Man in Izumo, Making Honkai Great Again

Raiden Mei had already plunged into the water, trying to pull Kiana out.

The Whale Monster was killed with a single punch, its corpse turning into thick black energy that condensed into black crystals in front of Kiana.

Kiana seemed entranced, standing in the sea holding the pitch-black crystal in a daze.

Mei ignored her daze, found her, grabbed her shoulders, and pulled her out of the sea.

"Kiana?"

She called Kiana's name again, but Kiana frowned and didn't respond until Mei took the crystal core from her hand.

It felt more uncomfortable than the ominous crystal cores she had touched before, giving her a sense of emptiness and meaninglessness, as if everything was void.

Yet, at the end of this void, she could vaguely sense a touching, sorrowful obsession that had not been extinguished.

What is this...?

[Unextinguished Wails (Stigmata Material)]

After Kiana took the item, she casually threw the thing that could affect one's will into her item space.

"..."

With the item gone, Mei snapped out of that feeling, though the sense of emptiness seemed to be imprinted on her heart.

"Mei, are you okay?"

The Thunder Prison had annihilated all the Oni Gods. The Oni Gods that Mei had slain also turned into black energy and floated, attempting to merge into the Resonating Blade in Mei's hand.

After being rejected, they turned into some crystal cores, which Kiana collected.

"...What exactly are Oni Gods?"

Mei had this question. She hadn't thought about it before because the Oni Gods were invaders from Takama-ga-hara.

Those ships were not physical either; like the power of the Oni Gods, they were creations derived from their power.

Since they were not real sunken ships.

Then the tattered flags on the ships...

Where did they come from?

Was the Whale Monster a fallen Oni-slayer from a long time ago?

"Maybe we can ask Sirin and the others?"

Kiana didn't know the real answer either. Izumo had been slaying Oni for thousands of years, so they should have some research on Oni Gods.

When they returned to the ship.

"You really punched that Whale Monster to death?"

Sirin circled Kiana, looking at her ordinary hands in disbelief.

She thought Kiana had just smashed the Whale Monster into the sea, but she didn't expect Kiana to have punched it to death.

How much strength would that take?

"Is there any reason to lie about this?"

Kiana raised her fist and said, "With this punch, I unleashed at least a thousand times the power!"

Sirin looked at her fist, then remembered the invulnerable Whale Monster, and silently took a step back.

Simply terrifying!

"But I'm still not strong enough. When I can punch a planet to death, that'll be something."

"...You don't have to try that hard, do you?"

She was already terrifying. Sirin couldn't even imagine how terrifying it would be to punch a planet to death.

They could slay the Whale Monster by borrowing the power of the Imperial Blades, but Kiana did it entirely on her own. She was like a human Tyrannosaurus Rex, a human Oni God!

And what normal person would want to punch a planet to death?!

71

Chapter Seventy-One: Custom Stigmata Template.

"But people outside fight using galaxies as units,"

Kiana said frightening things to Sirin. "They talk about entire galaxies casually. My small goal now is to punch a planet to death. Compared to them, this is nothing, right?"

Is the outside world really that terrifying?

This was the thought that simultaneously arose in everyone's minds, along with a deep sense of disbelief.

"Do humans who have undergone Oniification become creatures like Oni Gods, or even more terrifying than Oni Gods?"

Mei noted down Kiana's mention of "planet-busting" and considered it a future goal to strive for.

However, she was more concerned about the crystal left behind by the dead Whale Monster, that indescribable feeling that pulled one into a bottomless abyss.

"Of course not."

Sirin shook her head. "I don't know what you know, so I'll explain it all to you from the beginning. Oniification allows us to possess some of the power of Oni Gods. Like Yae Sakura, this girl has irreversible Oniification symptoms in her body due to the many curses she's been exposed to, but at the same time, she's gained the ability to control frost prematurely. This wasn't given to her by the Frost Blade, as the Frost Blade in her hand is still a half-finished product. The power to control frost is a power gained after Oniification. It's not too strong, but it's enough to deal with ordinary Oni Gods."

"The deeper the Oniification, the more non-human features most people develop. Of course, the deeper the Oniification, the stronger the power. The most powerful half-oni recorded so far could reach the level of a Whale Monster, but that was after losing control and degenerating."

"However, any Oni Gods that degenerate from humans are eliminated immediately."

Sirin said, "They don't get a chance to become stronger."

"What about the places you can't see?"

"Do you know what kind of person, after degenerating, becomes an extremely dangerous monster?"

Mei calmed down a bit. Without a doubt, it was people like them who could wield the Imperial Blades.

Sirin patted Yae Sakura, "That's right, the one standing next to me is one."

"Hey... isn't it bad to say that?"

Kiana's forehead was covered in black lines, "Isn't that a curse..."

"It's fine."

Yae Sakura shook her head and said, "Sirin is right. If we're talking about degeneration, I am indeed the most likely person to degenerate. But you don't need to worry, because before that happens, I will end myself like the other seniors."

End myself?

So that's how it is...

Indeed, if one day she felt she couldn't hold on any longer, she would most likely choose to end herself as well, to avoid troubling others.

But what about the Whale Monster?

Perhaps Sirin was right, but there are always some exceptions in this world. Is the Whale Monster that exception in Sirin's words?

She didn't know, and could only put her doubts aside for now. If it wasn't an exception, she might have a chance to encounter similar cases in the future.

If she didn't, it would just mean it wasn't an exception.

There was no need to keep paying attention.

"Alright, alright, the mission is done, why keep talking about this stuff."

Sirin stretched. She hadn't done nothing; supporting was tiring too, you know.

"Let's head back!"

The matter was over, but Kiana didn't go in with Mei to chat with the others. Instead, she stayed alone on the deck, enjoying the sea breeze.

[Unextinguished Wails (Stigmata Material)]

She stared at the special crystal core in her hand, which had appeared for the first time. She had obtained it from the Whale Monster.

When she touched this thing at the bottom of the sea, she felt as if she had been pulled into a battlefield ravaged by war. It was only for an instant, and then her body lost all support, plunging into an endless abyss.

In the void, only unwilling wails pierced the eye.

"Stigmata material..."

Kiana opened the Stigmata function, which she usually ignored, and found the custom Stigmata function.

With a thought, the material was placed inside. As it was placed, all the gray slots lit up.

Only the solitary 'ten million' remained dark, speaking of Kiana's current poverty.

"Stingy! They didn't even lower the price!"

Kiana was very displeased. She had actually expected that the price might drop after adding the item, but it only filled the material slots.

The Honkai Crystals hadn't decreased by even half.

"Ten million... How could you even ask me for that."

Looking at the ten million Honkai Crystals required, Kiana found the function more and more useless the more she looked at it.

With ten million, she could buy exclusive Stigmata for several characters. If she didn't buy Stigmata, she could buy seven-star equipment.

Could this custom Stigmata be more powerful than exclusive Stigmata?

She didn't believe it!

What was so expensive about these ten million? Was it just for a chance, a possibility of surpassing exclusive Stigmata?

Kiana refused to give up and continued to research.

After looking around, she actually found something this time. After she added the material, the custom Stigmata got a name.

--Unextinguished Wails.

That's right, it was the name of the material.

But after these five characters, there were two smaller characters, 'Template'.

After 'Template', there was a twist button. With a mental command to switch, the word 'Template' disappeared, but nothing else changed.

"Template... does that mean it's an artificial Stigmata that can be infinitely copied?"

Like printing?

Connecting it to the best-case scenario, this was all Kiana could think of. She was tempted to try it, but she didn't have enough funds right now.

Besides, if she could earn ten million with her own abilities, she wouldn't throw her hard-earned ten million crystals into this uncertain possibility.

"Someone else can pay the bill."

Kiana quickly made plans for this template in her heart, but now wasn't the time.

She had to wait for the right moment.

The ship brought them back to shore.

This mission was over. The process wasn't dangerous, nor did it take much time.

This was because the enemies the Oni Gods faced were an Imperial Blade master who used a cannon to swat a mosquito, and a cheater who ridiculously buffed themselves on the spot.

The mission was over, but they didn't have any other urgent matters to attend to, so they returned to the hotel first.

Mei's room wasn't far from Kiana's, so they traveled together to the 21st floor.

"Everything's fine now. You should rest well this afternoon."

Mei didn't stop at her room door, following Kiana, she said, "I'm free now too. I can keep you company."

"...Sleep with me?"

Was that too direct?

Mei was taken aback by Kiana's overly direct question.

"If you don't mind."

"Yay!"

Kiana hugged Mei. "Let's sleep together!"

Her excitement infected Mei, who was still a bit nervous. Mei couldn't help but smile, looking forward to it.

The hotel rooms had similar layouts. After returning to her room, Kiana immediately threw herself onto the bed, sinking into the soft duvet. After rolling around for a bit, she patted the bed towards Mei.

"Mei, come over quickly!"