"Did I just die?" Cold sweat soaked Xing's back. Recalling what she had just felt, she still had lingering fear.
She never wanted to experience that pain and despair a second time. If she had to go through it many times, anyone would probably suffer a mental breakdown.
"Now I can be sure that I'm in the Sakura Samsara instance." Xing wiped the sweat from her forehead and took a deep breath to steady her emotions. "Stay calm. Don't panic. Think carefully about how to break this deadlock."
In the original Sakura Samsara, that world had been formed from Yae Sakura's Stigmata Space and her memories. But what Xing faced now was Sakura Samsara Kai, so there was very little she could draw upon.
Her current deductions:
First, Crimson Prison Beast definitely could not erode her mind completely in one go, so it had adopted the method used against Yae Sakura in the original story;
Second, according to the original story, to leave this place, she had to defeat Crimson Prison Beast's true form head-on. But how was she supposed to do that in her current state? When Theresa entered in the original story, she had immediately been weakened into trash with a combat power below five. If Mei had not brought the remnants of Kallen's power within the Stigmata Space, and if Judah had not been right beside Theresa in reality, Crimson Prison Beast really could have taken over Theresa's body;
Third, in this space supposedly formed from Crimson Prison Beast's memories, there seemed to be things that did not exist in its memories. If Xing's deduction was correct, then that meant—
Wait, didn't she have Kallen's Stigmata? Judah should have been nearby too. How had Crimson Prison Beast pulled her in? And hadn't it been sealed away before?
Although the Kaslana family's stigmata consciousness had helped seal Crimson Prison Beast inside her body using Judah's power, weren't seals made to be broken? When she underwent the Super-Transformation Surgery, that seal had already begun to crack. Later, when she fused with the Gem of Stillness and confronted the Honkai Consciousness, Crimson Prison Beast had actually been released by the Honkai Consciousness.
Although the Honkai Consciousness could not directly influence her due to Xing＃＃＃＃'s status, Crimson Prison Beast could slowly erode her.
When Xing unleashed the Divine Blessing Barrier, Crimson Prison Beast had also been affected. But Xing had exhausted her stamina and overused the power of her stigmata, while Yae Sakura had temporarily gone offline because of the Divine Blessing Barrier. To Crimson Prison Beast, this was a perfect opportunity.
Yet for some reason, Crimson Prison Beast felt that there was something deep within Xing's soul that it could not easily touch...
"Pardo, please help me. I just want to see my sister!" Xing was begging and wheedling, asking Pardofelis to help her escape.
Pardo shook her head like a rattle. "No, absolutely not! I believe you're not some Twelfth Herrscher, Rin, but if anyone finds out I helped you escape, I'll definitely get split into Pardo and Felis! I'll 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 girl was instantly tempted, but quickly came to her senses. "Still no! Having money but no life left to spend it is the most miserable thing ever. Besides, where would a little girl like you get shiny things? Do you take me for some dumb cat?" Pardo's attitude was extremely firm.
Xing's expression instantly darkened. "Pardo, give me a straight answer. Are you helping or not?"
Pardo answered decisively, "I really want to help, but I can't."
"Fine." Xing sighed. "Then next time I see my sister, I'll tell her that you were the one who stole her equipment in Twilight Street..."
!!!
Pardo clapped a hand over her mouth. After looking around to make sure no one was nearby, she whispered, "How did you know that?!"
"Hehe, you tell me~" Xing stuck out her tongue, putting on a cute act.
Since even the Pardo in this space knew about that incident, hehe, it seemed her deduction had been right.
Pardofelis was so anxious she nearly scratched her head raw. "Help, and I might die afterward. Don't help, and I'll definitely die afterward. I, Pardofelis, am going all in!"
She had no choice. If that matter got out, she would at least offend both Sakura and Kalpas. Her little life definitely would not be safe!
The cat girl skillfully pried open the observation room door and led her out. "Good thing there aren't any surveillance devices nearby, or we'd both be completely done for. Come on, come on, Pardo will take you through the ventilation ducts. Good thing we're both small."
Pardo went ahead while Xing followed. The two crawled through the long ventilation ducts and finally reached the outside.
"I crawl this route all the time. We definitely won't run into anyone... Huh?!" Pardo had just carried her down when Xing saw that dark gun barrel again.
Bang!
Pardo, where were your ring blades? Were you putting on an act? The shot Xing stared gloomily at the stunned Pardofelis.
"Where... am I?" Xing opened her eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
Damn it, I died again!
"Pardo, I heard from my sister that your weapon shines beautifully. Could you let me take a look?" Xing pleaded with Pardo.
"Sure, wait a moment. I'll go get Illusory Dream of the Past." The cat girl skipped away.
So she hadn't brought it with her?
Pardo quickly returned with her ring blades. She handed Xing the pair of ring blades she had bought from Vill-V. "Here, pretty, right?"
"Sorry, Pardo." Xing took the ring blades and sincerely apologized to Pardo. Then she decisively drew one across her neck. They really were sharp; the slightest touch sliced open her throat.
"Ahhhhh! Rin, what are you doing?!" The last thing Xing saw was Pardo's horrified expression and her scream.
Since Crimson Prison Beast's goal was to drive me mentally insane through endless deaths, what would happen if I sought death myself? If my deduction is correct, this is the key to breaking the deadlock!
"Where... am I?" Xing opened her eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
"Rin! Are you okay?" A pair of familiar fox ears entered her field of vision.
"Waaah, thank goodness you're okay. Otherwise, Sakura would turn me into a cat-fur coat. Rin, hurry up and explain it to your sister!" Pardo's tearful voice reached her ears as well.
I guessed right.
Xing looked at that face and understood that this was not her Sakura, but Sakura, the Fusion Warrior from the Previous Era.
"If I do this, my sister will come see me, right?" Xing said to Sakura, imitating a little girl's voice.
"Do you know how dangerous that was? If Pardo had brought you to the medical room any later, you would already be dead!" Sakura was both angry and frightened. "And you, Pardo, how could you just hand her a weapon?"
Pardo wore a miserable expression. "I never thought this would happen..."
Just then, intense gunfire rang out from outside, startling all three of them.
A medic rushed in. "This is bad! There's a group of rioting soldiers outside. They seem to be coming for Miss Rin. Please take her away immediately!"
"Leave?" Sakura said calmly. "Why should we leave?" Endless cold surged from her body. "Who says anyone can bully my little sister?"
Spirit Blade · Cold Hell Ice Sky at her waist left its sheath with unwavering resolve, and space itself froze in an instant.
"How did you figure it out?" A hoarse voice echoed in Xing's mind.
"It was simple. There are things in this space that you absolutely could not know. Since they didn't come from you, they must have come from me. That means this is a world jointly formed from your memories and mine. Since it's a world of consciousness, that makes things easy. People are influenced by their subconscious, and that becomes even more obvious in dreams." Xing spoke unhurriedly.
"Do you know? When people die suddenly, their emotions are usually filled with fear. Only those who want to commit suicide but lack the courage are filled with a desire to survive at the moment of death. I deliberately killed myself to trigger my subconscious survival instinct, manifesting my—no, I should say your sister, Sakura, in this space. Am I right, Rin?"
Actually, it was just a gamble. She had already prepared herself to die dozens of times.
The world shattered, then reconstructed itself in an instant. On a lifeless plain, Xing, restored to her original appearance, faced a pink-haired girl.
"Don't call me by that name!" Crimson Prison Beast's words were full of rage.
"Heh, I think it's pretty cute." The boy looked at her with interest. Wasn't this just Hiyokomaru's skin over Crimson Prison Beast in an adult form? "I say we stop using these boring tricks. How about we settle this in a way we both like?"
Crimson Prison Beast's lips curled into a smile. "Sure. Your preferred way."
Duel disks loaded with card decks appeared in both their hands.
"Huh?" Xing slowly put out a question mark.
"Isn't this the way you like? Anyway, this is fundamentally a battle of minds, so the form doesn't matter. According to those duelist rules, the winner stays and the loser leaves. Do you dare, heir of Kallen Kaslana?" Crimson Prison Beast taunted her.
"Come on, Xing Kaslana. I accept your challenge." Xing raised the duel disk in her hand.
Rather, she had no choice, because Crimson Prison Beast now held the initiative.
(PS: Xing doesn't know what cards are in the deck. She only knows the ones she printed before. Oh, and if she takes the deck out of the duel disk now, the rules say she'll be judged to have surrendered immediately~)
Author's Note—
Since this is a small instance, it won't be very long. Once this is over, I can go dig up ＃＃.
Question: In Honkai Impact 3rd fanfics, anyone who plays with parentheses is a good person.
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