Stan glanced at Rita, who was confronting him. After receiving Jackal's retreat message, it prepared to withdraw.
Although Rita and Stan were evenly matched, the elegance of a maid could not be compromised. Rita brandished her scythe, striking a JoJo pose with a smile as she looked at Stan.
"What, thinking of running away now that you've realized you can't win?"
"Meow." (A soldier's duty is to obey orders. Little girl, you've been spared!)
Stan let out an indignant roar, then turned and scurried away.
"…"
Rita put away her scythe, watching the fleeing Stan speechlessly. She didn't pursue him, because the more important matter now seemed to be Susanna…
Just as Stan was about to reach the tunnel entrance, Durandal slowly walked down from above.
"Meow meow meow meow!" (There are reinforcements… it doesn't matter who comes!)
Stan meowed and leaped towards Durandal.
Durandal raised her hand and, as if swatting away a fly, swiped her small hand and sent the giant cat-form Honkai Beast Stan flying.
Stan was sent flying back as fast as he had charged forward, smashing a deep crater into the stone wall of the ruins.
Crack—
The limiter on Stan's neck shattered from the impact. The giant Honkai Beast reverted back to a small kitten.
"Meow…" (What… just happened?)
Stan staggered back to his feet, his eyes welling up with tears from the overwhelming pain.
"So this is the artificial Honkai Beast from the report? It's quite cute."
Durandal slowly walked towards Stan, who trembled uncontrollably under the pressure of her presence.
Stan was a Honkai-modified cat. His senses were ten thousand times more sensitive than an ordinary cat's, and he could even sense a person's strength…
And from the aura emanating from Durandal… was she even human? She was a monster on the same level as Hare…
"Meow…" (I fought with everything I had, sacrificed everything, and this is the end I get?)
Damn it, this is so frustrating!
But between life and death, Stan curled up. It decided to use its final move to settle the score.
"Meeeow~"
Stan exposed his belly to Durandal, using his adorable appearance to his advantage, and began to roll around on the ground, playing cute to win sympathy.
"You little rascal!"
Durandal's eyes widened at the sight. After a brief 0.0003 seconds of thought, Durandal dashed to Stan's side at light speed, squatted down, and began to happily pet the cat.
Ooh, belly rubs, belly rubs~
So cute, so cute, I could die from the cuteness~
Durandal hugged and kissed Stan, spinning around in joy.
While Durandal was engrossed in petting the cat, Ryn arrived, carrying Otto.
"Ahem, ahem…" Otto, dangling in the air from Ryn's grip, coughed a couple of times to remind Durandal not to get too lost in the cat.
Durandal looked at Ryn, then at Otto, and then clutched Stan protectively.
Without Durandal having to say a word, both Otto and Ryn could read the "not sharing him for pets" message on her face.
Ryn shrugged helplessly, then kicked down the stone wall mechanism that separated Rita and Susanna. Rita was waiting for them on the other side.
"?"
The stone wall cracked open with a bang, startling Rita, who was examining Catherine's corpse.
"Durandal, Ryn, Lord Otto, what are you doing here?"
"If we hadn't come, we'd be collecting your corpse. Let's go, we can talk on the way." Ryn waved his hand, signaling for Rita to follow.
"Is Susanna okay now? She might have been captured by World Serpent." Rita pointed to Catherine's body on the ground. Susanna had been with Catherine, but now only Catherine's body remained, and Susanna was nowhere to be found.
Otto struggled and wriggled, landing on the ground from Ryn's grasp. "Don't worry, Susanna is very safe right now. Amber has assigned her the task of cleaning the library, so you don't need to worry about her."
"Is that so… It seems everyone has been doing a lot behind my back. Rita thanks you all."
Rita bowed slightly to the three of them to express her gratitude. Then, she summoned Skadi of Thrymheim and pointed it at Stan in Durandal's arms.
"However, this Honkai Beast disguised as a Siamese cat, may I be allowed to dispose of it?" Rita's eyes narrowed, her smiling face radiating killing intent.
After all… Rita holds a grudge.
"Lady Durandal, please put it down."
Durandal shook her head and took a few steps back, holding Stan.
Stan glared fiercely at Rita, baring his teeth. "Meow!" (What do you want, little girl! I've already turned over a new leaf!)
Rita advanced step by step, holding her scythe. "This time, I will finish it quickly."
"Meow." (Such big talk. You weren't saying that when we were fighting earlier. Come on! Let's fight to the death again!)
Stan extended his claws, revealing sharp nails. He party in Durandal's arms, using Durandal's power to his advantage, and challenging Rita like a fox borrowing the tiger's might.
Then, Stan's source of confidence was gone…
"It's not good for a kitty to be so fierce. What if you scratch someone? I still prefer cats."
Ryn reached out and took Stan from Durandal's arms, then clipped all of Stan's nails before placing him back in her arms.
"Meow!" (Ah…?! Ahh!! My magnificent claws!!)
Stan, realizing what had happened, started meowing loudly.
"Alright, alright, everyone, let's not fight." Durandal gently stroked Stan's back, soothing his emotions.
"Rita, the Overseer and Ryn just said we should take this cat back to Schicksal for research, right?" Durandal turned, looking at Otto and Ryn with pleading eyes.
Otto glanced at Stan with disgust. He didn't want a Honkai Beast setting foot in his floating fortress.
Durandal turned her face, her pupils widening as she stared intently at Otto and Ryn.
"I don't have much interest… I mean, information on Honkai Beasts, so it certainly has some value. Ryn, I'll leave it to you." Otto coughed twice and quickly changed his tune.
"A cat that can accommodate Honkai energy… I might indeed need to study it… Kiana and the others are very fond of small animals too." Ryn added thoughtfully.
After confirming that Ryn and Otto had no objections, Durandal grabbed Stan's two front paws and held him up in front of Rita.
"Rita, look, such an adorable cat… let's adopt it!"
"Lady Durandal, you just said you were going to take it back for research."
"Research on whether Honkai Beasts can be domesticated to help with people's daily lives!" Durandal immediately fabricated a research topic.
Seeing Durandal so unusually insistent on something, Rita stopped pressing the issue and put away her scythe.
"Never mind. As long as Lady Durandal is happy…"
"Yay!" "Meow~"
Both Durandal and Stan cheered happily, one for finally being able to have a cat, and the other for finally being able to live.