The night was like a thin veil, gently draped over the city.
The streetlights cast a dim, lonely yellow glow.
Raiden Mei walked slowly through the silent city, her figure stretched long by the lamps, seeming to melt into the darkness.
Her gaze was empty, as if she had no destination, merely moving forward mechanically.
Her steps were out of sync with the city’s rhythm, carrying a silent sense of solitude.
“Why?
Why did it turn out like this?
The first time I’ve escaped my old life, the first time I’ve met partners I can fight with to save the world…
When two happy things overlap, something even happier should have happened.
But why…
why is it like this…” Raiden Mei murmured.
She was, indeed, on the path to saving the world, and her teammates, for the most part, looked very capable.
This should have been something to be excited about.
But she never in her wildest dreams imagined that these people were the type to drop the ball so spectacularly.
Someone who has never been to my house dared to give directions, and the others actually dared to believe her!
How can I save the world fighting alongside teammates like these?
I’m such an idiot.
I followed them on a whim, without even considering if they were reliable.
And now that I look closely, these people don’t even have a uniform.
Two of them are even just female students who came out in their school uniforms.
Whatever.
I’m already here.
If I run back now, the other students will definitely laugh at me.
I’ll just humor these chuunibyou for a while.
Speaking of which, why are you all going to MY house?!
Why not your own?!
Is it normal to be this familiar on the first meeting?!
As Raiden Mei complained internally, she didn’t notice that the people in front of her had suddenly stopped.
She walked right into the back of the person in front of her.
A little dazed, she was about to ask why they had stopped when she saw a small, silver-haired girl with spiral pigtails standing silently in the middle of the road ahead, flanked by two Titan mechs.
“Leave Raiden Mei now, and no one will get hurt.
Otherwise, you will die,” Bronya said, her tone calm, as if she were stating a simple fact.
“So she’s here, Bronya,” Sakiko remarked.
“Just in time.
We were about to look for you, and you came to us instead.” Seele propped her scythe on her shoulder, lowered her stance, and got into a fighting position.
“Should we negotiate?” Talulah reached for her sword, only to remember it was in Raiden Mei’s hands.
She just spun around once and stuck her hands in her pockets.
“This seems like a job for Miss Seele,” Artoria said, hugging her staff and hiding in the back.
“No, this one doesn’t look like she’s open to simple negotiations!
We should beat her up first to vent some steam, and then send Seele in to give her some talk therapy!” Kiana shouted excitedly.
She had been on the receiving end of her companions’ side-eye for her navigational failure, and even Mei was looking at her strangely.
Now was the time to prove herself!
I’ll take care of this shorty in front of Mei with ease and look super cool doing it!
Besides, this pipsqueak got in my way so many times in the manga.
I’ve been wanting to smack you for a while!
Today, I’ll show you what’s what!
I’ll show you who’s the real boss of the starter trio!
I will assert my dominance!
“Calm down.
This is just personal revenge, isn’t it?” Chiaki saw right through Kiana’s intentions.
“It’s a necessary sacrifice!
I will never forgive anyone who tries to harm Mei!” Realizing that Chiaki was the team’s current leader and strategist, Kiana immediately threw an arm around his shoulder and spoke with great earnestness.
“Besides, Chiaki, look!
Because of these guys, Mei’s heart is already boroboro da (completely shattered)!
If she can’t let it all out, she’ll bottle it up and eventually turn into the Herrscher of Thunder, blowing Nagazora City to kingdom come!
You don’t want that to happen, right?”
“Huh?
Am I that scary?” Raiden Mei’s expression flickered with surprise, then delight.
So it’s true!
An unrivaled power lies dormant within me!
“That does seem to make some sense.” Talulah, who also had a “second personality” that was always trying to pressure her and trick her, felt Kiana had a point.
“If Raiden Mei’s psychological stress becomes too great with no release, she’ll become the Herrscher of Thunder sooner or later, even without Cocolia.”
“I don’t get what you’re all talking about.
Are we fighting or not?” Seele was getting tired of crouching.
“But I think Kiana’s right.
If the scythe isn’t sharp, how can you get the other side to sit down and talk?”
After a moment of calm, rational thought, Chiaki nodded, approving Kiana’s plan.
“Watch yourself.
Beat her into submission first, then we’ll persuade her.”
“Don’t worry, Chiaki!
I know exactly how much force to use!” Kiana was raring to go.
“Those two mechs on the side…
I want to take them back to the Underworld and modify them into mining bots.
Don’t damage them too badly,” Seele added, eyeing the two mechs.
“Seele, the Reunion Movement could also really use things like that.” Talulah also wanted to claim one.
It wouldn’t be right to visit another world and not bring back some souvenirs.
While the two were still squabbling over the spoils of war, Kiana had already charged forward, baseball bat in hand.
Watch this, Mei!
This is my—
Bronya summoned Project Bunny, which promptly slammed Kiana into a trash can, leaving only her legs and butt twitching in the air.
Is…
is that all?
Bronya had been extremely wary of this group, suspecting they might be strong.
But now, it seemed her caution was unnecessary.
She recalled what Cocolia had asked her before she left:
“Bronya, if your opponents are this group of unknown origin, will you win?”
To this, Bronya’s reply was—
“We will win!”
Let me show you the true power of Seele’s defender, the Silver Wolf of the Urals!
That was her declaration of victory against the Dimensional Chat Group.
And then, Bronya had to face—
“Vanish with the butterflies, illusion of the past!”
“Staff of Selection, grant us your light!”
“Scorching Breath.”
“Whip of Domination.”
“Persona, Izanagi-no-Okami!
Myriad Truths!”
What the hell is all this?!
When Raiden Mei saw Kiana get one-shotted, her heart sank, thinking, Are we all doomed?
But then she saw her other teammates either vanish with a scythe, shoot light beams from a staff, summon a massive dragon of fire out of thin air, or whip a nearby bush and turn it into a giant Venus flytrap.
The last one summoned a three-meter-tall humanoid being in a silver trench coat that spun its massive sword like a propeller.
Are you guys and the one who just got swatted like a fly even from the same series?!
Bronya, facing all this directly, was frozen on the spot.
Faintly, she thought she could see an endless ocean.
On that ocean, a blue-haired girl was waving at her.
Ah, that’s Seele.
Except this Seele was enormous, holding a scythe, like the god of death from mythology come to reap her soul.
In that moment, she seemed to hear Cocolia’s question once again.
“Bronya, if your opponents are these people of unknown origin, will you win?”
“It’s a guaranteed wipe!”