"Bronya... the plan has failed... the Honkai Energy from the Third Honkai Impact has vanished. Herrschers are not as simple as we thought... the plan to use the Honkai Energy from the Herrscher's descent to reshape Seele has failed... We're changing the plan now: we'll directly capture the Third Herrscher, Raiden Mei. Our support forces were completely annihilated by Schicksal's S-rank Valkyrie, Durandal. Now it's all up to you."
"Bronya, mission accepted. Combat plan revised. Capture mission reactivated."
Standing near a cluster of Honkai Energy collection devices, Bronya ended her conversation with Cocolia. The fully repaired Heavy Bunny materialized beside her.
"Seele... Who is this? Why..."
The name "Seele" caused a momentary tremor in Bronya's self-awareness, but it was quickly suppressed by her tactical chip.
In Nagazora City, Mei held Kiana and Sparkle's hands, dragging them around in search of edible food.
The two food-obsessed girls had been starving for five hours. While their bodies were fine, their spirits were flagging.
Due to the Third Honkai Eruption, everything in Nagazora City had been contaminated by Honkai Energy. Not a single human or animal could be seen, only piles of Honkai Beasts and Dead Soldiers. Since Mei and Sparkle couldn't eat Honkai Beasts, Kiana selflessly refused to eat them either, declaring that she would share their hardship.
Now, the situation was:
"Mei~ I'm so hungry..."
"Mei, I'm hungry too..."
Hearing Kiana's cries of hunger, Sparkle's stomach rumbled in agreement.
Mei shook her head, admitting she was helpless. The food at home was ordinary and already contaminated, and the supermarkets and restaurants were no different. If she had known Honkai could contaminate food, she would have requested some contamination-resistant supplies from Schicksal in advance. Fortunately, Schicksal had already dispatched St. Freya Academy from the Far East Branch to assist them. She hoped they would arrive soon.
As everyone was at a loss, Cortana's holographic projection materialized beside them. She addressed Mei and the others:
"We could seek out the Combat Weapon that attacked us earlier. My sensors have detected numerous biological signals near her location. They appear to be part of a military unit, and they likely still have uncontaminated food."
"What are we waiting for? Let's go! Our target: the buffet!" Kiana's ahoge immediately perked up at the mention of food. Drool dripped from her mouth, and her eyes turned into stars as she dragged Mei and Sparkle away.
"Idiot Kiana, what if it's a trap?" Mei asked. "Yeah..." Sparkle agreed.
"No problem! The four of us can definitely crush them!"
"Cortana! These are the biological signals you were talking about?!" Kiana roared at the Cortana in her hand. She had run as fast as she could when she arrived, and now she was running just as fast to escape.
They had originally planned to charge Bronya, seeing only a few people around her. But Bronya had spoken to them with a completely emotionless expression: "Target A, enter combat mode. Capture initiated."
Then, beams of light began to appear around Bronya, followed by the sudden emergence of massive Tactical Mecha. Seeing the dark, menacing muzzles of the mecha's cannons, Kiana slammed on the brakes, spun around 180 degrees, and dragged Mei and Sparkle with her as they fled.
"According to my calculations, this is quantum projection technology! These Tactical Mecha were remotely deployed! Give me a chance to get close to them—I can hack into them and disable their weapons."
The three of them turned to look at the rows of mecha firing volleys of cannon fire in the distance, then exchanged glances.
Kiana looked at Sparkle and asked, "Are you going?"
"No way! I'm not going to throw myself into a death trap," Sparkle shook her head, then turned to Mei.
Mei ignored them, silently picked up her phone, and asked Cortana, "If we can't just throw you over there, think of another way...?"
"That Combat Weapon, Bronya, is their commander. Taking her down should stop those Tactical Mecha."
"Or we could try throwing Cortana over there directly and see if she can hack them!" Mei felt that killing Bronya, who was heavily guarded, was riskier than gambling on throwing Cortana. As long as she wasn't shot down immediately, she was sure she could hack them...
Sparkle calculated the firepower disparity and said to Kiana and Mei, "I'll take care of Bronya. You two cover me..."
"Then I'll draw the mechs' fire," Kiana nodded without asking further questions. At this moment, trust in her teammates was all that mattered.
"Hey, you big lug! Look over here!"
Kiana shouted at the mecha, confirming their cannons were all aimed at her before turning and running.
"I..." Mei was momentarily paralyzed, unsure what to do. After all, just recently she had been a model student, and though she now wielded a wooden stick and possessed the Menkyo Kaiden(highest rank in the Hokushin Ittō-ryū) level of Hokushin Ittō-ryū mastery, it seemed less effective than Kiana's superhuman strength.
Sparkle saw Mei's confusion, but there was no time to comfort her. She summoned her Exo-Armor, Sabayon, and equipped it. Then she said to Mei, "You'll have to take care of me later... My Sabayon is equipped with a simplified Nexus System. Using it once will drain me completely. I'll be relying on you then."
"Mm."
Sparkle aimed at Bronya, activated the Nexus System, and fully deployed her Exo-Armor, Sabayon. After a brief charge, a crimson beam erupted, blinding everyone. Sparkle couldn't even maintain the Exo-Armor's form and collapsed unconscious into Mei's arms.
A crimson beam pierced through the Tactical Mecha protecting Bronya, leaving them all pierced before they could even react. Fortunately, at the last moment, Heavy Bunny sensed the danger and shoved Bronya aside. However, Heavy Bunny was directly hit and would require a long time to reconstruct.
Watching the beam miss Bronya, Mei's heart nearly stopped from anxiety. Fortunately, after Heavy Bunny was destroyed, Bronya remained stunned for a long moment, and the Tactical Mecha she controlled all ceased movement. Kiana seized the opportunity to place Cortana on the nearest Tactical Mecha. Within two seconds, all the Tactical Mecha were under Cortana's control.
Bronya sat on the ground, her eyes vacant. "Heavy Bunny... Bronya should continue the capture mission... but why does Bronya feel the need to repair Heavy Bunny first..."
"Forget why! You're under arrest!" Kiana pressed her baseball bat against Bronya's neck, while behind her stood rows of Tactical Mecha.