My mother, Cecilia... sacrificed herself?

The moves looked decent enough, but they seemed a little... lacking in intimidation.

And because this was a beginner stage from the main story, the damage was absurdly low...

Beichen casually dodged Theresa's attacks for a while, then decided it was boring and simply stopped dodging.

"Alright, does anyone have anything to say? If not, I'll take Theresa out next."

"...Nothing."

A long while after he finished speaking, a green comment finally appeared on the screen.

No other comments? Looks like Bishop Otto wasn't satisfied with the game design? Haha, well... it was an early model, and an A-rank battlesuit at that.

In comparison, the weapon she carried on her back, Judah, was actually somewhat interesting...

As Beichen thought, he controlled Ri Duck and began attacking Theresa. While attacking, she also avoided the golden circles formed by Judah's placements.

Those circles were incredibly annoying. Not only could they drop crosses for massive damage, but they could also bind any enemy they touched.

It was the most vivid possible depiction in the game of the Eleventh God Key: Key of Binding's abilities.

Of course, Beichen had no intention of stepping into one of those circles and letting Theresa beat him senseless with a cross.

And so, the delightful scene of little Ri Duck bullying little Theresa began~

Ri Duck fired several charged shots, and the shells flew forward... only for Theresa to dodge them?

Then, the game screen shifted into the full-screen color distortion unique to Time Fracture, except this time it was a crisis-warning red!

With the enemy's Time Fracture in effect, Ri Duck's movements on the field became extremely slow.

Theresa took the opportunity to attack... but Ri Duck dodged and dragged her into Time Fracture as well.

In an instant, the color blanketing the battlefield shifted from red to blue.

Now it was Ri Duck's turn to shine.

Several shells blasted out, and Theresa's HP bar rapidly plummeted. At the end of yet another cycle of dodging and evasion—

Her HP bar was finally emptied...

"Theresa!!!"

At that moment, a green comment drifted across the screen. The sender was Bishop Otto...

Beichen nearly burst out laughing when he saw his comment.

He hadn't expected Otto to have feelings even after seeing a virtual-data version of Theresa get hurt. The entertainment value was excellent—full marks.

"This viewer, please control yourself. Theresa is fine."

As Beichen spoke, the game triggered the story call at the end of the stage.

Standing at the two ends of the communication signal were Theresa and Kiana.

Wait! Could that be the Kaslana family's gun kata?

Yeah.

Who taught you that?

Of course my dad did.

Your dad?

Siegfried. Siegfried Kaslana.

Their conversation was plain and straightforward, but Theresa was shocked by their simple exchange of questions and answers.

Hmm, what exactly is going on? She says she's Kiana, but Kiana is only one year old?

Theresa's muttering finally made Kiana realize a problem.

One year old? Right, when I first arrived in this virtual space, the system showed that the date here was February 7, 2000. Could the Theresa in front of me be the Theresa from that time? That would explain why she doesn't recognize me!

"Huh? Why are there two Theresas? Did Academy Principal Theresa split into two people?"

The story dialogue had been playing perfectly normally when a blue comment suddenly floated past...

Beichen could not help but laugh when he saw Seele's remark.

Theresa had no way of splitting into two people. As for who could split into two, you definitely counted as one.

"Theresa? Split? No, no, no. Theresa has always been one of a kind. The Theresa in front of you is data recorded from the past. You can think of her as an interactive replay."

Before Beichen could answer Seele's little question, Otto, the enthusiastic viewer in the Live Stream, began explaining.

As the Schicksal Archbishop, he knew the data space like the back of his hand, so naturally he could easily answer Seele's question.

"Oh, so that's how it is?"

As the two interacted through comments, the story dialogue continued.

I understand! You must be Siegfried's illegitimate daughter!

Without waiting for Kiana to explain anything, Theresa began making assumptions all by herself.

Huh!?

Kiana froze when she heard Theresa's words.

Everyone in the Live Stream froze as well.

"Illegitimate... daughter?! So that Uncle Siegfried is that kind of person?"

"Hehe, it seems Theresa really hates Siegfried. Or rather... is she jealous of him?" A green comment floated past, exposing his granddaughter's true thoughts from the past.

"Could he... possibly have an illegitimate daughter?"

After Theresa voiced her guess, the three viewers in the Live Stream each shared their thoughts through comments.

And under everyone's watchful eyes, Theresa began ranting about Siegfried.

Damn it, I already knew Siegfried's private life was a mess, but I never expected him to have such an old illegitimate daughter. So that's why you called yourself my niece.

Wh-Who's an illegitimate daughter?!

Faced with Theresa's baseless suspicion, Kiana instinctively tried to refute her.

Unfortunately, Theresa merely comforted her quietly:

Poor child, I know this is hard for you to accept. But all of this is your perverted father's fault!

"Academy Principal Theresa... seems to have quite a strong opinion of Siegfried?"

After Theresa dumped all the blame onto Siegfried in one breath, a neatly worded comment floated across the Live Stream.

Its sender... was Durandal. Or rather, Kiana Kaslana while she still had amnesia.

My Mother, Cecilia... Sacrificed Herself?

Oh? Was the daughter starting to feel sorry for her father?

For some reason, that sentence suddenly popped into Beichen's head... though, given Durandal's personality, she had probably only said that because she admired Siegfried's deeds.

Since she had yet to recover her memories, she did not remember Theresa and Siegfried defecting from Schicksal back then, nor anything that happened afterward...

Under those circumstances, Siegfried was merely a senior she admired, though one who might become her enemy in the future...

"Ahem, of course. Even more than a decade later, she still kept going on about Siegfried. But... her opinion of him improved a little, I suppose."

"Did it really improve at all?"

"Of course. Look at how Theresa describes Siegfried now."

"Perhaps." Durandal's comment drifted past.

She did not seem particularly concerned about it.

But Beichen knew that Theresa's assessment of Siegfried had changed from a lustful pervert with a chaotic private life to a big idiot who was always forgetting things... because many years ago, Siegfried had tried his best to protect his family.

Although he ultimately failed, he had at least brought out another Kiana...

Yes, that's right. It was all that lousy dad's fault. He abandoned my mother and me four years ago, and then my mother passed away too.

In the story dialogue, Kiana went with the flow and fabricated an identity for herself.

I came here to find him.

After hearing Kiana's nonsense, Theresa's sense of justice immediately exploded.

Poor child. Don't worry, I'll definitely help you seek justice! But this place is dangerous. I'll get you out of here first. Once this mission is over, I'll capture Siegfried and give him a proper lesson!

"I didn't expect Academy Principal Theresa to love teaching people lessons even back then?"

A blue comment floated past...

Beichen glanced at the sender and saw that Seele was sighing over it.

Unfortunately, this little girl had misunderstood Theresa.

That so-called "lesson" probably would not be a gentle one...

Command center, this is Theresa Apocalypse. Report the Second Herrscher's current status.

After the previous stage ended, Beichen immediately began the next one without stopping.

As soon as he entered the scene, Theresa's communication with the command center appeared on the screen.

Theresa-sama! Thank goodness you're alright. After your battle with the Second Herrscher, the radar detected her trail. To obtain the Honkai energy within the "Tower" and complete her full awakening, the Second Herrscher will definitely head to Babylon Laboratory.

After obtaining useful information from the operator, Theresa immediately gave her orders.

Have the Valkyrie squad patrol near the "Tower." The moment they detect the Second Herrscher's Honkai energy reaction, notify the command center immediately. However, avoid fighting the Second Herrscher whenever possible... Right, where is Siegfried Kaslana?

Lord Siegfried has just arrived at the temporary command post and is standing by.

Alright. I'll head to the temporary command post immediately and rendezvous with him!

Once the story dialogue ended, the game entered active gameplay.

The player only needed to follow the yellow path marker on the ground.

Along the way, everyone in the Live Stream could still enjoy the snowy scenery of Siberia under Beichen's guidance.

As Ri Duck moved forward, snowflakes swirled and danced, rushing toward the camera...

As the journey continued, red subtitles gradually appeared on the screen.

Theresa: Alright, let's hurry to the command center so you can meet your father.

Theresa: We need to make a decision regarding the Second Herrscher's actions as soon as possible.

However, while they were on the way, the stage suddenly began blaring an alarm, followed by flashing warning lights across the screen.

Two enormous Titan mechs descended from the sky...

Unlike the mechs that had appeared in earlier stages, these two Titans were protected by golden light from head to toe.

Just as the battle was about to begin, a blue comment floated past...

"Huh? Are these mechs new enemies? They're huge, and they're glowing gold... it's so dazzling. Do they have any special abilities?"

The sender was Seele.

She heard the alarm and saw the massive enemies, so she assumed this stage would be difficult.

But the actual situation was...

"Huh? Not really. Their models are just a little bigger, and they have an invincibility buff."

As Beichen spoke, he pressed the normal attack button and had Ri Duck attack the Titans.

The attacks that usually hurt monsters so badly did not even produce damage numbers when they struck the Titans. Their HP bars did not budge at all, making them look quite troublesome at first glance.

But then, the game revealed the solution.

Theresa: Be careful, the enemies have force-field protection! There's no way to defeat them right now.

Not long after the red subtitles appeared, a square polyhedron suddenly rose out of the battlefield floor.

And it... had an HP bar. Beneath it was a name: Hypothermic Honkai Core.