The First Collaboration of Temporary Partners

"Luming, are you alright?!"

Kane, concerned for his partner, rushed back after the rocket lost power, but when he arrived, he found a pale-faced girl slumped on the ground.

"It's nothing, I'll be fine after a while." Xing popped a chocolate bar into her mouth and replied listlessly, "By the way, are you alright? You were thrown so far."

The stamina consumption of the Knight Combination far exceeded her expectations. It seemed that the corresponding Knight's stats were added on top of the Build itself, thus giving her an extra trump card.

"Cough cough, I was just careless for a moment. If I hadn't been careless, I could have defeated an enemy of that level in no time." Kane noticed the charred corpse next to Xing, lowered his head in shame, and pulled out the Cross-Z Dragon to de-transform. "By the way, was Luming ambushed by him? She looks like she's injured."

"Ah no, the power of the new form is a bit too much for me, I haven't gotten used to it yet." Xing patted his head and stood up unsteadily. "Let's go back, it's time for dinner."

"Great!" Kane hurriedly went over to help the still-dazed girl onto his motorcycle. Just as he was about to drive away, Xing seemed to remember something. "Wait a minute, I want to see the pandas again."

"Pandas?" Kane's eyes lit up at this. "There are pandas here?!"

"Yes, it's over there. I want to feed it some more. After all, I kicked it earlier, and it'll be bad if it holds a grudge." Xing nodded and took out a bag of sausages from her Fourth-Dimensional Pocket.

Five minutes later—

Looking at the empty panda enclosure, the two fell into deep thought. Where did such a big panda go?

"Panda... did it go back to sleep?" Kane looked at Xing expectantly. He really wanted to see this national treasure of Shenzhou. Why did he miss it?

"Wait a minute, I just fed it." Xing scratched her head in confusion, her two pink fox ears twitching slightly.

Kane: "?!"

Hey, isn't that a prop? It looks just like the real thing. I didn't notice it before, but why does Luming have an extra tail now?

Kane glanced at the pensive Miko, then at the wagging tail, and unconsciously reached out his hand—

Snap!

After a crisp sound, Kane had a bright red handprint on his face and silently walked to the side to contemplate life.

"Ha, naive." The girl sneered and withdrew her hand. I might be at a loss with the girls I like, but I'll strike back hard with the boys!

(So you always let them touch you on purpose? I bet it's not just one masochist...)

(It's quite surprising that she actually managed to recreate Faiz's form using Build's power.)

(No, Sougo, although it's possible for Faiz to be born in this Branch World, two bottles related to Faiz alone aren't enough to bring him to life...)

(You mean?)

(It seems that even without awakening ****, Sachi can unintentionally exercise her powers; perhaps that [Bonded Weaponry] is a manifestation of those powers.)

Fortunately, she couldn't know the conversation between the messengers. She squatted down and carefully observed the strange footprints on the soil.

Honkai Vision, activated—

(Oh right, this ability is one of the manifestations.)

"Hey, Kane, let's go beat that bastard who Kidnapping the panda up." Xing called to his companion, but his weak body couldn't stand up. "Uh, help me up first."

As a good young man, Kane was very moral and did not choose this moment to make a move. He honestly helped his partner up, summoned the Mechanical Creator, and quickly left.

"Are you alright, Luming?" Kane worriedly, looking at his pale-faced companion leaning against his back. "Why don't you go back and rest? Just tell me your location."

"It's alright, you can focus on the fighting afterwards. My stamina is pretty good." Xing shook her head and took out a camera from her sleeve. "Besides, I'm a little worried about you being alone."

For some reason, Kane felt incredibly ashamed when he heard what should have been words of concern for his companion. Damn it, why did I get ambushed without even realizing it?

"Focus on driving. Oh, and give me a smile." Xing held the camera out to Kane, pointed it at the two of them, and pressed the shutter. "This is the Doctor's invention, a Costume Change Camera. One-click costume change, isn't that amazing? (It's rare to Lobster Doctor make something useful.)"

Kane glanced down at his sailor uniform and nearly froze in the wind.

"Uh, sorry, I forgot to select an outfit," the girl said apologetically as she changed back into her dress and reverted to her original skin.

"What kind of crappy invention is this? By the way, who is the Doctor? The one who created the Build System?"

"Yes, she's very capable, but she always likes to come up with inventions that don't exist. By the way, did you buy a ticket when you came in?"

"Tickets? What tickets?"

"..."

—Good kids, don't skip the ticket!—

In the night in Changkong City, a motorcycle sped along the road, sparks even flying from its wheels.

PS: They activated optical camouflage, so the surveillance cameras couldn't capture them speeding.

"Turn left 500 meters ahead, then continue straight until you hear the next voice prompt." Xing took out her phone, checked the map, compared it with the location given by the Honkai Vision, and planned a navigation route.

"Luming is really useful. By the way, how did you dye your hair back so quickly?" Kane exclaimed, only to get punched by her the next second. "Just drive your car and keep your mouth shut!"

Luming seems to really enjoy hitting me...

After a high-speed drive, the two gradually left the city and entered the sparsely populated suburbs. When a factory came into view, Xing thought to himself, "(This classic setting again)."

"Kane, stop the car. You go draw their fire, I'll sneak in and rescue the panda. Hopefully, it hasn't turned into a monster yet, otherwise a lot of innocent people will get caught in the crossfire." Xing finalized the plan, tossing the Grip Driver and Dragon Gel to Kane. "Be careful, only use it when your emotions are at their peak. Also, it will amplify your fighting spirit, so don't lose your mind and recklessly charge in. I'll let you know once you've rescued the panda. If it's already turned into a monster, then you'll have to kill it."

"Then, let the battle begin!"

The girl and boy high-fived, smiled at each other, and took out the Build Driver.

"Ninja!" Comic! Best Match!"

"Wake Up!" Cross-Z Dragon!"

Are you ready?

"Transformation x2!"

'The Hidden Entertainer! Ninja Comic! YEAH!'

"Awaken from the flames! Get Cross-Z Dragon! YEAH!"

He swiftly twirled his Four-Panel Ninja Sword, then vanished from the spot. "It's yours now, partner~"

"Oh my!" Kane was in high spirits, eager to show off. He drew his Beat Closer, mounted his Mechanical Creator, and sped towards the factory, which was faintly lit. "Last time, Luming saw my embarrassing side. This time, I'm going to get my revenge!"

Afterwards, as he lay in bed watching the girl gently apply medicine and bandage his wounds, he suddenly felt that this wasn't so bad after all.

—I've become completely invincible!—

In the brightly lit laboratory, Cocolia and Raven looked at the poor panda, who was unconscious due to anesthesia and was now tied to the experimental table with twitching lips. How much Honkai Energy had been injected into it? Why was there still no reaction?

Raven glanced at the empty black bottle in his hand with a headache. "Sigh, this bottle isn't enough. I should have asked the Jackal for more. Hopefully, the stored Honkai Energy catalyze it."

Cocolia was speechless. "What's going on with this panda? Why hasn't it turned into Honkai Beast yet?"

"Well, according to ancient Shenzhou records, it was known as the Iron-Eating Beast in ancient times. Legend has it that it helped Ji Xuanyuan defeat Chiyou during Chiyou battle. Later, for unknown reasons, its population drastically decreased, and it is now considered a national treasure of Shenzhou and is strictly protected. It is said that breeding it is very successful, and the era of everyone owning one is not far away..." Raven diligently searched for information online.

Cocolia glanced at the armored man beside her and sighed. "My God, is World Serpent really reliable?"

Just then, a message was transmitted to Raven's mask. Raven frowned, turned and left without saying a word.

Cocolia didn't care about the reason for the Raven's departure and continued to observe the progress of the experiment.

Outside, Kane kicked down the factory gate. Looking at the dimly lit interior, he paused for a moment. Xing's instructions came through his helmet. "There should be a basement or something. Try cutting it down with your sword."

"Oh, okay." Kane faithfully raised his weapon and pulled the lever three times in succession, causing azure flames to ignite on the blade.

"Dragon Flame Overlord Slash!" Kane shouted the name of the move he had been thinking about for a long time. He charged up his sword and was about to bring it down heavily when suddenly the ground in front of him split open and a large platform rose up, carrying a bunch of mechs.

"Come on!" Seeing that the first step of the battle plan had succeeded, Kane was secretly delighted and immediately rushed forward to engage the enemy. His task was to draw fire from the outside and create an opportunity for Luming to sneak in.

At this moment, the Jackal—

The Dog-headed Strategist, sitting in his wheelchair, carefully examined Benares's body. If he moved too much, a tingling pain would shoot through his lower back. The injury he sustained from being kicked by Xing Yong last time was quite severe and hadn't healed yet.

"Damn Xing Kaslana, I hope you don't fall into my hands!" Jackal cursed as he imagined the satisfaction of possessing that little princess, almost accidentally pressing the self-destruct button.

Just as she was getting into it, a call from Raven popped up on the screen, "Cleo, are you there? I have something to report, um, never mind, just read it."

Raven sent the footage of Cross-Z battling the mechs to Jackal. She glanced at the blue-gold Knight and noticed the Dragon Fullbottle stuck in the Cross-Z Dragon's belt.

"Xin Kaslana?!" The Jackal instinctively shrank back, his kidneys starting to ache.

"No, his fighting style is completely different from Sin Kaslana's, and he calls himself Kamerider Cross-Z (Kamen Rider Croz), which is a different Knight System from Build. He seems quite strong, so how should we deal with him?"

"Defeat him and bring him back to me. My gut feeling tells me he's likely the natural Stigmata bearer who was rescued by Xing Kaslana last time." Jackal snorted and hung up the communication.

The black-haired beauty's gaze fell on the red activation device beside her. "Hmph, once this is completed, not only will I gain enough power to defeat him, but I can also proceed with the next step of my plan. Just you wait and see!"

—Hazard On!—

Using the invisibility ability from Ninja Manga, he managed to sneak into the Underground Base. He glanced back at Kane, who was fighting hard, and silently cheered him on before leaving without looking back.

But then Sachi discovered a serious problem. She had reacted to the Honkai Energy of the guy who moved the panda away. Now there were similar auras everywhere. How was she supposed to find it?

"Hmm, let's check the reaction of the Cobra Energy Bottle." Sachi took out the bottle she had snatched, looked at it with her Honkai Vision, and sure enough, she found the target.

"Yay! Let's go!"

Looking at the keypad door in front of her, the girl smiled slightly and placed her hand on it. "Ai-chan, hack it!"

"Okay boss, remember to pay this month's salary!"

"What kind of salary does AI need...?"

Author's Note—

Burp~

Kane drawn by a fellow book lover using AI

We've also made some minor adjustments to the transformation sound effects.