Chapter 143: The Performance Begins
"In the end, it still dragged on this late, huh." Himeko let out a yawn, looking at Bronya and Seele. Although the final scene had gotten a bit out of control...
Mm, Bronya still hadn't chosen to give up. She had been continuously trying to talk sense into Sin, even settling both lunch and dinner on the Hyperion.
Seele had tagged along with Bronya. However, it was quite obvious that compared to the rather patient Bronya, Seele's attitude towards Sin was limited—how should one put it? She just wasn't interested.
It was actually quite strange. To see if she could pull Seele onto the battlefield, Himeko had interacted with Seele quite a few times, and she had a fairly good grasp of Seele's personality.
The required personality was the softer type, yet quite strict when taking care of people, and very gentle overall. She was indeed very suited for medical logistics.
But as a Stigmata Awakened, it was truly a waste. For someone with this kind of personality, Seele had actually shown straightforward impatience and a lack of desire to chat with Sin.
It seemed there was quite a lot of history there. However, despite seeing that something was up, Himeko didn't plan on prying. That was their own business. As an outsider, she shouldn't interfere no matter what.
Moreover, even if she did interfere, she would ultimately still stand on her students' side. She was, after all, someone who favored her own people over cold logic.
"I'm sorry for making Teacher Himeko stay with us this late," Bronya said, turning to look at Himeko. "Bronya is sorry that she couldn't convince Sin."
"What's there to be sorry about? I never thought you'd succeed from the very beginning anyway," Himeko shook her head. When they last met at Chiyou, she had roughly understood Sin's personality.
With that kind of personality, it was impossible for her to abandon Anti-Entropy and join Schicksal just because of a few words from Bronya and Seele. So, it was perfectly imaginable.
Just as Irene had said, letting them try to persuade her into surrendering was never on their list of viable options to begin with.
"It looks like things weren't very successful on your end." Just then, Theresa's voice echoed from the adjacent corridor. "That little shorty isn't very cooperative?"
"It's far more than just 'not very cooperative'," Himeko shrugged. "She basically cursed for an entire day. It's truly a wonder how her mouth didn't go dry.
How are things on your end? Are we sending her somewhere? Keeping her here indefinitely isn't a solution."
"I've already contacted them, but they said now isn't the right time." Theresa curled her lips. She hadn't come out this time entirely for Wendy.
She also had a slight desire to avoid Irene. She didn't know what Irene had discussed with Einstein and the others, but she was certain of one thing: if Irene was present, she would absolutely never be able to pry out what had happened from Einstein.
Incidentally, she also genuinely wanted to discuss the matter concerning Sin. The response she got from Einstein and Tesla was to wait a while. As for what exactly Irene had discussed with them last night, they kept their mouths tightly shut.
No matter how much she asked, she couldn't get an answer. They just kept saying it: if she wanted to know, she should have Irene tell her herself. If she could find out from Irene, would she even need to ask the two of them?
"It seems things didn't go very smoothly on your end either." Himeko nodded, then looked at Wendy beside Theresa. "It looks like you're still more accustomed to sitting in a wheelchair?"
The time over these past few days was more than enough for their equipment department to produce a usable auxiliary exoskeleton. The difficulty of this thing lay purely in the materials and structure.
Materials were naturally not something Schicksal lacked, and they also had a structural prototype. It had already been equipped on Wendy's legs for a while now, but it seemed Wendy was still more accustomed to the wheelchair.
"You could say I'm indeed more accustomed to it." Wendy nodded, patting the armrest of the wheelchair. "After all, no matter what, I've sat in it for a few years. It's not like I've developed feelings for it, but it truly is a habit."
"Anyway, as long as it doesn't affect your mobility, it doesn't matter," Himeko nodded. "Speaking of which, I haven't asked you before, do you want us to just swap it out for an electric wheelchair? It would be more convenient and save you some effort."
"It doesn't make any difference to me," Wendy smiled. A flash of cyan light gleamed in her eyes, and a gust of clear wind instantly rose behind her, pushing her forward.
"Right now, I'm also still exploring how to utilize my Authority more. I feel this suits me better."
"As long as you feel it suits you..."
Before Himeko could finish her sentence, an alarm blared from the Hyperion behind them. Himeko immediately switched to high alert, pulling a communicator from her pocket.
"What's going on?"
"Report! A large number of Anti-Entropy Titan units have breached the perimeter!" The Valkyrie stationed on the Hyperion immediately responded. "The Hyperion is entering launch sequence."
"Anti-Entropy... Cocolia?" Himeko frowned, then looked at Theresa. "Did you not receive any notice?"
"Who would notify me?" Theresa glanced at Himeko. She naturally knew Himeko was asking if she had received any advance warning about the Anti-Entropy attack from Einstein.
"Sigh, seriously." Himeko scratched her head. "Then there's no other way. Let's engage the enemy. It's probably Cocolia's people. I'll have the Hyperion lift off and move away from St. Freya."
There should only be two reasons supporting Cocolia's arrival at this time: one was that she still wanted to make a move on Mei, and the other was Sin, who was locked up on their Hyperion.
"Where is Mei right now?"
"She's on a call. Sister Mei should be at home right now," Bronya immediately responded, showing her call interface.
"Have Mei bring them all over. It's time to fight. Since Cocolia is making a direct move, she can't blame us for not playing by the rules."
Himeko cracked her knuckles. This Cocolia really underestimated them. Invading time and time again, did she really think they were soft persimmons meant to be squeezed?
Even the most mild-mannered person has a temper, let alone the fact that they weren't mild-mannered. This time, she definitely had to hit her hard and let her know they weren't to be trifled with.
"Enemies?" Wendy immediately stood up from the wheelchair, standing on the ground with the help of the auxiliary exoskeleton. Clear wind gradually condensed into wings behind her.
"I didn't expect my first rehabilitation mission to be fighting Anti-Entropy instead of the Honkai."
Theresa spread her hands. "There's no other way. Since they're provoking us, we have no choice but to fight."
"In that case, I'll go say hello to them." Wendy flapped her wings and soared high into the sky, only hearing Himeko's voice from behind reminding her to be careful.
Wendy smiled. After discussing things with her other self, her understanding of her Authority had also improved slightly. Right now, the only thing limiting her was the activation state of her gem. And this problem wasn't easy to solve.
Miss Irene could resolve it entirely with Active Polarization, but the series of consequences that would follow—like a Honkai energy eruption, or whether her Honkai Resistance could withstand the massive output of Honkai energy—was a problem.
Just as she flew into the sky and prepared to intercept the first wave of Titans, Wendy suddenly sensed something and cast her gaze towards a small forest a short distance away.
After staring for a moment without spotting anything unusual, Wendy redirected her attention into the distance. The cyan windbreaker behind her grew increasingly radiant under the guidance of the hurricane. Wendy's speed also increased, even leaving a trailing afterimage in the air.
Meanwhile, in the small forest Wendy had just been looking at, Rita's figure quietly emerged after a moment. "My, as expected of a Herrscher. I was genuinely almost discovered."
For this infiltration, she had specifically changed into a stealth armor primarily designed for stealth and infiltration. After all, the intelligence she had received from the Lord Overseer was that the current St. Freya was no longer the St. Freya of the past.
But she had still almost been discovered. Fortunately, she had reacted quickly and activated the active suppression system, preventing her body from emitting heat and avoiding detection.
Was that a Herrscher who had begun to actively master her Authority, using it as her combat style? It was completely different from Miss Mei.
It wasn't that she hadn't investigated Mei before, but rather than saying Mei fought using Authority, it was more accurate to say her Honkai energy possessed a lightning attribute because of her Authority.
In essence, she hadn't truly utilized her Authority as a combat method. What a waste.
"But an Anti-Entropy attack, huh." As Rita spoke, she still dialed the Overseer's number. She had to inform the Overseer about this matter so he could decide whether she needed to provide support.
The call connected quickly, and Rita reported the current situation to Otto as fast as possible. After a moment of thought, Otto let out a soft chuckle.
"Ignore it. Let's see how our Miss Wendy and the others handle this situation," Otto gently swirled his wine glass. "I'm very curious, exactly how much power of the Gem of Desire has Wendy mastered?
And exactly what caused Wendy to learn how to master a Herrscher's Authority after arriving at St. Freya?"
Otto didn't believe in the so-called "perfect timing"—that she couldn't do it earlier or later, but suddenly learned it exactly upon arriving at St. Freya. There were no such coincidences in the world; there had to be an underlying cause.
Unfortunately, Wendy hadn't had any training records or contact logs these past few days. She had simply stayed inside the villa.
This made Rita's intelligence-gathering work somewhat impossible to proceed. But now that Anti-Entropy was delivering a pillow just as they were feeling sleepy, how could Otto not properly make use of it?
Otto looked at Rita. "Therefore, Rita, find a good vantage point. I want to watch the entire process. If that Miss Cocolia can bring me an unexpected surprise, it's not impossible for me to forgive her overstepping her bounds this time."
It would be one thing if it were an ordinary branch, but St. Freya was his granddaughter's branch. Invading time and time again—did they really think he didn't exist?
Moreover, Anti-Entropy needed a little beating as well. If they could bring him an unexpected harvest this time, he wouldn't beat them. If they couldn't...
Speaking of which, there hadn't been any news from his old friend for quite a long time recently.
"Understood, Lord Overseer." Since the Overseer had already decided the pros and cons, she wouldn't say any more. However, a good vantage point, huh? It felt a bit difficult.
If the field of view was too wide, nine times out of ten, she would be discovered by the sharply perceptive Wendy. Forget it, let's see if she could hack into the Hyperion's external surveillance cameras.
The view from there should be pretty good too.
"Sister Irene, is your physical condition alright?" Kiana looked with concern at Irene, who was sluggishly donning her Valkyrie armor. "Are you feeling any better?"
"Don't worry, if it's just facing Titans, I'll be fine." Irene yawned. After a day of rest, the pain in her mind had largely subsided.
Her mental strength wasn't so weak that a single collision would require three or four days of rest. Yawning right now was just because Sirin had dragged her into playing fighting games for the better part of the day.
Besides, there was no need to be too tense for this battle. The only thing to note was that she didn't expect Cocolia to arrive so quickly.
Could it be that she was afraid they would transfer Sin to Headquarters? That shouldn't be the case. But regardless, she had already made preparations, so she wasn't panicking.
[Little Corruption?]
Being called out, Little Corruption immediately responded within the consciousness space: *[Absolutely no problem. As long as you touch a Titan, Irene, I will immediately upload the virus.
It should only take a few seconds to infect all of them through their communication network. We can arrange things then.
Oh, right, one more thing. Miss Rita is also here.]*
The radio waves Rita had transmitted to Schicksal HQ earlier were simply too obvious to her. So, she had eavesdropped a little. There wasn't much content, only confirming that Rita wouldn't intervene and would secretly observe everything that happened.
[She really is here.] Irene's mental projection nodded. If Rita was here and observing the entire situation to report back to Otto, then there was no need for her to bring Fu Hua along.
After all, if it were Fu Hua, she might be able to tell something was wrong and raise her guard.
Furthermore, she only needed everyone to see this event. As for the others, excluding Kiana, it was naturally best if they were as far away from her as possible. She just needed the others to bear witness.
[Then everything is ready.] Irene activated the Valkyrie armor on her body and headed out with Kiana. By now, the entirety of St. Freya had also been mobilized.
After all, compared to the last time—which was called an invasion but was honestly all bark and no bite—the situation was different now. This time, Cocolia had genuinely sent a massive swarm of Titans, and they had even triggered the alarms.
Therefore, the entirety of St. Freya had been mobilized. The vast majority of combat-capable B-Rank Valkyries had already reached the perimeter of St. Freya Academy to prevent the Anti-Entropy Titans from directly flanking and launching a sneak attack on their base.
As for the frontal battlefield, Irene looked up into the distance. Even in the dark night, the cyan tornado mingled with numerous Titan mecha fragments was exceptionally visible.
"Ah, it's Wendy's Authority!" Kiana immediately pointed at the tornado in the distance. "They've already started fighting! Sister Irene, we have to hurry."
"Mm, let's go."
[All the pieces are in place. Alright, let the performance begin.]
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