Cosmic Juggernaut truly lived up to its reputation as the Astral Express of the Honkai universe. There was basically nowhere it couldn't go. If it couldn't reach somewhere, then the method was definitely the problem.
"Theoretically, that's exactly what Su did while carrying out Project VALUKA. That's why he remained in the Sea of Quanta all this time."
"Of course, what he observed were parallel universes, which are somewhat different from what we call the worldlines of our intrinsic world."
"Magician, your magic trick was wonderful. Please never do that again."
At that, Id immediately understood. So that was what Magician had been planning.
Then a wave of belated fear rose in Id's heart.
After all, Su in the original story had nearly been possessed by an evil female Su from a parallel universe. Because of that, Su had even used Abyss Flower to prepare a fatal wound he could trigger at any moment to kill himself.
Maybe one day Vill-V would wake up and turn into something like Ultra-Evil Vill-V.
Never mind whether that was possible in other worldlines. Just in the main Elysian Realm storyline, Pure Evil had eliminated every other personality and taken over for herself.
Even if the probability wasn't one hundred percent, it had to be over ninety.
Pure Evil: "Stupid Teri candied hawthorn.jpg"
Rumble!
Inside her mind, the Vill-Vs were communicating with perfect calm.
Outside, artillery fire was already raging.
Drones transported a squad of Mobile Response Force soldiers to the scene.
Conductor Vill-V had also brought everyone to their current location, which happened to be the exact center of the outdoor soccer field—
The location most suitable for being blanketed by firepower, where she displayed a provocative slogan—
"You all have to work overtime today, and you won't even get paid for it! Ehehe~"
And so, while the Mobile Response Force was still in the air, they began launching a ferocious attack on Vill-V and the others.
Uh, of course, it wasn't because of Vill-V's provocation. Even if a criminal suspect taunted them, as long as that person didn't make an offensive move, the Mobile Response Force, which followed company regulations, wouldn't initiate an attack.
The Mobile Response Force attacked first for only one reason. Vill-V's group included an extremely high-risk wanted criminal—Odin, former Director of Strategic Security at Heliopolis Life Sciences.
The instant the Mobile Response Force landed, they occupied the elevated stands and immediately took advantage of the high ground to fire downward.
Against extremely high-risk wanted criminals, company policy had always prioritized killing over capture.
And Vill-V and the others were consequently caught in the fallout surrounding Odin.
Pardo clutched her head as she ran, deflecting a grenade round while fleeing.
She escaped toward the soccer field entrance, where the incoming fire was somewhat lighter, and shouted at the top of her lungs:
"Aaaaaah—Sister Vill-V, hurry up and think of something! I can't hold on much longer!"
Heliopolis Life Sciences responded extremely quickly. In only a short while, three or four squads of mass-produced Mobile Response Force soldiers had already been deployed to apprehend the extremely high-risk wanted criminal.
Of course, Pardo wasn't Kevin. She didn't have the ability to block a grenade herself. It was still the defensive equipment Vill-V had given her that stopped it.
But defensive equipment wasn't a long-term solution. The energy reserves of Bronya and Pardo's equipment were already nearly depleted.
Hua had also exhausted herself defending against those attacks and was already panting heavily.
Only Odin strolled leisurely through the hail of bullets, casually intercepting attacks aimed at Vill-V along the way.
He only cared about Vill-V herself. He couldn't care less about anyone else.
If someone saw this from the outside without knowing the circumstances, they might have mistaken him for Vill-V's ultimate one-man fan club.
So Vill-V couldn't count on Odin either. That guy was always holding back everywhere, even refusing to help when someone was about to die.
Seeing the situation, Pardo immediately slipped away on instinct and found herself a safe spot from which to watch the battle.
Sister Vill-V's side was pretty safe too, but it would be bad if she interfered with Vill-V's fighting.
With her tiny frame, she definitely couldn't withstand the aftershocks of their clashes with the enemy.
Conductor Vill-V placated Pardo. "I'm thinking of something. I'm thinking."
Then she continued communicating with Id inside her mind.
"Uh, don't we need to worry about what's happening outside?" Id looked somewhat worriedly at Pardo darting all over the place outside.
"No need. Magician already used that crying-cat head to help you recover part of your memories just now, didn't she?... Seele will handle it."
Magician's "dead-memory attack" naturally hadn't been a sudden whim. If Magician's performance merely made the audience suffer, then it could hardly be called spectacular.
"Ugh, I don't even want to remember those sad things."
Being hacked to death by Seele wasn't exactly a pleasant memory.
Conductor reassured the panicking Pardo in the distance as well as everyone beside her. "If nothing unexpected happens, our reinforcements should arrive very soon. Just hold out a little longer."
Just as Conductor had said, the reinforcements soon arrived.
Assuming those vicious Honkai Beasts could be called reinforcements.
"Warning. Honkai energy detected. 600 HW!"
"ROAR!"
A gigantic Honkai Beast smashed through a building and crashed into the Mobile Response Force soldiers' position, sending them tumbling in every direction.
Countless Seraph-class Honkai Beasts also burst out of the buildings and began indiscriminately slaughtering pedestrians.
The cyborgs being hunted by the wealthy and powerful were suddenly corrupted by Honkai energy as well, transforming into merciless zombies that cut down the elites who had been chasing them, sports cars and all. Hunter and prey had exchanged places.
"The Seven-Day Tide has already been resolved by our company's new drones. This city is perfectly safe... Beep beep beep."
Bzzzt.
The robot playing the promotional message was torn apart beneath the iron hooves of a Honkai Beast. The beasts' roars drowned out the static pouring from the city's broadcast speakers after they lost their signal source.
"Warning. Honkai energy detected. 1,200 HW!"
"Phew—thank goodness, thank goodness. Thanks to the reinforcements, those people with weapons finally stopped chasing us... Like hell that's a good thing! Sister Vill-V, help! The reinforcements are killing people!"
Pardo ran frantically toward Vill-V as the enormous iron hoof of an elephant-class Honkai Beast came down upon the soccer field entrance where Pardo had just been, crushing the entrance into rubble.
Fortunately, Pardo had run fast enough. Otherwise, she would have been trampled into meat paste.
Conductor calmly pulled Hua and Bronya to the center of the soccer field, tossed a device onto the ground, and activated a protective barrier, still repeating the same line. "Don't worry, Pardo. Our reinforcements will be here soon."
Then Magician conjured a pile of small stools from her magic cloak and gestured for everyone to sit, looking completely ready to enjoy the spectacle.
With nowhere else to hide, Pardo had no choice but to return to the group. She picked out a small stool and sat down too, then tugged Bronya over and asked uncertainly, "Eek, there are even more reinforcements coming? It won't be another huge mob of Honkai Beasts, will it?"
"Bronya doesn't know either."
Bronya was clearly uninterested in the whole affair. She stuffed a lollipop into her mouth, pulled out a tablet, and began playing mobile games by herself amid the hail of bullets.
"My stamina in Homu Fantasy is full. I need to log in and spend it quickly. Oh? Did Homu Fall Guys launch today? I'll play a round."
"Goal!" Magician cheered.
A modified Mobile Response Force soldier was impaled by a Seraph-class Honkai Beast and sent flying into the goal.
"One point for the Honkai soccer team." Magician flipped the scoreboard beside her, adding +1 to the Honkai team's score.
A flying-class Honkai Beast was blasted into the goal by a cannon.
"Beautiful shot! Heliopolis Life Sciences scores an equalizer! We're at match point now. Which side will claim the final victory?"
Interestingly enough, the spot where Vill-V and the others stood happened to be the central zone that neither the Heliopolis Life Sciences soldiers nor the Honkai Beasts could spare any attention for. Fierce fighting raged all around them, yet the center of the soccer field was exceptionally peaceful, aside from a few Beast-class Honkai Beasts too stupid to stay away.
At present, the 'Honkai soccer team' held an overwhelming advantage. Even though the Mobile Response Force was fully armed, its equipment had been designed to deal with humans. They hadn't brought any weapons meant to fight Honkai at all.
The core elite force of a city that faced a massive Honkai Beast tide once every seven days didn't possess a single weapon intended to fight Honkai. What greater irony could there be?
And because of the Mobile Response Force's contempt for Honkai, they paid an enormous price.
Although Heliopolis Life Sciences had already modified them into fearless soldiers who didn't fear death, if they couldn't win, then they simply couldn't win.
In less than half an hour, the Mobile Response Force collapsed in a crushing defeat.
But if this was the full extent of Heliopolis Life Sciences' strength, then Vill-V, standing at the center of a Honkai Beast encirclement, would be the next one in trouble.
Very soon, Vill-V's so-called "reinforcements" arrived.
They carried rice paddles, hauled buckets, hugged pillows, brushed their teeth, pushed baby strollers, talked on phones... and packed shoulder to shoulder as they marched straight onto the front line.