Chapter 8: Encounter, Confrontation, Strategy

Chapter 8: Encounter, Confrontation, Strategy

[After leaving the town, persuaded by your friendly demeanor, a kind passerby decides to lend you their car. You now have a vehicle.]

"Hmm~ ?" On the road, Sirin sits in the passenger seat, humming an inexplicable tune, her two feet swinging in the air.

It's evident that she's in a good mood.

Chase smiles, "Is Sirin happy now?"

Sirin nods, her gaze fixed on the road ahead, with a hint of anticipation in her eyes.

"Brother, Aunt Alexandra is really a good person," she sighs.

"Yes, she is indeed a good person," Chase says. He initially thought Alexandra was destined, only to discover that she was just a kind passerby, which surprised him.

Perhaps the talent [Promise of Gold] played a role.

An unknown existence will guide you forward... Chase wonders.

"Brother, where are we going now?" Sirin asks.

"I don't know."

"Huh? Aren't we going to relatives?" Sirin is surprised.

"That's not wrong; I am indeed planning to find someone. He's like half a master to me," Chase says. "Why do I say half? Because he taught me, but without the formalities of accepting me as his disciple."

"So, Brother is planning to find that half-master?" 

Chase hesitates for a moment, without correcting Sirin's "half-master."

"Well, yes, I do have that intention, but I don't know how to find him."

Welt Yang, a man who once saved Chase's life. Chase learned about Honkai, Schicksal, and Entropy from him, discovering the other side of this world.

Chase knows Welt Yang is associated with [Entropy], and he understands the hostile relationship between [Entropy] and [Schicksal]. Hence, he decided to seek refuge with Welt Yang.

He doesn't know if Welt Yang has already forgotten him.

Chase once had the privilege of witnessing Welt Yang's actions. The power he displayed made Chase feel suffocated. The colossal Honkai Beast seemed tiny before him, reduced to rubble under the terrifying gravity...

The manipulation of gravity, it was something unheard of.

"Um..." Sirin stops questioning and falls silent suddenly, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, seemingly contemplating a difficult decision.

"Is Sirin afraid?" Chase asks.

Sirin shakes her head, "Sirin is thinking. Now that Brother and Sirin have escaped, if we can't find that half-master, how will Sirin earn money to support Brother?"

Chase chuckles. He thought Sirin would be panicked and worried about the unknown future, but he didn't expect her to be thinking about such matters.

"Besides, with Brother around, Sirin won't be afraid!" Sirin says defiantly, her golden eyes shining as she looks at Chase.

"Yes," Chase nods.

"Brother will protect you, for sure."

The talent [Promise of Gold] trembles silently, emitting a faint glow.

[Promise of Gold (Gold): You attach great importance to the promises you make. Sometimes, you even prioritize your promises over your life. You won't break your word unless you fall.]

[Note 1: Your commitment has gained recognition from an unknown existence...]

However, at this moment, Chase, who is driving, remains unaware...

...

On the snowy plains of Siberia, a car is smoothly and rapidly moving.

Sirin hums a song, occasionally giving water and food to Chase beside her. She envisions a bright future, but a sudden centripetal force pulls her. Her head hits the car window hard, before she can feel the pain, the car flips over.

Sirin immediately realizes it's an attack, and her expression becomes serious.

Chase pulls her out of the car, staring gravely at the enemies not far away.

A woman holding heavy weaponry, a little girl carrying a peculiar cross. The two, one tall and one short, are now cautiously targeting Chase and Sirin.

"Are you Schicksal's people?" he asks.

Upon hearing this, the expressions of Theresa and Patricia subtly change, but they quickly return to normal. Of course, Chase caught this brief change.

"It seems so," Chase shrugs mockingly. "Schicksal really thinks highly of us, but we are just two experimental subjects. Why make such a fuss?"

"Isn't there still a lot of kids like us inside [the Tower]? Why focus on us?"

Theresa frowns.

Chase laughs mockingly, "You two are the Valkyries of Schicksal, right?"

"So what?"

"Then you must know about trading the Artificial Stigmata, obtained at the cost of a Valkyrie's life, to counteract Honkai," Chase continues. He scratches the girl's palm in his right hand, conveying a pre-arranged signal.

This was discussed between him and Sirin in the car.

In case of an attack, if the number of enemies is not odd, prioritize dividing the battlefield. Use the power of [Void].

Sirin also scratches Chase's hand in response.

Having probed a bit, Chase found out that the short one opposite seemed to know nothing, looking silly. On the other hand, the woman with heavy weaponry seemed much more stable, at least, she had been frowning since she saw him, as if immersed in serious contemplation.

"All these achievements are accumulated bit by bit with the lives of children like us. Don't you Schicksal people know?" Chase continues. He looks at Sirin with a meaningful gaze, his tone filled with sarcasm.

This is what they agreed upon in the car.

If they encounter an attack, and the number of enemies is not odd, they will split the battlefield first, using the power of [Void].

Theresa looks at Chase with a complicated expression. She is amazed at Chase's maturity beyond his age and is unwilling to believe everything he says, even though she feels it might be the truth.

"I will investigate these things later, but now I have to take you away," Theresa says.

"Bang!" Chase raises his hand, firing a bullet. The bullet, filled with Honkai energy, whizzes through the air. Theresa instinctively uses Judah to block, and the bullet hits Judah, producing a loud explosion.

"Patricia, support me!" Theresa shouts.

However, Theresa did not hear a response, nor did she get the expected support.

Theresa looks puzzled, turns her head, and finds that Patricia has disappeared.

She looks at Chase and curses, "Damn it!"

On the other side, Patricia, still contemplating how to deal with the current situation, suddenly finds the scenery in front of her changing abruptly. In the blink of an eye, she has changed her position.

[Void]? Well, this works too.

She was also wondering what to do.

When she saw Chase, Patricia realized things were getting complicated. The target pursued by Schicksal, one is an unawakened Herrscher, and the other is the successor that the leader wants to find.

And now, the situation is clear. The successor favored by the leader is traveling with the unawakened Herrscher and seems to be in a leading position.

He is protecting the Herrscher...

To help Schicksal capture the Herrscher, she must first defeat this boy.

And if she defeats this boy, what if she dies... Theresa does not have mercy when facing enemies, even if they are just children.

Although the bishop specifically instructed to spare the lives of these two children, that was only under the premise of not knowing the identity of the Herrscher. In necessary situations, anything that hinders the recovery of the Herrscher can be killed.

That's tricky...

Having completed Schicksal's mission, she cannot justify herself to Entropy. But if she disobeys orders or slacks off, her undercover identity in Entropy will be exposed.

So, she chose to teleport away.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

Now, report the information to the leader first...