Chapter 277: Senti: Kevin and I are Fifty-Fifty; I Solo Him All the Time!
Clearly, a newborn infant trying to debate a five-hundred-year-old fox was bound to fall short. Otto, that old fox, was a man capable of dragging Kevin, the Lord of World Serpent, down to the negotiating table; poor Senti was completely bamboozled by him. This time, Otto expertly shifted the trouble elsewhere, delivering a backstab to World Serpent.
The audience in the livestream was unfazed by Otto's betrayal of his allies; after all, it wasn't the first time he'd done such a thing. Hadn't he backstabbed Anti-Entropy enough during the Second Honkai War?
[Kevin, look at the wonderful gift I've sent your way! Surprise, surprise! It's your old comrade-in-arms! She tore our Schicksal Headquarters to shreds! Since World Serpent is looking to do some renovations anyway, right? This directly saves you the demolition fees!]
[Otto has clearly started bluffing. Poor Senti, being toyed with in the palm of an old fox's hand!]
[But truth be told, Senti really does need to find Kevin. After all, the Fenghuang Down feather containing Fu Hua's consciousness is in Kevin's hands, right?]
[Wait? If Fu Hua's consciousness is still in that feather, and Senti retrieves it, won't they clash immediately?]
[It's a real possibility. Outside the game, we know the one waking up in Fu Hua's body is Senti, but the in-game Senti doesn't know that yet, does she? She still thinks she's Fu Hua.]
[So is the in-game Senti actually Fu Hua or not? I'm completely confused.]
[All we know now is that Senti is a consciousness born in Fu Hua's body. As for how she was born, that remains unknown.]
The audience continued to debate the plot; Senti's true identity remained the most baffling point for them. Outside the game, Senti and Fu Hua shared a sisterly bond, but this relationship in the game... didn't look like sisters at all. One was Senti with Fu Hua's memories, and the other was Fu Hua herself... they couldn't both be the real Fu Hua, right?
In the game, Senti, misled by Otto, flew toward World Serpent. This body, which should have been gravely injured, had fully recovered; such health and power felt like something from five hundred years ago.
["The current me, even facing Kevin... no, what am I thinking? Of course I'll win!"]
Along the way, Senti calculated her battle against Kevin.
["Though I haven't beaten him before, neither of us has fought seriously. In terms of Honkai energy compatibility, he's stronger, but my combat techniques are superior. Counting Might of An-Utu... we're fifty-fifty, after all, I have Fenghuang Down too."]
Watching Senti seriously analyze a fight with Kevin amused the livestream audience.
[Is it really fifty-fifty?]
[Kevin takes five minutes to make Senti crack; is that the fifty-fifty?]
[But seriously, I feel like in the Current Era, the only one who can face Kevin head-on is this Senti, who has returned to her peak physical condition.]
[What about Durandal?]
[Dudu... though she's called the strongest S-rank Valkyrie, Kevin didn't even use Judgment of Shamash in their fight, so it's hard to tell.]
[Anyway, she's stronger than Rita and stronger than Mei before her Herrscher awakening.]
"Yeah, Mei is also in World Serpent... I wonder if she'll run into Fu-Senti. They won't fight, will they?"
The comments made Kiana look worried. Since graduation, she and Mei had spent much less time together, both busy with their careers. Mei was now on the verge of taking over ME Corp from Raiden Ryoma. While they still made time to meet, it wasn't like their school days, which left Kiana feeling a bit lonely. However, true friends don't let distance affect their bond; Kiana felt their friendship would never change.
"Fighting Mei-senpai in her Herrscher of Thunder form?"
Senti felt her hands itching for a fight.
"If that's the case, great! Let me see how strong my current power is!"
She longed for a match with Mei; the Lightning Empress was just too cool, especially those lines overflowing with eighth-grader syndrome that Senti could mimic on the spot.
"Pots and pans, submit to me!"
"I shall enter the kitchen to exchange a full meal for you!"
"One blade, two meals!!"
Hearing the lines Senti blurted out, the others in the livestream nearly fell off their chairs. Elysia wiped cold sweat from her brow and asked, "Senti, those lines you just said are..."
Senti looked confused: "Aren't those Mei's lines? Did I remember them wrong?"
The others were speechless. It wasn't a matter of remembering them wrong; you've clearly been bullying Mei on the side!
"Ahaha, sorry, I've been browsing the forums too much lately, just a slip of the tongue..."
Their stares made Senti realize she'd accidentally blurted out the anti-Mei memes she saw on the forums. How embarrassing.
"Let's not talk about that! Let's watch my duel with Kevin!"
Senti laughed it off, and the others turned back to the screen. Finally, the in-game Senti arrived outside the World Serpent base. But since Fenghuang Down didn't work on machines, she was quickly discovered by the mecha troops. After taking care of them, Senti looked at the ground—specifically, the base beneath the surface. She'd made a huge scene, yet Kevin hadn't reacted at all. Was he ignoring her? Feeling slighted, Senti declared:
["I've changed my mind. Sneaking in is boring. I'm going to fight my way in openly!"]
Her smile defined healthy radiance.
["He's a Lord or whatever now; wouldn't I look inferior meeting him? I want him to come see me!"]
Watching Senti say this, Fu Hua shook her head helplessly. She knew it would end like this. Senti wouldn't be Senti if she didn't cause a stir.
"Hehe, I'm quite the pro! It should be like this! Sneaking is boring; fighting all the way to Kevin's doorstep is where the fun is! Just like the Great Sage fighting from the South Heaven Gate to the Lingxiao Palace!"
Senti slapped her thigh in excitement, feeling Su Mu truly understood her.
"Mhm, I agree. As long as you knock out everyone who sees you, isn't that a perfect stealth mission?"
Kiana nodded in agreement. Bronya didn't speak, just stared at Kiana with a flat expression.
"W-what is it, Bronya? Why that face?"
Bronya said, "I almost forgot, Kiana is also a simple-minded idiot."
Kiana protested, "No way! If it were the me in the game, I'd choose a safer method... but if I had that much power, I'd definitely fight into World Serpent and take Mei back!"
Her statement surprised Bronya. So Kiana knew fighting in was dangerous; she just thought it was cool.
"Plus, fighting through the front door really is satisfying."
Kiana and Senti hit it off immediately. Looking at these two idiots, a trace of softness appeared on Fu Hua's face. Yes, the Kiana in the game used to be this carefree too; she would have gotten along great with Senti. But... after everything, Kiana was destined never to return to that carefree state; the responsibility on her shoulders was now far too heavy.
As Senti fought her way into the base, Jackal in the monitor room had a massive headache. She didn't want to alert the Lord, so she tried to mobilize combat units to eliminate Senti first. Jackal broadcast her tactics over the intercom, ordering units to surround Senti.
["So noisy. Is this person stupid? Who broadcasts their own tactics..."]
["Scared? Then surrender! I'll leave your corpse intact!"]
["So you can hear me."]
["Everything in this base reaches my ears. Understand? You're dead for provoking World Serpent!"]
["A coward hiding away, yet your lines are quite something."]
["Did you hear me? Surround her!! Go!!"]
An enraged Jackal ordered mechs to swarm Senti, but they were easily destroyed. Seeing this, even Senti started mocking her.
["Do your mechs not cost money? You use them as cannon fodder?"]
Jackal remained stubborn.
["Shut up, this is a tactic, understand!"]
Watching Jackal and Senti do comedy over the broadcast made everyone in the livestream laugh.
[What kind of matchmaking is this??]
[Was Jackal always this funny? I underestimated her!]
[I thought Raven was the peak of World Serpent, but there are other masters?]
[Are World Serpent executives all hired for comedy?]
Jackal's actions were comical, but her logic wasn't entirely flawed. Who could have expected someone to punch through mechs with bare hands without blinking? Before absolute power, everything Jackal did was futile. Even when she set a trap to burn Senti in a corridor, Senti simply found a weak spot in the wall and punched through it.
Jackal then deployed her ace, Scarlet Web, but it was quickly turned into scrap metal by Senti. Seeing her ace defeated and Senti mocking her, Jackal was furious enough to pull out her anti-Herrscher arsenal.
["No need to waste time."]
Fortunately, Kevin finally appeared. Jackal looked back in shock; the Lord of World Serpent was standing right there.
["Ah... My Lord!"]
Kevin looked at the woman in the monitor, both familiar and strange.
["I'm coming."]
This wasn't for Jackal, but for Senti. Seeing Kevin, the viewers felt a bit disappointed; if it had gone on longer, Senti might have actually taken down World Serpent by herself. But Kevin had to appear; otherwise, Senti might have demolished the entire base. Schicksal HQ was the proof.
After seeing Kevin, Senti finally stopped and went above ground with him.
["Where did you find this subordinate? She's quite interesting."]
She didn't forget to tease Kevin.
["She is useful, though not in combat."]
Kevin replied calmly.
["Oh, the same old story. To defeat the Honkai, you'll use anything you can, right?"]
Kevin stopped. Senti kept walking, oblivious.
["Who are you?"]
He asked suddenly.
["I'm Hua, your old friend."]
Facing Senti's answer, Kevin's gaze sharpened.
["...Hua would never call me 'friend'."]
Senti fell silent for a moment after Kevin's reaction.
["Oh... to be honest, I died once. Otto shot me in the head. I've just awakened, and many things are still unclear. I remember you; we fought side-by-side fifty thousand years ago. So I thought... we must be friends."]
END OF CHAPTER
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