Takashi Komuro, Saeko Busujima, Shizuka Marikawa...
Highschool of the Dead!
Kiana Kaslana had watched that anime before—Saeko Busujima's iconic bullet-dodging, breast-bouncing move was still burned into her memory.
But knowing the plot didn't help her in the slightest.
She had read countless transmigration novels before.
Every transmigrator who ended up in Highschool of the Dead followed the same formula:
Kill Takashi Komuro, slaughter zombies, and collect Saeko Busujima, Shizuka Marikawa, Rei Miyamoto, Saya Takagi, and the other heroines.
After seeing it enough times, it had all become rather dull.
Kiana Kaslana issued her command to Zofia's team.
"Handle it however you see fit."
She had little interest in these people.
Receiving the order, Zofia, Westminster, and Rvy moved immediately without hesitation.
Sensing Zofia's intent, Saeko Busujima struck first.
Her broken wooden sword came slashing down toward Zofia, who didn't dodge—instead, she caught the blade mid-swing with one hand.
The sword stopped dead in her grasp.
Holding the bat in her other hand, Zofia swung hard toward a random male student sitting nearby.
The strike connected with full force.
The man didn't even have time to scream before his skull exploded under the blow, his headless body collapsing in a pool of blood.
"Ahhh!"
Screams erupted from the back of the bus.
Two female students clung to each other, trembling in terror.
Westminster lunged toward the one-armed Takashi Komuro, her rapier thrusting straight for his forehead.
"You—!"
Rei Miyamoto tried to block the strike with her mop handle.
Westminster's eyes flashed coldly. With a single horizontal slash, she sliced the mop handle clean in two.
Rei instinctively squeezed her eyes shut.
When she opened them again moments later, Westminster had already sat back down.
Turning around, she saw Takashi Komuro's body slumped lifelessly—his skull pierced clean through.
Rei gasped, covering her mouth, her whole body collapsing to the floor in shock.
Rvy caught the nail fired from Kohta Hirano's modified nail gun with her bare hand, then flicked it back casually.
The nail embedded itself squarely into Kohta's forehead.
His body swayed briefly before slumping forward against the seat in front of him.
Saya Takagi watched helplessly, teeth clenched in fury.
"You bastards!" she shouted.
Zofia wrenched the broken sword from Saeko's hand and quickly dispatched the blond student who'd argued with Komuro earlier, along with another random boy sitting in the back.
"Why are you killing people for no reason!?"
Saya screamed, tears spilling uncontrollably down her face.
She could feel death closing in around her.
She could understand attacking Koichi Shido—he was a vile man who deserved it.
But Takashi Komuro and Kohta Hirano? They had done nothing to provoke them.
These three women were nothing but murderous lunatics.
Would she be next?
Despair filled Saya's heart.
Komuro's death had shattered what little composure she had left.
Ignoring Saya completely, Zofia walked over to the crippled Koichi Shido, then turned to Saeko Busujima, handing her the baseball bat.
"You want to kill him, don't you? You hate this man, right?"
Taking the bat, Saeko noticed how light it felt—its material smooth and perfectly balanced. She looked around the bus at the other passengers.
"What happens if I don't kill him?" she asked calmly.
"Nothing."
Zofia patted her on the shoulder.
"Relax. You could join us instead. Do what you've always wanted to do."
Hearing that, Saeko glanced down at the bat in her hands, a faint gleam flickering in her eyes.
Then, she raised the bat high—and brought it down on Koichi Shido again and again.
She didn't stop until he was dead.
When it was over, Saeko stood silently, her breathing steady.
She wasn't tired. She simply felt... liberated.
The darkness she'd long suppressed inside her had finally been set free.
"Let's take you all to a safe place," Zofia said, instructing Shizuka Marikawa to turn the bus around and head toward the shelter arranged by Kiana Kaslana.
Saeko Busujima, Shizuka Marikawa, Rei Miyamoto, and Saya Takagi—all had high potential to become Herrschers, serving as anchors for Kiana Kaslana in this world.
The testing phase of Honkai Fantasy was nearly complete.
This marked the beginning of the Great Expedition.
The next step was to study the problem of anchoring.
Based on prior experience, main characters or other key figures in anime worlds tended to possess the potential to become Herrschers.
When Kiana Kaslana didn't know who among them could serve as anchors, her usual method was simple—detonate a Honkai Eruption, annihilating everything piece by piece. Whoever survived would become the anchor.
Anchors strengthened and stabilized the channels between the two universes.
Though Kiana could theoretically create countless zombies, Herrschers, and Honkai Beasts to act as anchors and reinforce the interdimensional channel, she refrained from doing so.
The reason was simple—such efforts required a staggering amount of Honkai energy, and the waste was enormous.
In short, the cost of invasion was too high, and the risk even greater.
The material reserves of the Houkai Universe were already close to depletion.
She couldn't afford to waste any more.
The Hell Girl world and the Fleet of Fog world were still undergoing integration, their dimensional passages expanding and merging through ongoing assimilation.
For the Highschool of the Dead world, Kiana Kaslana selected Saeko Busujima and Shizuka Marikawa as her anchors.
Saeko was a woman worth cultivating.
The Great Expedition required individuals like her—unique, special talents. In modern times, excessive killing often drove ordinary people insane. But Saeko was born different—her mind was already fractured, and she found not disgust or pain in killing, but pleasure and ecstasy.
Zofia, on the other hand, was numb to death and bloodshed. Having lived through the Middle Ages, she was long accustomed to life and death, and the existence of infernal souls made her nearly indifferent to mortality.
Death was meaningless.
If one wished to revive, one could simply revive.
It was the same mindset as a player watching NPCs die in a game.
As for Shizuka Marikawa—Kiana Kaslana simply liked her.
Testing in Honkai Fantasy continued.
Whenever a new feature was needed, Kiana added and experimented on the spot.
The zombie threat meant nothing to them.
They were like random mobs in a game—easily wiped out with minimal effort.
From the Hell Girl world, female students from Academy City—like players—formed squads of three to five and roamed across this world. Their abnormal abilities quickly drew attention.
As expected, they clashed with the local survivor groups and military forces.
To them, this world was nothing more than an examination. Whoever conquered and controlled the most territory would earn the highest score.
The top three squads would receive the qualification for evolution.
Bronya observed the performance of each Honkai squad, assessing their effectiveness in invasion and control of the world.
She commanded and coordinated the Honkai squads' operations, carefully managing their advance.