"This is the Hyperion, flagship of Schicksal's Far East Branch! I am Theresa Apocalypse, Cardinal of Schicksal and Branch Head of the Far East Branch. Anti-Entropy warships ahead, I demand to speak with your commander!" Theresa urgently called out as soon as the Hyperion entered the maximum communication range disrupted by Honkai interference.
Below the bridge, in the deployment bay, the Valkyrie in charge of logistics stared in disbelief at the three Valkyries before her.
"Are you serious, preparing three high-speed stealth fighters...? Lady Snow, does your squad intend to board all three Anti-Entropy warships simultaneously?"
"...Why not?" The golden-haired girl tilted her head, her eyes filled with genuine confusion as she glanced at the Valkyrie beside her.
"This..." The Valkyrie hesitated.
"Just follow orders..."
"You and Lady Ninti are both A-rank Valkyries, so I'm not too worried about your safety... But Miss Kyuusyou is only a B-rank Valkyrie!"
"A B-rank who can hold her own against me? She's just lacking sufficient merit and experience. Obey your orders, officer..."
Snow shook her head, watching the Valkyrie snap to attention, salute crisply, and turn to direct her subordinates in preparing the fighters.
"He who holds the title of Monarch reigns over all the people on Earth, presiding over the world's kingdoms. This is the divine right of kings; yet... the divine right... is granted by the gods—"
"This is the meaning of the Divine Authority Squad—we are unmatched."
Theresa's communication request was quickly answered, and a mature Russian woman with golden hair and a green military coat appeared on the screen.
"Well, look who's here! What a rare visitor! Lady Theresa, Branch Head of the Far East Branch?" As soon as the connection was established, a sarcastic voice dripped through the communication channel.
"You?! Cocolia! Why are you here, you wretch?!" Theresa's voice was a mix of shock and fury as she recognized the golden-haired woman on the screen.
"Oh, it seems our Headmaster hasn't grown much in all this time. Still asking pointless questions." Cocolia continued to mock the petite white-haired figure before her.
"Cocolia, you viper! What scheme are you plotting now?"
-
Three Schicksal fighter jets activated their cloaking devices and silently slid off the Hyperion's deck, skimming the sea surface as they streaked toward the Anti-Entropy warships. Yet on the three Anti-Entropy vessels surrounding the Hyperion, bristling with weapons and locked in a tense standoff, not a single soul noticed the lethal fangs hurtling toward them.
"What an unexpected windfall! Not only will we recover the legendary Xuanyuan Sword, a divine key from the previous civilization, but we'll also eliminate our most persistent thorn in the side: the Schicksal Far East Branch's airship Hyperion and an S-rank Valkyrie..."
"Lady Theresa... I'll personally accept this gracious gift of yours! All Anti-Entropy warships, target the Hyperion! Sink it!" The blonde woman on the screen waved her hand dismissively, severing the communication.
"Lady Theresa, the Anti-Entropy warships are targeting the Hyperion!" the radar officer on the bridge reported urgently.
"Activate the defense shield immediately! Rotate the cannons and target the Anti-Entropy warships! Adjutant! Where's the Divine Authority Squad?!" Theresa barked out orders, the bridge erupting into a frenzy of activity.
"Lady Snow and her squad launched their fighters during your negotiations with the enemy. If all went according to plan, they should have reached the Anti-Entropy warships by now," the Adjutant replied swiftly, flipping through the deck maintenance logs before reporting to Theresa, who was commanding the battle.
No sooner had the adjutant finished speaking than explosions erupted on all three Anti-Entropy warships—
-
Anti-Entropy Aerial Fleet
Cocolia's Flagship: Eunomia
Flames raged through the cabins, billowing thick smoke as a Schicksal fighter crashed into the warship's lower decks.
A small squad of armed personnel, shielded by Titans, swiftly approached the wreckage. However, the fighter's cockpit was empty—
Gulp... A sense of foreboding made the Anti-Entropy radical members swallow nervously. They instinctively turned around, catching the final image of their lives.
A golden-haired Valkyrie stood behind them, black ice crystals spreading from her feet, engulfing every surface within reach. Her deep blue pupils held only pure contempt as she gazed upon them.
"Quickly, fire—" The command cut off abruptly as black ice climbed their weapons and bodies, leaving behind only black ice sculptures.
"All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return." The girl turned and strode toward the warship's bridge.
In the next instant, the black ice sculptures turned into fine powder, as if they had never existed.
"Area 8 has been breached! Where are the Titan Mecha and defense forces?!"
"They lost contact less than a minute after deployment!"
"This is Area 7, Defense Commander Reyado! We need backup! That monster! It tore all our Titan Mecha to shreds in a single encounter!"
"Repeat! We need backup!!!" Heart-wrenching screams echoed through the bridge's comm channels, then—a girl's voice, alien to their own, intruded:
"Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!" The melodious tone stood in stark contrast to the cacophony of cries and screams.
"Cabin 7's defense forces have been wiped out. This is the Defense Commander of Area 6. We've sealed the bulkheads between Cabin 7 and Area 6..." Before the bridge's leading female officer could respond, renewed shouts of alarm and screams erupted from the channel.
"God! She's tearing the battleship's bulkhead door to shreds! That's a full half-meter thick of titanium alloy armor—! Open fire! Quick! Everyone open fire!—" The unnamed commander's voice cut off abruptly.
"Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt..." Still, the melodious girl's voice chanted through the inferno, utterly out of place with the battlefield's chaos.
"Retreat! Activate Titan Autonomous Berserk Mode! Everyone, retreat! Abandon Cabin 5! Oh God, she's coming! Retreat now!!!"
"They will be dismayed; pangs and agony will seize them..." On the bridge's monitors, the golden-haired girl advanced toward the bridge with a leisurely gait, as if strolling through a garden.
"We've deployed a large number of Spider Mecha and explosives in Cabin 4. Hopefully, this will eliminate that monster... God, protect us..." Another commander's voice crackled over the comms.
Boom! A deafening explosion temporarily drowned out all other noise.
"Command, did we get her—?" The question was abruptly cut off as the haunting hymn echoed once more through their channels.
"…they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame."
Though the girl's voice was by no means unpleasant, to every crew member on the Eunomia at that moment, it sounded no different from the whispers of a demon.
"Lord... is this the trial you've given us?" In the Core 3 command channel, a guard with a face blackened by smoke exchanged terrified glances with his comrade, trembling as he sobbed softly.
"Lady Cocolia, issue the order! The Valkyrie is less than three cabins away from the bridge!"
"Damn it! How could the Far East Branch have someone like this? That appearance... Could it be Durandal, the S-rank Valkyrie from Schicksal Headquarters?!"
"Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it."
"Two more cabins to the bridge!" The intelligence officer's voice rang out, more a desperate wail than a report.
"No! Durandal wouldn't resort to such extreme measures! Who is this person?! Why is she completely absent from Anti-Entropy's intelligence reports?! Did she spring from the Void?! Stop her at all costs!"
Cocolia roared hysterically, slamming her fist into the Captain's console. Blood oozed from the cracked panel, staining the touchscreen crimson.
"For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light."
...Silence. A deathly stillness blanketed every member of the Eunomia, from those guarding the bridge's entrances to those rushing to reinforce it, and to those trapped within, awaiting Judgment.
"I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless." The melodious chanting continued to echo.
"Cabin 2: Lost..." A pall of death hung over everyone on the warship. People began to sob quietly, even the strongest among them trembling uncontrollably.
"I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir." The ominous chant pressed relentlessly closer.
Outside the door, Cabin 1 fell silent after a brief exchange of fire. At that moment, the crew on the bridge realized something utterly astonishing: in just a few minutes, their moment of reckoning had arrived.
"Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger..." The melodious chanting no longer needed to be transmitted through communication channels; it could be heard clearly through the sealed blast doors.
Finally, the massive blast door was torn open with effortless ease, shredded like paper.
The golden-haired girl stood on the bridge of the Eunomia, her arrogant, icy blue eyes sweeping over the trembling mortals before her.
"Submit or die—"