Veliona, hand in hand with Seele, basked in the happy gaze, her own attention drifting towards [Seele] out of the corner of her eye.
"Alright, let's head to the training grounds," Jiang Qiao, seemingly oblivious, set their next course of action. "Kiana and Bronya are waiting there."
"Mm, let's go find Sister Bronya," Seele chimed in.
As they spoke, the three arrived at the Salt Lake Base training grounds. There, they saw Kiana and Bronya, dressed in training shorts and tight-fitting athletic wear, engaged in close-quarters combat practice.
Logically, having just returned from a battle, they shouldn't have needed to push themselves so hard. However, their poor performance in the Theater of Domination—to the point of needing to request 'someone' to take over—only intensified Kiana's desire to become stronger... Bronya, naturally, wasn't about to be left behind.
So, while Jiang Qiao went to report, she half-heartedly, half-eagerly joined Kiana for some practice.
Kiana's natural Kaslana strength and gun-kata made her fighting style wide and sweeping. In many past battles, her outstanding combat talent had been a source of pride. However, during her time in the Elysian Realm, encountering that white-haired old man who showed no mercy, she learned much from their battles—that was Kevin, after all, who, in the Previous Era, purely through talent, surpassed even Elysia in a short time after joining the Fire Moths, relegating her to second place.
As for Bronya, due to her physical limitations and past experiences, her fighting style leaned towards agile, close-quarters combat. However, after acquiring Project Bunny, she had neglected those skills. Honestly, she wasn't a good match for Kiana.
Bronya's close-combat techniques worked against adults, but against a powerhouse like Kiana... one solid hit and it would likely be lights out.
Fortunately, the current [Bronya] wasn't the frail body from before. Her Herrscher physique and deliberate training gave those clearly visible abs on her lower abdomen the power they deserved.
Bang—!
Bang—!
"Ugh..." The battle between the two girls, one tall, one small, was undoubtedly fierce... That feeling of impactful blows connecting... it was truly a sight to behold.
After all, what's more entertaining than watching women fight?
However, Jiang Qiao didn't get to watch for long—Kiana and Bronya, sensing their arrival, stopped their sparring.
"Seele, you're here."
"..." *Is it my imagination... or did Bronya and Kiana just address Seele, but not me? Seele felt a bit suspicious, noticing their fleeting glances at her, and their gazes lingering mostly on Jiang Qiao—[Seele]. Still, she quickly dismissed it. ...It must be my imagination. After all, Sister Bronya and Kiana surely knew Seele was the real Seele.
"Mm." [Seele] replied.
"Then, Seel... cough cough, why don't you help us train!" Bronya looked excited, but caught her slip-up upon noticing Seele-in-Jiang-Qiao-body standing beside them and corrected herself.
"Yeah, yeah, training with Bronya is boring. It's not as effective as training with that white-haired old man."
"Hmph, idiot Kiana has the nerve to say that! Bronya always has to hold back against you!" The two started complaining and bickering.
The reason was simple—Kiana was more passionate about fighting and combat techniques but had little interest in Herrscher Authority. Bronya was the opposite. Fighting Kiana, she couldn't use Project Bunny or her Herrscher powers, otherwise, given Kiana's inability to properly wield her Authority, it would be a complete stomp. But if that were the case, what was the point of training with her? Just to practice hand-to-hand combat?
Bronya admitted Kiana was quite skilled in that area; she herself couldn't match up. But Bronya is a Herrscher of Reason, a typical 'mage'. With Project Bunny for close combat, why bother working hard in such a thankless area?!
As a result, neither of them was particularly enthusiastic about their sparring.
"Mm... I understand." [Seele]'s voice was gentle. "Dr. Einstein also asked me to pay more attention to this aspect, so... why don't you two come at me together?" The girl nodded understandingly, then looked at Seele. "Of course, Seele, you can join too if you'd like."
"...No, thanks..." Seele declined immediately. It wasn't that she didn't want to join. If possible, she too wanted to work hard in this area. Fighting alongside Kiana and Sister Bronya was definitely something she looked forward to.
But... looking at 'Seele'—Jiang Qiao—wearing her own face, Miss Blue Wendy felt deeply resentful. My body is being used by you, so am I supposed to fight using this boy's body?
It wasn't entirely impossible. Gender wasn't a restriction, but Seele was completely unskilled using the [Jiang Qiao] body. In fact, she basically couldn't fight using it at all. Seele wasn't good at combat to begin with. Against small fries, she could manage, but against strong opponents, she relied entirely on Veliona.
Without Veliona's armor, without her own body—[Seele]'s Quantum power was Seele's combat reliance. And what did this body have? Half of Origin's power, the power of Truth... It was actually quite strong, but the problem was, Seele didn't know how to use it!
Couldn't be helped. Seele rested her chin in her hand, thinking that watching Brother Jiang Qiao use her body to train with Sister Bronya and Kiana was fine too. After all, it was [Seele] fighting them.
"What about you, Veliona?" Jiang Qiao looked at Veliona inquiringly.
Veliona looked slightly annoyed. "Of course I'm sticking with you!"
Not only would she never fight [Seele] alongside other women, but more importantly—without a separate, independent body, the current Veliona was merely a manifested form.
Her true 'essence' was like the previous Dendro Archon—the external form was just a vessel. In that case, to fight, she would need to draw power from [Seele]. Use [Seele]'s power to fight [Seele]? Veliona would never do something so strange.
Besides—with Jiang Qiao having granted Veliona free access, she was acutely aware of just how ridiculously strong the current [Seele] was. With such a powerful '[Seele]' around, wouldn't joining their team be better than waiting to get beaten up by 'Jiang-Seele' alongside those two idiots?
Meanwhile, Seele, observing the scene, felt inexplicably melancholy. As if her favorite toy was taken away... no, more like her toy grew legs and ran off to someone else. Or rather—her favorite toy grew legs and ran off to 'herself'. The only problem was—'herself' wasn't really herself.
At this moment, Miss Blue Wendy felt a bit emo.
And on the training grounds... Kiana and Bronya had no objections to teaming up against Jiang Qiao. If they had felt it was looking down on him before, now, after witnessing [Jiang-Seele] effortlessly obliterate those wooden dolls, underestimating him would genuinely lead to the same fate as those puppets.
Although [Seele] definitely wouldn't be so ruthless, getting easily defeated would be too embarrassing. Being alone was one thing, but there was another person here, and a spectator outside.
"...Is that all you've got?" Kiana, looking at [Seele] casually wielding a scythe and waiting calmly, couldn't help but speak.
"Hm? Is there a problem?" [Seele] glanced at herself, puzzled.
The two girls pouted, struggling to articulate their feelings. Of course, if Jiang Qiao didn't use Herrscher powers, they would have an advantage. But... they wanted to fight [Seele] not just for training, but also—to see [Seele] as the 'Herrscher of Death and Life', 'Jiang-Seele'.
The original 'Jiang-Seele' was charming, even surpassing Seele herself in some ways. But they had seen enough of 'normal' Seele. Compared to 'ugly duckling' Blue Wendy Seele, they definitely wanted to see the Snow White-like 'Herrscher Seele' again!
They had actually planned this on the way back—both harboring little plans to get closer to [Jiang-Seele], but he had deactivated his Herrscher form, reasoning: The Herrscher form is for combat; now that the fight is over, there's no need to maintain it.
It was logical, completely unassailable, but... We want to see Herrscher attire Seele!
This simple desire was one of the reasons for this training match.
"Hmph, this young lady doesn't need you to hold back! Use that form!" Kiana declared.
"Exactly! Bronya will go all out too!" Bronya chimed in, the white-haired girl and the duck oddly united, standing firmly on the same front—the 'We Want to See Prettier Jiang-Seele' Alliance.
Seele, the spectator, tilted her head, completely confused. She clearly didn't know what had happened in Australia. But Seele, sensitive in certain areas, still sensed something. It seems like Kiana and Sister Bronya are talking about something, but Seele has no idea—this feeling of being left out in the dark made Miss Blue Wendy feel uneasy.
Until the next moment—
"Alright then."
As the words fell, a reassuring power rippled outwards. Responding to their request, amidst their eager gazes filled with anticipation, the girl transformed—from 'Seele Seele' to the 'Herrscher of Death and Life'.
Like a beautiful swan, her long, slender, white legs lightly touched the ground, her jade-white toes clearly visible. Kiana and Bronya wore expressions of rapture—Yes, that's it! This is what we wanted to see!
Just like how a pervert wants to see black stockings or risqué things, undoubtedly, the current [Seele] was something similar in their eyes.
"Eh—?!" Seele, originally sulking and feeling a bit disgruntled, froze upon seeing 'herself' at the center of the training grounds, her expression morphing into a shocked emoticon. Th-This... Is this me?!
Looking at the stunningly beautiful girl, Miss Blue Wendy was utterly flabbergasted. Compared to herself, the current 'Jiang-Seele' was a world apart!
Her own body, in someone else's hands, returned from a trip outside having unlocked its max charm form, flaunting it before her very eyes—undoubtedly, the one who understood Seele's feelings best at this moment might be a certain fellow victim, Miss Pink Elf.
Seele looks so pretty... Miss Blue Wendy gazed at the goddess-like 'Jiang-Seele', subconsciously having this thought. Then, snapping back to reality, the thought—*Wait, that's Seele's body, right?*—hit her.
Although she didn't fly into a rage like a certain 55kg young lady, feeling humiliated and inferior upon seeing her body used by a man in ways she couldn't recognize, Miss Blue Wendy still couldn't help but feel a little 'pouty'.
Oblivious, [Seele] landed gracefully on the back of the spirit deer Diana, reclining against it with her white jade feet dangling down. With that stunning face, she chuckled softly, reminding the dazed, seemingly 'mesmerized' Kiana and Bronya:
"Spacing out during battle isn't a good habit."
"Since you wanted to see this form, please be mentally prepared to face this power."
The spirit deer Diana, as if understanding her thoughts, turned its head, nuzzling against the girl's beautiful, slightly tilted chin. Half-instructing, half-provoking, [Seele] said:
"After all, a swift defeat wouldn't achieve the desired training effect, would it?"