Growl-!
I opened my eyes in an instant. My heart sank. The familiar ceiling greeted my eyes.
Wait, ceiling?
My breathing is disordered. I was killing a dozen zombies in a minute. Kiana appeared, killed off the incoming few, and we started running away.
The details are very chaotic. Vague, even.
Turns out, it’s just a dream.
“Ow.”
Something struck my cheek. I looked at it and saw a white foot pressing on me.
“...”
I had a hunch. I looked around the huge bed. There I saw Kiana sleeping. She is sleeping with her head on the bottom of the bed. As if dreaming of something, her foot pressed on my face again.
I have so many questions. Kiana gave me the bed for tonight. I think it’s a consolation of sorts for the incident yesterday. She reasoned out that she wanted to try sleeping on the couch.
Then, for reasons unknown, she is now sleeping on the bed. Worse, she’s sleeping upside down. Her horrendous sleeping posture made me wonder how she can sleep comfortably. She looks like she is about to dunk on a basketball ring.
I did not think much.
Embarrassment aside, to be pressed by her foot…
‘That’s how it feels?’
This feels strange.
...
I gently grabbed her ankle with my right hand. I slowly lifted it up as I moved to stand up.
Just then, the movements stopped. I have a bad feeling.
“...”
“...”
My eyes met Kiana’s. She is still sleepy, evidenced by her droopy eyes. I saw her eyes widen in shock. An awkward atmosphere came out of nowhere. She did not know how to speak. I do not know how to speak either..!
“...Good morning.”
“...”
*****
A minor honkai eruption scaling an entire town was not brand new. Schicksal and Anti-Entropy dealt with it countless times.
First, the entire town is to be sectioned off. The moment the honkai eruption began, it was caught by various detection devices, be it on the surface or the orbit. A group of personnel will then be sent according to its danger level.
Schicksal and Anti-Entropy have varying differences when it comes to it. The former would send out a valkyrie squad. The latter uses technological weapons to deal with them.
There is also the matter of their spheres of influence. If an incident occurred in North America, Anti-Entropy is expected to deal with it. In Europe, it will be Schicksal’s turn. This is how they tacitly worked. They are enemies, but it is within their interests to fight against the honkai.
Of course, things aren’t that simple. Schicksal still deploys their agents in Anti-Entropy’s sphere of influence. The same happens in vice versa.
Russia…
It just so happens to be under Schicksal’s sphere of influence.
Cocolia has few trusted contacts in it, but they run the risk of being exposed upon taking action. Still, she asked one of them to clean up some traces.
That was when a surprising thing happened. Someone else had already removed the town’s surveillance records amidst the commotion. Then, she realized who it was.
“Siegfried.”
A minor honkai eruption will not catch Cocolia’s eyes easily. At best, it is another sentence in her paperwork. That changes when Siegfried is involved… or at least, his so-called ‘daughter’.
He only divulged Kiana’s identity to Anti-Entropy’s Sovereign, Welt Yang, as well as Tesla and Einstein. He fought together with them during the Second Impact. Everyone else knew Kiana simply as Siegfried’s daughter.
Cocolia cooperated with Siegfried several times. His insane strength despite being injured (and one of his arms gone) could not be defeated by their Titans. Add to that his former affiliation to Schicksal, he is an important asset.
She would not mind sacrificing one of her contacts to do the clean-up.
“Already dealt with…”
Although small-scaled, this honkai eruption is bound to earn some attention. Someone else dealt with cleaning up records related to Siegfried’s daughter.
The documents in her hands included the complete report. It was sent by none other than Raiden Ryoma, thus confirming Cocolia’s guess. She also saw through the latter’s plan—basically asking her to help in this matter whenever possible. Cocolia’s relationship with Einstein and Tesla are not as bad as others say.
Then again, her attention was taken up by something else.
“The undeads consisted of fifteen percent of the residents… No honkai beasts.”
It was her first time facing this situation. A small-scale honkai eruption produces honkai beasts. Sometimes, there are even Templar-classes who can cut through buildings with ease. Anti-Entropy will have to deploy their Titans to deal with them.
Yet, not a single honkai beast was seen in today’s incident.
The report she received mentioned how there are only a few zombies. The situation was easily controlled in under four hours. All of the town’s residents were evacuated into a temporary camp. The ones who did not know about the honkai will be dealt lightly.
The ones who knew it were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements and the likes.
After that, there would be tons of other processes to make sure it won’t leak to the outside world. Both Anti-Entropy and Schicksal are very thorough in this regard.
“It is about time… This should have reached them already…”
*****
“Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. You sleepwalked.”
“...”
An entire morning had passed. The hotel we stayed in has a breakfast course downstairs. It consisted of small crepes filled with whipped cream and fruits. They are bite-sized. Fluffy, sweet, and not overwhelming.
Then there is the typical bacon with omelet.
Kiana sat across from me and was hell-bent on eating. She did not speak to me until she finished her meals.
“It’s not your fault, really.”
I spoke while looking at her. I can see it isn’t entirely about the sleepwalking incident.
Was it the incident yesterday?
I might have been too shaken up. I did not notice her reactions much. If it wasn’t for that sudden boost in adrenaline—and not wanting to disappoint Kiana—I would have reacted even more strongly in my first kills.
I am the one who chose to come with her. If nothing else, this is my fault.
“I made this choice. After all the food and shelter you provided… It's my fault for being too shaken up. It’s not your fault.”
“...”
“I learned how to fight them now.”
It took some time to reassure her. I don’t know what to do if I hadn’t. She did not take her money seriously. She treated all the food and hotel bookings as nothing. In her mind, the things I did are unequal to hers.
Maybe it is her attitude of valuing money that made her more adaptable. She lived on the streets during the ARC City shenanigans. That lasted four months. Kiana's mental fortitude could be seen from there.
“So… it’s not that bad. I can fight better now.”
“Let’s not separate next time. It won’t be good if we encounter something dangerous.”
“Okay…”