"Commander."
"Hm?"
At the second seat to the left of the already collapsed conference table, a young man with rimless glasses and a consistently amiable, squinting-eyed expression spoke up.
"We have a way to remedy this."
Yukmion, the Cyclops' intelligence officer and chief of staff, one of the Divine Machine pilots, his strength within the regiment second only to Kuklops.
"Remedy?"
"The progress of the remaining test subjects won't meet the client's requirements. You should be clearer on this than anyone."
Towards his right-hand man, Kuklops's attitude softened considerably.
"No."
"I'm not referring to those 'humans'."
Yukmion took out a phone-like device from his combat uniform pocket and lightly pressed a spot resembling a screen—
"Beep!"
On the wall behind Kuklops, all the images were refreshed, their clarity a whole tier higher than the previous ones.
"This is belated external support."
"To be precise, it's data obtained from that mysterious satellite."
Kuklops frowned. "How did you get it?"
"Commander."
Yukmion spread his hands.
"'We' are, after all, comrades fighting against the Honkai. Although in the eyes of those above, our importance is far less than theirs, when needed… this small request shouldn't be something they'd hide or conceal."
"Nominally, after all, we all report to the same top boss."
Honkai energy would obstruct a satellite's remote imaging and information exchange.
The only thing capable of detailed reconnaissance of Honkai-occupied territories was the satellite "Unnamed," created by Vill-V using the Herrscher Core of the eliminated Fourth Herrscher, the Herrscher of Wind, and currently orbiting in near-Earth orbit—compared to its task of continuously repairing the world destroyed by the Herrscher of Finality over the next fifty thousand years, the current use of the Fourth Key of God could only be described as a gross underutilization of its capabilities.
That being said.
This "minor use" still provided Fire Moth with a large amount of detailed and reliable intelligence.
At the same time, to prevent accidents (after all, things Vill-V made were generally reliable, but also not that reliable), although the Fourth Key of God was constantly collecting Earth data, access rights were controlled by a very small number of people.
To be able to obtain intelligence from Fire Moth, even if it was somewhat outdated, was enough to show that Yukmion really had some skills…
Perhaps even red and yellow colored ones.
————
Kuklops turned around.
His stern gaze shifted to the newly appeared image data, which recorded all the battle scenes of Lu Xing fighting the Honkai Beast group led by the Knight Captain in the city.
"Detailed intelligence on that Great Universe?"
"Correct."
"That fellow has a grudge against the Leader-class Knight Captain?" Kuklops asked without turning his head, looking at the images.
"Undoubtedly."
"Although Variants act erratically, from the scene, it's a confirmed fact that the two sides are hostile."
Yukmion's gaze also sharpened.
"An opportunity, Commander."
"Both of them are excellent experimental materials."
"Whether it's that Knight Captain with its strange attributes, or this bizarrely acting Great Universe, their research value is definitely no less than the test subjects we are currently working on."
"The Knight-class's strength might make capture somewhat difficult; but judging from the previous battle situation, this Great Universe… we have a good chance."
"…No."
Kuklops shook his head.
"Don't these two fellows love to fight?"
"Then we'll create enough opportunities for them to fight on an 'even footing.' When both sides are exhausted…"
Kuklops slowly clenched his fist again.
"I want them all!"
"But we've already lost 'Heimdall.' If the damage they inflict on each other doesn't reach the desired level…"
Yukmion had just voiced his objection when he was interrupted by his commander—
"If that's the case."
"Yukmion, then it's time to use your connections to find some reliable reinforcements… isn't it?"
"…Understood."
————
Several days ago.
Fire Moth, Biological Research Institute.
In a transparent coffin containing a viscous gel, a nude woman floated within.
Apart from her consciousness not having awakened, all vital signs indicated that this body's health far surpassed that of an ordinary person—her constantly drifting, ink-blue-green long hair was perhaps the only part that looked unusual.
"Hiss."
A heavy protective door opened 15 meters away.
A "boy," refined but severely lacking in expression, or rather, constantly maintaining a pursed-lip expression, walked in wearing a white lab coat that was clearly two sizes too big.
"Mr. 'Ra'."
The newcomer greeted the man who was blended with the room's shadows, hands behind his back, seemingly lost in thought.
"Mr. Klein…"
Deep nasolabial folds were as clearly etched on the stern face as if carved by a knife and axe.
Fine yet thick black short hair, a square, imposing face that naturally commanded respect—one glance was enough to understand that the man before him was definitely a person of high standing.
However, Klein didn't seem to show any particular reaction.
In fact.
The researchers at the Biological Research Institute generally wouldn't show any particular reaction to anyone except lab rats (referring to Fusion Soldiers) and bellwethers (a certain current onee-san).
The man codenamed "Ra" clearly understood this.
"How is my daughter?"
"Dead."
"…I mean, I need a more specific explanation."
The man's composure was clearly quite remarkable. An ordinary person, "choked" like this, would definitely have the impulse to flay the other party with a knife.
"Explanation?"
"Oh."
Klein walked towards the coffin under the spotlight without any hesitation—a female body was less interesting than the structure of a Honkai Beast—glanced at the data projected above, then took out a paper report tucked under his arm and looked at it.
Klein knew there was a "corpse" lying here, but he hadn't paid much attention before being called over.
He had many experiments to conduct, and a little ancestor to serve.
"Physically unharmed, spiritually deceased."
"Mr. 'Ra' should have already seen the detailed data report."
"I don't think you'd understand it anyway. In short, Miss Xiū's spiritual consciousness has completely subsided. With current biomedical means, it's definitely impossible to bring her back completely intact."
"Vegetative state?"
"Completely different concept from a vegetative state."
Facing "Ra's" question, Klein denied it outright.
"You must be somewhat aware of the effects of a Honkai energy engine explosion—for civilized beings, it's a dual annihilation of both body and spirit."
"For Miss Xiū's body to be so intact."
"Neither destroyed by the explosion's shockwave nor infected by Honkai energy, is already quite miraculous."
"No…"
Klein's gaze continued to sweep over the data.
"Actually, it's not beyond expectations."
"After all, you implanted a [Pseudo-Simulated Core] in your daughter's body, didn't you?"