Time flew by.
A day had passed since the second challenge.
That night, Yunduo, who was sleeping soundly, was woken up by Kiana in the middle of the night, saying she wanted to re-challenge.
Unable to resist Kiana's repeated requests, the two still secretly went out under the cover of night.
In the end, she barely managed to pass.
Kiana was stunned when she learned that the reward was a brand-new uniform, "Ranger."
The uniform itself carried power.
Although it looked like an ordinary school uniform, similar to St. Freya Academy's uniform, it was filled with power far greater than the third-generation armor, White Comet.
Kiana was so excited that she giggled for a long time, then pulled the sleepy Yunduo by the arm and returned to the dorm.
Then, in the middle of the night, she turned on the light.
And woke up Bronya and Mei.
"Ah-woo~ So sleepy, Kiana, why are you waking us up now?"
Mei rubbed her red eyes, looking at Kiana in confusion.
"Of course, I succeeded in the challenge! Did you see it? New clothes!"
Kiana said with a grin, and with a thought, a flash of white light, her original White Comet armor instantly transformed into Ranger.
Mei stared, dumbfounded, at the brand-new and powerful uniform.
"What kind of clothes are these? Did the Headmaster give them to you? And where did they come from?" she asked eagerly.
"Hmm, I just dragged Yunduo to the Challenge Space, and this was the reward. As for where I got them, I have a small armor space in my mind, with two armors inside: one is White Comet, and the other is this Ranger."
Kiana said proudly, her Tail practically wagging in the sky.
"...Idiot."
Bronya said coldly.
"Let me tell you, when I put on this outfit, I automatically learned many attack moves, like Meteor Impact and Nebula Impact! I feel as strong as an A-Rank Valkyrie now!" Kiana explained.
Unbeknownst to them, Kiana had obtained a new uniform and a set of Hannah Stigmata.
She had already pulled far ahead of them.
Mei saw it and kept it in her heart, a hint of worry involuntarily appearing.
But she couldn't accept the punishment for mission failure; Honkai Energy erosion would lead to loss of control.
Once the Herrscher within her awakened, the bomb buried in her body would detonate.
Meanwhile, Yunduo yawned, taking in everyone's expressions.
The night passed without incident.
In the early morning, Yunduo was still washing up when she suddenly received a call from Himeko.
"Kiana, help me answer it... Gurgle gurgle~"
Yunduo mumbled indistinctly while brushing her teeth.
Hearing this, Kiana, whose hair was messy, picked up the phone: "Aunt Himeko, what's wrong?"
On the other end of the line, Himeko's anxious voice came through.
"Kiana, have you received any messages from Theresa?"
"Ever since she went to Changkong City alone yesterday, I've lost contact with her."
"Pfft! Hello? Himeko, what happened to Theresa?"
Yunduo didn't understand and asked in confusion.
Because reality had been disrupted, she didn't know what would happen in the future now.
Himeko explained the situation, and a moment later, the four people in the dormitory gathered in the living room.
"You mean, a massive Honkai Energy reaction broke out in Changkong City, Auntie went to scout alone, and now she's missing?"
Kiana repeated, feeling it was absolutely unbelievable.
Changkong City was originally the place they had escaped from.
When the Third Honkai Eruption occurred, she and Mei met at Chiba Academy in Changkong City. The entire city had been eroded by the Honkai; there were probably few living people left now.
"Why did she go alone? Now she's gone and gotten herself lost." Kiana sighed, though she wasn't particularly worried. After all, Theresa was a Valkyrie whose strength had reached S-Rank.
"The last message Theresa sent me was that a Mimic Herrscher might have appeared in Changkong City," Himeko said solemnly. "Assemble immediately and go to Changkong City to gather intelligence. You must find out Theresa's situation as quickly as possible."
"We understand."
Hanging up the phone, Kiana looked at the others: "Let's go, we have a mission."
"Do I have to go too?" Yunduo asked.
"Sister Yunduo needs to make that decision for herself; Bronya understands Sister Yunduo," Bronya said softly.
"Then I'll come along with you. Just to be clear, I won't participate in combat," Yunduo nodded. "Your current practical combat experience is too lacking; this mission can help you with exactly that."
Preparations were made.
The four of them boarded a St. Freya Academy transport plane and headed for Changkong City.
Until the trio jumped off the plane, Yunduo remained lying on the transport plane's seat without saying anything else.
She wasn't sure what was happening either.
When Yunduo acted as 'Theresa', she had steamrolled through everything. She also didn't like going out, so she had never been to Changkong City and only heard that a Herrscher had indeed appeared here.
But she didn't know the exact circumstances.
As for more distant memories, she couldn't recall them without seeing something familiar.
In any case, she would let the few of them investigate first. With her observing the situation from above, nothing would go wrong.
"Do you want some Bitter Gourd Juice?"
Yunduo took a bottle of bright green drink from her luggage and asked the female pilot.
"Thank you, Officer, but I don't like bitter gourd." The young woman didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Alright then."
Yunduo nonchalantly took a swig of the Bitter Gourd Juice and seriously observed the transport plane's display screen.
A high-definition drone silently followed behind the trio.
On the screen, one could simply detect Honkai Energy reactions as well as the positions of the group, marked by flashing red dots.
If anyone's life was threatened, a warning would trigger.
In the footage, the group had already landed safely... "Wow~ there's so much standing water here. Have all the people in the city moved away?"
Kiana stared at the empty city, her jaw dropping.
In the vast Changkong City, there was no artificial light, relying only on the faint light of the sun.
Abandoned cars, wandering Death Soldiers, and a few Honkai Beasts lined the roadsides.
It was a silent, dead city.
It clearly wasn't like this when they escaped.
It had been less than half a year.
"I really want to go back and see what Chiba Academy looks like now," Mei remarked with nostalgic sentiment.
The group walked along the road, casually clearing out the Death Soldiers and Honkai Beasts they saw with almost no effort.
Today was different from the past; they now possessed the power to fight against the majority of Honkai Beasts.
Among them, Kiana first used the White Comet armor, then, as if showing off, switched to Ranger right before Bronya's eyes.
It wasn't until the group arrived at Chiba Academy to investigate that they suddenly discovered a strange phenomenon.
Ninety percent of the interior of Chiba Academy was covered by growing vines.
In less than half a year, the growth was almost frenzied; this was impossible.
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