"What are you doing!?"
Benares felt this woman was absolutely insane, attacking her for no reason whatsoever.
After Noldrei had politically put an end to the conflict between humans and Herrschers, Benares had been classified as part of humanity and was allowed to live in Academy City.
Shigure Kira's attack on her now was completely unjustified.
And if she really held a grudge, she could have signed a life-and-death contract at the Kengan Association. The current era allowed people to practice new concepts of "justice."
In such a lenient era, the idea of someone seeking private revenge was practically unheard of!
"What are you doing? If you want to fight, go fight at the Kengan Association!"
Benares still wanted to stop Shigure Kira. This was not the time to fight her directly. Not only were there too many people around, but even if they did fight, it wouldn't do Benares any good.
Not to mention, the current Sirin had little desire for conflict. Benares didn't want to get into a fight with these old Valkyries and force Sirin to intervene.
"Enough nonsense! Prepare to die, you damned Honkai Beast!"
Shigure Kira's curse reminded Benares of some unpleasant memories from the past.
Benares wasn't going to take it anymore. She immediately put what she had learned in the past two years into practice and unleashed a verbal tirade on Shigure Kira.
"Valkyrie! You bunch of living animals who aid the wicked! Following the orders of that bastard Overseer of yours, you running dogs all deserve to be slaughtered!"
Hearing Benares say this, Shigure Kira no longer cared about official grudges. The moment she saw Benares, her mind was filled with nothing but the thought of avenging her friends.
She had originally thought that her friends had finally put an end to Benares's life, but now it seemed that was not the case at all.
The life force of a Judgment-class Honkai Beast was much stronger than she had imagined.
"I don't care about any of that! I'm just here to avenge my friends!"
Shigure Kira didn't care about the details and just started fighting.
Inside the room, the two of them held back a little, not wanting to destroy the entire place.
To protect her workplace, Benares did a flip and flew out the window. Shigure Kira immediately followed, chasing after her.
Once outside, the two of them began to exchange blows.
If this had been in the past, Benares would have already transformed into her dragon form and started fighting.
But the Benares of today was completely different. She had "deeply" studied humanity and knew that for these Valkyries, their will to fight was an important part of their strength.
Simply defeating them wasn't enough; she had to crush their spirit as well!
Benares's intelligence had grown from a kindergartener's to a middle schooler's. For a Honkai Beast, this was an unprecedented leap.
"It's because of that stupid thinking of yours! You don't care about this, you don't care about that! That's why when your Overseer sent you to die, to clean up his mistakes, you willingly threw away your lives in front of us! If it weren't for Schicksal's human experiments, if he wasn't trying to cover up his mistakes, why would your friends have set foot on an unknown battlefield!"
"It wasn't us who killed your friends! We were just protecting ourselves from humans! It was you! It was you Valkyries' indifference to Otto's actions, your foolishness in obeying his orders when he abused his power!"
Benares saw Shigure Kira's weakness without her battlesuit and weapon. Protected by her Imaginary barrier, she let her newfound intellect shine, her mouth firing off like a machine gun, attacking these Valkyries.
She even thought, with a dark satisfaction, 'These people really deserve it!' If she hadn't met Noldrei, Benares would never have known how satisfying it was to verbally crush someone!
No wonder that bastard Noldrei, with all his power and authority, still loved to "reason" with people so much.
When had Shigure Kira ever been subjected to this level of verbal attack? In the past, the overall atmosphere within the Valkyries was that if it was Honkai, it had to die!
Everyone supported the Valkyries' fighting philosophy, and even the three-view Valkyries were so firm in their beliefs. [T/N: "Three views" (三观) refers to one's worldview, values, and outlook on life.]
But ever since the operating mechanism of the Honkai in the current civilization was exposed, all of humanity understood that the Honkai specifically targeted people in mental anguish.
Naturally, they could no longer easily accept the cruel human experiments within Schicksal and Anti-Entropy.
The overall development direction of human civilization began to shift towards Noldrei's focus on solving human needs and alleviating human suffering.
At this time, the old morals that the Schicksal Valkyries adhered to collapsed directly.
"You've killed so many people, how dare you slander my friends here?!"
Shigure Kira flew into a rage. She no longer cared if she had the ability to take down Benares. With her mind clouded by hatred, and thinking of Salome, Niggurath, Cecilia, and the others, she now had only one goal.
And that was to kill Benares!
Benares was not one to back down. This matter of right and wrong had long been questioned by the people of the current civilization.
She retorted, "I killed people? If it weren't for the existence of Schicksal, if it weren't for their human experiments, I wouldn't even exist! After you created us, you now want to discuss whether we kill people or not? Aren't you a little too shameless?"
At this moment, Shigure Kira felt her chest filled with grief and indignation. She didn't even have the ability to defend her friends' names.
Since Benares could stand here, alive and well, it meant that most people, at least ninety percent of them, truly agreed with the reasoning Benares was spouting.
And that meant...
Shigure Kira's friends who had sacrificed their lives fighting the Honkai had all become blades in Schicksal's hands, accomplices to Otto who turned a blind eye to the cruel torture of humans.
Whether they knew it or not, in the eyes of the public, most of the past Valkyries knew about the crimes Otto had committed. Not to mention that many of these Valkyries had voluntarily participated in the experiments.
And those who didn't volunteer, probably...
'Salome, Niggurath, Lady Cecilia... They have to bear the blame for all of Schicksal's mistakes?!'
Thinking that her friends had to bear the burden of Schicksal's sins, Shigure Kira found it even more unacceptable that Benares was still alive and well in the world.
"I can't care about that much... Either you die, or I do!"
Benares hadn't considered that much; all her focus was on how satisfying it was to verbally thrash someone. She never expected Shigure Kira to disregard martial ethics and go berserk.
At this point, Benares felt her hands were tied. She couldn't really kill Shigure Kira, nor could she just let this woman take revenge on her.
Benares, of all people, was now in a difficult position.