Angel watched helplessly as the white-haired girl climbed up like a monkey, rapidly approaching the top of the tower crane.
…Didn’t you say she wouldn’t think of it?
Ahem!
Look on the bright side.
Maybe St.
Freya saw you with their satellite?
That means there’s no escape at all!
Wait…
is it possible that you can actually beat her?
“…” x30
This was where the benefit of independent thinking threads showed itself.
Angel had brought up a blind spot that the other Angels had not noticed.
The struggle in the alley had already proven that in terms of physical ability, Angel was actually a notch above Kiana.
As for combat experience, Angel was certainly a novice, but at this stage, how much better could Kiana be?
She was also just relying on brute force.
Go for her!
Right!
If she’s acting alone, we can just knock her out and run.
If this is a St.
Freya operation, then capturing her might give us a sliver of a chance.
Then let’s do it.
This is a good chance to get used to fighting.
And if we can’t win, we can always run.
She’s not that bright anyway.
We can find plenty of ways to fool her!
The other Angels were all fired up, egging on the one on the scene.
And the Angel on site had no time to think further, because Kiana had already almost reached the crane’s boom.
The crane’s boom was a long, sturdy steel frame.
On either side of the ladder opening, there was a narrow walkway made of steel mesh and wooden planks.
It was practically the only path along the entire boom.
Kiana had just climbed onto the ladder, not yet catching her breath, when Angel lunged at her waist.
Thump!
The two of them tumbled together on the narrow walkway, grappling.
Angel found an opening and knocked Kiana’s pistol out of her hand.
“You were hiding here?
Damn it!
My gun!”
Kiana thrashed and kicked in frustration.
She was the great Kiana Kaslana, the future strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal!
When had she ever suffered such humiliation?
In her fury, Kiana’s strength surged, and she finally kicked Angel away.
Then, both of them stood panting on the high-altitude walkway, facing off.
Both had bruises on their faces and both had torn clothes, with glimpses of pale skin showing through.
And then, as if on cue, they charged at each other.
“Hah!” x2
Both fists flew straight at each other’s faces.
No mercy.
Angel’s tears came out instantly.
Don’t cry!
Hit her back!
But it hurts so much…
Since I was little, no one has ever hit me in the face…
Stop whining!
A man sheds blood, not tears!
But I’m just a girl…
Angel cursed those versions of herself hiding in the theater, watching the show without a care, but she still took a deep breath and forced herself to overcome her fear of pain.
“You’re dead!
I’m going to beat you until you cry!”
“Hmph!
I was throwing down long before you were even drinking milk!
You think you can take me?
Do you have what it takes?”
After the obligatory trash talk, they closed in and started trading blows, punching and kicking each other.
Ordinary girls fighting usually involved slapping, hair-pulling, and not much spectacle, though some might enjoy that sort of thing.
But for two little superhumans, it was far beyond that.
They really went at it, each blow landing with force, accompanied by the sound of tearing wind.
They seized every opportunity to strike each other’s bodies and even their pretty faces.
Every hit sent blood spittle flying, and the steel rebar fragments on the crane groaned and burst apart from the impact.
…
As the fight grew uglier, on the rooftop of a nearby tall building, a bespectacled girl with flowing gray hair let out a sigh.
“Kiana…
no improvement at all.
Nothing she learned in class has been put to use.”
[Class monitor, please give her one more chance!
Kiana has been trying so hard.
She can do it!]
“Raiden Mei, I have always believed that this kind of special bonus task is unreasonable.
St.
Freya’s exams should be more rigorous and objective.
Also, the official communications channel is not for this kind of use.”
[Uh, well…
please just look after her a little!
I’m begging you.
Kiana has failed multiple times in a row.
If this keeps up, she might actually have to repeat the grade!]
Fu Hua pulled out her earpiece and ended the meaningless transmission.
The white-haired dumpling who was supposed to be using this channel to complete the mission had already gone berserk on the crane boom and likely wouldn’t think to call Fu Hua for backup.
…
Half an hour later, on the swaying, battered crane boom.
Angel and Kiana each clung to a railing, a few steps apart, panting as they glared at each other.
Kiana, bruised and swollen, said, “Give up!
I’m not losing to you!”
Angel, equally battered, wiped the blood from her nose and silently raised her middle finger.
“Raaagh!”
Kiana flew into a rage and charged again.
Angel, also fired up, swung her arms, clenched her fists, and walked toward Kiana.
Crack…
crack…
Crash!
Just as they were about to clash again, the steel boom, which had been battered back and forth, finally gave way.
With a deafening groan, it snapped and fell.
“You’ve got to be kidding…”
Kiana plummeted downward.
The sudden weightlessness startled her, and she missed the chance to kick off the falling debris and jump back onto the crane.
She could only let herself fall toward the ground sixty or seventy meters below.
Was she going to die?
Kiana closed her eyes, helpless and afraid.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
But she never felt the impact.
Kiana opened her eyes and looked up.
A small, slender hand was gripping her wrist tightly.
It was Angel, holding onto a rough steel rebar hanging from the broken crane with her other hand.
Blood from her scraped palm dripped down slowly.
Her other hand held Kiana’s wrist.
Kiana’s body swayed slightly in the howling wind.
She asked blankly:
“Why?”
Angel rolled her eyes and said nothing.
First, any player who wasn’t a complete monster would never want to actually hurt the super-duper-adorable little bug.
Second, if Kiana really died here, then Angel would be hunted down by a bunch of maniacs.
Third, don’t forget the Queen of the Void was still in there.
If she showed up when Kiana fell, she might very well trace Angel back to the Theater of Domination.
Even if Her Majesty wouldn’t bother with pathetic little things like them, the appearance of the Herrscher of the Void would escalate the situation.
St.
Freya and even Otto would turn their attention here.
And that would be game over.
In short, beating her up was fine.
After all, they were both girls, and Angel had no reason to hold back.
But watching Kiana get seriously hurt was absolutely not okay, morally or practically.
Angel hung in midair, scanning the surroundings.
She eventually spotted a nearby construction rooftop that was not too far away.
“Here we go!”
Angel swung her arm, building momentum, and after a few swings, she flung the screaming Kiana toward the rooftop.
“Waaah!”
Kiana screamed as she crashed onto the concrete rooftop, rolled a few times, and then clutched her back as she got up, hissing in pain.
She shook her dazed head, looked up, and squinted toward the high crane.
But Angel was already gone.
“…What the hell?
She does something like that, and then saves me?
Are you a good guy or a bad guy?”
Kiana muttered, feeling lost.
She stood on the rooftop, covered in dust, unsure where to go next.
…
Angel quickly descended the crane’s cable to the ground.
Taking advantage of Kiana’s temporary delay, she limped into a side street, made a few random turns, and decided to flee further away.
To return to the real world from the Theater of Domination, she needed coordinates.
There were only two ways: either appear next to a clone already in the real world, or appear at the last location where a clone left the real world.
That meant the other twenty-nine Angels in the theater could only emerge either beside the Angel outside or in the living room of the house.
So she could not let anyone focus on the house.
So she had to run.
With a Herrscher’s constitution, survival anywhere would not be hard.
The farther she ran, the better.
She absolutely must not catch the attention of Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, or World Serpent.
This weak, pitiful Herrscher of a Thousand just wanted to live!
Nourished by Honkai energy, Angel’s body gradually recovered, at least to the point where she could move normally.
She walked through a long, dark passage.
Ahead, the light from a streetlamp spilled in.
Once she got out there, she would be near the suburbs.
If she could just leave the city and disappear into some wild forest, no one would easily find her.
Then she could sit down, rest, and think about what to do next.
A smile appeared on Angel’s face.
Until she saw, just beyond the alley, the gray-haired girl in a ponytail and blue uniform, her thin figure standing as still as a mountain, her glasses glinting in the light.
Oh, fuck!
x30
After that, Angel caught a whiff of something like rose fragrance, and suddenly lost consciousness.