“First, put away those wings on your back and the dragon horns on your head. Then, you’re coming with us to the human world.”
“Is the Queen in the human world?”
At Sienna’s words, Bella retracted her inhuman features.
In her mind, her master was the most powerful existence in the world, second only to ‘God’ itself.
Even if she couldn’t feel the connection to her Queen right now, she figured the link might have snapped after she had died once.
Since the three people before her claimed they could return her to her master’s side, it meant the Queen was alright.
“She’s with the humans,” Sienna confirmed.
“Then when can I see her?”
“Ugh, here we go again.”
Seeing that Bella couldn’t go three sentences without mentioning Sirin, Sienna decided to just give her a copy of the same memory she had shown Cocolia.
Stepping up to Bella, Sienna pressed a palm directly against her forehead.
“Has the Queen… already left me?”
The memories Sienna shared didn’t just include Sirin’s war against Schicksal and Anti-Entropy; they showed the grim footage of Schicksal retrieving Sirin’s remains.
Bella, who cared for nothing in the world except Sirin, felt tears spill from her eyes the moment she saw her master’s death.
“Hey, don’t cry yet! It’s not like she can’t be brought back,” Sienna said quickly, trying to comfort the distraught girl.
“Look at you—you had a hole in your chest and your core was shattered, but we still managed to save you, didn’t we?”
“Can you really save the Queen?” Bella asked, wiping away her tears.
“Schicksal’s power is a bit much for us to handle right now, so there’s no immediate plan. But if you work hard, you’ll have a chance to see her again in the future.”
Currently, Sirin’s body was being poked and prodded in various Schicksal laboratories.
Even without the Core of the Void, they were still squeezing spatial research out of her remains—like the “Time Fracture” system that would become standard issue for future Valkyrie armor.
Aside from the future Herrscher of Sentience, who would eventually crush Otto’s Soulium body like a soda can, no one had ever successfully breached the defenses of Schicksal HQ.
As for Theresa’s attempt…
well, that doesn’t really count when your last name is Apocalypse.
Sienna knew that once the Herrscher of the Void awakened in Kiana’s body, Bella wouldn’t care about the new vessel; she would follow her regardless.
It was better to wait for Siegfried to escape Schicksal with K-423 before making contact.
“Then let’s move.”
As the group stepped out from the ice that had entombed Bella, Sienna opened a rift back to the Theater of Domination.
“Vanilla, I’m going to have to trouble you to keep gathering Honkai Energy here.”
After healing Bella, the Honkai crystals Vanilla had spent days collecting were basically gone.
Sienna didn’t enjoy leaving Vanilla to hunt alone in the snowy wasteland, but they were seriously short-handed.
“Meow~”
Vanilla chirped her agreement immediately upon hearing the instructions.
“Good girl. I’ll bring you something delicious next time.”
Sienna gave her a quick pat on the head before leading Cecilia and Bella into the Theater of Domination.
“I’m going to check in on Cocolia. Cecilia, why don’t you start teaching Bella how to use her basic abilities?”
It had been a few days since Sienna last saw Cocolia, and she had no idea what the woman was up to.
[Are you there?]
Sienna reached out through the thread connected to Cocolia first.
It would be a huge pain if she just blinked into existence while Cocolia was out on the street or in the middle of a meeting.
“Is something the matter?”
Cocolia’s voice echoed through her Herrscher core.
She was currently in her room, surrounded by intelligence gathered from various channels.
“Is it a good time? I’m coming over.”
“It’s fine. I’m alone.”
Hearing that Sienna was on her way, Cocolia reached over and shut the window to her right.
“And you are?”
Cocolia stopped her work as Sienna’s avatar materialized in the room.
Even though she hadn’t seen this specific face before, her sharp intuition told her it was Sienna.
“It’s a clone I just whipped up. Makes it easier to get around,” Sienna explained before shifting the topic.
“How’s the work coming along?”
“Well enough.”
Since becoming a Herrscher, Cocolia’s physical constitution had skyrocketed, boosting her memory and reaction time.
She could sift through chaotic piles of data and pluck out useful intel with ease.
“Is Alexandra not here?” Sienna asked, noticing the room didn’t look like it was set up for two people.
“She’s out right now, negotiating an acquisition with a mine owner.”
“Huh?”
“If we’re going to replace those warlords, we need a fresh identity that allows us to rub shoulders with them.”
Using the funds Sienna had funneled her way, Cocolia had been busy gathering intel and plotting her approach.
Having left the military, she needed a new persona to interact with people of status.
After sending Alexandra to do some reconnaissance, Cocolia decided to buy out a struggling mining operation.
“A small coal mine?” Sienna skimmed the file Cocolia pulled from her desk drawer.
“The environment there isn’t suited for heavy machinery. Between the massive labor costs and the market slump, I can snap it up for a bargain.”
“Do you even know how to run a mine?”
“I don’t. But I only intend to use it to drive down coal prices and establish contact with other factions.”
To Cocolia, actually running the mine was a waste of energy.
Once she secured the necessary connections, she planned to just shut it down.
“The main reason for the loss is the labor cost, right? Then let’s just swap the miners for Zombies and Honkai Beasts.”
Sienna looked over the details of the mine again; she wasn’t about to let a business venture bleed money.
“Use Zombies and Honkai Beasts?”
Cocolia, who had never commanded Honkai creatures before, hadn’t considered that an option.
“As long as a Herrscher is leading them, you can command a swarm of them to handle simple tasks. They’ll work from dawn ’til dusk, and you don’t even have to pay them.”
Sienna grinned.
“Plus, since the mining is underground, we don’t have to worry about satellites spotting them.”