Death Stalker: Damn! I knew I shouldn't have worn black.

"Ahem, ahem." Theresa coughed twice and began changing the subject. "Time is tight, let's move quickly so we don't delay the new student's morning classes. Follow me."

With that, Theresa casually covered her manga book with a nearby file and led the two toward the testing grounds.

"Why do we have to run again! Can't we just get it done in one go?"

Xina grumbled a bit as she followed Theresa to a building that looked like an indoor sports arena. The vast podium was completely empty until Theresa walked to its center, where a translucent virtual screen rose from beneath the floor tiles.

Theresa placed her hand over the screen, and a mechanical voice rang out: "Access detected. Verifying identity. Verification passed. Welcome, Principal of St. Freya Academy."

Then, under Xina—country bumpkin—Na's astonished gaze, the entire gymnasium transformed layer by layer, eventually forming an indoor space that seemed entirely made of transparent glass, brimming with a sci-fi feel.

"Wow, so the academy has a place like this too!"

"Oh, Xina hasn't seen anything similar in North America before? Oh, right..." As if recalling something, Theresa's old face flushed red, and she quickly changed the subject:

"See that? This is the Martial Arts Arena built by Destiny Headquarters at St. Freya Academy to assess Valkyrie ranks. It can freely switch scenes to simulate battlefield conditions."

"It can switch scenes?" Xina looked around in surprise at her surroundings, then blinked at Theresa with anticipation. "Principal, let's switch to another one and see~"

"Easy, easy!"

Xina's eager and admiring gaze greatly satisfied Theresa's small vanity. She pulled out the control panel and simply pressed a few buttons.

The surrounding scenery rapidly flipped, completing its transformation in just a few breaths.

Finally, what appeared before Xina was a field surrounded by pristine white snow and thick layers of ice.

This was...

"This is a partial replica of the site from the Second Honkai Eruption—the Siberia Testing Ground."

Second Honkai Eruption... Siberia...

Xina pondered for a moment, silently committing these two terms to memory.

"Alright, Principal, Xina still has classes this morning! Let's go with this field and start the test."

Himeko gestured at her wristwatch toward Theresa, signaling her to wrap it up. Theresa stuck out her tongue and refocused on the virtual screen in front of her.

"Hmm... let's go with these."

After careful deliberation, Theresa placed her hand on the screen and began operating it.

Hearing that the test was starting, Xina followed Himeko's guidance to the center of the testing area.

Buzz... buzz... buzz...

Three alarm-like buzzes sounded, and in the empty space before Xina, fragments of energy resembling pink mosaics suddenly appeared. These fragments rippled for a moment.

Then, they formed three unfortunate Death Stalkers, each holding a different weapon, but looking just like that bastard who shot arrows at Xina's head in Singapore.

Just as Xina was eyeing the Death Stalkers' black clothes and had already taken her whip off its waist hook, two Honkai Beasts appeared behind the Death Stalkers. They had three pairs of wings—one large, two small—and a red ring above their heads.

"DAMN!"

Seeing the Honkai Beasts, whose colors were primarily white and pink—a stark contrast to the Death Stalkers' pitch-black hue—Xina felt an inexplicable calm wash over her, and her hand holding the whip involuntarily dropped.

This relaxed behavior made Theresa think Xina was scared by the Honkai Beasts, so she quickly reassured her from outside the field:

"Xina, don't be nervous. Those two Honkai Beasts are very common Assault-Class Honkai Beasts. Your teacher Himeko has already set them to non-attack mode. Just use your attack abilities on them!"

"It's not about whether they'll attack me, okay!"

Xina stared at the Honkai Beasts, which did nothing but flap their wings and hover in place, then shifted her gaze to the three Death Stalkers.

"Setting the Honkai Beasts aside for now, I see three very evil creatures. SHOW ME YOUR HAND A... no, wait, return to dust! Death Stalkers!"

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The long whip-blade, coated with an icy blue sheen, rapidly extended and lashed out like lightning, striking the Honkai Beasts... no, the Death Stalkers behind them.

The moment Xina's whip-blade touched the Death Stalkers, a massive, gruesome wound split open at the point of impact. White frost spread quickly from the wound to the rest of their bodies, until the Death Stalkers were entirely stained white by the frost. The second whip's force, carrying the momentum, shattered the frozen Death Stalkers into scattered chunks on the ground.

The whip, having lost its target, still carried undiminished power. Several visible streams of cold air flew past the Death Stalkers' remains into the empty space behind them.

The Honkai energy isolation layer, which should have activated upon attack to protect the field's facilities from damage, failed to perform its intended function.

Crack, crack!

With a few cracking sounds, faint frost slowly spread across the isolation layer. If Xina hadn't reacted quickly and pulled her strength back, Theresa's little treasury would likely have had to allocate a hefty sum to repair the venue.

"I guess this is what you get from Fu Hua's temporary guidance, huh? Even some A-Rank Valkyries would be stunned by that kind of power!"

Watching everything unfold, Himeko and Theresa couldn't help but widen their eyes.

They now seemed to understand why Xina, despite having a D in physical fitness, still earned an S-rank evaluation.

Sure, this girl was a bit... frail, but physical fitness wasn't the same as talent—it could be trained later!

As long as they built up her physique, she'd be a surefire rising star for Destiny!

Thinking this, Theresa pointed at the last two Honkai Beasts and shouted to Xina, "Xina, don't space out! The test isn't over yet—there are still two Honkai Beasts over there! Quick, take them down!"

"Ah..." Xina stared blankly at the two Honkai Beasts, whose bodies were only white and pink, and a strange melancholy welled up inside her.

Just by looking at their color, I can tell these two little ones are good kids. I'm having a hard time bringing myself to strike!

"Himeko, why is Xina just standing there without moving?" Theresa asked, puzzled as she watched Xina remain motionless, yet to make a move.

"Uh..." Himeko couldn't quite explain Xina's issue either, but recalling the black outfits on those three Death Stalkers and the black Target in the warehouse that had been thoroughly whipped, she seemed to form a bold guess.

She pulled a pair of Sunglasses from who knows where and tossed them to Xina from a distance. "Here, Xina, try putting on these Sunglasses!"

Putting on the Sunglasses Himeko had thrown her, Xina looked at the pitch-black Honkai Beast and silently tightened her grip on the whip. "Now that's more like it..."