Honkai: You're telling me this difficulty is from Honkai Impact 3?!

It was the twelfth day since the Hyperion had departed from the MOTHs' base, and all was quiet within.

The front line in Sapphire City had advanced to the edge of the city center, and the pressure was mounting. As a result, the daily pace of advancement had been forced to slow.

Despite this unprecedented pressure and their combat strength being stretched thin, the troops on the front lines showed no trace of worry or fear. On the contrary, every one of them was filled with enthusiasm.

Because, thanks to the efforts of their Lord Bishop Otto, the first generation of Honkai Energy weapons had finally completed all performance tests. This very afternoon, a squad led by Lord Judah would deliver them to the front lines!

You Honkai Beasts who haven't improved one bit! Prepare to meet your doom!

Meanwhile, in a corner of the eleventh basement level of the MOTHs' base, three individuals of vastly different sizes were gathered in secret.

"Good, is everyone here?" The first to speak was Theresa, sporting a pair of heavy bags under her eyes. She looked completely different from a few days prior, appearing utterly exhausted and dispirited.

Even her voice was weak and listless.

Although only three people were present, Theresa still asked with grave seriousness.

"Lady Theresa, everyone has arrived." Rita, standing beside her with hands folded, gave a slight bow, playing along perfectly.

"Very well, then let's discuss today's agenda... wait." Theresa nodded. Suddenly, her serious expression broke as she whipped her head around to scan the area. Only after confirming that a certain someone was nowhere nearby did she let out a sigh of relief.

"Let's begin," Theresa said, her gaze returning to the group.

"Confirming—Agenda: How to drain the exuberant energy of Lady Bianka," a mechanical voice announced, emanating from the largest of the three.

It was a Titan-class robot whose armor had been almost completely refurbished. This intelligence was none other than Quinn.

As for why Quinn's armor was practically brand new... that was the very topic of today's meeting.

"That girl, Bianka... For the first two days, she just came to get me for training at seven in the morning. Then, she started dragging me along for her six AM morning run. After that... she moved the morning run to five AM..."

Theresa clutched her head in horror, recalling the past week of being dragged out of bed by Bianka.

The unbearable memories made her face turn pale, and sweat poured down her brow.

"I can only sleep four hours a day, and even our meal times are being cut down to just ten minutes..." The more Theresa spoke, the colder her hands and feet became, and she seemed to tremble all over.

"And—that girl Bianka even said that after a week of experiments, she discovered she only needs three hours of sleep to maintain her energy! And since my body is stronger than hers, maybe I only need two hours?!"

The three of them simultaneously sucked in a sharp breath. Rita's movement remained graceful, while Quinn directly simulated the sound of an intake of breath.

Both of them were playing along with Theresa.

"She... she actually wants to wake me up at two in the morning after I go to bed at midnight! She... she—!"

Theresa couldn't go on. She turned, choking back sobs, and buried her head in Rita's arms.

With a helpless smile, Rita skillfully patted Theresa's back. As expected of Lady Bianka... in every sense of the word.

Holding the petite girl in her arms, Rita thought to herself.

The next victim to speak was Quinn. Despite her brand-new armor plating, Quinn felt no joy whatsoever.

It wasn't that intelligences like her only had intellect and not emotions; they understood joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and could even experience these feelings personally. There was Lunli's yearning for "rebirth," Peite's dependence on Lunli, and the unified, extreme reverence all intelligences held for Dr. Albert. Their emotions were merely reserved, not non-existent.

And over the past few days, the emotion Bianka had made Quinn feel was something akin to heartache.

It wasn't about the money. Every piece of equipment Quinn replaced was a work-related expense, damage sustained from testing those Honkai Energy weapons. Otto was more than happy to reimburse Quinn for these costs; in fact, the more he had to reimburse, the happier he was.

But watching her newly installed armor get wrecked by Bianka within a few hours, Quinn truly understood the pain of material loss.

The goal of sparring with Bianka had shifted from initially cooperating to practice moves, to trying by any means necessary to avoid taking damage.

Master Quinn, trying to keep her armor intact, still failed to protect her new set.

Moreover, given Bianka's absurd rate of improvement, Quinn was worried that the next component to be replaced would be her entire chassis.

Even sparring with it for a full eighteen hours a day, going from not being able to withstand a single blow to being able to destroy most of its armor before going down, all in just one week, was simply too ridiculous.

Theresa and Rita deeply sympathized.

They had never seen such a monstrous person! Theresa and Rita had also been improving during this time, and thanks to Bianka's drive, their progress was significant.

But it was like running along, only to look up and find the person leading the pack had already vanished from sight. Or looking back to see that the person who started two laps behind you was now right on your tail.

How could they not be startled by that?

This girl is using hacks! She's not even trying to hide it!

Next, it was Rita's turn to speak. Rita responded to the two with only a smile.

They stared at her for a long time, but Rita said nothing, maintaining her serene smile the entire time.

Just as Theresa was about to say something, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind them.

"Ah, there you are." The voice carried a hint of surprise, a bit of confusion, some curiosity, and a tiny bit of playful mischief.

"Eeeek—!" It was obvious Theresa had freaked out.

The previously listless Theresa was so scared she squirmed and tried to burrow backward. Unfortunately, she had just been leaning in Rita's arms, and now Rita, standing her ground, was like a solid wall, completely blocking her escape route.

"Good afternoon, Lady Bianka. You only took nine minutes to eat this time." Rita held down the squirming, scrambling Theresa with one hand "gently," while taking out a handkerchief with the other to wipe a grease stain from the corner of Bianka's mouth.

"Really? I guess we can shorten meal times to ten minutes from now on!" Bianka said with pleasant surprise, causing Theresa to freak out for a second time.

What?! Ten minutes?! You're even going to take away my pathetic five minutes for eating!

And... Rita, you! You did that on purpose, didn't you! You definitely did!!

Finally realizing she'd been set up, Theresa grit her teeth and glared at the smiling Rita before reluctantly turning to deal with Bianka.