Return to Changkong City

On the transport ship, the Big Three sat across from Xing, occasionally sneaking glances at the fox ears beneath his hat. They wanted to touch them but did not dare, because they were electrified.

Ever since he had transformed into Nightshade Heavy Mist and defeated the simulated Emiya in the Memory Battlefield, the Herrscher of Thunder's power had been almost entirely depleted. However, Yae Sakura's Stigmata had absorbed the residual Honkai Energy left behind by Herrscher Mei, severely throwing the balance of Stigmata power within his body out of proportion. Unless he unleashed another burst and transformed into God's Blessing Anthem, he would have to remain a pink-haired, purple-eyed fox-eared boy for quite some time.

Moreover, Yae Sakura's Stigmata had been tainted by the Herrscher of Thunder's aura, undergoing unexpected changes. Of its three magatama, one brimmed with red flames and stored the power of True Flame Lucky Soul; another was filled with purple currents and stored the power of Nightshade Heavy Mist; the last had yet to be tainted by other energy and retained the original form of Miko of the Divine Punishment.

Actually, there was no problem even without saving it. The original form could still be transformed into even if all the slots were full. Surely no one would max out all their branch forms and then lose the original form, right?

I'm talking about you, Ultraman Orb. Though, to be fair, he got his title sealed because he overused his power.

If I got Ice Lotus Sky, could I unlock Memento? Xing wondered. Of course, it would be for Sakura to use. He had no intention of transforming himself; Bonded Weaponry was enough for him.

Back to the point: part of the Herrscher of Thunder's authority had become part of his Stigmata abilities. But whether because he had not mastered it well enough or because the Honkai Energy had not been fully absorbed, he had been leaking electricity these past few days. Ya Ya could only stare longingly at his fox ears.

Kiana plugged a charging cable into his head to charge her terminal.

"Don't treat me like a power bank!" Xing swiftly grabbed Kiana's wrist. The white-haired furball instantly bristled—literally.

Fortunately, he had not damaged the Memory Battlefield too badly, and the important equipment had mostly remained intact. Himeko merely scolded him before letting him go.

"So, we're heading there now? You can tell us, right?" He released the bristling white-haired furball. She shot him a vicious glare before speaking.

"It's already been sent to the group channel. Look for yourselves!"

"Let's see... Wild Honkai Beasts near Changkong City have been inexplicably increasing recently. Investigate and eliminate them... Isn't this a B-rank mission? Why was it raised to A-rank?"

"Because all the teams sent to investigate before disappeared for unknown reasons. The person in charge raised both the mission rank and reward. They were originally going to report it to the higher-ups, but luckily Miss Kiana stopped them."

"..." The three of them looked at Kiana with complicated expressions.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Kiana's skin crawled under their stares.

"Kiana, where do you get the confidence that our unofficial group can handle a mission that even well-equipped, experienced Valkyrie squads could not?" Xing had a bad feeling. Mei had already left Changkong City—could the Third Honkai Eruption still happen there?

"Ahem, because I have great faith in Fire Moth! Besides, don't we have you? If things really go south, we can combine into Judgment Knight. And don't you dare make a move on Mei!"

By evening, the four of them had changed into casual clothes and were walking the streets of Changkong City. The two little ones each held a lollipop; only at times like this did they resemble children.

"Even though we only left not long ago, coming back here feels like it's been years," Mei said with a sigh.

A month ago, she had merely been an ordinary female student at Senba Academy. Now, she was a Valkyrie fighting against Honkai.

"Let's carry out the mission first." Mei shook her head and gathered her thoughts.

"According to the intel, someone saw blue ghost flames here at night. What age are we living in? Do people still believe in that?" Kiana scoffed.

"But many people witnessed it, which means it's not baseless. It could be some kind of Honkai incident," Mei guessed.

"Can Honkai Energy explain everything?" Kiana glanced at Xing, only then realizing that she had a perfect example right beside her. "Xing, have you noticed anything? Use your Honkai Vision and take a look."

"I've had it on all along." Xing removed the sunglasses from his face. "There are too many people right now, so the energy flow is extremely chaotic. It'll be easier to observe after midnight."

"Then let's go have dinner first!" Kiana was hungry.

Although her endurance could not compare to Xing's, Kiana was far stronger than him. Even using both hands, Xing could not beat one of hers at arm-wrestling—when she was in her strength form. But in a race, Xing could drag Kiana along while running.

"Hey, what's wrong with you? You're eating way too little." Kiana noticed that Xing's appetite was nowhere near what it had been before.

"I'm not very hungry." Perhaps because Kallen's Stigmata had been suppressed, the Kaslana family's massive appetite had been sealed away as well.

"Eating less is better. If everyone were a starving ghost like idiot Kiana, Fire Moth would collapse sooner or later." Bronya looked disgusted.

"Who are you calling a starving ghost? You flat-chested, flat-assed runt!" The white-haired furball bristled again.

Luckily, Xing and Mei stopped their fight in time. Otherwise, they could have torn the restaurant apart.

At midnight—

Within his black-and-white vision, a blue line flickered in and out of sight. Xing focused intently and followed it forward step by step, with the other three following behind him.

I suddenly feel like a police dog, Xing thought.

The line eventually pointed toward an alley. Xing stopped and noticed that the line broke off at the ground.

"Bronya, use Heavy Cannon Rabbit to scan the ground here. There might be a hidden door."

A beam of light shot out from Heavy Cannon Rabbit's head. After sweeping over the ground a few times, it reached a conclusion. The rabbit pressed against the wall, and a screen suddenly emerged from within it.

"Is this a password lock?" Bronya leaned closer with interest, tapping the screen a few times with her small hand. "Done."

The ground beneath their feet suddenly opened downward, and the unprepared four fell in.

"Aaah! Bronya, why did you press it so quickly?!"

"I was careless. I should have had the rabbit scan the structure here first."

"Forget that for now, we're going to fall to our deaths!"

"Bronya, stack up!"

A black vortex appeared within the underground space. Heavy Cannon Rabbit grew larger and more impressive, transforming into its vehicle form and carrying the three of them safely to the ground.

"This motorcycle can fly?" Kiana knocked on Heavy Cannon Rabbit, her face full of yearning.

"It's so dark in here." Mei noticed there was no lighting in the underground space.

Click. The hidden door above them closed.

Xing, still in Otherworld Hacker form, pulled down his goggles and activated night vision.

"How is it? What did you see?" Kiana whispered.

"I saw a bunch of Titan daddies."

"?"

"See for yourself." Xing handed her the goggles.

"Why are there so many Titans here?!" Kiana jumped in fright.

As far as the eye could see, a vast area was packed with dormant Titan mechs.

"Don't worry, Bronya can hack into their programs." Xing took back the goggles and looked around. This was probably a mech warehouse, so there should be some kind of device for activating or shutting down the mechs.

"Found it." Xing located the control terminal, pulled a data cable from the watch on his wrist and plugged it in, then tapped the watch to project a virtual screen.

In Otherworld Hacker form, Bronya had become the various high-tech devices he wore.

"Hacking complete." The warehouse lights came on. After hacking the outside surveillance and confirming that no one was around, Xing opened the warehouse doors.

"Whew, it's freaking hot in here." It was the height of summer, and the airtight warehouse was unbearably stuffy. Kiana grabbed Mei and rushed outside.

After disarming, the four cautiously made their way down the corridor.

"According to what Bronya hacked, there are two more warehouses like that nearby. But all the wiring here leads to the same location. Bronya suggests going there." Ya Ya offered her recommendation, while also blacking out the cameras along the way.

The four arrived before a small door. After exchanging glances, Kiana kicked it open.

A gust of cold air hit them. In what looked like a laboratory, a red Lobster Doctor stared blankly at the four sudden intruders, still holding a bowl of instant noodles she had been eating.

"Where the hell did you little brats come from? You dare kick down my door?!" The red-haired twin-tailed girl(?) cursed furiously.

"Who's this?" Kiana looked at Bronya.

"The database shows that she has a 98% similarity to Dr. Tesla of Anti-Entropy. She should be the real person."

"So we caught a big fish?" Kiana suddenly grew excited.

"Don't ignore me, hey! Wait, are you people from Schicksal?" Tesla immediately became wary.

"Hehe, affiliated squad of Schicksal Far East Branch, Fire Moth, reporting for duty!" Kiana struck a cool pose, completely failing to notice that all her teammates had turned their heads away.

The three of them thought, I don't know her.

"Oh? Has mighty Schicksal started hiring child labor now? Hmph, if you want to capture me and claim the credit, don't underestimate a researcher's fighting power!" Tesla raised her left hand, clad in a red iron fist, with alternating current coursing across it. "Take this, genius's Atomic Burst—"

"Bang!" Kiana grabbed her iron fist and tore it straight off, then crushed it with her bare hand.

"And then?" Tossing aside the scrap metal still spitting sparks, Kiana rolled her wrist and looked at the dumbfounded Tesla.

That was super-hard alloy! How did she do that? Are all Schicksal people monsters? Tesla screamed inwardly.

"D-Don't get cocky too soon! Believe it or not, this genius can call over a whole bunch of Titans to beat you up!"

"You mean the ones in the warehouse next door? We already hacked them. Want to call them over to dance Gokuraku Jodo for you?"

"How could the firewall designed by this genius possibly be breached by a bunch of children like you? Just watch me..." After tapping at the screen several times without any response, Tesla suddenly fell silent.

"So it's finally time to use this, huh? A device that can solve every problem with a single press." Tesla pulled a small red button from her pocket.

A crimson blade flashed. Tesla felt a sharp pain in her wrist, and the button in her hand fell onto the floor.

"Don't worry, I hit you with the flat of the blade." Xing elegantly sheathed Cherry Blossom Blizzard and kicked the button away. "If you don't want to get hurt, you'd better honestly tell us what Anti-Entropy is planning to do here."

Tesla was silent for a moment before saying, "I, Frederica Nikola Tesla, will never yield to Schicksal scum!"

"Very good. I like people with backbone like you. Kiana, smash her air conditioner."

"Stop! Don't touch my air conditioner, I'll talk! Wait, what did you just call her—Kiana? Kiana Kaslana?" Dr. Tesla, who understood perfectly well that a true man could bend and stretch, stared hard at Kiana's face.

"Yeah, so what? Do you know me?"

"I know your father, Sigfried Kaslana." Tesla's expression relaxed, with none of her earlier panic remaining. "Do you want to see him?"

Author's Note—

Friendly reminder: the convergence of worldlines is about to arrive. Can Xing steer the worldline in a new direction?

Next comes You Hui's favorite persecution time! Can everyone guess who the victim will be?

A. Raven;

B. Jackal;

C. Theresa;

D. Otto;

E. All of the above.