Everything Is Ready / Breaking the Rules and an Excited Sakura

We need to think of a way...

Putting aside the manic behavior of Hi-maru, because Xia Ling had exceeded the requirements of the mission, Hi-maru was completely unaware that a conversation had quietly taken place in a corner of the Stigmata Space.

A few hours ago.

"Yae Sakura, Yae Sakura..."

Ling murmured the name as she carefully traversed the Stigmata Space, guided by the Corrosion Virus.

Chapter Fourteen: Everything is Ready

As for why Ling dared to directly enter the Stigmata Space... that has to do with the data obtained by the two scientists from the Elysian Realm based on the dream entry device and the Corrosion Virus.

Through the analysis of this data, Vill-V and Mobius gained a general understanding of Hi-maru's current condition.

Although it seems that Hi-maru has more abilities available, within the Stigmata Space, its power is actually comparable to that of Yae Sakura.

As a strange being formed by the fusion of Herrscher, Pseudo-Herrscher Stigmata, and a Stigmata, the relationship between Yae Sakura and Hi-maru is extremely complex.

In terms of power, the two are basically evenly matched, and each also occupies about half of the authority of the Stigmata Space.

In terms of power, Hi-maru has an additional power of corruption compared to Yae Sakura. However, since the two have been "coexisting" for nearly five hundred years, this power of corruption has little effect on Yae Sakura.

This resulted in Hi-maru being unable to deal with Yae Sakura during the five-hundred-year seal, while Yae Sakura was also unable to completely eliminate him. In fact, because Yae Sakura had control over her "body," she was able to suppress Hi-maru to some extent.

This situation only changed when Yae Sakura chose to abandon her physical body and transform into Stigmata to save Theresa.

Having already transformed into Stigmata Yae Sakura cannot significantly influence the outside world; at most, she can briefly control Theresa's body after she falls into a coma.

But it's different for Hi-maru. With the power of corruption, she can do many things, such as what's happening to Theresa now.

Under these circumstances, Vill-V devised a plan...

"This is it."

Beside Ling, a blurry green mosaic-like barrier emitted a sound.

"Okay, okay, Sister Mobius, then please remove the block on me."

Looking at the somewhat familiar shrine in front of her, Rin took a deep breath and raised her hand to knock on the door.

The shrine door opened quickly, and a tall shrine maiden with pink fox ears opened it.

"Hello, is there anything I can help you with... Rin?!"

Rin's familiar face made Yae Sakura's voice instantly lose control, but she quickly realized something was wrong.

"Wait, you can't be Rin, although you do look a lot alike... So, who are you?"

Yae Sakura placed her hand on the spirit sword at her waist.

While Sakura was shocked by Rin's appearance, Rin was also momentarily dazed by Sakura's figure.

"Calm down, Sister Yae Sakura, I didn't mean any harm."

Feeling the chilling aura emanating from the girl, Ling quickly shook her head.

"Sister, you can feel the 'erosion' on my body. You should be able to tell that it's different from the one on the Hi-maru."

"So, could you give me a chance? I need help..."

Looking at the girl who was asking him for help, hearing her familiar "sister" and seeing her figure, even though he knew it wasn't Rin, the image of Rin in front of him seemed to gradually overlap with that of someone he had met before.

Suppressing the turmoil in her heart, Yae Sakura began to carefully sense the Corrosion Power surrounding Rin.

Indeed, she wasn't lying. Although it resembled the corruption of Hi-maru, they were definitely two different things...

Moreover, her existence was extremely weak; if it weren't for that strange layer of erosion protecting her, she would probably dissipate very soon...

After hesitating for a moment, Sakura released her hand from the sword hilt, turned around, and pushed open the shrine gate.

"Come in. You don't have to worry about Hi-maru here."

"Then tell me, who are you, and why are you here...?"

Regardless of the situation within the Stigmata Space, in the Elysian Realm, Vill-V's plans are also progressing steadily.

"This is my plan... Because I need to ensure Rin's safety, prevent the Corrosion Key from losing too much power, and also protect Yae Sakura as much as possible, I have to take this long and complicated route to achieve these goals..."

"At this stage of the plan, there are indeed some risks..."

"..."

Elysia paused for a moment.

"Vill-V, will you tell Xia Ling?"

"Of course, at this point, there's no need to hide the plan anymore. The next steps are essentially luring them into a trap."

"Then... I'll respect Xia Ling's choice, okay?"

"Besides," Elysia smiled, "Didn't you say, 'I also have a role in this operation, so I'll personally protect her'?"

"Since you think it's okay, Elysia, then I'm relieved." Vill-V breathed a sigh of relief, "I was worried you wouldn't agree to let Xia Ling take such a risk."

"How could that be? I'm not the kind of person who would protect someone so thoroughly." Elysia pouted. "Besides, compared to the other dangers she might face in the future, this situation, with so many people watching her, is already quite safe."

"I see... I understand." Vill-V pondered for a moment, "In that case, Elysia, go and find Sakura for me."

"Given the current situation, it might be safer for Sakura to take action."

"Looking for Sakura? Didn't you say before..."

"Although I asked Xia Ling before if there was any evidence to prove that Ying knew about this, I actually still believe her. She has no reason to lie to us about this," Vill-V explained. "Moreover, if Ying really does know about this, then letting her resolve this issue herself is undoubtedly the best choice."

"I originally wanted to ask you myself, but after thinking about it, I realized that you, Elysia, are more suitable for this job."

"As for me... it's time to explain the whole plan to Xia Ling."

"Okay, I'll explain it to Sakura properly." Elysia blinked. "Don't worry about it, leave it to me."

Meanwhile, in the outside world, in St. Freya...

The shy Theresa didn't give Xia Ling a chance to tease her any further, and instead ran straight to Himeko's room, where she hid until dawn.

This action was naturally noticed by the other three people in the villa.

"Sister Xia Ling..."

Early in the morning, in the kitchen, Mei, who was preparing breakfast with Xia Ling, suddenly whispered.

"Did you bully the headmaster?"

"Uh... well, probably not?" Xia Ling thought for a moment, considering that she didn't mean it on purpose, kisses and hugs shouldn't count as bullying, right...?

"Really... But the headmaster went to Himeko's room." Mei looked incredulous. "Sister Xia Ling, you can't bully the headmaster too much."

"Especially..." Mei suddenly thought of the bed sheets that had been soaked for the past few days, and her face flushed slightly, her voice lowering. "Especially, you need to be more restrained."

"Uh... huh?"

Xia Ling was utterly astonished. Having read extensively in her previous life, she naturally understood what Mei was implying in an instant.

"Wait, Mei, I think you must have misunderstood... What?"

Before she could finish speaking, Mei had already left the kitchen under the pretext of serving the dishes.

"No... how am I supposed to explain this?" Xia Ling was on the verge of tears.

"Actually, it's okay not to explain, Xia Ling. You don't dislike Theresa, right?"

Suddenly, Elysia's voice came through the channel.

"Elysia... please stop causing trouble..."

Xia Ling said weakly.

"Hmm~ It seems you need some more time to think about it."

"However, I have something important to tell you."

"Vill-V has finished analyzing the data sent back by the dream device, and she wants you to go there when you have time."

Chapter Fifteen: Lifting the Rules and the Excited Cherry Blossoms

"The main reason I called you here is to explain the whole plan to you."

As soon as Xia Ling entered Elysian Realm, one sentence from Vill-V stunned her.

Huh?

"Our plan? Doesn't that mean we just need to wait for you to find a way to enter the Stigmata Space? There shouldn't be any other plans, right?"

"Sigh... the power of the precepts is indeed strong..."

Seeing Xia Ling's bewildered expression, Vill-V sighed and then took out a small statue that Xia Ling recognized very well.

It was a statue of a nun weeping blood.

Vill-V placed the statue in front of Xia Ling. For a moment, Xia Ling's gaze was clear, then instantly filled with doubt.

Xia Ling: OMO

"Wait, have I been bound by a precept?"

"You've won from the very beginning!"

Vill-V smiled apologetically and then began to explain the entire plan.

"Just as I thought..."

After Vill-V explained the whole story to Xia Ling had an expression of unsurprising satisfaction.

"I knew your scheme wouldn't be so simple, Teacher DaV. No wonder I hadn't been able to think outside the box before. It must be the effect of discipline, right?"

"That's right. In fact, whether it's the Dream Entry Device 1.0 or 2.0, entering a dream is just a trivial function."

"Collecting data, implanting viruses, contacting the bell... these are the main functions."

"So, my previous tasks were essentially just a target to attract attention, and a transporter to bring the dream entry device into dreams?"

"The real plan is to contact Rin, then have her learn to use the Corrosion Virus, and then delve into the Stigmata Space to contact Yae Sakura?"

"You could say that." Vill-V nodded seriously. "In fact, I have to apologize to you in advance, because even in the third phase of the plan, your task will be the same."

"It's alright, it's alright, I'm tough, bait is bait." Xia Ling didn't seem to care at all. "More than that, I'm curious why you had to tell me all this."

"Does this mean that we no longer need to hide our plans?"

Xia Ling did not doubt whether what Vill-V was saying was the real plan, or rather, she would take whatever Vill-V said as fact.

After all, different people do different things. Xia Ling didn't think she had that many tricks up her sleeve, and Vill-V wouldn't harm her. So, Xia Ling always thought that she should just obediently follow orders.

"...It's really comfortable to command someone like you, but sometimes it's a little hard to live with my conscience." Vill-V looked at Xia Ling with a strange gaze. "To be honest, I'm quite curious. Where did you get the information about us? I can understand Elysia, but where did you get this trust in me and Mobius?"

"This..."

"Never mind, I was just asking as a joke, you don't have to take it seriously." Seeing that Xia Ling seemed to be about to say something, Vill-V quickly stopped the conversation.

"Anyway, the next prop is this."

This time, what Vill-V took out wasn't a small device resembling headphones, but... a helmet?

How do you use this?

Xia Ling curiously took the helmet. It looked somewhat similar to Bronya's stealth device.

"Just bring it with you, but don't bring it here."

"To use a more accessible analogy, this thing functions as a virtual machine."

"I kept a lot of information from you before, for example... actually, from the very beginning, we had a way to create a gap to enter the Stigmata Space."

"However, doing so would be quite risky and wouldn't achieve the outcome we want."

"As for now... the foreshadowing has already been laid. Next, all you need to do is take this and apply your abilities directly to Theresa's Stigmata to open the door to the Stigmata Space."

"And then you..."

As Vill-V explained in a soft voice, Xia Ling's eyes widened even more.

"No way? This is possible?"

"No problem, you should know what these Corrosion Virus were originally intended for." Vill-V gave a thumbs up. "Who says a fake can't be better than the original?"