Months later, Theresa gathered us on the Hyperion's bridge. The air was thick with tension, filled with the constant hum of monitors and the metallic smell of the ventilation systems. Floating holograms displayed maps of New Zealand and Oceania, highlighting a pulsing red zone.
"You've been assigned the mission to recover the Gem of Desire, located in a disabled Schicksal branch in Oceania," Theresa announced, her voice firm echoing in the room.
I nodded, feeling the weight of the mission on my chest. But with my power, I can alter fate and save Wendy... or at least Bronya.
The journey to the site was turbulent: the Hyperion rocked by violent storms slamming the hull with muffled booms, and I clung to my seat while discussing strategy with the group. Kiana joked to lighten the mood—"If there's wind, I'll be the queen of kites!"—Mei prepared equipment with surgical precision, sharpening and calibrating her weapons, Bronya calculated trajectories on her tablet, her expression impassive under the blue screen light. Apparently, the Gem of Desire had been lost long ago in that abandoned Schicksal branch.
Upon arrival, we descended into a desolate landscape: rocky beaches battered by salty winds, ruins of Schicksal facilities overgrown with weeds and thick fog that smelled of ozone and Honkai corruption. During the search, we faced waves of stumbling zombies—glowing purple eyes—and low-rank Honkai beasts (Grade 4-3), their guttural roars echoing in the mist.
"I request to absorb them," I said to the group, extending my hand. Each absorption was a cold flow of cursed energy: black aura enveloping the creatures, dissolving them into spheres that flowed into me. Every 10 Honkai beasts increased my template fusion by 1, depending on level.
Grade 1 = +1; Special Grade = +10.
Some time later, we found a girl in a wheelchair: short black hair with turquoise green tones, large and timid eyes of the same color, pale skin under the light. She responded to the name Wendy. Himeko identified her instantly; this was a highly promising A-rank Valkyrie who could have even reached S-rank, but she had been part of a failed experiment three years ago where the Gem of Desire was implanted in her to develop abilities beyond human limits. However, the experiment failed, and she lost control of her legs.
After talking for a while, Wendy lowered her gaze, wheels creaking on the wet ground. She told us her story in a trembling voice: they had implanted the Gem of Desire in her tibia to transcend human limits, but the experiment failed. Though the Gem of Desire stabilized, she couldn't control its power, losing control of her legs and ending up confined to the chair.
Bronya approached, her robot Bunny floating protectively. "Bronya was also left in a wheelchair due to experiments. But now, with exoskeleton and Bunny, she walks... and flies."
The more we talked with her, the faster the team took a liking to her: Kiana offered her a candy with a wide smile, Mei adjusted her chair gently, Bronya promised medical help. I remained skeptical, acting calm and kind—smiling, nodding—but internally: I knew that at the extraction point, she would awaken as the 4th Herrscher (Herrscher of Wind) due to accumulated hatred toward Schicksal. And she would try to flee, not wanting to hurt the girls after they had been kind to her.
As we advanced through muddy paths toward the extraction point—wind whistling between ruins—we arrived. Wendy suddenly stood up, eyes shining with an intense turquoise glow, ethereal wings unfolding. "Hypocrites! I hate you all!" she shouted.
I quickly summoned a group of zombies with katanas—sharp, shadows dancing—and another with bows—arrows whistling. I surrounded her, distracting her. Wendy was briefly shocked: she never expected someone capable of summoning controlled Honkai beasts. So instead of fighting, she fled flying in a gust of wind.
Himeko, from the Hyperion's command room, panicked at the HW (Honkai Waves) readings going off the charts. "Critical readings!"
Himeko immediately reported the incident to Schicksal. "They'll send an S-rank Valkyrie to stop her; she's now classified as Herrscher of Wind. They don't want to take risks."
The girls protested, convincing Himeko they could reason with Wendy. 40 minutes—time until the S-rank arrived—for them to do what they had to. "Thank you very much, Major Himeko!" Bronya thanked, voice neutral but relieved.
40 minutes, huh? By avoiding the initial confrontation, I bought some time. This could be key to preventing Anti-Entropy from intervening and ruining everything.
We tried to follow Wendy before the S-rank Valkyrie arrived—Durandal from the European CG, according to Himeko.
Looks like I'll meet Durandal soon. But first, I have to save Wendy without complications and prevent Bronya from losing control.
While lost in my thoughts, Himeko reported via communicator:
-"Bad news. Satellites detect 5 battleships flying over the Pacific."-
"Anti-Entropy?" Mei asked, wind whipping her hair.
-"Could it be someone else? If they encounter Anti-Entropy, abandon the mission. I'm not losing anyone in this pursuit,"-. Himeko ordered.
Right after, Kiana shouted: "Wendy, there you are!"
"Why do you keep following me? Do you want to die?" Wendy asked, winds swirling around her. "I forgave you for being kind. You don't know who you're dealing with."
"Wendy, come back! Schicksal has deployed an S-rank Valkyrie to capture you, and Anti-Entropy is coming," Kiana shouted.
"S-rank? Herrscher level? I want to see if I can take one," Wendy said.
Kiana shouted back: "Hey! Don't be so arrogant! You'll have to get past me first! Last time I was careless. Not even Herrschers are rivals for me when I'm serious."
Wendy, anxious: "I won't fight or hurt you. Let me go," and she flew away again.
-Himeko: "Have you found Wendy yet? Durandal arrives in 12 minutes. Anti-Entropy battleships are approaching."-
-Theresa interrupted: "Don't worry about the S-rank Valkyrie or Anti-Entropy. I'll transmit your position on an open channel, and I'm sure Anti-Entropy will intercept the message. They'll probably divert to intercept her. Selling out one of our own doesn't sit right with me, but she'll be fine. I hope Anti-Entropy buys us more time."-
"Alright!" "It's our turn!" Kiana announced. So we moved again in search of Wendy, facing the occasional wave of Honkai beasts along the way.
-While we moved, Himeko and Theresa discussed over the communicator:-
-Theresa: I've talked to Durandal.-
-Himeko: And?-
-Theresa: I have her coordinates.-
-Himeko: I guess I can give her a star for honesty.-
-Theresa: I have no choice. We need to buy more time for Kiana and the others.-
-Himeko: But exposing her location to the enemy? Durandal is supposed to be our ally...-
-Theresa: Ally? That annoying girl is not my ally! She gave me a really hard time! Anyway, we'll have to deal with Anti-Entropy. Durandal can weaken them a bit.-
-Himeko: But you're giving Anti-Entropy an advantage by telling them where she is.-
-Theresa: Oh. But Durandal is all-powerful, you know.-
-Himeko: You really don't like her, do you?-
I was enjoying the situation quite a bit, because from what I remembered, Durandal was someone very strict and disciplined who constantly scolded everyone for slacking off, including Theresa herself.
Then another wave of Honkai beasts intercepted us. Along with the others, we started fighting, and I decided that when the moment came for Bronya to lose control, I'd use it to test my new abilities.
In the months at the academy and practice missions, I had managed to fully complete Suguru Geto's template. What happened upon completing it? Well, besides being able to use all of Geto's original abilities, I unlocked two new template types and a weapon inventory.
The new template type allowed me to obtain unique qualities or characteristics from certain Jujutsu Kaisen characters. For example: Six Eyes, Toji's physique, etc. This through a gacha system that worked with tickets—I got one upon completing Geto's template, though I'm not sure if I can get more through missions, since the missions during my training were secondary and there wasn't much to do.
After all, I was barely in the first 3 chapters of the game, which were basically a tutorial. As for the weapon inventory, well, it's basically that— it can store any weapon no larger than me, and it came with a small shop where I could exchange real weapons for keys, getting more keys depending on their power to buy weapons and cursed objects from the JJK universe.
I found it curious how both the gacha system and the weapon/object shop were incredibly similar to Honkai Impact's own gacha and weapon shop, though unlike the game, I didn't need a certain number of pulls for a guaranteed big drop— it was pure luck. The only positive point was that, according to the system description, I wouldn't get duplicates.
After finishing absorbing nearby Honkai beasts, I could observe how the others were doing. Despite having seen it up close countless times in missions and training, it still amused me how Kiana hit her enemies by summoning giant cat paws.
-Then Theresa spoke over the communicator again:-
-Theresa: KYAAA! We have a problem!-
"What's wrong, Theresa?" Kiana asked.
-Theresa: I received a message from Durandal. She finished off Anti-Entropy. She asked me about the Anti-Entropy ambush, since only I knew her position.-
Mei interrupted: "Here we go again with the lesson that lying is wrong..."
-Theresa: Think of something smart to tell her, quick! Otherwise, she'll come scold us all for a whole day!-
-Himeko: Oh, then I'll avoid your office when she arrives.-
-Theresa: Hey, Himeko! You're not getting away with this! So, any excuse for Durandal? I need something fast.-
I hope she doesn't find out that Major Himeko is a drunk who spends all day slacking off, I said casually.
-Himeko: Seems you're thinking out loud again, Mikael.-
"I have one," Mei suggested. "Director, tell her we have an Anti-Entropy mole in Schicksal."
-Theresa: We can't do that. It would create a big problem inside Schicksal.-
Bronya suggested: "Bronya believes we can tell her: Anti-Entropy started this Honkai incident to lure and ambush an S-rank Valkyrie, and she was the target from the beginning."
-Theresa: Fine, but it's obvious that if Anti-Entropy wanted that, they'd have come prepared with full force.-
Then Kiana shouted: "Hey, I have a brilliant idea! I noticed Durandal took the Gold Coast route, along the sea to get here. We'll tell her Anti-Entropy was on vacation and ran into her."
-Himeko: That's the dumbest thing I've heard in my life.-
"I support Kiana's idea," I said with a slight smile.
Kiana is so funny, lol. Now that I think about it, her personality is a bit similar to Naruto Uzumaki at the beginning of the anime, xd.
-Theresa: But actually... it could work. Let me try. One moment...-
Seconds later...
-Himeko: How did it go? She's coming to bother us, right?-
-Theresa: She bought it. People say she's honest and frank; if you ask me, she's an idiot.-
Kiana commented: "I think Durandal is a very reasonable person. Maybe we can be friends. Wait, did you just call someone an idiot?"
I tried to hold back laughter at the absurdity of the situation.
Shortly after, we found Wendy on a windy cliff. Upon seeing us, she said: "It's clear you don't know when to give up. I'll have to teach you a lesson."
"Hey, that's my line," Kiana replied.
Mei answered: "Wendy, trust us, please. You're not yourself; the Honkai clouds your judgment."
"Wait, Kiana," Bronya said. "Bronya wants to talk to Wendy."
"No! Stop! I don't want to talk to you, Bronya!" Wendy replied.
However, Bronya continued. "Bronya remembered a younger sister named Seele from the orphanage. Wendy reminds her of her."
Wow, now that I think about it, they are quite similar—they have practically the same hairstyle, and though they're usually shy and kind, they have a sadistic and aggressive double personality.
While thinking, Bronya continued. "Seele was strong and kind, like Wendy. Seele was corrupted by the Honkai, but she fought hard and recovered..."
Discreetly, I began forming a hand sign and reciting quietly, while everyone focused on the unfolding scene, knowing that although Wendy would probably surrender and come with us, Cocolia wouldn't allow it and would control Bronya to fight her and then kidnap Wendy.
So I deployed a barrier around us—configured similar to Kenjaku's in Shibuya—a translucent dome of dark cursed energy expanded around the cliff, invisible to normal eyes but palpable like a pressure wall. Allowing any Valkyrie to enter while blocking beasts or mechs with Honkai energy, but especially blocking external communications. Internal thoughts: I need to buy time until Durandal arrives and helps us.
[System Notification:]
[New main mission: Save Wendy from Anti-Entropy. Reward: +1 ticket]
[New secondary mission: Prevent Cocolia from controlling Bronya or stop her when controlled. Reward: +50 points.]
End of Chapter :).