In the winter of 2016, at Schicksal’s Oceania Branch.
Wendy lay on a bed filled with various kinds of technology, her gaze fixed on the emerald-green Herrscher core beside her.
“If I can master the Herrscher’s power like Raiden Mei, my strength will surpass that of an S-rank Valkyrie!” Wendy thought excitedly, her face full of anticipation.
【S-F104 experiment preparation complete. Begin?】
“Begin.”
Wendy calmed down and obediently lay back on the bed.
As the Herrscher core of the Wind Herrscher was implanted into her body, Wendy’s various vital signs immediately began to fluctuate wildly, spiking and dropping like lines on an electrocardiogram.
Implanting a Herrscher core into another person’s body generally results in one of the following scenarios:
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The subject’s Honkai resistance is insufficient to withstand the massive amount of Honkai energy released by the Herrscher core, resulting in immediate death.
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Because the subject is not the original Herrscher, a rejection reaction occurs between them and the Herrscher core. In mild cases, implantation fails, and they cannot use the Herrscher’s power; in severe cases, it leads to immediate death.
Fortunately, neither of these scenarios occurred. The compatibility between the Wind Herrscher core and Wendy was even higher than predicted. Although Wendy’s vital signs fluctuated wildly, she remained alive and did not lose her capacity for thought.
In the midst of the chaos, Wendy felt as if her consciousness was being torn apart by something. An indescribable irritability spread through her entire body, and she felt an urge to destroy something to vent her frustration.
This urge was like ink poured into clear water. As time passed, the once-clear pool of her mind was gradually stained completely black from the inside out.
After an unknown period, Wendy stood up from the bed. Based on her behavior, the researchers received one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.
The good news was that although Wendy didn’t possess Raiden Mei’s natural affinity for the Herrscher of Thunder, after the Wind Herrscher core was implanted, she could not only use its powers but also appeared to have retained her sanity.
The bad news was that while she retained her sanity, it wasn’t much. The remaining cognitive ability seemed solely dedicated to figuring out how to cause greater destruction.
How did the researchers come to this second conclusion? Because immediately after their first exchange with Wendy, she used air pressure to smash the experimental equipment beside her to pieces.
“Activate the suppression protocol!”
However, the Oceania Branch’s approach to dealing with Wendy, using the same methods and attitude they had with the previous Wind Herrscher, proved to be a catastrophic mistake.
Wendy’s understanding of the Oceania Branch’s base was just as thorough as the researchers’. Just as the suppression device was about to activate, Wendy precisely unleashed a blade of wind, severing the entire base’s main power supply. All equipment immediately shut down.
“Quick, activate the backup power—”
Bang! Crash~
The glass between Wendy and the researchers shattered, and the researchers’ bodies were instantly torn into pieces.
Having dealt with the researchers in front of her, Wendy extended her hands, manipulating the airflow within the base.
With the main power cut, the base’s doors couldn’t open, turning the entire facility into a relatively sealed environment. Under Wendy’s control, the vast majority of the air was quickly drawn to her side, leaving the rest of the base in a near-vacuum state.
After the several hundred researchers and other personnel—around a thousand people in total—all suffocated to death, Wendy restored normal airflow and activated the backup power supply.
【Unexpected power outage, now resolved.】
After sending this message to Schicksal headquarters, Wendy walked directly into the energy supply area and began absorbing Honkai energy from the Honkai furnace there.
A quarter of an hour later, the Hyperion took off from the Far East, heading towards New Zealand.
“Just now, an anomaly occurred at the Oceania Branch’s base. Headquarters has dispatched us to investigate…”
On the Hyperion’s deck, Himeko, acting as commander, briefed the other Valkyries on the mission details with a serious expression.
“A short while ago, the Oceania Branch’s base temporarily lost contact with other divisions. After communication was restored, although contact with headquarters was maintained, only automated AI replies were received, no human responses. And just now, headquarters detected an Anti-Entropy fleet over the South Pacific.”
“Therefore, headquarters suspects that the Oceania Branch’s laboratory may have suffered an invasion by Anti-Entropy, similar to what happened at St. Freya Academy. Their target is likely the Wind Herrscher core stored here.”
The other Valkyries listened intently, except for Kiana, who seemed to be in a poor state. Besides suffering from consecutive days of disturbing dreams and terrible sleep quality, a significant reason was that Raiden Mei wasn’t with her.
For this mission, the Far East Branch dispatched one A-rank Valkyrie and eight B-rank Valkyries. Another four B-rank Valkyries were responsible for maintaining the Hyperion’s operations and wouldn’t join them on the ground. Among the twelve, aside from Himeko, Kiana didn’t know anyone else well.
As for the reason for not letting Raiden Mei come, Kiana could understand it. After all, who knew if Anti-Entropy, failing to seize the Wind Herrscher core, might just decide to kidnap Raiden Mei instead?
With Anti-Entropy diverting forces to Oceania, keeping Raiden Mei by Theresa’s side was the safer decision for her.
“Less than 10 minutes until the Hyperion arrives over Wellington. Final confirmation…”
【Estimated arrival at target in 5 minutes.】
“Everyone, one last equipment check!”
“What’s the situation on the ground?”
“Lieutenant Commander Himeko, no anomalies detected on the ground so far. No signs of Anti-Entropy mech units or personnel activity.”
Himeko frowned slightly:
“Strange. If Anti-Entropy had successfully obtained the Herrscher core, they should have left New Zealand immediately… But now, the Hyperion hasn’t detected any Anti-Entropy fleet leaving New Zealand, and there are no traces on the ground. What’s going on?”
So, did Anti-Entropy actually come? Yes, they did. Otherwise, Schicksal headquarters wouldn’t have attributed the Oceania Branch base’s loss of contact to an Anti-Entropy attack.
At this moment, a hundred meters in front of Wendy lay a bloody, mangled, and incomplete corpse. Upon closer inspection, one could discern it belonged to another clone of Welt Joyce.
His strength wasn’t much greater than the other clones, but in terms of arrogance and self-righteousness, he was exactly like them.
According to Anti-Entropy’s plan, Cocolia would lead a fleet to divert Schicksal’s attention and impede any rescue attempt, while he, acting as a surprise force, would infiltrate the base and seize the core. If the core was already inside someone, he was to capture that person too.
The plan was perfect. But when the Welt clone infiltrated the base and discovered the Herrscher core was inside the A-rank Valkyrie Wendy, he became instantly overconfident, thinking capturing her would be easy.
Then, before he could manipulate gravity, Wendy compressed the surrounding air, instantly crushing his internal organs and bones to a pulp.
Shortly after dealing with the Anti-Entropy intruder, Wendy detected the Hyperion approaching at high speed.
“Perfect. All preparations are complete. Since you’re all so eager to court death, don’t blame me for what happens next…”
