Honkai, I Alone Will Save Everything

"...Go back?"

Bronya asked somewhat blankly.

The man answered as though it were only natural:

"You don't think you can stay at St. Freya Academy unharmed after something like this happened, do you?"

Now that the truth had come to light, leaving St. Freya Academy was Bronya's only option.

"..."

The silver-haired girl fell silent.

She loved life here, even more than she had loved her time at the orphanage.

But if it was for the sake of bringing Seele back...

"Bronya understands."

The silver-haired girl nodded slowly.

But before deciding to leave, she asked another question:

"...By the way, did Mother Cocolia say what would be done with Raiden Mei after she was brought back?"

All her mother had ever told her was to bring Raiden Mei back to Anti-Entropy for research.

As for what exactly would be done after bringing her back, or how Raiden Mei would be treated, she had never told Bronya.

"Once the Herrscher Core is extracted from her body, that woman won't be of any use anymore."

The blue-haired man spoke casually:

"Though according to Cocolia, forcibly removing a Herrscher Core from a human body would most likely kill them."

...Die?

Bronya stopped walking, having heard a word that was both unfamiliar and familiar.

She had seen plenty of death. Whether as a child soldier or while carrying out missions for Mother Cocolia, the blood on her hands had long become impossible to count.

But the death of someone close to her was indeed something she had never experienced.

The closest she had come was that blue-haired girl who had completely vanished from this world a year ago.

Bronya had originally planned to plead with Cocolia after returning, using their relationship to protect Raiden Mei's life. But now, the consequences seemed to have gone far beyond anything she had imagined.

Pressing her lips together slightly, Bronya continued asking:

"...Did Mother Cocolia say what she intended to use the Herrscher Core for?"

"Huh? I'm not really sure about that..."

The man named Joyce frowned. After thinking for a moment, he replied:

"If I remember correctly, she was probably planning to install it in some enormous mech as an energy source."

Unlike Schicksal, which relied on Valkyries and armor to fight the Honkai, Anti-Entropy had always followed the path of combat through mechanized armor.

For example, the various mechs of the Titan Series were Anti-Entropy's primary fighting force, tasked with clearing Honkai Beasts from territories under Anti-Entropy's control.

So it was not particularly surprising that Mother Cocolia had been researching even larger mechs.

But...

Wasn't capturing Raiden Mei supposed to be for saving Seele?

Mother Cocolia had always told her that...

For the past year, she had been acting toward that very goal.

"..."

In the past, Bronya had always believed completely in Mother Cocolia's orders and words. She had never once thought to doubt them.

But ever since she had encountered that mysterious woman with donkey ears in Changkong City, she had gradually begun to feel confused and doubtful about her mother's instructions.

This time, through this so-called artificial Herrscher, she had finally found the real answer.

—It was the truth Mother Cocolia would never tell her.

So Bronya regretted it.

She had already lost one Seele. Losing Raiden Mei, this friend, too... she did not want to see that future.

Fortunately, it was not too late to change her mind.

They had not yet left St. Freya Academy. As long as she dealt with this intruder here...

Honkai energy surged, and Project Bunny materialized behind her.

Its gleaming cannon barrel aimed at the back of the man calling himself Joyce, and Bronya launched her attack.

"Project Bunny, Heavy Particle Cannon Mode, fire!"

Project Bunny's full-powered strike shot forth, hitting him directly and triggering a sizable explosion.

At such close range, with a sneak attack like that, even if he possessed great strength, he could not possibly emerge completely unscathed.

--That was what Bronya believed.

Unfortunately, things did not go as she wished.

"Interesting..."

As the smoke cleared, the man stood before the girl completely unscathed.

He watched the girl who had ambushed him with great interest, his gaze seeming to regard her as some kind of prey.

A sort of energy shield surrounded him, blocking Bronya's earlier sneak attack.

"...Project Bunny, immediately load a second round!"

Bronya hurriedly ordered the mech behind her to reload.

But in the next instant, it felt as though a massive weight had been placed upon her, pinning her firmly to the ground.

Project Bunny behind her was also instantly dismantled by the immense gravitational force.

"Useless."

The silver-haired girl barely raised her head, only to see the man standing before her, one foot planted on her body.

"This is the ability to control gravity. As long as something is within my field of vision, I can freely alter the gravity acting upon it."

With the power of a Herrscher, he had easily defeated Bronya.

Since she refused to cooperate, he would simply knock her unconscious and take her away with the other one.

"Though you have offended me, Cocolia repeatedly told me not to kill you before I came here. So I'll spare your life this time. Thank your mother."

You Don't Deserve This Name

By the time Ming Yu and Kiana arrived at the girls' dormitory, the place had already been reduced to a complete mess.

Obvious signs of battle were everywhere, and quite a few mechanical wreckages lay scattered around the living room.

"That's... Bronya's Project Bunny!"

Kiana recognized the pile of mechanical debris. It was the giant mech Bronya summoned whenever she fought.

She searched all around the room, but found no sign of Mei or Bronya.

"C-could Mei and Bronya have already been...?"

The white-haired girl ran back to Ming Yu, panting as she spoke worriedly.

While she desperately searched for her companions, Ming Yu remained standing motionless in place, as though lost in thought.

"Ming Yu?"

Kiana anxiously shook his arm.

At such a critical moment, how could he still have the leisure to space out?

After being shaken, Ming Yu finally opened his eyes and said quietly, "...I think the attacker probably escaped through the forest with Mei and Bronya. If we want to pursue them, we'll have to go into the forest."

St. Freya Academy had been built on an island. To support Theresa's dream, Otto had spent nearly as much funding and resources as it would have taken to construct a small city in order to build this academy.

Even so, aside from the one necessary main road, the rest of the island remained surrounded by untouched forest. The woods covered a vast area, giving the place something of the air of a secluded paradise.

"If they're in the forest... it'll be far too hard to find them!"

Kiana immediately realized this as well.

Trying to find three people somewhere on such a huge island was practically impossible.

"Kiana, go find the Class Monitor and Himeko first. Have her help search for Mei and Bronya too. Hmm... let's split up. I'll search the eastern side, while you and the Class Monitor search the western area."

Ming Yu made the arrangements.

"...Got it!"

The white-haired girl nodded vigorously, then turned and ran out of the dormitory, leaving according to Ming Yu's plan.

The reason they had not mobilized all the students to search the forest for the missing pair was that the opponent was, after all, suspected to be the First Herrscher. Ordinary trainee Valkyries approaching him would only needlessly increase the casualty count.

At the very least, they needed Valkyries on the level of Himeko or Fu Hua.

--That was how Kiana understood it.

Though she usually seemed rather ditzy, when it came to battle, her reasoning and ability to act were quite dependable.

However, she did not know that Ming Yu had a reason for sending them to search the western side for the missing two.

He had already more or less determined the location of that artificial Herrscher—or rather, Welt.

Well, in a timeline that no longer existed.

--Because he had long known that Anti-Entropy would launch an invasion, Ming Yu had been maintaining a high frequency of saves lately, recording a new save point every hour to guard against sudden attacks.

The moment this attack occurred, he had already used Time Reversal to return to three hours earlier. He had laid in wait near Mei's dormitory in advance and witnessed the invasion of that false First Herrscher.

Where that guy had landed on the island, the exact time of the invasion, even what Bronya had done in the dormitory and her final regrets—he had seen it all.

This ability of Time Reversal had indeed granted him an exceptionally powerful intelligence-gathering capability. No matter what happened, he could experience it once in advance.

The enemy believed his plan was flawless and his actions had gone unnoticed, never realizing that every detail had long since fallen into Ming Yu's grasp.

"Phew... Anyway, I'll go deal with that guy."

A faint current of electricity flickered across Ming Yu's body. He broke into a run, charging eastward at considerable speed.

He knew that guy was there.

In truth, he could have used Time Reversal to prevent the invasion in advance. For example, as long as he guided Fu Hua or Theresa to appear near Kiana and the others' dormitory at the right time, he could easily use their combat strength to deal with the intruder.

Or, having already grasped the other party's route, Ming Yu could have intercepted that Welt in the forest beforehand and nipped the danger in the bud.

But he had not chosen to do so.

There were two reasons for that.

First, after Otto had tried to erase him from the Schicksal database, Ming Yu intended to proceed as cautiously as possible from now on.

Frequently refreshing his save point was one thing. At the same time, he did not want to act too unusually and draw even more of that man's attention.

Second...

He could use this Anti-Entropy invasion as an opportunity to give Bronya a push, making the wavering girl fully choose his side—or rather, St. Freya Academy's side.

—He had already seen Bronya choose to fight in order to take Mei back in the previous timeline, and he understood what she wanted.

If he had prevented this attack in advance, that girl might not have been able to make up her mind.

As for why he was going alone to deal with that intruder now... naturally, it was to properly test out the new ability he had just acquired.

For the time being, he did not want to make his new ability public, which was why he had decided to act alone.

The more trump cards no one knew about, the better.