Chapter 296: Orphanage??

Three days ago, Aleph introduced "Metatron" to them. Although surprising, Senti did not think much of it. Metatron was his Ultimate Skill. She was previously an inorganic 'thing'; Metatron should not be able to develop feelings for Aleph.

At best, she considered her as an addition to the household. 

Metatron's work efficiency was the icing in the cake. She was able to take care of some problems plaguing the dojo, such as the annual passing of documents, managing their publicity, creating better schedules, and the likes.

Metatron's capabilities allowed her to make the 'most optimal' choices every time.

She ended up being a reliable assistant, and that meant more time for slacking off.

Metatron is very different from Mobius.

'It's still the same. That gaze.'

To her eyes, Mobius was the same 'war criminal' from before. A feeling of apprehension and hesitation appeared on Senti's mind. After all, Mobius 'was' her comrade. Even if Hua could not personally accept her drastic measures, she knew it was the right thing to do.

Thus, she felt extremely complex when facing Mobius.

"Remember the things I told you three days ago? The parallel Earth one."

"Hm. I remember."

"Although her real body is on our Earth, she can use a projection to appear here." Aleph slowly explained. "This includes Vill-V, Mei… and Elysia."

"Mn..?"

Mobius lazily raised her head and looked at him. Aleph received her stare and felt her intent to dig out an 'answer'.

Unfortunately, Elysia's name flew through Senti's head completely. Only Mobius noticed something was wrong when Aleph addressed 'Elysia' as, well, 'Elysia'. He did not call her with formalities as before.

It took a while for Senti to move out of her stupor. Against all odds, she ran to Aleph's free arm and took it on her arms. 

Unfortunately, there was nothing.

Senti realized it and sent Aleph an aggrieved look.

"You know… You should focus on your strengths."

It was useless to compete when it comes to bust size. Senti knew it from Hua's memories. Every girl around Aleph is better than her in this regard.

Just then, she thought of something.

'This day has come.'

Seeing the two girls fighting each other, Aleph simply accepted his fate for today.

*****

"Where did he go..?"

After Kiana reluctantly finished with her final gaming session, she headed upstairs. She opened the door to her bedroom and found out that Aleph was missing. The entire bed itself was intact, with no traces of Mobius' sudden attack.

Although she felt something was wrong, Kiana could not find it. She also went through the entire house and could not find Aleph.

As such, she slept with her lights turned on.

'I can't kick ghosts yet…'

The more she thought of the horror stories she saw occasionally, the more she couldn't fall asleep. The thought of being the only one present in the house messed with her mind.

It did not help when Aleph 'confirmed' the presence of ghosts. He hadn't explained it in full, but he anticipated that the 'spirits' would emerge after the global stigmata plan—the Project Cataclysm—Mobius enacted.

Before that, there had already been 'Stigmata Spaces' on the Three Houses. Kaslana has one, and so did Schariac. 

With nearly everyone gaining a stigmata of sorts, it was only a matter of time for things to become messed up from the original status quo.

There is a high possibility of previously deceased Valkyries in hundreds of lineages to 're-emerge' as a form of 'spirit'. If there are people with thin traces of the Three House's blood, they would gain the ability to enter their Stigmata Space.

"...Eek..!"

Kiana let out a shout when she saw a pair of gray pupils staring from her window. The figure's short stature did not escape Kiana's eyes.

She swiftly took hold of her desk lamp and threw it across the window.

Shatter-!

Bam-!

The figure outside dodged it easily. Shards of glass flew to her but were stopped by her vest. The figure's eyes were well-protected by her arm.

During this short window, Kiana stood up from her bed. With the blanket in grasp, she jumped towards the 'intruder'.

She planned to take the intruder down by covering her head with the blanket. The place where the intruder climbed was the second floor of their house.

'Oh… A ghost..?!'

While she ran through everything on her mind, she recalled it was a "ghost". Kiana expected for her entire body to pass through, only to feel a solid sensation below the blanket.

"It's real?!"

Bam-!

Kiana used the intruder as a cushion, thus saving her from some bruises. The said intruder struggled but to no avail. Her arms were held firmly by Kiana in one hand. The other hand held the intruder's face, so as to prevent the blanket from coming off.

Kiana's current strength was amplified by the stigmata, honkai energy, and Aleph's daily training. Professional assassins are no match at all.

"Oh… Oh..?!"

Once the intruder stopped struggling, Kiana was startled. She went out of her shock and hastily threw the blanket on the grass.

"This… isn't a ghost."

If Aleph was here, he would have remarked that the third Bronya finally bit the bait.

The intruder was a girl about the same age as Kiana. The latter's cap when she climbed to the second floor was blown away, revealing her hair styled into a pair of drills.

Fortunately, Kiana saw the heaving of Bronya's (flat) chest. She was afraid she would have harmed someone today.

"Wait…"

"A lot of things happened while I was gone."

She turned around and saw a familiar palm-sized robot.

"Aleph! Someone wanted to break inside our house!"

"I could see that."

His golden pupils flickered as he traced the cause and effect of this evening's event.

'Otto put up a bounty? What was this? His test of some sort? Guess I can play along with him.'

He was not as angry at Otto as expected. This event proved that studying will bring Kiana positive effects. If she was still slacking off now, she would have been tied up by Bronya.

Fortunately, she did not do so. She was unenthusiastic with studying—school in particular—but the carrot on the stick kept her going forward. With 'slacking off' as a reward, Kiana was able to do better than her original self.

'What should I do with her…' He mused before having an idea. 'Why does it seem like I am establishing an orphanage?'

Despite his inner monologues, he had already decided to take this Bronya in.

"Kiana. Do you want to be a big sister?"

"Ah?"

What greeted him was Kiana's stupefied look.