The already stunningly beautiful girl now possessed a beauty far beyond her usual, having been meticulously made up.
Yuna, whose looks were originally not that different from Mei's, had clearly fallen behind in appearance after Mei put on just a bit of light makeup today.
If Leo Ash hadn't seen so many beautiful girls, he felt he probably would have been captivated by Mei in that instant.
As for Mei, who was now walking toward Leo Ash, seeing the young man before her still so calm made a trace of unease rise in her heart.
*What do I do? Leo Ash looks so calm. The makeup Yuna so carefully applied for me...*
*—Is it really going to work on the current Leo Ash?*
[Come on, Mei, you should have a little more confidence in yourself.]
*But look at his expression... With his current attitude, should I be confident?*
[Then let's put it another way. Even if you don't have confidence in yourself, you should have confidence in Poison Ivy's makeup skills.]
The Herrscher of Thunder, who had already admired Mei's makeup, said to her with great earnestness.
[Although I don't know where Poison Ivy learned these skills, from an objective standpoint, you are indeed much prettier today than usual.]
[As long as he isn't impotent, there's no way he won't be moved!]
[No, wait, even if he *is* impotent, Poison Ivy can use the [Power of Rebirth] to heal his problem!]
*You... How did you even think of that!*
[What else? Are you going to back down again today?]
[It's one thing if you don't care, but can you face Poison Ivy, who's been running around for you and even acting as your wingman?!]
*That's true, but...*
*No, there are no buts today!*
Thinking of how Yuna had been busy helping her for so long, Raiden Mei suddenly firmed her resolve and quickened her pace, walking swiftly toward Leo Ash.
Behind Mei, Yuna watched her determined action and couldn't help but feel that...
—Helping her senior capture her other senior was truly a monumental task.
Even after Yuna had used the makeup techniques she learned from Wraith to make Mei look gorgeous, Mei still lacked confidence.
From the moment they started walking toward Leo Ash, Yuna, who was walking behind Mei, noticed that Mei's body had been tense ever since she saw him.
It was only just now that she'd suddenly made up her mind.
*Sigh, being this shy is really something else.*
*I wonder what kind of upbringing Mei's father gave her to make her like this.*
*If you love someone, you have to go for it. If you don't, someone else will. Mei definitely understands a simple truth like that, yet her performance is still so poor...*
*This is tough.*
*And Senior, too!*
At that moment, Yuna's gaze toward Leo Ash suddenly held a hint of resentment.
If Senior could just show a bit of a man's attitude and be a little more proactive, Mei's shyness wouldn't be such a big problem.
*Senior, make a move! Why aren't you moving!*
Leo Ash, who was suddenly on the receiving end of Yuna's resentful glare, truly had no idea what was wrong with these two today...
Alright, perhaps he had an inkling of what they were thinking.
But was now really the time for this?
[Isn't that obvious? To avoid leaking information, you told them it was a date.]
*I guess that's true...*
[A girl receives a date invitation from the object of her affection. Isn't it normal for her to dress up carefully?]
*That makes sense too...*
[So, what are you waiting for?]
[Fight! Fight! Fight! Knight Leo Ash will fight this last—]
*Get lost!*
*What last battle!*
[Oh, right, it's not the last battle.]
[But the System is asking you, are you gonna fight or not? Oh, with the way things are going, you have to fight even if you don't want to.]
*What do you mean?*
Before the System could say anything more, Mei, who had walked up to Leo Ash, suddenly changed her usual demeanor and naturally linked her arm with his.
"Leo Ash, where are you planning to take me and Yuna today?"
"Yeah, Senior."
Yuna's resentful gaze softened a bit seeing Mei finally take the initiative.
"After asking us out yesterday, you're not going to tell us you haven't prepared anything for today, are you?"
Listening to the cheers and the clicking of cameras from the surroundings, Leo Ash suddenly felt he might have been trying a bit too hard.
*Schicksal is an organization meant to fight the Honkai! Why are you all so into gossip!*
*Looks like you all have too little work... Damn it, after these incidents are over, I'm definitely going to make everyone work overtime with me!*
Of course, the future was the future. Right now, Leo Ash still had to deal with the problem at hand.
"Well, how should I put this? I'll make sure you two are satisfied today."
After using the Quantum Teleportation System to transport the three of them to the Shenzhou region, theoretically the place with the fewest Schicksal spies, Leo Ash spoke helplessly to Mei, who was still clinging tightly to him.
"Mei, can you let go of me for a second?"
"It's time to talk business."
*As I thought...*
*—So that's how it is.*
Hearing Leo Ash's words, Mei and Yuna felt a sense of relief, but at the same time, a wave of disappointment they couldn't suppress washed over them.
This was, in a way, very typical of Leo Ash.
*Senior asked us out, but it was really for 'work' related to fighting the Honkai.*
*However... talking business is talking business.*
*After we're done with business, we can still do what we were going to do.*
Looking at Leo Ash, Yuna had a feeling...
—Senior can't have called the two of us out just to send us back to headquarters right after talking business, right?
*No, it's not up to him anymore.*
*Even if there's no opportunity, I'll create one for Mei!*
*This is for Mei, and for Senior. For the two of them, I have to do my best!*
"Alright, stop letting your eyes dart around like that."
Looking at Yuna, who was clearly preoccupied, Leo Ash said in exasperation.
"Come with me."
"Yes~"
Watching Yuna follow Leo Ash's steps so 'obediently,' Mei had to admit that, just as the Herrscher of Thunder had said, there was truly no sense of distance between Yuna and Leo Ash.
If Yuna had any romantic intentions, she probably would have succeeded long ago.
[Yeah, but she's kind enough to willingly play support for you, so—what are you going to do?]
*Of course, I can't let Yuna's efforts go to waste.*
.....
Over the next while, Leo Ash exchanged information with Yuna and Mei in a teahouse owned by the Taixu Sword School.
As for why he chose such a place to exchange information, it was purely for security.
Perhaps in the past, Otto, who had defeated Fu Hua to protect Shenzhou but had never actually protected it, had secretly planted some hidden agents here behind Fu Hua's back.
But now, the probability of those agents still existing was...
Fu Hua was honest, not stupid.
Now that she had become the Herrscher of Sentience, she could just spread her authority a little, and catching spies would be a matter of minutes.
The day before yesterday, Leo Ash had talked with Fu Hua after the incident.
While Fu Hua had been suppressing her Herrscher Personality on Mount Taixu, she hadn't been completely idle.
During this time, Fu Hua not only taught the Edge of Taixu to all the martial artists in the Taixu Sword School who were qualified to learn it, but she also assisted the higher-ups in Shenzhou in rooting out all the spies in the region.
It wasn't just Schicksal; Anti-Entropy, World Serpent, and even other countries had sent people to Shenzhou to try and steal military secrets.
After all, even though the Taixu True Mantra that Shenzhou used before the Immortal's return was a simplified version of Edge of Taixu, and the mechanical patrols they created were a simplified version of Schicksal's Mechanized Units and Titans, for other countries, these technologies were still drool-worthy.
With such a large territory, Shenzhou naturally had a high probability of Honkai Eruptions.
Yet, in these five hundred years since the Immortal's disappearance, Shenzhou, while maintaining a non-interference policy with Schicksal, had managed to resolve all Honkai incidents within its vast territory. This was enough to show that Shenzhou's mechanical patrols and Taixu True Mantra were unbelievably powerful treasures to other factions.
Of course, no matter how much other factions coveted these technologies, now that Fu Hua had made her move, their desires were futile.
Thanks to Fu Hua's efforts, Shenzhou was now arguably the faction with the fewest spies among the major powers.
In Leo Ash's opinion, if he had to choose a place secure enough for a conversation, the teahouses established by the Taixu Sword School for their agents to exchange intelligence would be one of them.
"So, just as Bronya predicted, you knew about all this from the beginning?"
Listening to the intelligence Leo Ash shared, Mei wasn't angry at all that he had hidden these things from everyone for so long.
Rather than unnecessary anger, Mei just felt her heart ache for him.
*So all this time, Leo Ash, who knew so much, had already been acting in secret.*
*Back then, I thought he was in a bad mood because of the [Herrscher of Thunder who could appear at any moment and take his life].*
*But looking at it now, with Otto letting things happen and Cocolia actively stirring up trouble, if I had done anything reckless, not only would the millions in Nagazora City have died, but the Herrscher Personality inside Kiana would have awakened too.*
*Under such immense pressure, Leo Ash was still using his own methods to train my mind and help me resist the erosion from the Honkai.*
[Hmph, don't get too moved. When all is said and done, his ultimate goal in doing all this was for himself.]
*I don't think Leo Ash is someone who fears death.*
[Of course he isn't. If he were afraid of death, then no one in the world would be fearless.]
[But Mei, you've probably forgotten one thing—that guy, Leo Ash, has always been trying to get revenge on the Honkai.]
[Even the Herrscher Core he possesses is the anti-Honkai Energy Core of Binding. For someone like him to always be in action, the fundamental reason is still just to complete his revenge against the Honkai.]
*Perhaps you're right, but...*
*He saved me and everyone else. That's also an undeniable fact.*
[So, what do you plan to do?]
*Stop Leo Ash from taking revenge on the Honkai... I can't do that, and there's no need to.*
*Right now, all I can do is try my best to help him as he pursues this dream.*
[Oh? For example?]
*Soothe his heart, so he can fight with a more relaxed mindset.*
[You, you say it's for Leo Ash, but your mind is full of yourself.]
[To put it bluntly, don't you just want his body?]
*I don't deny that, so...*
*—Today, I must succeed!*
"Alright, telling everyone these things was, to be blunt, to make everyone fully understand that Bronya's deductions were correct."
Leo Ash, unaware of the slight shift in Mei's inner thoughts, took a sip of the iced milk in front of him and spoke to the two in a relaxed manner.
"I couldn't really speak up before, but now that everyone knows that bastard Otto is no good, things are much easier for me."
"Heh, honestly, back when I couldn't say anything, I was genuinely worried you'd all be tricked by that damn thief."
Hearing Leo Ash's worried words, Mei and Yuna glanced at each other and saw a trace of fear in their companion's eyes.
If nothing else, before Bronya revealed the truth, both of them had truly considered Otto a trustworthy person.
If Otto had planned to use them to do something bad back then, whether their minds could have worked it out...
—It wasn't even a question. Facing a natural-born swindler like Otto, their brains most likely wouldn't have stood a chance.
That man could deceive all of Schicksal for five hundred years; tricking two young girls with no experience in the world would be nothing to him.
As for the current Leo Ash, after saying all this, he felt that the accelerated Honkai timeline wasn't entirely a bad thing.
*While the acceleration has increased our sense of urgency, it has also disrupted Otto's plans, successfully dragging him into the mud as well.*
*Heh, if things had followed the original story, Otto, who had been in charge of Schicksal for five hundred years, could have slowly completed his layout over these few years, gathering all the factors he needed.*
*By that time, what we would be facing would be that damned False God.*
*But now, not only has Otto failed to gather the factors he needs, but his available forces, both low-end and high-end, are insufficient.*
*Bianka and Rita have seen through his true colors, and his own strength is just so-so when he's not a False God. After all that, if we have to count one more person, it would only be that female sword immortal Su and Old Yang mentioned.*
*Li Sushang. That woman is one of Otto's die-hard loyalists.*
*Even in the original story, after learning from Bianka's words that Otto was doing something wrong, she still insisted on the grounds of 'he saved me, so I must help him fight once before I help you,' forcibly trading herself for the high-tier combatant Fu Hua.*
*But on the flip side, as long as we deal with this woman in advance, Otto will have almost no high-tier combat power left besides himself.*
*Hmm, I forgot to ask earlier, so where is this woman now...*
"BOOM!"
Suddenly sensing a powerful wave of Honkai Energy, the three of them instantly materialized their weapons, their expressions turning grim as they looked at the gate that had been instantly 'annihilated.'
"Ha... ha... ha... As I thought, there are people here."
At the doorway, the three of them saw a woman dressed in 'ancient' attire.
And behind the woman, Li Pu, who was an acquaintance of Leo Ash, looked at Li Sushang with a face full of despair.
"For goodness' sake, missy, why did you have to disturb the honored guests here?!"
Li Pu, who was responsible for managing parts of this area, had immediately notified the staff at this base to not disturb Leo Ash's activities under any circumstances after receiving the message 'Lord Leo Ash is visiting' from his subordinates today.
After all, although Leo Ash was currently a member of Schicksal, from both his actions and his identity, he was considered one of Shenzhou's 'own.'
Now that Leo Ash wanted to discuss something and came to Shenzhou first, Li Pu saw it as a sign of trust, even if it wasn't an intentional gesture of goodwill.
When one of the strongest people in the world actively trusts the Shenzhou faction, the Shenzhou faction should naturally treat them with the best possible attitude.
But he never expected that today, Li Sushang, who had been helping them fight Honkai Beasts, would suddenly act as if she had lost her mind, shouting 'There's strong Honkai Energy here,' and charging directly into this base.
He wanted to stop her, but the problem was...
—This woman wasn't some husky you could just brush off. When she got serious, she was practically half a step away from being Godzilla. Even if he, Li Pu, was one of the strongest of the younger generation in the Taixu Sword School, there was no way he could stop her.
Hearing Li Pu's despair-filled words, Li Sushang also felt that her actions were indeed a bit inappropriate.
"I just wanted to see Grand Master, so..."
Li Sushang, who had just destroyed the gate, suddenly made a fist-and-palm salute toward Leo Ash.
"Li Sushang, first disciple of the Supreme Freedom Sect, pays her respects to Leo Ash..."
After a moment of hesitation, Li Sushang looked at Leo Ash with a troubled expression and asked.
"Young Master Leo Ash, I..."
"—How should I address you?"
*Ah, speak of the devil and she shall appear.*
*Well, that's great. If I take care of her now, Otto will have one less trump card.*
*But before that... let's find out her intentions first.*
*If it's not necessary, there's no need to kill this one right away.*
"I am the disciple of the Immortal Red Kite. You may call me Martial Uncle."
Looking at Li Sushang, who was full of hesitation and even a bit defiant, Leo Ash asked her calmly.
"Niece Sushang, you have trespassed here so rudely, disturbing the private retreat of myself and my companions."
"If you don't give me a reasonable explanation, your Martial Uncle is going to get really angry."
.