eliminate over ninety percent of the islands in the Pacific region and trigger catastrophic hurricane-tsunamis on the west coast of the Americas.
As for the nearby "sea"... the Oceania Branch was completely submerged, yet the terrifying [Wind Pressure Cannon] had not eliminated all life signs here.
"Oh my?"
Imperial Wendy's slightly parted lips showed her surprise.
The [Wind Pressure Cannon] had not been blocked. In fact, with Earth's current combat strength, no one could have blocked this move head-on without a scratch.
But its power had been weakened.
Himeko, clad in her [Nexus Armor: Crimson], had unleashed her strongest, yet ultimately futile, attack, [Meltdown Burst]. Mei's Herrscher consciousness had awakened, and she too had used a meaningless [Atomic Disintegration]. Although the name was the same as the "real deal," Mei's mastery of the technique was only effective against "ordinary targets" without Honkai energy protection. Against a move like the [Wind Pressure Cannon], which involved precise control of high-density Imaginary energy, it was equivalent to a slightly stronger magnetic shield.
Bronya had accomplished even less. Project Bunny, which had charged forward to act as a shield, was instantly vaporized without lasting even a millisecond.
The greatest contributor... came from Kiana, who had been the first to pass out. As one of her sea-blue eyes turned gold, the unconsciously released [Authority of the Void] had successfully deflected the [Wind Pressure Cannon]'s trajectory by about 0.1 degrees for roughly two milliseconds.
"Her talent isn't bad."
"A pity she lacks sufficient training. An emotional outburst alone is not enough to be converted into the power to break one's shackles."
The influence of emotions was not metaphysical; it was a component of the "Authority of Man."
Wendy had originally wanted to see if the group of four, especially Kiana, could awaken something interesting. It turned out that the time was not yet ripe.
And—
Even Himeko, who had taken the brunt of the attack, had not died.
As the [Wind Pressure Cannon] destroyed everything before it, a power from "the world" had suppressed a large portion of the damage.
"How rare."
Imperial Wendy looked up at the somewhat familiar face in the sky.
"The brilliance of a counterpart, yet it's no weaker than the one from the Empire."
"As an opponent—"
A majestic lance, coral-pink hair, and armor of interweaving blue and white.
[Bright Knight: Excelsis] and [Hler's Serenity]—Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie, Bianka "Durandal" Ataegina.
"She's not bad."