Bianka, You Can Take a Break Now

"These people claim to be Valkyrie... but they can't be the 'Valkyrie' from mythology, can they?"

"This voice even has an infrared signal... It must be Lord Roland!" Little You suddenly jumped three feet high.

"...Huh?" Bianka's mind suddenly went blank.

The officer opposite him also took off his helmet, revealing his dazzling silver hair.

"That's right, I am Roland Inka, commander of the Third Guards Training Regiment of the Inca Republic."

Liu Bai suddenly felt that he might actually get along quite well with the soldier in front of him.

After all, one of them is a spirit behind the scenes, and the other can "print cards"... Okay, this joke might be a bit lame.

Roland stared at Little You, who had flown to her side, a genuine look of confusion on her face.

"But... what is the name of this talking sword of yours?"

"Eh? Don't you remember me? I was once your personal Holy Sword Durandal!"

"... Um, I don't remember. Did you confuse me with someone else who has the same name?"

Roland gave a somewhat naive smile.

"Haha~ Sorry, my autonomous combat machine has caused you trouble."

Shakespeare stepped forward.

"We are actually..."

With the explanations of the two eloquent ladies, Shakespeare and Rita, Roland roughly understood what they wanted to do.

"Hmm... now that you mention it, that Caledonia is indeed an extremely valuable combat asset."

"Is this an insult to the strength of us Valkyrie?"

Although the person before her might be the idol of all Valkyrie, Bianka still spoke up competitively.

"Even with our bare hands, we can take down ordinary low-level Honkai Beast!"

Upon hearing Bianka's words, Roland looked astonished. "Do you know the taboo word 'Honkai'?"

"Huh? Didn't I say that? In our world, we Valkyrie are a type of soldier who specializes in fighting against Honkai."

"Hmm... now that you mention it, I think I understand. It seems that Honkai isn't a phenomenon unique to our continent..."

Roland then looked at Shakespeare.

"In that case... let me show you the way—you want to go to our country, right?"

Guided by Roland, you successfully located the "Vaca Tunnel".

During this time, you learned from your conversation with the acting mayor Michelangelo, that Michelangelo is a spy sent by the Inca Republic and is also the head of its intelligence bureau.

From this communication, you learned the true nature of the "Vaca Tunnel" that runs through the Earth's core— the Vaca Tunnel is the Aether Anchor.

This World Bubble is an artifact left behind by Previous Era, and it is also closely related to the Moonlight Throne of that Previous Era.

"As far as I know, the Moonlight Throne is a weapon of mass destruction against Honkai Energy, and it is also the main cannon mounted on the Anti-Entropy giant combat weapon 'Arahata'."

Rita said softly.

"Built and directed by an executor who called himself 'Edison'."

"Ah, that's what Schicksal tells you." Schrödinger smiled. "The name Arahata was actually suggested by Tesla. He almost got into a fight with Edison over the naming rights."

"Only she would come up with a name that sounds a bit childish," Liu Bai shrugged in agreement.

"...?"

Bianka looked puzzled.

Rita, however, gave a "I knew it" look.

"It's just some old memories."

Schrödinger shrugged. "Miss Michelangelo, please continue."

"This should be a failed attempt by the Previous Era," Michelangelo continued. "Based on the available intelligence, the Previous Era's purpose in creating this World Bubble was probably to create a 'dump' for storing Honkai Energy."

"Honkai Energy of the world be transferred to the World Bubble through the Moonlight Throne Project...? According to our research back then, the Moonlight Throne Project of the Previous Era was successful, but it also failed—their industrial capacity at that time was no longer sufficient to mass-produce the Moonlight Throne."

Schrödinger said softly.

"If the industrial capacity of the Previous Era could be maintained, then in just ten years, the mass-produced Moonlight Throne would be able to absorb Honkai Energy overflow Honkai energy on a planetary scale."

Chapter 101 Bianka, you can take a break now.

"Can that kind of weapon be mass-produced?" Rita seemed somewhat surprised.

"Yes, but as I just said, although the Previous Era possessed science and technology that surpassed our current civilization, the destruction of numerous cities and even the sinking of an entire continent during the long war against the Honkai made their industrial system unable to support the mass production plan for the Moonlight Throne."

This is similar to a strategy game where the tech tree is constantly being upgraded, but there are no resources available to monetize those technologies.

"We speculate that the Previous Era may have fallen into a vicious cycle in its final period—constantly developing technology to fight the Honkai, but each technological advancement only made the Honkai stronger, eventually driving it to the brink of destruction."

Schrödinger remarked with a touch of emotion.

However, the brilliance of the Moonlight Throne Project lies in the fact that, as a weapon capable of absorbing Honkai Energy and converting it into real energy, the more Honkai Energy it contains, the stronger its power becomes. It has transformed a vicious cycle that was detrimental to its own side into a vicious cycle that was detrimental to the Honkai side. Furthermore, in addition to being used as a weapon, this energy can also be used for civilian purposes.

To put it a little more idealistically, this is already the beginning of technology defeating the Honkai.

Unfortunately, the Previous Era didn't have enough time and could only build one Moonlight Throne —in fact, that Moonlight Throne already had a pretty good track record.

—In the previous generation's Finality battle, a single shot Herrscher of Finality, causing it to lose 2% of its energy. Afterwards, Dr. Mei ordered a 200% power overload output, ultimately causing the Herrscher of Finality to lose a total of 30% of its energy before it was incinerated.

However, due to various limitations, the technology of Anti-Entropy can only be used to build one ship...

Although Schrödinger sighed inwardly, she ultimately did not intend to put pressure on the others, so she quickly changed the subject.

"Of course, these are just inferences made by us bored scientists in our spare time—after all, the Previous Era has been extinct for nearly 50,000 years."

"This kind of talk is truly disheartening." Bianka, a warrior, looked rather grim.

"As I said, these are just our speculations. Let's get back to the main point." Schrödinger glanced calmly at Michelangelo in the video call. "What caused the Previous Era's failure? Was it because its scale was too small?"

"That's right." Michelangelo nodded. "The Honkai Energy consumed by the Aether Anchor to create the miniature universe is not as high as most people imagine. According to the records, it would take one or two more orders of magnitude to equal the first or Second Herrscher of their time. Moreover, the Honkai Energy controlled by the later Herrscher is far more than that."

It's not that later-stage Herrscher are necessarily stronger than early-stage Herrscher.

However, under the pressure of crisis, if a civilization can survive, it will inevitably become stronger and stronger—because if it doesn't become stronger, it will definitely die, and then there would be no such thing as a later stage.

Therefore, the Honkai will become stronger accordingly.

Therefore, the Herrscher of the later stages have an inherent advantage over the Herrscher of the earlier stages in terms of Honkai Energy.

"I see..."

[You and Michelangelo exchanged information thoroughly.]

[You are gradually coming to understand the current situation of this country. The Star Whisperer, led by Roland—who can be roughly understood as Valkyrie —are fighting with all their might against the Honkai Beast surging out from behind the wall.]

These Honkai Beast can only appear here, which is why you haven't seen Honkai Beast anywhere else. However, if this place falls, the Honkai Beast will instantly invade the entire world through the Vaca Tunnel.

You have traversed the spine of this world— the Vaca Tunnel.

[Then you met the fortress commander Anna Charles Darwin and Ilona de la Cullest, who called herself Dracula's First Guard Regiment commander.]

[From these two, you have come to understand the true meaning of the Star Whisperer — the Aether Anchor have read information about the main world's figures from the Sea of Quanta and reproduced it as copies.]

[After that, you encountered Shigure Kira, a former member of the Snow Wolf Squad who came to the fortress as an idol to give a performance to entertain the troops.]

[Kira! Kira! Kira Star! Twinkle, twinkle, little star! — This is the fan chant of that Valkyrie, please don't misunderstand]

"..."

What's the misunderstanding? Are you a fan of celebrities?

Liu Bai twitched the corner of his mouth. If he remembered correctly, this former Valkyrie was tone-deaf enough to develop sonic weapons before she obtained the Crystal of Love.

... This thing is amazing in every sense of the word.

Out of consideration for your status as her juniors, Shigure Kira generously "lent" you the Jewel of Love — the Crystals of Freedom.

[Subsequently, you obtained the location of the Crystal of Prosperity from Speaker Sophia Henry Thoreau and landed on Rapa Nui Island.]

Led by Caravaggio, the Star Whisperer who guards the Crystal of Prosperity, the group arrives at the mountaintop and meets Sanada Yukimura Honkai Energy Crystal since he used the Crystal of Prosperity to solve the island's "anchor capillary blockage" seven years ago.

[By harnessing the power of the Crystal of Dominance, you successfully healed each other and obtained the Crystal of Prosperity.]

Meanwhile, the Inca Republic also revealed their plan to you—to use the power of Durandal to cut and shatter the entire European continent.

This is a crazy, but feasible plan.

This mission is only missing one necessary person to carry it out—such as Bianka Atajina.

[And the reward for this mission—the last two crystals collected by Speaker Sophia]

This is not a choice, and it is the only way to solve the global crisis.

"Bianka, how are you feeling?"

"Is... is it alright..."

Bianka turned her head away somewhat guiltily.

"Nervous?" Liu Bai's expression showed that he had expected this.

"World Cutter... Sounds incredibly cool, doesn't it?"

"Hmm... that's true, but I have absolutely no confidence in cutting through space."

"I haven't done anything like that either," Little You chimed in from the side.

"... Do you even have the right to speak here?"

"I... I understand!" Little You immediately wrapped herself up with her little wings.

Liu Bai then looked at Bianka: "Afraid of messing up? This has nothing to do with you... No, should I say that's precisely why you're afraid of messing up?"

Bianka remained silent, clearly indicating that Liu Bai's guess was correct.

Like most people of normal character, they might be too lazy to tidy up their own homes, but when they go to someone else's home, they are very diligent in tidying up and cleaning.

—In other words, a sense of responsibility that has nowhere to go.

"... Perhaps I am indeed afraid of letting them down."

Bianka nodded with some difficulty; it wasn't easy for Bianka's strong personality to admit something like this.

"In the end... our initial goal wasn't to save the world... The biggest task I've done so far is simply to wipe out the Honkai Beast in one region. Is cutting off continents and saving the world really something an A-rank Valkyrie should be doing?"

"Hmm... this is a really difficult question to answer."

Liu Bai felt he was having some difficulty answering the question.

"I must admit that it is very inhumane to do this to a fourteen-...no, twelve-year-old girl."

"I...I'm A-rank Valkyrie!" The word "little girl" seemed to displease Bianka. "...But, maybe Liu Bai, you're right."

Bianka looked somewhat uneasy.

"... Guardian Spirit, may I have your hand?"

"...hand?"

Liu Bai tilted his head, somewhat puzzled, but still extended his hand.

Even though Bianka couldn't see Liu Bai, she still managed to grasp Liu Bai's hands with both of hers without fail.

"... It's a really strange feeling."

Bianka muttered something, then took a deep breath.

"So, Guardian Spirit, may I confirm that you... expect me to save the world, right?"

"Certainly."

"That's enough... well, that's sufficient."

Bianka blushed and looked up.

"That's right, that's enough—as long as the Guardian Spirit, no, Liu Bai, you think so, that's enough—after all, you've never made a mistake, right?"