"Well... I don't know if you could call it 'defeating' her."
Kiana scratched her head and recounted everything that had happened in the mental space, without leaving out a single word. She was still in a daze herself, unable to understand why the Herrscher of the Void had suddenly fled. Didn't she desperately want to take over her body?
After hearing her story, the others couldn't help but look at each other, equally confused as to why the Herrscher of the Void would pass up such an opportunity.
"Class Monitor, do you know why?" Kiana looked to Fu Hua, hoping she could solve the mystery.
"This... My guess is that she... wasn't confident she could win against you at this moment," Fu Hua said after a moment of thoughtful silence.
"Eh?"
"Back in Singapore, she took over your body once, but that was because you were unconscious, and she had only awakened after absorbing the Gem of Serenity and a massive amount of Honkai energy."
"And in the future vision, Otto also pumped a huge amount of Honkai energy into your body. You were likely unconscious at that time as well, which is why she was able to take over."
"So, from a logical standpoint, it's not that she doesn't want to seize your body, but rather that she knows she can't win against you right now, so she chose to retreat."
"Does that mean as long as I don't absorb a massive amount of Honkai energy and don't lose consciousness, she can't do anything to me?" Kiana's eyes instantly lit up.
"That should be the case," Fu Hua nodded. "You have now trained in the Sword of Taixuan and reached the first level of the Heart Principle. Your mental strength has also increased significantly. As long as nothing unexpected happens, she won't be able to forcibly take over your body."
"That's great!"
Kiana excitedly threw her arms around Fu Hua, bouncing up and down with her as if they were dancing.
No one knew how much pressure Kiana had been under these past few days. Though she usually appeared carefree, whenever she was alone and closed her eyes, the image of Himeko's final lesson from the future vision would flood her mind. The pressure had almost been enough to suffocate her, which was why, after days of deliberation, she had made such a risky decision.
It was because she wanted to take fate into her own hands.
Now, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. At the very least, she now knew that the time bomb inside her body wasn't going to explode at any moment.
"Kiana..."
Being suddenly hugged and bounced around by Kiana, Fu Hua felt a little embarrassed, especially with so many people watching. But when she saw the look of pure relief on Kiana's face, her resolve wavered, and her heart softened.
Forget it. Just this once, I'll let her be, the Celestial thought to herself.
---o---
After temporarily resolving the issue with the Herrscher consciousness in her body, Kiana's fighting spirit didn't wane in the slightest. Instead, she began to train even harder.
After drinking the Body Fortification Potions, everyone's strength had increased even further. Kiana could now even take on a Honkai Emperor solo. However, under Theresa's deliberate efforts to keep things quiet, news about Kiana and the others' true strength didn't spread. The other Valkyries simply assumed that Kiana's three-person squad had worked together to defeat the Honkai Emperor.
Meanwhile, Raiden Mei hadn't been idle either. With Fu Hua personally teaching her the sword techniques of the Form Principle, and with over a decade of her own kendo experience, she learned very quickly. Her sword-heart was also gradually becoming clearer through repeated tempering. Fu Hua's evaluation was that, with a little more time, Raiden Mei would also reach the "Still Water" state of mind.
Soon, it was time to enter the Q&A space again.
Re-entering the space was now a familiar process for everyone. After greeting the two doctors from Anti-Entropy, they began to chat casually.
"Einstein, how is the research on those Body Fortification Potions I gave you coming along?" Theresa asked the question that was most on her mind.
"Progress is currently quite smooth. However, many of the ingredients in the potion are undetectable, so we can only experiment with materials that have roughly equivalent effects. It will likely take some more time to fully develop the potion," Einstein replied.
"Then I'll leave it in your hands."
"Leave a small matter like this to this genius!" Tesla said, patting her chest with confidence.
Just then, the voice of the Q&A space echoed in their ears.
---o---
[Question 20: As is well known, we should all be wary of telephone scams, even from our own mothers. However, a certain cute little kid unfortunately fell victim to such a scam. Please state who she is.]
[A: The Herrscher of Sentience]
[B: The Herrscher of the Void]
[C: The Herrscher of Wind]
[D: The Herrscher of Domination]
---o---
"What the hell? A telephone scam? But why are all the answers Herrschers?!"
Everyone was utterly dumbfounded.
A question about a telephone scam was one thing, but why the hell were all the answers Herrschers?!
And "cute little kid"? You're calling a Herrscher a "cute little kid"?
This Q&A space must be broken!
"E-Einstein, what do you think?" Theresa cast a pleading look toward Einstein. Help me, Einstein!
"Hmm..." Einstein's brow was also tightly furrowed. After a long moment, she finally spoke. "I don't know what to make of this question either. If we try to explain it using the parallel world theory, then we can only assume that the Herrschers in these answers are harmless, like the Honkai Beasts we saw in the Great Honkai Sports Festival."
"But, even so, that doesn't help us analyze our way to the answer."
"But a Herrscher getting scammed over the phone is just too ridiculous, isn't it?" Kiana voiced what everyone was thinking.
They weren't three-year-olds. Even an ordinary person wouldn't typically fall for a phone scam, let alone a Herrscher. If one really did exist, they were quite curious to see which Herrscher was that embarrassing.
"Perhaps we should approach this from a different angle," Bronya suggested.
"Bronya, do you have an idea?" Everyone turned to look at her curiously.
"What if the Herrscher who was scammed... was a child?" Bronya analyzed calmly. "No one ever said that a Herrscher has to be an adult, right?"
"The instigator of the Second Honkai War, Sirin, the Herrscher of the Void, wasn't she an underage child as well?"
"Bronya is right. I had forgotten about that," Einstein nodded in approval, her gaze toward Bronya growing more appreciative. Because the word "Herrscher" had been so demonized, and because their appearances were always accompanied by disaster, almost no one ever paid attention to their age.
If it was as Bronya said—a child becomes a Herrscher and then gets scammed over the phone—it didn't seem... impossible?
If that were the case, then they had to admire the person who dared to run a phone scam on a Herrscher. That was some next-level audacity!