I, Matou Sakura, Third of the Flame-Chasers!

I, Matou Sakura, Third of the Flame-Chasers! Author: Purple Clothes

Synopsis:

Once the Third of the Fourteen Flame-Chasers, now the Incarnation of Light, a notorious destroyer.

Kevin: She used to be a comrade I could entrust my back to. Now...

Elysia: Compared to before, I really do prefer her now. Cute girls are the best!

Eden: My little brother became my little sister?

Kalpas: How did this bastard turn into a woman?!

Aponia: My dear child, return to Mother's embrace.

Griseo: Why did big brother become big sister...

Mobius: Reincarnation? What an interesting subject. I really want to put this fellow back on the operating table.

Sakura: A surprising change, but she was still the same person.

I. A Warrior of the Past

Her consciousness awoke from profound darkness, as though breaking through the surface of water.

Her body instinctively gulped in air, then quickly calmed with instinct.

"I'm not dead?"

Her first question slipped out, and the voice she heard sounded unfamiliar.

"This isn't my voice."

Though phrased as a question, it carried certainty.

Her already-open eyes gradually adjusted to the surroundings, and the sheer slowness of the process left her unsettled.

Why had her body become so frail?

She instinctively stood up and heard a faint rustling sound.

Her gaze began to focus, like a camera lens.

She saw them—a huge swarm of disgusting insects.

Where would insects come from on the moon?

Finality's power?

That shouldn't be possible.

Wait, this wasn't the moon.

Her increasingly rapid thoughts gradually made her realize what situation she was in.

No, she was no longer he. She was she!

The change in sex felt somewhat strange, but that was nothing. What she couldn't accept was the loss of her power.

Weak. Far too weak! Her current self could have been effortlessly crushed to death by that bastard Kalpas!

Wait!

Insects, a place like a cellar...

The Nasuverse?

Her mind reached a conclusion at once, and her body immediately moved.

Without hesitation, her raised foot crushed the insect that had crawled before her.

Green blood splashed out, but her expression did not change.

The Nasuverse, the Matou Family, and her current identity—Matou Sakura.

Well, damn. She had transmigrated a second time.

She had already been prepared to die fighting Finality rather than survive into the Second Era, but she never expected to be given a second life.

In that case, Finality, you'd better wait for me!

The adorable child revealed an incomparably savage expression. At that moment, she was like a beast!

Using both hands and feet, the combat techniques honed through countless battles resurfaced once more.

Violent, merciless, like a cold killing machine.

Green blood splattered across her clothes and skin.

But Matou Sakura did not care in the slightest.

Never worry about such things in battle. Even if both hands and feet were crippled, as long as she still lived, she would tear apart the enemy's flesh with her teeth!

Still, if that bastard Kalpas saw her like this, he would probably laugh himself to death!

Her ferocious movements gradually slowed, but the ground around her was already covered in green blood and insect remains.

This frail body was sounding alarms. Useless body.

Matou Sakura wore a cold expression as her gaze swept over Old Worm, who stood above her with surprise on his face.

If she hadn't lost all her abilities, she could have reduced this place to dust in an instant!

She reached out, seized several flying insects in her hands, then directly threw them into her mouth, mercilessly crushing and swallowing them.

This body was far too weak and already near its limit. It needed replenishment!

They were ugly, but rich in energy and edible.

Besides, no matter how ugly these things were, they were still nowhere near as bad as certain aberrations born from Honkai Energy corruption.

She had eaten plenty of those things. Why would she hesitate over these little bugs?

Her actions also made Old Worm wary.

This girl could not possibly be a child of the Tohsaka Family!

Was this possession?

But when had it happened?!

To ensure that the child he had acquired from the Tohsaka Family would serve as the finest vessel, he had secretly monitored her. Before coming here, she had merely been an ordinary child!

Even possession required a ritual and a medium. What exactly was going on?

Too much thought caused Old Worm to overlook something. When he noticed, he suddenly realized that the child was only a few steps away from him!

How did she get up here?!

Surprise appeared in his decayed eyes, and his ugly face slightly opened its mouth.

At that moment, Matou Sakura swallowed the insects in her mouth again and silently recited the brief notes derived from the Divine Sound technique.

In an instant, the strength of her entire body was mobilized. Her stomach worked at full capacity, digesting the insect corpses at a terrifying speed and transforming them into energy to power her body.

"Don't underestimate me!"

Though surprised by her abnormality, Old Worm's reaction was not slow.

With a simple incantation, a Water Magecraft spell had already formed.

Though he had switched to Worm Magecraft, the Water Magecraft he had first learned had not vanished.

But Matou Sakura had long known this and had considered every possibility before reaching Old Worm.

The notes she recited in her heart suddenly changed, accelerating as all the energy in her body gathered at a single point.

Her seemingly slow figure instantly vanished from Old Worm's sight.

Where was she?

The question had barely arisen before the powerful gust of a fist from behind answered it.

A delicate arm covered in blood pierced through the old body and its heart.

Matou Sakura's expression was icy, and she did not stop there.

Divine Sound rang out in her mind again, this time in an even swifter tone.

Her body was being overdrawn. Wrinkles that should not have appeared at her age surfaced beneath her bloodstained face, while the black ends of her hair, not yet altered by magecraft, turned aged white.

Head, limbs—then she pulled back her clenched fist and swung it again. A fierce sonic boom erupted, blasting Old Worm's crippled body into a pile of pulp.

Splat!

A cloud of blood burst from her punching arm, which then drooped weakly.

The intense pain from her frail body continuously assaulted Matou Sakura's mind, making even her spirit, which had endured countless agonies, frown slightly.

This body was too fragile. If this were the Honkai World, she would definitely make Mobius give her a full upgrade package. This arm was basically useless now.

But this was not the time to think about that. She had to leave first.

Though Divine Sound's strain on her body had allowed her to unleash enough power to destroy Old Worm's body, he would quickly recover unless she destroyed the Life Worm he had hidden away.

She had to leave quickly, before the power Divine Sound gave her completely disappeared!

Gritting her teeth, she silently recited the initial notes again. Her remaining strength gathered at one point once more, bursting out at a speed slightly inferior to before.

Inside a hidden compartment behind the wall of the Matou Family's master bedroom.

Amid dense rustling, countless black insects slowly crawled out from the pitch-black boxes placed around the room. They gathered in the center, gradually forming a humanoid shape.

Before long, an entirely new body had formed.

Old Worm slowly opened his eyes. His black pupils appeared calm and without ripples, but beneath that surface was boundless rage!

"No matter who you are! I will make you die in the cruelest torment!"

His nearly crazed voice echoed continuously through the compartment before gradually quieting.

Old Worm then left the compartment and entered the living room. Looking at the two corpses on the floor—his useless son and grandson—his gaze was incomparably cold.

"Before I kill you, I will make you experience endless pain!!!"

II. A Belated Miracle

In a small grove, Matou Sakura arrived just before the effects of Divine Sound completely faded.

Her bent knees crashed hard into the thick earth, scraping open her skin and drawing blood.

But Matou Sakura had no attention to spare for that. She continuously adjusted her breathing, using a special breathing rhythm to reduce Divine Sound's effects.

In the past, he had never needed Divine Sound. Even when he used it, he had never needed to worry about its side effects.

The powerful body gained from fusing with the genes of an End-stage Honkai Beast allowed her to fight as she pleased, ignoring every kind of side effect like a machine built solely for slaughter.

But not now. Her current body was too weak, so weak that even an ordinary illness could take her life.

Having been given another life, she had no intention of dying like this before beating Finality to a pulp.

Fortunately, because of those people, she had learned many techniques back then that she had not needed at the time but could use now.

Her overdrawn muscles were recovering, though only little by little.

Though this special breathing method could reduce the side effects of Divine Sound overtaxing her body, that required sufficient energy.

For example, nearly omnipotent Honkai Energy.

But this was the Nasuverse, not the Honkai World. She had nowhere to obtain Honkai Energy.

As for this world's Magic Power... she could sense the Magic Power in the air through Divine Sound, but it was too diffuse and contained too many impurities. Absorbing it to repair her body would only make it worse.

The best option now was to replenish energy through eating!

With Divine Sound, she could perfectly absorb the energy in food and further repair this body, which had aged from overexertion.

Her breathing gradually calmed, and her gaze shifted to her now-ruined right hand.

This arm was already useless, and the intense muscular overexertion from Divine Sound had caused it to begin rotting. She had to deal with it soon.