Railgun

Bronya pressed for an answer.

"If the tactical mechs fail and are interfered with by Schicksal's Valkyries or other factors... then try to approach them. Get rescued by Schicksal as a survivor, find a way to get close to Raiden Mei and monitor her movements. We'll make further arrangements depending on the situation."

Cocolia laid out her plan.

As a girl born in Siberia, where most areas had now become wastelands, and who had spent a long time living in a secret orphanage, Bronya's identity was unknown to most people.

Therefore, there was no need to worry about Schicksal uncovering anything about her identity.

Using Bronya to locate her, if those Schicksal people later intended to send Raiden Mei to some laboratory, Cocolia could arrange for troops to attack along the way and seize the Third Herrscher back.

She was determined to obtain the Third Herrscher.

"...Bronya understands."

The silver-haired girl silently rose to her feet.

Just as Cocolia had described, a cluster of Titan Mechas could already be faintly seen in the distance.

Looking farther ahead, the silhouette of an enormous object could vaguely be seen on the horizon. That was Schicksal's Hyperion, wasn't it?

Bronya then shifted her gaze to the rooftop within Chiba Academy.

This battle over Raiden Mei... seemed to be drawing to a close.

Railgun

"Y-Y-Y-Y-You... who are you?! And how could you bully Mei-senpai?!"

The white-haired girl stood before Ming Yu, who had only just managed to sit up, gripping a baseball bat as she questioned him fiercely.

Ming Yu glared at her. As he sat up and rubbed his head, he replied,

"I'm Ming Yu, and... wasn't this obviously your doing?!"

At this time, Kiana still had her twin ponytails and that carefree idiot look, her every word brimming with energy.

The conspiracy surrounding her had yet to be exposed. At this point, she truly could be called innocent and adorable.

"I-I merely wanted to stop you from bullying Mei-senpai, Herrscher!"

The white-haired girl tried to explain herself.

Kiana had mistaken him for a Herrscher...?

Well, it was probably because Yae Sakura's soul was currently possessing him.

After all, this shrine maiden now counted as a Pseudo-Herrscher.

...Explaining it felt like too much trouble, so Ming Yu simply asked in return,

"Have you ever seen such an easygoing Herrscher?"

"..."

Kiana tightened her grip on the baseball bat slightly, then immediately loosened it again.

"Seems... like you really don't look like one?"

She had experienced the power within her body going berserk before, and it had even cost her father, Siegfried, one of his arms.

How could a real Herrscher possibly speak to her so normally?

If he were a true Herrscher, he should have attacked the moment they met.

"I'm Kiana, a student of Chiba Academy, so... what exactly happened here?"

"Well, about that..."

Ming Yu pondered.

He somehow felt that he should not be the one explaining this. After all, the person who had transformed into a Herrscher during this incident was Raiden Mei.

Right, why had she seemed to have no reaction this whole time...

No, rather... she was far too quiet?

He had originally thought she would angrily zap him or something...

When Ming Yu looked toward the girl kneeling on the ground with that thought in mind, those crimson eyes had long since vanished, replaced by a pair of bewildered violet eyes.

It was obvious that the girl who had fought him earlier had retreated, returning control of the body to Mei.

As for why...

Ming Yu touched his lips, which still carried a trace of warmth, unsure what expression he should make.

Just as Ming Yu was about to say something to Mei, Yae Sakura, who was possessing his body, warned him,

"Be careful. Enemies are coming."

Because of the unique nature of her authority, she sensed those rapidly approaching Titan Mechas even from a great distance away.

Ming Yu stood and walked to the edge of the rooftop, looking beyond Chiba Academy.

A group of tactical mechs was rapidly advancing in their direction. Clearly, they had come with ill intent.

"What are those robots?"

Kiana had seen the mechs as well, but having wandered among civilians all her life, this was also her first time seeing tactical mechs developed by Anti-Entropy.

"...Those things are probably here for Mei. They intend to take her away."

Ming Yu pondered.

There was no need to think about it. This was definitely Cocolia's handiwork.

Cocolia sending Titan Mechas to capture Raiden Mei was something that had never happened in the original timeline.

In the original Changkong City story, Bronya, who had been responsible for the retrieval mission, had inexplicably abandoned her task of capturing Mei and directly infiltrated St. Freya Academy to enjoy campus life.

But here, in the reality Ming Yu had personally experienced, at least for now, that silver-haired girl was certainly still single-mindedly thinking about how to complete the mission of bringing Mei back.

For that goal, she did not even care about sacrificing her own life. Ming Yu had already witnessed that with his own eyes.

Though he did not know the exact details, Cocolia had probably used something like, "If we bring Raiden Mei back for research, we might be able to retrieve Seele, who has disappeared," to fill Bronya with hope.

Leaving Bronya's own thoughts aside, whether Cocolia sincerely wanted to rescue Seele, who was currently soaking in the Sea of Quanta, was still highly questionable.

After all, Ming Yu clearly remembered that after that old witch Cocolia obtained the Gem of Hesperia from Wendy, the first thing she did was not use its power to find a way to save Seele. Instead, she eagerly embedded it into the giant mech Father to test its combat performance.

To her, pursuing the power to control Honkai was clearly far more important than the safety of her daughters.

Did she truly regret experimenting on her daughters? Perhaps a little, but she probably regretted even more that their disappearance had failed to produce significant results.

In any case, having gone through the divergence of "Bronya's death," Ming Yu knew that Titan Mechas would attack.

He was not completely unprepared.

Originally, he had thought he could just ask the Herrscher of Thunder lady to deal with them.

Mere tactical mechs were nothing more than things a Herrscher could destroy with a thought. Well... Wendy was probably an exception...

However, perhaps because of Kiana's blow with the bat, the Herrscher of Thunder lady had temporarily retreated.

This person and Stigmata had not communicated at all yet, so whether she was still willing to come out and help was another question.

"...Can you two still fight?"

After thinking for a moment, Ming Yu turned and asked Yae Sakura and Higokumaru, who were possessing him.

His ability to fight the Herrscher of Thunder lady earlier had entirely relied on the temporary boost in strength brought by their possession.

Although this was no longer within the scope of Yae Sakura's request, she had indeed said that after the matter was settled, she would help him with one thing.

Since the opportunity had come up, he might as well settle the payment on the spot and use that favor here.

"Though we have expended quite a bit, we can barely manage."

Yae Sakura gave an affirmative answer.

Actually, if she could use Higokumaru's true power, eliminating these Titan Mechas would be simple.

The Herrscher of Corruption's true power was a natural enemy to these purely mechanical constructs.

But clearly, although Yae Sakura and Higokumaru were bound together in a relationship of shared life and death, they were not of one mind.

Therefore, she could not wield the Herrscher of Corruption's true authority right now and could only rely on her swordsmanship to fight.

Otherwise, hacking and destroying these Titan Mechas would take her no more than an instant.

Ming Yu glanced again at Kiana and Raiden Mei beside him.

Well... considering their combat strength, Mei, who was not currently releasing the Herrscher power within her, and Kiana did not have much fighting ability at the moment.

For one thing, they lacked suitable anti-Honkai weapons and armor. For another, neither had undergone genuine high-intensity combat training.

Bronya possessed formidable combat ability, but in the current situation, she certainly would not reveal herself to help—perhaps she was hiding somewhere right now, secretly observing what was happening here.

So, of the three of them, he was the only one who could still fight...

With that thought, Ming Yu stood and said to the two girls behind him,

"Kiana, stay here and take care of Mei. I'll deal with them."

There were still large numbers of Honkai Beasts and Dead Soldiers wandering through Chiba Academy. Not long ago, he had considered them a nuisance, but now they could be used to buy time and protect the two girls.

"...All right. Be careful."

Kiana had originally wanted to fight alongside Ming Yu, but Mei's current state truly required someone to look after her.

"Their target is most likely Mei. Someone needs to keep her safe."

Ming Yu waved his hand and directly leaped off the rooftop, sprinting toward the Titan Mechas.

It was a shame, but if necessary, he could choose to return to the point in time before fighting the Herrscher of Thunder lady and make adjustments.

These tactical mechs were not much of a threat in the end.

Just as Ming Yu was about to draw Sakura Fubuki and charge into battle, his body suddenly paused.

A completely new power flooded into his body out of nowhere.

Having experienced Xiaokong's case before, Ming Yu immediately recognized where this power came from.

It was a gift from Mei—or rather, from the Herrscher of Thunder currently hiding within her.

With this being the second time, Ming Yu could more or less infer that this kind of "feedback" was probably based on the relationship between himself and the other party.

Well, perhaps an emotional relationship...?

And it also seemed to be connected to the other party's own abilities.

Because Xiaokong was merely a young and incomplete Stigmata awakener, the feedback Ming Yu had received was simply increased resistance to Honkai energy.

As for what came from the Herrscher of Thunder... naturally, it was the ability to control electricity and magnetism.

Information about the ability naturally flowed into his mind—

Railgun

An electrical ability that granted the power to control electricity and magnetism.

In that instant, Ming Yu also learned every method of using this power.

Well, wasn't this that thing, the electricity dancing at your fingertips...

Ahem. Anyway, he probably had Kiana to thank for this.

That swing of her bat had knocked an esper ability right into him.

Now, Ming Yu was somewhat reluctant to rewind time. After all, he could not confirm whether he would retain this power after rewinding. If possible, it was better to preserve the course of this timeline.

In any case, since he had gained new power at this point in time—his first genuine combat ability—then these tactical mechs before him would make perfect test subjects.

Through his perception of electromagnetism, Ming Yu could sense that those tactical mechs had already locked onto him and were preparing to attack.

He looked around on the ground and picked up a coin.

"Let's test the results."