When Kallen hurried back to the Schicksal main camp, she saw everything seemed normal, yet the atmosphere was strangely tense. At the same time, the dark clouds overhead were gradually dispersing, like a faint purple filter had been cast over the sky; the Honkai energy accumulation was clearly dissipating. Half the weight lifted from her heart.
Soldiers scrambled through the pathways between tents. Sergeants held registers, shouting out the names of their soldiers, but nearly every name called was met with a multitude of raised hands, adding to the chaos.
Kallen shook her head, the worry she'd just suppressed bubbling up again. She still didn't understand exactly what had happened, but judging by the camp's current state, if the Ming army attacked now, the only force capable of a swift counterattack would be her Valkyrie unit, right?
She leaped onto a tent roof, her toes tapping lightly on the wooden frame joints. Looking in the direction she remembered, she quickly spotted the flags in the center of the camp.
Naturally, the main Schicksal banner was central. Its central emblem's origin, whether laurel wreath or crossed wheat stalks, was unclear. The Kaslana family's "Salvation" banner flew right beside the Schicksal one—according to regulations, the default assembly point for the elite Valkyrie unit was beneath the Schicksal banner.
Having pinpointed the location, Kallen lowered her center of gravity slightly. Using the recoil from the tent's flexing wooden frame, Kallen sprang up, landing beneath the Schicksal banner after a few leaps. However, the area was wide open, devoid of any Valkyries.
"Hm? Kallen?"
"Uncle Luka!"
Seeing Kallen approaching menacingly, Luka Kaslana's eye twitched uncontrollably, and he instinctively wanted to retreat. Compared to other Kaslanas, Luka's personality was inherently weaker. If his brother Francis hadn't died unexpectedly in battle, he never would have wanted the responsibility of leading the Kaslana family, nor would he have been dragged into this Eastern Expedition, doomed from the start.
Now, his patience had worn thin. He didn't seek victory over the Ming, merely an equitable truce to preserve the dwindling Kaslana family. So, upon seeing Archbishop Nikolas's letter, he approved the plan with little hesitation.
He also knew his niece, who embodied all the Kaslana family's "fine traditions," would never approve of this plan. But she was the Valkyrie unit captain; without her nod, the plan couldn't proceed.
Fortunately, Otto had thumped his chest, guaranteeing he'd keep Kallen occupied... But now...
Luka's lips twitched; he'd already cursed Otto countless times in his head. Facing Kallen's stern advance, he had no choice but to force a weary smile. Luckily, Kallen was ten minutes late. The Valkyrie unit, led by Vice-Captain Eleanor, had already launched the counterattack. His current headache was simply figuring out how to smooth things over for Otto.
"Kallen... ah... The situation was urgent just now, so I already had Eleanor lead the unit out."
Honestly, Kaslanas weren't suited for lying. Even Luka, whose personality wasn't typically Kaslana, was no exception. But Kallen, also a Kaslana, didn't seem to notice. Seeing Luka's exceptionally haggard face, her imposing aura softened slightly, but she still tilted her chin stubbornly, her tone less sharp:
"Uncle Luka... Marshal, what exactly happened? Where is the Valkyrie unit? What is their mission?"
Luka turned away, avoiding Kallen's gaze, looking east towards the Ming army's encampment, affecting calmness as he said:
"The truth is, I'm not entirely sure what happened myself."
Sometimes, people find lying isn't difficult. While lies require more lies woven into a web to approach truth, it's merely tiring, not fundamentally hard.
"Chaos erupted in the Ming camp... Eleanor happened to be conducting reconnaissance nearby... Her report indicated many within the Ming camp had turned into Deadman, so..."
As Schicksal's front-line commander, Luka naturally held the final say on all military actions. He truly wasn't good at lying, but the vast information gap between him and Kallen allowed him to bluff his way through.
Kallen did indeed seem to accept his words, lacking the information to disprove them, but...
But Kaslanas are straightforward, not foolish.
Kallen's intuition screamed that something was fishy. She couldn't deduce proof of Luka's lie, so she skipped that question and went straight for the crucial point:
"So you ordered the Valkyries out? Then, Marshal, what mission did you give them? Was it to fulfill their duty and eliminate the Honkai, even if our enemies are the ones suffering the outbreak? Or... was it to seize this opportunity, pull chestnuts from the fire, and deal the Ming a heavy blow to turn the tide?"
Luka fell silent, and Kallen effortlessly got her answer. Based on that, how the earlier Honkai energy phenomenon occurred no longer mattered.
"Alright, Uncle Luka, I'm heading to the front lines."
"Wait, Kallen!"
Luka stamped his foot, his armor clanking sharply.
Although Kallen didn't explicitly state her intentions, her change in address already said everything. Luka Kaslana felt her dropping his title "Marshal" implicitly meant:
"I no longer recognize you as the commander of Schicksal's forces here. I, as captain of the Valkyrie unit, will no longer accept any orders from you, including past ones."
Fortunately, Luka had one last ace up his sleeve—
"Kallen, you can certainly make the decision you believe is right. As a fellow Kaslana, I won't stop you. But before you leave here and head to the front to take command of the Valkyrie unit, could you listen to your uncle for just a few more words? You have a moment to spare, don't you?"
Luka removed his gauntlet, wiping the cold sweat from his brow. Kallen was, after all, the child he'd watched grow up. He was confident that if he said what followed, even if it couldn't stop Kallen from going, it could make her choose to obey orders.
As for whether Kallen would stop and listen?
Don't be fooled by her currently walking away step by step as if ignoring him. If she truly intended to rush to the front, wasn't her pace a bit too leisurely?
"...Five, six, seven, eight—"
Luka gave a bitter smile, quietly counting Kallen's steps. Finally, after the eighth step, Kallen stopped.
"Uncle Luka, I can hear you out, but I have a question for you first."
"Hm?"
"Was the earlier Honkai anomaly related to Otto?"
"Hm? Hmm! How could it be? Otto only arrived yesterday, and... weren't you two together when the anomaly occurred?"
Luka denied it without thinking. Hearing this, Kallen nodded, took a deep breath, and turned back:
"Then, Uncle Luka, what else did you want to say?"
"Kallen..." Gazing into the same azure eyes as his own, Luka didn't back down this time: "Kallen, do you know what will happen if Schicksal is defeated?"
......
"Halt!"
As Eleanor raised her left hand, the Valkyries swiftly stopped their advance mid-stride. Not one questioned the reason.
Eleanor quickly crouched, parting the knee-high weeds before her.
As expected, the ground beyond the line marked by her toes glowed faintly purple between the cracks in the dark soil, while the earth behind her remained its normal color. It made her instinctively pinch the ends of her hair, where pink and silver intertwined, emitting the same faint purple as the Honkai energy.
"The Honkai energy concentration is worse than Lord Otto predicted."
Eleanor was, after all, one of Schicksal's only two S-rank Valkyries. A single glance was enough for her judgment—the Honkai intensity in the area ahead clearly exceeded what most Valkyries could withstand. If they proceeded with the original attack plan...
What should she do? Postpone the attack, or...
Eleanor grabbed a handful of purple-glowing earth and stood up, leaning on her spear. If it were Kallen, she would surely choose caution, but she wasn't Kallen. Lord Otto had made it clear, and her time on the front lines hammered it home even more: this operation might be the only chance to turn the tide—failure was not an option!
Besides, they were less than a kilometer from the Ming camp now, how could they give up!
"All B-rank Valkyries, remain here and await reinforcements! Remaining A-ranks, regroup and continue the assault!"
As the words left her mouth, the balls of her feet sank deep into the earth, then she launched herself forward with explosive force. The other A-rank Valkyries followed suit, continuously narrowing their formation as they ran, filling the gaps left by the B-ranks.
Truth be told, Eleanor's decision wasn't purely rational. Valkyrie rank was primarily based on seniority, merit, and combat power, not strictly tied to Honkai energy resistance; it could only be said that those who reached A-rank generally had decent resistance. But as they advanced deeper into the increasingly concentrated Honkai energy, it was inevitable that some Valkyries would succumb to the corruption.
Eleanor understood this. The battlefield rarely afforded time for perfectly rational decisions. Besides, her choice wasn't without further consideration—A-rank Valkyries had seen more combat, and thus, inevitably experienced more...
"Ah!"
The Valkyrie running just to Eleanor's right cried out in pain. Eleanor glanced over. The other Valkyrie gritted her teeth and kept running, but dark energy already swirled around her like ribbons. Her exposed skin was visibly turning grey and cracking, and distinct purple patterns began spreading up her left arm.
"Annas!"
Eleanor swung her spear, Abyss Flower, without hesitation. Sharp barbs emerged from the dark shaft, drawing a bit of her own blood. Then, the spear tip glowed with a faint white light. Eleanor seized the moment and thrust it into Annas's most corrupted left arm.
But the spear in her hand was powerless against this level of corruption. Annas realized this too. When she opened her mouth to speak, Eleanor saw only a maw full of sharp teeth emitting meaningless roars, her eyes filled with savage light...
Eleanor hesitated no longer. With a surge of strength from her blood-slicked hands, Abyss Flower easily pierced her irredeemable comrade, who exploded in a "puff" of flying flesh and blood.
She didn't even check on the others. This was an unspoken rule among Valkyries, one even Kallen couldn't argue against—better to grant a swift end than watch a comrade become an "enemy." Every A-rank Valkyrie had faced this. They might despise it inwardly, but none hesitated when the time came—because those who hesitated were already dead.
Though slightly delayed, the kilometer distance was short. Eleanor reached the trenches outside the Ming camp in what felt like the blink of an eye.
She was close enough to clearly see the faces of sentries in the watchtowers, but they were empty. No hidden sentries sounded any alarm. It seemed everything was proceeding smoothly.
A corner of Eleanor's mouth lifted. She easily leaped over the three trenches, using gravity's pull to slam down hard on the stockade wall that Schicksal artillery had previously failed to completely destroy.
The immense crash and violent tremor felt almost like an earthquake. The section of wall before Eleanor instantly shattered. The shockwave blasted everything behind it—tents, weeds—into the air. Cracks spiderwebbed out from under her feet, extending until lost from view.
"Hm? How..."
Eleanor charged headlong into the Ming camp, but found none of the expected piles of bodies. The entire camp was nearly deserted. Occasional corpses lay by the paths, engulfed in blazing fire. She wanted to get closer to examine the flames, but her body instinctively resisted.
"Is this... a decoy?"
It was obvious. For one thing, after entering the Ming camp, the Honkai reaction was actually less intense than before. Closing her eyes and focusing, she could even feel the Honkai energy being drawn by some strange force, slowly converging in a specific direction.
Eleanor focused for a moment before understanding—the enemy was guiding her.
"Damn it! Are they looking down on us?!" Eleanor gritted her teeth, immediately striking "retreat" from her mental options.
"Six hundred yards ahead! Encirclement formation!"
Leading the charge, she directed the Valkyries towards the indicated position. It was only a short distance further before they reached a cleared area, likely the Ming army's original drill ground.
Only two figures stood on the drill ground. Eleanor recognized one: the Ming commander she'd seen countless times on the battlefield. He was currently bowing slightly, standing respectfully behind a woman.
The woman wore wide-sleeved robes, her bangs nearly covering half her face, her long hair tied back in a high ponytail. She sat calmly on a plain chair, holding a cup of hot tea, not even glancing up at the Schicksal Valkyries.
"Look, our guests have arrived." She skimmed the tea leaves with the lid, speaking lazily.
Gulp... The Ming commander swallowed hard. "One S-rank, twenty-three A-ranks... They should have another S-rank too... Immortal, can you handle them?"
The Immortal chuckled softly, sipped her tea, and said slowly: "No matter. Little Wang, you should leave quickly now. Any longer and it might be too late."
The Ming commander nodded forcefully and bolted. Eleanor gave a subtle look, and two Valkyries immediately gave chase, while the remaining Valkyries instinctively formed a loose encirclement.
Silence descended upon the battlefield, broken only by the "Immortal's" intermittent sips of tea.
Eleanor couldn't fathom this person's origins and hesitated to order an attack. However, the absence of any ambush troops nearby eased her mind somewhat. After all, from any angle, it was clearly their group surrounding this lone "Immortal".
After a while, the "Immortal" sighed: "Ah... I brewed this tea a bit late. Seems I won't be able to finish it this time..."
As soon as she spoke, with an almost imperceptible flick of her wrist, the entire teacup shot towards Eleanor without warning. But Eleanor, being an S-rank Valkyrie, reacted instantly, raising her spear defensively. The moment the teacup struck the Soulium spear, it exploded into white dust, the tea vaporizing instantly. Even a complete novice could see the incredible skill behind the "Immortal's" throw.
But that wasn't important—not to Eleanor, and not to the Immortal.
The Immortal's eyelids twitched slightly. She looked at the Abyss Flower spear in Eleanor's hand, then at her hair color, and suddenly spoke:
"Abyss Flower... Are you a Schariac?"