I Will Always Love Yae Sakura

Dong Moxuan could hardly keep from sighing. After all, Yae Sakura's strength could be said to rank among the very best in the entire Honkai world.

Even though she had only just awakened and had yet to fully recover her strength, she was still undoubtedly a standard S-rank Valkyrie in terms of combat power.

Setting aside certain nonhuman existences, only three people in the entire Honkai world might have been able to defeat Yae Sakura with certainty.

The first was definitely our old ancestor Kevin. The first battle god of the Fire Moth wasn't just talked up for nothing. Wielding the Feather of Ruin, he fought Herrschers as casually as if he were playing around. He certainly possessed the strength to defeat Yae Sakura.

Next was Fu Hua Shang Xian at her peak, or rather, Immortal Crimson Kite.

Immortal Crimson Kite might not have been as strong as old ancestor Kevin, but in the manga, she had defeated Kallen with overwhelming ease.

Yae Sakura's strength wasn't far from Kallen's. Even after becoming a Quasi-Herrscher, she wouldn't have an obvious gap separating her from Kallen, so Immortal Crimson Kite would have no problem defeating Yae Sakura in her current state.

Finally, there was Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie, the supposedly airheaded goose, Durandal of the Holy Sword.

Durandal's strength was actually somewhat hard to judge.

Although all the characters who appeared at the time had praised Durandal to the heavens—calling her Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie, the inheritor of the Divine Key Abyss Flower, the Holy Sword, and a monster-like existence, among other things.

But such secondhand evaluations were only worth listening to. They couldn't be taken as absolute truth.

After all, Jackal had even claimed that one percent of old ancestor Kevin's power was enough to rival an S-rank Valkyrie!

How many times had she been proven wrong?

Of course, for so many people to praise her so highly, Durandal definitely possessed the strength of an S-rank Valkyrie, or even beyond that of an ordinary S-rank Valkyrie. But whether she possessed the kind of super-S-rank strength that could completely suppress ordinary S-rank Valkyries like old ancestor Kevin and Immortal Crimson Kite remained rather doubtful.

After all, old ancestor Kevin had crushed Herrschers, while Immortal Crimson Kite had crushed Kallen. Durandal, however, had no feat that could truly establish her super-S-rank strength.

At least, not in the story Dong Moxuan had seen.

Perhaps she did in the later plot, but Dong Moxuan didn't know about that.

After all, he had crossed over too early.

But now, looking at Yae Sakura before him, beaten to the point that she couldn't even get out of bed, Dong Moxuan understood one thing: Durandal truly possessed strength far beyond that of an ordinary S-rank Valkyrie. Even if the game hadn't exaggerated her as much as it claimed, the difference was definitely not that great.

While thinking this, Dong Moxuan didn't let his conversation with the girl before him lapse for even a moment.

"So, Sakura, is there anything else you want to ask?"

Dong Moxuan's words brought Yae Sakura back from her memories. She looked at the young man before her, thought for a while, and asked the question she cared about most.

"Jun Xuan, since you know so much about me, you should know Kallen, right? So many years have passed, and Kallen, she..."

"She died!"

Looking at the girl's expectant eyes, Dong Moxuan answered her question expressionlessly.

"Kallen... so it really was... like that?"

The light in the girl's eyes visibly dimmed, but she didn't react excessively.

After all, she had long since anticipated this outcome.

Although she didn't know how many years she had been sealed away, it had certainly been several hundred.

Kallen was only human. How could she possibly have lived that long?

"That was only natural..."

Seeing Yae Sakura's reaction, Dong Moxuan couldn't help speaking up.

"Sakura, you've been sealed for five hundred years. Miss Kallen was only human. She couldn't have lived that long."

After all, Kallen was a pure-blooded human. She was neither an existence like old ancestor Kevin and Fu Hua Shang Xian, whose bodies had fused with the genes of an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, nor someone like Green Otto who could cling to life by changing Soul Steel bodies.

Moreover, Kallen had died not long after Yae Sakura was sealed, protecting civilians from the Honkai Beasts released by Green Otto. Even if she had wanted to carry out one of the methods mentioned above, she hadn't had the chance.

However, seeing the girl before him in low spirits, Dong Moxuan thought about it and decided not to tell her this cruel truth.

"By the way, Sakura, it's getting late. Let's not keep talking about such depressing things."

Looking at the pink-haired girl before him, Dong Moxuan felt that the atmosphere had grown rather gloomy, so he changed the subject.

"I've already prepared lunch. Do you want to eat?"

"Lunch..."

Hearing Dong Moxuan's words, Yae Sakura instinctively touched her stomach.

It seemed she hadn't eaten human food in several hundred years.

Besides, replenishing energy through food could also help her injuries recover more quickly.

Thinking of this, Yae Sakura spoke softly. "Then... sorry for the trouble, Jun Xuan."

"Wow... it's so beautiful!"

In Changkong City, inside a hidden space, Amamiya Rinon walked along a transparent road that looked as though it had been made of crystal. Looking at the stars filling the sky around the space, she couldn't help sighing in amazement.

Just moments ago, the blond girl who called herself Durandal had forcibly dragged her to a magnificent structure beneath a river channel somewhere in Changkong City under the pretext of protecting her, where they began an investigation.

Yet not long after they entered and started investigating, they had been teleported into this strange space, which seemed to be decorated with stars covering the heavens.

As an ordinary person, Amamiya Rinon had never seen such magnificent scenery before, and she couldn't help softly voicing her feelings.

"Be careful. Don't let the scenery here distract you."

"This is an unknown space separate from the real world. There may very well be dangers we know nothing about."

Compared with Amamiya Rinon, who was an ordinary person, Durandal, a Valkyrie, was clearly much calmer.

She held a long spear in her hand, and her eyes were filled with a cautious light.

"I... I understand, Sister Durandal..."

After hearing Durandal's warning, Amamiya Rinon, who had just been captivated by the beauty of this unknown alien space, came back to her senses and timidly hid behind Durandal.

She valued her life very much.

Seeing this, Durandal couldn't help finding the cute little one's behavior somewhat amusing.

But she didn't say anything more. Instead, she took Amamiya Rinon's hand and carefully began exploring the space.

They walked through the space for more than ten minutes, yet it still hadn't changed in the slightest. The stars remained suspended in the heavens.

"Phew... looks like there isn't any danger after all..."

Since they hadn't encountered any danger, Amamiya Rinon, who had just been frightened by Durandal's warning, couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief.

She stepped out from behind Durandal.

"Sister Durandal, you were just being overly cautious. There's clearly no—"

"Snap!"

Before Amamiya Rinon could finish speaking, it was as though she had triggered something. In the blink of an eye, the stars in the sky transformed into specks of light and faded away.

The originally pitch-black sky had been dyed purple by some strange light. A gray-white void appeared before the two of them, and it seemed as though something inside was about to crawl out through the opening, radiating a dangerous aura.

Amamiya Rinon: "..."

Looking at the alien space whose scenery had suddenly changed, Amamiya Rinon's entire body stiffened.