"Not planning to attack?" Himeko held her greatsword aloft, watching Irene, who gripped her chakrams. "Or are you waiting for me to send you an invitation?"
As she spoke, Himeko scanned Irene's current form. With that cat-like posture, her agility was likely quite impressive.
She didn't see the other Judah, which meant this was another one of Irene's forms. Her weapons were chakrams, and her combat style was melee. Beyond that, she couldn't discern much else.
"I'll pass on that." A smile touched Irene's face. During her training, she hadn't only learned from Kallen; she had also picked up a trick or two from Pardo.
Of course, after a few lessons, Irene realized one thing: Pardofelis's combat style was not suitable for learning. That person's fighting style highlighted a single word: casual.
When she wielded the chakrams, she simply flung them forward and used Honkai energy to enhance their destructive power. There were no special techniques to speak of. If anything, only the technique of Honkai energy reinforcement was worth learning.
Irene had already mastered that part. However, the other core component—Quantized tactics—was completely irregular, just as the Possession Card had warned.
Even the owner, the Cat herself, couldn't control it. But the Cat had always been super lucky; even without her control, quantization would happen exactly when she needed it.
It was completely unreasonable—just like when the Cat became a MANTIS. It was an unreasonable kind of luck.
Irene crouched low, like a cat about to hunt, and then, in the next instant, she surged forward. Himeko raised her greatsword, gauged the timing, and swung it down.
Just as the blade was a hair's breadth from Irene's shoulder, Irene's body seemed to lose its solidity. Her chest suddenly transformed into a hazy, flickering phantom of dark blue! It was no longer flesh and blood, but rather a mass of cohesive energy particles.
The heavy sword slashed as if through air, the blade passing through that blue phantom without obstruction, as if Irene didn't exist at that point in space at all.
Inertia carried the giant sword downward. The moment the blade passed through, Irene twisted her body, allowing the sword to clear her completely. As soon as the weapon was clear, that quantized chest re-materialized.
Wearing a smile, Irene used the opening created by Himeko's downward swing to arc her chakram through the air, slashing straight toward Himeko's defenseless chest!
"Hmph!" Himeko let out a light grunt, forcibly twisting her waist to dodge the arc of light. Then, using the momentum of her turn, she brought the missed greatsword back around, slashing toward Irene once more.
Watching the returning blade, Irene had no intention of meeting it head-on. Her body swayed to the side as if boneless, sliding out from under the giant sword.
At the same time, as she escaped the greatsword's attack range, the cat tail behind her—which had remained vigilant all along—lashed out like a steel whip. Accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, it smacked viciously toward Himeko's face!
"Hey, hey! You don't hit people in the face!" Himeko cried out strangely. This sudden 'tail attack' had completely exceeded her expectations.
Smack!
A crisp sound echoed through the training grounds. Although Himeko reacted extremely fast, leaping back to create distance, the tip of that nimble cat tail still whipped against the armor on her sword arm.
"You really are an uncute cat, aren't you?" Himeko retreated a few steps, re-evaluating Irene. Judging by her footwork, she must have undergone rigorous training; otherwise, she wouldn't possess such marvelous movement techniques.
However, compared to her profound footwork, her attacks seemed somewhat strange. It felt almost entirely reliant on brute force, making the attack trajectories easy to judge.
Of course, that wasn't what puzzled Himeko the most. Her biggest confusion lay in that phantom blur that flashed across Irene's body during the first attack, and why her greatsword had passed straight through the girl's body for no reason.
Did she hit an afterimage? Impossible. The opponent had launched an attack at her and had maneuvered to dodge the greatsword. It couldn't be an afterimage caused by her failing to keep up with the opponent's speed.
But if it wasn't an afterimage, what was it? Having swung the greatsword once, it was difficult to close the distance immediately. A greatsword was unlike other weapons; once swung, it was hard to retract.
Especially when facing such a bizarre opponent. If the greatsword couldn't apply force, the only one suffering would be herself. That previous counter-measure wouldn't work every time.
"How can you say that? She's clearly the cutest little kitty." Irene swayed the cat tail behind her. Pardofelis was the cutest kitten in the world.
[ Being cute and all is fine, but 'World's Number One Cutie' is a bit embarrassing, isn't it? ]
Inside her consciousness, Pardo felt a bit shy at Irene's praise. She usually only heard that kind of address from Elysia-nee.
[ I think it's very cute too. ] Kallen chimed in. [ Cats and such are really very cute. ]
[ Eh, Kallen-nee, why are you joining in on the teasing too? ]
Listening to the little theater in her mind, Irene couldn't help but curl her lips into a smile. She then looked at Himeko opposite her. "But speaking of which, if this is a test, you didn't seem to mention any conditions."
"Oh, that? There aren't really any conditions." Himeko shrugged easily. "Basically, as long as you demonstrate the strength to fight back, the assessment is considered passed. As for building seniority, that depends on your performance in future missions."
Of course, she made it sound simple. But in reality, during the test, the A-Rank Valkyrie acting as the examiner would spare no effort in pressuring the examinee.
During combat, their momentum would be so fierce it looked like they had no intention of letting any examinee pass.
This was normal, however. After all, being a Valkyrie was not a good profession. It truly involved hanging one's head on one's belt to fight Honkai Beasts. Moreover, A-Rank Valkyries had to face the high-level combat power of Honkai Beasts.
Those who were already A-Rank Valkyries naturally didn't want others to face the monsters they faced unprepared, nor did they want newly promoted rookies dragging them down.
So, although the assessment sounded simple, the number of people who could actually pass was countable on one hand, unless they were noted to possess extremely strong combat power before choosing to promote.
Only in such cases would the test be more of a formality. Irene was exactly this type.
Based on Theresa's account, Himeko already understood that this person was truly capable of single-handedly killing a Pseudo-Herrscher that had managed to overturn Theresa.
Although there were reasons involved—such as Theresa's carelessness and the opponent's move being a treacherous poisoning technique—the fact that Irene could accomplish this meant she was at least above the level of a B-Rank Valkyrie.
"So, have I passed?" Irene didn't know the little calculations in Himeko's heart and continued to ask. "Or do we need to keep fighting?"
"Mm, actually, this is enough." Himeko rubbed her chin, but she didn't lower the heavy sword in her hand. "But I still want to see your other abilities."
As soon as Himeko finished speaking, she threw her entire body directly toward Irene.
"Happy to oblige!" Watching the cleaving greatsword, Irene protected her chest with both chakrams, forcefully bracing against the incoming blade. Then, with a sudden burst of strength, she parried the greatsword away.
"Good kid!" Himeko saw her full-power strike easily deflected by Irene. She hadn't expected that Irene's petite body would contain such immense strength.
One had to remember that Himeko was an A-Rank Valkyrie who specialized in using heavy swords; her strength was far from ordinary. Yet, she hadn't expected that Irene—currently in a form that appeared to focus on ethereal movement and swift attacks—would possess the power to deflect her full-strength blow.
And by the looks of it, it wasn't even difficult for her. This was getting interesting.
However, what Himeko didn't know was that although Pardofelis's strength ranked almost at the bottom among the Thirteen Flame-Chasers...
If one were to compare strength purely, Pardo might only be able to beat Griseo—provided, of course, that Griseo didn't use her paintings.
But that depended on who she was being compared to. No matter what, Pardo was a MANTIS, and a MANTIS who had survived to the very end. Her strength couldn't possibly be weak.
"Then it's my turn to attack." Irene crouched low, like a hunting leopard cat, crossing her two chakrams in front of her chest. Her speed was a notch faster than before.
Seeing this, Himeko could only hold her greatsword horizontally in front of her to block. Irene didn't intend to actually cut Himeko. After all, compared to the greatsword Himeko used for training...
The chakrams in Irene's hands were genuine special-issue items personally forged for the Cat by Teacher Big V, Vill-V. The difference in quality and power between the two was not just a little bit.
Ding!
The training greatsword, already subjected to repeated heavy blows, was sliced directly in two by Irene's next strike. The broken blade fell to the ground on its own.
"Oh my, looks like it's over." Himeko looked at the broken heavy sword in her hand and crouched down to pick up the severed blade. "Then congratulations, Miss Irene. You can indeed obtain the A-Rank Valkyrie certificate."
"Mn." Irene nodded, not surprised by this. With Pardo on the field, let alone A-Rank Valkyrie, Irene could even attempt to challenge S-Rank Valkyrie.
Of course, if Kallen were included, given Otto's personality, it wouldn't be impossible for him to create a special rank just for Kallen.
Naturally, Irene didn't plan to expose Kallen's power right now. She still had many things to do.
Irene released her transformation and looked up at Himeko to ask, "Speaking of which, since that was a test just now, does the recording need to be uploaded or something?"
"Yes." Himeko nodded as if it were a matter of course. "A-Rank Valkyries are considered the backbone combat force for Schicksal. The promotion of every A-Rank Valkyrie naturally needs to be uploaded to Headquarters for record-keeping."
"Headquarters..." Listening to Himeko's words, Irene pursed her lips. It was just as she expected. As the backbone force of Schicksal, even Theresa couldn't grant the rank privately.
Himeko saw Irene's worried expression and thought she was distressed about being a drifter from the Sea of Quanta without local citizenship, worrying whether she would be accepted. She spoke up.
"Ah, don't worry. We'll tamper with your resume a little bit. It's just changing an identity. Your combat power can definitely reach A-Rank; as long as that's not an issue, the rest isn't a problem."
Moreover, Himeko believed that with Theresa's authority as an S-Rank Valkyrie, the tampering Theresa did shouldn't be discovered. In Schicksal, there were few people with higher authority than Theresa.
And those few who did have higher authority than Theresa were busy most of the time; they certainly wouldn't have time to check carefully.
At this moment, Theresa hopped over from the spectator stands in the distance, carrying Judah on her back, and landed heavily on the ground. "Congratulations, Irene, on obtaining the title of A-Rank Valkyrie."
"However, I must also tell you. Becoming an A-Rank Valkyrie means you will have to bear more responsibility, protect more people, and protect civilization from the disasters of the Honkai."
"Mn, I understand." Irene nodded, then looked at Himeko. "I've troubled Principal Theresa and Teacher Himeko with my affairs."
"It's nothing." Himeko waved her hand. "Just a small favor. Go back and rest first; Theresa and I will go handle your resume."
Irene nodded, then turned calmly to leave the testing area. However, Irene's mind was not as calm as her surface appearance.
[ As expected, it has reached this step. ] In the Palace of Consciousness, Irene's avatar sat cross-legged on the plaza with a worried expression, looking into the distance and pondering what to do next.
Seeing the contemplative Irene, Pardo quietly came over and sat down beside her. [ Are we... oh wait, am I going to be discovered? ]
[ Rather, it was a matter of time. ] Irene understood very well. Since she was willing to participate in the A-Rank Valkyrie test, she understood that the day of her exposure would come—it was just a matter of sooner or later.
Moreover, she needed to demonstrate power. If she wanted to participate in certain events she had in mind, the rank of A-Rank Valkyrie was merely the threshold.
[ Will there be problems? ] Pardo scratched her head. [ So the reason you didn't want to use Kallen-nee's power was because of that Schicksal Overseer? ]
[ There will definitely be problems. ] Irene nodded. It was impossible to avoid trouble. If Kallen's appearance would attract attention, would Pardo's not?
Just like Raven, whom they met in Nagazora City last time—did she fail to recognize Pardo? Impossible. Raven definitely recognized her, and she would definitely contact Gray Serpent.
As one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers of the Previous Era, the attention Pardo would attract was by no means small.
And on Otto's side, there was also a relic of the Previous Era—Void Archives. He would definitely recognize Pardo as well. Aside from the risk of quantization, there was no difference between Irene's Pardo and the normal Pardo.
However, this was a risk that could be taken. After all, this wasn't the World Serpent where Kevin had already returned. As long as Kevin hadn't returned, this world still belonged to Schicksal.
For Otto, a resurrected Flame-Chaser from the Previous Era—or one impersonated by someone else—might be interesting, but Kallen's appearance would undoubtedly hold a far greater attraction for him.
And as long as the benefits were right, perhaps exposing Pardo would even bring him some unexpected gains.
[ Otto... is it... ] Kallen, standing to the side, looked at Irene, her eyes slightly dazed. To say that Nun of Atonement Kallen didn't miss Otto would be impossible.
Otto had saved her from the claws of that Honkai Beast, but he had paid the price with his life. Although, in Otto's final moments, she realized that the Honkai Beast had actually been released by Otto earlier, his goal had been to save her.
In other words, the root of everything ultimately started with Kallen. She was the switch for it all. In fact, it was she who caused Otto to drift further and further away, leading him to take the Black Box out without handling it properly, and even causing Yae Sakura to suffer an accident.
If she could have placed more trust in Otto, if she could have handled these matters better, would none of this have happened?
But now, Kallen had already learned from Irene that she had died, yet Otto had become the current Overseer of Schicksal, the Grand Overseer protecting the world.
[ If he hadn't saved me back then, would things have turned out better? ]
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