As the malicious fifth question ended, the sixth question popped up — on the screen.
[6. In the battle at Schicksal Headquarters, Saint Freya Academy and Anti-Entropy cooperated to attack the Schicksal Headquarters, using the Titan troops of the Anti-Entropy conservative faction as the main force to capture the third airport of Schicksal Headquarters.]
[At the moment of victory, a strong spatial fluctuation reaction suddenly occurred.]
[Raiden Mei, who was in the main control room of the battleship, was embraced by the Herrscher of the Void, who had escaped from the laboratory and awakened with the power of imaginary numbers.]
[Question: How did Raiden Mei resist the Herrscher of the Void?]
A. I'll fall into the kitchen in exchange for a full meal for you! Enter the Herrscher of Rice state.
B. One pot, two shovels, chop all the offal! Useless, Useless, Useless!
C. Use a Herrscher to fight a Herrscher! Enter the state of the old... Thunder Queen.
D. Use the Milk Sword-Drawing Technique to perform a slash with a milky fragrance! Raiden Shogun State.
---
When they first saw this question...
It involved a battle at Schicksal Headquarters.
According to the previous questions, everyone's mood should have grown heavier to some extent.
But...
Looking at these obviously frivolous and malicious answers, Theresa couldn't remain serious at all and spoke to Mei with a smile.
"Mei, looks like it's another question about you."
"..."
Mei didn't feel happy at all. Seeing how this question clearly hinted at her as the answer, the expression on her face grew bitter and vengeful.
She took a deep breath and tried to calm her somewhat irritable heart rate before starting to analyze the question.
The question itself didn't offer much new information. What should be known had already been revealed in previous ones.
As for the answer options...
A. I'll fall into the kitchen in exchange for a full meal for you! Enter the Herrscher of Rice state.
Looking at answer A, Mei subconsciously felt her intracranial blood pressure spike.
This was definitely in response to the previous "Cooking woman" question that implied her!
Damn it—even if I am the cook, did the cook eat your rice?!
After grinding her teeth for a moment, Mei moved her gaze away from the clearly malicious Answer A.
Then came Answer B.
When she saw it, her blood pressure rose again, though not as severely.
From the start of Answer B, she suspected it still hinted at her, though the latter part was vague.
Although Mei was certain it was still persecuting something...
Answer C...
Finally, Mei felt relieved to see an answer that seemed reliable.
Stay. That one can stay.
Then came Answer D:
D. Use the Milk Sword-Drawing Technique to perform a blade with a milky fragrance! Thunder God State
"?"
Looking at this one, Mei was filled with question marks.
What even is the Milk Sword-Drawing Technique?
Milk... wait—
Thinking of a certain red and blue sword-wielding girl she had seen somewhere by chance, Mei's ears turned red instantly.
"Sister Mei, what's wrong?"
Beside her, Bronya noticed Mei's strange expression and looked worried.
At the same time, she took the initiative to stand on tiptoe and reach out to touch Mei's forehead.
It was a little warm...
But not to the extent of a fever.
"N-No... nothing."
Mei forced a smile, her cheeks slightly flushed, and shook her head to indicate she was fine.
Not wanting to dwell on the question any longer, she directly chose the only answer she thought was reliable.
"I choose C."
[Correct]
As Mei expected.
This kind of question wasn't hard at all. As long as you thought about it, you'd see how ridiculous and unreliable the other answers were.
After the question was answered, a video related to it popped up.
In the footage, after successfully capturing Schicksal's airport, Theresa and Mei were shown celebrating.
On the battleship's display screen in front of them was a massive floating mechanical island, already occupied by Titan troops. This was the third airport of Schicksal Headquarters.
But in the next second, accompanied by the battleship's alarm, Mei—who had just been cheering—suddenly shifted scenes and appeared elsewhere.
Looking at the figure embracing her, the Mei in the video was slightly surprised.
"Kiana?!"
Then she grew worried.
"Are you okay?"
In response, Kiana—dressed in white—smiled with an unsettling expression. She slowly spoke.
"I'm fine, I'm fine..."
Her tone gradually shifted, and the accessories on her body began to change as well.
"It feels so good... it's like I've been reborn."
"Kiana... Kiana?!"
The growing strangeness made Mei in the video begin to panic.
"I'm so glad you were by my side when I woke up."
Her appearance had changed. She had become Kiana—the Herrscher of the Void—as seen by others outside the video. Her golden eyes gleamed dangerously, and her tone was filled with joy and delight.
"Now, merge with me again, my other half."
As soon as she said that—
Squeak—
A lilac arc of lightning flashed with the sound of thunder, and the scene shifted instantly.
Mei Honkaid to the ground, and a lilac figure appeared beside her.
"We're too late. She's already been controlled by Honkai."
"She's in danger now."
Now assessing the Herrscher of the Void, her Herrscher persona warned.
But Mei wasn't frightened at all. Instead, she spoke resolutely.
"No. It's precisely because she's in danger... that I absolutely cannot let her go!"
Her words were filled with determination.
"Hmph..."
Her Herrscher persona only let out a light snort and smiled.
"Alright."
"Since the enemy is a Herrscher, we'll use Herrscher power to defeat her."
She was smiling brightly.
"Don't let me down."
As her voice fell, the purple shadow transformed into lightning and merged into Mei's body.
Then—
A burst of intense Honkai energy surged from Mei, and dangerous violet lightning wrapped around her.
"Kiana... I'll never abandon you..."
Facing the cold eyes of the Herrscher of the Void, she stood firm.
"Just like you never abandoned me!"
At that moment, the image faded out.
As the person shown in the footage, hearing Mei's words made Kiana's somewhat dark expression soften.
Her hands were wrapped in warmth. She looked up and saw Mei's gentle smile. Kiana was stunned, and subconsciously smiled back.
The sixth question ended here.
—But that didn't mean the Q&A session was over.
[7. The Battle of Schicksal consists of two stages. What is the important event in the first stage of the Battle of Schicksal?]
A. Cyberangel: ZERO Exception
B. Meteoric Salvation
C. Lament of the Fallen
D. Will of the Herrscher
Another seemingly simple question.
And this time, it wasn't as flashy as before. The question was straightforward and clear.
However, simplicity often means that not many clues can be drawn from the question itself.
This meant that Mei and the others had to rely on their accumulated information from previous questions and answers to interpret it.
"Previous questions didn't seem to mention anything about these answer options," Bronya noted.
After joining back to the Mei's Brain Department, Bronya had made a point of collecting and recording all the previous and upcoming questions and answers in Project Bunny. So she seemed quite clear on the matter.
Now, only the answer remained to be considered.
However... could this incredibly simple set of options—each nearly devoid of distinguishing features—really lead them to the correct answer?