Cocolia was growing agitated.
Within the underground Anti-Entropy arsenal, a woman with a sensual figure and a captivating face paced restlessly back and forth in the command room.
This mature woman, brimming with feminine hormones, was none other than Cocolia, an executive of Anti-Entropy and the Honkai world's top-tier master of civil war.
Right now, however, her brows were deeply furrowed.
Her prized experimental subject, Raiden Mei, had vanished.
Today, Anti-Entropy, which had been constantly monitoring Nagazora City, detected a strong Honkai energy fluctuation at Senba Academy. It lasted for three minutes, and then the abruptly appearing energy wave disappeared.
Immediately after, their subject of interest, Raiden Mei, also vanished without a trace.
Upon receiving this news, Cocolia had hastily assembled her subordinates to search for Raiden Mei, but no matter how hard they looked, she was nowhere to be found.
She didn't dare act too brazenly; Nagazora City was, after all, Schicksal's territory, and she worried about attracting their attention.
This was a critical moment for her. As long as she could obtain the complete Herrscher Core from within Raiden Mei, she would be one step closer to the seat of Anti-Entropy's Sovereign.
She could even use the Herrscher Core to help her precious daughter Seele, who had fallen into the Sea of Quanta, escape her quantum state. Then, Bronya would finally retract her resentment.
A double victory for her career and family.
But Cocolia's beautiful dream had met its Waterloo before it could even begin.
The entire premise of her plan, Raiden Mei, had gone missing?
The Gem within Mei was the only Herrscher Gem Anti-Entropy possessed!
The Gems of Serenity, Desire, and Pestilence were all in Schicksal's hands, while Anti-Entropy's sole Gem of Conquest had been implanted into Raiden Mei.
If Mei couldn't be found, it meant Cocolia's research on Herrschers would come to a temporary but complete standstill.
An bone-chilling coldness emanated from her purple eyes, and the others in the command room dared not even breathe too loudly.
Cocolia frowned, staring at the two faces on the light screen.
One was a masked, blond-haired man named Orga Itsuka.
The other was an adorable, white-haired girl named Kiana Kaslana.
Her subordinates at Senba Academy had reported that these two had suddenly appeared at the school, and then the incident occurred. It was hard to believe the two weren't connected to it.
However, any information on these two individuals was like snow on a lake's surface—gone with a single touch.
Their information had been hidden and encrypted.
But Cocolia had a good idea of who was responsible.
Heh.
Frederica Nicola Tesla!
Lieserl Albert Einstein!
It had to be those two women!
Besides Schicksal, only the Anti-Entropy conservatives had this kind of capability!
Cocolia didn't pay much attention to the masked man. Her focus in recent years had been entirely on Anti-Entropy's internal affairs, and as someone who had only joined after the Second Honkai Eruption, she had never come face-to-face with Otto. Thus, she could never guess his identity.
No matter how she wracked her brain, she couldn't imagine the perpetually stay-at-home Overseer of Schicksal personally coming to Nagazora City.
The idea was simply too absurd.
Cocolia's focus was on the girl named Kiana Kaslana.
Kaslana was a Schicksal knight family, but did that mean this was Schicksal's doing?
No, Tesla, Einstein, I won't fall for it!
Cocolia had long known that the Schicksal traitor, Siegfried Kaslana, had been in close contact with the Anti-Entropy conservatives. The two people on the screen were nothing more than a smokescreen put up by Tesla and her group.
They're clever.
Trying to make me think Schicksal has intervened, using their name to make me hesitate.
But!
I see right through your little tricks!
"How dare they pull these petty stunts on me."
Cocolia had arranged for Raiden Ryoma to be thrown in prison partly to force the conservatives to waste their time trying to rescue him, leaving them unable to interfere with her plans.
But now, she was thoroughly enraged.
She issued a command to her subordinate.
"Find a way to get to Raiden Ryoma in that prison, and then…"
"Send one of his ears and three of his fingers to Tesla and her companions!"
---o---
"Siegfried! Are you out of your mind, or am I?"
At that moment, the target of Cocolia's machinations, Tesla, was throwing a fit at Anti-Entropy headquarters. Her temper was as fiery as her long red hair.
Einstein, her head a mess of unkempt hair, sat nearby with her arms crossed, also frowning.
Siegfried stood before Tesla like a mischievous child being scolded. It honestly reminded him of the times he got into trouble as a kid.
Ah, this is a real trip down memory lane.
"You actually believe Otto!"
"This is outrageous! We're actually entrusting an Anti-Entropy matter to that beast, Otto!" Tesla slammed her hand on the table in frustration. When Siegfried had returned and relayed Otto's message, it had sent her into a fury.
"But… can we even act?"
Siegfried's simple question silenced Tesla. With Sovereign Welt absent, if the conservatives were to act and clash with Cocolia's reformist faction, Anti-Entropy would be plunged into chaos.
When that happens, Schicksal would be the one laughing.
"Otto definitely has ill intentions!"
"And how could you just give your daughter to Otto? You're sending a lamb straight into the tiger's den! Otto will devour her, and there won't even be bones left!" Tesla ran her hands through her hair in exasperation.
"I…" Siegfried crossed one arm over his chest, recalling his meeting with Otto. "I feel… that Otto has changed a little."
In truth, Otto and Siegfried did not have an irreconcilable conflict.
During the Second Honkai Eruption, Cecilia's Holy Blood Liberation had been to save Siberia, which was being corrupted by the rampaging Herrscher Core of Sirin.
Cecilia was doomed to die even before Otto launched the Honkai energy fission bombs.
Not even the Abyss Flower could have saved her.
In Siegfried's eyes, everything Overseer Otto did was for the sake of eliminating the Honkai; his methods were simply extreme.
The main reason he had fled Schicksal was because the Overseer's methods had begun to affect his family.
That was why, back in Italy, he had been able to sit down and talk with Otto.
"We can only trust Otto for now. Tesla, let's first figure out how to rescue Ryoma. By the way, why haven't we heard anything from the prison about him lately?"
"Sigh, my informant is still trying to make contact inside. I believe we'll have news soon," Tesla sighed.
Anti-Entropy's Reformists and Conservatives were both spurred into action overnight, all because of Otto.
However, at this very moment, in the jurisdiction of Nagazora City, the Director of the Far East Branch, the Principal of St. Freya Academy…
Theresa Apocalypse… was still sleeping.