I was transported to a broken world, yet my dreams are connected to Star Iron?

　"Oh, Lixue, Lixue, what am I supposed to say to you?"

　Otto let out a rather exaggerated sigh, and at the same time, a crimson God-Slaying Spear continuously surged from his body, precisely annihilating the attacks from the two.

　"That Walter leader of Anti-Entropy has been resolutely opposing me for decades just because I killed his father. You must not learn from him."

　“I killed your master, but you still have me, don’t you? I can be your guide in life, just like I have trained countless Valkyries of Destiny.”

　Otto's words had an immediate and noticeable effect.

　Both the furious Ritsuki and the sarcastic Salome froze on their faces. Even the fluff on the Feather Dust in Suzuma's hand, far away at the Third Airport, stood up involuntarily.

　"Ha, hahahaha..."

　A moment later, Cheng Lixue covered her face and let out a broken laugh.

　"Fine, fine... Bishop Otto—I underestimated your shamelessness."

　"Don't worry, I will make you pay for the harm you caused to Master tenfold!"

　Instantly, an icy wind, powerful enough to freeze everything, rose once again within Heimdall.

　……

　"How to do?"

　Meanwhile, at the Third Airport, Lingmo, who had finally managed to straighten Fu Hua's hair, stared at Yu Duchen in her hand.

　“Otto is now fully unleashing the Holy Blood, and the connection between the other Feathers and this feather has been severed... Forcing a connection might actually attract Otto’s attention.”

　"So... this is probably the extent of the intelligence support I can provide."

　"That's it..."

　After thinking for a moment, Lingmo held up two fingers.

　"At present, Otto's final actions actually have two possibilities."

　"First, his purpose in provoking Li Xue was to fake his death."

　"Don't forget, neither Li Xue nor Salome knew that Otto had multiple Soul Steel bodies. Moreover, in a fit of rage, if Li Xue killed Otto, the first thing she would do would definitely be to collect your body—not to check if Otto was a real person."

　"In this way, although it will definitely be exposed after a while, Otto himself can extricate himself and gain valuable time to continue to implement his plan."

　"And the second one?"

　Feather asked softly.

　"Secondly, he wanted to make a big fuss and mislead us into thinking that he was going to kill Li Xue."

　Lingmo glanced into the distance. With her growing mental strength from years of working with Wendy, she could now vaguely sense the chaotic Honkai energy fluctuations emanating from Lixue. In addition, Lixue's specialty, ice-type magic, was inherently quite noisy, and if the battle continued, it would definitely attract attention from this side.

　“Otto knows we dare not gamble because we are all good people. Even if there is only a slight possibility that he wants to kill Lixue, we must stop him. So, after making a big fuss at Heimdall’s place, he can use a Soul Steel body that can be abandoned at any time to exchange for countless precious times.”

　"What's even more unfortunate is that, whatever his purpose, it's all an open scheme. After all, anyone familiar with Otto can analyze his motives like I have. But because of Otto's strength, we can't just ignore him no matter what."

　"..."

　After listening to Lingmo's analysis, Fu Hua fell silent.

　After all, as Suzuma said, the best solution for them right now is to completely abandon Ritsuki's side and gamble on Otto, which is the first option...

　But in that case...

　"Don't worry, Fu Hua."

　Seeing Yu Duchen hesitate for a moment, Ling Mo smiled slightly.

　“Do I look like the kind of person who would abandon his comrades? Otto uses underhanded tricks, we just go along with it. The best way to deal with this kind of old fox is to use brute force to overcome his tricks—to use a plan that is far more redundant than his to accommodate all his schemes and plots.”

　"Like now, since he's given me the option of Yes or No... if I choose Or, won't he explode?"

　As she spoke, Lingmo took out her terminal, and then, with a sudden tremor in her feathers, uttered a name.

　“Senior Cecilia, you must already know about Heimdall’s situation, right? Well, the original plan needs to be temporarily changed. I will go to the central floating island myself, and I'll trouble you to go to Heimdall’s side. After all, you are more skilled at dealing with the Holy Blood here.”

　……

　"So, Li Xue hasn't managed to win Fu Hua's heart all these years?"

　After hanging up the communication, Cecilia, who was originally going to the central floating island, suddenly changed her direction.

　"That's true. After all, judging from our usual sparring, Fu Hua seems to be the kind of person with a wooden personality... But isn't this too wooden? More than ten years have passed and she still doesn't seem to feel anything?!"

　As Fu Hua's former close friend and sparring partner, Cecilia, who had experienced the Feathered Dust technique multiple times, actually had some guesses about Fu Hua's trump cards. Coupled with the familiar conversation she just heard in Lingmo's communication, she was basically certain that Fu Hua was probably alright.

　Unfortunately, Ritsuki doesn't seem to know this.

　"Forget it, let's hurry up and get going. I could feel Li Xue's sword intent even from across the First Airport, but the blockade of the First Airport seems to be quite tight..."

　Muttering to herself, Cecilia carefully chose the hidden path she remembered that no one had ever seen. Whenever this happened, she missed Siegfried terribly. After all, on this kind of battlefield, Siegfried's ability to fight groups was far superior to hers without Black Abyss White Flower.

　However... Cecilia still failed to sneak across the border as she had hoped.

　Cecilia tilted her head as she looked at the Blocker, who was dressed in a neat fourth-generation Valkyrie armor and whose chestnut hair fluttered in the wind.

　The family crest on that person's armor... seems a little familiar?

　Of course, she soon found out the reason.

　"Anna Shaniat, by the bishop's orders, is stationed at the First Airport to apprehend all suspicious persons!"

　"Now lay down your weapons and remove the black mask that conceals your identity, lest you be executed on the spot during the battle, for swords have no eyes!"

　"So it was Shaniat..."

　Cecilia, under the black robes, showed a hint of nostalgia.

　"How about we make a deal? You let me through, and after this incident is over, I'll treat you to a whole day at the arcade in Vienna. If I remember correctly, I'm a permanent member there, though I wonder if the owner still recognizes me after all these years..."

　"By the way, which unit are you from? Are you the newly formed Valkyrie Squad? I've never seen this uniform before."

　"..."

　Hearing the overly familiar tone of the person on the other end, Anna's lips twitched involuntarily.

　This is a battlefield, sister! The way you're talking makes it sound like you're just chatting idly with relatives during Chinese New Year!

　"Stop trying to change the subject; we're not buying it."

　Anna gave a soft hum, but still answered seriously, "We are the Valkyrie squad that Schicksal formed in the last two years—the Blade of Glory."

　"With the will of Cecilia, the strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal who died, as our banner, we will never back down!"

　"?"

　A question mark slowly appeared above Cecilia's head, hidden beneath the darkness.

　No, sister, do you think it's possible that... Cecilia herself isn't dead yet?

　-

　-

　-

　Bounty (2/9) ~

　Chapter 209 Lingmo: She was almost stabbed hard in the back by Durandal with a spear.

　Looking at Anna, who was speaking with righteous indignation, Cecilia fell silent for a moment.

　Before heading here, Cecilia had anticipated what she might encounter, such as running into an old acquaintance as an opponent, or being defeated by the current Schicksal S-rank Valkyrie who seemed very approachable, but...

　Anna really didn't have a contingency plan!

　After all, as a member of the Shaniat family, the other party has reached this position. Excluding the possibility of a mutation in the Holy Mark, they are probably a direct descendant, and there is a high probability that they are related to her. Cecilia may have even held Anna when she was a child.

　Moreover, she herself has been "dead" for so many years, yet the other party still chooses to use her spirit as a banner, which means that Miss Anna is most likely in the same situation as Kira... With such a combination of buffs, Cecilia really couldn't bring herself to attack Anna unless she had no other choice.

　"Hey, what's going on with you...?"

　Looking at the silent Cecilia, Anna frowned slightly and said, "If you want to fight, then take out your weapon. As a Valkyrie who is about to be promoted to S-rank, I am not so low as to attack an unarmed person. If you want to surrender, take off your hood. After Miss Theresa has made enough of a fuss, the bishop will decide what to do with her."

　"Enough already? So that's what Otto told you? Hmm... well, perhaps because they've intermarried with the Kaslana family for generations, the girls of the Shaniat family are somewhat straightforward and naive. If it were me a decade or so ago, I probably would have been fooled by Otto just like you..."

　Looking at Anna's upright face, Cecilia couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

　"Fortunately, you're not as special as I was back then, and you don't need to be manipulated in various ways. In that case, staying in Destiny without knowing anything is actually the best choice for you..."

　"Tsk, what kind of weird things are you saying?"

　Anna took a deep breath, then spun her spear once, aiming the butt of the spear at Cecilia.

　"Since you've been hiding your true colors all this time, don't blame me for being impolite...?!"

　However, before Anna could finish speaking, she suddenly realized that the voluptuous black woman in front of her had disappeared.

　To be precise, it appeared behind her.

　However, although Anna could not be called a seasoned veteran, she was at least a Valkyrie with rich combat experience. When she realized that there seemed to be an extra person behind her, Anna almost immediately swung the spear she was holding backwards. At the same time, her other hand was already preparing to activate the warning device on the Valkyrie armor to call for help from other squad members nearby.

　"You're good with the gun, but unfortunately... you still need some practice?"

　Cecilia calmly tapped the spear that was sweeping towards her, as if the point of force had been destroyed. The spear, made of Schicksal's most advanced materials, instantly lost the Honkai energy attached to it. Moreover, even Anna's own strength seemed to be redirected in another direction because of Cecilia's touch.

　"What--"

　Before Anna could even gasp, Cecilia was already pressed against her back, and then...

　"Hmm, the feathers Suzumo gave me are really useful... It's a pity they're consumables."

　As the pink crystal feather in her hand gradually dissipated, and Anna instantly fell asleep after being "sticked" to by the feather, Cecilia showed an apologetic expression.

　"I hope this doesn't hurt the child too much... to the point that she thinks she got her Valkyrie rank through connections?"

　"We've wasted about two minutes here...we need to speed things up."

　……

　While Cecilia easily subdued the wild Anna that spawned along the way, on the other side, Suzumo had already left the Third Airport and was preparing to blitz the central floating island.

　After receiving Fu Hua's information, she checked the energy flow of Schicksal again. If Fu Hua's information was correct, then Kiana was likely indeed on the central floating island, guarded by Durandal.

　This isn't to say that Otto can't pull off some unconventional tactics; in fact, there's still a high possibility that Otto will set a trap for her. However, this doesn't prevent the central floating island from becoming Kiana's first choice for hiding her. According to Fu Hua, Cecilia, and others, the weapons lab likely doesn't have enough equipment and life support to complete the experiment of implanting the Tranquility Gem on Kiana.

　The last time Celine awakened in Singapore was because she came into contact with other core forces, so to ensure the stability of the plan, Otto shouldn't gamble on this.

　Of course, if Otto really dares to gamble this with Suzuma... then it doesn't matter. In any case, since Otto failed to get accurate information from Rita and was forced to start the Sirin Project on the premise of taking a gamble, Suzuma has already won.

　It's nothing more than winning big, winning medium, and winning small.

　Unlike the deserted Heimdall Laboratory, there were still quite a few staff members on the central floating island of Schicksal. However, according to Suzumo's observation, even these staff members mostly possessed a certain level of combat ability, indicating that they were carefully selected by Otto.

　However, Suzuma's goal was not to destroy Schicksal, so she naturally wouldn't target these ordinary people. Before Durandal discovered that she had entered the central floating island, she needed to check Kiana's location as quickly as possible, just in case Otto really chose to inject Honkai energy into Kiana on the small floating island of the weapons laboratory.

　Unfortunately, before Lingmo could finish using her powers to check the central floating island, which was heavily protected by Otto, a scorching wave of heat attacked her from behind.

　"Hey, hey, why are you launching sneak attacks?!"

　Seeing Durandal holding the Black Abyss White Flower and wearing Star Armor, Lingmo's figure instantly appeared dozens of meters away.

　If we exclude Otto, who hasn't been going all out, then Durandal is probably the strongest enemy she's ever encountered on the Honkai side...

　“Because Bishop Otto told me that you have the ability to resurrect and are very troublesome.”

　Seeing that her sneak attack had failed, Durandal seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and quickly put away her lance.

　"So, he asked me to attack you the moment I met you... Unfortunately, I failed."

　"Uh... okay?"

　If Durandal's expression had shown a little more regret, then Suzuma would have believed her story. However, judging from the girl's relieved expression... she was probably just going through the motions to comply with Otto's order.

　After all, if she really had murderous intent, then what stabbed Lingmo in the back just now wouldn't have been the fiery wave of Star Armor, but the withering black mist of Black Abyss.

　However, even if Durandal really intended to launch a full-scale sneak attack on him, since she dared to come to the core area alone, Lingmo would naturally have some trump cards up her sleeve.

　Upon seeing Durandal's appearance, Suzumo did not refute the girl's perfunctory attitude. Instead, she flicked her fingers and took out a strange object that resembled cheese but was crystal clear and colorful.

　Chapter 210 Gray Serpent: Six hundred and sixty-six. Anyone who didn't know better would think that Lord Ellie had been resurrected.

　The Spacetime Prism, a rare item that can be considered a must-have in the simulated universe, has the effect of increasing the entire team's Star Soul count by 1, which can bring a qualitative improvement to the team in many situations.

　In fact, as early as when Suzumo had just embarked on the Starry Sky Train, Black Tower had already told her that with the support of her system's abilities, this artifact might have an extremely powerful effect on Honkai Impact 3.