Night. Schicksal Third Airport, Hyperion Laboratory.
Two red-haired women were engaged in a tense conversation.
"This is an enhanced version of the Honkai-Neutralizing Serum. Thanks to the secrets beneath your Academy's underground cathedral—and Miss Kiana's help—we rescued the scientist who developed the prototype serum from Schicksal custody."
"It will completely eliminate Honkai energy from the human body within one minute. But listen carefully—"
"This serum only eliminates Honkai energy, it doesn't repair damage. If you inject it when you're barely clinging to life, it will serve no purpose other than to ensure you have a dignified funeral, a grand burial rather than being destroyed as just another zombie."
"We currently have only two doses of this serum. We only recently perfected it. It's quite fortunate you stumbled upon it just in time, hmph—"
"You can consider giving the other dose to your student—just as I said before, this new Honkai-Neutralizing Serum can rapidly neutralize Honkai energy within the body. Her Herrscher Consciousness awakened by absorbing massive amounts of Honkai energy. If that energy vanishes abruptly, she'll be forced back into dormancy."
Tesla grabbed the two vials of serum and roughly shoved them into Murata Himeko's hands, then waved dismissively to shoo her away.
"You lot! Get out of my sight immediately—argh, I can't stand looking at you!"
The Lobster-head Doctor pushed Murata Himeko, who was trying to thank her, out of the lab.
The lab door slammed shut again, leaving the red-haired Valkyrie outside with a wry smile.
"Thank you, Dr. Tesla..."
Wiping the wry smile from her face, Murata Himeko clutched the two vials of serum tightly, feeling the weight of the serum contained within the small disposable syringes. Gathering her resolve, she turned and headed toward the Hyperion.
"Now, all that's left is that armor called the Key of Blankness..."
-
As the night still clung to the sky, Murata Himeko quietly slipped into the Helheim Research Institute. This massive laboratory, occupying an entire Floating Island, had been left unguarded by Theresa after transferring its researchers and data, in order to conserve manpower—no Valkyrie Squad had been stationed there.
Himeko easily bypassed several Schicksal Divine Mecha whose control programs had been overwritten by the Far East Branch, descending to the laboratory's deepest level.
As the panoramic elevator continued its descent, the scene of the bottommost experimental level gradually came into view. At the center of the circular laboratory, a crimson battlesuit floated serenely within a transparent containment capsule, instantly capturing Himeko's attention.
Yet what truly riveted the Red-haired Valkyrie's gaze was an unexpected guest who shared her clandestine presence.
Houraiji Kyuusyou sat legs crossed on a chair left behind by the researchers, calmly watching Himeko emerge from the elevator. The two women faced each other in the vast, silent laboratory, locked in a wordless standoff.
After a long, tense silence, Himeko, unable to bear the stillness any longer, finally broke the silence, attempting to spark a conversation:
"Kyuusyou, why aren't you asleep? What are you doing here so late?"
The red-haired Valkyrie, feeling somewhat awkward under Kyuusyou's gaze, asked a pointless question.
"I should be asking you that, Teacher Himeko. According to today's schedule, I'm on night watch. I'm just here checking things."
Kyuusyou responded with an equally absurd lie that even Theresa wouldn't believe.
The silence returned, but this time it was short-lived. Murata Himeko broke it again:
"I need that armor, Kyuusyou."
The red-haired Valkyrie cut straight to the chase, revealing her intentions.
"I know—that's why I'm here. Theresa asked me to keep an eye on you during the day, Teacher Himeko, and now you've already started..."
Kyuusyou stood up from the researcher's chair, hitting her thigh as if her leg had gone numb from sitting.
"So, Kyuusyou, are you going to stop me?"
"No... Even if I block you here and prevent you from taking the armor—when 'she' arrives, you'll be the first to charge in anyway, won't you?"
"I just want to hear your own thoughts, Teacher Himeko..."
The purple-haired girl stood up, clearing a path for Himeko to approach the Valkyrie Battlesuit assembly platform.
"Because I'm your teacher, the teacher of all Valkyrie students at St. Freya Academy."
"It's my duty to help my students break free from their confusion and guide them toward the future."
"If my students lose their way or take the wrong path, it's also my duty to slap them awake and set them straight."
Murata Himeko strode past Kyuusyou and stood before the assembly platform. She placed her palm on the authentication panel. As a cold, mechanical female voice announced verification complete, the scanner began collecting data on the red-haired Valkyrie, adjusting the size of the Key of Blankness to match the user's physique.
Data collection complete. Fourth-Generation Godsbane Armor Prototype—Vermilion Knight: Eclipse—transmission initiated.
The Valkyrie Battlesuit, previously stored in a containment vessel, began to particleize and then materialize around Himeko, the crimson armor fitting perfectly against the red-haired woman's form.
"And don't worry too much, Kyuusyou—I got a special Honkai-Neutralizing Serum from Dr. Tesla. With this, I can safely use this armor and bring Kiana home."
Himeko smiled, as if cheering herself and her student on.
"Have faith in your teacher, Kyuusyou. I'm the Far East Branch's trump card, after all. And what is a trump card if not someone who can create miracles?"
Having completed the armor transfer, Himeko placed her hand on Kyuusyou's silent shoulder, lowered her head, and gently bumped their foreheads together.
"I'm your teacher, Kyuusyou... I'm your teacher..."
The two separated, and Himeko temporarily deactivated the armor. She turned and walked away, raising her hand in a final wave, as if bidding Kyuusyou a last farewell.
...The crimson figure ascended with the elevator, disappearing from Houraiji Kyuusyou's sight.
"Foolish beyond measure..."
"...Yet it is precisely this foolishness that grants humanity life."
Kyuusyou watched the direction where the Red-haired Valkyrie had vanished, her expression inscrutable as she closed her eyes.
-
"Lady Kyuusyou... Even if we hadn't intervened with Miss Kiana, with two vials of the Honkai-Neutralizing Serum, she should have been able to—?"
Muninn materialized beside Kyuusyou, gazing at her with confusion.
"Do you really think she would have used them, Muninn?" Kyuusyou asked. "Murata Himeko would have only injected one vial into Kiana, then pressed the other into her hand as insurance against her still-unstable Herrscher powers. She would have closed her eyes, leaving her student with a final blessing for the future and a final lesson."
"To get her to use the serum willingly, we'd need to find a whole crate for her to experiment with. But where would we even get a crate like that?"