(Present time...)
The sounds of repeated blaring alarms echo throughout the entire city, indicating that the city is under a state of emergency and that all civilians should evacuate immediately.
Archangel-type Honkai beasts are seen flying across the sky as down below, several Schicksal Valkyrie squads are seen battling the various Honkai beasts on the ground.
The entire city has completely plunged into chaos. It is up to the Valkyries with the help of a Knight to destroy the Honkai threat and save the city...
Himeko: (coms) The Honkai are spread out all over the city, and we don't have enough Valkyries to deal with them at such short notice
Currently, Akiri is seen aboard a helicopter, hovering above Soukai City, which is being invaded by a horde of Honkai beasts, rampaging below.
He is wearing a brand new Battlesuit, a specially-made one issued just for him.
The boy is communicating with Himeko through his earpiece.
Himeko: (coms) HQ is sending reinforcements, but that will take some time
Akiri: Right... I'm heading off
Himeko: (coms) Good luck out there
Pilot: Where do you want me to land it?
The pilot asked as they were slowly approaching a tall office building.
Akiri: Just keep it hovering here
Pilot: Huh?
Without another word, the boy jumped off the aircraft and started plummeting down towards the ground in a free fall.
Meanwhile...
Mei: There's so many...
Raiden Mei is seen in a different part of the city, looking at the group of Honkai beasts in front of her. She is wearing a new battlesuit, Crimson Impulse.
Seeing the Honkai beast closing in on her, he tightens her grip on her katana and she closes her eyes as she took a deep breath.
As she opened her eyes, she charges towards the Honkai beasts, her blade held high, ready to fight.
Elsewhere...
Bronya: Targets confirmed. Project Bunny, load kinetic energy rounds for salvo...
Bronya Zaychik, wearing her Valkyrie Chariot battlesuit is on another street with Project Bunny 19C levitating behind her, pointing its massive cannon towards a group of Honkai Beasts.
Bronya: Fire!
At her command, the mechanoid fires off its cannon, firing a salvo of rockets hurling towards the monsters.
The projectiles explode as it hits their targets, blasting the Honkai beasts into pieces from the force of the explosion.
(Elsewhere)
Back with Akiri, he is now on the ground, finishing off the last Honkai beast from the horde by stabbing it with both of his swords. Purple blood pours out from its wound as he pulls his swords out and flicks them to the side to get rid of the blood before sheathing them.
He then reaches up to his earpiece.
Akiri: I'm done here. Where to next?
Himeko: (coms) There's another group of them six blocks down to your left
Akiri: Copy. Heading there now
He then started to run towards the mentioned location.
As he is moving, he looks up to see several Archangel-type Honkai beasts flying about.
Akiri: There's still a lot of them around...
Himeko: (coms) Unfortunately. The other teams are doing their best, but it will take some time to clear them out
Akiri: How are the others doing?
Himeko: (coms) Mei is engaging a group of them that is getting close to the city border. Bronya had just finished off a group, and is moving on to somewhere else
Akiri: What about Kiana?
Himeko: (coms) She's just been deployed. She'll be the first to approach the unidentified battleship
Akiri: Is it safe?
Himeko: (coms) From what we can tell, it should be safe enough
At that moment, he heard a loud whirring noise coming from above and he looks up just in time to see multiple jet fighter planes fly past.
Akiri: Fighter jets?
Himeko: (coms) Just a precaution. That battleship up there could have some serious firepower on board. If it decides to open fire, we'll have no choice but to shoot it down
Looking up at the jets, he then noticed something, or rather, someone, on top of the aircraft.
Akiri: What the? Is that...?
To his shock, he squints to see that Kiana is riding on top of one of the jets.
Akiri: ...Kiana?
Himeko: (coms) Yeah, that's her alright...
Akiri: Never a dull moment, huh...
Himeko: (coms) Get moving. As soon as you're done, a chopper will come to pick you up to send you to the battleship
Akiri: Got it
With that, he continues on his way to fight more of the invading Honkai beast.
(Timeskip)
Kiana: Heck yeah! This is awesome!
The white-haired Valkyrie shouted at the top of her lungs as she rides on top of the jet fighter, flying towards the unidentified battleship.
Himeko: (coms) Don't get carried away
The major's voice came into her earpiece.
Himeko: (coms) You're approaching the target, prepare to disembark
Kiana: Roger!
The jet fighter skillfully manoeuvres around the flying Honkai beasts as it makes its way towards the battleship, with Kiana holding on to the top of the aircraft.
As soon as the jet gets close to the target, Kiana jumps off and successfully lands on the battleship with a roll.
Kiana: I'm on deck! Everything's going smooth, aunt Himeko!
Himeko: (coms) Good. Head towards the bridge. Your teammates will rendezvous with you in a few
Kiana: Ha! By the time they got here, I'd have taken over the ship already
Himeko: (coms) Proceed with caution, we're seeing some Honkai activity on the ship
As soon as she said that, a large Knight type Honkai beast lands in front of her, and a few Archangels descend from above, and she finds herself surrounded by the monsters.
However, the girl seemed unfazed by the threat as a smirk crept up her face.
Kiana: Hmph! Not a problem for me!
She pulls out her dual guns as the Honkai Knight started to charge towards her at full speed. But the girl avoided its attack by leaping up into the air with a spin as she started to shoot her guns around, killing the Archangels just as she lands.
The Knight lets out a shriek as it prepares to charge at her again, but it couldn't make a single move as Kiana had already started firing at it, a barrage of bullets hits the creature, weakening it as its movement began to slow down.
Kiana: Neko...
Kiana then raises a leg and reeled it back.
Kiana: Charm!
With a shout, she extends her leg, and a giant limb shaped like a cat's leg shoots out and hits the Knight, sending it flying backwards and it falls off the battleship and the cat leg disappears into thin air soon after.
Kiana: Didn't even break a sweat! At this rate, I'll be flying this ship home in no time
With that remark, she runs off towards the direction of the bridge. The white-haired girl runs into a few Honkai beasts in the way, but she dismisses them quickly and without any problems.
Eventually, she reaches an area behind the ship, with a large metal door in front of her. Next to the door, is an electronic terminal, most likely used to control the door.
Kiana: I've made it, but there's a door in the way. Need Bronya smarty pants here to hack it
Himeko: (coms) Copy. Your teammates are- What? Are you sure?
She seemed to be talking to somebody else on the other side.
Himeko: (coms) Kiana, watch out! We're sensing something big heading your way, fast!
Kiana: Something big?
As soon as she said that, she heard a high-pitched sound getting closer and she immediately dives to the side to dodge a laser beam which shot through where she was standing.
She got back up to see something large descending in front of her.
Kiana: Wh-What in the heck is that?!
Himeko: (coms) Impossible... It's an Emperor class... Kiana, get out of there, now!
Kiana: Don't worry, I can handle this guy!
Himeko: (coms) Wait-!
Ignoring the major's commands, Kiana pulls out her dual pistols and rushes towards the Honkai beast.
The monster pointed the tip of its levitating limbs towards the charging girl as a laser beam shot out towards her. Reacting quickly, she drops down into a slide and slips under the Honkai beast and gets behind it.
Before the monster could turn around to face her, the Valkyrie had already unleashed a barrage of lead bullets at its back, making it cry out in pain as it retaliates by shooting another laser beam.
The girl stops shooting and dives to the side to avoid the attack. She softens her landing with a roll before getting back up to continue shooting at the creature.
However, she sees that her bullets are doing nothing to the Emperor class Honkai beast.
Kiana: Tch. I'll use a bigger gun then
She tosses both her guns into the air as the weapons started to glow. It then breaks up into pieces before reassembling into a larger gun and the weapon lands into Kiana's hands as she then aims it towards the monster.
Kiana: Gungnir, fire!
She pulls the trigger, and a powerful beam shoots out from the cannon, enveloping the monster completely. The beam ends, and the Honkai beast falls to the ground, lifeless.
Kiana: See...? What did I tell you?
She said in between gasps of air as she was catching her breath, exhausted from the fight.
Himeko: (coms) Kiana, it's not over! We're still detecting life signals!
Kiana: Huh?
She turns around, but it was too late for her to react as she saw that the monster had gotten back up again, this time with its appearance changed to a darker colour with orange glowing eyes.
It shot a beam towards the Valkyrie which hits her body, sending her flying back and crashing hard into the metal door behind before dropping down to the floor.
The impact left her dazed and confused as she looks up to see the creature already right in front of her, and it then swings down one of its limbs towards her and she could do nothing but close her eyes to prepare for the hit.
...But it never arrived.
She opened her eyes and to her shock, saw that the monster's attack was blocked by a familiar-looking Valkyrie with long dark purple hair.
Kiana: M-Mei-senpai?!
Mei: Kiana, stay back!
Mei took a breath as she gathers up all her strength before pushing the Honkai beast back with her katana with all her might.
Multiple projectiles then came down from the sky in a salvo and hit the monster as it explodes into a burst of flames and ashes. Looking a few distances to the side, they see Bronya with Project Bunny behind her, smoke is seen coming out from the mechanoid's rocket launchers.
Bronya: Confirmed hit
As the monster staggers back from the blast, it was then hit by a cross slash in the back and it lets out a painful shriek.
Akiri: You just can't stay out of trouble, can you?
She saw that the culprit was Akiri, coming in with his dual swords, both blades of the longswords each glowing brightly as he enters a stance and lunged at the creature to attack it again.
He unleashes a flurry of fast slashes, hitting the creature with swings upon swings from both of his swords, not giving the Honkai beast any chances to retaliate as it could only go on the defensive.
Akiri: Mei!
Seeing that the enemy is distracted, Mei took the chance and runs up towards the Honkai beast before leaping up high into the air.
As she descends downwards, she tightly held her sword and drives the blade straight into the head of the Honkai beast. It lets out an ear-piercing shriek before becoming limp as it drops to the ground with a thud.
Mei pulls out her katana from the creature's skull and flicked her blade to get rid of the blood while Akiri did the same to both his blades and they sheathed their weapons while Bronya hovered to their side.
And as they looked at the creature once to confirm that it was dead, the battle is over.
Bronya: Confirmed, Emperor class Honkai beast has been neutralized
Himeko: (coms) Good job. Even a squad of A ranks would have trouble defeating that
Mei then ran over towards Kiana.
Mei: Kiana-chan, are you okay?
Kiana: I'm fine, Mei-senpai
As Mei was looking at Kiana for any injuries, Bronya went over to the terminal next to the door. A holographic screen appears in front of her as she started to hack into the system.
Akiri: How is it looking? Can you open it?
Bronya: Da. This system infrastructure is very familiar to the Bronya
With another few taps on her holographic keyboard, the terminal beeps and the metal door in front of them started to open, sliding apart slowly before stopping with a thud.
They gaze at the dark interior of the ship, until the lights then turn on one by one, as if inviting them further inside.
Kiana: It looks kinda creepy in there...
Bronya: Strange. The Bronya does not detect any life signals inside
Akiri: Then this thing must be running on autopilot, or controlled by an AI
Kiana: AI? Like Ai-chan?
Mei: If there's no Honkai beast inside, we should be careful of any security systems then
Bronya: Da, the Bronya agrees
Akiri: Right. We're going in then
With that, the four of them steps into the interior of the battleship, feeling the chill of the cold air wash over them as they do.
Akiri: Major Himeko, we're entering the battleship
Akiri spoke into his communications device.
Himeko: (coms) Good work, Squad V. Advance i̶̘̤͔̋n̴̰͆t̸̖͉̣̍ö̷̺ ̸̦̋͝t̷͎̖̳̅̒h̶͚̺̒e̷̬̣̦̐̔̊ ̴̣̊b̷̞̎͝a̵̮̓ť̵̺̗͑t̸͕́͝l̵̠̩̪͋͝e̶͓̚s̷̬͇͊̾͑h̷̙͌͝i̸̘͝ṕ̴̩̾ ̸̯̜̪̄͘a̸̯̫̒ǹ̶̩̣̥̃d̷͕͉̅-̵̰̈
The Major's voice suddenly broke into static and white noise before the communication cuts off entirely.
Akiri: Major?
Mei: Major Himeko?
They all gave their communicator earpiece a few taps, wondering what happened to their connection.
Bronya: The communication with the Major is cut off
Kiana: What?
Mei: Is it something on their end?
Bronya: Nyet. The Bronya suspects that the ship is blocking our signals from reaching St. Freya
Akiri: We're on our own then. We'll continue to make our way to the bridge. Stay on alert
The rest of them agrees and they continued into the unknown.
(Elsewhere)
Himeko: Squad V? Squad V, come in! Kiana, Mei, answer me!
Back at St. Freya's mission control room, Himeko's communication with Valkyrie Squad V had suddenly cut off, and she is now trying to get through to them.
Himeko: What happened to coms?
???: The connection got cut off, but the system is running normally, ma'am
???: The interference must be coming from their end
Two C-rank Valkyries working on the terminals answered.
Himeko: The battleship must be blocking our connection...
The major mumbles to herself.
Himeko: Keep trying to reach them
???: Yes, ma'am!
(Timeskip)
A few minutes of walking later, the members of Valkyrie Squad V are still walking further inside the mysterious battleship. Only the sounds of their footsteps are heard as they are making their way through the empty and lifeless halls.
Fortunately, Bronya had downloaded the map data for the battleship when she asked into the door terminal earlier, making it easier for them to find the bridge.
Eventually, they then reached another large metal door similar to the one they encountered outside.
Akiri: Another door. Work your magic, Bronya
Bronya only nodded and she silently hovered towards a terminal located just beside the door. She turns on her holographic keyboard and started typing away.
Mei: It's weird. I expected us to at least trigger an alarm or something
Akiri: Yeah... It's like they're letting us waltz into this battleship on purpose
Kiana: Maybe our squad is just too good
Akiri: I really hope that's the case...
It didn't take Bronya long to hack into the system again and force the door to open on her command.
A breeze of cold air hits them as the lights inside turn on and they gaze into the bridge of the ship. At the end of the room, they can see a large computer terminal.
The four of them went into the bridge and approaches the terminal. As they stepped up towards it, the device turns on automatically. A floating holographic display lights up in front of them, and it showed them a message.
Akiri: What the? A special mail?
Mei: And it's addressed to Kiana?
Kiana: What?
Bronya: "Dear Kiana. Greetings. We hereby return you the battleship Selene after 14 years"
Bronya started to read the message out loud.
Bronya: "You shall ascend the throne and rule this world. But before that, you'll need to find four keys. Lightning of Conquest, Firs of Affliction, Storm of Desire, and Death of Tranquility"
Kiana: What the heck does that mean?
Akiri: No clue...
All four of them are confused. None of the words in the message makes sense to them.
Bronya: There's something else. "PS, the password to the bridge is your birthday"
Kiana: Wait, why is this mail written for me? And why is the password my birthday?
Akiri: Would you happen to know anyone who would write something like this to you?
Kiana: No... I'm clueless... I'd definitely remember if I had a friend rich enough to give me a battleship. And my stupid old man can't possibly write anything like this
Mei: Well, they don't seem to harbour any ill intentions
Akiri: Yeah. Let's take control of the bridge and send this thing to St. Freya. The engineers there would know what to do
Bronya: Okay
Bronya then started inputting Kiana's birthday into the terminal, which is December 7th, or 0712 and the terminal accepts the code.
System: Access granted. Re-routing vessel...
An automated voice spoke to them, echoing throughout the room and they then felt the battleship starting to move.
System: New destination set: St. Freya Academy
Kiana: Whoa... They really used my birthday as the password!
Bronya: Ugh...
Bronya then suddenly held her head, as if she is in pain, and the others noticed this and started getting worried.
Akiri: Bronya? You okay?
Bronya: Bio-chip anomaly detected...
She suddenly said, her voice turned sounding digitized, robotic and lifeless.
Bronya: Force activate emergency system. Rebooting...
Her appearance started to change completely, her Valkyrie Chariot Battlesuit is replaced with a black and red-coloured outfit as she turns around and looked at the others with red eyes.
Bronya: Entering troubleshooting mode... Purge all surrounding hostiles...
Kiana: Hostiles? Wait, she means us?!
Project Bunny materialized behind her, also adopting a similar black and red colour scheme. Immediately, it summoned a cannon, charging the weapon and pointing it towards the three.
Mei: Bronya-chan!
Akiri: Mei, get out of the way!
Bronya opened fire, shooting a shell straight towards Mei. In the shock of seeing her friend attacking her, Mei finds herself unable to move. She was then tackled away by Akiri, getting her out of the way of the projectile as it hits the wall behind her.
Akiri: You okay?
Mei: Y-Yes... I'm sorry...
Akiri gets up and offered a hand to Mei, which she accepts and he pulled her up.
Kiana: Why is she attacking us?!
Bronya: Switching to energy armament...
The cannon on Project Bunny's arm switches to a laser gun and she aims the weapon again.
Akiri: Bronya, stop this!
Mei: Bronya-chan, it's us! Please listen!
Bronya didn't respond to her teammate's words and she charges up her laser gun before firing a large beam at them, however, the three were able to avoid the attack.
Kiana: What the heck is wrong with her?!
Akiri: Her bio-chip is acting up...
Kiana: Bio-chip?
Akiri: I'll explain later. But right now, we need to break her out of it
Mei: But how?
Another shot narrowly misses them as they got out of the way.
Akiri: You girls distract her. I need to get close
They see Bronya materializing more weapons on Project Bunny.
Kiana: Once you get close, and then what?
Akiri: I'll think about it when I get there
With that, Kiana and Mei both ran towards Bronya. Being the only one with ranged weapons, Kiana made the first move, shooting the out-of-control Valkyrie with a barrage of lead.
But Bronya then puts up a shield in front of herself and blocked all of the shots.
Kiana: Tch!
She then saw Mei coming from the side, charging in with her sword and Bronya aims her cannons towards her and charged the weapon.
However, before she could fire, someone had gotten behind her, holding a blue glowing sword.
Akiri: Sorry, Bronya... This is gonna hurt
She turns around, but it was too late as Akiri quickly slams the back of his sword's handle to her head, causing her to immediately black out and she falls to the ground unconscious.
Mei: Bronya-chan!
With concern in her voice, Mei shouted as she ran towards the unconscious girl, who is slowly changing back to her normal appearance. Mei cradles the girl in her arms as she looked at Bronya with a worried look on her face.
Akiri: She should be okay. I didn't hit her very hard... I think
Mei only nodded silently as she continues to hold the sleeping girl in her arms.
Kiana: But why did she suddenly start attacking us?
Akiri: I don't know. My guess is that something happened to her bio-chip that made her think that we were enemies. Or she was controlled...
Kiana: What's this bio-chip thing you're talking about?
Akiri: It's... Hard to explain... It's better if you ask her that directly
As he said that, they saw Bronya's eyes slowly fluttering open as she is finally waking up.
Bronya: What... What happened...?
Mei: You're awake! Thank goodness!
Bronya: The Bronya's head hurts...
Akiri: That's kinda my fault. Sorry
Kiana: You really had us worried you know! Don't do that again!
Bronya: What happened?
Akiri: We didn't understand what happened either, but... You attacked us, Bronya
Bronya: The Bronya... Attacked...?
She looks down at her hands, opening and closing them as if checking whether or not she is completely in control of herself.
Bronya: The Bronya may have lost control over her chip...
Mei: Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?
Bronya: The Bronya is fine. Only some minor headaches
???: (coms) ...Squad V, come in, Valkyrie Squad V... Squad V, can you hear me?
They suddenly hear a familiar voice coming through the coms.
Akiri: Major Himeko, we hear you
They could hear the major letting out a sigh of relief.
Himeko: (coms) Good. I can finally reach you guys. Give me a status update
Akiri: We've taken control of the battleship and we're taking it to St. Freya
Himeko: (coms) Good work. We're also seeing that the Honkai radiation from the ship is dropping. The other squads should be finishing off the rest of the Honkai beast in the city
Bronya: Major. Please schedule a full physiological exam for the Bronya once we return to the academy
Himeko: (coms) Hm? What for?
Akiri: Things just got a bit out of hand earlier. Something happening to Bronya
Himeko: (coms) Alright, I'll make some calls to the medical department. Good work out there Squad V
The connection ends and they were left alone in the ship once more.
Akiri: Well, that's mission accomplished then
Kiana: Alright! Another mission success! How should we celebrate?
Mei: Kiana-chan. Aren't you forgetting something?
Kiana: Huh?
Akiri: You're supposed to be studying for the renewal exam, remember?
Kiana: O-Oh...
Her cheerful mood is immediately ruined by the reminder of the upcoming exam.
With that, the four of them are taken back to St. Freya Academy by the newly acquired battleship. There were still many unanswered questions surrounding the mysterious ship. But for now, the day of Valkyrie Squad V has been concluded...