The dull thud made Jiang Qiao involuntarily shrink her neck—judging by the sound, it must have hurt.
By normal human standards, such a blow would definitely result in a severe concussion. Fortunately, Bronya, as a Herrscher, had her body modified by Honkai energy. Even this level of impact wouldn't cause any serious injuries, at most just a slight ringing in her head.
Sympathizing, Jiang Qiao couldn't help but sigh—as expected of China's own phasing, truly amazing.
She didn't even have to deliberately do anything. Just by assuming this stance, her body automatically dodged all subsequent attacks.
"Hmm?"
As if sensing something, [Kiana] slightly raised her head—bits of blue particles scattered, constructing futuristic floating cannons in the air.
Undoubtedly, this was the Herrscher of Reason's authority.
Her gaze shifted. The silver-haired girl—Bronya—with a bright red mark on her head from the impact, got up from the ground and leaned against the cracked wall, her five fingers slightly curled, her fair palm facing Jiang Qiao.
Oh… playing dirty?!
"Didn't we agree not to use Herrscher powers?" The girl's face flashed with helplessness at Duckie's dirty tactic.
"Now! I'm using them!"
Bits of brilliance scattered, transforming the training vest into the Herrscher of Reason's princess-like cake dress. Delicate white stockings extended downwards, stepping into streamlined combat boots. Miss Bronya's cheeks were puffed up—with anger!
She originally wanted to use her most proficient close combat to get even, to vent her anger on this bad guy—but the result… dodge, dodge, dodge! It was all dodging! Of course, Bronya couldn't say: Stop dodging!
After all, that would be too much of a loser, too embarrassing, right? Even Bronya-wolf couldn't afford to lose face like that—thus, Bronya chose another embarrassing way.
Duckie, ah, wouldn't fight her in close combat anymore!
Weren't you good at dodging? Then Bronya would directly pull out cannons and blast her face! Let's see how you dodge now!
It just so happened that Bronya didn't have the chance to properly use this power in London—although she was previously apprehensive about the difference against the Staff of Underworld, Duckie thought carefully and realized this didn't prove anything, right?
Bronya was just careless and didn't dodge. Once she reacted, she could still deal with the Staff of Underworld, and Jiang Qiao…
although indeed a bit stronger, the strength between Herrschers couldn't simply be judged by 'whether or not they could get through the Staff of Underworld'! At most, she had better resistance, but in the true sense of who was stronger and who was weaker—that was a completely different matter!
"Bronya makes the rules!"
Under Jiang Qiao—[Kiana]s'—speechless gaze, the somewhat embarrassed Bronya couldn't help but raise her voice, trying to gloss over the fact that she was the one who went back on her word.
Compared to losing face, losing was obviously more embarrassing, right? This fight was initiated by her!
As long as Duckie won, she could regain all her face. As for shame… Bronya would vent it all on this bad guy Jiang Qiao!
"Take this! Bronya isn't the Bronya from before!"
"Fire!"
Along with the childish, milk-powder-flavored words, the moment her palm clenched, flames erupted from the floating cannons—looking at the white-haired girl still standing motionless, Bronya felt both annoyed and excited.
Annoyed because even though she had used her Herrscher power, this Jiang Qiao guy was still acting like nothing happened—what did she mean, looking down on Bronya? Looking down on Bronya came with a price!
And the excitement naturally came from the thought of being able to defeat this bad guy in front of her, finally adding a brilliant item to her record, and also the beautiful future of being able to retaliate and 'humiliate' this guy afterwards. For this, Bronya's anger even subsided quite a bit.
However, out of concern, Bronya deliberately lowered the firepower and power of the floating cannons, keeping them at a level that would cause injury, but not serious injury.
As long as this bad guy lost her ability to resist, it would be fine!
The look in her eyes became brighter and brighter. With her rising emotions, Bronya stared intently at Jiang Qiao within the firing range of the floating cannons—Bronya had carefully calculated this attack.
This bad guy wouldn't have any room to dodge. If she dared to try to dodge with that stance like before… it would definitely make this bad guy extremely 'uncomfortable'!
Did she understand what AOE countered high dodge meant?
Of course, Duckie also considered the 'Void authority' that Jiang Qiao, as [Kiana], could use—but it didn't matter. Even if this bad guy opened up Void space to block this wave of attacks, Bronya still had a backup plan!
"Boom—!"
The numerous shells and heat rays directly hit… no resistance? Bronya looked at the thick smoke, the gears in her eyes spinning wildly, somewhat uncertain.
This guy… really didn't resist at all?
Thinking of this, Bronya suddenly became worried.
Although she was somewhat happy that this bad guy obediently took the hits to let her vent her anger, Duckie also didn't want this bad guy to be seriously injured. Taking so many hits without any defense, even if she had adjusted the intensity beforehand, problems could easily arise.
Bronya, with a worried heart, directly gave up the fight, ran over, and shouted worriedly:
"Jiang Qiao, are you alright?!"
The smoke dissipated, and Bronya stopped her steps.
Looking at [Kiana], who didn't have a single scratch on her body, looking like she was completely fine, still standing there, Duckie fell silent.
She silently raised a hand—a Vulcan minigun appeared.
"Rat-tat-tat-tat~"
Miss~ miss~ miss~
With somewhat bizarre movements, all the bullets ended up hitting the wall behind.
"You…"
Seeing this result, Bronya was so angry she laughed—Alright, you're using a dodge hack, aren't you?!
As a veteran gamer, Duckie, looking at this scene, could only say, familiar, way too familiar!
No wonder Bronya couldn't hit her no matter how hard she tried!
Although she didn't know how this was achieved, Bronya was certain this was definitely a 'dodge hacker'.
Recalling her previous worries, at this moment, they all went to waste.
Duckie's originally suppressed anger bar started to climb again, and the growth was promising.
Jiang Qiao, unaware of this, was quite satisfied.
This was the power of Chinese Kung Fu! (Definitely)
"Want to continue fighting?"
"Continue!"
Bronya gritted her teeth. Bronya-wolf would never lose to a dodge hacker!
Dodging, huh!
Then let's see how you dodge this!
As her palm raised once again.
A strange aura locked onto Jiang Qiao—the latter also noticed it.
This feeling…
"Taixu Sword God?!" Sensing the precursor to this aura, [Kiana]s' face was filled with surprise.
If it were Fu Hua using this move, it wouldn't be surprising, but Bronya… she understood that Duckie could learn this move in Elysium—after all, Taixu Sword Qi was essentially the culmination of previous civilizations, with Fu Hua just adding some of her own touches later.
But Bronya… Jiang Qiao wasn't sure about Bronya's talent, but according to the story—for her to reach this level, it would probably take a long time.
"No, it's not Taixu Sword God… I see."
And to this, Bronya's small face also showed a somewhat smug expression.
Her diligent practice in Elysium also allowed her to master some things. Taixu Sword God was impossible, but…
The essence of Taixu Sword God was a 'combination technique' adjusted by previous civilizations.
Duckie indeed couldn't unleash that kind of powerful attack that could cut through everything and be unstoppable, but Bronya learned a part of it—Taixu Sword God's aura locking technique.
By applying this technique to her own moves, she could achieve a 'guaranteed hit' effect similar to Taixu Sword God to a certain extent.
Although there was a large gap, it was undoubtedly a 'guaranteed hit' move.
The entire training ground was filled with floating cannons. This time, the number of floating cannons that appeared was several times more than before. At the same time, a dark red metallic sphere appeared in Bronya's hand.
—The 9th Divine Key, Star of Eden.
"Using this method to compensate for the shortcomings?" Examining everything around, Jiang Qiao was a bit surprised.
The reason why Taixu Sword God was unstoppable was because it was essentially an attack that locked onto the mind and filled the space. Essentially, when Domain of Sanction was used, the entire space belonged to 'Taixu Sword God'.
This separately extracted aura locking technique lost the omnipresence of Taixu Sword God, and thus its effectiveness was greatly reduced—for this reason, Bronya came up with her own way to achieve a similar effect, using the rated power of the floating cannons and Star of Eden to carry out suppressive attacks.
…Bronya has also made considerable progress.
[Kiana]s' face flashed with a hint of relief.
"Star of Eden! Zeroth Power Output. Simulated Black Hole!"
A terrifying gravity, accompanied by the childish, milk-powder-flavored words, was applied to Jiang Qiao.
Followed by rather smug words:
"Now, let's see how you dodge!"
Suppress movement first, then stack the guaranteed hit attribute, complete lockdown! This victory belonged to Bronya!
To this, Jiang Qiao smiled.
Dodging was still possible—did she understand the gold content of Chinese martial arts?
However, Bronya had worked so hard, it wouldn't be appropriate to continue dodging, right?
Oh well…
Since that was the case, it would be a good time to try out the other power she just got.
As she thought, the white-haired girl slowly closed her eyes.
And this was also taken by Bronya as surrender—just like before, she lowered the power, even lower than before due to previous concerns.
"Fire!"
In an instant, firepower poured out, and [Kiana], still standing motionless, didn't move.
I won!
Bronya was quite excited.
But the next moment—
The moment the missiles and lasers were about to approach, the white-haired girl slowly opened her eyes—not azure blue, but a shimmering gold, filled with a sense of annihilation, without any emotional fluctuations. The faint divinity was chilling.
The Herrscher of the Void's power was insignificant in the face of this power.
Breathing stopped, the air stagnated, and the incoming attacks did the same.
And after this stagnation, everything disappeared.
The missiles and lasers, constructed by the Herrscher of Reason's power, dissipated into bits of purple starlight.
The floating cannons did the same.
Meeting those shimmering gold eyes, Bronya froze in place—not daring to move a muscle. She wanted to mobilize the Honkai energy in her body to react, but the mobilization of Honkai energy was incredibly difficult, almost stagnant.
As if she wasn't the master of that Honkai energy.
The Herrscher of Reason's regalia dissipated. This wasn't due to her subjective consciousness, but a forced action. In fact, Bronya once again experienced what it felt like to have her 'license revoked', but it was different from the Staff of Underworld.
This was an overbearing domination, from top to bottom.
Like a lioness facing a robust, strong male lion, almost unable to muster any thought of resistance.
[Kiana] at this moment also changed.
Saintess-like regalia replaced the training vest, sparkling crystal hair ornaments adorning the snow-white hair cascading down her back.
Slender hands, accentuated by the trumpet-like sleeves, hung lightly between her thighs. Golden embroidery could be seen on the snow-white, battle dress-like skirt.
Wavy, pure white stockings wrapped around her thighs, adding a touch of holiness.
Kiana.png
A piercing alarm broke the silence—the training ground, the entire base, was flashing red alerts.
"The commotion caused by this power is quite something."
Realizing that the alarm was caused by herself, [Kiana]—Jiang Qiao—sighed and shook her head.
As she thought, this special power gradually dissipated.
"Looks like there's no need to continue this fight, right?" The girl's hand lightly rested on Bronya's shoulder, patting it with a light laugh—the latter stood there, not recovering from the shock for a long time.
In this fight, no one was injured, well… probably.
So, the result… consider it a draw~
"What was that just now?"
"A power that's a bit troublesome to use, that's all."
Such a simple answer—but Bronya at least understood one thing.
In the realm of 'Herrscher', and even in combat, Miss Duckie completely gave up the idea of competing with Jiang Qiao.
Damn it, they weren't even on the same level!
Bronya, her scheme thwarted, pouted—she had to attack from a different direction!
She would, indirectly win Seele!
She thought of her failed strategy yesterday. Night was approaching, and she could still use that plan.
However, when Bronya saw Seele huddled together with [Kiana] again, with oil stains on her mouth—Bronya once again had a bad premonition.
"Bronya sister~ Today we…"
Seele's soft voice rang out once again—and Bronya's only thought at this moment was: No way!
Was it going to be a repeat of yesterday's situation? Bronya didn't want to eavesdrop anymore! I should be in the car, not under the car!
Come on, quick thinking, clever Silver Wolf Bronya!
Finally, Bronya thought of a solution.
Just as Seele was about to issue the 'bed-sharing PK' invitation again, Bronya took the initiative to grab [Kiana]s' arm—
"Sorry Seele, Bronya already made plans to sleep with Kiana tonight."
The saying goes, "He who strikes first gains the advantage, he who strikes last suffers the disadvantage"—as long as she took the initiative to insert herself into the situation, wouldn't that prevent this unpleasant situation from continuing to develop?
"Eh—?"
Seele, looking at Bronya hugging [Kiana], was stunned.
And Jiang Qiao was a bit confused.
When did she make plans with her?
But before these words could be spoken, Jiang Qiao felt the increasing strength on her arm, and that kind gaze—although she didn't quite understand, Jiang Qiao still nodded.
Sleeping together, she was fine with it.
Why did these two sisters want to sleep with her?
Yes! Successfully prevented it!
Bronya, whose little scheme had succeeded, was quite excited internally—she didn't notice Seele's somewhat 'strange' gaze.
Jiang Qiao regretted sleeping with Bronya—because not only did Bronya drag her to play games, but what was worse was her sleeping posture… These sisters were indeed from the same orphanage, they were practically identical in this aspect. Of course—Bronya, as the older sister, might be even better in this regard. Stealing the blankets was one thing, not a big deal for a Herrscher, but while sleeping, the inexplicable squeezing sensation…
Okay—anyway, she wasn't the one suffering this all the time.
—When Kiana woke up from her sleep, thinking about how to deal with that cold-faced man in the new day, what she saw upon opening her eyes was a fair little leg resting on her face…
Her gaze moved downwards… the sleeping Bronya came into view! Before Kiana could even think about why she was sleeping with this Bronya guy, with a turn, a pink little foot smashed onto Miss White-haired Dumpling's face, accurately landing in her nostrils… As if sensing something strange, the little toes wiggled…
Ahhhhh!!! This is unbearable!!!
"Bronya!!!"
Meanwhile.
—Elysian Realm.
"Switched back, huh."
[Kiana] squeezed her palm, feeling the 'memories' connected to her body, and revealed a slightly surprised expression.
Undoubtedly, this feeling—this wasn't some other body, but Jiang Qiao's own original body.
Well, how should she put it… it wasn't easy.
To actually be able to exchange so completely, Jiang Qiao thought she would have to use a 'portable' method to return to her own body.
"Kiana."
A cold voice rang out beside her ear. Looking up, it was the white-haired man in a trench coat—Kevin. He first raised an eyebrow, then frowned, making a judgment:
"…You are not Kiana."
"Yeah, something came up, she went out first… probably back to her own place?" [Kiana]—Jiang Qiao—flicked her wrist, her form gradually changing, returning to [Jiang Qiao's] initial form, a handsome young man with black hair and black eyes.
Jiang Qiao wasn't surprised that she was recognized. After all, the her standing here now didn't contain anything else in its 'essence'. It was simply 'Jiang Qiao'.
The appearance of [Kiana] was more like a bug that Elysium hadn't had time to adjust—although maintaining that appearance was fine, there was clearly no need for it.
Using her own body, the most suitable and least effort-consuming way was naturally herself. For efficiency's sake, there was no need to disguise herself as someone else.
"How is her progress?"
Out of curiosity, Jiang Qiao couldn't help but ask.
Because she hadn't paid much attention to Miss White-haired Dumpling, she still didn't know what level the fish-catching cat who dominated the Sea of Quanta had grown to.
Kevin's answer was exceptionally brief and direct:
"By the standards of a warrior, barely passable."
He said so—but based on Jiang Qiao's understanding of the man in front of her, this evaluation was quite high.
After all, Kevin always used himself as an example when evaluating others.
He must have compared Kiana to himself back then to come to such a conclusion.
"But with just this level, she is still not qualified to face the me outside."
"Hey hey~ Don't set the standards so high~ Facing the strongest fusion warrior of previous civilizations—if she could do it in such a short time, the Kevin outside would cry."
"After all—"
Even Kevin, reaching that level, was after experiencing numerous sacrifices.
Elysium was a good place. It allowed visitors to experience a lot, to feel the traces of the heroes of that era, but even such a large-scale simulation training device was not omnipotent.
"I'm leaving."
"What are you planning to do next?" In fact, the two weren't close, but Kevin's attitude wasn't so cold either. He crossed his arms and asked this question.
"Hmm~ I'm probably going to the Previous Era, to take care of things there. After that, well… I might consider preparing a gift for the you outside. Kevin, what kind of surprise do you think you would like?"
The black-haired young man propped up her cheek, not concealing much, counting down, and then looked at Kevin with interest.
"..."
"Oh dear, you really have no sense of humor at all, but I'm serious. I'm really thinking about how to prepare a gift for the Kevin outside—I guarantee, for the Kevin outside, it will definitely be an extremely 'pleasant' surprise."
"You should discuss this kind of thing with Elysia."
Kevin was unmoved by Jiang Qiao's playful tone and simply gave this cold evaluation.
He had to admit one thing, the man in front of him might have excellent compatibility with Elysia—these two would definitely have a lot in common.
The next moment—
"I heard that~"
"Hmm~ Thinking of me?"