"..." Li Xuan looked at the pitch-black scene in front of him, feeling quite helpless. He hadn't expected the visibility in this fog to be so low; at most, he could only see two or three meters around him. How was he supposed to find Mei in this…
"I can feel a very dense Honkai energy around… what a delight~" The black fox behind Yae Sakura seemed very excited, running around and speaking with satisfaction.
For a creature like it, born from a small part of the Honkai's Will mixed with an original soul, Honkai energy was like a delicacy… Of course, eating too much could also cause problems.
"Sigh~ Where is Mei?…" Li Xuan muttered to himself, looking around. But all he could see were scattered weeds on the ground and an endless expanse of black mist.
"Don't worry, Master, we'll definitely find her!" Liv clenched her small fists and held them to her chest, trying to encourage Li Xuan. A cute, determined expression appeared on her delicate little face.
"Mhm!" Li Xuan said with a smile, reaching out to stroke Liv's silky black hair.
"Li Xuan-kun!" At that moment, Yae Sakura suddenly shouted loudly.
"Wh-What is it?!" Li Xuan withdrew his hand from Liv's head and turned to look at Yae Sakura, whose right hand was touching the long sword at her waist.
"Is that the person Li Xuan-kun is looking for?!" Yae Sakura pointed with her slender finger into the black fog not far from her. A human figure stood vaguely in the mist. From behind, one could just barely make out the silhouette of a young girl.
"Mei?!" Even from several meters away, Li Xuan could clearly recognize the young girl's back. He shouted loudly while striding quickly in her direction. Finally, finally… he had found a friend. He had to ask her about Bronya and Kiana's whereabouts.
"Wait…" Yae Sakura reached out to say, but the somewhat excited Li Xuan didn't hear her words from behind him.
"..." As if hearing Li Xuan's shout, the silently standing girl slowly turned around. An exquisitely beautiful face, a graceful and slender figure, and a pair of wine-red eyes silently watched the young man before her, saying nothing.
"Mei, where did you guys go?! What happened that day?! And… why did your… eyes turn red?" Li Xuan asked, somewhat surprised as he looked at 'Mei's' eyes, which were as vibrant as fresh blood. He even swallowed the questions he had initially wanted to ask. He remembered that Mei's original eyes were black… What was going on?
"." The empty-eyed Mei stared blankly at Li Xuan for a moment, her gaze shifting to the weapon he was currently holding—Raiden Mei's ancestral katana.
"..." The silent Mei lowered her head slightly and spoke for the first time. "Give it back!.... Give me back what is mine!!!" Her voice was like something from the depths of the underworld, chilling to the bone.
"This Honkai energy is...!!" Liv, who was standing not far away waiting for the two to meet and recognize each other, suddenly jerked her head up and looked in her master's direction. As a Gun-musume, she keenly sensed the emergence of a massive amount of Honkai energy.
"Watch out!" Almost simultaneously, the two girls behind Li Xuan shouted.
"Eh?! What's wrong?…" Li Xuan heard their shouts and turned his head to look at them, confused.
"*Shing!*" The sharp blade of a long katana scraped against its sheath with a crisp ring. It was an ancient Japanese katana. Its snow-white edge seemed to carry a will that could sever anything as it cut through the air, swinging down fiercely with a flash of light. The blade's arc formed an almost perfect cross in the air.
"Huh?!" The red mark on the back of Li Xuan's right hand suddenly flickered faintly. A sudden chill ran down his spine, making the hair on his body stand on end. His powerful physique, in this moment of fear, erupted with incredible strength, allowing him to forcibly turn around.
And then… he saw the blade's light, like snowflakes, rushing towards him like a waterfall.
"..." Li Xuan cast a confused look at the owner of the blade light, the black-haired, red-eyed girl, 'Mei', but only saw indifference in her eyes. He opened his mouth, but perhaps due to a dry throat, he couldn't make a sound.
At this moment, the 'Xuanyuan Festive Garb' Li Xuan was wearing lit up faintly. The red gems decorating the clothes and the gem with the Dragon Sigil on his headband, along with the unknown patterns on the clothes, flashed with a golden glimmer.
An azure, gem-like, egg-shaped shield appeared in front of Li Xuan…
"*Bang!!*" A truly top-tier sword style, 'Hokushin Itto-ryu', displayed its power to the fullest at this moment… The sword technique 'Void Slash' struck Li Xuan's azure shield with a brilliant flash of light. The blocked sword then naturally moved in the opposite direction, but its wielder deftly redirected it to strike the shield heavily again. The counterforce was transformed into a relentless assault, unleashing its full fury on the azure shield before him.
Under the continuous barrage, the azure shield's blue luster seemed to be wiped away as if by an eraser. The seemingly solid shield in an instant became a thin layer… and then… it shattered like glass. The shattering released a wave of energy that pushed both of them away, interrupting 'Mei's' relentless, wave-like assault.
"Master!" Liv, with her arms outstretched, rushed over, wanting to catch the retreating Li Xuan, but a black shadow suddenly dashed past and caught Li Xuan in an embrace.
"Are you alright?! Li Xuan-kun?" Yae Sakura, having re-entered her combat form, lowered her head and said to Li Xuan in her arms, a pair of long fox ears on her head twitching slightly.
"I'm fine…" Li Xuan said, still a bit shaken. His dark eyes looked at the figure still standing proudly in the distance. If it weren't for the protection of the 'Xuanyuan Festive Garb's' shield, he would have likely been killed just now…
"She is definitely not Mei!…" Li Xuan said definitively, staring blankly at the beautiful figure in his line of sight. Mei would never point her sword at her comrades.
"Damn it! How dare you hurt Master! Die!" Liv, holding her two silver smoothbore guns, raised them and fired directly at the girl's figure.
"Don't!…" Li Xuan hurriedly tried to stop her.
But it was too late… Two gleaming silver bullets pierced through the air, shooting mercilessly towards 'Mei's' body with a silver glint.
"What… What's happening?!" In Li Xuan's right eye's vision, the gleaming silver bullets passed through 'Mei's' body as if it were nothing... without a single splash of blood. The bullets seemed to have just passed through the air, not hitting anything solid at all.
What's going on?! Li Xuan looked at the illusory girl.
(End of Chapter)