Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

"It's not my fault, Mei. I just said she was too weak in the Stigma Space, and she fainted out of sheer anger."

Kiana couldn't help but laugh out loud.

She had been monitoring Bronya's progress ever since she completed her Herrscher transformation.

After all, they were about to cross the Sea of Quanta. How could they play if they weren't strong enough?

But as it turned out, the moment Bronya saw Kiana in the Stigma Space, she was immediately overwhelmed.

Remember, when Durandal first entered the Stigma Space, she fought Kiana for three hundred rounds.

She even left looking refreshed and full of energy. But Bronya? She passed out after just a couple of taunts.

Even with the boost from a Herrscher Core, she was barely at the level of a Stage 4 Stigma Battle Suit user, just scraping Stage 5.

What level was that? It meant Durandal could have wiped the floor with her.

"And she was an assassin for so many years? Hahaha, she's not even as strong as I was after a few years of being a homeless bum."

"Hahahaha, it was hilarious... Mei, you should have seen it. Her eyes rolled back, and thump, she just fainted."

Raiden Mei snapped sternly, "Kiana! You've gone too far! Even if Bronya really is that weak, how could you laugh at her like that? It's one thing for outsiders to mock her City Guard for being incompetent, but for you to laugh too... think of the damage to her pride!"

Bronya just kept her head down and shoveled food into her mouth. She had given up hope of getting any comfort from her family. Noldrei was better; at least the Seele he conjured up had never "attacked" her like this.

These people were the worst!

'Just you wait! Once I find Seele, we're moving out together!'

Bronya angrily attacked the food in her bowl, as if venting all her frustrations on it.

After all, she was a captive who had come here later. She had no status or rights in this house. There was no place for her here anymore.

Just then, His Majesty the Emperor patted her on the shoulder and offered some comfort.

"Don't worry, I don't look down on you. In this era, the strong will always humiliate the weak. Who knows, maybe that friend of yours, Seele, won't do the same?"

Noldrei even offered a word of solace to his City Guard chief. They were all about to embark on an expedition for the empire; how could they let a small matter like this cause a rift?

In the end, it was just that Bronya was too weak. Even if Noldrei infused her with the will of a hundred thousand people, it probably wouldn't do much good.

Ana and Mahiru exchanged a look, then joined their foster father in comforting Bronya.

Ana smiled consolingly. "Little Auntie, don't worry too much. How about I lend you my Herrscher Core? I know the Herrscher of Ice core is a bit weak, but it's still better than the Herrscher of Death's, isn't it? Maybe because it's easier to control, you can become even stronger?"

Mahiru stared at her friend in shock, wondering if she was trying to make Bronya die of shame.

'Why does the food taste a little salty?'

Bronya ate through her tears, utterly heartbroken.

It really wasn't her fault. After all, she spent her days messing around with 'Seele,' and had her underlings handle any problems. There hadn't been a Honkai crisis in a whole year. Her training wasn't just half-neglected; it was practically all gone.

She wasn't as energetic as Raiden Mei. She stayed up all night playing games and hadn't joined any Valkyrie training.

Basically, Noldrei had completely coddled her into uselessness this past year. She'd even started to get some meat on her thighs, leaving imprints on her thigh-high stockings.

Bronya slammed her hand on the table in frustration. "Debauchery has left me frail and weak!"

Kiana jumped at the sudden noise and whispered to Mei, "She hasn't been drinking, has she?"

Raiden Mei just shook her head, confused, having no idea what Bronya was up to.

"Starting today, I'm quitting games!"

Little Bronya was heartbroken, as if she had lost another Seele.

"What about the 'debauchery' part?" Mahiru asked curiously.

Bronya froze for a moment, her face flushing as she stammered, "What debauchery? I was just making an analogy, an analogy!"

The way Kiana and Raiden Mei looked at Bronya turned a little strange.

This girl would often sneak off with Noldrei. Who knew what the two of them were doing in private? She was so young, but already so wild. What would become of her?

All she did was play games and hang out with others, living a better life than Kiana, the Crown Princess herself. Even Raiden Mei still had to do housework!

Kiana was seriously starting to worry that Little Bronya would be spoiled rotten one day.

She was her first captive in this life, after all. She couldn't just watch her fall into such depravity.

Kiana spoke to Bronya with a heavy heart. "Little Bronya, I know your tastes are... unique. But you're not from the future. Even if you like tentacles, you can't just indulge yourself all the time. Your Kiana-oneechan is only looking out for you. Look at what you've become! Do you still want to find your good friend?"

"How about this: from now on, you stick with your Mei-oneechan? She might be a bit more conservative when it comes to relationships, but it's better than your current situation. Otherwise, if Dr. Tesla beats you to death one day, wouldn't that be a terrible injustice?"

Bronya was dumbfounded. She had a feeling Kiana had misunderstood something.

While she had to admit the tentacle functions Noldrei had developed were pretty amazing, that didn't mean her aesthetic sense had changed to match Tesla's.

"What do you mean? I'm still a virgin!!"

Bronya's explanation was useless. Everyone knew Noldrei's restoration techniques were the best in the world.

"You're just fooling yourself. If he wanted to, anyone could be a virgin!" Kiana thought long and hard. It was strange. Bronya was always seeking out Noldrei, and she specifically avoided everyone else in the house when she did.

Little Bronya never would have guessed that because she had sought out a substitute too many times, and avoided everyone else too often, she had been flagged by a big-data pattern analysis.

If she had actually been fooling around with the tentacle monster, that would be one thing, but she hadn't!

This was a gross injustice!

"I was just... I..."

Bronya suddenly stopped. She couldn't tell them the truth. Everyone knew Kiana was a blabbermouth. If she told them that she had Noldrei conjure up Seele for her to hug and kiss...

Then when the real Seele came back, how could she maintain her magnificent image as "Bronya-oneechan"?

"I... Yes, you're right. It's perfectly normal for me to like handsome guys who look like him, isn't it?"

Bronya gritted her teeth and admitted it.

Kiana was internally shaken.

'I thought of you as my sister, but you want to be my stepmother?!'

Kiana never expected Bronya would actually dare to admit it. But Noldrei's face was only slightly different from her own.

Rounding things up, that meant Bronya liked Kiana's face.

Raiden Mei keenly sensed the impending crisis.

'This is bad!'