Chapter 249: "Maria is dead"

"The A-1 passage has been successfully cleared, Bronya will now go to the surface."

On the Eos ship, because the Mecha Titans weren't stopping, Bronya decided to solve the source of the problem first.

Thanks to Einstein and Tesla's research on the Cosmic Juggernaut, Bronya discovered that there was a fabrication of space above the deck of the ship.

She will go there.

Separating from Siegfried who still decided to keep guarding the Herrscher gem room, Bronya stepped onto the deck of the ship, and she found the source of the problem.

"Please stop, or Bronya will shoot you."

"Ah, I was found."

[Griseo] who was just daydreaming, looked at Bronya with an innocent look.

Pulling back a card that had the stigma of the Herrscher of Void on it, [Griseo] put it back into the deck.

The space fabrication that continued to emit Mecha Titans endlessly, finally disappeared.

"Before we fight, there are a few things Bronya wants to ask you. Are you Griseo of Flame-Chasers or Evil Vill-V, Herrscher of Domination?"

[Griseo] tilted her head.

"If I answer the question correctly, will you free me?"

"Of course not, Bronya will not let go of potential enemies."

"But I'm still a kid, you can't shoot underage little girls."

"Oh, your luck is quite bad, Bronya is also underage. So it's illegal."

....

Seeing that the upgraded version of Project Bunny had appeared behind Bronya, and provided additional fire support, [Griseo] couldn't help but sigh.

She took out a stack of cards, and held them with both hands like she was playing a game of poker.

"You know, honestly I don't want to participate in this ambush plan, I hate being taken advantage of."

[Griseo]'s purple eyes looked down, to see the cards neatly lined up in her hand.

As the youngest member of the Flame-Chasers, Griseo has the potential to be far more terrifying than any MANTIS soldier.

She could see colors, and apply them.

This color is also not just any random color, emotions, existence, traces, and even the original color of the item or creature itself.

The real Griseo rarely uses this power because it really interferes with her life. Plus the incident where she once painted Kalpas on her canvas and made the whole city fall into a parade of madness, Griseo suppressed this power even more.

But for Evil Vill-V who took over Griseo's body and gained her abilities, with her unique thinking, she has found some pretty interesting ways to play.

An example of this was the deck of cards she was currently holding.

"I know you underestimate me, especially after I lost the Theater of Domination, the engine of my doll factory."

"But sister Bronya, do you know the reason why it is currently twelve teams acting simultaneously as a diversion can be attacked in unison?"

"Where are all these troops coming from?"

[Griseo] smiled.

"Have you ever heard of a card duel?"

Taking out two pink cards, [Griseo] threw them on the floor.

"I summon a single unit soldier from the previous civilization, Setsuna's code name, SAKURA!"

"Apart from that I will also summon a support monster unit, the fire type, Hellmaru!"

The two cards shattered into thousands of colors, and the two figures instantly appeared in front of [Griseo], getting into a fighting stance.

SAKURA, a member of the Flame-Chasers who was previously defeated by Thea at the Theater of Domination, is now back on stage.

Hellmaru, the mountain spirit god once worshiped by the Yae villagers, also reappears with a ferocious beast growl.

"It seems like there's nothing we can discuss anymore."

Bronya raised her hand, and project bunny began a barrage of attacks.

SAKURA didn't stay still either, and she stood in front of [Griseo], immediately using a cutting move that could stop space and time.

[Griseo] took this opportunity to draw one more card.

"I summon the ultimate attack type card, maximum space cutting!"

Throws a card with a picture of the Herrscher of Void stigmata onto the ship's deck. From land, the Eos ship that was passing by, suddenly snapped in half!

Bronya was stunned!

"You think I play cards so I will play according to cards!? So fool!"

"My favorite is turning over the card table!"

[Griseo] burst out laughing.

Because the Eos ship was split in two, the Herrscher gem storage area in the middle of the ship was immediately exposed in the air.

Sakura started to dart down quickly, taking advantage of the debris of the materials around her.

"Mr. Siegfried be careful, their goal is the Herrscher gem!"

"Not need mentioned, I already know!"

Even though Siegfried was confused about why the thick door in front of him suddenly disappeared, and why the Eos ship suddenly crashed, this did not prevent Siegfried from seeing SAKURA rushing towards him.

Hellmaru provides support by suppressing Bronya using bursts of her fire breath.

Seeing the distance between the two of them getting closer, Siegfried began to change Judgment of Shamash into Cleaver of Shamash.

SAKURA also began to draw her Setsuna sword, out of its sheath.

When they met, they both immediately swung their swords with all their might!

____

"It's useless... there's no signal here."

Maria, who was exhausted, leaned against the wall while recovering her stamina.

Azure City used to be a prosperous city before Honkai Impact fell on this place. Now this city has been abandoned, and is a ghost town.

Previously because her teammate suddenly disappeared, Maria was forced to run away after she saw enemy reinforcements arriving.

She accidentally discovered this ghost town and hid in it. Taking advantage of the thick fog coming from the mountains, covering the entire city, until now Maria has not been discovered by the enemy.

But although she was grateful that this fog covered her escape, the fog that had been influenced by the honkai energy had also blocked the transmitter and terminal signals she was carrying.

Maria can't access the Schicksal network.

Maria decided to leave this city first to ask for reinforcements.

"Is that captain? Captain Maria please save us!"

"Wilson?"

Approach the location of the sound source carefully, and enter the abandoned building. Even though Maria saw that Flora's condition was not good because of blood all over her body, Maria still did not rush out of her hiding place.

Maria used her holy blood to examine the two girls in her field of vision.

Able to feel the flow of unique honkai energy, typical of her teammates, Maria was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

The two of them weren't Herrscher of Domination's puppets.

"Captain Maria!"

"Move aside, let me handle it. What happened to you? Where is Seruti?"

Using her stigmata ability to heal Flora, Maria looked at the unconscious Flora worriedly.

Puncture wounds and broken bones appeared all over her body. If treatment is not found immediately, Flora will bleed to death in excruciating pain.

So, even though her hands and clothes were currently dirty with Flora's blood, Maria hugged her tightly to maximize the healing effect.

"We came out of the mine according to the captain's instructions, but when we got out there was an ambush. So we were forced to run away."

"How many enemies did you encounter? Are you being chased?"

"Yes, we were chased, along the way I found 13 Mecha, but I avoided them all."

Wilson explained her experience, and after explaining for several minutes, Flora, who had fainted, was finally able to slowly open her eyes.

"C-Captain..."

"It's okay Flora, hold my hand, you're safe now."

Seeing Flora gripping her hand tightly, Maria smiled gently to reassure her.

But, Flora, who was in Maria's arms, opened her red eyes even wider.

"No..."

"Traitor!"

"What do you mean?"

Just when Maria wanted to ask further, a cold spear directly penetrated her chest.

The world suddenly became silent.

Maria's pupils shrank.

"What..."

Maria vomited blood.

Looking back, Maria could see Wilson who was currently holding a spear that had penetrated her chest.

As if it wasn't enough with just this, Maria could feel the holy blood inside her body starting to drain her life force quickly.

Wilson uses the power of her sacred Schariac blood.

To be honest, Maria didn't really understand her current situation.

She was already very sure that Wilson and Flora were not puppets controlled by the Herrscher of Domination.

So...

Why did Wilson attack her?

"I'm not lying captain Maria, all the experiences I told you really happened. it's just that I didn't tell you what happened after that."

"CAPTAIN!!! NO!!!"

Wilson kicked Maria's body away to remove the spear from her chest, and after that she beheaded Flora with one slash.

Maria, who fell to the floor with blood splattered, opened her eyes wide.

She still didn't understand.

"Cough!"

Maria could see her blood starting to spread to the floor, and her vision was getting increasingly blurry. She now understood that she would die soon.

At times like this, her communicator was finally able to connect with Schicksal.

"[Maria... you were disconnected from the network for 30 minutes... what happened there...?]"

Seeing Wilson smiled, and came to her step by step. For some reason, Maria suddenly remembered what Thea said before she took over leadership.

Just like flashbacks of dead people.

"{So Maria, please help me.}"

Maria smiled, while shedding tears full of regret.

"Sorry Saintess Thea... I disappointed you... Again..."

Wilson raised her spear high, and after that, the hand holding the communicator, fell to the floor limply.

"[Maria...? Can you hear me? I repeat can you hear me?]"

The communicator immediately shattered after Wilson stepped on it hard.

"Mission completed, it's time to go back."