When the World Crumbles, I Only Love the Valkyrie

And where was the Fiery Cloud Evil God who could kill Brother Chen and save herself?

Where was her hero?

Mei lowered her eyes, a trace of melancholy knitting her brows.

As someone living a decent little life in a decent little country, she had a sense of chuunibyou etched into her bones.

So in the future, she would utter lines like "Roar, Pots and Pans!" "One pot, two meals!" "Wendy, kneel before me!"—all very chuunibyou.

Senba Academy was a bit quiet, because the students were in class, and no one knew that the former Lightning Queen had yielded to a foreign gun.

Otto kept his finger on the trigger; if Mei struggled, it would be easy to shoot her.

She didn't want to die.

Even though Mei felt the world had lost its color after her father was imprisoned, her will to survive had never driven her to end her life.

Yet now, she was embraced by death.

Otto and Mei walked side by side, leaving the rooftop and descending the stairs together.

"You... where are you taking me?"

Mei's voice carried a tremor; her bamboo sword had been disarmed by Otto, and with no way to resist, everything was under his control.

"Where do you want me to take you? The restroom, the changing room, the sports equipment storage, or the infirmary?"

Otto said with a smile. These were all places he often saw at A Certain Glass Shrine.

"I want to go to the police station."

When you meet a bad guy, find a cop.

"Haha, no." But Otto had no intention of taking Mei to a place like that. The two walked through the teaching building, and his gaze landed on the restroom by the stairwell.

"A girls' school has a men's restroom?"

Otto was a bit surprised; this was a gap in his knowledge, since he was a proper person and generally didn't come to girls' schools.

"Because there are also male teachers and staff, and sometimes parents are arranged to visit the campus."

Mei said timidly. She couldn't defy a lunatic; she had to treat him like a naughty child.

Soon it would be time for class to end. Once class was over, other students would discover her being held hostage.

"Oh~"

Otto nodded.

"Has Brother Ryoma ever been here?" Otto addressed Raiden Ryoma as Brother Ryoma, since he was much older than him.

"Dad is usually very busy with work."

Mei said, not answering directly, but Otto understood the answer.

"Actually, your father loves you very much. He's a clumsy father, and everything he did was so you could live a normal life as an ordinary person."

Raiden Mei, who possessed the Innate Stigmata, had been able to live so peacefully in Changkong City thanks to Raiden Ryoma's efforts.

The fathers in this world of Honkai were all decent, oh, except for Otto's biological father, Bishop Nicholas.

Mei was a bit displeased, because she felt Otto was implying she wasn't normal.

"But still, though it's a bit disrespectful to my Father-in-law."

Otto arrived in front of an empty classroom. He let go of Mei's shoulder and walked into the empty classroom alone.

This was a great chance to escape!

But Mei didn't leave. Her beautiful face furrowed as she puzzled over Otto's mention of "Father-in-law."

Could he be talking about my dad?

Mei stood at the entrance of the empty classroom, while Otto stood inside, the open door between them.

"Raiden Mei, I have no ill intentions toward you. I came to find you for only one thing."

"I want to save you. I want to save the millions of people in Changkong City."

"For that, I need you."

Otto tossed the pistol he had been using to threaten Mei earlier to her feet. Now he seemed to have nothing on him that could threaten her, which appeared very sincere.

"You might think this is absurd—how could an ordinary high school girl be tied to millions of people in Changkong City?"

"But it's the truth."

"Mei, you are not ordinary. A tremendous power is sealed inside you, a power difficult to control. It will turn you into a demon indifferent to human life; to you, lives will just be numbers."

"So, Raiden Mei."

"I'm going to use the lives of millions in Changkong City to morally blackmail you."

"I want you to step out of your daily life and into mine."

My Wife.JPG

In front of the teaching building, Kiana wiped the table. That guy Otto had run off somewhere, and she couldn't just leave the table like this, so she had to clean it herself.

But these words were way too hard to scrub off.

If she ever found out who did this, this young lady was going to punch them into the ground!

However, at that moment, a soft, timid voice suddenly came from beside her.

"Excuse me... who are you?"

Kiana turned around and saw a delicate young girl with beautiful black hair and refined features looking at her nervously.

"Me? This young lady is a transfer student here, Kiana Kaslana!"

Kiana still remembered the cover story Otto had given her, and the black-haired girl gave her a slight bow.

"Thank you, Miss Kiana."

"What are you thanking me for?"

The black-haired girl pointed at the table and spoke quietly.

"That's... my desk."

The girl's voice was very soft, but Kiana could still hear her clearly. She just furrowed her brow.

"Are you being bullied?"

Looking at the words on the table, what had happened was pretty obvious.

The black-haired girl said timidly, "They... were just playing with me."

"Playing?" Kiana let out a light laugh, clenching her fists. With her strong sense of justice, she wasn't about to just stand by. "I want to play with them too. Take me to meet them."

"Oh, I haven't asked your name yet. Your hair is really pretty—is this what the Far East's long, straight black hair looks like?"

"Thank you." Praised for her long hair, the girl was very happy, and then she softly spoke her name.

"My name is Asakura Miyuki."

Chapter 28: I Want to Be Mei's Kallen

"Are you... suffering from chuunibyou?"

Mei stood at the door, looking at Otto inside the room.

Suddenly saying all this to her—who would believe it?

How could she be connected to millions of people in Changkong City?

"Raiden Ryoma really protected you well. You don't know about the Honkai, you don't know about Herrschers, and you don't even know that your father actually comes from an organization called Anti-Entropy, fighting for humanity's future and your future all along."

Otto said calmly.

When it came to being a father, he still admired Raiden Ryoma.

That was why Ryoma was eating and drinking well in Schicksal's prison right now.

"But now, he's been framed by Cocolia and thrown into jail. He can no longer protect you."

"Wait." Suddenly, Mei's body trembled slightly. "You said just now that my father was... framed?"

In truth, Mei had never been willing to believe that her father was involved in an economic fraud scandal, but she simply lacked the ability and connections to uncover the truth, so she could only wait numbly for the day her dad would be exonerated.

And now, she was hearing about this from someone else.

"Yes, Brother Ryoma was framed by his rival, Cocolia."

"And Cocolia's real target is actually you. She got rid of Raiden Ryoma just to clear the way for her plans, because if Brother Ryoma knew you were in danger, he would stop at nothing to hold your hand."

"You have a good father."

Otto stood inside the door, raised his right hand, and brushed aside the glossy strands of hair falling on Mei's shoulder.

However, Mei just stood there, her mouth agape in disbelief, her amethyst eyes trembling like ripples spreading across a lake.

"The reason my father is in prison... is because of me?"

This was the first time Mei had heard such a thing. Because of her... her father had suffered an unjust imprisonment?

Guilt, regret, anger—these negative emotions spread through Mei's heart.

"Yes. Inside your body is something called the Conquest Gem. Cocolia wants to awaken the Conquest Gem, using it to create an Apostle of God known as a Herrscher."

"Once it awakens, a Great Honkai will occur in Changkong City. Of the millions of people there, very few will survive."

"Is this... true?" Mei still couldn't believe it.

It sounded like something out of Arabian Nights.

She knew nothing.

Raiden Ryoma really had protected her too well.

However, Otto raised his hand and pressed his left palm against Mei's chest.

"Shh, feel carefully. Your heartbeat isn't lonely, you know."

Mei's face, which had been somewhat pale, flushed slightly.

She had never been touched before, but the man's overbearing fingers refused to budge an inch.

Mei's heartbeat quickened; she could clearly feel every pulse.

A heart beats in solitude—that was inevitable, for a normal person should only have one heart.

But suddenly, Mei's eyes flew wide open.

Because she sensed something else trembling inside her body.

Its frequency was very similar to her heartbeat.

Yet without a doubt, it was a foreign object.

"This is..."

"This is the Conquest Gem." Otto withdrew his hand and clasped both behind his back.

"This is the key to becoming a Herrscher." But in truth, Mei didn't need this gem—she was the Heaven-ordained Herrscher of Thunder of this era. When the right moment came, she would still become the Lightning Herrscher.

"Cocolia framed your father and sent him to prison, then severed all your personal connections. Her goal was to isolate you and destabilize your spirit."

"Negative emotions, a Herrscher Gem, and sufficient Honkai Energy—when these three merge..."

"The Apostle of God who annihilates humanity—the Herrscher—will be born."

Otto raised both hands, clenched them into fists, then spread them open, as if mimicking an explosion.

"But it's fine. Even if you can do nothing, I don't want to see that happen either."

Otto was lying. His goal was the same as Cocolia's: to awaken Mei as the Herrscher of Thunder.

That was why he hadn't directly brought Raiden Mei back to Schicksal.

"I can offer you help. I can get Ryoma out of prison for you. However, I have one condition."

Mei's gaze trembled.