However, Himeko naturally had no way of knowing that Kiana's careless remark had struck the Herrscher of Thunder almost as hard as if she had taken the beloved Lunelle—dear to the Herrscher of Thunder—hostage and delivered a calculated threat:
"Ms. Herrscher of Thunder, you wouldn't want your precious Seele to die just because you're making too much noise in battle, would you?"
It was in that moment the Herrscher realized her reckless actions had directly put Lunelle's life at risk.
From then on, she didn't dare to summon another surge of Honkai energy.
After all, if she continued to throw a tantrum like a child, what if she really ended up killing Seele—the girl she loved?
And of course, the fact that Lunelle was still alive immediately shattered the "I've lost everything" mental buff that had been propping up the Herrscher of Thunder.
With her state of mind shaken, and her strongest emotional drive gone, the Herrscher was caught off-guard. Mei, who had been hopelessly overpowered, suddenly saw her chance to strike.
In the end, it was this mix of unexpected turns that led to the Herrscher of Thunder, who had all but secured victory, being pinned down—derailed by nothing more than Kiana's offhand comment.
And with that, what should've been a sure loss flipped into a muddled victory, and as the one who walked away the winner, Himeko really had nothing more to add.
Ah, right. As for our Duck who got blown away, no one's really sure how she ended up sneaking into the Hyperion's hangar like she did in the original storyline.
But Bronya's presence was so faint that when the Valkyrie adjutant under Captain Himeko finally spotted her, she looked more like some abandoned mushroom growing in the hangar.
Lunelle, whose condition remained critical, was immediately transferred to the intensive care unit for emergency treatment.
After Himeko brought the three surviving girls from Nagazora back to Saint Freya, the mission to subdue the Third Herrscher came to an end—its opening far more anticlimactic than expected.
"Major? You're telling me the Herrscher of Thunder suddenly stopped fighting just because she heard that a girl named 'Seele' was still alive—and she was scared she might hurt her? That's how you beat her?!"
Upon hearing Himeko's account, Theresa—who had once joined the Second Herrscher suppression—finally understood why Himeko had said the whole thing felt surreal when recounting the details.
Because in the end, the terrifying Herrscher was taken down due to such an absurd reason. Even if Theresa trusted Himeko's word completely, it still sounded made up.
"Kiana is my niece. And this Third Herrscher is the daughter of Anti-Entropy's Raiden Ryoma. Then that would make this 'Seele'...?"
After listening to the full story, Theresa became deeply interested in the girl called "Seele," who had somehow managed to restrain the Third Herrscher.
Once she confirmed Kiana and Mei's identities, she immediately opened Seele's profile out of sheer curiosity.
After reading through the Lunelle-related intel Himeko had secretly gathered, the curiosity on Theresa's face quickly turned to disbelief.
Because Lunelle's file was too clean—so spotless it felt suspicious.
The general profile Theresa saw was summarized as:
[Name: Lunelle][Gender: Female][Age: 14][Height: 149cm][Weight: 42kg][Date of Birth: October 18, 2000][Birthplace: Nagazora City, Honshu Island, Japan][Father: Unknown][Mother: Unknown][An orphan raised in a local orphanage in Nagazora City. Lived off government aid after age ten. Has had no confirmed contact with Third Herrscher Raiden Mei since birth. (Credibility: 100%)]
"Major, are you certain this intel you gathered is accurate?"
Theresa stared at the dossier in front of her. Though it was full of words, it revealed nothing meaningful. She couldn't help but feel something was off.
Kiana's records, fake as they were, at least contained some fabricated school background to cover up the gaps in her identity.
But Lunelle's data gave off a strange vibe right from the start—like it had been designed to feel off while technically checking out.
Honestly, Theresa couldn't imagine how such a cute girl, who didn't seem to have anything going for her besides her appearance, managed to survive a disaster on the scale of the Third Eruption.
"Principal, I completely understand your concern. But I personally reviewed and verified this child's profile. If it wasn't real, I wouldn't have marked it with a 100% credibility rating."
Faced with Theresa's doubts, Himeko—currently nursing back pain—gave a helpless reply.
The reason Himeko had accepted Lunelle's strange file so easily was because the simulator had done just enough work when reconstructing Lunelle's identity into a girl's form.
After all, Lunelle came from another world and had one of the worst possible starting points.
That explained why her "after-sales" profile looked clean on the surface but still felt off—though not outright flawed. It was a system limitation.
As a result, Lunelle's profile looked suspicious at first glance, but even a sharp eye couldn't actually find a single inconsistency.
"Well, since you've said that, Major, I'll trust your judgment on this child's background. But, Major—now that you've placed this Seele in the hospital my niece mentioned…"
Theresa's eyes narrowed slightly as she shifted topics. "How's this child's adaptability to Honkai? Could she be a candidate for Saint Freya?"
With Himeko's confirmation, Theresa stopped probing into Lunelle's background and instead turned her focus to her potential.
A child who survived a Herrscher-class catastrophe without powers… that would be too strange unless she had some exceptional affinity with Honkai energy.
"Honkai adaptability? We ran tests using her blood sample."
Hearing Theresa's question, Himeko immediately shared the test results—but her expression faltered slightly when she brought up Lunelle.
"While this child's adaptability is above the norm, she still falls a bit short of the baseline required for even a B-rank Valkyrie. However…"
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