The Start of the Fierce Battle

At this moment, Siberia had already become a paradise for the Honkai. Hundreds of thousands of Honkai Beasts rampaged across the land, indiscriminately destroying everything. Just looking at the dense red dots on the screen was enough to make one's scalp crawl.

At the original location of Babylon Tower, a bottomless pit over ten kilometers in radius had appeared. A deep blue flower bud hovered above the center of the pit. Without a doubt, it was the Herrscher of Frost.

"Truly worthy of one recognized by the Will of Honkai, absorbing the Herrscher Core so quickly." On the Crimean Peninsula, watching Sirin, who had already mastered the four Herrscher Authorities of Void, Thunder, Death, and Wind, Enoshia nodded in satisfaction.

"Haha, no one can beat me now☆!" Having gained new power, Sirin wore an extremely excited expression. Enoshia knew that if she got into a fight with someone next, she'd probably end up humbled again—though if she weren't a blowfish, she wouldn't be Sirin.

"Are you trying to get me to help you beat that Herrscher in Siberia?" Sirin put her hands on her hips, wearing a "beg me and I'll help" expression.

"That's right. It's strong. Only if you join the fight can victory be guaranteed." Enoshia spoke plainly.

"Doesn't that mean I'd have to cooperate with those Valkyries from Schicksal? What if I don't want to go?" At this thought, Sirin's face showed some anger.

"Then don't go." Enoshia smiled faintly.

"Ah... why? If I don't go, won't you probably lose?" Sirin had imagined countless ways Enoshia might try to persuade her, but this answer was the last thing she expected.

"Didn't I say it before? I won't force you to do anything. My desire to deal with the Herrscher of Frost is just my own idea—I shouldn't impose it on you. Besides, fighting a Herrscher always carries risks. Avoiding that risk by not fighting isn't wrong in itself. You're a Herrscher, not a Schicksal Valkyrie. You have no duty to eliminate the Honkai or protect others."

Sirin was even more stunned.

"Didn't you say it's really strong?"

"That's right. So if you don't go, I'll have to put in a lot more effort. The price I'll pay will probably be several times greater." At this thought, Enoshia showed a somewhat helpless expression.

"Then... what's the worst case?"

"That depends on how strong it is. The Herrscher of Frost... in the worst case, the entire Eurasian continent could disappear, and the billions of people on it would all die. But even so, with your Herrscher of Void Authority, you and Bella should have no trouble escaping safely."

Enoshia soon left the place. Sirin still stood in the snow, dazed. From being adopted by Schicksal to becoming an experiment subject at Babylon Tower, she had long been used to being forced into doing things. But Enoshia, even when she needed her, always respected her wishes, without even trying to persuade her.

"Why does she treat me like this?" This question lingered in Sirin's mind.

If it was because of her special constitution and she wanted to study her, even if she wasn't on the same side as Schicksal, there was no need to hand over the cores of other Herrschers to make her stronger.

And when she declared she would kill everyone in Schicksal, she didn't stop her like that short white-haired girl did. Instead, she strongly supported her. Clearly, she wasn't some gentle, kind person either.

"We've only known each other for a few days, yet she unconditionally supports my wishes, even if they hurt others. Why is that?"

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't figure out that Enoshia's choice to support her was largely driven by her own selfish motives.

The more she thought without finding an answer, the more a strange restlessness spread through her entire body. It felt like a stone was lodged in her chest.

Bella, standing behind her, saw Sirin like this. She stepped forward, thought hard with her newly acquired brain, and then knelt before Sirin.

"Bella, what are you doing?" Sirin was startled.

"Queen... I saw you seemed to need something to vent on. If you don't mind... I can be your target." Seeing Sirin's hand reaching toward her, Bella closed her eyes.

The expected pain didn't come. Instead, an unusually pleasant sensation touched her head. She opened her eyes and found Sirin gently stroking her head. A strange feeling rippled through her heart.

"Hm? Bella, get up."

Somewhat reluctant to end the moment, Bella stood before Sirin. Sirin, imitating Enoshia's manner, pressed herself against Bella and ran her small hands over her body. The cool touch eased much of the irritation in her heart.

Now it was Bella's turn to be startled. Though she didn't understand why Sirin was doing this, she immediately adjusted her position, doing her best to keep her dragon horns from poking her.

Though Sirin seemed to be treating Bella like a plaything to vent her frustrations, Bella, as the one experiencing it, clearly felt that Sirin was controlling her strength. She felt no discomfort at all.

Seeing Sirin's mood gradually improve, Bella smiled from the bottom of her heart:

"I'm so glad I could change the Queen's mood."

"Damn it. Siberia is so vast, and there are only so many places with clear surveillance. Not to mention, some of them have been destroyed by these Honkai Beasts." Looking at the abysmal quality of the surveillance footage, Enoshia punched the data space.

Given the current situation, Schicksal would launch a carpet bombing of the entire Siberia within a few hours at most. If she used her Authority to stop their indiscriminate strikes, even more innocent people would die at the hands of the Honkai Beasts.

"Time is running out. I need to hurry and find Cocolia and Alexandra, and confirm their situation." Enoshia knew that originally, the two of them had been saved by Cecilia and escaped disaster. But now the timeline had changed. If they ran into Honkai Beasts, it would be all over. And if those two were done for, then both sides in the Sea of Quanta would be saying goodbye.

Bronya went without saying—her mother died before she was born, so naturally she wouldn't exist. If Cocolia died, the orphanage would probably be finished too. Unless Seele happened to run into Schicksal, her identity as a Stigmata Awakener might get her some attention, but she'd most likely end up as Otto's experiment subject, with a miserable fate.

"Damn it. Trying to find two specific people using satellite photos is way too difficult... Wait!"

Just as she was fretting, a military vehicle in one of the surveillance feeds caught her attention. The image quality was terrible, but the drill-shaped hairstyle of the woman in the back seat was very clear. Enoshia didn't think anyone else would have that hairstyle.

"This location... what a coincidence. But I need to get there fast." Enoshia quickly swam toward the nearest electronic device.

Schicksal HQ, Third Training Room.

Theresa looked solemnly at the Judah she had just inspected. She was silent for a long time, then let out a soft sigh.

"My old friend, you absolutely must not fail me. Perhaps in the coming battle, I'll be relying on you."