Chapter - 26
"Oh, this base has the task of checking on Schicksal and Anti-Entropy Activity in Germany" Natalia replied
"Do you know if Schicksal will transfer someone to a nearby hospital?" Anastasia replied
"We got no news of such thing" Natalia replied with a frown "I can ask if you wish, your highness"
Anastasia shook her head "No" she said as they finally reached the guest room
"If you need anything just ask me, my desk is right there" she said as she pointed in the control room nearby
Anastasia gave her a nod and headed inside the room, which wasn't anything too special but it reminded her of her old room in Theresa's apartment. The Empress sat down on the bed and started wondering why everyone had disappeared.
Magnus, Kitten and The Emperor didn't show up so far, which was unusual since they usually do especially when she's doing something unusual. Maybe they are busy talking with one of her sisters, after all, they all received the Imperial Stigmata.
"Feeling alone?" Alex Mercer said as he appeared sitting on a nearby chair
Anastasia raised an eyebrow "Woah, it's rare for you to show up"
Alex shrugged "I just want to see how the world is going"
"And because he was bored" Kallen said as she also appeared sitting on the other end of the bed "Hi Ana"
"Hi Kallen" the blonde-haired woman greeted back before looking at Alex once again "Speaking of the world, why did YOU protect it?"
"Didn't you see my memories?" Alex replied as he crossed his arms
"Yeah but I want to hear it from you" Anastasia said
"Well, After I survived being nuked, I started traveling around the world to see if there was some humanity left in me" Mercer started to tell his story "I killed quite a few criminals but every time I was disappointed"
"Why is that?" Kallen asked
"Because humans proved to be selfish and that cared only for themselves" Alex said sighing "Then just when I was about to give up, The Honkai attacked out of nowhere. To nations fell one after the other as the Herrschers laid down entire armies...I thought that the survivors would just start preying on each other but instead, they started cooperating. The Honkai surrounded them and were going to kill them but since I wanted to see how long their little community could last I decided to save them...I was about to go away, after all, they saw my true colors., but instead they asked me to join them"
"Did you think that they did it only to have you by their side?" Anastasia asked
"At first, yes" Mercer said "But I accepted anyway...but they proved me wrong, they cared for me and slowly I started to care for them" his tone turned dark "Then the Honkai God showed itself and would have killed me...if it wasn't for them...they willingly asked me to consume them so that I could live...and so I did. When I was fully healed, the Honkai God was already gone and Merlin found me, at that point, I swore that I would have eradicated the Honkai and so here I am giving you my powers in order to become the best warrior around"
"You are still sure that you don't want a body of your own?" Anastasia asked
"For now...no, I'm fine here" Mercer said shrugging "You should give one at Miss Kaslana over there"
"I don't really need it" Kallen said shaking her head
"What if Sakura gets resurrected?" Alex replied as Kallen blushed
"Well...in that case..." Kallen muttered as both of Alex and Anastasia laughed a bit "H-Hey stop that"
"Anyway" Mercer said with a smirk "What's the plan? Are you going to enter the hospital guns blazing and take away Cecilia?"
Anastasia shook her head "No, I'm just going to keep her from dying of childbirth and disappear"
Kallen placed her hand on her shoulder "Why don't you stay with her a bit? Maybe you could visit Theresa in the meantime"
"Because I'm one of the most wanted person from Schicksal?" Anastasia replied
"Oh please" Mercer said shaking his head "You can literally turn yourself in someone else and you can just Obi-Wan your way through security with those powers you practiced" he said as he made a gesture "This is not the Anastasia you're looking for...hell, you could literally turn the entirety of Schicksal into your loyal followers by just them looking at you? or like make their head explode? Didn't emps taught you that?"
"You know how I don't like that power" Anastasia replied with a sigh as she shook her head.
"But you still use it" Mercer remarked
"Not now" Anastasia replied
"You should since you are meeting the Brotherhood, no?" He replied crossing his arms "Like how you did in the planets we visited so far"
"They are already our allies" Anastasia replied while steeling her eyes
Mercer immediately brought his hand to his head "Ouch"
"That's what you get" She said as she suppressed her powers from punching Alex's mind.
"Though" Kallen said "That power was essential to bring all those people under our banner...and to find the other Primarchs..." Kallen muttered
"Yes, because they were expecting a god-like being to come..." Anastasia said "Even though I'm not a God..."
"Well, neither the Emperor is but...you know...they made him into one" Kallen replied shrugging
"Yeah" Anastasia agreed as her mind got clouded by her thoughts again "I wish I had more free time like you" Anastasia said as she laid down on her bed "I have too many things to think about like where to find more soldiers"
"You are joking right? The Death Korps, The Jungle Fighters, The Helghasts, the Steel Legion and the other ton of soldiers you have is not enough?! Didn't you also said that are literally sleeping robot armies waiting to be awakened once again?" Kallen asked raising an eyebrow
"Kallen...the Honkai God is stronger than you think" Anastasia deadpanned "The soldiers we have now are enough to defend Earth but not to eliminate the threat, our mission is to kill the Honkai and free the universe from its chains"
"But the previous civilization defeated it!" Kallen said in shock
"No, they defeated its projection in real space, it already knew that the 12th herrscher was going to destroy them" The Empress said shaking her head "We have to bring the war to the Honkai Dimension and for that we need all the Primarchs, Legions, Imperial Army and everything we can muster up"
Kallen looked down at her hands before Anastasia sighed and laid down on the bed "I wish to rest a bit"
And with those words, Anastasia closed her eyes trying to contact her father or her brother, to no avail. She gave up and decided to just keep her eyes closed since she stopped resting for quite a while, her dreams were too painful for her...
Hours passed before someone knocked on her door
"Your Highness" Natalia said from the other side of the door "The Mentors are here"
Anastasia opened her eyes and got up before walking out of her room, causing Natalia to be surprised since she didn't expect the Empress to be this responsive. "Lead me to them" she said with a cold tone
Natalia nodded and brought her to a conference room where two hooded men were standing along with a woman with creamy brown skin, blue eyes and long blonde hair. The woman left the four of them alone.
"It is an honor to finally meet you face to face" The first man said he gently grabbed Anastasia and kissed it "I'm the Italian Mentor Ezio Auditore da Firenze"
The other man did the same "And I'm Levantine Mentor Altair Ibn-La'Ahad"
"Charmed" Anastasia replied before looking at the woman
"Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing" the woman said as offered Anastasia a handshake which Anastasia accepted "Not a member of the brotherhood but the leader of the Hellsing Organization"
Anastasia nodded. Hellsing Organization also belonged to a long lost civilization, Merlin told her that they allied with the Brotherhood during their apocalypse. She also knew who was observing from Integra's shadow...
"It's a pleasure to meet both of you" Anastasia replied as Integra smirked as a tall man wearing a charcoal suit, leather riding boots, and an intricately knotted red cravat, covered by a full-length, and red frock overcoat with a cape, a hat, and sunglasses.
"We got busted" the man said while sitting down
"His name is Alucard, pay no attention to him" Integra said as she started smoking a small cigar
"We were surprised when our adepts told us that you wanted to meet us in Berlin" Ezio said with a gentle tone
"I'm sorry for the sudden call" Anastasia said with a sigh "Due some...personal reasons, I had to come down here but I didn't want to waste the opportunity of meeting you, after all, your services are really beneficial for the Imperium"
"We understand" Altair said as he gestured the seats next to the group "Why don't we talk over a nice cup of tea?"
"It sounds like a good idea" Anastasia said as Ezio pulled out the chair for her "Thanks" she said sitting down as the two men did the same "First of all, I would like you to know that, while I'm the Empress, I don't want you to think that I'm infallible if you think that I'm doing something wrong or you think that you have a better solution to a certain situation, please speak and I shall listen. Ours is not some sort of interrogation, this is a friendly conversation to know better each other, for me it really important to establish a relationship of mutual respect" Anastasia immediately said as everyone nodded in understanding except Alucard who just grinned "Now, I would like to know how your order came to be, Merlin told me just the basics"
Altair and Ezio looked at each other "You start" Ezio said as Altair nodded