You Must Return to the Sober World

Blood covered the ground.

The sky was indeed overcast. The thunder high above had begun to fade the moment Raiden Mei left, but it was still enough to illuminate the cherry blossom campus, now running with blood.

Chiyu Academy's drainage system was excellent. Under normal circumstances, neither monsoons nor torrential rain could overwhelm it.

But... if the system had to drain more than just "water," it would inevitably prove inadequate.

Severed limbs, mangled flesh, hair, grease, bizarre shells, mountains of piled-up heads... and viscous blood.

Death Troopers were not truly alive, yet they still bled. Honkai Beasts possessed functions similar to blood as well, and it had all mixed together. From above, the scene might have looked more like the hell people imagined than a city ravaged by Honkai Beasts.

A true hell.

Sticky biological matter and scattered fragments had even clogged the drainage pipes.

Thick blood plasma flowed through the spacious campus, deep enough to submerge one's ankles and form a small river.

Lighter things like grease and hair drifted atop that river of blood before clogging the drainage outlets together.

The stench of blood hit him head-on, making one...

Friends who killed often generally knew that some people who had just killed for the first time would vomit upon seeing a corpse.

Fang Jie had no such physiological reaction. Besides, he had never killed a person. If Death Troopers counted... there were too many to kill for him to bother counting.

Before him lay far more Death Troopers than he had ever killed.

Their remains cruelly formed a hellish tableau.

Who had done this?

A human?

Perhaps not.

Fang Jie stared at the flower floating in the river of blood. It was not a red spider lily or anything like that, but a... small white flower.

Against the scarlet backdrop, its whiteness stood out vividly. It spread from thorn-covered vines, nameless blossoms blooming in full.

Fang Jie held his breath. He had already stopped breathing when the stench of blood struck him, but at this sight, he stopped inhaling altogether.

Winter.

He skipped the chant and entered the state.

That was not enough. His body, already battered by wind and snow, crackled continuously as a layer of ice armor formed around him, hanging off his body with more appearance than usefulness.

It was not Six-Phase Ice. What defensive power could it possibly have? It was just ordinary ice.

But perhaps it would prove useful. He had vaguely guessed who had caused all this.

This visitor means trouble.

This was Chiyu Academy, the center of the Honkai outbreak. The dense Honkai energy had drawn in an unknown number of Honkai Beasts and Death Troopers, which would wander here, grow here, and evolve into stronger forms.

Lower-tier Honkai Beasts could evolve into Honkai Emperors. Death Troopers could evolve into Pseudo-Herrschers.

After all, the swarm had lost its master.

The Honkai energy the Herrscher of Thunder had abandoned was still gathering. New powerful Honkai creatures would eventually be born unless someone could deal with the Honkai energy concentration exceeding 1000HW.

Who could?

Cecilia was already dead, and Fang Jie could not resolve it anytime soon.

He could only touch a medium and draw away its energy. The efficiency of absorbing Honkai energy dispersed through the air was easy to imagine.

Likewise, for a qualified Pseudo-Herrscher, it was far too slow.

But targeting Death Troopers and Honkai Beasts that could gather Honkai energy was far more efficient.

In less than half a day since he left, monsters that had gathered at Chiyu Academy from who knew where had been slaughtered until, in the most literal sense, blood flowed like a river.

Upon closer sensing, the Honkai energy that had fallen below 1000HW overnight with Raiden Mei's departure was faintly climbing again within Chiyu Academy.

The Pseudo-Herrscher whose achievements had earned her the apt title Herrscher of Poison—Sato Yuno. Vines were one of the mediums through which she wielded her power, and she was continuously absorbing Honkai energy within Chiyu Academy!

She only needed one tipping point to break through the 1000HW energy level in one stroke and transform into an existence comparable to a Herrscher.

In his senses, the Honkai energy around him was rising—rising sharply. In only a few seconds... it was practically like another Great Eruption had been triggered. One could imagine how violently it would jolt the nerves of those watching Chang Kong City.

Fang Jie had no time to think about that.

Where was she?

He did not need to search. Just as battle would break out the moment his gaze met a Honkai Beast's, a voice entirely unlike its former weakness rang out, brimming with aggression.

"Ah? Ahh, how strange. Isn't this... big brother?"

From the shadows, vines thicker than an adult's arm abruptly burst from the ground and wrapped straight toward Fang Jie's arms, throat, and cervical spine!

"Hello."

An uncontrollably emotional, impatient greeting drifted through the wind.

You Must Return to the Sane World

At the outskirts of Chang Kong City, where the Hyperion was stationed.

Murata Himeko, who had been busy until now, finally took a moment amid her work to gulp down a massive dose of coffee before continuing.

"Major Himeko, the detection equipment is in position. Drone attrition rate: 73.58%. Preliminary readings along the route indicate that the Honkai energy concentration in Chang Kong City has fallen below 1000HW..."

"Good. At last, some good news."

Himeko automatically ignored the losses. Such things were unavoidable on the battlefield. The drones had been destined for consumption from the start. Were Valkyries like them not consumables as well?

If there was good news, then she would be happy for a moment. Though she was good at finding joy amid hardship, at reassuring everyone with a smile and raising morale, solid good news was still far better.

Things were getting better. The Great Eruption had not worsened. Even on Theresa's side... trust her. No change was good change.

Holding her battlefield coffee, Himeko looked out at the overcast sky. The setting sun painted the outskirts of Chang Kong City in warm colors. Tomorrow would surely bring good weather.

"The world has welcomed another peaceful day, and it will surely remain peaceful until tomorrow."

Himeko's tone was firm.

Even if not everyone could reach tomorrow, everyone was giving their all for tomorrow and believed there would be one. That was enough.

Looking around, the Valkyries who had fought beside her and worked tirelessly until now were all still striving. Like her, flames burned in their eyes, as though lions lurked within.

Though they were all girls in the bloom of youth, ordinary girls would probably still be enjoying peaceful campus lives and innocent, bashful romances...

But they were burning here.

The bright-eyed Valkyries gripped their weapons with slender hands, firm and powerful. They were not merely prepared to lay down their lives on the battlefield at any time—they had already offered up the rest of their lives long before that.

That was why Himeko did not want to, could not, and would not let them down!

That was why she was always tolerant toward the young. Even if someone seemed a little suspicious, so long as they appeared before her and were not villains, she never hesitated to offer a helping hand.

Not long ago, she had even...

Forget it. No more thinking about that. That brat was bad luck. Did he really need her to show goodwill before returning it? Did she not look like a good person, or was she not trustworthy? She was such a stunning beauty, after all...

That kid also looked like the type who liked tall girls with big asses.

Really, forget it. Under those circumstances, it was hard to say. A Herrscher... he had actually escorted something like that out of Chang Kong City. And Kiana too—that brat had a huge problem.

Himeko swung her arm hard, as though shattering her troubles, then loudly rallied everyone around her.

"Everyone, give it another—"

The alarm monitoring Honkai energy readings aboard the Hyperion suddenly blared with a piercing shriek.

A staff member on the bridge immediately shouted, "Herrscher-level reaction detected!!!!"

Even without the alarm, Himeko, who could sense Honkai energy, had already felt it—another burst of Honkai energy exceeding 1000HW had erupted within Chang Kong City.

That was right. Chang Kong City again?

But it did not matter.

Murata Himeko closed her eyes.

Her smile vanished from her face for an instant, but it returned just as quickly. When she snapped her eyes open, her passionate, blazing smile was back. It was not just her eyes that burned.

With a sweep of her hand, the cape she wore despite its effect on her combat ability flapped violently. She had already tightly gripped and raised her greatsword.

"All units, the Herrscher has appeared. Follow me!"

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

The sounds of one thing shattering after another intertwined as Fang Jie used Honkai Killer to withstand the ambush, tearing apart vines that, without Honkai energy supporting them, were barely stronger than ordinary plants.

As he raced through the countless shards of ice, he saw the wild, overlapping vines and their master.

She stood in a fairly intact classroom in a teaching building several hundred meters from the cafeteria, staring out the window in his direction.

She wore the same Chiyu Academy uniform as Kiana and Raiden Mei. Her frame was slender and bony, her expression indifferent, her eyes wild. Green, frenzied serpents danced around her as she floated through the air, suspended and carried forward by vines toward Fang Jie. Amid the rampant greenery, her purple hair fluttered like vines as well.

She looked exactly like a ghost girl from a horror movie!

In a sense, there was no difference. Fang Jie had seen her "alive," too.

—Sato Yuno.

She wielded vegetation as weapons, winding and crushing her way toward him.

Fang Jie had naturally not gone to the teaching building while scavenging supplies last night. There was no value there. He had been racing against time, and the knowledge he needed could not be found in a place like Chiyu Academy.

And so he had missed one this big.

Murata Himeko was on her way. Other than Theresa, Sato Yuno was the only one who could respond immediately.

But Fang Jie did not expect anything from her.

Against a Herrscher... even if she was merely a Pseudo-Herrscher with power comparable to one, she was not connected to Imaginary Space, so at least her reserves of Honkai energy were not inexhaustible.

A true Herrscher's passively radiated Honkai energy, at concentrations exceeding 1000HW, could turn Stigmata Awakened—no, Valkyries with Honkai resistance below A-rank—who survived the initial impact into Death Troopers within half an hour.

Fang Jie would not be reduced that easily. He had absorbed the Path before learning Honkai. Had all his training these past days been for nothing?

Hmph!

He could survive for at least two hours.

Provided he did not get beaten to death by the Herrscher while smirking.

"Boom—"

The ground continued to shatter. The supposedly solid earth was merely water in liquid form as countless enormous vines burst from beneath it, rising like giant pythons and slithering toward Fang Jie.

He had already accelerated away. Trailing an afterimage amid noisy electronic sounds, he sprinted at high speed toward the edge of the campus, but every time he landed, the ground exploded beneath him.

Damn it, were they buried everywhere underground, or could she grow this many in an instant?

Even fairy tales would not use a setup like this. Magic beans still needed a night to grow into vines reaching the sky.

As Herrscher-level energy erupted in an instant, the enormous vines surging toward him were not gently trying to bind him. The shockwave from their explosive thrusts tore even the air apart. The campus's few remaining intact buildings began to collapse, while vegetation, sand, and dust were flung into the air.

Those wild vines reared and swayed toward the sky, and they also "discovered" a massive "castle."

The former cafeteria was lifted high into the sky by thousands of vines working together—then brutally hurled down.

That savage attack swept toward the path ahead of the fleet-footed Fang Jie.

Everything that had once stood there was swallowed by indescribable vibrations and thunderous noise.

The reinforced concrete building itself weighed as much as a small hill. Carried by things that might no longer even be called vines, it was flung, hurled, and smashed down with the overwhelming force of a collapsing heavenly pillar!

Everything nearby caved in beneath the dust-filled shockwave. The earth split like rippling water into countless spiderweb cracks, which then continued greedily spreading into the surrounding air.

If Fang Jie had collided with that building, now fractured into countless pieces, there was no need to doubt it. From his previous experience of nearly knocking himself unconscious simply by running too fast, he would be done for without Honkai Killer!

Even with it, things were uncertain. If he was buried... he would lose his ability to move, just like when he froze himself.

So he could only retreat. That path was blocked—he had to fall back!

Sato Yuno wanted to cut off any possibility of him escaping Chiyu Academy, to surround him in a massive nest and leave him with no path to heaven or earth!

"Why are you running? Why are you leaving? Do I look that scary? Stay—right here!"