Himeko was face to face with her father that looked like a broken man. Seeing her baby girl being railed on the couch by his idol.
"Uhh, umm." Himeko was thinking what to say, but there's absolutely nothing that came to her head.
He sighed heavily and massaged his temples. "I know I told you to get in his good graces Himeko. But I didn't expect you to invite him to your apartment and... And do that with him in here!" He still didn't know what to make out of this. As his future son in law called him a kid, and he knew how old he really was. As he was active since the 1950's
"What? He's the best guy there is on earth! I couldn't help it okay? He's sweet, charming, and thoughtful. Even though he's a bad man with a harem, he makes me happy!" She shouted back and he thought he would faint.
"A, a harem!? Dear god, did I just heard that right? My daughter got herself into a harem..." He thought he was hallucinating.
"Umu, he told me has one. And I'm not doubting it for a single moment. But he cares for me dearly. He even went to New Mexico with me for one of my whims and he helps me tremendously with my studies." She reasoned and Ryusuke was still shell shocked.
"He's way out of your league Himeko. Even the overseer of Schicksal has nothing on him. He's the kingpin of this world, I'm... I'm just afraid that you're a little passing moment in his life." He said with anxiousness as Ein's status compared to them was like heaven and earth. And they could never in centuries compete.
"You think I haven't thought of that too? But he's always there for me. Making me happy, even though he is probably the busiest man in the world. He told me he liked me for me, not for anything else. And I know he would have my back no matter what. Unlike... Unlike when you left me and mom that fateful day." She said with resentment and went back to her room.
He went silent and thought that his perfect daughter would rebel one day. And it was totally understandable. As he started drinking and thought of the choices he made that day. When he left his bedridden wife to work for Schicksal.
__
It was a new day and Himeko didn't see her father in her apartment. "Telling me what to do. He doesn't get it, if he really loved me and mom. He wouldn't have left us back then." Old memories were brought up and she resented her father for that, even though he loved him dearly.
She then heard a knock and thought it was Ein. "Coming!" She opened the door and what greeted her was something she did not expect at all.
"HIMEKO?" Eden was shocked and thought he revived her. But she had a different air on her.
"Ohh, another one huh? Hi~ I'm Elysia. You look just like HIMEKO. Hmmm, do you have a mole on your left breast just like her too?" Elysia just went to town and asked. As she was curious what their similarities was.
"Uhhh, it's on the right?" Himeko was shocked, they appeared suddenly and they were a lot. And then, Elysia started to question her if she had a mole on her breast out of the blue.
She then ushered them inside of her apartment and they were a tight fit.
"Hmm, another doppelganger? What are the chances of this happening?" Mobius eyed her curiously and Himeko got anxious from her stare, her slitted pupils were quite intimidating after all.
"Yo, I'm Vill-v. The master of Helixcraft, don't let Mobius bother you. She's just a bit creepy like that." Vill introduced herself and Himeko had stars in her eyes when she realized Vill was there.
"Okay, okay. Enough chatter alright, she wants to talk to you guys. She wants to talk to you." He didn't let them go crazy as it would be chaos.
"I'm Eden, nice to meet you. Sorry I was a bit shocked, you're the spitting image of our sister you see? Just like those two." Eden pointed at Sakura and SAKURA. Making Himeko wide eyed at the latter's fox ears. Thinking that they really might be aliens.
"Ahhh~ I know what you're thinking, but we're not aliens or something. I do like to say that I'm a beautiful Elf though." Elysia showed her long ears and they were going off topic.
"Uhh, can I know why you guys stay with him even though he has a harem?" She saw the otherworldly beauties and thought of why they stayed with him through thick and thin.
"He's just the greatest man you'll ever meet nya. No one could top him, but to be specific. It's because he cares a lot for us. He will never betray us and he has our backs." Phyllis answered and the others nodded.
"It also helps that we all know each other very well. We quarrel amongst each other sometimes, but don't all people do?" SAKURA answered.
"Ein-sama has graced us with his presence and binded us together. Starting from now on, you are also our sister in arms." Aponia read her mind and nodded in satisfaction at her amount of love for Ein.
Himeko thought Aponia was a little weird, but she was happy that one of his lovers told her that they would basically support her.
"He's also the best cook in the world, it makes you addicted right?" Kallen patted her on the back and Himeko nodded. "Un, his food is godlike. It's kind of like magic really, but I do want to ask. If you aren't aliens, then what are you really?" She was curious and thought something amazing was behind their appearances.
"Umu, let Mobius explain. Himeko here is an intelligent woman, she could understand her words." Sakura replied and Mobius nodded.
"We're genetically modified humans girl. As you know, honkai beasts roam this world. And we have the genes of them, myself being imbued with the powers of Sesha, a judgement class honkai beast." Mobius gave a simple answer and threw a databank so Himeko could just put it in her laptop later and learn more.
"So... You're not aliens or something?" She deflated and thought they were still cool. But they were still humans in the end.
"We still kind of are. The honkai is a foreign entity that ravages worlds when they have reached a suitable level of civilization. They are alien life forms you know?" Vill-v said as she drank some tea.
"Woah... I guess they really do lose their sense of wonder when they're common." Himeko didn't think of that and was shocked to know that the honkai is basically alien.
"Wait, so you're all part alien then?" Himeko had stars in her eyes as she wanted to see if they could morph into their alien forms.
"No, me and my sister here are fully human. Though Reanna does have a stigmata, so she's part alien I guess." Nuwa answered and Fuxi was nodding off. Still sleepy as always.
"I guess I am? I don't have a stigmata right?" Sushang raised her hand and Ein nodded. "She's just an outlier. She has high honkai resistance and have insane control over it naturally. But I guess they're all kind of part alien as my gene seed is on them." Ein concluded.
"Wait, what is this gene seed you're talking about?" Nancy asked as she was curious.
"It's a modified organ to make you kind of like him. He's an anomaly that could adapt to anything. He is the perfect being, the very peak of evolution. An organism that evolves infinitely." EINSTEIN dropped the revelation on them as the girls in Anti-Entropy were gobsmacked.
While Himeko did not understand it fully, but she thought he was an insane biological anomaly. As she knows evolution takes millions of years.
"Hah, I guess it is time I tell you this as well Lieserl, Erwin, Emma. Just get a copy from Himeko okay?" He hid it from them as they might go that path and cause factions to form in AE. He did not want to influence the organizations of earth wildly as he thought it was troublesome to handle them. Except, world serpent. As Mobius is their overseer.
"Hah, what great timing that you spring this on us. This is insane, we tried sequencing Schrodinger's honkai genes for decades. As you did give us a glimpse on your history 50 thousand years ago. Bad man, not even giving us a hint." Lieserl pouted at him.
"Wait, wait a minute. Did you just say 50000 years ago? How old are you guys?" Himeko gulped anxiously as she just heard a crazy amount of time.
"Umu, we're 50000 years some, old biologically. We didn't bother counting, but we only truly lived for a couple of centuries. Except Hua, the little bird has a couple of millennia under her belt." Mobius said as Himeko's brain almost shut down.
"T-this is insane!" She stared at Ein and he grinned at her. "I look good for being 50 thousand years old no? Pretty vigorous too." He chuckled and Himeko just couldn't.
"Okay guys, I think that's enough boring things for now. How about you get a girls outing with Himeko here? She doesn't have a lot of friends, I only saw her hang out with a couple of people." He said with a laugh and Himeko stared daggers at him.
"Who's fault is that? You making me fall for you and eating all my time." She grumbled and Elysia got stars in her eyes.
"Ohh, let's doll you up okay? HIMEKO didn't really dressed up. She would just cosplay and wear nice clothes when we would raid Ein at night. Ahh~ good times." Elysia revealed as Himeko got an interest on her supposed doppelganger.
"Can I see what she looked like?" She asked with a bit of apprehension as the person was dead, presumably at a bad way as she remembered Ein's words.
"Here you go, she looks the same as you. But she feels so much different." Eden gave her a picture that she always carries and Himeko saw a cool looking woman with long hair.
"She looks cool. I think I would have loved to meet her." Himeko said with a smile and Elysia nodded.
"Un, then you can compare your kinks together. She's a massive pervert, she would get excited whenever Ein whipped her ass during training~" Elysia did HIMEKO dirty and her counterpart gave a strained smile.
"On your way girls, the day's wasting you know." Ein changed the topic as Himeko might think the cool captain was weird.
"Aye sir! I'll take you guys to all the shops we own nya~" Phyllis gestured them to follow her, but Lieserl and the AE group declined.
"We need to work on something, sorry. We'll have a get together later when we're not busy." Erwin thought of the 4th divine key troubles as she said they were occupied.
Everybody nodded and they started a shopping spree that would put royals to shame.
__
Tesla held the unlocking device and thought it was too good to be true. "I've analyzed the device mophead. This should let us have access to the mainframe computer of the 4th key. What do you think? Should we just go for it and hack into Schicksal to know what they're up to? They might catch us, but we don't know anything about their plans except they'll attack."
The unlocking device then started with a hum as it whirred. "Uhh, what just happened?" Nancy knew something was wrong and Erwin frowned.
"Quick! Check the satellite if there's something weird happening Lieserl!" Emma ordered and Einstein was already on it.
"The 4th key has been activated. And it's creating a storm system at the east coast. It's targeting Houston." Lieserl saw the data and she told them with a heavy sigh.
__
Ryusuke got a call from Einstein and was informed that the 4th key was activated upon them using the unlocking device.
'I see, it's time to enact the next step' He thought that it was high time and would proceed with his plan.
He immediately gave them an emergency shut down code and went to AE's base so they could try shut it down for good.
He arrived at AE's meeting room quickly and saw the sovereign with Lieserl and Tesla. "My apologies Dr. Tesla, Dr. Einstein. I didn't know that the overseer had installed an automatic activator in the unlocking device." He apologized profusely and they gestured it was fine. Making stuff up as he knew they would suspect Schicksal
"This is not your fault Dr. Murata, we are thankful that you immediately gave us the emergency shut down codes." Lieserl was still suspicious of him, but he did give them the shutdown codes.
"Tsk, that madwoman is at it again! She just made a mess a few years ago in Siberia! And that blonde already wants to destroy another country! When I get my hands on her, I'll shave her hair and throw her into my nuclear reactor!" Tesla fumed as the 2nd honkai war was a rollercoaster of emotions for her when she thought Joachim died.
"Well met, Ryusuke Murata. I am Welt Young, the sovereign of Anti-Entropy." Joachim introduced himself and Ryusuke got on guard stealthily.
"He's one of those. The herrschers that you could only hear from stories." A fluffball that hid inside another dimension spoke to Ryusuke's mind directly. (pic here)
They are a race of aliens that thrived in peace. And the honkai was pretty mild at their universe, because they did not have much military might. But it all changed when an interdimensional invader attacked their home.
Before they got destroyed, they were able to create a device that is similar to the ether anchor and made a bubble universe. It then latches on to leaves of the imaginary tree and stole small amounts of honkai energy like a harmless parasite.
Their bubble universe was small and they turned into little balls of fluff, discarding their physical forms. Their little home is like a candy land. Signifying their peaceful nature as they find hosts to latch on and warn them of the invaders.
"Alright mophead, tell us how confident you are in stopping this attack?" Tesla sat down and got impatient.
"We have 72 hours of lockdown until it proceeds to devastate the east coast. Erwin and Nancy are trying to gain more information about the 4th key. While Emma-nee is mobilizing our intel department to warn Houston. But this is a relic that he created, it has been heavily modified by Schicksal too. You already know how we stand no chance to decrypt this tech." Lieserl smiled wryly as anything Ein and MOTH created back then eluded them.
And at best, they could only make bootleg versions of their creations.
"A single mistake may reactivate the device prematurely. It would result in catastrophic damages. We need to locate the 4th key, it's in low earth orbit." Welt was thinking of plans and Tesla snorted.
"Then we should locate it immediately. Then I'll send a silver bullet right at it." She wanted to destroy the 4th key if things weren't salvageable. As the cons outweighed the pros if they were to try and get it for themselves.
Ryusuke gave a small smirk for a split second that nobody noticed. "The overseer did talk about this. She protected it from attacks by cloaking the satellite. But I know the means to locate the key. Please let me help you, lives are at stake and my daughter is studying here in America." He gave a convincing speech and they agreed.
"Great! Our silver bullet launch facility is in New Mexico, let us go immediately. Dr. Murata." Tesla went out of the room to travel in New Mexico.
Lieserl then thought that this was quite suspicious. As Ryusuke had immediate stop gap solutions. Like it was orchestrated by some way. And Tilie does not ever launch large scale attacks against AE like this, unlike back in the battle of New York. It was too sloppy.
"Joachim. That man is highly suspicious, Ottilie Apocalypse isn't this stupid. She has plans upon plans piled up whenever she's involved. Just look at the 2nd honkai war and our battle for independence." Lieserl said to Joachim.
"You're right, that woman is crazy. But she doesn't do things like this. She would be senile if this is her plan." Joachim agreed and ordered a background check for Ryusuke.
And in New Mexico, a little robot suddenly latched onto an unsuspecting guard at the launch site.
"What the?" The guard snatched it with his hands and it suddenly entered inside him, red veins pulsed as it spread through his body. He panicked, but he suddenly went quiet as he got calm.
__
"This is our launch control room. We need you to locate the 4th key for us and we'll blow it to kingdom come." Tesla entered the room.
"These guards are weird, I can't sense their thoughts." Peppermint, the little fluff on Ryusuke's shoulders noticed as they were a psychic race now.
The guard from earlier then aimed at Tesla and shot his gun. Ryusuke then pushed her away and received the bullet on his arm. "Watch out Dr. Tesla! Stay in the control room! I'll lead them away." He ran away and Tesla was locked in the control room.
"Can you find a way to stop them?" Ryusuke hid and asked Peppermint for a plan.
"No, their minds are locked I can't interfere with their thoughts." The fluff shook itself, stumped.
"Okay, so we have no choice. Forgive me." He let the powers of the sugars encroach in him as black veins appeared on him and a tentacular alien went behind him.
"Just be quick about it, you know that your body can't control this power for long." Peppermint reminded him.
He killed them quickly with a short burst of energy on their heads. And the little red machine went out of the guard's chest.
He then took it immediately and crushed it on his hands. "This thing was trying to escape when the host died. Any idea on what this is?"
"I don't know, never seen this before. It seems like their new tech, a spy bot that infiltrates a target planet and controls the locals. It then gathers intel for them so they could start the invasion." Peppermint scanned the little robot and thought they were going to start soon.
"Ryusuke, we need to go to the control room immediately. Their target might be this silver bullet." Peppermint gestured for him to go to Tesla.
He went to the control room and saw that Tesla was unharmed. "Thank goodness you're alright Dr. Tesla."
"Hmph, of course I am. I could deal with enemies like those all day." She was fiddling with the interface in front as it showed warning signs.
"The guards seemed to be in some form of mind control, they didn't react and were expressionless." Ryusuke made up a story to blame it on to Tilie as well.
"Fuck! This must be that blonde bitch's Fenghuang down. I'm one step too late, they've already installed a virus on the mainframe and we can't use our silver bullets." She fumed as she thought they'll have to go physically there to stop the satellite.
"Damnit, we're too late! The silver bullet is the only weapon we can use to attack them!" Peppermint got angry as the invaders would come from space. And the silver bullets would be a big help in fighting them.
"Wait, you're bleeding! Go to the medical bay immediately, you're wounded." Tesla pushed him with insistence and he went to get treated.
"Alright, he must be gone now. So, what do you think? Mind control, little robots never seen before. What's your take on this Joachim?" Welt appeared as he scanned the data.
"Schicksal does not have this kind of tech. This type of technology is more suitable for the previous era. Things don't seem to be as simple as it seems. It's also made up of materials that we haven't seen on earth." Joachim gave his findings and things just got complicated.
__
Peppermint came back to the dimension of the sugars as he ate a lollipop. "Why are you enjoying yourself here Peppermint? What about your mission at the AE launch site?" A fuzzball that had a moustache asked him.
"The launch of silver bullets have been delayed. We've underestimated the sky people. They now have spy bots that take over their hosts to get intel before their vanguard stones come." Peppermint told the other one of his findings.
The sky people was a cybernetic race that managed to beat the honkai. As they were united and every single one of them serves a specific role. They almost lost against the 11th and 12th herrscher, but because they weren't organic. They had more numbers left before the advent of the 14th. And they managed to defeat the herrscher of the end with their massive military might.
They were able to delay the fight as they have conquered their solar system and was able to make something like Selene to drain the honkai energy of the 14th, siphoning it to the sea of quanta's abyssal depths.
And now that they have passed the test. They were free to harvest honkai energy from other universes as they please.
That was how the sugars lost their world. As they thought their vanguard stone was just a meteor. Turns out it was a beacon like a marker of the brother moons in deadspace. And they harvest the honkai energy to the last drop, then turn the planet into a dead rock while exterminating every last one of the native race.
"Oh dear. The sky people are advancing at a rate that I did not expect." The elder said with a visible sweat drop.
Peppermint then got annoyed and poked the elder with the stick of his lollipop. "It's because we aren't making progress! We've been stuck here in this candy jar for centuries!"
They did not interfere directly and just gave information and some limited support.
"Enough, Peppermint! I won't let anyone disrespect uncle Konpeito!" A fuzzball with a ribbon on her appeared.
"Hey, I have every right to complain! This isn't even my mission in the first place! The one that was supposed to stop the sky people is Sugar Molass!" He whined.
She was a sugar that had Shub as its host, but Ein noticed her immediately and held on to her. Sending the fuzzball in a pocket dimension and forgot about it. It was about to transfer itself to Kira and teleport them in the sea of quanta when they fought Sirin, so he locked her up.
"And you've done well Peppermint, but the sky people is too powerful. The natives of this planet is doomed. We have to evacuate." Uncle Konpeito said to him.
"Fine, don't include me in the evacuation. I refuse to let the sky people do what they want, FYI. I'm going to help the natives if the situation calls for it." Peppermint turned his back on them and went back to earth.
"Hold on Peppermint! You know our rules, we can't let other people know about us. If that happens, we'll." Konpeito raised his arm and shushed her.
"Let him be lady Toffee. It does not matter if the sky people or others know about us. We will just leave this planet and universe for another. Our laws forbade any type of progress and turned us into galactic fugitives. But Peppermint is different, he is not like us. He is just 10 years old and does not know that darkness that lies in human hearts." The uncle sighed and thought that this would either end positively, or horribly. And the latter always almost prevails.
"His strength is his trust for them. But it is also his greatest weakness, I hope his trust does not backfire on him." They watched the fuzzball in question exit their dimension with a sigh.
__
Welt followed Ryusuke as he needed more answers. The man in question entered Himeko's apartment and Welt thought this was his chance. So he would interrogate him himself and prepared for a fight.
He crackled with black lightning as he took out star of Eden and was about to bust the door down. But he felt the energy signature of the sugars as Joachim envisioned them as a tentacular race with a mono eye.
"Ryusuke! That guy is here again, and he's emitting strong honkai energy! And he is much much stronger than we are. I say we strike when he opens the door." Peppermint prepared and started to connect with his dimension for more power.
"I knew it, he's hiding something. I must get to the bottom of this." Joachim was going to enter, but someone tapped him on the back while he was distracted.
"Dr. Welt? Why are you in the front of my apartment?" Himeko appeared with Ein's entourage and they raised a brow at him.
"Yeah, why are you looking at the door like you want to go in. I'm telling Tesla on you, you perv~" Elysia teased him and he started sweating, not really sure what to say.
"Well, come on in. My father is inside too I believe. We're having a small party." She ushered them inside and Joachim awkwardly entered the apartment with them.
They saw Ryusuke just standing there with a surprised expression and didn't talk. "Hi~ I'm Elysia, one of Himeko's sisters~ You're that Ryusuke guy right? Nice to meet you." Elysia looked at him and her face went expressionless for a split second before her eternal smile returned.
"Ahhh, n-nice to meet you too." Ryusuke gave a strained smile and everybody introduced themselves.
"I'll be making dinner tonight. Ein has been teaching me a lot, so sit tight girls." Himeko posed confidently and started to prepare.
Ein then looked at the little fuzzball that was invisible to even Joachim and narrowed his eyes. Scaring the living shit out of Peppermint.
"We meet again Dr. Murata." Joachim just greeted for now as his flow was broken. "The pleasure is all mine Dr. Welt." They were tense and Ein decided to let it go for now.
"You have something on your shoulders kid. Better take care of that before I wipe it off for you. Come on girls, how about we raid Himeko's room for now?" He suggested and Ryusuke started sweating buckets.
"Hey, Ryusuke. Who is that guy? I didn't feel anything on him, but I feel like that guy is insanely dangerous. It's like a predator was looking right at me." Peppermint froze up when Ein stared at him and Ryusuke was also confused, as even the overseer and Welt can't see Peppermint.
"You don't want to mess with that guy. Just sit there quietly and don't do anything, if you're not threatening, he probably would ignore you." Ryusuke advised.
And at Himeko's room, the Sakura doppelgangers spoke up. "Hmm, should we cut that thing down?" They saw it of course and suggested to take care of it.
"No, it isn't like the one in Siberia. Let it be for now, but Elysia. What's wrong, I saw your expression change you know." Ein raised a brow and Elysia does not change like that suddenly.
"That kid Ryusuke is planning something bad. He's leaking negativity like crazy, Aponia. Can you tell us his fate?" She asked the nun for some answers.
"Hmm, it seems he has delusions of grandeur. He plans to reconstruct project ARK to broaden humanity's horizon in order to fight the honkai. Of course he failed." Aponia revealed.
"Interesting, don't tell us the rest of it Aponia. This might be a fun little time for us." Vill-v smirked and would love to see him fail horribly.
__
The tension between Ryusuke and Joachim was gone, but it just made the sovereign of AE even more suspicious.
'I guess he doesn't want to make drag Himeko into this. And Ein's with the full squad, so not attacking is a wise choice. He'll be wiped off the face of the earth in a heartbeat if he does anything funny.' Joachim concluded and they just stared at each other.
"Do you have any plans Ryusuke? We could give a mental attack while his guard is down. Or poison him." Peppermint suggested as he felt that Welt was dangerous.
'Don't do anything. I've read about him in the Schicksal databases. And if it's true, then diplomacy is our best option. Odin and friends are just around the corner too, you have no idea who those people are.' Ryusuke replied and they were served some Mapo tofu by Himeko.
"Rejoice. This dish has been perfected by me, courtesy of Ein." Himeko served them the plates and they looked at the evil looking dish.
Joachim thought it was rude if he didn't taste it, so he ate a spoonful. And he almost breathed out fire from the spice.
"Ahh, I forgot that you were also here Dr. Welt. That was supposed to be for my dad here. Tch." She roped in Dr. Welt in her petty revenge and Welt decided to refrain from trying it again.
Peppermint decided to try some and when he put it in his mouth. Somber music played as he saw big bold letters that said 'YOU DIED'
"Sorry for letting you go through this Dr. Welt, we had a little argument you see? Can I speak with you? In private?" They went to the balcony and they saw the night sky.
"Just look at all these pretty stars, each of them is a sparkling gem of potential. Our planet, our solar system, even our galaxy are just grains of sand in a vast beach. I think you get what I'm trying to say here Dr. Welt. We aren't truly alone in this universe." Ryusuke used his powers and the tentacle alien appeared behind him, surprising Joachim.
He then remembered how he met the little fuzzball.
Peppermint was packing his bag and put a trusty lollipop inside his suitcase. "Remember, when you encounter a strong enemy. Run, always avoid the sky people." The moustached uncle said.
"This is your first foray to the human world, but I still have high hopes for you. Remember! You must not let the human race know of our existence!" The elder spoke, but Peppermint has already departed.
"Uncle Konpeito, Peppermint already left you know?" Lady Toffee sighed and wished Peppermint good luck.
The young fuzzball then went to Schicksal HQ. "Sugar Molass said she met her host here. I can already sense multiple suitable candidates." He then decided to take a look and saw Siegfried.
"Too undisciplined, out of the question. Hmm, that one's good. But she's just a child." He saw Siegfried horsing around with Theresa.
He then went inside the base and saw a blonde woman drinking some wine while plotting something. "This one, is definitely not ok. My instincts are telling me to stay away from her."
Peppermint then wandered around with his little suitcase and decided to rest for a moment. "Hmm, this one shows promise. Wait, they're talking about something." He listened on as Ryusuke argued with another scientist.
"Why did we cancel the space ship project? Tell me why we're shutting down the entire aerospace division!?" Ryusuke shouted as the other scientist sighed.
"We're not going to waste resources and time on some useless junk while the honkai threatens humanity." He answered bluntly.
"That's why we need to explore the universe itself! Perhaps we could learn something from other civilizations." Ryusuke argued but the other scientist scoffed.
"Do you really believe in such things as aliens? Stop your childish dreams and focus on repairing the 4th key. That is the primary objective of our lab." He then left him alone. As Ryusuke gritted his teeth and he was sure that other civilizations must exist out there at the endless expanse.
"This man knows of aliens! Did he perhaps learn about us? I must keep an eye on him." Peppermint followed the man.
"This is going too far. Everyone is out to stop my dreams! Can't they see that I'm doing this for the entire human civilization!? I have sacrificed everything for this!" Ryusuke swiped off everything on his table from rage.
Peppermint then scanned his mind and found out he left his dying wife along with their daughter to fulfill his objective. "Yikes, a double whammy. So he just lost someone too. I guess he'll be giving up."
"No... I won't let it end like this. I'll destroy anyone and anything that dares to stand in my way. I'm doing this for humanity! For the universe itself!" He was getting unhinged as he lost a part of himself when he left that day.
"Humans are amazing, he decided to fight till the end for his dreams. Uncle Konpeito told me that I'm as hard headed as a nail. Maybe that's why I felt a connection with this guy." Peppermint decided to make him his host.
"Hey human! Are you interested in dealing with aliens?" Peppermint said to him as Ryusuke looked left and right. And it all started there.
__
Ryusuke then decided to show Welt the home of the sugars with Peppermint's permission. He opened up a portal and gestured for Welt to enter. "This is the place where you will see the truth you seek herrscher of reason. The sovereign of AE."
"I won't show any mercy if you try anything funny." Welt was still apprehensive and didn't enter.
"You're much stronger than us. It would be foolish of us to try and fight you." Ryusuke gave a wry smile and they entered the domain of the sugars.
Welt then felt weird and thought he was tricked. "What is this place, it's a trap!" He saw the candies littering the place, along with the gingerbread houses. He then looked at a mirror and was flabbergasted by his new appearance, he is now a fuzzball with glasses.
"This is not a trap Dr. Welt, we're just in the world of the sugars. We just had a cosmetic change based on their perception. Your mind and abilities aren't affected. And you are free to leave at any time." Ryusuke explained as Welt started to calm down.
He then tried using the star of Eden and it was still useable. 'Hmph, my powers are unaffected. And there are no barriers that prevents you from leaving this place. You just need something like a beacon of sorts. It's like the divine keys' connection with the imaginary space.'
Welt quickly observed and thought the dimension they were in is similar to how divine keys get their energy from the imaginary space through a connection. The key was a beacon and honkai energy would power it up.
'And this alien entity isn't hostile at all too.' Welt followed them.
They arrived at a literal chocolate fountain and Peppermint fished something from inside of his suitcase. "Ahh, here it is. My donut remote, watch and learn humans." He threw the donut at the fountain and it turned into a t.v.
'What the hell? A donut remote? A T.V. on a chocolate fountain?' Joachim thought things got even weirded and decided to just ignore it as they watched how the sky people operated.
The sky people 1st gather intel with their vanguard stones. Meteors that serve as markers. 2nd, the data is sent back to their homeworld once the vanguard stone has scanned the planet and informed them of the coordinates.
They then would build a forward base so they could start deploying an army. And wipe out any trace of the beings there. After that, the great harvest starts.
"This sounds pretty ludicrous to me. Humanity has found and recorded many asteroids and celestial bodies over hundreds of years. Thinking that one of them could be an alien scout vessel is crazy." Joachim thought about it and it was surely insane.
"I know this may be hard to accept Dr. Welt, but the sugars have already lost their home to this invader. And your Anti-Entropy must have seen one of their spy bots already. If left unchecked. The earth may be doomed." Ryusuke reasoned and Welt nodded.
"Indeed, I can't find a reason to fully trust you. But this is also a threat that is alarming, no matter how improbable it may be." Welt didn't want to take the chance, as anything with a non zero probability could always happen. And the spy bots of the sky people is there for evidence.
"Peppermint, what are you doing here. This is... Humans!" Lady Toffee appeared and was shocked.
"What have you done Peppermint! You brought them here!? Uncle Konpeito trusted you! And I thought I could too! So why the hell are humans right here with you?" Lady Toffee had an outburst.
"You will see a historical moment Lady Toffee, it's the time we forge a human-sugar alliance!" Peppermint thought they would fight the sky people so they would be fugitives no more. And more of the sugars started crowding them when they heard there were humans.
"Quiet, quiet all of you!" Uncle Konpeito tapped his cane on the ground. "Given the sudden nature of this incident, you shall be spared from my diatribe Peppermint, but this shall not happen again." The young sugar pouted at the elder.
"Let me be frank humans, you are not welcome here. We are not your enemies, but now that you've learned of our existence. We will leave this planet immediately. This guy's decision to help you was not with our consent." The elder whacked Peppermint with his cane.
"It's because you're all stubborn old cots." He glared at them and Konpeito coughed.
"So, we've decided not to interfere in your affairs. So good luck humans, it's sad to see this planet end up like ours." They started to leave and would go to another world entirely.
"Come on, the sugars have told you everything already." Peppermint wants to make plans immediately.
Lady Toffee went up to him and had a concerned look. "Peppermint, uncle Konpeito wants me to tell you this. Don't be too trusting of the humans. Because if you do..." She thought that he would get betrayed and used.
"Don't worry! I know what I'm doing Lady Toffee." He waved his hand with a smile and exited the dimension with Welt and Ryusuke.
But Lady Toffee thought he surely did not know how humans truly are as she stood there in silence.
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While the two were inside the realm of the sugars. A spy bot was snooping around inside the apartment. It found Himeko and was about to enter her, but an ethereal hand swiped it from the air and it tried getting out with no avail.
"Hmmm, so they've really entered huh? And it seems that asteroid we've observed is their vanguard stone." Ein said and crushed the little robot in his hands.
"Everyone, this cybernetic race have set their sights on earth. Thinking they're hot shit or something, necromorph wannabes. Even in the previous era, we would've wiped them off the universe easily."
They might've won against the honkai. But that's because of thousands, if not millions of factors at play that worked to their favor. Like them being cybernetic so losses are easily replaceable. And because they are relatively simple, they operate in a limited case of a hive mind.
"So, you guys will have a true mission for the first time in thousands of years. The flame chasers will be deployed. For an invasion they've never seen before. Because you guys won't be leaving their home world until they're hunted down to total extinction." Ein traced the sky people's home world instantly and gave them the coordinates.
"Ohhh~ a mission. It will be quite fun, this mission. It'll let us stretch and use our full capabilities. We haven't used it in a long time now fufufu~" Elysia smiled.
"They have an extensive base huh? It will be fun blowing up every single planet they own!" Vill-v mapped out their star system and was already planning to make a perimeter that would not even let one escape.
"Call Kalpas and Kosma nya~ Ask Griseo too if she wants to rain hellfire on these stupid machine people." Phyllis got a little excited at the thought of a mission.
"May god have mercy on their soul, but I would not." Aponia prayed and was actually the most angry. As they have dared to try desecrate their home planet. Their home that Ein has protected for a long time.
They then went to the dining room to have a taste of Himeko's cooking. That was remade of course.
Welt and Ryusuke then went to AE to try and solve the problem with the sky people. Agreeing to have a sort of partnership for now.
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The core members of AE sat on the couch as they looked at Ryusuke with understanding and suspicion. "Dr. Murata, please tell us about the sky people." Lieserl told him to start and he explained once again.
"That does explain a few things. We've tracked an anomalous message, a high frequency comm with multiple layers of encryption. We've traced it to the asteroid NASA discovered earlier." Tesla said with a sigh.
"That's the vanguard stone of the sky people!" Ryusuke said with urgency.
"With the information you gave us. We suspect that this signal is directing the spy bots to infect people. We need 5 days to make a weapon to destroy the asteroid." Lieserl said and looked at Ryusuke to probe.
"We must destroy it immediately Dr. Einstein! I've seen them destroy the sugars, it only took them a couple of months to exterminate them once the forward base of the sky people is deployed!" Ryusuke suggested and it was a valid point. If he wasn't so insistent and the 2 events related to him didn't happen at almost the same time.
So Lieserl was pretty sure he was involved in this as well. And she does not know what his motives are. But she could fish him out. "We could send you and Welt out to space to intercept the asteroid." She gave the risky alternative.
Nancy and Emma looked at Joachim if he was willing. And he nodded with a slight smile. "It's okay, don't worry about me guys. I won't sit idle here if the world is in danger."
"Just go ahead and tell him mophead! The boy wants to be a superhero again and die out there. He's just a stupid brat! An idiotic dork!" Tesla had an outburst as this is the 2nd honkai war all over again.
The other members of AE smiled wryly and Erwin sighed heavily with Lieserl. "Shut up Tesla. I'll go with Welt then, I can fight too. I even almost beat up Joyce back in the battle of New York." Schrodinger stood up and turned off her console, in a bad mood.
"In any case, the vanguard stone might be able to disrupt the signals of Arahato and silver bullets. And we don't know how effective the moonlight throne on it will be. As we haven't had the chance to use it on Siberia, with the Raijin, Fuxi showing up." They gave a code name to Fuxi as she appeared out of nowhere like a shadow.
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Nancy, Lieserl, and Tesla got to work while Erwin went to the 4th key so they could use it to counter the disruption of the vanguard stone that protects it.
"All green, Welt. You are free to engage." Nancy gave the okay as they changed the orbit of the 4th key with Erwin spearheading the operation.
"That's what we can do for now. Destroy the thing immediately before the 2nd disruption starts." Tesla agreed with Nancy.
Lieserl focused as she used the 4th key with their limited knowledge about it.
"Fighto Welt! You can destroy that little rock and come back safely okay? Or I'll destroy your 2 little ones if you make Tesla cry again." Emma threatened and Joachim winced, holding onto his family jewels.
"The scientists of AE never cease to amaze me. They've used the 4th key to counter the vanguard stone's disruption." Ryusuke was inside a space craft as he guided Erwin to the location of the 4th key.
"Roger, I have eyes on the target. Greetings invaders from an alien space. The world of humanity welcomes you and sends our regards!" Joachim started raining down weapons and warheads on the asteroid. Blowing it up to smithereens.
He then went back to the space ship and Erwin soon followed. "Good work out there Dr. Welt." Ryusuke beamed and Peppermint nodded.
"He's amazing alright, I expected no less from a herrscher. We allied with them so we could get those powers on our side after all." Peppermint thought herrscher powers were such a cheat.
"The asteroid has been blown up to high heaven, mission accomplished. Lieserl, guide them back to earth." Nancy ordered and she nodded.
"Thank goodness everything went okay. This boy needs to stop doing this nonsense! He can't save everyone by throwing his life around. Stupid little dork." Tesla fumed as Joachim once again was acting like a lone hero.
"Flight command to shuttle, you are free to confirm and begin re-entry to earth at any time." Lieserl told the others in space.
Ryusuke was staring at the blue planet in awe as this was his first experience being in space. "What are you looking at Ryusuke?" Peppermint noticed that he was silent.
"Look at this planet, it's so beautiful." He replied and Peppermint snorted. "Our planet is far more prettier than this."
"Really now? I wish I can see it with my own eyes." Ryusuke thought there are much much more planets teeming with life out there.
"Dr. Murata, we should prepare for our return to earth." Joachim told him so they could enter their seats.
"I need to tell you something Dr. Welt, space exploration has been my dream for the longest time. And it should be for the human race as well." Ryusuke said, confusing Joachim.
"Humanity has created a wonderful civilization on planet earth, but I believe we must take another step further. There are so many questions to answer, what does the other alien civilizations look like? There are more worlds in space. As well as opportunities, mysteries, and challenges for us to explore and overcome." Ryusuke got a taste of space, and he would unlock its mysteries he thought.
"Are parallel universes real? What's the honkai's origins. I believe that space holds the answers to those questions. Don't you think we have been too obsessed with being on earth Dr. Welt?" He asked as Joachim answered.
"Space exploration without proper preparations and observation is too risky. We don't have the tech advanced enough for that yet." Joachim replied and Erwin narrowed her eyes at Ryusuke.
"I need to show you this Dr. Welt." He took out a blueprint of project ARK. "This is project ARK. A space ship designed to send out the human genome library into deep space. It's objective was to find a suitable place to settle, it was a last ditch effort of the previous era." He misinterpreted. As project ARK was designed to brave the abyss and find a parallel universe. Because bubble universes would fall into the sea of quanta and inevitably be swallowed by it.
"While I was in charge of remediation of Siberia, I tasked Peppermint to salvage any data in lake Baikal that is from the previous era! And I found this critical piece of tech and we are all set. If your AE helps with creating this, then we can finally free humanity from the clutches of the honkai and from the limitations of being in just one planet." Ryusuke said with fervor.
"I'm not an expert on PE text, but based on these prints. The minimum resources demanded by the project is." Before Joachim could finish, he was interrupted.
"Based on our current production, we could complete the project with 80% of the US's current GNP. A mere trifle for humanity's future, I know your AE can do this Dr. Welt." Ryusuke was insistent.
"But we need to keep fighting the honkai on earth. And we also need to maintain a standard of living. The costs of this project is too much." Joachim reasoned and Ryusuke thought everyone was working against his dream once again.
"Keep the fight on earth? We already know there's no point to that! The previous era was much more advanced than us and they lost! We need to set our priorities right, look at the sky people! A simple brutish race that managed to control the honkai because they looked up to the stars!" He raised a point.
But it isn't that simple and he does not know the full capabilities of the honkai. As herrschers knows no bounds and could adapt to the civilization as needed. The sky people were able to survive because they have started space fairing far sooner than the previous era. When the 1st herrscher appeared at earth. The previous era was already doomed to fail as they will focus on the honkai and Wolfgang was reborn a few decades too late.
"Hmm, so that's what his reasons are. Hey Ein, this guy is an idiot. A scientist talking big, he doesn't even know how to throw a proper punch or wield weapons. You'd be a sitting duck against the honkai while you're in a spaceship." Vill-v scoffed and Ein chuckled.
"Let him be, he's deluded. Hah, decisions, decisions. Should I just send him to the shadow realm or erase his personality so Hime wouldn't get sad. Aponia, just scrub him clean when he gets back." Ein saw Erwin was already prepared to retaliate in a heartbeat and they would capture him surely, as he was losing his mind.
"He doesn't even know that there are honkai beasts out there that are basically even larger brethren moons, that will hunt planets down as snacks. What a twat, but I guess he would be my future father in law. So he gets a pass, though he won't be causing problems in the future." He then took out some popcorn to see what he will do next.
"But I believe in holding to the present. Our top priority should be protecting what we have now. Think about your daughter Dr. Murata! You'd want to see her be safe and lead a fulfilling life right!?" Joachim shaked him to get some sense in him.
But Ryusuke smacked his hands away. "I'm prepared to sacrifice everything for the future of humanity. You're just like Schicksal, myopic cowards that will never lead the human race anywhere! You're a joke, if you don't plan on taking my offer... Then I'll take everything by force."
"Ryusuke, you should calm down." Peppermint was scared and thought his host was getting too crazy.
He held Peppermint on his hands and was about to crush him so he won't get in the way. But Erwin shot him with her honkai arm and blew away his arm off to oblivion.
"You talk too much old man. You're delusional, just because that little ball of fuzz gave you some powers. You think you're the savior or something. You can't even imagine the full power of the previous era. And do you really think project ARK could be made by us?" Erwin was annoyed as hell as he kept them there with his rambling.
Ryusuke noticed that his arm got blown off and screamed in pain. "Argh! Why can't you understand! Peppermint!" He shouted to get some help, but the little sugar went to Erwin. As she could see him with her connection to the sea of quanta along with Nancy. That's why she was sent along with them to take care of anything unexpected.
"Hah, you disappoint me Dr. Murata. You are just like Ottilie Apocalypse, deranged. But she is far smarter than you, she would at least know that making project ARK again would be a fruitless endeavor now. Herrschers will start to appear much sooner and the war for survival will begin again in a few years." Joachim sighed as with the help of his father that has peacefully passed on. They managed to decrypt more PE text and the herrschers would start aggressively appearing in just a matter of years until the 14th comes.
That's why AE wants to get as many herrschers on their side as possible.
Ryusuke forcibly tapped in to the space of the sugars. As he was the beacon and he started to transform. Just like a divine key, but Erwin just swooped in on him and bashed his face on the floor multiple times until he lost consciousness.
"Ry-Ryusuke... I. He tried killing me." Peppermint felt complicated and the 10 year old narrowly escaped death.
"It's fine now. He's unconscious, you shouldn't give guys like this time to monologue Joachim. Ein-nii would be disappointed in you." Erwin chided Joachim and he gave a strained smile.
"Let's take him back to him, he is supposed to be our future family member. So I think Aponia-nee would surely be having a word with him later." Joachim suddenly got cold sweat and prayed for Ryusuke's soul that would surely be rehabilitated.
'Damn, he would walk out of there as a new man. Aponia-san would scrub his mind clean and make him a drone.' Joachim thought and was still scared of her normally soulless eyes whenever she was alone and not with Ein.
They then went back to earth without anymore hiccups after cauterizing Ryusuke's wounds.
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The AE members saw Erwin drag an unconscious Ryusuke with a broken in face along with Aponia and they immediately knew what happened.
"So, my suspicions were correct. There was nothing wrong with Dr. Murata at the outside. Kind, honest, easy going, dedicated to his work. A scientist that we would've hired. But something is wrong, like something was hidden for scrutinizing eyes. Especially when the 4th key acted up along with the descent of the sky people. And he immediately had solutions for them." Lieserl concluded and everybody nodded.
"So, ummm. Ein, what will you do with him?" Emma asked, she just returned as the 4th key was no longer an issue and evacuating Houston is not necessary anymore.
"Ahh. He will just be revised a bit to be a model father~ Ein is so kind, making Himeko spend more time with her father. Such a tearjerking scene." Elysia shed a tear as she wiped it. Making the AE group deadpan at her.
"Good work everyone, though Erwin told me you tried talking him out of it Joachim." Ein sighed and Joachim nodded nervously.
"You know what? I don't even care anymore, you're almost 60 now. You can take care of yourself, I'm not your godfather or dad to give you advice at any point of your life." Ein just shrugged and let his mistake go, as he would just probably do it again anyway.
The AE group then left after talking for a few more minutes.
"Soooo. Do we kill them all now nya?" Phyllis asked when they will enact the mission.
Ein contacted MEI and told her to bring Kevin, Kosma, and Griseo to them. "When the others arrive. You guys enter and remember, leave absolutely nothing behind."
Everybody straightened up and they saluted. "At last, we could finally do something worthwhile. Ein, can I get some of their species to experiment on? I'm quite curious of their race you see?" Mobius licked her lips as she started to leak a dangerous aura.
"It's fine, take any amount you want. But you'll probably get bored of them immediately, they're cybernetic you know?" Ein reminded her but she chuckled.
"It's fine, they must have some similarities to humans no? Humans invented things that is similar to biological mechanics. Are you with me Vill?" She asked Vill and she nodded, curious as well on how they worked.
They then prepared to purge an entire space faring race to oblivion. Their greatest project yet.
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Thanks for reading guys. K-423 would appear, then a certain maid also. Leading to the creation of the immortal blades. A certain Bronya onee-chan lover would appear later too. And she'll surely have a little confidence boost with Ein's help. Anyways, ciao.