When Shigure Kira woke up, she found herself inside the cargo hold of a transport aircraft.
Beside her, Salome was staring intently at a ring-shaped throwing blade in her hand, lost in thought.
Across from her, Shub was leaning against the cabin wall with her eyes closed, apparently taking a nap.
A little further away, Cheng Lixue was cradling an old-fashioned longsword, carefully polishing it.
And at the very front of the cabin, Patrick was at the controls, flying the plane.
Wait — I wasn't killed by the hundred-ton truck? Shigure Kira wondered blankly.
Come to think of it — where even was this?
She was just about to ask her friends around her when a series of memory fragments flashed through her mind.
The owner of these memories also seemed to be called Shigure Kira — but they gave her an uncanny, not-quite-right feeling.
In these fragmentary memories, she appeared to be a Rank A Valkyrie of Schicksal, belonging to a unit called the Snow Wolf Squad, currently acting on orders from headquarters to head to Siberia and suppress a Honkai disaster.
But compared to all of that, there was something else in the memories that interested Shigure Kira far more.
What was this about "the most dazzling songstress of Schicksal (self-proclaimed)"?
What was this about "Schicksal's Saint, the strongest Valkyrie — Cecilia"?
And what on earth was this about "Siegfried, who had groped every Valkyrie in Schicksal's rear"?
"Good grief — how is this Siegfried such a terrible person!" Shigure Kira couldn't help blurting out.
Her voice startled everyone in the cabin. Her friends all looked up toward her.
"Kira — you're awake?" Salome beside her seemed mildly surprised.
"Err... yeah, I just rested for a bit." Seeing everyone's gazes, Shigure Kira laughed a little awkwardly to cover the panic beneath.
From the memory fragments in her mind, this clearly wasn't her familiar world. Though what had happened was still unclear, Shigure Kira felt that until the situation became clearer, it was best not to expose her true identity.
As for being hit by a hundred-ton truck and ending up in what appeared to be a parallel world or world bubble of some kind — honestly, Shigure Kira wasn't surprised in the slightest. Having come to understand the true nature of their world, she knew that with Honkai energy — a force capable of nearly anything — strange events were the least strange thing imaginable.
If Honkai energy could resurrect the dead and reverse time, what was a little cross-dimensional transfer?
Seeing that no one had reacted strangely, Shigure Kira exhaled in relief. But whether it was her imagination or not, she kept feeling that her familiar yet unfamiliar companions all seemed a little tense.
What Shigure Kira didn't notice was that the moment she looked away, the people around her all quietly exhaled too.
Seeing that Shigure Kira hadn't shown any signs of suspicion, Salome — sitting beside her and idly flipping the ring-shaped throwing blade in her hands — also secretly let out a breath.
Until I understand my current situation, I absolutely cannot reveal my identity. Salome thought.
Not long ago, she had been taking part in Schicksal's selection examination when a rogue Emperor-class Honkai Beast had ambushed and sent her flying.
She had thought she was done for — but when she opened her eyes again, she had woken up as the current Salome Jokanan.
Based on the fragmentary and uncertain memories in her mind, she was certain this was absolutely not her familiar world. Schicksal here was not the newly established organization she knew, but an ancient institution that had existed for over a thousand years.
So until she figured out why she had ended up here, it was best to maintain this world's version of herself and avoid drawing unnecessary trouble.
Beside Salome, seeing that no one had expressed any doubt about her, Shub closed her eyes again.
Good — no one noticed anything unusual about me. Shub quietly exhaled.
She had originally been in the middle of a trial in what was supposedly the Elysian Realm — the initial version — but the moment she entered, a strange purple-haired woman had sent her flying.
When she woke up, she was here.
Since the situation was unclear, she had chosen to close her eyes and reduce her presence as much as possible, while quietly gathering information about her companions in this world.
Fortunately, it seemed the versions of them from this world hadn't detected anything off.
As Shub closed her eyes, Cheng Lixue — gripping her longsword tightly beside her — also quietly let out a breath.
She had originally been attempting to break through to the realm of Wuchen, but had unexpectedly encountered a heart demon midway. Though she had fought with everything she had, she couldn't overcome it, and was quickly struck down.
After the heart demon had pierced through her heart, she had expected to die — but when she woke up, she was here.
Looks like my acting skills are passable — at least I haven't been exposed. Good thing I don't have to knock them all out... Cheng Lixue thought to herself.
Just as everyone was quietly exhaling in relief, the transport aircraft suddenly gave a shudder.
At the same time, Patrick at the controls suddenly cried out: "What the — I'm actually a Rank A Valkyrie?!"
Staring at the control stick in her hands, Patrick was thoroughly at a loss.
She had originally been training at Anti-Entropy's Huangshi Base when a Titan suddenly went berserk and sent her crashing to the ground.
My body has probably been reduced to Valkyrie fragments by now. Patrick thought.
Suddenly, a stream of fragmentary memory fragments rushed into her mind.
Patrick Hightsmith? What a strange naming convention.
She was a Rank A Valkyrie of Schicksal — and apparently also a spy for Anti-Entropy...
At that thought, Patrick felt a cold chill run through her.
That had been close. She had almost blurted out her real identity just now.
From the limited memories available, it was clear that in this world, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy were mortal enemies. If discovered, she'd probably be taken down by the others immediately.
But barely had she exhaled in relief when she noticed everyone looking at her with strange expressions. Patrick immediately tensed up.
Looks like that commotion just now made them suspicious. Patrick thought.
Her mind raced. She said somewhat awkwardly: "Sorry — I've been at the controls for so long, I'm a bit fatigued. My nerves are stretched a little thin..."
As she said it, Patrick immediately regretted it and wanted to slap herself.
With a Rank A Valkyrie's superhuman constitution, how could just flying a plane cause fatigue?
"Oh, is that so!"
"Understandable, understandable."
"Want me to take over? Driving while fatigued is really dangerous."
"..."
Wait — you just believed that?
Were these friends really the elite of the elite, the strongest Valkyrie unit led by Schicksal's Saint?
Patrick started having doubts about the memory fragments in her mind.
At that moment, Shigure Kira suddenly made a proposal.
"Seems like everyone is exhausted from the long journey~"
"How about the most dazzling songstress of Schicksal — that's me — sing a song for everyone? What do you think?"
Upon hearing this, everyone's cold sweat redoubled.
Salome, sitting closest to Shigure Kira, went sheet white in an instant. Remembering the murderous singing she had once experienced from the Shigure Kira of another world, she felt an overwhelming urge to put on her Valkyrie armor and perform an emergency landing from ten thousand meters.
And so she immediately moved to refuse.
But just as she was about to speak, she stopped herself — because a very practical problem had occurred to her.
As an outsider, she knew very little about this world's Shigure Kira, and had no idea how similar she was to the one from the other world.
What if this world's Shigure Kira happened to be the complete opposite — possessing a voice as beautiful as a celestial being, and all of them genuinely loved listening to her sing?
Wouldn't that blow her cover?
The others seemed to have arrived at the same realization. Their lips trembled — but they held back.
Though concern about exposing their identities was one reason, there was also a more important one.
They were no longer the powerless university graduates they had once been. They were now Rank A Valkyries with superhuman constitutions.
With this kind of physique — being brought down by Kira's singing?
Back when they were ordinary people they got knocked out by her voice. If they became Valkyries and still got knocked out, what was the point of becoming Valkyries at all?
With that thought, amid Shigure Kira's expectant gaze, they all went along with it.
"Sure... I'm quite looking forward to hearing Kira's voice." Salome said.
"The most dazzling songstress of Schicksal — interesting." Cheng Lixue said with an expressionless face.
"Same here." Shub said.
"Let's hear it — we're ready." Patrick waved from the cockpit.
After being dominated by Shigure Kira's murderous singing for so long, they now felt a strangely satisfying sense of role reversal.
Heh... finally free from the fear of being dominated by that lethal sonic weapon~
"Everyone... you're all too wonderful."
Seeing everyone's reactions, Shigure Kira was deeply moved. She hadn't expected that the friends from this world would be so enthusiastic about her singing.
In the name of Schicksal's most dazzling songstress, she absolutely could not let their expectations down!
Shigure Kira prepared to give ten, even nine parts of her emotion to meet her friends' anticipation.
From some indeterminate location she produced a microphone, raised it to her lips.
Cleared her throat lightly. Drew a long, deep breath. And then her voice rang out in the sealed space.
"La↗ la↘ la↗ la↘! La la la — LA!!!"
"BOOM——!!!"
The instant Shigure Kira's singing erupted, everyone felt a nuclear bomb detonate inside their skulls.
The Rank A Valkyrie constitution they had considered their safeguard crumpled like wet paper. Sorry for not lasting long enough for Lady Shigure Kira to fully enjoy her performance...
They had been completely and utterly defeated!
Was there truly no one in this world who could withstand Shigure Kira's singing?
A shudder from the aircraft cut Shigure Kira's singing short. A massive tremor left her nearly unable to keep her footing.
Coming back to herself, she found her friends scattered across the floor in a heap, all unconscious.
Shigure Kira had a bad feeling. She quickly looked toward the cockpit — and found Patrick collapsed at the controls, eyes rolled back, foam at the mouth, looking very much on the verge of total system failure.
"Hm...?"
"VROOM——!!!"
Ten thousand meters up, the transport aircraft flipped and plummeted — trailing black smoke as it nosedived toward the ground.
Shigure Kira's face went sheet white. She screamed: "IT'S ALL OVER!!!"
"BOOM——!!!"
---
Advanced 30+ Chapters in pat/reon.com/Sleepy_Hua