Yae Sakura's Dream

"The Kaslana family was the first family in this civilization to resist the Honkai. Kevin Kaslana was the first patriarch of the Kaslana family in this civilization."

"The Kaslana family carried the genes of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast Parvati, and Kevin Kaslana was the first Fusion Warrior. The genes of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast Parvati contained the power of ice and snow, so Kevin could use the Seventh Divine Key—Judgement of Flame, which had the greatest destructive power and backlash, without suffering its backlash."

"Can the current Kaslanas also use Judgement of Flame at will?"

"If that were the case, Sirin wouldn't have died at the hands of Cecilia Schariac. She would have died at the hands of Seele Vollerei."

Can't they...? That makes things much easier.

"Does Kallen have Judgement of Flame?"

"No. Kallen Kaslana's Divine Key is the Eleventh Divine Key—the Key of Restraint, Judas' Covenant."

"Then Judgement of Flame..."

"Judgement of Flame was inherited by the patriarchs of the Kaslana family throughout the generations. Kallen Kaslana wasn't the patriarch of the Kaslana family, but merely its finest Valkyrie. Five hundred years ago, Kallen Kaslana's father was the owner of Judgement of Flame. I never paid attention to who owned it after that."

That made sense. As long as the user wasn't someone like Kevin Kaslana, who could wield Judgement of Flame without suffering its backlash, it didn't matter who used it.

"After MEI modified the Kaslana family's genes, the Kaslanas no longer had the genes of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast Ganesha. They could only use Judgement of Flame once, and the price was the user's life."

"The user's life?! What about Seele Vollerei?"

"Seele Vollerei had already used Judgement of Flame twice in his life, and the price had been extremely heavy both times. The first time was relatively fine—Cecilia Schariac rescued him. The second time, Seele Vollerei left Kiana's side. Of course, he didn't die; he simply couldn't use Judgement of Flame again. I can say with certainty that without the Sixth Divine Key—Black Abyss White Flower—or any factor related to the Herrscher of Death, Seele would die without a doubt the next time he used Judgement of Flame."

An attack that cost the user their life—its destructive power was self-evident.

As for Seele, who could use it twice, not only was his vitality practically that of a cockroach; his actual strength alone was absolutely not to be underestimated.

"By the way, host, this system has prepared a little bonus especially for you. It's related to Yae Sakura."

"? Don't tell me you're going to have me sneak a look at her bathing. No, no, no. That's bad for my health, and she'll chop me to death."

"No, no, no. If I only had you sneak a look at her bathing, that would be too boring. I can let you sneak a look at her dream."

"Her dream?"

So dreams could be watched too? That had already gone beyond anything explainable by "Honkai" or "science," hadn't it?

Dreams didn't actually exist within a person's true memories. People said that what one thought about during the day appeared in their dreams at night. It was precisely because they thought about something too much that the brain subconsciously gave itself a psychological suggestion, allowing the person to enter an imagined world and fulfill their wish.

The "dreams" people often talked about were merely a kind of fleeting memory produced by the subconscious belief that one's wish had been fulfilled.

What the system was doing now was actually no different from invading Yae Sakura's consciousness.

"How do I do it?"

"All the host needs to do is watch. Leave the rest to me."

Petals wrapped around Feng Chen, sending him into a world seemingly free of pain, hatred, and sorrow.

"Is this Sakura's dream?"

"The host can walk around now. Everything here is an illusion. Even Yae Sakura can't see you."

Feng Chen walked a few more steps and saw that there really was no enormous Tenshu-kaku to the northwest of the village. Nor was there any talk in the village about a "sacrificial maiden asking the gods for rain."

As for what was happening near the shrine, he could only make out a few snippets from people's casual conversations, such as, "The shrine maiden finally has someone to look after her," and, "The person living with the shrine maiden seems pretty nice."

"System, can you teleport me over to the shrine?"

"This is Yae Sakura's consciousness. I only brought you inside. You're the one actually intruding on the consciousness, so you can do it yourself. To stop you from fooling around, I've put the teleportation method on your map."

Several green dots appeared on the projected map. They marked several important locations around Yae Village, including the shrine.

After Feng Chen tapped the green dot for the shrine a few times, the scenery around him instantly changed into Yae Shrine, without even the slightest special effect.

"System, I'm giving this teleportation a bad review. It doesn't even have any special effects."

"If it had special effects, your eyes would be flashed blind."

"I don't believe you. Hurry up and add some special effects for me."

"Fine, fine. Wait... Done. Try tapping the shrine again."

Feng Chen tapped the shrine's green dot once more. The landing point was somewhat off from the original direction, but the scenery before him was completely different.

Everything was white... It was practically blinding Feng Chen. Now he understood why the system had said his eyes would be flashed blind.

"Turn it off already... I'm going blind!"

"You wouldn't die if you didn't insist on courting death."

Within Stigmata Space, the Honkai shook its head and pulled out a virtual screen. After tapping it a few times, it removed the white light before Feng Chen's eyes.

After searching the entire Yae Shrine, he found it completely empty. That was rather strange. Normally, Sakura wouldn't casually leave Yae Shrine. Since this was a dream, there was even less reason for there to be a setting where Honkai Beasts appeared around Yae Village.

"Where is Sakura now?"

"Shio-mi River outside Yae Village—the small river where the host first arrived in Sakura Cycle."

Feng Chen still remembered that place vividly. After all, its scenery could be described perfectly with a few lines from Picking Mulberries by a certain poet from the Divine Land.

A small wooden bridge spanned the Shio-mi River. Yae Village lay west of the bridge, while Bamboo Sparrow Forest lay east.

Given Sakura and Kallen's personalities, they certainly wouldn't intend to go near Yae Village to spend time alone together. That meant they could only be east of the bridge, in Bamboo Sparrow Forest.

After all, once the Honkai Beasts stopped disturbing it, Bamboo Sparrow Forest was a beautiful bamboo grove.

A certain poet from the Divine Land had also once written: "Alone I sit in the secluded bamboo, play the qin, and let out a long whistle." Clearly, regardless of the time, place, or person, people's love for bamboo groves could reach a certain level. (Utter nonsense delivered with a perfectly serious face.)

Besides, a white lily suddenly blooming in a green bamboo grove didn't seem out of place at all, did it?