Whoosh—
Three small spacecraft departed from the Astral Express.
This time, Setsuna accompanied Crew Five, while the other two groups split up under the leadership of Himeko and Gudako.
They had various assignments, including capturing "Beasts," searching for Dug Weapons, and locating Leprechauns, all to provide Setsuna with support.
"Wow—"
With a rare opportunity to conquer a world alongside the Commander, everyone was curious and excited except for the emotionless Herrscher of the Void and Herrscher of Finality.
Crew Five was led by Elysia, and every member belonged to the Imperial Valkyrie Academy.
At a glance, it looked like a teacher taking her students out for practical field training.
"Commander, I... I'm a B-rank Valkyrie now. I'm really strong, and I'll work hard!"
Sirin looked up at him, her face full of pride.
Several little girls, including Yae Sakura and Yae Rin, clustered around her.
"Me too, me too! I only passed the assessment last month!"
They had spent a long time studying at the academy and rarely had the opportunity to pass an assessment and participate in an expedition to another world.
"Whoa, not bad."
Surrounded by little girls, Setsuna pinched Sirin's cheek and rubbed the Yae sisters' heads.
There was no trace left of the gloom that had once surrounded them. In its place was innocent, carefree childishness, along with the pride brought by a comfortable life and education.
"The students in this year's class have already completed this stage of their studies. Theresa said this would be the perfect opportunity to bring them out for some practical training."
Cecilia explained.
"Their performance here will determine whether they can advance to the next Valkyrie rank."
Back when they conquered the Honkai world, they had traveled through time from the era of Saga of the Shattered Swords all the way to the modern age.
Most of the Valkyries had been brought back to the Starsea Empire as children and raised there, and there were far too many of them to count individually.
In particular, because both the Second and Third Honkai Eruptions had been eliminated before they could truly occur, the fates of many people had changed as well.
"Commander, it is an honor to accompany you."
A little farther away, a gray-haired, red-eyed girl greeted him in a solemn voice.
She wore a hooded trench coat and carried an enormous sniper rifle on her back. If one wasn't paying attention, it would have been very easy to overlook her.
"Natasha Cioara. I have passed the A-rank Valkyrie assessment. This is my first field mission. I look forward to working with you."
Compared with Raven from the original storyline, she looked much younger.
Sirin had never gone berserk, so Natasha had merely been a little girl from a Siberian village.
After the Starsea Empire conquered the world, an Angeloid had brought her back along the way, and she enrolled in the Imperial Valkyrie Academy.
The weapon on her back was not the Seven Thunders of Retribution either. Instead, it was some kind of high-energy disintegration weapon created by Akashi and Vill-V using that weapon as a basis and incorporating Starsea Empire technology.
Beside her was also a certain unlucky middle school student who had originally been tending a flower shop, only for an Angeloid to persuade her with both reason and emotion to come back for training.
"Oh, you're both A-rank. Looks like you've got pretty good talent."
Setsuna looked over the personnel roster and smiled.
Considering the influence of Meta-Morph surgery and genetic ascension technology, the Starsea Empire's assessment standards were far stricter than Schicksal's.
The few people qualified to hold the title of S-rank Valkyrie were legendary Valkyries from Schicksal's history, such as Kallen and Cecilia, who had joined the Empire long ago.
Under the assessment standards established by Theresa, advancing from A-rank to S-rank required experience successfully completing missions in other worlds.
As a result, their enthusiasm was at an unprecedented high.
"Commander, please give us a chance."
Ana spoke timidly.
"If you finish conquering this world in just a couple of moves, we'll probably have no achievements at all. We won't even be able to scrape together a passing grade, mm..."
"At least... at least when there's fighting to do, could you leave some for us?"
Pfft—
Setsuna nearly burst out laughing.
"Fine. We'll see how you perform."
Hum...
The spacecraft continued descending.
The planet of WorldEnd was completely different from Earth.
The moment they entered the atmosphere, they could sense faint traces of magical energy permeating the planet.
Looking down from high altitude, countless floating islands were scattered across the sky, arranged in a spiral that spread outward from the center.
The presence of magic could be sensed on the islands, which remained afloat through special forms of energy and technology.
Airships and other flying vessels traveled between the floating islands, while signs of civilization could be seen upon them.
Some areas consisted of residential districts made up of clusters of buildings, while others contained farmland and factories.
The ground beneath the floating islands had long since become a wasteland. Aside from desolate deserts, only bizarrely shaped "Beasts" prowled across the surface.
The survivors of this world had been forced to abandon the land and cling to existence upon the floating continents.
"If you ignore the fact that this world is constantly facing the threat of extinction, it actually looks pretty fantastical."
Raven commented casually.
"But the people living down there look a little..."
Unlike most worlds, where humanlike beings made up the majority, most of the species on this planet—or rather, most of the few surviving intelligent species—were beastfolk.
They possessed pronounced animalistic traits. Some had horns, others had tusks, and most had faces resembling animals and bodies covered in thick fur.
Some winged people, lizardfolk, and other demi-human races also moved through the cities, while ordinary humans were almost nowhere to be seen.
"Humanity here is basically extinct. There aren't more than a handful left in the entire world."
Setsuna glanced at the statistical report.
"More importantly, let's go find the Leprechauns first. Where are my girls?!"
...
Floating Island No. 68.
It floated at the edge of the island cluster and could not be reached by public airship. It was a heavily guarded military zone.
The island covered a vast area, with lush forests blanketing most of it. A small number of fully armed soldiers stood guard and patrolled the air harbor and major routes.
In one corner of the forest, according to the map, stood the Fourth Warehouse belonging to the Orlandri Trading Company.
Despite being called a warehouse, the spacious building was home to around thirty little girls.
Most of them were quite young, with adorable faces, laughing and playing noisily together.
"Ah, don't take my toy! I only found this in the forest yesterday!"
"Bleh!!—"
"Waaah, I'll fight you!!!"
Several little girls immediately tumbled into a chaotic scuffle.
"Stop. It's mealtime."
A red-haired, green-eyed young woman dressed in a maid uniform cleared her throat.
"If anyone keeps causing trouble, I'll eat her."
"Eek—"
The little girls shuddered.
They knew Nygglatho wasn't joking, because her race was the Trolls, one of the most powerful and terrifying races among the floating continents.
They immediately quieted down and obediently returned to their seats at the dining table.
Only one slightly older girl, who looked around fifteen or sixteen, remained standing by the window and gazing into the distance.
She had a slender figure, with azure hair flowing like lake water down to her waist. The hair at the back of her head was tied into the shape of butterfly wings, resembling a pair of tiny wings.
Her skin was fair, her features sweet and adorable, and her crimson eyes carried a trace of weariness and uncertainty.
"Hm? Chtholly? Is something wrong?"
Nygglatho noticed that something seemed off about the girl.
"No..."
Chtholly shook her head and looked at the date.
"Come to think of it, there's only half a month left until the Sixth Beast attacks the floating islands, right?"
"Mm."
Nygglatho nodded.
The Sixth Beast was one of the Seventeen Beasts, and the only monster capable of riding the wind into the sky and reaching the floating islands. Conventional military forces were completely incapable of matching it.
The only exceptions were the girl before her and the little girls around them.
"Oh... I'm the one being sent out this time."
Chtholly counted on her fingers.
"I'm pretty lucky. That means I've still got another ten days or so to live."
"Before I leave, I want to go buy some things in the market district. Is that okay? I heard someone saw a strange spacecraft there?..."