Houraiji Kyuusyou felt that the silver-haired girl following Fuli looked strangely familiar, her silhouette vaguely reminiscent of a certain figure.
But every time the memory was about to crystallize, that impossible-to-ignore pair of behemoths on the girl's chest acted like a bright white mental block, brutally cutting off her train of thought time and again, keeping the truth, so close yet so far, shrouded in a layer of mist.
Kyuusyou scratched her head in frustration. It wasn't until the Valkyrie squad began to move inside the ship that she trailed at the very end of the line, as if she'd been granted a great pardon.
Only after she was completely out of their line of sight did the taut string in her mind finally relax.
That girl...
Bronya, retracting her gaze, was speechless. She turned to meet Fuli's subtle expression.
"Friend of yours?"
He had also noticed the fidgety Lord Saviour of Light, though not because he had seen through her identity as an information broker.
The latter had hidden herself very well in the previous loop, never revealing her true face even up to the point where she lost contact with Fuli.
What the boy was more interested in was her appearance. Even among the Valkyrie forces, where pretty teenage girls were a dime a dozen, Kyuusyou's figure and looks were top-tier.
Especially those slender legs wrapped in purple pantyhose; with every rhythmic sway of her steps, light and shadow undulated and bloomed across the tight, silky surface.
"Sort of," Bronya nodded, then added, "We play games together."
Out of a sense of class camaraderie between fellow hackers, she didn't sell out her mischievous friend right away.
As for whether she would sell her out later, that would depend on whether the price offered was right.
To prevent Fuli from probing further, the girl added, "Are we heading to the training grounds next?"
She clearly still remembered their date with destiny to decide who was on top.
"The training grounds?"
Elysia sidled over. "Is Bronya going to have a match with Little Li?"
"Yup. This brat couldn't wait to overthrow her superior the moment she grew up."
Fuli pointed at her, then asked curiously, "You can actually recognize her? If she hadn't called me 'Onii-chan,' I would've had a hard time recognizing her current look."
"Hmph, hmph, that just means Little Li isn't skilled enough yet!♪"
The pink elf raised her chin proudly, then turned and hugged Kiana in one swift motion. "What's wrong, what's wrong? You've been distracted this whole time. Are you not feeling well?"
The girl was still immersed in the bizarre vision from her Mystic Eye and failed to detect Elysia's sneak attack in time.
"Ah? No, no!"
Snapping back to her senses, she was horrified and tried to break free, but her strength vanished into the vast, soft embrace as if sinking into the sea.
This was why everyone said Elysia was an anomaly. A Kaslana, an A-Rank powerhouse capable of wrestling with an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, was actually losing in a contest of strength.
Even considering she was holding back so as not to hurt her future Grand-Auntie, this was still outrageously unbelievable.
Mei's projection suddenly appeared before them. "Then Kiana will lead Elysia on a tour of the Hyperion's new facilities. The Valkyrie named Wendy chose Pure Fiction upon entering the Superstring Dimension. The rest of the cadets are roaming the Sinful and Agony Tiers."
Without waiting for a reaction, she vanished with a beep.
"Mei—!"
Kiana reached out toward the spot where she had disappeared, instantly understanding that she had become the Hyperion's tribute to the Great Demon Lord Elysia for the day.
"Heehee, then I'll be in your care, Kiana♪～"
The pink fluffball was very satisfied with this tribute. She took the white-haired girl's hand and headed for the elevator leading into the ship's interior.
She then whispered in her ear, egging her on, "Mean old Miss Mei just sold out our cute little Kiana-cat like that. Doesn't Kiana-cat want to get some revenge?"
"...Like what?"
"Like, go find Mei and add one more person to the tour group～"
"Okay!"
Don't blame me for this, Mei! You're the one who sold me out first!
Kiana clenched her fists, the flames of vengeance burning in her eyes.
Watching the two march off with valor and high spirits, Fuli, who had understood the hidden meaning in Mei's words, looked at Bronya. "Apocalyptic Shadow or Forgotten Hall. Pick one."
"Forgotten Hall."
The girl answered decisively.
She needed to test the upgraded Over-limit Heavy Bunny armed with the holy sword and get used to her mature body. Compared to the single-target mode of Apocalyptic Shadow, the comprehensive nature of the Forgotten Hall was more suitable for her.
Actually, the multi-target Pure Fiction mode was the best fit, but Wendy had already rushed in to clear it.
Under the night sky...
Standing atop a skyscraper, Wendy looked out in all directions.
The entire city was like a giant circuit board lit by electricity. Neon melted into liquid in the canyons between buildings. Below her feet was a boundless, brilliant flow of light, car taillights stretching into tubes, and the blue glow of billboards sharpening the edges of glass curtain walls.
"It's so realistic..." the girl murmured to herself.
Wendy had used the academy's virtual combat training system before. With Theresa's vigorous R&D efforts, coupled with the fact that her grandfather was the Overseer, St. Freya had already reached Schicksal's leading standard in this area.
Its system could not only simulate various complex terrains and extreme weather conditions like urban ruins, snowfields, deserts, and the edge of the Sea of Quanta, but also simulate various Honkai Beasts, zombies, and even Herrscher-level enemies.
However, Wendy would never say that this trip to the Hyperion was useless. It was precisely because she had been on the battlefield against the Honkai for years that she could more clearly perceive the difference between the genuine article and a forgery.
In a virtual battlefield, with proper operation, Wendy could even defeat a full-power Durandal (simulation) without taking a single hit.
But in reality?
If she lasted three seconds or took one punch without falling, her Oceania Branch could pop the champagne.
And in the current Superstring Dimension, the girl could sense a strange feeling of dissonance.
Before entering, she was told that all the buildings here were fake, part of a large environment constructed with virtual technology, and only the wandering monsters were real.
But the information carried back by the gentle breeze told her that the bustling pedestrians and the endless stream of traffic—everything here was real.
"Are you confused by this?"
A holy, ethereal voice echoed in her ear.
Wendy was startled and looked up.
"Hey, hey, hey! I'm your system pixie for this session, Kallen."
A three-heads-tall chibi Kallen appeared before her, flapping her angel wings.
Guest-starring as the commentator, she spun in the air, her magic wand sprinkling dazzling pink dust. "I know you're confused by what you see, and you've even been standing here, hesitant to act. But please rest assured, everything here is fake. The Hyperion isn't so extravagant as to capture real people for training content."
"Really?"
Wendy was still hesitant. The breeze continued to carry the sounds of people's laughter, joy, and anger to her ears.
She was a Valkyrie who fought to protect the people. She couldn't afford to gamble, nor did she dare to.
Chibi Kallen scratched her head awkwardly, not knowing how to explain.
Ever since receiving those Light Cones as a birthday gift, Mei had been researching how to crack the technology.
For now, she was still far from completely deciphering it.
However, there were some phased results. For example, the metropolis before them, named "Los Santos," was constructed from a special material called "Memoria."
Mei had obtained the conversion formula for Memoria by deconstructing the Light Cones, allowing her to convert the inexhaustible, vast energy from the Fuli Well into this fundamental element that constitutes memory and the spiritual domain.
The result was the undeniable reality that Wendy was seeing.
The problem was that this involved the Hyperion's core secrets, which Kallen certainly couldn't tell an outsider.
Fortunately, Mei saved her from this predicament.
[Ding! Main Quest issued!]
[Protect as many civilians of Los Santos as possible from the rampaging Honkai Beasts. For every 100 deaths, the final score will be lowered by one grade. If the total number of deaths exceeds 300, the mission will fail.]
"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"
Almost simultaneously, savage roars echoed from all over Los Santos.
Accompanying them were the desperate screams of fleeing civilians and the sharp, pitiful cries of children.
Wendy erupted in fury. "You're sacrificing innocent people!!!"
"Huh?"
Chibi Kallen's face was full of frustration.
It would be one thing if it were just Wendy, but the clones she had sent to explain the situation in every Superstring Dimension instance were being accused and cursed by all the Valkyrie cadets. Some had even drawn their weapons on her.
I've been framed!
If I had known, I wouldn't have been so kind as to come and explain!
Wendy had no time to pay her any mind. With a wave of her hand, a faint airflow spread out from her in all directions.
This was the Wind of Detection, capable of perceiving and sensing the surrounding environment, feeding back information such as its state, the aura of living beings, elemental fluctuations, and energy flow.
With Wendy's strength, the Wind of Detection could scan a radius of two kilometers, while the city's area extended beyond a hundred-kilometer radius.
Thus, she chose to move at high speed. A tangible gale propelled her through the night sky, and invisible blades rained down, precisely striking and killing countless rampaging, horrifying monsters.
Over at the ME Corp, hundreds of LCD screens were arranged before Mei.
In the center was the strongest of the group, Wendy. A stream of data flowed down the right side of the screen, recording every aspect of the S-Rank candidate's combat data.
"That's Chengying."
Fuli stood to the side with his arms crossed, staring at the invisible blade constantly swinging in Wendy's palm.
Chengying, named after one of the three swords of the Shang Emperor, was a special technique that manipulated the air, controlling its flow or compressing it.
It was generally used to wrap wind around a weapon to refract light, making it impossible for the enemy to accurately gauge the weapon's length and shape. However, from Wendy's posture, it was clear she was directly compressing the airflow to form an air blade hundreds of meters long for wide-area slashing.
But not all Honkai Beasts were lambs to the slaughter. A black-purple mist appeared in a corner with an angle of less than 90 degrees. A ferocious, horned Void Chela opened its maw and bit at the unprepared Wendy from behind.
However, it passed right through her seemingly delicate body and was then sliced in two by the invisible Chengying sword that followed.
"She predicted the location of the attack and elementalized into wind beforehand," Fuli praised. "A pretty useful skill, but unfortunately, it's mostly useless against wide-area attacks."
As if on cue, a Memoria-mimic of Parvati spewed a massive stream of cryogenic breath. The overwhelming cold air poured down, targeting not only Wendy but also the land in a several-kilometer radius.
"Tch!"
The girl gritted her teeth. Following the feedback from her Wind of Detection, she charged at supersonic speed toward the northwest corner—the most populated area.
Upon arrival, she quickly turned, pointing one finger to the sky and one to the ground. "Absolute Boundary, deploy!"
This was an ultimate barrier centered on herself that repelled all things, disintegrating and annihilating anything it came into contact with.
The edge of the Absolute Boundary collided with the cryogenic breath, and the cold wave that should have swept through most of the city instantly dissipated.
"ROAR!"
The diving Parvati let out a victorious roar. Due to the massive scale of her attack, the Absolute Boundary had lost its ability to protect its user.
Is this the end?
"Not by a long shot!"
Wendy, pouring the last of her Honkai energy into the spell, fell from mid-air, her left hand forming the Xun Wind Mudra and her right the Five Thunders Finger Seal:
"Let the Xun winds surge, let all evils scatter!
Let yellow sands scour the earth, let wandering spirits flee!
Mountain sprites, heed my command! Forest demons, submit in fear—
Come forth, raging winds! Let stones fly swift! By law and decree, I command you!"
It was the "Flying Sand and Moving Stones" from the Thirty-six Heavenly Spirits, a technique that manipulated storms and sound waves into tangible, destructive winds. The longer it was maintained, the more destructive it became, capable of unleashing a world-ending storm at its peak.
Under the supreme power of this top-tier Taoist grand art, the Memoria-constructed Parvati was sliced into a thousand pieces before finally dissipating.
The destructive storm did not cease. Under Wendy's gritted-teeth control, it swept through the city like a plow, uprooting the monsters one by one.
After dealing with the last roaring Quantum Shadow, a ding sounded:
[Main Quest Complete. Score: S.]
"Yes!"
The girl clenched her fist tightly, but her gaze fell downward and she froze.
[Number of deaths: 213. Final score lowered by two grades.]
—The highest score in the Superstring Dimension was SSS.
Realizing this, Wendy's pupils dilated abruptly. The sound of crying and screaming echoed in her ears.
She landed on the rubble, not even daring to lower her head to look at the crowd below.
Fuli didn't quite understand.
"Is it really necessary to provoke her like this?"
Mei was unmoved. "First, this is the standard scoring for the Superstring Dimension. You, Kiana, and Bronya have always faced this difficulty, the only difference being the combat level of the enemies. Second, the assistant (Kallen) explained everything clearly at the beginning. She was the one who refused to believe it and insisted on treating it as real."
"Finally, this was specifically requested by Theresa. Her exact words were, 'I would rather they resent me for being tricked this time than face a similar situation on a real battlefield with no psychological preparation and never recover.'"
She looked at Fuli. "Don't think it's too harsh. The military has countless similar training exercises in reality. If ordinary soldiers can endure it, there's no reason a Valkyrie can't."
As for Wendy, she had joined the Oceania Branch right after graduation. New Zealand and Australia, the areas she was responsible for, were vast and sparsely populated. A total of nearly ten million square kilometers held a population of just over thirty million, meaning she rarely encountered situations like this.
Understanding this, Fuli shrugged. "The Principal really has her reasons."
Mei didn't comment. "Apocalyptic Shadow has been adjusted."
"Alright."
The boy turned. Just as he was about to move, his steps paused.
"I have a question about the new Abyss, now that it's reconstructed with Memoria."
"You cannot do the zombies."
"I have no further questions."
He nodded, and his figure disappeared down the corridor.
"Hmph."
Mei pouted, tapping her index finger on the keyboard a few times to send the combat data from the recent battle to Theresa, who was on the other side of the planet.
[You were right. Miss Wendy's Stigma does indeed have a fatal defect.]
"As I thought..."
In the principal's office at St. Freya, Theresa's gaze was grim as she read the contents of the file.
On the stack of documents to her left, covered by shadows, the title Desire Gem Implantation Candidates was particularly glaring.
...