"Sister Kyuusyou, please wake up—"
A sight never seen nor heard of before appeared on the streets of Fire Moth's shelter city.
A purple-haired girl dragged a trail of grey and blue-haired girls behind her, hurtling toward the Fire Moth headquarters like a runaway train...
Immediately after, a shocking declaration that could be heard by everyone in the city and stunned the entire Fire Moth rang out:
"Kalpas! Get your ass over here!!!"
"You're dead meat!!!"
Bronya and Seele, who were serving as the train's passenger cars, heard this mind-blowing statement that would shock everyone for a century and immediately gave up on thinking.
Sure enough, an explosion occurred at the Fire Moth base building. A white-haired man wearing a black mask charged directly at the culprit, Houraiji Kyuusyou, his entire body engulfed in flames.
"Come and face your death!!!"
The explosion engulfed the already empty street, and only the four unlucky wretches who had been dragged along by Kyuusyou silently endured it all...
"It's one thing to kick the door, but why did Sister Kyuusyou have to go and kick the hardest titanium alloy door ahhh...!"
In mid-air, Houraiji Kyuusyou and Kalpas were tangled up in a brawl, with the explosion and a certain berserker king's extreme trash-talking filling the air.
-
"Bronie, I've got some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"
The four of them, who had scrambled and crawled out of the combat zone, panted as they hid in a small alley, waiting for Miss Mysterious Voice to declare a restart...
"The good news first. Anyway, I think we've already had enough bad news—"
Big Sis Seele, having caught her breath, waved her hand, indicating that any bad news should be pushed to the back...
"Alright, here goes. The good news is... I just took a peek, and our invincible Sister Kyuusyou has already beaten down three Heroes, and she did it while being gang-piled on."
"Right now, she's stepping on that super foul-mouthed guy, her whole face practically screaming 'Invincible'..."
"????"
"Hey, hey, hey, you named Bronya, is your Sister Kyuusyou really this ridiculous?"
Everyone's gazes turned toward Bronya.
"The Houraiji Kyuusyou Sister that Bronya knows is a lazy, gluttonous Valkyrie who will slack off whenever possible, and occasionally suffers from sudden Chuunibyou disease."
"Schicksal people give her a nickname: the least likely, most unworthy S-rank Valkyrie. That strongest Ms. Durandal from Schicksal is constantly looking for trouble with her, yet she always manages to brush her off with all sorts of excuses."
Bronya also had an incredulous expression...
"Anyway, in everyone's impression, if Sister Snow is Schicksal's most mysterious S-rank Valkyrie, then although Kyuusyou can't be considered the weakest, she is definitely the laziest and most slack-off Valkyrie..."
"Bronie, I can't see a single bit of laziness or slacking off, I only see a terrifying weapon master..."
"Swinging a Great Sword at Kevin, using a dagger to carve up Kalpas, and even holding a handheld energy cannon to exchange fire with that Great Magician called Vill-V, she's living just like a God of War."
Haxxor Bunny rolled her eyes, recounting in full detail what Kyuusyou, who wasn't even pretending anymore, had just done.
"The phrase 'a pig pretending to be a tiger' refers to your Sister Kyuusyou here. I finally understand why you said that strongest Valkyrie from Schicksal goes to find trouble with her every day..."
"The strong will always launch an attack on the even stronger, dattebayo!"
"Bronya thinks that if what Bronie just described is true... Sister Kyuusyou could probably beat Ms. Durandal into the hospital for at least a month, and that's with her holding back..."
"In any case... taking on multiple Heroes all at once and still having the composure to kill several of them is just too outrageous... The last one to do something like that was the Herrscher of Finality we fought once before...?"
As Bronie kept talking, she seemed to have had a thought, and her expression gradually twisted.
"Hey, you guys say... this Sister Kyuusyou, could she be the Herrscher of Finality lurking in your era, Bronya?"
"After all... that kind of combat power that suppresses the Heroes, is that really something a human should have???"
"As MANTISes, the Heroes should be at the peak of combat power among humans and even normal Herrschers, whether in the Previous Era or not, right?"
"Bronya suggests that Bronie should put aside this terrifying conjecture for now, at least Sister Kyuusyou is on our side at present."
"Alright, alright... to be honest, even if it were true, we wouldn't have any options anyway... She's not an opponent in our weight class at all..."
"Ahem, ahem, Bronie, stop dwelling on that purple-haired exception. What was the bad news you mentioned?"
Big Sis Seele interrupted Bronie's rambling and asked about the other piece of news...
"The bad news..."
Bronie's expression wavered, looking as if she wasn't sure whether she should say it or not.
"Just say it. We're already buried in problems, what's a few more?"
"Alright, I'm saying it, okay?"
"Hurry up and say it. Why are you dragging your feet?"
"Well... the thing is, there's a high probability we're all going to die once and then Restart?"
Accompanying the girl's ominous words were the intensifying sounds of fighting and explosions in the distance, as well as the city's air raid sirens.
"The Mr. Kevin I saw came out wielding the Might of An-Utu... Based on the current information, that Ultimate Lifeform from the Kaslana family is probably going to go all out and split the Earth in half."
"..."
The group exchanged glances, momentarily at a loss for words.
"Um... Miss Mysterious Voice? Can we just choose to Restart right now?"
"Hello, no. If that Lord doesn't fight to his heart's content, I'll be the one getting beaten up."
"Uh, well..."
"Everyone, rest assured. It won't hurt. I guarantee it as an Apostle of God. Your vision will just go black for a moment, and then you'll Restart. It's true, really!"
"Sigh... How did things even get to this point..."
"Actually, we could pray that our invincible Sister Kyuusyou manages to interrupt Uncle Kevin's Shamash charge-up... Of course, that's just a possibility..."
"After all, when someone's completely lost in the heat of battle, they stop thinking... I suspect Sister Kyuusyou has already forgotten about us."
Bronya wore a helpless expression. In the distance, a line of fire—all too familiar to them—shot into the sky. Accompanied by a young man's roar as he unsheathed Shamash, he swung it toward the heavens...
And in the sky...
"Tortoise, Bronya, if your Sister Kyuusyou isn't the Herrscher of Finality, then she must at least be a heavyweight character on that level..."
A magnificent purple cruciform light covering the entire hemisphere unfolded high above the city...
"Judgement of Shamash: Zeroth Power!"
That was Kevin's roar...
"How many floors do I have to carry a bag of rice up—"
That was the completely off-topic voice of Houraiji Kyuusyou, who was also totally lost in the heat of battle.
"Fuck, how can he still spam Deadly Spot—where did you come from, you Herrscher of Finality?!"
Just as everyone finished speaking, their vision plunged back into the familiar darkness of a save-load—