The girl stood silently under the moonlight, raised her delicate left hand, and gently waved it down. The glowing units around her seemed to understand her command. They began to shine brightly, as if gathering moonlight, and beams of energy shot out from them, attacking Li Xuan and the others.
Laser beams shot towards them. "Get down!" Li Xuan shouted, and everyone quickly dodged the attack. The milky-white lasers grazed past them, and even without a direct hit, they left deep scars on the bridge's surface. The damaged ground glowed crimson, an afterglow of the intense heat.
"Stop, we mean you no harm!" Li Xuan shouted to the girl in front of them. But she didn't respond. Her only answer was another laser beam. Li Xuan's pupils contracted; he wanted to dodge, but it was too late.
With no other choice, Li Xuan extended his left hand as if to catch the laser. But the beam didn't pierce his palm as the girl might have expected. Instead, it was blocked and neutralized by a previously invisible, azure energy shield in front of his hand.
This won't do, I have to stop her, Li Xuan thought helplessly. The girl's unprovoked attack was frustrating. Even though she looked so much like his relative, that wasn't a reason to just stand there and take the hits.
"Kiana! Attack her glowing floating units!" Mei said. She wasn't using her katana but a shotgun. She couldn't just charge in with a sword; the web of laser fire wasn't something anyone could just tank.
Following Mei's instruction, a black-and-yellow pistol appeared in Kiana's hand. It was Kiana's backup weapon, the Fairy Bow Silven. The powerful Mjolnir had run out of ammo earlier, so she could only use this. Although its damage output wasn't high, its infinite ammo was a huge advantage. It was a classic case of quantity over quality!
Wielding the Fairy Bow Silven, Kiana used her Gun Kata and began firing at the glowing floating units. To her frustration, the things were too damn slippery. It was hard to hit them, and even when she did, the damage was minimal. She'd need to land several shots to do any real harm, but that was easier said than done, especially since they seemed to take turns attacking.
I'll focus my fire and take one out, Kiana thought. She raised the Fairy Bow Silven and concentrated her fire on one of the floating units. The effect was immediate; the targeted unit was soon riddled with damage. But while Kiana was focused, another floating unit silently flew behind her and fired a laser beam straight at her back.
"Watch your back, Kiana!" Bronya Zaychik, with her sharp senses, immediately spotted the laser and shouted a warning. Kiana had just fired a shot to counter another unit's attack and didn't have time to react when she turned around.
From the very beginning, Li Xuan had taken out his Super Electromagnetic Hand Cannon and fired a... super-electromagnetic blast at the unknown girl. Although he hadn't aimed for a vital spot, merely intending to force her back, the shot was intercepted and neutralized by lasers fired from the glowing units surrounding her. The blast exploded harmlessly in front of her.
After several fruitless shots, Li Xuan heard Bronya Zaychik's shout and noticed Kiana's predicament. He was the closest to her, so he rushed over and stood in front of her. The milky-white laser hit him, disappearing as if it had fallen into the ocean, but the azure light of his shield dimmed from the attack.
After taking the hit, Li Xuan ignored the unit behind Kiana and instead aimed his gun at the one she had already heavily damaged. A white arc of electricity crackled at the dark muzzle before shooting towards the floating unit. The powerful kinetic and electrical energy erupted on impact. The glowing unit sputtered and then exploded like a firework. For a brief moment, the brilliant flash illuminated everyone's faces, then vanished like a firefly on a summer night.
"Thanks," Kiana said, turning her head away reluctantly. In the glow of the explosion, her face was flushed... whether from shame or shyness, it was hard to tell. Though judging by her bristling demeanor and general intelligence, it was probably anger.
"...You're welcome," Li Xuan said, holding back a laugh at Kiana's textbook tsundere reaction. Just be a little nicer to me, and we'll be good, he added silently. He had finally figured out why Kiana was always so hostile towards him. The reason was both simple and hard to believe: Kiana Kaslana was a genuine lesbian, a yuri girl! It had taken Li Xuan a while to confirm it, and he was still a bit uncertain at first.
All he could do was marvel at how "the world is full of wonders." But this explained her attitude towards him. Imagine if a man was constantly hanging around your wife, even with no ill intentions—could you really be nice to him? So, Li Xuan completely dropped any ideas he might have had and silently wished them well. He was also a little scared—if he actually managed to hit it off with one of the girls, who knew if Kiana would put Mjolnir to his head?
So, girls are precious, but life is more valuable! A strategic retreat was necessary. A man has to know when to back down, to be flexible.
The explosion of the glowing unit caused a flicker of regret in the eyes of the girl, who had remained seated and impassive until now.
"Tch! Requesting retreat," the girl said, her voice laced with unwillingness. The outer shell of the cabin she was in fell away, revealing a glowing fuselage. It lifted her and the remaining floating units into the air, flying back towards Nagazora City.
"Phew~ she's gone," Mei said with a sigh of relief, but her eyes were focused on the slightly dazed Li Xuan. "Li Xuan-kun, you've looked a bit pale since just now. Are you hurt anywhere?" When it came to being observant, Mei was the most perceptive one on the team.
"...I'm just a little surprised," Li Xuan said after a moment, closing his eyes. "That girl... she looks a lot like my little sister."
"Huh? You have such a cute little sister?" the white-haired furball immediately retorted. As an only child, she had always wanted a younger sister.
"Hmph, do I look that ugly?" Li Xuan shot back, annoyed by the white-haired furball Kiana's skeptical tone. He turned to pack his bag, but his mind kept replaying the image of the girl. She really does look like her. Other than her hair and eye color, their features were almost identical. Turns out, Li Xuan was a bit of a sis-con himself.
"By the way, Bronya Zaychik, did she say 'Valkyrie System' just now?" Kiana suddenly asked Bronya Zaychik.
"Bronya Zaychik believes she is an experimental subject, just like Bronya Zaychik. However, Bronya Zaychik is unable to identify her ID," Bronya Zaychik said with a frown.
"An Anti-Entropy experimental unit? Why would one show up here..." Kiana wondered aloud.
"Wait, what the heck is Anti-Entropy?" Li Xuan asked curiously. As a top student in high school, he knew about entropy in thermodynamics—a measure of the state of a substance, also used as a metaphor in social sciences.
"Anti-Entropy is an organization that opposes Schicksal. They've done extensive research on the Honkai, but their philosophy clashes with ours, so we've had conflicts with them many times," Kiana explained, adding with a shrug, "Anyway, they're the enemy. We just have to beat them all!"
"Eh~ Sounds complicated," Li Xuan said, not quite understanding all this talk about Schicksal and Anti-Entropy.
"You're not from Schicksal, and you're not from Anti-Entropy. I really don't know where you get your power from," Kiana said, staring at Li Xuan.
"Haha, I'm just someone who accidentally fell into this world!" Li Xuan laughed, but a strange sadness welled up inside him.
In the end, I don't belong to this world.
"Do you think she mistook us for people who wanted to hurt her?" Mei said, trying to change the subject when she noticed Li Xuan's sudden low spirits.
"Maybe," Li Xuan said with a shrug.
Nearby, Bronya Zaychik walked over to the discarded shell of the flying unit. On the casing were the words: 'Defective Product. Life Support Duration: 360 hours!' "She only has 15 days to live?" Bronya Zaychik said, her head bowed low.
"The moon is so full tonight," Kiana said, looking up at the round moon hanging high in the night sky, casting its gentle light.
"Let's get out of Nagazora City quickly!" Li Xuan said, both anxious and excited. He wanted to see what other places were like. But as soon as the words left his mouth, a loud roar came from the bridge ahead. The section of the bridge, already riddled with damage from the laser attacks, collapsed completely. Huge slabs of stone, mixed with steel rebar and concrete, plunged into the bottomless water below with a resounding splash.
The mood was complicated. The atmosphere was awkward. And amid the sound of laughter and cheerful chatter, Li Xuan typed out 'GG'.
"No! Aaaahhhh~" Under the moonlight, a defeated soul let out a miserable howl.
(End of Chapter)