"Higokumaru… what is Li Xuan doing?" Yae Sakura asked, her speech slightly muffled. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, holding a bucket of 'Laotan Pickled Cabbage Beef Noodles' and eating heartily.
"Hmm… he's probably getting familiar with his Stigmata's abilities," Higokumaru said, looking at Li Xuan, who was also sitting cross-legged, holding a steel bar.
"Sigh~" Higokumaru glanced helplessly at the cheerfully eating Yae Sakura. It seemed that after waking from their hundred-year slumber, Sakura still hadn't remembered all of her past…
But… maybe that was for the best… She wouldn't have to suffer so much.
"..." Li Xuan held a steel bar he had casually picked up from the roadside in his right hand, his eyes closed as if he were silently sensing something.
The Stigmata on the back of his right hand flashed faintly. The Tiger sigil grew slightly hot. The rusty steel bar vibrated gently, and metal fragments continuously fell from it.
A warm current surged from deep within Li Xuan's body, flowing towards the steel bar in his right hand… In the purple light that emanated from his hand, the brown steel bar miraculously began to change shape, like a piece of malleable clay. The cylindrical bar slowly flattened, its sides bulging out to form edges. The rust continuously fell off, revealing silvery-white steel beneath, and purple patterns appeared on the blade.
In just one minute, the rusty steel bar had transformed into a long sword shimmering with a purple glow…
"Huff, huff~" Li Xuan felt as if he had been instantly drained of all his strength. He supported himself with his hands on the ground, his forehead covered in sweat.
I feel completely drained… Li Xuan thought helplessly. He guessed he had overused the Honkai energy in his body. After all, his body contained Honkai energy, which was autonomously absorbed by his Stigmata. Once used, he had to wait for a while for it to recover.
The reason why people with Stigmata were not afraid of high-concentration Honkai energy environments was because the Stigmata played an unknown role, allowing them to absorb and utilize Honkai energy while preventing the invasion of Honkai's Will, which would turn them into mindless Honkai Zombies.
But… Li Xuan looked up at the long sword in his hand. A sharp edge glinted on the blade, which was adorned with mysterious purple patterns.
"I didn't expect the Tiger sigil's power of Metal… to be able to control metal?!" Although Li Xuan had guessed the ability was related to metal, he had to admit that this ability was extremely practical.
"Is this what they call weapon creation?…" Li Xuan swung the long sword. With a little effort, he plunged it into the concrete floor. The hard ground seemed unable to resist this weapon, which was a combination of ordinary steel and Honkai energy.
"But… it consumes a lot of Honkai energy…" Li Xuan collapsed onto the floor without a care for his image, completely exhausted…
"Are you hungry?…" Yae Sakura crouched down in front of Li Xuan.
"Want some noodles?!"
"Alright… that's enough. Let me rest for a bit," Li Xuan said wearily, closing his eyes. The fatigue spreading through his body made his eyelids feel heavy.
Sunlight streamed in through the library's floor-to-ceiling windows, enveloping the two of them. In the light, the black-haired boy slept soundly, while the pink-haired beautiful girl held a cup of instant noodles, slurping them down.
But at that very moment…
"Captain Yuudachi, we have searched the first sector. No signs of any survivors have been found," a young girl said, standing before a girl with long, khaki-colored hair.
"I see, Second Lieutenant Sha Jin'ou. Let's head to the second sector immediately. Major Himeko has ordered us to find that male survivor as quickly as possible," Yuudachi said, pushing up her somewhat old-fashioned black-framed glasses.
"Yes, Captain Yuudachi…" the girl named Sha Jin'ou said with a smile. They were all graduates of St. Freya High School and knew each other.
"Go and gather Aurelia and Ayaken Kaede," Yuudachi said, patting Sha Jin'ou's cheek.
"Beep beep!~" At that moment, the communicator on Yuudachi's waist suddenly let out an urgent call.
"This is B-Rank Valkyrie squad!" Yuudachi's smile vanished as she spoke sternly into the holographic image that appeared on the communicator. It was Principal Theresa of St. Freya High School! A personal call from her made Yuudachi feel a sense of unease.
"Retreat immediately… Anti-Entropy has deployed… Berserk… kzzzt!~~" It seemed the communication signal was being jammed. Before Principal Theresa could finish her sentence, the signal was cut off.
But as the second-in-command of the Hyperion, Yuudachi had still heard that word from Principal Theresa's lips—'Anti-Entropy'! Their old rival, in opposition to the Schicksal organization.
The two sides had clashed many times, but no clear victor had emerged, resulting in significant losses for both. There was even an incident where a small Schicksal branch was completely wiped out by an Anti-Entropy attack after finding something…
So, almost instantly, the hair on Yuudachi's neck stood on end. She immediately opened her mouth to say,
"We are retreating immediately!…"
But as soon as the words left her mouth, the building beside them collapsed with a roar. Flying debris even cut Yuudachi's delicate face. But neither of them paid any attention to the flying stones.
Amidst the billowing dust, a behemoth appeared with a loud roar. It was a massive, deep-blue, humanoid intelligent combat mecha. Its head was connected directly to its chest without a neck. The screen that served as its eyes lit up, and a faint blue energy light glowed from its joints.
"A Titan Mecha?!" Yuudachi cried out in shock.
This was the mass-produced mecha developed by Anti-Entropy using 'human' technology and powered by Honkai energy—the 'Titan Mecha'!