Honkai, Survive

Keep smashing!

"——Boom, boom, boom, boom!!!!"

A grand, unpretentious display. Even Hyperion, if it were here, would have its shields shattered and be smashed into a thin steel pancake.

This was the scene Murata Himeko saw when she arrived, having piloted Hyperion through layers of Honkai Beasts.

It wasn't that she wasn't fast enough; it was that Chiyu Academy was swarming with Honkai Beasts, obstructing Hyperion's entry.

"Am I too late?"

Himeko's voice was low as she gazed at the figure with an extremely intense Honkai energy reaction, clearly a Herrscher, and the familiar sword in its hand.

She had sensed the battle here long ago. She had told that kid to hide somewhere upon sensing the Herrscher's presence, but instead…

Why are you pushing yourself so hard?

One Raiden Mei, one Kiana, and now another Herrscher. Is this the reason you had to return to Chiyu Academy?

Honestly…

"Your fight is over. Then, it's my turn."

Himeko silently tightened her grip on her greatsword and descended from the sky.

Sato Yuno had also seen the figure, but having just achieved victory, she felt powerful, confident, and empty. Why would she care about anyone else?

This unknown woman? Just kill her!

And the fiery blade slashed!

Expanding, expanding, expanding, the blazing greatsword instantly lengthened, reaching a size akin to a ship-slicer. It wasn't forty meters, but a colossal 399 meters of destructive slash!

Both visually and in the overwhelming sense of threat, Sato Yuno's weariness vanished. She exclaimed in shock:

"What?"

Himeko's exaggerated breakthrough ability far surpassed Fang Jie's. After all, his attack range was indeed awkward, but Himeko's breakthrough…

Flames burned, incinerating everything, turning it into scorched earth.

The slash, comparable to a small nuclear explosion, wasn't just clearing a path; it was destroying everything in its way!

The sight, the aura, the sheer threat!

Before Sato Yuno could react, over a tenth of the jungle vanished from her perception, incinerated along with the pollen drifting in the air…

"This is bad!"

She quickly retreated, and retreated again, no longer daring to maneuver in the sky. She plummeted towards the ground, constructing more and more defenses.

Then, something happened as expected.

"Aaaah~~!!"

Sato Yuno, who had landed, suddenly cried out. A hand grasped hers, clenching the sword and disarming her!

Then, an icy edge pressed against her neck, accompanied by a demonic whisper:

"Don't move. Move, and your head will roll. I don't believe you can regenerate your head at high speed too."

With that, she was forced to her knees.

With her other hand, he gripped the vines wrapped around her body. No, it was less of a grip and more like biting, like devouring, from behind, dangerously close to her core.

This contact caused her strength to continuously drain, and she couldn't help but scream, her mind going blank.

"My power?!"

It was being stolen. At such close range, it was difficult to escape, yet he was stealing it!

"Didn't you die? Demon, you're a demon..."

She cried out in panic, speaking without thinking.

The commotion, which had drawn Sato Yuno's attention away from Himeko's frontal assault, even stunned Himeko.

"Who's spreading rumors?"

Fang Jie shook his head, looking at Sato Yuno, who couldn't even fight on two fronts. As expected, she lacked combat experience. How could she assume he was dead without severing his head and destroying his core?

He was holding back now. After all, he had hesitated earlier when faced with the direct option of severing her heart, not acting decisively.

With Himeko's reinforcements arriving, there was even less need to.

He had only absorbed the Honkai energy that Sato Yuno had channeled from her Pseudo-Herrscher core and injected into the surrounding vines. However, in her perception, it felt like a ferocious beast was tearing into her.

Every second, every moment, as the power diffused out of her body, a portion of it vanished without a trace.

"Give it back!"

She became desperate. Outside, a woman with a greatsword was setting fires, and up close, a man with free hands was trying to kill her.

"No, don't, don't leave... don't kill me... Mommy!"

Almost reverting to her original form, re-experiencing her weakness, Sato Yuno trembled and pleaded. She didn't even dare to fight back, as if her suppressed posture triggered some psychological trauma. She knelt on the ground, not daring to resist.

The surrounding vines began to wither and crack. The dissipation of Honkai energy made the sharp spikes, originally harder than steel, seem like a joke. Fang Jie calmly suppressed Sato Yuno, waiting for Himeko to join the fray.

And, "Are you awake?"

If not, I'll really punch you, the kind that guarantees death.

"Answer me, stop crying, crying still counts as time."

Himeko approached, wanting to speak but stopping. You, her, this Herrscher... is she a bit weak?

.

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Chapter 13: The Self-Imprisoned Yae Sakura Won't Meet a Defeated Theresa

Himeko collapsed.

She looked at the scene before her with the eyes of someone watching a noob, remaining vigilant and suspicious, thinking she was being tricked. Just as she was about to step forward and personally subdue the Herrscher…

She suddenly stumbled.

Her footing faltered, her greatsword planted on the ground, disbelief etched on her face.

"Not good!"

She felt a jolt of horror, quickly pushing off with her weakening legs, retreating, retreating, retreating. In mid-air, she adopted a defensive posture, ready to counter an attack.

As expected, they were tricking her.

They…

Then, as she retreated rapidly, she saw a look of surprise, astonishment, and sudden realization. Fang Jie, who hadn't moved, cast a glance at her: "Why are you as weak as Theresa?"

The two stared at each other.

Fang Jie realized belatedly. So Sato Yuno's poison wasn't weak, but rather… he himself was acting strangely?

Sato Yuno, who dared not move, began to cry. The Herrscher of Poison, encountering Fang Jie at Chiyu Academy, was as resilient to poison as a monster, unable to defeat him despite giving her all.

"Um, Miss Himeko, are you alright?"

"Ew, how detestable! Why are you so venomous!"

Himeko felt her face flush and immediately changed the subject: "Call me Big Sister! And, what… what is going on?"

She felt her body growing weaker.

"It's poison."

Fang Jie looked at the flowers that hadn't been completely incinerated. The pollen they released contained the Herrscher's poison. Even the Honkai energy emanating from Sato Yuno contained a certain amount of toxicity. Anyone who got close to her would unknowingly collapse.

It's an old acquaintance, the poison-body setting.

Incidentally, the limit for "anyone" included Theresa. Even she, a fusion warrior, couldn't withstand it, let alone Himeko.

Himeko's combat power under extreme conditions might be immense, but her physical condition…

"What a potent poison!"

Realizing the problem, Himeko gripped her greatsword, her fiery aura flaring, purifying every inch of air around her without letting anything escape.

Fang Jie was also continuing to weaken Sato Yuno. The vine-like tendrils on her body, resembling a dragon or python, lost all their strength and were unable to advance. They were ruthlessly having their energy devoured, drying out and cracking.

As for the poison contained within…

Fang Jie wasn't truly consuming it. The small portion that was inevitably absorbed into his body could be withstood by his resilient physique, strengthened by his Trailblaze divine power. He felt no discomfort.

There was one thing that bothered him.

"Tell me, how did you get so strong so quickly?"

Facing Sato Yuno, who had lowered her head and offered her neck for slaughter, Fang Jie began to ask the question he had long wanted to ask.

"What?"

The latter didn't quite understand what he wanted to know and timidly retorted.

"Don't answer a question with a question. I'm asking you, how did you get so strong so fast?"

Logically, you should have absorbed Honkai energy for a while longer. Even if your combat experience is lacking and you're being countered, the scene where you lifted skyscrapers and swung them like hammers made Fang Jie's heart pound.

"I, I don't know!"

Sato Yuno spoke the truth. She genuinely didn't understand what Fang Jie was asking. Feeling the pressure from behind, her heart tightened, and she couldn't help but shed tears as she spoke whatever came to mind:

"I was just following the will of a god to kill you… I'm sorry…"

Sato Yuno appeared very weak.

As a Pseudo-Herrscher of the current civilization, the Honkai did not strip or replace her will, thus preserving her humanity.

Her already not-so-strong will was expanding, but suddenly being hit with "Holy crap, she has a cheat!" naturally led to her being defeated by a sense of frustration.

This was consistent with the deep impression Fang Jie had of her from their brief encounters. Before becoming a Pseudo-Herrscher, she was too scared to move. After becoming a Pseudo-Herrscher and gaining inhuman abilities bestowed by a god—she still couldn't win.

Although unwilling, she accepted it easily.

It's like never having seen a taller mountain.

Fang Jie didn't need her apology. If apologies worked, why would people offer gifts? Just you wait!

However, "What the..."

Fang Jie sensed something was wrong.

The Honkai Will had different forms of existence across different Honkais. Setting aside the previous civilization, only Aponia truly knew what she had done.

In the current civilization, the Honkai Will was Seele. Number 17 sacrificed herself to become a "Trojan Horse" sent to the Imaginary Tree, shackling Honkai with "thought" and thus giving birth to countless parallel "consciousness"—the "Imaginary Renormalization Group."

In other words, the Honkai Will existed and controlled Honkai's embrace of reality.

And what had Fang Jie done...

Even a rebellious Herrscher was still under control, still within his sight, still possessing Honkai energy. But him? Who knew where he'd taken the Honkai energy, to a place the Honkai Will couldn't sense.

Under the chain reaction, it triggered a "Justifiable Self-Defense Shock," coming to "punish"... or at least with a hostile buff.

Sato Yuno wasn't weak. Not to mention the original Theresa's losing record, she had already instantly killed Himeko.

Compared to the bit of Honkai energy Fang Jie had taken, this was the Honkai Will's best estimate.

But...

His heart skipped a beat. Fang Jie took a deep breath and asked the person beside him with concern, "Sister Himeko, are you alright?"

Come on, stand up!

Himeko didn't stand up and deliberately groaned, "I'm so sorry, I feel a bit dizzy."

So, what solution do you have, hurry up and give it to me! I see you're jumping around just fine. Give me any antidotes, serums, or whatever!

Behind her, Hyperion was making an emergency landing, and reinforcements were arriving.