Che Guevara Xu Yanwu

"Roar—!"

After its blade shattered, the brown bear Honkai Beast roared at Yae Sakura. The tentacles on its back swept out, directly coiling around Yae Sakura.

Once it had Yae Sakura in its grasp, the tentacles slowly brought her before the brown bear Honkai Beast. Its foul-smelling maw was only an inch or two away from her.

At the end of another tentacle, the part Yae Sakura had just severed was now gradually growing back, while the tentacle wrapped around her tightened.

"Crack..."

Close to Yae Sakura, one could even hear the sound of bones twisting from the tentacle's exertion.

Just as the situation was about to turn dire... the sound of bullets tearing through the air rang out, and simultaneously, the tentacle binding Yae Sakura exploded.

"Sakura! Are you alright!"

Before Yae Sakura could fall to the ground, Kallen, who had rushed over from the side, caught her in her arms, pulling her away from the brown bear Honkai Beast.

"Mmm... I'm fine."

Yae Sakura, clutching her sprained arm, lay in Kallen's embrace.

At this moment, Xu Yanwu stood beside them, feeling a complex mix of emotions.

Earlier, Yae Sakura had even kissed Kallen and helped her dry off.

But now, that childish demeanor...

Why did Xu Yanwu suddenly feel like the prize cabbage he had nurtured had been snatched by a cabbage from the neighboring field...

Xu Yanwu had just chased out of the shrine. After gathering energy in his heart, he came here for the small black crystal on the brown bear Honkai Beast.

That was a massive amount of Honkai Energy.

Although Xu Yanwu knew Yae Sakura would be fine, still...

Damn it! You big bear, how dare you lay a paw on my Sakura?

Today, I'm going to... Kallen! Use your Fairy Bow to shoot it!

"A Honkai Beast? Why is there a Honkai Beast here?"

Kallen looked at the charging brown bear Honkai Beast with confusion, but she knew this wasn't the time to ponder such things.

Holding the injured Sakura with one arm and raising the other, the muzzle of the Fairy Bow in Kallen's hand began to gather Honkai Energy.

"Embrace all things, Fairy Bow!"

Boom!

A thick beam of light shot out from the small muzzle. The immense recoil, even with Kallen's astonishing strength, caused her to stagger back slightly.

Beneath Kallen's feet, the ground showed signs of cracking.

When the brown bear Honkai Beast saw the beam of light before it, a look of panic flashed across its face. It tried to stop its charge, but the momentum of its massive body made it impossible to avoid the beam, and it ran headfirst into it.

After dealing with the brown bear Honkai Beast, Kallen released Sakura from her embrace and looked at the beast's corpse with a serious expression.

Yae Sakura curiously asked Kallen, "What are you looking at?"

"Idiot!"

Kallen turned and scolded Yae Sakura, "Why would you face danger alone like that!"

Yae Sakura froze for a moment, her gaze drifting as she lowered her head. "Because... you were injured..."

"I didn't want to be a burden to you... and protecting the village is my mission..."

"Then you won't be alone anymore!" Kallen shouted.

Her cry made Yae Sakura look at Kallen with a hint of astonishment.

Kallen patted her chest and said, "Because! I will fight alongside you!"

Suddenly, the atmosphere between the two became tinged with pink...

Xu Yanwu, while diligently absorbing the energy of the fallen brown bear Honkai Beast, watched the yuri pair with a complex expression...

Speaking of which... a nun... and a miko... both serving a deity... thinking about it, they really are quite a match...

Even though neither of them believes in their own deity...

"Rustle rustle..."

From the nearby bushes, the sound of something rustling through the grass suddenly broke the silence. This made Kallen wary, and she even aimed her gun at the bushes.

However, what crawled out of the bushes wasn't a Honkai Beast or anything else, but a Yae Village villager who had sustained some rather serious injuries.

"That power just now..."

The Yae Village villager's face was filled with surprise. He immediately knelt before Kallen.

"It must be the Divine Lord's manifestation! Please! Please protect our village!"

Hey, hey, hey, your Divine Lord is right here, next to you! And for someone who killed Rin, I won't manifest to help you...

Xu Yanwu grumbled to himself. Ever since his heart had returned to his body, the emotions that had been sealed within it seemed to be coming back too... The first thing he noticed was that he was complaining a lot more...

Seeing the villagers of Yae Village bowing repeatedly, Kallen's heart softened again.

"Okay!"

Kallen declared, "I will definitely protect everyone!"

"Silly girl... they aren't worth protecting..."

A faint voice reached Kallen's ears.

"Who's there?!"

Kallen looked warily in the direction of the brown bear Honkai Beast, but there was nothing there except its corpse.

"Kallen, what's wrong?" Yae Sakura asked Kallen.

Kallen hesitated for a moment before shaking her head.

"It's nothing, maybe I misheard... Let's leave here first. It wouldn't be good if another Honkai Beast showed up."

However, before returning to Yae Village with Yae Sakura, Kallen glanced back again in the direction of the brown bear Honkai Beast's corpse.

Was it really an illusion? That voice sounded like I'd heard it somewhere before...

After they left, a small lump suddenly bulged on top of the brown bear Honkai Beast's corpse, and a small black crystal emerged from it.

It then merged into the air and disappeared.

—That night—

Even though it was dead, no wild animals dared to approach the brown bear Honkai Beast's corpse.

However, the person wearing the Fox God mask appeared beside the brown bear Honkai Beast's corpse.

When the masked person reached out to the brown bear Honkai Beast, the corpse didn't react at all.

"What's going on!"

The masked person's voice was filled with rage.

"Where did the crystal go! It couldn't have just disappeared!"

"Who took the crystal!"

"Kallen? No... Kallen didn't leave Yae Village after that..."

"Damn it! Who was it!"

As if venting his frustration, under the moonlight, a flash of a blade sliced through the brown bear Honkai Beast's corpse, tearing it to shreds.

"Just you wait... This isn't over... Everything has just begun..."