The person who recognized this Divine Key at a single glance was none other than Fu Hua, who resided deep within Kiana’s consciousness.
“Black Abyss White Flower… Class Monitor, what do you mean by that?”
Just as Kiana’s simple mind was trying to process this, massive vines materialized out of thin air beside the Black Abyss White Flower and shot straight toward her.
“Kiana, watch out!”
Though it caught her off guard, mere vines were nothing Kiana couldn’t handle. She leaped up and executed a backflip. With her nimble footwork, the vines proved almost entirely useless.
But after the vines vanished, a blonde-haired Valkyrie appeared on the bridge. Bianka Durandal Atagina—the strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal—fixed her gaze firmly on Kiana.
“Just being stared at like this is already so oppressive… and that makes sense. I can’t use my Herrscher powers, so no matter how I look at it, I stand no chance against her. Is this what it means to be… defeated before even fighting?”
Compared to the imposing Durandal, Kiana—dressed in a tracksuit and clutching a makeshift baseball bat she’d found somewhere—looked incredibly shabby. The White Comet battlesuit was, after all, Schicksal’s armor, and since it had passed through Otto’s hands, both Kiana and Fu Hua worried he might have tampered with it. So she had taken it off long ago, and it had already been handed over to World Serpent for research via Enoxia.
“Class Monitor, how much of my Herrscher power can I actually use?”
“Enoxia’s suppression of the Herrscher of Ice is more effective than we anticipated… There shouldn’t be any problems until the Honkai energy level reaches four digits.”
Kiana’s internal comms didn’t cause time to freeze, so Durandal took advantage of her momentary distraction. Gripping the Black Abyss White Flower tightly in her right hand, she charged forward.
Several ice walls materialized instantly in front of Kiana. Though they failed to block Durandal’s attack entirely, they did slow her down just enough for Kiana to narrowly dodge the assault.
“So the strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal can only win by relying on sneak attacks?”
“I believe that from the moment the Black Abyss White Flower appeared before your eyes, our battle had already begun!”
Durandal charged again. A wave of frigid air radiated outward from Kiana in all directions, quickly coating the bridge’s surface with a layer of ice. With the reduced friction, Durandal’s movements were clearly hampered—her second charge carried her too far past her target.
Kiana understood that at under 1000 HW, she stood absolutely no chance in a direct confrontation with Durandal. All she could do was rely on these little tricks to buy as much time as possible.
Though Kiana was extremely tense, a wave of relief washed over her heart:
“Since Durandal is here, that means I’m already within Otto’s field of vision. A large-scale Honkai energy leak won’t happen in Arc City.”
Even though neither of her attacks had landed, Durandal had come to a realization: for some reason, the Kiana before her couldn’t unleash her Herrscher-level power.
Having figured that out, Durandal raised the Black Abyss White Flower toward the sky. A holy white radiance emanated from her body, and two winged knights—one bearing a shield, the other a sword—flew out from behind her. Her feet gradually lifted off the ground, and she hovered in midair.
“That’s the liberation mode of her fourth-generation Valkyrie battlesuit, Bright Knight: Moonblade. It looks like Durandal is getting serious now.”
The moment Fu Hua finished speaking, one of the knights brought its greatsword crashing down, leaving a horrifying crack across the bridge.
“This is bad…”
Gasping heavily on the bridge, Kiana felt like she’d used nearly all her strength just to dodge that last strike.
But Durandal gave her no time to catch her breath. The other knight expanded several times in size and swept its greatsword horizontally, unleashing two azure sword beams that shot straight toward Kiana. Their range covered the entire bridge. There was nowhere left to run.
A single red feather appeared on Kiana’s chest. Fu Hua held her breath, ready to intervene.
And just then, two sword beams made of highly concentrated Honkai energy shot in from another direction, intercepting Moonblade’s attacks perfectly.
Durandal spun around. Enoxia had somehow appeared behind her.
“A Divine Key?!”
She recognized at once that the blade in Enoxia’s hands was a weapon of the same caliber as the Black Abyss White Flower.
Enoxia simply shrugged.
“The best way to counter a Divine Key… is to have another Divine Key.”
