Question: Do wings count as part of the attire?
I had exhausted all of my brainpower trying to come up with a plan to take down the Herrscher before me, all the while spending the rest of my mental energy controlling my clones and ragebaiting her.
Of course, I could've gone all out and used my entire arsenal. Maybe then I could defeat her given enough time. But there was a reason why I had only revealed my superhuman strength and the clone shenanigans.
The current Bronya was hardly trustworthy, as much as I hated to admitted.
I remembered the early stages of the game much more vividly than the later parts. The surgery must have improved my memory even further, because I could now recall little tidbits about how Cocolia was able to control her in the first place.
So I'm quite certain she's still working for Cocolia.
It couldn't be helped. Without that adopted mother of hers, Bronya wouldn't receive much support, and she might end up going back to her old lifestyle.
It was just sad that she didn't know about the bio-chip implanted in her brain until much, much later.
She did eventually change, realizing that Cocolia was far too deep in her own insanity to understand that she was hurting the very people she had sworn to protect.
Of course, Bronya wasn't my only concern.
At the end of the day, she's another victim who lost her family at a young age in Siberia.
Then there was the possibility of Otto sending someone to watch over the situation.
The problem was that it could be just about anyone.
It could be the dutiful maid, Rita. Or the strongest S-Rank Valkyrie, Bianka. Heck, it might even be Fu Hua.
Perhaps, all of them if my little prank had managed to infuriate the clown enough.
Between Otto and Cocolia, I'd rather deal with the latter. At least her insanity could be somewhat predictable.
If it wasn't for these headaches, I would've used Flame Bone of the Starving without a second thought. I had a feeling the power behind that ability could contend with an awakened Herrscher.
It was just a gut feeling. Or perhaps, I was simply overestimating myself after experiencing how powerful it was that day in the abandoned warehouse. Either way, I couldn't afford to expose more than I already had.
In the end, I finally came up with one feasible, yet possibly craziest plan in my entire life. All without the need to broadcast to the entire world that I was a little special.
"I'm going to get a little serious now. You better watch out."
After saying that, all my clones stood still for a moment before taking a deep breath. At least, that's how it looked to the observers. In reality, I was using Total Concentration Breathing that I had been practicing beforehand.
Since each of my clones had almost the same expression, it was nearly impossible for the Herrscher to tell which one was the real me.
Honestly, controlling all these clones was mentally exhausting, even though their numbers had already been reduced down to four.
But I couldn't show it on my face. At least not until everything was over.
'Mei' narrowed her eyes at my arrogant remark. Yet despite the condescending expression on her face, I could tell from her body language that she remained cautious of her surroundings.
She probably didn't want a repeat of what happened earlier. Otherwise, this would become more than just a matter of humiliation.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, one of my clones threw his giant hammer at her, though she easily avoided it by tilting her head to the side. The weapon flew past her face and disappeared into the distance.
She stared at the clone with a condescending look, as though mocking the futility of his attack.
Or so she thought.
Because all four clones suddenly leapt toward her.
[...Pathetic.]
She must've thought I hadn't come up with any plan after seeing how recklessly my clones were acting. So she decided to ignore the clone attacking her from behind.
The exact same clone that had thrown the hammer just moments ago.
Instead, she suddenly swept her arm horizontally.
A torrent of lightning arced around her body, condensing into several points around her wings before firing outward as concentrated beams.
The approaching clones raised their giant hammers in an attempt to defend themselves. However, it was futile.
None of them lasted more than a few seconds before being blasted away and sent crashing into nearby buildings.
Then, 'Mei' turned around with the expectation that the clone would strike her in the head. However...
[...?]
I reached out my hand with a nervous smile, which somehow gave 'Mei' a bad feeling. There was a reason why she'd think that.
After all, I wasn't reaching for her head, but toward the lightning wings she had manifested on her back.
'Please work.'
And then, I lightly tapped on them.
ZZZT!
My entire arm violently spasmed from the electrical discharge, but I simply gritted my teeth as my body began falling toward the ground from gravity.
"Ouch... If I had touched it for any longer, my fingers would've been fried, eh?"
The 'clone', or rather, the real me, muttered while shaking the hand that had just performed the deed. The lingering discharge was still there, numbing some of the nerves in my wrist.
I could sense her prickling gaze on my back while I was checking on my hand, so I looked up and revealed a shit-eating grin on my face.
"You must be wondering why I did something so stupid, right? Well, how about I show it to you?"
For the love of God, this better work, or I'd be embarrassed to show myself to the world ever again. In the first place, this entire plan is based on a hypothetical scenario instead of factual data. In short, it's my little delusional at work. I wasn't certain it would work, however, it doesn't hurt to try either, right?
Snap!
I held my breath after snapping my fingers with my eyes locked onto the hovering Herrscher. To be exact, I was staring at the wings with only one thought going through my mind.
'Dress Break!'