"What if you, who can't even truss a chicken, are the one who can't do anything?"
Bronya glanced sideways at Houraiji Kyuushou and said rather coldly, "Shout 'Exit', get teleported."
"Oh yeah!"
Kyuushou only then remembered this trick. She hurriedly gave a French military salute and shouted, "Main God! Pfft! System! Exit this trial!"
With a flash of light, the girl's figure disappeared from the spot.
Observing the battlefield, Mei rested her chin on her wrist. She still felt that this mode, where one could exit just by moving their lips, was too boring. She calculated that once the budget was sufficient, she would contact the Helix Workshop to sign the TT2 Agreement.
TT2 Agreement—a core device invented by the genius Vill-V. The full name is Time Track II Agreement, or No. 2 Time Track Agreement.
After installing it, not only could the flow of time within a specific area be adjusted to a certain extent, but limited-range time reversal could also be performed.
With this, even if a trial-taker unfortunately died in the Superstring Dimension, they could be restored to a specific node via the time reversal function, just like loading a save file in a game.
The only small drawback was its excessive dependence on energy, consuming a massive amount of Honkai energy to maintain operation, draining a Critical-Grade's energy reserves in minutes.
Fortunately, the Hyperion lacked everything except the pure energy provided by the Fuli Well.
"Achoo!"
"Hiss—!"
Bronya sneezed unexpectedly, and Fuli's expression suddenly turned sour.
The unlucky adopted siblings, who had suffered countless times, exchanged a glance and tacitly realized: That Super-Electric Doctor must be planning some screwed-up thing again.
But then again, Bronya always felt that Raiden Mei was a bit petty.
Even though she verbally disdained the "glasses that check the number of times one has experienced sexual intercourse" as useless, the moment it came to actual combat, she changed her face immediately. Emphasizing that one couldn't just [REDACTED] the zombie ladies, and repeatedly warning not to take advantage of Wendy while she was unconscious. LMAO, a living tsundere!
Besides that.
Shadow-Bearing's wind blade sliced through the air. The girl's figure swayed, dodging lightly, taking the opportunity to break the silence:
"Why did Miss Wendy become like this?"
"One of the defects of Natural Stigmata," Mei explained calmly. "Violent emotional fluctuations swallow logical judgment, highlighting the stubborn side of one's personality. simply put, she can't listen to reason."
After all, she was a veteran Valkyrie, Theresa's beloved S-Rank student. Detailed explanations were given before entering the Superstring Dimension. Even if Wendy had been living leisurely in the Oceania Branch, which could be called a novice protection zone, she shouldn't be so confused as to attack Fuli and the others indiscriminately.
"In short, another classic plot of saving the world from crisis." Bronya dragged out her words, her tone clearly sarcastic. "As for how the world fell into crisis, don't ask. Am I right?"
She didn't believe Mei and Theresa were clueless about this.
The current situation was likely planned by them, using her and her brother as ready-made suppression tools.
"St. Freya will send compensation later."
"Kiana, look! Miss Elf found Mei♪~ What's this? Compensation?"
"Holy shit!!!"
On the screen, Mei's originally cool expression panicked visibly.
"Anyway, feel free to attack. As long as she doesn't die, we can save her!"
After hastily dropping these words, the screen displaying her figure shattered.
"Heheh."
Brine curdles tofu; everything has its vanquisher. But Miss Pink Elf can vanquish everything.
Inexplicably cheerful, the corners of Bronya's mouth lifted. As if responding to her fighting spirit, Project Bunny behind her suddenly burst into blazing light.
A peculiar weapon shaped like a poised falcon, exuding a sharp aura, fell into the girl's palm. She tilted her head, shooting a provocative gaze straight at Fuli.
Understanding her meaning, Fuli didn't respond immediately. tracing in the air with his fingers, he called up the emotion dial symbolizing Clockwork Tricks.
The dial shattered instantly, indicating that Wendy, hailed as an S-Rank candidate, surpassed him, a newbie who had only stepped into the Honkai side a few months ago, in raw power.
Fine.
Fuli hadn't held much expectation anyway. swallowing the energy of the broken dial, he activated Void Blink and dove down.
Naturally, Wendy wouldn't remain indifferent. A sharp shriek that pierced eardrums exploded suddenly. The boiling emerald energy around her surged like a tsunami.
Driven by her will, countless rapidly spinning turbid cyan wind blades tore through the air, linking and twisting together within the stormy energy tide. In an instant, they wove an invisible giant net covering the sky, carrying a mad will to crush everything, poised to intercept, imprison, and strangle the figure falling like a meteor before he could take half a step into Fuli's domain!
"Cruising Domain: Mistilteinn."
A cool voice fell like command code into the void. Before Bronya finished speaking, twelve cold, precise particle generation devices instantly emerged in the three-dimensional space hundreds of meters around Wendy.
Exquisite geometric light paths flowed on their surfaces. The force field named "Cruising Domain" unfolded. Countless fine, dark blue particle beams poured from the devices, forming artificial gravity to suppress both the invisible net and the person controlling the sky!
Fuli asked with interest, "Is this the Project Bunny upgraded by Mei using the Holy Sword Joyeuse?"
The girl proudly puffed out her chest. "I provided the design blueprints myself. Her role was only the final decomposition and reconstruction."
—Truth Domain · Silverwing: N-EX. Project Bunny's PRI-ARM mode. It no longer retained its massive size but was further streamlined.
This state continuously consumed a large amount of Honkai energy. In exchange, the decomposed and reconstructed multi-unit armaments were greatly strengthened.
The Silverwing outfit was designed by Kiana. Originally, she only submitted a very childish first draft, clearly designed for a child's body.
However, Bronya strongly objected. Firmly upholding the philosophy that "I will grow!", she successfully bribed Kiana with a generous offer of a whole month's worth of fragrant small cakes, making Kiana reluctantly but honestly design the current exquisite, mature combat suit.
"Not bad."
Fuli, having smoothly arrived beside Wendy, slashed out with the will-eroding Ino-Shika-Cho.
"First Slash."
"Haha!"
Plasma Kagehide sliced through the girl's seemingly frail body without hindrance. The corners of the bisected Wendy's mouth curled into a maniacal smile.
BOOM!
Plasma compressed to the limit exploded, completely swallowing Fuli's figure. In the sky hundreds of meters away, the real Wendy summoned strong winds to disperse the smoke raised by the explosion.
Wind energy wrapped around weapons could distort and refract light; naturally, it could also disguise a plasma-simulated clone as another self.
Unexpectedly, while she could create clones, Fuli's Shadow Sword could too.
Whether it was Instant Slash · Cold River Reflecting the Moon or Bronya's Matrix of Taixuan, with their rich combat experience, how could they rely solely on their eyes in battle?
"Unlimited Blade Works · Pouring Feathers."
Endless ice-blue particle longswords, like fragments from a collapsing glacier, formed an absolute domain blotting out the sky and surrounding Wendy the moment she revealed herself. The tip of every sword flashed with highly condensed brilliance.
"Fire!"
At their master's shout, the particle beam cannons fired in unison. The extreme heat energy contained within was enough to melt through and pierce the proud, heavy armor of a Temple-class Honkai beast in an instant, reducing it to nothingness!
"Absolute Boundary, Unfold! Hahahahaha!"
However, it crashed into the supreme domain of barriers.
The ultimate barrier that repelled everything expanded in all directions with Wendy as the center. Its visual effect and coverage were comparable to Pain's Shinra Tensei, but its actual destructive power far exceeded it.
The Endless Blade Works bound by particles were decomposed and erased the moment they collided. The shockwave, undiminished in power, rushed towards the two rapidly approaching figures.
"The supreme domain of barrier arts. Truly terrifying."
Fuli, having witnessed this move in a live broadcast before, curled his lips upward, waving his long blade and charging into the difficulty like a moth to a flame.
This was the benefit of hidden intelligence. If Wendy knew the effect of Divine Departure, she would never dare use this move on Fuli, even if its rating was a full A, same as the Vermilion Knight's sword.
"Deconstruction Field · Blue Flame Wings."
Just as Divine Departure intended to recreate a famous scene, a disordered fault line blocked him and the expanding Absolute Boundary.
"Brother, no need to use that move on her."
Bronya, coming from behind, appeared in front of Fuli. The wing-spread state of the Endless Blade Works transformed into two incredibly stylish halo arrays, ejecting particles for flight and high-speed movement.
The holy girl transformed into an angel. With shields deployed, she was like the Wailing Wall in the deepest part of the Underworld, separating Elysium from the Realm of the Dead.
Immediately, she turned around.
"Judgment Starfall · Silverwing Light Howl!"
A gigantic silver-white sword, judge of all phenomena, descended from the sky, striking the center of the raised storm.
Wendy, pierced by the sword tip, streaked across the sky like a meteor, firmly pinned in the center of the artificial gravity flow generated by the Cruising Domain.
"Cool."
Fuli whistled, landing beside the roaring Wendy with Bronya, one on the left and one on the right.
In the battle just now, he provided all support except help.
Yet, even though Wendy had lost most of her reason, Bronya in Silverwing: N-EX state managed to handle a veteran Critical-Grade so easily. This indicated she was currently hovering at least around A-Rank Breaker level.
Realizing this, Fuli narrowed his eyes in satisfaction.
He still remembered that in the previous loop, his little sister, like Kiana, made no progress during her two years at St. Freya.
This undoubtedly proved that following him had a brighter future. Theresa? Hmph, go sit at the kids' table with Silvers Rayleigh!
Unaware that her brother was blowing his own horn, Bronya examined Wendy, who was still struggling with blood-red eyes, and asked, "How do we handle this?"
Mei said to act freely, that severing limbs or beating her to near-death didn't matter.
She said it lightly, but they certainly couldn't do that, right?
"How about we beat her up while she can't resist?" Fuli stroked his chin. "Don't look at me like that. Beat her until her energy level is lower than mine, then I'll try Clockwork Tricks."
"I refuse."
Bronya curled her lip. Fighting was fine, but using force while someone couldn't resist was too despicable.
Fuli thought about it and agreed. After pondering for a moment, he suggested, "How about you let her out, and I beat her up again, harder this time?"
Can't use force when she can't resist? Then it's fine to use force when she can resist.
Bronya thought about it and said, "Then I'll stand far away when you beat her, Brother."
The girl was kind-hearted and couldn't bear such a tragic scene.
"Deal."
Thus, the Cruising Domain was deactivated. The two halo arrays at her sides ejected high-energy particles, carrying Bronya away at super speed to listen to Wendy's roars and the booming sounds of their battle from afar.
Only when the roars turned into wails did she leisurely fly back.
Without looking at Wendy, who was lying disheveled and crooked in the bedrock, gasping for air, she asked, "Failed?"
"Yeah."
Fuli scratched his head.
Clockwork Tricks was essentially a power named "Trailblaze." Its true effect wasn't coercion, but guiding the suppressed emotions within the target, igniting their desire to move forward.
Wendy currently had only rage in her heart. No matter how the emotion dial was adjusted, it would only make her angrier and further lose her reason.
"Then what do we do?"
Bronya knew how to handle Wendy—just hand her over to the omnipotent Mei-aemon.
But she didn't really want to say it herself, so she used her eyes to hint at Fuli to take the blame.
"I don't think we can just hand her to Mei."
The person in question refused.
He pointed at the still-struggling Wendy.
"Roar!"
"Holy shit, ow ow ow, let go, let go! Are you related to the Ural Silver Wolf (dog) too?!"
Vigorously waving the bitten hand, the girl hanging on it moved up and down with it.
Finally shaking her off, Fuli hurriedly blew on the red area, where a huge teeth mark was clearly visible.
"See." He took two steps back, speechless. "A Critical-Grade with such a strong desire to attack. Mei is a researcher; what if she gets hurt?"
Do you really think Raiden Mei is just a researcher?! Ultraseven was just a Stellar Observer too!
Big Bronya rolled her eyes hard. "Alright, alright, I know you care about her. Then hurry up and come up with an effective plan."
"Don't worry, I have a way." Fuli lowered his throbbing hand, looking down from above at Wendy, who was flipping him off provocatively. "This is no ordinary mesugaki anymore. We must strike hard!"
"She's older than both of us, okay? Hmm?"
Seeing him take out the Gem of Corruption he wore on his chest—never taking it off even when eating, bathing, or sleeping.
Bronya casually typed out a string of data, censoring the keywords in their upcoming conversation.
"What are you doing with Jizo Mitama?"
"Weren't you curious about what the First Rated Power of this thing is? Now Big Bro will let you take a 'good' look!"
A brilliant smile appeared on his clean, handsome face. Fuli leaned down and grabbed Wendy's upright middle finger.
---||---
Inside Wendy's Stigmata Space. Accompanied by the continuous strengthening of the Stigmata's power under violent emotions, a hazy consciousness was awakening.
She could be called the Will of the Wind Stigmata. If the girl transformed into the Herrscher of Wind in the future, she would change into the Herrscher personality occupying this body and ascend to the heavens.
But at least for now, she was just a child who knew nothing, blankly reading the Stigmata's records.
Stigmata were essentially a gene chain, and genes were carriers of information.
Normally, she should derive her own thoughts and conclusions after reading Wendy's memories, and then bewitch the host every now and then.
"Hogh hogh hogh hogh hogh!!!!!"
No one could have guessed that the current her had eyes rolled back showing mostly whites, lying on the ground with limbs twitching constantly, tongue sticking out and drooling, looking completely wasted like she'd just been rammed by an Emperor-class Honkai beast.
Jizo Mitama's First Rated Power: Star Saint's Path.
Also known as Star Domain Dominating Path. A Rated Power activated through skin and mucous membrane contact. Normally, only skin contact like a handshake is needed to activate, but as the name suggests, the most efficient method is reproductive behavior.
In most cases, this Rated Power manifests effects similar to succubus talents: "Energy Extraction" and "Charm."
But unlike a succubus, it doesn't truly increase the user's charm. Instead, it charms and controls the target by affecting their mind. Therefore, skin contact is required to influence the target.
If the user is powerful enough, Star Saint's Path has many derivative effects and usages, including but not limited to:
Pleasure Amplification, Curse Infliction, Curse Removal, Memory Modification, Memory Reading, Memory Repair, Brainwashing/Hypnosis, Brainwashing Removal, Forced Domination, Body Control, Healing Injuries... specific applications are up to development and research.
Although the usage method and some effects of this Rated Power are socially unacceptable, its upper limit is extremely high. If the Divine Key reaches the PRI-ARM domain, it's even possible to use this to influence existences at the Aeon level.
[Note: Idiot Master! This is the true use of Jizo Mitama!]
Right now, the Rated Power Fuli used on Wendy was Star Saint's Path.
Going berserk?
Not submitting?
Biting people?
Heh, having unlocked the First Rated Power, I shall let you know what Honkai 3rb means!
As for what impact the newborn Stigmata Will would suffer, that would only be known after she transformed into a Herrscher personality.
However, right now, looking at Wendy on the ground—completely passed out, limbs twitching, sweating profusely—Bronya shivered violently.
She had previously mocked her brother's Divine Key for being unable to awaken its First Power, daring him to use Jizo Mitama on her if he had the guts.
"Heh."
The girl looked up silently. Sure enough, she met a pair of particularly playful eyes looking her up and down.
"H-Hey! Can we call a truce?"
Bronya shrank back, smiling sheepishly.
"In this situation?"
Fuli looked at the empty surroundings, then scrutinized Big Bronya, who perfectly fit his XP system.
"You aren't... joking, are you?"
He stepped forward slowly. A huge shadow gradually enveloped the girl retreating into the corner.
...