"This deal concerns your long-lost younger sister."
"...!"
Sure enough, Bronya's body immediately froze in place.
She took a moment, then turned around with some difficulty and asked in a slightly trembling voice:
"You... you mean..."
Bronya no longer had the leisure to consider how the other party knew about Seele. Rather, as long as there was even the slightest hope now, she would try anything.
Like a drowning person, she would not let go of even a single straw within reach.
"That's right. I mean—Miss Seele Vollerei."
Another Way
The girl had a dream.
A painful, helpless dream.
In the dream, she had overslept that morning and received a harsh scolding from her mother.
She remembered that the first class after arriving at school had been math class... that white-haired transfer student who had just arrived was dozing off again.
Then...
Then came screams from the hallway. Like zombies from a movie, they charged in and bit the teacher and students on the necks...
What followed was endless pain and a body that could not move.
What exactly had happened?
Why did she have to suffer such torment?
Why was she always the unfortunate one?
Her mother had always hated her. Even the slightest mistake earned her a scolding.
The classmates in her class had always kept their distance from her and bullied her.
Hate it. Loathe it. A world like this might as well be destroyed...
Somewhere in the darkness, a voice seemed to be telling her something.
Follow His will and bring destruction to this world...
Just a little more, and she felt as though she would step into some indescribable abyss.
—Then the dream came to an abrupt end.
"...!"
The girl suddenly opened her eyes and sat up in bed.
She could not help gasping, two beads of cold sweat sliding down her cheeks.
"This is... the school infirmary?"
The girl recognized where she was.
But why was she here?
She rubbed her forehead, trying to remember why she was here. However, having only just awakened, her thoughts were still a mess and impossible to sort out.
Then, two figures entered her field of vision.
One man and one woman. She did not recognize the man, but she knew the other person.
Yuna said in surprise:
"Y-you're... Mei, the upperclassman?"
Raiden Mei's fame was widespread throughout Chiba Academy in every possible sense.
"Yes, Yuna. It's me."
Mei nodded and spoke gently.
Seeing this, Ming Yu instructed Mei:
"Mei, I'll leave her to you. I'm heading outside for a moment."
The purple-haired girl nodded, sat down beside the bed, and softly explained to the girl lying there:
"A disaster happened in Changkong City. Chiba Academy and the entire city have already been destroyed. Next, we'll send you somewhere..."
The moment the Herrscher of Thunder made her move, she easily seized all the Honkai energy that had gathered around Yuna, interrupting her Pseudo-Herrscher transformation.
Without Honkai energy, the girl could no longer be turned into a Pseudo-Herrscher.
After that, Mei and Ming Yu found a relatively intact infirmary and let the sleeping girl rest there for the time being.
While Yuna was asleep, he and Mei had already reported the information here to Theresa, leaving the principal to make the decision.
—Naturally, just as they had recruited Ming Yu and the other three before, they would admit Yuna into St. Freya Academy as a student.
After all, she was a girl qualified to be chosen by Honkai as a Pseudo-Herrscher. In other words, she was one of the chosen who possessed considerable resistance to Honkai energy.
Since that was the case, St. Freya Academy naturally would not reject such talent.
In short, that was roughly how Yuna's situation would be handled.
Ming Yu left the infirmary and gently closed the door.
The silver-haired girl was leaning against a nearby wall, holding a Homu doll in her arms.
Although she was as silent as usual, Ming Yu knew what she had just experienced at the academy. He understood that her mood was likely not as calm as she appeared.
Closing his eyes, Ming Yu asked the shrine maiden attached to him:
"Miss Sakura, how did your conversation with Bronya go?"
"I told her everything you taught me to say. She did not immediately agree to the deal, but she did not show any intention of refusing either."
Yae Sakura's voice echoed in his mind.
The terms of the deal were naturally very simple. On one side was a way to bring back Seele Vollerei. On the other was the demand that Bronya betray Cocolia.
"At the end, I told her that I would come find her again after some time to confirm her decision."
"That's enough. I never expected it to work in one go."
After all, Cocolia had effectively raised Bronya for years. Asking Bronya to immediately betray Cocolia now was not realistic.
Moreover, from another perspective, he also needed time to find a way to bring Seele back.
—Everything was difficult at the beginning. The first issue was how to enter the Sea of Quanta.
The gate leading to that sea was not so easily opened.
According to the original timeline, Bronya had used Abyss City, a Previous Era ruin controlled by Anti-Entropy, and the Previous Era survey facility known as the Eye of the Abyss to open a passage into the Sea of Quanta, beginning her journey to bring Seele back.
However, if Ming Yu intended to bring Seele back ahead of time in order to turn Bronya against Cocolia, he definitely could not take that route.
That undersea ruin belonged to Anti-Entropy and was heavily guarded. As someone currently affiliated with Schicksal, he had no means of approaching that place.
For now, the route he intended to try was another one:
—Schicksal must also possess a way to enter the Sea of Quanta. After all, when Durandal had still been an A-Rank Valkyrie, she had once gone with Rita Rossweisse into a World Bubble on a mission.
Of course, if he wanted to take Schicksal's route, the Far East Branch's strength and resources alone would not be enough.
That would inevitably require him to contact Schicksal Headquarters, which would naturally bring him into contact with that shrewd Schicksal Overseer.
For Ming Yu, who had chosen to enter St. Freya Academy and join the protagonist group, this was something he would encounter sooner or later and could not avoid. Thus, he had no resistance to it.
Since they would meet eventually, it did not matter much whether it happened sooner or later.
At least at this stage, however, he did not think his actions would conflict with the Schicksal Overseer, who was wholly devoted to reviving Kallen.
Of course, before that unavoidable contact, it would be best to accumulate a few more cards in his hand.
Well, in any case, he would put this matter aside for now.
Yuna's matter—or rather, the task Theresa had assigned—was basically complete.
However, he had another matter to handle in Changkong City.
Thinking of this, he said to the silver-haired girl beside him:
"By the way, Bronya, Mei is staying here to take care of Yuna, but I need to go somewhere else before leaving Changkong City. Do you want to come with me?"
"...?"
A Secret Commission
Changkong City, East District.
A group of children were scavenging through this district.
Though it was an extremely dangerous ruin, the "teacher" caring for them had marked out a safe zone. As long as they did not leave its boundaries, they could freely search the streets for supplies necessary for survival.
Their current home was a place called the Nest.
The so-called Nest was actually a shantytown built around high-rise buildings, densely constructed far above the ground from materials that were easy to assemble and dismantle.
Though crude, it was already enough for them to survive.
Living on properly was the only thing they could do now.
Of course, not every child scattered into the streets to search for supplies. Some always remained behind in the Nest, taking turns handling other duties.
For example, the white-haired little boy currently keeping watch.
His name was Lyle. His family circumstances had actually been rather good before—rather, any family that had been able to live in Changkong City probably had not been doing too badly.
Of course, he had nothing now. But with the teacher and the other children supporting one another, he had accepted his new life.
His eyesight and observational skills had always been good, so he usually served as a lookout. If anything unexpected happened, he would immediately notify the other children to retreat.
—The teacher had even jokingly said that he might be well suited to becoming a sniper someday.
Although nothing unusual happened most of the time, Lyle still carried out his duties seriously, lest he regret it when something truly occurred.
For example, right now—
Within the boy's field of vision, he saw two human figures.
One seemed to have lightning flickering around her as she easily leaped between tall buildings. The other simply floated through the air, flying toward the Nest.
This was clearly beyond the realm of ordinary people, yet they were also completely different from the monsters Lyle had seen before.
As they gradually drew closer, the boy looked carefully and recognized one of them as someone he had met once before.
Hmm... it was the person who had brought Xiaokong here.
So he hurriedly ran back inside and called out to Xiao Kong, who was cooking:
"Xiao Kong, someone you know is here!"
"Big Brother Ming Yu, and Sister Bronya...!"
The petite girl came out of the kitchen and happened to see the familiar visitors. Even her usually weak voice became much more joyful.
She rushed forward in three quick steps, nearly tripping in the middle, then threw herself into Ming Yu's arms.
"Mm, it's been a long time, Xiaokong."
He smiled and stroked the girl's head in his arms.
After leaving Chiba Academy with Bronya, they had headed toward the East District.
Their purpose was naturally to visit Xiaokong, whom he had not seen in a long time.
Bronya had met Xiaokong once before as well, so she understood the purpose behind his suggestion.
Before you continue