"Hokushin Itto-ryu wasn't created just for attacking. It can also protect..." Li Xuan said with a weary smile. Using 'Jao Shingan' and swinging the longsword with high intensity had nearly exhausted his stamina.
"How naive! In these troubled times, what can one person's life protect?! What can one person's life save?! In a chaotic world, only the strong can achieve victory. This is the unchanging law of the world!" Hokushin Mei retorted, her eyes turning slightly red. As the creator of 'Hokushin Itto-ryu' for the sake of victory and battle, she could not accept Li Xuan's idea.
"A single person's strength may be weak, but it is precisely because our lives are so fragile that we should cherish every joy and hope of life! ...Isn't Hokushin Itto-ryu the same?!" Li Xuan said, somewhat angered. Shouldn't the power a person possesses be something that demonstrates its value by protecting oneself and those around them?
They were two people who looked so alike, yet why were their thoughts so different?! Li Xuan looked at his stubborn master, and memories from before seemed to surface again...
"Mei, why are you up so early?" Li Xuan, yawning, ruffled his messy hair as he passed through the living room and saw her practicing her family's sword style, 'Hokushin Itto-ryu', with a bamboo sword.
"Mm-hmm~ Yeah... Can't slack off..." Mei said with a slight smile, the bamboo sword in her hand cutting through the air with a 'swish~' sound.
"I still have to protect everyone..." Under the morning sun, Mei's expression was resolute as she swung the bamboo sword in her hand, so dazzling that it made Li Xuan squint.
.........…
"My entire life has been a search for the ultimate power! And so has Hokushin Itto-ryu. If it's for protecting others, then what meaning is there to my life?!" Hokushin Mei argued.
"Don't you already have the answer?!" Li Xuan pointed to the grave beside them. The gray headstone stood quietly in the grass, the mound of earth clean and free of weeds.
"If human life is so insignificant, then why did you build this grave! Why did you come back here!" Li Xuan shouted, his golden eye fixed on Hokushin Mei.
"Why... Black Maple and Miss White Sakura, was their lives meaningless too!?"
Li Xuan's words were like a sharp arrow that pierced straight through Hokushin Mei's guarded heart... The ones she felt she had wronged the most in her life were Black Maple and Miss White Sakura...
"Ugh......" Hokushin Mei fell silent. She had neither the right nor the courage to deny it...
"Why... What meaning have I been pursuing... Why!!!" Mei roared. Li Xuan had shattered her convictions...
"Aaaargh——"
The Honkai energy that Li Xuan had suppressed within Hokushin Mei erupted once more. Plumes of black mist, even more turbulent than before, poured out from Hokushin Mei's body...
"The Honkai energy is starting to run rampant. It's gathering here. There seems to be something here...." Liv hurriedly ran to Li Xuan's side with Yae Sakura. Liv stared gravely at the black mist and spoke to Li Xuan.
"Sakura, can you let the black fox out again to absorb this Honkai energy..." Li Xuan suggested to Yae Sakura. He didn't dare to absorb it again... The feeling... still made his head ache a little.
"Watch your mouth, kid! My name is Higokumaru!" Before Yae Sakura could answer, a red-eyed fox seemingly made of black mist emerged from behind her and spoke with displeasure.
"I just absorbed a lot. I can't absorb any more right now..." The fox looked at the constantly gathering black mist and said it was helpless.
"Hmm? As I thought..." the fox muttered to itself, watching the black mist.
"Hmph ha ha ha!" A somewhat creepy laugh came from within the black mist.
A figure faintly appeared in the black mist, becoming clearer and clearer...
"That is?...." Li Xuan stared gravely at the figure emerging from the black mist. Could this be the legendary final boss...
"...The time has come! I can finally control this power!" The black mist slowly dissipated, and a figure was fully revealed from within.
"This..." Li Xuan was stunned, almost losing his grip and dropping the katana in his hand... He stared speechlessly at the monster that had emerged from the black mist.
'This is the final boss...?' Li Xuan felt so stupid for thinking that...
The figure that emerged from the black mist was revealed. It was... an ancient paper umbrella, black and red.
"Ugh... Chikage! I won't let you occupy my body!" Hokushin Mei struggled and said from within the black mist.
"Hmph, if it weren't for those two girls' seal, your body would have been mine long ago!" The paper umbrella 'Chikage' said, looking contemptuously at Hokushin Mei's struggle.
"It was not in vain for me to eke out an existence in this dark torrent! Now, this power and your body will all be mine! Let me give you a taste of despair!" Chikage said, lunging towards Hokushin Mei's body, trying to seize it...
"Not good!" Li Xuan hurriedly rushed towards Hokushin Mei. Although he didn't know what that thing was, stopping it was the right thing to do!
"Ronin.... I'm sorry...."
At that moment... a clear female voice resounded in everyone's hearts out of thin air.
(End of Chapter)