Himeko: I'm the Commander!

"Wait a moment, I'll make some contact. Once the two sides have exchanged fire, I'll take you up there."

Flying up now would make us easy targets.

Meanwhile, the Hyperion, which had urgently arrived outside Changkong City, was activated.

"Himeko, leave the rest of the battle to me. You stay on the Hyperion and command."

Dressed in military uniform, his usually adorable face lost some of its cuteness and gained a resolute look that seemed incongruous with his appearance.

"But... you're the branch secretary..."

Himeko, also dressed in military uniform and ready to attack, was stopped at the door Himeko Theresa. She looked at Theresa, who was blocking her way, with a helpless expression.

"Precisely because I am the branch leader, I must take the lead."

Theresa put her hands on her hips and said matter-of-factly.

"Besides, you know I'm not good at giving orders. This kind of thing is more suited to you, a top student from Caltech."

"..."

Seeing Theresa, who was taller than her, acting somewhat unreasonably, Himeko smiled helplessly.

"All right...

"Then the battlefield is yours to command. You must obey my orders as the battlefield commander-in-chief."

Knowing that her friend was only worried about her health, which was why she was trying to stop her from going to the front lines, Himeko smiled and gave up the idea of leading the team.

Don't worry.

Theresa patted her rather unremarkable chest, a bright smile on her face, waved, and turned to leave.

"Well..."

Himeko Murata, the executive vice-minister of the Far East Branch, looked at the closed hatch, sighed helplessly, turned around and returned to the command room to begin coordinating the battle.

Soon, squads of Valkyrie launched themselves aboard drones and swooped down into the mist-shrouded forest below, the instructions of their school principal/branch leader still echoing in their ears—

"This battle is different from the Honkai operations we are familiar with. The combat environment is a mountainous area full of unknowns, and the enemy is an Anti-Entropy force that will skillfully use various targeted technological weapons and tactics. Everyone must be vigilant and pay attention to coordination with teammates..."

Although Theresa trusted her excellent students and subordinates, she was also aware that they lacked experience in human combat, so she naturally gave them some advice.

Meanwhile, on a drone behind them, the Wuse Huohuo listened calmly to Theresa's constant admonitions through her earpiece.

After returning from his advanced studies at headquarters, Wuse Huohuo's situation improved slightly, but not by much.

In the combat unit where Wuse Huohuo was interning, she encountered far less malice, but the distance beneath the superficial politeness and respect was still clearly felt by Wu Se Hui Huo, who was familiar with this feeling.

The Wuse Huohuo, however, was not particularly discouraged.

The trip to headquarters broadened the young girl's horizons to some extent and subtly changed some of her ideas.

At least for the current Wuse Huohuo, applying to other branches after graduation is not an escape.

Soon, the Valkyrie of the Far East Branch clashed with Cocolia's forces in the mountains.

Although Cocolia's men left in the Far East were elite, they couldn't make much of a difference against the well-equipped Valkyrie squad.

The only exception was probably the Titan Mecha summoned by Bronya—

While it's questionable whether these Titan Mecha can defeat a single B-rank Valkyrie in a one-on-one situation, when their numbers reach a certain level, these Titan Unit can cause considerable trouble for the Valkyrie.

With these Titan Mecha also equipped with quantum jump technology, their difficulty level is further increased.

However, these are all problems that Theresa will have to worry about for now.

Gwen, however, had already boarded the deck of the Hyperion.

"Wow..."

Standing on the deck of the Hyperion, Kiana looked excited and curiously examined the spaceship that she thought only appeared in movies.

In comparison, Gwen's armor didn't attract her as much.

"Alright, Kiana, there will be plenty of time to tour the Hyperion later. Let's go inside the ship first."

After boarding the deck, Gwen removed the armor from the two of them, gently patted Kiana's shoulder, and reminded the somewhat excited white-furred ball of fur.

"Oh, okay..."

Upon hearing this, Kiana withdrew her gaze and looked at Gwen had deactivated his armor.

"Hey, Gwen, where's your armor?"

As she spoke, Kiana even gestured.

"Of course we'll put it away."

Gwen flicked his wristwatch and said with a smile.

"Huh, could it be like the armor in those tokusatsu shows in the Far East, where you only need to carry a summoner normally and can just summon it when needed?"

Kiana was surprised to hear this, and immediately thought of the tokusatsu works she had seen in the Far East.

Chapter 229 Himeko: I am the Commander!

"Hmm... Kiana, your understanding is not wrong, but this is not some ancient armor with mysterious power. It is a high-tech product, the latest technology, which has not yet been widely used."

Gwen looked at Kiana, who seemed much the same as usual, nodded slightly, and said with a smile,

"If you enroll here, you might find it useful when you graduate."

"Oh..."

Upon hearing this, Kiana simply responded with a flat "yes" and said nothing more.

Meanwhile, Mei, who was also observing the Hyperion, had a slight shift in her Mei, as if she were thinking of something, but she remained silent.

That night she had decided to trust Gwen, and Gwen did not disappoint her, so despite her doubts, Mei remained silent.

"Let's go in first."

Seeing this, Gwen was not surprised and led the two into the cabin.

After boarding the Hyperion, Mei and Kiana, who were nominally just ordinary people, were placed in an unused room.

"You must be tired after a busy night. Take a rest first. I'll go to the command center and see if I can help in any way."

Gwen spoke, he prepared to head to the command center.

"Okay, don't worry, we won't cause you any trouble."

Although she still had some doubts about going to the Far East Branch of Schicksal, Raiden Mei didn't say much and nodded in Gwen, trusting Gwyn.

"Rest well for a while, and when you open your eyes again, everything will be over."

Gwen smiled, waved his hand, and turned to leave.

Guided into the command room, Gwen encountered a familiar stranger—

"Himeko Murata."

"Ha...it is indeed a first meeting, Gwen."

Upon hearing this, Himeko raised an eyebrow, then smiled and shook hands with Gwen:

"We've met before only through Theresa's communicator."

Gwen, who frequently met Theresa during her stay at headquarters, had also seen her in Theresa's communications with Himeko. So, although it was their first meeting, the two were already familiar with each other.

Although Theresa gave the students a lot of instructions before the battle, the difficulty of this battle lay only in dealing with the Titan Mecha. The focus of command was on Theresa at the front, while Himeko, who was in charge of the overall situation, was quite relaxed.

However, despite her leisurely time, Himeko did not forget her important business—

"Gwen, how much have you investigated regarding the artificial Honkai mentioned in the intelligence?"

As they walked into a corner, Himeko lowered her voice and asked Gwen a question, her face serious, a far cry from her previous relaxed and composed demeanor.

The Far East Branch's timely support was largely due to the message sent by Gwen.

Is someone trying to create Honkai in the Far East, with the aim of creating Herrscher?

Although Himeko's first reaction was that someone was playing an April Fool's joke in advance, the fact that the message was sent by Gwen, a rising star of Schicksal that even Theresa and Otto, the Archbishop of Schicksal, took it seriously. She immediately assembled her troops and brought the Hyperion to Changkong City.

Now that they've run into Anti-Entropy's Titan Unit, it proves Gwen wasn't lying. So the most important thing isn't these Titan Unit, but the reactors in Changkong City that create artificial Honkai.

"The other party is very well hidden. I was unable to find out the location of the Honkai Energy reactor, but we encountered one of them on our way out. At least we can be sure that Cocolia is indeed preparing to carry out artificial Honkai."

When Himeko asked about serious matters, Gwen also put away his smile and said with a serious expression.

Is it well hidden?

Hearing this, Himeko was slightly disappointed, but not surprised. She gently patted Gwen's shoulder to comfort him.

"Thank you for your hard work. Leave the rest to us."

After all, Gwen was not a professional spy. It was already quite an achievement that he was able to uncover even a little bit of this classified information. There was no need to nitpick.

As for why Gwen was in Changkong City... Himeko knew better than to pry into things that didn't concern her.

While Gwen and Himeko were discussing how to completely eliminate the hidden dangers left by Cocolia was throwing a tantrum at the Far East base—

"Can anyone tell me why the armed forces of the Far East Branch the Schicksal Mandate are in Changkong City?"

Cocolia slammed her hand on the conference table, her face ashen. Just moments before she had been so confident about retrieving Raiden Mei, but now her voice was filled with a fury that sent chills down the spines of everyone present.

The huge conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop; everyone could clearly hear Cocolia's heavy breathing.

"I'd better not find out who leaked the information..."

Cocolia's fierce gaze, like that of a wolf starved for a winter's rest, swept over everyone present. She spoke in a dark voice, as if she wanted to sweep all the food buckets in the room with a machine gun, but her words caused everyone to quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

At least, we've gotten through today's hurdle.

"Snort!"

With a cold snort, Cocolia, who was preparing for an internal purge today, contacted her most trusted adopted daughter.

"Bronya, how is it?"

"The battle situation is unfavorable. The enemy has high-threat targets. The one-third of the Titans we have deployed so far are no match for the enemy and are expected to be destroyed within ten minutes."

Even if we unleash all the Titans, we don't have much of a chance of winning.

Bronya was hiding in the rear and not being discovered, watched as the little girl, who was about her height, smashed a Titan Mecha with a cross and told the truth.

"Snort!

"These damned bastards!"

Unsure whether to curse the leaker or the Far East Branch Valkyrie who was sabotaging her plans, Cocolia for a moment, then gritted her teeth and made a decision:

"Bronya, gradually release the remaining Titan Mecha and lure the enemy to Warehouse 4 in the K2 area. There you'll find the weapon that can turn the tide of battle."

Cocolia gave the order coldly, showing absolutely no intention of letting Bronya evacuate first to ensure her safety.

"Yes!"

Bronya seemed to have returned to her childhood as a child soldier, and calmly accepted the order.

"Call..."

Cutting off the communication, Cocolia took a deep breath, looked up and glared at her suspicious confidants, and said in a harsh voice:

"Contact the missile unit and bring Ivan out here. Target— Changkong City!"

"!"

Upon hearing Cocolia's words, all the trusted confidants present were startled, then looked at Cocolia face was ashen, with suspicion and uncertainty.

What "Ivan" was, these confidants knew very well; it was a great weapon that, if successfully detonated, could wipe a city off the map.

But to aim this weapon at a major international city...

"Lord Cocolia..."

A young man hesitated before speaking, but before he could finish, Cocolia raised her hand and shot him in the arm, making him grunt and shut his mouth.