Chapter 181: Herrschers and Answers

Adelheid knew that Kiana lost herself to her herrscher core and almost immediately came to the rescue, but she was stopped by Joachim and Lieserl showed them what was happening in the far east.

"It seems that Mei is now the true herrscher of thunder. Isn't that convenient?" Adelheid sighed in relief and thought that they'd cancel each other out.

"Un, I will be going to the far east. You will be confronting Schicksal, your power is more needed there." Joachim gave orders and Adelheid agreed.

"Yeah, that crazy blonde has something planned. And I don't like it." Adelheid didn't know what drove her to accelerate her plans. And she was going in blind.

"Don't worry, I'll put a stop to whatever that crazy ass blonde is planning." Adelheid gripped the abyss Flower and was prepared for a messy fight.

She then flew away to Schicksal HQ for a showdown. Adelheid hovered at the skies and Schicksal was deserted. Valkyries were deployed at the honkai eruptions that were spreading out.

"Let's see, I think I can use the 3rd core's powers like this." Adelheid released an electromagnetic pulse and checked if there really were no people there. As it turns out, it was deserted.

"Where is she then? She couldn't have gone to Kolosten already..." Adelheid didn't feel a single soul there. So she decided to fish them out.

"Ottilie Apocalypse! You have inflicted too much suffering on innocent people! And you, shall know true pain." Adelheid took a deep breath, siphoning as much honkai energy as she could.

"Shinra... Tensei!" She increased gravity to a factor of 10000 and flattened Schicksal HQ immediately. Earthquakes ravaged the earth as the ground split. Europe experienced magnitude 9 tremors as the tectonic plates shifted in an instant.

"Oops, fuck. I didn't know that would happen." Adelheid did an oopsie and she could already tell that Ein was watching her do stupid shit with her powers. Aesir operatives having to stabilize Europe or massive amounts of casualties will result in her stunt.

But she did succeed in luring out her enemy as Tilie appeared, escorted by Rita and Bianka. "Iyaaa~ you were pretty violent, Adelheid. Unlike your sweet little sister." Tilie gave a taunt and she squinted her eyes.

"Rita, Bianka... Wait a minute, is your name Bianka Ataegina?" Adelheid realized something. Something wasn't adding up. And because of her multiple herrscher cores, Bianka's illusion and misdirection was less effective against her.

Bianka just nodded and she started stretching. While Rita gave a curtsy as her eyes glowed. "Hello, Adelheid-san. As you know, we are currently employed at Schicksal. And this kind of damage to property is not good desu ne~"

Adelheid frowned and she got many questions. "Now, how about you have a little rematch? Adelheid-kun? You've been a thorn on my side for the longest time. And I have a little gift for you."

Soulium avatars of Tilie arrived and three packages came from the sky. Unicorn Banshee, Wing Zero, and Strike Freedom. The Soulium avatars then boarded the gundams.

Tilie smirked as her brains would get fried from piloting one without the black carapace neural links. But she created special avatars with high processing power to pilot them. Even if it isn't at their full potential.

Adelheid gulped as she remembered bad memories with them. Especially Unicorn Banshee, but she calmed herself down. "So what? Ottilie Apocalypse? You have no idea how much power I have received since that time, years ago."

Adelheid arced with lightning like a super Saiyan, her eyes glowing a brilliant gold. Herrscher wings appearing on her back like a seraphim. The land trembled, blizzards raged, storms tore the earth asunder, lightning fell down from the heavens, and the ruins of Schicksal HQ floated.

"It seems we are in quite a pinch Bianka-san." Rita smiled wryly and Bianka sighed. "Un, that we are. Rita, you didn't have to tell me."

"Give up, Rita. Ein didn't order you to protect the overseer." Adelheid squinted her eyes and Rita smirked. "You are correct, Adelheid-san. But you aren't my master, are you?"

Rita sighed and she was delighted to use the power her master has bestowed upon her. Rita took out knives and Adelheid's show of power stopped. Seemingly suspended in time.

"As Ein-sama's head maid. It is my duty to uphold his orders, Adelheid-san. And unless he explicitly says so. Then Schicksal is my base of operations. As the perfect maid, I will protect it you see?" Time in Schicksal HQ then started rewinding. As if Adelheid's earlier attack didn't even go off.

"Oh my god. Ein-san turned her into Sakuya! Fuck!" Adelheid cursed and was instantly anxious. She didn't know how much leeway Ein gave Rita, but if she could use everything. Then she was getting a beatdown of a lifetime.

"Hah, Rita. You do know that power is cheating, I don't even know if I could beat you when you use that." Bianka sighed and Tilie thought that anyone in their squad were really insane.

Bianka then took out an orb. It was the universe that Ein gave her and she put it on the chest piece of her Dea Anchora battle suit. The ground then exploded with golden energy as her blue eyes shone a shimmering gold.

"You're not the only one who has improved, Adelheid-san. You might be the strongest Valkyrie years ago, but that ends today." Bianka started shadow boxing and her muscles got nourished with a universe's worth of honkai energy, absolutely ready to throw hands.

"All in the name of my master, Bianka-san. Now, shall we get this show started?" Rita brandished her knives and Adelheid prayed that her Tohou veteran status can carry her.

"Gate of opening, gate of healing. Release!" Adelheid broke out of Rita's Chrono sphere and stared at Bianka.

Bianka and Adelheid then clashed against each other and their stand off split the ground in two as far as the eye can see. "You and I have a lot to talk about. But I gotta kick your ass first!" Adelheid and Bianka threw a straight, their fists colliding against each other.

The air ignited instantly and an earthshattering explosion resulted from their attacks, creating earthquakes and hurricanes from the shockwave. As the battle for loyalty and for answers begun.

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Mei zipped around HOV and used her superior speed to take her friends off the fight. She then went on a face off against the corrupted Kiana.

"You traitor! You will regret opposing me... What is your lightning going to do? Against space and time." HOV's time fracture spread out as the world got blueshifted.

"You talk too much, herrscher!" Mei turned into lightning and she used her glowing blade to slash the space in front. Dispelling the honkai energy of HOV that was influencing space. Shattering the time fracture as her blade breached it.

"Impossible!" HOV gritted her teeth and glared at Mei. She gave a smirk as she studied ways to counter HOV's space manipulation. And with St. Freya's intense curriculum. She found out that her honkai energy influenced space. And her herrscher powers counted as energy manipulation.

"Agh! You traitorous insect! I will defeat you and get your core as my own!" HOV bent the space in front of her and shortened their distance.

Her space severing strings like a whip that were out for blood. Mei turned to lightning and avoided her attacks immediately. As her attacks would mean game over if she gets hit.

She then used her electromagnetism and turned HOV into a magnet. Anything metal in their surroundings then turned towards her and Mei launched them like a railgun.

"Kyahahaha! My aegis cannot be pierced by such simple attacks traitor!" HOV's void shields blocked them all, but that was Mei's intent.

She then gestured her hands to bury her in a metal sphere. Using her powers as interference, lining the inside of the sphere so HOV cannot teleport away.

"Then how about this!" Mei created a gigantic blade of energy and slashed at the sphere. Cutting down anything in front to the atomic level.

Lightning fell down from the skies and the ground got glassed from the plasma that arced everywhere. Creating a lightshow as Himeko whistled at their battle.

"Damn, baby girl. You're packing some heat and aggression huh? Too bad, it seems you're going to take a back seat right now." Himeko patted her suitcase that contained Laevatein. Watching over her students duke it out as she sipped a cup of tea.

"Did that got her?" Mei raised a flag and she saw pink cubes of void that protected HOV from her attack.

"Impressive power. But unfortunately for you, it is not enough!" Portals appeared all over Mei and they pinned her on the spot.

"I admit, you are powerful. Worthy enough to stand by my side. But you lack the will to destroy these disgusting humans! Why can't you see? They mooch off of his graces. And when they don't benefit anymore, they will blame Aesir for their misfortunes! Disgusting!" HOV spit on the ground as she teleported right in front of Mei and slugged her on the face.

"Agh! Why do you think I want to save them!? They could die for all I care! Ein-nii was the only one that helped us when we couldn't do anything! Don't lecture me!" Mei flew right up at her with blinding speed and punched her back on the ground.

"Then why!? Why do you fight!? Let us end them together!" HOV and Mei started a fistfight and they exchanged blows. HOV then gave a roundhouse that sent Mei flying through multiple buildings.

"Because that's not what he wants! Get that in your thick head!" Mei appeared over head and delivered an axe kick. Her enemy then plummeted down to the ground like a meteor, shining brightly as the air ignited from her speed.

"You do not understand! We would be much happier without these humans!" HOV swiped her hands in the air as her strings cut up skyscrapers like butter.

"You're delusional!" Mei willed swords of energy copying Sakura. Launching all of them like bullets at HOV.

She opened portals to all of their trajectories, but couldn't redirect them quickly enough with their speed, deciding to put them all behind.

Mei zipped around again and HOV tried locking her down with the void. Wherever her hand went, cubes appeared and they were all aimed at Mei.

But she was too fast, dodging all of it without breaking a sweat. She then created a clone of herself using her powers. And HOV thought she finally caught Mei.

"Kyahahaha! Fool, now you'll never escape me!" She locked down the space in an infinite corridor and peeked inside to see her prize. But there's nobody there.

"Boo." Mei was already behind her and has brandished her sword. HOV's eyes widened and she activated the void shields as strong as she could.

Mei slashed overhead and the void shields stayed true, but they inevitably cracked after a few moments. HOV received a cut on her chest and she fell down on the ground.

She huffed and puffed, trying to heal up her injury. But the 3rd's attacks are really lethal, stripping off your chemical bonds at the atomic level.

"Argh! You've done it now, traitor!" HOV trembled with rage and she started doing something. Putting her hands inside her portals like she was testing something.

Mei stared at her vigilantly and HOV gave a smirk. She floated up in the air, lances appeared behind her and they all flew at Mei like heat seeking missiles.

Mei scoffed and dodged all of them. While she was distracted a portal opened up at her trajectory and an ethereal hand appeared. Mei's enhanced reflexes saw it phase through her abdomen and she had a bad feeling.

Mei was able to twist herself away a bit, before the hand rematerialized and she got a chunk of her sides get taken off from the attack. "Agh!" Mei was in a world of pain and she fell down on the ground.

HOV panted from her injuries, but she had a smirk on her face. "Kukuku~ How does that feel, worm!" Mei glared at her and thought that she needs to be careful about those.

Mei tried healing herself by controlling her own biochemistry, but it was too hard during battle and she could only stop the bleeding.

"Tch, you're tenacious." Mei dodged the hands of Thyphon of HOV and launched herself at her. She then raised her blade and HOV stared at it. "You have learned nothing!" She raised her void shields again and would counterattack after, but like a flashbang. Mei released a strong pulse of light, burning HOV's retinas.

"Agh! My eyes!" Mei then latched onto her and held her head, she then used tons of honkai energy to breach her brain and messed up her bioelectricity.

HOV struggled violently, but she eventually went limp as her brain shut down from Mei's trick. She then coated the herrscher core with an interference of her powers so she won't get influenced by the herrscher. And restarted her brain activity with immense focus.

"Hah. Hah. That was... Stressful." Mei sat down and she was exhausted. Thanking Himeko and St. Freya's curriculum as she was able to incapacitate her because of her lessons on anatomy and physics.

She then heard a clap and saw Himeko walk up to her. "S-sensei... You could've helped, you know?" Mei gave her the stink eye and Himeko smiled wryly.

"Well, you can't really improve if you don't use what you learned, can you? Good job, by the way. I'm reporting this to Ein, so you'll probably have a reward." Himeko patted her head and gave her a thumbs up.

"Ugh. Why does that make me happy, are the others alright?" Mei asked with concern and Himeko nodded.

"Ahhh, I wish I could have a cold one with you girls right now. For a job well done, but you're underaged and I'll surely get scolded." Himeko sighed and Mei was curious.

"Ahhh, that. Can I have one, I'm exhausted over here." Mei asked for some and Himeko gave a wide smile.

"Ohhh! You're in your rebellious phase huh? Well, don't tell anyone okay?" She took out a can of flavored beer and gave it to Mei. They then gulped one down and Mei was surprised that it was really not bad.

"Pretty good after a day's work right?" Himeko took out some chairs and a table, putting some finger foods so she could drink and eat pleasantly.

"Ahhh, one more? Nobody's gonna know anyways." Himeko winked at her and Mei sat down with her for some drinks, as Kiana healed up after Himeko made her chug a potion.

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Back at Manila, world serpent was watching Ana Schariac closely. Especially, Leila Cleo. As she saw the blue tattoo on Ana appear.

"Raven, can you go to Manila? We finally could have a herrscher as an experimental subject. Lady Mobius would be ecstatic if we present her!" Leila was really excited and Raven sighed.

"What's in it for me? I don't think I'll get anything from that, you're the one that will benefit from it." Natasha raised a brow and Leila was already prepared.

"Kukuku~ don't underestimate me Raven! I know how valuable a herrscher is. As an individual and as a test subject. So I have pitched the idea to gray serpent and you will be rewarded handsomely if you manage to get her." Leila made a money sign with her hand and Natasha perked up.

"Say less." Natasha immediately took the 3rd divine key and it glowed brightly. Excited to fight another one of her sisters that Ein took down in the past. Reminiscing the good times.

"Ohhh? You're pretty perky, remembering the times where you guys fought the 5th herrscher? Sorry, but I can't do the insane things Ein-san can do." Natasha gave a cramped smile at the weapon and it shocked her.

"Agh! Sheesh, yeah, yeah. I'll do my best." Natasha soothed the weapon and she thought that it would be much easier than the 5th herrscher Ein fought. As her body shivered, remembering the cataclysmic tundras they created for thousands of kilometers from their fight.

"Alright, I'm off Jackal. Remember your promise." Natasha's eyes glowed and she sortied to Manila. "Kukuku~ A herrscher! This would be my Magnum opus!" Leila rubbed her hands and her desire was visible through her eyes.

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V.H. Kallen along with the ELFs were wreaking havoc at Manila. Killing as many honkai beasts as possible. And they were currently head to head with a group of emperor class honkai beasts.

"Ganesha and Parvati! Kallen-san! Let's play pinball!" One of the ELFs got excited and knew that they would curl up into a ball and go Sonic on them.

"Ahhh, I don't know what you mean, but sure." Kallen smiled at them and the ELFs went down on the ground. Parvati and Ganesha stared right at them and they prepared to charge like bulls that saw red.

"Ahhh, it's going to charge. Not curl up into a ball." One of the ELFs sadly mused and her comrade patted her on the back. "Don't worry, we'll give it a reason to. Kallen-san! Can you shoot them at their legs." They asked and Kallen started shooting at the beasts' legs.

Their charge got halted and their legs were damaged heavily as it started to regenerate. So in order to kill the pesky ELFs they started curling up into a ball and spun around.

"Ohhh! It's coming!" The ELFs went into their respective groups at both ends and the honkai beasts launched themselves like Sonic.

"Take this!" One of them kicked at Ganesha and sent it flying at the other group. "Nice kick! But it won't be able to defeat us!" The other group kicked it again and made it bounce on Parvati as their trajectories changed. Hitting the buildings that they put barriers on to act as pins that they could bounce on.

Kallen gave a wry smile as she watched the ELFs beat up on Ganesha and Parvati. "They're really having fun huh? Look at the smiles on their faces." Kallen thought they were really cute.

But she saw two kids that were being chased by a zombie. It was apparently a brother and sister that were fleeing for their lives.

Kallen immediately shot the zombie and she ran up to the brother and sister pair. "What are you guys doing here? Every civilian is supposed to be evacuated by now?" Kallen raised a brow and the little sister answered.

"We hid at the shelters nee-chan... My brother is really good at hiding you see?" She was still a bit scared, but she admired her big brother's skills.

"Thank you for saving us, we didn't know that such quick evacuations would be underway. So we hid really well at the shelters. I am Tianwu, Chen. This is Ling." Chen gave a wry smile and Kallen nodded.

"Hey, everyone. There's civvies here. Playtime is over." Kallen called out to the ELFs and they saw that civilians were still at the city.

"Tche. Why didn't they evacuate immediately? Aesir got everyone accounted for you know?" Their captain immediately wailed on Ganesha and Parvati as their bodies exploded.

The brother and sister pair was surprised and they thought they were in safe hands. "Sorry about that guys, can somebody evacuate them to the safe zones?"

The ELFs gave a sigh and one of them took out a net. It then carried them with it as it flew to the safe zone.

"I don't really know, but something was bothering me about that kid." Kallen felt off, but she shrugged and thought that the ELF would notice it better than her.

But the ELF didn't notice the true stigmata on Chen as she got really impatient in transporting them and their playtime got cut off.

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"Hah, herrschers are appearing all over the place. That guy really thinks that herrschers would make a difference huh? This isn't the previous era you know?" Ein shook his head and face palmed.

"Can I go and recruit them!" Hua excitedly went up to him and wanted to get some bit of action. "Well, give one to Natasha. And how about you recruit the other one?" Ein let her be or she'll bother everyone.

"Yatta, I'll convert him. For sure!" Hua flew away with her sword and Fu Hua sighed. "She's really impatient, Ein. You think this is a good idea?"

Ein nodded and thought her impulses were really controlled now. She would ask first before doing something nowadays. "Don't worry, she's been learning from Phyllis." Ein waved his hands and Phyllis did a money sign with her hand.

"That's right, nya. We've been scamming, I mean selling tons of stuff lately. Hua's a real charmer with her spiels you know?" Phyllis nodded sagely and Fu Hua deadpanned at her.

"Ugh, I sure hope she doesn't do anything weird." Fu Hua prayed and they watched Hua surf through the skies.

"Ein, how about Mei though? Himeko's been drinking with her for some time now." Eden gave a wry smile and he looked at them.

"Ahhh~ Himeko-sensei. Lishen to this, I've been working really harrrrd you know? But I didn't improoove." Mei was pouring her heart out while Himeko hiccuped. As she drank the good stuff that could make them drunk even with a gene seed.

"You shouldn't worry about that Mei-chan. You're young, I had my doubts too back then~ Let me teach you a good way to bag him. Go and ask for a disguised date and just keep on talking to hiiiim. And when he celebrates your 18th birthday, you strike! Ein won't touch you if you aren't 18. He's fuzzy with things like that." Himeko imparted her knowledge and Mei listened intently.

"Hah, what the hell are they talking about..." Ein sighed heavily and he would ban alcohol for Himeko later.

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Thanks for reading everyone, anyways. Ciao.