"Alright, I hope you won't blame me for being cryptic when you finally find out the surprise."
Glancing at Elysia, 'Friend' Vill-V shook her head.
"Don't worry, I won't hold it against you. Want to stay for dinner? I'll go buy more ingredients if you are."
"No, no, they're waiting for me. I just wanted to deliver the good news. See you later."
Standing up and tipping her hat, 'Friend' Vill-V turned to leave.
However, before she left, she picked up the fallen door, aligned it with the frame, and pulled out some tools.
With a few sparks and flashes, the door was miraculously fixed.
"...As expected of Vill-V, always ready with her tools."
Watching this, Chang Yuan wasn't surprised at all.
In fact, he'd be more surprised if Vill-V didn't have her tools on hand.
"Hehe, Yuan, did you notice? Vill-V looked so envious of our relationship~?."
"Yeah, we're like a match made in heaven."
As Elysia suddenly hugged him, Chang Yuan was momentarily stunned, but then he gently patted her hand and smiled.
...
"How's the plan going? Everything on track?"
"Everything's ready, Cocolia. The Honkai reactor is installed. We're just waiting for your order to activate the Honkai."
"Good. Prepare to initiate the Great Honkai Eruption at any moment."
"Understood."
Soon, Cocolia's subordinates began their operations.
Meanwhile, Schicksal had also caught wind of this and began secretly evacuating civilians, replacing them with Valkyries disguised as ordinary residents.
Notably, they no longer used the artificial Stigmata created by Otto in the original timeline. Instead, their natural Honkai resistance was enough to survive the Honkai eruption.
Anti-Entropy, of course, had no idea about this. Schicksal's methods were far beyond their understanding.
"Teacher, the evacuation is complete. Now we just wait for them to take the bait."
"Good. But these Anti-Entropy guys are such clowns, always dancing to our tune."
"Hehe, that's exactly what you wanted, Teacher. Since Anti-Entropy is destined to oppose Schicksal, it's better to keep them in the dark. That way, we can minimize the butterfly effect."
Otto's smile was as sly as a fox's, though compared to a certain man, he was still just a kid.
Meanwhile, on Anti-Entropy's side, after several hours of preparation, they finally initiated their plan.
As for the students at the academy, those from families without any shady dealings had already been excused and evacuated. The ones left were those with some connection to the gray market.
Thus, the academy looked no different from usual, except for the absence of some students and teachers.
"Kiana, wake up! Something's happened!"
"Huh? What's going on?"
Wiping the drool from her mouth, Kiana looked around groggily.
She had been dreaming about Mei cooking for her and was about to take a bite when she was shaken awake.
"There are huge monsters outside, and the students... they've changed."
Holding a battered wooden sword and facing students who kept getting back up no matter how many times she knocked them down, Mei was on high alert.
Kiana's drowsiness vanished, replaced by sharp focus.
"The Honkai has erupted. Mei, we need to get out of here. We can't stay."
Kiana pulled a baseball bat from her backpack and grabbed Mei's wrist, dragging her along.
Any zombies in their path were swiftly dispatched with a single swing of the bat.
Seeing such a brutal scene, Mei realized she needed to reevaluate her friend Kiana.
Her wooden sword had done nothing, but Kiana could effortlessly crush skulls with a bat.
This was clearly beyond human capability.
At the same time, Mei recalled some conversations her father had had with others.
Once they reached the rooftop, Kiana locked the door and began surveying their surroundings.
"Kiana, what are these things? You seem to know a lot about them."
Seeing a moment of calm, Mei couldn't help but ask.
"These are Honkai creations. You might not know what the Honkai is, so let me explain. The Honkai is..."
Kiana spent five or six minutes explaining the concept of the Honkai to Mei.
"So this is the Honkai? What do we do now?"
"Don't worry, Schicksal will come. We just need to hold out until they arrive."
"Okay."
Mei trusted Kiana completely.
Kiana then found a path with the fewest Honkai beasts and led Mei down another route.
"Get out of my way, you guys!"
Every zombie in their path had once been their classmates, but Kiana didn't care.
From a young age, she had been taught that Honkai creations must be destroyed.
Zombies couldn't be saved, so there was no point in trying.
After fighting their way through, Kiana reached their destination.
Inside, Kiana grabbed a bunch of instant noodles, while Mei looked for non-perishable vegetables.
Once they had what they needed, they headed to the nearest house.
"Murata, there's a massive Honkai energy reaction in Nagazora. This is under our Far East branch's jurisdiction. Take the Hyperion and some Valkyries to clean it up."
"Ugh, fine, Principal. Just when I was about to enjoy my vacation."
Though she complained, Murata had no intention of refusing.
As a Valkyrie, she had long been prepared to fight the Honkai to the death.
Soon, she gathered some of her best students and set off for Nagazora aboard the Hyperion.
Slurp—!
Burp~.
Tossing aside an empty cup of noodles, Kiana patted her stomach, finally feeling full.
"Kiana, you should eat less instant noodles. I've cooked some proper food."
Seeing the pile of four empty noodle cups, Mei couldn't help but chide her.
Kiana just gave a thumbs-up and smiled at Mei. "Don't worry, Mei. I'll always save room for your cooking."