“My Queen, they have arrived!”
Inside the grand, lavish hall, several maidens of the Queen’s Imperial Guard reported to Sirin.
The moment the Schicksal forces mobilized, the Imperial Guard had immediately detected and monitored their movements.
“Is the maze set up?”
Sirin stuffed a whole marshmallow into her mouth with a cute nom.
“Everything is prepared!
We are just waiting for that human you mentioned to step inside!” the maiden replied promptly.
“Theresa, what about you girls?”
Sirin suddenly asked.
A portal leading to the Imaginary Space opened in front of Sirin.
Theresa stepped out from within, followed closely by the Valkyries of the Snow Wolf Squad.
“My Queen, we are fully prepared,” Theresa bowed her head respectfully before Sirin.
“Don’t disappoint me~”
Sirin reached out, gently lifting Theresa’s fair, tender chin, gazing with amusement at the reborn Theresa and her companions.
Indeed, the Theresa standing before Sirin was a newly reborn Theresa—one who had been completely transformed into an Imaginary space entity.
She retained most of the original Theresa’s memories and gained all the unique capabilities of an Imaginary lifeform.
The same went for the members of the Snow Wolf Squad behind her—Cheng Lixue, Shubb, Salome, and Shigure Kira.
However, despite all being converted into Imaginary lifeforms, the Snow Wolf Squad members retained all of their memories from when they were human.
Unlike Theresa—whose brain had been removed and incinerated in a star by Sirin—the reborn Theresa had slight memory gaps.
Naturally, as entities assimilated into the Imaginary Space, they, like the rest of the Queen’s Imperial Guard, were bound by absolute loyalty and could never betray Sirin.
“Understood, My Queen!
We will wash away our past humiliation!
We won’t let you down!”
Theresa and the Snow Wolf Squad members declared to Sirin with unwavering fervor and devotion.
“Go then.
Capture Cecilia and bring her to me.
Bella will assist you.”
“However, keep in mind that Cecilia’s blood possesses a powerful neutralizing effect against Honkai energy.
If you fail, fall back to the Imaginary Space immediately.”
Sirin instructed them calmly.
“Yes!
My Queen!
We have engraved your words in our hearts!”
“ALL FOR THE QUEEN!!!”
Watching Theresa and the others depart, a faint smile curved up the corner of Sirin’s lips.
“Cecilia…
how will you face Theresa and the others now?
Will you strike them down without hesitation, or will you falter and refuse to fight?
Ah, I really can’t wait to see~”
Sirin was in a pretty damn good mood right now.
…
“Something’s not right…”
Welt stared out the helicopter window, his brow tightly furrowed.
Due to Siberia showing zero signs of a Honkai outbreak and lacking any Honkai Beasts—plus Schicksal troops having orders to retreat immediately upon reporting any danger—the Schicksal forces had slammed the throttle wide open.
They rocketed straight into Siberia, heading in a bee-line toward Babylon Labs. New chapters come out on g.com first.
Welt and Cecilia had disguised themselves as regular soldiers, boarding one of the helicopters and flying into Siberia alongside the rest of the fleet.
But the question was…
why were there fewer and fewer helicopters around them?
“Any issues with our comms back to command?” Welt asked the pilot.
“Everything’s normal, sir!” the pilot replied.
“What about contact with the other helicopters?” Welt pressed.
“Also completely normal!”
They hadn’t heard any explosions, nor had they lost contact with any of the aircraft.
“Then why are we the only ones left out here?” Welt quietly checked the pilot, but found nothing wrong with him.
“Huh?” The pilot froze for a second.
He’d been so focused on pushing the throttle forward that he hadn’t even noticed the other helicopters had vanished from sight.
The fleet wasn’t flying in a cramped clump; they were spread out in various tactical formations.
Still, no matter what, they should at least be able to see other choppers nearby.
“I…
I don’t know!” The pilot started to panic.
“How long have we been flying?” Cecilia suddenly asked.
“If our flight path was correct, we should already be able to see Babylon Labs by now!” Hearing her question, Welt suddenly realized something.
“Could we have walked into a trap?” Welt guessed, immediately preparing for the absolute worst-case scenario.
It was very likely they had stepped right into the Second Herrscher’s snare.
“I don’t feel any Honkai energy signatures anywhere nearby,” Cecilia said, her expression grave.
“How can that be?
If this really is the Second Herrscher’s trap, how could there be zero Honkai energy reading?”
“No, we have to land and check things out on the ground!”
Welt immediately ordered the pilot to land.
Before long, the helicopter carrying Welt and Cecilia touched down on the snow.
“Strange…”
The moment Cecilia set foot on the ground, she looked around in bewilderment.
“Up ahead…”
Welt was equally dumbfounded.
“It’s Babylon Labs.”
Right after landing, they suddenly saw Babylon Labs standing tall amidst the distant snowy plain.
Yet when they had been sitting in the helicopter, they hadn’t seen a single trace of Babylon Labs at all.
“We head over immediately.” Welt instructed the pilot to contact command and return directly.
He and Cecilia set off together toward Babylon Labs.
Before long, the two drew close to the facility.
“Is that…
a Judgment-class Honkai Beast?” Welt gasped, staring at the gigantic egg next to Babylon Labs, which looked to be easily over 100 meters tall.
“How could it be this massive?” Cecilia was equally shocked, her hands instinctively tightening around Abyss Flower as she readied herself for combat.
She knew all too well that if a Judgment-class Honkai Beast of this size reached human cities, the destruction would be catastrophic.
Even if they managed to kill it, countless innocent lives would be caught in the crossfire.
So Cecilia was fully prepared to put an end to this incubating monster right here in Siberia.
However, as Welt and Cecilia drew closer to the giant egg, they both suddenly noticed something very odd about the monster’s Honkai energy signature.
“Yeah…
it feels almost like…” Cecilia sensed the energy carefully.
“It’s suppressing its own Honkai energy?!” the two blurted out simultaneously.
“How is that even possible?” Welt was bewildered, but then a lightning bolt of realization struck his mind.
“Could it be that the Second Herrscher is forcing this Judgment-class beast to suppress its energy?!”
“We might not even need to fight!
The Second Herrscher likely still possesses human emotions!” Welt said, growing excited.
“But Theresa and the others were probably attacked by the Second Herrscher…” Cecilia said, deeply worried about Theresa and the Snow Wolf Squad.
But soon, she realized something off.
“Who sent those photos?!” Cecilia suddenly recalled that the photos of Theresa and her team after the attack were transmitted back to Schicksal via Theresa’s own comms device.
If the attacker was the Second Herrscher, then who sent those photos to Schicksal?
“We might have gotten it all wrong!
The Second Herrscher’s Herrscher persona and human persona are very likely locked in a fierce internal struggle!” Welt immediately recalled his own experience when he first became a Herrscher.
Then, he made an extremely bold hypothesis.
“When the Second Herrscher was born, she didn’t completely turn into a mindless killing machine!
Her human persona must still be alive and kicking!
And she commanded her companion Judgment-class Honkai Beast to stay near Babylon Labs and suppress its own Honkai energy!”
“Theresa and her team were probably attacked by the Herrscher persona after entering Siberia.
But because of the clash with her human persona, she couldn’t bring herself to kill them, so they were only heavily injured!
Look closely at the photos—Theresa and the others were badly hurt, but their lives weren’t in danger!”
“Afterward, the Second Herrscher’s human persona sent those photos back to Schicksal!
Her true goal was almost certainly to get someone here ASAP to rescue Theresa!”
“And the anomaly in the skies over Siberia is likely related to the Second Herrscher as well.
She’s blocking others from entering Siberia so they won’t get attacked by her Herrscher persona!”
Hearing Welt’s elaborate chain of deduction, Cecilia thought it over carefully and realized it actually made a ton of sense.
A Herrscher hellbent on destroying human civilization would prioritize that above all else—why would she just squat in Siberia doing nothing?
Why was no one killed during the attack on Theresa’s team?
Who sent the photos of their injuries?
Why was this Judgment-class beast suppressing its own energy?
And why was the strange phenomenon in Siberia harmless yet actively keeping humans out?
Everything seemed to confirm Welt’s theory!
“Babylon Labs!
If your guess is right, the Second Herrscher and Theresa’s team are probably inside!
We need to hurry!” The more Cecilia thought about it, the more convinced she became.
“Right, let’s move!” Welt nodded solemnly.
In his eyes, maybe the Second Herrscher could join humanity just like he did—fighting for humanity, fighting for all that is beautiful in the world!
However, what Welt and Cecilia didn’t know was that Sirin’s Queen’s Imperial Guard had been monitoring all of Siberia.
They had been spotted the moment they stepped foot in the region.
Thus, every single word of Welt and Cecilia’s conversation was relayed loud and clear straight into Sirin’s ears.
…
“Holy crap, that’s insane…
Old Yang’s headcanon skills are off the charts.
I didn’t even know there were so many wild ideas packed in his brain.”
Ren was also completely dumbfounded.