While Mo Wang was busy cleaning up the small fry, Kiana and Mei were facing a battle even more brutal than the one on the ground.
"Wait, Bronya! I know I was wrong! I shouldn't have secretly deleted your game save! Just calm down!"
Kiana shouted as she dodged to the side.
A missile grazed past her face and flew past her, exploding against the wall behind them and blowing a hole clean through the warship.
Staring at the hole behind her, Kiana broke out in a cold sweat.
Bronya's entire body had turned pitch black, her eyes a blood-red, with the words "EVIL-CORRUPTED" practically written all over her.
Kiana was filled with regret. Immense regret.
Everything had been going so well at first. They had cleared out the Honkai Beasts along the way and reached the control console without a hitch.
But then she had to go and jinx it by saying, "This mission is way too easy."
And what happened next? First, a bunch of Titans appeared out of nowhere. Then, just as they were making their escape, Bronya—their strongest firepower—was somehow controlled and turned completely black.
She had been hunting her and Mei down ever since.
What left Kiana even more speechless was that, at first, Bronya had been chasing Mei. But then Kiana had to open her big mouth and confess to accidentally eating Bronya's snacks and deleting her game save. Suddenly, all of Bronya's aggro shifted.
Now, she was hunting Kiana with bloodshot eyes.
BOOM!
Another energy beam, as thick as half of Kiana's body, shot towards her.
Kiana executed a perfect "cat pounce," narrowly avoiding the attack.
"No way! Are you even corrupted at all? Are you just trying to kill me?"
Kiana was becoming more and more convinced that Bronya was just pretending to be corrupted so she could murder her.
Why else would she only be targeting her?
Kiana wanted to protest, but it was clear that the current Bronya had sworn to eliminate this scoundrel, Kiana.
In the blink of an eye, Kiana found herself targeted by the dozens of cannons on the corrupted Bronya's back.
"Oh well, I'm screwed ╮(￣—￣)╭"
Kiana looked at the cannons aimed at her and couldn't help but shrug. She even felt like lighting up a cigar.
Seriously, where was she supposed to dodge?
Kiana looked around. A single volley from those cannons would probably blast a hole through the entire warship.
The current situation reminded Kiana of when she had first met Bronya.
But even back then, it wasn't this intense.
"I'm telling you, the 'evil-corrupted and three times stronger' trope doesn't suit you at all!" Kiana was still running her mouth, trying to figure out if she could find a bucket of water to land in if she got blasted off the ship.
"Kiana!"
Just as Bronya's cannons were about to fire, Mei, wreathed in lightning, suddenly shot out from the side, pulling Kiana out of the way of Bronya's artillery barrage.
A volley of red energy beams shot past, piercing straight through the Selene and blasting countless new craters into the city below.
Many Anti-Entropy mechs and Honkai Beasts were instantly vaporized.
"What's happening up there? Why is the Selene on fire?"
Mo Wang, having just sent the Valkyries back to the Hyperion, stared in confusion at the smoke now billowing from the Selene.
Then, he realized what was happening. Bronya must have gone into her corrupted mode.
"What a waste! What a complete waste! Anti-Entropy's best ship, and you just blow it up like that!"
Mo Wang clutched his chest, feeling an immense sense of heartache.
Alright, now he finally understood why they had to dismantle the main cannon and put it on the Hyperion later.
So it was because Bronya blew it up so thoroughly that they couldn't afford to repair it, huh?
"Mo Wang, did you say that warship up there belongs to Anti-Entropy?"
Fu Hua, who was standing beside Mo Wang, heard his words and looked at him with confusion.
How did Mo Wang know this mysterious ship was from Anti-Entropy?
"Class Monitor, isn't it obvious? These days, the only ones who can build a ship like this are us, Schicksal, or our neighbors at Anti-Entropy. And with a spectacle this big, it's not like our Overseer decided to put on a big show for everyone because the New Year is coming up, right?"
Mo Wang glanced at Fu Hua. Of course, he knew that besides the two publicly known organizations, there was also the true behemoth, World Serpent, that could build such a warship.
But naturally, he couldn't say that out loud right now.
"That's true," Fu Hua conceded.
A warship of this caliber couldn't possibly be a cheap knockoff from some unknown small-time manufacturer.
"Don't dwell on it too much, Class Monitor. Let's hurry up and rescue those three. I'm afraid if we wait any longer, we'll be collecting their corpses."
---||---
"Oww, that hurts. Mei, are you okay?"
Kiana lay on the deck of the Selene.
Although she hadn't been hit by the cannon fire, she now had a massive headache.
Mei had managed to pull her out of the way, but unfortunately, the force of the impact had sent her crashing through the warship's wall.
It was a miracle she hadn't shattered all her ribs.
"Mei? Wake up! Mei!"
But as Kiana called out, only a faint whisper came from Mei, who was lying on top of her.
"Kiana... run..."
With that last cry, she... disconnected.
"No! Mei! Mei!!!!"
Kiana stared at the unconscious Mei, dumbfounded.
Great. The boss wasn't even defeated yet, and her teammate had already gone offline.
How was she supposed to play this game?!
Might as well surrender.
"No! Mei, I can't live without you! How can I go on?!"
"We promised to be Valkyries together for life! Why did you leave me all alone?!"
Just then, the corrupted Bronya finally emerged from the large hole in the deck.
"Damn it! Bronya! Don't think I can't fight you just because you're corrupted! And don't think you can bully me!"
Kiana stood up, vowing to avenge Mei.
But then, Project Bunny, now dyed black, materialized behind Bronya and raised dozens of cannon muzzles, each one about the size of Kiana's head.
(._.)
(′～`;）
Kiana glanced at her own little pistols, then at the dozens of cannon muzzles opposite her.
"Gah! How am I supposed to fight this?! Can we call a truce?"
Bronya chose to respond to Kiana in the simplest way possible.
However, just as Bronya was about to fire, a baseball bat suddenly smashed into the back of her head.
"Taste my righteous backstab!"
When the bat hit Bronya's head, she turned around in confusion.
Her mechanical eyes seemed unable to comprehend where this person had come from.
CLANG!
Another powerful blow from the bat, and Bronya went silent, collapsing to the ground.
"M-Mo Wang?"
Kiana stared at the scene, completely dumbfounded, feeling as if her brain had just been violated.
"Yes, my child. It is I. Your savior has arrived! Did you miss me?"
Mo Wang gave Kiana a thumbs-up, completely ignoring the unconscious Bronya at his feet.