First Encounter with the Wind of Desire

Anti-Entropy Headquarters—

Tesla's eyes were bloodshot, and she looked utterly drained. Welt walked into the laboratory and asked gravely, "How is it?"

"One piece of good news and one piece of bad news." Dr. Tesla looked dejected. "The good news is that the Gem of Stillness is quite stable in his body. There are no signs of it going out of control."

Welt had a bad feeling. "And the bad news?"

Tesla covered her forehead and sighed. "The bad news is that he fused with the Gem of Stillness too perfectly. Forcibly removing it would not only cause him severe harm, but also make the Gem of Stillness erupt the instant it leaves his body. In other words, he has now become the perfect vessel for the Gem of Stillness."

Welt fell silent for a moment. "There's no way around it?"

Tesla answered bluntly, "Not at present."

After thinking for a while, Welt made a decision. "Since the Gem of Stillness is very stable inside him, send him back to St. Freya Academy. I'll keep a close eye on him there. Besides, there's more than one Herrscher there anyway."

Tesla was speechless. "You're actually right..."

Red Feathers rose from the man's hand. The Simulated Feather Crossing Dust began to work. "But first, we need to erase his and those three girls' memories."

St. Freya Academy—

Kiana groggily woke up in bed. "My head hurts so much. What happened to me?"

She sat up and found Mei and Bronya asleep in the beds beside hers. They seemed to be in St. Freya's infirmary. There were signs that someone had slept in the bed next to them, but it was already empty.

"Kiana." A familiar voice sounded beside her ear. The white-haired girl looked around, but she could not find anyone. Just as she was wondering what was going on, the voice rang out again, now filled with anger. "Why are you holding your head up so high?"

Kiana lowered her head and saw Theresa standing beside her with a dark expression. "Uh, sorry, Auntie. What happened to me? I remember we had just gone to Changkong City, and then..."

Theresa interrupted her. "Kiana, you really outdid yourself. Something this huge happened, and you didn't tell me? If Xing hadn't come clean to me on his own, I'd never have known that you actually pulled off such a 'feat' behind my back!"

Kiana, whose memories had been erased, looked utterly bewildered. "W-What did we do?"

"You still dare to play dumb?!" Theresa's rage flared. She jumped straight onto the bed, grabbed Kiana by the collar, and roared, "Working with Anti-Entropy's conservatives to stop the radicals' experiment in Changkong City—something so dangerous, and you hid it from me? Are you in that much of a hurry to die?!"

Kiana felt utterly wronged. "Auntie, what are you talking about? I don't understand a single word!"

Theresa clenched her fists. "Still pretending? Looks like you've forgotten Auntie's iron fist of 'love.' Take this!"

Kiana's pig-slaughtering shrieks echoed through the infirmary. Honestly, even if she had not lost her memories, she would not have escaped this beating. Sooner or later, they would find out what the girls had done in Changkong City anyway.

"That's why I chose to tell them everything outright. Something this big was bound to draw Schicksal's investigation. If I hadn't confessed, it would have been bad if they uncovered the three Herrschers among us."

Xing carried his luggage, including his Prototype Pulse Greatsword. After becoming a Fusion Warrior, even in his normal state, his strength far surpassed what it had once been. Though he had not reached Theresa's level yet, carrying this little stuff was no problem. Besides, he did not have much luggage to begin with.

The chubby Crimson Kite Bird squatted on his head, showing off its presence and proving that the author had not forgotten about it.

Originally, Xing had wanted to kill it and eat it, but slaughtering a chicken was too troublesome, so he simply kept it as a pet. Luckily, he had not eaten it. Otherwise, a certain girl(?) who had been secretly watching him might have taught him the Cun Xin Fist Style hand in hand—literally.

"What have I even done since coming to St. Freya Academy? I still haven't exchanged more than a few words with Fu Hua, and I never got to ask her about Taixu Sword Qi. I heard that the Taixu Sword School she founded still exists in Shenzhou. Maybe I can go there and give it a try someday." Xing considered his future plans.

Himeko stood behind him, her gaze complicated. "Xing, you're a hero."

The young man hurriedly turned around and waved his hands. "Ms. Himeko, I can't accept that. A hero? That's way too much praise for me."

"Is that so?" Himeko sighed. "You didn't hesitate to use yourself as bait and become a Herrscher Candidate. You knew what Judah would do to you, yet you still unleashed Zeroth Power..."

"Ms. Himeko! You absolutely can't tell anyone about what I told you! Fusing with the Gem of Stillness is one thing—the principal can still protect me over that. But if Schicksal finds out about that other matter too, I'll probably end up back on an operating table."

There was no helping it. How else could he explain the Judah in his hands? Theresa had told him that Otto had even shown her footage from the scene and asked how Judah had ended up in someone else's hands.

Still, he had not told them everything—for example, the part where he had been transformed into a Fusion Warrior.

That old schemer didn't use the Simulated Feather Crossing Dust on his own granddaughter while he had the chance, did he?

Xing nervously asked Himeko, "Um, since I saved Changkong City this time, can that count as us completing an S-rank mission?"

Himeko fell quiet for a moment. "It can."

This may be the last thing I can do for Fire Moth. The rest is up to you.

Xing shouldered his luggage and headed toward the ship with the Valkyries assigned to escort him. At Theresa's request, he would be sent to Schicksal's Oceania Branch for observation, and while he was there, he would deliver a letter to one of her former students.

The Oceania Branch, a former student, and this sort of situation again—Xing could roughly guess who it was.

Though he was being sent away somewhere else, Xing still had a plan to return, especially now that he had obtained a Divine Key. But there was one condition—

Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, or World Serpent—any of you will do. Hurry up and come steal my core!

"What? Xing is being forced to withdraw from St. Freya and lose his eligibility to continue Valkyrie training? Why?!" After hearing Theresa's words, Kiana, whose face was covered in bruises and swelling, immediately became agitated.

Facing Kiana's questioning, Theresa remained calm. "He has a Herrscher Core inside him that could erupt at any time. To ensure the safety of the students and faculty, I have no choice but to do this."

Mei could not understand. "Principal, I have a Herrscher Core inside me too. Why aren't you sending me away? Or rather, why did you let me enroll in the first place?"

Theresa fell silent.

Bronya said nothing. She merely opened Heavy-Duty Rabbit's mission records. "According to Heavy-Duty Rabbit 19C's data, we accidentally encountered Dr. Tesla of Anti-Entropy in Changkong City. From her, we learned of Cocolia's plan to endanger Changkong City and formed a temporary partnership with her. Xing used himself as bait to infiltrate the heavily guarded ME Company, and then... Strange. The data cuts off here."

Kiana's eyes widened. "That happened? Did Xing succeed?"

Bronya rolled her eyes at her. "Idiot Kiana, if he had failed, would we still be standing here now?"

Theresa, who had remained silent, finally spoke. "He succeeded. He saved every citizen in Changkong City. But this incident also alerted Schicksal. I can only send him away to suppress the matter. Otherwise, if those above investigate, the charge of you secretly colluding with Anti-Entropy alone would be enough to make you suffer!"

Bang! A tremendous crash came from the infirmary. Mei and Bronya stared at Kiana in shock. She had just punched Theresa square in the face with a heavy blow.

Kiana gritted her teeth and roared, "You chose to sacrifice Xing in order to save us? This young lady refuses to accept that!"

Theresa neither dodged nor blocked, taking the punch solidly. "What else was I supposed to do? Let you become a Schicksal wanted criminal like Sigfried? My dear niece, don't be stupid!"

"Enough!"

Kiana was about to throw another punch when Theresa grabbed her lower leg and slammed her heavily onto the floor with tremendous force.

Theresa's expression was cold. "This situation is exceptional, so I won't punish you this time. But if there's a next time, all of you can get the hell out!" With that, she slammed the door and left.

Kiana lay face-down on the floor, her eyes filled with unwillingness. "Damn it!"

Outside the door, two streams of tears ran down Theresa's face. Her cold facade crumbled completely. Stupid niece, how could I possibly sacrifice my own student? Even if I had to risk everything, I'd protect you all...

There was one thing she hadn't told Kiana and the others: Xing had requested this himself.

Wendy was very unhappy. She had once been an outstanding A-Rank Valkyrie of Schicksal, even with a chance of becoming a new S-Rank Valkyrie, but a single experiment had ruined her entire future.

To study the power of the Gem of Desire, Schicksal had sought volunteers willing to undergo implantation. At Theresa's recommendation, Wendy had volunteered. At the time, she had never imagined that this would be the beginning of her nightmare.

After the Gem of Desire was implanted into her legs, Wendy not only failed to gain any power, but both of her legs were crippled as a result.

Unexpectedly, the Gem of Desire was extremely stable within her body. To preserve that stability, Schicksal made Wendy the Gem of Desire's container and imprisoned her within the Oceania Branch under the pretense of observation.

Thinking that sacrificing herself could stabilize the Gem of Desire and thereby save many lives, her sense of duty as a Valkyrie had allowed her to silently endure this pain. Yet a seed of hatred toward Schicksal had also been planted in her heart. If no one stopped it, that seed would surely bear unimaginable bitter fruit in the future.

But Wendy did not know that the person who would change her fate was about to arrive. And she would accompany that person through his first ####.

The girl had short hair that was black on the outside and green underneath, curling up slightly at the ends. A single ahoge stood upright on her head, and for some reason, Xing really wanted to yank it out.

Wendy stared wide-eyed at Xing, who was carrying luggage larger than his entire body. This boy looked about the same age as her—how was he carrying all that?

(PS: The story mentioned that Wendy and Bronya are the same age, so the two should be about the same size. Otherwise, Wendy wouldn't call Bronya big sister.)

Xing greeted her enthusiastically. "Hello, are you Wendy? My name is Xing Kaslana. If nothing unexpected happens, we'll be together from now on."

That was a rather easily misunderstood statement. What the little boy probably meant was that they would be living under surveillance together from now on.

Still, was it really okay for Schicksal to lock two Herrscher Candidates together?

Wendy curiously looked him over. A few days ago, she had heard that a boy in the same situation as her would be coming to keep her company, and she had felt an inexplicable sense of happiness, probably because they were kindred spirits in misfortune.

At the same time, there was a trace of jealousy in her heart, because this boy hadn't been crippled like she had. She really envied him.

Xing pulled a letter from his clothes. "I nearly forgot. Headmaster Theresa asked me to deliver this letter to you."

Headmaster? Wendy hurriedly opened it. The letter began with Theresa expressing her apologies to her, then introduced Xing's circumstances. Wendy read with great interest at first, then became shocked, and eventually went completely numb.

If it hadn't been a letter written by Theresa herself, she wouldn't have believed any of it. Was this guy using cheats or something?!

At such a young age, he had defeated a Pseudo-Herrscher, stopped the Honkai disaster in Changkong City, possessed dual natural Stigmata, become the first male student since St. Freya was founded, and, in order to save Changkong City, had not hesitated to use his status as a natural Stigmata bearer to lure the enemy into making him the vessel for the Gem of Stillness, saving the lives of every resident in the entire city.

After reading it, the trace of jealousy in Wendy's heart instantly vanished, replaced by sympathy.

She had thought she had it bad, but compared to him, what was this? He'd started with a king-tier account only to be forced to abandon it! And he had fused with the Gem to save people, while she had done it for power. Her resolve simply couldn't compare.

Though Wendy had wanted power in order to protect more people, whereas Xing had only saved people because he wanted to gain power...

Thanks to Theresa, Xing had left Wendy with an exceptionally good first impression.

Sitting in her fully automatic mechanical wheelchair, Wendy spoke softly. "H-hello, I'm Wendy. Please take care of me."

Author's Note—

Wendy is really miserable! If you look into it carefully, you'll find that this girl absolutely has a protagonist's setup. If the main cast had managed to rescue her from Cocolia in time back then, there might have been one more Herrscher fighting for humanity.

Next, Xing will be getting a break. After all, he's been grinding dungeons nonstop.

And while we're at it, we'll develop his relationship with Wendy a little. That way, Fire Moth won't need to use electric fans in summer!

Once he's done resting, hehe, he'll find out why I gave him such high Endurance and kept strengthening him with add-ons.