——Divine City Pharmaceuticals, Underground Research Facility
Kagura pressed deeper into the heart of the research facility.
Beneath her feet lay the shattered remains of weapons and the bodies of fallen soldiers, scattered with traces of Honkai energy.
The path was a wreckage-strewn battlefield.
More bio-engineered soldiers and defense mechs continued to pour in, blocking her way—some even deploying incomplete "Death Weavers" in desperation.
But no matter what the remnants of World Serpent threw at her, no weapon, no experimental monstrosity could pose a real threat to Kagura.
"Honestly, you guys are kind of boring."
With a flick of her wrist, she cleaved another mech in half, then used the Space Stone's teleportation power to hurl its wreckage at an oncoming bio-soldier.
"Weak. Boring. And painfully stupid. Honestly, you're disgusting."
"Tch, don't get cocky, brat."
A woman named Raven, monitoring Kagura through the facility's communication screens, sneered coldly.
"You know nothing of the Serpent's true power. That arrogance of yours—it'll be your undoing. It's only a matter of time before it devours you."
"Heh... so you're out of tricks, then?"
Unfazed by the threat, Kagura casually tore open the armored door leading to Divine City Pharmaceuticals' central lab.
"If you've got any trump cards left, I'd use them now. Otherwise, you're going to regret holding back."
"You really think Divine City is all there is to the Serpent? How naive."
Raven didn't sound angry or panicked—only dismissive.
"It doesn't matter anymore. What's left here are just failed experiments and dying husks.
Even if I handed them to you on a silver platter—what difference would it make?"
Her voice dipped into a condescending tone.
"Do you really think… you can save Rita?"
Kagura didn't reply.
Instead, she pushed open the final firewall door and stepped into the research hall where Rita was held.
This—was the end of the line.
Before her stood a vast, gray, circular chamber.
Its walls were reinforced with some kind of special alloy, perhaps to contain rampaging test subjects… or to keep intruders like her out.
Apart from the standard research terminals and comms equipment.
The room was dominated by a series of cylindrical pods surrounding the perimeter—and a massive central pod connected to a tangle of wires and tubes, standing ominously in the center of the hall.
It was clear now: this was where World Serpent had been developing and refining their bio-weapons all along.
Kagura scanned the room, instinctively covering her nose and mouth.
The scene was eerily similar to the one she had encountered at the entrance to the industrial sector: blood splattered across the floor, mutilated limbs scattered everywhere.
The corpses of dead soldiers and broken advanced weaponry littered the ground, suggesting an intense battle had taken place not long ago.
Judging from the equipment, these pods had once housed artificial Honkai creatures like the "Death Weavers."
But now…
Kagura's gaze narrowed as she peered inside the pods—and her expression instantly darkened.
Perhaps for the first time in her life, Kagura felt true rage—a white-hot fury that made her want to tear the culprits to pieces.
What she saw was a direct affront to humanity, a grotesque violation she would never forgive.
Inside the pods were not monsters—but the captured and gravely injured Valkyries of the "Immortal Blades" unit.
"Tch… You World Serpent bastards really have no shame."
Her eyes locked onto the massive central pod—where a girl floated in suspension, her body bound by countless cables and robotic arms.
It only took a second to recognize her.
Rita Rossweisse—vice captain of the Immortal Blades.
She was in terrible shape.
Deep cuts and bruises covered her body, and her left arm looked severely mangled.
Even her Valkyrie armor, the Hunter Suit: Shadowsteel, was battered and misshapen.
But these physical injuries paled in comparison to what was being done to her now.
The cables embedded in her flesh were pulsing with Honkai energy—evidence that World Serpent was forcefully pumping her full of Honkai activators.
Her body was beginning to glow with crimson lines—a telltale sign of Honkai overload, the precursor to full Deadwalker transformation.
Yet despite everything, Rita's beautiful and refined face showed only faint pain, with a calm, almost serene expression—unbelievably composed for someone in her situation.
"Ah… Miss Kagura… you've arrived... quite late…"
Rita slowly opened her blood-red eyes and spoke with a weak smile.
"If you'd come much later… I might've ended up your enemy…"
"Miss Rita, just hang on a little longer. I'll get you out of there."
Kagura's voice was tight, fists clenched with fury, a blazing fire of righteous anger building inside her.
"I'm getting all of you out of here. Every last Valkyrie."
"…Thank you, Miss Kagura…"
Rita smiled faintly, graceful as ever despite the situation.
"…But… I fear it's already too late. I don't want to trouble Lady Durandal. Becoming a Deadwalker… would be far too disgraceful…"
"So please… while I still have my mind…"
"…Kill me."
"No. I refuse."
Kagura's golden eyes locked onto Rita's.
"Live. That's an order."
"Tch, laughable! Save them? You think you can?"
A sneering voice rang out as the holographic screen in the lab flickered to life. Raven's face appeared, filled with disdain.
"This is your punishment, Kagura," she spat. "Even if you tore through all our defenses, you still can't save those Valkyries."
Her expression twisted into that of a victor.
"How does it feel, Kagura? That crushing sense of helplessness?" Raven mocked. "Sure, you shattered our weapons, ripped through our lines… and for what?"
"Everything you've done is meaningless.
If you're so desperate to witness their end, then do the honors yourself.
Go ahead.
Kill the very people you came to save. Must be agony, right? Must be despairing."
"…Despair?" Kagura's voice was calm—too calm. "No. The ones who should be despairing… are you."
She stood her ground, eyes fixed on Raven's image, her face expressionless as she raised her right hand.
"When I took down Kevin Kaslana… I still had a sliver of hope for people like you."
"Maybe, just maybe, you truly wanted to fight the Honkai. To build a better future for this world."
"Maybe you were misled. Maybe you weren't truly evil. Maybe… there was still a chance you could turn back toward the light."
"…But I was wrong."
Color surged across Kagura's body—iridescent veins of rainbow light shimmered across her skin as she invoked the full might of the Infinity Stones.
Red. Blue. Green. Yellow. Orange. Purple.
Each hue glowed in succession, converging on the back of her right hand—where the embedded Stones now pulsed with immense, divine power.
Crystalline fragments of the Infinity Stones manifested, one after another, each one blazing with unstoppable energy.
"No one has ever made me this furious," Kagura said, voice trembling with raw wrath. "No one has ever made me want to kill this badly."
"So goodbye… you filthy remnants of World Serpent."
'SNAP.'
With a sharp snap of her fingers, Kagura whispered:
"No more World Serpent."