Kitty Snuggles: This is way too cool!
Are there really people like this in real life?
Pardo loved shiny things, so she was quite taken with the golden comments the Queen kept posting, her eyes sparkling as she watched.
And as one of MOTH’s founding members, Elysia watched the Herrscher of the Void unleash her ultimate, and only then did she realize why this character had felt so inexplicably familiar the first time she laid eyes on her.
Her pink eyes turned grave, and she said it, one word at a time.
“A Herrscher?”
She didn’t post it, though.
Instead she stared, fixed and intent, at the Herrscher of the Void that Xiyue was controlling.
It seemed Yuexi knew far more than she’d ever imagined.
“Just a game…?”
Chlorinated Kiana: Hmph.
As if this is the full measure of the Queen’s majesty.
Seeing Kitty Snuggles praise her, the Queen’s expression softened a touch.
Once the small fry were cleared out, the story moved on, though this time it cut to Theresa and Kiana talking over comms.
“Kiana-chan~ Himeko tells me you’re awfully curious about that ghost battleship.
Would you like your great Principal to share the analysis results so far?”
“Eh—Auntie—no, Theresa-chan, you’re the cutest~”
Sure, Theresa was already in her forties, but who on earth could resist Theresa speaking to you in that adorable little voice?
Xiyue, for one, couldn’t.
The words slipped out before she even knew it.
“Wahh, Theresa’s voice is still so cute.”
“Who could ever imagine the owner of such a sweet voice is already for—”
World’s Cutest: Aaaaah, shut up, shut up!
Yuexi, I’m begging you, don’t say it, please!
Wants to Buy an Island: For-what?
Don’t leave us hanging halfway, hey!
Xiyue had drawn out that last syllable on purpose, but before she could finish it, someone in the chat finished it for her.
No Exams Thanks: Eh, isn’t she just forty-seven?
It’s not like that changes Theresa being the world’s cutest~
Then the chat went dead silent.
Even Xiyue flinched and ducked her head.
She hadn’t expected Kiana to be that bold; she’d only meant to tease Theresa a little, and now Tuna had gone and blurted out the truth.
World’s Cutest: YOU IDIOT!!!
Aaaaaaah.
Miss Pink Elf♪: Forty-seven?
You truly can’t tell at all~ Though why does that just make me even more excited?
The Principal of St.
Freya, actually forty-seven.
World’s Cutest: …
“KIANA, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!”
Theresa’s shriek tore out of the Principal’s office.
Then the office doors flew open and a blur of white, too fast to make out, came charging through.
Meanwhile Kiana, currently enjoying a lap pillow courtesy of Mei, had no idea that danger was bearing down on her.
Not until she heard Mei’s voice.
“Principal?
What brings you here?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, Mei.
I just came to have a little chat with my cute, charming, oh-so-silver-tongued niece Kiana~”
At the sound of that voice Kiana shuddered, scrambled to her feet, and found Theresa standing there with the Oath of Judah slung across her back, smiling sweetly while her whole body radiated a terrifying aura.
It finally clicked.
Kiana backpedaled fast, stiff as a board.
“Aunt—no—Principal, I just remembered I’ve got somewhere to be.
Gotta run!”
And she bolted for the dorms.
Her Kaslana family instincts were screaming that if she didn’t run right now, she was finished.
But Theresa watched Kiana flee, her smile never wavering, and turned to Mei instead.
“I’ve got a little business with this idiot.
Mei-san, you head on back, okay?”
With that she took off after Kiana.
With Kiana only a B-rank Valkyrie, there was no way she’d outrun an A-rank Valkyrie like Theresa, and in no time Theresa had her by the ear, smiling all the while.
“My dear Kiana-san.
Now, who exactly is in her forties?”
A blood-curdling scream from Kiana followed.
No Exams Thanks: I misspoke just now!
How could a great, deeply responsible Principal like Theresa possibly be forty-seven?
She doesn’t look it at all!
I was just talking nonsense, everyone please forget I ever said that, hahahaha.
Still playing through the story, Xiyue read Kiana’s comment, pieced something together, and nearly burst out laughing all over again.
She bit it back and pressed on with the run.
Chlorinated Kiana: Laughable.
Miss Pink Elf♪: Little cutie, if you’ve been kidnapped, just blink for us~ We’ll absolutely stand by and do nothing~
Well, of course a weapon capable of going toe-to-toe with Finality would be formidable.
The Tuna of this era, though, hadn’t the faintest grasp of Selene’s true power.
Looking at Selene, then at her own Hyperion, Xiyue really did want to say a line of her own.
“Whoever wants to be Captain of this thing can have it.
I’m going to be Captain of Selene.
And anyone who dares mess with a Valkyrie on my ship, I’ll put a shell through them!”
Mei: “To the east… I see her!
There’s a girl in a wheelchair over there.
It’s dangerous here, we have to go save her!”
The trio promptly cut down every Honkai Beast around the teal-haired girl and rescued the “delicate little maiden” in the wheelchair.
“According to Oceania’s intel, the girl before you is the Gem of Desire itself.”
A girl with dark hair shading into teal appeared on the screen, speaking softly to them all, her voice gentle and hushed.
She sounded like a very tender person.
“Hello, everyone.
Um… my name is Wendy.”
Kitty Snuggles: Huh?
How is this sweet onee-san the Gem of Desire?
No sooner had Pardo’s words landed than Himeko began to explain.
“Three years ago, in an experiment conducted at the Oceania Branch, the Gem of Desire was transplanted into Wendy-san’s leg.
They sought to fuse the Honkai energy crystal with her shinbone, hoping to obtain power on par with a Herrscher.”
Hearing this, Mei was a little puzzled.
As a Herrscher vessel herself, she of course knew just how powerful an existence a Herrscher was, yet the teal-haired girl before her looked so frail.
Himeko wasn’t finished.
“Wendy was once the finest Valkyrie in the entire Oceania Branch.
At one point she was expected to become the fourth S-rank Valkyrie of this generation.”
“Sadly, she too failed to keep control of a Herrscher’s power.”
When Himeko finished, Wendy, like a little white lamb, said sorrowfully:
“It was my own weakness.
Not only could I not control the Gem of Desire’s power, but because of the crystal, my legs no longer work either.”
Himeko went on.
“The Gem of Desire is highly unstable, and yet, inside Wendy’s body, it has somehow settled into stability.”
Wendy’s soft-spoken words, blaming herself rather than the gem, instantly won everyone’s sympathy.
And what Mei said next made the viewers seethe.
“So you’re saying… Schicksal used Wendy-san’s body as a container, just to preserve the crystal?”
Chlorinated Kiana: Schicksal?
Humans?
Heh.
Thank you all so much!