Fu Hua and Theresa's Mission to Jiuyou
"Major Fu Hua, can you still hold on?"
While Bronya was plotting against Chi You's core, Theresa and Fu Hua were also piloting the Hyperion toward the sea area where Jiuyou was located.
However, because Fu Hua had previously used Plume Powder on Theresa in the Q&A space to clear the brainwashing and hypnosis Theresa had undergone, her already injured and unhealed body was further aggravated.
Although Fu Hua did not activate Plume Powder to cover up everything about the Q&A room at Theresa's request, she not only couldn't rest in time but also had to leave St. Freya to perform missions. For her at that moment, this posed a huge burden.
Facing Theresa's concern, Fu Hua shook her head, "Director, please call me Fu Hua. If you keep calling me 'Major Fu Hua' and aren't used to it, people might notice something strange."
Theresa paused briefly at the sound of this, then sighed and said, "I understand, Fu Hua."
Adding the word "Senior" after Fu Hua's name was an unconscious act on her part.
After all, upon learning Fu Hua's past identity, she could no longer treat her as an ordinary student or a spy sent by Otto.
But all of this had to be hidden deep in her heart because of Otto. More than anger, sadness better described Theresa's mood at the moment.
Seeing Theresa change her attitude, Fu Hua nodded slightly. Her complexion had recovered some color and no longer looked as terrifying as it did in the Q&A room.
"I'm much better now. The sanatorium on the Hyperion is almost as good as the treatment center at St. Freya Academy. But you, Director, must keep your composure when you see Otto later."
As she spoke, concern still flickered in Fu Hua's eyes. After thinking for a moment, she suggested, "How about I use the Plume Crossing first...?"
"No!"
Seeing Fu Hua still considering using Plume Powder in her current state, Theresa quickly stopped her.
"Don't worry, Fu Hua, I will make sure not to give us away in front of Otto—or, rather, Grandpa."
As she spoke, Theresa's voice gradually dropped, "After all, he is the one who gave me life and raised me so affectionately. As long as I don't think about anything else, he will always be my grandpa."
Seeing Theresa's current state, Fu Hua opened her mouth but finally said nothing, turning everything into a silent sigh.
Theresa at this moment looks exactly the same as back then.
Although the people and events of that era have become blurred, Fu Hua still remembers that after Captain Himeko was corrupted by the Honkai and became the Seventh Herrscher of the Flame, she destroyed the entire Australian continent as soon as she appeared.
Fu Hua was the only survivor of the fifth squad of the Firemoth at the time.
Given her strength at the time, Captain Himeko could have easily taken her life.
Yet, Captain Himeko never harmed her until Kevin appeared and killed her.
To the other members of the Fire Moths back then, and to the innocent victims on the Australian continent, Himeko's transformation into the Herrscher of the Flame was undoubtedly a demon, an apostle who had fallen to earth, and an executioner who stood against humanity.
But in Fu Hua's eyes, the other person was her savior, who rescued her from the Third Honkai Impact. Without Himeko's rescue, she might have starved to death in that alley, or been killed by hitmen or Honkai Beasts, or even perished in the chaos that broke out after the Honkai Impact.
And after rescuing her, Himeko did not abandon her.
Himeko gave her psychological support after she lost her family, friends, and everything in her life, guiding her toward a bright future.
Even at the end, Captain Himeko killed everyone, but she was still smiling the same way as when Fu Hua first met her.
Throughout the entire encounter, Fu Hua never raised her weapon when facing the Herrscher of the Flame.
It's no wonder that, subsequently, she was marginalized by the other warriors who viewed her as a witch more or less.
Because, to some extent, that is true.
Even after Captain Himeko's death, she remained resentful of everything that had happened.
For example, why would a captain like Himeko turn into a Herrscher?
For example, why did Captain Himeko not touch her?
But all of that, from the moment the black ice burst from Himeko's chest, along with the words she never formulated, became an eternal suspense.
At this time, Otto probably meant to Theresa what Captain Himeko had meant to her back then.
Otto harmed everyone around Theresa, and Captain Himeko also killed all of Fu Hua's teammates after joining the Fifth Squad.
But only for her, Otto/Himeko was special.
Therefore, Fu Hua will not try to interfere with or correct Theresa's thoughts at this moment.
Because Fu Hua knew very well that no matter what the process was like, there would only be one answer.
Fu Hua used to be reluctant to admit it, or she had never thought about it carefully.
But now, she vaguely understands that the moment Captain Himeko attacked humans, regardless of whether Fu Hua was included, Fu Hua, as a human, only had one choice.
Just as Fu Hua was reminiscing about those blurry fragments of the past, Otto's image appeared on the Hyperion's electronic screen.
"Theresa, my dear granddaughter, why aren't you attending to official business at St. Freya Academy on a perfectly good workday? Where are you going?"
Otto propped his chin up with his hand, staring fixedly at Theresa.
"Huh? Aren't these students from your school? Theresa, taking students out of school during class time is not the behavior of a qualified school director."
At that moment, Otto's performance almost convinced Theresa and Fu Hua that he did not know Fu Hua from before.
Regarding acting skills, there are truly few who can compare to him.
"Grandpa, Himeko and the others suffered an accident on their mission to the Nine Underworlds. I can't contact them, so I had to pilot the Hyperion to conduct reconnaissance and search operations. As for Fu Hua, she is from Shenzhou and can be of great help to me in the Nine Underworlds. I have already handed in the mission report. Fu Hua received a temporary mission this time, so it is not considered skipping class without reason and can be recorded in the Valkyrie file. But Grandpa, I just graduated from St. Freya Academy, and you're already contacting me. Have you been spying on me all this time?"
When Otto questioned her, Theresa explained with a slightly anxious tone why she had brought Fu Hua along. Then, as usual, she behaved like a granddaughter and acted spoiled toward Otto, even turning the tables and accusing him of wrongdoing.
Theresa knew very well that if she didn't do that last part, she would look a little guilty.
Only by acting "unreasonably" is Otto more likely to let down his guard.
"Hehe, as a grandpa who worries about his granddaughter, how can asking about her whereabouts be considered surveillance? Theresa, you're really hurting my feelings."
"Hmph~"
"Alright, alright, good luck with your mission, goodbye."
Theresa breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Otto hang up the phone.
Meanwhile, at Schicksal headquarters, after hanging up the communication, Otto suddenly said to Amber, who was behind him, "Retrieve the mission logs of Himeko's team from before."
"Yes."
Amber nodded, then manipulated the electronic screen for a while, and the mission data from a short while ago was presented to Otto.
Otto manipulated the screen a couple of times and found that Himeko's team had accidentally broken Chi You's seal. To make amends for their mistake, they planned to go to the Heart Space to confront Ji Xuanyang, who had been corrupted by Honkai energy. However, due to the extremely high concentration of Honkai energy, they lost contact with the Hyperion.
Before that, it was the Hyperion that launched two attacks on the seal, and it was Theresa who gave the orders.
Such behavior was so stupid that Otto wanted to laugh.
With that level of intelligence, it was clear that he was overthinking things.
On the Hyperion, Theresa was unaware that Otto had checked the previous mission logs after hanging up the communication.
Fortunately, the mission log showed no anomalies and even corroborated Theresa's account better. Otherwise, given Otto's distrust, he probably would have sent an S-class Valkyrie to intercept the Hyperion.
Theresa does not want to confront Otto directly, at least not until her own strength has increased significantly.
She has no chance of winning now.
"How was my performance? Pretty good, right?"
Seeing that she had successfully deceived everyone, Theresa took the initiative to ask Fu Hua for credit.
Fu Hua smiled slightly and said, "Yes, the Director did a great job!"
Theresa: "..."
Wait a minute, why do I feel like I'm being praised like a child?
Okay, in front of Fu Hua, she really is a child.
⚙️ Bronya's Plan and Kiana's Nightmare
Let's turn our attention back to Jiuyou.
After clearing the path to the ventricle, Bronya sent the Heavy Bunny through the passage to search for the location of Chi You's core.
The Heavy Bunny encountered no obstacles in the ventricle. Following the Honkai energy concentration indicated by the Honkai energy detector, it successfully located Chi You's core at the point of highest Honkai energy concentration and brought it back.
However, the moment Heavy Bunny brought the Chi You core out of the cave, Bronya was forced to retreat several steps due to the excessive Honkai energy concentration.
"You really brought it all out."
Ji Xuanyang stepped forward and stabilized Bronya's body. She then pulled a box from inside her clothing, "Cang Xuan gave this to me before she died. My last mission was to use it to seal Chi You's core inside, but I failed and was corrupted, turning me into a death warrior of sorts. Now, here you go. Place Chi You's core inside, and it will isolate the Honkai energy it releases."
"This is?"
Bronya took the box from Ji Xuanyang and instinctively asked a question.
Ji Xuanyang shook her head, "I don't know either. Cang Xuan said it was made of Soul Steel, but I'm not very clear about what Soul Steel is."
Soul Steel?
As a brilliant student, Bronya was naturally well aware of the value and wondrousness of this material.
Unexpectedly, Ji Xuanyang carried a box made of Soul Steel with her.
This gave her increased confidence in the success of her plan.
With that thought in mind, Bronya tossed the box to Heavy Bunny in a perfect parabola.
After receiving the box, Heavy Bunny quickly sealed the Chi You core inside.
After doing all this, Heavy Bunny returned to Bronya with the box containing Chi You's core.
"Heavy Bunny, thank you for your hard work."
After Bronya put the box away, she gently stroked Heavy Bunny's body, as if treating a close partner.
"Bronya, can you tell me what you want to do?"
Suddenly, Mei's voice emerged from behind Bronya.
Bronya turned around in surprise and found that Mei, who had been protecting Kiana, had appeared behind her at some point.
"..."
Bronya remained silent in response to Mei's question.
Seeing this, Mei took a deep breath and said, "I think I know what you plan to do. If you don't want me to tell the Director and the others, then count me in too."
"Mei-neechan..."
Bronya was somewhat surprised by what she heard. She wanted to say something more, but seeing Mei's determined gaze, she silently nodded.
Her decision was partly motivated by the same desire to help Kiana, just like Mei's.
Whether it's Seele or Kiana, if she doesn't have the power, she can only helplessly watch from the sidelines, unable to do anything.
Ji Xuanyang, who had listened to Bronya and Mei's conversation, looked puzzled.
However, she will soon understand the meaning of this conversation and resolutely join in.
After receiving words of encouragement from Bronya, Mei returned to Kiana's side.
To make Kiana more comfortable, Mei knelt down and placed Kiana's head on her lap.
Seeing Kiana frowning for some unknown reason, she gently reached out and smoothed her brow.
Kiana was enjoying the Mei pillow she had always dreamed of, but she was not aware of it because she was trapped in a deep nightmare.
"Sir, I know you're here. Get out of here!"
In her dream, Kiana was not fooled by the familiar St. Freya Academy in front of her; she was fully aware of her situation.
As for the reason for her determination...
Perhaps due to insufficient Honkai energy concentration, her consciousness did not fall into a deep sleep when her body was controlled by the Herrscher's consciousness.
At that time, she watched helplessly as the Herrscher's consciousness used her own body to push Mei away, and even attempted to forcibly tear the Gem of Conquest from Mei's body.
If Ji Xuanyang had not intervened in time, Kiana would probably never have forgiven herself.