CHAPTER 467: I WAS NEVER A GOOD PERSON

GULP—

The sound of her swallowing was so loud it was practically exaggerated. Mei quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.

Thankfully, the ambient noise on the deck was far from quiet; Valkyries and tactical mechs moved about, transport ships laden with ammunition took off and landed, and the small sound was only truly obvious to her own ears.

"What in the world is Schicksal doing? The entire Floating Airport has been on combat alert for three hours now."

The two of them were huddled in the narrow gap between two shipping containers. Bronya pressed close to Mei’s ear, her voice a low whisper.

The puffs of air from her words tickled Mei’s eardrum and, for some reason, agitated a nerve that made the bridge of her nose and the back of her throat itch, nearly causing her to sneeze.

"Whatever’s happening, it has to be related to Kiana’s disappearance... But the Principal ordered us to maintain radio silence, so we can’t contact the Hyperion... If only..."

The approaching footsteps were crisp and efficient, clearly belonging to a squad of Valkyries. Mei quickly held her breath, muffling any sound with her hand. Her other hand pressed against her chest.

She couldn’t stop her heart from pounding in her ribcage, a frantic, powerful rhythm born of tension. This clumsy method was the only way she could think to muffle the sound. With a Valkyrie’s enhanced senses, it wasn’t a stretch to think they could be that perceptive.

Bronya, on the other hand, was in much better shape. Gripping a pistol in each hand, she disengaged the safeties without the slightest sound. Her heartbeat remained steady, without the slightest fluctuation. Perhaps this was the necessary composure of a sniper.

But in the next moment, the footsteps stopped directly in front of the container where they were hiding. Peering through the tiny gap, they saw the figures standing outside. Even Bronya’s heart skipped a beat.

"What? Alvitr, the Immortal Blades have been broken up and integrated into the Floating Airport’s various defensive lines?"

"Y-Yes, Lady Durandal. The order came directly from the Overseer. Also... the Overseer has requested that you and Lady Rita see him immediately. He will be assigning you both new combat missions personally..."

Durandal took a deep breath, her voice filled with confusion.

"The Overseer has never interfered with frontline command before. The Immortal Blades are far more effective fighting as a single unit than when they’re split up. He should know that... Ah, right. Lady Theresa is his granddaughter, after all... Never mind. It’s not our place as subordinates to question it. Rita, do you have any objections?"

"If Lady Durandal has no objections, then of course, neither do I. However, Lady Durandal, before we leave, isn’t there something else we should take care of?"

Rita was deferential as always—so deferential that most who didn’t know her well would mistake it for insincerity. But when she truly narrowed her eyes into a smile, those people would realize that compared to this beautiful but extremely dangerous expression, her feigned reverence was perhaps the preferable option.

She slowly turned her neck, aiming her crescent-moon-like smiling eyes inch by inch toward the gap between the containers.

In that instant, Mei felt the blood freeze in her veins. Her instincts screamed at her to fight back, but her body betrayed her, trembling uncontrollably.

"So this is the aura of an S-Rank Valkyrie? Heh... Let me handle this!"

The voice of the Third Herrscher echoed in her mind. Mei’s own will vanished, and she was about to instinctively surrender to the Herrscher and unleash her power when she felt a tight squeeze on her hands.

Bronya was gripping them forcefully. The faint sting of pain was enough to pull her consciousness back from the brink.

Only then did she hear Durandal’s response.

"Let’s go. We shouldn’t waste time here. Lady Theresa and the others should be arriving soon, shouldn’t they?"

"Huh? Lady Durandal, Lady Rita, what are you talking about?"

Alvitr tried to peek into the gap between the containers, but Rita simply cupped her chin and turned her head away. Durandal’s stance was resolute; without so much as a glance back at them, she walked off on her own.

"Very well. If that is Lady Durandal’s decision, then I shall of course comply."

Only after the sound of their footsteps faded completely did Mei let out the breath she’d been holding in a long, slow exhale that lasted a good ten seconds.

The sweat on her back glued her clothes to her skin, and the faint chill reminded her of the terror of her blood running cold. Her heart still hammered like a drum, seeming to shake her entire body with its rhythm.

Perhaps they should move. There was no telling if Rita might secretly notify another unit to capture them. But the Floating Airport was swarming with patrolling Valkyries, mechs, and drones.

Moving rashly would only get them exposed faster.

For now, all they could do was bet on Durandal’s attitude. As Schicksal’s strongest Valkyrie, her situational awareness couldn’t possibly be worse than Rita’s.

Since she had chosen to ignore them, Rita, with all her deference, probably wouldn’t take any unnecessary action. But then again, Mei still didn’t understand what was happening. Rita and Durandal had mentioned the Principal, but they hadn’t been explicit.

Still, with the Floating Airport mobilized for war like this, it was hard not to assume an attack was imminent. But who was the enemy?

Alright, Mei wasn’t stupid. Between Rita’s reaction upon discovering them and Theresa’s orders to hide and stay hidden at all costs, she had already pieced something together.

But how was that possible? Theresa was Overseer Otto’s granddaughter, and St. Freya Academy was Schicksal’s Far East Branch. Unless...

Unless Kiana’s disappearance was connected to Schicksal HQ.

It was a smooth, simple deduction. Only a dunce like Kiana wouldn’t be able to reach the same conclusion.

But that only made the situation feel all the more hopeless...

Unconsciously, she repeated the words that had been cut off by Durandal’s appearance.

"If only Michael were here. Just where... did he go?"

In their most helpless moments, people always think of the one they rely on most. But hearing her words, Bronya just rolled her eyes and let out a quiet sigh.

"Mei-neesama, you still don’t get it?"

"Huh...? What?"

"Michael-Niichan disappeared with the idiot Kiana. Or rather, the idiot Kiana disappeared with Michael-Niichan. Doesn’t that tell you something?"

Mei’s jaw fell slightly open. She trembled for a long moment before managing to force out half a sentence.

"M-Maybe Michael and Kiana were kidnapped together..."

"Of course, the Bronya doesn’t deny that possibility. But do you really believe that, Mei-neesama? None of us have ever seen Michael-Niichan fight with his full strength, but with his power, even if he were captured, is it possible that the two of us living right next door wouldn’t have heard a thing? Besides... Mei-neesama, do you remember... that illusionary realm from before? What the Michael-Niichan in that illusion told us at the very end..."

"But... wasn’t that just the enemy trying to drive a wedge between us?"

Mei couldn’t refute Bronya’s earlier points. Perhaps she had already thought of them herself, but when it came to Michael, this was the one thing she didn’t dare, and absolutely couldn’t, admit.

Because... if Michael was truly responsible for Kiana’s disappearance, then what about her?

All the times he’d been close to her, cared for her... all the warmth she had felt—could it all have been for some ulterior motive?

Or perhaps, getting close to her was just a more convenient way to get close to Kiana?

Mei’s rational mind kept telling her to drop the question mark, that this was the truth.

But she still shook her head firmly—after all, Michael had first met her eleven years ago, while Kiana had only come to the Far East two or three years ago. How could he possibly have planned for something so many years in the future?

Bronya watched Mei’s expression. She knew that with Mei’s inherently kind nature, getting her to assume the worst of someone who had been nothing but good to her for three years straight, someone who was arguably the person she relied on most now, was an incredibly difficult task.

She also knew that bringing this up was a thankless job, but with things having reached this point, what was there left to hide?

"Mei-neesama, think about it carefully. Was that really just an illusion?"

"Bronya! What... what are you saying? The person who created that illusion is the reason Seele is still lying unconscious in a hospital bed. You..."

Mei bit her lip, and the expression of the girl who was usually the very picture of gentleness could now only be described as terrifying.

Bronya ignored her expression, turning her head away and even closing her eyes, but she persisted.

"Setting aside the creator of the illusion’s motives for a moment, Mei-neesama, you should be well aware that the illusion didn’t show us ’another world.’ It showed us events from the past. The Michael-Niichan we saw there was the Michael-Niichan of the past. The Bronya believes that a warning from him, as he was in the past, cannot be ignored."

"Of course, the Bronya also knows that everyone who appeared there could have been manipulated by the illusion’s creator. Mei-neesama must be thinking the same thing. And because you naturally view the creator as an ’enemy,’ you would naturally question any warning they conveyed through the illusion. But think about it, Mei-neesama. Let’s not talk about Seele for a moment. Did the three of us suffer even a single injury?"

"..."

Mei stared blankly at Bronya, feeling as if she didn’t know this girl she had spent three years with at all. She was so calm and sharp, calm enough to momentarily set aside the harm done to Seele to analyze the problem.

In truth, Mei had thought of all these things herself. Her powers of observation and acuity were no less than Bronya’s. But she had only considered the possibility; she didn’t dare look at the problem from the worst-case angle and treat a hazy possibility as a real one.

"The Bronya has put herself in their shoes. If the Bronya were the one creating the illusion, and her goal was to drive a wedge between Mei-neesama and Michael-Niichan, she wouldn’t have attacked Seele and created unnecessary complications. The reverse is also true. If the Bronya’s goal was to harm... us, then there would be no need for such an elaborate illusion. Or she could have just stabbed each of us while we were trapped inside, no?"

"..."

Mei couldn’t argue. She could only lower her head, lacking the courage to interrupt Bronya and tell her to stop.

"And besides, was it really an illusion?"

Bronya repeated the question, but this time, her tone lacked the certainty of her earlier analysis, tinged instead with a hint of doubt.

After a moment, she shook her head.

"The Bronya feels it wasn’t an illusion. The Bronya has some ideas, but for now, there’s no way to prove them. Mei-neesama can just think of it as the Bronya’s sixth sense."

Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap!

The sound of loud applause came from above their heads, followed by a sincere compliment.

"An excellent analysis, Bronya..."

BANG!

A wisp of smoke still curled from the barrel of Bronya’s pistol. The custom, high-caliber round blew the top half of Michael’s head apart. She grabbed Mei’s cold hand and tried to drag her out of the cramped space between the containers.

But they had barely straightened up from their crouched positions when they heard a scraping sound from the top of the container.

"Bronya, it’s quite rude not to let a person finish, you know—"

The two girls froze instantly. The muscles in their faces began to twitch, and the tremor soon spread from their faces to their entire bodies.

It wasn’t that this horror-movie-like scene had frightened them... alright, they were certainly terrified, but their current state had nothing to do with their willpower. It was simply that—they couldn’t move!

Space itself had frozen solid. Further away, the patrolling Valkyries, tactical mechs, and hovering drones seemed completely oblivious to the commotion here, even though the gunshot should have been clearly audible from a kilometer away.

"Turn around."

Michael murmured the words, and several pairs of purple hands materialized from the void. They pressed down on the girls’ shoulders, cupped their heads, and forced the two, who had been trying to escape, to turn back around.

Then, the spectral hands touched the girls’ chins, forcing their gazes upward to see Michael, the top half of his skull missing, his eyes closed.

"Very impressive, Bronya. Both your analytical skills and your reaction speed. When I was your age, I was a good-for-nothing who couldn’t do anything. Heh heh."

Michael knelt on one knee with a cold smile. He first fumbled around to find an eyeball that had been blasted out of its socket by the pressure, then shoved it back into place. Next, he gathered the bits of brain matter scattered on the container and slowly placed them back inside his skull.

He picked up a few large fragments of bone, casually pieced them together, and placed them on top of his head. The flesh and bone of the wound squirmed and knitted back together with frightening speed. The carelessly replaced eyeball swiveled twice in its socket and quickly returned to normal.

Faced with this grotesque and absurd scene, Mei would probably have collapsed to the ground if Michael had released his control. As for Bronya, despite having witnessed far bloodier scenes on the battlefield, her limbs now felt uncontrollably weak.

"But unfortunately for you, the one you’re facing... is the me of today."

Michael leaped lightly down from the container and walked step by step toward Mei. The sound of his footsteps, now loud, now soft, was like an awl stabbing into Mei’s heart again and again. By the time Michael cupped her face, tears were streaming from her eyes, instantly drenching his hand.

"Why?"

Michael was certain that if he released his spatial lock, that’s what Mei would ask.

So, it was better not to let her ask it at all.

"I’m sorry, Mei. I was never a good person. If I gave you the wrong impression, my apologies."

After saying this flatly, the fingers of Michael’s right hand slowly approached Mei’s chest.

Just as he was about to expertly extract the core of the Third Herrscher, he seemed to remember something. He chuckled lightly and suddenly withdrew his hand.