Ryn and Kika became famous, and by extension, Theresa became trendy at Schicksal HQ once again. Because they had skipped their S-rank Valkyrie promotion ceremony. If it had been anyone else, the Valkyries certainly wouldn't have accepted it, but if it was Theresa's students, then everything made perfect sense.
After all, Theresa had also skipped her S-rank Valkyrie promotion ceremony...
(Otto posthumously promoted all Valkyries who participated in the Second Honkai War to S-rank, but Theresa was the only survivor... Theresa did not accept this kind of promotion and refused to attend the S-rank Valkyrie promotion ceremony.)
Fortunately, most of the Valkyries had already met Ryn and Kika, and no one was about to question Kika's strength—after all, no one thought their body was tougher than the defenses of the Memorial Arena.
Durandal was about to release the combat recording of her fight with Ryn, but Rita managed to persuade her to only release the first half of the battle. The latter half, which was clearly just the two of them bickering, was kept by Rita for her private collection.
While watching the combat recording of Durandal and Ryn, Rita asked Durandal curiously:
"By the way, Lady Durandal, why did you discard the Valkyrie battlesuit Bright Knight: Excelsis later in the fight?"
Durandal moved the video to the clip where she had impaled Ryn and said to Rita:
"Hmm... how should I put it? Ryn said something like 'You're banned,' and then I immediately lost control of Hel of Eternal Silence and Bright Knight: Excelsis. Rather than wearing a suit that could be controlled by Ryn at any moment, I thought it was better to just discard it and go in directly."
"I see... in that case, it seems Master Ryn is a perfect counter to me..." Rita said with a smile.
Durandal glanced at Rita and nodded.
"Indeed. If Rita were without her armor, her strength would decrease significantly. Rita, come and train with me! Armor is just a shortcut; true strength must be built step by step, on solid ground!"
"Of course, Lady Durandal..."
Rita really wanted to refuse, but she accepted Durandal's invitation with a smile. But Rita knew her own nature; how could she possibly get stronger just by extra training!
——————————
The next afternoon, Ryn and Kika returned to Schicksal HQ, happily holding hands.
When Theresa learned of their return, if it weren't for the other Valkyries holding her back for dear life, she would have rushed over to teach Ryn and Kika a good lesson.
However, although they restrained Theresa, the Valkyries had no intention of letting these two off the hook. Although it was called a promotion ceremony, it was actually a large party for Schicksal, so Ryn and Kika's presence wasn't crucial. But they had kept everyone waiting for a long time, so some minor grievances were in order.
Seeing the menacing Theresa and the fully armed Valkyries, Ryn grabbed Kika and turned to run, only to find that they were already surrounded.
With no other choice, Ryn faced the large group in front of him, reached out, and tapped the air.
"You're all banned."
The Valkyries immediately lost control of their armor and weapons. As soon as the armor went out of control, it became a cage, immobilizing them on the spot.
"Sorry, sorry! It'll be back to normal in a bit!!"
Ryn shouted apologies as he flew over them, carrying Kika.
Once they were in a safe place, Kika asked curiously.
"What kind of move was that? You froze them all?"
"Not exactly frozen, I just banned their connection to anything other than themselves. It's like I cut off their connection to their Valkyrie battlesuits, causing them to crash for a moment."
"Cortana?"
"No, it's a little trick from a certain powerhouse. It just so happens that I have it in my Stigmata memory, so I made a point to learn it. It looks impressive, but it's not that useful. After all, Honkai Beasts don't have equipment, and a Herrscher's equipment is condensed from their own authority, so I can't ban that either."
Kika thought for a moment. Doesn't that mean it's a skill that can only be used against them, the Valkyries?
"Then isn't this basically an Anti-Personnel Noble Phantasm... I, Mushoku Kika, hereby grant you the title of Civil War God!"
"Many thanks for the bestowal, Your Highness."
"Idiot."
"Hahaha..."
(God Kiana's skill, can disable equipment.)
——————————
Kika and Ryn walked into Helheim Labs, talking and laughing. Otto was still waiting for him to pick up the fourth-generation Valkyrie God-Slaying Armor!
Schicksal excavated the Blank Key from the ruins of the Previous Era. With the help of Fu Hua and Void Archives' knowledge, Otto repaired and modified it, developing many fourth-generation Valkyrie God-Slaying Armors based on the Blank Key.
Unfortunately, due to the scarcity of materials and the extraordinary craftsmanship required, mass production was impossible.
Among them, the hybrid-drive creation-type armor, model number HDA-00X, codenamed 「War Knight: Moon Rabbit」, was the battlesuit Otto had prepared for Ryn after calibration.
This suit was originally intended for Welt Joyce. Although they had some unpleasant history, Otto still held Joyce in high regard.
Unfortunately, Joyce was already dead, and the second-generation Welt harbored a deep resentment towards him. Truly... although he lost his father, he still has me! I could have been his guide in life.
"Tsk tsk tsk, forget it, I'll talk to him about it next time I have the chance." Otto shook his head, no longer dwelling on it, and turned to introduce 「War Knight: Moon Rabbit」 to Ryn and Kika.
"It's so cool..." The moment Ryn saw the armor, he was captivated. It might not be very useful, but it was seriously cool...
"And who do you think designed its appearance..." Otto watched Ryn's star-struck eyes and sighed with pride, his hand on his forehead.
"But..."
"?"
"Could you change it to look like this... Looking at the name, I think this would be very suitable."
"??"
"Oh, and the transformation sequence, do it like this... yes, it would be best if you could add a sound effect. It has no soul without a sound effect."
"???"
"It even has multiple forms! That's even more perfect! Come, come, change every form. Strength isn't important, but it must be cool!"
"?????"
Listening to Ryn's one request after another, Otto's fists clenched.
"Ryn, I must remind you. We are Schicksal, not those Anti-Entropy guys who are always making tokusatsu shows! We follow the idol route!!"
"But this is really cool..."
In the end, with a teeth-gritting expression and the force of someone crushing an enemy, Otto modified 「War Knight: Moon Rabbit」 according to Ryn's requests.
Then, Ryn went ahead and renamed 「War Knight: Moon Rabbit」 himself, which successfully made Otto faint from anger.
「War Knight: Moon Rabbit」(no)
「Kamen Rider Build」(yes)
"It's a little ugly, I'll have old Yang touch it up when I get back..."
Finally, Ryn, completely satisfied, showed off his new armor in front of Kika, striking a classic pose and uttering that famous line.
"The laws of victory have been set."
"No, no, it should be..."
"Ryn, sortie!"