The next instant, it was as if someone had pressed the pause button.
The world fell still.
"I see. Someone faster than me and capable of Space Movement has this much of an advantage over me?"
The mistress of the dream climbed to her feet, her expression solemn.
"I need to add more training on sensing danger to my curriculum."
Having been called Dodo—a slang term in Britain for an idiot—by her classmates and teachers since childhood, Durandal had always aimed to become truly "the strongest," even "invincible."
Because she could do nothing but fight.
After reflecting on why she had been sent flying, she raised her lance again, preparing to once more accept the trial of that mantis that was at least Judgment-class.
Clap, clap—
For some reason.
A burst of applause suddenly echoed from within the distant dream.
Durandal froze.
For a genius monster like her, dreams were a domain entirely under her control.
In theory, unless she completely relaxed, her dreams would only ever contain what she wished to see.
Did I arrange for someone to applaud here?
The girl was deeply confused.
As she stood there in a daze, a figure approached from afar, gradually becoming clearer.
It was a handsome fellow.
His face was fair and smooth, his features sharply defined, and his eyes were icy blue, like glaciers.
Who was this guy?
Durandal's expression instantly turned cold.
Though she did not know what was happening, the man before her had clearly intruded into her dream.
"State your purpose."
A lance appeared in the fingers of the girl who had never known defeat.
If this man was deemed an enemy, that lance would immediately impale him alive high in the sky. Then this strongest goose would awaken and hunt him down everywhere in the real world.
"Black Abyss White Flower, it has been a long time."
Yet unexpectedly, the boy's face filled with nostalgia when he saw the lance.
"Would you mind letting me have a look at Black Abyss White Flower? Even if it is only a projection within a dream, I can still reminisce about an old friend."
An old friend?
Durandal was stunned.
Black Abyss White Flower.
The weapon of Cecilia, Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie of the previous generation. Durandal had always admired that woman who had purified the Honkai disaster in Siberia with her life.
Did this man know that senior?
"What is your relationship with Senior Cecilia?"
Perhaps out of respect for Cecilia, Durandal addressed Russell respectfully.
"You call Cecilia your senior?"
The boy was visibly taken aback. Then he carefully examined Durandal's face, his gaze sharp and precise, like some kind of microscope.
After observing her for several seconds, anger appeared on the man's face.
"Is there something wrong with that form of address?"
Durandal sensed something deeply unusual.
"Who is the current head of the Saniyat family?"
Rather than answer her question, the man asked about one of Schicksal's great families.
Truthfully, Durandal should have remained silent when faced with a question involving Schicksal's internal structure.
After all, the man before her had yet to reveal his identity.
Even if he was not lying, at most he was an old friend of her senior.
Yet there was always something unusual in the way this man spoke, as though he came from another layer of history.
"It is Angelina Saniyat, the younger sister of the previous Saintess."
Durandal fell silent for a while before giving her answer.
"When you return, take a drop of her blood and a drop of your own. Bring them to a laboratory under your control and conduct a genetic comparison."
The man fell silent for a moment, then sighed.
"Older sister..."
A stormy sea.
A meaningless, yet utterly enormous storm raged within Durandal's heart.
Durandal was an orphan.
That was something all of Schicksal knew.
And now, after carefully studying her face, this man had told her to perform a bloodline test with the head of the Saniyat family.
Did that mean she was actually a member of the Saniyat family?
She was not an orphan?
Even as Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie, she could not help feeling as though her heart would burst from beating so violently under the impact of that revelation.
Otto had never mentioned her family.
Family, doctors, lost memories...
She realized in shock that her identity might be extremely complicated.
"I do not know what Lord Bishop Medea told you, but you truly are a daughter of the Saniyat family."
The young man fell silent for a moment before speaking.
This man called the bishop Medea?
Durandal remembered that on the first day after she awoke, the bishop had told her the story of Jason and Medea, warning her that if she ever encountered something similar in reality, she must not sympathize with that princess.
He had heard that story too?
In other words, this man knew the bishop, perhaps even knew him very well?
Wait, if the Medea in that story was an allusion to the bishop, then was the bishop's intended message that she must never pity him?
Why had he warned her like that?
After just a few exchanges, an immense amount of information had flooded Durandal's mind. The girl who had always been unstoppable on the battlefield only felt waves of pain stabbing through her brain.
Across from her, the young-looking man merely watched her, sorrow in his eyes.
What was he grieving over?
Her?
Or the Saniyat family?
Or perhaps—
Cecilia?
"Who are you?"
Unable to suppress the doubts in her heart any longer, Durandal shouted her question.
What Does an International Superstar Mean?
Her question instantly plunged the man into silence as he paced back and forth.
Only after a long while did he finally speak.
"The world is too dangerous. A child needs two fathers."
Durandal had seen those words in a book. It was a proverb from Italy.
The world was always filled with countless temptations and all kinds of dangers.
A qualified father might be able to shoulder some of them for his child, but if he wished to protect that child until adulthood, one father alone was not enough. Thus, when a baby was born, the parents would invite a respected and influential local figure or a friend to become the child's second father, protecting them as they grew up.
"...For now, call me Godfather."
That was what the young-looking man said.
"You could say this was also an agreement between your father and me."
Just a few short sentences.
Yet they left endless room for melodramatic speculation.
Cecilia, the light in the eyes of countless Valkyries from the previous generation.
Her spouse had been the strongest member of Schicksal's previous generation, the current traitor—Siegfried Kaslana.
According to Russell, those two should have been her parents.
But when this man mentioned her mother, that wistful expression of his, along with that one word—older sister...
It was difficult not to suspect there was another story hidden within it.
Durandal's beautiful cheeks kept twitching.
Across from her, the young-looking man hummed an Austrian folk song... A faint warmth filled his icy blue eyes.
Damn it, you do not look like you want to be my godfather. You look like you want to be my biological father!!
Durandal suddenly regretted why her daily routine was so regular.
If she had not been practicing boxing in her dream tonight, but had instead stayed up all night playing games like some otaku in East Asia, would she have avoided running into such a complicated situation?
If she could, Durandal truly wanted to wake up right now, find a brick, and throw it at her own head until she lost her memory.
Before she had even done a genetic test, she had discovered that her parents' story might be enough to make an eight-hundred-episode television drama...
For Durandal, who had always relied only on violence to punish violence, this was simply unbearable.
Should she run?
For the first time, the ever-forward Durandal had the urge to flee.
But—
"I do not know what Lord Bishop Medea told you, but you truly are a daughter of the Saniyat family."
Medea, princess of Colchis.
Under the Will of the God, this princess fell in love at first sight with Prince Jason, who had come to the island in search of the Golden Fleece.
To help Jason obtain the Golden Fleece, Medea used her magic to help him complete the impossible tasks set by her father, on the condition that Jason marry her. After obtaining the Golden Fleece, Medea and Jason set out together on their journey back to Greece.
When Medea's father learned of this, he sent her younger brother after her.
In the end, the princess killed her own brother, cut his body into pieces, and scattered them across the mountains, forcing her father and the pursuing servants to collect the corpse and buying time for Medea and Jason's group to escape.
She was undoubtedly a madwoman.
Then what sins had Lord Bishop, who likened himself to Medea, committed?
Why was his very first lesson to her that she must not sympathize with that deranged princess, that everything she suffered was deserved?
Durandal's expression grew increasingly ugly.
"Godfather... do you know what Teacher did?"
Before you continue