I Parried Your Parry of My Parry

He groggily opened his eyes and saw a Raven snapping photos incessantly. For a moment, he almost mistook the mature woman in front of him for Rita.

Noticing the boy was awake, Raven quickly snapped the last photo, then put away her camera. "Hey, little guy, you know what? Cute boys like you are worth way more on the black market than girls. (Hehe, these photos would definitely fetch a good price if made into a photobook. Even better if he'd cooperate with me in drag. Maybe I could trick him into debuting as an idol, and I'd be his manager? Wait, what am I thinking? Unless the pay's high, I won't do it.)"

Rita's infatuated face involuntarily floated into his mind. Just thinking about her made him furious. If he wasn't afraid that using too much of her Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross would give her a resistance or that she would discover something was wrong, he would definitely teach that scumbag maid a lesson!

Noticing Sachi's increasingly gloomy expression, Raven decisively gave him the order to leave, "Little guy, your nap time is over. If you stay here any longer, you'll be late."

I took out my pocket watch to check the time. Luckily, I left quickly. I accidentally fell asleep at her place and didn't even have time to find Kiana and Mei to test the new gameplay of the Bonded Weaponry. I'll talk about it when the Fire Moth organizes the team building event tonight.

Raven leaned against the doorway, watching the petite figure disappear from sight, a smile unconsciously creeping onto its lips. "The Gem of Stillness really is still on you, little one. Is this a performance to cooperate with Schicksal, or your own plan? Heh, it seems I don't need to worry about you anymore."

Just as Xing fell asleep, Raven used the latest Jackal Herrscher Core Detector on him, and detected the reaction of the Gem of Stillness and another unknown Herrscher Core inside his body.

Furthermore, she checked with the teacher next door, and it seemed that only Xing could see her true appearance; everyone else saw a blurred image. So the question is, why was he the only one unaffected?

"Could it be that you possess the Key of Consciousness? This is the most unlikely speculation, yet it is also the most fitting answer. You truly manage to bring me new surprises time and time again."

Raven's expression suddenly turned very strange, because she had taken the opportunity to give Sachi a physical examination, the kind where she had to take off a little bit of her clothes. The result—

The black-haired mature woman rubbed her forehead with one hand, "You really are a boy, huh? Your Stigmata even come with transformation abilities? Speaking of Stigmata, when did you get another one? Are you cheating, little guy?"

I have a feeling that if this child really joins World Serpent, he might become her superior.

——Divider——

In the afternoon's practical lesson, Himeko, who was in charge of the greatsword training, was explaining swordsmanship to the students who had chosen the greatsword elective. She specifically called out Rosalia, who had talked back to her in the office that morning. The girl had said Rosalia was very strong, and that this kind of lesson was unnecessary. Since that was the case—

"Rosalia, you fight Sachi. If you can beat him, you can sleep through my classes as much as you want from now on. Sachi, you are not allowed to use your Stigmata abilities; you can only fight with the most basic power."

Upon hearing this, Rosalia took the one-star greatsword used for training, tilted her head to look at the eager pink-haired loli, and confidently said, "Let me make it clear beforehand, I'm very strong!"

Hehe, watch how I crush you without using the Stigmata ability! (The Twins believed that a large part of Sachi's combat power came from the Stigmata, which is indeed true, but his normal strength is also that of a high-rank A-level.)

Instead of using her tail to carry her weapon, Rosalia, relying on the strength of Fusion Warrior, lifted her greatsword and charged forward with unstoppable momentum and brute force, swinging the greatsword at the leisurely-looking Xing.

Fortunately, he slowly moved his body away. Due to inertia, Rosalia couldn't stop and rushed past him. Because she rushed too fast, Rosalia lost her footing and fell onto the battle stage with a "thud".

Liliya, sitting in the audience, silently covered her face. This shameful thing, couldn't he have gotten closer before charging?

The thoughtful Xing helped Rosalia up from the ground, but the puffed-up pink fluffy girl slapped his hand away. "You jerk, why were you dodging me just now?"

Xing blinked, then spread her hands innocently, "Why should I stand there while you hit me?"

Liliya, sitting in the audience, silently turned her head away. This idiot, can't you stop embarrassing yourself?

The bratty kid was unreasonable. "I don't care! You're not allowed to hide now!"

Fortunately, he was very tolerant of the mischievous child. "Alright, alright, I'll take every sword strike you throw seriously." He raised the greatsword with one hand, a hint of blue appearing in his red pupils. (Activating the Kaslana bloodline doesn't count as using Stigmata ability; this is considered unleashing the maximum power of a strength-type ability.)

For some reason, when Liliya in the audience saw Sachi taking things seriously, she felt as if she were seeing a giant black beast radiating blue light.

Rosalia used all her strength to deliver a downward slash, "A sword strike to the head!" Fortunately, he remained calm and slowly raised his greatsword to parry, "Clang!" He caught it steadily.

"Again!" Rosalia, unwilling to give up, continued her attack. Fortunately, he calmly parried each blow, his expression utterly nonchalant. Seeing that he couldn't gain the upper hand, Rosalia unconsciously intensified her offensive, but her moves became even more scattered and disorganized. Fortunately, he simply endured her attacks, only defending and not counterattacking.

Five minutes later, Rosalia knelt on the battle platform, panting heavily, while Xing, on the other hand, hadn't even broken a sweat.

The little girl couldn't hold back anymore and hugged her younger sister, complaining, "Liliya, he bullied me!"

Liliya's eyes were full of contempt. "Idiot, this isn't bullying, this is teaching them a lesson. Your fighting power is not even in the same league as theirs, okay?"

Sachi stated that this was the easiest match he had ever played, bar none. Rosalia reminded him of Kiana, easily getting carried away with her emotions. However, Kiana does use her brain to some extent, while Rosalia, unless Liliya truly sacrifices herself to her sister to evolve into Delta, will likely have a long time before Rosalia grows up.

After a short rest, Rosalia, now refreshed, took to the field again with Liliya. Vodka Girls, here we come!

Yuki asked Himeko for a second greatsword, wielding one in each hand and switching to dual-wielding mode. Good grief, you've managed to turn a two-handed sword into a one-handed weapon.

Liliya bent down, her eyes gleaming. "Today I'll show you the power of the Orphanage Sword Saint!"

Suddenly, she moved, her body carrying a weapon, transforming into a streak of blue light, swiftly rushing towards the still calm young boy.

Fortunately, she raised her greatsword to parry as usual, and the two greatswords clashed violently, successfully blocking the attack. Liliya snorted disdainfully and swung her blade to launch another attack.

The interval between the two attacks was too short, and Rosalia was about to rush up from the side, so it was fortunate that the first attack was launched.

Good timing!

Liliya's eyes shone brightly. Just as Xing was about to launch an attack, she swung her sword, striking his weapon heavily, deflecting his greatsword, and unleashing her own sword technique.

Secret technique: parry!

Realizing her attack had been deflected, she instinctively increased her strength, striking Liliya's sword the instant she slashed. Because she hadn't had time to control her power, Liliya only felt a sharp pain in her hand, and the greatsword flew out of her grasp, tracing a graceful arc in the air before finally landing on the ground not far away.

I deflected it, you deflected it, I deflected it!

Liliya was completely dumbfounded. Could someone tell her what was going on?!

Seeing her dazed sister, Rosalia lost all desire to continue fighting. Damn, this is too much!

Seeing the twins who were beating up and became withdrawn, Xing scratched his head in frustration, completely puzzled. He had been letting them have their way all along, hadn't he?

Suddenly, Rosalia had a flash of inspiration. She pointed at the two greatswords in Sachi's hands and shouted, "You're bullying us! Boys fighting girls with weapons? Can't you be a little more considerate of us?"

The audience below the stage was incredibly embarrassed. Please, do you dare to take any more advantage?

Fortunately, he discarded the two low-level greatswords and agreed without hesitation, "Okay, I'll go change my clothes and come back." He then turned and walked off the dueling platform.

Five minutes later—

A tall, handsome young man with long, flowing hair, dressed in a clean and neat martial arts outfit, and with white hair and red eyes, jumped onto the platform and assumed the starting stance of the Cun Xin Fist Style. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

The audience, both on and off stage, were dumbfounded. "Who are you?"

Fortunately, he then remembered that he had never mentioned that he could switch forms. "Oh, let me explain. I have two original natural Stigmata, which correspond to two different bloodlines in my body. The balance between them determines my appearance. What you saw before was my Kaslana Stance, and what you see now is my Shenzhou Citizen Appearance."

Happiness, a complex type, here I come!

Since the news of her having multiple Stigmata has already spread, it doesn't matter much if she reveals her ability to switch forms. Besides, it's not like she's exposing Yae Sakura's power, so it's not a big problem.

Xingchao waved to the twins and said flippantly, "Come on, baby~"

Unsurprisingly, the two were furious. How could they be so arrogant? It was truly "tolerable!" (PS: I checked the classics and found that the saying "a scholar can tolerate anything, but what cannot be tolerated" is incorrect.)

Seeing the twins swinging their greatswords at him, Sachi smiled slightly. "Good timing!"

With a burst of speed, he charged directly at the two, dodging the slashes with a few quick movements. He was positioned right between the twins, using the Transformation Technique: Ink Chrysanthemum!

Xing Piaoran's figure flickered around the two of them. Before they could react to what was happening, the twins felt a pain all over their bodies and collapsed limply. Xing reached out and steadily caught the pink and blue twins who had been completely defeated by him.

"Liliya, is he cheating?"

"Idiot Rosalia, be more confident and remove the 'can't' from your name."

Fu Hua was watching from the sidelines, clapped her hands with satisfaction. It was worth all the hard work she had put into beating him up these past few days; the results were remarkable!

——Divider——

Within Fu Hua's Guardian's Stigmata Space, Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross and Feather Crossing Dust floated quietly together, circling around Fu Hua's Cloud Ink Dan Xin shape. The immortal sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, like a rag doll that couldn't speak.

This is the manifestation of Fu Hua's 50,000 years of memories in this Stigmata Space. It is essentially the same as the Kallen (personality fragment) in the neighboring Kallen Hymn who is always in a daze. It's just that she has not developed her own consciousness. Now she is being slowly absorbed and digested by Hsing, becoming part of his power.

Cang Xuan and Dan Zhu leaned against her, a hint of longing in their eyes.

"Cang Xuan, do you think Hua can ever turn back?"

"Definitely! Even if she can't regain her memories, we'll create new ones for her!"

"Yes! Keep it up! Keep it up! Keep it up!"

The black and white twins were full of energy. Jilin, who was practicing swordsmanship not far away, glanced over and felt that she shouldn't join the conversation.

Jilin put down the Xuanyuan Sword, wiped non-existent beads of sweat from her forehead, and suddenly felt a sense of confusion. How was she supposed to go on? Was she just to continue being Xing's blade? There would always be a stronger weapon to replace her one day, and then what reason would she have to live?

She was ultimately a remnant soul from ancient times, completely unlike Cang Xuan Dan Zhu who could integrate into modern society. For Jilin, there was almost nothing in this era that she felt close to, except for them...

Just then, Xing's voice came from the real world into the Stigmata Space: "Dinner's ready!"

Who cares! Let's eat first! Besides, let's put aside our conservative ideas. Those comics and novels aren't actually unacceptable. Let's adapt to the times and make changes!

And so, the girl named Jilin completely let go of all her worries and fully integrated into Xing's Stigmata Space, just as Yae Sakura completely integrated her consciousness into her Stigmata, becoming a part of the Stigmata Fu Hua: Border Guard.

Author's Note—

Jilin's current status is similar to that of Stigmata consciousness. Yae Sakura is also Stigmata consciousness within her Stigmata. Kallen Hymn does not have her own Stigmata consciousness.