A Person in Izumo, Making Honkai Great Again

Kiana didn't want to answer that question.

She didn't want to recall.

Though doubt and worry for Kiana still lingered in her heart, Raiden Mei said nothing more. Instead, she turned around and silently began to undo her top.

Slipping her upper garment down a little, she turned her back to Kiana and said, a bit shyly, "Let's begin, Kiana."

Seeing Raiden Mei actually take off her clothes, revealing her fair, smooth back, Kiana blushed instead and didn't dare to look too closely.

She gave a soft reply, knelt behind Mei, and brushed her hair aside over her shoulder.

She didn't dare to do anything else.

Gently pressing the tip of her right index finger against a suitable spot, she whispered, "Is here okay? The Stigma will be branded onto your body like a tattoo and won't disappear."

"It's fine."

Raiden Mei's face was also a little red. She felt an instinctive shyness—even though Kiana was a girl too, she found this closeness strangely intimate.

Her heart couldn't stay calm either.

Kiana took a deep breath, suppressing the joy, shyness, and excitement within her, and placed the Thunder Soul Imprint onto Raiden Mei's body.

The compatibility between the Thunder Soul Imprint and Mei was beyond question. As soon as she placed the Stigma on Mei, the Thunder Soul Imprint completed its fusion with her, and the Stigma's patterns appeared on her skin.

[Thunder Soul Imprint successfully applied]

[Honkai mark placed on a key figure of this world. Honkai Energy Concentration (Izumo) permanently increased by 5%]

[First time converting a key world figure to the Honkai Faction. Obtained Gift of Honkai—'Heart of Thunder']

[Heart of Thunder (Badge): Initial effect—increases the wearer's lightning attribute attacks by 28.2%. Effect strengthens with Honkai Energy intensity, up to a maximum increase of 60%.]

Even though the End Cannon had appeared once before, the Badge now before her still shocked Kiana anew.

It yanked her roughly out of her daydreams.

Weapons and Badges had both shown up—would outfits and Familiars come next?

Kiana's mouth fell open in shock.

Wait, are you seriously going for damage in the trillions? I was joking!

This Honkai seemed a little different from what she'd imagined...

"...Maybe even an Aeon is no match for this?"

Good things came in pairs.

Kiana immediately pressed the Heart of Thunder onto Mei as well, directly boosting her combat power.

She wondered—if she gave Mei a little more time, could Mei solo that Takemikazuchi on her own?

Not really expecting much, just wanting to go along with Kiana.

Raiden Mei felt the Stigma Kiana called the Thunder Soul Imprint being branded onto her body, and the power it brought. Then she was plunged into shock and doubt.

Kiana was serious?

This power...

With the Stigma as its core, she sensed a strange kind of energy she could actually control.

But before she could tell Kiana about her experience, she heard Kiana muttering to herself again.

"Is something wrong, Kiana?"

"No!"

Kiana snapped out of it, pulled Mei's half-removed top back up, and stood. "Want to test the Stigma's power?"

Still in a daze, Mei didn't overthink it. Her state wasn't much better than Kiana's, and she simply replied with a brief "Okay." She too wanted to try out the power Kiana had given her.

The two returned to the morning's training ground.

Under the night sky, Raiden Mei found a blade and told Kiana to stand back and not get too close to the training area.

She made a few practice swings and found that both her speed and strength had noticeably improved.

Her technique could still advance.

And there was plenty of room for improvement.

Even the skills that had hit a bottleneck, making further progress difficult, now revealed flaws she'd never noticed before.

"Now then..."

She sheathed the blade and entered a one-strike stance. Adjusting her breathing and posture, faint arcs of electricity began to dance around her. When her state reached its peak, the long blade in her hand truly transformed into a bolt of lightning. A piercing crackle and blue arcs illuminated the surrounding darkness for an instant.

The moment she struck, she vanished from her spot and reappeared over ten meters away. But that wasn't her limit—it was the training ground's limit.

"Amazing!"

Was that a sword beam or something?

Kiana only saw a flash of lightning, and then a massive slash over ten meters long was carved into the training ground's floor. Mei had teleported with the lightning to the end of the trail.

So cool!

Raiden Mei turned around and saw the marks she had just left, surprise spreading across her face. She had already tried to overestimate the power of that slash, yet she still underestimated the boost this power brought—the destruction it caused was far more terrifying than she had imagined.

If it were her now, facing that Octopus Demon again, she had absolute confidence in annihilating it with a single slash!

Chapter 20: Of Course It's Because I Like You

"So this is... a Stigma?"

Holding the blade in her hand, the same training sword she used to practice, Raiden Mei's voice carried a dazed, dreamlike quality.

If the weapon in her hand weren't a training sword but a divine armament, the power of that slash would have been even greater.

If it were 'Narukami'...

Raiden Mei sheathed the blade. Though her mind was brimming with new ideas about her swordsmanship, Kiana was still waiting for her nearby.

"How does it feel?"

Kiana, seeing her put away the sword, quickly walked into the training ground and examined the charred fissure still radiating some heat.

There were traces of residual Honkai energy.

Mei's slash just now had used the power of Honkai. Yet the Honkai Energy Concentration in this world was less than 5%... no, it was now under 10%.

Wait!

Kiana suddenly realized that the growth rate of this Honkai Energy Concentration had already surpassed her own as the Herrscher of Finality.

"How does it feel?" Mei recalled the moment just now and said, "The Stigma's power is easy to mobilize and integrates perfectly into Hokushin Itto-ryu. But I might need some time to rethink a few techniques that can leverage the Stigma's full potential."

Though it could integrate perfectly, the boost from the Stigma's power made her see many limitations of Hokushin Itto-ryu—no, of herself as an ordinary person.

Her current Hokushin Itto-ryu was not the original version. She had infused it with her own ideas, making it the swordsmanship that best suited her, evolving each move and stance in pursuit of a higher realm.

Now, what she sought had changed.

This world had demons and gods. In the future, her sword would inevitably have to fight such enemies.

She needed to rely on the Stigma's power to add killing techniques to Hokushin Itto-ryu.

Kiana shook her head, took Mei's hand, and asked with concern, "I mean your body. Is there anywhere that feels uncomfortable?"

She knew that Stigmata represented resistance to Honkai energy, and that Mei could now use Honkai energy because of her Stigma.

But Mei had never been exposed to Honkai energy before, so she couldn't help worrying.

"Uncomfortable?"

Raiden Mei thought of the lightning that accompanied her slash and assumed Kiana was worried she might have been electrocuted. She explained, "Those electric currents didn't harm me. I feel like I'm in good condition."

"But you're still using Honkai energy." Kiana let out a reluctant sigh of relief, releasing Mei's hand. "Even though you have resistance and won't be corroded, this is your first time using Honkai energy. I can't help being a little worried."

"Honkai energy?" Hearing Kiana mention it again, Mei committed the name to memory, then said gently, "Don't worry, Kiana. I don't feel any discomfort in my body."

"Then from now on, use Honkai energy to deal with those demons!"

"Thank you, Kiana."

"It's nothing." Kiana scratched her head at the thanks. "Even though Yae Sakura had her reasons for taking Narukami, it was still lost when I dragged you out shopping..."

Mei froze for a moment.

"...Kiana thinks Narukami's loss is related to her, and wants to make up for it, so that's why..."

Yes, that made sense.

Kiana mistakenly believed Narukami's loss had something to do with her, so...

That was fine.

But why did her chest feel so tight?

Why was it hard to breathe?

"Yeah, if I hadn't asked Mei to come out with me back then, Narukami might not have been lost." Kiana recalled the incident with some regret, then added, "But Yae Sakura said taking Narukami had something to do with your father. I wanted to help you get in touch with him, so I let her keep it."

Thinking back to what happened, she touched her already healed arm, still shuddering at the memory of the pain.

"...But that wasn't your fault."

"I know Mei won't blame me, but since I caught up to her, of course I have to get Narukami back!" She sighed. "Too bad she was too strong. I was no match for her at all."

Raiden Mei's thoughts wandered, unable to control herself, and she asked, "Did you give me the Stigma because you felt guilty about Narukami too?"

Only with Kiana—she hoped Kiana wasn't being kind to her out of guilt, gratitude, or anything like that.

"Of course not!"

If she had a choice, she would have given Mei a sword as an apology instead.

Raiden Mei looked at her. "Then why..."

"You don't need a reason to be good to Mei. Because I like Mei!" Kiana declared boldly.

"...Like?"

Raiden Mei felt as if struck by lightning.

She stood frozen, her body feeling uncoordinated, her mind filled with nothing but Kiana's words.

L-like?

Kiana said she...

After testing the waters a little, Kiana cleared her throat: "Ahem, I mean, I mean I like Mei the most. Mei is the most important person to me, so being good to Mei doesn't need any other reason!"

So that's what kind of "like" it was.

Raiden Mei breathed a sigh of relief, yet felt a faint sense of loss.

Wait, something was wrong with her!

"Kiana is important to me too."

Her echoing words came out a bit faint.

Feeling that this didn't perfectly convey her feelings, Raiden Mei thought for a moment, then added with slightly flushed cheeks: "And the reason I draw my blade now."

So please don't leave.

Aside from the shrine and Hokushin Itto-ryu, she had always been alone.

And Kiana had walked into her heart.

She treasured the time spent with Kiana, and hoped there would be more moments together in the future.

Best of all...

To be together forever.

The seventeen-year-old Raiden Mei tightened her grip on the scabbard, thinking to herself.

She was willing to follow Kiana, to draw her blade for her, to solve every trouble that crossed her path.

Until today, she had never understood what her father once told her: that when your swordsmanship reaches its peak and you know why you draw your blade, you earn the right to master it.

It was only today, after hearing Kiana talk about the gods and the summoned blade, that she finally understood the meaning behind her father's words.