Thank you all very much for your support!
— Nagazora City.
Dark clouds hung near the sky, letting a steady, misty rain fall.
Zane and the others moved through the zombie horde, protected by a glowing golden energy shield.
Kiana led them as they hurried toward the upscale residential area.
They could have flown straight there, but Silver Wolf wanted to gain more EXP, and Evanescia wanted to keep playing a bit longer.
So, the [Escape from Nagazora] quest was put on hold for now.
The group cleared out every Honkai beast and zombie in their way.
Zane carried the unconscious Raiden Mei in his arms.
She felt surprisingly light against his chest.
He was also making sure to give Bronya time to catch up.
If they flew straight to St.
Freya Academy, the main trio would miss the important meeting that was meant to bring them together.
—•——•——•——•——•——•— A kilometer away, on the roof of a high-rise building.
A young girl with silver hair in twin drills lingered above the rooftop, watching the group through the rain with a high-powered scope.
She focused mostly on Zane and the unconscious Raiden Mei he carried.
A massive, knight-like combat mech floated behind her.
It held one broad mechanical arm over her head, shielding her from the rain like an umbrella.
“Bronya, what’s the situation?” A commanding woman’s voice sounded through her earpiece.
“Bronya is observing…” the girl said, her face blank.
“Based on what I see, Bronya suggests changing the original plan.” The channel fell silent.
Three seconds later, Cocolia’s voice returned.
“Bronya, Mother trusts your judgment.
But you understand that, for Seele’s sake, Mother has no other choice.
Raiden Mei is the only hope we have left.” Bronya said nothing.
The cold rain kept falling, making the air feel even colder.
She didn’t want to follow Cocolia’s orders.
Saving one girl shouldn’t mean hurting another.
Seele had once called her a monster, and Bronya hadn’t killed anyone since then.
She still had no idea those words had actually been directed at Dark Seele.
Bronya had joined the X-10 Experiment for Seele’s sake.
The backlash badly damaged her amygdala and almost destroyed the parts of her brain that controlled her emotions.
She couldn’t feel joy or smile like she used to.
Honkai energy had also ruined her legs.
Without her exoskeleton, she couldn’t stand or walk.
Even so, she went through it all because of the promise she made to Seele.
Bronya slowly clenched her small fists.
The plan was to sneak in and take Raiden Mei while her new Stigmata power was still unstable.
But Zane’s group showed up and ruined that plan.
The pink-haired, fox-eared woman in the group was incredibly strong.
She knocked out Raiden Mei with one hit, and the others took down Honkai beasts and zombies with ease.
Trying to take Mei by force was no longer possible.
‘Huh?
What is that??’ Bronya’s breath caught.
Looking through the scope, she saw something that made her heart skip a beat.
She saw another version of herself riding a hoverboard through the streets.
The girl had the same face and laughed as she threw huge bombs at a group of zombies.
Bronya stared in disbelief, her mouth open.
“What’s wrong, Bronya?” Cocolia immediately noticed the change in her behavior.
“Bronya sees…” She paused.
“No.
It may be visual interference caused by the strain of prolonged combat.” Bronya lowered the scope, rubbed her eyes hard, and looked again.
Her other self had stopped throwing bombs.
Now, she had summoned a giant, pixelated Pac-Man with sunglasses.
The creature opened its huge mouth and started eating the nearby zombies one after another, clearing them out quickly.
Bronya stared at the scene, numb with shock.
“Bronya…
sees herself.” “What does that mean?
Explain clearly!” “Bronya means it.
The girl has the same face, hair color, and eye color.
She looks a bit younger, and her build is a little different.” —•——•——•——•——•——•— Thousands of meters in the sky, inside the bridge of an aerial battleship.
A tall blonde woman in a dark-green military uniform jumped up from the commander’s chair.
Her delicate features made her look like a porcelain doll, but the shock in her eyes broke that calm image.
What the hell?
Bronya never lied.
Cocolia leaned over the console right away, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she redirected the satellite network’s surveillance to Bronya’s location.
At first, the video feed was blurry and full of static.
As the system gained more processing power, the image kept refreshing until it finally became clear on the main monitor.
Sure enough…
A girl who looked almost exactly like Bronya was riding a hoverboard through the streets, acting like the zombies and Honkai beasts were just toys.
Cocolia leaned in, her eyebrows knitted, and her eyes opened in shock.
“She may be an isotope from another World Bubble in the Sea of Quanta…
Bronya, listen carefully.
This is the perfect opportunity to make contact.” A bold plan formed in her mind.
“You can pretend Honkai beasts are chasing you, then crash near their group by accident.
Once they let their guard down, you can…” Bronya cut her off before she could finish.
“Bronya knows what to do.
Bronya will also investigate their true identities and objectives.” She hung up without waiting for a reply and took off her headset.
“Project Bunny 19C, let’s go!!” Boom!
The combat mech bent one arm under Bronya to support her.
Its thrusters fired, launching them off the rooftop and into the rain.
First, she needed to draw a pack of Honkai beasts to her.
—•——•——•——•——•——•— Cocolia listened to the dial tone in her headset, not angry.
There had been a rift between her and Bronya ever since the incident with Seele.
“Could they be from Schicksal?” she muttered, biting her thumbnail as she stared at the main screen.
She quickly dismissed the possibility.
“No.
That’s impossible.” Except for the rogue Siegfried, Schicksal hadn’t had a male S-Rank fighter in years.
Besides, it made no sense for so many S-Rank fighters to suddenly show up in remote Nagazora City.
Schicksal couldn’t have known about the artificial Honkai Eruption she set up at Senba Academy to awaken Raiden Mei’s Stigmata.
Cocolia had just used an anonymous account to get some delinquent students to bully Mei, hoping her growing despair would be the final trigger.
A small incident like that would never get Otto’s attention.
—•——•——•——•——•——•— “How much farther?” Zane asked as they walked through the rain.
“About half an hour,” Kiana said.
She looked at Mei, still in his arms.
“Why?
Are you tired?
You can let me carry her.” For some reason, seeing Zane carry Mei like a princess annoyed her more than she wanted to admit.
“I’m fine.” Zane shifted his hold, making sure the unconscious girl was secure.
Just then, a huge explosion went off ahead and to their left.
Boom!
A huge figure fell from the sky and crashed into the street just ahead, sending muddy rainwater splashing everywhere.
“Enemy attack??” Kiana and Furina cried out, both snapping into defensive stances.
Looking through the rain, they saw a strange, half-destroyed combat mech in the crater.
The machine was badly damaged, and one thick mechanical arm was wrapped around a small girl to protect her.
“Damn it…” Bronya coughed and wiped a thin trail of blood from the corner of her mouth.
“Leave this area immediately.
A Templar-class Honkai beast is heading this way.” The stoic girl had managed to set up her accidental meeting…
The act had cost her more than she thought it would.
A spear thrown by the Templar-class Honkai beast hit Project Bunny as they escaped, making the mech lose control and crash into the ground.
As soon as everyone saw Bronya’s face clearly, the whole group froze.
Every gaze snapped toward Silver Wolf.
They kept looking back and forth between the two girls, comparing them.
They had the same face, silver hair, and eye color.
Besides their clothes and small differences in age and build, even their distant attitudes felt almost the same.
They looked like twins.
“…” Silver Wolf stood still, not moving at all.
She stared at Bronya as the bubblegum between her lips grew bigger and bigger, forgetting she was still blowing it.
Smack!
The bubble burst across her face.
Only then did Silver Wolf snap out of it.
Her mouth formed a perfect circle as she stared at the girl who looked just like her.
For a moment, she really wondered if she had a long-lost twin in another dimension.
Bronya stared back, just as stunned.
Neither girl spoke.
Zane watched them quietly, a knowing smile slowly spreading across his face.
Bronya is finally here…
Having Bronya and Silver Wolf together was sure to be hilarious.
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