Although the Floating Island where Schicksal Headquarters was located had its own agricultural gardens and livestock farms, allowing it to be self-sufficient, it still regularly procured supplies from the outside world, including desserts and other daily necessities that could boost Valkyrie morale.
In addition, there were Valkyrie equipment and prototypes sent from research institutes across various regions, as well as instruments and equipment needed by scientific researchers.
"Open the crates."
"Open the crates!"
As the lead Valkyrie's command fell, the Valkyries in her squad responded loudly and pressed the buttons on the supply crates. One side of each crate automatically opened, exposing the interior for inspection and inventory.
"Water Sprite Type I, twenty units."
"Water Sprite Type I..."
The lead Valkyrie took out a list, drew a line through the Water Sprite Type I entry, and marked a twenty beside it.
There were a total of four hundred Water Sprite Type I weapons delivered this time, so twenty of the hundreds of supply crates contained Water Sprite Type I weapons.
The Valkyrie beside the crate pressed its button again, and the open lid closed. Then, workers nearby drove forklifts to load the crate onto transport vehicles, which would head directly to the warehouse once they carried enough.
After one supply crate was taken away, the conveyor belt happened to deliver a new one.
"Open the crates."
"Open the crates!"
This time, the crate contained daily supplies, and the Valkyries present were all delighted.
"There are macarons this time."
"Mm-hm, I haven't had any in ages."
"Kiana seems to like sweets. Should we take some to feed her?"
"That's a great idea."
"Quiet!"
The lead Valkyrie sharply rebuked them.
"Yes, Captain."
"Sorry, Captain!"
"Still, it really is a good idea."
The lead Valkyrie nodded, clearly intending to tease the Kiana they all adored once she received the sweets.
Beep! Beep! Beep!!
An alarm suddenly sounded, and the conveyor belt stopped at once.
"What's going on?"
The Valkyries who had been immersed in thoughts of feeding Kiana immediately regained their composure and coldly looked toward the workers.
"Was there an operational error?"
"There was no error. A humanoid heat source was detected inside one of the supply crates."
Hearing the operator's explanation, the lead Valkyrie gestured to her squad. Under the staff's guidance, they approached the supply crate in which the humanoid heat source had been detected.
At the same time, they drew their weapons and remained on guard.
"Open the crate."
"Open the crate!"
Hearing the captain's command, the Valkyrie near the crate answered loudly. The other Valkyries all tightened their grips on their blades, dual pistols, and cross-shaped machine guns.
One side of the two-meter-tall, two-meter-wide, two-meter-long supply crate slowly opened.
Then...
A Homu walked out from inside.
The entire Valkyrie squad and all the workers: "???"
This Homu was over two meters tall. Including his long ears, he stood well over two and a half meters.
So when he came out, his long ears swung around and even knocked the Fire Sprite Type I from one Valkyrie's hand.
But that Valkyrie had already frozen in shock and forgot to pick up the gun that had fallen to the ground.
"Homu, Homu? Captain, is there a Homu?"
"Yes, there's... there seems to be one, huh? Huhhhhh??"
The lead Valkyrie was utterly dumbfounded as well.
The Homu seemed to see that he was surrounded, so he raised both hands in surrender and made a strange voice. "I'm an actor invited by the Bishop to... give Kiana a surprise, hom!"
"So the Bishop invited you? I see... haha, as if!"
The Valkyrie squad's gazes sharpened.
"That fake voice is way too fake."
"Homu wouldn't talk like that."
"Too suspicious! Take off that mascot head!!"
The Valkyrie whose weapon had been knocked away also picked it back up and aimed it at the Homu.
"Don't shoot, don't shoot! I'll take it off, I'll take it off!"
The Homu shouted miserably, moving his raised hands behind his back and inserting them into the mascot head.
Then he pulled out two unusually designed pistols from inside it.
The instant those strange dual pistols appeared, everyone froze.
But the Homu did not freeze. He immediately opened fire, instantly destroying the Honkai Energy weapons in the Valkyrie squad's hands.
Then he fired at the Valkyrie squad's limbs.
The shot Valkyries fell one after another.
However, the Homu did not choose to kill them. Instead, he began firing wildly around the area, destroying surveillance equipment, supply crates...
"Calling in, this is Squad Twelve, calling in... the transport harbor is under attack!!"
Although they had lost their combat ability, the Valkyries lying on the ground still activated their communicators and reported what had happened.
"Under attack? Who attacked you?"
"Who? Probably... Homu?"
The Valkyrie being questioned answered in confusion, and the people receiving her answer were equally confused.
"Homu? What did you say attacked you? Are you joking?"
"I'm not joking."
As the armored gate was blasted through by the dual pistols, alarms blared.
The people on the other end of the communication also realized that an attack had truly occurred. They activated the broadcast system and spread news of the harbor attack.
"Damn it, that bastard Welt said this would work."
The "Homu" holding the dual-pistol Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgment and grumbling was Kiana's father, a man named Siegfried Kaslana.
"Tch, once the alarm went off, we were definitely exposed. Didn't you say you could deal with the alarm?"
If he had gone through Theresa, this accident should not have happened.
"Forget it. I can't blame Theresa either. She couldn't exactly defy Bishop Otto."
Because Theresa had never agreed to his plan to infiltrate Schicksal Headquarters and rescue Kiana before the Valkyrie modification surgery, Siegfried had no choice but to approach Anti-Entropy. That was how this plan came about: disguising himself as Homu and hiding in a supply crate to infiltrate Schicksal Headquarters.
Honestly, how was this any different from directly charging into Schicksal Headquarters and unleashing Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgment?
"Stop complaining, Siegfried. Your infiltration was the signal. Now it's time for them to move."
The voice of Welt Yang, the Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy, came through the communicator inside the Homu mascot head.
At the same time, the sound of tanks firing came from afar.
However, the artillery of modern tanks had difficulty piercing Schicksal Headquarters' defensive barrier.
Therefore...
Welt Yang, who had stepped out from a transport ship, raised his hand as gravity gathered in his palm.
"Pierce through."
The concentrated gravity transformed into a spear and shot through the harbor entrance, piercing Schicksal Headquarters' defensive barrier as well.
Ground Troops near the Mediterranean and tanks belonging to other factions opened fire one after another.
At the same time, large numbers of fighter jets screamed overhead, dropping incendiary bombs onto Schicksal's Nine Floating Islands.
Just as Welt Yang had said.
Siegfried Kaslana's attack was the signal.
A signal for every force that opposed Schicksal, hated Schicksal, or envied Schicksal to attack together.
And on a hillside hundreds of kilometers away, a girl lay prone behind a strangely designed sniper rifle. Before her right eye, purple lightning formed a ring that functioned as a high-powered scope.
"How is it, Raven?"
"Various factions have indeed launched an attack on Schicksal Headquarters, but most of them are insignificant."
Organizations that did not even possess Honkai Energy weapons and still used modern weaponry were a joke if they thought they could contend with Schicksal.
However, if Schicksal's propaganda had not been so enticing this time, and if the frequent Honkai incidents caused by it had not recently sent seventy percent of the Valkyries at headquarters away, these rat-like organizations would likely have remained hiding in the sewers.
The man dressed in black, with the character "Martial" on the right hem of his clothing and a white mask exposing only one eye, continued asking.
"Do you think we should kick them while they're down?"
"This should be a trap Bishop Otto carefully prepared for us. Too many things are coincidental."
After hesitating for a moment, the girl gave her answer.
"Good answer. After this attack, all those insignificant factions will definitely disappear. Even Anti-Entropy will suffer severe losses. In a while, act as a mercenary. Eliminate all the remaining little rats. Even if they are insignificant, they should have one or two holy relics from ancient ruins."
Hearing the man's words, the girl nodded and continued watching the battle at Schicksal Headquarters through the lens of lightning.
Schicksal had clearly weakened itself on purpose to lure out hostile factions.
The hostile factions that fell for it would certainly be purged by Bishop Otto afterward. After all, not every organization had Anti-Entropy's strength and could rapidly grow under Bishop Otto's pressure.
"Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgment. One day, we will take it back for our leader."
Resolve showed in the single eye exposed by the white mask.
"..."
The girl remained silent.
She did not agree with what this organization did, but that did not prevent her from obeying it.
The painful experiences of her childhood had taught the girl that only by eliminating the Honkai could people obtain peaceful lives.
"Let's go. We are not yet strong enough to contend with Schicksal. But the serpent's eyes watch everything."
"Yes."
The girl put away her sniper rifle, then followed behind the man.
Her short golden hair, gray at the tips, fluttered in the wind as the girl pulled up her hood to hide her youthful face.
Chubby and Soft
All Nine Floating Islands of Schicksal Headquarters were attacked.
But the defensive barriers on each Floating Island were soon reactivated.
Since the defensive barriers activated this time were independently maintained by each Floating Island, even if one were destroyed, only that particular Floating Island would lose its barrier.
Under the destruction caused by the Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy, Asgard Island's defensive barrier was breached again, but this time the other Floating Islands were unaffected.
The effects of modern weaponry quickly weakened.
But the main force had already begun landing on Asgard.
Before you continue