"Is your hand okay now? I heard it looked pretty bad, but unfortunately Seele lost her powers too, so she couldn't help with her abilities."
"What do you expect from being here? Zeke's skills are unmatched!"
"You've got a point... Come on, let me take a closer look."
Kiana grabbed Sin's severely injured hand, examining it from all angles, gently kneading it as she squinted, revealing a content expression.
"So soft and smooth... Despite having such an unlikable personality, these hands aren't bad at all—delicate and fair, quite adorable."
"('-'*) Let go..."
"Eep, they're tiny, soft, and feel so nice!"
"(ー`?ー) I said, let go..."
"Hmm, sniff! There seems to be a slight sweetness in its scent. Can I lick it just once..."
"(▼皿▼#) I'm fucking telling you to let go of my hand! You perverted paramecium!"
"Slap!"
The exceptionally loud sound drew the attention of every girl in the conference room.
They saw Sin making slapping motions with an expression of utter disgust, veins visibly pulsing on her forehead, perfectly conveying her mood.
Kiana's head turned away, bearing a clear imprint of Sin's palm. After several frozen seconds, she slowly faced back and said, dazedly,
"Oh... uh, I was just teasing you; no need to take it so seriously, right?"
"Get lost!" Sin retorted darkly at Kiana's innocent expression.
"Slap! Slap!"
At the front of the meeting table, Bronya, dressed in a miniature professional skirt suit, adjusted her glasses. With a black teaching pointer, she forcefully tapped the whiteboard, producing a loud noise.
"You two over there, stop disrupting the meeting—we're discussing important matters!"
"Yes ma'am!" x 2
Rubbing her cheek marked by the slap, Kia appeared unfazed, while Sin puffed out her chest, eyes ablaze. Both responded simultaneously.
Bronya lightly tapped the pointer in her hand, nodding seemingly satisfied as enemy faction data and explanations materialized on the whiteboard.
Sirin wields five Herrscher Authorities: Space, Domination, Ice, Wind, and Death. She once contained six Cores simultaneously, but her true limit remains unknown. Setting aside her mastery over these abilities, possessing five times the energy of a typical Herrscher alone is enough to render most tricks futile.
The Herrscher of a Thousand People, now suspected to be serving as Sirin's vessel for regeneration and survival, may not individually pose much threat, but their presence complicates matters significantly.
Recently, we received reports about the resurrection of Demon Dragon Benares, a Judgment-class Honkai Beast. Its performance during the Siberian campaign... While its record is difficult to summarize, it undoubtedly possesses Herrscher-level power—so we cannot afford to underestimate it.
Of the three adversaries, the most prominent is naturally Sirin, who has repeatedly defeated Herrscher squads since her resurgence. The terror of wielding five Authorities leaves anyone hearing of it feeling utterly hopeless.
"These are our enemies. As for our forces, we have Mei, capable of harnessing Authorities, along with six warriors averaging near-S rank capabilities... Honestly, Bronya wishes surrender were an option."
Facing the Herrscher squad of five plus Sin as support, Bronya shook her head regretfully.
Based on the data, this battle seems unwinnable; engaging would only mean certain death.
The group reacted differently to Bronya's assessment.
Kiana scratched her face, looking somewhat embarrassed. After all, she was the source of their biggest problem; this time, she'd really let everyone down.
Sin remained unwavering. As a loyal dog, she would charge without hesitation at any enemy Bronya commanded her to confront.
Wendy pressed her lips together, her eyes reflecting silent determination. As captain, the responsibility for defeat rested squarely on her shoulders. Moreover, despite excelling in combat, she had still fallen before that bug-like Herrscher of the Void. In any case, while Wendy acknowledged her failure, she refused to accept defeat outright.
Raiden Mei glanced around at her companions, feeling a bit guilty. If—if only she had overcome her aversion to using her own power earlier and could have joined forces with Wendy and the others from the start, might things have turned out better?
Seele clenched her small fists tightly, more shaken than anyone else present. She was the youngest among them, with the least life experience, and never destined for warfare. Yet losing access to her powers caused the other Seele to fall asleep, leaving Seele unable to communicate with or ascertain the safety of her counterpart... No matter what, she felt compelled to do something about it. Finally, biting her lip, Seele resolutely met Bronya's gaze, refusing to back down.
As for Ana, she hugged her thick textbook tightly and sighed quietly—not as if reborn, but these past few days had indeed brought significant growth. Ana felt no fear when it came to combat.
"Not bad..." Bronya allowed herself a subtle smile. Regardless of everything else, at least there were no signs of terror or resignation. From this alone, the Herrscher Squad had made notable progress mentally.
"Before discussing the future, let's first reflect on the past. I observed your entire operation from start to finish. Your initial reconnaissance was decisive, and splitting up later demonstrated understanding of the mission's core objectives—there weren't any major issues there. So, what led to your failure this time? Wendy, can you answer that?" Bronya pointed with her teaching rod, expressionless.
Wendy paused before responding, "We failed in gathering sufficient intelligence, and we became complacent."
"Excellent summary! Yes, from purely a military standpoint, you decisively gathered intelligence at the cost of Ana's ability. This led to a significant victory initially. Then, feeling overconfident, Kiana proposed splitting the squad, and Wendy agreed. Later, Wendy ventured with only Seele, disregarding her lack of combat experience. You also didn't consider how losing Kiana would leave you both powerless in controlling space—your pride was overwhelming. You believed handling the Herrscher of a Thousand People would be easy; after all, it was just a training exercise, so taking things lightly seemed inconsequential, right?"
The members of the Herrscher Squad lowered their heads.
Bronya's tone remained consistently calm throughout, yet this very detachment made them feel even more foolish—almost comical—in retrospect.
Bronya shook her head and continued, "Encountering the Herrscher of the Void was indeed unexpected, but if you hadn't been so careless, even if defeat was inevitable, you wouldn't have lost so many abilities. In any case, Bronya hopes you've learned your lesson. Zeke once told us: Ignorance and weakness are not barriers to survival; arrogance is!"
Bronya's teaching rod pointed at each member in turn, maintaining constant psychological pressure.
As Zeke's most capable deputy, she had naturally learned much from him. With numerous successful individual performances and command experiences in warfare under her belt, Bronya's guidance bore both the wisdom of a formidable leader and echoes of Zeke's teachings, commanding respect from all present.
Pausing briefly to allow time for reflection and digestion, Bronya then tapped the blackboard with her rod as its contents changed.
"Alright, let's get down to business. First, this is your last chance to turn things around. The Herrscher of the Void poses a significant enough threat already; Bronya will not give her further opportunities to grow, nor allow her to hinder Alliance Leader's grand plans."
Bronya had arranged backup forces, including Fu Hua-sensei and Durandal, along with several contingency elimination strategies. "Should you fail, Bronya will decisively eliminate the Herrscher of the Void. This is your one and only opportunity."
"Considering the significant gap in combat power between us and our enemy, it's unrealistic to expect you all to engage directly right away. So, Bronya requested certain support measures from Zeke, and our subsequent plan revolves around these resources."
"The specific plan is..."