A Person in Izumo, Making Honkai Great Again

"You can take it back to offer as a sacrifice, or collect it, but absolutely do not use it."

Seeing Kiana staring at the blade Miss Yae had given her with an astonished expression, Sirin opened her mouth and reminded her.

"Normal Demon Blades are forged by first hunting a powerful Oni God, then using it to kill lesser Oni Gods, turning the lesser ones into nourishment for the more powerful ones. While this does increase the erosion on the user's body, the Demon Blades forged this way are still somewhat controllable."

Sirin let Yae Sakura explain to Raiden Mei, as Yae Sakura had been present during the meeting anyway.

She knew no less than Sirin did.

"I don't know how many Oni Gods she killed with this blade, but I know she didn't take it from the Command Center, so this blade definitely wasn't forged using conventional methods."

There were no powerful Oni Gods reported nearby at the time, so Miss Yae likely honed the blade on a mid-tier Oni God, and then killed quite a few of the same level in a short period.

"There's a specific process for this too?" Kiana asked, shocked. "That sounds so complicated. Does that mean the blades you guys can use are incredibly rare?"

"Yes, if this restriction didn't exist, and Izumo had been fighting these invaders from Takama-ga-hara for a thousand years, even without counting the blades that wore out completely, the cumulative number of Demon Blades wouldn't be small. The Blade Masters alone could field over a million people."

"You must have heard Miss Yae tell the story of the 'Eight Million Gods of Takama-ga-hara,' right? Eight Million Gods doesn't refer to the number of Oni Gods that invaded Izumo, but rather an uncountable amount."

"Tsk, some willingly fall into becoming Oni Gods, others are corrupted by their power. In short, we haven't finished killing these things after a thousand years. Every so often, annoying guys show up, forcing me to run around everywhere."

"However, as long as all Twelve Oni Gods are eliminated, Izumo should be able to completely quell this disaster of Oni Gods."

Sirin's spirits seemed to lift as she said this.

"...Why do you say that?"

"Those are the words left by the pioneers," Sirin explained casually to Kiana. "As long as we slay the twelve most powerful Oni Gods, we can drive all the invaders back to Takama-ga-hara."

"So you all believe that by completely slaying the Twelve Oni Gods, Izumo will achieve victory, is that right?"

"I know what you're trying to say, but think about it, if we can successfully defeat even the twelve most powerful Oni Gods, what kind of waves can the remaining, easily defeated ones make?"

"..."

Yes.

But Izumo's true enemy wasn't just Takama-ga-hara, but also the shadow that had already enveloped Izumo.

'With the hope for tomorrow in our hands, we achieved victory after victory'

'Until-- they were all broken'

For some reason, Kiana suddenly recalled these two lines from the Yomi PV.

"Why the long face?"

Sirin tilted her head, her expression curious, and leaned in to stare at Kiana's pursed lips.

"Isn't that right?"

"If I said they weren't the end, but rather..."

"I know, you're going to talk about the Honkai, right?" Sirin smacked her forehead. She'd completely forgotten about it in her confusion. "But don't worry too much. We can even defeat Oni Gods, so the Honkai is naturally no problem. If we can't even defeat Oni Gods, then worrying too much about the Honkai will only lead to more trouble."

No, I'm worried that once you're infected, you can't escape. No matter where you are, you'll sink deeper into the Void.

"Alright, let's not talk about this. I've brought everything I promised you. Come on, let's go outside, and I'll give them all to you."

"Okay!"

Hearing that Sirin had brought her the things she wanted most, Kiana's eyes lit up, and she set aside her concerns about the Void.

There would be time for that later.

The most important thing now was to strengthen herself and quickly become One-Punch Man.

She had already considered it; becoming One-Punch Man was the most cost-effective option for her right now.

Happily following Sirin, she left the shrine and went to an open space outside. Mei merely glanced at them before continuing her unfinished conversation with Yae Sakura.

Through Miss Yae's detailed explanation, she had come to understand what kind of organization the Demon Blade Masters were, and what "her decision" from yesterday meant.

Kiana was right; Miss Yae was indeed a pretty good person.

Chapter 63: One-Punch Man

Sirin casually drew a circle in the air with an Imperial Blade, opening a spatial rift. The piled-up swords and blades inside poured out as the exit opened.

The metallic clang of weapons colliding was incessant.

By the time the spatial rift closed, a small mountain of swords and blades had piled up in front of her.

"It looks like a lot, but many of them are low-quality Demon Blades with little value."

"...That's way too many!"

Kiana truly hadn't expected Sirin to give her such a grand gift.

After receiving the gift from Miss Yae, she had thought Sirin would give her a similar Demon Blade.

But it made sense when she thought about it.

On this fourth day, where would Sirin get Demon Blades worth fifty thousand Honkai Crystals for her?

"Ahem, I was just clearing out some inventory," Sirin said sheepishly, but then added, "Can't you offer them all as sacrifice at once?"

"...Yes."

Kiana used the recycle function to select the pile of swords before her, successfully selecting all the Demon Blades.

Thank goodness I don't have to do it one by one.

Otherwise, it would take ages.

"Are you sure you don't want any of them?" Before the final recycling, Kiana reminded Sirin again, "I haven't checked the abilities of these Demon Blades. If I sacrifice them, there's no turning back."

"Go ahead and sacrifice them."

Everything here was meant to clear inventory. Most of them were the lowest-grade, inferior Demon Blades, while a few were blades that had accumulated so much curse from slaying Oni Gods that no one could use them anymore.

Their total value...

[Recycled Demon Blades of Various Qualities (324), you have obtained 637,200 Honkai Crystals. Honkai Crystals can be exchanged for goods in the shop.]

How much?

Staring at the final number, Kiana was slightly stunned, then glared at Sirin, "Did you make a mistake? It's almost 140,000 more."

"140,000? Hmm... is that the currency after sacrificing?" Sirin thought for a moment and said, "I wasn't sure if the power of the Oni Gods within the Demon Blades would be depleted, so I brought a few extra Demon Blades."

"...That's way too many, though?"

"It's fine, the extra ones can be..."

"Stop!" Kiana quickly made a stopping gesture. "I've already given you a great deal. Consider the extra amount as you buying equipment from me."

Seeing Sirin shake her head, Kiana didn't wait for a refusal. She grabbed her and walked inside, saying as they went, "Let's go to my room. I'll find some paper and a pen and write down the equipment I can sell you. You can pick."

She had spent a good amount of time thinking about what kind of equipment she wanted to buy. The variety shouldn't be too large, and she was limited by her finances, so she could only choose equipment with a maximum of four stars, most of them being one or two stars.

Kiana pulled Sirin along like a gust of wind, quickly entering and then disappearing inside. Mei's gaze had involuntarily followed Kiana's figure from the moment she appeared until she vanished.

Seeing this, Yae Sakura couldn't help but sigh, "You care a lot about Kiana too."

What do you mean 'too'?

Mei frowned slightly, feeling inexplicably uncomfortable, and her good impression of Yae Sakura dropped a notch. "She's the most important person to me. It's only natural that I care about her. Speaking of which, Miss Yae, you've only met Kiana once, right?"

"What I meant was, you care about her just as much as Kiana cares about you. That's wonderful."

"...Why do you say that?"

Why is Yae Sakura so concerned about this?

"Perhaps because..." Yae Sakura thought for a moment and said truthfully, "I envy you."

"Envy me?"

Mei couldn't understand what Yae Sakura meant. She felt her life had been terrible before meeting Kiana.

"Yes, even though you no longer had the ability to act, you still stood up, and stood up again, all just to help your friend get back what belongs to her, to help you reconnect with your father. You weren't afraid of death, nor pain, and with an attitude of 'I absolutely cannot give up,' you blocked me as I was trying to leave."

Yae Sakura said earnestly, "Her spirit moved me, so I wanted to make a promise with her."

Mei: "..."

Meanwhile.

Back in her room, Kiana found paper and a pen, then excitedly opened the shop. Holding the vast sum of 630,000, she began her shopping spree.

--Knights Don't Die Unarmed!

Buy!

[Knights Don't Die Unarmed (★★☆☆)
Special Effect:
--Unarmed Damage Amplification: Increases unarmed attack damage by 82 times.
--Amplification Enhancement: Adds 60% to the damage amplification effect of V-Pattern weapons.]

--Savior's Insignia!

Buy!

[Savior's Insignia (★★★★☆)
Special Effect:
--Honkai Unrivaled: Continuous attacks on enemies increase your overall damage, up to 100%.
--One-Punch Man: Increases unarmed damage by 600 times, expands range by 80%, and restores 100% of current weapon ammo.]

Honkai Crystals - 110,000.

Kiana stared at the insignia for a while, pondered, and then maxed out its stars.

Total Honkai Crystals spent - 230,000. She had over 400,000 left from the funds Sirin provided.

She also specifically looked for 'The Encounter With You,' but unfortunately, it wasn't available in the shop, which made her realize that not all game equipment was sold here.

She inwardly lamented the missed opportunity.

"I can provide all of these. I've also written the prices on it."

Kiana handed the paper she had written to Sirin, her eyes filled with unconcealed eagerness.

She felt terrifyingly strong right now.

As for Sirin's gift, Kiana had already thought of something, but her eyes happened to fall on something interesting in the equipment section.

"Sirin, do you want to be a magical girl?"

Sirin, who was becoming more and more surprised as she read the paper Kiana had written, heard an astonishing statement. She couldn't help but shift her attention from the equipment.

"What?"

"A magical girl!" Kiana repeated, gesturing excitedly as if trying to make her understand, "You know, the kind who can cast magic with just a wand."

"Huh?"

Sirin almost thought she had misheard. She looked at Kiana suspiciously but saw no hint of a joke on her face, only her excited and expectant burning gaze.

Sirin fell silent.

How should she put it? She felt a bit strange. Kiana thought she resembled a magical girl, and she was happy about that, but for her to be like those on TV...

She shook her head rapidly. "I have the Imperial Blades. You should keep this kind of thing for yourself."

She couldn't even imagine pulling out a magic wand and transforming in front of her comrades.

Just thinking about it was mortifying.

"Alright then."

Kiana bought the V-Pattern: Knight's Experience. All she wanted was the badge that increased melee weapon damage by 100%.

As Sirin had said, she now had the Imperial Blades, and her combat system had taken shape. What suited her best was this kind of simple, brute-force damage boost.

Author's Note

As the title suggests, the book will be put on paid shelves tomorrow.