"Haha, fascinating, truly fascinating…"
On the Siberian snowfields, a man carrying a clown mask stared at the terminal in his hand, chuckling incessantly.
By now, two full days had passed since Theresa finished investigating the ruins of Babylon Tower. The intelligence she sent back to Schicksal had, naturally, fallen into Otto's hands.
"An experimental subject with resurrection abilities, appearing out of thin air… capable of gaining considerable combat power and strange objects through the Stigma Space… What a pity. If she hadn't stood in my way, I'd have genuinely liked to bring her into Schicksal and nurture her properly."
"After all, even if her methods are still a bit immature, the fact that she thought to actively escape from Babylon Tower and devised a series of plans for it—that kind of intellect is already far beyond other test subjects her age. She hardly even seems like someone that young."
"Lord Bishop, then what do you intend…?" Amber's voice came from the other end of the communication.
"Amber." Otto didn't answer her question directly. "Siegfried has already arrived in Siberia under my orders and rendezvoused with Theresa, correct?"
"Yes, Lord Bishop." Amber replied. "But since you are already in Siberia, why have Siegfried make the trip?"
"Because not only will I not intervene, I intend to facilitate his secret alliance with Welt."
Beneath his mask, Otto revealed a dangerous, inscrutable smile.
"If we followed the original plan, the combat power assembled in Siberia would already be enough to deal with this newborn Second Herrscher."
"But given the current situation…" Otto glanced at the documents in his hand. "I truly never expected—before my plan even began, heaven handed me a perfect coincidence."
"Siegfried, Welt, Theresa… I wonder if their combined strength can match a 'corrupted' Second Herrscher, enraged by the death of her beloved?"
"…Lord Bishop." Amber was silent for a moment.
"If you are carrying out a plan whose full details I am unaware of, please ensure you have sufficient contingencies in place… to prevent things from going off the rails."
"Lady Fu Hua, Lady Cecilia, and the other members of the Snowwolf Squad are currently on standby at headquarters. If you require their assistance—"
"No, no, no. There's no need for so many people just yet." Otto cut her off directly.
"Besides, if that many were to show up, even if that Miss Sirin were to power up dramatically, she'd likely still be subdued without a fuss… How then could she, seeking revenge, go to the moon and ask the 'god' for the Herrscher of Death core I need, just as I've planned?"
"Ah…" A sigh came from Amber's end. "I only hope you don't end up outplaying yourself, Lord Bishop."
--+--
"Sirin, you were gone a bit longer this time."
"I ran into a little boy surrounded by Honkai Beasts on the way, so I saved him." Sirin said offhandedly.
"Thing is, I didn't ask where he lived, so I just teleported him randomly to a nearby settlement."
"Well, aren't you a good Samaritan."
"Hey, grievances have their source, debts their debtor. Even though I want revenge on Schicksal, I'm not going to take it out on ordinary people." Sirin pouted. "Otherwise, why would it have taken us two whole days just to find a place to summon Bella?"
"True, a place that's both remote and has a high enough Honkai energy concentration isn't easy to find… But are you sure about 'reviving' Bella now?"
"Yeah. Though I feel a bit sorry for the others, with my current abilities, I can only recreate Bella, the one I know the deepest… Even if I chose someone else, it'd just produce an empty shell."
"Actually, that's pretty good too." Lynelle thought for a moment. "I remember Bella could cook, right?… That'd solve our little dilemma of having to eat ready-made food every day."
"?" Sirin looked utterly bewildered. "She's a Judgment-class draconic Honkai Beast, you know? Lynelle, you just want Bella to cook?"
"Uh… well, what else?" Lynelle pondered left and right. "How about we get Bella full coverage insurance and then go 'create incidents' on the national highway?"
"What kind of deviant idea is that?!" Sirin grabbed Lynelle and shook her. "She's a big, cool dragon! Don't you have even a little desire to be a dragon rider?"
"Hmm…"
It might have been fine if Sirin hadn't brought it up, but now that she did, Lynelle—whose mind had long been tainted by modern society—immediately thought of the literal meaning of "dragon riding," and her thoughts spiraled into some rather strange "fan creations" involving Sirin and Bella.
Then, she reached a conclusion.
"Trust me, Sirin." Lynelle placed her hands solemnly on Sirin's shoulders. "If you become a dragon rider, it's hard to say whether you'd be riding the dragon, or the dragon would be riding you."
"Eh?" The pure Sirin naturally didn't understand what Lynelle was talking about. "You mean me carrying Bella while traveling? Well… she might be fast, but probably not faster than my teleportation…"
"...Mm, never mind. Let's just summon Bella first."
Though she didn't understand the meaning behind Lynelle's strange expression, after two days of searching, the two had indeed found a suitable area.
The area was roughly like a valley, secluded enough, surrounded by uninhabited land, and with sufficiently high Honkai energy concentration. The only issue was the large number of Honkai Beasts in the vicinity, but that was hardly a problem for Sirin.
"What do we need to do?" Lynelle followed close by Sirin, curious.
"I'm not too sure either. The Herrscher core only recorded the steps for summoning a companion Honkai Beast, not the principles behind it." Sirin answered while manipulating Honkai energy.
"But essentially, the most time-consuming part of the summoning is gathering a large amount of Honkai energy. The other requirements are pretty easy to meet."
"Still… if your earlier guess was right, Lynelle, then the obstacle we might face when summoning Bella probably isn't the energy consumption itself, but…"
"Schicksal or Anti-Entropy being drawn by the Honkai energy surge?" Lynelle immediately grasped what Sirin was implying.
"Yeah, that's right. But it shouldn't be a big problem." Perhaps because the Honkai energy expenditure was considerable, Sirin shook her head slightly, seeming uncomfortable after finishing the preparations.
"Even if I'm not in peak condition, once Bella is successfully born, we can just make a run for it. Summoning a companion Honkai Beast doesn't take much time, and it won't leave me unable to act either."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.