ME Corp Headquarters, President's Office. Cocolia, having seen everything through the video feed from the Titans, was speechless.
"Where did this humanoid beast come from, suppressing Titans with pure strength? Don't get cocky! These Titans aren't even the truly powerful models of our Anti-Entropy."
Although she argued unwillingly, Cocolia knew that with those Titans destroyed, her plan to capture the Third Herrscher had failed. Even though Bronya should still be in Nagazora City, Cocolia didn't think Bronya could deal with that human.
Yes, a human.
Cocolia, who had always considered the Third Herrscher as her imaginary enemy, had even transported Titans specially enhanced with lightning resistance to Nagazora City. But she never expected that the one who would ultimately make her plan fail completely wasn't the Third Herrscher, Raiden Mei, but a human she hadn't noticed before—and a male at that.
Weren't males extremely rare under the threat of the Honkai and thus enjoyed high social status? Obviously not needing to worry about livelihood, was this guy so bored that he decided to become a warrior fighting the Honkai?
Cocolia cursed Evan in her heart for a while, then took a deep breath to barely calm herself down and tried to contact Bronya.
The call was connected quickly.
"Bronya, where are you now?"
"The outskirts of Nagazora City."
"Why are you there? Hmm... it's fortunate, otherwise you might have been in danger when the Herrscher awakened. Can you try to go near the city center now? The Third Herrscher is there, along with two humans. The Hyperion battleship has also arrived. If I'm not mistaken, St. Freya Academy will retrieve the Third Herrscher. I hope you can enter St. Freya Academy as a friend of the Third Herrscher from when she was human."
"Okay."
Originally, Cocolia was still deliberating her words because she knew Bronya didn't like some of her scheming plans. However, to Cocolia's surprise, this time, Bronya agreed without hesitation. Cocolia even wondered if she was seeing things—she noticed Bronya seemed to smile faintly.
"You... did you just smile?"
"Because Bronya wants to follow the hero who successfully saved others and see if he can do more."
"He? You can't be talking about that guy, right?"
Cocolia's tone became a bit gritted. She transmitted a photo of Evan and received an affirmative answer from Bronya.
A hero who saved others, huh...
Cocolia closed her eyes and recalled carefully.
From the last images observed by the Titans, the Third Herrscher, Raiden Mei, strangely did not engage in destruction. Instead, she stood beside a human girl watching that humanoid beast. At the time, Cocolia thought Raiden Mei had a special relationship with the human girl. Now, thinking about it, perhaps it was more likely that the humanoid beast had made some promise to Raiden Mei.
To be able to change a Herrscher destined to destroy the world? But what kind of hero is this temporary change? If she captured the Third Herrscher and continued to collect more Herrscher Cores to complete the ultimate goal of the plan, that would be the true hero saving others... no, saving the world.
"Bronya, your definition of a hero seems a bit childish."
Cocolia tried to put on the air of an elder educating a child, but Bronya shook her head.
"The number of casualties in Nagazora City is much lower than in previous large-scale Honkai eruptions. It's not because of those Honkai energy suppression devices, but because he blocked the Honkai Beasts at the border of Nagazora City. He is very strong. He is a hero."
Since that humanoid beast appeared, everything was deviating from her expectations.
The Third Herrscher capture plan failed, and her well-behaved adopted daughter had become like a rebellious child, contradicting her words.
Cocolia's face darkened.
"What is that guy's name?"
"Evan."
"Good. I'll remember it. Engraved in my heart."
...
On the Hyperion, Himeko Murata looked at the image obtained through the observation device on the electronic screen and frowned tightly.
"Why did Kiana faint beside the Herrscher?"
The subordinates gathered nearby looked at each other, unable to give a definitive answer, and could only reply somewhat irrelevantly.
"Data shows that the white-haired girl is not in life-threatening danger; she just fainted temporarily. The black-haired girl beside her possesses an extremely high concentration of Honkai energy. It can be confirmed that she is the Herrscher born from this large-scale Honkai eruption—the Third Herrscher."
Looking at the Herrscher girl, Kiana, and Evan in the image—Evan, who had shown extraordinary combat power, eliminating the Honkai Beasts born from the eruption and the Anti-Entropy Titans, and was now clearing out the remaining large number of zombies—Himeko felt that things were somewhat beyond her imagination.
To be honest, if not for the observed data, Himeko would have thought Evan was the Herrscher born from this eruption. His invincible appearance even made Himeko dazed. Although powerful A-rank and S-rank Valkyries could also deal with those zombies, Honkai Beasts, and Titans, Valkyries relied more on weapons and agile movements. Who would use overwhelming force like that guy?
As a fellow greatsword user, Himeko knew deeply what exaggerated strength was needed to use a greatsword like Evan and display that level of battlefield dominance.
He wasn't even wearing any combat armor to enhance his physical fitness.
Could it be that this guy is also related to Principal Theresa? Both are monsters with unreasonable strength.
Himeko breathed a sigh of relief. Although the current situation was a bit strange, it was much better than her original expectations.
Himeko Murata had been prepared to risk her life to defeat, or at least stall, the Third Herrscher.
Just in case, Himeko still put on her Valkyrie combat armor and jumped down from the Hyperion, which had lowered its altitude significantly, landing on the ground.
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