Deadlock, Breakthrough, Exit

"I, I just died?" Cold sweat drenched her back. Recalling the feeling from just now, Xing still felt a lingering fear.

That kind of pain, that feeling of despair, she absolutely didn't want to experience it a second time. If she had to go through it many times, anyone would surely break down mentally.

"Now I can be sure, I'm in the Sakura Samsara Kai instance," Xing wiped the sweat from her forehead and took a deep breath to calm her emotions. "Calm down, don't panic, I need to think of a way to break through."

In the original Sakura Samsara, the world was constructed from Yae Sakura's Stigmata Space and her memories. However, Xing was currently facing Sakura Samsara Kai, so there was very little she could use as a reference.

Current deductions:

First, Crimson Prison Beast couldn't possibly have completely eroded his consciousness all at once, so it adopted the method used against Yae Sakura in the original story.

Second, according to the original story, to leave this place, he had to defeat Crimson Prison Beast's true form head-on. But the problem is, how can he do that in his current state? In the original story, Theresa was directly weakened to a combat power below 5 upon entering. If Mei hadn't brought the residual power of Kallen from the Stigmata Space, and if Judas hadn't been placed next to Theresa in reality, Crimson Prison Beast would have truly been able to possess Theresa's body.

Third, in this space, which theoretically should be composed of Crimson Prison Beast's memories, there seems to be something that wasn't in its memories. If Xing's deduction is correct, it means—

Wait a minute, doesn't he have Kallen's Stigmata? Judas should also be nearby. How did Crimson Prison Beast pull him in? And wasn't it sealed before?

Although the Kaslana family's Stigmata consciousness helped seal Crimson Prison Beast within him using Judas's power, wasn't a seal meant to be broken? When he received the super-transformation surgery, that seal had already begun to break. Later, when he merged with the Gem of Stillness and directly faced the Honkai Consciousness, Crimson Prison Beast had actually already been released by the Honkai Consciousness.

Although the Honkai Consciousness couldn't directly affect him due to Xing's # # # # rank, Crimson Prison Beast could slowly erode him.

When Xing released the Divine Blessing Barrier, although Crimson Prison Beast was also affected, Xing was exhausted, her Stigmata power was overused, and Yae Sakura was temporarily offline due to the Divine Blessing Barrier. For Crimson Prison Beast, this was an excellent opportunity.

But for some reason, Crimson Prison Beast always felt that deep within Xing's soul, there was something it couldn't easily touch...

—Divider—

"Sister Cat, please help me, I just want to see my sister!" Xing was persistently pleading with Pardofelis to help her escape.

Pardo shook her head like a rattle drum, "No, absolutely not. Although I believe you, Ling, aren't the twelfth Herrscher, if anyone found out I helped you escape, I'd definitely be torn apart into Pardo and Felis! I'd really die!"

"Then, if you help me escape, I'll give you lots of shiny things, okay?" Xing tried to appeal to Pardo's preferences.

"Eh, really?" The cat was instantly tempted but quickly reacted, "Still no! It's the most tragic thing to have money but no life to spend it. Besides, where would a little girl like you get shiny things? Do you think I'm a stupid cat?" Pardo's attitude was very firm.

Xing's expression instantly turned grim, "Sister Cat, just give me an answer, are you going to help or not?"

Pardo's answer was straightforward: "I really want to help, but I can't."

"Alright," Xing sighed, "Then the next time I see my sister, I'll tell her you stole her equipment back in Dusk Street..."

!!!

Pardo immediately covered her mouth and looked around to confirm no one was nearby before whispering to her, "How did you know?!"

"Hehe, guess~" Xing stuck out her tongue, feigning cuteness.

Since Pardo in this space knew about that incident, she scoffed, it seemed her deduction was correct.

Pardofelis frantically scratched her head, "Help, I might die afterward; don't help, I'll definitely die afterward. I, Pardofelis, am going all out!"

No choice, if that matter got out, she'd offend both Sakura and Chrono Chaos, and her life would definitely be forfeit!

With practiced skill, the cat pried open the observation room door and brought her out. "Good thing there are no surveillance facilities around here, or we'd be finished. Come on, Sister Cat will take you through the ventilation ducts. Luckily, we're both small."

Pardo went first, Xing followed. The two passed through the long ventilation ducts and finally arrived outside.

"I often climb this route, and I definitely won't run into anyone... Huh?!" As soon as Pardo put her down, Xing saw that dark gun muzzle again.

"Bang!"

Pardo, where's your ringblade? Are you acting? The shot Xing stared blankly at the astonished Pardofelis.

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

Damn, died again!

"Sister Cat, I heard my sister say your weapon shines and is very beautiful. Can I take a look?" Xing pleaded with Pardo.

"Sure, wait a moment, I'll go get the Illusory Dream of the Past," the cat bounced away.

So she just didn't bring it?

Pardo quickly returned with her ringblades and handed the pair she bought from Vill-V to Xing. "Here, pretty, right?"

"I'm sorry, Pardo," Xing took the ringblades, sincerely apologized to Pardo, and then cleanly sliced the ringblades across her own neck. They were indeed sharp; a slight touch opened a bloody gash on her neck.

"Aaaahhhh! Ling, what are you doing?" The last thing Xing saw was Pardo's expression of mixed terror and panic, and her scream.

If Crimson Prison Beast's goal is to drive me insane through infinite deaths, what will happen if I kill myself? If my deduction is correct, this is the key to breaking through!

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

"Ling! Are you okay?" A pair of familiar fox ears entered her vision.

"Wuwu, that's great, thank goodness you're okay, otherwise Sister Sakura would have made me into a cat-skin coat. Ling, quickly explain to your sister!" Pardo's tearful voice also reached her ears.

I guessed right.

Xing looked at that face and understood that it wasn't her Sakura, but the Herrscher of the previous era, Sakura.

"If I do this, sister will come see me, right?" Xing said to Sakura in a childlike tone.

"Do you know how dangerous that is? If Pardo hadn't brought you to the infirmary sooner, you would have died!" Sakura was both angry and scared. "And you, Pardo, how could you casually give her your weapon?"

Pardo's face crumpled, "I didn't expect it to turn out like this either..."

Just then, intense gunfire erupted from outside, startling the three of them.

A medical staff member rushed in, "It's bad! There's a group of rioting soldiers outside, they should be coming for Miss Ling. Please take her away quickly!"

"Leave?" Sakura said indifferently, "Why should I leave?" Endless biting cold emanated from her body, "My sister, can she really be bullied by others?"

The Spirit Blade · Cold Hell Ice Sky at her waist was unsheathed with an unwavering resolve, and the space was instantly frozen.

"How did you find out?" a hoarse voice echoed in Xing's mind.

"It's simple. There are things in this space that you absolutely couldn't know. Since they didn't come from you, they must have come from me. This means this is a world formed by our memories, yours and mine. Since it's a world of consciousness, it's easy to handle. People are influenced by their subconscious, and this is even more apparent when dreaming," Xing said unhurriedly.

"Do you know? When people die suddenly, their emotions are mostly filled with fear. Only those who wanted to commit suicide but lacked the courage will be filled with the desire to live at the moment of death. I deliberately committed suicide to trigger the subconscious survival mechanism, and in this space, it manifested my— no, it should be your sister, Sakura. Am I right, Ling?"

(Actually, it was just a gamble; he was prepared to die dozens of times.)

The world shattered and then instantly reconstructed. On the lifeless plain, Xing, restored to his original appearance, confronted a pink-haired girl.

"Don't call me by that name!" Crimson Prison Beast's words were filled with rage.

"Oh, I think it's quite cute," the young boy said, looking at her with interest. Wasn't this Crimson Prison Beast wearing the skin of Crimson Jade Beast in its adult form? "If you ask me, why not stop using these boring tactics and decide the winner in a way we both like?"

The corner of Crimson Prison Beast's mouth curved into an arc, "Alright, in the way you like."

Duel disks, loaded with decks, appeared in their hands.

"Huh?" Xing slowly typed a question mark.

"Isn't this the way you like? Anyway, it's essentially a battle of spirits, so the form doesn't matter. According to the rules of that duelist thing, the winner stays, and the loser leaves. Do you dare, inheritor of Kallen Kaslana?" Crimson Prison Beast provoked him.

"Come on, Xing Kaslana, I accept your challenge." Xing raised the duel disk in his hand.

Rather, he had no choice, because the control was now in Crimson Prison Beast's hands.

(PS: Xing doesn't know what cards are in his deck; he only knows the ones he printed before. Also, if he takes the deck out of the duel disk now, according to the rules, he'll be declared to have forfeited immediately~)

Author's Notes—

Since this is a small instance, the length won't be very long. After this is done, we can go dig up the ##.

Question: In Honkai Impact 3 fanfiction, those who play with () are all good people.

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