--She carried herself with one hand, leaping between high-rises and effortlessly avoiding most of the Honkai Beasts.
Watching Raven gradually disappear into the distance, Ming Yu turned back and looked toward Chiba Academy, which was not too far away.
In any case, his initial objective was to use his abilities to infiltrate Chiba Academy.
With no other ideas for the moment, the only obvious option was to find that white-haired little ball still inside the academy.
With that in mind, Ming Yu set off.
But changes always came faster than plans.
An unexpected figure blocked his path.
It was a cherry-colored figure.
Before Ming Yu could say anything, the cherry-colored girl spoke first.
"Human, I have something to ask of you."
Yae Sakura
Five minutes earlier, atop a high-rise near Chiba Academy, a special being appeared.
She stood on the rooftop, overlooking the academy saturated with Honkai energy, her expression calm.
She was special because of the ancient shrine maiden attire that seemed utterly out of place in this era.
It was an off-the-shoulder shrine maiden outfit, with a black underlayer and a shimenawa rope tied around her waist; below, she wore a plaid skirt, white knee-high socks, and wooden clogs.
This shrine maiden outfit was clearly not a style from the current era. It resembled something passed down in a remote village several centuries ago.
If someone were willing to consult ancient records and investigate, they might indeed discover that this shrine maiden was inseparably connected to a place called Yae Village five hundred years ago.
Beyond that, there were the long fox ears atop her pink hair, which drew particular attention.
Though those fox ears looked quite adorable, they also proved that she was most certainly not human at this very moment.
And that was indeed the truth. She was a ghost, a ghost from five hundred years ago.
The guardian of Yae Village, the last battle shrine maiden of the Yae family, and... a being who had once been influenced by the Herrscher of Corruption and transformed into a Pseudo-Herrscher—Yae Sakura.
Five hundred years ago, after she had gone berserk and been defeated by Kallen, she had been personally sealed in the Far East, never to reappear.
However, having become a Pseudo-Herrscher, her lifespan was extraordinarily long. A mere five hundred years was not enough to exhaust it.
And because of the Herrscher-level Honkai disaster that had occurred in Changkong City, the seal on her body had loosened as well.
The shrine maiden who had lain dormant for five hundred years had finally been able to see the light of day once more.
Yae Sakura, who had only just awakened, did not yet have a clear understanding of the current world, but she was still very familiar with the sensation of Honkai raging unchecked.
Guided by instinct, she came near Chiba Academy. She could clearly sense that the being responsible for loosening her seal was nearby.
She believed she should do something.
"I advise you not to meddle in this."
A voice filled with resentment sounded behind her.
Then, a huge black evil fox appeared behind the girl.
She was Higokumaru, the consciousness now existing while attached to Yae Sakura, and the true form of the Herrscher of Corruption from the previous era.
Higokumaru warned her.
"What exists in that direction is a true Herrscher, not something the current you can interfere with."
"..."
The pink-haired girl did not answer, merely gazing silently in that direction.
"What, has your sense of justice surfaced again? Don't forget that five hundred years ago, you were also a demon who killed countless people."
Higokumaru mocked her relentlessly.
"Have you already forgotten how many people from Yae Village you killed?"
"I will not deny that fact, but they... those executioners deserved what they got. Even now, I do not regret it."
Yae Sakura spoke calmly.
Her hand rested on Spirit Blade: Sakura Snow at her waist as she once again looked seriously toward Chiba Academy.
She had already made her decision.
"...I'm going to subdue that Herrscher."
Just as Kallen had saved her five hundred years ago, she too should do something.
"Hey, I don't want to die with you!"
Higokumaru protested fiercely.
Now, she and Yae Sakura were tied to the same boat, destined to live or die together.
"Even if you are full of conviction, what can that possibly change? At most, you are only a Pseudo-Herrscher right now. You are nothing like a true Herrscher..."
The disparity in strength between a Pseudo-Herrscher and a true Herrscher was like the difference between heaven and earth.
Higokumaru sneered disdainfully.
"Besides, you can barely maintain your spirit form right now. You do not even have a body. What are you going to use to fight a Herrscher?"
Having only just broken free from the seal and returned to reality, she—or rather, they—were extremely weak.
Seeking out a genuine Herrscher now would be no different from smashing an egg against a rock. It was suicide.
"What you should do now is hide somewhere in this city. Wait until that Herrscher leaves or is eliminated by other humans, then absorb the Honkai energy lingering in the city to restore your strength."
For the sake of survival, Higokumaru had no choice but to offer a serious suggestion.
With that genuine Herrscher here, they could not do much of anything. Even trying to absorb Honkai energy would be disrupted and made impossible.
Rather than confronting her edge here, it would be better to yield for now.
After everything here was over, they could slowly absorb Honkai energy to recover. At the very least, they should first reconstruct a complete physical body.
Of course, Higokumaru currently had no right to control Yae Sakura's body, so she could only offer advice this way.
--Now that Yae Sakura was no longer consumed by hatred, Higokumaru had no way to directly influence any of her decisions.
"...There is another way."
Yae Sakura's gaze fell upon the street below.
She saw a human running tirelessly toward Chiba Academy.
"--That is divine descent."
The descent of a god—a method of asking a supernatural will to descend into one's body.
It was a technique she had learned in the past as a shrine maiden, asking the Fox God to descend into her body.
In more common terms, it was "possession."
Of course, this technique had never succeeded, because she had later come to understand that there was no Fox God in the world.
The so-called Fox God worshipped by Yae Village had likely been nothing more than a fox infected by Honkai energy and mutated as a result.
But at this moment, as someone with only a spirit body remaining, she could indeed become an entity capable of possessing another person.
With a physical body to rely on, the power she could wield would be more complete.
"Though I do not know why that human is here... are you planning to attach yourself to him? Do you think an ordinary person would agree to something so sudden?"
Higokumaru once again tried desperately to stop her.
She truly wanted to survive, rather than throw away her life here for nothing.
Even if Yae Sakura really possessed that human and gained greater combat power, she would still have no chance at all against a true Herrscher!
Unfortunately, she had no way to change Yae Sakura's decision.
"...We have to try."
Yae Sakura had already made up her mind.
Under Higokumaru's despairing gaze, the cherry-colored girl leapt down from the sky, flying at extreme speed toward the human and intercepting him in front of him.
"Human, I have something to ask of you."
An Unavoidable Cooperation
Looking at the cherry-colored girl who had suddenly appeared before him, Ming Yu's expression became strange.
Of course he knew who she was. Yae Sakura, who should have lived five hundred years ago, had once been beguiled by the Herrscher of Corruption after coming into contact with a damaged Black Box. She had transformed into a Pseudo-Herrscher and slaughtered many ordinary residents of Yae Village.
Of course, if Ming Yu were to comment, there were only two words for it: good riddance—after all, those so-called ordinary villagers had constantly carried out the idiotic ritual of sacrificing girls to pray to the gods for rain.
No one knew how many innocent girls had died tragically at the hands of those monsters wearing human skin. Even Yae Sakura's younger sister, Yae Rin, had died for the same reason, which was also an important reason why Yae Sakura had ultimately been chosen and possessed by the Herrscher of Corruption.
It could be said that the calamity of Yae Village had been entirely self-inflicted from beginning to end.
That was beside the point. Why had Yae Sakura appeared before him?
According to the original timeline, she should only have appeared later, when the Pseudo-Herrscher Yuna emerged. She had saved Theresa, who had tried to subdue Yuna alone, and rescued her from almost dying prematurely.
Moreover, because Theresa carried Kallen's bloodline, Yae Sakura had ultimately chosen to give all of her power to Theresa and erase her own existence from reality.
Hmm... come to think of it, an S-Rank Valkyrie like Theresa getting instantly defeated twice by a Pseudo-Herrscher was indeed rather embarrassing...
Ming Yu noticed that the cherry-colored girl who had abruptly appeared before him seemed somewhat transparent.
Though he was looking at her body, he could faintly see the scenery behind her, as if she were a ghost.
After pondering for a moment, Ming Yu said to Yae Sakura.
"Before asking someone for help, shouldn't you at least introduce yourself first?"
No matter what, she did not seem hostile. Since that was the case, it was feasible to first learn her objective through negotiation.
If she truly intended to attack him, the Spirit Blade at her waist would likely have already struck.
"That is true. My name is Yae Sakura. I am a shrine maiden, and as you can see, I am a... ghost."
The cherry-colored girl gave a simple introduction, then raised a finger and pointed toward Chiba Academy.
"Inside that building, there is an extremely powerful being. I want to try to subdue her... but in my current state, alone, I cannot use all of my power."
A powerful being... She meant the Third Herrscher, right?
Ming Yu pondered inwardly.
In that case, their goals were the same.
"So, I need a human body as a target for possession. Only then can I wield more of my strength."
Yae Sakura stated it succinctly.
She believed that Ming Yu, who had come here alone, could not possibly be someone completely ignorant of Honkai, so she skipped the explanations for now.
"...If I refuse, do you intend to forcibly take over my body?"
Ming Yu asked.
In response to his question, Yae Sakura merely shook her head slightly.
"I will not force you."
Although there were few possible targets, she could still barely sense the presence of other living people in Changkong City.
For instance, within Chiba Academy just nearby, she could sense that there were still living humans inside.
"But since you have come here, I believe you are most likely here for that being as well. In that case, this should be a cooperation between us."
It was indeed quite an enticing proposal.
Before you continue