Sky Striker Princess, but the swan song of Valkyrie.

"In your understanding, I have always dominated, yes, I have already achieved domination over all the humans living on the surface of this planet."

“I nip any factors that could threaten the so-called peaceful daily life in the bud, and I have found the greatest happiness in having all the intelligence in my hands.”

"So, Hibiki Tachibana, your reason for fighting has disappeared. From now on, you can enjoy lasting peace. Congratulations."

With outstretched arms, Rei calmly explained to Hibiki Tachibana the reality of the chaotic world.

Rei's words and the scene before her eyes revealed to Tachibana Hibiki a fact: without her noticing, the other party had already achieved her ultimate goal.

"Really... we don't have to fight anymore?"

The alluring words, coupled with the shocking and despairing reality of the present, almost made Tachibana Hibiki believe what she said.

"Yes, that's right. You seem to have some questions about my arrival. In fact, it's precisely because everything has been resolved and the world has reached its happiest ending that I've come here to enjoy a peaceful and long-lasting campus life."

"This is why I came here."

Then, in a relaxed and leisurely tone, Rei revealed to Tachibana Hibiki her initial question, which was why she was here.

"Is that really the case...? Is it all over?"

A sweet fragrance filled her sense of smell, and a feeling of relaxation welled up from the bottom of her heart. Hibiki Tachibana felt as if some kind of gentle whisper was constantly reinforcing this impression in her mind.

"That makes sense, right? With world peace and complete peace of mind, I would naturally want to live a more comfortable life, wouldn't I?"

The platinum-blonde girl stepped forward, reached out, and stroked the soft cheek of Tachibana Hibiki, who seemed to have agreed with her words. Hibiki also felt the truth of Rei's words from the warmth of the other's palm.

Give up, give up, what else can you do if you don't give up?

Ultimately, wanting to help the other party is just wishful thinking on my part. In the end, what can I do to help someone who can't even defeat the other party?

Anyway, the other person has already achieved happiness through their own efforts, anyway, no one asked me to do so, and anyway, my peaceful daily life hasn't changed much under the other person's control.

If that's the case, then why do something that's exhausting and wrong? Why not give up your persistence, pretend nothing happened, and enjoy everything right now, immersing yourself in this sweet and comfortable world?

"No, that's not right, that's not how it is!"

Just as many ideas that could justify abandoning the argument were echoing in Tachibana Hibiki's mind, she punched herself in the forehead with all her might.

The intense pain and dizziness caused Hibiki Tachibana great distress, but this pain also dispelled the countless thoughts in her mind that wanted her to give up.

"I can't give up, I absolutely can't give up. The people who need help are right in front of me, how can I give up?"

Enduring the stinging pain in her mind, Tachibana Hibiki grabbed the shoulder of the person in front of her and preached with unwavering determination, like a stubborn rock.

"However, even though you say that, there's nothing I need your help with, is there? As you can see, I possess the power to defeat all enemies and the intelligence to destroy all conspiracies."

"With my strength, I no longer need to worry about any danger appearing around me. I can stop all dangers by myself. I lack nothing, so what exactly do you want to help me with?"

"If you really want to help me, Tachibana, giving up here and submitting would be the greatest help you can give me."

With calm and rational words, coupled with a genuine expression of doubt, Rei's questioning struck right to the heart of Hibiki Tachibana.

"Zero-chan, after you've conquered this world, what do you want to do next?"

Instead of answering Rei's question, Tachibana Hibiki asked her the same question first.

"Is that even a question? Of course, it's about enjoying life. After all, there are no enemies on this planet that can threaten me anymore."

Rei paused slightly at Tachibana Hibiki's question, then smiled and gave this answer.

"You're lying, Rei-chan..."

However, Hibiki Tachibana immediately denied this answer.

Lingyi fell silent for a moment, no longer saying a word.

"If we follow the problem-solving approach you're taking, which is simply to control all of humanity, that's not enough. We need to control humanity, control the Earth, and then go on to control even more vast areas."

"This is the answer you, Lingyi-chan, will eventually arrive at: endless forward movement, with no one to trust, no one to confide in, constantly expanding under the sway of emotions, and eternal... loneliness."

With a sorrowful expression, Tachibana Hibiki fully articulated the question she had pondered for a long time.

She couldn't bring herself to throw a punch at humans if she couldn't understand why she was doing it. It was because she understood this fact a long time ago that she was so eager to defeat Zero.

That possibility was too sad, that state too lonely, so much so that just thinking about it made her feel suffocated.

If Lingyi had reached this situation out of her own desires, she wouldn't have said anything, but if she had to put herself in this predicament simply because of her inner pain.

Hibiki Tachibana couldn't accept it. What was this all about? She had always cared about the people around her, she was someone who wouldn't bear to hurt others even if she had to stand in front of them, she was such a gentle person, why did she have to endure such eternal torment?

"I want to hold your hand, Rei-chan, who's always been lonely and can't hold anyone's hand. This is something I want to do, and something I must do!"

"For this, I will fight. I will defeat Zero-chan, and then I will absolutely heal your wounds and make you smile genuinely!"

Forcefully pressing the girl in front of her to the ground, Tachibana Hibiki looked into Rei's emerald green eyes with all her might and shouted out her innermost feelings.

Without responding or resisting, Lingyi remained silent as her body was pinned beneath the other person.

Then, while Tachibana Hibiki was still catching her breath, she felt a sudden release beneath her. Her body then dissipated into floating units, which then coalesced again in front of her to form the figure of Rei.

"Ah, I understand, that's just the kind of person you are. But anyone can say nice things, and no one can beat me. Wouldn't it be better to just obediently comply? That would be the easiest thing for you."

As if her true nature had been seen through, Lingyi's face showed a hint of fatigue.

"Forget it, I expected that general hints wouldn't have much effect on someone like you, Tachibana, but it's not a big problem. I have a plan B, and I'll make you and the rest of you understand sooner or later."

Then, with a perfect smile back on her face, Rei gently helped Tachibana Hibiki up from the ground, brushed the dust off her face, and spoke softly.

"What do you mean?"

"Rei, what... exactly did you do to Itaba Yumimi and the others?"

Hibiki Tachibana was puzzled by Rei's strange words, but before she could ask, the appearance of Mirai Kohinata from the back door interrupted their conversation.

"Kohinata, you're here too. What did you do, you mean?"

Lingyi was not surprised by her arrival, after all, she had been observing the other party all along.

“I asked them if they remembered you, but all they remembered about you was that you were a transfer student. What did you do?”

Kohinata Mirai will extricate herself from her doubts and insecurities.

Because of Lingyi's past acts of salvation, Lydian Music Academy has always had fans of hers, but today, for some reason, when she asked those who had sincerely expressed their gratitude in the past, the answer she received was that they all didn't know what she was talking about.

She even tried to find traces of evidence on the internet, only to discover that all related pictures, news articles, and texts had been completely erased, as if the incident that had greatly affected her had never happened.

"The answer is simple, isn't it?"

Lingyi said that she should have known the answer long ago.

"...As expected, you have accomplished what Miss Ryoko guessed, so that's why you were able to do this."

After a long silence, Kohinata Mirai came to this conclusion with some pain.

P.S. Hmm... I'm out of leave slips. Hopefully, I won't experience writer's block again.

Chapter Twelve is not false.

"You think pretty fast, so I don't need to explain it again."

Lingyi blinked, showing no particular reaction to the fact that the two of them had become aware of the current situation.

On the one hand, it wasn't something that needed to be hidden, and on the other hand, she could easily have it 'ignored' at any time.

Moreover, if making them realize this huge gap in strength could lead them to give up completely, that would actually be a good thing for Lingyi.

"So... what exactly do you want to do?"

After Zero confirmed her statement, Kohinata Mirai breathed a slight sigh of relief and asked as if she were confirming something.

"If I said I just disliked those slightly... well, you probably wouldn't believe me, right? Well, just as you guessed, I'm gradually covering up my own traces."

Lingyi made no attempt to hide this.

Using the power of control, she looked into the thoughts in Kohinata Mirai's mind and directly confirmed the other party's guess about her purpose.

"Covering up traces, Zero-chan, what do you mean?"

Upon hearing what Rei said, Tachibana Hibiki, who had just stood up, belatedly asked a question.

"Well... after all, intelligence is very important. With enough intelligence, even a weak being can kill a strong one through various schemes. There are many such stories throughout history."

"So, to prevent this from happening, one of my current tasks is to use the power of this continuous blade to erase all traces that could be analyzed and deciphered, including memories. As the saying goes, as long as it is not recognized, it cannot be defeated."

"However, well, a flood-like approach of suggesting forgetting is only effective for people like Itaba and the others who only have a shallow impression of me. To erase the impressions of people who have a deeper impression of me without causing too much impact on their personalities, a more subtle and slow method is needed."

"Just like just now, I was subtly eroding your memories of battle by implanting the idea that you don't need to fight in your mind, which would then lead to all your memories of fighting me, and further erase my image from your mind."

Seeing Tachibana Hibiki's confusion, Rei calmly and simply explained to Tachibana Hibiki the reasons for her actions and what she had just wanted to do to her.

"Erasing memories, forgetting—that kind of thing, um—it's definitely wrong!"

Then, Rei saw Tachibana Hibiki's expression change from initial confusion to shock, and now to her covering her mouth and dry heaving due to fear and lingering dread.

She couldn't imagine what the situation would be like now if she had compromised even a little when talking to Lingyi. She would have forgotten her principles, forgotten the purpose of the battle, and suffered a complete defeat.

"Doing this would be too wicked."

Kohinata Mirai closed her eyes, a hint of anger in her eyes, and gave Zero's actions the worst possible evaluation.

"It's alright. I've tried to make it as perfect and seamless as possible. As long as there's no resistance, feel free to let me operate it. I guarantee there won't be any aftereffects or any impact on my personality."

Lingyi spoke with an indifferent and confident expression.

She has seriously studied how to perfectly forget memories, and at the same time, remove any related stimuli.

It is guaranteed that it will not have any adverse effects on the patient, and that the forgetting of Lingyi will be as natural as the countless things that have been forgotten in the past.

"That's not the point at all. What I want to know is, why, when those are all precious memories, all such important bonds, why did you, Lingyi, sever them all?!"

Perhaps genuinely terrified of this future, Kohinata Mirai stepped forward and confronted Rei, questioning her with a voice trembling with anger and tears.

"Precious...? No, it can't be. It will only bring pain, right?"

"Look, if you forget about me, you can now enjoy your peaceful daily life without having to do painful training like fighting, or worry about me."

"Besides, Kohinata, you've always been bothered by what happened that day, and you've always felt guilty, haven't you? Once you forget about it, you won't have to punish yourself for something that wasn't even your fault."

"For me, this approach also allows me to reduce intelligence leaks and improve the security I need, so there's no reason not to do it."

Faced with Kohinata Mirai's expression, Rei had no choice but to helplessly explain in great detail the correctness of what she had done.

From her perspective, this is also a way to achieve her goal while hurting the fewest people. Other methods risk irreversible damage to personality, and she doesn't want to use them on them unless necessary.

"Zero Clothes..."

Kohinata Mirai wanted to say something about Zero's statement, but ultimately said nothing.

"So just cooperate with me, relax, it's as simple as going to the hospital when you're sick, just leave it to me."

Faced with her silence, Lingyi continued her persuasion, hoping to reduce her workload with these simple words.

"I don't care about any of that!"

However, her carefully crafted words yielded no results.

It did not evoke any disgust or distance; the cold, rational statement, as ruthless as solid ice, did not result in the expected abandonment.

Instead, it was an even warmer embrace.

"Hinata-chan?"

She clearly felt the soft, warm body and the sensation of being embraced, and with the sight of black hair and a white bow headband on the side of her vision, Zero realized what had happened.

"why?"

She couldn't understand, even though her control allowed her to easily read the surface emotions, she couldn't know the underlying reasons for those emotions.

She couldn't understand why, despite displaying what could be described as a rather awful and selfish attitude, and despite the other person being very angry, their feelings for her were still so warm.

Just as she doesn't understand hydrogen, she wonders why Tachibana Hibiki would do something so illogical that it forces her to update her clone's state to cover things up.

“Those memories are precious, no doubt about it… No matter what you say, Lingyi, I will never let go.”

Burying her face in Zero's warm, fair neck, letting her soft breath gently brush against her skin, Kohinata Mirai responded.

Without a word, Lingyi's body shattered into drones, which then coalesced around her. Her expression remained unchanged, as calm as ever.

This is a bit tricky...

Lian Dao's influence is bidirectional; she senses the emotions of those she influences, and those emotions also affect her.

If it's an emotion carrying malice and all sorts of disgusting desires, then Lingyi doesn't care; she's seen countless such emotions in the past.

But... no matter how many times Rei faces Kohinata Mirai's warm and spring-like kindness, it's hard for her not to be swayed, let alone when the one spreading this kindness is someone she's closer to.

However, the hook of rationality has not collapsed. Although she may be occasionally swayed by emotions and experience short-term fluctuations, it will ultimately prevent her from doing anything out of line.