A.N. Give me your power stones so I can eat them for sustenance.
It had been 4 days since the retrieval of the Divine Key, in the end Raven had managed to get away, and there wasn't even a confrontation with Jackal. An exhausted Durandal and Rita were left running around the city attempting to follow Raven's traces.
After returning to Schicksal HQ, the Divine Key was sent to one of Otto's labs, and he spent most of his time working on the Divine Key instead of annoying me.
I was also promoted to S-rank, all the way from having no rank at all.
This caused quite a stir, and Kiana and the gang had all texted me asking about what exactly had happened.
I didn't know if I should tell them about the Second Divine Key yet, I had my own plans that might be messed up if Kiana, or Sirin inside of her knew about the Divine Key.
So I just said it was because I was the one who had defeated the 3rd Herrscher, which was the official reason behind my promotion.
In addition, I was also given a custom modified S-rank Valkyrie battlesuit, named Abundant Valor, which Nagamitsu had apparently been working on using some of Otto's research findings.
it looked much more mechanical mechanical like Helia's battlesuit, due to the fact all the Honkai components stuck out. It was painted white with green accents instead of orange, and it actually covered my stomach.
It was still Honkai Energy powered, however it was modified so that all the parts which contained Honkai Energy were further from my body. In addition, there was a module that I could put some Abundance path energy into, and it would continuously inject Honkai Energy until it reached the point where it was almost uncontrollable. It couldn't charge up too much or the energy would spread to the battlesuit, converting all the Honkai Energy that powered it, leaving it unusable. Then it would release all that energy in a blast that created a sphere on hit around 3 meters radius, clearing the entire area of Honkai in a sort of Charge Attack.
This was good, as it allowed me to take out larger groups of enemies in an AOE attack, and it also let me not have to aim as well, I could just shoot the floor around the enemy and hit them with splash damage like a true soldier main.
I wondered if this principle could be scaled up indefinitely, or simply have a Honkai Reactor continuously increase the amount of energy as a sort of Abundance Energy reactor, but during experiments with Otto we had found that the Abundance Energy dissipated outside of my body after around 6 seconds, any additional Honkai Energy that came into contact and absorbed would still be equally as "decayed", so it would also dissipate at the same time as the original.
ELF Shamash had turned out not to have "beacon" level authority, just the regular usage authority. So the ELF was no longer of any interest to Otto. Otto had said that modifying its personality manually would be an arduous endeavor, and he did not have the time to create a new personality for the ELF from scratch.
So the ELF was only useful as a combat aid, however, that was still worth pursuing.
Yesterday I had received a text from Kiana, with a picture of a weird stigmata on Theresa's back which had appeared after fighting a mysterious Pseudo Herrscher in the ruins of Nagazora city.
Apparently the events of The Gratitude Arc had occurred, sounding it out from Kiana's texts afterwards pretty similar to the events depicted in the comic, with only a few minor differences.
So Theresa and St. Freya now had the 12th Divine Key, the Key of Corruption. However, they were attempting to hide it from Otto, who knew about it, but wasn't sure exactly what it was.
I couldn't actually use the Divine Key, and I couldn't exactly just walk up to Theresa and ask to borrow it.
Or maybe I could.
It wasn't exactly like Theresa really used it for anything, after all, the Jizo Mitama never actually shows up in the main storyline of Honkai: Impact 3rd as anything other than as a katana type weapon to shove in the Divine Key chamber.
I didn't know exactly what Theresa planned to do with it, but it was safe to say that its absence wouldn't be missed.
I wasn't sure whether the Divine Key was sentient or not, it's somewhat ambiguous on if it still contained Rin's consciousness or not. So I wanted for it to be given to me naturally, just in case.
Once I actually possessed the Divine Key, I could give it to Durandal or Rita to use on ELF Shamash, or give it to Otto so he can clone it using the Key of Revelations.
Well, there was no point in just trying, luckily Kiana had carelessly sent me a picture of the theoretically secret weapon, I would just bullshit my way through this one.
Lee: I sense the authority of corruption on this weapon, is it controllable?
Kiana: It's apparently the 12th divine key, just like Theresa's Oath of Judah apparently is!
Wow Kiana really had no sense of confidentiality.
Lee: I happen to have a relic from the Previous Era that has extremely hardened security protocols
Lee: Is there any way I can temporarily borrow this Divine Key?
Kiana: Sure I will ask Theresa!
Kiana would probably get a handful from her for sending those texts to me, who was theoretically under Otto's influence, but Kiana might be persistent enough to make it work.
They would probably request that they be present, which was fine, probably.
I still had to bring Durandal or someone else though.
Kiana: Theresa tied me up with Judah again and told me that it was supposed to be secret
Kiana: I know I can trust you though
Why, though? You should have literally no faith in me, I am literally planning on how to make it so that Himeko is "Killed" in front of you without her actually dying.
Kiana: Theresa said that if you need to use it you can, but you can only do it at St. Freya
Lee: That's fine, I can't actually use Divine Keys by myself though
Lee: I need to bring Durandal
Kiana: Who is Durandal?
Lee: S-rank Valkyrie
Lee: You should pay more attention
Lee: If you really want to become Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie Durandal is your competitor
Kiana: Hold on let me check with Theresa
Kiana: She was looking over my shoulder and she said that she can use the Divine Key for you.
Ehh, well, that was probably fine. Hopefully ELF Shamash wouldn't spill any secrets involving the Second Divine Key. But I would still rather Durandal do it, Theresa might decide to use the divine key to poke around in ELF Shamash's mind.
Lee: I would rather Durandal use it if possible
Kiana: Gone for 2 weeks and your already getting close with another girl
Lee: It's not like we are dating
Kiana: (˶˃⤙˂˶)
Lee: Where did you get that from?
Kiana: Website
Lee: Reminds me of someone annoying, please don't do that.
[System: (˶˃⤙˂˶)]
Kiana: Okay Theresa said yes
She had probably decided that if I knew about it, Otto either already knew about it, or I would soon tell them, so it didn't matter if Durandal knew about the Divine Key or not.
I texted Otto.
Lee: Need to borrow Durandal
Lee: Going to St. Freya to use the 12th Divine Key on ELF Shamash
Otto: The sword Theresa got from that Stigmata was the 12th Divine Key?
Lee: Yes, technically it's the black box that Kallen had, which contained the core of the PE herrscher of corruption
Otto: Got it.
Otto: Request approved.
Otto: Durandal is currently in her apartment. The number is 101.
Lee: 👍
Exiting my apartment, I made my way down the stairs (faster than using the elevator) and went straight across the hall from the stairwell and stood by the door, pressing the door chime.
After a few seconds, the door slid open to the sight of nobody inside.
Stepping through the door, I heard Durandal shout "Will be ready in a second!" from the hallway.
Looking around, the apartment looked identical in layout to my own, however it had more decorations. I had only lived in mine for 2 weeks, and I had few personal possessions to call my own.
Durandal emerged from the hall that led from the living area, covered in sweat and wearing athletic shorts and only a sports top, with a towel draped around her neck.
I stared for more than a second before speaking up.
"Uhh, are you aware of the mission?" I said.
"We are going to St. Freya to use the 12th Divine Key on ELF Shamash, Otto forwarded your texts." Durandal spoke.
"Ah, yes, uhh, how long do you need to get ready?" I asked.
"I am ready to go now, I just need to change clothes." Durandal spoke.
"Don't you need to take a shower?" I asked.
Duandal looked confused, "Don't we need to leave?"
"It's not urgent." I said
"Then why did you come here so fast?" Durandal asked.
"Otto approved it then told me your apartment number, so I just kinda walked here." I said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Oh, okay." Durandal said.
She then walked into her bedroom, the door shutting automatically behind her.
I realised that I had never actually confirmed that I was coming to St. Freya.
Lee: Okay, will be at St. Freya in a few hours
Kiana: Today?
Kiana: Awesome!
Kiana: Let me tell the others
Well, I hoped that went well. I decided to just sit down on the couch and wait.
While I waited for Durandal to ready up, I sent a request for a transport aircraft from the Schicksal intranet, and I realised that I needed to go to the lab to retrieve the ELF.
I wondered if I should do that now, or if I should wait for Durandal, so I decided to send a text to Durandal and go retrieve the ELF.
I was about halfway there when I received a text from Durandal.
Dudu: Done readying up
Dudu: Do I need to requisition any equipment?
Lee: I already requested transport
Lee: I am not wearing my battlesuit
Lee: Should be simple and quick
Lee: Bring whatever you want
Dudu: Okay
Dudu: I will put on my battlesuit in case it is needed
Dudu: I have never been to the far east branch before
Lee: 👍
Lee: Go to air terminal e-08
I ran the remaining distance to Otto's lab and entered, Otto was fully occupied with the Second Divine Key when I arrived, however he soon turned to face me.
"Ah, Lee." Otto said.
"Where is the ELF?" I asked.
Otto pointed to a lab table off to one side of the room, on which ELF Shamash was sitting, currently connected to a cable that led to the center of the room via a connector attached to the back of its neck.
"I have fully replaced its internal power systems, it is fully operational, however, if you power it up it will probably attack you on sight."
"Dose it have to be powered up for the 12th Divine Key to be effective?" I asked
"I am not quite sure, as I am not familiar with the authority of corruption." Otto spoke.
Which was fair, and since it was never completed before the end of the Previous Era, it was unlikely Void Archives had any data on the Divine Key either.
"Can it be powered up without it being mobile?" I asked.
"Everything is Solium based, including the computer, the power systems cannot enable only specific sections, however, I can manually control some of the Soulium to act as bindings, you can remove them with the Divine Key or bring it back to me afterwards."
Otto grabbed the ELF's wrists, then touched them together, where they stuck in place.
"How do I power it up?" I asked.
He handed me a covered remote switch, before gesturing to the back of the ELF's neck, where the connector was, "This is connected to a remote interface which the ELF can toggle control over while operational, if it gains control and disables the remote interface, you won't be able to use it to turn it back off." Otto warned.
"Shouldn't be a problem" I said, putting the switch into my pocket, thinking that I should perhaps put on my new Battlesuit after all.