52 Negotiate

Himeko contacted Theresa, who was currently in St. Freya Academy, via virtual screen communication.

The call quickly connected, but before Himeko could even speak, Theresa beat her to it and she yelled with a complaining tone.

"Himeko! Why did you use the Hyperion to go to Nagazora City without my permission? According to the data, the concentration of Honkai Energy there is very high and there is also a high possibility that a Herrscher has been born, do you really want to die, huh!? A-rank Valkyrie, Murata Himeko?"

After listening to Theresa's complaint, Himeko fell silent, but she still felt a little touched that Theresa was worried about her.

She then said with a calm tone, "Well… a Herrscher was indeed born, and she is less than fifty meters away from me right now."

"What!?"

Theresa was taken aback, and just when she was about to say something, she noticed a change on the communication screen.

"This time's Honkai Eruption that happened right now is a little bit special. You should ask him about the specifics, Headmaster Theresa. I hope you can convince her to give everyone a satisfactory outcome."

Himeko said before looking over to Kouro and motioned for him to stand in front of the virtual communication screen.

Walking over to stand in front of the virtual screen, Kouro looked at Theresa who was sitting in a rather luxurious chair. She is currently wearing a nun's attire. Theresa also observed Kouro whose clothes were torn and is resting the Nitro Crystal Greatsword on his shoulder (Alloy Gluttony has been placed back in Inventory), quite unlike a normal high school student from her memory at all.

After a moment of silence, Kouro was the first to speak and explained calmly, "…Good Afternoon, Principal Theresa. I'm Kouro, the one you met last time when you came to the boys' dormitory of Tachikawa Academy to check about Kiana's condition. Long story short, I evacuated the students and teachers to a safe place, eliminated a large, if not most, number of Honkai Beasts and Zombies that have been corrupted by the Honkai Energy due to the Honkai Eruption, and helped evacuate a majority of the citizens.

Kouro continued, "Regarding Kiana, you don't need to worry about her, she is still alive and has not experienced any life-threatening situations. The person who has turned into a Herrscher is my and Kiana's friend, she is very kind, I hope you can give her special treatment."

(E/D: Talk about bluntness. Straightforwardness to the max!)

"…"

Theresa fell silent. Kouro revealed too much information in a single sentence, and she was a little lost for a while. Kiana not being dead is undoubtedly good news for her, though.

Then, Kouro mentioned something about him eliminating most of the Honkai Beasts and Zombies in Nagazora City. While that may sound unbelievable, the details can be questioned later.

He also said that the 3rd Herrscher has not hurt anyone this time.

Could it be someone of the same type as the 1st Herrscher(Welt Joyce)?

(E/D: For those who don't know. Welt Joyce is the First Generation Herrscher of Reason, which is the 1st Herrscher's Title. While on the brink of death, Welt Joyce gave a young man, who was accompanying him at that time, his Herrscher Core which transferred Joyce's Herrscher Powers to the young man. The young man back then is the Second Generation Herrscher of Reason, named Welt Yang. The Third Generation is Bronya.)

Unlike Himeko, Theresa, as the granddaughter of the Shicksal Overseer, Otto Apocalypse, she has a very high authority capable of accessing the Shicksal's secret database, that's why she knows that the First Herrscher also stood by the side of Humanity to fight against the Honkai.

Although the current First Herrscher, Herrscher of Reason, is also a dangerous enemy for Shicksal, currently.

So Kouro's statement about the 3rd Herrscher wasn't much of a surprise to Theresa. If the 3rd Herrscher could also join Humanity to fight off the Honkai, then this was naturally a good thing.

What she is really concerned about is where the 3rd Herrscher wouldn't really hurt others or was it just temporary.

If the Third Herrscher was allowed to move freely without any restrictions, then once the other party suddenly decided to attack…

Theresa had grasped the current situation of Nagazora City from Himeko and Kouro's words and learned that it wasn't too critical, she thought calmly for a while before raising her head to look at Kouro and asked.

"What exactly do you mean by 'special treatment'?"

"Let's talk about your follow-up operation to this large-scale Honkai Eruption first, Principal Theresa."

Theresa remained silent for a moment and then said, "Nagazora City should naturally be abandoned. The concentration of Honkai Energy there is already very high, and it is no longer suitable for ordinary people to survive there unless the concentration drops and returns to normal. As for the residents who have been safely evacuated, we are already very experienced in dealing with this type of situations, so there won't be any problems.

Theresa continued, "As for you and Kiana, both of you had reached sufficient qualification and have personally experienced a Honkai Eruption. Are you willing to become a student of St. Freya Academy and work hard to protect and save other people from disasters like this in the future?"

The petite Theresa, this time, spoke seriously and displayed the attitude a principal should have.

Kouro didn't immediately accept Theresa's proposal, but instead talked about Herrscher Mei first, "I can accept your invitation, but first, what would happen to Mei, someone you call the 3rd Herrscher?"

"Our St. Freya Academy can accommodate the 3rd Herrscher, but we need to set some conditions."

Theresa hesitated for a moment before gritting her teeth and stating her conditions, "Before we determine whether the 3rd Herrscher is truly harmless, we will put a 'shackle' on her and place it near her heart…"

Kouro interrupted Theresa's words and stated, "My request her is to rule out the so-called 'shackles' from Mei"

Theresa raised her eyebrows after hearing this and asked Himeko, who is beside Kouro, what really happened. Himeko just sighed and repeated what Kouro told her earlier to Theresa.

After a while, after listening to Himeko's explanation, Theresa, who was silent during the explanation, stared at Kouro and said, "Even if you said you guarantee the 3rd Herrscher's behaviors, it is not enough for me to completely trust her."

"Then please believe in me, if Mei really wants to destroy the world one day, then I would be the first one to stand up and stop her. And so far, Herrscher Mei has not taken any behavior that indicates her destructive nature, I'm not a bastard who would raise his hands at a girl. A kind-hearted person like Mei is at risk just because the odds are slim." Kouro said sincerely.

"…"

Noticing Theresa's silence, Kouro continued, "The 'shackles' you mentioned should be something that would threaten Mei's life, right? If the device falls into the hands of criminals, Mei will be in serious danger. Is that the kind of future you hoped for Principal Theresa?"

"However, what you say now has little chances of happening." Seeing that Theresa was still against him and hadn't agreed to his request, Kouro went silent for a moment and then closed his eyes before opening them again, but this time, his eyes turned into a bright purple light.

Kouro then said in a slightly distorted, deep and calm voice, "Let me tell you a possibility, no, a future. A future that would happen if you refused my request. I will team up with Mei, the 3rd Herrscher, to capture Major Himeko and take Kiana hostage, then forcibly take over Hyperion that is in the sky before we negotiate or even fight head-to-head. Do you want to give it a try?" he threatened

(E/D: I was imagining this scene while editing it. But no matter how I try, Sung Jinwoo always overlaps with Kouro's image.)

Kouro's statement startled Himeko, and she immediately became alert, but before she could make a move, Kouro had already stretched his hand and held Himeko tightly. The Valkyrie couldn't even put up a decent fight.

After many battles, Kouro still had the power to instantly suppress an A-rank Valkyrie, who was caught off guard, despite having several bruises all over his body, or did Himeko, who was also very experienced, suddenly forget how to fight?

Watching how the situation suddenly escalated, how will Theresa handle it?