***
"Sir Arwan, I…I would love to." She tried to be civilised. Not to fangirl in front of her Idol.
He rolled his eyes, his smile widening a touch. "I'll see you at base tomorrow then." He got up, putting the chair back where it was.
Extending his hand towards her. She grabs it, maybe a little too tightly. He pulls her up.
"Moth could use a great mind like yours. Especially if you can achieve what you did out there with scrap, imagine what you could do with resources." He pivoted and started walking.
He glanced back at her – held up his own card, a grin on his face, he tossed it up in the same fashion she did.
Rather than confetti, electrical sparks appeared, another holoscreen flickering to life, a blueprint was shown.
Vill glimpsed the blueprint, barely understanding it. What she did understand however made her body shiver. Her eyes flicked back to Thor, only for him to no longer be there.
"So Cool!" She ran off to collect her stuff before going to Moth. When she got back to her workshop she saw a pristine blueprint under a spotlight – It was the one Thor showed her.
She shifted in place, dozens of thoughts going through her mind.
***
"She seems like fun." Thor watched each of her reactions from the sideline, understanding her personality and drive.
–DOOOM–
The ground shook, His eyes snapped to the source. Aurora was engaged with the Emperor–class.
"How did she allow herself to get hurt that bad??" From what he did with her training wise, this should of been easy as fuck for her. It shouldn't have even taken a minute.
"What happened?" He made sure to check on Hua and luckily she hadn't seemed to notice Aurora's state, she was just taking in what she could.
He moved closer, he watched Aurora's movements and actions. She was doing everything right, leaving him confused.
'He reserves are low, but she still has more than the Honkai.' He searched for reasons for why her reserves were so low.
He noticed the changes in her sword, his eyes narrowed. "The blade seems to be transforming, adapting to her energy, gaining new properties. Huh. Seems I've found a new use for soulium."
The deer-like beast opened its mouth, a blinding light shot out hitting Aurora head on, she fell to the ground, badly injured but alive.
"You can move 20x the speed of sound, but you can't dodge an obvious light attack?"
He caught something. He snapped to Aurora, the honkai energy in her body started bubbling, growing, pulses of Honkai shot out brushing over everything around her.
"So that's when Alter comes out then?" While only recently. Aurora and Alter built enough trust to the point they wanted to be able to swap out.
This occurred after a talk the two had. Thor agreed to help them and even removed the suppression rune. They hadn't had any luck… Until now.
Almost teleporting to Hua, he grabbed her and retreated to a safe distance for her, casting a barrier on her body this time so she could move if needed. He also heightened her perception so she could see what was happening.
"Dr–What is this?? What happened to her?!" Being suddenly moved from her place and seeing Aurora on the ground, while also feeling different, being covered in a red light, she questioned Thor.
"Something she had been trying to achieve, impossible until now. Just watch," He noticed Hua was still concerned about Aurora's state.
"She'll be fine, this might actually be good for her development." He ruffled her hair causing her to squint and then nod.
***
Aurora's Mindscape
To say she was mad would be an insult to her. Alter just had to watch, watch Aurora be beaten like this. That last hit had been her breaking point. She gave up all restraint and approached the Herrscher core's representation and touched it.
She hadn't done this before as she didn't know what would happen, but seeing Aurora like that she had to do something.
The moment she touched it. She could feel it. Pain, alot of pain. She vanished and in her place Aurora appeared. Passed out and bloodied.
***
"Uggghh. Oww, that hurt like hell." She couldn't move much at the moment, but she was healing rapidly, she knew in a few seconds she would be fully healed, courtesy of the influx of energy by her emergence.
–Rumble–
Dark clouds covered the sky, blocking out the sun. Thunder resounded.
–Rumble–
Louder,
–Rumble– –Rumble–
More frequent,
–Rumble– –Rumble– –Rumble–
Until,
–Snap–
–PANG!–
A Massive bolt of Lightning struck Alter, bathing her in its light. A light brighter than that of the sun, blinding any who stared.
The light dimmed to reveal Alter ascended, a thunder cloak construct behind her, a representation of her power.
She raised the blade into the air. Another round of rumbles before being struck by lightning many different times. The blade's new appearance was revealed.
It couldn't even be called a blade anymore. It was now streamlined into an angular form, like that of a blend between a rifle and blade. Shades of Violet and black on its body. Radiating a pink energy near its muzzle and along the spine. A glowing core at the tip channels a vibrant pink hue.
A Honkai powered scope shimmered to life. Alter brought the now railgun down, slow and deliberate. Looking down the scope at the beast, now alerted to her state, charges their own attack.
Alter closed one eye, and face splitting evil grin.
It opened its mouth unleashing its beam of light.
"Repent" She pulled the trigger.
–BOOM-CRACK-KA-ZZHUM!–
A Honkai powered stream of lightning discharged from the front.
The two attacks met, rather than a beam struggle, Alter's attack pierced straight through the light, destroying the attack.
Her shot entered the beast's mouth disappearing within its body.
At first nothing happened,
Then it started,
–Thump–
It started to expand, its body bubbling on the surface, inflating and expanding to many times its size.
–POP–
Like a balloon it popped spreading chunks of it's body all over the place, most of it harmless. However, some of the large chucks crushed buildings under its weight.
–Sizzle–
The railgun sizzled, clearly needing time to cool down and recharge.
Alter let out a deep breath. She watched as the weapon's form shifted back into that of its blade from.
She inspected it for a few seconds before shrugging at sheathing it.
(A-Alter?) She heard Aurora in her head. It seems the positions have switched.
'Aurora? Are you okay? How do you feel?' Even though she asked her mentally the shifting expression on her face gave away her state of mind.
(Y–Yeah I think so… Why is it so bright here?)
Alter's brows relaxed, gaze melting into something tender. 'She's okay,' she thought.
She scanned the area for Hua as she knew she was nearby and found her and Thor outside the city.
She could see Thor waving at her. She could tell he knew she had taken control, so him waving at her means he's perfectly fine with it. Right?
A crackle of lightning later she appeared in front of him.
She looked up to him, seeing the small proud smile on his face.
Her heart raced, her legs quivered. A small blush forming on her cheeks. She wanted to hug him, but didn't have the courage.
She could clearly say bold things but couldn't follow up on them.
Her thoughts were written on her face and Thor understanding that spread his arms welcoming it.
A dangerous look formed on Alter's face as she rushed into him, hugging him as hard as she could. Rubbing her face into his chest.
Meanwhile, she ignored Aurora's mental shouts to stop it, however they became quiet when she constructed the sensation in their mind before putting it in front of Aurora. We can guess what happened next.
***
Thor chuckled and hugged her back, not nearly as tightly as she was hugging him but he made him give her the head pats she was asking for.
Hua off to the side, watched on, a little envious of their relationship. It reminded Hua of her and her own father before he was admitted to the hospital.
She quickly pushed it out of her mind and realised that saying anything now would be awkward to say the least. She also got a cold chill the moment she was about to, as if someone held a gun to her head.
So she just stood there and waited for them to finish whatever that was.
Fortunately after only 12 minutes and 41 seconds (She counted) Alter let go of Thor, her face a little flush, but nothing too noticeable.
Before either of the two could say anything Thor spoke first, "We'll talk later, for now let's get the two of you back. Especially you Hua, Himeko must be worried by now."
Hua twitched , remembering what Himeko did when she slept in all day after an exhausting mission. Himeko couldn't find her all day and was worried, it wasn't until Thor had told Himeko that Hua was in her room did she stop her warpath.
***