The air inside Anti-Entropy's underground command center in Arc City felt frozen solid.
On the huge screen, the red alarm lights cast a dim, bloodless tint across every face.
This unprecedented, empire-wide melon-eating crisis had somehow been forcibly buried under a joint PR effort from miHoYo and Schicksal, in a manner so absurd it barely made sense.
Su Yu stood before the main console and let out a long breath.
"Phew." He pinched the bridge of his nose.
Before he could fully steady his breathing, Tesla, seated at the control panel, sucked in a sharp breath.
Su Yu's hand stilled.
He lifted his eyes toward the red-haired scientist.
Tesla's fingers hammered against the keyboard with a deafening clatter, her expression darkening.
"The Honkai energy wide-area detector just spiked off the charts. This time, the location of the dual rifts has been confirmed."
Tesla split the map on the big screen in two, zooming in on a pair of red dots.
"One's in the abandoned industrial zone east of Arc City. That place is a ghost town most days, so containment should be easy."
She paused, her tone growing more irritated, and pointed at another coordinate to the west.
"But this one... is on the mountain pass road out in the western suburbs."
Su Yu's gaze settled on the coordinate labeled the western suburbs mountain road.
A flicker of familiarity made him raise an eyebrow.
He'd been to that stretch of road before.
Impressed upon his memory, actually.
On that particular night—
He and Eden had torn through that death-defying track known as the Diva's Strings, in a blaze of adrenaline and hormones.
It was a legendary spot in the underground street-racing scene—a private playground the golden Diva had built with a terrifying amount of money.
Bronie's voice crackled through the command channel.
"Boss, we've got a real problem."
The screen switched to a live feed of the mountain road.
The winding pass was lit ghostly white under the streetlights.
Dozens of heavily modified sports cars, engines roaring like beasts, sat lined up at the starting line.
Crowds of young people in flashy, avant-garde outfits had gathered around them.
"There's an underground rally happening there tonight, of all times."
Bronie's voice, chewing gum audibly, came through clear.
"The one leading the pack is someone they call 'Setsuna'—remember her? She lost to you and Eden on that track once, then disappeared for a while."
"Tonight she's back, storming the place, declaring she'll challenge every racer there until the golden Diva shows up again."
Su Yu stared at the familiar matte-black Japanese performance car on screen, silent for a moment.
That was Sakura's car.
"Can't we just send in official personnel to clear the scene?" Tesla asked, frowning.
"Not easily," Bronie shot down the idea. "That crowd's always been dancing on the edge of the law. And take a look at the plates on those cars—plenty of them belong to sons and daughters of powerful families."
"If we try to forcibly disperse them, it could trigger a large-scale disturbance. With the rifts liable to expand any moment, we don't have time to deal with side incidents."
Bronie delivered her conclusion.
"If we don't give them a spectacular race—or rather, if we don't let this Setsuna get what she wants—they're not going to back down. Period."
Su Yu said nothing.
He turned and walked toward the command center's exit.
"All units, listen up."
He pressed the comm device hooked over his ear.
"The rift in the eastern industrial zone—Rita, Kiana, move out immediately. Be ready to engage any Honkai Beasts that show up."
"No way!"
Kiana's voice exploded through the channel instantly.
"Su Yu, are you going off alone into danger again? Have you forgotten what happened last time?"
"Relax, Kiana."
A steady male voice cut into the channel.
Welt Yang pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and rose from a corner of the control room.
He held the cane in his hand.
"This time, I'll go with Su Yu."
"Teacher Yang?" Kiana blinked in surprise.
"Don't worry." Welt's gaze dropped to the cane in his hand, where a faint red glow flickered. "A bit of my Strength has come back. Not much, but enough to handle those things."
The channel fell silent for a few seconds.
In the end, Kiana relented.
"Teacher Yang, then... please look after that idiot for me," she said, her voice muffled. "Keep an eye on him. Don't let him do anything reckless again!"
Su Yu walked on, reaching out to push open the command center's heavy metal doors.
"I'll be fine," he teased. "You're the one I'm worried about, Kiana."
He stepped into the corridor.
"When the fighting starts, don't charge in too far ahead and cause trouble for Rita, okay?"
"Who's going to cause her trouble!" Kiana's voice shot up an octave. "Hmph, hmph!"
Su Yu took the express elevator down to the underground garage.
The motion-sensor lights flicked on one by one.
She'd changed back into the same outfit from the last street race—a fitted black knit dress.
The fabric clung tightly to her striking curves, and sheer black stockings hugged her thighs.
She leaned lazily against the hood of the sports car, one leg crossed over the other, holding a finely crafted half-face mask that represented the "golden Diva."
"I already know the full situation," Eden said, watching Su Yu approach, raising the mask in her hand.
"Looks like this time, our all-powerful Supreme Commander Su Yu will have to borrow the golden Diva's name once more."
"Then I'll be counting on you," Su Yu said, walking up to her.
Eden picked up the other black mask from the passenger seat and leaned in close to Su Yu.
She lifted her hand and settled the mask over his face.
Her fingertips brushed his cheek and lingered there a moment.
It was a touch laced with unmistakable teasing.
"Let's move, then. Time's not on our side."
Eden withdrew her hand and pulled open the car door.
The engine let out a low, guttural growl.
The wine-red sports car, like a beast waking from slumber, tore out of the underground garage and sped off toward the mountain pass.
Welt and Anti-Entropy's logistics staff, along with the pre-contacted Arc City officials, set off in staggered waves to seal off the surrounding area.
[System Notice]
[Honkai Invasion Quest updated! Quest: "The Spiral Drama of Double Vengeance."]
[Quest description: Host, please proceed to both spatial rifts and destroy the Honkai energy cores. Failure will accelerate the arrival of the Honkai invasion.]
[Friendly reminder: This one's a proper 'revenge' battle. Host, please brace yourself mentally—don't get chased down and beaten too badly, hmm?]
[PS: Though for a certain someone, this is probably just another rerun of the harem battlefield. Sigh, foster father is worried whether your future's going to end up under a meat cleaver, kiddo~]
Su Yu rolled his eyes, ignoring the System's usual nonsense.
Meanwhile, at the same time—
A black tactical transport vehicle sped at full speed toward the abandoned factory on the outskirts.
Kiana and Rita sat on either side of the cabin.
"Kiana, Rita, do you copy?"
"Copy," Kiana answered.
"The Valkyrie armor airdrop has been positioned," Bronie's voice came through amid a clatter of keys. "Based on distance calculations, it should arrive by air drop right as you reach the target building."
"Hey, hey, hey! You two listen up!"
Tesla's voice cut in roughly.
"This is the first live combat test of the armor we've been slaving over overtime! You'd better make us proud!" Tesla banged on the table from her end of the line. "Collect as much combat data as you can! It'll be huge for the mass-production armor project!"
Kiana leaned against the cabin wall, poking at her ear with a finger.
"Yeah, yeah, got it. My ears are about to blow up..."
"Huh? What did you just say?!" Tesla's voice shot up an octave.
"Nothing, nothing!" Kiana straightened up immediately, shouting into the headset. "I said, copy that!!!"
She cut off the one-way channel and let out a long, murky sigh.
The cabin was dim.
Kiana turned her head to look at Rita across from her.
Rita still wore her familiar maid uniform, hands folded over her knees, spine straight.
Her eyes were fixed on the cabin floor, her breathing steady.
"Hey, Rita," Kiana called out to her.
Rita lifted her eyelids, red eyes meeting Kiana's.
"What is it, Lady Kiana?"
"You look... completely unfazed," Kiana said, studying her. "Su Yu's not with us, and we don't even know what we're up against this time. Doesn't that worry you at all?"
"Mm."
Rita didn't answer right away. She stayed silent for a moment, then gave a small shake of her head.
"That's not quite true, Lady Kiana."
Rita shifted her position, hands resting at her sides.
"Honestly, I'm very nervous too. I worry the mission might fail, worry whether my own performance will fall short, whether I can live up to what's expected of me—"
Rita leaned her back gently against the cabin wall.
Beneath her clothes, the Stigmata pattern on her back radiated a faint warmth.
That was the Strength Su Yu had granted her.
Whenever she was about to face battle, that power would surge through her body, giving her a sharpness and confidence she'd never had before.
"But I trust Master Su Yu."
The corners of Rita's mouth lifted into a smile.
"So I'll be just as he expects me to be. No matter what lies ahead, I'll bring him victory."
Kiana's mouth opened, then closed.
Looking at the Schicksal maid calmly stating such a thing, she felt something catch in her throat.
She scratched at her white hair and muttered under her breath.
"When did the two of you get... so close?"
The tactical transport lurched hard as it turned into the wasteland surrounding the factory zone.
Twenty minutes later.
[Diva's Strings]
Puddles of standing water reflected the eerie, spectacular blue phantasm hanging over Arc City's sky.
Even the air was a mix of damp earthy mineral smell and the high-octane gasoline reek from all the gathered sports cars.
"The Diva! The Diva's here!!!"
The roar that erupted from the crowd was like a sound wave gone wild, echoing through the empty valley.
Countless expensive modified supercars flashed their hazard lights.
The wine-red sports car glided smoothly into the starting area.
Su Yu sat in the passenger seat, watching, through the mask, faces twisted with excitement.
These children of privilege, elegant and composed in their tailored suits during the day, now looked like a pack of wild dogs that had caught the scent of blood.
The girl assistant from before, tablet in hand, came jogging over.
Her ponytail whipped back and forth in the wind, sweat beading thickly on her forehead—clearly worn ragged by the chaotic scene.
"Miss Eden—no, Lady Diva!" the assistant said, catching her breath, hand pressed to her chest, reporting quickly through the car window. "Setsuna's already won three straight races. She's left every veteran local racer in Arc City a full two turns behind. Per the rules, one more win and she qualifies to challenge you directly."
Eden's slender fingers rested on the leather steering wheel, her gaze sweeping past the crowd to settle on the far end of the starting line.
The matte-black sports car crouched there like a black fox lurking in the dark, unadorned by any extra paint job.
Its windows were shut, tinted with privacy film, hiding whoever sat inside.
But Su Yu could feel the presence radiating from within—like a blade drawn and ready to strike.
"No need," Eden said.
Her voice drifted out through a cracked window, light as air, landing on the assistant's ear.
"None of them are a match for Setsuna. Wasting time on such a meaningless contest of stamina is disrespectful to a true strong contender. Besides, I have no interest in beating a racer who's already run four rounds and whose hands are shaking on the wheel."
The assistant froze in place, mouth slightly agape.
Eden turned to look at Su Yu, her eyes lingering half a second on the composed mask, then returning to face forward.
"Go tell the others. The rest of the races are canceled. I'll go head-to-head with Setsuna directly, one final showdown."
Eden's words carried through the loudspeakers across the entire track. After a brief hush, the crowd erupted into even wilder screams.
"This will settle quickly. Once it's over, every car leaves immediately. I've had a sudden whim tonight—I want to have this track resurfaced. If you happen to get buried by a bulldozer, don't expect compensation from me."
The excuse was outrageously self-indulgent, but it carried all the swagger befitting the "golden Diva."
In front of a wealthy woman who could casually drop billions to redo a race track, no one doubted she'd actually follow through.
The wine-red supercar crept forward, finally pulling up alongside the matte-black car at the starting line.
The combined roar of the two monstrous machines drowned out all the surrounding noise.
Sakura—no, "Setsuna" now.
She slowly rolled down her window.
Her fox-masked face turned toward Eden.
"We meet again, Miss Setsuna."
"Pleasure to see you. But as the owner of this track, you stepping onto the course yourself seems to break the... rules you all agreed on, doesn't it?"
Eden gripped the gear shift and let out a soft scoff.
"Rules are made for the weak. For someone as strong as you, I'd rather face you in a fairer way."
Sakura went quiet.
Her hand brushed lightly over the wheel.
"Since our last race, I've come here every day to test myself."
"Every blade of grass on this road, every tiny crack left by rainwater erosion—it's all etched into my mind now. So this time, you really don't need to hold anything back."
As she spoke, Sakura's gaze drifted slightly, settling on the masked man in the passenger seat.
"So... he's still here too."
Behind the mask, Sakura's eyes turned complicated.
That was Su Yu.
She'd recognized Su Yu's true identity ever since their last race.
Sakura had thought about using their frequent run-ins at the convenience store to probe him further, to figure out just what tricks this man had hidden up his sleeve.
But unfortunately, it had been a long while since she'd bumped into Su Yu at the convenience store.
Even Ah Hua wasn't working there anymore—word was he'd gone to work as a motion-capture actor at Su Yu's studio.
Which meant she had even less reason to keep going back there.
That Su Yu was hiding some astonishing secret—Sakura was well aware of that much.
"What a beautiful night, isn't it?"
Sakura suddenly tilted her head back, looking up at the dreamlike blue veil of light over Arc City's sky.
"That fantastical scene—it's almost like a stage set just for this final trial between you and me. Don't you think so?"
Eden didn't follow her gaze up to the sky.
She simply looked at Su Yu beside her, with an expression somewhere between indulgent and playful.
"Looks like Miss Setsuna is quite confident she'll win tonight. That kind of declaration of certain victory really does pile on the pressure."
"Diva." Sakura cut Eden off.
Her voice turned serious.
"Let him take the driver's seat."
A gasp of shock rippled through the crowd.
"Hm?"
Eden's fingers on the steering wheel stiffened, just slightly.
"I've already beaten your record on this track," Sakura said, her voice flat. "By a full fifteen seconds—down to the decimal. If you drove tonight, you'd have no hope of keeping up with my pace. It'd be a one-sided slaughter, and not an interesting one."
Eden's gaze went still.
She narrowed her eyes, her breath growing heavy for a moment.
Before she could snap back a retort, Sakura's next words landed like a hammer blow.
"You're not a martial artist. So you can't understand what a true 'realm' truly means."
"There's a fundamental gap between us now. If you were to be my opponent, this match would already be completely unfair to you."
The onlookers by the track exchanged confused glances.
They had no idea what "martial artist" or "realm" meant.
All they understood was that this outsider challenger had just openly humiliated their goddess.
"What is she even talking about..."
"Is she out of her mind? Talking to the Diva like that?"
Eden drew a deep breath, and the fingers she'd clenched tight suddenly relaxed.
Because a broad, warm hand had settled gently over the back of hers.
Su Yu tilted his head slightly.
His profile, blurred faintly in the windshield's reflection, showed eyes behind the black mask that carried a chilling, unshakable calm.
"Genetic Lock."
Su Yu's voice was barely audible, like a breeze swallowed by the engine's roar.
"No mistaking it. Let me handle this."
Eden looked at Su Yu.
She wasn't the kind of foolish woman whose pride would blind her to reason.
She knew that when Su Yu spoke like this, he'd never once been wrong.
And besides—watching this man step forward on his own to protect her—
the spark of provoked anger inside her instantly melted into a sweet, cloying sense of safety.
Even a woman as wealthy as a nation and as forceful as Eden could still long for a strong man to stand before her, shielding her from the storm.
And clearly, that man was Su Yu.
She nodded obediently and scooted back in her seat, docile as a little wife stepping into the background.
This natural shift in dynamic looked, to the onlookers, more shocking than an alien invasion descending from the heavens.
Just as Su Yu was about to switch seats, Eden suddenly reached out, her slender arms crossing over the gearshift to wrap around his neck.
She pulled him close.
Su Yu felt his nose press into something soft, carrying the scent of top-shelf red wine perfume.
With one corner of the mask lifted, Eden's warm, full lips met Su Yu's.
"!!!"
The starting area exploded.
Everyone's eyeballs nearly dropped into the puddles at their feet.
That golden Diva—worth over ten billion, proud as a deity in this world, who never took any under-the-table deals, whose fingertips no outsider had ever so much as brushed—
she had just, in front of everyone, kissed a man of her own accord?
Eden released Su Yu.
Her eyes were faintly red at the corners, carrying a hazy, tipsy sort of glow.
She pushed the door open and stood in the wind.
"He's my man."
Eden leaned against the hood of the sports car, her voice, boosted by the sound system, carrying across the entire valley.
"He has skills even I can't match. Tonight, I'm willing to stake every ounce of reputation the golden Diva has built in this world to vouch for him."
She swept a cold gaze over the stunned, frozen crowd.
"Now—does anyone still dare question the worth of this match?"
Dead silence.
In the face of such an overwhelming declaration, all the so-called "rules" were rendered meaningless.
Eden turned and adjusted the collar for Su Yu, now seated in the driver's seat.
"I'll be waiting for you at the finish line. Don't keep me waiting too long... you know I prefer to see you in the champagne bath at the end."
Su Yu let out a helpless laugh and gripped the wheel.
At that moment, control of the wine-red beast officially changed hands.
Through his mask, he glanced over at Sakura.
"When did you break through?"
Su Yu's voice echoed in the cramped cockpit.
Sakura laughed.
Through the fox mask, Su Yu could see her shoulders trembling faintly with excitement.
"Ever since that race. I've been chasing the afterimage of that day's match, over and over, on this road."
Sakura started the engine.
The matte-black exhaust pipe spat pale blue flame.
"The world began to slow down for me, once I reached a certain limit."
"The way leaves fall, even the way the air currents move—it all became like a sci-fi film played at several times slower speed. That was... a thrill called 'awakening.'"
Sakura rested her hand on the gear shift.
"Before I became this Office Slave who processes reports every day, I was a racer, sure—but I was also a swordswoman who'd been raised at my Master's side, walking the edge of life and death for years."
"These hands have cut down villains who called themselves righteous, and seen the darkest bloodshed this world has to offer."
"Until one day, I realized there was something more worth protecting... so I chose to retire. Chose this mundane nine-to-five life."
She laughed at herself, her voice carrying a kind of wild release.
"And yet, a swordswoman's instincts can't be worn away by the neon lights of a peaceful city."
"I was suffocating in those tedious reports. Until I found racing. Only under that adrenaline-drenched, cliff-edge kind of extreme speed could I find the real 'me' again."
Su Yu fell silent for a moment.
"Why tell me all this? For a masked stranger you've only met twice on this road, isn't this a bit too intimate a confession?"
"Stranger, is it..."
Sakura let out a low laugh.
"There's no need to keep up the disguise, sir. Since we're both martial artists who've entered the Way, you must know well enough—this fragile mask of yours is no more than a sheet of transparent paper before our senses. You recognized me last time already, didn't you?"
Sakura turned her head.
"But you never said a word."
"You even played along with that dull little Office Slave chance-encounter routine at the convenience store."
"For that... I owe you my thanks. Compared to those madmen who'd try to rip off my mask, you're the real gentleman."
Su Yu let out a long sigh.
So, his identity had been seen through by Sakura after all, last time.
But a deeper thought followed close behind.
That Sakura could break through the first barrier of the Genetic Lock with nothing but sheer obsession for the thrill—no drugs, no System boost—
that kind of talent... could turn out to be a real asset for Anti-Entropy someday.
"In that case, why don't we make a bet," Su Yu said with a smile.
"A bet? What kind of bet?"
"The power you've gained, and whatever you imagine 'entering the Way through martial arts' to mean—those are actually two completely different things. I happen to... know just a little more than you do about the truth of this world, about the secret of that lock inside your body."
Su Yu pressed the throttle.
The tachometer needle shot into the red zone, the car body trembling faintly, like a beast straining against its own killing intent.
"If you can beat me tonight, I'll tell you everything—down to the last detail. Including the price of that power, and where it leads."
"But if I win," Su Yu's tone dropped, "then I'll have to ask Miss 'Setsuna' for a favor—one that won't cross any of your lines."
Behind the fox mask, Sakura's eyes snapped tight.
She felt a pressure unlike any she'd known before.
"Oh? Sounds like you're quite confident in yourself."
"Fine. So long as it doesn't cross my lines, I accept this... interesting wager."
She slammed the car into first gear, tires screeching against the pavement in a burst of thick white smoke.
"Then let's begin! Same old rules—the classic downhill chase?"
"Of course."
Su Yu adjusted his rearview mirror.
"I'll be..."
Sakura's voice surged skyward along with the engine's roar.
"...going first!"
The matte-black afterimage vanished from the starting line in an instant.
The wine-red sports car tore after it, two streaks of light slicing through the silent valley beneath that warped blue veil of sky.
____
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