The trio stood at the base, right before the entrance into the garden as Mei would receive a live transmission from Raven.

"Heads up. You're about to enter the elevator's base. The Herrscher's hidden in the garden and has still yet to move." She said.

"We'll stick to the plan. Me and Alex will engage her." Said Mei.

"I'll need ten minutes to set up the trap and send you the coordinates when I'm done. I'll do what I to help if needed. One last thing. The Scepters have a short fuse so act fast and lure the Herrscher to the right place." Said Owl as Mei nodded.

"Understood." She said before looking at Alex.

"You ready?" She asked.

Alex looked at her for a brief moment before looking back ahead.

"Let's go." He said.

The two would walk inside and we're greeted with the sight of palm trees around the area, and two flowing waterfalls on either side with a rock formation in the middle.

The time for sight seeing was cut short as from above descended the Herrscher of Ice, her mere presence immediately icing over and completely freezing the water falls and the platform they were on.

She slowly placed a hand on the platform as in a hurry, a ton of icicle spikes emerged from the ground and rushed at them.

The two would move out of the way as best they could as the Ice Herrscher would quickly began to target Mei as the two Herrscher danced amongst one another.

Oddly enough, she refused to change as the Herrscher was so focused on Mei that Alex would constantly get a ton of easy hits and slashes in as one by one they were beginning to slightly slow her down.

The Ice Herrscher would put some distance between herself and Mei however once again, this left it wide open for Alex as the boy charged at her from behind, feeling his left arm heat up as he was tapping into the sword's Honkai Energy, engulfing the blade in flames as he jumped at the Herrscher to deliver a critical strike.

Right before the attack landed, the Herrscher encased itself in a large ice crystal as Alex's attack collided with the prism.

The boy would be launched back from the attack and immediately struggled to get up not just cause of his arm screaming in arm, but also because the cold had suddenly increased ten fold.

"Alex! Take down the crystal as quick as possible! It's healing itself!" Shouted Mei as the boy got up as quick as he could as the two began to strike at the crystal.

Eventually the crystal would shatter as the Ice Herrscher would resume attacking Mei.

This would buy Alex some time as he just hoped that the pain on his arm would die down.

As he watched the two Herrscher's battle, he saw Mei begin to get slightly overwhelmed as the Ice Herrscher would not let up on her assault.

Soon Alex would get up and make his way towards the two.

As he did, he saw Mei somehow slip on the ice as the Icr Herrscher would summon some very sharp icicles all surrounding her as she launched them at Mei.

As they speeded towards her, Alex would step in front of Mei and tapping into as much of the sword's Honkai Energy as he could, he swung horizontally in front of him, releasing a massive fire slash as the flames were able to melt all the icicles.

"AHHH!" Shouted Alex as now his arm was pratically unbearable to tolerate as he got onto his knees.

"A-Alex!?" Shouted Mei who was gonna go check up on him and pull him to safety until the boy slowly got back up.

"I-I'm fine. Stay focused." He said between breaths.

Before Mei could respond, she received a transmission from Owl.

"Mei the trap is ready. Lure the target to the indicated coordinates." He said.

After being given the coordinates, Mei would grab Alex and speed her way over to the location as Ice Herrscher followed them, bringing up barriers of ice to block them however they quickly be shot down by Raven.

Soon they arrived at the location as Mei put Alex down and spoke to Owl.

"I'm in position." She said.

"Affirmative. Alright I've confirmed the Herrscher's path. Activating the Scepters now." He said.

At that moment, Alex felt a sudden stinging pain, however it wasn't from the bad arm.

Instead, it was from his right as Alex looked over and saw a dart sticking into it as he immediately realized what it was.

"A-A tranq........................"

Alex slowly lost consciousness as he fell to the floor unconscious.

Mei saw this and was shocked however before she could react, the Ice Herrscher would quickly arrive right after.

"Owl. Now!" Shouted Mei, however silence greeted her. "Owl?"

That was when Mei noticed a faint glow from underneath.

The ground beneath her suddenly began to glow red as she felt her strength be drained quickly, falling onto a knee and struggling to stay up.

"I-Is this.................the scepters doing?" She said as she looked up and saw the Ice Herrscher raise into the air and extend a hand out, summoning large pillars of Ice as she launched them at the helpless Mei.

From Raven's perspective atop the tower, all she saw was a massive smoke cloud from the area.

"Mei! Alex! What's happening!?" She shouted over her device.

At that moment, Raven heard a clicking sound from behind.

"Who's ther-!" Before Raven could finish speaking, she felt a sharp stinging pain in her abdomen.

She had been stabbed.

Raven would fall onto the floor, unable to move or get up, her vision slowly fading as she was slipping out of consciousness.

She felt her weapon be taken out of her hands as she heard footsteps slowly begin to walk away from her.

Using what little strength she had left, Raven turned to the direction where she heard the steps from, opening her eyes ever so slightly as she was shocked to see who it was.

Standing there was Owl, her weapon in his hands as he looked down at her, maintaining his normally neutral expression on his face, before he turned and walked away.

"O-Owl........................you bas...................t-tard..................."

Those were the last words Raven could muster up before she finally fell unconscious.

[Meanwhile]

Back at the outskirts of Coral, Schicksal Valkyries barricaded the entire area as they continued to prevent any Honkai Beasts from entering the city.

As Durandal watched on to make sure nothing went awry, Rita looked at the skies above the city.

"Master Durandal, the weather's becoming unstable. We're approaching it becoming a cataclysmic storm." She said. "We must neutralize the Herrscher before she distrups the tropical climate system and creates a global disaster."

"Alvitr. How're the Serpents doing?" Asked Durandal over her comms device.

"Well, it's just like Adjutant Rita said. The storm cut off our comm links. From the last few messages received, the Serpent seemed to have engaged the Herrscher. Unfortunately, I think they may have run into a few problems. The Serpent Officer named Owl has betrayed them. I found something odd while studying Ana Schariac's files before the comms went down."

A beep went off as a hologram appearance displaying info of a certain individual.

"Who's this?" Asked Rita.

"A survivor whom I found in one of Ana's mission debriefing files. Name, Tianwu Chen. Male. Ana saved him during the Honkai event that took place in Asia two years ago. Coincidentally Mr. Chen here also happens to be the Serpent Officer, Owl." Said Alvitr.

"Hmm. This Serpent officer met Ana before huh? That's too coincidental to overlook." Said Rita.

Upon hearing this info, Durandal had immediately come to a decision as she looked towards the city.

"We should move at once." She said.

"Squad Leader. Shouldn't be wait for comm links to come back on first? We have to report this to HQ."

"We can't risk waiting. Time is of the essence."

"Master Durandal's right. We have to act according to our best judgment now." Said Rita.

The blonde would then turn to face Rita and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Rita. I'm giving you temporary command of thr Valkyries. I'll head in to go check on the Herrscher." She said.

"You're going alone?" Asked Rita.

"Our positions here are just as important. I need you to lead the defenses and keep the Honkai at bay. No worries. I'll be decisive if the Serpent tries anything funny." She said.

Rita nodded and saluted her.

"Please be safe out there." She said.

"I will. Keep a good eye here."

With that, Durandal began to make her way towards the city.

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Chapter 7: Complete