Chapter - 14

Anastasia felt like a massive weight just have been placed on her shoulders but she didn't feel bad for it, actually, she felt a certain amount of pride. She looked at the massive man and nodded before realizing something "What's your name?"

The man remained silent "I don't have one, my enemies addressed me as The Anathema but you may call me father."

Anastasia slowly nodded "Farewell...father"

"Next time we will see each other it will either be in victory or defeat but in the meantime, I will look upon your journey" The Anathema replied before disappearing.

Anastasia found herself back in the middle of central park, Theresa was unconscious in her arms while her other self was barking something at her. Anastasia looked at her clone, her expression emotionless but her eyes showed determination.

"I will protect humanity" she said coldly surprising both of Alex and Prophet

"what? You can't be serious" the other Anastasia said with a chuckle "Humans are trash and tortured and betrayed us for so long"

"Yes, but they also loved us, they cared for us and they helped us" Anastasia replied

"THAT ARE ALL LIES! LIES!" The other one shouted as Anastasia placed Theresa on the ground "I will never forgive them! Never! NEVER!"

Anastasia pulled her other self into a hug "Enough" she whispered "This hatred...this feeling of betrayal is hurting us"

The other Anastasia widened her eyes before starting to sob "But it's not just that...we have killed our parents...and a lot of people..."

Anastasia kept whispering "The guilt will never leave us if we hold on it...let it go, Serena"

The clone's body turned into the one of a child as she started crying and hugging Anastasia really tightly "I'm sorry! I didn't want to kill them! I want to see mommy and daddy again!" she cried out as Anastasia stroke the top of her head and nodded.

In an instant, the small child was gone, nowhere to be seen.

Anastasia noticed that Theresa has been awake for a while and looked at her.

"Who is Serena?" Theresa muttered

"That was the name of a little girl before she was taken in by Schicksal" Anastasia replied before looking somewhere in the horizon "Now she rests with her parents inside her happy memories"

With those words she looked at Kallen and Sakura and healed both with her vectors "Theresa..." she called with a serious tone "I have to go but I swear that one day I will return to take you away" she said as the world around them started to disappear.

Anastasia was back in her real world, Theresa was unconscious next to her. She stroked the top of the small Valkyrie's head as her vectors removed the Diclonius gene-seed from her before getting up as a bunch of Schicksal soldiers finally busted inside the apartment.

"Lord Overseer we have found her!" one of them shouted as Otto's hologram appeared in front of the squad.

"Anastasia..." He growled trying to hold back his disappointment in finding her instead of Kallen.

"Otto" She replied as she stared at the soldiers who were still aiming their weapons at her.

Otto, who was inside his study, had the switch to activate the bomb placed inside of Anastasia in his hands. The tension between the two of them was shockingly intense, Otto knew that Anastasia remembered the years of experimentation and she probably wasn't really happy about it. He wanted to see Kallen once again but Anastasia wasn't the way to get her back...meaning that she outlived her usefulness.

The blonde man pressed the switch ready to see the woman in his screen explode in a gory explosion...but that never happened. Instead, Anastasia sighed and as if it was the most normal thing ever, she inserted her hand inside her own body and took out the bomb.

"Fortunately Prophet isn't that stupid to not notice that there was a bomb inside of me" Anastasia said with a sigh

Otto broke the switch with his hand "Kill her" he hissed as the soldiers opened fire against the woman in front of them. The bullets simply bounced off Anastasia's skin which was now made of Nanomachines and Blacklight Virus. When the soldiers ran out of bullets she disarmed them and knocked them unconscious with her vectors as the Herrscher alarm went off.

"To combat personnel, this is the overseer Otto talking to you, the woman known as Anastasia Apocalypse had turned into an Herrscher, the subject must be killed on sight" Otto said through the speakers of the base.

Anastasia sighed as she started walking towards the laboratory where the other diclonius were being kept, after a few steps she stopped herself "I don't want to kill anyone" she said to no one in particular as a flower petal disappeared.

Cecilia was inside the canteen when the announcement ended, she couldn't believe her ears. She saw how everyone was quite shocked at the news at first but now was preparing for fighting one of her best friends. Suddenly Patricia Highsmith and Cheng Lixie, Cecilia's teammates, rushed towards her weapons in hand. Patricia threw at Cecilia her spear and smirked "Miss Overseer's chosen we have to go!" she said before running out of the canteen.

Cecilia looked at the spear in her hands and felt her guilt devouring her soul. Anastasia had turned into an Herrscher because she wasn't able to protect her and now she will have to kill her...The white-haired woman slowly walked out of the canteen in the open area. Her sensors went crazy as they detected a massive amount of Honkai Energy above her, the valkyrie saw how everyone was looking up the sky and did the same. What she saw made her question her mental stability.

A gigantic vessel was hovering above the Schicksal base, it looked like it was made of gold and looked like it was something that came from a high gothic era. Its shadow had covered the entire base. Flying above it there were several other vessels with the same gothic design minus the gold.

The automated antiaircraft defense of Schicksal immediately started firing towards the vessel but with no result since the shots seemed to have been caught by a shield. As an immediate response, the massive vessel fired something similar to a laser and took out the antiaircraft guns then they came down...

They were insanely tall, covered in baroque armor and wielding massive lances with the same pattern as their armors. Soon after them, many others landed, this time they were slightly less tall compared to the first ones but still they were way taller than a normal person, just like the first ones they were all covered in armor with the difference that theirs were crimson colored with golden outlines and that they were carrying massive guns.

A hooded man appeared next to them and pointed his finger towards the research complex "The Primarch is waiting for you there, she ordered to not kill the valkyries" he said as the behemoth next to him nodded.

"As if we'll let you do that!" an A-rank Valkyrie shouted as she charged towards one of the golden men. In the blink of an eye, the man swung his lance by the end without blade and knocked her out.

"For the Imperium!" Another one shouted as all men started charging towards the squadron of Valkyries who were standing between them and the research complex.

Cecilia could have sworn that what she saw was hell on earth. The Valkyries, of course, tried to hold back the mass of creepy looking soldiers but it was to no avail. The men broke through their ranks like nothing, the bullets bounced off their armor while their attacks were relentless and crazy powerful. The man clad in gold were literally unstoppable, every time they swung their lances a valkyrie or two would fall to the ground unconscious. Those in crimson armor, instead, were attacking with their fists but due to the armor and their strength, it was more than enough to knock a valkyrie out.

Their charge did not stop and soon enough Cecilia and her two teammates found themselves staring of the horde of warriors.

"Dammit" Patricia hissed as she braced herself for the impact with the horde

"Well, it's been nice working with you" Cheng Xie added as she did the same

"Drop the weapons" Cecilia ordered as she dropped her spear on the ground

"What?!" Both of the valkyries shouted before looking at the attackers

"Just do it!" Cecilia shouted as both Patricia and Cheng cursed under their breaths and let go of their weapons.

The three Valkyries closed their eyes ready to meet the same fate as their comrades...but that didn't happen, instead, the hulking men ran past them ignoring them completely.

Otto watched the entire scene with horror and shock from the cameras of the base. he leaned against his seat as Amber looked at the screens with a worried expression "Milord, they are about to breach inside the diclonius laboratory" she said as Otto widened his eyes