Five students are eligible for the exam, four are exempt, and Kiana is not one of them.

"We're here!"

As St. Freya Car God Bronya floored the accelerator and charged into the temporary base, the hearts of the group finally eased a little.

Because they'd been delayed on the road, by the time Xina and Mei's teams entered the base, most of the other teams had already returned.

Valkyries were gathered in small clusters, discussing the enormous Honkai beast that had just appeared, and the atmosphere was oddly harmonious.

"Let me tell you, when we were coming back just now, that Emperor-class Honkai beast charged right past the block ahead of us. Houses were this big, and it was about that big," one Valkyrie said, gesturing wildly with her hands to indicate the size, drawing gasps of awe from the Valkyries around her who hadn't seen the Emperor-class beast.

Another ten or so minutes passed, and the remaining teams trickled back in. Valkyries from each branch, led by their direct superiors, returned to their respective rest areas, quietly waiting for dinner time.

"Mmm... Mei, when are Great-Aunt and Aunt Himeko coming back? I'm hungry already..." Kiana curled up in Mei's arms like a kitten, squirming around, making Bronya's fists clench from the sidelines.

If you're hungry, fine, but why are you squirming in Mei's arms like that!

"Alright, the Principal and the others are in a meeting. Once it's over, we can eat!" Mei said, soothing the little cat-caterpillar in her arms while glancing toward the Hyperion's command room.

For some reason, she felt today's meeting wouldn't end quickly.

Sure enough, just a few minutes later, Fu Hua's calm voice came through the Hyperion's internal speakers:

'Valkyries belonging to the Far East Branch may proceed to the cafeteria for dinner. Minister Theresa will relay the contents of this meeting afterward.'

"Oh!"

Xina, who had been lying on her bed, opened her eyes at the broadcast. She sat up and followed her teammates out into the hallway.

Looking around, the corridor was filled with Valkyries heading to eat.

Having slept on the rooftop all day, Xina and her group weren't very hungry. They grabbed a quick bite and returned to their room, waiting for the senior Valkyries' meeting to end.

After the meeting, Theresa called the Valkyries participating in this mission to the conference room and briefed them on the next steps:

"Based on the discussions among the three branches and the report submitted to Destiny Headquarters, Bishop Otto has decided—given that the Emperor-class Honkai beast with unknown abilities has escaped into the sea—to deploy our Far East Branch as a rapid-response force to deal with any potential future attacks."

"What's a rapid-response force?" Kiana felt completely lost and couldn't help poking Bronya beside her.

Bronya shot Kiana a glare and said irritably, "Idiot Kiana, what the Principal means is that we don't need to stay in Singapore anymore. We can pack up and go back to St. Freya!"

"Going back! Awesome, I can eat Mei and Xina's cooking again!"

"Glutton..." Bronya understood now. The idiot next to her hadn't listened to a single key point—her mind was entirely on food...

After the meeting, the Valkyries of the Far East Branch gathered their personnel and supplies by squad, eventually returning to St. Freya in the early hours of the morning.

"Phew, we're finally back. I missed my bed and my game console!"

Stepping off the Hyperion, Kiana was the first to rush down the gangway, the first to burst into Himeko's big villa, and the first to turn on the game console.

Seeing Kiana still full of energy sitting in front of the game console in the dead of night, Himeko and Mei, who entered behind her, darkened their expressions and silently clenched their fists.

Thump! Thump!

After Himeko and Mei delivered their loving iron fists from both sides, Kiana, sporting two steaming red bumps on her head, could only cry silent tears as she was dragged off to her room.

Xina, the last one in, watched Kiana being forcibly escorted upstairs by Mei, utterly baffled. She fell into deep thought: What just happened? Did I miss something?

The Emperor-class Honkai beast codenamed Jormungandr seemed to vanish into thin air, with no news of it for a long time.

After the first-level alert was lifted, life at St. Freya gradually returned to normal.

One afternoon a month later, just before a Culture Class ended, Himeko called out to her students: "Girls, finals are in two weeks. I hope you'll spend more time on your studies and strive to keep our class ranked first in the school this semester."

"Especially some... certain students, I hope you don't fail!"

As she spoke, Himeko's gaze landed on the class's only weak point—Kiana, whose book had already vanished from her desk before the bell even rang.

Ding-ding-ding! Ding-ding-ding!

"Class dismissed!"

With that, Himeko tucked her textbook under her arm and quickly walked out of the classroom.

"Bronya, come on! I just thought of a silky smooth combo. I'm definitely beating you today."

As soon as Himeko left, Kiana, acting like nothing had happened, dashed over to Bronya's desk and eagerly challenged her to a three-hundred-round battle on the game console!

"Kiana, I'm afraid you can't leave."

Fu Hua, her face dark, adjusted her glasses and blocked Kiana's path, speaking in a low voice.

"Why not?!"

"The semester's ending. I don't need to remind you of your grades last semester. The Principal specifically asked me to make sure you stay for remedial lessons every day from now until the exams."

"What! Remedial lessons?!" This news hit Kiana like a thunderbolt, because it meant that for the next half-month, she couldn't happily play after school in the afternoons.

"Wahhh, no way~ Class Monitor, please let me off, okay? I really don't want to do remedial lessons."

Kiana, snot and tears streaming, clung to Fu Hua's arm, hoping she'd let her off the hook.

"Entrusted by another, I'm afraid I can't comply." Fu Hua gently removed Kiana's hand, expressionlessly returned to her seat, and raised an eyebrow, signaling Kiana to follow.

"But..." Kiana stood there, agonizing for a long time. Suddenly, she spotted Xina walking past after refilling her water at the cooler.

Thinking on her feet, Kiana hurriedly leaned over Fu Hua's desk and made exaggerated faces at the passing Xina: "Class Monitor, look! Xina's a new student this semester. She hasn't learned any of this before. If anyone needs remedial lessons, it should be her first, right?"

"The Principal told me Xina is exempt from exams this semester!" Fu Hua pulled a textbook from the desk and silently flipped to the page she'd need soon.

"Huh? Exempt from exams!"

Hearing that word, Kiana felt terrible. She took a deep breath and asked, "Is Xina the only one in our class exempt from exams?"