Upon hearing the Herrscher's alleged identity, the group was unsure of what to say as they were fairly shocked.

Alex noticed out of the corner of his eye that Owl not only looked shocked, buy seemed to have a rather pained expression.

He thought it was a little odd but decided to think nothing of it.

"A Schicksal Valkyrie is the Herrscher?" Asked Raven who was a little doubtful.

"We were surprised but as well until we found out what actually happened. Last year, Ana Schariac was made squad leader of another group called Snow Lotus and they were stationed at Coral Island. She became a Herrscher during an eruption. Records show that she tried to fight the infection but ultimately failed. Ana would leave after killing all of her teammates. We believe she still held onto a small piece of her humanity during that time." Explained Avitr.

"Hmm...............that must've been why she encased herself in ice." Said Owl.

"We've also found frozen areas with massive amounts of Honkai Energy at the site of her birth. Despite having yet to officially learn of her powers, we've decided to officially dub the 5th Herrscher as, The Herrscher of Ice."

"Well, we've personally experienced her powers first hand so you hit the name right on the nail. She indeed can control ice." Said Raven.

"Have you battled the Herrscher then already?"

"Well, there was an attempt but it held us at bay and brought up three ice pillars as a blockade, allowing it to escape." Said Alex.

"She can also make the air around her become freezing cold and extremely powerful. Definitely gonna be a nuisance to deal with." Added Raven.

"We'll find a way to neutralize her." Said Mei.

"Understood. I'll inform my squad leader about it. Thanks for the assistance. Godspeed and good luck!" Cheerfully said Alvitr as she ended the call.

As she did, Mei walked ahead of the group, clearly wanting to get going.

"We need to keep moving and end this crisis as soon as possible." She said.

The group would look up to the sky as a hazy fog/mist was slowly beginning to envelop it, meaning the bitterly cold climate and air was beginning to spread to other parts of the area.

"Looks like time is against us. We better get moving." Said Owl as the group would continue their journey.

Despite not knowing what time it was, it felt like an hour had passed as soon the group came across a worn out sign that said that they had entered Coral's business district.

In the middle of the street sat a heating stove unattended and seeing as that no beasts were nearby, the group decided to warm up a bit as the cold was really starting to get to them.

After fumbling around for a bit, Raven would turn on the machine as it whirred to life, the orange lights turning on as a solid area around them was enveloped with warm air as the group all had a sigh of relief.

"The signals we had set up beforehand showed that the Herrscher was coming to the business district before they got disabled. The last report we got was that she had spawned in a bunch of monsters along her path. Those beasts themselves are also creating extremely cold areas that would kill ordinary humans. We gotta take them down before we get the Herrscher." Said Raven.

"If we get to the Herrscher then what? We're gonna need a plan or else she'll bolt off again." Said Owl.

"Yeah. Jackal's weapon will be crucial."

"What exactly even is this weapon Jackal gave you?" Asked Mei out of curiosity as Alex was also curious as to why it was so important.

Owl would pull it out as he spoke.

"It's called the Scepters of Duat. Jackal's explanation was rather confusing so to put it simply, it can severely hamper how much Honkai Energy a Herrscher can output from their core. Because the connection between the core and host would be interfered with, what the Herrscher will be able to do would be severely limited without killing her as well. On its own the limiter doesn't last long, but if you're to severely wound and weaken the Herrscher of Ice beforehand, then the effects would last longer, allowing us to bring her to the Sire who'll then seal her away. With no powers, the Herrscher would enter into a coma, effectively being harmless." Explained Owl.

Alex and Mei kept quiet, fully processing the information and getting the full picture of how things were gonna play out.

Owl would remember who exactly was present with them as he cleared his throat and looked at Mei.

"I'm sorry. What I just said may sound cruel, especially to a Herrscher like you." He said.

The Thunder Herrscher was surprised by this as Raven chuckled a bit.

"Cruel? Since when did you become a nice person?" She said with a slight smirk.

"I'm just making sure okay? We do have a Herrscher on our team after all." Said Owl as Alex responded this time.

"Don't worry about it she doesn't care. She's completely heartless after all." He said.

Owl awkwardly looked at him as Raven's smirk quickly went away.

Mei once again had a small reaction, this time wanting to do something about it as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Al-."

Before she could even finish saying his name, the boy slapped his hand away and quickly faced her.

"What? Got something to say? Then say it. Say it right now." Said Alex in a pissed off tone as he got right into Mei's face.

The tension was extremely palpable between the two as neither spoke any further.

This stand off would be ended as Raven cleared her throat, clearly telling the two to knock it off as Alex just sighed and faced forward once more while also scooting away from Mei.

"Anyways, it's clear what we'll do so here's the plan. Mei and Alex will both engage and take on the Herrscher up front. We'll engage her doing what we do best." Said Raven.

"Yeah. I'm on board with that." Said Owl.

"No objections here." Said Alex who despite wanting no part in teaming up with Mei, knew he had to put personal feelings aside.

"Good. We'll first have to find the Herrscher. Since the Honkai Energy and freezing winds have disabled our sensors, we'll have to simply go off of what our eyes see. I'll find a vantage point to locate the target and provide long range assistance." Said Raven.

"Once we locate the Herrscher, I'll set up a trap with the Scepters with Mei and Alex leading the Herrscher to said trap." Said Owl as Mei nodded, though Owl then had an expression that showed that he was second guessing himself.

"Then again, this Herrscher used to be a highly trained Valkyrie. A human might easily see through this trap." He said.

"That's if she was still human. Remember what we saw back in the city district. She couldn't even speak and was purely acting on destructive instinct." Said Raven.

"She's definitely a unique case. The Ex-Valkyrie's body may be thoroughly corrupted, but her mind may still be resisting its influence. She appeared mindless because her mind was still fighting against the Herrscher's persona for control over her body. If the Herrscher persona had completely taken over, we would've been seeing something completely different." Said Mei as Alex knew she was completely telling the two.

After all, they knew first hand due to seeing how Kiana had been mentally battling from within to prevent Sirin completely taking over her body.

That was when Alex realized something, the coincidental truth behind all this as he quietly chuckled to himself.

'Well isn't this ironic. This is the same deal as with Kiana, only this time we're on the other side of the fence. Instead of being the defenders, we're now the aggressors.'

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Chapter 5: Complete