"Captain Mo Wang, you're too kind. I'm just an ordinary Valkyrie of Schicksal."
Faced with Mo Wang's words, Ana replied with great modesty.
"You jest. No matter what, you are a member of the Schariac family. They are one of the three pillars of Schicksal, absolute authority."
But as he said this, Mo Wang couldn't help but laugh.
It wasn't because of Ana's humility, but because he had thought of something amusing.
In the minds of many, Schicksal had always been controlled by the three great families.
The Apocalypse family, representing the "Pope"; the Schariac family, symbolizing the "Saintess"; and the Kaslana family, symbolizing the "Knight."
The three great families counterbalanced each other, assisted each other, and together formed humanity's strongest line of defense against the Honkai... But in reality, one could say that the Kaslanas and the Schariacs might as well not have existed.
To put it bluntly, Mo Wang had always thought that the three great families of "Honkai" were the Death Troopers, the Titans, and the Honkai Beasts.
The so-called three great families had basically ceased to exist in all but name after Otto came to power.
Let's start with the oldest family, the Kaslanas.
As the descendants of the strongest warrior of the Previous Era, Kevin, this family basically represented the strongest combat power outside of the perverts from the Previous Era.
With that kind of positioning, they must have had a high status in Schicksal, right?
But in reality, it didn't matter.
Because the Judgement of Shamash passed down by Kevin was too much of a trap, the Kaslana family was extremely small in number.
Because of this, their role was more like that of Schicksal's tactical nuclear weapons.
When Kallen made a mistake and was about to be executed, not a single person stood up for her.
And by the time Siegfried became the leader, you couldn't see any other Kaslanas at all (clones don't count).
After Siegfried rebelled, the Kaslanas were basically gone from Schicksal. (Although it's not impossible that they might retcon another one into existence.)
And the Apocalypse family... In fact, besides Otto, this family only had Theresa. Could a family with only one person really be called a family?
In the past, the Apocalypses had a few more members, but after Otto outlived them all, the family also basically ceased to exist in all but name.
However, because Otto was strong enough, he directly elevated the Apocalypse family, which originally didn't have much of a say in Schicksal, to the highest authority, becoming the family that directly represented the Pope. (PS: Originally, Schicksal was formed by a group of people dedicated to fighting the Honkai. The setting in HI2 was that it was in 7th-century Europe, and in the 14th century, it developed into an organization led by the Apocalypses.)
To put it simply, this was a family with basically no population, but was in fact the de facto emperor of Schicksal.
And the most ridiculous one was the Schariac family.
This was a family that Otto had created himself, just a tool in his hands.
In Otto's mind, there was only one person who could represent the Saintess. The ancestor of the Schariacs was just a large-scale tool.
Even if the Kaslanas and the Schariacs officially united, they wouldn't be able to stand up to Otto with one hand.
Their status in Schicksal couldn't be said to be non-existent, but it was basically invisible.
So the so-called counterbalancing of the three great families was just a joke. There was no such thing as counterbalancing, but Otto made it sound so vivid.
And Ana saying that she was an ordinary Valkyrie wasn't really a problem either.
After all, in Otto's mind, the Schariacs basically didn't exist.
"By the way, Captain, you should know why the Overseer sent you here, right?"
Ana didn't forget to remind Mo Wang of the purpose of his mission.
"Oh, I know. Because the Overseer needs the Gem of Desire, so he sent me to make a trip and bring the gem back. And by the way, to see how your branch's research is going."
Mo Wang spread his hands and casually stated the mission.
"So, is the Gem of Desire ready?"
"This... might take a little more time."
Hearing Mo Wang's words, Ana seemed a little hesitant.
"Oh? Why?"
Mo Wang looked at Ana with some surprise.
"Because removing the gem is a very difficult matter. At present, we are not ready for it yet."
Mo Wang noticed that Ana seemed a little nervous, as if there was some hidden reason.
"Oh, I see."
But just by looking at Ana's expression, Mo Wang immediately guessed many things.
Combined with this mission, it wasn't hard for Mo Wang to guess what had happened.
To put it simply, after the Selene fell into Schicksal's hands, Otto had once again set his sights on the gem.
However, unlike the original plot, at this time, Otto had not yet directly ordered the removal of the gem, so it hadn't caused Wendy to lose control of her emotions and trigger a Honkai Eruption.
It seemed that Otto himself knew how much of a bastard he was, so to prevent any problems, he had also transferred Ana, who was stationed on Coral Island, over.
And he was also afraid that a Herrscher would really appear, so he had also called over Mo Wang, who was already at a super A-rank strength on the surface.
This was to have someone to clean up his mess if anything unexpected happened.
To put it simply, Otto was afraid that a big problem would arise that he couldn't handle, so he had called him over to cover for him.
As for Durandal and Rita, the Overseer probably didn't want to call out his ace squad so soon.
He would let him test the waters first. If he really couldn't handle it, then he would send Durandal.
"I can understand, I can understand. I'm not in a hurry. After all, the patient's emotions must be taken care of before the operation."
Mo Wang said with a smile to Ana.
"Thank you for your understanding."
When Ana said this, there seemed to be other emotions in her voice.
Mo Wang guessed that Ana was probably not just worried about the Gem of Desire not being safely removed, but also about the current host of the gem, Wendy.
Of course, this was just his guess. He had no evidence.
"By the way! You still have the task of inspecting the Oceania Branch, right? Let me show you around!"
At this moment, Ana, who seemed a little excited, actually took Mo Wang's hand and walked into the branch.
Looking at the bold Ana and the soft touch of her hand, Mo Wang felt that the girl in front of him was even more beautiful.
At this moment, Mo Wang seemed to see a holy light around Ana...
Well, my yet-to-be-met brother Tianwu, I'm truly sorry.
It's not that I'm not a good brother, it's just that the girl in front of me is too charming.
In order to sever your path of being a simp, I have no choice but to sacrifice myself!
Your goddess is great, and now she's mine!
This green hat that has yet to be delivered, I'll leave it to you.
Just as Mo Wang's dirty thoughts hit their peak, a sharp smack cut through the air.
BONK!
A silver object fell from the sky with pinpoint accuracy, smacking him squarely on the top of his head.
"Oof—"
Mo Wang's eyes rolled back, and the world in front of him spun violently. The holy light he saw around Ana was replaced by a constellation of cartoonish stars. The soft hand he was holding suddenly became the only thing keeping him from collapsing onto the pristine ground of the Oceania Branch.
"Captain Mo Wang! Are you alright?"
Ana, startled by the sudden event, quickly steadied the wobbling Mo Wang. Her charming smile was replaced by a look of pure shock and concern. "What happened? Where did that come from?"
She looked down and saw the culprit: a slightly dented, unopened can of concentrated milk powder. (Just a can of concentrated milk powder, nothing to see here.)
Mo Wang shook his head, trying to clear the ringing in his ears, and muttered weakly, his eyes unfocused.
"What the hell... that wind pressure... don't tell me the Herrscher of Wind has already awakened?"
"Herrscher of Wind?" Ana looked at him, completely bewildered. "Captain, what are you talking about? A can of milk just fell on your head. You might have a concussion!"
"Milk...?" Mo Wang blinked, the world slowly coming back into focus. He looked at Ana's worried face, then at the can on the ground, and finally felt the throbbing lump forming on his scalp.
So it wasn't a wind attack? why i feel resentment here
.....
Meanwhile, on the roof of the tallest building in the Oceania Branch, a figure shrouded in a dark hooded cloak lowered a pair of high-powered binoculars.
A soft, cold voice escaped from under the hood, laced with contempt.
"Scumbag deserves to die."
As they melted back into the shadows of the rooftop structures, the breeze caught the edge of their hood for a fleeting moment, revealing a flash of brilliant, snow-white hair disappearing into the unknown.