"Ah, if there weren't so many people here—let's let it go this time. See you next time."
The shadow spoke casually, then turned and vanished into the army of mechs.
Bai Yan lowered his greatsword, sweat beading faintly on his forehead.
His hands were numb, his entire body drained of strength, and even his legs were trembling.
The shadow was far stronger than Raiden Mei. Even depriving someone of their senses for an instant consumed an enormous amount of energy.
In a one-on-one fight, Bai Yan would have had his greatsword knocked aside by feel alone and been defeated in a single move.
The reason Durandal had been able to provide support so quickly was because she had noticed Bai Yan's abnormality from the very beginning.
Based on her understanding of Bai Yan, she knew he must have noticed the truly important detail, so she had kept watch on his situation and been ready to support him at any moment.
The moment she saw Bai Yan move, Durandal immediately picked up her lance and hurled it, then rushed over at full speed.
She could sense that the shadow was not weak. Otherwise, she would not have come.
At that moment, after the shadow failed to seize someone and retreated, the mech troops immediately resumed their covering fire.
This time, Schicksal's other S-rank Valkyrie moved as well.
At some point, Rita had picked up her scythe. She flashed into the mech formation and began cutting through them.
Their sturdy bodies shattered before her as easily as vegetables beneath a blade.
The Valkyrie assault squad began its charge as well.
Under Ragna's lead, they threw the mech formation into disarray, immediately inflicting losses on the Anti-Entropy and World Serpent allied forces.
Jackal said nothing more and swiftly activated the aircraft.
Seeing this, the Welt Clone hurriedly unleashed a gravity field with all his strength, then drained himself dry creating mechs to hold Theresa back before staggering aboard the aircraft in a sorry state.
The aircraft swiftly rose into the air, then vanished into the distance after accelerating.
The remaining mechs immediately shifted into quantum form, and more than half of them teleported away.
Before long, the allied troops had fled completely, leaving without the slightest hesitation as though the whole thing had been a joke.
Everyone from Schicksal was somewhat dumbfounded, completely unable to understand what the enemy was trying to do.
Himeko had already picked up her weapon and prepared to protect the trainee Valkyries around her, yet the greatsword in her hand never even got a chance to move.
They caused a huge scene, got beaten up in return, then slunk away.
What kind of performance art was that?
Bai Yan thought about it for a long time but still could not figure out what those people had meant to do. He had even distracted himself worrying in advance whether to guard against Bronya turning on them or Raiden Mei being captured.
In the end, he decided that Bronya without Heavy Cannon Rabbit was safer, so he chose the other side.
After all, if Cocolia were hiding in the shadows and controlling Bronya under such circumstances, it would practically be the same as pointlessly handing the opponent a chess piece to capture for fun.
His prediction had been useful, but he had not expected the other side to suddenly run out of options.
Raiden Mei came back to her senses and walked up to Bai Yan with a complicated expression. "Um, thank you."
"Don't mention it. We're on the same side."
Her expression became even more complicated, so she went to thank Durandal instead, conveniently concealing a certain emotion in her heart.
Once the battle ended, Durandal exchanged a few casual pleasantries with Raiden Mei, then followed her over to Bai Yan and the others.
Rita Arrived in the Far East
"Any clues?"
The moment she approached, Durandal questioned Bai Yan, making Kiana and the others nearby unable to resist glancing over.
"If World Serpent's target was something else, then it would make sense for them to come here and make a scene—after all, the invincible Lady Durandal is here."
Halfway through, the feminine voice in Bai Yan's tone changed, making Durandal's scalp tingle and her toes curl.
But remembering that Bai Yan was on a mission, she could only endure it.
"An, another objective... That man in black was very strong, but I keep feeling like I've seen her somewhere before."
Bai Yan put the greatsword back on its rack and said indifferently, "I don't know, but at least she really was the main force responsible for capturing the Herrscher of Thunder."
Seeing the two chatting, Kiana walked over with her hands on her hips. A plaster was still stuck to her face, making her look rather comical.
"You really are strong, Durandal."
"Thank you, but it seems you have very little experience fighting people?"
"Tch, don't get cocky. I'll catch up with you sooner or later."
"I look forward to it."
Durandal carefully examined Kiana, then silently glanced at Bai Yan and remembered the girl.
"A reminder, Lady Durandal. Those students seem to have recovered."
"That's true. By now, they should be coming out of their tense emotions—hm?!"
She discovered that Bai Yan was suddenly making a heart gesture at her again, and alarm bells immediately blared in her mind.
The next moment, the crowd surged forward and completely surrounded Durandal.
Seeing this, Bai Yan grabbed Kiana and Raiden Mei. "Kiana, clear the way."
"Okay!"
The three of them relied on Kiana's head to part the crowd and slip away.
Seeing Durandal looking helpless, Bai Yan thought this method was really effective.
There would always be fangirls jealous that he could personally hug their idol, and then they would think they could not fall behind everyone else.
"She's really popular..." Kiana could not help sighing as she watched the crowd.
She stared for a while, then suddenly looked around and discovered Theresa leaning against Judah, sulking.
"I'll go check on Auntie."
After Kiana left, Raiden Mei looked at Bai Yan again.
"What?" Bai Yan asked, noticing her gaze.
"Xiao Yan, you were so fast just now. I didn't even notice that person approaching... You aren't really like how you performed in the practice match, are you?"
Bai Yan became alert. His mind raced, while his expression turned deliberately profound.
"As the ancients said: meet the enemy head-on, win through the unexpected. That Herrscher and those mechs were all cover. The real killing move must have been someone else."
Raiden Mei nodded, feeling that it made perfect sense.
Someone who had already suspected something would naturally be stronger than someone like her who had not been on guard.
Not far away, Rita handed the task of reorganizing the group over to Himeko, then came over to Bai Yan.
"Xiao Yan's performance just now was somewhat unexpected," Rita said with an unusual look in her eyes.
"Lady Durandal arrived in time. Otherwise, that person could have taken me down in one move."
Rita neither agreed nor disagreed, merely staring at Bai Yan's ears.
"Xiao Yan, are you wearing the earrings?"
"...Does Sister Rita not like them?" Bai Yan immediately smiled.
Rita narrowed her eyes.
This subordinate had actually learned how to provoke her perfectionist tendencies. He really needed a proper lesson.
She exchanged a few pleasantries with Raiden Mei, then casually found an excuse to call Bai Yan away.
That made Bai Yan uneasy.
He had forgotten to take off the earrings and was still in Luoshen Transformation.
His perfectionist female superior seemed to have interpreted this as something he had deliberately done.
However, Bai Yan had not felt any physical strain beyond his expectations from the sword strike he had used against the man in black.
Both his speed and strength had clearly increased in tandem.
"According to the latest intelligence, our laboratory in New Zealand was attacked by Anti-Entropy forces led by Cocolia. The Gem of Desire, along with its container, was taken," Rita said softly and quickly.
Bai Yan suddenly understood.
That made more sense. World Serpent and Anti-Entropy had launched a two-pronged attack. Capturing Raiden Mei was a feint; stealing the Gem of Desire was the real goal.
They had acted while Schicksal's elites were absent, diverted everyone's attention, then struck in New Zealand.
No, that wasn't right.
Anti-Entropy and World Serpent were cooperating. Who was truly in command?
Cocolia had seized ME Corp. and taken complete control. On the surface, she surpassed the current World Serpent in both manpower and resources, so logically, she should have been leading.
But.
What kind of organization was World Serpent? Would they willingly act as a feint force?
Something was wrong!
"Cocolia still hasn't given up on artificial Herrschers?" Bai Yan asked without changing expression.
"At present, it is only speculation. Their actions against the Far East Branch were too obvious, to the point that we cannot even determine whether the Gem of Desire was truly their target."
That was the problem. If World Serpent had another objective, then it could only be the Stigmata Project.
But Kevin had not yet returned—
Bai Yan suddenly understood.
They were fishing Kevin out at this time... Go ahead, fish him out. He supported them fishing him out. If they interfered with Otto's plans, they could just wait to suffer the consequences.
"What do you think, Xiao Yan?"
"First, we can assume that their primary target was not the Gem of Desire.
"After this, they are destined to face our counterattack.
"So the question is, of those two organizations, which one will bear the brunt of it?"
Rita understood.
World Serpent had always been elusive, and both its bases and personnel were extremely difficult to locate.
Therefore, Cocolia would have to draw most of the firepower when the time came. They might even have to pry World Serpent's intelligence out of her mouth.
Bai Yan felt that he could handle the interrogation work!
He had no other intentions. As an intelligence operative, interrogation was a basic skill.
Mother Cocolia, you wouldn't want little Seele to be unable to return home, would you?
Sensing that his thoughts were beginning to wander, Bai Yan hurriedly refocused.
Rita added, "Once Anti-Entropy has drawn our attention, World Serpent will begin carrying out its true plan."
"They will first confirm that they have truly drawn our attention," Bai Yan added. "If we must use some standard to judge it, it will probably be whether elite Valkyries such as the Immortal Blade and assault squads have been deployed. Otherwise, I believe World Serpent will stay hidden in its hole and wait to see what happens."
Rita nodded in agreement.
"It seems life here has not dulled Xiao Yan's spirit. That reassures me."
Her eyes flickered as she walked up to Bai Yan, somehow produced a makeup case, and began carefully touching up the pretty face before her.
Bai Yan did not dare move at all.
This time, Rita showed restraint. She stopped after a little over ten minutes and did not leave Bai Yan's legs numb from standing.
She leaned close to Bai Yan, compared their heights, and sighed. "Xiao Yan has grown a little taller. In another two years, you'll probably surpass me."
Bai Yan felt those should have been Ragna's lines.
"Teacher Ragna has been busy training newcomers lately, so she asked me to pay more attention to you."
Mother Ragna was still better. Unlike someone who called you her son but was actually stingy as hell.
At that moment, Rita moved closer to Bai Yan's face.
Before you continue