"Dr. Tesla, don't get so worked up." Einstein sipped her coffee, forming a stark contrast with the irritable Tesla.
"..." Ryoma watched as Anti-Entropy in the story actually used his daughter for experiments. At first, he was furious, then remembered this was just a scripted plot and smiled helplessly.
"Don't be angry, Ryoma. It's all necessary for the plot." Joyce had no choice but to soothe him. After all, Raiden Ryoma's ME Corporation was Anti-Entropy's cash cow, while Cocolia was another god of wealth—one made money, the other managed it.
"I'm not angry, President. I was just a little immersed in it. The model looks too much like my daughter." Ryoma marveled at Schicksal's modeling technology. Though it was an anime, the level of detail in the models was hardly any different from real people.
Whenever Yaqing saw the film's delicate models and explosive special effects, he thought of that day.
Late one night, when he had specifically returned to the company to pick something up, he saw Patrick and Cheng Lixue silently working overtime in the office area. They sighed together as several strands of hair drifted from their palms, each leaning back in her chair with a sigh.
Walter Yang, who had read the script, sighed. No one would ever know how much he had paid to get Cocolia to agree to Yaqing's character setup in the script... money, and even quite a few shares.
Kiana and the other two arrived at the designated location, but it was a sunny plaza. There was no Gem of Hopes, only a girl in a wheelchair. Mei wanted to take the girl away from this dangerous place.
"Looks like you've already found the target." Raiden Mei's communicator suddenly connected, and Himeko appeared on the screen.
"The target?" Mei was stunned. She glanced at the girl in the wheelchair and said uncertainly, "Wasn't our target the Gem of Hopes? But we only found this girl."
"According to the information just sent by the Oceania Branch, this young lady is the Gem of Hopes." Himeko's tone somehow felt cold.
"Um... my name is Wendy."
The girl in the wheelchair raised her head. Her face was pale, her expression gloomy, and her voice extremely weak.
At the Oceania Branch, Wendy took a bite of an apple. Her movie counterpart perfectly matched the impression those old fossils at the Oceania Branch had of her when she had first arrived. Now, if anyone still thought she was gentle and easy to bully, that would be interesting.
"Voice acting is such a pain. It's even more troublesome than arguing with those old fossils." Wendy lazily stretched. The slender waist revealed as her white shirt pulled tight made people want nothing more than to cuddle up to her.
Wendy picked up her phone and opened her chat history with Principal Theresa. The principal had arranged an assistant for her, but she had never found the time to add her. Today, she finally had time, so she sent the friend request.
Unexpectedly, it was accepted instantly.
A message came from the other side.
"Hello, I'm Ai-chan Hyperion. You can call me Ai-chan."
"Let me explain. Three years ago, during an experiment at the Oceania Branch, the Gem of Hopes was implanted into Miss Wendy's legs. The Honkai energy crystal was fused with her lower leg bones in hopes of obtaining power on the same level as a Herrscher."
As someone who also had a gem within her body, Mei asked doubtfully, "Then Miss Wendy should possess immense power, right? But she looks very weak right now."
"Although Wendy was the most outstanding Valkyrie at the Oceania Branch at the time and was once considered likely to become the fourth S-Rank Valkyrie of this generation, unfortunately, she was unable to control its power."
Wendy lowered her head, and the camera shifted into her first-person perspective. Looking at her paralyzed legs, she said despondently, "My strength wasn't enough... Not only could I not control the Gem of Hopes' power, but because of the crystal, my legs can no longer move either."
After learning that Wendy's legs had been paralyzed because of the gem, kind-hearted Mei couldn't help questioning Himeko, demanding to know why they did not remove the crystal.
Himeko's answer was realistic and cruel.
The Gem of Hopes was extremely unstable in every medium. Only within Wendy's body could it remain stable. That was precisely why Schicksal had always regarded Wendy as a container for the gem.
Mei could not accept that answer.
But Himeko believed there was no point arguing about it now. The first thing they should do was bring Wendy back to the Hyperion.
Wendy agreed, but worried that she would hold them back. At that moment, Bronya suddenly stepped forward. Project Bunny activated behind her and lifted Wendy together with her wheelchair.
The group prepared to return to the Hyperion.
In Siberia, at Cocolia Orphanage, just like during the previous film, the children were watching the movie in the hall while Anzu, Seele, and the Arlene sisters looked after them.
"Seele, I want to eat that!"
A child pointed at the candy on the other side of the table.
But Seele did not answer. Her eyes were fixed on Bronya and Wendy's interaction on the screen. It was only after the iron spoon in her hand bent that she came back to herself, gently rubbed the child's head, and brought over the candy.
But the child had already started trembling uncontrollably and cried out, "This isn't the usual Big Sister Seele!"
Seele immediately began clumsily comforting the child again.
I Am the Storm!
"They actually used people as containers. What did Schicksal in the movie think life was? Tools?" Kevin had long been disgusted with the movie's Schicksal, and he was indignant.
"The darkness of human nature is terrifying, and the people at the Oceania Branch are the most foolish." Mei said rationally, "They had already gone through three Great Eruptions and knew that Herrschers were transformed from humans, yet they still dared to keep a Herrscher core inside a human body. Were they really not afraid of creating another Herrscher?"
"Perhaps the Fourth Herrscher has already been born." Mobius looked at Wendy on the screen and recalled that when the plot reached the Oceania Branch, Himeko had mentioned that the branch had experienced a large-scale Honkai eruption one day earlier.
"They really never learn." Su shook his head. They already had Sirin as a precedent, yet Schicksal's researchers were still so insane, never caring about the psychological state of their test subjects.
"Could this also be part of that Bishop Otto's plan?" Elysia guessed.
"I'm afraid so," Eden agreed.
Yaqing looked around. Sometimes, watching a movie alone was rather helpless.
No, you all figured it out already?
Why not let you be the screenwriters?
Yaqing made up his mind. Next time, he absolutely would not sit with these women. He would rather sit with Shigure Kira and the others.
Bronya's unusually concerned attitude toward Wendy aroused Mei and Kiana's curiosity.
Amid Kiana's teasing, Bronya explained that her legs had also been injured during an experiment in the past. She had spent a long time in a wheelchair and could only rely on this exoskeleton armor to regain her ability to walk.
"That's amazing! Big Sister Bronya, does that mean Wendy can recover one day too?" Wendy looked at Bronya with admiration.
Bronya reassured Wendy that she definitely would.
"Big Sister Bronya is so gentle."
Seele had just finished calming the child when she heard that line in the movie. Her second personality immediately started stirring things up again, saying in a mocking tone, "Big Sister Bronya is so gentle~~"
There was a crack from Seele's hand holding the candy.
The child cried again, "This isn't the usual Big Sister Seele!"
Seele had to start comforting the child all over again.
Bronya contacted Himeko and asked whether, after returning to St. Freya Academy, they could find a way to remove the Honkai energy crystal from Wendy.
Himeko said that was impossible. The Gem of Hopes could only remain stable within Wendy's body. Once removed, the crystal could no longer be contained.
"Then just throw that crystal away!" Kiana naively believed that, in Schicksal's researchers' hearts, a girl's happiness should matter more than the Gem of Hopes crystal.
Himeko asked Kiana in return whether it would still be fine if the Gem of Hopes crystal, which contained immense Honkai energy and could instantly destroy several cities once released, were discarded.
"But..."
Kiana still wanted to fight for Wendy, but Wendy interrupted her.
"Miss Kiana, please stop. I accepted this long ago."
Wendy's voice trembled.
"As a Valkyrie, my duty is to save more people with my life... This is my... duty..."
Just as they were about to board the Hyperion.
"Wendy, Bronya feels very sorry..." Bronya's tone was somewhat dejected.
"No, Big Sister Bronya did nothing wrong." Wendy slowly opened her eyes. For some reason, her tone sounded relaxed, with an added hint of playfulness.
"The detector has detected a Honkai energy reaction. Is it a reaction from the Gem of Hopes inside Wendy?" Himeko asked.
The next second, Himeko's voice turned urgent. "Wait, the intensity of the reaction is continually rising. 1500 HW... 2000 HW. What's happening?!"
Wendy, seated in her wheelchair, began glowing green all over. Her voice became venomous. "2000 HW... That should be enough to destroy the Hyperion in one shot, right?"
"Miss Wendy, you... what are you saying?!" Mei could not believe the weak Wendy from moments ago would say such things.
"A bunch of hypocrites. I hate you. I hate every last one of you." Wendy's previously frail aura vanished completely. An insanely wild smile appeared on her face. "I want nothing more than to kill all of you! Hehehe, hahahaha!!!"
Carried into the air by a violent gale, Wendy looked down at Kiana and the other two with eyes shining green. A pair of translucent green wings emerged from her back, while incomplete Herrscher battle armor covered her body.
"This energy reaction... could it be... Wendy, you've already unleashed the Gem of Hopes' power? Or... have you been controlled by the Honkai will within the crystal?"
On the Hyperion, Himeko saw the footage transmitted before her. Nervously biting her right thumb, she tried to keep her voice calm.
"As expected." Mobius had guessed it long ago. In fact, as long as someone saw the movie poster, they could probably guess Wendy would become the Herrscher of Wind.
"Your reactions are awfully calm." Yaqing ate a few pieces of popcorn.
Mobius glanced at him and said, "Then what reaction do you want from me? 'Wow, Wendy is actually a Herrscher? Unbelievable!' Or, 'Huh? How did Wendy become a Herrscher?'"
Mobius acted out both different reactions.
She did not notice that Elysia beside her had already begun secretly recording the screen.
"Forget it. Calm is better."
In the front row, Patrick sighed. "As expected of Wendy. She can actually voice two completely different tones by herself."
"What's so special about that? I can do it too!" Shub protested.
"You? Give me a break."
"Patrick, stop looking down on me!"
In the row behind them, Kiana looked at Bronya's long, beautiful legs. Sure enough, Bronya shot her an annoyed glare.
In the last row, Mei suddenly seemed to think of something and said, "Dr. Mobius, so far, Anti-Entropy implanted the Herrscher of Thunder core into Raiden Mei's body, while Schicksal implanted the Herrscher of Wind core into Wendy's body. I think the possibility of the Herrscher of the Void core being inside Kiana has become highly likely."
"Same as before." Mobius waved her hand and stubbornly insisted, "As long as the plot does not clearly show that the Herrscher of the Void core is inside Kiana, I haven't lost!"
"Alright."
Mei looked at her gently...
"Ah, Mei, this popcorn is pretty good. Here, have one." Kevin hurriedly picked up a piece of popcorn and stuffed it into Mei's mouth, conveniently blocking Mei's gaze toward Mobius.
Mei obediently ate it, but she still looked at Kevin in confusion. Kevin had already finished two buckets, yet only now was he saying it was tasty and feeding it to her.
Durandal Is the True Young Lady
Perhaps because she had only just unleashed the Gem of Hopes' power, Wendy was unfamiliar with controlling the Herrscher core. As an apostle of destruction, she actually fought evenly against three B-Rank Valkyries, then sensed something wrong and simply flew away.
After Wendy left, Kiana and the other two hurriedly contacted Himeko to report the situation. Himeko understood the seriousness of the matter and the terror of a Herrscher. She needed to report the situation to headquarters as soon as possible and request the deployment of an S-Rank Valkyrie.
"Bronya thinks Wendy won't hurt anyone." Bronya suddenly spoke.
But knowing the tragic course of the Second Eruption, Himeko believed Wendy's energy was already enough to rival a Herrscher, and her personality was very likely being twisted by Honkai. They could not take that risk.
"I'm willing to believe Wendy too." Kiana stepped forward and used Mei as an example to prove that people controlled by Honkai could overcome the collapse through their own will.
Mei also sided with Kiana.
Faced with her stubborn subordinates, Himeko may have been persuaded and relented. She reminded Kiana and the others that it would take thirty minutes for an S-Rank Valkyrie to reach the battlefield after she reported the situation to headquarters. Whatever they intended to do, they had to do it within thirty minutes.
"Wendy..."
Little Knowledge watched Wendy fight back and forth against Kiana and the other two B-Rank Valkyries. Feeling that Wendy did not have as much presence as the Herrscher of the Void from the previous movie, she said with a strange expression, "Is that really it? Sirin severely injured an A-Rank Valkyrie the moment she appeared in the last one. Wendy fought three B-Rank Valkyries and then ran away?"
"Maybe she just awakened and still can't fully control the Herrscher core's power." Fu Hua pinched her chin and analyzed.
"Who is Wendy?" Kiana was curious about Wendy's identity. Since Yaqing's scripts were all based on real-life prototypes, her first instinct was to ask Mei, "Mei, do you know her?"
Mei shook her head.
Himeko, seated one row ahead, turned around and explained, "Wendy counts as your senior. She's four years ahead of you, so you never met her. After graduation, she joined Schicksal, and I heard that Yaqing was the one who mentored her there."
"Ohhh."
Kiana thought about it. If Wendy was four years ahead, then when they had just enrolled, Wendy had already graduated.
While Kiana and the other two tracked Wendy's location using the Hyperion's detector, Himeko's communicator brought three more pieces of bad news.
Schicksal headquarters had identified Wendy as the Fourth Herrscher. To successfully capture the Herrscher, Schicksal's strongest S-Rank Valkyrie, Durandal, had already set out. The last piece of bad news was that five Anti-Entropy aerial battleships had crossed above the Pacific, and their current location was unknown.
"Listen carefully, you three. The moment you discover Anti-Entropy forces, immediately abandon the search. If you get yourselves involved too, the loss will outweigh any gain." Himeko warned them.
Before Himeko's communication even disconnected, Theresa's communication cut in directly.
"Kiana, let me help you out this time~" Theresa's laughter sounded somewhat ill-intentioned.
"It's Big Sis! Big Sis is actually the strongest Valkyrie!" Kiana was dumbfounded. She did not even notice the popcorn falling from her hand. First, she had never offended Yaqing. Second, she had never offended Yaqing.
Cecilia's three daughters.
Before you continue