บท 103: Chapter 103 - Totsugeki

The most famous Assault Team of Schicksal has been disbanded. In the previous confrontation with the Honkai outbreak, the members of the Assault Team, after experiencing the true horrors of the Herrscher, were left with no choice but to retire, including Ragnar.

There was simply no way; merely approaching the concentration of Honkai energy, akin to the center of a nuclear explosion, was enough to instantly kill any ordinary person. If it weren't for the artificial stigmata on the Assault Team members resisting all erosion, even the Herrscher wouldn't have survived.

However, the current members of the Assault Team weren't faring any better. Otto was very dedicated to his plan, so after learning about what the Assault Team had encountered, he temporarily concealed their memories and had them start their retirement.

How could Himeko agree to this? Why did she join Schicksal in the first place?

Naturally, it was to investigate the truth behind her father's death!

She gave up her studies, gave up her dream of exploring the stars, all to follow in the footsteps of her beloved father, to find out how he died, and also to fight to protect the beauty of this world.

But now, after only working for Schicksal for a short time, she almost became crippled in a battle.

The side effects of the artificial stigmata persisted, the erosion of the Honkai energy returned, the Assault Team disbanded directly, and Ragnar said the only thing she could do was to become an instructor and teach the remaining Valkyries how to protect themselves. If only they could let go of their hatred, that would be even better.

The psychological state of the Valkyries within Schicksal has always been a huge issue, and Himeko knew this, feeling quite helpless.

Since Ragnar said she wanted to stay in Schicksal as an instructor, couldn't she also find other ways to uncover the truth within Schicksal?

Then Himeko thought of Theresa and St. Freya Academy.

Perhaps she could follow Ragnar's example and do similar things she wanted to do, become a teacher, and then step up to fight the Honkai when necessary!

So Miss Himeko submitted her application, and after Otto briefly examined Himeko's situation, he approved her to become Theresa's assistant at St. Freya Academy.

By the way, he also brought the Hyperion battleship over. Otto found that Theresa's combat power wasn't very high, so he thought of bringing a floating ship to protect his beloved granddaughter.

It also served as a kind of test. After all, maintaining a floating battleship usually consumes a lot of money. By squeezing Theresa's side of the budget a little, Theresa should not divert too much money to buy random items, right?

Otto found that Theresa had become more and more rampant recently.

...

Himeko didn't know what Otto was thinking, but after handing over the floating battleship, Himeko also came to Theresa's office.

"Theresa, I've said it before, work hard. Otherwise, St. Freya Academy will become a mess. I came this time, and I found it still like this. Do you really plan to manage this school properly?"

Himeko opened the principal's office and saw Theresa's desk with a Switch game console on it, and she was leisurely lying on the office chair playing games.

When I was here, it was like this. When I wasn't here, who would work for Theresa?

Suddenly, Himeko felt that her future would be very tiring. This unreliable appearance of Theresa's, was St. Freya Academy really going to rely on her to save it?

"Himeko!? Of course, I manage the school properly! Operation is absolutely not a problem, and there's no need to worry about funding!"

"Then what about enrollment? Are there enough students? I see hardly any customers on the commercial street. It won't be long before it becomes deserted."

"Enrollment and such, of course, there's no need to worry! The recent decline is just because... it's just..."

"Just because?"

"Just because I gave everyone a vacation! Although St. Freya Academy is a bit special, I always feel that having a summer vacation for everyone to relax should be fine! Vacations, schools should have them, right?"

"But our school is a school for training Valkyries! By spoiling the students like this, what if they lose their lives on the battlefield! Training hard now means less bleeding in battle later!"

Himeko was really impressed by this last sentence, only truly experiencing its truth after being on the battlefield.

Sometimes, under immense fear, even taking action required immense courage. Without relevant training, one would probably die without having time to do anything.

And Himeko had never thought that Theresa would really do this kind of thing.

Vacation?

After the vacation, how much of their combat skills would they remember?

"Although there's a vacation, I've prepared many tests, and the graduation requirements at St. Freya Academy are very strict. Those who don't meet the standards can't graduate!"

"Well, at least you know how to do something..."

Himeko heard Theresa's words and felt very helpless.

"And Saint Freya Academy is equipped with the most important Memorial Arena inside! The data inside is almost identical to the real battlefield, so there's absolutely no need to worry about Valkyries graduating without combat ability!"

Theresa was very anxious to prove that she wasn't slacking off and that her Saint Freya Academy still had significance.

Of course, if the overheating gaming console could be temporarily shut down so that Himeko couldn't see the game screen, that would be great.

"Really, you give off such an unreliable vibe. You're not young anymore, yet you're still playing games all day. Is this game really that fun?"

Himeko looked puzzled, staring at the legendary S-rank Valkyrie Theresa from Schicksal. It was hard to imagine her as one of the Valkyries who participated in the Second Honkai War.

I heard that Theresa Apocalypse is Otto's granddaughter. Could her current status really be just a product of nepotism?

"Hehe, then let me tell you all about this game console from Haxxor. It's hard to imagine that games like this could be so much fun. No wonder Mr. Yang often delays updates."

"Don't you like Homu anymore?"

"It's... it's not that. You'll understand once you play with me!"

With that, Theresa pulled Himeko into the game.

One of the best things about the Switch is that the controllers can be split into two, allowing friends to play together.

When playing games, sharing the joy with friends is what truly makes it enjoyable.

Sometimes, friends are the best configuration for games, and Theresa was just thinking that she didn't have anyone to play with!

Himeko's arrival was perfect!

Theresa was very confident that Himeko would play with her!

Very confident!

...

"In a way, Bronya doesn't quite understand this plot! If this plot is released, Bronya might fall from grace!"

During the game production process, Bronya saw all the plots made by Bronie.

Guilty Gear was a relatively old-fashioned fighting game, so initially, the plot was quite mainstream and straightforward.

It was the kind of plot that was easy to forget after watching.

Based on her understanding and the game's modeling, Bronie tried her best to bring out the personalities of all the characters, but the core was still very simple.

The doubts of righteous people about their righteousness, the weariness of new artificial weapons to war, and the various people behind the big world, as well as the truth behind the world disasters.

Plotting was something that gradually enriched with the development of the times, but Bronie was also organizing these plots, turning them into animations, and trying to optimize some of the early flaws.

Unknowingly, a lot of content was produced.

But there was quite a lot of this content, which had little to do with the game!

So Bronya's concerns were indeed justified.

"As for falling from grace, let it be. I make games according to personal preferences. What's wrong with wanting to play fighting games? What's wrong with liking rock music? Aren't these outfits trendy? And as for fighting games, do they have to be limited to punches and kicks?"

At the mention of this by Bronie, Bronya became angry.

"But fighting games aren't suitable for using guns either! Sister Bronie, your future plans for making characters seem off! And the relationship between Sol and Ky, its so confusing, and that Sin, is he really five years old!?"

"Isn't... that good? Drama is what's wanted!"

Bronie was also very happy to hear Bronya's complaints; it was quite amusing.

When Bronie saw this plot, she had the same reaction.

A five-year-old child who could fight so well?

The two main characters, Sol's wife was the final boss, and Ky's wife was the child born after Sol's wife became the final boss.

Sol and Ky were archrivals, and Ky's five-year-old son was raised by Sol.

Of course, what made Bronya even more incomprehensible was why there would be a character in a fighting game who played with guns!

"If you want to be unconventional, just go all the way, and this is also designed to increase the difficulty of the game in the future. New characters in the future will only become more difficult, and the mechanics will also make more changes, all for the growth of the players, and to allow more veteran fighting game players to play more things."

Overall, Guilty Gear's plot was still very good, but the early stage was indeed a bit monotonous, giving people a feeling of the story being somewhat outdated.

But once you get into it, you'll find that the plot is quite mainstream, and it leaves a memorable place in your heart.

Humans, after all, need to explore the meaning of their existence, don't they?

And if magic could really give humans anything they wanted, what would the world become?

There was still something in Guilty Gear's plot.

"Although there aren't many characters produced yet, Bronya wants to test this game with Sister Bronie. The underlying framework has already been completed, right? And Bronie has already made Sol and Ky, but Bronya is a bit puzzled as to why Bronie wants to make May first."

"Of course, it's because I prefer cute girls! It's natural for fighting games to have tough guys, but they can't be without cute girls!"

"A girl who uses dolphins does seem interesting, but has Bronya been infected by Kiana's virus? Or is it by Sister Elysia's virus?"

"It's not a virus at all, everyone has a love for beauty. What's wrong with liking cute girls?"

Seeing Bronie's reaction, Bronya felt like she was seeing Kiana and Elysia.

No, it shouldn't be that Bronie was like Kiana, but rather that Kiana might have learned this from Bronie!

"If it's Sister Bronie, it's actually okay... No, let's test the game!"

With that, Bronya opened the testing software and smoothly entered the character selection screen.

There weren't many characters available in the game, and to make the first impression, enough characters needed to be made to gain player approval.

Playing with semi-finished products was still a bit boring, but Bronie took out the joystick she made for her fighting game.

"Actually, when designing this game, it was originally meant to allow keyboard players to quickly get into it, and the design of Happy, the character who plays with guns, was also like this. On the other hand, although the joystick doesn't have any differences, it might be a bit harder to use once you get into the difficulty levels."

Saying that, Bronya also took out the game controller.

This made Bronya very puzzled.

"Is Sister Bronie giving this match to me?"

Using a joystick to play fighting games was also quite difficult, which was also laborious, especially when using Dragon Install Moves, where the joystick was more prone to misfires.

"No, the input device still depends on personal habits. If it were me, I'd still find the joystick more comfortable. It's your turn to choose your character!"

Bronie decisively locked her choice of character onto May, the super powerful character who uses dolphins, a character Bronie had mastered in her past life.

Seeing Bronie choose thatcharacter, Bronya wasn't too surprised, so she chose the most familiar character in the game, Ky.

If you compared the moves of both sides, Ky was actually a very simple character, very easy to use, with simple combos, and very sufficient damage.

Against a character like May, there was still a slight advantage.

Bronya knew that she might not win against Bronie, so in choosing her character, she chose a character that might have an easier time defeating Bronie.

"Oh? Are you actually using Ky? This is indeed the easiest character to use in terms of settings, the simplest to play, but how will Bronya respond if I use this move?"

Bronie used the Newbie Killer Move, Infinite Dolphin Assault!

Because Bronie liked this sound the most, she made the sound of the dolphin assault even before other characters had voice acting.

--Totsugeki!