Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

"Is Dr. Tesla a bit too happy? Did a couple of whippings really do the trick?"

Kiana eyed her tendrils, contemplating whether she should take lessons from Noldrei on proper whipping techniques. She possessed similar abilities but had never subjected anyone to such… thorough discipline. Dr. Tesla, on the other hand, seemed to relish the Emperor's… attention, exclusively receiving his… corrective measures.

Besides Noldrei, no one else seemed capable of… motivating her.

"Never mind Dr. Tesla. I'm wondering if I have any value besides housekeeping," Raiden Mei murmured, a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes. She seemed to have foreseen her inevitable fate: unemployment.

"Mei, don't worry. You can still be my My Little Pony, and I can ride you around town!"

Noldrei offered comforting words, suggesting an even better career path.

"That's right! I can be a pony!" Mei's eyes lit up, as if she had found…

"Shut the hell up! You damned beast! Always thinking about riding ponies! Is there something wrong with your brain?! Mei! Snap out of it!" Kiana's outburst jolted Mei back to reality.

"But… I don't have anything else I want to do. School is pointless now, housekeeping will soon be obsolete… all that's left is to find another job."

Mei hadn't considered becoming a Valkyrie.

In fact, none of the three girls had initially aspired to be Valkyries. But the imminent arrival of a new wave of "Valkyries" in Academy City was… unsettling.

Imagine the daily greetings:

"You're a Valkyrie too? What a coincidence! Me too!"

"How many times have you transitioned this year?"

"Not many. You?"

"Twelve times! Once a month!"

Bronya couldn't help but imagine these future "Valkyrie" interactions. She decided it was best to avoid the Valkyrie title altogether. You never knew if the Valkyries in the Valkyrie dorms were actually female Valkyries.

Bronya admitted it: she was a stubborn, conservative relic of the old world, a cowardly hypocrite.

Cyberpunk? The future? Bronya politely declined.

Thanks to Noldrei, she now knew the true nature of that future.

Bronya wasn't the only one feeling uneasy. Another pharmaceutical company operating in Academy City shared her sentiment.

Heliopolis Life Sciences.

Thanks to Noldrei's… interventions, they could no longer study Honkai outside of Nagazora City. The world beyond was eerily silent, the possibility of Honkai manifestation completely locked down by Noldrei. Any life that touched Honkai perished. The only source of Honkai now resided within those… bugs.

But what good was that? Humanity was completely isolated from Honkai.

Heliopolis Life Sciences had been tirelessly researching how Noldrei had locked down human Honkai adaptability, but genetic manipulation wasn't easily deciphered. They weren't Dr. MEI reborn, nor were they geniuses like Mobius.

The end result…

More bodies in the sewers.

Heliopolis Life Sciences had long endured ethical criticism, their genetic research constantly under fire.

However, there was always someone… more extreme.

Noldrei's minor experiment had sent the world into chaos. The free skin color potion, something Heliopolis wouldn't dare develop, was casually unleashed upon North America.

What spirit was this? The spirit of unrestrained human freedom!

"How is the living Stigmata research progressing?"

Kleu, a dark-skinned beauty with a fondness for Anubis masks adorned with animal ears, clearly shared a certain… aesthetic sensibility with Noldrei.

Since arriving in Academy City, she'd been immersed in Noldrei's living Stigmata research, developing a deep admiration for him from afar.

If not for her position as a World Serpent executive, Kleu would have likely presented her research to Noldrei and begged to be his adopted daughter.

"We can clone it, but for some reason, we keep encountering errors when trying to write new abilities using genetic information. It's incredibly intricate, almost as if it's naturally occurring. We can't easily crack the genetic code. It's as if it actually evolved in this world, like it was born through natural procreation."

Kleu had heard this from her research assistants countless times.

Heliopolis Life Sciences, ostensibly under World Serpent, had become a fan club for "Tesla." They were awestruck by the Herrscher's power. This was the strongest scientist in human history.

Some had even formed a Dr. Tesla fan club.

They saw Tesla as a kindred spirit, a fellow scientist who disregarded ethics in pursuit of knowledge.

"I knew the Herrscher's power would be incredible, but I didn't expect Tesla to be this powerful. Like the legendary… Shub-Niggurath."

Jackal marveled at Tesla's might, then a startling thought occurred to her.

"Wait… isn't Tesla's name… Nikola? Could she be… the legendary Black Goat of the Woods? Shub-Niggurath… Tesla?"

Her research assistant found the idea absurd. Everyone knew Dr. Tesla had worked for Anti-Entropy. What connection could she have with a fiction writer?

But then the assistant remembered something. H.P. Lovecraft was a contemporary of Tesla, and Tesla hadn't aged a day past her eighties.

This gave the World Serpent executive pause. Especially since many of them had experimented with the living Stigmata armor, entering the Kaslana Stigmata space.

Several had encountered the legendary large-eyed tentacle monster.

This, coupled with the bubble-like lifeforms that had appeared during Tesla's aerial battles, fueled Kleu's suspicions. World Serpent had monitored Tesla, and the battle footage had been… alarming.

Kleu wasn't just guessing. She had a theory.

She believed Academy City housed at least two of the legendary "Three Pillars."

This was why Heliopolis Life Sciences had remained quiet. Lovecraft's Three Pillars were immensely powerful, and they didn't want to attract unwanted attention.

Jackal had initially believed Honkai was the greatest threat remaining from the previous era. But witnessing Honkai's eradication from the world had changed her perspective.

World Serpent was no match for this power. Their backing wasn't as strong as they thought.

So, Jackal Kleu shifted World Serpent's strategy, opting for a more… passive approach.

She was certain no pharmaceutical company was more compliant than theirs.

Then she remembered something important.

"Have we paid our taxes to the Council this year?"

Her assistant replied cautiously, "Yes, ma'am. Everything has been taken care of."