While Qibao and White Comet were deep in conversation, getting to know each other's circumstances—
Earth. New Zealand. Queenstown. Anti-Entropy Base.
The System's signature move had been a bit too spectacular, leaving every other fragment of Caelus's consciousness thoroughly rattled.
"Nothing's wrong. Let me have some quiet — and don't ask me who 'Quiet' is."
Silver Wing — whose core consciousness was the Silver Wing persona — carried what was genuinely a Divine Key over one shoulder and moonwalked back to her seat in the conference room with the classic movie-style retreat step. Under the combined gazes of the red-and-blue science duo, Moth Mei, and the two pink-haired girls, she sank into silence.
The girls exchanged glances, each reading the same confusion and bewilderment in the other's eyes, but none of them moved to disturb Silver Wing as she closed her eyes and fell into contemplation.
After marshaling her full mental bandwidth to navigate the stage of bamboozling Qibao, Silver Wing turned her attention to the Trial Character Card Gift Box the System had awarded as compensation. She mulled it over briefly, then asked:
"System — if I use a character card gift box in this world, can the body be materialized here on Earth?"
She had plenty of bodies now, the Luofu crisis had already passed, and the Express wasn't short on combat power. If anything, the Honkai World side still needed more reinforcements.
Besides, it was only a trial card — whoever she pulled, they'd disappear once the forty-five-day limit expired anyway.
The one real headache was that she had too many bodies and only three control slots.
That said — on the White Comet front, tonight Caelus had only ever intended to sample a fairy's superhuman waist, and that sampling had now been accomplished, so to speak.
Whether Kiana's body would be let loose to roam afterward or stored back inside Valkyrie space didn't matter much — what mattered was that Qibao would definitely be sent back tonight, as proof that Silver Wing still couldn't control the ability. With that settled, the control slots were just about sufficient.
[In theory, that operation is feasible.]
The System's answer made Silver Wing's eyes light up.
She opened her eyes, picked up the teacup from the table and took a sip, deliberated for a moment, and spoke up: "I've got new reinforcements."
"Reinforcements?"
Einstein and Tesla glanced at Elysia and Sakura, assuming Silver Wing meant more helpers from fifty thousand years ago — so-called Digital Memospirits.
"Didn't Silver Wing say earlier in the Elysian Realm that Rin can only materialize two memory entities?" Miss Fairy blinked.
"The reinforcement I'm talking about isn't another Flame-Chaser." Silver Wing gave a light shake of her head.
"Then who is it?" Kiana-cat asked, leaning in with wide, curious eyes.
"Classified for now."
The silver-haired girl smiled with an air of deliberate mystery.
How was she supposed to know what trial card she'd pull? She'd open the box in a bit and find out!
"Wait until we get back — then you'll all know. Alright, no time to waste. Let's get ready to move."
Silver Wing gave Einstein a nod.
Einstein raised her wrist; a communications device resembling a black wristwatch projected a holographic display, and her right hand began moving swiftly across the screen:
"Transport is ready. But — are you certain you don't want to wait for the Titan units? The nearest ones will need three days to reach New Zealand."
Her posture grew notably more serious as Einstein spoke with measured composure: "Given the transfer of [Schicksal]'s Valkyrie forces, I suspect their Archbishop has eyes on New Zealand. Otherwise, there's no reason [Schicksal] would suddenly redeploy their main strength to such a small branch."
"More allies would obviously be welcome — but you said yourself that Otto is probably watching this place. [Schicksal] could dispatch reinforcements of their own within that window. And it's not just [Schicksal] — the World Serpent's people will reach New Zealand ahead of us."
Silver Wing shrugged. "So most likely, we're already out of time."
"Of course, the Titan units should still be mobilized. Even if I successfully extract Wendy, stopping the Fourth Eruption is far from guaranteed."
She repeated the same point as before: as long as no one directly allowed the Cocoon of Finality to complete its refinement, the Great Eruption couldn't be fully prevented. That was simply the reality.
"Understood." Einstein nodded.
Shortly after, the group rested briefly in Queenstown, then boarded a compact aircraft Anti-Entropy had prepared and set off for the [Schicksal] branch in New Zealand.
[Schicksal]'s vast organization was structured according to administrative regions and operational functions. The Headquarters floated on an aerial island. Each continent had a branch; most major cities around the world maintained a regional office; and ordinary cities housed the lowest tier — supply stations responsible for rest and resupply for Valkyries on missions.
Owing to its geography and various other factors, the New Zealand office was one of the largest regional branches in the entire organization.
The aircraft touched down several dozen kilometers from the branch. To avoid detection by the branch's scanning equipment, the final stretch was made by car.
Jet ports erupted in bursts of cyan-blue flame, the engine roaring like a wild beast, as an obviously modified sedan tore down the near-empty road.
The scenery outside the windows streaked backward in a blur. The silver-haired girl behind the wheel was doing something that was, in hindsight, extremely on-brand — absolutely flooring it.
Not that she'd ever had much interest in cars even back during the Prayer Caelus days, despite her core being male. Her automotive knowledge barely extended beyond the Wuling Hongguang and a handful of new-energy models.
"Silver Wing, is it really okay to drive this fast? What if traffic police pull us over and you lose points on your license?"
Kiana, seated in the back, gripped the sides of the seat with both hands and craned her neck to look at the speedometer needle creeping toward the far-right end of the dial.
"Mm-hmm~ The wind screaming past your ears does make your heart race — it's quite a thrill — but little Kiana has a point. Safety first~"
The pink plump beauty occupied the passenger seat, gazing out at the scenery. Her seatbelt disappeared into the deep valley carved between two full, snow-white curves, tracing a lush and enticing silhouette.
"Don't worry. I won't be getting my license revoked."
Silver Wing's sneaker-clad foot pressed the accelerator all the way to the floor.
Please. She wasn't some rookie like Little Duck — she wasn't going to embarrass herself by getting her license revoked. After all, the silver-haired girl gave a light laugh —
"I don't have a license!"
"!?"
In that instant — even knowing that if the car crashed and exploded they could probably land safely — Mei in the back seat felt an overwhelming urge to throw open the door and bail out.
Driving without a license?!
The vehicle had a maximum capacity of four. Sakura had temporarily retreated into the Jizo Mitama to keep Rin company, and Elysia would be returning to her Divine Key shortly as well.
Silver Wing was nominally infiltrating alone, but she was in fact bringing two Flame-Chasers along. Limited by Rin's current level of power, neither Elysia nor Sakura could fight at full capacity. Even so, by the standards of the current era, the minimum floor was still an S-rank Valkyrie.
The ideal scenario was completing the infiltration without being detected. If they were spotted, it would flip from a classic stealth mission into Assassin's Creed: Forced Combat Edition.
"Silver Wing, be careful out there. Alert us the moment anything comes up."
The city housing the [Schicksal] branch was less than two kilometers from the base perimeter. The car pulled up at a café on the outskirts of town, and Mei spoke with quiet concern.
"Mm."
The silver-haired girl smiled at Mei with a nod, gently pushed away Kiana — who had attached herself and was nuzzling against her — then headed off into the streets and alleyways with the Jizo Mitama on her back.
There was one inconvenient piece of news: the Jizo Mitama, which housed Sakura and Elysia's memory entities, could no longer be stored in the System space. The System's stated reason was that it now contained the will of living beings — which was a bit rich, considering Rin and Leylah were perfectly fine in there.
This meant that in the Honkai World, there was no way to summon the two of them into combat on demand. A minor issue, all things considered. No major harm done.
Reaching a shadowy alley that pedestrians occasionally passed through, Silver Wing summoned Project Bunny and confirmed there were no humanoid lifeforms or concealed surveillance equipment nearby.
The silver-haired girl rubbed her palms together, then extended one flat — and in her hand appeared a gift box no larger than a ring case, its packaging exquisitely crafted.
"What a shame trial gift boxes can't drop high-star cards. If I pulled the Herrscher of Finality, we could just speedrun the entire Honkai Impact 3rd side from start to finish."
Going as Finality-Kiana to embrace the Cocoon of Finality — sure, she'd disappear in forty-five days, but what if it triggered some kind of bug?
She shook her head and refocused. Silver Wing centered herself.
Open. The box.
The next instant, the gift box burst open in response to her will, and gold blazed outward.
Golden radiance spilled in every direction, trailing glittering arcs of light through the air. Dense threads of luminescence slowly gathered and traced an outline into being.
A small, slight figure — the barely-there curve at the chest immediately caused Silver Wing to mentally rule out most of the roster.
In her memory, a silhouette that compact could only be Little Duck or Grecia.
And yet, as the small figure gradually solidified, Silver Wing's eyes went wider and wider with stunned disbelief:
"What the hell!"
Wheat-gold hair cascaded down like flowing silk, one lock braided into a thin plait, a few loose strands brushing over a cheek as smooth as congealed cream. The goggles resting on her forehead gleamed amber-clear; her ice-blue irises were as crystalline and vast as an open sky.
A futuristic sky-blue short jacket over a white dress embroidered with gold-thread starburst patterns; below, a thigh ring faithful to the ancestral traditions, and knee-high white stockings that looked like something out of a dream.
This combination — paired with a face that, after ten years of solid profit, was frankly worth a death sentence — brought out every last drop of both cute and cool that a young girl could possess.
"This — this is —!"
[Character Card: Daylight Riding Far — (Durandal)]
[Rank: ★★★★]
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