“Human, you’re not that great either.
You still needed this Queen’s cooperation.”
Kiana crossed her arms, her golden eyes flashing with smug triumph.
Behind her, Seele hovered nervously, her fingers twisting the hem of her dress.
“Is this elder sister really going to be okay?” Seele asked, her gaze fixed on the alarming, fist-sized lump swelling on the back of Rita’s head.
“Relax,” Kiana waved a hand dismissively.
“I know exactly how to control my strength.
She definitely won’t die from that.”
Despite the reassurance, Seele winced as the unconscious maid twitched on the dirt.
Frez crouched beside the fallen S-Rank Valkyrie.
He plucked the Gene Reaper scythe from the ground, weighing the sleek, deadly weapon in his grip before tossing it to Seele.
She scrambled to catch the heavy polearm.
“Keep it, Seele,” Frez said, dusting off his hands.
“It’s not of much use to me.
But since we went through the trouble of capturing her, we might as well maximize our profit margins.”
A deeply mischievous grin spread across his face.
Seeing that expression, Kiana almost felt a twinge of pity for Rita.
The maid was definitely in for a rough ride.
“What exactly are you plotting?” Kiana asked, leaning in.
“The technology back on my side is…
a mixed bag,” Frez mused.
“Advanced in some ways, completely primitive in others.
Most of our progress relies on digging up archaeological ruins.
So, I’m going to export some local specialties.”
He summoned the Pseudo-Judgment of Shamash, tossing the golden, fiery construct between his hands.
He felt a pang of reluctance.
Here, the Void Archives could passively siphon ambient Honkai Energy from the air to sustain its mimics.
Back on Terra, the air was thick with Originium, but entirely devoid of Honkai.
Any weapons he brought back couldn’t rely on Honkai reactors.
Mechas, though…
Frez thought.
Titans are leagues ahead of Victoria’s clunky Steam Knights.
If he could secure a batch, he could easily find an engineer back home to rip out the Honkai drives and retrofit them for Originium power.
“Kiana, do you have Titans on your side?” Frez asked, glancing up.
“Of course,” she replied, tilting her head.
“Anti-Entropy manufactures them.
They mostly use them for heavy infrastructure and specific special operations.”
That made sense.
In her timeline, the Honkai Beasts weren’t a world-ending threat anymore, and the need for dedicated war machines had plummeted.
The special ops models rarely even carried heavy artillery.
Frez hadn’t seen many Schicksal tactical mechas during his previous visit to their headquarters, either.
If he had, he would have tried to fleece Otto back then.
He couldn’t rely on Kiana’s Anti-Entropy for this.
The Herrscher of the Void had practically bankrupted them with a single blast, and the repair progress on their flagship Father-class Titan was permanently stalled at ninety percent.
Plus, his own pockets were currently empty.
Rita would just have to suffer for the cause.
Frez knelt beside the unconscious maid.
He fished the sleek Schicksal communication device from her uniform, pressed her limp thumb against the biometric scanner, and scrolled through the decrypted contact list.
Lord Bishop Otto.
He tapped the screen.
Beep…
beep…
The line clicked open.
A smooth, infuriatingly light-hearted voice drifted from the speaker.
“Rita, what do you have to report?”
“Lord Bishop Otto,” Frez replied, his tone perfectly flat. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
A beat of silence stretched across the line.
When the man spoke again, he let out an easy, unbothered chuckle.
“Well now.
My unfamiliar friend, may I assume that Rita has met with an unfortunate accident?”
“No accident,” Frez said.
“She’s just fallen into an infant-like sleep.”
Otto didn’t miss a beat.
“What is it you require?
Since you are willing to contact me proactively, I assume there is room for negotiation.”
“I want one of every Schicksal tactical mecha model.
Include ten Heimdall units and ten Baldur units.
If you have confiscated Anti-Entropy Titans lying around, throw in one of each model of those, too.
Oh, and a fully fueled cargo spaceship to pack it all into.
Once I confirm the goods are safe, I guarantee Miss Rita will be returned unharmed.”
“Trading an entire mechanized battalion for a single Schicksal S-Rank Valkyrie?” Otto mused, the smile practically audible in his voice.
“It seems I am the one getting the better end of this deal.”
It was a lie, of course.
S-Rank Valkyries couldn’t be mass-produced on an assembly line.
They required astronomical resources, once-in-a-generation talent, and grueling effort.
Not to mention the custom-tailored gear.
Rita’s specialized armors, like her Umbral Rose and Argent Knight suits, were priceless assets designed for high-level assassination and combat.
Otto never cared about hardware.
Spaceships, divine machines, and Titans were just numbers on a ledger.
Rita was his personal ‘black glove’—the shadow who quietly erased his most difficult problems.
She was worth ten times the ransom., Otto was intensely curious about exactly how someone had managed to take her down.
“I will have my people prepare the shipment immediately,” Otto said smoothly.
“Where shall we conduct this trade?”
“Don’t send your people,” Frez countered.
“Contact Headmaster Theresa.
Have your forces hand the cargo over to her.
I trust her a hell of a lot more than I trust you.”
Saint Freya and the Far East Branch had already severed ties with Schicksal, but Frez knew Otto viewed the rebellion as nothing more than his beloved granddaughter’s minor rebellious phase.
Otto absolutely still had a direct line to her.
“My friend, where is the basic trust between people?” Otto sighed, feigning hurt.
“Friend?
Trust?
Lord Bishop Otto, this is a hostage ransom.
Don’t bring your personal emotions into a business transaction.”
Otto: “…”
Why does that sound so incredibly strange coming from a kidnapper?
“Fine,” Otto conceded, his tone cooling into absolute professionalism.
“In that case, let us keep it strictly business.”
The call clicked dead.
Thousands of miles away, Otto leaned back in his plush leather chair.
He tapped his desk, bringing up the Schicksal Armor System interface on a holographic display.
He pulled Rita’s telemetry data.
Her vitals were stable, but her brainwaves confirmed she was indeed in a deep coma.
He steepled his fingers, calculating the variables.
A moment later, he compiled a digital manifest and spoke into the empty room.
“Amber.
Contact Theresa.
I believe she has blacklisted my personal frequency.
Have the logistics division prepare the assets on this list and deliver them to her location.”
A holographic projection of his cyborg assistant materialized.
“As you command, Lord Bishop.”
Amber initiated the encrypted channel.
It didn’t take long for the connection to establish. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
A petite, white-haired girl appeared on the screen, her blue eyes blinking in confusion.
“Amber?” Theresa asked, before her gaze shifted and hardened into absolute fury.
“You…
Grandpa?!”
“Theresa,” Otto smiled warmly, ignoring the venom in her voice.
“Why look at your dear Grandpa as if you’re staring at a mortal enemy?”
“Don’t you know why?” Theresa gritted her teeth, her fists trembling.
The disappearance of her niece.
Himeko’s death.
The blood of her students was entirely on his hands.
“The Far East Branch has already cut all ties with Schicksal.
If you don’t have official business, I’m hanging up.
Don’t ever contact me again.”
“Haha, if you want to talk business, then let us talk business,” Otto said, his smile never wavering.
“Rita has been captured.”
“What?” Theresa’s hostility broke, replaced by sheer bewilderment.
“Rita?
But she’s an S-Rank Valkyrie!”
Given Rita’s terrifying strength and carefully cautious nature, Theresa couldn’t fathom who in the world possessed the capability to take her alive.
Otto spread his hands in a helpless gesture.
“There are many hidden experts in this world.
Schicksal does not hold a monopoly on individuals with S-Rank strength.
Given Rita’s personality, she would never simply lose her communication device., every Valkyrie’s terminal is standard issue, locked by biological genetic information.
Our mysterious captor bypassed it.
However, the other party does not trust me to make the exchange.”
Otto tapped a few keys, sending the coordinates.
“I will have the requested items sent to Arc City shortly.
I need you to go meet them.”
Theresa narrowed her eyes, suspicion radiating from her posture.
“You’re not planning to ambush them the second they take the cargo, are you?”
She knew her grandfather too well.
He would absolutely retaliate against anyone who dared extort him the moment the hostage was secure.
He had orchestrated far worse atrocities with a smile on his face.
“Theresa, please.
This is a simple transaction,” Otto said, his voice dripping with practiced sincerity.
“There is no need to cause extra trouble.
Rita is an important asset and well worth this price.
I will leave the logistics of the exchange entirely in your capable hands.”
Before Theresa could utter a single word of refusal, Otto severed the connection.
The holographic screen vanished.
Otto looked up at Amber, his warm grandfatherly facade instantly dissolving into cold, calculating precision.
“Amber.
Notify Durandal to leave her current battlefield to the reserve Valkyries.
She is to deploy to Arc City immediately.” Otto picked up a crystal glass of red wine, swirling the crimson liquid gently.
“Additionally, launch the Bright Knight: Excelsis armor to her coordinates.
She must reach the scene at maximum velocity.
The moment the transaction is complete and Rita is secure…
capture that man.”
“As you command, Lord Bishop,” Amber bowed and vanished from the room.
Otto took a slow sip of his wine, his eyes fixed on the empty space where Theresa’s projection had been.
“To plot with a tiger,” he murmured to the empty room, “one must first possess the strength to survive the beast’s jaws.”
Rita had failed.
But Durandal?
His most outstanding, invincible student?
There would absolutely be no accidents.
[Akarin’s Note:
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