Before today, everyone present had thought a lot about today's 'battle'.
Whether it was Kiana, Mei, and Anna who had stepped into the 'ring,' or Yuna, Bronya, and Rita who were pulling the strings from behind the scenes, or even Fu Hua and Durandal who were completely clueless, no one expected something like this to happen.
Honestly, what Leo Ash usually did, with the exception of the captain and vice-captain of the Immortal Blades who were constantly traveling between Schicksal HQ and various parts of the world, everyone else either saw him training, in seclusion, or fighting Honkai Beasts.
And now, a child suddenly pops out and calls Leo Ash 'Papa'...
Who could accept this kind of plot twist!!!
And if the child's father was Leo Ash and the mother was Kiana... that would be one thing.
But why would the child call both Yuna and Kiana 'Mama' at the same time???
"Um, little one."
At that moment, seeing the white-haired child trying to tackle Yuna again, Rita kindly stood in front of her and said with a smile.
"How do you know that they are your Papa and Mama?"
"Instinct!"
Looking at the smiling Rita, the little girl placed her hands on her hips and said confidently.
"An auntie told me that I'm a member of the Kaslana family."
"And my Kaslana instinct tells me—they are my Papa and Mama!"
"An auntie?"
Hearing his 'daughter's' words, Leo Ash seemed to remember something and asked tentatively.
"What... did she look like?"
"Mmm, short pink hair, pointy ears—and she even asked me to call her little sister!"
*It really is you.*
*Elysia, what are you stirring up... never mind, she didn't do anything wrong.*
*But I don't understand what's going on now.*
*System, oh omnipotent System—*
[Stop wailing. Haven't you noticed why this child has the genes of you, Kiana, and Yuna?]
*Ah, is it already confirmed???*
[That's right, it's confirmed. No need for a paternity test, this System already did it for you.]
[Do you remember when the three Welt clones attacked the Far East Branch, and you arrived just in time to kill one of them?]
*I remember. His remains are still running wild inside my body.*
[At that time, Kiana was being hunted by Stan, so she was injured.]
[Yuna was covering for Kiana, but her core's operation was suppressed by the Honkai at the time. Due to her lack of strength, she was beaten up by the Welt clone, who was enhanced by Honkai, so of course she was injured too.]
*And me...*
*Damn it, I only scraped my skin once and drew a single drop of blood, and it still led to trouble?*
[Sodayo, Gray Serpent 1904 was squatting nearby.]
[Because he's a cyborg, you couldn't sense his killing intent, so you didn't notice him.]
[After you left, he immediately jumped out, took the blood of all three of you, and then flew away using the Quantum Teleportation System.]
*Ah, other people were injured in that battle too, right?*
[Yeah, but the problem is Mei was with Theresa. The other Gray Serpents aren't stupid. Collecting blood on the battlefield near Himeko's house at that time would just be asking for a beating.]
[As for Himeko... she's just an ordinary A-rank. Why would someone collecting the blood of the strong be interested in her?]
After learning the course of events from the System, Leo Ash's gaze towards the child became even more complicated.
In terms of bloodline, she was undoubtedly his blood relative.
But—even counting my age from my previous life, I'm only in my twenties.
I don't even have a girlfriend, so I'm not ready to be a father at all...
[Otherwise, what do you think this System is laughing at? This is the scene this System wanted to see!]
*You son of a—*
[Oh, this System doesn't have parents, so you can curse as loud as you want.]
*You're impossible.*
*Now, let me think... damn it, I can't think of anything.*
At this moment, after Rita asked a question that almost no one except Leo Ash understood the meaning of, the scene suddenly fell into silence.
And this change naturally did not escape the child's notice.
Sensing that the atmosphere was off, the child timidly asked everyone.
"Um, did I do something wrong?"
"If I did something wrong—I'm sorry!"
"Even though I don't know what I did wrong, I'm sorry!"
"Don't, don't be like that!"
Seeing the child who called her 'Mama' cry out those words, Kiana immediately rushed over and hugged the girl tightly.
"You didn't do anything wrong—everyone's just a bit confused, right!"
"That's right."
At that moment, Leo Ash put his sunglasses back on and spoke to the child in a gentle voice.
"You go rest in the hotel with Mama Kiana for a bit. Papa will come over after chatting with the other aunties."
"Okay!"
Looking at the well-behaved child, everyone—still felt that this scene was too bizarre.
Especially Yuna, who was one of the masterminds.
Before this scene unfolded, she had never thought of getting involved herself.
*But now, my daughter with Senior and Kiana... no, why does this feel so strange?*
*And with things as they are now, even if I have no intention of getting involved, the way others look at me will definitely be different.*
*Strange, where did this child come from?*
"Forget it."
Seeing the strange atmosphere, Fu Hua felt a wave of irritation in her heart.
"I'm not interested in this matter. Classmate Kiana might not be able to take good care of this child. I'll go with them to check on the situation."
"In that case, Lady Fu Hua, I'll leave it to you."
After seeing Fu Hua off with her gaze, Rita smiled and watched Leo Ash, quietly waiting for him to speak.
"Sister..."
Although Rita's face was filled with a friendly smile, Leo Ash felt—holy crap, what a terrifying aura.
"Leo, I'm really curious about what happened."
At that moment, Rita took a step forward, closing in on Leo Ash with a smile.
"I've lived with you for two years, and I really didn't see you as this kind of person."
[Killing intent, this is definitely killing intent!]
[Heeheehee, my favorite scene is finally here!]
As for Anna and Mei on the other side...
Well, Anna still felt very uncomfortable, but she wasn't an idiot and had already realized where the strangeness of this matter lay.
Leo Ash and Kiana had only known each other for two months. Even if they had been doing it behind everyone's backs every day, Kiana's belly couldn't possibly have grown, let alone given birth to a child.
But as for Mei...
*Leo Ash and Kiana already have a child.*
[Hey, Mei, don't be like this.]
[You're a high school student who has taken biology. You should know that it takes about 280 days for a human embryo to develop and be born.]
[You haven't even known Kiana for that long. Do you think it's possible for Leo Ash and Kiana to have a child in secret?!]
[Don't give up hope!]
*Thank you for encouraging me at a time like this.*
*But, they even have a child. I, I, I...*
[The child wasn't born from them, so why are you stalling because of this?!]
[Besides, isn't there an old saying in Shenzhou? Oh, 'if you play your cards right, you can win anyone over.']
[Is having a child such a big problem? The problem is how deep your love for Leo Ash is!]
*...Let me be alone for a while.*
Listening to Raiden Mei's reply, the Herrscher of Thunder truly felt that if she were in control of the body right now, her blood pressure would have skyrocketed.
[I told you to make a move before, but you didn't, and now you're just wallowing in self-pity here.]
[Poison Ivy helped you so much, but now you—in this state, you won't even get a turn!]
*Yeah, I won't even get a turn.*
The Herrscher of Thunder, who had intended to provoke Mei's heart, now realized—oh no, she had truly 'broken'.
*It's over. I underestimated the weight Leo Ash held in her heart.*
*Now even goading her is useless...*
*She's a lost cause. Forget it, if she's really a lost cause, there's nothing I can do.*
*Let her fend for herself. She brought this upon herself.*
With these thoughts, the Herrscher of Thunder actively fell into a slumber—which was obviously impossible.
She still longed for a battle with Leo Ash, but the problem was, there was no chance to fight now. So seeing Leo Ash suffer a setback seemed to be a pretty satisfying experience for the Herrscher of Thunder as well.
As for Rin, who was squatting near the coconut tree, she was already rolling on the ground with laughter.
At this moment, Rin truly felt that her decision not to warn Leo Ash further was absolutely right.
This kind of scene...
—Yes, this is what I wanted to see!
The warrior Leo Ash, who could even defeat the Herrscher of Finality, was now sweating bullets because of a daughter who fell from the sky.
*Hahaha, glaring at me is useless. You're surrounded by those girls right now, so you can't possibly lock me back in the Stigmata Space.*
*Nyah nyah nyah, eat your heart out. Let's see you act so smug in the future.*
Seeing Rin rolling on the ground and making faces, Leo Ash felt like his whole world was falling apart.
Right now, Rita was watching him with a smile, Anna and Yuna were staring at him with strange expressions, and Durandal, who didn't know the situation, and Bronya, who was an outsider, were still relatively calm, but now...
*Ah, for crying out loud, I didn't do anything. Why do I have to face this stalemate?*
*And if I just say this is World Serpent's plot—where would I get that intel?*
*Also, the matter of an artificial human... wait, no!*
*System, I have a problem.*
[Oh, your daughter has a tiny bit of power from you, Kiana, and Yuna. That's a fact.]
*This is bad.*
"Forget it, I'll go check on them too."
Not intending to explain the matter at all, Leo Ash could only choose to forcefully chase after Fu Hua and Kiana, charging straight towards them.
"Leo Ash, wait..."
Mei, who wanted to call out to him, suddenly found that she had no reason to do so.
After all—what's so strange about a man worrying about his daughter and his daughter's mother?
[Sigh, you're really useless. Forget getting a turn, you're not even in the running anymore.]
*Forget it, so be it.*
*I want to be alone...*
*Let me be alone for a while.*
Watching Leo Ash's retreating figure, Durandal very bluntly looked at the smiling Rita and asked in confusion.
"Strange, Rita, even I know that this child was obviously not born normally."
"You seemed to be angry about this just now—this isn't Leo Ash's fault, is it?"
"Ah, was that the case?"
At this moment, Rita looked at Durandal very naturally, her eyes filled with innocence.
"It must have been your imagination."
"Is that so?"
*Lady Durandal, your intuition is far too accurate.*
*I was indeed angry.*
*But the object of my anger was not Leo, but myself.*
*It was because I acted too late that this happened.*
*Now that this child has appeared before Leo, the connection between him and K423 will inevitably become even stronger.*
*And this matter will not escape Lord Bishop Otto. When he finds out that Leo and K423 have a 'daughter,' he will definitely use this as an opportunity to unfold his subsequent plans.*
*Leo, it's your sister's fault for not being decisive enough from the beginning to pull you out of the abyss.*
*And now...*
*Sigh, Lady Durandal hasn't even launched her offensive, and the competition is already 'over'.*
*Lord Otto, how will you torment Leo next?*
As for Durandal, who had no idea what Rita was thinking, she looked at Rita suspiciously for a moment before shifting her attention to the others, saying very seriously.
"Everyone, don't misunderstand. Leo Ash—he is definitely not that kind of person."
*Ah, although Miss Bianka says so, your words imply that everyone already thinks of Brother Leo as 'that kind of person'.*
At this moment, Bronya, as an outsider, could only think—this child's arrival was at an incredibly awkward time.
*Sigh, now all our plans are in disarray.*
*Originally, we planned to let Big Sister Kiana or Big Sister Mei enter the ring first, but now...*
*If it were anyone else, it would be fine, but with Big Sister Kiana's personality, even if the opportunity was right in front of her, she might not be able to seize it.*
*Brother Leo, it's not that Bronya doesn't want to help you, but now...*
*—This is a problem you can only solve yourself.*
.....