Judas' Covenant

Somewhere in Changkong City, Feng Chen was wandering around with Yae Sakura. There were hardly any people left nearby anyway, so they might as well look around and see whether they could find any Honkai Beasts or Decade. Killing them would at least yield some Honkai Energy.

"Dust-kun, there seem to be quite a few Honkai Beasts nearby." Yae Sakura's eyes were slightly sharper than Feng Chen's, and she had already spotted some Honkai Energy wandering not far away.

"Indeed... But they seem to be looking for something. They don't seem to be acting normally. Usually, all they do is destroy things."

"I know the answer!" Hiyori Maru jumped out from inside Yae Sakura's clothes and began darting around in front of them.

"When a new Herrscher appears, large numbers of Honkai Beasts and Decade usually appear nearby. They aren't mindless like they normally are, either. A higher-level existence guides them in searching for the new Herrscher."

"But wasn't it said that only one Herrscher would appear during each Honkai eruption?"

Feng Chen had specifically made the system give him a crash course, so of course he knew what consequences each Honkai eruption would cause, as well as the fact that each eruption would produce only one Herrscher.

"That was because the Third Herrscher was suppressed too early this time and hadn't fully absorbed the Honkai Energy here. Naturally, the remaining Honkai Energy went searching for a host of its own and cultivated her into the next Herrscher."

"Is that so... Let's follow these Honkai Beasts for now. What do you think, Sakura?"

"I don't mind either way. You decide, Dust-kun." After the Sakura Cycle incident caused by Hiyori Maru, the relationship between the two had grown closer, and Yae Sakura trusted Feng Chen much more.

"Then let's go. Hiyori Maru, you hide too." Naturally, after Feng Chen disrupted Hiyori Maru's plan, her strength had dropped considerably, all of it being used to reconstruct the "Sakura Cycle" space. She no longer had much combat power and could only hide behind Yae Sakura and Feng Chen while tossing out the occasional fireball.

Hiyori Maru floated inside Yae Sakura's clothes, making Feng Chen wonder whether the clothes were simply loose or whether Yae Sakura was actually not as well-endowed as she appeared.

"What are you looking at?" Being stared at continuously was unpleasant for a keen girl like Yae Sakura.

"N-Nothing."

Boom! A golden cross descended from the sky and landed between them. Although the ground had been damaged by the Honkai and was no longer as solid as it once was, it still wasn't something that could easily be broken.

Yet this cross had smashed a huge trench into the ground...

"What the hell?" For a moment, Feng Chen thought an enemy had arrived—perhaps some heavyweight opponent like Honkai: Crush. But when he looked closely, it was only a cross.

A sword was engraved in the center of the golden cross. The symbol was somewhat unfamiliar to Feng Chen, but it was anything but unfamiliar to Yae Sakura. In fact, the entire cross was anything but unfamiliar to her.

"Judas?" she called out the cross's name subconsciously, and Feng Chen was no less astonished.

"Judas? I remember that I have one too, but it seems to look a little different."

Of course, saying that in front of Yae Sakura would certainly cause unnecessary trouble, so he chose to ask the system directly.

"The host's Judas is Judas' Embrace of Blood. Although it is also a cross, it was made by imitating the Divine Key—Judas' Covenant, and it is inferior to the original in many respects. However, Judas' Embrace of Blood has the greatest destructive power among all crosses."

"So the one in front of us is the genuine article?"

"That's right. Please find Judas' current owner, Theresa Apocalypse, as soon as possible."

"Is there a quest?" He knew this had to be part of the upcoming quest. If there were no quest, the system would never give him these prompts. Besides, he wasn't stupid. Even if he wanted to keep Judas for himself, that would be impossible. Yae Sakura was one problem, and more importantly, every Divine Key contained a Herrscher consciousness. The Herrscher consciousness inside Judas was probably gone, but it should still recognize its master.

"Please wait...

Quest One: Find Theresa Apocalypse and return Judas' Covenant

Quest Reward: 1,000 Honkai Energy, +5 favorability with Theresa Apocalypse, +5 favorability with Yae Sakura

Failure Penalty: -999 favorability with Yae Sakura, host's death.

Quest Two: Help Theresa defeat Changkong City's newly emerged Simulated Herrscher

Quest Reward: 10,000 Honkai Energy, +10 favorability with Theresa Apocalypse

Quest Three: Unknown... Complete the quests above to unlock.

"Sakura, this cross should be..."

"It belonged to Kallen... No, five hundred years have passed. Then it should belong to someone else."

"Someone from Schicksal, perhaps?"

"Possibly."

After seeing Judas, Yae Sakura remained silent, as if she didn't want to recall something.

The cross weighed several hundred pounds, so carrying it on his back was indeed difficult for Feng Chen, but it wasn't completely impossible. After all, he had already carried Judas' Embrace of Blood, hadn't he?

"Dust-kun, look ahead!"

The Honkai Beasts and Decade had all stopped, surrounding a school.

Feng Chen didn't care what the school was called. What mattered to him were the people inside.

"Simulated Herrscher..."

It was an enemy on the same level as Yae Sakura. If Yae Sakura hadn't been standing beside him, he might have been somewhat afraid.

"Dust-kun, be careful!"

A flash of blade-light passed by, and Yae Sakura severed a thorny vine. If she had been even a little slower, the vine would have climbed onto Feng Chen's right leg, injected paralyzing venom into his body, then wrapped around his neck and suffocated him.

"So this is a Simulated Herrscher..."

The vine hadn't made a single sound. Even Yae Sakura had only noticed it approaching because Hiyori Maru alerted her.

Numerous thorny vines emerged from the ground, separating Yae Sakura and Feng Chen.

"System, help me put on the Lightning Empress armor."

"Understood."

An Oni Mask appeared on Feng Chen's head. It didn't cover his face; it was too small for that and could only hang to one side of his head.

"System, did you cut corners on me?"

Aside from an Oni Mask, this armor had absolutely nothing else...

"Ahem... Don't falsely accuse me, host. Take a look at what this armor originally looked like before you say that."

An image quickly appeared before Feng Chen. Aside from the Oni Mask and a small amount of armor, the rest of the set was actually a... torn women's sailor uniform.

"You could even come up with armor like this?"

"It wasn't originally meant for you... The Third Herrscher looks great in this armor, all right?"

"That isn't an excuse for you to cut corners on me."

This armor came with a unique slashing technique designed specifically for the Third Herrscher—Thousand Roaring Slash. It wasn't person-dependent but item-dependent. If the Third Herrscher wore this armor, lightning would form a ring around her body in a regular pattern. That was Thousand Roaring Slash.

Rather than leaping about randomly as it had before, the lightning would move in an orderly fashion. That was why she had been completely dominated by Yae Sakura.