After giving the girl's purple hair one last stroke, Bai Ge handed her over to Cecilia and walked off into the distance.
"Where are you going?"
"Isn't it obvious? Getting beaten up like this and staying quiet isn't my style. We have an old saying in Shenzhou: repay a drop of kindness with a gushing spring, avenge an arrow by slaughtering his whole family! While I can still move for a while longer, of course I'm going to have a good chat with that bastard Otto."
After getting Schicksal's coordinates from Siegfried, Bai Ge immediately called Bella over.
"Roar, roar, roar—!"
The white dragon carried her master into the sky, flying toward Schicksal's Floating Island at supersonic speed.
Only Cecilia, Siegfried, Theresa, and the many Schicksal Valkyries remained behind.
Thinking back on what Bai Ge had asked her, Cecilia restrained the urge to cry. Whether he succeeded or failed, she would offer Bai Ge her most heartfelt gratitude.
"We should decide what path to take next as well."
Cecilia gazed in the direction Bai Ge had left, gripping Black Abyss White Flower as she murmured to herself.
In the sky.
"Looks like there really isn't anything left. I've gotten this close, yet they still haven't done anything." Riding Bella, Bai Ge quickly reached the vicinity of Schicksal's Floating Island.
He had encountered no interception along the way. Things had gone smoothly to an abnormal degree, but it was easy to understand why. It was probably not that they did not want to stop him, but that they truly could not.
To kill Bai Ge, Otto had already fired every missile Schicksal possessed. There really was not a single one left.
"Roar, roar, roar, roar—!"
With that bastard's headquarters right before her eyes, Bella let out an impatient, hate-filled dragon roar.
She could not wait to wreak havoc and slaughter that blond bastard who had hurt her master a thousand times over.
However—
"Bella, you should go back too."
"Master?"
The white dragon transformed back into a silver-haired girl. Bella looked at Bai Ge in confusion, as though she could not understand his command.
"Not just Sirin. As my companion Honkai Beast, Bella, you are my family too. So you need to live well and freely, understand?" Bai Ge gently said, raising a hand to stroke Bella's cheek.
With a Simulated Core and a human body, Benares had already changed from a Honkai Beast into a Simulated Herrscher.
But she could still go even further.
From a Simulated Herrscher, to a true human.
As the master who had given her life, strength, thought, and even his own life, Bai Ge had never regarded Bella as his servant. She was family, someone equally worthy of his protection.
"No, don't! Bella only wants to stay with you forever and follow your will forever!" Bella immediately panicked. For the first time since her birth, she rejected Bai Ge's will.
"Thank you, Bella, but... this is my selfishness. I want everyone I love to have a beautiful future. Come on, don't make that face."
"But protecting you is the meaning of my birth. I don't want to see you get hurt anymore, and I especially don't want you to... die like this." Bella lowered her head and clenched her little hands.
"Then how about this, Bella? I order you to live freely. Live until the day we meet again in the future. Your master won't die, really. I never lie."
Bai Ge raised a hand and wiped away the tears at the corners of Bella's eyes, gently coaxing the beautiful little dragon girl as he calculated how long until the Third Honkai.
"About fifteen years? Yeah, I'll come back then."
"Master, is that true?"
"Of course. It's a promise. Pass that on to Sirin and the others too. Until then, protect everyone for me, and then... fly freely to your heart's content."
"...Yes, Master. Bella will wait for your return. Whether it takes fifteen years or longer, Bella will wait forever and ever for the day you return!"
Having made a promise to meet again, Bella agreed to Bai Ge's request.
The dragon spread her wings and flew toward the distant horizon.
The crimson-gold glow of dusk fell across her draconic body, making her look incomparably beautiful.
Bai Ge let out a sigh of relief. He glanced at the roughly two hours remaining on "Flowing Quills EX" before turning his gaze back to Schicksal's Floating Island.
"All right, Otto Apocalypse. Now accept the revenge of a Herrscher."
Countless portals appeared behind Bai Ge.
Large numbers of Honkai Beasts poured out from them, quickly forming a terrifying Honkai army of nearly ten thousand, composed almost entirely of Temple-Class Honkai Beasts.
Boom—!
The authority of the Herrscher of Flames surged forth. A strike comparable to Heavenly Fire Unleashed landed on Schicksal's barrier and instantly burned through it.
Bai Ge spoke coldly.
"All forces, attack!!"
Second update. Please send flowers, votes, and tips.
Thanks to "I Want to Go to the 2D World in My Next Life" for the 2,000 VIP-point tip. What a generous boss! What a handsome boss! Hehe, I want to go to the 2D world in my next life too.
Attack on Schicksal, True Kiana Kaslana?
"Bishop, the entire base is under attack by a large number of Honkai Beasts. Their number is around ten thousand, and the lowest rank among them is Temple-Class. Although the Valkyrie forces have been deployed to intercept them, but..."
Amber hesitated over how best to continue.
There were now fewer than a hundred elite A-Rank Valkyries left. The remaining B-Rank and C-Rank Valkyries could scarcely serve as an effective fighting force against this Honkai Beast army.
Most importantly, there was no S-Rank combat power left in Schicksal. Ah, no, Li Sushang was still around, but she was currently asleep in a life-support pod.
Otto clearly had no intention of waking her now, because the agreed-upon time had not yet come. Besides, to be honest, this entire situation was the result of his own actions.
Of course, Otto did not regret it. Even if he could do it all over again, he would still make the same choice without hesitation.
"Ah~ Although I brought this upon myself, the damage has indeed far exceeded my expectations. I never thought the Herrscher of the Void could survive a direct hit from a Honkai Energy Fission Bomb. Is this the strength of a multi-core Herrscher?"
"Bishop, what should we do now? At this rate, before long..."
"No choice. Use my trump cards. We cannot really let him dismantle Schicksal. Deploy my Soul Steel bodies as well. Even without loading my own consciousness into them and using computers for control instead, each one should still possess the combat strength of a B+ Rank Valkyrie."
At this point, Otto had no choice but to reveal several of his hidden cards. Though he did not care much for Schicksal as an organization, his long-cherished wish of reviving Kallen still depended on the support of present-day Schicksal.
But a massive loss was inevitable. Otto could already foresee that Schicksal would likely enter a period of decline for some time.
First, its prestige would certainly suffer greatly. Second, the opposing Anti-Entropy would use this opportunity to develop to a level he could no longer ignore.
"Where is the Herrscher of the Void now?"
"He is coordinating the attack with the Honkai Beasts. He keeps using his authority to shift between different areas of Schicksal, so our weapons cannot lock onto him. And..."
"Hmm, this movement pattern... rather than evading our attacks, it looks more like he is searching for something... I see. It's her."
Although he did not know what effect his actions would have on the future plot, Bai Ge had decided not to think about it anymore. He wanted to do everything he could.
With "Flowing Quills EX" holding him together, he would be completely finished in two hours anyway. So he continued squeezing his Herrscher Core dry, utterly disregarding the effect it had on himself.
And when Otto brought out his Soul Steel bodies, Bai Ge got carried away and smashed quite a few of them, venting a considerable amount of frustration.
However, Bai Ge was not without restraint.
He only destroyed Schicksal's equipment, and he had ordered the Honkai Beasts he summoned to target only mechs and buildings. They were not to deal fatal blows to the Valkyries.
After all, although Otto was a bastard—
Most Schicksal Valkyries were true heroes.
Many had implanted artificial stigmata despite their life-shortening side effects, becoming warriors who protected all the beauty in the world. They burned their lives fighting the Honkai and protecting humanity.
Bai Ge's revenge would not drag innocent people into it.
And, when all was said and done—
This retaliation was merely a smokescreen.
"Hm? I finally found it."
The Floating Island was too large. Bai Ge circled it several times before finding the place Cecilia had mentioned.
It was not some important laboratory, but a luxurious mansion—Cecilia's home. Every S-Rank Valkyrie had an exclusive luxury villa on the headquarters' Floating Island.
Knowing that he had little time left, Bai Ge directly teleported into the villa.
A feeling known as home immediately washed over him.
The warm, adorable decorations, clothes tossed across the sofa, and children's toys on the floor—these things that symbolized a beautiful everyday life made longing surface in Bai Ge's eyes.
"I hope Sirin and the others can live like this someday too. Cough, cough... Damn, I look so miserable right now. Won't I scare her? Forget it. A Kaslana kid wouldn't be that timid."
Bai Ge walked straight into the house. The floors, cleaned spotlessly by a certain Saintess, made him reluctant to step on them, so he simply floated inside instead.
He passed through the living room and reached the bedroom at the very back of the house, where he saw a little girl who had tired herself out playing and was now leaning against the windowsill, eagerly looking out at the world beyond.
Snow-white hair, sapphire-like eyes, an adorable and delicate little face still plump with baby fat—Bai Ge felt as though he had discovered a little angel.
"Huh? Who are you, big brother?"
The little girl blinked and looked curiously at Bai Ge.
She was True Kiana, the future Durandal.
Before you continue