Tens of thousands of Honkai Beasts, sniffing the "fragrance" finally emitted by the Herrscher, were collectively converging toward the location of the Oceania Branch.
"Kiana, a large number of Honkai Beasts are approaching the Oceania Branch from all directions. Cecilia and Raiden Mei are rushing to your location; stay safe!"
After hearing Murata Himeko's warning, Kiana could already vaguely see a massive swarm of Honkai Beasts approaching rapidly in the distance.
Wendy's delicate brows furrowed slightly, and then her feet drifted lightly off the ground. "They were attracted here by me. I'll go clear them out."
Lierre did not stop her. Wendy's figure flashed through the air, and in moments, she arrived above a group of Honkai Beasts.
Among them, the Flame Emperor, second only to Judgment-class Honkai Beasts, was the first to discover Wendy.
Roar!
The Flame Emperor let out a hostile roar, its mountain-like massive body halting in place as the butterfly-shaped flying objects surrounding it flew out.
Lava boomerangs drew several fiery-red threads through the air, slashing toward Wendy's vital points.
Toward Wendy, a Herrscher who had betrayed the Honkai, it was filled with absolute killing intent.
Facing the incoming lava boomerangs, Wendy calmly and unhurriedly raised her hand and pressed down lightly.
Boom!
A frenzied cyan storm instantly swept across the entire battlefield below.
At this moment, every wisp of wind turned into the sharpest blade in the world. The flying lava boomerangs were sliced into powder.
When the wind blew across the Honkai Beasts, their impenetrable carapaces were ruthlessly torn to shreds in an instant. For a time, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and the ground was littered with corpses!
"Bo... Boss, how on earth did you do it? You just moved your mouth and made a person instantly become a Herrscher, and this Herrscher even seems to be on humanity's side!"
Pardofelis stared at the one-sided battle in the distance; her fur was practically standing on end.
The First Herrscher of this era had also only successfully broken free from the Honkai's influence with the help of others before finally becoming a Herrscher who fought for humanity.
Although it was only a few short sentences in Schicksal's records, one could guess it wasn't easy.
But Wendy's case was completely different.
Lierre said Wendy should become the Fourth Herrscher, and then the Fourth Honkai Eruption broke out without warning.
She said Wendy should become a Herrscher of Human, and that seemingly came true as well.
She said Wendy should resolve her inner conflict, and now it seemed she had.
Heavens, can a human really do such things?!
"Just a fluke," Lierre replied modestly.
The ears on Pardofelis's head twitched. She wasn't satisfied with this answer. Driven by curiosity, she turned to the Mobius beside her for help. "Sister Snake, do you know what's going on here?"
She believed that the learned and multi-talented Mobius should be able to see through the tricks and offer some guidance.
Mobius turned her head away, pretending she knew nothing and heard nothing.
If she could see even a hint of the mechanism, she wouldn't be so passive.
The abilities Lierre displayed had already greatly exceeded her range of cognition; they belonged to an unknown domain she had yet to touch.
"They're both Herrschers, so why is Wendy's strength so great while Mei can't even fly?" Kiana withdrew her gaze from the distance and looked at Lierre in confusion.
"Because Raiden Mei has only borrowed the Authority of the Third Herrscher. In reality, she hasn't truly become the Herrscher of Thunder, which means she needs to develop the Herrscher of Thunder's power bit by bit on her own."
Lierre explained, "Right now, in her subconscious, she strongly rejects the identity of the Herrscher of Thunder."
Because the identity of the Herrscher of Thunder had once almost destroyed the entire city of Nagazora.
If Lierre hadn't seen that Raiden Mei's performance was truly too poor, she wouldn't have specifically given Wendy a small cheat to let her complete the necessary psychological journey in a short time.
"I see."
Kiana nodded after listening, seemingly understanding.
Hearing that there was another Herrscher, the way Mobius and Pardofelis looked at Lierre changed.
The gaze of the little fan-girl Ana became even more fervent.
As expected of Lady Lierre!
"Wendy can handle the Honkai Beasts here on her own. Schicksal's reinforcements are about to arrive, so it's nearly time for us to part ways," Lierre said.
Kiana let out a disappointed "oh" upon hearing this. She didn't want to see Lierre imprisoned at Schicksal headquarters by Schicksal's people, nor did she plan to forcibly take Lierre back to St. Freya Academy.
"Bronya hopes Mama Lierre will keep in constant contact with us and not play missing again." Bronya stated her request.
"Of course, no problem."
Lierre didn't think this request was excessive.
Although it made it easy to expose her location, that was only a minor issue.
"I'll be going to Shenzhou in a while. When the time comes, I'll catch a big fish to make soup for you all." Lierre's fishing addiction was acting up.
She planned to go fish for the thousand-ton Chiyou.
"Great!"
"It's a deal!"
Kiana and Bronya were also very happy because they knew Lierre's next stop would be Shenzhou.
Lierre was just about to take Mobius and the others to leave when she was called back by Kiana.
"Auntie, wait a second, I have one last question for you!" Kiana ran over.
Bronya cast a questioning look, not knowing what Kiana was up to.
"What is it?" Lierre wasn't in a hurry to leave and wanted to hear what Kiana wanted to ask.
Kiana ran up to Lierre. She scrutinized Lierre and Mobius for a few seconds before asking in a serious voice, "Auntie, what is your relationship with this loli named Mobius? I heard people say you've had a change of heart."
News had been leaking from headquarters saying that Lierre was very close to another cute loli named Mobius, and there seemed to be a trend toward becoming secret lovers.
This worried her greatly.
She couldn't bear to see Theresa wearing a green hat, so she had to ask clearly about this matter.
Bronya: "!"
Idiot Kiana, how can you ask such a sensitive question in front of so many people!
"Pfft..."
Pardofelis looked as if she had heard a horror story. She stared at Mobius in terror, her fur standing on end.
After Kiana's reminder, she felt like she was waking from a dream and gradually understood everything!
No wonder Sister Snake walked into the Boss's room in the middle of the night wearing pretty clothes. At first, I thought Sister Snake wanted to be friends with the Boss, but I didn't expect it was that kind of "friendship"...
Ana had naturally heard such rumors as well and had personally seen Lierre and Mobius acting very ambiguously for a long time.
She just hadn't thought in that direction, but now that Kiana mentioned it, her heart felt a sudden surge of panic.
Was the ship she supported about to sink?
Lierre: "..."
Mobius intentionally enticing her at Schicksal headquarters was purely because she craved the knowledge in Lierre's mind and wanted to put her on the operating table; it wasn't that kind of thing at all.
And Lierre had only made a few small requests using knowledge Mobius was interested in to keep Mobius in line.
This resulted in her and Mobius being very close for a time. Combined with the fact that both Mobius and Theresa were lolis, it seemed very easy for others to misunderstand.
"You've misunderstood. There is nothing between us."
Lierre looked at Mobius helplessly. "Aren't you going to say a few words to explain?"
"Haha~ Is there a need to explain? Isn't this the truth?" Mobius laughed seductively, with no intention of explaining.
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's expression changed.
"...Whether this is true or not, I will tell Theresa everything that happened today exactly as it occurred!"
Kiana put on a pained expression, seemingly saddened by Lierre's fickleness.
However, out of trust for Lierre, she was more inclined to believe Lierre's explanation. But since she lacked experience in this area and couldn't judge who was lying, she planned to truthfully inform Theresa and Cecilia to let experienced people decide.
By the same logic, Pardofelis believed Mobius more, so she received a bigger shock. She didn't even notice that the gold flower she loved so much had dropped from her hand.
Seeing her image plummet, Lierre's small fists involuntarily hardened.
Seeing Lierre suffer a setback, the corners of Mobius's mouth curled up slightly.
She indeed craved everything about Lierre. In the very beginning, she had wished she could devour her whole.
After determining she couldn't handle Lierre for the time being, she had long since prepared to sacrifice everything to squeeze enough value out of her.
Therefore, these rumors were simply insignificant to Mobius.
Unfortunately, she had guessed wrong from the start; Lierre had no interest in her in that way, so the path of seduction was a dead end.
The reason she didn't stand up to explain—and even added fuel to the fire—was naturally because she wanted to see Lierre suffer.
All along, it had been her being teased unilaterally by Lierre. Having finally found an opportunity, she would vent her anger even if it was a move that hurt the enemy a thousand but herself eight hundred.
Seeing Mobius's attitude, Lierre thought for a moment and suddenly smiled.
Fine, fine, fine. Instead of helping me explain, you're adding fuel to the fire, right? You just wait!
...
After Cecilia and Raiden Mei found their way over, the Fuzetsu covering the area faded, and the destroyed buildings were restored as if time were flowing backward.
By this time, Lierre had already left with her people. After clearing out the Honkai Beasts, Wendy was chatting with Kiana and Bronya.
Seeing the two arrive, Kiana hurriedly went up to greet them. "Mom, Mei, why did you just get here? Lierre and the others have already gone far away."
At this point, she officially introduced the Wendy standing beside her: "By the way, from now on, Wendy is one of us!"
Hearing this news, Cecilia and Raiden Mei's last sliver of worry was dispelled.
Having one more companion was always better than having one more enemy.
"Welcome, Miss Wendy."
Raiden Mei's eyes lit up, feeling a Sense of Belonging from finding One of the same kind.
"Just call me Wendy."
Wendy's eyes also fell on Raiden Mei. As a Herrscher, she immediately discovered Raiden Mei's uniqueness and felt an instant affinity.
Bronya looked back and forth between the two, thinking, Is this the mutual attraction between Herrschers?
"The Fuzetsu has faded, and Wendy's current identity is quite sensitive. We need to set off for St. Freya Academy as soon as possible to avoid running into Schicksal reinforcement units that might arrive."
Cecilia was happy about Wendy's joining, but she also worried that Wendy's identity as a Herrscher would draw hostility from Schicksal Valkyries, so it was best to leave quickly.
On the Hyperion, Kiana secretly pulled Cecilia and Murata Himeko into a private room. After contacting Theresa far away in the Far East, she repeated the matter of Lierre and Mobius exactly as it happened.
After listening, Murata Himeko, Cecilia, and Theresa on the other side all fell silent.
Seeing no one speaking, Kiana felt a bit anxious. "Don't just stay quiet!"
Cough, cough...
Murata Himeko coughed lightly and asked Theresa, "Lord Principal, what do you think about this?"
The room was quiet for several seconds before Theresa's stubborn voice came through the communicator: "...You don't seriously believe Mobius's one-sided story, do you? I admit Mobius is beautiful, but I'm not that much worse than her!"
Cecilia felt a sense of relief in her heart. "I'm relieved you can think that way. Mobius's words aren't very credible, so don't let some rumors affect you."
"Phew, fortunately it was just a false alarm." Kiana felt as if a weight had been lifted from her heart.
Far away in the principal's office, Theresa rubbed her hands guiltily.
The words she just said were merely for the sake of being tough. After all, she and Lierre were innocent, and it was understandable that Lierre had become close with Mobius.
The reason she said those words was her pride as a woman acting up.
Theresa brushed aside these troubling thoughts and pulled the conversation back to the main topic, asking in a serious tone, "Setting that aside, let's talk business! Wendy... how is she doing now...?"
She felt very guilty toward Wendy because she was the one who had pushed Wendy into the pit of fire that was the Oceania Branch.
By the time she realized it, it was already too late.
Upon hearing the news that Wendy had become a Herrscher, Theresa's mind had gone blank.
But fortunately, there was still a turning point; otherwise, she truly wouldn't have known what to do.
"Wendy?" Kiana's voice sounded through the communicator. "I'll go call Wendy right now!"
"Eh..."
Theresa felt a sudden surge of panic. Just as she was too nervous to know how to face Wendy, Wendy's complex voice sounded from the communicator in front of her.
"Principal Theresa, I want to talk to you."
"Okay..."
At the gate of St. Freya Academy.
Joyce looked as if he had entered retirement; he sat in the guardroom, listening to classical music and sipping tea.
He didn't want to have nothing to do, but without a sufficient reason, he couldn't leave his post to investigate, so he was forced into a healthy lifestyle.
Because Lierre was not at St. Freya Academy, Einstein and the others' plans could not be implemented. Even if Joyce wanted to help, he was temporarily at a loss.
The sound of the Hyperion's engines suddenly came from the distance. Joyce's expression changed as if he had sensed something. He rushed out and looked up at the Hyperion in the sky.
"Why is there an extra... unfamiliar Herrscher on the Hyperion!" Joyce stared at the direction of the Hyperion with an uncertain expression.
Raiden Mei was there as well, and the Hyperion didn't look like it had been attacked, nor was a Fuzetsu deployed.
Could it be that St. Freya Academy was going to have another Herrscher Student in the future...