"Mn, it really isn't moving?" Kiana looked at the Titan in front of her, picked up her pistol, and knocked hard on the Titan's armor. "Mn, not bad."
"I am not like Idiot Kiana." Bronya rolled her eyes at Kiana, then looked toward Himeko. "In short, these Titans are ours."
"Mn, good work." Himeko nodded again, expressing her praise for Bronya. "However, what exactly is up with this child? What is her relationship to you?"
"Sin and I were in the same orphanage previously; she is also Cocolia Mama's child." Bronya looked at Himeko. "Teacher Himeko wants to ask about more than just this, right?"
"Uh-huh." Himeko nodded. "Of course. After all, that Cocolia Mama of yours has set her sights on Irene right now. Naturally, we need to understand the situation."
"I remember this Sin said something just now, right? She said she needed Irene's help to save someone."
"Seele..." At the mention of this name, Bronya's eyes dimmed slightly. "Sin was speaking of Seele just now. She is Bronya's younger sister."
"If it requires the ability of Quantization, I assume it should be a problem related to the Sea of Quanta, correct?" Irene walked over, a smile on her face, and looked at Bronya.
"I think my guess shouldn't be wrong."
"Mn." Bronya nodded. "Because of certain events, Seele fell into the Sea of Quanta. I have always wanted to save her; this is the agreement between her and me."
"Mn, since that is the case." Irene looked at Bronya and nodded. "If I have the opportunity to enter the Sea of Quanta, I will go and help you find your sister."
"However, my Quantization might be a bit different from what you imagine. That is, I cannot actively sink into the Sea of Quanta."
Logically speaking, possessing the skill of Quantization should allow one to actively sink into the Sea of Quanta. However, the problem lay in the fact that Pardo's Quantization was somewhat different from Seele's.
Pardo's body had been directly subjected to a terrifying scouring by Honkai energy at the moment of opening a door. Her bodily functions were practically in a state of semi-collapse. Then, during this process, she sank into the Sea of Quanta.
In the midst of this, she suffered a massive scouring of Quantum energy. The result was that the Quantum energy and Honkai energy canceled each other out within Pardo's body, leaving her stuck there.
Pardo could not achieve complete Quantization, nor could she break free from the Quantized state. The result was that Pardo would randomly Quantize parts of her heart or brain; if this persisted for a long time, it would lead to death.
Nor was there any way for her to actively Quantize in the Proper World or a Bubble Universe to sink into the Sea of Quanta.
Moreover, the Quantization itself was completely under Pardo's control. If placed on anyone else, it would be a certified 'curse affix.' Only Pardo's 'Super Luck' allowed this curse affix to become something capable of combat utility.
At the same time, although dangerous, Pardo would not truly lose her life due to the effects of this negative affix.
But if the goal was merely to save Seele, Irene would still need equipment like the Eye of the Deep to assist her in sinking into the Sea of Quanta before making further plans.
Perhaps the only advantage was that she wouldn't be rejected by the Sea of Quanta. After all, she could be considered half a resident of the Sea of Quanta herself.
Compared to Seele, the favored child of the Sea of Quanta and the Daughter of the Sea, she couldn't compare at all.
Hearing Irene's words, Bronya's eyes immediately radiated light. She had done so many things, arguably all for the sake of Seele. Now, finally, there was hope.
Irene looked at Bronya, whose eyes seemed to be glowing, and smilingly patted her head. "However..."
Irene hadn't even finished speaking when Bronya, seeing hope after so much difficulty and thinking Irene wanted to say something else, immediately spoke up: "No matter what conditions Teacher Irene wants, Bronya can accept them. As long as Teacher Irene can..."
Bronya's words were cut off before she could finish. Irene reached out and pressed her index finger against Bronya's lips. "Rest assured, I have no intention of adding conditions."
"I just wanted to say that right now, we should focus on the task at hand. One thing at a time."
Understanding that she had been too anxious and misunderstood, Bronya nodded. At the same time, she let out a sigh of relief in her heart. However, Bronya had indeed been prepared to give up everything.
She could agree to any condition. She simply missed Seele too much. Relying solely on herself, she might never have a way to save Seele from the Sea of Quanta in her entire life.
After all, it was precisely because she tried to save Seele back then that her legs ended up in this state, forcing her to rely on an exoskeleton to move.
So she understood that fishing Seele out of the Sea of Quanta was not that easy. Under the premise that her own rescue attempts had failed and she had no further opportunities...
Bronya could only pin her hopes on others—pin them on Cocolia, who, like her, wanted to rescue Seele.
But compared to Cocolia, who still needed to conduct research, Teacher Irene, since she possessed such an ability, surely must have a way to help. This was her only chance.
To attract Irene's help, Bronya was indeed willing to give her all willingly. Just like someone drowning in a flood, she was willing to give up everything to grasp the final life-saving straw.
Irene smiled and reached out to pinch Bronya's cheek. "Also, saying you're willing to do anything is too heavy. You can't say things like that carelessly, remember?"
"Mn..." Bronya looked at Irene's face and nodded. "...Thank you, Teacher Irene."
Behind Himeko, Kiana watched the interaction between Irene and Bronya. She nudged Mei with her elbow, leaned into Mei's ear, and whispered.
"This is the first time I've seen Bronya showing such weakness."
Usually, Bronya basically wore a stoic, emotionless face. If not for that, she would be making snide remarks on top of the aforementioned state. Seeing her show weakness like this was truly a first.
With that posture, even if Irene honestly said, 'I want you, Bronya,' or something, Bronya would probably just nod.
Mei also nodded. This was also her first time seeing Bronya in this state. "I think that younger sister named Seele must be very important to Bronya."
"Mn, mn. Also, Teacher Irene is currently in a catgirl state," Kiana said, looking at Irene. By her visual estimation, there was at least a height difference of about 20 centimeters between Irene and Bronya.
Although the height difference was somewhat reduced because Bronya was floating, this height was just right for Irene to present a perfect curve while comforting Bronya.
Coupled with Irene's perfect body curves and the boost from the catgirl attributes, Kiana's eyes went slightly vacant, and she licked the corner of her mouth slightly. In Kiana's eyes, Irene's image had even reverted to her original appearance—silver hair and cat ears felt even more...
"What's wrong, Kiana?" Mei looked at Kiana, who had suddenly fallen silent. "What are you thinking about again?"
"Nothing, nothing." Kiana hurriedly shook her head. She had to be single-minded toward Mei; she absolutely couldn't let her thoughts wander.
At this moment, perhaps due to bloodline or perhaps due to other reasons, Irene's mind wasn't exactly quiet either.
[Can't tell, huh, Irene? You're quite good at flirting.] Kallen nodded with a look of approval. [Pity you aren't using your own appearance.]
Pardo also nodded, looking like someone who didn't mind the chaos getting bigger. [She's using mine, I say. And it feels like she's not as good as Sister Elysia.]
As a cute cat, Pardo had been kneaded by Elysia quite a bit in the past. This level was just a small issue. The only problem was that Sister Irene was using her body and appearance.
[Wah, you two are so annoying.] Irene listened to the noisy pair in her mind. [Can you not let your thoughts run wild? Be a bit more serious. Look at Lixue; she isn't like this.]
[...] Lixue looked at the three of them bickering with a wooden expression. Now shouldn't be the time for this. [Um, I have to remind you, we are currently in Chiyou's mouth. Could everyone please focus a little bit?]
[Aren't I just about to focus?] Irene straightened up and looked at Himeko and the others. "Right now, we still have other tasks to complete. Let's deal with the mission first."
"Mn, I understand." Bronya nodded. Indeed, they were still in the middle of completing a mission. She couldn't let her personal matters disturb their mission completion.
"Mn, I think we shouldn't be far either." Fu Hua looked at the surrounding Titans. "With these Titans now, our advance should be a bit smoother."
"But is it necessary for us to bring this person along?"
Fu Hua looked at Sin. They didn't have handcuffs on hand right now, and judging by the opponent's physical fitness, ordinary ropes wouldn't be able to bind her either. Once the opponent woke up, she would likely cause trouble again.
The Honkai concentration in this place was so high that it was impossible for Deadwalkers or Honkai Beasts not to have been born. The reason they hadn't encountered any before was likely because the Titans had already cleared out a portion of them.
But the road ahead wouldn't be so lucky. As they went deeper, those guys who hadn't been cleaned up would definitely appear to interfere with them. With these Titans assisting, they wouldn't need to act themselves and could preserve precious stamina.
But the problem lay with this fellow beside them.
"Get a Titan and throw her into the sea." Irene pointed to the path they came from. "Lock the operation permissions, set it to automatic, and let the Titan walk all the way into the sea."
"The pressure of the seawater will become another prison cell. The only place she can stay is inside the Titan's cockpit. As for whether she can seize the operation permissions back, that's not our business."
"That indeed works." Himeko nodded. They didn't have the capability to detain prisoners right now. Moreover, judging from her battle with Irene just now, this person was not someone honest.
Even if they tied her up, this guy definitely wouldn't stay put. Since that was the case, sending this guy away was also a good choice.
Hearing this, Bronya immediately began to operate. She called over a Titan that was still relatively intact and had it open its internal cockpit. Kiana then volunteered to stuff the still-unconscious Sin directly inside.
However, judging from her movements, it looked a tiny bit rough. It was hard not to suspect that Kiana might be using public office to avenge private wrongs.
After all, if Himeko hadn't pulled her back at the time, she might have been blown up directly by the Thunder Mecha's missile.
After stuffing Sin inside, that Titan began walking toward the outside. Meanwhile, Irene and her group used the cover of the Titans to continue exploring deeper.
And just as Fu Hua had worried, the high-concentration Honkai energy environment had indeed spawned many Honkai Beasts and Deadwalkers, and their intensity was not low.
Fortunately, with the help of the Titans—since they weren't their own anyway—they naturally let the Titans perform freely, pushing forward with suicide attacks. It didn't matter if they broke.
Relying on the sacrifice of the Titans, the group continued to push forward without any mishaps.
It had to be said, Titans were quite a headache when they were enemies. Powerful engines, thick armor plating, and even the occasional missile bombardment from the following Thunder Mecha were truly troublesome.
But conversely, when they became teammates, all the above shortcomings of the Titan Mecha turned into advantages. The Titans charging all the way forward became their best comrades-in-arms.
After the group advanced for a while, the originally narrow passage suddenly opened up. A massive space appeared before their eyes, and in the middle of the cavern, a gigantic altar presented itself to everyone's view.
"Look, look." Kiana pointed to the yellow object protruding from the center of the altar. "Is our target over there?"
"Mn, it should be there." Irene nodded. "Quick march, go, go, go."
"Just who is the commander of this operation anyway?" Himeko looked at Irene and shook her head helplessly, then followed them running to the side of that altar.
During the run, Irene mischievously slowed down a step. Kiana, who charged at the very front, was just about to ascend the altar when a layer of bright yellow barrier abruptly appeared around the altar, bouncing Kiana directly away.
"Ouch." Kiana rubbed her butt, which hurt from the fall, and looked at the gradually fading barrier in front of her. "There's something there."
"It should be a formation used to defend the Xuanyuan Sword." Fu Hua pushed up her glasses and looked around. "The defensive power looks very high; there shouldn't be any loopholes either. Moreover, it is very likely to trigger a counterattack."
"However, it is not impossible to break. This type of formation has 'eyes' used for gathering and channeling Honkai energy. As long as we dismantle them, the formation will collapse on its own."
Then, after inspecting the surroundings, Fu Hua nodded and clapped her hands, pointing in another direction:
"According to my observation, the first formation eye should be right there. As long as we can breach that first..."
"No need to be so troublesome." Irene wagged her finger. In her hand, blue lines gradually appeared once more, outlining the Starry Judah. "We have Judah, you know."
Even if it was a counterfeit among counterfeits, the Power of Binding within it was enough to interfere with the energy flow of this magic circle. As long as the energy flow was blocked, magic circles and the like were all fleeting clouds.
The chains of Starry Judah attached themselves to the bright yellow formation. Specks of light chains spread rapidly along the formation. After a moment, Irene turned her gaze to the last two relatively intact Titans.
"Bronya, some technical support."
Bronya first tilted her head, then looking at Irene's movements, she immediately understood something and manipulated the Titans to charge forward.
Under the Titan's charge, the magic circle, which had become abnormally fragile due to its energy pathways being blocked, was smashed open directly.
Amidst the rain of light formed by the shattered magic circle, Irene turned her head and gave everyone a thumbs up.
"Friends, it's done."
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