Clang!
Mei clashed with a Voidranger before her. The moment her tachi, which reflected a cold gleam, collided with the Voidranger's dual blades, Mei immediately withdrew her sword and swung upwards, parrying the enemy's weapons open. She followed up with a direct thrust, quickly finishing off the Voidranger.
Mei's figure flickered rapidly through the swarm of Voidrangers, and with every pass, another was slain.
This was a new sword style she had developed in discussion with Jingliu during their time together, one that was better suited for her. Although she was still unaccustomed to it, it was more than enough to handle these enemies. Furthermore, for some unknown reason, an unprecedented power seemed to be surging through her body, making the movements of her tachi even more fluid and swift.
Nearby, Bronya was controlling Project Bunny 19C to intercept the Voidrangers swarming in from all directions. With Project Bunny's powerful suppressive fire and Bronya's own precision clean-up shots, they managed to prevent any new Voidrangers from landing on the train. The pistol in her hand felt increasingly natural to wield.
Kiana and Mei fought back-to-back. Mei handled the front lines, while Kiana took care of the Voidrangers at the rear. She fused ranged attacks from her dual pistols with close-quarters combat—a mix of Kaslan Gun-Kata and Xianzhou martial arts. Dan Heng had clearly been very diligent in teaching Kiana. Wende had passed by to watch once, and the Dragon had made a rare comment to Dan Heng, remarking, "Is that kid trying to train this little girl into the next Dragon Exalt?"
A shot to the enemy's leg joint to unbalance it, followed by a sweeping kick to the head to finish it off! The original gun-fu technique of using the gun's barrel to sweep the legs and the stock to strike the head had become even more practical in Kiana's hands.
As for why not just aim for the head… the battlefield was ever-changing. Opportunities to blow an enemy's head off right in front of them were few and far between.
Dan Heng had once caught an entire magazine of Kiana's bullets with his bare hands, completely unscathed. Against that kind of enemy, this method was clearly the most effective.
Wendy stood right in the center of the three, her entire body floating steadily above the train's roof with the support of the wind. She directed a gentle breeze to envelop her three allies, making them feel significantly lighter and faster in battle. Meanwhile, she whipped another gust into an unscientific vortex, pulling in any Voidrangers that got too close and shredding them to pieces.
Wende's teaching of Wendy had never been strict, but it was absolutely the most suitable method for her. He taught her to quiet her mind, to prevent her eyes from being deceived by appearances, and to listen to her own inner voice instead of the meaningless noise. Because of this, Wendy could already wield about forty percent of the Fourth Herrscher's power. It could be said that in space, Wendy was a nightmare for any civilization that relied on battleships for travel.
But Wendy wouldn't do that. Wende had taught her that unless absolutely necessary, it was best not to show off her power too much. Wendy, of course, obediently agreed. And so, while acting as a reaping machine, Wendy could also serve as a support for her teammates. If Wendy were ever to be released in Honkai: Star Rail, she would definitely be a character who could fill both support and DPS roles!
The four of them worked together with tacit understanding, and they quickly cleared out the Voidrangers in the vicinity of the train. They didn't even need to deal with the elite-level ones, as Himeko took care of them one by one with a cannon blast from inside the train.
Now, there were no more Voidrangers to be seen around the Express, but the radar inside still showed many more enemies in the distance, rushing toward their location.
Himeko took out her phone. Mm, it's about time. She had let these four little ladies get a taste of future combat. Encountering Voidrangers near the train was one thing, but running into these things far away from the Express… that would not be a good situation.
Shaking her head with a sigh, Himeko first called the four of them back via voice comms. Once they were all safely inside the train, she immediately dialed Wende.
---o---
At that moment, Wende was still in a meeting with the dispatched personnel from the Interastral Peace Corporation, discussing the future development plan for miHoYo Planet. But just as the meeting was halfway through, he received a call from Himeko. To the baffled expression of Topaz, Wende immediately asked the little fox beside him to take over the meeting for him while he took the call.
In truth, he was merely an observer in this meeting anyway. The real decision-maker was Tingyun. After all, when it came to what miHoYo Planet was currently lacking, Tingyun knew better than he, its creator, did.
After leaving the conference hall, Wende teleported to a very secluded corner of miHoYo Planet and answered Himeko's call.
Upon hearing Himeko's request for help, Wende's brow suddenly furrowed. Why would the Antimatter Legion suddenly target the Astral Express?
Of course, now wasn't the time to overthink it. The first priority was to get the Express safely to the star rail, and from there, follow it directly to miHoYo Planet.
Wende closed his eyes. At the same time, an emotionless eye materialized near the train, precisely marking every single Voidranger.
He had to admit, this Legion force was far more elite than the one that had invaded the Space Station. Not only were all types of soldiers present, but there were also three Doomsday Beasts staring menacingly in the train's direction. But for some reason, these troops weren't launching a direct assault on the Astral Express. They just stood guard quietly around the star rail, acting more like they were purposefully preventing the train from approaching it.
"Hmm…"
Wende frowned, unable to figure out their objective. But he decided to act first and get the Express onto the star rail.
And so, right where the Antimatter Legion was gathered, Wende condensed a mass of highly pure Primordial Chaos energy and detonated it in the very center of their formation.
Instantly, the refined chaos energy splintered into countless thousands of filaments that shot out in all directions.
Any Voidranger pierced by this chaos energy was instantly assimilated back into primitive chaos and vanished from the universe.
Even the three planet-destroying Doomsday Beasts didn't last for a second, dissipating just like the other minions…
"Preventing the train from getting on the star rail… Are they trying to stop the Express from reaching its next trailblazing destination?"
Wende stroked his chin, thinking carefully. Then, his brow knitted together in a deep frown.