***
The curtain on the Third Eruption was raised as Jiang Qiao pressed the detonation button.
Because the citizens of Nagazora City had been evacuated in advance, the number of zombies generated within Nagazora City was extremely sparse.
Of course, the existence of Honkai Beasts wouldn’t be affected by this.
— At the temporary camp extremely close to Nagazora City, Dr. MEI was here responsible for coordinating the Fire Moth troops.
“I didn’t expect the Third Eruption to come so quickly.”
“But compared to the previous one, this Honkai eruption’s scale is quite small.”
A bold, mature voice rang out in the camp. Dr. MEI looked toward the direction of the voice, and what came into view was a red-haired woman wearing a specially-made anti-Honkai Energy combat suit.
Fire Moth Fifth Squad Captain — Himiko.
She and her Fifth Squad were mainly stationed at Fire Moth’s Fifth Base in the Far East region.
MEI had already investigated her information in advance.
Kind-hearted and very easy to get along with, just somewhat fond of alcohol to the point of addiction.
“Isn’t it better if the scale is smaller~”
A vibrant, sweet voice rang out in the camp, drawing the attention of many Fire Moth soldiers.
A pink-haired girl in high heels walked to MEI’s side, revealing that smile widely known throughout Fire Moth — Miss Elf’s smile.
“Mm-hm~ Hi, I’m Elysia. As you can see, a girl as gorgeous as a fluttering flower?”
The current 【Elysia】 didn’t know Himiko yet, since Elysia had actually only joined the organization not too long ago, and Elysia was stationed at Fire Moth headquarters, which wasn’t far from the Far East where the Fifth Squad was stationed.
During the previous Second Eruption, because they were attacking different directions and the Fifth Squad entered the battle relatively late, they hadn’t met.
This was their first meeting.
Himiko grasped Jiang Qiao’s extended hand:
“Himiko, captain of the Fifth Squad.”
“Although I’d heard long ago that Elysia, who defeated the 2nd Herrscher, was a very beautiful girl, I didn’t expect her to be this cute.”
After releasing her hand, she looked at 【Elysia】 appearance and couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.
The latter hummed through her nose and smiled in response:
“Mm-hm~ You’re also quite a beautiful girl?”
“Haha, you’re so sweet-tongued. After this battle ends, we should have a drink together sometime.”
Just like the later Himeko, Himiko had a straightforward personality, and at this time she was more like the younger Himeko. After being praised like this, she openly showed her happiness and proactively suggested drinking together.
Seeing that the two were about to start chatting right in front of her, MEI felt speechless while having to intervene:
“Alright, chatting can wait until later. If you keep talking like this, there’ll be no end to it.”
“Right, let’s talk later then. Now let’s discuss business.”
Himiko had excellent military discipline. After being reminded, she smiled and nodded, then returned to seriousness.
MEI also spoke up:
“Currently, the higher-ups have assigned me as the main commanding officer responsible for this Honkai eruption.”
Originally, the ideal candidate should have been Mobius, but unfortunately the higher-ups’ impression of Miss Snake really wasn’t great. It just so happened that whether in previous meetings or in the mobilization handling before the Honkai eruption, MEI had shown amazing talent, so she naturally became the commander of this Third Eruption.
“I’ve already made arrangements in advance. Captain Himiko, your Fifth Squad needs to advance from the north of Nagazora City and clear out the Honkai Beasts on the periphery.”
“Understood.”
After Himiko led her Fifth Squad to prepare their equipment, they directly left the camp.
What remained on site were MEI and Jiang Qiao.
The former spoke:
“Elysia, headquarters… requires that you cannot enter the battlefield without receiving orders.”
When saying this, MEI’s tone carried some helplessness and resentment, though these weren’t directed at Jiang Qiao, but at Fire Moth’s higher-ups.
— As the primary hero who defeated the Second Eruption, Elysia’s prestige within Fire Moth was extremely high.
Outstanding abilities, powerful social skills, and that prestige, it could be said that in the eyes of the higher-ups, this hero of the Second Eruption had become an extremely troublesome existence.
Perhaps letting her participate could indeed solve this Nagazora City Honkai eruption as quickly as possible.
But to suppress Elysia’s prestige, the higher-ups would rather have the soldiers below shed more blood than let Elysia appear on the battlefield again.
Even if more blood was shed in the process, the higher-ups would be quite happy to see it.
This way, while Fire Moth soldiers were fighting bloody battles outside, the hero of the previous Honkai eruption wouldn’t participate in combat. Even if Elysia later explained that she was following orders from the higher-ups, Fire Moth could use other excuses to deal with dissatisfied soldiers below.
And Elysia? Even if she wasn’t labeled as cowardly, the prestige gained from the Second Eruption would plummet, and the interpersonal relationships she’d cultivated that gave the higher-ups headaches might also develop cracks.
When it came to suppressing their own people, Fire Moth’s higher-ups could be said to have their abacus beads clicking loudly.
Soldiers were like sharp knives.
But if a knife’s prestige was too heavy, wanting to use the knife or handle it would become extremely difficult, and there might even be a risk of cutting oneself.
To better control Elysia, this knife, and make her into the puppet the higher-ups wanted, they made this decision.
MEI sighed:
“By the way, when learning of this decision, I heard that Dr. Mobius stormed out of the meeting.”
Making such discourteous behavior in a meeting of higher-ups, she estimated that Mobius’s laboratory would probably face budget cuts as punishment afterward.
The girl smiled knowingly, lightly covering the corner of her mouth:
“That’s definitely something Dr. Mobius would do. I can almost imagine her angry little expression when she returned to the lab.”
“But those people up there really don’t make things easy.”
Sighing lightly, although the pink-haired girl’s words didn’t reveal negative emotions like anger, showing more helplessness and speechlessness, MEI could hear the dissatisfaction in the girl’s words.
She also sighed in admiration:
“We’ll have to find a way to solve this problem later. Having such teammates causing friendly fire is really too damaging.”
MEI, who had been a simple young girl not long ago, also couldn’t help but think “I can’t handle this” in her heart after experiencing the weight of Fire Moth’s higher-ups.
Working together with these parasites was really unbearable.
Even the extremely rational MEI had to admit the necessity of the measures Jiang Qiao had mentioned to her about dealing with these troublemakers later.
“Forget it, too lazy to think about those annoying things. MEI, you should smile more and be happy. If girls get angry, it’s very damaging to the skin.”
“…In this situation, how do you expect me to smile?”
Rolling her eyes, MEI sighed.
Although the situation had been handled as well as they could manage, this Third Eruption had just begun.
“Alright, alright~ I sense a very strong Honkai energy reaction in the center of Nagazora City~ I’ll go take a look first.”
The girl chuckled lightly, a curve forming at the corner of her mouth.
— He wasn’t Elysia.