A Person in Izumo, Making Honkai Great Again

To protect the human world, one must swing the blade.

Her father had wanted her to understand this truth, to take up the blade only when she had the resolve, to point its edge at the Oni Gods in order to save the human world and rescue those who needed saving.

But Father...

She didn't have such lofty ideals.

I found a reason to swing the blade.

But it wasn't the one you hoped for.

Chapter 21: The Heavenly Blade's Master—Sirin!

"You took quite a while to fetch the blade, much later than the estimated arrival time."

"What? Trouble on the road?"

Not long after Yae Sakura returned, she had just handed Narukami over to Raiden Ryoma and, as promised, relayed Raiden Mei's thoughts to Kiana on her behalf.

But how to put it.

Raiden Ryoma was a very stubborn man.

So she hadn't achieved much.

"The explanation took a bit of time."

Having agreed to something, she had to see it through. Yae Sakura planned to find another opportunity to persuade Raiden Ryoma again.

Regardless, before the war broke out, she had to fulfill Kiana's entrustment.

She couldn't understand why Raiden Ryoma was so stubborn. It wasn't that he had no feelings for his daughter, and he knew that one day Raiden Mei would walk the same path as them.

"Explanation? Didn't you say earlier that just bringing the blade over would be fine? So, you met Mr. Ryoma's daughter?"

The blade-wielders who slay Oni Gods usually didn't stay together. They scattered across the land of Izumo, searching for the hidden Eight Million Gods and maintaining the existing order.

Only when facing enemies like the Twelve Oni Gods—who wielded terrifying power that humans could scarcely replicate, were extremely difficult to kill, and demanded a war staking everything in Izumo—would they set aside everything and gather in one place.

Then, they would throw themselves into the battle together.

It was like this when they once hunted down Tsumugari no Kami, and like this over a decade ago when they hunted down Amenotokotachi.

Facing enemies like the Twelve Oni Gods, humanity had no other choice. Every victory was bought with the sacrifice of countless lives.

No one wasn't afraid of death.

But everyone knew that if they flinched from battle, Izumo would face merciless destruction.

They had to go, and they had to win.

Because they had a reason they must win.

"Since when did you take an interest in Mr. Ryoma's family affairs?" Yae Sakura looked at the newcomer. "That doesn't seem like your usual style."

"Is the pressure getting to you that much, Sirin?"

The purple-haired girl who had called out to her clicked her tongue softly, embarrassed at being seen through. The girl's eyes were different from a normal person's—golden irises marked with a distinct X-shaped pattern.

Sirin crossed her arms, glanced at the thundercloud-filled sky, and said, "If you were the holder of 'Heaven,' the pressure would only be greater than mine."

Ever since the research institute detected that Takemikazuchi was about to escape from this place, they had immediately launched various plans against Takemikazuchi.

The initial plan.

Was to have the holder of 'Heaven'—that is, her—reinforce the spatial barrier to prevent Takemikazuchi from returning to the mortal world.

This tactic hadn't worked on Amenotokotachi. First, the power that exiled Amenotokotachi was based on the first master of 'Truth,' that hero who deconstructed the authorities of all Oni Gods and recreated a miracle, barely managing to trap Amenotokotachi.

Second, the current master of 'Truth' was far weaker than the first master.

But Amenotokotachi had already been slain, forged into a new Edict Blade—'Heaven'!

The place where Amenotokotachi descended was her hometown. Because of Amenotokotachi, her hometown was destroyed, and her family all tragically perished.

She herself, after Amenotokotachi was vanquished, became the unlucky wretch chosen by 'Heaven.'

Not everyone was qualified to wield an Edict Blade. Ordinary Edict Blades had little influence, but this one, forged from the most powerful Oni God slain, had its own set of rules.

The research institute called this compatibility. Based on years of testing, they found that if a user's compatibility with an Edict Blade fell below fifty percent, the one who picked up the blade couldn't learn the Word of Power to release it from the blade itself. Even if they forcibly spoke a fixed Word of Power to try and use the blade's strength, they couldn't unleash its power and would be devoured by it, dying.

Above fifty percent was useless too.

That only allowed them to barely use the blade's power, and the longer the battle, the worse the corrosion.

They often died after just a few uses.

These were all data points obtained from the countless sacrifices over the centuries before Welt, the current new master of 'Truth,' appeared in Izumo, when they used the blade 'Truth' to slay the remaining powerful Oni Gods.

The so-called 'Blade Master' referred to a person whose compatibility with an Edict Blade reached ninety percent or above.

Only when compatibility reached over ninety percent could one use an Edict Blade without suffering fatal corrosion.

Sirin didn't want to be this Blade Master at all.

Her mother had died caught in the aftermath of war, using her life to protect her in her final moments, telling her to live on well.

As for whether the attack that fell on the town back then was the power of Amenotokotachi or the artillery fire launched by humans, she didn't know.

She only firmly remembered her mother's final dying words—to make sure she lived on, even if her mother was no longer there, she had to keep living.

Later, after the subjugation of Amenotokotachi ended, she was rescued by the recovery team and taken to a temporary base, where the higher-ups conducted adaptability tests on everyone.

Who would have thought that an ordinary person like her would have a ninety-nine percent adaptability with the 'Heaven,' infinitely close to the first 'True'?

Even after using the Edict Blade for so long, the only change in her was this pair of eyes with an X-shaped pattern.

Countless people were green with envy.

But that's getting off track.

The higher-ups wanted her to unleash the power of the Edict Blade to stop Takemikazuchi, but the barriers she constructed with the Edict Blade were only made of singular spatial power, utterly incapable of stopping Takemikazuchi, who had been sealed for a thousand years. Even with all her strength, she could only delay its return to the mortal world.

"'Heaven's' recognition? I'm sorry, but This Humble One is not someone recognized by 'Heaven.'"

"You women are really boring." Sirin pursed her lips and said, "Is that Raiden Mei also a shrine maiden from the shrine? She's not as dull as you, is she?"

Although the complete Edict Blade had yet to be forged, so there was no way to confirm it officially, Raiden Mei—that Mr. Ryoma's daughter—her adaptability with the Resonating Blade was certainly very high.

But the prerequisite for forging the Resonating Blade was for them to win this war.

"That Miss Mei?" Yae Sakura shook her head. "I would have liked to talk with her, but unfortunately, This Humble One never got to see her."

"Huh?" Sirin wore an expression like 'are you kidding me?' and said, "So after all that, you didn't even meet her? Then who were you explaining things to for so long?"

Was there any need to explain to anyone else?

Sirin was extremely annoyed right now, under immense pressure. Those people wanted her to trap Takemikazuchi in battle and also help everyone coordinate their attacks to win this fight.

But Takemikazuchi was the incarnation of lightning, a dragon that flew in the sky—not a stationary target!

She had already tried; her power could only trap it for a moment. Dealing with a god of this caliber wasn't something that could be subjugated in a short time.

And if she could actually lock away Takemikazuchi, who was used to breaking through spatial barriers, then everyone wouldn't need to camp here right now.

Yae Sakura wasn't thinking that far ahead.

Against Takemikazuchi, she had only one thought: to give it her all.

So she didn't dwell on the pressure of subjugating Takemikazuchi, but instead answered Sirin's question very seriously: "She's a very good girl."

"You mean, you went out on duty, happened to make a new friend, and chatted with her for a while?" Sirin raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like you, Sakura."

"Not a friend yet."

Yae Sakura shook her head and corrected her: "I made a promise with her—if we can win this battle and survive, then she will become my friend."

Sirin was full of question marks.

Had she been stuck in this godforsaken place stabilizing the space and delaying Takemikazuchi for so long that she could no longer keep up with these people's thinking?

What did 'if we survive, then become friends' mean?

Yae Sakura, is your brain functioning properly?

Chapter 22: Then She's Not My Friend Anymore—Cut Ties!

"It seems you really like this friend."

Sirin almost wanted to make a snide remark and ask Yae Sakura if something was wrong with her head. A promise like that—either she was crazy or the other person was crazy.

Making friends had to wait for the right day?

What kind of people were these!

She always felt like she didn't fit in with this group. If it weren't for the fact that this war involved the entire world and she would die if she didn't fight...

She would have quit long ago.

When would this endless cycle of either fighting or preparing to fight ever end?

"Like? I admire her conviction." Yae Sakura said. "My intuition tells me that becoming her friend would be a good thing."

"Oh? That interesting? Then tell me about it too, let me have a little fun."

In a little while, she'd have to go back up and reinforce the spatial barrier, so while she could catch her breath now, she wanted to hear some gossip to lighten her mood.

Yae Sakura thought for a moment. She really had nothing to do right now, and Sirin, though her personality seemed a bit nasty, was actually a pretty good person at heart.

Maybe she could ask her to help persuade Raiden Ryoma—after all, she had promised Kiana she would.

"Do you have any good friends?"

Yae Sakura planned to use an analogy to convey to Sirin the surprise Kiana had brought her back then.

"Friends?"

Sirin's expression twisted for a split second, then she said decisively: "No!"

Everyone around her was boring.

All came to slay gods.

Ever since it was discovered that her adaptability with the Heavenly Blade was terrifyingly high, she hadn't returned to the ordinary world in a long time.

The people around her could only be called comrades-in-arms.

Wretches who might not even live to see tomorrow—she refused to acknowledge them as her friends.

Yae Sakura was speechless for a good while.

Still, Sirin's answer was normal enough; her personality was something of an outlier among the Demon Slaying Blade Masters.

She talked about not wanting to be a blade master and all that, but she'd never flinched from battle, and she was very reliable on the field.

She'd saved many teammates with the Edict Blade.

Even though her words were never pleasant to hear, and every day she looked like she wanted to retire on the spot and dump the burden on someone else.

Still, many people at the base respected her.

"Then suppose you have a friend, you're very close, and one day, your blade is suddenly taken away..."

Sirin cut off Yae Sakura's story at that: "There's a good thing like that?"

"...Your friend finds the person who took your blade. To protect your blade, knowing they're no match for the enemy, they still chase after them without regard for their own life, to take your blade back..."

"Take my blade back?" Sirin clicked her tongue and waved her hands repeatedly: "Then she's not my friend anymore. Cut ties!"

Interrupted again, Yae Sakura turned around expressionlessly. She shouldn't have thought Sirin could talk sense.

How could the unreliable Sirin possibly give her useful advice?

She'd better ask someone else.

"Hey, wait, don't go."

Sirin caught up to Yae Sakura: "What about the rest? Keep going. Who tells a story halfway?"

"This isn't a story."

"Oh, you're talking about that girl you met on the road." Sirin nodded, then countered: "But what does that have to do with you? The role you're playing in this story seems like the villain, doesn't it?"

"Villain? This Humble One was merely following orders, and I also told Kiana the full truth of the matter." Yae Sakura thought for a moment, then added: "She should understand."