Several tens of minutes earlier.
Inside a secret base, Cocolia stared at the screen before her, a trace of exhaustion in her eyes.
During the previous X-10 experiment, Cocolia had lost her adopted daughter, Seele Vollerei, due to the experiment.
Although she knew that sacrifices were unavoidable in the fight against the Honkai, she still felt a bit disheartened.
After that, her other adopted daughter, Bronya Zaychik, also lost the use of her legs and part of her emotional circuits due to the X-10 experiment.
But in Cocolia's eyes, these sacrifices were all worth it.
These experiments had provided Cocolia with sufficiently mature technology and data.
Coupled with her successful framing of her colleague Raiden Ryoma and bringing ME Corp under her control, Cocolia's influence within Anti-Entropy had reached an unprecedented peak.
Now, Cocolia even possessed a portion of the Herrscher of Reason's cells and had begun to implement the man-made Herrscher project.
And now, as long as she could guide Raiden Mei to awaken and capture the mature Herrscher on the spot, Cocolia, who would then control a Herrscher and be able to mass-produce them, would have gained the capital to confront Schicksal.
Of course, that was all assuming her plan went smoothly.
But now, looking at the woman on the screen, Cocolia knew she had to get serious.
On the screen, a beautiful woman with short, ash-blonde hair and a very handsome black-haired man were walking hand-in-hand down the street.
However, as an executive of Anti-Entropy, Cocolia knew very well that the woman was no ordinary person.
Schicksal officially claimed to have three S-rank Valkyries, but in the intelligence obtained by Anti-Entropy's intelligence department, they could only confirm the identities of two of them.
And Rita Rossweisse was one of them.
As Otto's confidante, Rita Rossweisse's appearance in Nagazora City was certainly no coincidence.
"I see. After we cleaned up that trash, Otto couldn't sit still anymore, so he sent an S-rank over to continue monitoring the gem."
It was too late for regrets now. Having alerted the enemy, she had to speed up the plan.
And... Hmph, the man this Valkyrie is in contact with must also be one of Otto's lackeys.
===============
"Notify Bronya. Have her investigate this kid's identity and address."
"Yes, ma'am."
Upon hearing Cocolia's command, a nearby staff member immediately transmitted the order to Bronya, who was on standby.
A few minutes later, Bronya actively contacted Cocolia.
"Mother, Bronya has found this man's residence. Additionally, Bronya has discovered that he is an exchange student at Senba High School."
"Very good. Go to his residence and check if there's anything we want. Also, after he returns, clean up the place."
Cocolia didn't state it explicitly, but Bronya understood her adopted mother's intentions.
This man was another nail planted by Schicksal in Nagazora City, and one placed right next to the mission target, Raiden Mei.
If he wasn't eliminated now, this man could very well interfere with Cocolia's plans.
For Bronya, who longed to use the power of the Herrscher to find Seele, this was something she absolutely could not tolerate.
The Silver Wolf of the Urals was not a soft-hearted person. In fact, as a child soldier trained for several years, she already had a considerable amount of blood on her hands.
For Seele's sake, Bronya didn't mind staining her hands with blood once more.
As for why Cocolia dispatched Bronya for this mission, the reason was also simple.
Previously, when she had sent other subordinates to carry out clean-up tasks, some of them had been nearly killed by those lackeys of Otto due to their lack of skill.
If Cocolia hadn't been a bit more cautious this time and sent enough manpower, some of those rats might have escaped to survive elsewhere.
And this time, this young man hadn't even been identified as a Schicksal agent by Anti-Entropy's members before.
Under these circumstances, Cocolia felt she should maintain her previous caution and dispatch her strongest soldier for this mission.
"Hmph, an S-rank Valkyrie... While indeed troublesome, she wouldn't dare to be too reckless in this place."
"After dealing with that rat, I'll think of a way to apply a little pressure on Raiden Mei."
....
A few minutes ago, upon arriving at Leo Ash's residence, Bronya Zaychik immediately began to search the premises.
Unfortunately, perhaps because all the other Schicksal members hiding in Nagazora City had been wiped out, Bronya couldn't find any useful information in the man's home.
"Hmph, no other choice."
Connecting to the nearby surveillance system through her bio-chip, Bronya suddenly realized that Leo Ash had already returned to the ground floor of the building.
In a few more minutes, Leo Ash would be back here.
Bronya understood her mother's intentions clearly.
Investigating this man was not the important task.
Ensuring he couldn't interfere with her mother's plans was the real mission.
Quickly tidying up the scene, the young girl concealed her presence and hid.
And the moment that man stepped into the room, Bronya moved.
The girl, already a master of powerful combat techniques, had seen the openings on her opponent the instant he came into her line of sight.
But honestly, there were just too many openings.
A Schicksal agent dispatched to Nagazora City... Didn't Mother say they were all tough to deal with?
This completely unguarded posture was just... like that of an ordinary person.
Could it be that we were wrong?
Or perhaps the information Bronya found was deliberately planted by Schicksal in the database to mislead us, and he really is just an ordinary person?
Although doubts had already arisen in her mind, Bronya did not stop her actions.
In battle, hesitation often means defeat.
In past missions, many of Bronya's enemies had underestimated her due to her youthful appearance.
Those who had once underestimated Bronya were, of course, no longer in this world.
Bronya would certainly not make such a foolish mistake. Even if this man was just an ordinary person, she had to give it her all at this moment!
With this thought, Bronya, who was already preparing to knock Leo Ash out, in the next instant...
"Sigh."
With a sudden sigh from Leo Ash, he grabbed the girl's exoskeleton armor and slammed Bronya heavily onto the ground.