Humans are in chaos, despicable outsiders.

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Chapter Six: She or Him

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"Am I going to die?" The girl's figure fell from the rooftop, plummeting through the air. Time and thought nearly stopped at that moment.

[Mei-senpai!] It seemed as if a pair of strong arms were placed on his cold, rain-soaked body, pulling him into their warm embrace.

[This is Kiana's voice,] the mind's owner thought to himself...

[Kiana's voice...?! No...no!] Her calm thoughts began to swirl in disarray. She tried to break free but was tightly bound in that warm embrace, falling...falling ever downwards—until the abyss.

[Coward... Raiden Mei, you coward!] Her thoughts roared and sobbed in the invisible space, as she plummeted downwards.

"Yes, you're a useless coward. Then how about handing your body over to me? I possess power you lack, confidence you lack, and most importantly—I am far braver and fearless than you." An incredibly arrogant and cold voice echoed through the space; it was the voice of the Herrscher's consciousness.

[...braver than me]

"Yes, I am braver than you... more fearless..." The Herrscher's consciousness, seemingly sensing imminent success, softened its arrogant tone, becoming gentle and discreet.

[That's fine... Kiana...]

[Hehehe... Hahahaha—] Raiden Mei's consciousness completely fell into a deep sleep, leaving only the Third Herrscher's consciousness laughing wildly in the space formed by her thoughts.

Thunderstorms gathered again in the sky, and muffled thunder echoed through the thick clouds. The once peaceful seaside residential area would once again become the eye of the storm and a battlefield of carnage at dawn the next day.

Raiden Mei, kneeling amidst the ruins, opened her eyes again, her pupils filled with an eerie purple. Ominous lightning flickered around her once more, the purple lightning carefully bypassing the white-haired girl she held in her arms, gathering into wings behind the Herrscher.

Then, her arrogant purple eyes looked towards the center of the street, where the girl's companions were entangled with several Temple-level Honkai Beasts.

Several lightning spears began to coalesce in front of the Herrscher—

--

"A bunch of troublesome bugs." His azure eyes were now clouded with anger. His carefully planned scheme, which he had repeatedly assured others of safety, had been ruined by a Temple-class Honkai Beast that had appeared out of nowhere. His previously calm and composed demeanor crumbled, his face turning incredibly grim.

Kiana, unsurprisingly, took a hit for Raiden Mei... During the last check of this area last night, the nearest large Honkai Beast was at least a kilometer away... What is this? Man proposes, God disposes?

Dodging the thrusts of the giant beast's spear, Jiuxiao grabbed a shotgun that was firing at the white-purple Honkai Beast and leaped away, dodging another attack from a Temple-class spear.

"Bronya! Take Jiuxiao and check on Kiana and Mei! I'll hold them off here, hurry!" Suppressing her anger and displeasure, the blonde girl directed her companions towards the two most problematic members of the group.

Upon hearing the command, Bronya and Jiuxiao nodded to the blonde girl. Jiuxiao then jumped onto one of the arms of the Heavy Bunny and flew at high speed towards Kiana and Mei.

Snow, meanwhile, turned and jumped back into the midst of the three Temple-class Honkai Beasts, engaging them in combat once more.

Until a sudden change occurred—

A storm gathered in the sky, and thunder roared once more, just like the return of Thousand Feather Academy a few days ago.

"What!" Snow's expression changed drastically as he looked at the drastically altered environment. His gaze quickly shifted to the direction Bronya and Jiuxiao had gone, the place where the temporary team had first encountered the Temple-class Honkai Beast, and also where Kiana and Mei were.

A black-haired girl, enveloped in lightning, floated in mid-air, purple wings made of Honkai energy appearing behind her, her arrogant gaze surveying everything before her.

Four long-charged lightning spears flew towards the street, piercing through three temple-level shields, tearing apart their hard silicon bodies, and shattering their cores. But—as they said, these were four spears of thunder.

The dazzling lightning magnified in Snow's pupils, then burst forth.

Annoyance, bewilderment, surprise—different emotions flashed rapidly in his azure eyes.

Finally, it turned into—

【anger】

That arrogance and conceit, etched into the very essence of one's blood and soul, will be laid bare at this moment, no matter how much one tries to conceal or disguise it.

[A mere... insect living under a tree—!!!]

--

"snort-"

The Herrscher of Thunder shifted her gaze from the street. The dust and smoke from the explosion of the four lightning spears obscured everyone's view, but there was no doubt that everything had settled there.

No one can withstand divine punishment personally bestowed by the gods, the Third Herrscher thought to herself, as she turned her attention back to the unconscious white-haired girl in her arms.

A gruesome wound stood out on the girl's back, starting from her right shoulder and extending down to her left waist, the blood staining her once snow-white school uniform a dark red.

"To get injured protecting that coward, Kiana, is truly pathetic!"

"Wake up right now! I won't allow you to die so easily! Only I can take your life!"

The Herrscher's soliloquy in mid-air vanished into the wind, unnoticed by anyone. Then, the apostle of the gods looked up at the sky.

The Hyperion, an airship belonging to the Far East Branch of Schicksal, arrived on the battlefield at this moment, bringing a new turning point to what seemed to be a deadlock.

"This is a Herrscher? I thought it would be something far more terrifying, something with tentacles or covered in slime or something." A mature, red-haired woman on the bridge of the warship looked at the screen and curled her lip as she saw the figure of the young Herrscher.

"Miss Himeko, your imagination is truly terrifying when you're thirsty," the adjutant beside her said, trembling as she adjusted her glasses.

"Then you guys shouldn't bother me during my date!"

The brief interlude brought smiles to the faces of everyone on the bridge, and the tension and anxiety caused by the Herrscher's appearance dissipated considerably.

Seeing the Valkyries gradually calm down, Himeko Murata gave the order to attack.

"Attention all personnel! Lock all gun turrets! Suppression operation commenced!" The turrets on the giant ship began to rotate, and cold cannon muzzles, hidden within the gates, emerged from the hull—large and small, dark and sinister muzzles, now aimed at the Third Herrscher below.

The Herrscher, now aimed at by countless cannons, merely cast a displeased glance at the Hyperion, as purple electricity began to gather around her once more.

"You annoying bug, who gave you permission to be above me!"

A massive torrent of thunder, accompanied by blinding white light, obscured the vision of everyone aboard the Hyperion.

"Activate all protective barriers, now!" Himeko Murata's voice rang out again in the bridge, bringing the Valkyries, who were stunned by the terrifying attack, back to their senses.

"Disappear—" A cruel and gleeful smile crept across the Herrscher's lips.

The shield activated in time, the thick force blocking the torrent, then shattered in the next instant. The blocked torrent, undiminished in its momentum, tore through the airship's thick outer armor, leaving a huge crater on the surface of the warship, from which thick smoke and flames erupted.

"Warning! The Hyperion's external armor is severely damaged!"

"Warning! Reactor output has dropped by 40%. Immediate return to base recommended!"

The piercing alarms blared throughout the warship, shattering Himeko Murata's thoughts.

"Major Himeko, the Hyperion definitely won't survive the next Herrscher attack if things continue like this," the young adjutant warned, standing beside the red-haired woman.

"Tch, that damned girl, does she even know how expensive the repairs for this warship are!" Himeko Murata gritted her teeth and spat out a curse. Having made up her mind, she headed towards the Valkyrie maintenance room on the Hyperion.

"Activate reactors 5 and 6, maintain reactor output, switch warship propulsion to backup power! Descend the warship to Herrscher level in 2 minutes!" The woman shouted the orders onto the bridge, tearing off her elaborate dress and throwing it on the ground.

"Wait, which one do you want to use?" The adjutant looked at Himeko nervously, as if he had just realized something.

"There's no time to hesitate and think about other ways out now." Himeko continued to remove unnecessary decorations from her body and casually tossed them on the ground.

"But... the council's order is to capture the Herrscher alive."

"It's too late to talk about this now... I'm the kind of woman who'll go all the way once I take my clothes off!"

"Command of the warship is now in your hands. Now, execute the orders! My adjutant." Himeko Murata stepped onto the Valkyrie armor's fitting platform, where mechanical arms transported and fitted the armor pieces onto her body.

"Yes, Colonel Himeko." The adjutant saluted the red-haired woman, turned, and ran off to take command of the warship and issue further orders.

.......

"Backup power switch complete!"

"Descending to the level of a Herrscher!"

Various orders were relayed on the bridge of the Hyperion. After a brief moment of shock, the well-trained Valkyries quickly regained their order and carried out the commands methodically.

--

The Third Herrscher arrogantly surveyed the colossal ship before her, refraining from further attack. Instead, she hovered in the air, quietly awaiting the Hyperion's descent.

The red-haired Valkyrie, clad in armor and wielding a sword in one hand, stood on the deck of the aerial warship, facing off against the Herrscher of Thunder.

"Is this your last stand, you insects?" The Herrscher sneered at the red-haired Valkyrie standing on the deck, raising her right hand, and lightning gathered once more.

"You ignorant ants, daring to draw your swords before God's apostles—turn to ashes before me and atone for your sins with your death!"

A torrent of thunder reappeared over Changkong City.

[Nexus System Startup]

Energy from the warship's nuclear reactor engine was continuously supplied to the Valkyrie's armor, ultimately condensing into the red-haired Valkyrie's greatsword.

"Sorry, you brat, I won't be finished until I find a good man!" The Valkyrie drew her sword and swung it, cleaving the dazzling white torrent in two.

--

Just as the battle between the two in the sky reached its climax, the two remaining on the ground were not idle either. Jiuxiao and Bronya searched for their other companion in the streets where the smoke had cleared. The roads were littered with the remains of Temple-class Honkai Beasts that had been pierced and exploded by lightning spears.

"Gulp... Snow won't..." Jiu Xiao swallowed hard, looking at the carnage on the street.

"Heavy Bunny detected an unidentified energy reaction, target directly ahead," Bronya's words interrupted Jiuxiao's reverie.

The road ahead of the two was blocked by a collapsed residential building, and on the ruins made of reinforced concrete, a blond figure in a white robe knelt, his right hand resting on a longsword that resembled a blood-red crystal, with golden patterns like tree branches covering its surface.

.......

"Snow! Are you alright?" Jiuxiao pulled Bronya up the towering ruins, looking at his companion kneeling there with concern, and asked.

"...I'm fine...I'm alright..." The girl gripped the sword hilt with her left hand, black and gold patterns spreading from her hands that held the sword, eventually climbing up to and enveloping her snow-white neck.

"Gulp... Your lines are giving me the creeps..." Houraiji Kyushou swallowed again, looking nervously at the blonde girl in front of him, before being lifted up by Heavy Bunny once more—

"Sister Snow's condition is very abnormal, Sister Jiuxiao, please stay away for the time being." Bronya controlled the Heavy Bunny, grabbing Jiuxiao and retreating rapidly. For the first time, her usually calm tone revealed a hint of tension.

"—Okay, it feels like I'm not myself..." [Snow] didn't care about her rapidly departing companion. She stood up, dusted herself off, and looked with her deep blue eyes at the Hyperion fighting the Herrscher in the sky.

.....

"You bug, I must say you do have some merit, but—I'm getting tired of you. Now, get out of here!" The Herrscher's arrogant voice echoed through the silent, dead city.

Hearing the Herrscher's arrogant declaration from the sky, the blonde girl on the ruins curled into a malicious smile, lifted her leg, took a step, and appeared on the deck of the Hyperion in the next moment.

"Hello, little Herrscher, or rather... bug?" The third person who suddenly appeared on the deck looked at the apostle of the god, a malicious smile on his face, but his deep blue eyes held only a brewing disdainful arrogance.

"It's you! ...Who allowed you to look at me like that! You filthy trash!" A torrent of energy, even more violent than the previous two, began to gather before the Herrscher of Thunder. [Snow's] arrogant and disdainful gaze was undoubtedly provoking the Herrscher's fragile nerves.

"Yes... filthy trash." The blonde girl's deep blue eyes turned utterly cold, her words no longer filled with malice, only mockery, and then... she erupted.