"Take me with you. I'm experienced in beating up the Herrscher of Corruption."
"I was going to take you anyway. Change back first."
Judah shot Ryn a look, then transformed back into a giant cross with a flash of light. Ryn grabbed Judah and threw it out of the sea. Judah then used its chains to pull Ryn up.
"Oath of Judah—Hover Vehicle Mode."
Ryn rode Judah and flew towards the Hyperion.
The group watched in shock as Judah transformed back into its weapon form.
"Judah can change back??? Then why has it been following Ryn in human form all this time!!"
"Yeah... it guards Ryn every day, making me too embarrassed to look for Ryn at night..."
The others' gazes immediately turned to Kiana. Kiana waved her hands shyly and said, "Don't get the wrong idea, we just play games..."
The others all rolled their eyes at her, making teasing 'tsk tsk tsk' sounds.
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Looking at the Hyperion in the distance, smoking and flying unsteadily, Ryn silently felt sorry for Himeko. 200% of Himeko's assets were invested in the Hyperion; the extra 100% was borrowed money she had put in...
This time, more than half of the Hyperion was destroyed again. Himeko probably didn't even have the heart to look for the Stigmata anymore. Compared to being buried in debt and working herself to death to pay it off, a glorious death in battle was probably more acceptable to Himeko.
Because the Hyperion was damaged by the internal fighting between Fu Hua, Theresa, and Higokumaru, the ship's defense systems were rendered useless. However, with the defense systems down, it was also convenient for Ryn's rescue.
Ryn touched the Hyperion and used his power to make it float in the air. Then, he entered the Hyperion through the shattered command room.
There he saw Fu Hua lecturing Theresa. Next to them lay a little girl who looked very much like Yae Sakura.
"Principal, how many times have I told you to let me be the main attacker while you provide support... Now look, most of the Hyperion has been wrecked by you..."
"How was I supposed to know the Herrscher of Corruption could transform from a physical body into a data entity..." Theresa said guiltily, not daring to look at Fu Hua.
Theresa believed that as the Principal, she couldn't let her student take the lead, so she charged in the fastest and fought the fiercest... But unfortunately, the Herrscher of Corruption was immune to Theresa's purely physical attacks, and so Theresa's attacks passed through the Herrscher of Corruption and smashed the Hyperion...
"Nice one. As expected of Theresa." Ryn floated in front of them with Judah and gave Theresa a thumbs-up. "You'd better find a good excuse to explain this to Himeko, or I'm afraid she'll be so angry she'll cough up blood."
"Oh, oh, I know... you guys are so annoying... I'll ask Grandpa for funds to repair the Hyperion..." Theresa was so ashamed she wanted to drill another hole in the Hyperion and crawl into it.
Ryn squatted down and poked the Higokumaru on the floor with his hand, asking curiously, "Is this little girl the Herrscher of Corruption? Why does she look so much like Yae Sakura?"
"Now that you mention it, she does look quite similar." Theresa rested her chin on her hand and fell into thought. "Speaking of which, isn't Yae Sakura also a Herrscher? This little girl is probably related to Yae Sakura in some way."
"Yae Sakura? Sakura? Rin?" Fu Hua fell into deep thought. These names popped into her mind for some reason, but she couldn't find any related memories.
Just then, Judah transformed back into human form and stood beside Ryn.
"I know about her and Yae Sakura's situation."
"You-you-you... can still change back into Judah!" Theresa was too shocked to speak.
"I am Judah. What do you mean, 'change back into Judah'?" Judah gently patted Theresa's head and continued to explain to everyone.
"The Herrscher of Corruption was once sealed in a black box. Five hundred years ago, Schicksal tried to open the black box. To prevent the Herrscher of Corruption from being released, Kallen Kaslana fled Schicksal with the black box.
But Kallen was severely injured by pursuing forces in the sea and drifted to the Far East, where she was taken in by Yae Sakura. And at that time, Yae Sakura was corrupted by the Herrscher of Corruption in the black box and became a Pseudo-Herrscher.
Later, Kallen used me to defeat the Herrscher of Corruption again, but Yae Sakura had already become inseparable from the Herrscher of Corruption... With no other choice, Kallen could only seal them both together again.
But I remember the Herrscher of Corruption was in the shape of a fox back then... Maybe its current appearance is influenced by Yae Sakura?"
"No..." Fu Hua interrupted Judah's words. "This is her original form..."
"You know her?"
"No..."
"?"
"My feeling tells me this is the Herrscher of Corruption's most original form..."
"???"
"Alright, alright, let's wait until we've dealt with Jiuyou and get back to St. Freya High School. We can just ask Yae Sakura and find out everything," Ryn interrupted the discussion and picked up the Higokumaru on the floor.
"Let's go. We should head to Jiuyou first. Himeko and the others have been waiting for a long time. Judah and I will watch over this one for now. With us here, she won't be a danger even if she wakes up. Besides, Judah is very good at taking care of kids."
"Ryn!!"
Theresa shouted at Ryn angrily. How could she not know that when Ryn said Judah was good with kids, the 'kid' he was referring to was her!
"Alright, alright, let's go." Judah picked up Theresa, patted her head, and soothed her.
"I... I... I'm not a kid!!"
"Yes, yes, Theresa is not a kid." Judah smiled and nodded in agreement with Theresa's words.
Afterward, Ryn extinguished the fire on the Hyperion, brought the few people on board onto Judah, and then headed to rendezvous with Himeko and the others.
Fortunately, the Hyperion was fully controlled by Ai-chan, and on this trip, there were only Theresa, Fu Hua, and Himeko's adjutant. Otherwise, if there were more people, Judah would be unwilling to carry them, and they would have to be carried by chains.
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Ryn and the others arrived at the pier and successfully met up with Himeko's group.
Kiana and the others ran back to check on Ryn's group, and then they saw the girl in Ryn's arms.
"Wow, what a cute little sister. Ryn, let me hold her." Kiana reached out, wanting to hold the cute girl.
"I want to hold her too~ So cute." "Indeed, I really want to pinch her cheeks." "She's as cute as Bronya."
Mei, Kika, and Bronya also chimed in.
"She's the Herrscher of Corruption."
"A naturally evil Herrscher brat. Watch me terminate her immediately." Bronya immediately summoned Project Bunny, its cannon aimed at the girl.
"Hey, hey, hey! That was a quick change of heart!!"
Kika and Mei quickly held Bronya back.
Kiana, on the other hand, looked at the girl curiously and asked Ryn, "Isn't it dangerous to just hold her like that? What if she hurts you?"
"It's fine. The Herrscher of Corruption is so weak right now that even Mei could easily take care of her."
"You bastard, what do you mean 'even Mei could easily take care of her'?" Mei immediately raised Project Bunny's cannon from the Herrscher of Corruption and aimed it at Ryn. "Bronya, blast him!"
(A bit OOC, but it's all in good fun. It's normal for friends to joke around like this.)