Humans are in chaos, despicable outsiders.

[Once you take flight, I have no good way to deal with you] The black sword blocked the slashing blade formed by lightning. The calm blue eyes looked at the face and pupils of the Herrscher of Thunder in front of him, which were filled with anger and resentment. He released his right hand from the hilt of the sword, switched to holding the sword with his left hand, and formed his right fist. He struck the Herrscher girl in the abdomen, knocking her away. Then he took a step forward and closed in again.

【Or you could just turn and run away, and I still wouldn't be able to catch you】Dodged the sudden lightning blade, threw the black sword in her left hand, and it exploded into ice mist on the Herrscher's face, blocking her vision—but when the Herrscher of Thunder angrily dispersed the ice mist, what came towards her was a golden-haired girl's hand chop with a strong wind, her left hand striking the inside of her elbow, causing the lightning blade that had been condensed in her hand to disintegrate, and her right hand slashing across her throat, the angry cursing stopped abruptly, leaving only strange syllables of cracking.

[Lacking the martial arts skills of Raiden Mei herself, yet still wanting to engage in close combat] The Herrscher of Thunder, finally enraged by the heavy blow to her throat, crackled with lightning, intending to repeat her previous tactic of using a torrential downpour of lightning to sweep away the insects blocking her path. However, she forgot one thing: the girl before her was different from the previous two idiots. The lightning crackling around her seemed to have had little effect on the blonde girl from the start, and that girl was currently pressed against her face...

—The tragedy repeated itself. The Herrscher's abdomen was struck again, and as she lowered her incredulous gaze, an uppercut followed her gaze, mercilessly interrupting the Herrscher of Thunder's wide-range spellcasting once more. Snow seemed to have no intention of letting her go, raising his leg and kicking forward, the impact of his thigh and knee landing on her abdomen once more. In the end, in the Herrscher of Thunder's blurred vision, only a fist gradually expanding towards her face remained.

...The group of corpses lying on the rooftop has gained another member.

"Hoo...weak backhand, poor forehand, loose footwork, slow reaction, not a single movement is decent...what a terrible Herrscher." As the Herrscher fell, Snow took a deep breath, waved his hand to disperse the frozen black ice on the ground, and dragged the three of them to a place where they wouldn't get wet from the downpour, waiting for them to wake up.

"Uh...where am I?" The first one to wake up was not Raiden Mei, the Herrscher, or a white-haired girl with Kaslana gorilla blood, but rather a girl with three colors of hair who called herself the savior, Houraiji Kushou. Similarly, she was an unexpected factor that did not exist in Snow's several deductions.

"Qianyu Academy, the rooftop of Teaching Building No. 3," a spirited female voice answered Penglai Temple Jiuxiao's confusion. She looked up and followed the source of the voice, where she saw a tall girl with light golden hair and blue eyes, and two girls, one in black and one in white, lying in a corpse-like state beside her.

"Chao! Durandal?" The purplish-red-haired girl blurted out upon seeing the scene before her.

"Hmm?!" Snow smiled with amusement upon hearing the name of someone who shouldn't exist here, or rather, whose name was unknown to any of the three present except himself.

"What were you just saying?" Snow leaned close to Jiuxiao's voice and asked in a puzzled tone.

"It's nothing, hahaha, I just had a nightmare, um, a nightmare," Penglaiji Jiuxiao laughed, trying to brush it off.

"Oh, so it was a nightmare—'Heavenly King covers the Earth Tiger'!" Snow's gentle tone suddenly turned sharp.

"The pagoda suppresses the river demon!" Jiuxiao, whose mind was blank upon waking, answered subconsciously.

"Uh... fellow countryman?" Jiu Xiao looked at the blonde girl in front of him with surprise and doubt.

"Probably...? I don't have any clear memories of my past world or personal experiences—so, you just transmigrated here, right? I've never heard of you at Chiyu Academy before."

"Yeah, I stayed up all night playing Honkai Impact 3, and the moment I opened my eyes, I was in this academy. Before I could even react, Kiana dragged me all the way to find her Mei-senpai. Speaking of which, this body is pretty amazing. It can still jump around even after being struck by lightning..." Jiu Xiao stood up and jumped on the spot, causing her already loose-fitting clothes to reveal her ample bosom.

"#——" Looking at the purple-haired girl bouncing around in front of her, Snow felt mocked. She looked down and saw that she had a B cup, not too big or too small, just the right size to hold in one hand.

Then he looked up and muttered something while looking at the lively and turbulent Penglai Temple.

"Hey, busty monster."

"Huh? What did you just say?"

"It's nothing, come with me."

"Where are you going? And you're not really called Durandal, are you...? Your chest doesn't seem that big... Ouch!"

“My name is Snow, I don’t have a surname, just call me Snow,” the blonde girl said, twisting her right hand that had just struck her companion’s nose.

"We need to clear out the assassins in this building, find some food in the canteen and convenience store, and if possible, find some sleeping bags. If all else fails, we'll just have to rummage through the dormitory building for a few quilts," the girl muttered like a mother hen, listing the preparations that needed to be made.

“And…” Snow glanced at his companion beside him.

"And?" Jiuxiao seemed somewhat confused.

"And to give you some practice. Tomorrow we're starting our thrilling escape from Changkong City adventure, so you'd better not be unable to defeat even a basic assassin."

"Ah, well, I guess I'm fairly capable. I was dragged along by that white fluffy dumpling the whole way, so I got to try my hand at it a bit." Jiu Xiao scratched his head and pulled out a baseball bat from the side, swinging it around a few times.

“Good! You’re in high spirits. So, I’ll leave all the assassins in this building to you. Don’t look so downcast. There aren’t many left anyway. I’ll go to the cafeteria and convenience store to collect what we need. Don’t worry about those two. They’ll take care of themselves when they wake up.” Snow nodded to Jiu Xiao, then turned and jumped off the building.

"Holy crap... these days it's all about not taking the proper path, huh?" Jiu Xiao stuck out her tongue as she watched Snow jump down from upstairs, shook her head, and carried her metal baseball bat down the stairs. She really needed to practice her skills.

------------

A white figure swept past the group of assassins, leaving behind a trail of limbs and fragments. These assassins, newly born in the early stages of the Honkai, were extremely vulnerable. Wielding a watermelon knife smuggled from the cafeteria kitchen, one could easily tear open their skin before it began to silicify and take their lives.

The blonde girl strolled leisurely among the assassins, her basket gradually piling up with various items as time went on—food, water, medical supplies, and most of the necessary supplies for evacuation could be found in her basket. In the end, as if she felt that the basket was not enough, she grabbed a box with one hand and dumped all the collected supplies into it.

"Phew... I've collected almost everything. I'm lucky. I have drinking water, emergency food, lighting equipment, emergency power supply, and sleeping bags."

"Hmm, one more thing, why are there Magnum pistol bullets under the trash cans... At least eight out of ten are hiding ammunition under them. Did that white fluffy girl bury them? Never mind, I'll just take them back to her." Snow shook his head, tossed the ammunition he was throwing into the box, and walked towards the teaching building.

Boom! A bolt of lightning struck the already disastrous rooftop of the teaching building once again.

"Damn it, is this Herrscher itching for a beating again? Kiana, are you even capable?" The blonde girl, carrying a box in her left hand, sped off towards the teaching building.

------------

On the rooftop of the teaching building, the thunderous roar disappeared once again. The white-haired girl held tightly to the black-haired girl's arm, preventing her from falling off the roof. Jiu Xiao, who had heard the thunder and rushed over after seeing Kiana's predicament, also rushed forward.

"Damn it, why would someone like that do something like this?" Jiu Xiao rushed forward and, together with Kiana, pulled Raiden Mei back onto the rooftop. Whether it was because the rooftop was too slippery from the rain or because the Kaslana family's genes had degenerated over hundreds of years... in any case, the two little balls, one purple and one white, failed to pull the black little ball up from under the eaves and were stuck there.

"Give up, Kiana, and Miss Jiuxiao, I'm not worth saving," Raiden Mei's self-deprecating voice echoed on the rooftop.

"I don't know when I'll lose control again, or how many people I'll hurt, Kiana, and Miss Jiuxiao... Ending it all here might be my best option... Please, please let me go..."

"What nonsense are you spouting! Kiana went through so much trouble to save you, and you're telling us you're afraid of your own power? You could use that power to save so many more people! Even if you really lose control, Mei, we're still here. As your friends, isn't it only natural to stop you from making mistakes?" It wasn't Kiana, who was clinging tightly to Raiden Mei, who spoke up, but Jiuxiao, who loudly refuted Mei's words, trying to rekindle the girl's hope for the future.

Chapter Three: So-called Companions

The situation reached a stalemate. Jiuxiao's loud rebuttal plunged Raiden Mei into a brief silence. She was internally struggling, her grip on Kiana's hand tightening and loosening repeatedly.

"Mei—" Kiana looked at her friend with pleading eyes, until the sound of something heavy hitting the ground broke the deathly silence.

"What's wrong with you two? You woke up and are still sprawled on the rooftop in the rain, right on the edge of the eaves!" A familiar voice from Jiuxiao made the purple-haired girl's face light up with joy, while Raiden Mei, hearing the equally familiar scolding voice, instinctively shuddered, her already loose arm slipping off Kiana's grasp.

"Mei! Hold on to me—" Kiana cried out in alarm.

"Snow, come quick! Mei is about to jump off a building!" Jiuxiao yelled at the top of his lungs, not caring whether his loud voice would attract nearby zombies or Honkai Beasts.

"I think all three of you have some serious illness..." The blonde girl curled her lip and walked forward. Instead of offering to help the two, she kicked the two lovebirds, who were practically begging for mercy, right down the stairs, to the utter astonishment of Penglai Temple's Nine-Tailed Fox.

"Braise..." Stunned by his companion's heroic act, Jiu Xiao remained speechless for a long time, managing to utter only one word.

"Oh, and you too, you can go now." The blonde girl noticed that there was still a companion lying on the ground who had slipped through the net.

"Wait, holy crap—"

"What a bunch of troublemakers and busybodies..." Before he could finish speaking, Snow jumped down from the upper floor, landing on the inflatable and foam mats that had been prepared several meters high.

"Next time you jump off a building, take a look at what's below, and think about what kind of person you are, whether you'll actually die from the fall..." Stepping onto the air cushion, the blonde girl walked towards the trio she had just kicked down.

Penglai Temple Nine Heavens quickly realized what was happening, got up, and whispered something to Snow.

"...Why couldn't you have said so sooner...I was terrified when you kicked me down!"

"You guys are completely oblivious to what's under people's feet, aren't you...?"

"I was too nervous at the time... I didn't notice at all, and in that situation, even if we had noticed, we couldn't have let go," Jiu Xiao said, scratching his head.

"So I kicked you all out as the best solution to break this boring deadlock. What's the problem—or do you want to spend the whole day hanging around there like dried meat?" Snow picked up where his companion left off.

"Couldn't you have just pulled the person up properly?"

"No, even if we pull her up, if her mindset doesn't change, she'll ultimately choose the same path again."

"—When people truly face death, they often think of the most important people in their lives, the things they cherish most, and—their yearning for life, and...it seems some people are even enjoying it." The two walked up to Kiana and Raiden Mei, who had been kicked off the stairs first. Mei hugged Kiana tightly, holding her close to her chest...

"You've made your choice, haven't you—Raiden Mei-senpai?" The blonde girl's azure eyes stared intently at the black-haired girl before her—such beautiful eyes, just like Kiana's... Raiden Mei stared blankly at the girl before her, but why... was her body trembling slightly?

"Mei-senpai?" The girl's call brought Mei back to reality.

"...You are...Snow Junior?" Mei looked at the blonde girl in front of her, her tone somewhat uncertain.

"It's me, Mei-senpai. Have you found your own answer?" Snow's eyes remained fixed on the black-haired girl.

"..." Raiden Mei lowered her head, looking at the white fluffy ball she was holding tightly in her arms in silence for a long time. Then, as if she had made up her mind, she suddenly raised her head and looked directly at Snow's calm and composed face.

"I'm ready. I will use my power to protect Kiana and everyone. If I—" The short words were filled with the black-haired girl's determination. At this moment, she made the most important and profoundly influential decision of her life.

"There are no 'ifs'—we won't let that happen. As friends, it's our duty to help them and correct their mistakes." A serious look appeared on the blonde girl's expressionless face.

"Hmm... friends... we're friends," Raiden Mei repeatedly murmured the unfamiliar yet familiar phrase, then looked down and saw the white fluffy ball lying in her arms, eyes closed and grinning foolishly. Worry crept onto her face.

[Great...at least for now I don't have to worry about the Herrscher personality suddenly popping out at any time. Also, could this white-haired guy tone it down a bit?]

"..." Looking at Mei's worried face and Kiana lying in her arms with a silly grin, Snow and Jiuxiao's lips twitched. The blonde girl, unable to bear it any longer, left with a twitching smile, saying, "I think you've got the answer you wanted, Kiana Kaslana," before quickly turning and leaving.

Jiuxiao, who remained where he was, looked at Kiana lying in Mei's arms and tentatively asked, "Kiana-kun?"

Hearing Jiuxiao's call and the footsteps of a blonde girl fading away, the white fluffy ball jumped up from Mei's arms and shouted loudly.

"Ugh, all the cool lines and entrance I prepared are ruined! Ugh... I'm so angry!" The white fluffy ball suddenly remembered something halfway through its rant and pounced on Raiden Mei again.

"Mei, are you alright? That nasty blonde monster kicked me off the rooftop! I'm going to get her!" Kiana complained loudly, her hands not stopping their activities, groping from the black-haired girl's thigh down to her waist, seemingly intending to take advantage of her.

[You'll hate more than just that golden-haired monster in the future...] Penglai Temple Nine Heavens thought to himself, standing to the side like a third wheel.

"Kiana! I'm fine, and please stop touching me like that..." The black-haired girl, pinned down by Kiana, was flushed and panting heavily, seemingly still feeling the white-haired girl's groping hands had just touched something sensitive.

"Hehehe, Mei, my Mei!" However, the white-fuzzy ball of fur didn't seem to have any intention of stopping. The previous electrotherapy sessions seemed to have finally activated some incredible parts of Kaslana's genes... The white-fuzzy ball of fur, suddenly struck by a malignant illness, wickedly touched a pair of hemispheres with its hands, completely disregarding the fact that Jiuxiao was present nearby.

As for Penglaiji Jiuxiao, who was acting as a third wheel, she cooperated perfectly by remaining silent, only pretending to cover her eyes with her hands... As for why it was pretending—if you ignored her flushed cheeks and the look of "Oh, so exciting, just one more look.jpg" peeking out from the gap between her hands, which was practically not covering her eyes, then she probably was covering them up...

"Kiana—!" Raiden Mei's tone gradually turned from embarrassment to anger, and lightning began to crackle around the girl. However, the girl, who was being addressed by her full name, seemed unaware of the gravity of the situation.

Immediately, lightning flashed, accompanied by the agonizing scream of a white-haired creature suddenly struck by a terrible illness. The scream was so horrific it was comparable to the slaughter of a pig, causing Snow, who was dealing with the assassins in the distance, to shudder and nearly be struck by the samurai's longsword.

"Tsk tsk tsk, that perverted yuri monster probably went too far and got electrocuted by Mei-senpai." Snow shook his head, raising his hand to cleave the assassin who had almost struck him in two.

"...Hmm, almost done cleaning up." As the last assassin fell, the ominous roar faded into the wind, and silence returned.

"The Herrscher's complete awakening has been interrupted... The unclaimed Honkai energy that was originally gathered here is now starting to accumulate on these zombies. Their evolution speed is truly impressive." Snow glanced at the already chipped watermelon knife in his hand, curled his lip, tossed the chipped blade into a nearby trash can, and turned to head back the way he came.

"They should be almost fully recovered. We should leave after tonight. Staying here any longer means dealing with troublesome things like large Honkai beasts, and it's not wise to keep a Herrscher in a high-concentration Honkai environment for too long." The girl muttered to herself as she ran towards her companions' gathering place.

"Fortunately, Mei-senpai doesn't seem to share certain memories with that Herrscher personality. At least for now, she doesn't have the memory of me beating up the Herrscher personality—so, I can still use my ability as one of my hidden backup plans."

"If possible, it's best not to display this ability in front of members of Schicksal or Anti-Entropy, especially the radicals of Anti-Entropy and members of World Serpent. Defeating a Herrscher of Thunder who fought Kiana Kaslana for a long time is not something to be proud of... Even if that white-haired girl seems unreliable, her strength alone is enough to classify her as a B-rank or even A-rank Valkyrie."

"And then there's Penglai Temple Jiuxiao, another transmigrator like me... Perhaps I should give her a heads-up—since my first words were about someone who shouldn't exist here, she shouldn't know anyone's name. That's not a good habit."

"Tsk, what a constraint, and a bunch of troublesome teammates... no... no... since I promised to accept them as companions and friends on this journey, these troubles are inevitable, but as problem children—"

"Why do all these people seem to be troublemakers and fussmen...?" The blonde girl shook her head helplessly and walked into the already emptied school building. Kiana's energetic and lively voice was coming from the rooftop of the school building, as if the pig-like screams from just now hadn't come from her at all.

--

The thunderstorm and wind had subsided, and the bright night sky was studded with stars. A bright bonfire burned on the rooftop of the long-suffering school building, and three young girls sat around it. A makeshift grill was placed over the fire, and the food collected earlier, after being simply prepared by Raiden Mei, was slowly roasted on the grill over the flames.

Kiana swallowed involuntarily as she watched the sizzling food on the grill, but the imposing presence of Mei, who was operating the grill, temporarily restrained her restless hands. Of course, it was only temporary—when the gentle and virtuous Mei turned around to prepare new ingredients, the food on the grill would rapidly diminish, while Jiuxiao could only twitch his eyes as he watched the food disappear—intervention was out of the question, after all, one white-haired girl could easily defeat a reinforced company of purple-haired girls.

Just as a certain glutton was happily indulging in his food, seemingly oblivious to everyone else, the rooftop door opened again, and a tall, blonde girl walked in.

"...Food that is not fully cooked usually contains a large number of microorganisms, bacteria, and even parasites, especially in undercooked meat and seafood, which can easily cause gastrointestinal infections and poisoning."

"Although I believe and firmly believe that this stuff has absolutely no effect on your stomach and constitution, Kiana Kaslana—but, it's always better to eat food cooked." Snow shook his head, looking at the white fluffy ball whose pockets and waistband were stuffed with skewers of grilled meat.