『 Kiana walked out of the room and returned to the elevator. Seeing that there was no one around, she scratched her head and said, "Huh? Has Mom not come back yet?"
"Perfect! I'll take this chance to quickly start the elevator."
"When Mom comes back and sees the elevator open, she'll definitely think I'm super capable!"
With that, Kiana began operating the elevator console. "Hmm~ Just insert this card into the computer."
"Visitor data detected. Level 3 authorization. Beginning authorization verification."
The Schicksal verification screen on the small elevator monitor changed into a world map, with a slowly rising progress bar displayed on it.
Watching this, Kiana smiled. "Success! This should open the elevator."
But just as her cheerful words fell, a red warning symbol suddenly popped up on the small screen.
"Error alert. Missing core authorization. Verification cannot be completed."
"Eh?"
Along with the system's warning voice, red lights began flashing around them, and an alarm blared.
"Illegal intrusion detected. Freezing current visitor and locking down the system." 』
『 ....』
〘[Bronya Zaychik]:〙: It seems you, dummy, were only focused on showing off in front of your mother and didn't pay attention to whether this card's authorization was enough to open the elevator.
〘Kiana Kaslana〙: NO WAY!!!
〘·HI3· Himeko Murata〙: It looks like we still need to train your focus. This careless habit of yours is really bad.
....
『 "Countdown… 10… 9… 8…"
Hearing the system's warning, Kiana frantically tapped the console, trying to salvage the situation.
"Eh? How could this happen?"
"No, don't do this!"
As Kiana spoke, data streams began flashing around her once again.
"Restore it for me, quickly! It can't end here!"
Once the surrounding data streams returned to normal, a game interface appeared on the screen. Above the game title, a woman wearing a purple crow mask laughed arrogantly.
"Core authorization detected. Verification complete. Loading startup sequence."
Kiana stared at the game interface in a daze. "Eh?"
"Is this… a game…?" 』
『 ....』
〘Nagamitsu〙: Is this the game that kept slashing my budget over and over? I've got to see this.
〘Siegfried〙: This game… looks a bit familiar. Didn't Cecilia get the high score on it back then?
〘Otto Apocalypse〙: You remember incorrectly. The high score has always been mine, and it can only be mine.
....
『 Hearing the alarm, Cecilia immediately rushed toward the elevator. But before she could arrive, the alarm stopped, and she saw Kiana standing next to the elevator.
Cecilia looked at Kiana in confusion. "Kiana, what are you doing here?"
"Ah, Lady Cecilia!? I just inserted the key I found into the computer, and then the screen turned into this!" Kiana pointed at the game interface in front of her.
"What's wrong? Let me see…"
As Cecilia spoke, she walked toward the small screen Kiana was pointing at. Once she saw it clearly, she gasped in shock.
"Huh? Isn't this Kallen Fantasy III?!"
She then began introducing the game to Kiana.
"This is a role-playing game where you can control three characters—the Valkyrie of Light Kallen, Kallen's lover Otto, and the pet HOMU—to adventure around the world, defeat the Eastern Demon Fox who rules the continent with dark power, and ultimately have Kallen and Otto live happily ever after."
"While retaining the strengths of the previous two entries, it has evolved further, greatly improving the texture quality."
"It features as many as 23 character classes and even has an online PvP ranking feature. It's my absolute favorite game!" 』
『 ....』
〘Otto Apocalypse〙: Exquisite taste.
〘·HSR· Welt Yang〙: I didn't know much about it before, but hearing this now, didn't you put way too much of your personal bias into this?
〘Otto Apocalypse〙: It's a game I made. I can make it however I want! That pink fox must be the villain!
〘Silver Wolf〙: Feels like it should just be renamed Otto Fantasy.
....
『 "I see. So we have to clear this stage to unlock the elevator."
"Eh, there's actually such a thing!?" Kiana scratched her head, feeling that all of this was a bit surreal.
Looking at the stunned Kiana, Cecilia smiled. "Haha, were you startled? This game is a work personally developed by Bishop Otto himself. It has never been released to the public."
"But to actually bind it to the laboratory's defense system, that really is just like the Bishop."
"Does the Bishop of Schicksal really do things like this?" Kiana widened her eyes in shock.
"Although it's mixed with a lot of the Bishop's personal preferences, this program is actually used to train a Valkyrie's concentration and instantaneous reaction speed."
"That's why a score ranking system was added."
After saying this, Cecilia chuckled softly. "By the way, I'm actually number one on the leaderboard~"
"Before, the top spot had always been Bishop Otto, but it didn't take long after I started playing for my score to surpass his."
Cecilia then lowered her head in disappointment. "But after that, my account got banned." 』
『 ....』
〘Silver Wolf〙: Lmao.
〘Hanabi〙: Lmao.
〘Silver Wolf〙: Here comes the guy who bans people when he can't win.
....
『 "The Bishop's mind is way too narrow!" Kiana complained.
Cecilia waved her hand and then pointed at the screen. "Alright, alright. Kiana, why don't you give it a try too? I'll tell you the key points to watch out for. You'll definitely clear it."
"Okay!" Kiana nodded happily and stood beside Cecilia.
Under Cecilia's guidance, Kiana quickly got the hang of the game. The two of them played together like this, and by the time they cleared it, Kiana still wanted to play more.
Once the game was cleared, the elevator started up.
"The elevator is running! Kiana, well done! Now we can keep moving forward," Cecilia praised.
Kiana rubbed her nose proudly. "Hmph, piece of cake."
(Oh my gosh! Am I dreaming… That spell actually worked.)
(This is great! I… still have so, so many things I want to do with Mom!) 』
『 ....』
〘March 7th〙: So that magic spell actually worked?
〘·HSR· Welt Yang〙: Heh, this is most likely the work of that blonde magic old geezer outside the screen.
....
『 Kiana and Cecilia took the elevator to the top floor. Waiting for them there was an armor they had never seen before—a Titan with cloaking capabilities.
Cecilia spent quite a bit of effort to defeat it. Looking at the fallen mech, she sighed. "I didn't expect the G-series weapons to have such performance."
"If they could be deployed in actual combat, Valkyries wouldn't have to go to the battlefield anymore."
Hearing Cecilia's words, Kiana thought silently in her heart: But… the current Schicksal doesn't have this kind of mech at all…
After dealing with the mech, the two of them looked around the platform they were on. The only remaining path was a staircase leading up to another level, at the end of which was an iron door painted with a hazard symbol.
"It looks like the control room is up there. Kiana, wait a moment. I'll go open the path to the upper level." After instructing Kiana, Cecilia went to a nearby console and began operating it.
"Okay! (Hehe, as long as I'm with Mom, I don't mind waiting forever!)" 』
『 ....』