Honkai: Strijder (Patreon)

Chapter 115 You seem to be different

“Yo, isn't this the renowned Anti-Entropy Lord, Welt Yang? Who would thought such renowned person would be coming all the way to my Schicksal Eastern Branch 'Saint Freya' Academy in the dead of night, specifically to bully little girls?”

Hera descended gracefully, holding her skirt, standing in the moonlight with a smile as beautiful as a painting.

Rita glanced at Durandal, who was still struggling against the gravity, a fleeting look of concern crossing her face, but she remained respectfully by Hera's side, not daring to act rashly.

Welt slapped his forehead, sighed helplessly.

"Long time no see, Miss Hera. After so many years, you still maintain your elegance—ten times gravity."

While exchanging pleasantries, Welt suddenly conjured a blue sphere in his hand, then applied an astonishingly heavy pressure on Hera, causing her to momentarily bend her knees in surprise.

Maintaining her smile, Hera raised an eyebrow.

She knew that Welt knew her name and her true identity, which wasn't surprising; after all, he was the leader of Anti-Entropy. It was inevitable that Sigurd would provide him with the relevant information.

But, starting off with a show of force upon their first meeting? Although it seemed retaliatory, this decisiveness didn't match Welt's usual dovish style, did it?

Then, Hera looked at Durandal, who was slowly rising from the oppressive gravity.

"Durandal, what are you dawdling for?"

"Hyah!!!"

With Hera's gentle reprimand, Durandal finally accumulated enough energy to counter the heavy pressure on her body. She retaliated with a side kick, accompanied by a violent burst of air, aimed at Welt.

Bang!

Welt's body suddenly shattered, like fragile glass.

Without losing focus, Durandal immediately followed up with a punch.

Bang!!!

The deep red energy shield shattered under her full-force punch.

As Welt's hair fluttered in the wind from the force of the punch, he shook his head, then increased the gravity on Durandal once more. Before she could adjust, he struck her neck from behind.

Hiss—

Amidst the sound of released air pressure, a blue syringe was inserted into Durandal's neck, injecting its contents.

Durandal took a step back, once again overwhelmed by the gravity.

This time, she couldn't gather enough strength to counterattack, feeling her power rapidly draining from her body.

"Sigurd mentioned that among the Valkyries of Schicksal, the only one currently posing a potential threat to me is you. Indeed, seeing is believing. This is an Honkai energy suppressor that can temporarily dilute even the power of a Herrscher. Considering your reputed defense surpasses that of Honkai beasts, I used a needle made of Soulium. So, take a rest for a while. You're still young, and now isn't the time for you to shine."

Welt patted the girl's head, smiling gently, like a big brother soothing a mischievous little sister rather than an enemy.

Splurt!

And then, a small fist pierced through his body.

Welt's smile froze for a moment as he lowered his head, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

"I didn't expect to find myself here..."

Welt's legs seemed to lose strength as he took a step back, his body showing a tendency to slowly fall backward.

Durandal fell before him, unconscious.

Hera narrowed her eyes.

'So easily?'

The next moment, as expected, Welt's smile returned, and his slowly falling body dissolved into countless glows, dissipating in the moonlight.

Then, before everyone's eyes, an unharmed Welt reappeared in the same spot.

"Hmm?"

A glint appeared in Hera's eyes as she watched Welt, slowly revealing a beautiful smile as if spring had arrived.

Welt scratched his head, looking at the bewildered Himeko and Theresa, and smiled:

"Why are you so surprised, as the First Herrscher, to create a new body when something happened to the previous one is normal isn’t it?”

"This is not normal at all, is it? Did Sigurd fix the problem in your body?"

Hera asked confidently.

Welt nodded.

Indeed, Welt's biggest problem before was that he wasn't an original Herrscher. Despite Joyce's stubborn will, the Herrscher core would always reject Welt, burdening him.

Especially after the Second Eruption, the body rebuilt with the Herrscher core became even more fragile and unable to withstand the energy of the Herrscher core.

Sigurd adjusted his body structure, providing the most perfect Herrscher body construction plan for Welt, significantly reducing Welt's burden. At the same time, he also gave many effective improvement suggestions for the use of Herrscher power.

With both combined, after months of adaptation, Welt finally regained his peak state.

Under Hera's scrutiny, Welt knelt down, picked up the fallen Durandal from the ground, and gestured for Rita to come and take her.

Rita hesitated for a moment, looking at Hera.

Hera nodded with a smile.

"Go on, our Mr. Welt seems to be particularly gentlemanly!"

"It's not exactly gentlemanly, just that if she wakes up halfway through, at such close proximity, I might have to rebuild my body again. Honestly, handling her is not hard, but I have to admit her strike felt quite painful."

Welt said honestly.

Then, Hera and Welt looked at each other, the former with a smile as gentle as a spring breeze, and the latter with a warm and sincere smile, they stared at each other, both silent.

After a while, just when Theresa was about to lose patience and intervene, even if she didn't fully understand the situation, Hera slowly said:

"You seem... different."

In the past, if Welt saw Otto, his hatred and fear would be almost impossible to hide. At the slightest provocation, he would easily panic or become furious.

Today, he's a bit too calm.

Moreover, his use of power, as if skipping the rough groping stage, appears extraordinarily adept.

Subduing Durandal, while not unexpected since she's still young with plenty of room to grow, was done with such ease that it raises eyebrows.

Welt sighed deeply, shaking his head with a smile.

"Just walked a long road, figured out a few things, that's all there is to it. Compared to you, there's still much more for me to learn."

"Oh? Do you want to be like me?"

"Not really. Just feel that you're someone worthy of admiration. Looking back, I still don't agree with you, but I must admit, I should respect you. If it's possible, I really want to persuade you to return to the right path. Even if it means letting go of our past grievances. But I realize I can't change you. If there's a chance, someday in the future, I'll come to take your life, when the time is ripe and necessary."

Welt chuckled lightly, with no hint of hostility, as if stating an acknowledged fact.