“Lady Durandal, the Overseer ordered us to return to Schicksal HQ and stand by.”
After receiving the message from Schicksal Headquarters, Rita turned to Durandal, who was equipping her Battlesuit, and reported.
“What exactly is going on?”
Durandal frowned slightly, asking in confusion.
“Please don’t worry, Lady Durandal.
I will handle whatever issues you come across.”
Rita didn’t answer directly, merely offering a soft smile.
She really didn’t want Durandal troubling herself with those messy affairs.
“Rita…”
Durandal looked at Rita and sighed softly.
Even though Durandal spent almost all of her free time grinding workouts, even she could tell something was off lately.
Over the past few months, Durandal had led the Immortal Blades on patrols all over the world, yet they barely found any Honkai incidents.
It was as if Honkai Beasts had completely vanished from the face of the earth, and even during the few minor outbreaks, hardly any Honkai Beasts showed up.
But the moment she brought the Immortal Blades back to Europe, they were met with waves of bizarre hostility.
Whenever squad members went out shopping, stores would slam their doors shut at lightning speed.
Pedestrians who spotted the Schicksal emblem on their uniforms scattered instantly as if fleeing the plague, leaving every street dead quiet within seconds.
When patrolling to check for potential Honkai activity, local residents refused to cooperate at all.
When squad members disguised themselves to ask around, locals clammed up the second they saw an unfamiliar face.
To make matters worse, the Schicksal base where they were temporarily stationed suffered frequent water and power outages.
Base technicians sent to inspect the lines found pipes and cables intentionally chopped up.
Even after installing surveillance cameras and catching the culprits, it didn’t stop the sabotage.
Ditching foul-smelling trash and waste around the Schicksal base became a daily occurrence.
The locals practically treated the base perimeter like a landfill and an open public toilet.
If they tried to forcefully crack down on it, it would only inflame even harsher hostility from the locals.
This endless barrage of petty, annoying grievances heavily dampened the morale of the Immortal Blades squad.
Rita had tried contacting the local branch to resolve these issues, but the branch had no good news either.
It wasn’t just this one region—governments and populations all across Europe were actively pushing Schicksal out.
As a result, Rita had to reach out to Schicksal HQ directly, using her authority to secure basic living supplies for the Immortal Blades.
Under all these circumstances, it was impossible for Durandal not to notice.
“My apologies, Lady Durandal.
The situation in Europe right now…”
Rita was just about to report further when her expression suddenly turned grave, and she snapped her head up toward the sky.
Durandal had already gripped her lance tightly, her eyes dead serious.
The very next second, siren alarms blared across the Schicksal base.
Members of the Immortal Blades readied themselves for battle at top speed.
It was missiles—an overwhelming swarm of missiles that practically blanketed the entire sky.
“Rita!
Hold the base!” Durandal commanded immediately.
“Understood!”
In the next instant, Durandal shot into the sky.
Her Valkyrie Battlesuit Bright Knight: Excelsis ran at full output, causing her to break the sound barrier in the flesh within a fraction of a second, her speed climbing higher and higher.
Approaching the missile barrage from the flank, Durandal simply thrust out her trusty lance, Hler’s Serenity, smashing right through every missile along her flight path.
One missile after another detonated in sequence.
The fiery rocket trails across the sky dissolved at blinding speed, leaving debris scattered everywhere.
Yet Durandal emerged completely unscathed.
“As expected of Lady Durandal!”
“So this is the strongest S-Rank Valkyrie!
That’s absurdly awesome!”
“Lady Durandal is so cool!”
“I freaking love Lady Durandal!”
“Lady Durandal is invincible under the sun!!!”
Hearing the Immortal Blades squad members gush with adoration and awe for Durandal, the corner of Rita’s lips curled into a subtle, charming smile.
Still, she didn’t forget to trace where that missile barrage came from and what on earth was going on in Europe.
After clearing out every last missile in the sky, Durandal descended back into the Schicksal base.
…
“That’s just cheat-code level ridiculous.”
In an underground base deep beneath Siberia, Bronya watched Durandal through reconnaissance satellites, thoroughly stunned by the sight.
Her worldview was genuinely getting a reset.
To test Durandal’s combat capabilities, Bronya had covertly tampered with the targeting data of missiles launched by warring nations in Europe.
The goal was to see if conventional military hardware could pose a threat to Durandal.
Looking at it now, conventional forces were utterly useless.
She knew Durandal was Schicksal’s strongest S-Rank Valkyrie, and she knew even better that Durandal was actually the real Kiana.
But only after seeing Durandal’s combat power with her own eyes did Bronya truly understand why Otto wanted to create a dedicated “Durandal-class” rank just for her.
Because of this, Bronya became even more determined that she had to deal with Durandal first.
Otherwise, a monster with such game-breaking battle power introduced way too many unknown variables.
If Durandal ever found out about Bronya’s existence—and realized that the global war had been incited by Bronya all along—Durandal would hunt her down across the globe.
“Thank goodness she doesn’t know I exist.”
Dressed in a sleek silver-gray dress, Bronya sat in her swivel chair, letting out a relieved sigh with a bright mood, her voluptuous chest swaying slightly.
Gray Wind sat right beside her, staring intently at Bronya.
Captivated by that dazzlingly huge “personality” of hers, Gray Wind couldn’t look away.
Comparing herself to Bronya, Gray Wind honestly wondered how Bronya-sister grew all that—so big and perky.
“Don’t worry, Bronya-sister!
They won’t ever…” Gray Wind was just about to say something after hearing Bronya’s comment.
Suddenly, Bronya clapped her hand over Gray Wind’s lips at lightning speed, stopping her right in her tracks.
“Xiao Hui, don’t you dare raise any death flags!”
“The tragic fate of the 2nd Herrscher fourteen years ago is still fresh in my memory!
Remember: NEVER, EVER get cocky!
You must NEVER look down on any opponent!”
Bronya didn’t dare get arrogant.
The last guy who walked around with ‘Invincible’ written across his forehead already bit the dust.
And that 6-Core Herrscher who puffed herself up like a blowfish got put six feet under too—the grass on her grave was already three meters high.
Getting cocky, taking an L, getting cocky again, taking another L…
and after that, well, there was no ‘after that’.
“I understand, Bronya-sister.”
Gray Wind nodded obediently.
“Xiao Hui, tell the people at Future Tech to get ready to move.
We MUST make sure Durandal leaves this world for good!” Bronya leaned back, staring at Durandal’s photo on the screen before her.
“Yes, Bronya-sister!”
To take down hyper-monsters with absurd single-unit combat power like Durandal and Kevin, Bronya had spent almost every drop of Honkai energy she accumulated over the past two years.
What she got in return was a massive arsenal of advanced technology—all of which was strictly non-Honkai energy tech.
Honkai energy could be considered the baseline of the Honkai world.
Whether in the Previous Era or the Current Era, the vast majority of technology was researched based on Honkai energy.
Even Schicksal’s nukes were Honkai energy nukes, and those super weapons built to fight Honkai and Herrschers utilized Honkai energy on a massive scale.
Because of that, Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and World Serpent kept a hawk-like watch on Honkai energy technology.
Any Honkai energy signature would immediately trigger their alarms.
So next up, Bronya was about to give the people of the Honkai world a little taste of alternate-world tech shock.
…
“Man, the Super Goose Girl is just way too cracked.
There’s really no easy way to kill her off,” Ren muttered as he looked up data on Durandal.
She was absurdly strong—as expected of the genuine Kiana.
This made Ren extra curious: when Bronya’s “I-think-therefore-I-craft” black-tech collided with the Super Goose Girl, which one would come out on top?