Himeko was stirring awake.
Luckily I used the Fenghuang Down on Himeko earlier, otherwise, I wouldn't be so close.
Fu Hua had transferred her consciousness entirely into one of the feathers of the Fenghuang Down, specifically one of the ones that she had used on Himeko to help ease her pain.
In all her years she had never used this function of the Fenghuang Down, the last time she was near death, she had lost so many memories that she didn't even remember that it existed.
That was when she had first met Otto Apocalypse.
"...where is this place?"
Himeko was struggling to her feet, not even noticing the HSN-b46 serum sample Fu Hua had left for her.
After Rita had left, she had remembered about the sample, it was right where she had stored it after the 2015 incident, only a few doors down. It had been potent enough to remove all the Honaki Energy from Kiana's body, it could save Himeko from the erosion that had almost killed her.
"... is this a prison? Of course, I was defeated and arrested. What happened next?"
Almost collapsing over the edge of the bed, stumbling and falling to her knees.
"Gosh, this noise in my head… My body feels so clumsy and heavy... how long have I slept?"
She started crawling towards the door, her battlesuit half disabled.
"... I must get out of here... Theresa and the girls must be stuck at a hard place…"
She soon collapsed, after all, it had only been a few minutes since Fu Hua had originally left her here, nowhere near enough time to recover.
"Huff... huff…"
She finally looked down, finally noticing the sample container, luckily it was especially hardened and resistant to impact.
"A serum? Where did it come from? Is it you, Fu Hua?"
Himeko finally seemed to register her presence, she was able to hide herself from her, but she felt no reason to do such a thing, especially since in her current state, the portion of the power of the Fenghuang Down contained in the feather was extremely limited.
"You changed a lot."
Fu Hua said nothing. There was nothing to say.
"So what can this prisoner do for you?"
Of course, they had fought not long ago, Fu Hua was still the enemy of Murata Himeko.
"That tube contains a Honkai-neutralizing serum that will delay the Honkai corruption in your body. Find a safe place to use it. You will lose your Valkyrie powers after the serum neutralizes the Honkai within you."
Himeko didn't respond for a long time, staring at the sample container, "...a gift? Thanks anyway…"
It was clear she had no intention of using it.
"The Herrscher has awoken."
That certainly got her attention.
"Leave this place then head north. You will see a guard tower. The place is safe. You can hide there. There will be guards along the way, but nothing strong enough to stop you."
"I don't need to know that. Where are Theresa and the girls!?" Himeko almost shouted.
Of course Himeko would never just give up and use the serum. Just like when she had refused to back down earlier, this was exactly the same. However, Fu Hua's consciousness was fading fast, the extreme backlash of using Sentience Link catching up to her.
"If you want to save your friends… then go around the tower. I will be waiting for you."
Suddenly, she was awake again, looking through Himeko's eyes, she was currently with Tesla fighting quite a few Asleikr mechs.
As she finished up, Himeko twitched in pain, and Fu Hua took a moment to investigate Himeko's condition.
"This may not be a big place, but it sure is filled with secrets." Himeko noted.
"I've found the lab control hub. Let me look through this." Tesla started investigating the console at the top of the catwalk, "Gimme 10 minutes."
"Alright. I need a break myself." Himeko responded.
Walking over to the wall, and slumping down, Fu Hua stated, "you're really hurt."
"There you are, girl. Is this the place you're talking about, Fu Hua?"
"No, not yet. Head to the bottom-most floor. You'll find the answers there"
Fu Hua had only been in Heilheim labs a few times, but this definitely wasn't where Otto had conducted his experiment. This was just a control room, there was nothing useful here… unless.
"Wait, these machines... I recognize this symbol…"
Otto had sent her the report only a few days ago, part of the new generation of battlesuits. If Himeko could find it, that would undoubtedly give her a leg up in the upcoming engagement.
"Well, Otto seems to have hidden a trump card here. I take back my words. You can find some answers on this floor as well."
She was fading fast again, hopefully nothing too eventful would happen while she was out.
"Look for it. You must find it." Fu Hua reinforced.
Another blink, and she was looking at the Vermilion Knight Eclipse.
Fu Hua had never been informed of its intended recipient, however, given Otto's earlier words, and seeing Himeko's reflection overlapped in the window. She now thought she had a pretty good answer.
Everything was going exactly to Otto's plan, but every choice that had been made so far had been the correct one. In addition, if Otto's words were to be believed, he would not move until Himeko did. It was all on her now.
"Is this the thing you wanted me to find, girl?"
That slightly irked her, but she continued, "You finally made it here. This is what you need. Otto hid this secret here. This is his other trump card. A weapon capable of engaging the Herrscher directly, the prototype of the Godsbane-series battlesuits: Vermillion Knight: Eclipse."
Based on Mei's key of Blankness, and embedded with the Gem of Haste.
"The Herrscher has awoken. This battlesuit is the only means we have to fight her. This is used to be a relic from the Previous Era. After acquiring it, Schicksal used it as the basis to develop their modern Valkyrie battlesuits. But Otto could not be satisfied. He had a crazier plan. He integrated the Gem of Haste into this battlesuit to recreate the powers of the Herrscher of Fire."
Otto had probably even sent out the report that she had received precisely so that she could lead Himeko here.
"This was Otto's plan, for someone to wield this battlesuit and defeat the Herrscher."
She did not mention the second part of the plan.
"But I'll leave the choice to you, Major…"
She had reviewed what had happened when she was out. Himeko had used the serum to make the God Slaying spear. If she used this suit enhanced by the Gem of Haste, the Honkai Energy would kill her. No matter what the outcome was.
"Enough talk. I've already made up my mind."
Murata Himeko would never back down.
Himeko approached the battlesuit.
"Access request verified. Starting verification."
"Himeko, Murata, verification complete. Protocol: "The Sleeping Knight" engaged."
"Request verified." The chamber doors opened before Himeko, Fu Hua hadn't even had to use her authority after all, "Switching to subject encasement mode. Process complete. Energy reactor ignited. Power supply on."
"Wearing this battlesuit will allow the Herrscher gem to corrupt your mind." Fu Hua warned, "I will do what I can to delay the corruption. But you alone will make the difference."
Himeko was silent for a long time, before stepping into the battlesuit chamber.
"Encasement process complete. Engaging subsystems. Process complete. Releasing umbilical. Process complete. Recorded Note: Omnia in manibus tuis sunt."
Fu Hua felt like Otto had predicted everything, 'All things are in your hands'. She could instantly feel the change in Himeko's mental state, however, it was acceptable for now.
Himeko took a few stumbling steps out of the chamber before stabilizing herself, bringing her hand to her head.
"Cut the crap." Himeko suddenly said aloud.
"Done talking already? I know what I'm doing. They'll do the same thing as well. If it can be done, then I guess I'll have to do it. The girls are out there waiting for me. Our journey will not end here!"
With each statement Himeko's mental state improved, pushing back the influence of the Herrscher Gem back out of her mind.
"That's it! You've defeated your inner demons."
She used some of the power left in the feather to create a mental block on Himeko's mind, temporarily cutting off the influence of the Gem. Consuming all of her remaining mental energy, this time, she wasn't quite sure when she would wake back up.
"Your human form is temporarily blessed with Herrscher powers. My mission with you has ended. I'm glad that I can be of help at the eleventh hour"
Himeko walked down the hall filled with battlesuit chambers on either side,
"Thank you, Fu Hua."
>>> POV Change<<<
"All according to plan." I said aloud.
Otto, on the other end of the call, responded, "Everything is going exactly how you predicted, including Fu Hua's actions."
"This is the will of fate, for good or ill." Which was perfectly true in this situation, everything had played out exactly as it had before, beat for beat.
"You better be ready if things continue to go to plan." Otto noted.
I was currently on the Schicksal Lunar Outpost, in the room that contained the Second Divine Key, lined up horizontally down a long hall, with a raised platform at one end, and the divine key on the other.
"I am in the Key Chamber now, Shamash will control the divine key for me. The tracker on the Vermilion Knight Eclipse should be able to be tracked even through imaginary space, we can watch and perform the recovery when it is all over."
"The Herrscher was forced to withdraw into imaginary space by the activation of the Selene system, however, Benares is rapidly approaching the Hyperion."
The display screen showing a still of Otto suddenly changed to show an image of the Hyperion from above, with marks displaying the distance between it and Benares.
It swooped in for an attack, the air defense guns of the Hyperion barely making a dent in the Emperor class Honkai Beast.
Suddenly, a burst of light lit up the image, coming from the aft of the Hyperion.
Benares was launched back to the fore of the flight deck, tumbling across its surface, the image zoomed in to show an extremely pixelated view of Himeko, with her sword raised above her, ready to swing down.
"Imaginary fluctuations detected." Otto noted, and suddenly Himeko was gone in a burst of purple energy.
"Shamash?" I asked.
"Awaiting input."
"Otto?"
"Give me a second, the various base stations in Imaginary Space haven't all been located yet."
After a 40 second pause.
"Its 6373.4847, -17.532447053522993, 150.34458570186302, however battlesuit telemetry hasn't reconnected yet."
"Engaging observation mode." Shamash noted, and the Divine Key started to emit a faint purple light.
After a few seconds of nothing, a new view appeared, replacing the image of the hyperion.
The image resolved into an image of the Second Herrscher, with Void Lances materialising behind them.
"Oh, just in time for the good part." I commented.
Of course, there was no audio, but just as the Second Herrscher turned around, the Vermilion Knights greatsword flow at the Herrscher, being temporarily blocked by an orange shield created by the power of the Gem of Serenity before breaking through and into a newly created portal. Barely avoiding skewering Sirin.
The greatsword imbedded itself into one of the floating pillars surrounding the faux Hyperion.
Himeko slowly emerged from the ruins, taking shuffling steps towards Sirin, saying something.
"I guess you're done attacking. It's my turn now… I hope you don't mind, girl." I filled in for Himeko.
Sirin brought her hand to her face, shaking with laughter.
"Die"