In terms of floor plan, Leo's home and MEI's home only had their kitchens connected.
Therefore, the other rooms were actually quite far apart, not to mention there was a soundproofing layer.
So theoretically speaking, even an existence with super hearing shouldn't be able to hear any extraneous sounds.
However, Sakura, who was lying in the guest room of MEI's home—a considerable distance from Leo's master bedroom—had an expression that shifted unpredictably. She simply couldn't sleep!
By her ears, the battle cries of Kiana and the others seemed to echo, causing her to toss and turn, unable to fall asleep.
Of course, if she listened carefully, she actually couldn't hear anything.
But the moment she tried to dream properly, those illusory sounds would involuntarily ring out again beside her ears, making it completely incomprehensible to her.
But... it must be like that time, right?
Inexplicably, she recalled the previous time when they were in that room where they couldn't leave without [Beep].
Although Leo and MEI had entered the bathroom, and furthermore, they had finished the deed inside the [blade space].
However, MEI's main body would still instinctively hum...
...Although the volume was very low.
But that subtle sound was still firmly imprinted in her heart.
After all, hearing such a contrasting sound coming from MEI's intellectual appearance still shocked her greatly.
Precisely because of this, she remembered it particularly deeply, so much so that it was now playing on loop inside her brain.
"Forget it."
Crawling out of bed, she began to do some warm-up exercises.
After all, once Leo and the others were done over there, she would have to enter the [Honkai Domain] together with them.
Right now, she should be conserving her energy as much as possible; she really didn't necessarily need to warm up.
However, this warm-up of hers... seemed to actually make her hotter the more she moved.
Even though her body was moving, her mind would still uncontrollably drift toward next door.
There was no helping it; the moment she thought about what her partners, with whom she would soon be fighting side by side, were doing, she found it very hard to calm down.
—No wonder office romances are prohibited!
"What am I thinking about!"
But very quickly, she fiercely patted her own flushed cheeks, striving to make herself calm down.
She understood that the truly strange person was actually herself.
But some things, once one starts thinking about them, cannot be stopped.
Especially—
The lively and energetic Kiana, will she also become like MEI?
Without me there, what will the quiet and rational MEI look like?
And Mei... what kind of sparks will collide between her and MEI?
Once the thoughts began to spread, she could no longer suppress them.
And, most critically—
How should I face him?
In her mind, Leo's handsome face involuntarily surfaced.
Her gaze shifted out the window; the bright moon hung high in the sky.
[Real World: Home · Bedroom · blade space]
"Heh heh!"
The corners of his mouth hooked into a smile of delight. Leo looked at Kiana, whom he had already knocked to the ground, and said with extreme arrogance: "Weren't you calling me a small fry just now?"
"Why aren't you shouting it now?"
After speaking, he used his foot to lightly nudge Kiana, who had already lost consciousness and only knew how to instinctively emit battle cries.
Perhaps due to being emotionally stirred by previous events, Kiana's combat style today was exceptionally reckless. She simply disregarded herself, completely aiming to kill the enemy.
It was precisely under such suicidal attacks from her that Leo was initially beaten into a steady retreat, almost about to surrender and admit defeat.
But when it came to tenacity, Leo was not inferior in the slightest. After enduring the initial chaos, he relied on willpower and Kiana's taunts to forcibly withstand Kiana's offensive.
And when Kiana failed to take Leo down with this wave of attacks, her time of defeat arrived.
There was no suspense. Under this style of attacking without defending, she could only regretfully lose and was successfully knocked to the ground by Leo!
"Who is the next challenger?"
Seeing no further response from Kiana, Leo crossed his arms over his chest, stepped one foot on Kiana's slender waist, and looked towards Raiden Mei and MEI with a haughty expression.
At this moment, he felt simply invincible under the heavens! [Roar]!
It really wasn't that he looked down on these two, but Kiana at least had the Kaslana family's monstrous strength and constitution to circle around with him. Whereas these two, from beginning to end, didn't have any overly dazzling combat records; it would be hard for them to last a few rounds in his hands.
The vast majority of the time, it was basically him holding these two up and running everywhere.
It could be said that he absolutely wasn't underestimating the enemy, but rather, through countless battles with them, he had cultivated an invincible warrior's heart.
Precisely because of this, when he finished off Kiana, he felt he had already secured tonight's battle.
"Don't look down on us!"
Facing Leo's disdain, Raiden Mei had a face full of indignation.
Especially since Leo was still stepping on Kiana's body; this made her feel insulted!
I want to win against this guy carrying Kiana's unwilling conviction!
Of course, she directly ignored the look of satisfaction on Kiana's face.
In short, she felt she was fighting for 'Ki', and at this moment, her fighting spirit could be said to be soaring, her entire being trembling as a martial artist.
And on the other side—
"Do you think we would challenge you without a plan?"
A trace of [purple thunder] surfaced in her eyes. MEI also crossed her arms over her chest, looking up slightly at Leo.
There was no helping it; even with her height, which counted as tall among young girls, she was still considered short in front of Leo.
Not to mention, Leo currently still had one foot stepping on Kiana's body.
—Although doing this couldn't make Leo physically taller, it made his height appear more imposing in terms of aura.
Anyway, lose the person but don't lose the formation; MEI and Raiden Mei were both building momentum for themselves.
Moreover—
"Do you guys have some secret weapon?"
Seeing this, Leo wasn't a fool; how could he not know there was a trick involved?
On the faces of Raiden Mei and MEI, he saw a trace of confidence in victory.
—Did they really research something?
And just as he was anticipating—
"Behold our Soul Fusion Technique!"
Seeing Leo had guessed it, Raiden Mei no longer hid it and held the hand of MEI beside her.
And on the other side...
"Let him know our power!"
Not refusing, MEI also held Raiden Mei's hands.
Immediately, the two of them fused together within the [blade space].
The next moment—
"Future Mei?"
Looking at the "Fat" Mei whose figure was almost catching up to his own, and whose entire person had "expanded" by a circle, Leo couldn't help but reveal a shocked expression.
But before he could react, "Fat" Mei moved first.
One could only see her take a vigorous step, instantly arriving in front of Leo, and with one push, she shoved Leo to the ground.
At this moment, it switched to Leo looking up at her.
"Don't... [Gwah]!"
Facing the opponent's posture of Mount Tai crushing the top, Leo naturally showed weakness to the enemy.
But very quickly he discovered, he wasn't feigning weakness...
...He was truly weak!
Perhaps it was due to age?
In short, this "Fat" Mei gave him a very different feeling.
Not to mention, with MEI controlling that [purple thunder], the effect was much better than Raiden Mei's, leading to him having a brand new experience here.
—Truly an unconquerable opponent!
To be honest, if he wasn't most adept at defeating the strong with the weak, he might have really lost inexplicably just like that.
Of course, he didn't feel he could win either.
But he absolutely didn't want to let himself lose without value...
...They must have some flaw!
Only it was a pity, even as he gradually walked towards the end of the road, he still didn't see the mystery within.
Eventually—
"It is our victory!"
Slightly raising her small chin, Raiden MEI...
Let's tentatively use this title to describe "Fat" Mei.
She looked down at this Leo; it could be said she was looking at people with her nostrils.
"You have been defeated!"
"Heh... heh..."
Emitting a slightly weak chuckle, Leo said: "That's right, you girls won."
Facing this opponent he couldn't defeat even after giving his all, he couldn't help but feel very strange.
The opponent's movements were precise like a robot, yet the fighting style was crazy and ruggedly wild, simply like... two people!
Suddenly, he realized something.
"Wait..."
Having understood, he looked at Raiden MEI with a complex expression and said: "Actually, it's just a solo victory, right?"
"Let Mei speak two sentences."
With his familiarity with the young girls, he was completely capable of distinguishing who was Raiden Mei and who was MEI... even if they wanted to imitate each other, they couldn't fool him!
After all, although the voices of these two were identical, the charm within them differed greatly.
Thus—
"You, you..."
Facing Leo's request, MEI was unable to respond for a moment.
After all, just as Leo conjectured, Raiden Mei had long since become unable to get up.
She was merely the mecha pilot!
Just like when she and Leo fell into Raiden Mei's mental space before, she was only responsible for controlling the body, while Leo was responsible for facing the enemy.
It was just that this time, her teammate became Raiden Mei, and the enemy became Leo, that's all.
—Truly a destined duel!
"So... that's why I said this is our victory."
Stifled for a long time, she really couldn't think of better wording, so she could only continue her previous statement.
"Heh~"
Seeing MEI being so girlish, Leo couldn't help but chuckle.
A short while later, he opened his mouth to continue: "So in other words, can I understand it as—"
Pursing his lips, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared in his eyes.
"You haven't received your due reward yet?"
"Y-You, what do you want to do?"
Smelling the dangerous scent in Leo's words, MEI couldn't help but become nervous.
Now that Raiden Mei's side had completely tapped out, wanting to rely on her as a defense was no longer realistic.
Therefore she understood, if they fought again, she could only go up personally.
GG. So...
"For men... short time... within... isn't... isn't it only...?"
"Isn't it only what?"
Watching MEI with a flushed face, unable to say that most critical item, the smile on Leo's face couldn't help but become increasingly brilliant.
"O-One?"
Weakly, MEI held up one finger.
"Who told you that?"
Rolling his eyes at MEI, Leo laughed: "Read less of those idiotic manga. Just because some people can't, do you really think the whole world can't?"
"But you..."
"That's because you girls basically didn't win against me before."
Not waiting for MEI to finish, Leo smiled and said: "Regarding the number of battles, I don't dare say too much."
"But at the very least, making you remember it for a lifetime is still achievable."
"Of course—"
Suddenly grabbing the Raiden MEI who wanted to flee, Leo said with a face full of delight: "The premise is that you still have the ability to remember!"
"[Gwah]!"
Feeling the resoluteness in Leo's mouth, MEI, for whom the offensive and defensive momentum had changed, let out a sound of rejection.
"Don't [Ah]!"
However, it was already too late for her to want a truce now.
Leo was petty; he held grudges the most!
[MEI Experience +203]
[Imaginary Energy +2.1]
[MEI Experience +205]
[MEI (D-Rank): Level 1 -> Level 3 new!]
[Imaginary Energy +2.1]
Since MEI's rank was promoted to [D-Rank], her level was completely reset, and everything was calculated anew.
Precisely because of this, Kiana and Raiden Mei's levels had stopped at [Level 15].
—What kind of Sacred Relic is this?
But considering they belonged to characters from the Mi family, it was normal for Tongzi to stipulate this.
And this time, as MEI rose by [3 Levels], all her [base attributes] also rose by 2 points.
After Leo finished [Level Up] for her, he conveniently took a glance at her attribute panel—
[MEI]
[Level: Level 3]
[Rank: D-Rank Valkyrie]
[Current Bond: Qualitative Change!]
[Current Favorability: 103 (Life and Death Together)]
[Strength: 17]
[Constitution: 17]
[Energy: 20]
[Agility: 17]
[Honkai energy: 34]
[—I... can't do anything?]
It had to be said, MEI's current panel had already taken on a completely new look; she was no longer the [Stinky Medium Cup] from before.
One could only say, that unnamed monster big shot died well.
When it died, that was the most valuable moment of its life!
Of course, if MEI rose here, Leo also rose.
Especially in the area of [Energy], due to MEI being naturally gifted, he could obtain more numerical values.
When he raised MEI to max level, he could obtain another wave of major strengthening.
—Truly makes one's mood delightful!
Furthermore—
His gaze turned toward the direction of MEI's home; there was still an existence there who could allow him to obtain a major strengthening.
It was just a pity that there weren't many opportunities for life and death together between him and Sakura.
And this led to his current [Bond] with Sakura still needing improvement.
Otherwise, his current numerical values would be about to break a hundred.
But even so, without considering [Honkai energy] and technique, his physical intensity already surpassed Kiana's.
One could only say, stacking numerical values like this was still too overpowered (broken).
—If only I could be given a Diablos too, I wouldn't be unable to accept it.
Of course, he didn't believe that stacking numerical values like this would come without a price.
Also, the task Tongzi first assigned to him—
[Real World Mission: Fall in Love! Girl]
This mission should have an end no matter what; it couldn't possibly trigger forever.
But before this day arrived, he would enjoy the delight brought by this stacking game.
And thinking of the stacking game, his eyes rolled, and he immediately stacked Raiden MEI and Kiana together.
Speaking of which, since Kiana became the [God of Earth], her body seemed like it wouldn't change anymore.
But Raiden Mei was different; with the fermentation of time, she grew more and more mellow.
Although her overall height didn't actually change much, the feeling she gave people was much taller.
Even Bronya, at the end of growth, betrayed her own class; it could be said to be the model of the dragon slayer eventually becoming the evil dragon.
—Who knows what a desolate scene it would be if the past her met the future her.
One could only say, let bygones be bygones...
Of course, these scattered thoughts only flashed through Leo's mind; right now he only wanted to experience that purest joy of the stacking game.
Kiana and Mei... truly interesting!
When Sakura estimated the agreed time was approaching, she finally stopped her warm-up and hurriedly went to the bathroom to bathe and change clothes.
Under the stimulation of the cold water, she actually sobered up a lot.
—Just focus solely on tonight's mission later, don't think wild thoughts!
Of course, even this cold water couldn't stop her body temperature from rising.
There was no helping it; some things were still too stimulating for her... she simply couldn't control herself!
Especially since there was a high probability she would have to do the same in the future.
"What am I thinking about?"
In shame and indignation, she couldn't help but lightly pound the tiled wall with her pink fist again.
"Inhale... exhale... inhale!"
After taking two deep breaths, she walked towards the bathtub, submerging her entire self in the water.
A long while later, she surfaced again.
At this moment, she had finally calmed down somewhat.
At the very least... her pretty face was no longer that rosy.
"In short, tonight is the first time participating in their mission, I cannot lose face!"
Having once again clarified and emphasized her keynote for tonight, she stepped out of the bathtub and changed into her combat uniform.
Of course, the current her didn't have the high-tech professional equipment jointly designed by MEI, Mobius, and Vill-V.
This combat uniform was predominantly black, similar to ninja attire, but added a touch of modern sensibility.
In short, it wouldn't make her uncomfortable during combat, and for the current her, this was already sufficient.
After dressing properly, before she could even walk to the living room, her phone lit up; it was exactly a message from Leo.
At this moment, Rin had already fallen asleep, preparing for tomorrow's classes... her school didn't have an "infectious disease."
And from these details, she naturally could feel the care Leo and the others had for her, and the importance they placed on Rin.
—Compared to herself, she actually valued Rin even more!
Therefore, she felt even more that her decision was correct.
If it were the past "[Toxic Pupa]", the other party definitely wouldn't have considered things for her like this.
So, the other party naturally couldn't exchange for her loyalty.
And over here—
"Shh, keep it down."
When Sakura opened the main door, Leo was already standing outside waiting.
"Don't wake Rin; she still has to go to school tomorrow."
The corners of his mouth hooked into a faint smile as he reminded Sakura in a low voice.
"Mhm..."
Hearing this, although Sakura tried hard to make herself appear expressionless, in her heart, she couldn't help but generate more goodwill toward Leo.
After gently closing the door, she said to Leo: "Let's depart."
Only by being good to her and to Rin could one obtain her loyalty.
"Okay."
Sensing Sakura's slightly excited emotions, Leo said: "No need to be too agitated. If tonight's operation succeeds, it succeeds; if it doesn't, it doesn't matter."
Ostensibly, they were to rescue Bronya as much as possible tonight.
But in the final analysis, what they should do more now was to accumulate power, converting all the benefits brought by [D-Rank].
So if they couldn't rescue Bronya, or even couldn't find the other party, the problem wasn't big.
Anyway, Bronya was currently in a safe situation; there was no need for them to worry for a while.
Wait until they became stronger, then going to rescue Bronya wouldn't be too late.
At most, just be a bit quicker.
"I understand..."
Also realizing her own loss of composure, Sakura opened her mouth to reply: "I won't be rash."
"That's the way."
Seeing Sakura restore her ordinary state of mind, Leo placed his hand on Sakura's shoulder and said: "They have already gone in, let's go too."
Immediately, he activated teleportation, taking Sakura into the [Instance].
As for whether surveillance outside would capture it?
MEI, who had already become the [Herrscher of Thunder], naturally had ways to solve it, so it wasn't Leo's turn to worry.
Thus—
[Instance: Chiba Academy · 3rd Floor]
"Sakura, you came."
Kiana, who was doing warm-up exercises, smiled and greeted Sakura.
At this moment, her face was full of vitality, clearly having recovered from her previous defeat.
It had to be said, although she lost quickly, she also recovered quickly—
One could only say, she was worthy of the Kaslana family bloodline!
"Mhm..."
Thinking about it, Sakura pulled up her face mask, trying hard to make her subtle expression less easily seen by Kiana and the others.
"Looks like Sakura is also full of motivation."
Thinking Sakura pulling up the mask was wanting to go all out, the simple-minded Kiana naturally couldn't imagine those messy thoughts of Sakura's.
However—
"Sakura, welcome to the team."
With thoughtfulness in her eyes, MEI was not carefree like Kiana; she vaguely saw something from Sakura's "abnormality".
"Mhm, thank you."
Nodding towards MEI, Sakura spoke up: "Please take care of me from now on."
The current her, those who didn't know would think it was her first time meeting MEI.
And it was precisely this stiff appearance of hers that further confirmed MEI's guess.
But—
"Those words are distancing."
Shaking her head, MEI stated bluntly: "I have only just stepped onto the battlefield; on the contrary, I have to rely on you to take care of me."
Some things, even if she saw through them, she naturally wouldn't actively poke through, not to mention it was such a matter that made her awkward too.
Therefore now, she could only speak some polite remarks to maintain dignity.
Of course, her words were also the truth.
Her last battle was achieved under conditions of 'die if not fighting' and soaring adrenaline.
But now, although she had obtained power, she was ultimately a battlefield novice and needed people to look after her.
"N-No problem."
Nodding, Sakura agreed.
And at this moment—
"You also don't need to pay too much attention to her."
Timely, Leo spoke up.
"With Mei present, she doesn't count as a pure novice either."
"Although Mei's memories aren't complete either, she has fought together with me for so long; she definitely has insights too."
—That's right, Raiden Mei could still lodge her consciousness in that split-off blade!
Added to her compatibility with MEI, she could even control MEI's body for a short time.
So precisely because of this, Leo dared to take MEI directly into the [Instance].
And now, they would set out in peak condition!
________________________________________
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