Where's the promised Third Honkai?!!

Kiana thought.

The senior Mei she admired had inherited the family's Hokushin Itto-ryu, her cross-generational talent in swordsmanship allowing her to reach the realm of Menkyo Kaiden at a young age.

The Raiden family's secret art was nothing like the same-named sword style currently popular in the Far East.

Transcendent ancient swordsmanship—just this classification alone had already sealed Hokushin Itto-ryu's status.

And yet, even someone like Mei paled in comparison to Ling when it came to pure swordplay.

Could A Li really handle this?

"I can't handle it?"

Facing the girl's seemingly questioning concern, Fu Li smiled.

He didn't answer the question directly, instead leaning in to whisper something in her ear.

Then he leaped out of her embrace, stepping forward to meet Ling, who was charging at him with her blade drawn.

'Clang!'

Blade clashed against blade, the crossed white steel reflecting their profiles—one manic, one calm—while a piercing ring washed over their eardrums.

Kiana followed inertia and quickly retreated, but couldn't help looking back.

Ling's will and body were growing more synchronized by the moment. The Yae Style swordsmanship inherited from the genetic memories of the Stigmata was originally born from the Fleeting Slash.

Earlier, the girl had indeed been mimicking the motions, but now, every move she made carried the invincible, peerless aura of the Fire Moths' Eighth Seat.

Yet even so, Ling was being suppressed by Fu Li in every aspect.

His swordsmanship was neither flashy nor dazzling. He simply kept 'offering' Crescent Moon to just the right position, over and over again, causing Ling's techniques to break in their flow, exposing gaps that allowed him to maneuver freely.

The beast form was indeed troublesome, but in human form, it all came down to swordplay—and that meant Fu Li could fight however he pleased.

Kiana bit her lip.

She knew she shouldn't be overthinking in the middle of a fight, but Fu Li's current performance looked nothing like a newly awakened ability user. Instead, it felt eerily close to her earlier joke about him being 'possessed.'

Still, her feet and hands didn't waver with her chaotic thoughts, moving steadily and purposefully as Fu Li had whispered in her ear.

Catching this from the corner of his eye, Fu Li relaxed.

To be honest, he had been afraid Kiana might get some reckless idea and go off-script.

His current behavior was really quite different from before his rebirth, so being suspected was understandable.

But seriously, he still couldn't figure out how this girl had noticed something was off and specifically followed him.

After his rebirth, he had bolted first thing in the morning!

Sure, he had gone back to the rental to catch some sleep afterward, but he had only seen her once in the hallway—it should have been flawless!

Of course, that was just from Fu Li's perspective.

If someone had been watching the teenagers' actions from a third-party perspective the whole time, they could easily solve his confusion:

Fu Li thought he was just an unnoticed nobody, little knowing that Kiana cared about him far more than he imagined!

Chapter 28: "Fu Li and Kiana's Victory Speech"

Fu Li thought he was just an unnoticed nobody, little knowing that Kiana cared about him far more than he imagined.

The same went for Ling.

Right now, she was deeply fixated on the white-haired girl quickly retreating into the distance.

"Kallen..."

A name that didn't belong to this battlefield spilled from her cherry-soft lips, misted with breath. The crimson-eyed Miko suddenly abandoned Fu Li after one clash, darting toward Kiana.

Fu Li naturally wouldn't let her get away. A snow-white blade arc rose from below, forcing her to parry with the back of her sword.

"Get a grip, will you?" he said, looking down at her. "Your enemy right now is me, not some Kallen, Kikyo."

"Kallen..."

But Ling ignored his words entirely. She took her long, shapely legs and stubbornly chased after Kiana a second time.

The white stockings on her thighs were already tattered from the battle, her skin gleaming under the firelight, stirring the heart.

Enraged, Ling no longer resisted Yae Sakura's memories. This obviously came at a cost.

Memories shape a person—though extreme, this saying still proves how crucial memories are to one's identity.

Absorbing another's memories naturally meant clinging to what they clung to.

So what was it that Yae Sakura clung to?

Naturally, it was the Kaslana Saintess who had drifted into Yae Village five hundred years ago—Kallen Kaslana.

Kiana's relationship with her was certainly not some cliché reincarnation.

The problem was that this girl, also born of the Kaslana bloodline, had the exact same white hair and blue eyes as Kallen.

The misunderstanding was all too natural.

"Tch!"

Seeing Ling abandon him yet again like the heartless woman she was, Fu Li raised his sword in displeasure.

But his body faltered at that moment, letting her slip free of Mikazuki Munechika's blade's encirclement.

In the end, his sustained combat endurance still wasn't enough.

He'd already overdrawn once during the fight with the fox demon; even with two Healing Bullets as a temporary refill, recovering to peak condition in an instant was impossible.

"Dodge!"

Fu Li couldn't help shouting a warning as he activated Void Step again, trying to intercept the enemy by striking first from behind.

But Ling was faster instead—perhaps Fleeting Slash contained a displacement skill like ground-shrinking—and she beat Fu Li by nearly half the distance, arriving before Kiana first!

"Kallen! Kallen!"

Her face twisted with fervent madness as she raised her long blade and slashed down hard at Kiana, who had her back turned.

The girl, who had just finished carrying out Fu Li's orders, turned around instinctively—and the blood-red blade swelled in her pupils.

"Woof!"

At that critical moment, a dog's bark rang through the field.

Soth, ordered to stay away from the battle, leaped up and sank his teeth into the Miko's wrist as she swung her blade!

The MK-II type mechanical dog wasn't just for scent-tracking; the tungsten steel serrated teeth in its mouth had a bite force of a full ton!

With such concentrated force in such a small area, and Ling having eroded Yae Sakura's body for five hundred years, Soth's bite didn't sever her wrist outright—but it interfered with the attack well enough!

"You mongrel! Get lost!"

Under attack, Ling completely forgot she herself had once been a canine, and kicked Soth hard in the belly.

Her plush, shapely legs—the kind you'd watch for years—turned into killing tools in that instant, snapping the mechanical dog in two with one blow!

"Woo!!!"

Soth whimpered but still held onto Ling's wrist, refusing to let go.

"Soth!"

Kiana couldn't help crying out. Fu Li arrived just in time and barked, "Let go!"

The mechanical dog, now only an upper half, obediently released its grip. Fu Li scooped up both it and Kiana, one under each arm.

Ling clearly wasn't about to let this fellow canine who'd bitten her off easy. Her delicate fist flipped and slammed down, smashing the dog's half-body to pieces on the spot.

Then she kept chasing Fu Li and the Kiana in his arms without pause.

Ling's footwork was superior; the distance between them shrank to barely three meters.

It looked like a repeat of the earlier situation—but this time, Fu Li wouldn't give her another chance.

Midair, he spun around and planted a foot on Ling's forehead, catching her off guard and sending her stumbling.

"Get down, Kikyo."

Crimson Lotus bloomed before him. A spherical barrier of blazing white rose up, trapping the enemy who was only a hair's breadth away.

Endless flames, like a falling sun, devoured the Miko's twisted, ferocious form.

[Name: Solar Apollo] [Grade: C-rank] [Classification: Item/Explosive] [Effect: A special alchemical weapon. Externally a soft, bouncy red crystal, internally containing terrifying energy. Detonated by injecting Mental Power or energy. Requires guidance before explosion, or can be pre-charged with energy and planted as a trap. After detonation, it forms an orange sphere with a diameter of fifty meters that lasts thirty seconds. The temperature inside the sphere reaches an extremely terrifying level, with power far exceeding dozens of thermobaric bombs exploding simultaneously. Not even a trace of heat escapes outside the sphere. Apollo itself contains vast internal energy and is normally stable. Do not be an idiot and stimulate it, such as by injecting energy.] [Note: Reincarnation Paradise, engage! Pipi Xiao, let's go!]

Fu Li had said from the start: there's no war without explosives.

And so, the outcome was sealed.

Even though Solar Apollo could be set as a trap, Fu Li had discarded that approach from the beginning, choosing instead to carry it on him.

The shockwaves of an A-rank battle could collapse entire mountains. Under those conditions, planting it in advance meant either Apollo would be caught in the blast and detonate prematurely, or the enemy would just bolt the moment it went off.

Forget a fifty-meter diameter—even if the blast radius were fifty meters, for Ling and Fu Li, it was just a matter of lifting a foot.

What? Why not just blow her up from the start?

Why does Ultraman always save his finisher for last? Why do you always hold your ultimate in League of Legends?

She wasn't stupid either. If she ate a big hit right at the start, why would she still insist on a head-on clash? Did she grow those legs for nothing?

The key point was that this thing couldn't one-shot Ling at her peak defense. That big fox's hide was thick and tough, extremely durable. Even the Seven Swords Nuclear Blast only barely managed to finish her off after wearing her down for a long time and catching her off guard with a concentrated strike.

Therefore, in this battle, Apollo could only serve as a last resort for mutual destruction.

Fu Li indeed acted accordingly, though he didn't need mutual destruction—he had the Flying Thunder God Kunai.

The second-stage Miko Ling had indeed caught him off guard, at least based on the information he had on hand.

But he didn't panic. Instead, he feigned weakness, luring the girl closer and closer.

All warfare is based on deception.

In simpler terms, it was a con.

And Ling certainly played along, even confidently walking up to Fu Li and using the back of her blade to lift his chin in mockery—a true "Taming the Rebellious Puppy Miko" scene for the ages.

Then, just as Fu Li felt it was time to claim that beautiful head, a thunderous roar split the sky, and Kiana made her grand entrance.

Seeing her, Fu Li's mind went blank, much like an author who just finished a four-thousand-word draft only to have the computer crash before saving.

Not quite a total loss, but basically half a day's work down the drain.

Fortunately, this new teammate proved reliable, carrying out Fu Li's final instructions: while he was locked in a desperate struggle with Miko Ling, she positioned Solar Apollo at the preset location.

What followed needed no explanation—'BOOM!' The sun crashed down, divine flames raging to the heavens.

If Ling could still activate a third stage after that, Fu Li would have nothing left to say.

Such is fate, such is destiny.

Luckily, Ling didn't give him a chance to salvage the situation. Thirty seconds later, the pseudo-sun formed by Solar Apollo gradually dimmed.

At the center of the twenty-five-meter-radius crater, the pitch-black Corrosion Gem refracted an alluring halo.

Beside it lay a crystal rich with Honkai Energy—the Honkai Beast Core Ling had hastily torn from the Four-tailed Fox Demon when shifting her body.

As a product of the Corrosion Authority, this item was highly polluting and essentially unusable, but just right for tossing into the system for a lottery draw.