She activated the weakened Erosion Authority again and again, using the last shred of her strength to transfer her consciousness into another body within herself.
It was Yae Sakura's body, which had been sealed away alongside her.
For someone like Yae Sakura, who had repeatedly defied her will, Ling should have destroyed her body long ago.
Yet perhaps it was that face, identical to her sister's, that ultimately kept the girl from hardening her heart.
Who would have thought that at such a critical moment, the body she had spared out of momentary softness would instead save her life when she had nowhere left to turn?
Just like that, Ling used the Four-tailed Fox Demon's body as a shield, forcibly enduring Fu Li's Seven Swords Nuclear Blast and the following decapitation assault.
Then, using her own corpse as cover, she slipped underground and avoided the subsequent dismemberment finishing blow.
Yes, an old Beijing move—authentic as they came.
Never mind how the move looked. If it worked, it worked.
Of course, this also exposed Fu Li's shortcomings in battle. He only minced the enemy into meat paste instead of digging three feet into the ground to make sure? Bad review, bad review!
That said, while it was perfectly normal for a BOSS to have a second phase, claiming the previous battle had been completely useless was equally absurd slander.
The moment Ling had been sealed into the Divine Key production program—the Divine Box—fifty thousand years ago, she had already lost the ability to "connect to Imaginary Space and extract unlimited Honkai Energy."
Without any replenishment of Honkai Energy, she was no longer, in essence, the Herrscher of Erosion who had personally extinguished the Previous Era's last hope.
The Honkai Energy lost in the previous battle had truly been lost. Right now, the energy concentration within Ling's body was probably only comparable to that of an ordinary B-rank.
And although she had not destroyed Yae Sakura's body because of her face's resemblance to her sister's, throughout the five hundred years of sealing, Ling had still constantly eroded the other's body, lest she awaken at full strength and beat Ling up again.
In other words, whether it was defense, maximum MP, or HP bar, second-phase Ling was far inferior to what she had been before.
If Fu Li still had another trick up his sleeve, perhaps he could reap her quite easily?
"What a pity. What a pity."
Ling slowly walked up to Fu Li, who was slumped on the ground, and frivolously lifted his chin with the Bewitching Long Blade.
Her left index finger swayed lazily as the Moon Ring spun endlessly around it.
"This thing, and those utterly unremarkable seven swords launched at once from the very beginning—they were all meant to imply, 'This is all you've got,' weren't they?"
With a slight exertion of force, the Moon Ring turned into powder and fell away in an instant.
At such a moment, Fu Li instead calmed down.
Sitting on the ground, he raised his head. His gaze passed over the pair of long, lotus-like legs wrapped in white thigh-high stockings and met the Miko's breathtakingly beautiful face. "That's right."
"You really are full of schemes."
Ling smiled sweetly, the pair of sakura-colored fox ears atop her head, so unlike those of ordinary people, trembling faintly.
"—Die."
Then she raised her long blade and brought it down upon his head without holding anything back!
Fu Li's life was over!
"Kiana Cat: Intermission Meow!"
Several hours earlier, dusk, Changkong City—
Watching Fu Li's retreating back as he turned and left, Kiana, who had just been wearing a haughty expression, gradually calmed down.
She returned to the house, took out the carefully maintained twin pistols from a drawer, and strapped them to her waist.
Then she went back outside, arrived at the door to Room 202 next door, and smashed her fist into the lock.
"Boom!"
With the Kaslana Family's monstrous strength behind it, the door gave way in a single blow.
The girl stepped inside, and an utterly empty room came into view.
"I asked around with the neighboring residents," she muttered to herself. "Yesterday, you left home early in the morning, and after coming back this morning, you never went out again. So where did you find the time to clear out all this furniture?"
And besides—
Kiana crouched halfway down and carefully examined the things that seemed to be bed legs and table legs.
Their broken ends all bore marks resembling bite marks.
"An ability related to eating? Did he awaken some kind of special devouring ability?"
The girl stood up and rubbed her forehead helplessly.
Honkai Energy had always had a nickname: Honkai—the energy that could do anything.
That was because the states and powers Honkai Energy displayed under different circumstances varied enormously.
After scholars categorized, summarized, and researched it, they found that Honkai Energy could do things including, but not limited to, transforming into matter alteration—"increasing mass / constructing armor," constructing force fields—"floating wings / simulating black holes," changing forms—"electric currents / controlling molecular movement," and regulating rules—"electromagnetic manipulation / gravity manipulation / death manipulation," among countless other things. Its versatility was practically comparable to Doraemon's.
Because of this, the abilities and constructs Honkai Energy manifested in each person's hands were never quite the same.
As an energy widely present in the atmosphere, Honkai Energy's tendency to converge sometimes caused it to suddenly gather together.
Some lone Honkai Beasts were born this way. If the concentration grew even higher, it was not impossible for it to form a devil's den resembling another world.
There had also been cases where it gathered around an individual. Generally speaking, the unlucky person receiving such treatment would be eroded into ash in an instant, while those left behind would become Dead Walkers and lose all reason.
If someone's adaptability was high enough to endure it by force, then given Honkai Energy's ability to do anything, it was not impossible for them to awaken some special abilities.
Kiana now suspected that Fu Li had awakened a devouring-type special ability. That would explain the way he had looked at Muye and her before.
He had not been looking at people about to die, but as a self-proclaimed higher life-form looking at a lavish feast.
The moment Kiana realized this, her head began to ache terribly.
These people who suddenly awakened superpowers were the hardest to deal with! They acted as if heaven was first and they were second, always thinking themselves superior and omnipotent before starting to indulge their desires freely!
Fu Li did not seem to be an exception either.
No! That wasn't right!
Kiana shook her head hard.
If that were really the case, A Li would never have spared her when, in his eyes, she was nothing more than a plate of braised pork!
The fact that he chose to leave meant he could still suppress the inflated desires brought on by gaining power!
But she still could not let her guard down! How did that saying go again?
If I had superpowers, I'd spend the first day punishing evil and upholding justice, then seamlessly switch to being Homelander on the second.
Right now, Fu Li might barely be able to control his desires, but after another two or three days, who knew whether he would suddenly go, "I don't eat beef!"
"No! I have to find a way to prevent that from happening!"
Kiana made up her mind. No matter what, Fu Li had come to the Far East following her, and the girl felt she owed him at least the most basic responsibility.
Besides...
If he entered the same world as me, then maybe he could also...
No, no, no, Kiana, what are you thinking? That guy was a creepy stalker who kept clinging to you, following you around, and confessing to you every other day! Even if you really wanted a companion on your journey to find that stinky dad of yours, you couldn't set your sights on him, could you?!
The girl vigorously shook her two braids, tossing those unrealistic thoughts clear out of her head.
"Anyway, I'll secretly follow him first and see what this guy plans to do next!"
She patted her slightly flushed cheeks, got up, and returned to her own room.
She lifted the bed and pulled a mechanical creation shaped like a husky out from the space beneath the mattress.
Kiana pressed the activation switch on its nose. The husky's eyes lit up, and it began circling her adorably, occasionally nudging the girl's calf with its muzzle.
"Haha, Soth, stop it, stop it!"
Kiana patted its head and brought it to B202 next door.
"I'm counting on you, Soth. Memorize the strongest male scent in this room, then take me to find him!"
This was a specialized tracking mechanical dog Kiana had bought after selling a Honkai Beast Core on the black market. She had originally planned to make it memorize Sigfried's scent so she would not miss him if he came nearby. Now, it was just right for finding Fu Li.
As for why she had hidden it somewhere as secretive as beneath the bed, it was because the landlord here did not allow tenants to keep pets.
After receiving its mission, Soth did not bark twice to indicate it understood. Instead, it sniffed around the room a few times, then returned to its owner and, as usual, nudged her calf with its muzzle to indicate it was finished.
"You've recorded it? All right, let's go!"
Kiana smoothed the dog's fur and marveled at how lifelike even the built-in low-intelligence AI had become. What kind of monsters must those advanced AIs be?
Technology really was terrifying.
"Hello, Kiana!"
"Hello to you too, Sister Linye!"
"Hello, Sister Kiana! Whoa! A doggy!"
"Shh—! Little Shizuo, you have to keep it a secret for your sister, okay?"
"Mm!"
After cheerfully greeting a few neighbors, Kiana followed Soth down the stairs.
The dog was clearly much more lively after leaving the apartment. It barked once and sprinted south on all fours.
As a mechanical creation, Soth could reach a top speed of fifty kilometers per hour, making it faster than some small cars.
Even when it deliberately cut its speed in half within the city, it still moved like the wind.
Yet Kiana kept up with it the entire way. Even after leaving the city, when Soth pushed its speed to the limit, the girl continued jogging behind it without hurry.
After some time, the girl and dog entered the bounds of the Yae Village ruins together.
At that point, even without Soth leading the way, Kiana could tell Fu Li's exact location.
Looking into the distance, the mountainside where Yae Shrine stood had already become a pitted wasteland.
The mountain peak beside it looked as though a towering giant wielding a guandao had sliced it diagonally through the waist. Half the blasted-off mountaintop had crashed alone onto Zhúquè Slope beside Yae Village, its cut surface smooth as a mirror.
From that alone, Kiana dared conclude that the combatants were either A-rank or exceptional B-rank.
She said softly, "Soth, find somewhere to hide!"
"Whine..."
Soth bit onto Kiana's shoe, unwilling to watch its master put herself in danger.
An A-rank battle, possibly even a fight between Super A-ranks.
With Kiana's level, how was charging in recklessly any different from delivering herself as an extra dish?
But unfortunately, thinking and weighing pros and cons meant nothing to the girl.
Fu Li was there, so she was going. It was that simple!
Because she was Kiana Kaslana!
And so—
"You really are full of schemes."
Ling smiled sweetly, the pair of sakura-colored fox ears atop her head, so unlike those of ordinary people, trembling faintly.
"Die."
Then she raised her long blade and brought it down upon his head without holding anything back!
A silver blade-light bloomed through the air, only to be blocked by another light of the same color.
"Clang!!!"
"Long time no see, you pathetic creep!"
The clash of metal and a familiar girlish shout rang in Fu Li's ears at once. The white-haired girl, using her crossed twin pistols to block the fatal strike, did not even turn her head.
Kiana Kaslana had made her grand entrance!
In just seconds, she had dashed across half the battlefield with heroic grace, like a shooting star tearing through the endless darkness of night!
Before you continue