"Tch…!"
Elsewhere.
Faced with the sudden problem of Elysia going offline, Kiyono Inori's first thought was simple and very reasonable.
Something had to be wrong with the Parallel Universe Intercom.
That made sense.
After all, the communication network she had built with Elysia Cat was something she had cobbled together over the course of just a few classes. In other words, it was basically the Elysia Cat Communication Network, trial version.
The fact that it worked at all was already a pleasant surprise, so a bit of signal instability was perfectly normal.
A Herrscher's authority field, the high-tech signal jamming from MOTH, or Elysia simply stopping her use of the "Mysterious Killer" skill.
Any one of those could cause the connection to drop without warning.
If not for the 1200 cat biscuits dropped by the Ice Herrscher, this girl with a three-minute attention span might already have wandered off to experiment with fairy magic instead.
But.
For the sake of the Ice Herrscher's cat biscuit gift pack, she decided to at least try seriously to find the problem on her end.
For example:
Was the Parallel Universe Intercom malfunctioning? Did the fairy magic enhancement array suddenly fail?
Halfway through her inspection, however, thanks to the newly obtained Pioneer of the Stars achievement and its ability to perceive weaknesses, the Parallel Universe Intercom suddenly lit up in her vision with several glaring flaws.
In the end… she could not resist and took the thing apart.
To put it another way:
It was like seeing a bright red notification dot in a game UI. Very few people could resist clicking it, right?
Thankfully, the device had a simple structure. After some effort, she managed to reassemble it. Unfortunately, even after being put back together, the Parallel Universe Intercom still could not reach Elysia.
Kiyono Inori: (⊙▽⊙)
At times like this… there was only fairy magic to rely on.
Based on everything she knew so far, Elysia's fairy magic was an extremely efficient way of using energy. Even if the underlying principles were hard to grasp, as long as Elysia herself was the one using it, it was effectively close to omnipotent.
The problem was that Elysia's resistance to, and ignorance of, her Herrscher identity limited how much of that power she could actually use.
"A beautiful girl can do anything," was not a metaphor. It was meant quite literally.
And so.
Like someone desperately grasping at straws, the girl tried to conduct on-the-spot research using fairy magic to create a "forced call" spell.
Well… the result was an unsurprising failure. She was still a newbie with less than twenty-four hours of practice, and she certainly did not have Elysia's so-called "final authority over fairy magic."
Just then.
Elysia Cat has defeated the 5th Herrscher, the Ice Herrscher, and obtained 2000 cat biscuits.
The Cat System helpfully popped up a notification.
"…?"
Kiyono Inori typed out a question mark.
In the original Honkai Impact 3rd story, the Ice Herrscher barely did anything. Or rather, she never got the chance, since Kalpas happened to pass by and instantly deleted her like roadside trash.
Yet here, the kill credit belonged to Elysia.
Even though this version of Elysia had buffs like "Mysterious Killer" and "Destructive Accretion," Kiyono Inori still sensed that something was off.
Earlier, she had been panicking and thinking in circles.
But now that she had already received the Ice Herrscher's cat biscuits, her head cooled down.
She suddenly realized that it was after she applied a buff to Elysia that their communication network went down, and right around that time, the Ice Herrscher exited the stage.
That ruled out MOTH base interference and signal degradation from a Herrscher's authority field.
"Hey, hey, hey. Elysia, can you hear me?"
No response. The Parallel Universe Intercom was completely silent.
When she connected all the clues, the most likely culprit became clear.
The Cat System's Destruction Blessing.
Oh no. This was bad.
She had thought it was like the blessings in the Simulated Universe from Honkai: Star Rail, simple stat boosts.
But now it seemed the Cat System's goods were a bit too authentic. You did not seriously source this straight from Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction, did you? You even took down my network signal!
Kiyono Inori made a snap decision.
She reached into her backpack and gave Elysia Cat a firm rub, stripping away the Destruction Aeon's blessing. Almost immediately, the cross-world communication between the girls was restored.
"Elysia?"
Kiyono Inori called out tentatively.
But instead of Elysia's familiar response, she heard rustling from inside her bag. The cat was rolling over. A clear sign that Elysia Cat was about to wake up.
Good news: she had found the cause of the disconnect. It was the Cat System's Destruction Blessing.
Bad news: the Cat System's merchandise was way too pure. Elysia on the other side had passed out, while Elysia Cat on this side was about to wake up.
And more importantly—
Although the area where the Ice Herrscher was born was definitely devoid of living humans, Kiyono Inori really did not want her Elysia collapsing out in the wilderness like that.
First, it was freezing cold, and she worried Elysia might catch a cold. Second, what if someone found her?
In theory, there should be no humans left in a Honkai disaster zone. But even if there was only a one-in-ten-million chance, Kiyono Inori would not gamble on it.
That was her cat.
Her. Cat. Emphasis.
So—Trailblazer of the Stars, activate!
Kiyono Inori's Intelligence stat was already very high, so the plus-three boost was not especially noticeable. But the other effect, insight into weaknesses, was something she absolutely adored.
Earlier, she had used it to spot the weaknesses of the Parallel Universe Intercom and taken apart a piece of interstellar-grade equipment.
And now.
She was going to use it to identify Elysia Cat's weakness. Since cats felt comfortable when being petted, she would exploit that weakness and rub the almost-awake Elysia Cat back into unconsciousness.
"Teacher! I need to go to the infirmary!"
Kiyono Inori raised her hand, startling both the teacher in mid-lecture and the drowsy students fighting their eyelids.
The class was math.
The teacher was experienced, knowledgeable, and one of the few at Hanasakigawa who enforced discipline strictly. Even now, he dreamed of restoring the school to greatness. Being late or leaving early meant a serious scolding, sometimes even a written self-criticism.
Even half-asleep, the students dared not openly doze off. They could only stack their books high and sleep behind them.
The teacher had been lecturing enthusiastically.
When interrupted, his expression immediately soured, and the classroom atmosphere turned heavy. But when he saw who had stood up, his face softened at once.
"Oh, it is Kiyono. Go ahead," he said kindly.
Cradling her backpack with both arms, Kiyono Inori hurried out of the classroom. The math teacher glanced at her retreating figure, puzzled. Going to the infirmary with a backpack?
Well, Kiyono surely had her reasons.
After her footsteps faded away, the teacher turned back to the class and looked at the band girls sleeping behind their textbooks, convinced he had not noticed.
"Look at your classmate," he sighed. "Top of the entire grade, and even when she feels unwell and goes to the infirmary, she brings her bag along, always thinking about studying."
He shook his head. "All right, let us continue. We were just talking about the positional relationship between these two planes."
Meanwhile, in the very last row, Misumi Uika stared blankly at the girl who had just run out. Something about her felt strangely familiar.
Was that… a trick? Magic?
Or something else entirely?
Could it be that Kiyono was, like her sister and Mana, someone from "another world"?
The girl clenched the hem of her skirt, suppressing the urge to follow and see for herself.
…
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Let me know if I got a name wrong. I know basically nothing about MyGO.