Returning to the Battlefield

"Don't mention it." Kiana, a first-time profiteer, used a brilliant smile to hide her guilty embarrassment. "You paid for it."

"Mm." Sirin nodded. "Just now, the total was..."

"Let's just count it as one thousand."

Kiana voluntarily rounded down. She had already earned enough. Making even more would be impolite.

"No. I promised you. I'll repay every expense at ten times the price."

Sirin had no intention of welching on her debt. Still, she was quite happy that Kiana had voluntarily rounded down the price, and her favorable impression of Kiana rose sharply.

She became more determined to make Kiana her friend.

"If I remember correctly, there should have been sixteen bottles. Adding the hundred at the beginning, that makes one thousand seven hundred."

Sirin thought it over. Kiana must have used healing more than once to save her from the brink of death.

"Counting the debt for saving my life..."

How much was her life worth?

Of course it was priceless—impossible to measure!

Sirin fell silent for a moment, calculating how many Kishin she had slain over the years. Then she looked up and said, "The energy of five thousand low-level Kishin."

"H-How many?!!"

Five hundred thousand Honkai Crystals?!

Wow, was this the composure of a rich lady?

She had casually promised five hundred thousand Honkai Crystals. If Kiana had to cut down that many herself, her blade would have been worn blunt before she could finish!

Kiana could not help taking a step back. Sirin seemed to be glowing with golden light from head to toe.

That was the light of a rich lady!

Kiana looked at the glittering Sirin with little confidence and said with difficulty, "One thousand will be enough."

A hundred thousand Honkai Crystals was already what she had earned by ignoring her conscience. Five hundred thousand...

"The energy of five thousand low-level Kishin is equivalent to five hundred mid-level Kishin, or fifty high-level Kishin."

As she calculated it, Sirin smiled. "I'm very strong. They're only five top-level Kishin. As long as they aren't the Twelve Oni Gods, none of the others are a match for me."

Although she had been the Blade Master of the Heavenly Blade for more than ten years, she had only killed two top-level Kishin.

Before Kishin on the level of the Twelve Oni Gods escaped, the top-level Kishin occupying famous mountains, rivers, and the sea were their hunting targets.

"Only five top-level Kishin?"

Kiana swallowed. She suddenly felt that her horizons had been rather narrow.

She had also underestimated Sirin.

"I won't let my friend suffer a loss." Sirin looked at Kiana and extended her hand with a smile. With a hint of ulterior motive, she asked, "You're willing to become friends with me, right?"

"Of course!"

No one could refuse a rich lady!

Five hundred thousand—that was five hundred thousand!

Kiana suppressed the urge to keep investing in Sirin. One-star items had limited enhancement potential, and a one-star weapon was certainly less useful than an Edict Blade.

As for the healing spray...

She had just made fifty thousand Honkai Crystals from healing Sirin. How could she turn around and give the item to Sirin?

Wouldn't that be plainly telling Sirin that she had lied and treated her like a fat sheep to be fleeced?

Sirin would probably turn against her immediately.

"Ahem, I don't have anything suitable on hand right now. Next time, next time we meet... when you've paid me back, I'll give you a surprise."

Kiana clumsily painted a rosy picture.

Her heart pounded wildly. Although she had not received a single crystal yet, she believed Sirin would not default on her debt!

That was five hundred thousand!

How should she spend it?

A five-star weapon only cost one hundred thousand apiece, and five-star equipment could already provide a considerable boost.

"Then I'll prepare a surprise for you next time as well."

Sirin nodded secretly. Seeing the excitement Kiana could barely restrain, she had only one thought in mind: I've got her in the palm of my hand.

Kiana felt embarrassed listening to that. The rich lady treated her as a friend, while she treated the rich lady as a leek to harvest.

"You're heading back to the battlefield now, right? Is there anything we can do to help you?"

She would just compensate Sirin with a little more later. At worst, she would give her a piece of five-star equipment.

With that thought, her guilt over treating her friend like a leek immediately vanished.

This was a win-win. She was not the only one profiting, and she had not deceived Sirin by getting something for nothing.

So why should she feel guilty?

"Don't trouble yourselves." Sirin shook her head and walked out of the room, speaking as she went. "Just leave the battlefield to me."

With Kiana and Raiden Mei's strength, they would probably only serve as cannon fodder if they went. They might as well stay in the city and slay more Kishin.

"I believe you'll definitely win!"

Sirin paused slightly. When she turned back and saw the trust in Kiana's eyes and the smile on her face, the urgency in her heart eased somewhat.

"You're right." She smiled as well. "I'll definitely win."

She liked hearing things like that.

And she also believed she could win.

"Thank you, Kiana."

Why are you thanking me again?

Before the puzzled Kiana could ask anything, Sirin had already walked into the living room.

Mei had just finished communicating with the armed forces. Holding her blade, she waited for Kiana, only to see the person entering the living room was not Kiana, but the girl who called herself Sirin.

Kiana followed close behind.

"You?"

Raiden Mei frowned.

Was this person going with them?

Chapter Forty-One: Returning to the Battlefield

"You're Raiden Mei, right?"

Sirin looked Raiden Mei over again. Her attitude toward Raiden Mei was not as good as it was toward Kiana's, but it was still acceptable.

"After we subdue Takemikazuchi, we'll come find you again."

Raiden Ryoma's compatibility with Kishin power was not very strong. His body was already showing signs of Oniification, so there was no need to use a complete Resonating Blade to test his compatibility.

He was definitely not the wielder of the Resonating Blade.

And with Yae Sakura as a precedent—a shrine maiden who worshiped the Frost Blade and could slay Kishin with an incomplete Frost Blade—the possibility that Raiden Mei could become the wielder of the Resonating Blade was extremely high in their eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"You'll understand then."

The Resonating Blade had not yet been forged, and it was still impossible to determine completely whether Raiden Mei was its Blade Master. Sirin did not explain everything at this point.

"Kiana, let's part ways here."

Sirin gave Kiana one last greeting. She was still concerned about her battle with Takemikazuchi and had no desire to remain there, so she hurriedly turned and left the shrine.

Only Raiden Mei remained, frowning in confusion.

"What was that about?"

"She's in a hurry, isn't she?" Kiana still looked somewhat dazed, as if she were dreaming. "She just asked me for a paid healing treatment."

"Her injuries are healed, so she's preparing to return to the battlefield."

A surprised look swept over Kiana. But when Mei thought of the Stigma and the weapon Kiana had given her, healing did not seem worth making a fuss over.

"Then let's get moving too. I just finished communicating with the armed forces. They agreed very readily, and asked us to meet near the Shelter where we dealt with the Spider Kishin before. They're willing to provide us with some equipment support."

Sirin had merely been an unexpected interlude. She was not important.

Her departure was nothing to worry about.

Raiden Mei was somewhat worried about her father, who was on the battlefield. But when she remembered that he had even prepared a will for her and had long been ready to leave without saying goodbye, that worry turned complicated.

She could only try not to think about it, so as not to add trouble for herself, her father, or Kiana.

She understood her father's plans.

But precisely because she understood them, her feelings were especially complicated. She did not know what she should do.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

She would not receive Sirin's five hundred thousand Honkai Crystals until after they subdued Takemikazuchi.

And even the thinnest mosquito's leg was still meat. Kiana, who had used a few hundred crystals to earn hundreds of thousands, was now exceptionally excited.

"Mm, let's go."

After leaving the shrine, Sirin got lost for a while. In the end, she found the city's official forces after spotting a map of the city.

After explaining her identity, they immediately made arrangements according to her request, sending her from Changkong City to the city nearest the battlefield. They also successfully contacted the people in the Command Center.

"Sirin, you're still alive?"

The people in the Command Center were overjoyed when they heard her news. The gloom weighing on them dispersed, and the heavy pressure eased considerably.

Regardless, the fact that she was still alive was the greatest encouragement to those still holding on at the battlefield!

"Wait where you are. We'll bring the Heavenly Blade to you right now!"

Sirin had thrown the Heavenly Blade with the resolve to die, so naturally the Command Center had recovered it.

But among the current Bladesmen...

They could not find a second person capable of using the Imperial Blades of Heaven!

After ending the call, Sirin looked at the black dragon rolling through the thunderclouds in the sky.

The memory of her previous battle with Takemikazuchi flashed through her mind, along with the pain of being struck by Heaven's Punishment.

Would she win?

A question flashed through Sirin's mind.

In the Imaginary Space, she had been unable to stop Takemikazuchi or inflict any effective damage on it.

Would she and Welt really win?

They would.

Sirin's doubt was instantly replaced by confidence. They had reasons and convictions that made victory imperative.

She still owed Kiana five thousand Kishin.

She did not want to become someone who refused to repay her debts.

She did not have to wait long. A human with limbs like a wolf's came running toward her on all fours, as fast as a gust of wind.

It was the person who had slain too many Kishin while possessing little resistance to the Kishin curse, leaving him eroded by the curse and with his Oniification level nearing eighty percent.

He carried a box on his back.