Even to say, if it were truly Cecilia here.
Perhaps she would not mind so much.
However, she was not the real Cecilia, and had no qualification to choose forgiveness on behalf of others. Of course, precisely because she was not Cecilia, at least Li Pu was temporarily unwilling to get involved in any troublesome matters.
Especially the Honkai.
"Is it going too far?" Li Pu gave no face at all, and could even say aggressively, "When you are fighting on the front lines."
"And your own people bury you and the enemy together with a single missile, then come tell me whether it's going too far or not."
"If you are going to 'make' me forgive these things."
"You are going to get struck by lightning! Aunt Himeko!"
Aunt... Himeko's mouth twitched and twitched. Being confident she could talk-sleep Cecilia into compliance was one thing, but being the victim of a sharp tongue was another entirely. She had no intention of enduring it.
"If we are calculating by age," Himeko said with a stiff smile, "you are quite a bit older than me, aren't you? And as for youth, I just turned twenty this year."
"You're already married, and your daughter is even about to become a Valkyrie."
"As for calling me aunt, I wouldn't dare act all senior in front of you."
"A tender young maiden like me~"
I feel quite offended... A tick mark instantly popped up on Li Pu's head. She really hadn't expected Himeko's little mouth to be able to drip honey like that. Moreover, if spoken from the theoretical or realistic premise of how they knew each other...
She seemed to have no way to refute it!
"Oh~ I get it, you probably don't have a boyfriend." Li Pu said with an active wish for self-destruction, "I can tell at a glance that you don't."
"However, I'm no matchmaker, and that's not the main issue. The main issue is, if I may ask."
"What does this great leftover woman want with me?"
Anyway, since she didn't intend to let herself get involved in any trouble, Li Pu was naturally very happy to continue seeking her own doom. At any rate, she wasn't afraid that Himeko would genuinely beat her up.
Great leftover woman...
Himeko instantly flared up with rage. She discovered for the very first time that this person's mouth was truly begging for a beating!
"There are some matters."
She had originally intended to communicate calmly and properly with this person. After all, considering what had happened in the past, she could still understand. Now, Himeko didn't intend to understand this person at all anymore.
"You're still a Valkyrie, aren't you?" Himeko controlled her emotions with her remaining reason and said, "Since you're still a Valkyrie."
"Then please come with me for a moment!"
"Me!"
"Murata Himeko." Himeko said viciously, "I really want to see what kind of strength the once-strongest S-rank Valkyrie actually has!"
Her last shred of reason merely let Himeko know that directly beating up this sharp-tongued fellow right here would only invite trouble for herself. Therefore, she just needed to drag her off to the training grounds.
Anything could be discussed then; everyone would just be going all out for a bit of 'training'~
Sustaining a few 'little injuries' from 'bumping and stumbling' was completely normal.
After all, one had to 'sweat more in peacetime, and bleed less in wartime'!
"There are many things." Himeko grabbed Li Pu's shoulder, denying her any chance of resistance or escape, and said, "I still very much hope, extremely hope."
"To have a serious, heart-to-heart talk."
"From a physical perspective."
"With a former strongest Valkyrie senior like you, and humbly ask for your guidance!"
Chapter Thirty-Six: Oh Mother, She's Actually Doing It
Every cause has its effect; an ungoverned mouth is the cause, and getting beaten is the effect.
She had thought that by relying on the persona of Cecilia she could speak without restraint, and that even if she offended people verbally it would be fine.
Yet now she discovered that it seemed entirely not the case!
Some people might ignore and tolerate such unbridled speech, but others would not, and might even...
"Are you planning to abuse your public office to settle private scores?"
Li Pu, who had been forcibly dragged all the way to Valkyrie Simulation Arena No. 125, said despairingly, "You are definitely planning to abuse your public office to settle private scores, right? Aunt Himeko!"
Valkyrie Simulation Arena No. 125.
Just like the name implied, this arena was built exclusively for Valkyries.
St. Freya Academy was a place that trained Valkyries, and naturally this was also a place for Valkyries to train! It would only be put into use after the first batch of Valkyries was selected.
And the very first user.
"To think it's me." Li Pu covered her face in despair and said, "So I have to ask, why am I so unlucky?"
This place...
Was the exact scene where pigs were slaughtered in the game! Yes, that very model pig, Ganesha! A model pig frequently used by various Captains to test out new weapons and new characters.
"Ah... Just which Captain or UP main wanted to test the new character Cecilia?"
Li Pu complained helplessly, "Can't we pick a different place?"
"The Abyss is also an option," Himeko's voice sounded through the earpiece, saying, "If you're willing to challenge the Abyss, I can help you accomplish that too."
"Can we talk about this?" Li Pu hurriedly pressed her earpiece and said, "Regarding this matter."
"You can also choose to go toe-to-toe with me in a match," Himeko said. "Of course, I will definitely go all out. In fact, I've also really wanted to spar with the once-strongest Schicksal Valkyrie."
Himeko was dead serious when she said this.
After much deliberation, she had decided against personally stepping up to discipline this loose-mouthed Cecilia. The title of Schicksal's strongest was definitely a terrifying title indeed.
Himeko had zero desire to stage a tragic, painful farce where she originally intended to discipline someone, only to end up getting disciplined herself.
Thus, she chose to find a substitute.
For instance, Ganesha.
"Are we going to face a real Honkai Beast?" Mei looked rather nervously at the large circular colosseum-style arena and said, "To think there'd be something like this inside St. Freya Academy!"
"Even though it feels like a joke," Kiana said, showing less curiosity and far more excitement, "but Mother is definitely going to win!"
"Go for it, Mother! Flatten that honking Honkai Beast!"
The existence of the Honkai was already known.
For Mei and Kiana, this matter hidden beneath the surface of daily life wasn't really all that easy to accept. Think of things like the meteorite that school textbooks said destroyed the dinosaurs, the major cataclysms that caused the collapse of ancient civilizations, and various special natural disasters.
All of them were the results brought by the Honkai.
And the mission they carried on their shoulders as they were about to become Valkyries was to resist the Honkai and protect this beautiful world.
Meanwhile, Kiana also learned that her mother was once the most powerful Valkyrie.
Human beings were sometimes quite simple, and their mindsets could shift very rapidly as well.
Once she knew her mother was a Valkyrie engaging in this sacred and great undertaking, her original incomprehension and grievance instantly vanished into thin air.
Never mind whether the image of her mother in her heart was fully fleshed out or not.
At the very least, she instantly became grand and lofty!
Much like a monument or a goal, it provided Kiana with the driving force to pursue and adore her.
Mei might still have found it somewhat hard to accept, but the simple-minded Kiana accepted it instantly. She was even somewhat thrilled. Having previously read some science fiction, fantasy, and similar manga, it was now instantly turning into reality.
She too could possess a special identity and possess miraculous, formidable power.
This was enough to excite the girl who had just turned sixteen.
"To think there are even Honkai Beasts here." Compared to Kiana's excitement, Mei possessed far more composure and caution.
If all of this was real, Mei knew what she would have to face and what she would have to pay. Suddenly confronted with all of this when she had never imagined such a day would come, she truly didn't have Kiana's sort of excited heart.
"It shouldn't be a Honkai Beast," Fu Hua gazed at the person standing in the arena and said. "I don't sense any very obvious Honkai Energy here."
"Besides, Cecilia... she feels somewhat vastly different from the past."
"There really aren't any actual Honkai Beasts here," Theresa said. "No matter what, this is just a simulation training ground after all; there are no real Honkai Beasts present here."
"This is the latest Honkai technology, some special tech learned over from Anti-Entropy."
"It utilizes Honkai Energy to run simulations, creating a controllable Honkai Beast projection."
"Everything remains well within the controllable range."
"Even though it's just training, the closer it is to actual combat," Theresa said with smug pride, "the better the training effect will be. In the future, you will all have to face real Honkai Beasts rather than these simulated Honkai Beast projections."
"You must study hard and earnestly, oh; such combat scenarios might not be seen very often."
"Understood," Mei and Kiana said in unison.
"Anti-Entropy?" Mei always felt that matters seemed somewhat subtle. This kind of technology—wasn't a simulated Honkai Beast a bit suspicious? Yet she seemed even more interested in it than the name Honkai Beast.
She always felt like she had heard of it somewhere before.
"That's a covert organization that, just like Schicksal, shoulders the mission of fighting the Honkai and protecting this world," Theresa explained. "However, Anti-Entropy is different from us; Anti-Entropy doesn't train Valkyries, but instead manufactures all sorts of bizarre mechs, fighter jets, and even warships to combat Honkai Beasts."
"You guys will run into those fellows in the future."
"It's starting," Kiana shouted excitedly. "Go for it, Mother!"
Can this dadgum thing even be solved by cheering?! Li Pu looked nervously at the suddenly appearing, indistinct black mist in the center. Just like in the game, red shockwaves rippled outward around the black mist in successive rings.
This intense shockwave blew so hard that Li Pu's face stung.
The sky seemed to grow dark, accompanied by the rumble of thunder and eerie red lightning.
When everything reached its absolute peak and most terrifying sensation, a strange, white creature that looked rather like a pig suddenly darted out from within that black mist, executed a few backflips in mid-air, and smashed heavily into the arena!
"Rua!!!!! CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN: THE MODEL PIG IS A MODEL"
A heaven-shaking and earth-shattering roar rang out.
"I... you mother..."
Li Pu couldn't help shouting out loud, "This... are you freaking kidding me, it's for real?!"
"Can... can I..."
"Surrender, then!!!"
Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Model Pig Is a Model
Even if it was merely a simulated Honkai Beast...
Even if it was merely a simulation...
That aura was truly terrifying to an extreme degree!
The model pig's given name was 'Ganesha'. Ganesha's prototype or name originated from the 'Elephant-headed God' within the mythos of the Three-Pillared Gods of the subcontinent—the deity of wisdom and the removal of obstacles, the spiritual child of Lord Shiva and the snow-mountain goddess Parvati. In Buddhism, it represents a guardian deity, and in other regions it also carries the implication of the God of Wealth and God of Destiny.
All in all, Ganesha represents good luck, guardianship, wealth, and wisdom.
But what about now?
The Ganesha placed before Li Pu was neither wise nor protective; it certainly possessed a bit of that obstacle-removing aspect. Yet to describe it more accurately, it was like a stupid, brutal, power-laden fierce beast with an overwhelmingly intense desire for destruction. Its massive and unwieldy body emitted a heavy thudding sound with every single step it took.
This is way bigger than the ones in the game!!!
Li Pu looked in terror at the Ganesha before her.
If she wanted a fairly accurate and intuitive object for comparison, it would probably be a Triceratops! This was a behemoth with a shoulder height upward of 2.8 meters, a body length around 7 meters, and a net weight that could exceed 10 tons!
Those white, exaggerated tusks looked as though they could easily impale a person with just a gentle heave.
Any casual kick could trample a person into mincemeat.
Li Pu panicked, truly panicked, feeling as though she had lost her ability to think. Facing this behemoth, she was completely incapable of coming up with any method of resistance.
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