Chapter 154: Blitzkrieg

Chapter 154: Blitzkrieg

Time went back to several hours ago, on a hillside ten kilometers away from the Anti-Entropy Fortress.

Kirataka covered his forehead slightly, taking in the future that was about to happen.

Now, it was time for both girls to follow his arrangements and wait for instructions.

In his opinion, there were two key points in the next offensive operation.

First, Cocolia was hiding in the sky near the fortress. Once she found something wrong, she would choose to retreat immediately to other bases under her control.

Coupled with the possible cover-up methods of the World Serpent, it would not be easy to pursue her afterward.

Therefore, if one wanted to prevent Cocolia from escaping, it was necessary to destroy the spaceship she was on to limit her chances of leaving.

After shooting Cocolia down from the sky, someone needed to be nearby to capture her alive.

The second was to quickly capture the fortress head-on.

Well... this was not difficult...

Judging from the experience in the previous timeline, the garrison there was actually not that strong. It was just some ordinary armed soldiers and Titan mechas.

Cocolia and Gray Serpent placed all their treasures on the [Moonlight Throne], but that thing was of no use to them.

Therefore, the choice of this strong attacker was obvious.

Kirataka thought for a moment, and his thoughts gradually became clear.

He unfolded the virtual map and gave instructions to the silver-haired girl.

"Bronya, head northeast and wait at these coordinates."

"...Don't you need Bronya to lead you into that fortress?"

The silver-haired girl was a little surprised.

Kirataka shook his head slightly and explained:

"No need. Cocolia has probably discovered your betrayal. At this moment, she is most likely not in the fortress. And this direction... should be the direction leading to another Anti-Entropy base. I think she should be waiting nearby."

"Bronya understands."

The silver-haired girl stood up.

"Well, Bronya, you should go first. It will take some time to get there from here even if you are carrying Project Bunny at full speed."

So, Bronya followed Kirataka's instructions and headed northeast first.

Next, Kirataka and Mei ran towards the base together.

Along the way, he was also discussing the next tactics with the girl beside him:

"Mei, I'll attract the frontal fire later. You just need to find the right opportunity to go directly to the C-13 area to rescue Uncle Ryoma."

"Eh...? This kind of thing should be handled by me, right?"

The purple-haired girl expressed a different opinion.

In terms of pure comparison of strength, it was obvious that the other self who could fully unleash the Herrscher of Thunder was stronger, so if they were to take on the role of attracting frontal firepower, they should be the ones to do it.

Moreover, Cocolia's main target should be herself. If she took the role of frontal attack, she would be able to attract more of Cocolia's attention and create opportunities for Kirataka.

Kirataka shook his head and said:

"No, if Cocolia already knew about Bronya's betrayal, then your arrival was obviously something she expected. That base... may have already prepared a trap for you."

However, in the final analysis, the only obstacle for a Herrscher was the [Moonlight Throne] laid by Gray Snake under the base.

As long as you got that done... everything else was just trash.

"...Against the Herrscher?"

"Well, Mei, you should have read the report about Kiana and Fu Hua's mission to Singapore, right? Dr. Maki, who defected from Schicksal, invented a serum that can temporarily eliminate the Honkai energy in the body. Cocolia has had contact with him, so maybe she has the same thing."

Kirataka used Kiana's previous experience as an example to give to Mei.

Although it wasn't much, it was enough to remind Mei.

"But...if that's the case, wouldn't you also be at risk of being..."

Mei was still a little worried.

"Don't worry, leave the front to me. As long as we move fast enough, we can rescue Uncle Ryoma before Cocolia can react, and..."

After a pause, Kirataka continued:

"Uncle Ryoma must also want to see you appear in front of him first."

...

"Alarm! Alarm!"

"There's an intruder! There's an intruder!"

Noisy alarms sounded in the Anti-Entropy Base, and the sounds of soldiers running and tactical mechas starting up were everywhere.

Kirataka had already broken through the gate of the base and walked in with a swagger.

After dealing with the soldiers who tried to block and attack him along the way, he returned to the square where the [Moonlight Throne] was laid in the previous timeline.

It took less than forty seconds from the time he broke through the front gate of the fortress to the time he arrived here.

Using all kinds of martial arts, this was a blitzkrieg, just to catch that old witch off guard.

(TL: Blitzkrieg, a German term meaning "lightning war," refers to a fast and highly mobile military tactic used by Nazi Germany during World War II. It emphasizes rapid, coordinated attacks combining mechanized infantry, tanks, and air support to quickly overwhelm enemy defenses.)

"It's right down here."

He narrowed his eyes slightly, turned his right hand into a fist, and slammed it to the ground.

The powerful punch caused the ground to tremble slightly. After the smoke and dust cleared, a small pit had been smashed in the area under his feet, and a silver tint belonging to a mechanical device was revealed at the bottom of the pit.

[Moonlight Throne], after all, was just a mechanical device that could generate a special electromagnetic field. Apart from this function, it had no other uses.

As long as the location of the trap was known in advance, it was extremely easy to destroy such a sophisticated device as a mechanical device.

Kirataka squatted down slightly, reached out and touched the partially exposed device, and poured a lethal amount of electric current into it.

All that could be heard was a series of crackling sounds and explosions coming from underground. These traps, which were very effective against the Herrscher, had lost their effectiveness.

"Liliya, the bad guys are there!"

A lovely voice full of energy came from a distance.

Kirataka stood up, and a pair of sisters appeared on the other side of the square—they were Rozaliya and Liliya.

As representatives of the new generation of Anti-Entropy fighting power, Cocolia's good daughters, it was natural for them to deal with the "big bad guy" who invaded the fortress.

Since they couldn't lift the big sword with their bare hands, they chose to use the big tails given by the fusion warrior surgery to wrap around the hilt of the sword that was taller than themselves.

These two greatswords were named [Sleeping Beauty] and [Swan Lake], respectively.

"You big bad guy!"

Rozaliya didn't care about anything else and rushed forward aggressively, while Liliya followed closely behind, intending to cover for her reckless sister.

Although they had no combat experience due to their young age, the factor of the emperor-level Honkai beast fused into their bodies did give them powerful combat capabilities.

With the two sisters working together, they were far superior to the average A-rank Valkyrie. It was a pity that one of their few, or perhaps even their first, actual human combat encounters was against him.

No, he should say they were lucky to face him in their first real combat.

"Sorry, I don't have time to play with you."

Kirataka chuckled and did not dodge Rozaliya's attack. He just flashed and appeared in front of Rozaliya in the next moment.

"Ah!"

The opponent's speed far exceeded hers. The pink-haired girl barely reacted and swept forward with the big knife held in her thick tail.

However, even with the tail replacing the hands, the greatsword was essentially a rather cumbersome weapon.

The attack power was sufficient, but the sensitivity was very low.

Before Rozaliya's sword reached him, Kirataka's attack had already touched Rozaliya.

He changed his fist into a palm and pressed it against the pink-haired girl's defenseless abdomen.

Before coming here, he practiced Cunxin Fist with the Immortal Phoenix for hundreds of hours and now was the time to put it into practice.

[Inch Strength: Clouds and Mists].

A stream of air burst out from his palm out of nowhere, and this blow directly knocked Rozaliya away. She fell heavily to the ground, having been knocked unconscious by him.

"Woo…"

The pink-haired girl's eyes were full of stars.

"Rozaliya!"

Seeing her sister being knocked to the ground, even the usually calm Liliya couldn't help but become anxious. She waved her tail and attacked him quickly, trying to drive him away from Rozaliya to prevent him from further hurting her sister.

"Don't worry, she just fainted. You should get some sleep too. After all, what's going to happen next... is somewhat inappropriate for children."

Kirataka slightly turned his body to avoid the attack of the blue-haired girl and gave her a chop, causing her to fall asleep along with Rozaliya.

To be honest, Kirataka felt that the broadsword was not particularly suitable for these two little ones.

When Kiana first entered St. Freya Academy, she also liked to use a big sword, and Seele also liked to use weapons like sickles that were not convenient for her... Are big weapons so attractive to girls?

After all, they were two innocent girls, so Kirataka did not use harsh measures against them.

——After Cocolia was sent to hell by him, these two homeless little girls had to be taken back to St. Freya Academy.

Hmm... He felt like he had been helping Theresa recruit students recently.

In short, Kirataka defeated the Vodka sisters who blocked his way without any effort.

In order to preserve his physical strength and Honkai energy, he did not use other abilities on a large scale.

Electromagnetic control was relatively okay, but projection magic consumed a lot of physical strength, and the Infinity would consume a lot of physical strength and Honkai energy.

Now he wanted to save some of his "MP" to give Cocolia a surprise later.

This was also the reason why he had to spend a lot of experience to quickly master the skills of Taixuan Sword Qi and Cunxin Fist. These pure combat skills did not require the consumption of too much Honkai energy, allowing him to maintain a relatively high combat effectiveness.

After picking up the two unconscious little girls and putting them in a relatively safe place, Kirataka stood up and looked toward the distance of the square again.

There, row after row of Titan mechs were ready for battle, with their pitch-black gun muzzles pointed at him.

Kirataka stood up fearlessly, twisted his neck, loosened his muscles, then disappeared from the spot and crashed into the group of mechas.

…

While Kirataka and the base's defenders were fighting fiercely on the front line, Mei also entered the fortress through the passage she had created.

"Area C-13..."

She didn't stop for a moment and went straight in the direction Kirataka had told her.

Kirataka had already dealt with the garrison forces along the way, so she encountered almost no obstruction.

"You seem uneasy."

As a twin existence, the will of the Stigmata in Mei's body noticed her unstable emotions and spoke to comfort her.

"Well, I'm a little worried about Kirataka, and... a little worried about my father..."

Mei said calmly.

In her mind, Kirataka's strength is at most at the same level as her own, which is roughly equivalent to the level of an A-rank Valkyrie.

If one person has to deal with so many tactical mechas and soldiers... it's a bit difficult, right?

As for her father, after not seeing him for who knows how long, Mei was very worried about his current condition, as he had been imprisoned for such a long time.

"...Don't worry about that playboy. His strength is far more than what you see on the surface."

The other Mei denied one of Mei's concerns.

"Hey, you mean... Kirataka has been hiding his strength?"

"Well, although he is probably not as good as me... he is definitely far better than what you see on the surface. Those miscellaneous soldiers above are no match for him at all."

The Stigmata Will said with certainty.

As the only Herrscher currently existing in a normal state, she was naturally able to see many things that others had not noticed.

Since Kirataka was someone she saw every day and cared about very much, she naturally paid a lot of attention to him.

Especially Kirataka's strength changed from the beginning of school to now—she had always seen and understood him well, though she had never mentioned it to others.

"But... why would he do that?"

Mei was a little confused.

"You want to hide from a stronger enemy, you don't want to expose yourself. I don't mean just in terms of strength, but like when you were tricked by Cocolia... the mastermind behind it."

The Stigmata Will said silently.

"Is that so..."

After hearing this, Mei understood a lot more.

From her point of view, Cocolia was the most vicious person in the world. Her conspiracy had led to the destruction of her family and the deaths of millions of ordinary people in Nagazora City.

But there was definitely not only one Cocolia in this world.

In other words, Kirataka might be facing someone even more terrifying than her...?

There were actually not many such candidates. Was the other party fighting against Anti-Entropy, or... Schicksal?

'In any case, if he really had to face such an enemy in the future, I will definitely do my best to help him' Mei thought to herself.

While the girl was talking to her other self, they had already arrived at the designated C-13 area.

The girl stopped in front of the door to area C-13.

What caught her eyes was a heavy door. Like the door of a safe in a bank, it was impossible to see what was inside from the outside.

But this defense didn't bother her.

The purple-haired girl stretched out her hand, creating high-temperature plasma to begin melting the defense. With a dazzling light that continued to shine, the security door made of Soulium was soon melted by the high temperature, creating a passage for her to enter. She immediately passed through and went inside.

Inside the room, a middle-aged man who was dressed fairly decently was startled by the sound and cast his eyes on the girl.

He had noticed the commotion outside and knew that the base seemed to have been invaded by someone, so he was waiting for the opportunity to see if he could take this chance to escape from the prison.

But he never expected that the person who appeared in front of him was actually his own daughter—

"...Mei? Why are you here?"

Raiden Ryoma said in surprise.

In addition to the feeling of surprise, he was mostly happy and worried.

He was happy because, as a father, he finally saw his daughter after a long absence and knew that she was still healthy.

He was worried that the fortress's defenses might harm his daughter—and about the ominous lightning on her body.

The purple-haired girl could no longer hold back her tears. She put down her weapon, hugged her father tightly, and sobbed:

"Father... I finally found you."

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