Battle Again / Taixu Sword God

Moreover, that sword strike should have involved more than just swordsmanship. Before that, the cloaked man had manipulated Wind Blade, and the sword in his hand also seemed to have a problem.

Another troublesome guy.

"Mr. Lin, the dressing has been changed."

Rita walked in carrying medicine and a white veil. Lin opened his eyes, sighed, and then unbuttoned his clothes, revealing his upper body.

Half of her upper body was wrapped in white gauze. Rita was very skilled at treating her wounds. She carefully unwrapped the gauze, wiped away the small amount of blood that had seeped out, applied new medicine, and then rewrapped it.

"Ms. Einstein said that she would not consider repairing the Stargate and the warship until your injury is fully healed, so please focus on recovering."

There is an uncertain threat within the World Bubble, and our own forces have been severely damaged. In order to prevent further accidents, we must not panic and recklessly return to our Intrinsic World.

... Speaking of which, can this maid even fight? Someone who runs around the Quantum Sea can't possibly be unable to lift a weapon, right?

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Rita noticed Lin's blatant scrutiny and smiled slightly. "You seem to have always been interested in me. You've been staring at me ever since we met."

"He actually loves staring at girls' bodies, but before he wore a helmet so no one could notice, he could admire them without restraint. He's a super quiet pervert."

"..."

Number Three walked in from outside the door with an unfriendly look. She walked to Lin's bedside with her short legs and placed a wristwatch on the bed.

Rita looked at Lin with an undiminished smile, and Lin had no way to refute her.

Number Three was right. When he wore a helmet, he relied on the advantage of his visibility, which made him difficult to detect unless he was intentionally trying to intimidate others. He didn't care about his own line of sight when observing others.

"You big pervert, the doctor asked me to give you this, saying it can monitor the total amount of Honkai Energy in your body."

Lin picked up the watch, pondered it for a moment, and put it on his wrist. A number appeared on the watch's small screen.

How to prevent the Pseudo-Herrscher Core from being reactivated?

"Sister Rita, you'd better stay away from him. He'll stab people randomly when he goes crazy, and I've heard it hurts a lot when a girl gets stabbed."

"..."

Lin watched expressionlessly as Number Three confidently offered his advice to Rita.

Rita caught a glimpse of Lin's expression and couldn't help but laugh. She squatted down and patted Number Three's little head. "Not necessarily, maybe girls will find it very comfortable..."

Her alluring right eye drifted toward Lin, a wicked smile curling at the corner of her lips.

"The boy will feel worse."

"Huh? Is that so?"

"Want to hear it? I've never tried it myself, but I've read about it quite a bit in books."

"Uh-huh."

As dusk fell, the man leaned against the headboard with a sour face, listening to the maid explaining physiological knowledge to the Armed Puppet. He would occasionally hear the maid teasing him, and all he could do was pick up a magazine from the Mu Continent and idly flip through it.

Surprisingly, it was very calm.

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Second Battle

Lin adjusted his arm's range of motion slightly. Because of the stitched wound, he had to move his right arm carefully, otherwise, since he didn't feel pain, tearing the wound a second time would only make things worse.

He approached the Oath of Judas and calmly placed his hand on its intricate patterns.

Lin felt he needed to re-examine this weapon to see if it still possessed untapped capabilities. Moreover, this weapon had some connection to him, even though the Pseudo-Herrscher Core was now sealed, there was still an inexplicable sense of connection.

The ability to manipulate the Divine Key is something that almost anyone can learn without a teacher once they get the hang of it. Lin closed his eyes, and the patterns and emblems of the Oath of Judas began to glow faintly.

"..."

What's this?

Lin flicked his fingers, and in an instant, the Oath of Judas shone even brighter.

When he opened his eyes again, the Oath of Judas, who was half a head taller than him, had disappeared, and there was a miniature cross on the back of his hand.

He swung his arm, and several chains emerged from it. With a casual flick of his wrist, the length of the chains easily exceeded the original limit.

In this mode, the Soul Steel is reassembled into chains, which can track targets within a radius of 200 kilometers. Moreover, since the main body is completely reassembled into chains, it is miniaturized and no longer needs to carry a cross that is nearly two meters long and weighs more than 150 kilograms around as before.

Can this model be used to track any target physiological sample...?

After gaining a rough understanding of this pattern, Lin decided to revert the Oath of Judas back to its original form.

Finger placed on the small cross, ready to be reassembled...

"Hmm—"

Suddenly, a memory that didn't belong to him appeared in Lin's mind.

A raging fire sweeping across the sky and Red Ice cracking the earth...

His hands were bound to the cross with chains, and beneath him burned flames.

He released his grip, and the giant cross crashed to the ground with a dull thud. He clutched his chest, panting heavily.

What was that just now?

In that instant, he felt as if he were there; both the firelight and the Red Ice conveyed a chilling despair.

Darkness seemed to settle like solidified cream in this space, leaving only a ray of moonlight shining down from behind.

As slightly hurried footsteps approached, she lowered her hands in prayer, raised her head, and looked at the woman emerging from the shadows not far away in the silvery moonlight.

"How should I introduce myself? Long time no see... or nice to meet you?"

The woman wearing a top hat met the Nun's sapphire blue eyes with an indescribable smile on her face.

"You... seem... different from before." The Nun's gentle tone made Vill-V smile easily.

"As expected, a psycho-sensory Flame-Chaser can detect it easily." Vill-V removed her top hat and bowed slightly. "Although we are very similar, I am not the Vill-V you knew before. To make it easier to distinguish, you can call me the Conductor. I will probably be the Vill-V you see most often in the future."

"You..."

"Subverting 'common sense,' shattering 'rules,' and creating 'abnormalities' are all necessary for the self to be shattered and reconstructed. Unity is based on opposition, and for geniuses, these are merely the beginning." Vill-V stopped the conversation and took out a ring and a cross pendant from her pocket. "I apologize; these should have been returned to you a year ago."

Aponia's gaze shifted from Vill-V's calm face to her hands.

Ring and cross.

These were gifts she gave to that person, containing her precepts and her heartfelt wishes.

"He can't come here in person, and I've been unable to move for a long time..." Even though Vill-V face remained calm, the deep pain in her eyes was still undeniable.

Aponia silently accepted the ring and cross, turned and placed them on her desk, then turned back to sincerely thank them, saying, "Thank you."

She knelt before the beam of bright moonlight, clasped her hands together, and began to pray anew.

"..."

Vill-V looked at the Nun was praying devoutly with a puzzled expression.

Even with Vill-V's limited understanding, she couldn't comprehend what the Nun was thinking.

The significance of Lin in her heart can be seen from the two things she gave him, especially the cross. As a clergyman, she essentially gave Lin her most precious faith.

But now... she seems to care about Lin at all; she cares more about how to offer her devotion to her god.

"Is there anything else?" Aponia asked, her eyes closed and her cherry lips trembling slightly.

"No..."

Vill-V left, leaving only the Nun facing the same unchanging moonlight, slowly opening her crimson eyes.

Does the Nun not feel pain when others leave?

No.

Before she can interact with people, she must first accept their fate.

Therefore, she knew that Lin's fate was not yet sealed.

So she knew... that before the end came, she could only stay with him under the moonlight he brought, waiting for the little time left.

"Hmm, very good, it's time for the second show to begin."

Lin suddenly opened his eyes, rolled over and stood up, and was stunned for a moment when he was standing firmly on the ground.

The wound is gone?

Not only were his wounds gone, but his surroundings had also become an open space, stretching as far as the eye could see, with only the Oath of Judas still standing behind him.

The cloaked man's voice came from above. Lin looked up and saw his exposed chin and amusement.

"I believe in Spartan education, and serious injury is not an excuse."

Without a word, Lin placed his hand on the Oath of Judas, unfolded the cross, and the chains and spears were ready to be used.

"Oh? That's more like it." The cloaked man was very satisfied with Lin's attitude. He drew the long sword he had seen before from mid-air.

Lin carefully examined the weapon in his hand. At first glance, it was a single-edged sword with a Shenzhou style. The handle was decorated with some cloud wing patterns, and the long and well-proportioned blade made it look suitable for both slashing and thrusting.

"What's wrong? You like my weapon? Oh, I know it's really cool. Do you want one too?" The cloaked man lightly brushed his fingers across the blade, cutting a gash in the sharp edge, but he smiled happily. "But you already have a weapon. You should learn how to use that cross first."

He didn't say much today; he simply picked up his long sword and assumed a fighting stance.

"Let's begin then. You must be curious about the swordsmanship I'm going to use, right? Well then, watch closely today."

"Sword Awakening - Severing the Sea".

The terrifying figure couldn't even leave a trace on the retina; in less than half a second, it had already appeared in front of Lin!

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Tai Xu Sword God

"Bite!"

Logically speaking, a spear is much longer than a knife, so in a head-on confrontation, the spear would have a distance advantage.

Lin was forced to retreat repeatedly by the man's unpredictable attacks. The man seemed to be playing with a long sword as if he were a child, but every strike was incredibly sharp. Whenever Lin tried to create distance, the man would keenly sense his intention and close in. The advantage of the weapon's length was completely useless in close combat.

"Whoosh—"

The chains cunningly bound his hands and feet from a blind spot, but the man, hearing the sound coming from behind, leaped up and dodged the chains.

With a cold glint in his eyes, Lin Da strode forward, raising his spear with both hands to strike the long knife in the man's hand!

"Bass!"

Caught off guard, the man dropped his weapon, and Lin immediately used the chain to grab the long sword and lock it in place.

The man flipped over and landed on the ground, looking with interest at the long sword that was firmly bound.

Lin placed his hand in the very center of the cross, where the spear inside was poised to transform into a fierce beam of light that could pierce the man at any moment.

Although the cloaked man has been disarmed, we cannot be careless; he has more than one sword.

"The Herrscher Core grants the Herrscher control over the rules. Each of them corresponds to the ultimate form of a rule, and those powers are essentially the transformation, shaping, and extension of Honkai Energy within the rules."

The cloaked man suddenly spoke in a lecturing tone, a seemingly unchanging smile playing on his lips beneath his cloak. He spread his hands, his indifferent eyes fixed on Lin.

"Transformation and shaping, turning intangible Honkai Energy into tangible forms, the Herrscher of Reason is the best in this regard, while other Herrscher can also make Honkai Energy into certain objects, such as spears, swords, guns, or even keys."

Lin gripped his spear tightly. He didn't understand what the cloaked man was trying to say, or rather, he couldn't figure out what the cloaked man was trying to do at all.

The cloaked man chuckled, "However, the Herrscher of the Void cannot use the Herrscher of Flames's abilities, and the Herrscher of Flames cannot use the Wind Herrscher's abilities, unless there is a special case involving the Herrscher of Reason, or the Herrscher of Reason simply possesses multiple Herrscher Core."

"They can only extend in one direction, while those who can freely manipulate Honkai Energy have no such limitations."

"Although the end of time is far away, I can still learn a lot from them."

He flicked his sleeve, empty-handed, dressed in a black robe, and beckoned to Lin with his finger.

Lin frowned, then stepped forward with his spear in hand.

And the man also took a step forward.

"Bang!"

What...

It was just a casual step, but it exploded in his ears like a thunderclap. Lin seemed to see an invisible ripple spread out from where his toes touched the ground the moment he landed.

"Inch-force - Chaotic Thunder".

Substantial "qi" gathered between his wrists, and then a "sun" condensed between his palms.