“What?
Bronya vanished?”
Aboard the Hyperion, Theresa was on a communication call with her grandfather, Otto.
Hearing Otto’s words, Theresa was momentarily stunned.
“Mhm.”
Otto nodded, taking an elegant sip of his tea.
After leaving Nagazora, Herrscher Bronya had disappeared into the vast sea.
Otto had mobilized all of Schicksal’s satellites and a massive number of Valkyries stationed in the Far East, using every trick in the book, but still couldn’t find a single trace of Bronya.
“How could she just vanish into thin air?
Is she hiding somewhere?” Theresa asked, full of worry.
“Don’t worry.
I’ll find that Herrscher.”
Otto was extremely interested in Herrscher Bronya.
The Herrscher of Reason had already appeared before, so why was there a second one now?
Unless…
just as Bronya had once claimed, Welt, the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy, wasn’t actually the true Herrscher of Reason.
Otto didn’t fully believe it, but he didn’t cast aside his doubts either.
“By the way, Grandpa, what’s going on with Kiana?
Why did Bronya say she’s the Herrscher of the Void?
Wasn’t it confirmed back then that Sirin died?”
Ever since returning to St.
Freya, Theresa had been troubled by what Bronya had said.
After testing, Raiden Mei was indeed the Third Herrscher born from the Nagazora Eruption—the Herrscher of Thunder.
So why was Kiana tied to the Herrscher of the Void as well?
“There are some things I cannot tell you just yet,” Otto said with a faint, calm smile.
“…”
Hearing that, Theresa felt a bit frustrated, but there was nothing she could do.
If Otto wasn’t talking, it would be almost impossible for her to dig up the truth about Kiana.
After chatting about a few other topics, the two ended the communication.
“Kiana…” Theresa muttered, staring out the window at the peaceful scenery with a heavy heart.
What on earth was her grandfather hiding?
…
Siberia.
“Finally here.”
Bronya quietly landed on the snow-covered tundra.
Right now, the top priority was to hunker down and gather Honkai Energy, not recklessly go out and start trouble.
After all, the cautionary tale was right there—Six-Core Sirin got totally clapped, and Bronya didn’t think she was stronger than her.
“Still…
how do I gather Honkai Energy on a massive scale?”
Standing on the vast, desolate land, Bronya fell deep into thought.
“To destroy human civilization, I need to gather Honkai Energy.
To gather Honkai Energy, I need to cause Honkai Eruptions.
But causing Honkai Eruptions will draw out the Valkyries…”
“It’s a dead loop.”
This infinite loop gave Bronya a bit of a headache.
“Whatever, I’ll just find a place to hide first.”
Bronya quickly gave up on overthinking it.
It wasn’t like there was a deadline to destroy human civilization anyway.
She planned to settle down first and properly figure out her next steps.
Riding Project Bunny’s stealth motorcycle, Bronya headed toward the nearest small town.
Not a single track was left behind on the snow, nor could anyone hear the roaring engine.
Before long, she arrived near the town.
She had no intention of interacting with anyone.
After entering the town in stealth mode, she immediately used her Herrscher power to replicate whatever useful supplies she could find.
Then, she silently slipped away.
Bronya didn’t travel too far and stopped by an abandoned cabin near the town.
Standing outside the cabin, Bronya randomly picked a spot on the ground and activated her Herrscher power.
Honkai Energy began to conjure a massive cloud of silver-gray mist that rapidly expanded.
Soon after, the silver-gray mist vanished out of sight.
But in Bronya’s eyes, those tiny constructs were still there—they had simply shifted colors to blend seamlessly with the environment.
In essence, this silver-gray mist was composed of a massive swarm of nanobots.
Bronya reached out her hand.
A cluster of silver-gray nanobots gathered in her palm, quickly forming a tiny girl standing on her hand.
“Master.”
The white-haired, blue-eyed nanobot girl stood straight at attention, looking at Bronya expressionlessly.
She was the collective consciousness of the nanobots, though currently just newly born, like a blank slate.
“Call me Sister Bronya.”
Bronya said with satisfaction.
Creating these nanobots had practically drained most of her Honkai Energy.
Although the initial number of nanobots spawned from this batch of Honkai Energy was small, they had already begun growing exponentially in no time.
“Understood, Sister Bronya.”
The girl’s face remained blank as she gave a crisp, straightforward reply.
Even though the girl lacked emotions for now, Bronya didn’t mind.
She pondered how to transfer some of her memories to the nanobot girl, while using her other hand to construct a pair of headphones on the spot.
“Preparing data transfer.” Bronya looked at the girl.
“Affirmative.”
Data streams began flowing across the girl’s blue eyes.
In just a few short minutes, she received a massive load of memory data sent by Bronya.
“From now on, your name is Gray Tempest.
Little Gray.”
Bronya smiled and patted Little Gray’s head.
“Understood, Sister Bronya.”
Little Gray looked at Bronya and gave a picture-perfect, textbook smile.
Bronya nodded in approval.
It would take some time for Gray Tempest to fully process the memories she just received.
Right now, she was both the collective consciousness of the nanobots and a digital lifeform, rather than a basic AI.
“Alright, I’m leaving the rest to you.
Start constructing our base.”
“Mhm!”
Countless nanobots devoured matter from the ground and the air.
At a microscopic level, all surrounding materials were swiftly converted into nutrients for the nanobots’ exponential self-replication.
However, these nanobots didn’t just consume and multiply recklessly.
They also fused together to form ultra-durable, self-repairing, and cloaked nano-metal.
Above ground near the cabin, everything appeared peaceful and undisturbed.
But deep below, a massive underground facility was rapidly taking shape.
A few days later.
Dressed in a white lab coat, Bronya stood in a laboratory completely encased in silver-gray metal.
She raised the firearm in her hand.
Bang!
Bronya gently blew a puff of warm air from her soft lips.
In front of her, a death row inmate with a bloody bullet hole in the center of his forehead collapsed slowly, eyes wide with horror.
“It’s faint, but it definitely generated Honkai Energy.” Bronya carefully sensed the trace of Honkai Energy that appeared right after killing the inmate.
The generated Honkai Energy was extremely faint, something ordinary instruments couldn’t detect at all.
But as the Herrscher of Reason, Bronya could feel the subtle Honkai Energy produced upon human death.
With various ideas forming in her head, Bronya turned and left the room.
The corpse in the laboratory sank into the silver-gray metal floor at incredible speed, vanishing without a trace in seconds.
The faint Honkai Energy produced by executing that human prisoner with a human gun gave Bronya brand-new ideas.
However, when she walked into her bedroom, she instantly froze in silence.
“Ghehehe…
Sister Bronya!
Mmmm, it’s Sister Bronya scent!”
Inside one of the rooms in the underground base, the white-haired, blue-eyed girl was happily cuddling the blanket on the bed, sniffing every inch of it.
Every now and then, she took a deep breath, her body wrapped in a black military uniform squirming around with excitement.
If not for this unhinged behavior, the girl actually looked like a very stern and disciplined soldier—at least, she did when she was first created.
Knock knock.
Seeing this scene in her room, Bronya helplessly knocked on the doorframe.
“Ehehe~”
Gray Tempest turned around happily, blinking her blue eyes, and let out an adorable “ehehe.”
…
“Little Gray!
My Little Gray!
Woohoo, my Little Gray!”
Ren rolled around on his bed in excitement while clutching his phone.
He really didn’t expect Honkai: Civilization to actually feature this!
Controlling Bronya actually allowed him to custom-create Gray Tempest!
Too bad he couldn’t personally hug the cute yet badass Gray Tempest in real life, but in the game, he could finally fulfill this dream!