The familiar sensation wasn't entirely foreign; after all, Jiang Qiao had encountered the source of this energy fluctuation before—the Key of Infinity, the Cosmic Juggernaut.
Otto now possessed both the Cosmic Juggernaut and its core beacon. To realize that foolish wish spanning five hundred years, the only method was to use this special tool capable of prying open a corner of the Imaginary Tree.
Starting from the central cathedral, the entire town became enveloped in a strange sensation.
Looking towards the sky... the invited guests awaited by a certain old geezer were visible as dark silhouettes through the thick clouds, having arrived quietly.
Aboard the SELENE, a white-haired girl with braided pigtails, wearing a coat—undoubtedly the white-haired tuna—muttered:
"So this is Schicksal's old headquarters, Kolosten... That Otto guy, he wouldn't have set up an ambush feast, would he?"
"Isn't it obvious? That Otto guy suddenly deciding to abdicate and specifically inviting us to witness the ceremony? If he isn't brewing up some nasty scheme, I'll eat my hat!" A fiery voice—Tesla, participating via projection—pouted.
"But, Dr. Tesla, if we know there's a problem, why are we still coming? What if there's a trap..." A timid voice, belonging to Miss Blue Wendy—Seele—her face filled with confusion and worry.
"...Even so, it's necessary for us to make this trip. Based on our understanding of that Lord Overseer... if we don't come willingly, he would likely create a 'reason' forcing us to come."
"In that case, it's safer to keep the initiative in our own hands," Einstein's languid voice held a hint of helplessness. Although the situation where good people are held at gunpoint was unpleasant, unfortunately, Anti-Entropy and Kiana's group, being on the side of order and good, were easily led by the nose by Otto, a scoundrel with no bottom line who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.
After all, Otto just needed to throw himself wholeheartedly into scheming and doing bad things without limits, while Kiana and the others, as fighters for good, had much more to consider.
It was better to be proactive than reactive; otherwise, if they waited until the old geezer pulled off something big and arrived late, they might find themselves trying to catch falling dominoes—an impossible task.
A hearty, rough middle-aged voice rang out. A white-haired uncle with a single ponytail and stubble, Siegfried, laughed heartily:
"Haha, never mind Otto... At the very least, the new Schicksal Overseer is Theresa. We should at least come show some support."
"Don't worry, Kiana, Dad will protect you!"
"You stupid old man, who's protecting who is still uncertain," Miss White Tuna couldn't help muttering, looking at his thumbs-up and pearly white teeth.
After rigorous training, she was now very strong!
At the very least, Kiana could now stably and relatively perfectly use the powers of the Herrscher of the Void!
From a combat power perspective, she was undeniably an S-rank Valkyrie. Even her relatively weak combat experience had been honed under the tutelage of a certain white-haired, noodle-slurping man, surpassing even Siegfried, an old veteran whose combat power rivaled S-rank Valkyries.
"Although I don't know what conspiracy Otto is plotting, in terms of sheer combat power, the advantage is ours!" Bronya stated calmly and confidently, her voice retaining its usual composed tone. "With Bronya and everyone else here, even if he really has some nefarious scheme, there's nothing to fear!"
It should be known that they had mobilized practically everyone to face Otto's potential ambush.
Kiana, the Herrscher of the Void; Wendy, the Herrscher of Wind; Mr. Welt, who still possessed considerable combat power even after losing his Herrscher Core; Siegfried, comparable to an S-rank Valkyrie; and Seele, the Herrscher of Death and Life. Of course, the most important one was herself, the Herrscher of Reason!
This time, the Herrscher squad, the former denizens of St. Freya's monster den, had deployed in full force, with two old geezers (Einstein and Tesla) providing support—with this lineup, even launching a frontal assault on Schicksal wouldn't be much of an issue, let alone dealing with a mere Otto.
Hmm, feels like something's missing... Oh, it's that guy.
A certain someone popped into her mind, and Bronya shook her head—Hmph hmph, with my current self, with this current lineup, even without that guy, it doesn't matter... Although I don't know where he ran off to... whatever, Bronya will handle it!
Having suffered setbacks several times before, Duck had now fully learned her lesson. She decided to use this battle to redeem herself and completely escape the shadow of a certain someone.
"Detecting unknown Honkai energy reaction..."
"It seems Mr. Overseer has indeed prepared an unconventional welcome for us," Einstein's tone revealed a hint of resignation.
Great, they hadn't even landed the ship yet, and the trouble was already starting.
This Kolosten map feels a bit short!
"Perfect timing, this young lady has been wanting to beat that guy up for a long time!" The white-haired tuna, now aware of many things, cracked her knuckles, looking eager. She couldn't wait to have a close-range 'passionate discussion' between her fists and that old geezer Otto's face, the one who had done so much evil.
The SELENE descended rapidly. Then, after discovering communication issues, the Herrscher squad decided to split up to explore Kolosten first, find the troublemaking old geezer, and finely mince him.
"A lot has certainly changed."
On a rooftop, the short, white-haired girl watched them, unable to help sighing.
Probably because many things had been altered, although Himeko hadn't died and Fu Hua hadn't gone off to fight in the resurrection tournament, precisely because of this, without the St. Freya experience, Theresa's path and Kiana's group had perfectly diverged.
This also meant that Fu Hua hadn't defected yet and was still working for that old geezer.
And indeed, once Otto started preparing for his own resurrection attempt, he dragged the moldering Fu Hua out.
"...Bronya should be fine, right?"
He looked in that direction, watching the two individuals meeting, feeling somewhat uncertain.
During the split-up, the one who ran into a certain Shenzhou Flatboard was none other than Bronya.
In the alleyway, Bronya stood proudly in her Herrscher attire, full of spirit.
Opposite her stood Fu Hua, clad in a tight black battlesuit, radiating a sci-fi vibe—unfortunately, due to her rather petite figure, the otherwise provocative outfit looked incredibly awkward on her.
Currently, the two were strangers to each other.
At least, in terms of their relationship.
"Herrscher of Reason of Anti-Entropy, stop here."
"Otherwise, I will be forced to take action against you." Fu Hua seemed rather reluctant to fight.
She leaned more towards peaceful resolution.
However, bound by the mission assigned by the old geezer, she could only issue a stern warning.
"Hmm?"
Bronya clearly didn't think much of it. Not only that, she even felt like laughing.
After all, by accessing Schicksal's database, she could instantly identify her opponent—a recently graduated A-rank Valkyrie.
This information directly made Duck struggle to keep a straight face... Seriously, an A-rank Valkyrie? Who gave you the guts to say that? That Godsbane battlesuit?
Bronya admitted that the Godsbane battlesuit seemed quite powerful, but... the gap between an A-rank Valkyrie and a Herrscher of Reason was practically astronomical, okay?
If they sent an S-rank Valkyrie, that would be slightly better. Sending an A-rank Valkyrie, were they trying to amuse Duck?
However...
That face looked somewhat familiar...
She subconsciously recalled the Flame-Chaser named Hua in the Elysian Realm, the one who taught her Taixuan Sword Qi.
But the next moment, Bronya dismissed the thought.
After all, according to Hua, the real Hua probably bit the dust long ago.
This person likely just looked similar, right?
Hadn't she encountered a fox miko who looked just like SAKURA before?
"Bring it on."
Not taking her opponent seriously, Bronya planned to finish this quickly—of course, because of the familiar face, she felt she should control her power level somewhat, just as a courtesy to Hua.
On a whim, she directly adopted a stance.
Haha, haven't seen this before, have you? Witness Duck's Taixuan Sword Form!
Whether out of a desire to show off or some mischievous impulse, she simply used the Taixuan Sword Form she learned from Hua, intending to end the battle swiftly.
However, she failed to notice the strange expression on Fu Hua's face upon seeing this stance.
Naturally, a certain Jiang, observing the battle in secret, also noticed.
Old man, subway, phone.PNG
...You're using Taixuan Sword Qi against the Azure Empyrea?
No, wait, this isn't even the complete Taixuan Sword Qi, merely the Taixuan Sword Form from among the five rhythms.
Witnessing this scene, [Theresa] silently facepalmed.
As expected... the next moment.
—Inch Force, Sky Opener!
Although Fu Hua was puzzled as to where this Herrscher of Reason learned the Taixuan Sword Form, being a natural teacher, she couldn't suppress her displeasure upon seeing this half-baked attempt and directly used action to educate the inflated Duck.
"Pff..."
Punched squarely in the stomach, Duck's face turned pale green, feeling like she was about to vomit bile.
...Wait a minute, this A-rank Valkyrie who looks just like Hua seems a bit... off!
Her body weakening, she finally realized—So you weren't just some mob character?!
She instinctively tried to unleash her power as a Herrscher, but the next moment...
Feathers Adrift. (Fenghuang Down)
And then, she lost consciousness.
"...She was completely unprepared..."
[Theresa], having watched the entire exchange, blinked, speechless, unable to resist commenting.
...However, it wasn't entirely surprising.
Although the power Fu Hua currently possessed was less than a tenth of her peak, combined with the Godsbane battlesuit, she still had the ability to threaten a Herrscher.
Especially Fenghuang Down. Although the one Fu Hua held was a counterfeit swapped by Jiang Qiao, aside from its maximum output limit, this Divine Key's strength wasn't actually much weaker than the real Fenghuang Down.
Without any mental resistance, being taken down on the first encounter wasn't strange.
After all... up until now, the Eighth Herrscher, the Herrscher of Sentience, had yet to even appear.
Of course, even so, Bronya's defeat was clearly a bit too quick—at least in the original timeline, facing the Herrscher of Sentience's surprise attack, she could still put up a struggle for a bit.
"Tsk tsk, what a great show."
Miss Raven, watching from the side, clearly witnessed this scene too and couldn't help but laugh.
"This Herrscher of Reason from Anti-Entropy is really hilarious... Pfft, trying to use Taixuan Sword Qi against that person."
"...She probably wanted to show off her achievements, but ended up like Li Gui meeting Li Kui, wielding a broadsword before Guan Gong—a fake meeting the real deal." He sighed softly. "If she had gone all out from the beginning, whether Fu Hua could have taken down Bronya now is debatable."
All that could be said was, the carelessness was maxed out, truly maxed out, overflowing everywhere.
Fortunately, he hadn't expected much from Duck in this fight anyway.
This gatekeeper boss battle, for [Theresa], was more like an inspection and observation after a long absence.
The result was, Bronya still seemed stuck at the Herrscher of Reason level... Hmm, at least she could sit at the same table as Old Yang now. Barely counts as some progress, maybe... but not much.
"Go retrieve her."
"...You really know how to order people around..."
"I'll give you a bonus later."
"It is my honor to serve the future Overseer!" Miss Raven's expression changed instantly, her face full of 'loyalty'.
---}}---
Meanwhile...
"Hey, hey, hey—two against one isn't fair! Unfair! Unfair!"
"Stop, stop, stop! Don't fight anymore, this young lady surrenders, alright?!"
The Blue Wendy&Black Wendy combo teamed with Wendy seemed to have achieved outstanding results. The ancient-style Shenzhou warrior, Schicksal's most mysterious third S-rank Valkyrie, Li Sushang, who was supposed to be Fu Hua's opponent, performed a lightning-fast surrender amidst the gale.
Right now, she was cursing a certain old geezer endlessly in her heart.
What kind of miserable chore was this?
Sending two Herrschers right off the bat?
Although Li Sushang, as the most talented disciple of the Taixuan lineage, possessed strength comparable to Fu Hua and wouldn't be at a disadvantage against a single Herrscher... there were two of them! And these two weren't even ordinary Herrschers.
Unlike Kiana and Bronya, Seele, as a specially tuned unit exclusively used by a certain Mr. Jiang, even if she couldn't unleash the full power of the Herrscher of Death and Life, the coexistence of life and death within the Sea of Quanta still made her a force capable of rivaling Origin and Truth.
And Black Seele (Veliona), accompanying Wendy the Herrscher of Wind, while perhaps not as strong as Blue Seele, and her Wind Herrscher identity seemed ordinary—in reality, as a fusion component of the Feathered Wendy, she was long past being an ordinary Herrscher.
To put it in cultivation terms, she was at least half-step into the Ascension Realm.
Li Sushang thought to herself, while she was indeed strong, what had she done to deserve being tormented by two special units simultaneously?
Her sword was practically blown apart, okay! Surrender, surrender!
---||---
As for Dudu's side.
Siegfried, escorting Kiana, smiled awkwardly:
"Daughter, look..."
"..."
Goose looked completely blank—You're already calling her daughter, and you brought my little sister along, am I supposed to stage a scene of fatherly love and filial piety for you?
Thus, naturally, she could only defect along with Rita.
And so it happened: the strong bullying the weak, the many bullying the few, rigged matches galore.
In the Kolosten town conquest battle, it seemed only Miss Bronya, who swore to redeem herself, had achieved less-than-ideal results.
But it didn't matter. At least for now, she was enjoying sleep as peaceful as a baby's, wasn't she?