In Izumo, Making Honkai Great Again

Finality Process: 12.4% (↓)

Honkai Energy Concentration (Izumo): 20.8996% (↓)

Summary: Herrscher transformation is no longer the sole factor influencing Honkai energy concentration (world). Please be aware of potential Honkai disasters.

An unexpected notification appeared.

Kiana glanced at the notification, her attention then drawn to her own significantly changed status panel.

The most striking thing was the Honkai energy concentration.

Next was the reminder from the summary.

She was no longer the only factor influencing Honkai energy concentration. Did this mean that even if she froze the Herrscher transformation process at 10%, the Honkai energy concentration in this world would still continuously rise for various reasons?

For what reasons?

Disasters.

All sorts of energies that could be eroded and assimilated by the Honkai. A concentration of twenty percent was already not low. If the concentration increased further, in areas with higher Honkai energy concentration, all sorts of Honkai creatures could potentially appear.

This made her think of the Oni Gods in this world.

Kiana realized that the Oni Gods in Izumo were particularly susceptible to Honkai erosion. When the Honkai energy concentration was only around ten percent, even powerful Oni Gods like Takemikazuchi were affected by the Honkai energy.

Actually, Kiana was more inclined to believe that these Oni Gods had actively embraced the Honkai energy.

A ten percent concentration wasn't considered too high; it wasn't very noticeable to the planet.

Yet, Takemikazuchi had fallen victim.

And when she had just seen it, the signs of its erosion were not shallow; it was already transforming in the direction of a Honkai creature.

If a ten percent concentration yielded such results, now the Honkai energy concentration had nearly doubled...

Kiana frowned, but quickly returned to her usual demeanor, as she had already prepared herself to stop playing small games.

She planned to sell equipment and snowball.

In her opinion, she could handle ordinary Oni Gods transforming into Honkai creatures without increasing the difficulty of slaying them.

Takemikazuchi had felt troublesome because she had only activated the system two or three days ago. The time was too short, and she hadn't started accumulating capital yet.

Once this period passed, the remaining Oni Gods in Izumo would no longer be difficult problems requiring her to fight for her life. Even if all the remaining nine Oni Gods were transformed into Honkai creatures, she wouldn't be afraid, even if they were more troublesome than Herrschers.

Izumo's true enemy was the "Black Handsome" guy.

How to protect Izumo from the "Black Handsome" guy was the problem that needed to be pondered.

While Kiana was contemplating the impact of the increased Honkai energy concentration on Izumo, the Resonating Blade had already been forged.

The sword no longer resembled the Yamamoto Night Shadow Samurai Sword. The overall color of the sword was a dual purple and red hue, with distinct lightning patterns on both the hilt and the blade.

Mei walked towards the Resonating Blade upon seeing its completion, examining the blade that had transformed from the Yamamoto Night Shadow Samurai Sword.

It was different from the Narukami.

The color was not purplish-black, but purplish-red. Recalling the red lightning wielded by Takemikazuchi, it seemed related to the influence of Honkai energy.

She boldly reached out towards the Resonating Blade, on which faint currents were still surging.

Once Mei grasped the Resonating Blade, its mystical aura vanished. The purplish-red color dimmed slightly, the glowing lightning patterns faded, and the hilt returned to its ordinary appearance.

Holding the Imperial Blade, Mei felt the hidden power within the Resonating Blade, and surprise flickered in her eyes.

Sirin, who had retracted her Imperial Blades of Heaven, asked, "Why aren't you speaking?"

"...It's a decent weapon."

Kiana also looked at the sword and asked curiously, "Mei, can I see it?"

"Here."

[Resonating Blade (Imperial Blade): A sword forged from slaying Takemikazuchi. It grants the wielder immense power, but this power is also a curse. Each use will inflict Honkai erosion on the user.

Special Effects: Word of Power (Unleash the true form of the Resonating Blade with a Word of Power, recreating Takemikazuchi's strength), Grievous Injury (When attacking enemies, there is a chance to inflict Grievous Injury on the target), Narukami (All lightning-based damage receives a threefold increase).]

One sword, three attributes.

The only side effect wasn't a curse from an Oni God, but transformed into Honkai erosion.

Kiana thought about Takemikazuchi's transformation into a Honkai creature and felt it was quite reasonable.

She was tempted to test the so-called 'Honkai erosion effect' and see how severe the erosion would be.

But she quickly remembered her identity.

She was the Herrscher of Finality. Although not the complete Herrscher of Finality yet, she was still the Herrscher of Finality.

It would be a miracle if this thing could erode her.

"It's a good sword!"

Kiana returned the sword to Mei.

The 'Grievous Injury' attribute was likely an evolution of the 'Bleed' attribute that the Yamamoto Night Shadow Samurai Sword originally possessed.

It couldn't possibly be that Takemikazuchi was slain while in a grievous state, and its lingering resentment caused the sword to develop a 'Grievous Injury' attribute, right?

That's ridiculous!

"The Imperial Blades all have the same power," Sirin said, putting away the Heavenly Blade, which had returned to its normal state. "As I mentioned, the carrier affects the erosion effect."

She looked at the Resonating Blade in Mei's hand and tilted her chin slightly. "You should be able to feel the price of using the Resonating Blade, right? It's too late to regret it now. That broken sword you're using isn't the Narukami."

"...What Kiana gave me isn't a broken sword."

She suddenly looked to her right and, under Sirin's unexpected gaze, slashed at the rooftop over there.

A crescent-shaped lightning sword energy shot out. Mixed within the blue arcs were wisps of crimson. In the blink of an eye, before they could even react, the sword energy appeared on the rooftop and struck with a deafening roar.

"This is the Resonating Blade's ability?"

Mei was still looking at the rooftop over there. Seeing wisps of black, ominous energy flowing towards her, she understood.

The power of this simple opening strike was four to five times greater than her full power attack before.

She nodded.

It was amplified by the Stigmata's boost, and also by the Resonating Blade's enhancement. It wasn't wrong to say it was the Resonating Blade's ability.

At this moment, the black energy drifting from afar tried to attach itself to the Resonating Blade, but Mei blocked it with Honkai energy.

The power of the Oni Gods slain would attach itself to the swords after death, which was also why they had been able to hold out against the invasion until now.

Even for the Oni Gods slain by the Imperial Blades, their power would merge into the Imperial Blades after death, but it became merely negligible nourishment.

Sirin initially paid it no mind.

It was normal to have Oni Gods around this area.

But then, something happened that made her eyes widen. The power of the Oni God that had just been slain couldn't merge into the Imperial Blade.

It didn't dissipate without a carrier; instead, it gathered together and condensed into a jet-black crystal.

"What is this?!"

After slaying Oni Gods for over ten years, Sirin had never seen such a transformation!

Chapter 50: Honkai Energy is Omnipotent

"If it rejects the power from merging into the blade, it will condense into a black crystal like this."

Mei kindly explained, but Sirin wasn't concerned with that. She was more interested in how it was done.

"Because you can completely control the Resonating Blade?"

Sirin had never heard of anyone being able to refuse the integration of an Oni God's power. If it were possible, many people who had been eroded by Oni Gods and fallen wouldn't have lost their sanity in the end.

"I think... it's because of the Honkai?"

Mei handed the crystal to Kiana.

The first time she slew an Oni God, she could only sense it but couldn't stop it. The second time, using the sword Kiana gave her, she was able to use the sword's power to prevent the uncomfortable energy from merging into the blade.

The problem undoubtedly lay with the power.

When she slew an Oni God for the first time, she was an ordinary person. The second time, she could already wield the power Kiana called Honkai.

"...Honkai?" Sirin remembered this. She looked at Kiana and muttered, "What a strange name."

Didn't Kiana just say she was going to explain what Honkai was?

And that the abnormal situation with Takemikazuchi was related to Honkai?

She shouldn't have forgotten.

"Honkai energy... an energy that is different from the Oni Gods invading from Takama-ga-hara and the Paths."

Kiana actually thought that the power of the Oni Gods invading from Takama-ga-hara should also be a type of Path power.

As for which Aeon...

She felt the greatest possibility was The Void.

But this was just her guess, and whether the power of the Oni Gods came from The Void Path or not wasn't important.

The Honkai energy she brought was a tangible energy completely unrelated to the Aeons, because it wasn't something from the Tree Sea system's universe at all.

"What are Paths?"

Why were there so many new things?

Her confusion wasn't resolved, and the things she didn't know were only increasing.

"Uh... you don't know?"

Kiana was taken aback. Izumo was located in the Honkai Impact 3rd universe's worldview, with an Aeon nearby.

They shouldn't be completely ignorant of Paths, should they?

"Should I know?"

Sirin was a little bewildered. She had never heard of Paths before, nor did she know what Kiana meant by Paths.

"What about Aeons?"

"I don't know, at least I haven't heard of them," Sirin shook her head, then added with some resentment, "After all, I was dragged off to slay Oni Gods before I even finished my education."

"As for knowledge, you can ask Welt. If he knows, it means it's recorded. If he doesn't, it means Izumo has no record of it."

Speaking of which, is that Welt guy dead or alive?

Sirin then remembered the missing Welt, but it was only a fleeting thought. Her relationship with Welt wasn't good; in fact, it could be described as terrible.

"Before the Oni Gods descended, did you have contact with other worlds?" Kiana hesitated before asking.

"Takama-ga-hara?"

"There are no records of that," Mei shook her head. She knew Kiana wasn't from this world.

No contact with other worlds, the currency used wasn't credit points, and she didn't know about the Aeons...

This situation couldn't help but remind her of Honkai Impact 3rd. However, the reason for the outside world's lack of contact with Izumo was likely due to the "Black Commander."

If she remembered correctly, Takama-ga-hara and Izumo revolved around the Black Commander, and both were shrouded in his shadow.

Normal people really wouldn't want to come here.

Could it be that because Izumo was unconsciously enveloped by the Black Commander, even the Aeons couldn't be bothered to glance at it?

She speculated wildly.

"...Then let's set this topic aside for now. After all, Aeons and Paths don't have much to do with the current Izumo," Kiana thought for a long time, unsure how to explain. She scratched her head and skipped the topic.

She didn't know much either, so it was best not to spread misinformation here.

If they could escape the shadow of The Void, these future matters could be understood after establishing contact with other worlds.

If not...

Then there was nothing more to say.

"Honkai energy... If you want me to explain its essence, I can't say for sure. It's a very dangerous energy... Perhaps in some time, you'll be able to directly feel what Honkai is."

How many people would die?