HSR: Wanderer?

Slowly waking up, I saw the vastness of space, countless stars shining bright, and the only thing preventing the suffocating grip of space from reaching me was a large window.

"Another death, another life, and yet endless purgatory." Rising from the cold steel ground, I saw a sword beside me.

To be precise, it was a Uchigatana originating from the east. The blade was covered in deep red, the handle was wrapped in several black cloths, matching the blood red of the blade, and a charm was attached to the tsuba.

The charm was a long piece of string and a bell that hung at the end of it.

Picking it up by the blade, it pierced through my fragile skin, yet... the pain did not bother me.

Pain was the only sensation I felt by now, the only one that had accompanied me, the only one... that embraced my suffering.

"Tell me, sword, must I suffer such hell? What atrocities have I committed to earn your embrace?" My question was left unanswered.

"Hahaha, HA HA HA, HAHAHAHA! Right! It's a sword! Why would IT talk? I'm so stupid!"

As the maniacal laughter continued, two figures emerged from a door, and they instantly focused their eyes on me.

"What's wrong with him?" Kafka who held a man in her arms asked.

"Don't know, I guess his mind went 'de lulu' after being attacked by the Anti-Matter Legion and hitting his head," Silver Wolf answered, casually chewing bubblegum.

"Whoever he is, he's not in Elio's script, so can you make him forget that he saw us here?" Silver Wolf put her hand on her hip and fiddled with the GameCube in her hand.

"Sure, but it's odd that Elio wouldn't mention such a crazy scientist nearby." Kafka put down the grey-haired man and approached the crazed man, and purple strings manifested between him and her fingers.

"Listen." Kafka's eyes glowed a little, and she locked eyes with the deranged scientist.

Anyone put under this effect would normally comply unless they had enough will to resist it.

But as usual, Kafka managed to put him under her control. Curious, Kafka decided to take a look inside his mind.

"Regret." One word instantly came to Kafka's mind. Hundreds of voices filled her ears, and incomprehensible words condensed into a single voice.

"Ugh," Kafka let out a grunt of pain, and the distraction loosened her control over the deranged scientist.

"Subject detected to be hostile to the vessel. Commencing annihilation." The once deranged eyes became emotionless as every emotion escaped the scientist's mind, replaced by one sentence:

Mission: Protect the vessel and subjugate the threat.

All of a sudden, the deranged posture turned steadfast, and he held the bloodied Uchigatana up high.

"Watch out!" Silver Wolf, who had glanced at Kafka because of her grunt, became alarmed after seeing the situation spiral out of control.

Kafka, hearing Silver Wolf's warning, spared no seconds and instantly backed off.

A red line appeared in front of Kafka's vision as the tip of the blade missed her by a hair's breadth.

Seeing his strike miss, the man dashed forward and struck upward, but Kafka, now alert, manifested her katana and blocked his strike.

Kafka manifested her submachine gun and pulled the trigger.

Seeing the barrel, the man ducked and sent a powerful kick aimed at Kafka's stomach.

The strike connected, and she was sent back several steps by the force it contained.

"Ugh, it's not very nice for a man to kick a woman you know" Kafka held her stomach and commented.

"Well, this is the first time I saw something out of your control, very rare of you." Silver Wolf joked and pulled out her weapon resembling a large katar.

"Information update: child in possession of the threat, minimize damage to the child." The words that came from the man, popped a vein in Silver Wolf's head.

"Kafka, are you sure we can't kill this tin can, I'm pretty sure he's a robot in human skin."

"Well he's not in Elio's script so, do what you like." Kafka straightened her posture and ready herself for battle.

"C- Child, please B- back off, I d-don't want to hurt y-you." Even after many reincarnations, all of his personality had a bottom line, children should not be fought, killed, or hurt.

"I'm not a child!" Silver Wolf dashed forward and met her digital blade with his.

"Please, I, beg, of, you" A tear ran down his eyes as sadness overwhelmed him, but within his peripheral vision saw Kafka aiming at them.

'No! The Child!' The man pushed Silver Wolf back and dashed back himself but a couple of shots hit him.

"You- You Dare Aim at a Child!" His expression became aggressive he instantly dashed at Kafka but compared to before his speed significantly increased,

Surprised by his sudden rise in speed, Kafka raised her sword, then started the man's onslaught of attack, each strike faster than before.

'This is bad.' A frown appeared on Kafka's usual smile. But suddenly a transparent block appeared above the man's head.

Sensing danger the man backed off, dodging the falling transparent block.

"Silver Wolf, Change of plan: we activate the teleporting beacon now, this man will hold us until the astral express crew arrives." Hearing Kafka's words, Silver Wolf nodded and manifested her aether card, to edit their location.

After a couple of button presses both of them suddenly enveloped in a blue particle and returned to their base.

"That was quick. What happened to you guys?" A grey-haired girl approached them and asked.

"A crazy scientist who held a sword started attacking us, he was pretty tough so we had to make a getaway through my teleport." Silver Wolf sat on a nearby couch.

"Hmm, but that wasn't part of Elio's script right?"

"Nope, but he appeared out of nowhere and started speaking nonsense before attacking Kafka."

"Only Kafka? What about you."

A frown appeared on Silver Wolf's face as if recalling a bad memory.

"haha, the scientist considered Silver Wolf as a child and was very adamant about not attacking her ugh." Kafka suddenly held her stomach in pain.

"Excuse me for a moment." Kafka excused herself and went to the bathroom.

"What happened to her?" The grey-haired girl asked.

"Donno, Maybe it's that time of the month for her, and the man did kick her real hard back then." Silver Wolf unwrapped another piece of gum and started to play a game on her phone.

~~

"Subject escaped. Mission complete. Powering... down." Due to the new body's lack of training and muscle, he experienced severe exhaustion as the adrenaline slowly dissipated, and body pain suddenly assaulted him.

"Look! There's a researcher here!" March 7th, who had recently received the coordinates, found a collapsed scientist along with a grey-haired man wearing a jacket.

Dan Heng checked both their pulses and breathing.

"The researcher seems to be just exhausted, but the other one has a weak pulse and heart rate. March, do CPR."

"Eh? I don't know how to do it, Dan Heng. You do it." Dan Heng nodded, setting the man on the ground. He placed both of his hands on the man's chest and prepared to press down hard.

"Wait! He's waking up!" March 7th pushed Dan Heng aside.

"Alright, stay with him to monitor his health. I'll go check on the researcher ." Dan Heng returned to the exhausted scientist.

Slapping his face several times, the scientist's weak eyes slowly opened.

"Hey, stay with me. Help is here," Dan Heng reassured him.

"The- The voices... they won't stop, Please.... stop.. it," the researcher uttered before falling back asleep.

"Dan Heng, is he okay?"

"He's fallen unconscious due to exhaustion, but his words suggest his mental health de-stabilized."

"Uhh, what does 'mental health destabilized' mean?"

"It means his mental state hurt maybe even severely hurt. Maybe the stress from the Anti-Matter Legion put him on edge. He hid but was found by one of them, managed to escape, and sent out his coordinates before passing out from exhaustion." Dan Heng formulated a possible explanation for their current situation.

"Well, whatever happened, we need to get them back to the Master Control Zone," March interjects.

"Umm, excuse me?" The grey-haired man who had just woken up looked confused by the situation.

"Ah, right! You just woke up. Are you alright?" March turned her attention to him.

"I'm fine... Where... Are we?"

"We're on Herta's Space Station. But judging by your outfit, you don't seem like you work here. Are you a friend of this guy?" March pointed at the unconscious researcher holding a red katana.

"I... don't remember who he is... I don't remember much." The grey-haired man held his head, trying to recall something, but all attempts were futile.

"Aww, can you at least remember your name?" March looked at him with sympathy.

"Name? My name... my name is Caelus."

"Caelus? Alright, you don't seem to remember much, but we found both of you unconscious next to each other, so I'm guessing you're friends with him.

Anyway, it doesn't matter for now. Let's get both of you out of here. But since you're unarmed, it's pretty dangerous here, so take that." March pointed at a bat lying on the ground, one of Herta's Curios that had fallen out of its container during the Anti-Matter Legion's attack.

Dan Heng, who had been watching carefully, noticed something in Herta's Curio collection that might be useful.

"Caelus, grab the Thought-Suppressing Blindfold as well." Dan Heng pointed to a container holding a black blindfold with a golden eye engraved in the middle. The words on the pedestal explained what it was.

Dan Heng was certain Herta wouldn't mind using one of her many Curios that was collecting dust to help save one of her employees.

Following Dan Heng's request, Caelus grabbed the blindfold before they left, with Dan Heng carrying the unconscious scientist, who firmly held onto the red katana. Though Dan Heng tried to pull it out of his hand, the scientist's grip wouldn't budge. Thankfully, with March 7th's ice covering the blade, it became safe to carry him.

After meeting up with Arlan and gaining access to the Master Control Zone, they entered smoothly, encountering only a small number of Anti-Matter Legion forces along the way.

"Why does everything have to be so exciting? Anyway, glad you made it back." Himeko, who was cleaning the lower floor with her drones, looked toward the new group of arrivals.

"Himeko!" March excitedly approached the red-haired woman.

She wore a white dress that revealed her bare shoulders, along with a slit skirt that exposed one of her pale legs.

"Who do we have here? One of the people you found on the way, I presume."

"Oh, Arlan is the guard captain we found on the way to the elevator, but Caelus and this scientist were at the coordinates we received," March explained.

"Thank you for saving me again, but I need to report to Madam Asta, so I will excuse myself" Arlan approached the pink-haired researcher and discussed something but their voices were not audible from this distance.

"Hmm, I see. Nice to meet you, Caelus. I hope the journey here wasn't too chaotic, especially with March around."

March sharply glanced at Caelus and put her hands on her hips. "Be careful what you say next."

"I plead the fifth." Caelus decided that staying quiet was the safest option.

"Ugh, do we have two Dan Hengs now? Ah, right!" Remembering Dan Heng, March was suddenly reminded of the strange researcher who was still holding onto the weird sword. "Dan Heng, how is his condition?"

"His health is stable, but I'm afraid his mental state may have destabilized when the Anti-Matter Legion attacked." Dan Heng turned to Caelus and extended his hand. "Can you pass me the blindfold?"

"Oh, here." Caelus searched his jacket and retrieved the cloth.

"Hmm? What happened to him?" Himeko inquired.

"I'm unsure of the events that led to his condition, but I'm certain he's mentally unstable. I'll take him to the medical bay to get him checked." Dan Heng once again lifted the researcher and slowly headed to the nearby medical bay.

"There he goes, just like that." March watched them disappear, then turned to Caelus. "Anyway, since it's just the two of us now, let's report to Lead Researcher Asta."

"You two go ahead. I'll try to contact Welt from here."

"Hmm, this is... odd," one of the medical team members muttered as she examined the newly admitted patient.

"What is it?" a colleague asked.

"Well, this patient, physically, seems fine aside from exhaustion, but the one who brought him in said he's mentally unwell. So, I used the EEG to monitor his brain activity, and take a look at this." She pointed to the monitor displaying the patient's brain activity.

Under normal circumstances, the lines would show small, consistent spikes. However, the one currently being shown displayed significant activity, almost as if the patient was doing multiple complicated math equations at once.

All the levels were off the charts.

"Is this a bug?"

"No, I've checked multiple times and even changed the EEG, but nothing's changed. It's always like this."

"Odd." Having never encountered such a situation, they were left stumped by the cause.

"So that's why they gave me this," the female medic said, pulling out the cloth from her lab coat. She recognized it as one of Herta's Curios from her time doing on-site research. But since it was in possession of the Astral Express crew, Herta must have given it away, seeing as it was collecting dust.

Gently raising the unconscious researcher's head, she secured the blindfold around him. The golden eye shone dimly, signifying it was taking effect.

Turning to the EEG monitor, she saw the once-spiking brain activity return to normal and sighed in relief.

"Another one saved." After staying for a few more minutes to ensure there were no sudden changes, she turned to other patients in need of treatment.

Some had missing limbs, burned tissue, or significant blood loss. Most were guards who had tried to protect and evacuate the scientists. Even so, the scientists were not unharmed. While most suffered only minor injuries, some had experienced severe trauma or mental instability.

One might think mental instability could be easily fixed using the blindfold, but that wasn't the case. The scientist was a special case. Losing the ability to think didn't mean the memory of it would disappear.

They still needed to confront their experiences, and many were unsuccessful in accepting what had happened to them, clinging to the hope that it was all just a dream.

The Anti-Matter Legion continued to wreak havoc on the lower floors, and it would take significant manpower to fend them off — even more if they wanted to completely eliminate the invasion.

As their Aeon suggests, nothing follows them except the absolute destruction of everything.