"If the next three challenges are card games like this, your results will be voided," Himeko warned.
After defeating the card-addicted President Kaiba, Xing faced a new opponent within the dimensional barrier. The setting changed as well. The original duel arena was replaced by a cluster of buildings, and the surroundings dimmed as though night had fallen.
"This building... Cairo?" Himeko had been there before and recognized it.
Xing looked around, then suddenly saw Theresa crawl out from the street ahead. The moment she saw Xing, she shouted, "Run, Xing! Kallen's stand, Pseudo-Judas: Blood Embrace, has the ability to stop time..." Before she could finish, the area was swallowed by black and white. When everything returned to normal, a crimson blade had pierced Theresa's chest, and she collapsed.
"Auntie—!" Kiana shouted from outside.
"Xing, run. Keep your distance... stay away from her, or you won't stand a chance..." Theresa seemed to want to say more, but her body had reached its limit. She could only close her eyes in worry.
Kallen, clad in Original Sin Hunter armor, stood beside Theresa's corpse with a Dio-like expression and proudly declared, "I already took care of Bronya. Mei has probably hidden somewhere, huh? Whatever—"
She pointed at the boy. "You're next, Xing!"
"You... bastard, Kallen!" His DNA stirred. Xing clenched his fists and walked toward Kallen.
"Oh? You're approaching me? Instead of running away, you're actually coming closer? Even though your mother, Theresa Apocalypse, desperately told you the true nature of my Pseudo-Judas: Blood Embrace, like a captain who still believes there will be sweets after getting stabbed in the back by the writers over and over!" Kallen spread her arms, her face wild with arrogance.
"If I don't get closer, I can't give you a proper beating." Xing's eyes turned blue again, flames blazing within them.
"Ho ho, then come a little closer." Kallen sneered and stepped forward as well.
At the same time, the Judah in Theresa's room seemed to receive some sort of command. It smashed through the roof and flew toward the Memory Battlefield.
When the two were nearly face-to-face, a blood-red cross suddenly burst from Kallen's body and shot straight at Xing.
"Useless!" A scarlet axe blade slashed toward his neck.
"Ora!" Oath of Judas arrived in time and rammed Pseudo-Judas away. The two crosses began furiously fighting each other off to the side.
"Too weak, too weak! Pseudo-Judas: Blood Embrace is the strongest stand! Whether in precision or strength, it far surpasses your Oath of Judas..." Before Kallen could finish, Pseudo-Judas, which had nearly been torn to pieces, was tossed onto the ground beside her by Judah like garbage.
Kallen: ...Director, wasn't this script wrong?
"Heh heh, it seems I'll have to use Pseudo-Judas: Blood Embrace's true ability against you..."
"THE WORLD! Time, stop!" Xing activated Time Fracture in advance. The world turned black, and time for everything slowed infinitely, halting all movement.
Judah's chains wrapped around his clenched fists and resonated with the stigmata on his right hand. Golden energy coursed through every part of his body.
He looked at the terrified Kallen within the Time Fracture and said coldly, "Take this, Kallen. Judah-style Yamabuki Armor Ripple Rush!" The boy's fists crashed violently into her body.
Ora Ora Ora Ora Ora... (Three pages of Ora omitted here.)
After throwing the final punch, Xing turned around in high spirits and calmly said, "Time, resume flowing." (Is it really okay to beat up your prototype like this?)
Golden ripples spread throughout Kallen's body. She cried out in despair, "No, impossible! How could I, Kallen, lose to a brat like you? Kono Kallen da!"
As Judah's energy purified her, Kallen turned to ash.
Everyone outside the Memory Battlefield: ...What the hell did we just watch?!
Himeko covered her forehead. "He can actually summon Judah whenever he wants. He really is Theresa's illegitimate son, isn't he?"
Kiana was close to breaking down. "Then what am I supposed to call him?"
Mei comforted her. "Don't be like that, Kiana. Even if Xing is the principal's child, you're still of the same generation."
Bronya said, "Ora Ora sounds pretty cool. Next time, Heavy Cannon Rabbit can learn it too."
Yae Sakura said, "Good. The real Kallen was never that crazy."
After the enemy was dealt with, Judah automatically flew back. Xing looked curious. "The Memory Battlefield can even simulate Judah?"
The child had yet to realize that as long as he wanted to, he could summon Judah at any time.
After resting for a while during the intermission, Xing encountered a new opponent through the dimensional barrier. The setting changed again. Upon an endless plain, a man in red stood silently, his eyes filled with indifference.
"You finally came, Xing. No... coward who abandoned himself." Emiya looked at him with disdain. He raised a hand and began chanting, "I am the bone of my sword..."
A red barrier enveloped Xing. Those outside the Memory Battlefield could no longer directly see what was happening within.
"Ms. Himeko, what's going on?" Mei asked.
"This is the first time something like this has happened. I don't know how to handle it either." Himeko had a headache. How was this little guy so good at causing trouble? He had somehow managed to bug out the Memory Battlefield.
"Can't we stop it and let Xing out?" Kiana's approach was simple and direct.
"No. His neurons are already connected to the Memory Battlefield. Forcibly disconnecting him could cause massive damage. We can only see whether he can win."
Upon the endless dunes, countless blades and swords were densely embedded in the ground. The sky was covered by massive gears. This was magecraft closest to magic, a Reality Marble that materialized one's inner landscape and overwrote the world. Its name was—Unlimited Blade Works.
"What are you talking about?" Xing was utterly confused.
"Was I wrong? You abandoned your parents and little sister for your own selfish desires, came to this world, and overestimated yourself by trying to change those people's fates. Foolish and ignorant." Emiya raised his hand, and a sword embedded near Xing suddenly flew toward him.
Xing hurriedly dodged, but at the instant he passed the sword, Emiya detonated the blade's magical energy.
Fantasy Collapse
The boy failed to dodge in time. A cut opened at the corner of his face, and blood trickled down.
"Someone who can't even stay in his own world—what makes you think you can save them?" A greatsword gradually formed in his hand.
"Heavenly Fire Judgment?! Aren't you unable to project divine weapons?"
"Wasn't it made by humans?" Emiya placed the Heavenly Fire Judgment he had just projected on his bow like an arrow. "Here, I have no limits on magical energy consumption. In other words, you're dead." He released the bowstring and fired it.
Fantasy Collapse
Flames filled his vision.
"Oh?" Sensing something, Emiya raised his hand once more. The blades and swords embedded in the dunes rose one after another and shot in a single direction.
"Cherry blossoms, scatter!" Yae Sakura swung the Spirit Blade - Sakura Blizzard in her hand, knocking away the endlessly incoming blades and firmly shielding Xing behind her.
"Why are you trying so hard? He isn't your Kallen. There's no need for you to follow him around like a loyal dog." Emiya spoke indifferently.
"This is my choice." The Miko said no more.
"Oh, I understand. But how long can you hold out? While carrying dead weight, no less?"
The countless blades were too numerous. Even with the Miko's superb swordsmanship, she could not block every one of them. Several would occasionally slip through and cut her skin. Before long, tiny wounds covered her entire body. Even so, she did not let Xing suffer even the slightest injury.
Xing watched Yae Sakura get hurt, and his heart felt like it was being cut apart. He wanted to help, but had nowhere to begin. Just as Emiya had said, he was nothing but dead weight to Yae Sakura right now.
I can't do anything...
A faint purple gradually stained the boy's pupils.
The Miko's stamina rapidly drained away. A sword pierced her abdomen. "Ugh!" That single moment of sluggish movement led her into a fatal situation. Several blades pierced the Miko's back, and blood sprayed from her mouth.
"Sakura!"
Violent purple completely filled his pupils. Even one of the magatama on the stigmata on his left hand faintly glowed purple. Some seal within his body had been opened.
Lightning burst from his body, tearing open a gap in Unlimited Blade Works.
"What's going on? He clearly hasn't armed himself with that girl, so he shouldn't be able to use the power of the Herrscher of Thunder!" For the first time, ripples appeared on Emiya's normally unflappable face.
Red patterns spread across Xing's face, but he now bore two stigmata. This corrosion was no longer as lethal as before.
"Xing?" The Miko wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and obediently let the boy pull the blades from her back. She had no physical body now. Even if this body was destroyed, as long as Xing remained, she could appear again.
"Does it hurt?" Xing gently stroked the wounds on her back, his heart aching fiercely.
"It hurts." The Miko was honest.
"It's okay. Come back first. For every injury you suffered, I'll make that bastard repay it a hundredfold!"
After returning Yae Sakura to Stigmata Space, he loosened his joints, turned around, and said with a savage expression, "Your attack is over. Now it's my turn. No objections, right?"
Emiya suddenly felt a blood-red character for "danger" shining above his head.
Xing focused his mind on the stigmata on his left hand and switched himself to speed type. Pink fox ears grew from his head.
"I activate Yae Sakura's leaving-the-field effect, Special Summoning a Level 4 Scarlet Sakura Token onto the field and treating it as a Tuner Monster. Here I go. I tune the Level 4 Scarlet Sakura Token with the Level 4 me."
4★ + 4★ = 8★
"Thunder that defies fate, resound here and deliver judgment upon those truly ignorant! Synchro Summon! Pursue them, Yae Sakura - Night Shadow Heavy Mist!"
The Fox Ear Ninja emerged from the lightning, gripping two crimson blades in her hands.
"Roar, Thunder Prison Maru!"
A massive Fox Phantom formed from electrical currents swept through everything within Unlimited Blade Works, including Emiya's shocked face.
Clang! Two Cherry Blossom Blizzards collided with Gan Jiang Mo Ye. The latter's black-and-white twin blades shattered like toys, forcing him to continuously project new weapons.
"You just said that I abandoned everything and came to this world?" Xing wielded his dual blades with agile precision, forcing Emiya back step by step. "In that world, I was just an ordinary student. Rather than drift through life there, adventuring here is much more interesting. Besides, I believe my little sister can take care of our parents for me."
—Temporary scene break—
"Ah-choo!" In another world, a little white-haired, red-eyed girl suddenly sneezed. She rubbed her nose and muttered indistinctly, "Did I catch a cold?"
"Yun, there's a Rock Shield Slime up ahead! Come help!"
"Oh, coming, coming." Yun skillfully inserted Mona's Wonder Ride Book into the Sacred Sword Driver at her waist and drew Myriad Sword Rhyme to transform.
"Rhyme Draw! Sky Reflection Chronicle!"
—Back to the story—
"Also, there's one thing you got wrong. I really did change something."
I changed Changkong City's fate and stopped the Third Honkai Eruption from descending. I will turn this world into the one I want, together with them! As a participant, I will uphold my own happiness.
Lightning completely engulfed Emiya's body.
"If that's the case, then don't regret it." He whispered before disappearing.
"Of course not."
One of the Cherry Blossom Blizzards in his hand turned into the Miko.
"Even I can change too?" She curiously looked at Xing, who still remained in Nightshade Heavy Mist form.
"Uh, I tried adjusting the power to the maximum, and then it just turned out like this." Looking at the magatama that had been completely dyed purple, Xing had a headache. Essentially, it was a transformation like God's Blessing Anthem, except Yae Sakura had basically given all her power to him. Although neither of them knew how to use it, Xing's control over this stigmata was still far greater than the original Kallen's Song's. After being stimulated by that Herrscher energy, this evolved subspecies form of Yae Sakura was born.
Come to think of it, why did he have Mei's power inside him too?
The answer was simple. Back in Changkong City, the Honkai Energy from Herrscher Mei had not been eliminated, but suppressed. After the stigmata barely held it down, Judah sealed all that energy within the stigmata.
The seal should have lasted for quite a long time, but Herrscher Mei, who was also trapped within the stigmata, escaped twice and tore apart much of the seal in the process. Later, when Yae Sakura attached herself to him, the impact brought by the Herrscher Core further weakened it.
When Xing desperately craved power just now, someone helped him tear open the seal, allowing the energy to flow out.
"How do I put it back?" With Yae Sakura's help, he barely managed to cancel the Nightshade Heavy Mist transformation, but he found that he seemed unable to switch back to power type.
"Oh, right, what that person said earlier was actually—" Just as he wanted to explain, the Miko extended one finger and gently pressed it against his lips.
Outside the battlefield, Himeko looked at the screen in surprise. "This little guy's impressive. He actually cleared both S-rank and A-rank in one go."
"So that means we can leave the academy now?" Kiana asked expectantly.
"Mm, take this." Himeko pulled an ID card from her chest and handed it to Kiana. "Show this to them, and they'll let you board the transport ship."
"Oh yeah! Thank you, Ms. Himeko!"
The Memory Battlefield's barrier slowly lifted, revealing a pink fox.
"Xing? How did you turn into this?" Kiana and the others had seen this form before, so they were not too surprised.
Himeko looked at the Memory Battlefield, blackened across the ground, and her face immediately darkened. "Tell me how you turned this place into such a mess."
"Bronya, hurry and take Xing with you. I'm going to use the Kaslana Family's ancestral secret technique."
"Secret technique? What is it?"
"Strategic retreat!"
"None of you are going anywhere!" Himeko's furious roar rang out.
Author's Note—
Mm, I gave things a tiny bit of angst. After all, things can't keep going smoothly forever, and didn't he immediately beat the guy back afterward? You guys aren't going to mail me razor blades, are you?
Sorry, Little Sakura! I'll go exchange for a Cherry Blossom Blizzard for you in the Exchange Space right away! (Sakura's weapon collection is only missing this one.)
Before you continue