Awakened Corrosion

PS: Since You Hui was moving platforms, some shorter chapters would be combined into longer ones. No content would be cut, so original You Hui readers could rest assured, and new readers, enjoy yourselves~

When Xing and Yae Sakura jointly unleashed the Divine Blessing Barrier, everyone nearby was affected to varying degrees. Welt and the others, who had been farther away, only felt slightly unwell, but those closer by—

"Captain, all the instruments have stopped running!" (Didn't capture footage after Xing activated the Divine Blessing Barrier.)

"Captain, we can't use Honkai Energy anymore!"

"Captain..."

Rita awkwardly watched Xing, who had been in free fall, get carried away by the arriving Welt. Lord Bishop, it wasn't that they were slacking off. They really couldn't do anything!

PS: In the distance, Welt had used his authority to create a motorcycle and sped over like the wind.

Having exhausted its energy, Judah shrank down to an ultra-miniature size and became a bracelet around Xing's left wrist. Looking at the boy in his arms, dressed in nothing but an oversized dress, Welt fell into deep thought. He had bathed with Xing in the hot springs at St. Freya Academy before, so he naturally knew Xing's real gender. But what had just happened? Those two mounds on his chest couldn't have grown out of nowhere.

Could the Gem of Stillness's power have temporarily altered his body structure? Welt guessed.

Forget it. There was no point thinking about this. Welt rode off on his motorcycle in a hurry.

A minute later, Durandal finally arrived on the Moonfrost Drive and found the Immortal Blades staring wide-eyed at one another across the ground.

Durandal: Confused (Top)

Rita: Awkward (Middle)

Immortal Blades: Miserable (Bottom)

"Teacher Welt, is Xing all right?" The moment Welt got off the motorcycle, the three Fire Moth members rushed over anxiously.

"He's fine. I checked his body with the Herrscher of Reason's power. It seems he simply overexerted himself. He should wake up after getting some sleep." Welt handed the unconscious Xing over to Kiana.

The three of them sighed in relief. Kiana immediately returned to her usual self. "I never thought the uncle who taught us history was actually the First Herrscher!" The girl's face was full of gossip.

Tesla pondered for a moment. "I remember Mei and she are both Herrschers, right? Should St. Freya Academy change its name to Herrscher Academy?" Lobster Doctor's mockery had arrived.

The white-haired little ball of fluff instantly bristled. "Who are you calling Herrscher Academy?!" (Aren't you the least qualified person here to say that?)

"Idiot Kiana, don't disturb Xing's rest." Bronya's icy gaze frightened Kiana so badly that she hid behind Mei, trembling.

Welt hesitated for a moment before deciding to clarify Xing's gender in advance. "When I examined him just now, I found that he's a perfectly normal boy. He doesn't have any feminine characteristics whatsoever."

Σ(っ °Д °;)っ×4

"Yang, did you get that wrong? Then where did that curvy girl from before come from?" Tesla looked like she had been told a bad joke.

"The Gem of Stillness's power probably changed his body temporarily. Speaking of which, while Judah's effect is still active, we need to remove the Gem of Stillness from his body as soon as possible. Otherwise, its effects on him will be unpredictable." He looked at the three Fire Moth members. "You'll have to stay at Anti-Entropy's base for a while. If you don't want to, that's fine too. If you trust us, leave him with us for now. Once he returns to normal, we'll naturally send him back to you."

Tesla added from the side, "But first, we'll have to erase your memories. After all, you know far too many things you weren't supposed to know." Tesla's fist twitched eagerly.

"We're definitely staying with Xing until he wakes up." Captain Kiana made the decision.

"Where... am I?" Xing opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

He struggled into a sitting position on the bed and looked around. This place resembled Jackal's laboratory from before, except there weren't nearly as many experimental instruments here.

A feeling of weakness washed over him. Looking at his pale, tender hands, he muttered, "Is this because of Judah? Wait, where did my stigmata go?!" He frantically looked at the back of his hand. Kallen and Yae Sakura's stigmata had completely vanished.

"Sakura, are you there?" He tried calling for the Miko, but that voice did not answer.

Did Schicksal or World Serpent capture me? Fear began to grow inside Xing's heart.

"Creak!" Xing turned around in horror and saw the window in the wall being pulled open. A mature purple-haired woman appeared before his eyes.

"Mei?" The woman looked extremely similar to Mei, but both her aura and figure far surpassed the Raiden Mei he knew. More importantly, Xing sensed a scholarly presence unique to the purple-haired woman, something very different from Mei.

PS: Mei in Honkai Impact 3rd was originally black-haired and only turned purple after becoming a Herrscher. You can refer to the armor models in the game.

"You know me? Sakura must have told you, then. Don't be afraid, Rin. Tell me how you feel right now." Dr. Mei looked at the bewildered girl before her. Even she had a bit of a headache at that moment. Humanity had only recently defeated the Herrscher of Binding, yet another Herrscher had been born. Although Honkai Energy reactions had been detected in this girl's body, she had not displayed a Herrscher's destructive power, nor had she lost her mind. What was going on?

"Rin? My name is Xing!" He corrected her.

Dr. Mei frowned slightly and began asking him related questions.

After a round of questioning, Xing could basically confirm the following points:

1. The woman before him was definitely not the Mei he knew, but she did match the Dr. Mei from his memories;

2. He seemed to have become a girl named Rin. That name reminded him of Hiyokomaru;

3. According to the information given by the purple-haired woman, he was currently in a situation where he could be killed at any moment.

If none of those judgments were wrong, then combined with the other information he had just obtained, he had most likely traveled to the Previous Civilization... yeah, right.

"Crimson Prison Beast did this, didn't she?" In the original plot, after Yae Sakura entrusted her power to Theresa, Crimson Prison Beast manipulated her Stigmata Space and trapped her in an endless loop, hoping to crush Yae Sakura's will. If Xing had guessed correctly, he was now receiving the same treatment. The only difference was that he had fallen into Crimson Prison Beast's memories.

What should he do? According to the original development, soldiers were about to... kill him next!

"Are your memories in disorder? Get some rest first. I'll have someone bring you food and water later." Dr. Mei turned to leave.

"Wait, I want to see my sister!" Xing hurriedly called out.

"Sakura is carrying out a mission outside right now. She can't come back for the time being."

No, at this point in time, Sakura should have been at Fire Moth's base.

"What about Fu Hua?" Xing still refused to give up.

"She told you quite a lot. Fu Hua is away on business as well."

"What about Pardofelis?" Xing clung to his last lifeline.

"Who is that?" A rare look of confusion appeared on Dr. Mei's face, but almost instantly, it shifted into calm composure. "Pardo Felis, you want to see her, correct? I'll call her over." With that, she left.

"Whew..." Xing breathed a sigh of relief, but something still felt wrong. Had Dr. Mei's expression changed too quickly just now? Well, it made sense. Pardo was merely one of the many second-generation Fusion Warriors. If not for the tragedy of Binding, she would never have earned a place among the Thirteen Flame-Chasers. It was already impressive enough that Dr. Mei remembered her.

But something still seemed strange. What was it?

Xing was still thinking when a lively voice reached his ears. "Yo, hello! You must be Sister Sakura's little sister, Rin, right? I'm Pardofelis. Just call me Big Sis Cat!" A scantily dressed cat-eared girl skipped into the room.

Awesome, a living kitty!

"H-hello, I'm Rin." Xing had not watched Elysian Realm's storyline. Otherwise, he would have been incredibly excited right now.

"I brought you some desserts. Don't be polite, go ahead and eat. Just remember to have Sister Sakura reimburse me afterward." The black-hearted merchant Pardo wore a wicked grin.

"Big Sis Cat, um, where is my sister right now?" Xing asked Pardo.

"Ah, I think Boss Kevin called her away. Said there was some urgent mission or something. I'm not too sure. I'm not good at fighting, and the only reason I've survived this long is pure luck. Hehe~" The kitty smiled adorably. Xing looked at the two cat ears atop her head and really wanted to touch them.

"W-what are you looking at my ears for? You don't want to touch them, do you? No way! They're really sensitive!" Pardo's tail stood straight up in fright. She pulled a chubby cat out from behind her and tossed it to him. "If you want to pet something, pet Can. Don't get any ideas about me!"

The soft and adorable Can felt wonderful to pet, but something still felt off. What exactly was it? Xing stroked the cat until Felis left before he remembered that he had forgotten to ask her to help him escape.

Based on Pardo's storyline in Elysian Realm, if he asked her for help, she would most likely agree. He would have Dr. Mei call her over again tomorrow.

That night, in the dim observation room, Xing tossed and turned on the bed, unable to fall asleep. "Strange, what is this feeling? It's like I overlooked some clue."

Closing his eyes, he rapidly replayed everything that had happened today in his mind. Dr. Mei, the absent Sakura and Fu Hua, the enthusiastic Pardofelis, and the soft, adorable Can. Speaking of which, Pardo had it rough. She clearly loved cats so much, but after becoming a Fusion Warrior, cats never wanted to approach her again. It was only after she uploaded her memory into Elysian Realm that, for some unknown reason, Can was born and stayed by her side...

Wait!

A bolt of lightning struck through his mind. He finally understood where that strange sense of discord came from. Can only existed in Pardo's memory, so how could it possibly appear in reality? And in this memory, no less?! Dr. Mei could not possibly have known Pardo's name either! Before this, Pardo had merely been an ordinary Fusion Warrior with no military achievements to her name!

What was going on? Xing abruptly sat up. Just as he was about to slowly sort through his thoughts, the observation room door was violently pulled open. A crazed soldier entered with a gun, its black muzzle aimed at the girl's terrified face.

"Die, Herrscher!" The merciless roar of gunfire rang through the cramped observation room. Several bloody blossoms erupted across the girl's body, and crimson blood stained the laboratory walls red.

Xing collapsed in a pool of blood, his body gradually growing cold. It hurt. It hurt so much. His body felt light and floaty...

"Great! We took down another Herrscher without lifting a finger!" The soldiers cheered around the girl's cold corpse, failing to notice the hatred in her wide-open eyes.

"Where... am I?" Xing opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

Additional setting: Although the target of Bonded Weaponry must possess consciousness, it ultimately depends on Xing's definition of Bonded Weaponry. Why do you think it is called Bonded Weaponry?

Oh, and regarding duels, barring any surprises, if duel chapters appear again in this book, they should all be battles between original You Hui cards.