The group didn’t linger in the room for long.
After Sienna finished outlining the preliminary phase of the organization’s plan to Cocolia and Alexandra, they stepped out of the café.
Sienna was set to remain here for a few more weeks, meaning they could meet whenever necessary.
“If you’re relying solely on those two, it’ll likely take years to fully realize the plan you’ve envisioned.”
On the trek back to the base, Cecilia felt that Sienna was oversimplifying the future.
Some things couldn’t be rushed, even with the power of a Herrscher at one’s disposal.
Reality wasn’t some virtual management sim.
Just getting Cocolia to rein in those local warlords would eat up years.
By the time Sienna actually built up her power base—given the natural progression of civilization and the accelerating appearance of the Herrschers—the Finality would likely already be at the doorstep.
“True, but we can always fleece the giants.”
“Fleece them?”
“Exactly. We’ll ‘borrow’ talent, technology, and resources from Schicksal and Anti-Entropy.”
Short on candidates for the Herrscher of Dominance?
Once she got her hands on the files for active and retired Valkyries, she was bound to find a few suitable matches among hundreds of candidates.
Technologically backwards?
Schicksal’s hoarded Previous Era tech, excavated from ruins across the globe, was fair game as long as it was stored on a hard drive.
Once she made a trip to Nagazora in the Far East and dug up the box containing that grumpy fox…
well, after subduing the Previous Era Herrscher of Corruption who had been sealed inside for fifty-five thousand years, every scrap of data on the network would be hers for the taking.
“As long as you’re confident,” Cecilia remarked, sensing Sienna wasn’t worried.
If she was bold enough to think she could snatch spoils from the two largest organizations on Earth, she must have intel from a source Cecilia wasn’t privy to.
Over the next few days, Sienna didn’t leave the base, save for a quick trip into town to pick up a few contemporary novels.
She only emerged from her quarters when the next combat mission was called.
“How have you guys been lately?” Sienna asked the B-rank Valkyrie she had met previously as they boarded the aircraft.
“Aside from being busy, things are fine,” the woman replied.
After several consecutive days of sorties, even a Valkyrie was starting to show signs of fatigue.
“By the way, keep your eyes peeled once we touch down. While we were mopping up Honkai Beasts these past two days, we noticed their numbers were a bit lower than projected.” Find the original chapter at novelping(.)com.
Remembering that Sienna hadn’t been with them for the previous shifts, the Valkyrie offered a word of caution.
“Isn’t fewer monsters a good thing?” Sienna asked, though she knew exactly why: it was the result of Vanilla’s tireless harvesting within the swarms.
“Honkai Beasts don’t just vanish into thin air. There’s something going on that we haven’t pinpointed yet. If you see anything unusual, report it before you engage.”
Anything involving the Honkai was inherently lethal.
Facing a potential unknown crisis, they couldn’t afford to be lax.
Vanilla’s doing a pretty good job, Sienna thought.
Upon reaching her assigned sector, Sienna waited for the transport to depart before opening her Theater of Domination.
She reached inside and pulled out several purplish-red Honkai Crystals, each pulsing with a massive amount of energy.
She had instructed Vanilla to gather sufficient energy and then compress it into these crystalline forms for storage.
After a few days, a small pile of them had already accumulated in her dimension.
When she sent Vanilla out to “farm,” Sienna hadn’t let her completely wipe out an area in one go.
She wanted to avoid tipping off the Valkyries who would inevitably follow.
It seemed that during Vanilla’s hunting spree, the other Honkai Beasts had stopped viewing her as one of their own.
The resulting skirmishes forced Vanilla to eliminate more of them than intended just to make her exit.
The Valkyries sensed something was off, but Vanilla had already moved on to a new hunting ground.
After a few days of investigation turned up no leads, they’d likely drop the matter.
Unlike last time, where she had to personally scout for clusters, Sienna simply dropped a few crystals on the spot and waited for the beasts to come to her.
She injected a sliver of her Herrscher of Dominance power into the crystals to sweeten the pot.
She unzipped her backpack.
If anyone saw the contents, she’d definitely get a lecture: You’re here to fight monsters, not go on a picnic!
Sienna pulled out a folding chair and a novel, settling in to wait for her “guests” to arrive.
“You certainly are taking it easy,” Cecilia remarked.
Her recovery was progressing so rapidly that she could now open rifts to the Theater of Domination on her own.
Seeing Sienna like this, Cecilia couldn’t help but reflect that this was far more relaxed than when she, as an S-rank Valkyrie, had to clear sudden Honkai outbreaks.
Judging by the Honkai Energy radiating from Cecilia’s core, she was already capable of piloting a physical form.
“Roughly,” Cecilia agreed.
After a few days in this space, she could feel her recovery speed was several times faster than that of Cheng Lixue, who had yet to wake up.
“Once you have a body, your abilities will likely trend toward restoration and healing.”
As a former wielder of the Abyss Flower, it was highly probable that Cecilia would awaken a “lite” version of the Herrscher of Death’s powers.
“But how come I haven’t manifested a unique ability like you or Cocolia?” Sienna wondered.
Unlike the other two, she only had the standard toolkit every Herrscher of Dominance came with.
“Maybe you’re like Vanilla—the type whose power goes into self-reinforcement.”
Elemental buffs like ice or fire, as well as invisibility, were standard features for high-tier Honkai Beasts once they were fed enough Honkai Energy.
“They’re here.”
Sienna had barely finished her chat with Cecilia when she felt a faint tremor in the ground—the rhythmic, heavy thumping of a beast charging from the distance.
“Vroom vroom~”
Seeing a Chariot-class Honkai Beast over three meters tall leading the charge, Sienna felt a spark of curiosity.
Was its cry really like the one she’d heard in that summer event?
“ROAR—!”
Sensing the call of the Herrscher in the distance, the Chariot-class beast let out a gutteral, primal howl.
“Guess not.” Sienna looked disappointed.
It seemed the “vrooming” Chariot-class beast from the summer event was a quirk unique to that specific Bubble Universe.
“What are you doing?” Cecilia asked, watching Sienna go from making a cute noise to looking utterly dejected in the span of a second.
She had no idea what was going through the girl’s head.
“Nothing. Just mourning the gap between expectations and reality.”
“?”
Now Cecilia was even more confused.