The system's alarm suddenly blared.
It was as if someone had forcibly intruded, catching everyone present off guard.
"What happened?"
"I don't know, why did the synchronization rate exceed the limit by so much?"
"What kind of enemy will it generate? An Emperor-Level Honkai Beast?"
"It wouldn't be that difficult, surely? If it's an Emperor-Level Honkai Beast, never mind Kiana, even an A-Rank Valkyrie wouldn't be able to handle it."
The Valkyries in the room looked panicked, and their discussions grew louder, though they didn't cause too much of a commotion.
After all, with Principal Theresa there, she was everyone's pillar of support.
On the display screen, Kiana had already entered the assessment space.
Inside the space was a virtual Saint Freya Academy, lush with green trees and spacious, suitable for combat and assessment.
Kiana's expression was also one of shock and uncertainty: "What's going on? Principal Theresa, what happened?"
Seeing this, Theresa leaned toward the screen with a grave expression and said:
"Something's wrong. The program should have been forcibly terminated the moment the system reported an error."
"But now the program's synchronization rate is—which means..."
"A forced interruption will have an impact on you."
Before she could finish, the metallic voice in the assessment space announced: "Hostile module generation complete!"
The next moment, everyone's eyes turned to the area behind Kiana, where a golden light suddenly flashed.
A mysterious young girl who looked seventy to eighty percent similar to Kiana stood there, her eyes cold and haughty, swirling with golden light.
Six dangerous spears floated in the air behind her, making her look like a descending deity.
Under the afterglow of the setting sun, the girl was draped in a faint radiance.
Just her floating in the air gave the watching Valkyries a feeling of suffocation.
The Herrscher of the Void had originally wanted to use the Emperor-Level Honkai Beast Ganesha as a test, but then felt it wasn't worthy.
For an ordinary A-Rank Valkyrie, Ganesha—which had caused the deaths of three A-Rank Valkyries in 2012—was indeed very intimidating.
But she had seen Kiana's performance; under special circumstances, her strength would suddenly explode and exceed many A-Rank Valkyries!
Since it was an assessment, then she would see your true strength.
—It wasn't that she felt cheated and was flying into a rage out of humiliation.
"Kiana, we meet again. Those words of yours really made me quite happy."
The Herrscher of the Void walked step by step through the air toward the frowning Kiana, coldly voicing her inner anger as she walked.
Her footsteps left a layer of golden light in the air; using her authority over space, it was as if she were stepping into the middle of a pond, creating ripples.
Such a posture was undoubtedly very intimidating.
It was like a deity handing down a divine decree, irresistible.
The Valkyries outside the screen were all shocked, not understanding what was happening.
Wasn't this a fictional assessment within the Academy? Why was the constructed hostile module a person they had never seen before?
Moreover, she looked extremely arrogant, possessing a power and confidence that emanated from her very bones.
"This appearance... could she be an A-Rank Valkyrie from Schicksal Headquarters?"
"Doesn't look like it. Even an S-Rank can't just float out of thin air; it simply defies the laws of physics."
"Who is this person? I get the feeling she's very dangerous..."
"Shh, it looks like Kiana is in trouble."
"I feel like I've seen her somewhere before, in a history book. Does anyone remember?"
At that moment, a blue-haired Valkyrie with a high ponytail suddenly realized and shouted: "It's that illustration, the one from the Second Honkai—the Herrscher of the Void? Although that illustration was very small and blurry, we cut it out to play with, so I remember it very clearly."
"...What?!!" The Valkyries present gasped upon hearing this, their hearts filled with uncontrollable shock.
Once the Herrscher of the Void was mentioned, everyone remembered.
During the Second Honkai, tens of millions died, and Siberia was razed to the ground.
Schicksal's forces were also severely hit during that disaster!
The culprit was the Herrscher of the Void!
At St. Freya Academy, it was common knowledge that Theresa was Kiana's aunt; they had subconsciously assumed Theresa would go easy on Kiana for the assessment.
Ordinary Valkyries only had to deal with Charge-type, Knight-type, or at most Ballista-type Honkai Beasts.
Unexpectedly, Theresa had pulled the rug out from under her. Facing her own niece, she didn't even use a Honkai Beast, but brought out a Herrscher!
Is a Herrscher something they can deal with? Even if the Headmaster herself took the field, she probably wouldn't be able to handle it!
If you want to talk about being ruthless, you have to look at Theresa!
Sacrificing family for the sake of justice!
Too ruthless!
Quite a few Valkyries cast looks of admiration at the bewildered Theresa.
"Kiana, we are debugging the equipment, we still need time!"
"About ten minutes, just hold on a bit longer!"
"We'll come in to save you soon!"
Outside, Bronya was rapidly debugging the assessment equipment, taking a moment to tell Kiana inside the space.
"Lord Theresa, was this an assessment you set up intentionally?"
Nearby, Rita asked thoughtfully.
"No, it's possible the Herrscher of the Void has awakened; the one inside is real," Theresa answered anxiously.
"Is there any other way?"
"Kiana can only hold on for a while, or defeat the Herrscher of the Void. Those are the only two possibilities."
After saying this, Theresa's eyes dimmed.
As the Headmaster, she had actually let her little niece fall into danger.
Regarding the Herrscher of the Void, although Kiana was victorious in the end in the Challenge Space, that was two or three years in the future. The current Kiana hasn't grown up at all, so how could she be her opponent?
Anxiety, doubt, tension... multiple emotions swirled around Theresa.
Logically speaking, one wouldn't die in the virtual assessment space, but who knew what tricks the Herrscher of the Void had played?
Looking at her angry expression, she might even be willing to go down with Kiana.
Except for Bronya, who was focused on debugging the equipment, everyone was extremely anxious.
Of course, the ordinary Valkyries watching the show didn't know this.
They thought Theresa was intentionally punishing Kiana for skipping class, which was why she had put in the Herrscher hostile template.
"So this is a Herrscher. So strong, she's completely beyond what a human can handle!"
"Look at that spear, it almost pierced Kiana's heart. How terrifying."
"If this were real, Kiana might have died long ago. Principal Theresa really is something."
"There's nowhere to run. St. Freya Academy's playground is often being renovated; I suspect the Headmaster used the renovation money to buy Homu manga."
"This is too cruel, she's injured to this extent and still can't withdraw?"
On the screen, Kiana was being pursued by the Herrscher of the Void.
Those sharp Spears of the Void floated in the air, following the golden-eyed Herrscher, striking toward Kiana like lightning.
Every instance of divine wrath represented the suffering of ignorant humanity.
Kiana was torn with dense wounds, dripping with crimson blood.
Many of the faint-hearted Valkyries could no longer bear to watch.
They could accept dying in battle, but they couldn't accept seeing a classmate being slaughtered.
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