Chapter 11: Chapter 9: Gratitude Arc pt.1
(Author's note: *** = chanting, <<XXX>> = spell's name in Brittanian Language.)
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St. Freya Academy's infirmary:
The trio and I are currently standing nearby the infirmary's bed where Theresa is laid due to her abrupt coma. Himeko had just left because she needs to be the acting-commander for both St. Freya Academy and Schicksal's Far East Branch, substituting Theresa until she wakes up.
Since Bronya offered us her expertise on checking Theresa's current status, we are just waiting silently for her diagnosis to be finished. A few minutes later, she stopped looking at her terminal before Mei asks her regarding on her diagnosis' results.
"So how about it, Bronya-chan? Did you manage to get any info on why she suddenly fainted?" Mei asked her worriedly.
"The Bronya confirms that the reason for Principal Theresa's coma is due to an abnormal data spikes of dataflow coming from her stigmata located on her back. It interferes with the host's physiological and mental function, causing her to went into coma. If there's no action taken she will be engulfed with the data present within the stigma thus getting her mind assimilated by the stigma." Bronya told us the results gained from her diagnosis.
"Stigma? What's that?" Kiana was clueless on Bronya's explanation regarding on stigmata. Oi oi, study more on stigmata will ya Kiana-chan? That's an important subject for Valkyries you know?
"Stigma?" Huh, apparently even Mei didn't know about stigma, that's rare. Ain't there's multiple books inside the academy's library mentioning about stigmata? Maybe their classes still haven't covered that part yet?
"Mei-chan, Kiana-chan, stigmata serve as archives for recording vast amount of genetic data you know? It's the thing used by Valkyries to increase their combat potential further." I tell her what I'd remembered from my studies in the library.
"Subject Takeru is correct, Mei nee-sama." Bronya agreed to my simple explanation.
"Is there anything we can do to help Bronya-chan?" Mei asked Bronya.
"By wearing this Homu-Homu Virtual Reality Comm Link, it will allow us to link up with the stigma's native dataspace thus finding out what exactly went wrong." Bronya told us the solution while showing us the Homu-like headgear that she takes out from her bag earlier.
"I see, so that's the situation. I can volunteer myself to be the one who's entering the dataspace, Bronya-chan." Mei volunteered herself to check on the dataspace.
"No, let me do it! I had some experience on dataspace's diving before so let me do it Bronya-chan!" Kiana raised her hand eagerly.
"The Bronya prefers Mei nee-sama more than subject Kiana as the volunteer since subject Kiana had a bad record each time she enters the dataspace." Bronya denied her request. Heh~ so Kiana-chan had that kind of history huh.
"Eeehhh~ That's not fair~ I also want to help you know?" Kiana makes a tantrum due to Bronya's rejection.
"…Say Bronya-chan, can you let me do it?" I asked her to choose me instead since I've got a bad feeling about this. I mean I also did some stealth scanning on Theresa-chan too, and if what I've detected from her is the truth, this case might be bigger than we've expected.
"Can you tell me your reason, subject Takeru?" Bronya asked me to explain more.
"You see, I have an ability to detect the Honkai energy whenever I want, and based from my observation the Honkai energy coming from Theresa-chan kept on rising while we're here. From what I can detect, it is apparently trying to take over Theresa-chan by corrupting the stigma dataspace. And I do have multiple skillsets which is useful for any kind of situation after all, so I think I'm the better choice." I told her my reasons.
"What?! Is that true, Takeru?!" Kiana shouted in surprise due to my intel.
"The Bronya did not notice that at all subject Takeru, thank you for your input. Then you shall be the one entering the dataspace, subject Takeru. Does anyone else want to argue for the Bronya choosing subject Takeru instead?" She asked the other two for confirmation.
"No, I'm fine with it. Please save Principal Theresa, Takeru-san." Mei agreed before bowing to me, showing her sincerity.
"If Takeru's the one who is going then I'm fine with it too, since he did beat me during our spar after all. Save Aunt Teri for me will you, Takeru?" Kiana too stopped being stubborn and allow me to enter the dataspace instead.
"Don't worry girls for I am here! I ain't gonna let anything bad happen to Theresa-chan, so just leave it to me okay?"
""Un!"" Both of them nodded, believing in me.
"Then please wear this device, subject Takeru. The Bronya will contact you via the terminal once you're there." Bronya gave me the headgear which I wore immediately.
"Say Vee, please monitor my body for any kind of abnormality will ya? Don't forget to keep on scanning the surrounding just in case a certain someone gonna try to hack my brain while I'm unconscious." I asked Vee via our telepathic link.
[Affirmative, master. In the worst case scenario if there is a hostile coming towards you I'll deploy the automata mode to hold them back after I sent you the signal. You did top up my mana tank after all, I can do that easily.] Vee who did not appeared in the last chapter agreed to my request. Now I can rest easy since she will act as a deterrent before I can exit the dataspace.
"Protect the girls too will you, Vee?"
[Of course, just leave it to me. So you can stop acting like a dying man trying to leave his will already, master.] Vee manages to slip some insults for me in her sentence.
"Oh fuck off will ya?" I told her off.
"Subject Takeru, the Bronya will begin the procedure now. Your main priority is to locate Theresa's consciousness within the dataspace."
"Got it, Bronya-chan."
"Beginning procedure in 3…2…1…All system go."
As Bronya finished her countdown, my consciousness went dark as I'm plunged into the stigma's dataspace.
Inside Theresa's stigma dataspace:
As my consciousness returns, I'm shown a view of a destroyed village, fires blazing around all the buildings, sending the heat towards my body. So this dataspace can even replicate human sense huh?
"The heck happened here? Is this some sort of a holy grail war's aftermath?" I tried to joke as I watch the burning surroundings.
A hologram screen suddenly appeared in front of me, showing Bronya's silhouette which she then immediately said,
"Please stop on joking subject Takeru, you have an important thing to do. The Bronya will inform subject Takeru more when she's able to find the waypoint to another sector." Bronya told me that before she cut our connection, making the hologram disappears.
"Roger that Bronya-chan…Right, it's not time for a joke Takeru. We've got an important mission to do. But first lemme try doing this, ***<<Rain Fall>>."
I tried to experiment on whether I can use my spells or not while I'm inside the dataspace by casting a rain spell. Huh, apparently it worked since a drizzle starts to fall down from the sky before it erases all the fires around the village.
Since Bronya still haven't found the waypoint yet, I started to run across the village, trying to find some survivors so that I can find more clues on what had happened here. After covering almost the whole village during the search by taking advantage of the Flash Step's speed, I finally found a lone survivor, a nun who is currently lying unconscious on the ground due to her injuries.
"Huh, Kiana-chan?...N-no! That's not her, t-that's Kallen!" My early mistake on confusing the identity of the nun was rectified as I'm closing the distance between us. I stuttered in disbelieve since I can finally see her once again after more than 300 years…No, stop getting distracted Takeru! We need to save her ASAP!
"Oi Kallen! Don't you dare dying on me again, you hear me!" I said to her as I gently shake her body to keep her getting awake.
"…H-huh?...Who are you?...How did you know my name?...No, that's not it…Please my good sir, give this to the miko with a cherry-colored hair if you ever meet her…consider this as my last request before I die…" Kallen begged for me to agree to her request while giving me a cross necklace as her eyes dimmed down, succumbing to her injuries. Damn, if I let her be like this she'll die for real.
"Fuck no, just do it by yourself! *****<<Sacred High Heal>>!" I however rejected her plea by casting the highest level of healing spell that I knew. Better for me to overdo it rather than being a cheapskate.
"…Huh?...I-I'm getting healed?" My spell somehow worked as Kallen slowly recovers from her injuries, her cheek's showing some color instead of being pale as before…So my gambit did work huh?
"So you're okay now, Kallen?" I asked her for confirmation.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Thank you for helping me my kind sir…Can you tell me how did you healed me?" Kallen asked me to explain my method on healing her injuries.
"Well milady, it's all due to my magic spell." Like hell I wanna keep my secret from her. She's the last person that I'll never hide anything from, even though she might not be my Kallen.
"M-magic? So magic exists?" She asked me in disbelieve.
"Yup, it does." I affirmed her.
"Is that so? Thank you sir for being truthful towards me…but first, did we ever meet before? I was wondering since you did know my name after all." Yep, that confirms it. She ain't my Kallen. But whatever, any Kallen is my ally.
"Nah, if you're asking me that question then it means that we've never met. However I did meet with your parallel world's counterpart though, that's the reason why I'd recognized you." I told her my reasons.
"Really?! So is she your friend?! What is her personality like?! Does she resemble mine?!" Apparently she got way too interested in her counterpart as she bombards me with multiple questions.
"Calm down first will ya? Nah, she was my girlfriend, and her personality-" I want to tell her more about my Kallen but I was interrupted by a transmission from Bronya as the hologram screen suddenly appeared in front of me.
"Subject Takeru, this sector is collapsing! The Bronya will force transfer you to the next sector!" Bronya alerted me of the impending situation.
"Wait, Bronya-chan! Can you bring the girl next to me too?" I asked Bronya if she can do that.
"It's possible if you have a direct contact with the person. Hurry up subject Takeru, you need to go now!" Bronya urged me.
"What's happening right now, Takeru-san?!" Kallen called me by my name which she probably heard from Bronya earlier as she panicked.
"We've got to go now, Kallen! Come with me if you want to live!" I urged her to just grab my hand before I'm teleported forcefully.
"Un!"
As she grabs my hand, we are forcefully teleported by Bronya, heading towards another sector as the village's sector collapsed.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Ackber_san
Ackber_san Part 1 of 3.
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