The communicator connected, but the sound that came through... was nothing but crackling static.
Was it being jammed by Schicksal's communication interference devices?
But the signal reception indicator showed everything was normal.
"Planck? Hello? Hello?"
Edison tapped the communicator, wondering if it had malfunctioned.
After quite a while, a voice colder than Edison had ever heard before drifted from the receiver into her ear.
"I've found you. I'm coming."
Though the voice was chilling, it still made Edison let out a breath of relief.
"What the hell, Planck? As long as you're fine. You scared me to death. I thought someone else had picked up your communicator."
When Tesla heard Planck's voice, she leaned over as well.
"Hey, old lady, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Why do you sound so lifeless? The Rocky Mountain oysters are getting cold. If you don't come back soon, Welt's going to eat them all."
But the communicator suddenly fell silent.
Without warning, the device burst into flames with a sharp crackle.
Electric sparks snapped wildly across Edison's palm.
Faced with the sudden scene, Tesla sobered up considerably. Pinching her nose to block out the burnt smell, she complained to Edison.
"Hey, you iron miser, what are you doing? Is it really necessary to get that angry at the old lady?"
Edison's expression, however, turned grave.
With her body having been modified by an eleven-dimensional existence, she had just sensed Honkai energy flowing through the electromagnetic waves. In the urgency of the moment, she had instinctively blown out the communicator's circuitry.
Holding the now-ruined device, Edison muttered in a low voice,
"Planck... what kind of surprise did you prepare for us...? Please don't let it be a 'big surprise' like Vill-V's."
...
Schicksal's headquarters was a massive floating island complex suspended above the Mediterranean Sea (under construction).
It was Schicksal's administrative center and also its most core research facility.
With the mission of combating Honkai, it operated day after day.
And now, someone opposed to Schicksal had stepped into this place.
"I'll gratefully accept these, Ai-chan won't hold back." (Ai-chan voice)
"Thank you, boss." (Ai-chan voice)
"The boss is positively radiant today as well." (Ai-chan voice)
Since Vill-V did not have Ai-chan with her, she had to dub the lines herself. Fortunately, mimicry was one of her specialties, and her Ai-chan voice was astonishingly similar.
On the outer air harbor platforms of Schicksal Headquarters, there were often piles of dismantled component crates, spare maintenance parts, and even mithril—materials used to repair harbor equipment and field devices.
At this very moment, Vill-V was conducting a zero-cost shopping spree, stuffing them all into her magician's hat—boxing them up.
Although most of it was useless junk, as a veteran captain of Honkai Impact, picking up trash was a good habit. Who cared whether it was useful or not?
Perhaps later she might need them to build something like MSR-7 Wotan to deal with Schicksal.
At worst, she could hand them over to Tesla. Tesla would certainly love this pile of little scraps.
Meanwhile, the Valkyries at Schicksal Headquarters stared at Vill-V as she swept through the tarmac collecting junk, their expressions strange.
A B-rank Valkyrie responsible for logistics approached Vill-V and asked,
"Ma'am, what department are you from?"
"Oh, I was invited by your Archbishop... to clean the deck."
"..."
Would the Archbishop personally assign someone to clean the deck? Isn't that the logistics officer's job?
The B-rank Valkyrie forced an awkward smile.
"Then... what is your position?"
"Oh, I'm a Schicksal Captain."
"A Captain gets assigned to clean the deck? What kind of Captain are you?!"
"Isn't it perfectly normal for a Captain to be assigned to clean the deck? By the way, why aren't there any crystals in your component crates?"
"What kind of component crate would have crystals inside?!"
"Damn it, Schicksal is really stingy."
"What does that have anything to do with being stingy?!"
A Captain invited by Archbishop Otto—could she really be this greedy? Where did this triple-clean Captain come from?!
"It's so big here. Let's check out other places." (Ai-chan voice)
"Stop right there! Don't move! You still want to go somewhere else?" The B-rank Valkyrie planted a hand on her hip and blocked Vill-V's path, her expression instantly turning stern. "I don't know where you sneaked in from, scavenger, but leave those things behind and get out of here immediately. Otherwise I'll call the guards to arrest you."
As she spoke, the B-rank Valkyrie drew her weapon. Though only B-rank, she was still a Valkyrie. Taking on a squad of ordinary soldiers would be no problem, let alone dealing with a lone scavenger.
"Judith, don't make a move. She is an honored guest of the Archbishop!" Reanna Brigantia hurried over at last and addressed the B-rank Valkyrie.
Reanna was also at a loss regarding Vill-V's wild ideas. Earlier, Vill-V had not waited for the aircraft to land but had chosen instead to perform a midair split above Schicksal's outer harbor platform.
Vill-V claimed she wanted to experience the atmosphere of an open-world scavenging game—then she jumped straight off the aircraft.
"Lady Reanna!" The B-rank Valkyrie's eyes sparkled upon seeing her, then she froze and pointed at Vill-V in astonishment. "Huh??? She really is the Captain assigned by the Archbishop to clean the deck?!"
"A Captain who cleans the deck...?" Hearing such a strange title, Reanna fell silent, unsure what to say.
But this well-mannered Valkyrie felt too embarrassed to expose Vill-V. She gave two light coughs and explained,
"Yes, that's correct. This distinguished guest wishes to experience the hardships of deck-cleaning work."
"Ah... oh. What a strange guest." The B-rank Valkyrie scratched her head in confusion. Since Lady Reanna had said so, she could hardly ruin the guest's fun.
It had to be said, most of Schicksal's Valkyries were straightforward—especially the B-rank ones. They truly dared to speak their minds, even making complaints right in front of a guest of the Archbishop.
From this, one could also see that during Otto's tenure as Archbishop, he was indeed tolerant toward the Valkyries—and extremely protective of his own. At least on the surface.
Outside, the people sang praises of his great achievements. Soldiers admired his wisdom and strategy.
Within Schicksal, Archbishop Otto was even more like an idol.
That was why so many Valkyries willingly became Otto's experimental subjects, Reanna included.
The power of fandom culture was truly formidable.
If only the MOTH of the Previous Era had been like this, there would not have been so few warriors willing to give their lives for it, Vill-V thought.
In the Previous Era, everything had prioritized efficiency. Though the soldiers of MOTH were rewarded and treated preferentially, there had always been a lack of genuine human care.
After dismissing the logistics Valkyrie, Reanna spoke in an unquestionable tone.
"Miss Vill-V, this way, please."
She did not want Vill-V disrupting the logistics department's normal work any further.
At that moment, a mysterious blond man approached.
"Take whatever you like, my friend. Schicksal is not so petty in its hospitality."
"Archbishop!"