Four Hours Later Marianas Trench, Western Pacific
The Hyperion cruised steadily through the skies above the western Pacific, approaching the coordinates that Cocolia had transmitted earlier.
Inside the bridge, Einstein studied the latest sensor reports.
Einstein : "We're 15 klicks away from Cocolia's coordinates. Signal interference. We can't establish contact."
Theresa folded her arms.
Theresa : "Can you trace the source of the interference?"
Einstein shook her head.
Einstein : "No. I'm picking up strange Honkai reactions from the nearby islands."
After examining the readings for a moment, she turned to Theresa.
Einstein : "Madam Theresa, can you please check those islands with Bronya?"
Theresa nodded confidently.
Theresa: "No worries. Leave it to us."
Soon afterward, Theresa and Bronya departed the Hyperion and headed toward the nearest island where the unusual readings had originated.
The dense vegetation and rocky terrain made visibility difficult.
Theresa remained alert as they moved through the island.
Theresa: "This island may be hiding secrets. Be careful out there."
As they searched the area, Bronya's visor suddenly displayed a warning.
Bronya: "Undocumented Honkai Beast detected. Categorizing the novel mutation."
The two quickly followed the signal.
Before long, they located the source.
Several unusual Honkai Beasts were gathered near the center of the island, their distorted bodies emitting waves of interference.
Theresa immediately understood.
Theresa: "Looks like that's what's messing with our comms."
She drew the Oath of Judas.
Theresa: "Let's get rid of it."
At the same time, Project Bunny materialized behind Bronya while her hand moved toward the crystal necklace hanging around her neck.
But before either of them could attack—
Two blurs suddenly shot across the battlefield.
One pink.
One blue.
Slash!
Slash!
The Honkai Beasts were cut apart instantly.
Their bodies collapsed before either Theresa or Bronya could react.
Theresa raised her weapon.
Theresa: "Huh! Who's there?"
The two blurs slowed down and landed nearby.
They revealed themselves to be two young girls.
One had long pink hair, bright blue eyes, a white-and-pink horn protruding from her head, and a matching tail swaying behind her.
The other possessed long cyan hair, purple eyes, a black-and-blue horn, and a similarly colored tail.
The pink-haired girl proudly planted her weapon on her shoulder.
Rozaliya : "It's down! These Honkai Beasts are so lame."
She immediately turned toward her companion.
Rozaliya : "I got 20 first. I win. According to the deal, your dinner cupcake is mine, Lili."
The blue-haired girl sighed.
Liliya : "Impressive, Roza. I didn't expect you to beat 20 Honkai beast so quickly. But since I knew this would happen, I ate my dinner cupcake ahead of time."
Rozaliya's jaw dropped.
Rozaliya : "What? That's cheating!"
Theresa blinked.
Theresa : "Two girls? Why are they here?"
Meanwhile, Bronya stared at the pair.
A familiar feeling surfaced.
Could they be...
Bronya stepped forward.
Bronya : "Rozaliya and Liliya?"
The twins immediately froze.
Rozaliya stared.
Rozaliya : "Lili... are you seeing what I'm seeing? That girl is..."
Liliya narrowed her eyes.
Liliya : "Roza, just look at the two big iconic curls... It's gotta be her!"
Rozaliya's face lit up instantly.
Rozaliya : "Bronya!"
The twins rushed forward.
Rozaliya : "Bronya! It's Bronya!"
A second later, Rozaliya launched herself at Bronya and wrapped her in a hug, her tail wagging furiously behind her.
Bronya's usually emotionless expression softened slightly.
Bronya : "It's been a while, little Roza and Lili. Hmm... you're not so little anymore."
Liliya smiled faintly.
Liliya : "But you are exactly how we remembered. Hasn't changed a bit at all."
Meanwhile, Rozaliya continued poking and examining Bronya.
Rozaliya : "Da. I don't see... or feel any changes."
Bronya immediately protested.
Bronya : "Roza, stop touching Bronya."
Rozaliya reluctantly backed off.
Bronya looked at the twins carefully.
Bronya : "Why are you here? Bronya almost couldn't recognize you."
Her gaze drifted toward their unusual tails.
Rozaliya proudly raised hers.
Rozaliya : "Looks great, right? I love my tail. I'm letting you to touch it because you're Bronya."
She grinned.
Rozaliya : "Matushka gave it to me and Lili. You'll need to talk to her if you want one, Bronya."
Liliya quickly stepped in.
Liliya : "We should focus on our mission, Roza."
Then she addressed Bronya directly.
Liliya : "You're here with Dr. Einstein, right? Matushka sent me and Roza to pick you up."
Rozaliya nodded enthusiastically.
Rozaliya : "We couldn't establish contact. Meeting you here was a surprise."
Rozaliya : "Time to go and meet up with Matushka..."
Bronya lowered her eyes.
Bronya : "Cocolia..."
A flood of memories surfaced.
Bronya : "Matushka Cocolia..."
Rozaliya's cheerful expression faded slightly.
Rozaliya : "...Bronya?"
Bronya quickly composed herself.
Bronya : "...Bronya is alright. Please wait. Bronya will summon her companions."
Some time later, the Hyperion landed on the island.
Einstein, Theresa, and the others disembarked.
Theresa glanced toward the twins.
Theresa : "Do you know those two girls?"
Bronya nodded.
Bronya : "Da. Rozaliya and Liliya. They were Bronya's friends in the orphanage."
Bronya : "They are twins. Roza is the older one, but both of them are younger than Bronya."
Theresa smiled.
Theresa : "Great. I think they like you a lot, Bronya."
Then she studied the twins more closely.
Theresa : "So the pink-haired girl is Rozaliya, right?"
Theresa : "Why does she have horns and tails? They don't look mechanical..."
Theresa : "These feel like body parts of Honkai Beasts... How can it be?"
Bronya shook her head.
Bronya : "Bronya does not know. They were normal humans when Bronya left the orphanage."
But internally, another thought surfaced.
What did you do to Roza and Lili, Cocolia?
Bronya then approached Einstein.
Einstein : "Those two girls are Cocolia's soldiers, right?"
Bronya : "They were sent here to meet us."
Bronya : "They couldn't establish contact so they tried to check the interference. They didn't expect to see us."
Einstein nodded.
Einstein : "Well, we did meet up in the end. Let them take us to Cocolia."
The group soon reunited with the twins.
Bronya stepped forward first.
Bronya : "Little Roza and Lili, Bronya has explained the situation to her companions. Bring us to the Matushka."
Rozaliya immediately brightened.
Rozaliya : "Whoa, looks like we got ourselves some new friends!"
She struck a dramatic pose.
Rozaliya : "I'm Rozaliya Olenyeva, the big sister, and I'm Matushka's best soldier!"
Then she pointed proudly at her sister.
Rozaliya : "And this is Liliya Olenyeva, my baby sister."
Liliya sighed.
Liliya : "Hi there."
Liliya : "Roza isn't too bright and is prone on saying offensive things, but she usually doesn't mean it."
Rozaliya immediately protested.
Rozaliya : "That's mean. I'm actually super bright!"
Theresa couldn't help but smile.
Theresa : "So you children are fighting the Honkai Beasts on your own?"
The twins immediately frowned.
Rozaliya : "Oh dear. Children? Pfft."
Liliya crossed her arms.
Liliya : "We're grown-ups. People who treat us as children end up painfully mistaken."
Rozaliya puffed out her chest.
Rozaliya : "That's 100% correct! Lili and I have Honkai Beasts inside of us. We're super, and I mean super-duper!"
Theresa froze.
Theresa : "Honkai beasts?"
Liliya immediately turned toward her sister.
Liliya: "You've revealed our secret!"
Rozaliya winced.
Rozaliya : "Ooops."
Liliya groaned.
Liliya : "Matushka will know of this, and she'll yank your tail really hard!"
Rozaliya immediately screamed.
Rozaliya : "KYAA! Not the tail! It's super-sensitive!"
Liliya then looked toward Bronya, Theresa, and Einstein.
Liliya : "Sorry. That's classified information. You didn't hear anything."
Liliya : "That's enough introduction for now. Let's get moving."
Einstein stepped forward.
Einstein : "Where are we headed to?"
Liliya answered calmly.
Liliya : "The Deep. You should know the coordinates, Dr. Einstein."
Einstein nodded.
Einstein: "Understood."
Then she turned toward Theresa.
Einstein : "Madam Theresa, let's return to the Hyperion. I'll explain this later."
After everyone returned aboard the Hyperion, Einstein gathered the group on the bridge.
Einstein : "We will be heading to [The Deep]. It is a ruined city from the Previous Era. I should have mentioned it earlier. I didn't intend to hide anything."
Theresa waved dismissively.
Theresa : "No problem. Schicksal has plenty of secret ruins as well. It's a secret that everyone knows."
She glanced toward the surrounding islands visible through the bridge windows.
Theresa : "So are we heading to one of the small islands?"
Einstein looked toward the ocean below.
Einstein : "No. This may sound surprising, but we're going down to the seafloor.