Shortly after being welcomed as a temporary member of the Immortal Blades, you were assigned to a few missions with Rita Rosseweisse, your partner and also the only one capable of keeping you in check, as she also promised to train you herself to become a more elegant fighter...

Luckily, a few other Valkyries accompanied you two on these missions, but they are all background expendable characters, so they didn't get any dialogues nor interactive features.

"Cheer up, Y/n." - Rita elegantly fixed her hair as she walked with you back to the ship, about to head off to the final mission for the day. "Next up is your favourite, an Exterminate mission."

"Ugh, but you aren't going to let me use my favorite Flamy to burn my enemies crispy right?" - You complained because Rita took away your flamethrower today.

Rita chuckled.

"What's so funny? My hands are itchy, they want to pull the trigger, spread the warmth and envelop all the enemies and traitors alike into an undying flame of judgement."

"Nothing, I just find it cute that you named a weapon so casually like a pet." - Rita smiled, it was a gentle smile as always, but this time it felt more sincerity than ever.

"Hah..." - You turned away, because you couldn't handle such a gentle smile... Also for another reason...

"Anyways, for our next mission, I will grant you the use of y-"

"REALLY? THANK YOU MISS RITA, YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!" - You jumped happily and then hugged Rita briefly before letting her go and rushed to the ship to get your hands on your beloved weapon.

"..." - Rita was surprised by how fast you changed your attitude. "Ara, such a bold approach."

Hours later, the dropship has already arrived at the destination, some abandoned city. Honkai activities here have spiked recently, now they would have to cleanse this place for future operations.

"LET'S GOOOO-"

"Not so fast, Y/n." - Rita grabbed your collar from behind.

"What now?"

"There is a set of rules you must follow for this mission." - Rita calmly said, while you just felt so anguished upon hearing this.

"Ugh, is this really the time for it? The enemies are-"

"They won't run away, and besides, you wanted to get away from me as soon as possible, right? But unfortunately, if you keep this up, we might be stuck with each other for a longer time and you might get into the Immortal Blades as an official member, if that happens, then according to the Schicksal's Vallyrie Standard Codex, Section 23, Rule 34, you must undergo a [REDACTED] or choose to [REDACTED]."

"STOP I UNDERSTAND, geez." - You scratched your hair.

"Anyways, if you follow these rules well, I will put up a good word for you once the monthly reports arrive, and you might get away from me sooner."

"Hah, what are the rules then?"

"It's simple, try to limit the usage of the weapon, avoid unnecessary ammunition spent, and don't cause any damage to nearby structures." - Rita explained the rules, all are... Doesn't sound that bad, but who are we again?

That's right, a lunatic that loves his own flamethrower so much that he would make a good brother in the ranks of the Salamanders, with the mind of a Black Templar of course.

So of course all of these rules are just restrictions placed upon you.

"Hah... You know, how am I supposed to fight with these rules?" - You turned around to ask Rita.

"I don't know, it's your choice whether to break the rules or... Use that weapon again, to its fullest potential." - Rita said as she looked at your flamethrower, clearly hinting at the weapon's capabilities beyond that of an ordinary weapon.

"Hah, is it someone who asked you to investigate this baby?"

"Who knows?" - Rita dismissed your question with a smile and grabbed her scythe as the dropship finally landed. "Let's go, Y/n, we shall storm the front together, the rest of the squad will have the other entrances blocked."

Rita said as she ran off, leaving you sighed.

"Haiz... as expected from an S-Rank Valkyrie..."

The minor Honkai creatures roaming the streets were no match against her, she ran through them as she elegantly swung her scythe, cutting them in pieces.

She is trying to determine the source of where these creatures came from, and as she expected, the further she goes, the more Honkai activities she sees. She used more force than before to deal with a pack of attacking beasts, but she noticed one was falling onto her from above, but was quickly shot down and bursted into flames.

"You should be more careful." - You hurried to her side with the special pistol in hand, taking a look at the area.

"I knew you would shoot it down for me." - Rita chuckled. "Although I would love to see what more of that weapon of yours can transform into... Does it have a scythe variant by any chance?"

"Nah, there ain't." - You shot down some more roaming beasts in the distance. "Ask the Overseer for one and wait for several years, then maybe you will get one. Now let's go, the enemies' lair is right ahead!"

The beasts' hive is mainly located underground; they took up quite a lot of space in the city's underground tunnel systems; several worker creatures even connected the underground parking areas together.

You and Rita stormed in from one of the entrances, Rita with her chilling scythe, paired with your molten blade, you two were unstoppable for a minute, but eventually, exhaustion caught up to you as every swing of your blade puts a strain on your muscles, making the following ones to go slower and a bit off.

"Lieutenant, the explosives are all set." - An Immortal Blade member reported to Rita, to which she smiled and held her scythe high before striking it onto the ground, creating a massive ice wall blocking the beasts on the other side.

"Do it."

Rumbles can be heard from a distance and then quickly come to your place, as if there was an explosion right above you. But nothing serious happened around.

"The other entrances are sealed now, and the other squad members are approaching our location now to join hands in eliminating these beasts." - Rita said as she walked to you, patting your shoulders with both of her hands from behind. "You seem a little bit tired just now, not used to using a sword?"

"Yeah... I only got used to spraying flames around... Swinging these are... Not really much in my field."

"That's no good then." - Rita said with a teasing voice. "How could I leave you to be on your own if you can't be effectively protecting yourself in close quarters combat?"

"You started to sound more like my mom. And anyways, is it really fine for you to... Just leave it there?" - You looked at her scythe, which she left stuck to the ground.

"It will hold the wall, besides, the beasts here can't break through that wall easily." - Rita took her hands off of your shoulders and then patted your back.

"Huh... You Valkyries are really something else, especially you. Being so calm amidst all of this... Where the border of life and death is thinner than a tissue." - You expressed how you felt.

"This is nothing compared to the other missions I have been assigned before, now, why don't I use this as an opportunity to teach you some simple swordplay?"

"Really? Now is not really the time."

As you just barely finished your sentence, the ice wall, thought to be sturdy, has suddenly shattered to pieces. A powerful creature has smashed through, and it, along with the other beasts, set their eyes upon you and Rita. One charged right at you without any delays, pushing you away from Rita, leaving her dealing with the desperate horde that wanted to survive.

"Shit!!!" - You managed to put your blade in front of you, but were still getting pushed away due to the difference in strength. And then it rammed you into a nearby wall, where you could feel several bones got broken. "Ugh!" You grunted in pain as you fell to the ground when the beast backed from you. "That hurt..."

Rita has no time to worry for you, as she was busy dealing with the other beasts who came at her. At the moment, she has the disadvantage because she is unarmed, but she evaded their attacks swiftly and quickly took the lead of the flow in the battle, occasionally driving them to crash into each other.

But when one became so focused at her that she couldn't drive it away, she clenched her fist and threw a punch at it, smashed through its skin and reached its vital organs as if she was punching through paper.

"As expected from an S-Rank... Ugh..." - You expressed your thoughts on her while on one knee, clinging to your blade to stand properly. "Meanwhile... Look at me... So little and fragile in comparison..."

You stared at the beast towering over you in the eyes. Are you afraid? No. Does your heart waver? No. Why?

"But I have a wish... Not here... Not yet.

《 Open 》"

...

Those beasts charged at her like wild animals, yet they are not completely stupid either, they set a defensive formation up around her scythe and have the lesser ones to surround her, blocking her escape.

"It would be the Queen of this place, I presume." - Rita looked at the beast beside the scythe, it looked weaker compared to some others, but it sure is the best protected among the horde.

Even for her, she isn't sure if she can clean this whole area up without some injuries. As she was busy thinking, a stealthy beast reached out for her from behind, its limbs caught onto her, but its body was pulverized after, by a flaming hot arrow passed by, it wiped out the other beasts standing besides it.

She quickly glanced at where it came from, just like the other creatures when they saw it, they saw you standing there, holding something fiery resembling that of a bow, its flames still burning bright. Rita saw something concerning : your right arm on fire...

You drew the bowstring of fire, as a fire arrow formed, the blazing flame cracked violently, as if eagering to burn everything down in its path.

"Y/n!"

"Do not worry for me... Move!"

You released another shot, this time aimed directly at the heart of those creatures, the Queen, being surrounded by her guards, but their armor all melted upon contact with the flaming arrow, the heat managed to even cook them from the inside.

The Queen is left vulnerable, and she quickly moves out of sight, a critical mistake, as Rita did not miss her chance to retrieve her weapon and deal a finishing blow to the Queen, all done in a flash.

Rita would take her time to wipe clean the remaining ones, but her heart races at the thought of you being vulnerable now, especially in that concerning state when using such a weapon.

As you fired another flame arrow, the beasts from the other side snuck up on you and attacked you, with no doubt, you will die here. But alas, fate did you truly abandon you to the hands of death, for a lance flew through and punctured through the horde of beasts in an instant, such immense strength generated by the shockwaves from the spear alone shook the whole area, causing some parts of it to collapse even further, and as one big rock was about to fall on top of you, someone came by your side and smashed it to bits with her fist alone.

Rita was surprised, yet she was also relieved when she saw who it was.

"Hey, you alright?"

It all happened too quickly, yet your mind was able to recognize the voice, it was no stranger to you. You turned around, and saw the radiant Valkyrie, clad in her silver plated armor with some touches of blue here and there, her shining, signature long blonde hair followed the flow of the wind, as she stood there right beside you, ensuring your survival, Durandal, the master of the Immortal Blades have arrived.

End of Chapter 3.

Gosh it's been so long since I last updated this thing- im sorry