( Volume III: "Give Me a Chance, I Want to Be a Good Person" )
Schicksal HQ, the Sky Island.
A massive mechanical continent, eternally floating in the stratosphere above the Mediterranean Sea, the clouds themselves relegated beneath its feet. It was a legend, a divine realm high above the world, looking down upon the masses below.
Yet, ironically, what brought this island to life was the power and intellect of ordinary humans.
At that altitude, the air was thin, the climate cold, but the Sky Island, enclosed in a protective energy shield, maintained a comfortable 101.325 kPa of air pressure, a mild temperature, and humid air.
It even had its own internal climate control system. Two areas just around a corner from each other might be under warm sunlight, filtered by the energy shield, while another was experiencing a torrential downpour…
"Aaaaah… Help! Why does the climate system always malfunction?! This is a downpour! The Sky Island is going to flood!" A gray-haired girl wailed, her face contorted in despair as she clutched a hard drive tightly, desperately protecting it from the rain.
Alvitr was miserable. Why did this happen right when she was returning with the data?
She, who had been humming happily under the warm sun, had suddenly become a drenched mess…
"Seriously, I should have just used transport, not tried to take a shortcut! Waaaah… This much rain, even a Valkyrie could get sick…" the girl muttered to herself while trudging through the storm. Anyone else might have wondered, Why would you consider walking as a shortcut in the first place?
"At least the weather simulation system on the Sky Island won't have thunderstorms. If it started thundering on top of this, I would be doomed…" Alvitr , with her strange thought processes, even found a reason to feel thankful.
BOOM!
Suddenly, a loud rumble shook the island, causing Alvitr to lose her footing.
She cried out as she fell hard on the rain-slicked ground. A hard object slipped from her grasp, skittering across the surface of the water and bouncing several times.
"Ouch… Oh, no! The data! Is the data okay?!" Alvitr scrambled to her feet, her mind reeling. Seeing her hands were empty, she frantically looked around and found the shattered storage hard drive near a trash can.
Her face paled. She rushed towards it, desperately piecing together the rain-soaked fragments, but gave up in defeat.
"All that hard work, wasted…" Alvitr sighed sadly, throwing the pieces into the trash, then began walking back towards the sunny area.
"Hopefully, the data is still saved locally…" She looked up at the sun with weary eyes and sighed.
"Alvitr? You're back early! Huh? What happened to you?" Her teammate greeted her warmly upon her return, surprised by her drenched and disheveled appearance.
"The climate simulation system malfunctioned. There was excessive rainfall in Sector B-4. Please report it to the logistics department. They should fix it as soon as possible. And I have to gather the data again for the main server. Can't interfere with the Vice-Captain's missions…" Alvitr sighed, then asked, "Did you feel the tremors just now? What was that?"
Just like the island had no lightning, the artificial construction would also not have any earthquakes. If it did, it meant something was wrong.
Her teammate glanced vaguely towards the training room.
"…Alright, I get it." Alvitr sighed again, realizing what she already knew.
I need to get back to work.
She would have gone directly to her data storage room, but she was soaking wet. She needed to change first.
The locker room wasn't far from the training room. As she approached it, the sound of fighting grew louder, the reverberations intensifying.
Outside the training room, many of her teammates were watching the chaos, exchanging gossip.
It was no surprise. The one creating all the commotion was their legendary captain!
Alvitr tried to ignore the urge to peek inside. She had to change and get back to work.
Inside the locker room, she quickly showered and changed into a new, dry uniform.
"Do you think she can really be called a Valkyrie?" one of the Valkyries by the training room commented, choosing her words carefully.
"I guess…?" another said hesitantly. "Her file does say she's a C-rank… Valkyrie…" she trailed off, as if questioning it herself. How could a C-Rank Valkyrie keep up with their captain?
And with those otherworldly techniques…
"Do you think Captain Durandal was using her full power?" another one whispered, recalling the brief but terrifying vision of Durandal's full power, golden armor covering her and making her seem like a god.
The others remained silent.
They all knew it wasn't their imagination.
The impact of her attack, if it hadn't been reined in at the last second, would have torn through the entire island!
Even the aftershocks had made those watching lose their footing.
And her opponent had taken the hit and kept fighting.
"A monster…" yet another Valkyrie muttered, using the same word that everyone had been trying to avoid. But in this context, it wasn't meant to be an insult.
"I heard from a colleague in logistics that the maintenance budget has been drained for the past few months. At first, they suspected it was due to faulty equipment and demanded an upgrade from the engineering department…" a fourth Valkyrie said, her tone gossipy. "But the latest report said it was because our training sessions were too intense! They said some of the sensitive equipment couldn't withstand such strong vibrations..."
The other Valkyries turned towards the training room. Why would anyone need to investigate that? They could have just asked them!
"What happened then? How did they solve it?" they asked anxiously.
"Um… I heard the report was quashed by the Overseer. They doubled the Sky Island's maintenance budget… and that was it."
"Oh…" Their spirits dampened. They couldn't tell if they were disappointed or relieved.
"Hey, the tremors have stopped. Are they done fighting?"
...
The training room was a mess. Shattered weapons, ripped uniforms, and a mass of gnarled, plant-like vines littered the floor. Thick and thin, green and red, whole and fragmented, with charred remains of the latter scattered around.
There was no chance that those were normal plants.
A golden-haired girl, her expression calm, walked towards the pale purple haired girl collapsed on the ground, bruised and battered, her voice cool and collected, devoid of any hint of the fight she had just been in. "Can you stand? Do you want to rest before continuing this meaningless battle, or are you calling it quits for the day? Either way, I'm ready."
Durandal wasn't planning to comfort her opponent.
The pale purple-haired girl, Yuno, gasped for breath, her bright green eyes fixed on Durandal.
"Your fighting style is unrefined, your movements chaotic, like a mindless beast. Instead of controlling your power, it's controlling you," Durandal said, her gaze landing on the broken vines, her criticism as sharp as ever, "Other than your will to fight, you're terrible." She paused, before offering a touch of praise: "But you've improved. At least you didn't try to poison me this time, which shows you haven't lost all sense of reason."
"That poison was useless against those monsters. Why would I use it on you?" Yuno retorted, pulling herself up. Her wounds were already healing, her skin turning white again.
She straightened her arm, breaking the final vines binding it. "I'm a monster too."
"Progress is made one step at a time. It's good that you're making improvements. Your power is fascinating, and how you use it should be something you have to consider in the future. For now, focus on controlling your power rather than letting it control you."
"Then let me go to the battlefield! Instead of playing these games with you in this cramped room, let me go out there and do missions like you! I'm stronger than… than all those other people out there!" Yuno's voice was strained, the word "trash" on the tip of her tongue, but she managed to replace it with something more palatable.
Her mother had always told her to be polite.
Her mother was gone now, but she didn't want to disappoint her.
And her nightmare, after all, was just a bad dream, a manifestation of the Honkai's attempts to corrupt her.
She remembered the gentle voice that had always been there, soothing her, urging her not to give up.
Though she didn't know who that was, the owner of that voice wouldn't like impolite children.
Maybe I will get a chance to see them again?
"Go to the battlefield? Unleash your power, and let the Honkai control you like just now?" Durandal's voice turned severe again.
During their clash, Yuno had almost succumbed to the Honkai. Durandal had been forced to strike her hard, bringing her back to her senses.
Fortunately, Yuno's physical constitution, her vitality and regenerative abilities, were impressive.
Yuno, realizing her reckless words, remained silent.
"You're just a C-rank Valkyrie. You can go on a real mission when you reach A-rank. Until then, learn to control your power rather than letting it control you." Though Yuno was unique, Durandal saw no reason why she couldn't be trained into a proper warrior using the same methods she used with others.
"I understand, Captain Durandal. I'll do my best," Yuno mumbled, dissolving the vines into dust.
She was exhausted, her will to fight depleted, and slowly walked toward the simulated training device, preparing for the next phase of her ordeal.
She didn't even know why she was working so hard. Maybe it was hatred? Maybe it was fear?
The sudden appearance of the Honkai had stolen everything she had, and it could come again.
She didn't know for sure.
All she knew was that, all she had now was the power that she loathed.
The very power that had stolen her world.
"Though it's cruel to say this, you possess an extraordinary gift. Faced with an overwhelming fate, all we can do is accept it. But you can still choose to make the 'gift' you received to bring a different world into being."
Those were Durandal's words when she saw Yuno lost in despair.
That was her motivation.
And, a voice was always there to remind her that she shouldn't give up.
Like an echo in the ravine, whenever she wanted to give in, that voice would call out to her, urging her to rise again.
And she would, again and again.
Durandal watched her, liking her stubborn determination.
She was gifted, strong-willed… and resilient.
Wait, was that a proper description for your teammate?
Durandal shook her head, reprimanding herself, before continuing her train of thought.
The only issue was her personality. Perhaps it was due to the beast within. She was kind and gentle normally, but she would become a bloodthirsty monster when her emotions got the best of her.
Suddenly, Durandal remembered something.
She opened her communicator, contacted Yuno who was already inside the simulation chamber, and apologized. "There is one more thing. Rita asked me to tell you, try to learn flower arrangement if you have time. She said it might help calm you down."
"…Understood, Captain. Thank you," Yuno replied.
Durandal nodded and ended the call.
Another day done. Time to read a book and rest.
Just as she had decided on her next activity, her communicator beeped.
It was a call from the Overseer. She answered, her expression turning serious. "What is your command, Overseer?"