Plop—
"Where am I?"
Kiana pushed herself up from the sandy beach with her hands.
Looking at the deserted beach, Kiana felt lost.
Suddenly, a sharp pain in her head brought back memories of what had happened.
"Kiana, this is the final lesson."
In her memories, she had pushed Himeko into the bottomless Imaginary Space. Kiana knew Himeko was surely dead.
Now, Kiana wandered the beach in a daze.
She didn't know what to do or where to go.
Like this, Kiana aimlessly wandered through Arc City.
Until she encountered Honkai beasts. The memory of Himeko reignited her hatred.
Without a second thought, she grabbed her baseball bat and charged at the Honkai beasts, taking them all down.
"Maybe I should spend my life fighting the Honkai, eliminating all Honkai beasts, and rewriting this imperfect story. Or perhaps, die on some battlefield against the Honkai."
At this moment, Kiana felt neither a desire to live nor a fear of death.
She didn't know what to live for, nor did she know if she should just die.
Fu Hua, who was residing in the Fenghuang Down feather within Kiana, felt heartbroken seeing her like this.
But she knew it wasn't yet time for her to intervene.
"Kiana, this is your growth. I hope you can grow stronger."
Silently cheering Kiana on in her heart, Fu Hua remained quiet.
...
"Principal, have you found any leads on Kiana?"
Mei's eyes were now surrounded by dark circles, the result of sleepless nights spent searching for Kiana.
"Yes, she was last seen in Arc City. There's a well-informed informant there. We can trade with him to find Kiana's location."
"Thank you, Principal."
Hearing that there was news about Kiana, Mei breathed a sigh of relief.
At the same time, a wave of exhaustion hit her.
After days of relentless searching, Mei had been running on fumes, her nerves constantly on edge.
Now that she had news about Kiana, her tension finally eased, and the accumulated fatigue overwhelmed her.
"Mei, go rest in the Hyperion's lounge for now. We'll wake you when we reach Arc City."
"Thank you."
Mei didn't stubbornly insist on staying. She knew that would be pointless.
After Mei left, Theresa sighed.
In the script, everyone who had been kept in the dark were her students and enemies.
Seeing her students like this, Theresa felt heartbroken, but there was nothing she could do.
About an hour later, the Hyperion arrived in Nagazora.
After choosing a landing spot, Theresa, Bronya, and Mei disembarked.
"Bronya, can you use your hacking skills to locate the informant? We'll make a deal with him."
"Understood, Principal. Leave it to me."
Using her hacking skills to infiltrate Arc City's network, Bronya successfully located the informant.
"I've found the location. Let's go, Principal."
Putting away the holographic display, Bronya sat on Project Bunny's hand and headed toward the destination.
When they arrived, they saw a young girl standing there.
"Are you the informant? You look like just a kid. Are kids being put to work these days?"
"...Are you here to make a deal? State your request, and I'll determine the price."
"We're looking for a white-haired, twin-tailed girl named Kiana. What would you want in exchange?"
After stating their request, Theresa stared at the girl.
"...That girl is no ordinary person. She's a Herrscher vessel. There have been several sightings of her in Arc City. As for payment, how about the Herrscher of Thunder? A fair trade."
"Impossible!"
Theresa immediately rejected the offer.
"Then there's nothing I can do. The deal is off. Please leave. I have many other clients to attend to."
"Hmph, if soft methods don't work, we'll have to use force. Mei, Bronya, let's go!"
Summoning the Oath of Judah, Theresa bound the girl with golden chains.
Mei and Bronya didn't even need to lift a finger.
"Tell us her location, or we'll have to resort to violence."
"..."
Faced with Theresa's threat, the girl remained silent, simply staring at her.
Seeing this, Theresa couldn't actually use violence.
Finally, she thought of Anti-Entropy.
"What is it now? Are things not going smoothly on your end?"
Einstein's voice answered Theresa.
"We have a lead, but the informant won't talk. Do you have any truth-serum-like tools?"
"...We're a technology organization, not a pharmaceutical company. We're not some blue robot cat that can pull magical tools out of thin air."
Hearing Theresa's request, Einstein couldn't help but mock.
Did she really think they were some kind of human experiment lab? They didn't have drugs for that kind of thing.
"Principal, Bronya has discovered that this girl is actually an android. We can hack into her brain or memory chip to get the information we need."
Unlike in the original story, Raven hadn't dared to conduct human experiments, or at least hadn't abducted people for them.
Otherwise, not only would the other Lords not tolerate it, but even Gray Serpent would have stopped her.
After all, due to the way Gray Serpent was created, it valued life highly.
In the original story, it was only because of the Stigmata Plan's madness that this aspect of its personality was suppressed.
Otherwise, given its origins, Gray Serpent would never have been indifferent to life.
"Is that so? Then hurry, Bronya. The sooner we find Kiana, the better. Who knows if Schicksal is still looking for her? We need to find her first."
Hearing Theresa's words, Bronya continued using Project Bunny's advanced hacking capabilities to extract the information they needed.