Theresa froze, her little fang showing.
K422 did not care how stunned Theresa was. The moment the game began, she immediately controlled her character and charged fiercely at the blond Grand Bishop.
She opened with a jumping heavy punch, followed by three crouching light kicks, knocking off a small bar of the blond Grand Bishop's health and briefly staggering him.
"Wah, wah, wah! Kiana, you actually ambushed me!!"
Theresa scrambled to defend herself.
Naturally, she showed no mercy. She controlled her character to get close and grab the blond Grand Bishop, threw him over her back, then, while he was down, unleashed three crouching light kicks before summoning a golden cross and smashing it hard into his head.
By the time the blond Grand Bishop got back up, she had already pulled her character away.
Theresa looked at the blond Grand Bishop's remaining seven health bars and felt thoroughly depressed.
She had wanted to win a round before dinner, and she had even cheated by choosing a hidden character.
After all, this game had been funded by her grandfather, Bishop Otto. To curry favor with him, the game company had naturally created an absurdly powerful hidden character.
K422's combo just now should have taken away half the health of any other character, yet it had only removed three bars from the blond Grand Bishop.
After all, he was a hidden character whose attack and defense were both twice those of other characters.
Theresa was even worried that choosing such a cheating character would upset Kiana.
"Kiana... how about we start over? I'll choose someone else."
"Why switch? Aunt Theresa, are you going back on your word? I think Aunt Theresa is better off using this character. It can make up for Aunt Theresa's clumsy hands and lack of skill."
"..."
Theresa, who had somehow taken a critical hit, grew even more depressed.
She was right. Even with a cheating character, she had lost three health bars, while the character controlled by her opponent had not lost even one.
The hidden character could only help her hold out a little longer.
"Since Kiana says so, then Auntie won't hold back."
Then the blond Grand Bishop was thrown to the ground again, and the golden cross wielded by the white-haired woman pounded mercilessly on his head.
"???"
Why was she still the one getting beaten up?
"Aunt Theresa, don't hold back. Another round!!"
As she spoke, K422 quickly entered the super move command. The white-haired woman set down the golden cross, and countless chains emerged from it. The blond Grand Bishop, who had just gotten up and was swaying in a stunned state, was hung up by the chains and rapidly lost health.
"Grandpa!"
The blond Grand Bishop lost three bars of health to the super move. The instant he hit the ground, K422's character scooped him up with a heavy kick, then pinned him against the edge of the screen with repeated charging attacks, forcibly draining his last remaining health bar.
K.O!
Perfect!
She had not lost even a single bar of health that round. It had been an exceptional performance.
"???"
Theresa stared in astonishment. She had clearly used a cheating character, so why had she lost even more miserably?
"Aunt Theresa, come on, again."
"Kiana, how about we eat first?"
"How can we do that? Aunt Theresa was the one who wanted to win a round before dinner. You can't run away until you win."
"???"
Theresa felt that something was off.
Normally, shouldn't the loser be the one stubbornly demanding another game before calling it quits? Why was it the opposite with her?
Then Theresa started another round, once again choosing the blond Grand Bishop.
The blond Grand Bishop was indeed a pretty cheating character. A normal light attack took away half a health bar, while a heavy attack removed a full bar. If he unleashed his super move, all ten health bars would definitely vanish in an instant.
"..."
Thirty seconds later, Theresa watched the blond Grand Bishop under her control get pinned in the corner of the screen and cheesed to death by shameless moves.
Even after trying her hardest... she had only taken a little over two bars of the opponent's health.
Theresa was so beaten down that she began questioning her entire life.
"Aunt Theresa, keep going! I'm going to smash that bastard's dog head!"
At that moment, Otto, riding in an aircraft, saw the monitored footage through his communicator and immediately fell into deep self-doubt.
Although the things he had done were indeed excessive, where exactly did K422's hatred for him, like some blood feud, come from?
So if the grudge was this huge and this deep, why had she not run off with the Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy?
At the same time, Otto felt that it was time to train his granddaughter's gaming skills.
Her hands were so clumsy that even he could not stand watching.
K422 had only encountered this fighting game today, yet his granddaughter had only managed to win a few rounds that morning.
"Ah, the most crucial thing is that K422 is controlling Kallen's character, using a hidden character modeled after me, and having Kallen's character beat him senseless. My feelings really are complicated..."
On the monitor, Theresa had already begun begging for mercy.
This time, K422 used even more shameless moves and left her flustered.
"Wah, wah, wah! Wait a second, how can you attack from behind! The front isn't okay either!"
Theresa gripped the controller with all her strength, swaying from side to side as though that could make the character she controlled more powerful.
But K422 cruelly used her character to grab the blond Grand Bishop. When Theresa broke free, K422 used a light attack, making her character slap the blond Grand Bishop across the face. Then she grabbed him again. As long as Theresa controlled the blond Grand Bishop to escape the hold, she immediately used another light attack before quickly grabbing him again.
Theresa's blond Grand Bishop was slapped again and again until all ten health bars were gone.
Theresa nearly cried after losing so badly, while K422 raised her right hand in a V sign and struck a victorious pose.
Otto's feelings became even more complicated at the sight.
She Got What She Wanted
Over the next few days, K422 continued her daily extreme training as usual.
Theresa, who had been beaten into questioning her life, no longer interfered with her training. Instead, she secretly hid away to practice her gaming skills. It seemed that Bishop Otto also hoped she would improve a little.
From time to time, K422 exchanged a few words with the Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy, who was disguised as an assistant.
Since the Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy was currently blending into the Medical Research Group as a newbie, she had no way to speak with K422 while avoiding the other medical researchers, much less share information with her.
Of course, the other party had indeed quietly begun an investigation.
However, K422 did not think the Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy could uncover True Kiana's whereabouts.
Even she could only contact True Kiana at night in the Dream World. In reality, she could not find the slightest clue as to where True Kiana was.
So even if someone's damn dad stormed into Schicksal Headquarters and even tore the whole place apart, he would only find her, the fake.
After all, True Kiana might not be inside Schicksal Headquarters at all.
If there was anything major happening amid these seemingly unchanging days, it was naturally Sister Himeko undergoing the Valkyrie modification surgery that afternoon.
Even K422 had taken a rare day off.
In any case, she was not particularly interested in the lessons Otto had arranged for her.
Captain Ragnar and the other members of the Assault Team were already waiting outside the laboratory.
Even though Schicksal's modification surgery was highly mature, it still carried a certain risk of failure.
If the modification surgery failed, the patient could very well become disabled.
Perhaps becoming disabled would still be an acceptable outcome.
Captain Ragnar would not mind if Himeko became disabled and transferred to a clerical job. In fact, she had never supported Himeko becoming a Valkyrie in the first place.
Unlike them, who had grown up at Schicksal Headquarters and received Valkyrie training from childhood, Himeko was merely an ordinary girl.
Becoming a Valkyrie meant that she would only have two possible endings from then on.
The first was dying on the battlefield against Honkai.
The second was surviving by chance, but spending the rest of her life in a sanatorium with missing limbs.
Of course, undergoing Valkyrie modification would drastically shorten her lifespan, so in truth, there was only one ending.
Most Valkyries and trainees made this choice only because they had experienced the pain caused by Honkai incidents.
Ninety percent of Valkyries and trainees had lost family members to Honkai incidents, which was why they hated Honkai Beasts and Deadmen.
Yet if Valkyrie modification surgery failed, there was a certain chance of becoming a Deadman.
Wanting to fight against Honkai, only to become part of it in the end—such an outcome was naturally incredibly ironic.
"That idiot... I told her to think it over some more," Laguna muttered quietly.
Many of the team members silently prayed as well.
Schicksal had originally been a religious organization.
Even now, it retained some religious customs, and many Welfare Facilities still had a church-like style.
Watching the Assault Team members make practiced prayer gestures, K422 fell into thought.
The etiquette she had recently been learning also carried this church-like style.
After all, even in modern times, religion could still effectively control people's hearts.
The Schariac Saintess was also Schicksal's Saintess.
Even though the position of Saintess had been weakened considerably in modern times, and Bishop Otto had stripped its original authority down to little more than a symbolic role, it still held extremely high status.
Status naturally represented benefits.
K422 had learned through many channels that the position of Saintess could bring enormous profits.
It was simply that the previous Schariac Saintess had not liked publicity. Several generations of Saintesses had brought the Schariac family immeasurable wealth just by appearing in advertisements.
That was why, after the previous Schariac Saintess passed away, the Schariac family had prepared to introduce a new Saintess.
After all, it was all money.
During this time, K422 had met her grandmother, Cecilia's mother, once.
She was an elderly woman who still carried herself with imposing dignity.
The woman wanted her to return to the Schariac family and did not mind her serving as Saintess alongside the current candidate, Maria.
Two Saintesses would require twice the resources, but the profits brought by two Saintesses certainly would not be small either.
Naturally, K422 refused.
If not for the fact that the old woman did resemble Cecilia somewhat, she would not have wanted to meet such a mercenary old woman at all.
The most important issue was the ownership of the Black Abyss White Flower.
The old woman proposed that she and Maria take turns holding it. That alone made it impossible for K422 to like her.
The woman cared too much about the Schariac family.
To that old woman, she was not Cecilia's daughter, but a Schariac Saintess who could bring profits.
After she refused, the old woman's expression was far from pleasant.
She merely left behind the words, "Don't regret it," before departing.
They were clearly family, yet she had not felt even the slightest trace of familial affection from her.
From the old woman's attitude when she left, K422 could imagine that the struggle between her and Maria over the position of Schariac Saintess would become fierce.
Especially over the ownership of the Black Abyss White Flower.
It had already become a confrontation between Schicksal Headquarters and the Europe branch.
She also had no idea how much support Bishop Otto could give her.
"Ah..."
Before you continue