The Valkyrie Strike Team's Bucket-and-Run Incident (Continued)

That...

Sirin's gloomy and indifferent eyes looked at the Valkyrie before her.

Tsk, that leading Valkyrie seems to be a tough nut to crack—at least for her right now.

But the ones next to it were just average.

Thinking of this, several Void Lance immediately hovered in the air, like the Sword of Damocles suspended above the Valkyrie's head.

"Don't move, or I can't guarantee what might happen." A murderous glint flashed in Sirin's eyes.

A strong sense of crisis made the Valkyrie instinctively want to move, but they froze when they heard Sirin's words.

"... Captain?" All the team members looked at their captain.

The only person not threatened by the Void Lance was Ragna —because Sirin wasn't confident she could kill Ragna in one strike.

"I'm not kidding."

When Sirin saw the Valkyrie's movements, she couldn't help but feel a pang of panic—she recognized those eyes very well.

Many ants gave her that look back then.

Are these guys... a suicide squad?

"You don't want them all to die here, do you?"

Sirin had no doubt that if her leader gave the order, these Valkyrie, who held the power of life and death over her, would launch a desperate counterattack against her without hesitation.

Troublesome ants...

"... Take your time."

Ragna, holding his greatsword, stared at the dangerous-looking girl before him, while reassuring his teammates.

She could tell that the girl in front of her, who sent shivers down her spine, seemed to have some reservations.

Otherwise, they could have just killed them.

After all, in terms of aura alone, even she couldn't compare to the other party.

Having considered this, Ragna felt no longer uneasy and looked directly at the girl in front of him.

"... Your gaze annoys me."

Sirin looked displeased.

"I'm truly sorry." Ragna held the Hyper-Greatsword: King Cobra steadily while shifting his gaze to avoid further provoking the other party—although the other party didn't seem to have any intention of killing him at the moment, who knew if the other party might have a different idea in the next second.

The other party's sensible action made Sirin feel like she had punched cotton.

However, a dozen seconds later, a figure descended from the sky.

"..."

Joyce descended slowly, her expression unchanged as she looked at the Void Lance hovering above the Valkyrie, before turning her gaze to Sirin in the arena.

The situation is quite clear.

"Release them, then you can leave."

Joyce said it crisply and decisively.

"I'll leave? I'll leave if you hand over your Herrscher Core, and I can release these people too."

Joyce's indifferent attitude prompted Sirin to retort.

Upon hearing this, Joyce expressionlessly pulled out the Eden Star.

Are you dreaming?

"... Tsk."

Damn it! Do you even have any sense of reason?!

Sirin felt the strange gravity around her and her expression turned somewhat grim.

Having dealt with Joyce once ten years ago, she naturally knew what kind of freak Joyce was.

With the Eden Star in hand, this guy is basically equivalent to the Herrscher of Reason plus the pseudo- Herrscher of Earth... This analytical ability is simply unreasonable.

The two remained deadlocked— Sirin, though she was inclined to back down, was unwilling to give in.

Although Joyce's mission was to protect these Valkyrie, Sirin's demands were simply unacceptable.

In addition, the two lacked trust in each other, and each felt that the other would do something underhanded, so for a time they really got stuck in a stalemate.

"... Go ahead, I promise I won't stop you."

"You're just spouting nonsense. Do you think I'm a three-year-old?" Sirin said sarcastically.

"I can let you run, but when Siegfried comes back, he won't give you that option."

Joyce revealed a cruel reality with a blank expression, which immediately made Sirin's momentum falter.

... It has to be said that Welt's words hit Sirin where it hurt.

Sirin could also tell that although Joyce seemed ready to fight at the slightest provocation, he was definitely holding back because he hadn't yet made a move.

But if it were Siegfried... Siegfried wouldn't care about all that.

Siegfried embodies orderly good, but he's not a righteous saint without any moral boundaries—or rather, his experiences over the years have transformed Siegfried into a somewhat cold-hearted middle-aged man.

"... He regarded this body as his daughter, and this body's current name is 'Kiana'."

Sirin was somewhat resistant to the name Kiana, but not entirely.

After all, Sirin's feelings for Cecilia are somewhat complicated, and cannot be simply explained as good or bad.

However, Sirin's words are mostly just bravado now. She has quite a few grudges against Siegfried, and if they were to actually meet, Sirin would actually be quite nervous.

"Then you can stay here and see who gives up first," Joyce said, indicating that she didn't care.

He wasn't afraid of Siegfried; if they really fought, he could beat Siegfried up too.

"Tsk..."

A hint of annoyance flashed across Sirin's face, then she silently retracted one of her Void Lance.

"Take one back every three minutes. If you don't want to see them die, you'd better be sensible."

Although she softened her stance, Sirin remained as stubborn as a rock—but Joyce didn't care about such verbal sparring.

He nodded immediately and agreed to Sirin's conditions.

The dozen or so Valkyrie could buy her nearly an hour.

"... Are we just going to let her go like that?"

Watching Sirin turn and leave, Ragna felt a little worried—it was good that his team had all survived, but it would be worse to put her in the human world.

"I didn't stop her, nor did I say that others didn't stop her. I just let her run for an hour first."

Joyce retrieved the Eden Star and sighed.

Honestly, negotiation is such a tiring job...

Upon hearing Joyce's words, Ragna's expression became complicated, and he tentatively asked...

"That... is Liu Bai?"

Joyce nodded.

Although the main combat force is Reanna.

"That... that girl is..."

"The Second Herrscher, Sirin." Joyce rubbed her temples. "So, you guys are really lucky."

"..."

Why is the Second Herrscher doing sit-ups?!

"K423... The Second Herrscher... What kind of experiment is the bishop conducting?"

Ragna's expression was complicated.

The two made no attempt to conceal their conversation, and others naturally overheard it as well, leaving the scene momentarily silent.

"Huff... huff..."

Sirin was a little tired.

After all, she's not the Second Herrscher she was ten years ago; her abilities in all aspects are not at their full potential, and she also has another consciousness...

Ugh, what a hassle. Can't they just behave themselves?

Sirin couldn't help but complain in her heart.

Then, a silver-white figure made Sirin stop in her tracks.

"It's been a long time, Sirin."

The Valkyrie, dressed in a silver-white battle robe, greeted Sirin with a smile.

"Damn it... that guy actually dared to lie to me..."

Sirin looked at Reanna in front of her and said through gritted teeth.

In this situation, even someone as dense as her would realize she'd been tricked.

"No, it can't be considered lying to you, after all, an hour has passed since your appointment with Joyce."

Reanna smiled gently—like she was looking at a silly child on the street.

"It's probably just some strange rhetoric... Shall we surrender, Sirin?"

Reanna picked up her lance.

"... Stop joking!"

With a Sirin, several Void Lance immediately rose into the air and aimed at Reanna.

"I knew it..."

Reanna sighed in disappointment.

"Although you're not at your full strength right now, I've also lost Abyss White Flower... so it can be considered a fair fight, right?"

"So, what kind of fairness is this...?"

Ten minutes later, Liu Bai looked at the little girl being held under Reanna's arm and couldn't help but complain.

In this kind of battle, a Soul Steel body is practically cheating.

Reanna's innate defense completely ignored most of Sirin's attacks—although a fully-powered Sirin has no shortage of skills that can break through defenses, Sirin is currently unable to use them at all.

Don't you even look at what Sirin was like ten years ago, and what Sirin's like now...?

Reanna simply smiled and said nothing more.

Before long, Joyce arrived with Ragna and the other Stormtroopers—after all, the commotion caused by their fight was quite significant.

And there was a man with a bruised and swollen face following him.

"Good afternoon... Grandma Reanna..."

The man with a bruised and swollen face—that is, Siegfried —greeted Reanna with a stiff expression.

Although she was called "grandmother," the word was already a respectful term of address in Siegfried's mouth.

After all, you can't really call her "great-great-great-grandmother", can you?

Although you could call her "Grandma"... but that title felt really strange to Reanna —well, "Grandma" wasn't much better.

"Speaking of Kiana, she..." Siegfried looked at his daughter with some worry—although not by blood.

"All is well."

Reanna nodded. "Sirin's power has fallen into slumber again, but the current situation... is really hard to describe."

After all, Reanna wasn't a professional researcher and didn't know much about what had happened to Kiana.

"I think it has something to do with emotions," Joyce said. "The real dominant consciousness in this body should still be the child, otherwise Sirin wouldn't have only appeared now... However, there may be quite a few things involved."