"Tch, no time left. I'll have to leave it to you."
To prevent Raiden Mei from being harmed, the Herrscher of Thunder chose to return control of the body.
However, the moment she did, Mei's weakened body from the earlier battle gave out.
She began to fall backward.
At that moment, a white figure appeared.
"Princess Mei, your knight has arrived. You can rest now."
"Kiana, it's up to you."
Exhausted, Mei said these words before falling unconscious.
After gently placing Mei in a safe spot, Kiana turned her attention to the hooded intruder who had invaded St. Freya Academy.
"You dared to hurt Mei. You've already signed your death warrant. Surrender now."
With the support of her Valkyrie armor, Kiana faced the hooded man with ease.
The insignificant gravity manipulation meant nothing to her.
"How is this possible? How can you move so freely?"
"Hmph, take that question to prison with you. Wings of Light—unfold!!"
Countless beams of light shot out, aimed directly at the intruder.
Facing the attack, the intruder tried to use gravity to alter the trajectory of the beams.
But it was futile. In an instant, his body was riddled with holes.
Severely injured, the intruder knew he would die if he stayed any longer.
Using gravity to alter the environment, he created a dust cloud and made his escape.
Seeing the enemy flee, Kiana didn't give chase. Instead, she checked on the injuries of the others.
Meanwhile, elsewhere...
"It seems your mission failed."
A blue-haired girl stood in a small grove, watching the intruder flee in disarray.
The intruder, angered by her words, glared at her with a twisted expression.
"You! How dare you say that? If it weren't for the faulty intel, I wouldn't have been injured. This is your fault! I'll wash away my shame with your blood!"
"Did you know?"
Just as the intruder was about to attack, a voice came from behind him.
Startled, he turned to see a bespectacled man who didn't look like much of a fighter.
"A passing teacher? Too bad for you. You've seen something you shouldn't have. Take this secret to your grave!"
But the man seemed to ignore him, speaking as if to himself.
"Under ten thousand times gravity, even light cannot escape."
"I don't care what you're saying. Just die—"
"Ten Thousand Times Gravity: Simulated Black Hole."
Before the intruder could finish, the man pulled out a spherical object and uttered a few words.
Instantly, a red-black sphere about a meter in diameter appeared.
The light around it twisted, and the intruder was sucked in, instantly shredded into nothingness.
"You arrived just in time, Yang."
"So, is this another one of Cocolia's schemes?"
"Exactly. With you gone, Cocolia has taken full control and created many clones."
"...Let's not worry about her for now. She's not a major threat. The real concern is Schicksal. I've discovered that Otto has many secrets we haven't uncovered yet. Who knows what he's planning?"
Welt Yang wasn't concerned about the power struggle within Anti-Entropy. His priority was figuring out Otto's true intentions.
To Welt, Otto was a leader unbound by morality—a truly terrifying enemy.
There was no telling what inhumane experiments he might conduct in his madness.
"True. Cocolia is too arrogant. She didn't even notice when we pretended to side with her."
Einstein nodded in agreement.
If they hadn't been so short on manpower back then, they might not have chosen Cocolia as one of Anti-Entropy's executives.
"That's it for now. You should leave quickly. Once the alert system is fully activated, it'll be harder to escape."
"Take care. If things go south, retreat immediately."
Nodding, Einstein left without another word, following the path she had come.
Welt Yang adjusted his glasses and returned to his teacher's dorm, as if nothing had happened.
"This invasion was orchestrated by Anti-Entropy, but we don't know their exact motives. Still, there's no real loss."
Back in the dorm, Theresa crossed her arms and leaned on the table as she spoke.
"If there's no loss, then let's not dwell on it. I just want to sleep. Using that armor really drained me."
"All you do is sleep. Fine, go ahead."
Seeing Kiana already half-asleep, Theresa sighed and rubbed her forehead.
Go ahead and sleep for now. You'll cry later.
For a moment, Theresa felt that letting Kiana suffer a little might not be so bad.
Without experiencing loss, one can never truly appreciate what they had.
Returning to her room, Kiana kicked off her slippers and collapsed onto her bed, falling into a deep sleep.
In her dreams, she saw a tower and a purple-haired girl.
...
The next day, Kiana woke up with a start.
"Ahhh—!"
Sitting up, Kiana looked around and saw that everything was normal. She let out a sigh of relief.
"Kiana, what's wrong?"
Hearing Kiana's scream, Mei, who was cooking breakfast in the kitchen, put down the spatula and opened Kiana's door, still wearing her apron.
"Nothing, I just had a nightmare. It felt so real, so I got scared. Ahaha~."
Scratching her head, Kiana explained her scream with some embarrassment.
But Mei didn't mind the childish reason. She simply walked over and gently patted Kiana's head.
"It's okay. As long as you're fine. Since yesterday's invasion caused a day off, you can rest more. I'll keep your breakfast warm for you."
"No need, Mei. With you here, I'm not afraid of anything. A mere nightmare can't defeat someone with Kaslana blood."
Kiana flexed her arm and laughed.
"Of course. With Kiana here, I'm not afraid of anything either. If you don't need more sleep, then put on your shoes, brush your teeth, and get ready for breakfast. Then we can think about where to go today."