[Destruction] and Self-Destruction

The edge of the deep pit was incomparably smooth, with ash drifting through the air. The matter drawn in along with it lost all its energy upon touching the edge of the darkness, and only then was it consumed itself.

At that moment, the darkness abruptly vanished. In the blink of an eye, the remnants turned into snow-white ash beneath the gale, dancing across the sky and scattering into the enormous pit once known as Chiyu Academy.

"...Major Himeko!"

The sturdier Valkyries who had crash-landed from the Hyperion panicked as they searched for someone to take charge.

Destruction and Self-Destruction

Himeko had fallen... Fang Jie had fallen into the snowfield.

"Why did it feel like it was even more dangerous over there than it was here?"

His long-standing resilience to pain and ability to survive finally came in handy. Though he looked grievously wounded... it was only a fatal injury. He froze the wound to stop the bleeding, numbed the pain, and flexed his muscles to force it shut.

And he watched the even more miserable "Yae Sakura."

A pair of crimson eyes filled his vision.

Higokumaru seemed to have completely gone berserk, losing all reason. She ignored everything around her, drowning in indescribable grief as she exerted all her strength, determined to tear apart anything that stood in her way.

She could not tear it apart. She simply could not!

The next moment, she opened a mouth that had somehow grown sharp canine fangs and bit down on... the Composite Blade: Willow Leaf raised before her.

"Crack—!"

The fine blade Fang Jie had carried all this way, the blade he loved dearly, shattered with a sharp sound.

"Damn it, my blade..."

Heartbroken, Fang Jie saw that only half of it remained in his hand. Rin continued gnawing at it, swallowing piece after piece. The savage scene made him swallow hard. If she bit into him...

The next second, he abandoned the blade. With it still clenched between her teeth for Rin to chew on, his freed right hand, as unyielding as an indestructible Soul Gem, seized her right hand.

Absorb it all!!

This was not some place where Otto might fire a Honkai fission bomb at any moment. He was not going to indulge her.

That was also the awkward part of Yae Sakura's identity. Once exposed, Otto would stop acting human in minutes and drag a whole crowd down with her.

Fang Jie had no time to explain, nor could he let Himeko cut her down... If destroying the physical body had worked, would the Previous Era have been wiped out? He could only gamble one arm and give the world a chance.

"You followed the momentum and struck me once. That was not much of a disturbance, but if you dared take another step forward, heaven and earth would be overturned!"

Visible to the naked eye, "Yae Sakura's" movements grew weaker and weaker. Her energy had already been violently drained, and though it was no longer as frenzied now, the extraction continued without pause. Even the arm she had driven through Fang Jie's hand was creaking and collapsing into a lump.

The Crimson-Dyed Sakura Demon Blade was nearly turning into scrap metal as well, slowly twisting into a bizarre shape—it was only fair.

Yet even so, she continued attacking wildly. If she could not tear through it, she bit. Even if it was iron... she swallowed it, swallowed it, and was about to chew her way through!

That was what made "Corruption" so troublesome. To her, a physical body was merely a vessel. Having none did not matter much, and she was difficult to destroy completely.

Fortunately, Fang Jie was targeting energy.

Something strange happened at that moment. The sharp teeth that had initially chewed through special steel reinforced with Honkai energy now grew weaker and weaker.

Showing mercy?

Perhaps at the start, but definitely not afterward.

Fang Jie's efforts had finally taken effect. The "disarming" had never stopped, draining the energy she used to resist and even to move.

An alternative version of Judah's Zeroth Power Rating.

Only when those blood-weeping crimson eyes gradually regained a trace of reason, returning to their bluish-purple color, did she awaken.

"Are you awake now, Miss Yae Sakura?"

He asked to make sure.

"Awake? How could one speak of being awake? Life is like a dream, and even when the dream ends, all that remains is that things and people have changed."

The moment Yae Sakura awoke, she asked to die.

"My lord, please do not hesitate. Cut me down, along with this demon."

"Looks like she really is awake."

If Himeko heard something like that, her already terrible mood would become truly awful. Did she think saying that could deceive...

But Fang Jie...

"Even if I chopped you to death, I still would not chop her to death."

He muttered it, making the meaning clear: You're the extra.

For a moment, Yae Sakura felt awkward.

"My lord, do you know this demon? I heard you call her... Rin? Is that the name of the fox demon?"

Clearly, that was what she cared about.

She had never known that.

Her tone was melancholy and sorrowful. She did not care at all about her lost arm, or the fact that everyone had been severely injured.

There were no winners in a brawl among hospital patients. Only survivors.

Himeko had probably fallen too.

"Yes, her name is Rin. She isn't some fox demon."

Fang Jie did not particularly want to discuss it.

"That's a long story. If Rin is willing to tell you, let her tell you herself. If she isn't willing... then it wouldn't be my place to talk."

What if she got provoked into another berserk rampage?

I could teleport away again and leave this vast world for you to wreak havoc in. At worst, it was just Corruption. The grand stage of Honkai: Star Rail had Pathstrider lunatics taking turns anyway.

But he had finally made contact with her. Even if she was dangerous... I already took a beating. If I didn't gain something from it, it would feel like a loss.

"I see." Yae Sakura seemed to understand something, then asked, "My lord's injuries... are they serious?"

They were probably serious. Fang Jie bared his teeth in pain.

"It's nothing. I should be able to hold on. What about you?"

"With the fox demon... this power, I can absorb demonic energy to heal myself. My past wounds have all healed." Yae Sakura spoke calmly. "But there does not seem to be enough demonic energy here, apart from my lord. After I die, Rin may seek another host. My lord should still cut me down. Otherwise..."

She did not hate Fang Jie. Having been sealed away all this time, her memories still remained at the battle between Higokumaru and Kallen.

Back then, Higokumaru had left her severely injured body and possessed a fox-shaped Honkai Beast to attack Kallen. She had even intended to devour Yae Sakura alive before Kallen's eyes.

To protect her, the badly wounded Kallen had raised her obsidian spear and fought Higokumaru to the death. In the end, she sealed both Higokumaru and herself, who had been infected and turned into a Pseudo-Herrscher.

What had happened after that?

When she woke again, she was in an unfamiliar city. All she knew was that time had passed, things and people had changed, and Higokumaru was harming others once more.

After Honkai energy had gradually decreased enough for Higokumaru to lose her suppressive power, Yae Sakura, who had been suppressed all along, finally suppressed her in turn and took control of the body.

If Fang Jie wanted to cut her down and eliminate the future danger, she could accept that.

But he seemed to care deeply about... Rin?

An angry voice rang out in the depths of her heart.

'Don't call me by that name.'

Especially you, traitor!

"Watch out!"

Yae Sakura only had time to warn him.

In an instant, Fang Jie saw one of Yae Sakura's eyes turn into a scarlet beast pupil. Fortunately, he had broken her hand in advance, broken her blade as well, and with Yae Sakura restraining her, Fang Jie rolled away without being bitten.

It felt as though she could even bite a Herrscher to death!

The brawl among grievously wounded patients seemed to resume, with them chasing and biting each other without end across the boundless snowfield.

It looked ridiculous, but it was not safe in the slightest.

"Wake up, Rin. I'm not your enemy."

"All humans deserve to die!"

Endless, inexhaustible negative emotions drove her resolve. Even though her Honkai energy was far too depleted to sustain her, she continued biting and fighting without pause.

With no other choice, Fang Jie circled around her. Relying on his better condition, Yae Sakura's restraint, and the "super speed" of teleportation, he drained her energy from afar while waiting for her to run out of strength.

Higokumaru truly could not be killed, nor could she be killed. Where would he find another Black Box, and another person willing to lose consciousness and be imprisoned by her? He could only try talking her down, but she would not listen.

What a headache.

Compared to her, Yae Sakura was much easier to reason with. Damn it, were you this lazy just because Theresa wasn't here? Be proactive and let your emotions explode to suppress Higokumaru! You two had obviously developed feelings for each other already, hadn't you?!

Fang Jie turned to glance at the still-going "Yae Sakura." The bluish-purple eye among her heterochromatic eyes looked helpless, physically and mentally exhausted.

Her injuries were worse than Fang Jie's and continued worsening. Her very life force was draining away.

At last, she could not hold on.

"Useless!"

Rin was very familiar with this scene. Five hundred years ago, it had been the same. Though Yae Sakura had not betrayed her this time, turning around and trying to kill herself was already quite an improvement.

So Rin simply left behind part of her Honkai energy to sustain Yae Sakura's life, and then...

Black mist rose from Yae Sakura's body, taking the form of Black Fox Rin.

She needed energy. She needed Honkai energy.

Damn it, there was not a trace of Honkai energy in this world.

Damn it, at this rate Yae Sakura was doomed.

That useless idiot!

And you, why were you running? Let me kill you and take the Honkai energy still inside you.

"Don't think you can run!"

No matter how wary she was of the power Fang Jie had unleashed when he was stabbed earlier, Rin could only charge forward bravely. She was not afraid of death, not at all.

Fang Jie was very afraid. He did not want to die. He wanted to live.

So...

"It's useless. You can't catch me."

The black mist swept past him. A small portion of it corroded Fang Jie's body, only to be "devoured completely" in an instant, leaving behind a negligible remnant that had lost power and gone inert.

Most of it missed entirely. He vanished from the spot in an instant and found a group of Valkyries searching the battlefield.

Fang Jie's sudden appearance nearly drew concentrated fire.

He had no intention of lingering and flashed back to the snowfield of Belobog.

"See you."

He left behind a group of Valkyries staring at one another. Had they seen a ghost?

Wait, wasn't that the person Major Himeko had ordered them to watch for? If they found him, they were supposed to rescue him immediately. He... he had run away again.

After all, Fang Jie did not trust St. Freya Academy's medical care in the slightest.

He knew better than anyone what was hidden in that basement. He did not want to become alien material on Schicksal's dissection table, nor did he want to end up with a bunch of younger brothers and sisters.

When he flashed back again, Black Mist Rin was searching the surroundings in confusion. She looked so helpless, while Yae Sakura's life was also a flickering candle in the wind.

Fang Jie understood that feeling.

"You can't catch me, Rin, but we can talk."

Fang Jie showed tremendous sincerity. He remained where he was and let the black mist wash over him, only for it to be "devoured completely" before he vanished again...

He had already grasped the trick to keeping things evenly matched.

Even Corruption could only "go inert" after losing Honkai energy. Once he realized that, Fang Jie became even more interested in her.

But he had to make her understand that he was not someone she could manipulate whenever she pleased.

After this repeated several times, both the Herrscher and the Valkyrie felt as though they had seen a ghost. Finally, Rin was left with only a small amount of black mist for a body. Whether in Honkai energy or the Authority of Corruption, she was far weaker than she had been in the past and could no longer overpower Fang Jie.