A massive battleship streaked across the skies of Canghai City. Amid the thunderous roar, the camera focused on the clouds trailing behind the ship. Under the blue sky, the film's title emerged: Collapse I: Ballad of the Wind Colors.
"Ah, the movie's only just starting... This is going to be another long haul like the last one." Ling quietly set down her cola. She did not want to need the bathroom right when things got exciting.
Sakura amusedly ruffled her hair.
"Anti-Entropy became a terrifying organization that implanted chips into girls' brains?!" Shigure Kira, seated in the front row, wore a strange expression. Even though this movie had not collaborated with Anti-Entropy, it should not be smearing them like this!
Otherwise, how were they supposed to cooperate in the future?!
"Kira, that's not something we need to worry about. If the sky falls, the tall people will hold it up. Let Yaqing worry about it. He spends every day sitting in his office drinking coffee and eating pastries anyway." Patrick patted Shigure Kira on the shoulder, signaling for her not to worry.
Kiana rubbed her little hand, which had been patted red, with a wronged expression.
It was her own fault, really. After seeing Bronya get implanted with a chip in the story, she had become curious whether the real Bronya had one too, so she had reached out and rubbed the head of gray spiral curls.
Bronya irritably smacked her hand away.
Mei could not help laughing at the scene.
As Himeko's narration explained the upcoming Valkyrie exam, Kiana and the others quickly threw themselves into the tense atmosphere of studying. Kiana, who had skipped class, unexpectedly ran into Theresa and inevitably received a stern scolding.
After meeting Himeko, Kiana learned that the person Himeko had arranged to tutor her was actually Fu Hua.
According to Himeko, Fu Hua was Kiana's class monitor and also an A-Rank Valkyrie of Schicksal.
"Th-This can't be right, can it? With Hua's strength, she nearly soloed the Valkyries. She should be more than qualified to be an S-Rank Valkyrie. And she was a survivor from the Previous Era, yet she still attended classes?!" Pardo was overflowing with the urge to complain.
Fu Hua had been so overwhelmingly impressive in the previous movie, but now she had fallen all the way to being an A-Rank Valkyrie and merely a student.
Many viewers found it difficult to adjust, considering that one move, Taixu Sword Qi, had stunned quite a few people.
"It should be a side effect of Feather of the Wind. She burned her memories, after all. When she went offline in the previous installment, she was already suffering from amnesia. She did not even recognize her own disciple anymore," Su guessed.
"Ah, Hua is so miserable..."
Naturally, Su and Pardo's voices did not escape the ears of Little Knowledge, who was seated one row ahead of them. She also thought Fu Hua had it rough, especially after Otto had screwed her over so badly.
Little Knowledge patted Fu Hua on the shoulder, puffed out her not-so-generous chest, and said, "Old relic, don't worry. Once my story character appears, I'll definitely look after you."
Little Knowledge was still thinking about the role Yaqing had promised her.
"I actually think this is pretty nice," Fu Hua said.
"Huh?"
"Class Monitor, I never expected you'd still be our class monitor in the story," Kiana said.
The Strange Voice in the Dream
After a brief tutoring session with Class Monitor Fu Hua, Kiana unsurprisingly fell asleep during Himeko's class. She slept until the dismissal bell rang. After Himeko briefly asked Kiana a few basic questions, she tossed her over to Fu Hua.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the academy, Theresa was slacking off under the pretense of conducting an inspection. The pleasant atmosphere was destined to be shattered. Her communication device vibrated a few times, and Rita's image appeared on the screen.
After greeting Theresa, Rita revealed that Bishop Otto had arranged for her to travel to the Far East before tomorrow to hand over the Moonlight Throne and attend this year's Valkyrie rank examination as an observer.
At the end of the call—
"By the way, it's been a long time. You're still as cute as a doll."
"A doll?? Huh? Huh?! Why did you suddenly bring that up..." Theresa blushed.
After ending the communication, Theresa went to the training grounds to vent.
"Lady Theresa really is adorable," Rita said with a smile.
Far away in Germany, Theresa, who was watching the movie with Kallen and Otto in their little love nest, suddenly shivered. She took a sip of bitter melon juice, and her heart gradually settled.
Shigure Kira desperately wanted to change seats and get as far away from that strange woman Rita as possible. Theresa was obviously older than her...
"Rita finally made an appearance. Out of the few of us, it seems you're the only one who has not appeared yet." Salome smiled. Based on Yaqing's usual logic, she probably would not live much longer either. She would likely go offline sometime in the middle of the film.
"You're the only one who hasn't died yet." Shub thought of the same thing and smiled with narrowed eyes.
"H-Hey, I'm not confirmed dead. It only says my whereabouts are unknown." Shigure Kira hurriedly distanced herself from the "few dead people," declaring that she was still alive.
After they put it that way, Rita could no longer be sure what would happen next. The script was nominally written by Welt, but everyone knew Yaqing was unrivaled when it came to setting up tragic twists and delivering the knife.
Would he really write her to death?
Even Rita could not tell.
After Fu Hua's tutoring ended, night fell. Kiana, dressed lightly, slept soundly while hugging a HOMU plushie. Yet from the furrow in her brow, it was clear this was not a pleasant dream.
The scene shifted from the bedroom to the plaza of St. Freya Academy. Kiana had changed from her light clothing back into White Comet armor. The blood-red filter created an oppressive atmosphere, and then a woman's eerie laughter suddenly sounded behind her.
Kiana spun around, but there was nothing there.
"I've slept for far, far too long. But now, the gears of fate have begun turning once more."
"Welcome home, Kiana Kaslana☆~"
The woman's voice left Kiana dazed, but she soon realized she was dreaming and tried to wake herself. The unseen woman was not in the slightest hurry, however, and did not seem to take Kiana seriously at all.
When she heard Kiana declare that she would become Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie in the future, the woman finally could not help laughing. She said each word deliberately, "It seems you know absolutely nothing about the cursed ties bound to you. You are merely an orphan abandoned by your father, one who has never even seen what her mother looked like."
"Aren't you curious why your mother was never by your side from the day you were born? Why did your father leave you?"
The woman's words successfully aroused Kiana's interest. Under Kiana's questioning, however, the woman deliberately changed the subject. She intended to play a little game with Kiana.
She told Kiana to catch her, while summoning numerous Honkai beasts to obstruct Kiana's path.
The moment they saw that familiar ☆ symbol, the audience watching the movie became excited.
"It's Queen! Ahhh, Queen is still alive!"
"It's over. We can't say her spirit lives on anymore. Queen actually came back online!"
"Queen's spirit lives on, and her smile shall endure forever!"
"Queen is actually still alive?!"
"If Queen never went offline, then could Cecilia also have never gone offline?"
"I feel like I cried for nothing..."
Among the women in the front row, Shub guessed, "Since Sirin did not go offline, have any of you received any news? Will Director Cecilia appear again later?"
"I have not received such a plotline so far." As the director, Salome rejected Shub's guess.
"Salome, how many scripts have you received now?" Cheng Lixue asked curiously.
It was not just Cheng Lixue who was curious. All the women were curious, and even Kiana and the others in the row behind them perked up their ears.
"I can't say." Salome refused to answer.
Everyone could not help feeling disappointed.
Patrick, however, noticed Salome signaling to them with her eyes.
"Sirin?" Only now did Himeko remember that Sirin also seemed to be one of her students. Sirin had been on leave from school the entire time, so there had been no way to meet "Queen" at St. Freya Academy.
In the back row, Mei looked at Mobius with a faint smile and said, "Dr. Mobius, it appears I won."
Mobius still stubbornly argued, "It's only this one scene. That does not prove the Herrscher of the Void's core is inside Kiana."
Mei had worked with Mobius for nearly ten years and naturally understood her stubbornness and bravado. She did not press the matter, merely smiled, and continued watching the movie.
But Mobius felt increasingly uncertain. She cautiously nudged Yaqing with her elbow.
Yaqing looked at her in confusion.
Mobius furrowed her brow.
Strangely enough, Yaqing actually understood what Mobius meant with that look.
The Void Herrscher's core isn't really inside Kiana, is it?
Mobius conveyed with her eyes.
To keep the bet fair, Yaqing simply pretended not to see it.
Mobius angrily stomped hard on his foot.
Meanwhile, in Canghai City, Shenzhou, Ziegfried and Cecilia were also at a movie theater. Ziegfried once again displayed his spending power and directly booked an entire high-end VIP screening room. When Sirin's voice on the screen told Kiana that she had been abandoned by her father, Cecilia had already frowned.
Noticing Cecilia's frown, Ziegfried's survival instincts kicked into overdrive. He hurriedly explained, "Honey, you know me. I would never abandon Kiana."
Ziegfried could not be blamed for explaining so quickly. If he had been even a step slower, he would probably have had to kneel on a keyboard all night when they returned to the hotel.
"I know." Cecilia understood Ziegfried and trusted Yaqing's ability as a screenwriter. She was simply wondering how this seemingly unreasonable plot would be made reasonable.
Cecilia could only think of two possibilities.
The first was that Sirin was lying.
The second was that something serious had happened during the fourteen-year gap in the story, serious enough to force Ziegfried to leave Kiana.
"Honey..." Ziegfried called cautiously.
"Pfft." Seeing Ziegfried's pitiful expression, Cecilia could not help laughing. "All right, I'm not angry at you. That is only the plot of an anime."
"So I don't have to kneel on a keyboard?" Ziegfried immediately relaxed and asked carelessly.
"You still have to kneel." Cecilia smiled.
"Huh?" Ziegfried froze.
"I'm joking." Cecilia blinked.
Ziegfried let out a sigh of relief.
The Darkness in Her Heart
After Kiana caught up with the shadow whose appearance she could not make out, the female voice kept her promise and answered Kiana's question. She mentioned the Second Honkai Eruption fourteen years ago and began explaining Cecilia's identity to Kiana.
"STOP. Dawn is almost here, so let's leave a little suspense for later~"
The woman deliberately left behind a mystery.
The scene shifted to the library, where Kiana appeared to have forgotten everything about the dream.
"That damned Sirin. Of all things, she had to become a riddle-speaker. What does the Second Honkai Eruption have to do with me? How old was I even back then?" Kiana clenched her fists.
"Why did Sirin appear in idiot Kiana's dream? Isn't that the more suspicious question?" Bronya caught the key point.
"Yeah." Kiana's expression was extremely wise, inherited directly from Theresa.
"It feels like the plot is setting up something huge." Fu Hua had a premonition that things were definitely not that simple.
"What could be wrong with it? She just had a nightmare." Little Knowledge did not think much of it.
"No, it was not merely a nightmare. According to the plot, Kiana should never have met Sirin, so how could she dream about Sirin unless..." Fu Hua seemed to think of something, such as the post-credits scene from the previous movie.
As reality transitioned into dreams and back again, Kiana was secretly battling alongside Bronya in a game at the library—or slacking off—when Mei quickly caught her. Mei grabbed her by the ear and dragged her to the training grounds for special training.
If Kiana failed this Valkyrie examination, she would not only forget about rising to A-Rank Valkyrie; she would likely fall from B-Rank Valkyrie all the way to D-Rank, handling clerical and logistics work.
They unexpectedly encountered Fu Hua, who was diligently training at the training grounds. After completing combat training, Fu Hua once again took Kiana back to the library and began tutoring her in academic subjects.
Fu Hua expertly explained the origins of Stigmata.
This greatly surprised Kiana. "Really? You sound so serious, as if you'd personally seen one before, Class Monitor."
"...You jest. I only read about it in books." Fu Hua answered modestly.
"She has personally seen them. She lived from the Previous Era to the present." Watching Fu Hua's instant of embarrassment and panic on screen, Kitty, who had been trembling from the dream moments ago, burst out laughing.
"You do not have to keep bringing that up." Ever since Fu Hua's character setting was revealed, she had endured the "verbal violence" of everyone around her.
"Schicksal can actually replicate Stigmata and create artificial Stigmata now. No wonder there are so many Valkyrie units. But what exactly are Stigmata?" Sakura asked in confusion.
"Big Sis is so silly. Didn't Sister Fu Hua explain it just now? Stigmata are powers left behind by outstanding figures from ancient history." Ling waved her hand as if it were nothing.
Sakura smiled gently. "Thank you for telling your sister."
If one ignored Sakura's hands vigorously kneading Ling's little face, it truly was enough to make one sigh at the depth of sisterly affection.
"Ugh... Big Sis, I was wrong, let go of my face..."
Kiana trained hard at the training grounds. After running into Himeko and Theresa and seeing their identical expressions of surprise, she angrily left the training grounds.
Before you continue