Rescue

"Okay, okay... Th-thank you, big brother..."

Ming Yu picked up the crying child. Electricity flickered around his feet, and he carried the child to the area where the survivors had gathered with lightning speed.

"Whew... That was the last one."

Though they were called survivors, there were not actually many of them.

Using Time Reversal, he had searched the entire airport inside and out, rescuing a group of survivors along the planned route.

Yet after making a full circuit of the vast airport while clearing out Honkai Beasts, he had found only a dozen or so survivors in the end. Most of them were teenagers who had been forced to awaken part of their Stigmata in the high-concentration Honkai energy environment.

—For ordinary people to survive a major Honkai outbreak was no easy matter. Even describing the odds of survival as one in ten thousand would have been generous.

"You all stay here. It's safe here, and no more monsters will come. Um... After a while, rescue forces will come for you."

After reassuring the surviving children once more, Ming Yu left the airport without delay.

In the midst of a disaster, every second had to count. For every second of delay, perhaps countless more lives would be lost.

He arrived atop a high-rise building near the airport and looked toward the city center from above. It was a gruesome scene straight out of hell.

Large numbers of Honkai Beasts roamed everywhere, and the once-prosperous city had become a field of ruins.

But recalling his own escape through Changkong City, there should still have been quite a few survivors now that the Honkai had only just erupted.

—Since airports were generally built far from the city center, the Honkai invasion here had been far less severe than in the city center, which had already become a complete hellscape. There were also far fewer Honkai Beasts, both in number and strength.

After he had cleared out the Honkai Beasts in this airport, the sizable airport had become a relatively safe shelter.

External Honkai Beasts would still continue to invade, but that was at least something that could be guarded against.

Therefore, he planned to use this airport as a gathering point for survivors.

He did not know when Schicksal's reinforcements would arrive. For now, Ming Yu intended to enter the city center, search for survivors, and guide them to the airport for refuge.

The Manila Honkai outbreak was the largest Honkai disaster to occur in Southeast Asia.

Although it did not give birth to a new Herrscher, it had nearly destroyed the entire city. The devastation it caused was no less than that of the Honkai outbreak in Changkong City, affecting more than ten million ordinary people.

Ming Yu knew that a large-scale Honkai outbreak would occur in Manila, but he truly did not know exactly when it would happen. By sheer coincidence, he had arrived right in the middle of it.

Even going back to before the outbreak to issue an early warning would no longer have had any meaning. A city with a population exceeding ten million simply could not be effectively evacuated within a few hours.

Even if he warned Schicksal Headquarters, he could not provide convincing evidence for his "prophecy." Instead, he would likely draw the suspicion of that distrustful Schicksal Overseer.

Moreover, to ordinary civilians, the existence of Honkai was completely unfamiliar—Schicksal and Anti-Entropy had always kept information on the matter sealed away, never allowing ordinary people to encounter the concept of Honkai.

With a sigh, Ming Yu leaped down from the high-rise and sped toward the city center.

To find as many survivors as possible, he would have to rely on his Time Reversal.

Countless images appeared before Ming Yu's eyes. At the same moment, he delved into every corner of the city, searching for signs of life.

At the same time, beneath the dim clouds, a chestnut-haired girl was running at full speed.

As she ran, she kept muttering:

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

This was the young Valkyrie's first time facing a bloody Honkai battlefield. While murmuring to herself, she searched for a way out through the collapsed ruins.

Not long ago, when the major Honkai outbreak erupted, the Snow Lotus Squad she belonged to had been attacked by a large number of Honkai Beasts. Their captain had vanished in an explosion, her whereabouts unknown. The few members who had barely escaped had also been scattered in every direction, unable to contact one another.

From the most pessimistic perspective, they might all already have...

The girl shook her head.

Right now, she should immediately withdraw to the rendezvous point, contact the outside world, and seek aid.

Her communicator had already stopped working. The unchanging static pouring from it had become the only melody across this scorched earth.

She was afraid.

The fear of being alone on a dangerous battlefield made her steps unconsciously quicken.

Just then, her sharp hearing caught the sound of small stones rolling.

"..."

The girl hesitated and stopped.

She looked around, and her gaze finally landed beneath a collapsed building.

The physical abilities of a Valkyrie granted her extraordinary senses, but the psychological burden of facing a battlefield for the first time also left her unsure of what to do.

The girl waited in place for several seconds, but the sound did not come again.

She could not determine whether that noise had truly existed or whether it was merely an illusion born from her excessive panic.

So she looked away and took a step, wanting to flee from here and get away from these ruins.

"I'm sorry, I have more important duties... I have to regroup with the others..."

The girl muttered, as though making excuses for herself.

Of course, she knew perfectly well that this was only an excuse.

A Valkyrie who should have been protecting this city was now not thinking of saving civilians, but only of how to retreat somewhere safe. A word silently surfaced in the chestnut-haired girl's mind—

Deserter.

"No, that's not it..."

The girl hesitated and stopped once more.

She remembered the oath she had sworn on the day she became a Valkyrie: fear no hardship, fear no pain, fear no death.

She also remembered the letter she had written to her friend Bianka not long ago, saying that she wanted to catch up to the strongest Valkyrie in Schicksal.

As a descendant of the Schariac family, she had always hoped to become a protector of the people, to bring hope to those trapped in disaster. She had hoped to become an outstanding Valkyrie like Bianka and her family's senior, Cecilia.

She had always worked toward that goal. That was why she had become a Valkyrie.

But at this very moment, with disaster right before her eyes, she did not have the courage to put her ideals into practice.

Now, her former ideals and the oath she had once sworn seemed as though they were about to shatter into pieces, just like this city.

—She was so weak and lacking in courage that she could not even save a life right beside her.

"No, this isn't what I want to do...!"

In the end, the girl turned around. She gave up on fleeing, trembling as she ran back toward the ruins, choosing to search those ruins for survivors who might not even exist.

As she made her way toward the ruins, a voice in her heart seemed to constantly warn her:

If she returned to those ruins now, she could encounter an attack by a large number of Honkai Beasts at any moment. Alone, she might not be able to return alive!

Such a massive Honkai outbreak could very well produce a Herrscher like the one in Changkong City. With an A-Rank Valkyrie's combat strength, she clearly could not handle a Herrscher-level existence!

And even if she rescued the survivors, how could she lead ordinary people without combat ability past so many Honkai Beasts to a safe location—she did not even know where could be considered safe right now.

No matter how she looked at it, choosing to save people now was a path with almost no chance of survival.

But the chestnut-haired girl still returned to the ruins.

When she arrived back at her original position, she discovered that another figure had unexpectedly appeared among the rubble.

He was a black-haired boy who appeared to be around her age.

Strange blue electricity flowed around him, and coupled with his slightly breathless appearance, he had clearly only just arrived.

Anna sharply noticed the Schicksal communication device at his waist, identical to her own.

In other words, he was also affiliated with Schicksal...

No matter what, encountering another person at the disaster site made her feel slightly more at ease.

Just as the girl was about to say something, the other party spoke first.

"...I'm Ming Yu from the Far East Branch. There are survivors beneath those ruins. Come help me."

Rescue

Because of the birth of the Honkai and the destruction caused by the Honkai Beasts, the area had become ruins made up of heaps of rubble.

In Anna's view, under such circumstances, finding survivors buried beneath it without instruments or equipment would have been an extremely difficult task.

Although she had already made up her mind to return and help with the rescue, she did not actually have much confidence.

She simply did not want to truly become a deserter, nor did she want to betray her ideals.

"I understand. How do you need me to help?"

Upon hearing Ming Yu's request, the girl answered without hesitation.

"It's simple. We'll clear away the rubble here together and rescue the survivors buried beneath it."

Ming Yu answered.

It was just that his method of clearing it away was somewhat unusual.

—Although the high-rise had become ruins, fortunately, in this modern city built of reinforced steel and concrete, most of the wreckage could be controlled by manipulating electromagnetic force.

Ming Yu stretched out his hand toward the ruins before him. Several strands of electricity spread from his palm, and then the rubble before them seemed to come under his control, slowly and steadily flying away piece by piece toward an open area.

Of course, he would occasionally encounter objects that contained no metal at all. For example, a massive broken boulder was currently blocking the entrance.

At times like this, naturally...

"I-I'll help you...!"

The chestnut-haired girl hurried forward and exerted herself to lift the massive boulder.

Although she looked delicate, Anna was a genuine A-Rank Valkyrie. The Schariac bloodline's talent, combined with her own diligence and effort, had allowed her to reach such a level at the age of sixteen.

Though she could not be compared to the extraordinary Durandal, she was still more than worthy of being called a genius.

Well, in terms of pure strength, she was considerably stronger than The Three Families at this point in time.

Sure enough, after pushing away the final massive boulder, Anna leaned in and discovered a brown-haired girl lying in a deep pit.

She hurriedly turned back to Ming Yu and said:

"Ming Yu, you were right. There really is a survivor here!"

The brown-haired girl lay weakly amid shattered rubble. Her clothes had been torn beyond recognition, covered in dust and blood.

Only the last trace of consciousness remaining in her supported her as she barely stretched out a hand and softly begged Anna for help:

"Save... save me... big sister..."

"I'm coming...!"

Anna hurriedly turned over and jumped down through the opening. Reaching the girl's side, she carried her out in a way that would not touch her wounds.

After confirming that the survivor was still breathing and had merely passed out, the chestnut-haired girl finally let out a breath of relief. She raised her head to look at Ming Yu and added the introduction she had not had time to give earlier:

"Hello, Ming Yu. I'm Anna from the Snow Lotus Squad, Anna Schariac. You can just call me Anna."

After calming down somewhat, the girl recalled his name and branch, only then remembering that she had heard of this boy, who had gained some fame among Schicksal's Valkyries.

"Mm, hello, Anna."

Ming Yu nodded slightly.

Chestnut-colored long hair, pink eyes, white Valkyrie armor, and a blue-purple four-leaf clover emblem at the junction of her chest and abdomen. A blue-purple cape draped over her left shoulder, marked with a white four-pointed star.

Naturally, Ming Yu recognized that the Valkyrie standing amid this disaster was Anna Schariac.

—Although she had not appeared much in the game, she would indeed become the genuine Herrscher of Ice in the future.

Although she could not resist Honkai's corrosion through her own will, she had not disgraced the Schariac name. Several times, she had wanted to end her own life to stop the spread of the Honkai disaster. She was an exceptionally strong Valkyrie.

Of course, she was only an ordinary girl from the Schariac family right now—well, with the name "Schariac," it was difficult to call her ordinary in the first place.

"Ming Yu, were you sent by the Far East Branch to support the Manila Honkai outbreak? Have other Valkyries entered the battlefield as well?"

Anna asked with concern.

She cared greatly about the matter of reinforcements.

"No. More accurately, I was just passing through this city when I happened to encounter the Honkai outbreak. I don't know much about what's happening outside either... However, Schicksal's reinforcements should arrive soon."