20demayo Chapter 427 Word Games
Chapter 427 Word Games
The earth trembled, and the sky roared. And all of this was because of the girl before them, who had just been paralyzed in both legs.
"Hmph hmph hmph... Hehehehe... Hahahaha!"
With a "healthy" smile on her face, Wendy laughed loudly as wind blades violently tore everything around her.
"Wendy, wake up!"
Braving the fierce wind, Raiden Mei stepped out from behind Bronya, attempting to use her own experience to bring Wendy back to her senses.
"Don't let the Herrscher Gem control you! We're your friends, we're here to help you! I understand you—"
Mei believes that she was once controlled by the Herrscher Gem and became the Third Herrscher, but with the help of Kiana and Sora, she has now broken free from the control of the Honkai. There is no reason why Wendy, a battle-hardened genius Valkyrie, is inferior to her, a former ordinary female student.
"friend?"
But how could things possibly go so smoothly? The instigator of the storm chuckled, his wildly upturned lips making it clear that he didn't believe Mei's words at all.
"A friend who transferred me from one cage to another?"
With a flick of her finger, an enormous wind blade appeared out of thin air.
"No! We—"
"Shut up, I don't want to hear it! You're all a bunch of hypocrites! I hate you, I hate all of you! Hypocrites, just disappear!"
Seeing Wendy's overly aggressive and furious expression, Qiong, who had originally planned to focus on persuasion and use force as a secondary measure, was at a loss. After Wendy became a Herrscher, shouldn't she have flown away in a flash? Why should they have to chase after her?
Why aren't they running away? Why are they even launching an attack?
"This aggression...this is bad!"
Seeing Wendy about to unleash a wind blade on Mei, alarm bells rang in Qiong's mind—this wide-range AOE attack, even with his taunt maxed out, couldn't protect Mei!
"Mei, get out of the way!"
"Too late!"
The enormous wind blade tore through the air at a speed too fast for the naked eye to perceive at first glance. But just before it touched Mei, it abruptly veered off course—
Qiong rushed over and pounced on Mei.
Boom!
A huge explosion came from where Mei was standing. If Sora hadn't thrown herself on top of Tia in time, and if the fire spear she grabbed hadn't blocked most of the blast for him, the unsuspecting Mei would probably have been injured.
"Mei, are you alright?"
Mei, who had been tackled to the ground by Sora and was still in shock, stared in astonishment at the big boy whose face was full of tension.
So handsome...
The deathly howl that had just torn through the air still seemed to echo in her ears, while her man had used his body to form a protective wall around her. Though ill-timed, Mei's heart pounded fiercely in her chest—perhaps because of her narrow escape, perhaps because…
"I'm fine! Qiong, with you here, how could I get hurt? By the way, how are you? Your back—"
"You are safe and sound!"
Qiong interrupted her, mimicking Wendy's grin. He rolled over, his gaze refocusing on Wendy.
It seems the negotiation process can be skipped; Wendy won't listen to reason these days! The only option left is to send four Herrschers, a small gray dragon, and a Trailblazer to forcibly take her down!
"Sorry, senior, everyone, prepare to take coercive measures!"
Mei's attempt to persuade her failed, and she was instead ambushed. Had it not been for Sora's swift action, the consequences would have been unimaginable! Kiana, already enraged, immediately sprang into action with the others upon Sora's summons: Kiana's gun, Seele's scythe, Bronya's heavy bunny, and Hoshi's baseball bat were all pointed at Wendy in mid-air. Wendy, however, showed no fear. She paused briefly when she saw Sora tackle Mei, then burst into maniacal laughter upon hearing Sora's forceful measures, surrounded by a whirlwind, waiting for everyone to come forward and deliver their own deaths.
"The way you save people...it's so annoying!"
Wendy's voice distorted in the gale, her pupils flashing with an eerie green light. She watched as Sora rose from the ground, shielding Mei behind her—a gesture that only fueled Wendy's manic laughter.
"Do you want to be my enemy? Oh, I remember now."
Wendy tilted her head, her eyes a mixture of pain and mockery.
"You were sent here to 'recycle' me, weren't you? Like recycling a piece of hazardous trash. Why bother with all this 'friendship' and 'help' nonsense?"
Her levitation height increased even further, and the surrounding air was compressed into visible turbulence, emitting a sharp hiss.
"Junior, isn't it rumored that you can even defeat the S-rank Valkyrie Rita? Perfect, since you've chosen to be my enemy—"
"Hey, hey, hey, wasn't this your choice?"
Ignoring the gunfire that turned from red to purple and the white stains on her hair, Wendy slowly raised her hands, palms up, as if supporting an invisible weight, deflecting Kiana's restraining bullets and Bronya's shells that were, to say the least, selectively avoiding vital targets.
"Then let's see just how powerful this man, who's hailed as being able to fight against an S-rank Valkyrie on par with a Herrscher, really is!"
Wendy spread her arms, and the air currents in the entire world began to rotate in the opposite direction.
"Can you catch my anger?!"
Before the words were even finished, the world suddenly lost its color.
Wendy pressed her arms down, and the air within a radius of several meters centered on her was instantly sucked out and compressed, then transformed into countless visible streams of air that poured down from the sky and the earth at the same time. Although these attacks had different trajectories, without exception, they were all aimed at the sky that was protecting Mei.
"Hey, you just activated your Herrscher gem, why are you so bloated like a pufferfish?"
Qiong, who had intended to unleash a powerful attack, was forced to use his flaming spear to defend against Wendy's high-frequency attacks.
"Kiana, to the left! Bronya, don't hold back your ammo! Seele, team up with Little Star, we're counting on you guys for close combat right now!"
Qiong's voice remained clear despite the raging wind, reaching everyone's ears.
"Mei, draw your sword! Let's finish the fight first before you try to persuade me!"
"understand!"
The crowd responded in unison. Although they lacked practical experience, they subconsciously accepted the arrangement out of trust in Qiong.
Mei drew her purple katana, Kiana abandoned her last hesitation towards her "senior," and her twin pistols spat out scorching flames, each bullet aimed at Wendy; Bronya's Heavy Bunny eyes flashed red, and all the weapon compartments on her back opened, unleashing an overwhelming barrage of shells that wove a fire net covering all of Wendy's routes; Seele and Star, unable to contain themselves any longer, dragged their baseball bats and scythes, charging forward under Bronya's cover fire.
however……
Wendy merely waved her hand, and the seemingly chaotic wind gathered and swarmed as if it had a life of its own, easily disrupting Kiana's barrage, deflecting Bronya's missiles, and erecting invisible wind walls in Seele and Star's advancing paths. The high-speed rotating airflow was not only as sharp as a knife, but also generated a powerful repulsive force, causing ranged attacks to miss and making it difficult for melee attacks to get close.
"Hahahaha! Is that all you've got?"
Wendy's laughter sounded particularly jarring in the wind, and she even gave the middle finger to Qiong, who was drawing the fire.
"Junior, your command is nothing special! But I'm truly surprised that you withstood my first wave of attacks, so..."
The scattered air currents no longer surged toward the dome, but instead coalesced into several giant wind drills with diameters exceeding two meters, attacking the location of the dome and Mei from different angles.
"Qiong, run!"
Mei gasped, trying to pull herself away to dodge the attack, or...
She touched her heart. Don't forget, she was also a Herrscher; she could absolutely...
"Tsk, Mei, do you think all Herrschers have an inflated ego?"
"what?"
Qiong raised his flaming spear upwards, not intending to take the blow head-on but to counterattack on the spot—he had finally figured it out; the Herrscher of Disgrace was still the same Herrscher of Disgrace, only now she was a little more aggressive...
There's nothing more to say then. Beat them up first, then tie them up and take them back for a lesson!
"You don't think I'm just showing off with the spark on my gun, do you, senior?"
A confident smile appeared on Qiong's lips.
"Heavenly Fire, unsheathe!"
boom--!
Centered on the dome, purple flames shot upwards, and in the next instant, the purple flames erupted.
There was no deafening explosion, but a towering pillar of fire erupted from the tip of the gun, piercing through everything in its path. Wendy's chaotic airflow, capable of tearing through alloy, and her newly formed giant wind drill, failed to deflect the fire pillar's trajectory; they merely ignited the flames within her own wind...
If it were a fully awakened Herrscher of Wind instead of Wendy who had just awakened and had not yet fully mastered the power of wind, or if it weren't for the inflated pufferfish that knew how to dodge, Qiong's move might not have been effective, but that's exactly what she is.
"Varied--?!"
Wendy's manic smile froze on her face, her pupils reflecting the towering purple pillar of fire. Instinctively sensing a deadly threat, she screamed and compressed the surrounding gale to its limit, forming a rapidly spinning diamond-shaped wind shield in front of her.
laugh--!
The moment the pillar of fire made contact with the wind shield, there was no stalemate. The wind shield lasted for less than half a second before it was filled with flames and then pierced through, leaving a huge hole. The remaining beam of light grazed past Wendy's rapidly dodging body.
"Ugh—!"
Even though she was only grazed by the aftershocks, Wendy let out a painful groan. Half of her white Valkyrie uniform instantly vaporized, revealing horribly charred and burned marks on her exposed skin, and the ends of her long hair curled and burned.
Like a kite with a broken string, she tumbled dozens of meters in the air before barely managing to regain her balance. The chaotic air currents around her barely extinguished the purple flames, and her frenzied composure was replaced by pain and rage.
"What...what kind of move is that?!"
Wendy's voice trembled as she stared incredulously at Qiong, who stood below, gun in hand, a hint of displeasure in his eyes. That lance, still spitting purple flames, now seemed to her like the scythe of death.
Being too arrogant will kill you, it really will kill you!
No, for his girlfriend, he's willing to withstand her attacks. It's all for his girlfriend; this hypocrite has actually shown such strength…
On second thought, I don't think I harbor that much resentment towards them.
With both feet off the ground, the Honkai energy was depleted, and intelligence once again took over.
As rational thought took hold, the madness in Wendy's eyes faded, replaced by confusion and disorientation. The whirlwind around her still howled, but its aggression had noticeably diminished. Looking down at the white-haired man joining the others, and then at his tense "girlfriend" behind him, the thoughts of "killing them" and "escaping" kept flashing through her mind—no, how could it be called escaping? This was called "letting them go"...
"I...you...it's wrong..."
My head hurts so much!
She pressed her throbbing forehead, and finally chose to take off and let the others go, disappearing from their sight.
------------
"...In the end, Wendy couldn't beat us, so she flew away on her own!"
Inside the bridge of the Hyperion, Himeko listened with a furrowed brow as Kiana recounted their battle against Wendy—there was no signal at the center of the Honkai outbreak.
"Did you choose to run away because you couldn't beat them?"
Himeko straightened up and quickly swiped her fingers across the control panel, retrieving satellite tracking data.