At the Schicksal Coral Island base, Raiden Mei noticed that Kiana was acting strangely and immediately struck the stone tablet with a bolt of lightning.
However, Melide raised her right hand and blocked the lightning directly. With a strange sound, the purple electricity seemed to be eliminated by her.
In contrast to Raiden Mei’s shock, Melide was completely calm and unbothered:
“Raiden Mei, I know you’re anxious, but hold your horses. Kiana is fine. It’s just that the Bishop needs me to take her to Schicksal Headquarters to carry out his plan. If you increase your output, though, you’ll end up hurting Bronya.”
Melide picked up the dazed Kiana and was about to leave. Of course, Raiden Mei wasn’t about to give up, and she continued attacking without harming Bronya.
Melide didn’t even glance back. When the purple lightning struck her back, it simply vanished as if it had been eliminated, causing no ripple whatsoever.
“Why! Kiana is being taken right in front of me, and there’s nothing I can do!”
[Password correct, but the account is already logged in.]
“Whatever. I knew it. If I’m taking Kiana, and you’ve still got a breath left in you, you’d never give up… I have no grudge against you. In the Bishop’s plan, you’re also one of the candidates. You can’t die just yet.”
Watching Melide leave through a side passage, Raiden Mei instinctively took a step forward, only to collapse to the ground. A wave of weakness spread through her entire body. To her shock, she—a Herrscher of Thunder—couldn’t even use lightning anymore. The moment her Honkai energy left her body, it disappeared without a trace.
“Kiana… no…”
Raiden Mei felt her body growing heavier and heavier. Before the other Valkyries could arrive, she completely lost consciousness.
Enoxia, who had full access to the Coral Island base’s surveillance, naturally watched the whole scene along with Sirin and Cecilia.
“Wh-what just happened? What kind of gadget is Melide carrying?”
Sirin was astonished. She had personally witnessed Raiden Mei going all out in Nagazora City back in 2014. Sure, if she went up against a full-power Raiden Mei, she would definitely win. She could just drag her into the Imaginary Space and play hide-and-seek, or trap her in a subspace dimensional fault and wear her down.
After all, no matter how fast lightning was, it couldn’t outpace the Herrscher of the Void’s map-wide teleportation. Plus, in theory, the Herrscher of the Void had infinite Honkai energy, while the Herrscher of Thunder’s reserves were limited. So victory was certain.
But outright making the Herrscher of Thunder unable to discharge electricity like that? Even if Raiden Mei was holding back out of concern for Bronya, Sirin couldn’t do that.
“Looks like she’s not even pretending anymore. I only suspected it before, but now it’s confirmed. That should be… the authority of the Herrscher of Binding.”
“What?! But earlier, didn’t you…”
“Who knows? Maybe Melide, like me, has a way to fool both the naked eye and Schicksal’s equipment at the same time. The only reason I can do it is because of the Herrscher of Corruption’s authority. As for her… maybe it’s some ability that doesn’t rely on Honkai energy…”
“An ability outside of Honkai energy?”
“Mm-hmm. It has to do with information I got from the real stone tablet. If you’re interested, come by the Elysian Realm in a few days. I’m about to discuss this with Elysia and the other Flame-Chasers anyway. I’ll explain it in detail then.”
March 16, 2017 – St. Freya Academy Infirmary.
Raiden Mei woke up. She turned her head and saw Rena beside her.
“My Queen! Thank goodness you’re all right!”
Soon after, Bronya also came to her side.
“Bronya, Kiana is…”
“Don’t rush, Mei-sister. The Principal and Himeko-sensei are already making a plan to rescue Kiana. They’ll definitely call on you when the time comes. Focus on getting better first.”
Raiden Mei let out a sigh.
“Bronya, can you tell me what happened back there? I only remember using the Herrscher of Thunder’s authority, seeing you passed out on the ground… and then Kiana being taken away… and after that, nothing…”
“Then let Bronya tell you everything from start to finish, based on what Bronya knows.”
“On Coral Island, after Mei-sister stayed behind to hold the enemy off, Bronya, Kiana, and Melide found the stone tablet together. But the moment Kiana touched it, she seemed to fall into an illusion.”
“While we were heading to the tablet’s location, Melide gave Bronya a cryptographic key to help control the out-of-control mechs. Although it did help Bronya bring the mechs under control, later tests at St. Freya Academy revealed that the key contained a Trojan virus.”
“Based on what Mei-sister just said, Bronya must have lost consciousness from the virus infecting Bronya’s biochip before Mei-sister even arrived.”
“Melide… senpai… why…”
“Bronya doesn’t know either. According to the Principal’s speculation, after Melide went to Headquarters, Otto must have used some method to recruit her into his plan. In any case, at least for now, she is our enemy.”
March 17 – Schicksal Headquarters, Floating Island.
Otto looked at Kiana inside the cultivation pod and smiled meaningfully.
“Who would have thought that after ten years, you’d still end up back here… K423… increase the Honkai energy injection!”
As the Honkai energy was injected, Kiana’s Herrscher reaction grew stronger and stronger…
Just then, Otto received a communication from Melide.
“Bishop, the transport ship Helios is ignoring orders and heading this way at full speed. The Far East Branch under Lady Theresa has defected.”
Otto’s expression remained utterly indifferent, as if this had nothing to do with him.
“I’ve already prepared Headquarters for this… By the way, Melide, you’ve already seen the contents of that stone tablet, haven’t you? What was written on it?”
“Sorry, Bishop, but those characters… I couldn’t read them either.”
Melide’s hurried answer made Otto show a suspicious expression.
“Is that so? Then why do I hear both surprise and excitement in your voice?”
