Chapter 34: The Battle Situation

Within St. Freya Academy aboard the Hyperion, Theresa stared absentmindedly at the crescent moon hanging in the night sky.

In ancient times, the crescent had been known as the Moon of Calamity—and current data confirmed the superstition. Honkai energy tended to surge beneath its peculiar magnetic field, awakening or stirring even the most dormant and sealed sources.

She sighed softly.
By now… that man must be locked in battle with the thing inside him, fighting to the death.

“Don’t you dare lose.”

Theresa murmured, a hint of worry clouding her expression.

But almost immediately, she puffed her cheeks, her small face returning to its usual childish charm. She could hardly picture him losing.

Yes—that man wouldn’t stop fighting until his arms and legs were torn off. No, even then, he’d keep going.

“Headmistress!”

The sharp tone from her wrist communicator shattered the night’s stillness.

“I’m here. What’s wrong?”

“An unidentified battleship detected—fifteen kilometers outside Fuxing Town, in the mountains! It’s Anti-Entropy!”

“Anti-Entropy battleship!? Even if they’re investigating the Honkai reaction there, they wouldn’t—tsk! That fox of a woman!”

Theresa’s brows furrowed.
It wasn’t surprising Anti-Entropy had detected the Honkai surge near Fuxing Town, but to brazenly appear inside Schicksal’s jurisdiction? There was only one explanation—Cocolia must have learned his location, and lost her patience.

And the relationship between that man and Anti-Entropy—no, more precisely, between him and Cocolia—was beyond hostile.

Back in those years when he ruled the battlefield with unrivaled arrogance, Cocolia had wielded her greatest power within Anti-Entropy… only to be beaten into retreat by him, driven back across North America, too humiliated to act for half a year.

Over a dozen times they’d clashed. And every single time, that “mother fox” was forced to slink away like a beaten dog.

Though she’d since rebuilt her power with impossible speed, everyone who knew that story understood one thing—Cocolia had never forgotten that humiliation.

“Sound the red alert! Deploy the Helios! Target—Fuxing Town!”

“Wh—Understood! What about you, Headmistress?”

“Tell logistics I want Judah brought out. The war’s started.”

Theresa shouted into the comm, her small frame vaulting over the railing in one smooth motion—graceful, fearless, as if she were born for the battlefield.

As she sprinted through her office, a window caught her reflection in the moonlight—her face flushed with anxiety, unease, and something else she hadn’t felt in a long time: anger.

“…Am I worried about Kiana and the others?”

She muttered to herself—but then shook her head violently, rejecting the thought.

“If you truly haven’t changed, like Himeko says… then fulfill your duty now. Protect your Valkyries—the way you once protected me.”

Meanwhile, in the mountains near Fuxing Town—

“Kiana, fifteen o’clock direction!”

The silver-haired girl’s earpiece buzzed with a cold, mechanical-sounding voice.

“Roger that~!”

Kiana flipped backward in one smooth motion, just in time to dodge a steel fist that sliced through the air where her stomach had been. The wind pressure alone raised goosebumps across her skin.

As she landed, she pulled the triggers of both pistols—fire and thunder roared from her hands.

These weren’t ordinary weapons.
They were the ones salvaged from Yao Bingling.

Each shot struck like an explosive drill, tearing through the Titan’s alloy plating and bursting from within. In mere seconds, the two massive machines were riddled with burning holes.

The Titan pilots were losing their minds—frustrated, desperate, chasing Kiana like clumsy cats after a mocking mouse.

She reached for her ammo belt—and froze. Her face went pale.

“Idiot Kiana,” Bronya’s flat voice came through the comm. “You’re out of bullets.”

“I know! But—help!?”

“Requesting tactical support. Coordinates K29, B33. Heavy ordnance, authorization level C.”

“Confirmed!”

A clear, commanding female voice replied. Then—

Crack! Crack! Crack! Trees splintered as a figure launched herself through the forest, each kick against a trunk powerful enough to shatter it to splinters.

The sheer kinetic force she built up rivaled a missile strike.

“Explosive Art—Dragon Kick!”

To Kiana, it was like the mountain itself came alive.
A human-shaped comet crashed into a Titan, sending the multi-ton machine hurtling into its twin. Metal screamed, sparks flew, and both mechs fell silent.

“Confirmed. Both targets neutralized. Thanks for the assist, Squad Leader.”

Bronya’s voice crackled through again. “Affirmative. Those were the last two Anti-Entropy units in the area.”

“Finally over…”

Kiana dropped onto the ground with a huff, fumbling through her ammo belt in vain.

“Kiana! Squad Leader! Over here!”

Mei’s voice cut through the night.
Kiana and Fu Hua turned—Mei and Qian Shuang were half-carrying a woman covered in dirt, her crimson hair disheveled but unmistakable.

And so were her… distinctive proportions.

“Colonel Himeko!”

“Himeko!”

They ran to her side.

“Fu Hua?! You guys—”

It was almost a miracle that Himeko was still conscious after being pulled from the rubble. Though her armor was half-destroyed and her body likely covered in hidden wounds, her eyes burned with fierce clarity.

“I’m fine! Quickly—find the Captain!”

“Captain?”

The three younger Valkyries exchanged confused looks. That wasn’t part of their mission brief.

But realization dawned at once.

“You mean—Yao Bingling, the Lieutenant Colonel?”

“Yes! Fifteen minutes ago we were ambushed—he was blown away by the explosion! I couldn’t see where he landed, but he’s definitely outside the blast zone!”

Himeko mentally retraced every moment, estimating the vector of the shockwave.

“Downhill—about seventy meters southeast. Bronya, can you access Schicksal’s satellite thermal imaging?”

“Negative. Strange anomaly. Detecting a massive heat source near your location… Bronya can’t even see your signal. Query—do you feel heat, Major Himeko? Satellite shows temperatures exceeding sixty degrees Celsius.”

The icy monotone in Bronya’s voice couldn’t hide her disbelief.

Everyone looked around uneasily. The air felt warm, yes—but nowhere near sixty degrees.

Something was wrong.

Himeko’s expression hardened.

“Bronya—switch to full-spectrum energy scan. Include kinetic and Honkai energy traces.”

“Understood…”

For a few seconds, silence. Then—Bronya’s voice returned, faster than ever before.

“Major Himeko, warning! Two unidentified energy signatures—both extremely powerful—detected three hundred meters southeast! Both exhibit Honkai-class resonance—likely using Honkai-based weapons!”

A pause. Then—

“Correction—they’re moving. Rapidly. Toward you! Distance closing—two hundred meters! Estimated contact in eight seconds—”

“Correction again—they’re here!”

No one heard the rest.

Because the sound hit first—
a ringing crash, bright and metallic, like blades clashing or trucks colliding head-on.

The ground trembled.

And then came the heat.

A searing wave of light and fire spilled through the forest. Through the trees, they could see them—two blazing figures, tearing at each other like beasts born of flame and fury.

The battle had begun.