Same time. Inside Leo Ash's room.
After washing up, Leo Ash looked at the unfamiliar ceiling and began to recall the six days he had spent here.
And then he became depressed.
Ever since he arrived, he had been in a life-threatening state. Even after escaping Nagazora City, he couldn't find peace because that dog Otto had his eyes on him.
What was there to recall? There were no memories worth cherishing at all.
[Although you believe there are no memories worth cherishing these past few days, you know very well that the beginning of any venture is always difficult.]
[And now that you've calmed down, you find that the situation isn't as bad as you imagined.]
[Thanks to the information from Fu Hua, Otto basically no longer suspects you.]
[And everyone else has been completely fooled by the mask you wear, thanks to your superb acting.]
[Now, the Herrscher of the Void is powerless, the Herrscher of Thunder is dormant, Yuno has awakened, and Bronya is wavering—all the unstable elements have been settled by your great deception technique.]
[With internal and external threats eliminated, you are now certain—the situation is excellent, it's time to get down to business!]
Sigh, business...
Listening to the System's load of crap mixed with a sentence or two of actual information, Leo Ash stared at the ceiling, feeling that the current situation was not as optimistic as the System made it out to be.
Sirin inside Kiana's body hated humanity. As long as she was given enough Honkai Energy, she would immediately go on a massacre.
And unfortunately, the most powerful force in the world right now was Schicksal, and Schicksal was, to put it bluntly, the most useful tool in Otto's hands.
When the time came, Otto would inevitably launch his plan, snatch Kiana away, pump her full of Honkai Energy, and then create a super-massive Honkai Eruption.
That's how it was in the original story, and the System had made it clear that Otto would definitely do this in the future, even confirming the survival crisis.
Bronya and Yuno seemed to have been pacified and fooled by Leo Ash, but frankly, all he had done was temporarily move two time bombs away from their ignition source.
Bronya and Yuno weren't inanimate objects; they were living people. Whether they would come into contact with a new ignition source in the future and explode was anyone's guess.
Fu Hua wasn't as unstable as these few, but she was currently on Otto's side.
Until she recognized Otto as someone who 'would sacrifice anything for his plans'... alright, let's be more direct.
Until Otto blasted her in the head with the Judgment of Shamash, she couldn't be considered an ally.
Thinking it over, among the few of them, Mei, a genuine Herrscher with Herrscher powers, was actually the most stable.
She couldn't perfectly wield the power of the Herrscher of Thunder, but the Herrscher of Thunder wouldn't harm her. Instead, it would help her deal with enemies when she was asleep.
Leo Ash felt that as long as he, the culprit who had beaten up the Herrscher of Thunder, wasn't around when she awakened, she probably wouldn't go completely berserk... right?
What a pain.
To survive, I have to play a character completely inconsistent with my own personality.
And to play this character, I feel like it will lead to new problems.
[New problems? Perhaps this daily role-playing will indeed lead to some new problems. But as the saying goes, risk is opportunity!]
[You have now successfully portrayed a sufficiently tragic face of a vengeful demon in front of everyone. As long as you continue this, those little girls overflowing with maternal instincts will only start to feel sorry for you because of the mask you wear.]
[If this continues, they will sooner or later become fruits for you to pick... hehehe, the thought of this makes you feel that the future isn't so bad after all.]
Forget it. Deceiving people is already dishonest enough. Feelings obtained through deception are inherently false.
Instead of fantasizing about a non-existent future, I'd better think about how to explain myself when everyone finds out.
[Don't panic, these are minor issues. As long as you can suppress an entire era, they won't be able to achieve the 'let's carve him up' achievement!]
Give me a break. Suppress an entire era? With a Herrscher of Finality that big squatting right there, there's no way I can suppress anything.
[Hey, you're good at everything, you just don't have confidence in yourself.]
[Even if you look down on yourself, you can't look down on this System. With this System around, suppressing the Herrscher of Finality is a piece of cake!]
Well said. Then give me my reward now.
If I could suppress the Herrscher of Finality, with my personality, I'd be messing around in different positions every day.
[You know the rules. If you want it, you have to come and get it yourself.]
So you see, with things being as they are, why should I think so much?
I might as well go to bed early. After all...
—St. Freya High School is still a military academy, after all.
In a military academy, it's better for a new recruit like me to be a little more well-behaved.
......
Next day. St. Freya High School
Inside St. Freya High School, Himeko introduced the few who had suddenly joined the school to the students.
And as an extremely handsome male, Leo Ash was unsurprisingly surrounded the moment class was over.
St. Freya High School was an all-girls school. Even if a few male knights had come here for a short period of time for special reasons in the past, none of them had Leo Ash's handsome face.
Incidentally, the uniform Leo Ash was currently wearing was spare clothing left by those male knights. Until his and Kiana's personal uniforms were ready, he could only make do with these clothes left by others.
And now, Himeko had already announced that Leo Ash was not an exchange student or an auditor, but would be studying relevant courses in the school as a regular student. Under these circumstances...
Leo Ash could even feel a terrifying green light beginning to flicker in the eyes of this group of young girls.
"These women...!"
On the other side, Kiana looked at the Valkyries who had already surrounded Leo Ash, and she could already feel her fists tightening.
"Kiana, calm down."
Looking at the veins on Kiana's fist, Yuno sighed helplessly.
"We just enrolled. Causing a conflict with our classmates on the first day over something like this... is not a good idea."
"But, but—Mei, why are you just watching?!"
Seeing Mei's eyes remain surprisingly calm as she watched Leo Ash and the other female students, Kiana asked in annoyance.
"Don't you find those women annoying?!"
"Huh? Do I?"
Hearing Kiana's question, Mei, who had come back to her senses, said with a smile.
"Isn't this great? So many people are welcoming Leo Ash, we should be happy as his friends."
"But...!"
"Besides, Kiana, if Leo Ash forms bonds with them and opens his heart, isn't that a good thing?"
Recalling Leo Ash's demeanor as he left the field yesterday, Mei said with a hint of heartache.
"Leo Ash's mental state is already very unhealthy. If someone can open his heart and help him walk out of that nightmare, that's a good thing."
"Faced with such a good thing, why are you angry?"
"But, but..."
*Why can't that person be me ahhhh!!!!*
"Actually, Sister Kiana, there's no need to worry about this."
At this moment, Bronya, who had packed her things, gave a deep look at Leo Ash, who was still maintaining a cold expression, and said to Kiana.
"According to Bronya's estimation, the probability of Brother Leo having a pleasant conversation with these people does not exceed 0.6%."
"After all... his mind is probably entirely focused on fighting the Honkai."
As Bronya had predicted, in everyone's eyes, Leo Ash stood up from his desk and said to the crowd.
"Sorry, everyone. I'm not interested in your topics."
"I just want to become stronger, to fight the Honkai and save more people."
Bronya, who heard him say this, spread her hands helplessly.
"See, just as Bronya said."
"Brother Leo has no desire in that regard at all."
"Senior... sigh, that idiot."
At this moment, Himeko, who had not yet left the noisy classroom, found the current farce... rather refreshing.
The world of Honkai seemed peaceful, but in the eyes of Valkyries like them who already knew about the Honkai and stood on the front lines against it, the world with its frequent Honkai outbreaks was already close to an apocalypse.
In an apocalypse, many people would begin to abandon their past inhibitions and choose to live for the moment—after all, in this state, no one knew what tomorrow would bring.
In Himeko's eyes, if Leo Ash had that kind of thought, he could have completely relied on his face to make a vow of love with one of these little girls and enter the bridal chamber today.
But for now, it was unknown whether this problem child had no such thoughts because his mind was too chaotic or because his integrity was too high.
She really didn't know whether to be relieved that he wouldn't mess around, or worried that he, in fact, wasn't messing around.
The main reason Leo Ash, the protagonist of this farce, chose to dissuade everyone in such a cold manner was because of his persona.
A vengeful demon, right? All he thinks about every day is fighting the Honkai, how could he think about falling in love with a girl?
Under this premise, even if Leo Ash was handsome after activating Poker Face, he exuded an aura that pushed people away.
In fact, if it weren't for the Cold, Handsome Man title having a trait that increased his charm towards the opposite sex, the favorability of these intern Valkyries around him would probably have collectively dropped by three to five points.
He was acting from the moment he woke up every day.
If it weren't for the assistance of the Cold, Handsome Man title's trait, I feel like I would sooner or later become an incurable case of terminal deadpan.
"Student Leo Ash, please wait."
As the Valkyries voluntarily cleared a path, Fu Hua walked up to Leo Ash, blocking his way.
"We didn't settle the score in yesterday's fight. To be honest, I'm not satisfied."
[Hehe, not satisfied, what a boring excuse.]
[Listening to Fu Hua's excuse, you can only think—this person is such an idiot, she can't even lie competently.]
[However, it's precisely because she is this kind of person that she gets fooled by Otto. And for the current you...]
[Such an easily-deceived old lady coming to you on her own initiative is not a bad thing at all.]
After sending these messages, Leo Ash saw Fu Hua's character profile template appear before him.
[Name: Fu Hua (Hua)]
[Identity: One of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers of the Previous Era, the Immortal Red Kite of Shenzhou, an A-rank Valkyrie of Schicksal, your classmate.]
[Current Favorability: 15]
[Note: She sees a shadow of her past self in you, so...]
I say, a system like you that leaves sentences half-finished gets stabbed in certain places.
[Certain places are certain places. Right now, the only person here who knows of this System's existence is you, the Host. Are you, Host, the kind of heartless person who would backstab this System?]
Playing the emotional card at a time like this... is really unnecessary.
I think you could kill me with a single super-tier item you pull out of nowhere, right, Dora-A-System?
[Haha, if you're so self-aware, there's no way to continue this conversation, Host.]
"What's wrong, Student Leo Ash?"
Looking at the silent Leo Ash, Fu Hua pushed up her glasses slightly and provoked him.
"Could it be that after yesterday's battle, you've lost the confidence to face me again?"
[Oh, a boring provocation. This is just like the prelude to a girl pursuing a boy she likes in some third-rate novel. In your eyes, Immortal Red Kite has already—]
Her favorability is only fifteen. you just showed me.
[Oh, my apologies, my apologies, I forgot.]
"If you want to fight again, I have no problem with it, of course."
Ignoring the still chattering system, Leo Ash walked up to Fu Hua and said to her indifferently.
"In fact, not being able to land that final blow yesterday left me a bit unsatisfied as well."
Kiana, watching the two face off from a distance, noticed that the Valkyries around them had now split into two factions.
Before their eyes, a palpable tension had already formed between the [Lord Leo Ash is definitely strong] faction and the [Sister Fu Hua is the best in the world] faction.
Looking at this group of Valkyries, Kiana couldn't help but feel that something was off about this situation.
*Wait, this is St. Freya High School, right?*
*This is a place that trains Valkyries to fight the Honkai, right?*
*In a school like this, is it really okay for you all to be acting even more relaxed than I am?*
*Is this organization, Schicksal, a little bit different from how I imagined it?*
......