"Heh, I didn't expect us to meet in this way, but that doesn't matter. I'm curious—what exactly did you do? Not only am I trapped here, but you can even borrow the Authority of the Herrscher of Thunder at will."
The woman's limbs were firmly bound by chains, fixing her to the Cross. She stared at Raiden Mei, who didn't dare step forward, her eyes filled with interrogation and resentment.
Raiden Mei looked at the woman who looked exactly like her and took a wary step back.
She felt a threat from the other party as if they were natural enemies.
"I don't understand what you're saying. And who exactly are you? What is this place?"
Raiden Mei threw out a string of questions.
What was the origin of this woman who looked identical to her?
And why was she trapped here?
"Coward, I have no obligation to answer your questions. And as for my question just now, it seems you can't give me a satisfactory answer either."
The woman merely sneered, then spoke rudely as if chasing her away. "It's already illogical for you to appear before me. Right now, I truly have no way to deal with you, but remember this: as long as I exist, don't even dream of becoming the true Herrscher of Thunder!"
Boom!
With a crack of thunder, Raiden Mei's vision suddenly went dark. When she opened her eyes again, she found she had left that strange place.
Pitter-patter.
A light rain was falling outside the window. Lightning skipped through the dark clouds, accompanied by the occasional roll of thunder.
Raiden Mei sat up from the warm bed, her clothes soaked with cold sweat at some point.
"What exactly did her words mean? Herrscher of Thunder..."
Raiden Mei looked down at her fair hands. With a thought, tiny threads of lightning appeared out of thin air, dancing between her fingers.
"This power is perhaps the Authority of the Herrscher of Thunder she mentioned. Since I'm not the true Herrscher of Thunder, that's why it's 'borrowed'... I see."
Quickly, she associated the girl she had just seen with perhaps being the true Herrscher of Thunder.
If the other party hadn't been trapped, what would have happened?
"Lierre and Kiana said that the birth of a Herrscher triggers a Great Honkai Eruption, which would lead to a catastrophe for all of Nagazora... wait!"
As if she had just thought of something, Raiden Mei's face turned deathly pale.
She scrambled out of bed and ran like mad to the window, peering out at the city.
Through the curtain of rain, water washed over the city of flickering neon lights. A monitor on a certain building was broadcasting news about a gas explosion at ME Corp during the night.
Seeing the corner of Nagazora intact, Raiden Mei slumped to the floor as if her strength had left her. She clutched her chest with lingering fear, her voice trembling with relief. "Nagazora is still here... thank goodness..."
Click.
The bedroom door was pushed open.
A small head poked inside.
Hearing the commotion, Kiana found Raiden Mei slumped on the floor and rushed into the room.
"Mei! Are you okay?!"
Kiana quickly helped Raiden Mei onto the bed.
"I'm fine... thank you, Kiana."
Raiden Mei shook her head.
"That's good. You really gave me a scare."
Seeing that she was indeed alright, Kiana patted her chest in relief.
She looked Raiden Mei over and said, "By the way, Mei, you've been unconscious for a day and a night. I called your school to request a leave of absence for you, so don't worry. You must be starving; I'll go heat up some food for you right now."
"I'm troubling you."
Raiden Mei touched her hungry stomach and nodded somewhat sheepishly.
But before Kiana could leave, Raiden Mei called her back. "Kiana, can you call Lierre for me? I have some things I want to ask her."
She wanted to tell Lierre about the girl locked in chains, hoping the other party could help resolve her doubts.
After all, among the three of them, Lierre knew the most.
"That's probably not possible right now. Auntie took Mom with her to catch some roast duck. They only just left a little while ago."
Kiana spread her hands regretfully.
Though she didn't know what "roast duck" meant, she assumed it was something delicious.
Then Kiana pulled out her phone. "Is it an emergency? I can call her right now."
"No, there's no need, Kiana. I'll just wait for her to come back."
Raiden Mei shook her head and reached out to stop Kiana from making the call.
Her business wasn't urgent, so it was better to wait a little while rather than trouble others.
However, the "Mom" Kiana mentioned...
Raiden Mei recalled the valiant silhouette she had seen before losing consciousness, the woman holding the knight's lance.
"She really looked so young..."
The light rain continued to fall.
Bronya held an umbrella, stepping into the territory of Nagazora with the help of the detachable exoskeleton armor on her legs.
Cocolia's serious voice came through her invisible Bluetooth earpiece.
"I've sent the target's portrait to you. But Bronya, remember: if your identity is exposed, the mission is over. You must escape as quickly as possible. Whatever you do, do not confront Cecilia directly. You are not her match!"
"If it truly comes to a last resort, you might try to take the blonde little girl hostage. Through analysis, her body shows no traces of any training, so she shouldn't be much of a threat to you."
"However, be careful of Raiden Mei. Unsurprisingly, she has already become the Third Herrscher. If she wasn't destroyed by Cecilia, you might have a chance to meet her in the future."
"Right now, I have preliminary control over part of Nagazora's surveillance. I will assist you from here... Damn it! When did she appear there!"
"Bronya, the target is standing right behind you! Tread carefully!"
Cocolia's voice warned anxiously as she watched the footage that had just come through.
Bronya: "!"
Her heart sank.
When did the target appear behind her?
Was it a pure coincidence, or had they been waiting for a long time?
Bronya didn't turn around immediately. Instead, she utilized the thermal imaging radar and other functions of Project Bunny to probe behind her.
She looked at the surveillance footage from Cocolia displayed on her retina, then glanced at the data coming from various radars.
"The radar hasn't detected any sign of the other party, but her figure has appeared on the nearby surveillance."
Was the other party not a living human?
Or had the surveillance been tampered with?
Bronya took a few steps forward while holding her umbrella, then turned around naturally to look.
Then, she saw the blonde little girl standing not far away, seeming to blend into the surrounding environment, smiling at her.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, Bronya wouldn't have believed someone was standing behind her.
This is bad...