On Earth.

Schicksal's HQ.

"So I guess all we can do now is to trust them..." - Himeko said as she sighed and threw herself on the couch in the Overseer's office. "Well, I do hope they will come back in one piece."

"Well, yeah... I would go if there's the chance." - Theresa said as she sat down at the desk, preparing to work. "Let's see what kind of work I will have to do from now on..."

"Any beers around?"

"Now is not the time to drink."

"Oh come on..." - Himeko tried tea, which she clearly disliked. .

"Hey Theresa." - Suddenly, Otto's voice appeared on the speakers inside the room.

"!!!"

Both Theresa and Himeko were startled. They thought Otto was here for real. But he wasn't, it was a recorded message.

"If you can hear this now, I must have already retired and you are currently sitting on my favorite chair. Well, how come? I've installed a special touching pad that'll activate once it confirms you touched it, which I installed on the edge of the desk by the way because I know you'd be too sh-"

Theresa was about to smash the speakers with the Oath of Judah.

"Anyways, ahem. I just want to tell you something. I love you, and that's why I left behind something for you and your friends to enjoy.

A spaceship. You can go to the moon to take a vacation, I heard there are rabbits on there also. And don't worry about its safety, I already made sure everything will be perfectly fine."

Then the message ends.

"..."

"Wait does that mean..."

Both of them heard a honk outside.

Himeko opened the curtain, and Theresa stood on a chair to be able to look outside.

They saw a ship with an unusual pattern hovering right outside the office, with the entire Hyperion crew and the Immortal Blades on it.

"Let's go guys, to the MOOOOONNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

On the Moon.

Precisely 2 minutes after the World Serpent's defensive mechanism on their lunar base engaged with the Void Queen's Executioner, more than 30% of their guns have been taken down, and almost all the available personnel and cyborgs have been deployed to fight off the intruders.

Even with the Queen's full power, alongside with her trusty dragon, it is uncertain that even she could walk off from the battle unscathed.

However, things took a significant change for both sides when the Valkyries engaged.

As dealing with the heavy guns, we have Bronya Zaychik taking care of it, effectively letting the other two to deal with ground opponents without the worry of heavy artillery. None of the World Serpent's soldiers, be it a cybernetic enhanced one, or purely a combat robot that could rival that of an Entropy's Titan could stand against either of these Valkyries, Kiana and Mei, let alone having to deal with two of them at the same time.

And so, the forces of World Serpent on the lunar soil could be considered as walking metal scraps now. But it is still too soon to let their guard down, as Bronya finished destroying another tower of heavy turrets, she noticed a new tower was being raised from the center of the base, which is right in front of the Ruined Palace's entrance.

She immediately knew something was odd with this one, because of its appearance, it looks much more older than the ones she just destroyed, and its design is somewhat more advanced, fearing of the potential destruction it could brought upon her friends, Bronya took no time to hesitate and hop on the transformed bike of hers, and drove towards the turret with great speed.

Just as the Herrscher of Reason approached the tower, it immediately rotated some parts of it, revealing turrets, which are not as big as the ones before, but they shot lighting-like beams instead, all coming at her at lightning speed, thankfully Bronya managed to avoid that just in time and successfully created another road on the air to approach the tower.

What she didn't notice is, these turrets carry devastating firepower, as the lightning beams just destroyed the parts of the roads she had constructed after she had driven on them. Combined with their speed, Bronya is in bigger trouble than she had thought.

"I never thought we'd have to resort to using it one day... The Annihilator." - Grey Snake said as he took his hand back from the pressed button on a desk.

The Annihilator was a weapon specifically designed by Dr. MEI from the Previous Era, planned to install it on the Moon alongside the Palace. It is a bastion capable of acting as a stronghold and a turret, for its nigh impervious shields that are designed to withstand even an asteroid. With the turrets capable of firing molecular dissolving beams that took inspiration from the Herrscher of Thunder's ability.

The Annihilator was considered to be a weapon that could deal with the Herrscher of the End, but in the end, it was never used, as they never got enough time to install everything for it needed to work. Grey Serpent, with the wisdom from the Previous Era, managed to reconstruct this lost weapon, and now it is being used for the very first time.

Kiana and Mei were clearing up the cyborgs down below, but they saw what Bronya had just realized, the tower is more dangerous than they had thought. Just as the beams eventually caught up to Bronya, she knew she couldn't outrun it, she immediately have her Bunny 19-C transform back, and instead of setting up roads to go, she set up shields, multiple shields and guns, hoping to get enough time for her guns to destroy its turrets.

The tower focused all of its firepower at Bronya, she is not allowed to make any mistake as only one would cost her life for sure, shields after shields were set up, after one was shattered, more would replace it, and the guns are slowly charging, it'll be just a few couple more seconds before they could fire. However, having to constantly construct shields with no rest in between, has put a heavy strain on Bronya's mind, this is the battle of endurance and she cannot win, she needs to settle things fast.

As the guns were fully charged, Bronya was close to her limit, and immediately casted a giant shield in front of her, with more durability than ever and with some thin gaps created in the middle, just enough to reveal the guns to fire at the tower. And she took the shot, with the shields almost broke, she canceled it and returns to her normal form, the lightning beams missed her falling down, but Bronya wouldn't have to worry now, because as soon as the beams hit the tower, its turret will be disabled, and at that point, it'll be harmless to her friends.

Boom.

Her shots hit the tower for sure, precisely at where she aimed, but to her horror, she didn't expect there would be several layers of shield around it, protecting the entire tower.

Her shots only managed to pierce through the first and the second layers, leaving the third layer intact. The guns quickly found themselves aimed at the falling Bronya again, and firing the deadly dissolving beams at her.

The other two were terrified at what they were seeing, they tried to rush to her aid but it was too late, they would never make it there in time.

Before these beams could hit Bronya, they found themselves suddenly heading into nowhere, just nothing, only darkness ahead, have they already hit the girl? No, they have been brought into something and concealed within, and finally they got away from the darkness, but now they head straight back to the tower, and hit its shield.

"That was close... Are you alright? Bronya?" - Bronya were surprised when she realized she was held in someone's hands.

The Valkyries were completely surprised by what they saw, Void Portals, Benares, and you, their Captain, who was the reason they came here in the first place. You caught Bronya on your hands when Benares carried you to her place on her back, and created ice shields just in case the tower continued firing.

And it did, firing the same volume, aimed at the Dragon. But it is not enough, the Herrscher of the Void was already standing above the Tower without its sensors picking up her signals.

"Too bad, I wanted to keep you as a bug sprayer..." - She moved her hand slightly and dozens of Void Lances were launched from the portals above her, pinned into the shields and breaking layer after layer, leaving it vulnerable to Benares' icicle attack.

One pierced through. Then the second one pierced through it. And then the third one, Benares could no longer summon another one because of the lack of elements in the air on the Moon.

But the Tower was as good as destroyed, its turrets could no longer function, and the shields unable to regenerate.

"Captain... You're alright..." - Bronya said as she couldn't believe what she saw just seconds ago, but then felt relief again when she knew she was in your hands for sure. "I'm glad..."

"You've done well, Bronya." - You pat her head as you put her down for her to stand on her own. "Kiana and Mei are also here?"

You said as you looked down below, trying to look for them while smiling. Benares landed down right in front of the gates of the Palace. Where you see Kiana and Mei rushed to, and it seems like there are no more enemies around.

"Captain!!!!"

"Kiana! Mei! You two alright?"

You gave the two a hug to relieve them, as they ran straight into you.

"Yes, but Bronya?"

"I am good. Thank you for worrying." - Bronya said as she approached them.

You let the two go, and Sirin descends as Benares turns to her human form.

Obviously, the three Valkyries would not be so casual around the Herrscher of the Void and her Dragon, but considering that they just saved Bronya and helped them, plus that you appeared with them, the three didn't show any sign of hostility.

"Hmph."

Sirin rushed towards you and grabbed your arm, hugging it, as if she is trying to tell the others that you're her possession.

"Eh?" - The three were confused.

"EHHH???"

"Hmph, I don't care if you guys are his close subordinates or whatever, but he's mine!" - She said as she pouted.

You just... Well, lost the chance to stop her from doing this and now there is nothing you can do. The girls are gonna think you're a lolicon.

"... I can't believe it..." - Kiana whispered into Mei's ears. "He managed to convince Herrscher of the Void to side with him... He must have noticed that she would be a valuable ally to fight against Kevin."

"Indeed..." - Mei nodded, completely agreeing with all Kiana had just said.

"This is like these political alliances formed by political marriages." - Bronya whispered. "Captain is such a genius... He hit two... Could be more birds with one rock."

"Anyways girls... How did you get here?" - You asked.

"We stole a carrier of the World Serpent... It was small so yeah... Anyways, Captain, we're ready to retreat now. At your command."

"They're right dear." - Sirin said while still holding your arm. (Did she just say dear?) "Kevin is nowhere to be seen yet, if you go now..."

You considered the options, you could choose to retreat, or stay to confront Kevin.

"... Well, running today and he'll come back for me tomorrow. He will not stop." - You said. "I'm gonna be honest. I have no power to defeat even these bird-like Honaki beasts. I can't risk going back and putting you in the same danger as I do."

"..."

"That's why I'm gonna settle the score with him... Here and now." - You looked at the Valkyries. "In the worst case scenario, I'll ask Kevin to leave you out of this. That's the least I could do."

"Captain..."

Then the ground shook. As if there's an earthquake, a large chunk of the base crumbled, and something emerged from the middle.

A giant mecha.

"Oh god, what's that thing?" - Kiana pointed at that thing.

"Seems like this is the last the World Serpent has to offer... A giant robot."

"My glorious Queen, give me your command and I will turn that thing into scrap."

"Get behi- wait..." - Sirin noticed something. You are gone. Nowhere to be seen. "MY DEAR WHERE ARE YOU?"

"It's attacking! Dodge it quick!" - Mei shouted to the others when she saw the mecha leaped towards them and is about to stomp them.

They all successfully evaded it, but none of them could find you nearby.

"This is strange...He disappeared without a single trace just in seconds... How could this be..." - Bronya scans around but gets nothing.

But nonetheless, there is another concern for them at the moment. The giant mecha of the World Serpent.

"Face the wrath of the Serpent!!!" - Grey Snake and some cyborgs are controlling the mecha from the inside.

"Let's turn it to scraps first, girls!"

—

...

...

"Y/n."

Kevin's voice echoed.

"Ahh..." - You were startled because you have been standing inside darkness for a while now, and things started to appear as Kevin's voice showed up.

"I know you're here."

"Where the fuck am I?"

You looked around and saw just... Red. No seriously it's mostly red, the long hallway leading to another door at the end with the interiors painted in red.

"Am I inside a gaming PC now?"

"I can smell the insolent stench of the very hands that destroyed my noodles." - Kevin's voice echoed throughout the entire place again.

"Ah shitttt...." - Your voice got gradually smaller as Kevin reminded you of your sins.

"I await you down below.

COME to me."

You... Well, kinda think it would be better if you just stayed here... But whatever, who knows if you can bullshit your way out of thi-

"Hey there!"

An abomination of tentacle fuckface appeared in front of you.

"AHH!!"

"Relax, no need to scream~" - The thing said as it floats in front of you.

"What the heck are you?"

"My name is Honaki

And I offer you an accord."

End of Chapter 16.

It's been a long while... My dear readers.

Long and hard didst thou wait...

Now back to the hiatus abyss I go, see yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa