But K422 still had no ability to change this darkness.
"Speaking of games, I remember when I was two... Mom often held me while playing a game called Kallen Fantasy."
"Kallen Fantasy? Come to think of it, the game I played was called Kallen Fighting... Bishop Otto is even a hidden character in it. Is that hinting at something?"
Even with the three little ones huddled together, they could not make sense of it.
Oh, K423 was just there to make trouble and pad the numbers.
"I remember Kallen Fantasy seemed to be among the games Aunt Theresa brought."
Because she preferred Kallen Fighting, she had overlooked that game.
Since Mom had once played it, K422 naturally felt the urge to challenge it.
"Then I won't be able to train seriously again tomorrow."
After thinking it over carefully, she sighed. "Forget it. Himeko isn't here, and the Assault Team instructors aren't in the mood to jog with me. I'll just consider it a day off."
Laguna and Theresa would not agree to let her train on her own.
That left her feeling thoroughly frustrated.
And Bishop Otto had not made much of a presence lately. She felt that guy was plotting something again.
"True Kiana, hurry up and tell me about that Kallen Fantasy game Mom played."
"This time, the two of you will be listening to me."
Seeing K422 and K423 assume attentive poses, True Kiana could not help feeling a little smug.
Then she began telling them about the time she had played games with Mom at the age of two. Of course, she had not understood games back then. Mostly, Mom had held her while playing.
Otto, You Shameless Dog
In the consciousness space, True Kiana told her story with great flair.
Both K422 and K423 listened with complete satisfaction.
The next day, after K422 finished her basic training and crushed Theresa and Laguna, she began challenging Kallen Fantasy.
Since it was her first time playing, K422 failed to clear the game.
But after a few attempts, she achieved a fairly high score.
This dealt a considerable blow to Theresa and Laguna.
When she saw that the second-ranked player on the leaderboard was named Otto, with a score of 88,888, she immediately became fired up and wanted to push him down a rank.
Otto Apocalypse's name was spelled Otto_Apocalypse.
In other words, the player ranked second was Bishop Otto.
As for first place, it was naturally her mother, Cecilia.
After that, K422 became hopelessly addicted to the game.
After all, Himeko had still not recovered. As long as she remained unwell, the Assault Team members would stay distracted. Of course, that was not an excuse for Laguna losing ten rounds in a row.
Since Theresa and Laguna kept losing and getting beaten so badly that they doubted their lives, they no longer wanted to play with her. Yet they would not let her train on her own either, so K422 could only turn her attention to games.
The facts proved that this rather difficult game had indeed stirred her fighting spirit.
It was just especially hard to grind points. It took her a week to reach seventy thousand.
At that point, Bishop Otto even contacted her to ask about her recent studies and training progress.
On one hand, he encouraged her to broaden her interests and not become overly absorbed in games. On the other, he said he hoped she would become proficient with a lance and promised to have the director of Research Institute 1504 custom-make one for her.
K422 was deeply touched.
Then that night, her score in Kallen Fantasy climbed past eighty thousand.
Otto, still in a secret laboratory in the Far East: "..."
At this point, K422 might only have needed to rethink her tactics, adjust the character's combat strength, or sharpen her gaming skills through a few more matches to surpass Bishop Otto's score.
Then, the next day, her game account was banned.
K422: "???"
The good news was that Himeko's health had improved. She could leave the observation room today and sleep in the same room as the Assault Team members that night.
The bad news was that after her account was banned, her appeal was rejected. Creating a new account did not work either. She had completely lost her chance to surpass Bishop Otto. It was not that she could not keep playing, but her score could not be uploaded, so she had no way to push Bishop Otto down a rank.
The reason for the ban was that she had been detected using a third-party plug-in.
But the problem was... what third-party plug-in had she used? Did she need something like that? If K422 Kiana Kaslana Schariac could reach eighty thousand points through her own skill, then she could reach ninety thousand through her own skill!
"Otto, you shameless dog! You actually used such a despicable method!"
It was also because of this incident that K422 realized she suddenly did not understand Bishop Otto as a man.
Before this, Bishop Otto had been a cold, ruthless, bloodless final boss in her eyes.
K422 had never imagined that Bishop Otto could have such a childish side.
Banning her account just to prevent her score from surpassing his was not something a great villain who conducted cruel experiments on young girls would do at all.
This also led K422 to seriously study the game.
The game's core story seemed to be a fantasy tale about a Valkyrie named Kallen defeating an eastern fox demon and eventually finding happiness.
K422 studied it for a long time and still figured out nothing.
After all, she did not know that the eastern fox demon was called Yae Sakura, that the Valkyrie named Kallen was Bishop Otto's fiancée, or that Kallen had declared during her trial that she had fallen in love with Yae Sakura.
Her account being banned, Himeko recovering, Theresa returning to the Far East, and the Assault Team recovering its composure—all these things made K422 throw herself back into rigorous training.
The sight of her training so seriously made Laguna, as well as Theresa after she left, grow worried again just after they had finally relaxed.
Then the next day, Bishop Otto brought her a huge pile of Far Eastern games and comics. Clearly, he did not want her to keep dwelling on Kallen Fantasy.
Of course, K422 had no evidence that Bishop Otto had banned her account.
But after thinking it over, that was the only possible reason she could come up with.
"Kiana, your personal lance will be finished in another week."
"Bishop Otto, is it really appropriate to have the director of Research Institute 1504 make an anti-Honkai weapon for an eight-year-old child?"
Although she knew Bishop Otto was deliberately changing the subject, K422 was still very happy that Research Institute 1504, a research facility specializing in black technology, would make custom equipment for her.
After all, she might very well use the black-tech lance created by Research Institute 1504 to poke a few holes in Bishop Otto.
"Since you will inherit your mother Cecilia's Black Abyss White Flower in the future, learning how to use a lance from an early age will also benefit you once you obtain Black Abyss White Flower."
Bishop Otto spoke with a straight face.
In short, he intended to steer the conversation away from unbanning her account.
He also refused to admit that the ban had anything to do with him.
So what if she guessed it? He was not going to admit it anyway.
"Thank you, Bishop Otto."
Since she was benefiting from this, K422 naturally did not mind making her voice sound sweeter.
Only A-rank Valkyries could usually obtain exclusive custom equipment from Research Institute 1504, and in most cases, the director merely provided the design before having another institute manufacture it.
K422 had not expected Bishop Otto to be so generous just to change the subject.
Standing to the side, Laguna was so envious upon hearing that she would receive a custom lance made by Research Institute 1504 in a week that she nearly cried.
"Oh, right, Kiana. If you want to learn how to use a lance, I suggest using the special training room, the Memory Room. That training room stores information on many Valkyries. With Schicksal's technology, it can simulate the corresponding people."
"???"
K422 looked utterly baffled.
This thing sounded like black technology the moment she heard about it.
"Bishop Otto, is it appropriate for Kiana to access the special training room so early?"
"Don't worry. The Memory Room has a teaching mode. I'm not twisted enough to make Kiana fight Valkyries right now. Even the weakest B-rank Valkyrie is a hundred times stronger than Kiana."
Bishop Otto answered Laguna's question.
That left K422 a little depressed. She felt Bishop Otto was looking down on her.
Then... recalling how Laguna had brought her to watch Valkyrie sparring sessions lately, she felt that "a hundred times" might have been an understatement. No matter how she thought about it, it should have been over a thousand times.
She did not doubt for a second that a B-rank Valkyrie could beat a thousand versions of herself.
"So there's a teaching mode?"
Laguna was surprised that the Memory Room had such a mode.
But after thinking about it carefully, Valkyries who could use the Memory Room needed A-rank authorization. The way A-rank Valkyries used it was almost always by having the training room read their brainwaves, search their memories for powerful enemies, and then use memory fragments and Schicksal technology to simulate those opponents.
Laguna had once simulated the A-rank Valkyrie Cheng Lixue in the Memory Room, only to be utterly crushed by her again.
"Of course. Only the teaching mode can access information on numerous Valkyries. Under normal circumstances, it only searches for powerful enemies in the user's memories and simulates them."
Bishop Otto explained patiently.
To be honest, K422 did not know what to say. Just to stop her from caring about Kallen Fantasy, he had even brought out black technology like the Memory Room.
Over the following days, K422 reduced her daily physical training and used a borrowed training lance to receive instruction from a simulated Cecilia in the Memory Room.
Every night, True Kiana and K423 would bite her in envy.
Unfortunately, the simulated Cecilia in teaching mode was merely a teaching AI. Like an emotionless robot, it could not hear the things K422 said to her.
Under the guidance of this teaching AI, which simulated Cecilia's appearance and voice, K422 quickly learned several basic ways to use a lance.
After all, she was diligent and serious, and she possessed talent as well.
She had the talent for working hard, which was why she could grow stronger through hard work. One could also call that the Bloodline Power of the Kaslana Family.
Even Laguna was astonished by how quickly she was improving.
Aside from arranging for team members to spar with her every day, Laguna would occasionally step in herself to beat her up.
Of course, she and the newly awakened Valkyrie Himeko traded wins and losses.
Although she had not yet undergone Valkyrie modification surgery, she had already awakened the Kaslana Family's monstrous strength. Himeko, meanwhile, lacked combat experience and had not yet adapted to her suddenly enhanced physical abilities after becoming a Valkyrie.
Because Himeko had lost to her several times, Laguna and the others often teased her about it. So the next day, Himeko would always come challenge her and demand another match...
Honestly, seeing Himeko fuss over things with an eight-year-old like her made K422 feel embarrassed for Himeko.
Then time flew by, and half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Just as New Year 2007 arrived, Bishop Otto scheduled her Valkyrie modification surgery. The fact that Cecilia's daughter was about to become a Valkyrie naturally caused a sensation.
The Schariac Family was also sharpening its knives.
After all, once she became a Valkyrie, a struggle over Black Abyss White Flower would begin between her and the Schariac Family.
Many Valkyries and trainees had already begun calling it the "Imperial Battle."
After all, she and Maria Schariac would compete before Bishop Otto to determine who was more suited to Black Abyss White Flower. Calling it an Imperial Battle was indeed fitting.
After completing its guidance assignment, Laguna's Assault Team was dispatched by Bishop Otto to Britain to suppress the Honkai incident there.
And because the Assault Team did not return to the Far East, the frequent Honkai incidents there forced Theresa to focus on suppression efforts, leaving her unable to apply to return to Schicksal Headquarters at this time.
After the Assault Team left, K422 was officially assigned to a new batch of trainees. Of the Medical Research Group Theresa had recruited, only a few remained at Schicksal Headquarters, while the other medical researchers left alongside the Assault Team.
Among those who departed was the Alliance Leader of Anti-Entropy, hidden within the group. During his half-year stay at Schicksal Headquarters, he had only managed to find K423's location.
Although he had not found True Kiana's location, he deduced that she was also inside Schicksal Headquarters.
In the new year, with her becoming a Valkyrie as the catalyst, many undercurrents began to stir.
No Sane Person Would Choose the Latter as Their Father
2007.1.3
At this moment, in a private room of a tavern somewhere in the Far East, Theresa, who had arrived in secret, was in a terrible mood as she plopped down into a chair.
She glanced at the man who had been drinking since morning and snapped, "Siegfried, the date for Kiana's Valkyrie modification surgery has already been set. Do you think you look presentable right now?"
Before you continue