Looking at the aggressive Rita, Raven quickly realized she might have fallen into a trap.
Why had the Herrscher of the Void suddenly awakened? Why did the Schicksal Valkyrie appear just as she was about to defeat her?
There was no doubt now. This had been planned by Schicksal all along.
It was likely that Schicksal had been prepared, quietly observing the World Serpent's arrangements. They had used the Herrscher of the Void as bait to lure her into this trap.
Rita was probably lurking nearby, waiting for the Herrscher and her to weaken after their fight. Then, she would strike—taking Raven down in one fell swoop.
As for whether the Herrscher of the Void had planned this...
Raven quickly dismissed the idea. She had suffered greatly because of the Herrscher and couldn't imagine that someone capable of destroying the world would go to such lengths just to set a trap.
Besides, with the Herrscher's power, they could have killed her directly. Why hold back?
"So insidious," Raven muttered under her breath.
After sorting through all her thoughts, Raven finally understood.
No wonder the Herrscher of the Void hadn't gone on a rampage to slaughter civilians after awakening. She must have been under Schicksal's control.
And why had she come to the suburbs after the battle? Probably because she guessed Raven would grow suspicious and follow her.
But one detail still puzzled Raven.
She had managed to hit the Herrscher of the Void with an arrow—something that should have been impossible. It wasn't because the Herrscher was weak. Schicksal must have injected her with something similar to the HSN agent.
Then there was the red-haired woman. Based on World Serpent's intel, there was no doubt about it: she was the Schicksal Valkyrie, Murata Himeko. Raven had believed Himeko had died in the battle with the Herrscher of the Void. But that wasn't the case.
It seemed Schicksal had saved her.
And perhaps... even the Herrscher of the Void's sudden appearance in ARC City had been orchestrated by Otto.
Raven's thoughts were in turmoil, her expression shifting with every realization.
On the other side, Rita wasn't faring any better.
Ever since losing to the woman codenamed Scarlet Serpent, Rita had tried to be more cautious. Yet even with her preparations, she had been outmaneuvered.
They had taken the weakened Herrscher of the Void.
They had destroyed her transport vehicle.
And the Immortal Blades squad, who should have been her backup, was unable to intervene. The Eos was still undergoing inspection, leaving her stranded.
"What a calculation!"
"What a scheme!"
Both women seethed with frustration, feeling utterly insulted. Without a single word, they lunged at each other, the fight reigniting with a vengeance.
Frost spread quickly across the battlefield.
This time, Rita was prepared. She had equipped herself with her new armor—Argent Knight: Artemis. It was Schicksal's fourth-generation God-Killer Armor, engineered specifically for particle flow diffusion.
The armor symbolized the terrifying side of the moon. Its icy aura was so intense it could extinguish all life, spreading despair wherever it touched.
Tonight, the sky should have been cloaked in dark clouds. But the Herrscher of the Void's power pierced through them, revealing a bright, unyielding moon. Moonlight reflected off the silver-white scythe in Rita's grip as she walked slowly toward Raven.
This time, she wouldn't be careless.
As expected, a bomb buried underground detonated just as she approached. But Rita, ever cautious, had anticipated the trap. She evaded with precision, her scythe steady in her hands.
"Hmph~" A satisfied smile graced Rita's lips as the frost crept forward, inching closer to her target.
Unbeknownst to Raven, the explosion wasn't from her bomb. It came from a Void Lance buried by Ren.
The weight of the S-rank Valkyrie's presence bore heavily on Raven's heart. Her breath quickened, her nerves taut. To make matters worse, her quiver was empty—her arrows depleted.
All she had left were two backup pistols.
Bang—
Gunfire echoed through the air.
Raven knew the importance of keeping up a distance.
With nowhere to run, she had no choice but to fight to the death. The two pistols fired rapidly. Though she seemed desperate, she had actually sent a backup request.
The only others left in ARC City were her and Jackal.
Although Jackal was badly injured, if her mind was still sharp, she wouldn't die easily.
...
Beep beep beep—
The urgent request for backup echoed in the laboratory. Jackal glanced at her communicator, her expression darkening.
"Dr. Clio, your communicator is ringing."
A strange female voice drifted from the shadows.
Jackal looked up sharply. Long golden hair swayed in the dim light, catching her attention. Her eyes narrowed, filled with anger.
The woman was a stranger—someone Jackal had never seen before. Yet she had infiltrated the underground of Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical with unsettling ease.
Jackal had been preparing to treat her injuries when the intruder forcefully interrupted her. To make matters worse, Raven, who should have been guarding the facility, was nowhere to be seen.
Jackal could only watch helplessly as the woman roamed her laboratory, doing whatever she pleased.
This intruder was Ren, using the [Mother] puppet as her host. Her body bore Honkai cracks—marks Jackal herself had left during the Stigmata Awakening plan.
"Aren't you going to answer it?" Ren's voice cut through the tension, deep and edged with madness born from the Honkai's erosion.
The alarms grew more urgent, their shrill tones cutting through the tense air. Jackal silently pressed a button, silencing them.
Her original body had returned after the Honkai beast agents faded, but she was completely immobilized. Her lower leg was fractured beyond repair, leaving her in her weakest state.
Under perfect medical conditions, these injuries could have been treated. But Ren had planned meticulously. After luring Raven away, he used a spatial rift to infiltrate the underground.
In front of a helpless Jackal, he had turned off every piece of her medical equipment. The act was nothing short of despicable.
"Who are you exactly?" Jackal's voice was steady, but her sharp gaze betrayed her fury. "Your body has been eroded by more than 50%. It's impossible for a mere experimental subject to resist this much."
She had seen countless experimental subjects before. All of them had turned into zombies after failing the experiment.
Even minor exposure to the surrounding energy was enough to rob them of their minds. Yet, this woman—despite being eroded to such a degree—stood before her, sane and composed.
It was unthinkable.
Jackal's eyes narrowed as she studied the woman. Her resistance to the Honkai wasn't just extraordinary; it was unnatural. Her willpower had been honed like a weapon, far beyond the realm of ordinary humans.
Someone like this wouldn't have been forced into experimentation. She had to have volunteered.
Jackal's suspicion deepened. "There's no way you'd willingly endure this without a purpose. What is it you're after?"
"Who I am isn't important," the golden-haired woman said, her voice trembling slightly—perhaps from the intense pain. "I've only come here to ask Dr. Clio for some experimental results. Such as... the agent that allows you to transform into 'that form.'"
Her tone shifted, reverent yet unsettling. "What a perfect existence. It allows me to get closer to my god. Human bodies are too weak. Only that form can accept the gifts of the gods."
Jackal's brows furrowed. At first, she had assumed the woman belonged to some powerful organization. But the truth was far simpler—and far more ridiculous.
She was just a member of a secret cult. A fanatic who worshipped the Honkai.
Jackal exhaled quietly, her initial tension easing. There were countless groups like this scattered across the world. Cults obsessed with the Honkai, filled with lunatics who sought its favor and power through their own twisted wills.
Their fate was always the same: failure and destruction.
Unlike these zealots, World Serpent pursued its goals with calculated precision. Though their methods of awakening and activating Stigmata were harsh, they were grounded in science, not blind faith.
Now that Jackal understood her opponent was nothing more than a madwoman, she allowed herself to relax slightly.
"You can have the things," Jackal said, her tone icy. "You can even take the agent used to awaken the Stigmata. But I doubt you'll hold on for much longer."
"That's none of your business." The woman's voice was resolute, defying her trembling body. "Give me your research data and the finished products, and I will leave."