"So strange, how is the grass here growing so fast?"
Kiana whispered curiously. Before her was the school gate, which read: Chiba Academy. It was now shrouded in vines, and the writing had been corroded.
"Be careful, Kiana. There might be an anomaly here."
Mei grabbed one of Kiana's hands to prevent her from being reckless, her eyes scanning the surroundings warily.
The school was deserted. Looking around, there wasn't even a fly on the playground, teaching buildings, or dormitories.
Wildly growing green vines were everywhere, almost turning the place into an ocean of plants.
Logically, before the Honkai broke out, the school had a large population. Once the Honkai occurred, the number of Death Soldiers should definitely be higher than outside, yet they hadn't seen even one.
"Bronya feels that this place is very eerie."
Bronya utilized Project Bunny to carefully search every corner of Chiba Academy.
Since they were here to investigate the mystery of Theresa's disappearance, the school was under heavy suspicion. The three exchanged looks and quietly walked inside.
Suddenly, as they were walking slowly, the vines on the ground twitched.
If it were the Kiana from a few days ago, she certainly wouldn't have noticed such a subtle movement. But now she was equipped with a full set of Stigmata and wearing the Ranger armor; her reaction speed was several levels higher than before.
"Who's there!"
Kiana took half a step back and shouted nervously.
Then, an eerie female voice rang out from mid-air.
"Oh my, you actually noticed. How careless of me. I originally thought you were just a bunch of fools coming to die; I didn't expect your reaction speed to be quite fast."
As she spoke, countless vines converged frantically. In less than a second, they formed a humanoid girl before their eyes.
Her appearance was as delicate as an ordinary middle school student, but she had no clothes and no feet; her lower body was integrated with the vines.
The girl rose into the air, a look of madness flashing in her eyes. She looked at Kiana and the others as if they were fish on a chopping board waiting to be slaughtered.
Her name was Yuna. She had become a Mimic Herrscher after absorbing a large amount of Honkai Energy due to being bullied in middle school. Her strength was comparable to an ordinary S-Rank Valkyrie.
"You guys look like you're with that little thing. She hit me quite hard."
At this moment, Yuna seemed to speak to the three with interest, like a cat toying with a mouse before eating it.
"You mean Theresa! What did you do to Theresa?!!"
Kiana was startled, then her eyes began to turn red at the thought that Theresa might have met with an accident.
"Oh~ what a pity. If it weren't for some inexplicable woman snatching away my prey, I would have definitely eaten her by now. But it doesn't matter; she's been infected by my toxin. She only has a few days to live, even if she is some S-Rank Valkyrie."
Yuna enjoyed seeing these people's exasperated expressions, so she mocked them intentionally.
Just yesterday, she had almost been defeated by Theresa. If she hadn't launched a sneak attack with Honkai toxins, she would have certainly been killed.
Later, a long-eared Honkai Beast had snatched her prey, and its whereabouts were unknown.
"Kiana, calm down. It's possible the Headmaster was rescued by someone else."
Mei suddenly noticed that Kiana's bitten lip was about to bleed and reminded her calmly.
"Gun Kata!"
Kiana didn't listen to the advice and rushed forward, launching a kick aimed straight at Yuna's weak point!
At the same time, the dual pistols in her hands fired special anti-Honkai Beast bullets, spraying out like rain.
"Useless, with just you—"
Yuna originally had a relaxed look, but she didn't expect a sudden surge of massive force to come from her chest. Even though she diverted it to the vines, she still felt intense pain.
Suddenly, her expression changed, and she said in disbelief: "Stigmata?"
Only Stigmata could allow someone who looked like a B-Rank Valkyrie to exert strength far exceeding that of an A-Rank Valkyrie.
And those Stigmata were likely not ordinary; at least two matching pieces must exist.
Who was this little girl?
"Now that you know how powerful I am, hurry up and tell us news about my Aunt!" Kiana shouted.
Hearing this, Yuna's expression gradually turned hideous, as if she had been triggered: "Dammit, dammit, dammit! Why do you people always care about each other? Fake emotions, it's all fake."
"By eating you, I can obtain the strongest power."
"Humans are all ugly monsters!"
Saying this, she controlled the vines. With a 'whoosh', a green-leafed vine nearly as thick as an elephant's leg erupted from the ground!
That vine was covered in barbs, and one could even see a murky green toxin.
"Kiana, watch out!"
Mei shouted, drawing her Tachi, but her speed simply couldn't keep up with Yuna's attack.
She could only watch helplessly as those toxic barbs slammed hard into the leg of the defenseless Kiana.
"Ugh!!"
Kiana gritted her teeth in pain and instinctively looked down, discovering the extremely hidden attack from below.
She fired her guns!
Firelight flashed, and the bullets pierced the vine, but the toxic barb had already sunk into Kiana's calf.
She hurriedly pulled out the barb but suddenly felt dizzy.
The Mimic Herrscher's toxin could even poison an S-Rank Valkyrie like Theresa, let alone Kiana, who currently relied on armor and Stigmata.
"Kiana, get out of here! Bronya, take her with you."
At that moment, Mei shouted loudly to Bronya, who was using Project Bunny to analyze weak points.
"I'll hold her off, you guys go!"
"Mei... no, I... I can't leave, Mei!" Kiana was so poisoned she couldn't even speak clearly. Her vision blurred, and she could only see Mei's back rippling in her pupils.
Thinking of the armor, Kiana bit her lip hard: "Nebula Impact!!!"
Using the Ranger armor to teleport a heavy cannon, she used the last of her strength to lift an energy-gathering light cannon and fired at Yuna.
Boom!
In an instant, countless points of light converged like fireflies at the mouth of the two-meter-high heavy cannon.
A terrifying giant energy beam was fired, heading straight for Yuna.
"What? What kind of power is this!!!"
Yuna was shocked and turned pale at the sight. She hurriedly tried to evade, using vines as cover. With such an exaggerated heavy cannon strike, she couldn't guarantee she wouldn't be seriously injured.
But because Kiana's vision was blurred, the heavy cannon missed by a mere centimeter.
The light cannon hit the teaching building behind Yuna. The walls it plowed through turned to dust like tofu. The dozens-of-meters-wide teaching building was directly pierced, leaving a cylindrical hole through which the sky behind could be seen.
Beneath that teaching building, a single cherry blossom petal slowly drifted down.
A pair of rabbit-like ears twitched slightly, hidden around the corner of the wall.
"Hahahaha, is this your attack?"
Yuna laughed wildly, not expecting that she wouldn't even have the strength left to aim.
No one present noticed the abnormality beneath the teaching building.
"Stupid humans, all of you go to hell!"
Mei stood in front of Kiana, looking at the Yuna who was preparing to attack, and couldn't help but feel despair.
Against such a Herrscher, her current self had no power at all.
To let Kiana get out safely, it seemed she had to sacrifice herself!
I'm sorry, Kiana.
Just as Mei was in despair, a barrage of bullets descended from the sky!
"Who?!" Yuna was greatly shocked.
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