2. You're Right, but This Is Jizo Mitama / 3. Dusk: "I'm Fighting Xia Ling?"

"..."

"..."

"Uh... robbery?"

Seeing the awkward atmosphere between the three of them, Xia Ling had a sudden thought and blurted out the word "robbery".

"Are you an idiot?" Theresa gasped. The atmosphere was already extremely awkward, and Xia Ling's words made her feel like she had dug a three-bedroom apartment under her feet.

Then, to her even greater surprise, Cocolia slowly raised her hand.

"Ah?"

Theresa was even more incredulous now. "No? Cocolia, weren't you supposed to be unruly? You were the one who dared to storm St. Freya Academy with three Titans! Are you really going to chicken out like this?"

"After facing Durandal in Oceania, I realized one thing." Cocolia smiled bitterly, "In this world, the gap in individual strength cannot be bridged by technology and numbers."

"I know what the strength of S-rank Valkyrie is, and I've also intercepted some information about Miss Xia Ling's strength, so..."

Cocolia shrugged in despair. "Just tell me what you want."

You're right in Chapter Two, but this is Kishinuma.

Looking at the "well-behaved" Cocolia in front of them, Xia Ling and Theresa exchanged a glance, feeling a little uneasy.

(Is this guy reliable?)

Xia Ling gestured to Theresa with her eyes.

(I don't know? I didn't ask Durandal how she dealt with her back then. It seems like this guy was traumatized by Durandal.)

Theresa returned the look with her own eyes.

(What should we do then? Shall we ask around?)

Xia Ling raised a new question.

(Okay, let's give it a try. Also, why are we able to convey so much information with just our eyes?)

Theresa suddenly realized something was wrong.

"Because I said it directly into your mind Kishinuma."

"Are you out of your mind?!"

Seeing Theresa suddenly become somewhat irritable after a few exchanges of glances, Cocolia frowned, as if several question marks had appeared above her head.

"Gentlemen, what exactly is your opinion? You've been standing here without saying a word. If you want to fight, I'm happy to oblige."

"No, no, no, if it can save us from unnecessary fighting, we would certainly be happy to."

Xia Ling quickly shook her head.

"Then just tell me straight, what is your purpose in infiltrating here?"

"We'd like to borrow something from Anti-Entropy," Xia Ling said slowly. "I remember that Anti-Entropy has a 'Skyfather' mech at ME Company, right?"

"With sufficient energy reserves, it can even restrain an S-rank Valkyrie for a short period of time, which can be considered one of Anti-Entropy's trump cards."

"Miss Xia Ling, you're joking." Cocolia's face darkened. "As you know, this is one of Anti-Entropy's trump cards. How could we possibly hand it over to you so easily?"

"But we originally planned to just rob it, no, steal it, didn't we?"

"Hey, did you just blurt out what was on your mind...?"

Xia Ling tilted her head, her harmless appearance causing Cocolia's blood pressure to spike instantly.

Damn it... Cocolia pondered what her chances of winning would be if she activated the Heavenly Father's power now, but after thinking for a long time, she realized that her chances of winning seemed to be... absolutely none.

Even if I activate the Heavenly Father, I have virtually no chance of defeating these two people, and there's a possibility that I'll also be left here. Even if I manage to escape, Anti-Entropy will lose such an important base, with countless losses of property and personnel.

If the radical faction hadn't been severely damaged before, this price, though painful, wouldn't have been enough to cause serious harm; it would have just exploded.

However, ever since Durandal destroyed several of her main warships by herself, there has been a huge shortage of funds and personnel needed for repairs, and the clone army has been almost completely wiped out. Although she can't say she's as wealthy as before, she's at least struggling to make ends meet.

If we abandon ME Company now...

Cocolia gritted her teeth, attempting a final struggle. "The Father's control isn't entirely in my hands; it requires a vote from a majority of the radical executors to activate, so even if I agree..."

"Wait, don't worry about how we take him away, just tell me if you agree or not."

Xia Ling interrupted her directly.

"... If you have the ability to take it away, then I can't stop you."

After a long silence, Cocolia spat out those words bitterly.

"That's exactly what I've been waiting to hear."

Xia Ling waved her hand, and in the underground of ME Company, the Father-class Mech slowly opened its eyes.

With the roar of an engine, a moment later, the purple mecha stood in front of ME Company's building.

"???"

Cocolia's expression completely changed. "This is impossible! Putting aside how you found it, this version of the Heavenly Father requires the Herrscher Core as its energy source. Without the Herrscher Core, even if ME Company used all its current energy to supply it, it could only barely start up!"

"First of all, finding it isn't difficult for me." Xia Ling casually tapped a screen, and all of ME Company's surveillance footage immediately appeared on the screen next to her. "Didn't you notice that I hacked your main control system a long time ago?"

Before Cocolia recover from her shock, Xia Ling immediately followed up with her second question, "As for the Herrscher Core... Hmph, do you think St. Freya Academy is lacking in such a thing right now?"

"Hey, don't throw accusations at my St. Freya Academy!" Theresa was indignant. "We're a proper academy with a complete Valkyrie training system. How come you're making it sound like we only teach Herrscher?"

"Ha, isn't that right? Theresa, you count for yourself how many Herrscher St. Freya has now."

Ignoring Cocolia, who was completely in a state of chaos, Xia Ling and Theresa walked past her and out of the ME Company's gate.

With a casual toss of the Heavenly Father into the Stigmata Space, Theresa and Xia Ling successfully completed their "infiltration" mission.

Meanwhile, in Vienna, at the Schicksal Headquarters.

"Your Lord Bishop, we have arrived."

In Otto's office, three people appeared at the same time, a rare occurrence: Rita, Durandal, and Xi, all of whom had received notice to come to the bishop's office.

Durandal was always straightforward, and upon seeing Otto, she asked directly, "Bishop, is there some kind of mission? Why... did you call us and Xi here together?"

"Hmm... that's true. The main reason I called you all here is that there's a mission that requires your full involvement."

Otto nodded, then turned his gaze to Xi.

"Generally speaking, I am reluctant to let Little Xi go on missions. Although her current strength may not be much worse than that of S-rank Valkyrie, she is still a child after all."

"However, in this situation... we really need to use her abilities."

"But... Xi hasn't gone on a mission yet..."

Durandal was still somewhat hesitant.

"Durandal, have you forgotten what you were doing when you were 14?"

Otto looked at Durandal with a smile, his tone full of mockery.

"This..."

"Okay, Bianca, I'm fine."

Xi tugged at the Durandal's skirt.

"Besides, didn't my paintings help Rita a lot before?"

"So, if Your Lord Bishop needs any help, I can give it a try."

"As expected of Little Xi, this mission really couldn't be done without you."

Otto smiled and patted Xi's little head.

"So, Your Lord Bishop, you're referring to... Sirin Project?"

Rita, being someone who worked on intelligence for Otto, immediately guessed what was going on when she saw Otto's expression.

"That's right." Otto nodded. "For this mission, I need Yuya to go to the St. Freya Academy with me."

Chapter Three Evening: I Hit Xia Ling?

"The Sirin Project?" ×3

"That's right." Otto stood up, and a map of the St. Freya Academy was immediately projected into the air.

"According to the original plan, Durandal and Fu Hua were supposed to go to the underground laboratory of the central church to bring Kiana back."

"However, Rita's recent observations confirmed that Xia Ling does indeed possess spatial abilities."

"Although Rita's observations suggest that this ability can only move about forty meters, and the opponent's performance in Oceania was indeed that strong, we still need to take precautions. For example, what if the opponent manages to escape to the Imaginary Space with Kiana?"

"So, in the revised plan, Rita, you will take Xi with you to St. Freya to take over the mission that originally belonged to Durandal."

"I need Xi to counter Xia Ling's ability, and at the same time, put Kiana directly into the painting and bring her back to the Schicksal Headquarters."

"Bishop, what about me? Don't I need to come along?"

Durandal asked with some confusion.

"You'll go too, but you'll be in charge of Rita's original support duties," Otto instructed. "You need to understand that although I reached an agreement with Wendy and Highmore in Oceania, it was ultimately just a verbal agreement. I have to be careful about the two of them."

"Rita and Xi, along with Fu Hua in the academy, and even if Wendy and Highmore happened to be in the academy at the time, they could definitely hold out for a while. That would be enough time for you to get to the scene and save them."

"Understood, Your Lord Bishop."

Durandal said in a deep voice, "I will protect them."

"I will protect Rita too!" Xi raised her hand.

"Little Xi ~ Explain yourself, who is protecting whom~" Rita's hand had already quietly touched Xi's ticklish spot from behind.

"Wait, Rita, no... hahahaha..."

Seeing this harmonious scene, Otto couldn't help but smile.

But when he thought about how his actions were pushing Theresa to the opposite side, Otto couldn't help but sigh.

"So, the final agreement is that you come and hit me?"

Upon hearing Xi's news, Xia Ling almost burst out laughing.

"Does this count as me killing myself? Hmph, Little Xia Ling, surrender now!" Xi issued a duel challenge.

"Go away, who wants to fight you? People like you who can accumulate items are the most troublesome. Who knows if I'm fighting today's version of you or the version that's been accumulating for several months?"

Xia Ling waved her hands repeatedly. "I'd rather fight Fu Hua than you. At least she's my class representative, so she'll go easy on me."

"Hmph, that's not up to you. Otto specifically asked me to keep a close eye on you." Xi said, shaking her head. "I remember your rogue was captured by Phantom last week, right? I'll just release a Phantom for you then, hehe."

"That doesn't matter, as long as you can find a way to keep me occupied and prevent Theresa from noticing I'm slacking off," Xia Ling said, shrugging.

"If possible, I would like to travel with the main group behind us. We still need to retrieve people from the Imaginary Space, and we might even have to face Sirin. So we need to conserve some of our strength."

"After all, during the Last Lesson, Kiana could still clearly perceive her surroundings even though she couldn't control her body. I couldn't cheat with tools like the Cipher Plate."

"It's up to you. We'll let you know once we're in position."

"I wonder why Theresa will go to the cathedral's underground because she doesn't need to look up how to save Bronya this time?"

However, Xia Ling soon found out the answer to this question.

For a long time before, although Kiana was troubled by nightmares from time to time, she usually forgot about these dreams as soon as she had them and they did not leave any aftereffects.

At most, she might feel a little listless the next day, but to be fair, this state is more likely due to Kiana staying up all night playing games every day.

However, ever since her trip to Oceania, perhaps due to the influence of the new Herrscher Core, Kiana's nightmares have become increasingly severe.

Although she still can't remember much of what happened in her dream, Kiana has begun to recall some scenes or a few vague names.

This phenomenon finally caught Theresa's attention.

Especially after Theresa heard the words Cecilia, Siberia, and the core from Kiana, her unease reached its peak.

After talking with Wendy about her experiences in Oceania, Theresa now strongly suspects that Otto might also want to replicate the experiments Wendy underwent on Kiana. After all, Kiana was the experimental subject that she and Sigfried rescued from Otto's laboratory. Although so much time has passed, the span of time is meaningless to Otto.

So, a worried Theresa decided to take action.