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No One's POV
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a few days went by and vacation was over and 3 weeks of work was in full swing.it was time for Shicksal and AE to get back to the serious work as the war wasn't going to win itself. with newly refreshed and rested bodies and minds, both Shicksal and AE were ready for a good fight as tasks and missions were deviated to the multiple and various amounts of forces of either faction

the competition between Shicksal and AE was also in full swing as both sides had their scientists on overdrive to achieve victory while their combat forces took to the battleground to make some progress in the war

with the reformed Squad 6, Kiana, Mei and Bronya were sent to various missions in quick succession as they were in fact a squad of Herrschers who have no problem dealing with their opponents and no longer needed as much supervision as their younger selves 

Himeko, kept watch over the 3 with Theresa and Fu Hua while they continued their duties to St.Freya as teachers and class monitor. occasionally taking harder missions or leading the school on training exercises outside the campus, the 3 did their duties to the best of their abilities, working against limited time and energy

Seele, alongside her squad continued to develop and hone her skills as one of the top students of the academy,learning more about the Honkai and how to defeat them and honing her skills with her weapons while also developing her powers with the help of her Brother

as for Seere, he and Bella took on world wide missions for both Shicksal and AE, after painstakingly making both leaders sign a truce contract that prohibited either side from interfering or attacking each other, much to the dismay of the Overseer and Sovereign 

when he wasn't taking on a mission, Seere would be upholding his duty as the Guardian of the Quantum Sea, keeping the balance and natural course of life in check across the various bubble universes or training Bella in honing her own Quantum based abilities to improve her fighting power and prowess

everything may seem busy but peaceful now but having seen the events that may still have to unfold for the world to progress, Seere knew things were still to become chaotic and he could only hope that his new friends could handle it without him as he would not be allowed to interfere without good reason

Bella:are you sure that we should keep interacting with them if we're not to interfere

Seere:we're not allowed to get involved but that doesn't mean we're not allowed to interact. if I can spend time with my Sis, then I'm taking it

Bella:to deal with another Herrscher however, I don't believe there has been any Herrscher like this one before

Seere:there hasn't, that's what makes them powerful

Bella:will they succeed?

Seere:in some cases, they succeeded, in others, they failed, going off of the original universes, Mei was not supposed to be with them again, Otto was not supposed to be torn from his path to revive Kallen, Sis and Veliona were not supposed to be this close and you are supposed to still be with Mei in World Serpent. our world is vastly different from the original so it hard to say whether we succeed or fail but I have faith in them

Bella:how long until this awakening

Seere:she's hidden it very well but the signs are already clear, the Herrscher is awakening in her and it won't be long until she grows in power. truthfully speaking actually, I'm quite excited to see how this turns out

 Bella:is there a reason for that

Seere:there was one particular outcome that peaked my interest, it both shook my expectations..............and warranted my intervention

Bella:I'm still not familiar with all the rules of the Sea, what dictates our allowance for interference

Seere:.........................as a Guardian, our lives as part of the Sea and our lives outside the Sea must never cross. only in the scenario that those two lives cross warrants our actions in the natural course. we may only watch and set the course right if it deviates, that is the duty of the Guardian

Bella:....................... I understand now, I shall assist you in upholding this duty

Seere:thank you, now we wait, the show will begin soon

where as the two sparred in the Quantum Sea, a place where time was irrelevant and nonsensical, time progressed normally in the normal world as days and a week go by with little to no disturbance

unbeknownst to everyone else, a rising danger was approaching as a certain blue ponytail haired girl collapsed to the floor from a splitting headache as veins of Honkai Energy rapidly spreaded up her right arm

Timeskip brought to you by Otto and Welt beating the crap out of each other( my bets on Otto)

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Seere's POV
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finishing up a few more disturbances within the Quantum Sea, Me and Bella headed back to Shicksal for a well deserved rest. a few more branches fell off from the World Tree and a few worlds went through resets while a few others went into stasis, it wasn't anything uncommon but it was a hassle to travel to so many worlds

Bella was improving on her Quantum Abilities very quickly, she's learned a lot in so little time that she could now even manipulate Quantum Energy within other people. I was sure she would master her power a lot sooner than most would think but only time could tell the answer to that

following up on our previous discussion, both Me and Bella already knew what was coming and what danger was already in Shicksal but the rules were already applied, thus our interactions and answers were limited. we weren't allowed to give away much but we could still guide everyone from the shadows if need be as I thought of ways to help while arriving at HQ from a rift

almost immediately upon exiting the Quantum Rift, a surge of energy hit both Me and Bella as we looked over to where Fu Hua was being held and treated at, knowing full well the awakening was imminent

Seere:you felt that, right?

Bella: it seems we took too long

Seere:I'd say we're right on schedule. just act natural and give nothing away, this is something for them handle

Bella:understood

walking into the main building of Shicksal, both of us were greeted by passing by personnel as they all worked on their own tasks and work. they were all oblivious as to what was coming but if my assumption was right, then the casualties from the awakening should be pretty minimal 

walking through the building, Bella and I took the elevator up to the Valkyrie lounge, where everyone had already agreed to meet us after prior conversation. they all should already be waiting for us as I was sure that they heard about what happened to Fu Hua but I wasn't able to sense a few energies in the room, meaning some of them were missing

arriving at the lounge as the door opened for us, both Me and Bella found Squad 6, my Sister and her Squad in the room with no sign of the Principal and the Major. Sis quickly ran to Me and gave Me a hug, which I quickly and happily returned as I looked at the others who mellowed up a bit from their stressed and anxious expressions

Seere:how's everyone been

Mei:we've been fine, a lot of missions for just the three of us but we've managed

Kiana:honestly, if the Overseer keeps this up then we might need another vacation

Seere:that's a bit of a stretch, even Durandal does more on her own, weren't you the one who wanted to become Shicksal's top Valkyrie

Kiana:that was a long time ago

Bronya:Idiotka never changes

Seele:Nii-san, did you hear about Ms.Fu Hua

Seere:it's why we're all here

Bella:the sudden corruption was unforeseen however, quite sudden even

Satella:she seemed fine a few days ago, even just yesterday she looked alright

Fey:Ms.Fu Hua always has been a bit secretive, maybe this has been going for a while now

Irene:no way, Shicksal does regular check ups for all Valkyries, even St.Freya does it for the students, I don't think she'd get past that

Satella:unless Shicksal already knew!

Seele:I don't think the Overseer would be so surprised to hear about her collapse and infection if he knew

Seere:don't be too sure about that. the old man cuz play a convincing role when he wants to, it's one of his trump cards, though I will give him the benefit of the doubt, I don't think he knew about this either

Mei:we'll just have to wait for some news from Principal Theresa

Seere:speaking of the Principal, where is she and the Major, I would've thought they'd be here by now

Bronya:Principal Theresa and Major Himeko are speaking with the Overseer about Fu Hua

Seere:one step ahead, shouldn't have expected anything less

Bella:what of the Rita and Durandal

Fey: Ms.Rita and Ms.Durandal are on a mission but should be coming back soon 

Seere:well, I guess we sit back and relax for now. no telling when everyone else is coming back 

Seele:is there anyway we can help Ms.Fu Hua

Seere:I'd help if I could but I've got my hands a bit tied right now

Mei:why is that? did something happen?

Bella:you can say that

continuing to speak with everyone, I felt the surge of energy emit from another building of Shicksal, which meant that the awakening had happened and Fu Hua was now both a Herrscher and a threat 

following up on the surge of energy, a massive explosions rocked the base and quickly alerted everyone as they all looked to the windows to see one of the tall medical buildings caught in a massive cloud of smoke and fire

base personnel, utility workers and mechs were quickly mobilizing to the scene as we could see many doctors, nurses and other personnel quickly exiting the building in a panic. while everyone was worried on focused on the people below, both Me and Bella looked at the smoke to see a particular part of it clear up as if something had passed through despite nothing appearing

the Herrscher was now loose and everyone was still oblivious but this was all well in expectations as we watched the panic ensue below before Kiana went to rush to help, only to stop when the doors to the lounge opened up, revealing Theresa, Himeko and Rita

Kiana:Auntie!!

Theresa:we know but the personnel have it handled, no need to step in

Irene:what happened, Principal

Theresa:we're not fully sure yet but we have our speculations

Mei:that building was where Fu Hua was, is she alright

Himeko:that's the problem, reports from personnel on the site say that scientist saw her break out of her Regeneration Pod before the explosion but no one's seen her since then

Rita:according to data received before the explosion, there was large spike in her Honkai Energy, this could mean a lot of things

Bronya:Principal, is it possible that Subject Fu Hua has become a Herrscher

Theresa:it's very likely but we're hoping we're wrong 

Mei:we've never seen an awakening this weak before

Himeko:the girl is strong, I wouldn't be surprised if she's still fighting the Herrscher in her head

Seele:we need to help her

Satella:yeah, we can't leave her alone like this

Theresa:easier said than done, girls, tracking her down won't be easy and even if we do find her, we're still dealing with a Herrscher, we can't simply approach her without caution

Kiana:but we can't just leave her

Himeko:we won't, that's not an option we're taking but we have to do this right or we might lose her more

Rita:Seere, is it possible for you to find her?

Seele:yeah, Nii-san, you can find her right??

avoiding eye contact with the girls while I scratched the back of my head with my finger, I didn't answer them as I admittedly didn't want to tell them that I couldn't help them find their friend, especially because Sis seems really hopeful at the moment 

Theresa:Seere?

thinking of a way to answer them as I started scratching my head with full hand, I continued to avoid eye contact as I considered how to word my sentences when talking to them as to reveal as little as possible while still giving them answers that were good enough 

Seere:*sigh* alright, I'll be honest with you girls, I could find her but as I've said before, my hands are tied right now

Kiana:what is that even supposed to mean!

Theresa:you're not making sense, Seere

Seere:look, all you need to know for now is that I can't do much, you'll figure it out more on due time but you should be focusing on finding Fu Hua without my help

Irene:maybe the Overseer has something in mind

Rita:not at the moment. the Overseer was caught in the explosion and needs time to heal

Kiana:what!!, I thought he was with you and Auntie

Himeko:he left to check on Fu Hua but this occured and he needs to heal for the time

Seere:I give him a few hours before he's back on his feet. that guy doesn't stay down for long

Bronya:what do we do then, Principal

Theresa:I'll organize search parties to look for her but we have a lot of ground to cover, she could've gone anywhere

Himeko:Seere, is there ANYTHING you can do

Seere:............hmm?, *sigh* fine, I'll lend you Bella

Bella:Master?

Seere:Bella, join them in the search, find Fu Hua but nothing more than that

Bella: is this wise to do?

Seere:Hua's energy isn't prominent as of right now, which means she's weak. even if we used Quantum Shadows to scan the world, pin pointing her down would still be difficult. this is still within the set limits, just remember, find her, no more no less

Bella:understood

Seere:well, that's as much as I CAN do for now, I'll see what I can do from the shadows moving forward

Theresa:right then, Bella, start over China, other squads will look over other sectors, report back if you find any kind of lead or clue

Bella:understood

Seere:you all take care then, especially you Sis. Bronya, Irene, keep an eye on her for Me

Seele:Nii-san!!!

Bronya:the Bronya copies

Irene:you got it

Seere:alright then, you all stay safe

with a plan formulated and Bella now with the group, they all headed out of the room to begin the search for Fu Hua while I took sigh of relief as I miraculously escaped that predicament without giving away too much info 

though I had to sacrifice Bella's company, I was sure it would take them a bit to find her, which would give Me sometime to think of a couple of alibis and excuses to use when I need it as it would only be a matter of time before Otto's get's his ass back into a new body and calls for Me then starts accusing Me of not sharing info

Meanwhile, World Serpent base

Kevin:have we found her 

Jackal:negative Sire, we lost her trail

Gray Serpent:her signal was lost after she exited Shicksal's AO

Kevin:keep searching, she must be hunted down

Jackal:understood Sire

Gray Serpent:we'll update you on any-

explosions rocked the base, stopping Gray Serpent from finishing his words as panicked yelling and frantic shuffling was heard outside the room. before anything else could be said, a injured soldier came limping into the room, holding his broken arm as blood dripped from his helmet

Jackal:what the hell is going on out there

Soldier:Ma'am, Sire, we're under attack

Gray Serpent:by who, how did they find us

Soldier:it's the Herrscher, she's broken through our defenses, she's slaughtering the troops and destroying the mechs, we can't stop her

Sire:both of you, go

Jackal & Gray Serpent:yes Sire

Timeskip brought to by Seere, observing the Flame-Chasers of another universe

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Seele's POV
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we searched for Ms. Fu Hua for the entirety of the day but we came up with nothing and was forced to stop for the night. we were lucky that Bella managed to pick up a faint trace of her energy that led us to the Taixuan Mountains, deep into mainland China

we managed to get a fully armed transport ship through to continue the mission but Principal Theresa had to stay behind to sort out the situation with the government as they weren't too keen on letting Shicksal operate so deep into their country

this left Me and my squad, Major Himeko and Squad 6, Ms.Durandal and lastly Ms.Rita. Bella was already waiting for us somewhere on the mountain and Nii-san hasn't been seen since yesterday. the only lead to him was that he left a note, saying he went back to the Quantum Sea to do more work and clean up without mention on when he would come back

we decided to proceed without him as the ship brought us to a suitable landing zone before touching down on the ground so that we could get off. once we were off, our transport took off again to do a general terrain scout before heading back here in case of a needed pick up. while he scouted we looked around and found  two paths, one leading down and one leading up

needing to cover as much ground as we can, we split up into two groups, Ms. Durandal and my Squad would go downwards while Ms.Rita, Ms.Himeko and Squad 6 would go up. we would've liked to have Ms.Bea with us but was called to the European branch for a meeting 

Durandal:we split up here, get a general familiarity for the terrain and the area, meet back here in 10 minutes then we go look for Bella

Kiana:call in if anything happens

Bronya:negative, long range communication is impossible, too much Honkai Energy disruption. only short range communication is possible

Himeko:be extra careful then, there's no telling what's in these mountains

Seele:understood

splitting up from everyone, my group headed down the path that led downwards while the others headed upwards as Ms.Durandal led my squad around the mountain. the mountains were beautiful and made for great scenery, there were some very old bridges and even signs of very ancient villages around the area through destroyed ruins

there were plenty of caves, cracks and crevices that go into the mountains and there were tons of waterfalls and flowing water that ran down the side of the mountain but with so many passages and paths, there also came a good number of Honkai Beasts that were roaming the area

they weren't much trouble for us but there was a good amount of them that the entire mountain alone could be called infested. while we continued to get a general sense of familiarity with the area, I kept sensing a growing danger somewhere along with multiple small pockets of energy but no matter where I looked, I couldn't find anything there 

I told Ms.Durandal about it and she took a look herself but found nothing either yet I was sure that there was something there. eventually, our time for exploring ran low and we would need to head back to the landing zone but before we headed back, I felt a large surge of Honkai Energy from above us, which Ms.Durandal seemed to have picked up on as well as we both looked up only to find a stone ceiling above us

Seele:there's a large enemy above us

Satella:but that should be the landing zone

Fey:maybe the others are already back and are fighting the Honkai!!!

Durandal:let's not waste time then, move it!!

following Ms.Durandal's orders, we backtracked the way we came until we reached the landing zone, where we found the other group fighting numerous amounts of Honkai, with some being Emperor-Class 

we immediately joined the fray and helped the others as Fey started shooting her bow while the rest of us charged in. I went to help Bronya-nee, who was fighting a Parvati as she stopped it from rolling forward using Project Bunny before tossing it upwards, allowing to land multiple heavy strikes to it's sides before we both landed back down

though I landed a good number of hits, the Parvati still got back up. it tried to roll forward again but this time, it was stopped by Ms.Durandal, who charged at it and bashed it with her shoulder, staggering it before she stabbed it with her lance and flipped it over herself, smashing it into the ground and knocking it a bit from the force

this allowed Mei-san to get underneath as she drew her sword and dashed upward like a bolt of lightning, cutting the Parvati in half and killing it before she landed back down and dashed to another opponent

I followed the example and helped with killing the Honkai as I cleaved my way through scores of Honkai Beasts, taking down as many as I can with one strike. we weren't sure where these Honkai came from but it could have been some kind of sign that we're in the right place as sudden explosions peppered the area, killing the Honkai Beasts in front of us in seconds

turning around, we saw Kiana-san in the air in her Herrscher form as she had multiple portals to her side, firing lances at very high speeds before they exploded on impact, killing all the Honkai that were attacking before she landed back down right afterwards

AN:When the guy using HoV gets 125 SP in Coop

Irene:is everyone alright

Mei:we're just fine

Durandal:where did these Honkai come from, this area was clear when we landed

Rita:we suspect that they followed us down from one of the plateaus above when we were returning here

Kiana:in any case, we should be in the right place, Honkai are crowding here and there's a large amount of Honkai Energy somewhere here but I can't pinpoint it

Seele:I sensed it too, I thought I felt it somewhere higher

Durandal:let's not get sidetracked, our priority is finding Bella and getting a report on both the situation and the area

Mei:we couldn't sense her anywhere, there's too much Honkai Energy around here, too much interference

Seele:I can't sense her either, it's like she's not-

Bronya:Seele!!!!!!

as I was talking, I was interrupted by Bronya-nee, who yelled out my name as I came to realize that there was a large shadow overbearing Me. looking up, I saw a rolling Parvati dropping from the sky and directly above Me

I pulled out the Undine's Tale to knock it away but before I could, it was knocked away by a powerful force as it flew off the side of the mountain and onto the ground below. looking to what had hit the Parvati, we all saw that it was Bella, who had her wings out while her fist was covered in electricity as she landed right near us before her wings disappeared

Bella:you should be more attentive, Seele, Master would not like hear news about your injuries

Seele:t-thank you

Durandal:you sure took your time to get here

Bella:I was given my orders, not my time, it was you all who took your time

Himeko:the details don't matter, are we in the right place

Bella:I've followed her trail to here and it doesn't look like she's left, as for where she is here, I couldn't tell, that is something you all will have to figure out from here

Kiana:you're done?

Bella:I have my orders and I've found where she is, no more no less. under Master's newer directions, I am to keep watch over all of you from a distance and I'm to only assist if Master's Sister is in grave danger

Bronya:where is Subject Seere?

Bella:"sorting business" as he said, he will return in due time. I will now take my leave

as her wings appeared again, Bella took off and flew away at high speeds, leaving us here without much of an idea as to where to look for Ms.Fu Hua. we at least knew that we were in the right place and we had a few ways to try and find her

Rita:what shall we do Master Durandal

Durandal:well we know she's here, we'll set up temporary camp until Ms.Theresa can bring us reinforcements

Seele:we can use the ruins as shelter

Satella:yeah and there's plenty of fresh running water there too

Himeko:we also brought rations with us so we'll be good on food for a few days

Durandal:then it's settled, we'll settle down until back up gets her but stay alert, that Herrscher could be anywhere

Author:and that's going to do it for this chapter guys, I hope you all enjoyed it, I'm slowly getting my groove into writing again and I'm getting some more and new ideas for chapters so as I say at the end of every chapter, hope you all look forward to the next one, until next time

Shadowgamer254 out