Palm and Back of Hand Are Both Flesh

Bella blocked the Valkyries trying to retreat, formed a lightning orb without a word, and hurled it at them.

Cheng Lixue gripped Ruoshui tightly and sliced the lightning orb apart with a single sword stroke. But the orb didn't disappear—it split into two smaller orbs, flying at her from left and right. Cheng Lixue cut twice more, and the two orbs became four even smaller ones.

"What..." The four orbs struck Cheng Lixue's body simultaneously. She collapsed into the snow, faint currents of electricity still crackling over her.

"A Herrscher... no, something between a Herrscher and a Honkai Beast." Seeing Bella take down Cheng Lixue in one blow, Cecilia realized the gravity of the situation. She pointed Black Abyss White Flower at Bella, intending to eliminate her first.

"I was wondering where Bella went. Sirin's really overconfident—sending Bella, a slightly stronger Quasi-Herrscher, to fight Siegfried with Divine Fire Judgment + Cecilia with Black Abyss White Flower + everyone else. What was she thinking? That's just suicide!"

Enoshia felt the pain of having skin on both sides of her hand. If these Schicksal fighters killed Bella here, even if Sirin wasn't influenced by the Will of Honkai, there would probably never be reconciliation between her and Schicksal. But if she helped Bella, the already battered Schicksal crew might get finished off.

Watching Schicksal's best and Bella cripple each other or even die together again... no way did she want that!

Just as Enoshia was caught between a rock and a hard place, Sirin teleported to Bella's side.

She saw Cecilia holding Black Abyss White Flower. Though Sirin had never attended a day of school and didn't know what a Divine Key was, instinct told her that lance was dangerous.

She hadn't seen the First Herrscher from before, but spotting Cecilia made her realize her assessment of the strongest Valkyrie was flawed. So just as Bella and Cecilia were about to strike, she instantly teleported in front of Bella.

"You're no match for her. Fall back."

"Yes, Queen." Bella immediately retreated behind Sirin.

In the distance, the Herrscher of Frost lay sprawled in the snow, its entire body pinned to the ground by dozens of Void Lances.

"Besides the Herrscher of Void's abilities, she's also shown powers of the Herrscher of Thunder, the Herrscher of Wind, and the Herrscher of Death. Four Herrscher Cores—no wonder she finished the fight so quickly."

Cecilia said this not just for Sirin, but for Shigure Kira and Shub to hear. Salome, an A-rank Valkyrie of similar strength to them, hadn't even survived one blow from the Herrscher of Frost. Yet Sirin, a girl who looked even younger than them, had already subdued it. The stark contrast would surely shake their morale. Cecilia's other meaning was that without so many Herrscher Cores, Sirin wouldn't be this strong.

"Tch, you know me pretty well. Schicksal Valkyries are a bunch of trash—relying on Artificial Stigmata bought with countless children's lives, and even with all of you together, you can't beat a single Herrscher."

"Ahem." Enoshia came to her side, cutting her off: "Sirin, you're wrong. The ones down there should all be natural Stigmata holders. The Valkyries who received Artificial Stigmata are even worse—even ten of them together might not beat an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, let alone a Herrscher."

Enoshia's words sounded like she was belittling Schicksal, but she deliberately emphasized that they "didn't receive Artificial Stigmata." By intentionally separating them from the rest of Schicksal, she gradually weakened Sirin's hatred toward them.

"Oh, so Valkyries are really that weak?" Cecilia's presence had raised the overall strength of Valkyries several notches in her mind, but now it seemed she'd been wrong again.

"Sigh, it's not that Valkyries are weak—it's that Honkai is too strong, which is why we Herrschers are so powerful. Done over there?" She awkwardly changed the subject.

"That Herrscher was too strange—mediocre in skill but incredibly tough, wounds healed fast. So I dealt with Schicksal first. You promised you wouldn't stop my revenge." Sirin looked at Enoshia like a child who'd aced an exam, facing a parent who'd said "get good grades and I'll buy you a toy."

"Of course. Those who haven't suffered shouldn't preach forgiveness. Schicksal owes you this. If I were the one forcibly injected with overdoses of Honkai Energy every day and subjected to inhumane torture, I'd take revenge on Schicksal too. Since Schicksal decided to make Artificial Stigmata by experimenting on children, they should have expected backlash." Enoshia's stance on the Babylon Experiment was always firm.

Cecilia turned to glance at Theresa, sending a questioning look. Theresa nodded slightly, confirming that the experiment Enoshia mentioned was real.

Cecilia lowered the Black Abyss White Flower she'd raised. Even ignoring the two Herrschers in the air and that being between a Herrscher and a Honkai Beast acting together—everyone here combined probably couldn't win. Just the Herrscher of Corruption's words were right: Sirin's hatred for Schicksal was entirely Schicksal's own fault.

Seeing Sirin about to strike, Enoshia beat her to it before she finished forming a lightning orb, loudly asking Cecilia several questions that sounded very important at first but were actually useless for changing the current situation, mixed in with a few curses at Schicksal to keep Sirin happy. The answers to many of these questions she could have found just by using her Herrscher of Corruption authority to browse Schicksal HQ's database.

Seeing that the opposing side clearly had the upper hand in force but was starting a war of words, Cecilia realized she didn't want to fight at all, nor did she want to be Sirin's enemy. So she followed Enoshia's lead, playing along to stall for time.

Since Schicksal had no moral ground to stand on regarding the Babylon Experiment, Enoshia kept the upper hand in the verbal sparring. Watching Schicksal get humiliated made Sirin very happy, and for a while, she didn't attack.

Their stalling successfully bought time for a change. A crisp cracking sound rang out as the Herrscher of Frost broke free from the Void Lances' restraints and re-entered battle mode.

"What a pain." Sirin clearly considered the Herrscher of Frost a bigger threat than Schicksal, so she teleported to its side again, pointing her right finger. Several lightning bolts struck from the sky, and it had barely taken flight before crashing back to the ground.

"Might as well toss it into that... Imaginary Space or whatever." Sirin teleported in front of it, ready to act.

"Hm? Teleport failed?" Sirin activated the Herrscher of Void's authority, but the Herrscher of Frost remained in place. A wave of weakness spread through her entire body.

"Queen!" Bella was the first to notice something wrong with Sirin and immediately flew toward her at full speed.

"Boom." A dull sound rang out. Snake-pupil eyes opened again. A strange black mist spread outward from it, quickly covering the entire battlefield.

"Why... suddenly... so sleepy..." Sirin felt her eyelids grow heavier and heavier, until she completely lost consciousness.