Boom boom boom boom boom----!!!
The temporary base Cocolia had chosen, much like ME Corp in the early morning hours, had devolved into a terrifying battlefield with fierce fighting.
The roar of missile explosions echoed continuously, causing the entire temporary base to shake violently as Titan mech after Titan mech toppled.
"Are you insane, Gray Serpent?! I'm Cocolia, an Executive of Anti-Entropy! The one who will soon become the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy! You dare betray me at a time like this?!"
Although Cocolia didn't possess the formidable strength of a Valkyrie, she had served as a front-line soldier charging into battle before becoming an Anti-Entropy Executive.
Even if a life of comfort had dulled her senses, when faced with a life-or-death crisis, and with Bronya's warning, Cocolia still managed to desperately shift her vital points out of the bullet's path.
However, a bullet fired by Gray Serpent still pierced her lower back. Crimson blood continuously gushed from the wound, staining her green military coat a dark, somber color.
Cocolia clutched the bullet wound in her abdomen, her body contorted in agony, her forehead beaded with cold sweat, and an expression of utter disbelief on her face.
Her voice filled with fury, she questioned Gray Serpent, who had appeared silently behind her and inexplicably opened fire. She couldn't comprehend why her erstwhile ally, with whom she shared mutual interests, had suddenly shot her in the back.
"A foolish question. Is that all your wisdom and vision can amount to?... Your failure to execute the plan in Nagazora City has rendered you devoid of any value for the Serpent to utilize or support. On the contrary, having drawn Schicksal's attention and being on the verge of returning to Anti-Entropy's conservative faction, you've become an obstacle to World Serpent's operations in the shadows."
As Gray Serpent calmly delivered Cocolia's death sentence, he never stopped pulling the trigger.
However, with Bronya's support, Project Bunny 19C materialized from the void, resolutely shielding Cocolia and blocking Gray Serpent's bullets for the injured woman.
"---Huh? Just because there's a risk I might leak intelligence, you're going to eliminate me? Gray Serpent, you bastard... you really look down on me, don't you!!"
Upon hearing Gray Serpent's reply, Cocolia's breath hitched. Immediately, an endless rage surged within her. Due to her extreme anger, the rate at which blood seeped from her abdominal wound suddenly accelerated severalfold.
The subtext of Gray Serpent's words was undoubtedly a lack of faith in Cocolia's ability to keep World Serpent's secrets, and a disdainful view of her as an easily replaceable pawn.
How could this not infuriate the proud Cocolia?
However, because she had been in a state of impotent rage, Cocolia's blood loss quickened, and she soon began to feel her body grow heavy... Gray Serpent's words might have been intentionally uttered to provoke her into losing her composure.
Thanks to Cocolia, the mole, World Serpent had acquired Anti-Entropy's Titan mech manufacturing technology.
And the Titan mech units now endlessly pouring out from behind Gray Serpent, steadily devouring Cocolia's remaining Titan mechs, were yet another fatal bullet Cocolia had, in the past, fired at her present self.
"Should we retreat, or hold our ground here and wait for support from the conservative faction?"
Project Bunny fired a powerful, orange-yellow positron cannon beam from its barrel, annihilating a group of Titan mechs that had breached the defensive line and were closing in on Cocolia. Bronya, her balance somewhat off due to the damaged exoskeleton on one leg, floated somewhat lamely as she slowly approached Cocolia's side, asking for a decision.
Beneath Bronya's usual calm expression, her nerves were stretched to their absolute limit.
Cocolia's Titan mech forces had already been decimated by Schicksal's Immortal Blades, while Gray Serpent's side was fully prepared and at peak strength.
Even though Project Bunny 19C's performance far surpassed that of the Titan mechs and could buy some time, even Bronya had no confidence in achieving victory.
Her only options were to try her utmost to escape, or to resist with all her might and wait for the Anti-Entropy conservative faction support Cocolia mentioned to arrive in time. She also had to pray that said support would be strong enough to help defeat these Titan mechs.
But when did reality ever grant wishes so easily?
Bronya's heart was currently filled with gloomy thoughts. She had just barely managed to rally her spirits after Cocolia's pie-in-the-sky promises, only for Gray Serpent to pull this stunt. Just when she had seen a glimmer of hope again, she was once more facing the threat of death. She was on the verge of sinking into deep despair.
The disheartening thought was fleeting. Bronya's instincts as a world-class assassin allowed her to quickly readjust her mental state, racking her brains for a solution to the current predicament.
"...We can only choose to hold our ground here. I hope the person Tesla finds to support me is strong enough. Otherwise, we'll probably all die here."
Cocolia gritted her teeth. She could no longer feel the pain from the wound in her lower back; her body felt somewhat light and floaty.
In her current condition, attempting to escape under the heavy blockade of Titan mechs would only hasten her death.
Upon appearing, Gray Serpent had dispatched Titan mechs to seal off all exits and had implemented strong signal jamming within the temporary base. Cocolia could no longer send out distress signals.
Fortunately, she had already revealed the base's address to Dr. Tesla. To guard against pursuit by Schicksal's Valkyrie units, Tesla should dispatch a powerful helper.
As long as she could hold out until support arrived, Cocolia still had a hope of survival.
"Cocolia knows too much. Death is the only path awaiting her. But Bronya... if you are willing to give up resistance, I can let you leave here alive."
Project Bunny 19C's firepower was too ferocious. With Bronya assisting, Gray Serpent couldn't kill Cocolia directly for the time being.
So, it lowered its gun and spoke persuasively to the expressionless Bronya.
If Bronya chose to leave, Gray Serpent, who could then complete the task of eliminating Cocolia more simply and directly, wouldn't mind doing Hare another favor.
Although Bronya's emotional centers in her brain were currently damaged, and her legs were crippled, at least she was alive and well, wasn't she?
Gray Serpent believed it hadn't broken its promise to Hare. However, if Hare herself learned of Bronya's current situation, her reaction might become somewhat... intense.
"..."
Faced with the enemy's almost laughable attempt at persuasion, Bronya remained unmoved, her small face cold. She silently manipulated Project Bunny 19C to increase its firepower output, taking particularly careful aim at Gray Serpent's position.
Bronya, an orphan, didn't even know her own mother's name, let alone the complex relationship between herself and Hare.
She directly dismissed Gray Serpent's words as trash talk intended to disrupt her composure.
"Alright, it seems you indeed share a deep mother-daughter bond with Cocolia and wish to accompany her to the Yellow Springs [underworld]... Very well, I can fulfill your wish."
Gray Serpent sighed with feigned sorrow, and the offensive from the Titan mech units behind it intensified twofold.
Killing Bronya here, in Gray Serpent's view, was not something it absolutely couldn't do.
Bronya, after all, was not Alexandra. Gray Serpent even dared to kill Alexandra in front of Hare, let alone Bronya, whom Hare had never actually met.
Hare's true purpose in cooperating with World Serpent was to use the power of the Stigma Project to rewrite her own information, thereby ending her immortal curse as a Stigma consciousness through a form of rebirth.
As long as Hare still possessed the desire for self-destruction, she would absolutely not completely fall out with Gray Serpent over Bronya's death.
Moreover, Hare was not essential to the Stigma Project. Hare's dream power was merely a form of end-of-life care for the old humans on Earth, allowing them to meet a tranquil death in beautiful dreams.
In Gray Serpent's opinion, whether the old humans died miserably in reality or unknowingly in sweet dreams made no difference.
As long as the Stigma Project could proceed normally.
"Siegfried will arrive here in approximately twenty-five minutes. Before he visits this place, I'll have more than enough time to kill all of you!"
Gray Serpent had monitored the conversation between Cocolia and Tesla. Through the surveillance network deployed across Nagazora City, it had detected Siegfried Kaslana rapidly approaching the temporary base from a corner of the city.
Siegfried had already awakened the Honkai beast factor within his body. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he had become a MANTIS [fusion soldier] of the current era.
Gray Serpent knew the power of a MANTIS better than anyone, especially since Siegfried carried the bloodline of World Serpent's Sovereign.
Once Siegfried arrived, it would truly have no more chance to eliminate Cocolia.
As time passed, Cocolia's already scarce Titan mechs were finally completely annihilated by the World Serpent mech units brought by Gray Serpent. Project Bunny 19C was forced to retreat continuously under the suppression of the World Serpent mechs.
Finally, under the bombardment of shells fired in unison by the mech units, Project Bunny crashed heavily onto the ground in front of Bronya, its silver-gray steel body shattering into scattering blue fragments.
"Project Bunny----!!"
Watching Project Bunny, finally overwhelmed by the sheer number of World Serpent mechs, completely disintegrate and return to a quantum state, even Bronya, who could no longer express emotions, let out a cry tinged with anxiety and urgency.
"This is the end. No one can obstruct the Serpent's will!!"
The last line of defense guarding Cocolia had completely crumbled. Gray Serpent, immensely satisfied, held its black umbrella and issued the annihilation command to the surrounding World Serpent mech units.
A dense barrage of shells filled the sky of the base, trailing blazing tails of flame as they sped towards the flesh-and-blood enemies.
"----That's not necessarily true!"
Just as Gray Serpent was brimming with confidence, and despair filled Bronya and Cocolia.
A clear, powerful young voice suddenly resounded.
Boom boom boom boom boom----!!!
Extremely sharp, deep blue ice crystals suddenly materialized in the sky, spinning rapidly to meet the shells burning with intense tail flames. They either successfully intercepted and detonated the shells in mid-air or froze them completely, halting their explosive trajectory and sending them plummeting to the ground encased in abyssal ice prisons.
The smoke screen kicked up by the exploding shells completely obscured the entire battlefield.
However, in the next instant, a viridescent hurricane swept out from the center of the battlefield, clearing away the smoke that concealed the true state of the battlefield and revealing the shift in the situation.
The appearance of this presence in the temporary base at such a critical moment undoubtedly rekindled the flames of hope in Cocolia's eyes.
Cocolia subconsciously looked towards the direction from which the voice had come. However, when the smoke from the shells completely dissipated.
The smile that had just begun to lift the corners of her mouth abruptly froze on her face.
"You are...?!"
Cocolia's eyes widened in astonishment, completely unprepared to see this person here.
"...Ren Amamiya?"
Gazing at the well-proportioned figure emerging from the storm, his black, wing-like trench coat rustling, his fluffy, curly hair topped by a white mask concealing his face, Bronya couldn't help but press her cool cherry lips together tightly.
"Ren Amamiya, and Raiden Mei too. To approach here so stealthily... I see, you used the power of Jizo Mitama."
Watching Ren Amamiya and Raiden Mei, who had silently bypassed his meticulously constructed defense network and easily infiltrated the temporary base, the crimson mechanical eyes beneath Gray Serpent's mask flickered twice. Its tone became somewhat gloomy.
The Key of Erosion, Jizo Mitama—its power to erode and control everything was simply too terrifying.
Especially for a mechanically augmented being like Gray Serpent, Jizo Mitama was like its natural enemy, a direct counter.
The moment Gray Serpent saw Ren Amamiya, it raised its guard to the highest level.
And when Gray Serpent saw the small, delicate, doll-like fox-eared shrine maiden, Higokumaru, floating by Ren Amamiya's shoulder, it decisively cut off the system connection with all other Gray Serpent individuals at the fastest possible speed.
It was terrified that the power of erosion would spread through itself and wipe out all Gray Serpent individuals in one fell swoop.
"I think I just heard you say 'Serpent'? Are you an evil god... Are you a believer of that 'Serpent'?"