Honkai Energy Fission Bomb

February 10, 15:45

As the Herrscher of Ice died completely, all the icy mist over Lake Baikal vanished without a trace within a minute. Yet the entire sky remained dark, and blue-black clouds rapidly spread in every direction.

At that moment, Einstein piloted the Moonlight Throne Mech to the scene. Just as she had expected, by the time she arrived, the battle was already over. She watched the drifting clouds with a grim expression.

"This Herrscher released far more energy at the moment of her death than an ordinary Herrscher. At this rate, once this rain falls, the entire Lake Baikal and Irtysh River water systems, the Heilongjiang River, the Ussuri River, and even the Yellow River and Ural River will all be affected to varying degrees. In the worst-case scenario, because the Honkai Energy content in the rain will be dangerously high, not a single blade of grass will grow in the soil through which these water systems flow. The people who depend on these water sources will contract Honkai Sickness at best, and die outright at worst."

Einstein's words seemed to have tempted fate. Immediately after she finished speaking, a few scattered drops of rain began to fall over Lake Baikal, where the clouds were thickest. Cheng Lixue raised her right hand to catch some and immediately realized that Einstein's warning was no exaggeration. People with extremely high Honkai Energy resistance like them would naturally be fine, but ordinary people would be in trouble even if they were merely caught in the rain, let alone drank it.

"Leader, I think we can try using the Moonlight Throne..." Einstein had not finished speaking when Cecilia interrupted her.

"Doctor, there's no need to go to so much trouble. I have a way to deal with it, but... I need everyone to move farther away. Mr. Welt and Doctor, please make sure Siegfried and Lixue are taken somewhere safe."

"Take care, Madam." Welt did not know what method she had in mind, but their days of fighting side by side had shown him that Cecilia was both powerful and responsible. On such a serious matter, there was no reason for her to deceive him.

Cheng Lixue noticed a trace of sorrow flash across Cecilia's face and found it strange. But as a cripple, she could not help much by staying there, so she picked up her severed left arm and prepared to leave with the people from Anti-Entropy.

"Wait, where's Kira?" She looked around. On the vast Lake Baikal, aside from the few of them, only Nicholas's relatively intact corpse and her weapon, Crimson Whisper, remained.

"Leader, as for the few people from Schicksal, when the Herrscher fired that beam of light into the sky, a strange reaction suddenly appeared on Miss Shigure Kira's body. According to our calculations... her current location is not in the Eigenworld," Tesla said, puzzled.

If she was not in the Eigenworld, then she had gone to the Imaginary Space or the Sea of Quanta. They could only investigate the matter carefully after everything was over.

Seeing the troubled look in Cheng Lixue's eyes, Welt constructed a robot and had it pick up Siegfried, Nicholas's corpse, and Crimson Whisper. Cheng Lixue bowed, then left with the people from Anti-Entropy.

A few minutes later, after confirming that they had gone far away, Cecilia took a deep breath as she looked at the dense clouds.

"Theresa, from now on, I'll have to trouble you with Kiana and Siegfried. Handing the responsibility of raising my child to someone else... I really am an incompetent mother."

"Sirin, I'm sorry. I still deceived you. Everything Schicksal did to you was its sin. I have no right to forgive you on its behalf. But you must believe that not everyone in Schicksal is bad. At the very least, those Valkyries who knew nothing about the experiments and fought for the beauty of this world are absolutely not bad people."

"I hope you can find someone who truly loves you like a mother. Ich liebe dich."

Cecilia stopped hesitating. She raised Black Abyss White Flower and sliced open her wrist. Blood slowly flowed out, gradually enveloping Black Abyss White Flower.

"Sacred Blood Liberation."

Cecilia raised Black Abyss White Flower high and fired the blood into the clouds. As Sania's Sacred Blood spread through them, the clouds gradually dispersed, and warm sunlight once again shone down over Lake Baikal.

In a small town somewhere in Siberia, after a rainfall, everyone in the town collapsed. The skin on their bodies had become as hard as stone.

"Natasha, run..."

On the grass, a blond boy used the last of his strength to call out to his younger sister.

Nearby, little Natasha watched her brother's pained expression as tears streamed down her face.

Countless Cecilia flowers covered in Sania's Sacred Blood slowly drifted down from the sky. One of them landed on his shoulder.

The abnormal symptoms on his body immediately receded like a tide, and the Honkai Energy inside him vanished. He repeatedly stared at his hands, his eyes filled with disbelief.

As the sky cleared once more, Cecilia's expression remained solemn. Several Honkai Energy Fission Bombs were speeding toward her from above, their target being none other than her. She knew perfectly well that there were not many people capable of doing this.

If it had been the Herrscher of Corruption, there would have been no need to go to such lengths to kill her. All she had to do was stand by and watch during the battle with the Herrscher of Ice.

That left only Otto himself as someone capable of doing this.

"If Lord Bishop wants me dead, he only needs to wait until all the blood in my body runs dry. Why launch Fission Bombs at my location as well... With this many of them, could her target be...!"

Just as the Fission Bombs were less than a hundred meters from Cecilia, a figure with purple hair and golden eyes appeared before her.

Without a word, Sirin threw Cecilia and Black Abyss White Flower into a portal.

"Make sure she gets somewhere safe!"

Sirin had only just recovered, and nearly all her energy was focused on protecting Cecilia. Faced with the Honkai Energy Fission Bombs at such close range, she failed to send all of them into the Imaginary Space in time.

Of course, she had another choice: abandon Cecilia and teleport all the Honkai Energy Fission Bombs away. But after suffering setbacks before, she understood that the Honkai Energy within her was limited. She did not know whether the person who wanted Cecilia dead would launch a second wave of missiles. Sending her away was the safest option.

"Boom!" As the Honkai Energy Fission Bombs exploded, the ice covering Lake Baikal cracked, and Sirin fell into the freezing water.

"So cold... Am I... about to leave this world...?"

Loneliness and despair enveloped her. She felt as if she were about to fall into an endless abyss. In her hazy state, she even seemed to see her mother's figure.

"Queen, no!"

"In the future, there'll be a room for you in my home."

Sirin felt as though two hands had seized her and were trying to pull her out of the abyss.

Amid the freezing lake water, Sirin seemed to regain her warmth. She opened her eyes.

That's right. Mom is still waiting for me. I can't fall here!

"Besides... if I fall here... Bella would definitely be very sad, wouldn't she...?"

At that thought, Sirin felt as if she had regained her strength. She struggled upward with all her might, heedless of everything else.

February 10, 16:15

Sirin, barely clinging to life, crawled out of the freezing water. Completely exhausted, she failed to notice the blond, blue-eyed man beside her—or the feather that had landed atop her head.

"Heh heh, as expected of a Herrscher with four cores. She can take dozens of Honkai Energy Fission Bombs head-on at such close range and remain unharmed. But it's precisely because of this that she's worth studying."

In the distance, lightning flashed and thunder boomed as fierce clashes erupted.

"Oh my, her dependent has arrived. Since everyone from Anti-Entropy is so enthusiastic, I'll leave the Judgment-class Honkai Beast to you. You had just left when her Queen was attacked at the previous location and then disappeared without a trace. What a perfectly self-consistent story. Heh heh heh."

"Amber, send people immediately to recover the Herrscher of Ice's remains."

After ending the communication, Otto pulled Sirin, who had fallen into an illusion because of the mimicked Feather Dust, and quietly left the battlefield.