61. Hiyori

Are you travelers from afar?

The two were brought back to their senses by the clear, melodious voice. It belonged to a memorable young girl dressed in a strange Miko outfit.

Her smooth hair was the beautiful color of cherry blossoms. The Miko's face was fair and flawless, and her expression was distant and indifferent. However, due to her personality, she still gave the two of them a polite smile.

It's Yae Sakura.

The two encountered the Miko at the village entrance.

Su Qing'an frowned. Headmaster Theresa and Yae Sakura should have met before, but her reaction was no different from that of a stranger.

Could it be that Hiyori's advantage within the Stigmata Space has become so great that it's enough to influence Yae Sakura's memories?

That's why she forgot what had happened in the outside world.

To put it more seriously, she might even forget that she is living in a constantly repeating cycle of history.

If that's the case, Yae Sakura's defeat was already inevitable without external help.

The girl leaned forward slightly, naturally making an elegant and standard gesture of courtesy. She looked up at the other person, smiled, and said:

"Nice to meet you, beautiful Miko. My name is Theresa Apocalypse, from the far west."

Nice to meet you, beautiful Miko. My name is Kallen Kaslana.

Their similar appearances and words overlapped, and even their Western-style etiquette was exactly the same.

For a fleeting moment Yae Sakura seemed to see time flowing backward, and the scene from that day was recreated.

But the next second she sighed at how pathetic she was; just a similar situation filled the emptiness in her heart to overflowing once again.

Unfortunately, there's only one thing: even Yae Sakura can understand.

That knight, that Saintess.

From beginning to end, it never belonged to her alone.

But that's enough.

Amidst a multitude of thoughts, the Miko revealed a faint smile and gave her answer.

The Saintess is compassionate.

The Saintess will not belong to any one person alone.

Kallen Kaslana.

A doctor who would ruin his reputation and even lose his life for Yae Sakura...

In such a brief period of time, the Saintess could not possibly fall in love with anyone, especially given her engagement.

She simply noticed the enormous emptiness within the Miko, and thus gave Miko enough love to fill that void.

But that's just universal love.

The Saintess loved everyone equally and justly.

That wasn't love, or even friendship; it was merely the Saintess's tenderness.

Yae Sakura knew, she always knew.

Kallen Kaslana was her own doctor, the medicine she couldn't stop taking, and the illusory poison she drank to quench her thirst.

In the end, Yae Sakura still held onto hope. She wondered if those eyes, which were gentle to all things, would hold an extra weight when they looked at her.

Even the smallest amount of weight signifies one's uniqueness.

Unfortunately, Yae Sakura never got an answer.

No one can criticize the Saintess's compassion and gentleness.

The words the Saintess uttered at the trial that day were so that Yae Sakura might hear them one day.

I have fallen in love with Yae Sakura; she is innocent.

This was said so that the Miko, many years later, would know that Kallen Kaslana had not Broken Promise.

To console the Miko for the loneliness and suffering she endured through endless years, Kallen made this decision, even though it would hurt some people and herself.

The Saintess's gentleness always carried a sense of self-sacrifice; the infamy and death were the price Saintess paid.

Yae Sakura knew exactly how much Kallen Kaslana had paid for her.

Her life should not have been so short. Such a person should not have vanished like a shooting star. She should have continued to live, both for the people and for Schicksal.

But she encountered Yae Sakura, Yae Sakura encountered the Saintess.

Thus, they met their demise, drowning in a shared dream.

Hiyori remembered her; she was a pure, gentle, and incredibly resilient human.

In all the long time she has lived, that human is one of the few who is qualified and worthy of the name of Saintess.

But look, she's still dead.

Hiyori scoffed. Humans are always so fragile.

Human beings are always like this: the beautiful are always fragile and rare, while the ugly are always as numerous as the yellow sand, impossible to eradicate.

Of all the countless humans on Earth, only Yae Sakura is special to her.

Sometimes, Hiyori wondered if her trapping Yae Sakura in this illusion was a cycle, but had the world also dragged her into a cycle?

Because if it weren't for that, why would she...?

She looks so much like her older sister.

No, it's not a matter of whether they look alike or not.

They are identical in appearance, personality, and even indecisiveness in the smallest details.

Five hundred years.

What kind of human could contend with the Herrscher of Corruption nearly shattered the foundations of Previous Civilization in a single breath, for a full five hundred years?

Willpower? Love? External forces? Perhaps those are all reasons.

But the deeper reason is that Hiyori couldn't bear to part with it.

Yae Sakura is Sakura, the reincarnation of her older sister.

How could Hiyori bear to leave the time she had spent with her sister? So even though they seemed to be sworn enemies on the surface, they had a strange tacit understanding.

Whenever Yae Sakura couldn't take it anymore, she would start playing house.

It's like a little girl tugging at a young woman's sleeve, laughing and saying, "Sister, I'm tired of playing, let's take a break."

That hatred, accumulated over countless years, seemed like a joke in front of Yae Sakura.

Yeah, what a joke.

But it's okay if the older sister is the only one who becomes a laughing stock.

This girl, who was ruthlessly tortured and killed by her guards 50,000 years ago, transformed into the Twelfth Herrscher.

When facing Yae Sakura, she is still the same little girl she was back then.

Even a Honkai consciousness and hatred for humanity cannot affect anything related to her sister.

The Yae Sakura is spoiled.

Hiyori is one of them.

She was split into two sides: one was the little girl who loved her older sister, and the other was the Herrscher of Corruption hated everything.

That's why Theresa is corrupted, and that's why she seems so capricious.

When Yae Sakura said she was tired and wanted to rest.

Hiyori fell silent. She thought that if this was her sister's request, then this ending wasn't so bad.

But in the end, she couldn't suppress her hatred for humanity. She thought she had to get out; she had to destroy this world. She couldn't do it otherwise; otherwise, she would be very unhappy.

Just as Yae Sakura completely broke down, Hiyori's dual mental state also teetered on the brink of Honkai.

It's time to end.

But whether the outcome is the destruction of humanity or its eventual extinction.

The most important thing now is to cherish the time I spend with my sister.

Thinking this, Yae Rin suppressed the urge to cough, smiled at the Miko who entered, and said:

"Sister, welcome back."