Making Connections (Bonus Chapter) / Crimson Oni: Time to Strike While They're Vulnerable!

"You..."

The girl's arrogant, unrestrained expression froze on her face. Her eyes filled with confusion and panic, but the pain of her body being pierced left her unable to say anything.

Beneath the girl, the giant tree that had impaled the entire school building seemed to lose its vitality as well after her body was pierced.

"..."

Looking at the girl's frozen eyes, Gwen frowned. He glanced at the data analysis Prometheus had displayed on his visor and prepared to pull away.

But at that moment, two pale hands gripped the silver-white shaft of the spear. Dead-like eyes glared at Gwen as a hoarse voice rang out again:

"It hurts so much... why?

Why are you killing me?

Why do I have to be killed by you?

Killed by you, just like I was bullied by those bitches?"

The hoarse voice grew louder and more hysterical.

As the Simulated Herrscher questioned him again and again, the Honkai Energy that had begun to subside surged once more. The giant tree, which had seemed to be withering just moments ago, burst back to life. Countless vines swept upward, intending to bind Gwen together with the girl whose body had been pierced.

"If it was only that shot just now, you wouldn't have died."

Facing the Simulated Herrscher's hysterical questions and the oncoming poisonous mist and vines, Gwen answered calmly.

Though he did not have the same special feelings toward this Simulated Herrscher as he did toward Kiana and Raiden Mei, Gwen did not mind saving her if he could.

And as Gwen had said, that shot would not have killed her directly.

But—

"Wouldn't die?

Wouldn't... die..."

The Simulated Herrscher's voice became incomparably dry, like a duck whose throat had been gripped. Then she began laughing again, wild and manic—

"Hehe...

Hahaha...

Who are you trying to fool?!

Liar! Liar! Liar!

You're all in this together!"

Without caring whether it would further injure her, the Simulated Herrscher simply gripped the spear shaft tightly, forcing more of it into her body as she roared hysterically.

"..."

Looking at that face twisted beyond recognition by rage and hatred, Gwen said nothing more. Without the slightest mercy, he withdrew his spear—

To avoid killing her with a single strike, Gwen had deliberately retracted the wings of the Spark Gun, turning it into the form of an ordinary spear.

A sweep of energy shook all the blood from the spear. Gwen moved like lightning, charging out of the spreading poisonous mist and smashing through the vines that had already sealed shut and were growing thicker layer by layer.

Under the setting sun, Gwen looked down at the layers of vines, which were wrapped around each other and frantically releasing poisonous mist into the outside world. He needed no further thought—

Prometheus's analysis matched Gwen's own senses exactly—

The Simulated Herrscher whose body Gwen had pierced earlier was no longer truly her.

Her true self had already become the giant tree wrapped within those countless vines.

Without any sighs or judgments, Gwen calmly issued an order—

"Prometheus, activate annihilation mode."

"Yes."

As the command was accepted, enormous Honkai Energy fluctuations suddenly erupted from Gwen's body. Within a dark blue glow, countless guns and cannons unfolded alongside the immense pressure rising from him, blooming with the light of destruction.

The Extreme Knight Moon Sky All-Domain Combat Armor had not earned its name for nothing. Other than Gwen, who was racing headlong toward the realm of the inhuman, no one could use it. Its name meant that its power in every field had been pushed to the utmost extreme.

Half a minute later, Gwen had put away the armaments capable of annihilating an entire tide of Honkai Beasts. He stared silently at the massive crater where the giant tree and school had once stood, then slowly descended and retrieved a crystal pulsing with Honkai Energy from the ruins...

Looking at the Simulated Herrscher Core, its pitted surface seeming to represent the girl's life filled with hardship, Gwen let out a soft breath and stored it in the containment compartment the armor had prepared for such hazardous items.

"Phew..."

Letting out a long breath, Gwen looked at the still-dense poisonous mist in the sky and could not help shaking his head lightly.

At present, although Gwen would not be harmed by the poisonous mist, he had no good way to quickly disperse it—

Especially with another Simulated Herrscher nearby.

His gaze passed through the poisonous mist and landed on a patch of ruins in the distance. A pair of pink fox ears flashed past. If Gwen had not already been paying attention, he might have suspected he was hallucinating.

"Fortunately, Yae Sakura is still the one in control of her body, not Hiyori Maru."

Muttering inwardly, Gwen headed toward where those pink fox ears had appeared.

"Aili, how is your relationship with Ling?"

As he walked along at an unhurried pace, Gwen asked Alicia, who had remained silent in his mind throughout the battle.

"Ling?

You mean..."

Upon hearing Gwen's question, Alicia immediately responded. She clearly had not disconnected; she had simply not wanted to interfere with Gwen's battle earlier.

"Sakura's younger sister, Ling, who became the Herrscher of Erosion after being killed."

Gwen was succinct.

"...Of course."

Though it was not a topic she liked, Alicia did not avoid it.

"Why bring up Ling all of a sudden?"

"How is your relationship with her?"

"Mm... it was alright..."

Feeling guilty that she had not been there when that lively child had needed her most, Alicia did not use her usual favorite way of describing things.

"Mm. If possible, act according to the situation later."

After saying that cryptic sentence, Gwen suddenly accelerated. In a flash, he arrived atop an abandoned building.

Having left the densest area of poisonous mist and entered a region where its concentration could be ignored, Gwen directly removed his armor—

Though he could still subdue Hiyori Maru through sheer strength even if a conflict broke out, Gwen removed his armor just in case. At the same time, he sent away the Simulated Herrscher Core stored inside it to prevent any accidents.

If he actually gave Hiyori Maru, a virtual virus, another ability involving biological toxins, then Gwen truly would be beyond redemption no matter how many times he died.

Stretching his body, which was somewhat sore from activating annihilation mode, Gwen walked to the edge of the rooftop and called out to the silently wandering shrine maiden below.

"Miss shrine maiden, please wait."

Yae Sakura, who had sensed the fluctuations of battle and grown concerned, had only just returned to the vicinity of the tall building whose purpose she did not know—a school.

However, when Yae Sakura arrived, all she saw was the figure in the sky descending with destructive light, reducing the corrupted girl and that entire building—the school—to flat ground.

From their earlier encounter, Yae Sakura had already gained some understanding of what kind of being that corrupted girl was. She looked from afar, and upon seeing that nothing remained of her body, chose to turn and leave, ignoring Hiyori Maru's frantic urging in her mind to go forward and seize something.

After awakening from her sleep, everything had changed. All that she knew had been left behind in history.

Like a lonely wandering ghost, Yae Sakura walked amid these prosperous ruins, with neither goal nor purpose...

If she had to name one, though she did not hold much hope, the only thing Yae Sakura wanted to do was try to find traces of the person who had once existed.

However, regardless of whether she searched for traces of Kallen, Yae Sakura did not want to come into contact with someone so terrifying—

Yae Sakura still clearly remembered Hiyori Maru saying that the corrupted girl was someone similar to herself, but far inferior.

Though she upheld the principle that "not a single word Hiyori Maru says can be trusted," letting it go in one ear and out the other, she had still instinctively kept away from the figure who had destroyed the girl.

What Yae Sakura had not expected was that she had encountered someone the moment she left the poisonous zone.

Still, what relieved Yae Sakura was that she had not found anyone blocking her from the other directions. If necessary, she could simply run.

"Who might you be...?"

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Yae Sakura looked at the figure greeting her from the rooftop. She turned sideways and drew the long blade at her waist slightly, her expression wary.

"My name is Gwen. As for my identity..."

Seeing that Yae Sakura had not immediately turned and left, but instead seemed willing to speak, Gwen's heart stirred. As he spoke, he flipped down from the tall building and landed steadily while Yae Sakura hesitated over whether she should save him.

"I came to deal with the Honkai incident in Changkong City—this place."

"Then please carry on with your work. I will not interfere with you, and I hope you do not come looking for trouble with me."

Not knowing what era this was, Yae Sakura looked at the smiling Gwen before her. Already aware that he was no ordinary person, she grew even more wary. Her steady tone carried an undisguised warning.

"Of course I won't trouble unrelated people for no reason."

Gently shaking his head, Gwen looked at the pink-haired shrine maiden's wary expression and said:

"I merely found you familiar-looking, Miss Shrine Maiden, and wanted to offer whatever help I could..."

"Thank you, but I don't need any help."

Yae Sakura shook her head. Under the covert manipulation of someone who had remained silent, a considerable sense of danger arose in her heart. All she wanted now was to get away from him.

Still, Yae Sakura's consciousness was currently dominant. Though influenced by Hiyori Maru, Gwen's goodwill made her instinctively add one more sentence.

"Don't come near me. It's dangerous..."

"Miss Shrine Maiden, you really are kind..."

Gwen softly remarked, roughly able to guess what the shrine maiden before him was thinking. Then, under Yae Sakura's astonished gaze—her expression having relaxed somewhat because she thought Gwen was leaving—he said:

"That makes it even more impossible for me to simply let you leave."

"I told you, I'm dangerous."

Influenced by a certain mastermind, the shrine maiden instinctively thought of some unpleasant possibilities and took a step back. The long blade that had already been sheathed was drawn again partway as she frowned.

"Of course. I know what is sealed inside your body, perhaps even better than you do yourself.

That is why I must stop you from leaving."

Gwen's expression and tone did not change in the slightest because of Yae Sakura's words or expression.

"It is both to prevent her from causing even greater destruction and to protect your life, Miss Shrine Maiden."

"You..."

Hearing Gwen's words, Yae Sakura's grip on her long blade loosened slightly. Frowning, she asked:

"You know Hiyori Maru exists?"

"Of course. Though her identity is rather secret, the story of Saintess Kallen sealing the demon inside a box in the Far East five hundred years ago remains widely known."

"Five hundred years ago?"

Yae Sakura decisively ignored the fact that she herself seemed to have been used to seal the demon in the box and could not help crying out.

"Yes, five hundred years ago."

Gwen nodded and explained:

"Even modern Schicksal was founded after the allied forces gathered under Saintess Kallen's name defeated the decayed Old Schicksal."

"Then Kallen..."

Though she had stopped hoping the moment she learned it was now five hundred years later, Yae Sakura could not help feeling a faint hope rise in her heart...

"Five hundred years ago, Saintess Kallen sacrificed herself while resisting the corrupt old nobility of that era."

Gwen gently shook his head and gave the cruel answer to the shrine maiden whose eyes were filled with expectation.

Of course, to prevent the shrine maiden before him from collapsing outright and releasing the boss inside her body, Gwen added:

"However, although she sacrificed herself, Saintess Kallen's spirit has forever guided those who came after her."

"..."