Supernova Slash

"Oh, right, aren't you going to check out the new modifications the research department made to Jueying?" Kiana asked, looking curiously at the long, narrow case Sheng Jiu was holding.

"Oh, yeah, let me see."

Sheng Jiu placed the case on a storage locker nearby and opened it.

Jueying inside was mostly fine compared to a few hours ago, but there was a small button next to the hilt.

"What's this button?" Sheng Jiu picked up Jueying, feeling it was heavier than he remembered.

"Let's go, we'll try it out in the training grounds."

Theresa led the group to the training grounds and summoned a giant holographic Paladin-type Honkai Beast. "Hey, Sheng Jiu, why don't you give it a try?"

"You can't be serious... Oh, Headmaster, really? You want me to take on a Paladin-type this big all by myself? You think too highly of me!"

"Judas—"

"I guess I'll try then..." Sheng Jiu swallowed and stood opposite the Paladin-type, gripping Jueying.

"ROAR—" The holographic Honkai Beast roared and charged forward, its mount rushing at Sheng Jiu.

Sheng Jiu spread his legs and pressed the button on the hilt. At that moment, Jueying's blade bizarrely split apart, emitting a faint blue light from the gap, accompanied by a sound like a turbine spinning at extreme speed.

"Huh? What's this?" Sheng Jiu stared in surprise at Jueying, which was gradually turning blue in his hand.

"Thump! Thump!" With heavy footsteps approaching, the distance between them was less than two hundred meters.

"Hiss, why does my body feel like it's going soft?" Sheng Jiu suddenly felt a wave of weakness spread from his right arm, which was holding Jueying, throughout his entire body. "It feels like this thing is charging up? No matter, I'll try it!" Sheng Jiu swung Jueying fiercely at the rapidly approaching Honkai Beast!

"SWISH!" An extremely powerful gust of wind emanated from Sheng Jiu, followed by a massive shockwave.

A blue sword energy burst from the gap in the blade and shot towards the Honkai Beast at high speed. Just before it reached the Paladin-type's mount, it unexpectedly split into three smaller sword energies that struck the Honkai Beast.

The sword energies quickly passed through the holographic projection. The projected Honkai Beast froze in place for a moment, and then, a second later, a huge explosion engulfed it. When the dust from the explosion settled, the holographic projection was long gone, and a large crater had been left in the training ground's turf.

"My goodness, such terrifying destructive power. This... it must be close to the level of a Divine Key, right?" Yae Sakura asked Bronya, still shaken.

"Bronya believes the power of that strike just now exceeded that of a tank shell."

"Huh? Sheng Jiu, are you okay?!" Sheng Jiu collapsed onto the ground. Theresa was the first to rush over.

"...I'm fine... The power of this thing is a bit too much. After using that attack just now, I suddenly felt completely exhausted." Sheng Jiu slowly got up with Theresa's support.

A Heavy Trooper Bunny appeared beside Sheng Jiu and picked up Jueying, scanning it carefully. "Bronya understands. The research department personnel have equipped Jueying with a Honkai Energy absorber."

"With this, after the user presses the button, it can use the Honkai Energy within the user's body as power. Combined with the energy field at the blade, it can charge up and unleash an energy sword attack that can split into multiple parts to strike enemies. It's truly a finely crafted weapon."

"I feel like I've seen this kind of attack before," Sheng Jiu mused, tapping his chin.

Two seconds later, Bronya suddenly had an epiphany and, in unison with Sheng Jiu, exclaimed the name: "Alahato!"

"I remember now! The katana Alahato used in the movie could also unleash a similar attack!"

"This time, Bronya agrees with the idiot Sheng Jiu. In the movie, Alahato used this exact move to defeat the final boss."

"Then, let's call this attack 'Supernova Slash'! That's what they called it in the movie!"

"Bronya agrees with idiot Sheng Jiu's suggestion!"

"Hey, look at this," Yae Sakura said, examining the button on Jueying's hilt. "This button is multi-stage. It has five levels, and Sheng Jiu's attack just now was only the third level!"

"I felt completely drained after just the third level. If it's the fifth level, it'll probably suck me dry!" Sheng Jiu said with a wry smile, looking at the black button.

"At the same time, the fifth level is very likely to unleash terrifying power," Theresa added with certainty.