Honkai, I'll Transform and Punch You Right Away

Some of the millennia-old buildings bore traces of modern technology. Bai Chen had originally thought they would all be mud houses.

It was not strange when he thought about it. It seemed that the reason Chi You had been born a thousand years ago was because Fu Hua and the others had taught the ancients, causing technology to develop too quickly.

And Honkai grew more difficult as civilization became stronger...

It was hard to imagine how devastating the casualties had been back then. Fu Hua had merely been absent, and everyone she knew around her had been wiped out by a single Honkai Beast.

While pitying those people from the past, Bai Chen quickened his pace. This time, he had come to put an end to that tragedy.

According to the readings on the instrument, there were three locations in this area with abnormal Honkai energy. They should be the two seals and Chi You's core from the original story.

In the original story, the protagonists had lacked sufficient firepower and could only use Hyperion's main cannon to destroy the three locations. But that was not something he needed to worry about. He had ways to do it without Hyperion.

In the game, the scene of Theresa using the main cannon to attack Chi You had been recycled three times.

There was almost no sign of anything living inside Chi You, including Honkai Beasts. After all, it had been sealed for thousands of years; any ordinary creature would have long since died completely.

With nothing obstructing him, Bai Chen did not spend much time before arriving before a massive Honkai energy crystal. He vaguely sensed that there was something inside it.

Drive: [Cleansing Seven Thunders: Roar]

Bai Chen drew a purple blade from a patch of phantasmal light. In terms of destructive power, this weapon ranked among the very best.

After taking out the weapon, Bai Chen merely slashed the crystal with Cleansing Seven Thunders. Purple lightning immediately burst from the Divine Key and rapidly disintegrated the crystal.

Within a few breaths, the massive Honkai energy crystal had been completely broken down.

The instant it was fully disintegrated, a stone tablet fell out from within.

"What is this?"

Bai Chen picked up the stone tablet and examined it carefully, but he had no idea what it was. Had the game's story ever explained this? He could not remember clearly.

Just then, the card Bai Chen had originally prepared for Jilin suddenly began to glow, as though it had sensed something.

"Hm?"

Bai Chen took out the card curiously. He was confused; Jilin clearly was not here. Shouldn't Jilin's soul only be summoned after the two seals had been destroyed?

Bai Chen raised the card in his hand and began storing the spiritual entities around him. Since it had reacted, he might as well use it first!

Before long, Bai Chen finished collecting them, and the image of a black-haired girl with red highlights appeared on the card.

That appearance... Nuwa or Danzhu? Right, those two sisters should also be here. Had he forgotten about them?

This card had not regained consciousness either, but its condition was better than Lian Shan's. He could draw upon their power, though... it did not seem very strong.

Well, that made sense. They were not enhanced soldiers, only ordinary researchers.

Since Danzhu was here, then her counterpart Fuxi—or rather, Cang Xuan—should be here as well. She was probably near the other seal.

After learning of the situation there, Bai Chen happily ran toward his next target.

He had not expected such an unexpected delight. It was like discovering a few hundred yuan left in the pocket of clothes you had not worn since last year.

Chi You's body really was enormous. Even with no living creatures blocking his way, it still took Bai Chen half an hour to reach his destination.

Upon seeing the crystal, Bai Chen did not waste any time. He rushed forward and struck it with a single slash, reducing it to an atomic state beneath the lightning.

Sure enough, there was another stone tablet inside. Bai Chen formed a card and began collecting it, and as expected, it contained another soul.

The woman on the card looked exactly like Danzhu. The only difference was the color of the highlights in her hair: Danzhu's were red, while Cang Xuan's were blue.

Cang Xuan also had a colder temperament. At a glance, she was the classic expressionless type.

As for her strength... well, it was not even as good as someone who had enrolled for a month.

Bai Chen put the card back into his body. Now that both seals had been destroyed, Jilin's soul should emerge.

After the seals were destroyed, Bai Chen also noticed that the concentration of Honkai energy around him had begun to rise. It seemed Chi You was becoming more active.

He had to hurry to the next location, lest the increasingly powerful Chi You caused even greater damage.

Fortunately, this sea region was still a long distance from the nearest land. Although he had never seen Chi You's movement speed, it should take two or three hours to reach land.

Destroying the two seals had taken less than an hour. There was plenty of time.

Thus, Bai Chen rushed toward Chi You's heart with Cleansing Seven Thunders in one hand and the Xuanyuan Sword in the other.

"You've finally come! Descendant of Shenzhou, I have waited so long to kill you!"

As Bai Chen approached Chi You's heart, a voice filled with hatred entered his mind.

"I want revenge! Revenge against all of you hateful people!"

A mass of black-red mist gradually condensed in the air into a girl dressed in revealing black clothing. Her golden pupils seemed ready to emit a red glow, filled with pain and hatred.

"Do all of you start dressing so revealingly after turning evil?"

Bai Chen noticed that Black Jilin's clothes were far more revealing than the golden robe Jilin had originally worn.

"Shut up! Just as expected of the descendants of those sinners! So young, yet already so foul-mouthed. Now, give him to me!"

Black Jilin angrily spread her hands. The Xuanyuan Sword in Bai Chen's hand immediately flew out of his control and returned to Black Jilin's grasp, its originally golden body becoming stained with malice-filled black.

"Hmph. I have no interest whatsoever in the resentment you harbor toward Shenzhou."

Bai Chen raised the Divine Key in his hand and spoke coldly.

"Honkai, you don't deserve this. You shattered those people's happy lives, and now you've twisted that Shenzhou hero's mind to make her hate the people she once protected. It's not funny at all. Come on, let me put you out of your misery!"

"Arrogant! I'll kill you, then flatten all of Shenzhou!"

Enraged, Black Jilin raised her greatsword and thrust it at Bai Chen. A weapon that ordinarily required two hands was wielded by her as easily as if it were one-handed.

Black Jilin's End

Bai Chen nimbly dodged the black sword energy Black Jilin unleashed. He had not brought anything like a Titan with him this time, nor did he have a large amount of metal he could melt down into armor for Black Jilin's warhorse.

That was why Black Jilin had not summoned her beloved mount. Otherwise, the moment that horse appeared, a few casual hits would be enough to take it out of commission.

Black Jilin hurled several more streaks of sword energy at Bai Chen, but without exception, he easily evaded them all.

"Like a mosquito, all you know how to do is dodge?"

Since her ranged attacks could not hit Bai Chen, Black Jilin advanced with her sword and brought it down toward his head.

Jilin's momentum was overwhelming. The Xuanyuan Sword in her hand nearly sealed off every path Bai Chen could use to evade, forcing him to raise his blade and block her attack.

The tremendous force made Bai Chen's hands tremble, and he nearly flung away the blade in his grip. His feet also sank deeper into the ground under the pressure.

"Strength? Even with the armor's enhancement, I can barely withstand it? Could it be power granted by her natural stigmata?"

Suppressed, Bai Chen quickly controlled Cleansing Seven Thunders to release a fierce bolt of lightning, forcing Black Jilin back for the moment.

"Where did all that bluster go? You could barely withstand even one move from me?"

Black Jilin revealed a crazed smile. First, she would kill this annoying brat. Then, she would devour the entire continent of Shenzhou for revenge!

"That won't do."

Bai Chen pulled his feet out of the ground, shaking out his numb arms as he spoke calmly, as though he had not just been at a disadvantage.

"To deal with you, I'll borrow the power of a card."

Bai Chen suddenly condensed a pink card from the void. Kiana was printed on it, but this Kiana did not have her usual braided hairstyle. Her silver-white hair hung loose around her shoulders.

Even her eyes were no longer their original blue—one was blue, while the other was gold.

I'm counting on you, Captain.

Bai Chen made his request inwardly and inserted the card into the bracer on his right wrist.

Control Load: Skyward Ranger

At the same time, purple-and-pink flames enveloped Bai Chen's entire body. This was also one way Bai Chen dealt with emotional intrusion, because he had discovered that these flames seemed to have some special effect on the soul.

"Stop playing tricks!"

Black Jilin raised the Xuanyuan Sword again and slashed at Bai Chen, who was wrapped in flames and phantoms.

As she approached Bai Chen, those phantoms became almost tangible and slammed into her, knocking the breath from her lungs. The impact was so powerful that it sent her crashing directly into the wall, where she spat out a mouthful of blood.

When the flames dispersed, Bai Chen had taken on the appearance shown on the card.

Well, just like the last time he transformed into Judgment Shadow Dance, some memories had appeared in his mind. But they were only like little movies playing in his head and did not affect him.

"What exactly are you?!"

Black Jilin wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and stared at Bai Chen in disbelief. What the hell was this? Had the times advanced so far in just a few thousand years?

"Hmph. Power against power—fair enough, right?"

Bai Chen grinned and immediately charged toward Black Jilin, who had just risen to her feet. At the same time, he fired a shot at her. As for Cleansing Seven Thunders, it automatically dissipated when Bai Chen transformed into Kiana.

Black Jilin swung her sword and split the approaching bullet, but before she could react, Bai Chen's leg rapidly enlarged in her vision!

Caught without time to defend, Black Jilin was sent flying by Bai Chen's kick.

How strong could someone be when, in the original story, she had been defeated by the earliest version of the three protagonists plus a severely injured Himeko? Not to mention, she did not have her beloved warhorse now!

"Damn it!"

Black Jilin, grimacing in pain, climbed back up from the ground and directed several bolts of lightning down from the sky at Bai Chen.

With only a glance, Bai Chen created one gold-rimmed spatial gate after another above his head, swallowing every attack whole.

"What? That...?"

Black Jilin once again saw something she could not comprehend. Why had her attacks vanished?

"Heh, take them back."

Bai Chen merely snapped his fingers, and several spatial gates unfolded around Black Jilin, surrounding her.

"Wait—"

"No waiting."

The lightning that had just disappeared immediately reappeared, surging out from the spatial gates and pouring down upon Black Jilin!

"!!"

Even Black Jilin could not help letting out a cry of agony under such an onslaught.

In truth, Skyward Ranger originally could not manipulate spatial authority so freely, but Bai Chen's transformation into Skyward Ranger was different. He was merely stacking his own six-dimensional attributes onto Skyward Ranger's.

On top of that, Bai Chen had once suffered an intrusion from Herrscher of Flamescion's consciousness, so he had naturally gained some insight from it.

Trembling, Black Jilin tried to pick up the Xuanyuan Sword that had accidentally fallen to the ground, but a spatial gate appeared beneath it and swallowed it whole.

"My sword!"

Black Jilin stared wide-eyed at the spot where the Xuanyuan Sword had vanished. She knew she was probably going to lose—she could not even defeat a brat in his teens!

Then, carried by a spatial gate, Bai Chen flashed directly in front of Black Jilin.

Just as he was about to finish Black Jilin off with a shot, she unexpectedly flew into the air. Her body gradually grew larger as Honkai energy poured into it. She was making a desperate final stand!

Sure enough, being able to command the Honkai energy here meant that Jilin's consciousness from thousands of years ago had probably merged with Chi You.

"Hahaha! You think it's over?!"

Black Jilin felt the power within her surge wildly. Right now, she felt like she could win!

"Do you know what the guns in my hands are?"

Bai Chen suddenly raised the black-and-red twin guns in his hands and asked out of the blue.

"What are you trying to do?"

Black Jilin, who was gathering her strength, was more than happy to watch Bai Chen stall for time.

"Eden's Twin Stars. Before they were modified into their twin-gun form, they were called Eden's Star. Legend says they are a Divine Key forged from the core of the Ninth Herrscher of the Previous Era. They contain the power to manipulate gravity, including creating black holes... You probably wouldn't understand any of that anyway."

"What exactly are you trying to do?!" Sensing that Bai Chen was preparing something far more dangerous, Black Jilin could not help but charge at him, intending to kill him first!

"Eden's Star, reveal your true power! Bring them the terror known as a black hole!"

In an instant, an unfathomable black sphere appeared before Black Jilin, mercilessly devouring everything around it, as though even light itself had been swallowed.

"No! Don't! Those damned people haven't paid the price yet!"

By the time Black Jilin realized something was wrong, she could no longer escape the black hole's pull. Even Bai Chen, who was much farther away, was nearly sucked in. He hurriedly opened a spatial gate and teleported himself farther away.

All of Black Jilin's struggles were useless. Only after she had been devoured until half her body remained did everything finally stop.