After hearing Himeko's words, Bai Chen's heart jolted. He seemed to remember this part of the story!
In the original plot, Kiana would accidentally enter Schicksal's secret database, then meet her ancestor from a century ago, Kallen Kaslana, in the virtual world. She would witness Kallen's final moments and experience the power of the Moonlight Armor for the first time.
So the Moonlight form could be transformed into? He wondered how long the cooldown was. It probably would not be too long.
This part of the story had not been important anyway. Everything in it was merely virtual history that had already happened, and that virtual world was only a tool Otto used to torment himself.
Bai Chen soon stopped paying attention to it. He would rather focus on passing the rest of his subjects over the next week.
Thinking that, he took a bottle of Nutrient Solution from his pocket and returned to his room.
"Whenever Bai Chen takes out that drink, I always feel like his aura changes. He becomes mysterious, as if he's hiding something."
Mei rested her chin on her hand as she watched Bai Chen's departing figure, sounding uncertain.
"Huh? Mei feels that way too?"
Kiana looked up in surprise. "I thought it was just my imagination. Last time, I bought a bottle from the convenience store too, but it didn't feel like that at all."
Bronya did not join the conversation, but she had indeed felt the same way. Could it be some strange, magical gadget? For an instant, the image of a blue, round robot flashed through Bronya's mind.
Back in his room, Bai Chen was studying the books before him with grim determination. He was only about forty points away from a passing total score. If he memorized a few more historical events, he should be able to scrape by.
Starting from nothing and reaching this level in a month meant he had worked very hard.
A day later, while Bai Chen was completely focused on memorizing his textbook, his vision suddenly went dark, as though something had been placed over his head.
"Damn it! A sneak attack!"
Then his vision blurred, and he found himself in a virtual space surrounded by towering bookshelves that reached into the clouds. Bai Chen immediately understood that Bronya had ambushed him by putting a helmet on his head to make him attend tutoring.
"This is Schicksal's core database. I am your guide witch, and I will lead you through the history of Honkai from the very beginning."
Bronya had set herself up in an elf costume and was happily role-playing.
"A guide witch?"
Kiana gave Bronya's virtual avatar a strange look.
Ignoring Kiana's jab, Bronya used the panel to bring up the earliest records of Honkai. The scenery around them immediately began to change, revealing ruined houses everywhere and animals corrupted by Honkai.
"Wow! This is way more advanced than a movie!"
Kiana looked around eagerly, seemingly wanting to go up and spar with those earliest Honkai Beasts.
Looking at the people who had been killed in the virtual world, Bai Chen felt a faint stir in his heart. Once again, he felt the weight Honkai had brought to reality.
He had to admit that Bronya was good at teaching. Without realizing it, Bai Chen had memorized many important events, until he noticed that Bronya had not spoken for quite a while.
"Bronya?"
Bai Chen looked around. Other than a Judah embedded in the ground, there was nothing familiar in sight.
"?"
Bai Chen frowned deeply and quickly figured everything out. The Judah before him would recognize the Kaslana family bloodline, then teleport its bearer into a hidden virtual space.
Kiana must have accidentally touched Judah and been teleported away, just like in the original story. Bronya had probably gone looking for her. She likely had not expected to be delayed there, so she had not informed him.
After all, no one had expected that simply looking up information could cause a problem.
Bai Chen slowly walked toward Judah. It was not as though he had no way to enter with them.
Drive: White Comet
As the phantom covered him, Bai Chen transformed into Kiana's appearance once more. This time, however, his outfit looked like a tight bodysuit.
White Comet was the first Valkyrie armor Kiana obtained. At this point in time, Kiana had not acquired this armor yet. In the game, White Comet ranked below Ranger, but in reality, it was far stronger than Kiana's school uniform, which had no weapons installed whatsoever.
The instant his transformation was complete, Bai Chen placed his hand over Judah. As expected, Judah successfully recognized the Kaslana family genes and directly summoned a massive black hole that swallowed Bai Chen's body.
The next instant, Bai Chen found himself in the sky above a city that looked like it was from roughly five hundred years ago.
Following the body's memories, Bai Chen activated the wind goggles on White Comet's helmet, adjusted his posture, and dove toward the ground. When he was close enough, he activated White Comet's thrusters and landed steadily.
Boom!!
The instant he landed, an enormous amount of rubble and smoke burst outward.
All right, that had not been steady at all.
Some unknown guardian of the earth gave him a thumbs-up.
"Kiana! Deploy!"
After landing, Bai Chen summoned the Scarlet Kite Wings that came with the character and unconsciously struck several poses. This transformation ability was just too fun to play with.
? _?
But when Bai Chen turned around, he saw Bronya staring at him with her classic expression.
"Waaaah! *^&^$$!"
Bai Chen let out a string of terrified noises, canceled his transformation in a panic, and crouched on the ground.
"You saw that?"
"Mm."
"Wow, just kill me."
Covering his face with both hands, Bai Chen wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and bury himself.
"Don't worry. Bronya will not tell Mei and the others about this."
Bronya comforted him. After all, it was normal for children to enjoy chuunibyou things. As someone from the older generation, she had to learn to understand.
"Uh."
Wearing an expression of utter pain, Bai Chen stood and asked, "Where's Kiana?"
"We came too late. She was captured. But don't worry, we can ransom her out in the morning."
"..."
Rescuing Kallen
"Kiana, your mother is here to pick you up."
Following the guard's guidance, Kiana met her so-called mother. Bronya, now dressed as an elegant noblewoman and holding a parasol, scolded her, "You naughty daughter. You worried me to death."
Bai Chen silently complained in his heart, You sound so flat that I can't hear any concern at all.
After the three of them moved a little farther away, they began discussing matters.
"So, you entered a virtual space, found out your ancestor was about to be arrested, and because you saw injustice, you shouted and charged in—then got yourself thrown into prison too?"
After listening to Kiana's explanation, Bai Chen summed it up for her.
"No, I was just careless! If I got another chance, I would definitely win. Wait, you said she's my ancestor?"
Kiana instinctively retorted because she felt Bai Chen was looking down on her, but she quickly noticed something strange in his words.
"That's right. Kallen Kaslana was Schicksal's Saint five hundred years ago, and she was also your ancestor. Back then, she was Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie."
As Bai Chen shared what he knew, he pulled up Kallen's detailed information and placed it before Kiana. "Read the rest yourself."
"So Kallen is about to be executed by Schicksal? No! I have to save her! A gentle person like her must have had some hidden reason for doing something like that! Is it wrong to fall in love with a Herrscher?"
After reading the information for a while, Kiana immediately began jumping anxiously.
"The real Kallen died five hundred years ago. This is only an image that keeps repeating."
Bai Chen stated the cold truth from the side. What was the point of doing all this? The real Kallen had long since died, and only Yae Sakura remained trapped in her seal.
"She's not just an image! She can talk, she can feel sad, and even if she's a virtual character, I won't just stand by and watch her die!"
Once Kiana got serious, her entire aura seemed to change. The determination in her eyes awakened memories that Bai Chen had buried for a long time.
Right, wasn't this why he had fallen for Kiana in the first place?
"Honestly, what am I supposed to do with you? Bronya, we need a proper plan. There aren't any weapons we can use here."
Sensing that the atmosphere had become strange, Bronya stepped forward to interrupt the argument that might have erupted between them.
Bai Chen took a deep breath. "Fine. A hero can't run away at the critical moment!"
"Yay!"
Seeing that her companions all agreed, Kiana cheered. Was she celebrating because Kallen could be saved, or because her companions shared the same ideals? But clearly, they had underestimated how difficult it would be to rescue Kallen.
After waiting for some time, Bai Chen and Kiana arrived near the gallows to lie in ambush. That gallows was the execution device meant to put Kallen to death.
Before the execution even began, a huge crowd had gathered below the platform. But they had not all come to watch the spectacle. Many of them were pleading for Saint Kallen.
"Saint Kallen is such a gentle person. How could she possibly commit a crime?"
"Saint Kallen once saved my family from a monster. There must be some mistake! She could never do such a thing!"
"..."
After hiding themselves, Bai Chen looked at the scene below and said to Kiana, "Kallen really is worthy of being your ancestor."
"?"
Kiana glanced at Bai Chen in confusion.
"Look at the sincerity in their eyes. Saint Kallen must have once protected them like a knight, just as you protected me back then."
"I'm not as amazing as you make me sound. My dad taught me all of that. The Kaslana family is the shield of the people, after all."
Kiana became rather embarrassed by Bai Chen's praise.
"The shield of the people?"
Bai Chen thought of everything Kiana had gone through in the game.
"Then what about you..."
"?"
Kiana did not catch Bai Chen's final words.
"Nothing..."
Boom!
Before he could finish, an explosion sounded in the distance. Something seemed to have blown up. Bronya's signal had arrived; the explosion had drawn most people's attention away as planned.
Then Bai Chen and Kiana would use the chaos to storm the execution ground. After saving Kallen, they would quickly retreat along the designated route.
Now that the signal had come, it was time to act!
"Ha!"
Bai Chen and Kiana leaped down from the tall building together and attacked at the same time.
Although Bai Chen had only trained through the system for a month, he had cheats.
Drive: Chrono Break
In Bai Chen's eyes, the guards instantly became as slow as turtles. He was not tall enough to strike those adults' vital points, so did he need a weapon to deal with them quickly?
No, wait, maybe he could hit that?
Bai Chen quickly approached the nearest person and kicked him between the legs.
In the slowed world, the cloaked man's face gradually twisted.
"One down."
Bai Chen immediately rushed toward the next target and kicked upward.
"Two down, three down, four down..."
After Bai Chen had nearly exhausted his stamina, he deactivated the emergency skill. Instantly, heart-rending screams of agony filled the entire execution ground.
Other than the old man confronting Kiana, the old man who was telling Kiana to quickly take Miss Kallen and escape while explaining the escape route, every one of his colleagues behind him was clutching their groins and writhing on the ground in pain.
In an instant, every male spectator felt a chill breeze between his legs and involuntarily squeezed them shut.
"What about your companion?"
After Kiana helped Kallen down, Kallen asked her curiously. In all her life, she had never seen such an attack method, one that struck every male weak point as though teleporting.
After silently cursing that idiot Bai Chen in her heart, Kiana immediately took Kallen's hand. "Forget about that for now. Let's get out of here first!"
Before you continue