{Y/n POV}
Looking back, I should have created a contingency in case things like this happened. To my defense, I never expected for the Gray Serpent to be this prepared in case I gave him the fake stuff. Wind kept on blowing from my right side, causing the hooded figure cape to swing from the right side, revealing the face in the process. It's a girl, a woman with light gray short hair, her pink eyes gazes through the darkness of the night as she pulled the string to start the chase. When I meant string, I meant literal string.
She seems familiar... I've met her somewhere, haven't I? I'll think about that later, for now, I'll focus on escaping them. That may have been impossible, but that's for random normal deal taker, me? I've been the mouse regarding a cat and mouse chase for a while now.
I dropped some small gray balls onto the ground. The moment it made contact with the cold street, a blast of smoke blow out, covering my entire existence, causing the mechs to look around with their heat vision. The hooded figure let go of the string the moment a glimpse of smoke appeared, guess what? She missed.
Let's go now. Slowly but precisely, I took out one of the mechs while looking out for any shots of arrow. The blade that I used got stuck at the mech, so I left it, since there's not time for me to get going and take the blade back. Upon having an obstacle removed, I ran as fast as I could, passing the night streets and being one with the crowds.
Just as I thought I lost her, another arrow struck right before my very eyes, piercing through my left torso as if it was butter. It hurts as much as being shot by a bullet, but there's no time to be whining. I calmly adjust myself and adapt with the pain as the crowds disappeared. Mechs came from every side as the hooded figure prepares to fire another shot.
I'm done. There's no other way to get out of this situation, that is, in my current situation. If only I had my battlesuit and gears ready, this is a no problem.
{Rita Rossweisse POV}
"Hm~ Seems like Master Y/n is having quite the problem." I spoke calmly as I watch him suffer being cornered.
"What should I do?"
"Lend him a hand." Otto spoke from the intercom.
"Are you sure? He's currently not on our side, though."
"You could do it indirectly. He's vital for our next plan." He spoke.
"Alright. I suppose I could lend him one of these."
I said. I pulled out a prototype of a weapon called MK-2 Buster. It's not done nor is it ready to be used, but I supposed it's better than nothing. I was planning on using this as a contingency in case I need to escape, but seems like fate have another plan.
I threw the prototype and disappear right as it reaches him.
{Y/n POV}
What's that? A particular object fell from the sky as I grab onto it and firmly activate it. It began to open up, revealing a weapon looking like a gun with a core containing photon energy. At a glance, it may seem like a normal weapon, but from my experience, things like this might as well be a prototype and someone might be letting me try it to see how it has done. Very well, I have no other choice then.
Right at the head I was aiming, an entire laser beam gathered at the center of the hole as a ball, ready to be shot out any second now. Pew! Something that sounds like that came out, shooting the very head of the mech, leaving a hole as it fell on it's knees.
"This is too good to be a prototype."
One of the mech launches missiles from it's back, flying toward my direction as I used the other mech as a cover, letting myself live. I mean, of course I live, I wouldn't die this easy. After the barrage of attacks stop, another barrage of attacks, in the form of arrows began showering me continuously without stopping. As I was about to get shot, I throw use Providence's power to launch the mech toward the hooded figure, causing her to back of as I finish the last mech by striking it's guts with the same power. I'm trying to limit the use of Herrscher power since I don't know what would happen if I kept on using it.
The hooded figure on the roof disappeared and everything came back to how it was. That was one hell of a scene, if only I had my suit, it's not going to be hell, it's going to be a purgatory. Nah, just kidding. Now that I have a clue in my hand, I should go to a safe place.
Just around the corner of a building, there's a small spot I made in case I were ever to be in trouble...or...lazy. Oh come on! Don't act like nobody would got lazy doing the same thing over and over again.
I might be added to the wanted list of the World Serpent, or maybe not? No time to be thinking about that, let's check these documents. I slide my fingers into the middle of the document, opening the first page, containing data regarding Kiana Kaslana. Her age, biology, characteristics, weight, height, blood type, the main thing is, almost everything is there, there's even a background, though I assumed it's not complete due to the sudden end at the last sentence of the last paragraph.
It is not clear whether or not if I could trust this, but this is the only thing I could depend on. The only close-to-trustworthy source there is available.
「 Subject: K423
Name: Kiana Kaslana
Age: 18(Assumed)
State of Origin: Shicksal's Laboratory, Lab eA-401-435
Gender: Female
Species: Clone/Herrscher
Kiana Kaslana, otherwise known as K423, is a being created in a laboratory, serving as a purpose to fulfill Otto Apokalypse's goal. She is the adoptive daughter of Siegfried Kaslana, alongside being a vessel for the 2nd Herrscher — Herrscher of the Void. Kiana Kaslana has messy white hair that's often tied into two big braids. Normally, her eyes are a bright sea blue, which is in contrast to the quiet, yet deadly, golden eyes of the sleeping Herrscher within, she's 163 cm in height and 49 kg in weight.
Kiana Kaslana, or K423, at first is a very braggy, overconfident, bright and 'idiotic' girl who has a liking to food. She was happy-go-lucky, and confident she could do anything and that she was the best. She often smiled, even if she was injured, and adored the company of her friends. She is brave and outgoing, even daring to take the Gem of Serenity even if it might've killed her.
However, as the 4th Honkai Eruption occurs by her hands by her 'true self', Kiana drastically changes. She matures into a person who is trying to find the resolve to counter the 2nd Herrscher haunting her, and in her guilt she becomes a much more quiet, mature and thoughtful person, often carrying a serious face. Although she found the resolve to keep going, she is still afraid of anyone getting hurt because of her.
1」
What the hell is this? I thought this would give me the information I need in order to find Kiana, well, I guess I did ask for everything. Either way, this all just seems...unbelievable. Lab eA-401-435, huh? I guess I'll need to check on that with Otto later on. In the meantime, I'll see what the second page has to offer.
「Kiana Kaslana's current state is not certain. Further evaluation tells us that it's just a matter of time before Kiana Kaslana turns back to the Herrscher of the Void. Kiana Kaslana didn't want to be found and purposefully fled far away from everyone. She didn't want anyone, especially the people who were close to her the most to find her. It is due to the trauma and guilt of the death of her captain, Himeko Murata. Fu Hua, through Fenghuang Dawn, has been attempting to comfort Kiana, though it is assumed to be a failure due to Kiana's unchanged actions. The guilt, the regret, the pain, and all the negative thoughts she was having were eating away at her from the inside and getting worse with each day. The Herrscher personality within her wasn't helping by reinforcing these ideas and blaming her for everything that has happened, especially for Himeko's death. We might need to accelerate our plans on Arc City due to this.
Kiana Kaslana Status:
-90%(Morale) ██/██/████
-75%(Morale) ██/██/████
-49%(Morale) ██/██/████
-2̸̺̺̯̮̦̠̱̊ͅ4̨̗̹̣̞͉͖̱̽͊͑͛%(Morale) ██/██/████
2」
Is this true? Well, I suppose it is, it explained a lot... There's still one more page, hopefully it's going to finally tell me where Kiana is. I have been reading this non-stop, hell, I even got a coffee ready right beside me, it's from Sundoe. A pretty famous brand across Arc City, apparently, it's influence revolves around having many kinds of drinks.
「Shicksal Database record about Kiana Kaslana:
- In 2008, Kiana studied at L'Aquila Primary School in Italy (reliability 30%)
- In 2009, Kiana studied at Port-au-Prince High School in Haiti (reliability 20%)
- In 2009, Kiana transfered to Cagayan High School in Philippines (reliability 35%)
- In 2013, Kiana studied at Senba High School in Nagazora City (reliability 80%)
On December 7, 2013, the student's disappearance was involved on the day of enrollment, and at 19:34 that night, it was found together with the deceased's shallow warehouse. A major suspect who was found missing in the shallow warehouse showed mental abnormality before her death. Kiana was identified as a legitimate defense and did not pursue her responsibility.
In year 2000 - 2009, the Second Houkai War appeared in Siberia and Cecilia sacrificed herself. Few months later, Siegfried took Kiana (In HI3, Siegfried took K-423 instead) to escape Schicksal and went to the northernmost.
Otto created 'K-422' using Kiana and Sirin's DNA but failed as it lack of awareness or higher order brain functions.
Later created "K-423" successfully with addition of 2nd Herrscher gem.
Kiana Kaslana is currently residing within ████, we are currently waiting for an update on her next location. She recently has been going through certain routes repeatedly while disguising herself/covering her face.
{Part of the Picure}
3」
So here are the routes that Kiana take. Kiana's location is also written here, I better act fast before she relocate herself to another place. This is going to be a painful journey.
{??? POV}
Walking down the stairs, I could feel all the tremors around the building. It's grazing the walls and floors time to time, I always wonder how this building hasn't collapse yet, ignoring the fact that many mechs are deployed to sustain it's condition. Now now, my job isn't to ask questions right now, it's to accept 'commissions'. Speaking of commissions, I wonder who's the one pulling strings behind the Arc City recent incidents, and who's this unknown person asking me to be a temporary member, the payment made up for it, though.
"Sup! So...you're my 'partner'. It's always a pleasure to be helping."
I did my usual style of greeting, it doesn't seem to be impressing her though. I wonder...why am I picked for this kind of thing.
{Fuguro ???}
"So you're Fuguro? The guy who never fail doing every and any task assigned on him."
"Yes, you could say that. May I ask for your name?"
"You could call me Raven."
"Raven, huh? Like the bird that likes to steal. Does your name resembles what you really are?" I asked, jokingly of course.
"Let's focus on our tasks for now. I wouldn't like it if you ended up messing things up."
"Relax. I'm here because I'm paid to do the job." I said, readying myself for upcoming situations.
According to the data given, I should have everything ready in case everything bad happens. Also, it's a really odd request, especially since it's from my usual employer. I'm not paid to ask, and never will as long as they paid me like how they used to. Either way, better be ready than risking myself for any unexpected scenarios.
{Raiden Mei POV}
We've arrived in Arc City and is currently investigating a situation where there's a robot we assumed as the Gray Serpent lying dead on the floor. We can't tell how it happen, but it had something to do with Shicksal for sure. Bronya and Theresa is trying to gain more information while I'm here not doing anything to help. I felt useless... But that won't let me down, because I'm gonna do my best to make sure things to go well.
Though there are many broken mechs lying around due to the fight, no trace of anyone has been found. We can't say for sure who's sent, but I'm gonna ready my guard for any time. We found a bio-verification chip and manages to find the particular robot in order to access more information.
I hope everything will go as planned.
{Everyone POV}(All three POV mentioned)
"The search begins."