Bear Demon

Before the black-haired girl stood a masked figure in a black robe, its build impossible to make out, and a large brown bear that had already been slain by a sharp blade.

The mask was a fox mask, representing the faith of many surrounding villages—the Fox God.

The masked figure silently placed a small black crystal on the recently deceased brown bear. The right hand extending from the black robe looked exceedingly pale beneath the moonlight.

Shortly after the black crystal was pressed onto the dead bear's body, its eyes eerily opened. Numerous bony horns sprouted from its body, two thick tentacles grew from its back, and even its size increased considerably.

Under the crystal's influence, the brown bear had actually transformed into an extraordinarily powerful Honkai Beast.

"Roar..." A low growl rumbled in the Brown Bear Honkai Beast's throat, as though it were expressing its hunger.

"Mm!"

The short-haired black-haired girl grew even more terrified by what she saw. She struggled desperately against the tree, but it was all in vain.

The masked figure stroked the Brown Bear Honkai Beast's head. Strangely, the bear that had become a Honkai Beast did not attack the masked figure. Instead, it lowered its head so the figure could more easily touch it.

"Don't be nervous... Don't be afraid..."

The masked figure spoke to the short-haired black-haired girl. "Because... your life is about to end..."

The masked figure patted the lowered head of the Brown Bear Honkai Beast beside them and spoke as if talking to themselves. "The beasts in these mountains and forests... have something quite interesting about them..."

"That is, once a carnivorous beast happens to taste human flesh, it will naturally come to see humans as prey it can hunt..."

"Humans are prey that are easy to kill and easy to fill one's stomach with. Beasts that have already eaten human flesh are especially fond of them..."

"And right now, I happen to need... a monster that will hunt humans..."

"So... thank you for contributing to my plan..."

"Go on... my lovely child..."

After signaling to the Brown Bear Honkai Beast, the masked figure turned away and did not look back to see what was happening behind them.

Listening to the sounds of the beast tearing into flesh, as well as the girl's pained whimpers muffled by her gag, the masked figure raised their head toward the full moon, round as a jade disk, and muttered to themselves.

"Ah... Yae Village... and the gods..."

In the blink of an eye, dawn arrived. In Yae Village's cemetery, Yae Sakura stood before a somewhat damaged gravestone, her expression faintly sorrowful, as though recalling the past.

Just as Yae Sakura was lost in her grief, someone came running from Yae Village, shouting, "Lord Miko! I finally found you!"

"This is terrible! There's... there's a demon in the mountains!"

Yae Sakura turned to look at the person running toward her. Her expression appeared normal, yet somehow gave people an inexplicably strange feeling.

When Yae Sakura returned to the shrine and took her sword from the wall, Kallen, who was recuperating from her injuries in the room, saw her.

"Sakura?"

Kallen asked Yae Sakura with concern, "What happened? Why are you taking your sword outside?"

"It's nothing."

Yae Sakura did not even turn her head as she answered Kallen's question. "Your injuries haven't healed yet. Stay at the shrine and rest properly."

"..."

Seeing Yae Sakura like this, Kallen still had no idea what had happened,

but she did not continue asking until Yae Sakura had left the shrine.

Still, recalling Yae Sakura's expression just now, Kallen climbed out of bed. She clenched the bandages between her teeth and tightened them around her wounds, then picked up and put on her nun's habit.

Taking up the weapon she had not touched in a long time, Kallen felt somewhat unfamiliar with it, but she still followed in the direction Yae Sakura had gone.

In the end, she simply could not stop worrying about Yae Sakura's earlier state.

After Kallen left the shrine, the Jade Ring embedded in the Black Box she had carefully stored somewhere safe emitted a faint glow and began to flicker.

Xu Yanwu's calm voice also rang out within the empty shrine.

"Using the soul to touch the heart... Though I still can't fully restore the connection, I've successfully gathered a little power..."

A tiny figure of Xu Yanwu, like a holographic projection, sat cross-legged atop the Jade Ring with a mischievous grin.

"I'm saying, Main Body, after thousands of years, how did you end up in such a miserable state? Was it really that hard without me?"

"...Shut up."

Xu Yanwu rebuked his heart. "Hurry up and gather energy. There isn't much time left..."

"At the very least, we need to contact Kallen and put my heart back in place..."

Outside Yae Village, near the forest.

"Help! There's a bear demon!"

A Yae Village villager staggered as he ran. Chasing after him was the Brown Bear Honkai Beast that the masked figure had transformed with the black crystal.

At that moment, the Brown Bear Honkai Beast was chewing on half the corpse of a Yae Village villager in its gaping maw. The ground was splattered with blood left behind by its slaughter.

"Help!"

The fleeing villager's cries caught the Brown Bear Honkai Beast's attention. Its mouth did not stop chewing, but the tentacles on its back rose high into the air and smashed toward the fleeing Yae Village villager.

Just as the tentacle drew closer and closer to the villager, a sharp flash of blade light swept past. The end of the tentacle fell to the ground from gravity, still writhing continuously, its vitality not yet extinguished.

Its tentacle severed, the Brown Bear Honkai Beast roared furiously at Yae Sakura, who had cut it off. It no longer bothered to eat the corpse by its mouth.

Yae Sakura slowly raised her blade. Though she did not know why her swordsmanship had improved less in recent years than it had during her childhood, after long training, she still possessed formidable skill with the sword.

But... this was her first time facing such a large beast—or rather, a Honkai Beast.

More importantly, the sword in Yae Sakura's hand was merely an ordinary iron blade forged and sharpened by the village blacksmith.

With all these factors combined, after only a few exchanges with the Brown Bear Honkai Beast, Yae Sakura's weapon shattered inch by inch into fragments.