ithin Schicksal, every A-rank Valkyrie is granted the privilege of an official codename.
Take the Snow Wolf Squad from over a decade ago—nearly wiped out to a woman. Aside from the S-rank Valkyrie Cecilia Schariac, every member was A-rank, and every one had her own title.
For example: "Frost Swordmaiden" Cheng Lixue, "Solar Prominence" Shigure Kira, "The Baptist" Salome Jokanan...
Their codenames all reflected their personal fighting styles.
Edwy Iwenn, current A-rank Valkyrie, was no exception.
Her fighting style was agile and ever-changing, her twin ring-blades wielded with deadly grace—so they dubbed her "Spirit Butterfly."
"Heh. Anyone who didn't know better would think she wandered in from the Marvel set next door."
Inside the Theater of Domination, Ling Ke had synced his senses to a puppet inside the now-captured main control room and was rapidly flipping through the classified files on Snow Lotus Squad.
He wasn't worried in the least about the 100 puppets losing.
Remember: in the original Honkai plot, even when the full main cast ganged up—post-"Passing" Fu Hua, "Saiki Twin" Seele, early Herrscher-of-the-Void Kiana, Bronya with the Herrscher of Reason core—it still took them forever to destroy the initial Domination puppets that hadn't stolen any other Herrscher authorities yet.
And that was with that god-tier lineup.
So...
"According to the files, among all active A-rank Valkyries in Schicksal today, Edwy ranks... solidly mid-tier at best."
"Even after the post-Second Eruption armor iterations and the addition of the 'Spacetime Deceleration' system, her combat rating doesn't come close to the strongest A-rank of her era—Cheng Lixue."
If she couldn't even touch Cheng Lixue, she had zero chance against a fully recovered Fu Hua.
Which meant...
"Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!"
In a fairly wide corridor deep inside the West Asia Branch, Edwy's face was pale as she desperately fended off wave after wave of attacks.
Her two B-rank squadmates were already dead.
No surprise there. A base, unleveled Domination Puppet · Anby already fought at solid B-rank Valkyrie level.
And now? There were a hundred of them.
Not to mention they could respawn infinitely.
Sweat poured down Edwy's forehead.
As an A-rank, she could still defeat one or two Anbys.
But every exchange left her heart pounding.
For example, right now—
Swish!
She twisted mid-air, ring-blades spinning horizontally, slicing clean across one short-haired girl's throat.
By all rights, a normal human head should have flown.
Yet the wound on the girl's neck merely flashed with prismatic light.
Then she swung right back, trading blow for blow like she felt no pain.
Against this suicidal, "if I die, you die with me" style, Edwy was losing her mind.
Tch!
She barely dodged a slash, tongue clicking in frustration, and didn't dare press the attack.
Because even more identical short-haired girls were already closing in.
Same face, same outfit, same weapon...
Edwy felt like if she stayed any longer, she'd develop trypophobia.
No—before that, survival was the real issue.
Of course, Edwy had no idea that the mastermind watching from afar—Ling Ke—planned to let her live (for now).
But for her, that wasn't good news.
Because anyone with half a brain knows one simple truth: in front of a fully blackened avenger, death... is a mercy.
For a moment...
"This is exactly why game character templates are so broken!"
Watching the entire fight like a spectator, Ling Ke couldn't help but marvel.
Right now, the puppets surrounding Edwy hadn't even switched to Billy yet.
Just pure Anby template.
HP system, infinite stamina, indestructible weapon.
Those were only three of Anby's "Character Traits."
"Character Switch" was another.
According to the system, every Game Character Template came with its own set of Character Traits, Game Skills, and Background Talents.
Leaving the latter two aside for now—
Character Traits were essentially "realism-omitted mechanics" inherited straight from the source game.
In Zenless Zone Zero, agents don't lose limbs or bleed out—they fight until their HP bar hits zero, then instantly go down.
That's the "HP System."
No stamina bar, no weapon durability—fight forever as long as you're alive.
That's what Edwy was facing right now: an army of monsters.
She was using human tactics against game-rule monsters. Of course every moment felt like dancing on a knife's edge.
Truth was, if Ling Ke hadn't been deliberately using her as a sandbox to test template mechanics, she would have lost long ago.
"Hasn't this woman noticed? After the initial blitz that killed her two teammates, almost all the other puppets have been slacking off?"
It looked like a Hollywood blockbuster: one heroine surrounded by a hundred extras who circle but barely attack.
Only two or three Anbys were actually engaging at any time.
The rest? Standing by in case she tried to break out.
Of course, Ling Ke did have a bit of a sadistic streak.
He was slowly ramping up the difficulty.
One base Anby too easy? Add another.
Then three. Then four...
"Huh, already struggling at four?"
"You're supposed to be an A-rank Valkyrie."
"Fine, this is getting boring."
Ling Ke split his attention to other fronts. "Oh? The rest of the 'guests' have been located too?"
"Perfect..."
A feral grin split his face.
"Time to send the invitation, Miss Edwy."
"You don't get to decline."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than...
PFFFT!
A grotesque sound—like a balloon full of blood popping—rang in Edwy's ears.
She had no idea that, from the moment the fight began, every time she clashed with the multiple "Anbys," an invisible yellow progress bar had been slowly filling above her head.
This was the Daze (Stagger) mechanic straight out of Zenless Zone Zero.
Once that bar filled completely, the target would be fully staggered—temporarily incapacitated, unable to act.
And all damage taken during that window would be massively amplified.
Anby's core specialty was her Stun trait—she filled that bar faster than almost anyone.
Truth be told, if the current Anby templates weren't still Level 1, and if all 100 Domination Puppets had actually swarmed her at once, Edwy would have been staggered ages ago.
And right then...
SWISH!
SWISH!
Two new Domination Puppet · Anbys streaked in from the corridor flanks, low and blindingly fast.
Edwy didn't even register them.
The next thing she felt was her body suddenly... lighter.
"Huh?"
Her vision dropped abruptly.
She toppled backward, hitting the floor hard.
Pain exploded through her.
Instinctively, she looked down—
And saw two severed legs, still wearing her Valkyrie boots, standing upright a short distance away.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
An utterly soul-shattering scream echoed endlessly through the corridor.
But the only response was the utterly indifferent gaze of a hundred identical silver-haired girls.
Just like how she, years ago, had once looked down at the helpless, curled-up figure in the underground cell.