"Ronin... I'm sorry..." a young girl's soft whisper sounded.
A layer of pure white light with a gentle aura emerged on the surface of Hokushin Mei's body, which was enveloped by the black mist. A pair of hands, as white as frost yet seemingly transparent, first extended out from Hokushin Mei's body, followed by a black-haired girl in kimono-style clothing who burst out from Mei's body.
The moment the girl appeared, the surrounding black mist melted away by more than half, like snow under the sun. A white, somewhat transparent shield appeared before the black-haired girl's hands.
"Damn it!" The monster 'Chikage', born from the Honkai, cried out unwillingly. The paper umbrella 'Chikage' was blocked by what was clearly just a thin shield.
"It's you again... Black Maple, White Sakura!"
"My power can no longer control Chikage..." A seemingly transparent figure also appeared from Hokushin Mei's body after the black-haired girl. It was a girl with long white hair, wearing a kimono adorned with pink cherry blossom petals.
"I'm truly sorry," the white-haired girl, White Sakura, said with a helpless smile, turning her head to look at the somewhat dazed Hokushin Mei.
"..." Hokushin Mei, having come to her senses, looked at Black Maple and White Sakura standing guard in front of her, her eyes slightly red. "Miss Black Maple, Miss White Sakura! So your souls have been inside my body all this time?!"
"Hmph! That's right. These two reckless fools used their own souls as a seal to protect you, fighting me inside your body for so many years. But in the end, it was all meaningless!" Before the two girls named Black Maple and White Sakura could answer, the paper umbrella 'Chikage' floating in the air spoke mockingly.
"Meaningless... The act of protecting another's life should not be dismissed like that!" Hokushin Mei said affirmatively, biting her lip. How could all that Miss Black Maple and Miss White Sakura had done for her be called meaningless?!
"Hmph, it's too late. They have already been tainted by my demonic energy. Let's have you all kill each other like you did back then!" Chikage said with a taunting shout.
At some point, fine black and red lines had crawled onto the pure white bodies of the transparent, soul-like White Sakura and Black Maple...
"Ugh..." Black Maple let out a pained groan, her willow-like eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"Lady Mei, run..." White Sakura stretched out her hand towards Hokushin Mei.
"Hmph, what a useless pair of sisters," Chikage said with a sneer. It enjoyed the sight of human despair the most; it was like taking a sip of a cold drink on a hot summer day.
"Black Maple, White Sakura... with my power, how can I possibly protect you?!"
"Well now~ Master, don't panic... A single person's strength may be weak, but you're not alone right now... you still have us," Li Xuan said, patting Hokushin Mei's shoulder with a confident smile.
"It's just Honkai, right? We're the best at dealing with it... We're not called professional Honkai exterminators for nothing," Li Xuan said with his arms crossed, looking at the umbrella demon 'Chikage' floating in the thick black mist formed by Honkai energy.
Although Li Xuan was completely inept when it came to swordsmanship, when it came to dealing with Honkai Beasts, Honkai Zombies, and the monsters that appeared from the Honkai... Li Xuan just wanted to say that he was a man who had killed countless Honkai Beasts and Honkai Zombies, and could take on ten at once!
"That's right..." Li Xuan suddenly remembered something Raiden Mei once said, so he turned to Hokushin Mei and said, "Isn't the essence of Hokushin Itto-ryu to concentrate all of your body's strength into a single strike, so that even the weakest power can become a great hope?"
"Hmph~ To think that I would be lectured by an outsider about the martial art I created... How interesting," Hokushin Mei said with a self-deprecating tone.
She suddenly turned around and looked at Li Xuan, saying, "I am not qualified to be your master... I don't even know the meaning of protection..."
"But... thank you for your help all the same," Hokushin Mei said, a smile as fleeting as a night-blooming cereus appearing on her icy face.
"..." Li Xuan was slightly stunned by Hokushin Mei's devastatingly beautiful smile, and his face immediately turned a little red. He scratched his cheek in embarrassment and said, "Well, well~ Don't mention it... It's what I should do, after all......"
A weapon gleaming with golden light appeared out of thin air in Li Xuan's right hand. Its considerable weight made Li Xuan's hand dip slightly.
"You're my master, after all~" Li Xuan shouldered the weapon, the seven-star weapon 'Tyr's Warblade', turned his head, and smiled at Hokushin Mei.
"This, this is...." Hokushin Mei was shocked as she looked at the glowing object in Li Xuan's hand. As an ancient person from the Warring States period, how could she have ever seen something that glowed... so she was completely dumbfounded at this moment.
"My exclusive weapon..." Li Xuan said with a smile, patting the rocket launcher in his hand. "Alright... Master, let me see your true Hokushin Itto-ryu!"
Li Xuan looked at the umbrella demon 'Chikage', which had revealed its true form not far away, without a trace of fear. For an ancient person, a youkai that might be difficult to defeat with swordsmanship was nothing more than a piece of cake in the eyes of Li Xuan, who possessed a Divine Weapon.
"..." But it's better to be safe... Li Xuan paused and thought. He turned his head to look at Yae Sakura and Maid Liv behind him and said, "Sakura, Liv. Let's attack that umbrella together!"
"Mm," Yae Sakura glanced at the paper umbrella floating in the sky and replied faintly. This level of youkai... she felt that even she could defeat it...
"Yes, yes!" Liv responded loudly and enthusiastically. For a maid, her master's orders were naturally to be obeyed!
"Let's begin!" Li Xuan shouted.
"Mere mortals, you wish to defeat me! You court death..." The umbrella demon Chikage became somewhat enraged when it saw the several tiny humans assuming a battle stance. In the past, humans would kneel on the ground and beg for their lives when they saw it, but now they actually wanted to kill it?!
"Go! My servants." From the black mist where the umbrella demon Chikage was, Oni Samurai with gleaming scarlet eyes emerged one by one. These were all innocent humans that Chikage had killed, their souls used to create these weapons.
"The sins I have committed, I shall sever them myself!" Hokushin Mei closed her eyes, reached out her right hand, and gripped the beloved sword at her waist, speaking softly.
"Haaah!!" Hokushin Mei closed her eyes and unleashed all the strength in her body with a single slash... Images of her past encounters with Black Maple and White Sakura flashed before her eyes...
I want to protect you too...
A sword light with a thunderous roar burst forth from Hokushin Mei's sword. The katana shattered into pieces with the slash. The crescent-shaped sword qi was as brilliant as the Milky Way, and the tiny fragments of the blade reflected the sunlight like dazzling stars in the galaxy...
This was the secret technique of Hokushin Itto-ryu, 'Amaterasu', but it was different from before. The sword qi carried the power Hokushin Mei had unleashed for the sake of protection, and it flickered with a faint lightning.
The sword light made contact with the Oni Samurai charging forward from the black mist, and it erupted with a boom!
A warm yet dazzling radiance directly tore through the bodies of the Oni Samurai, and even dispelled the thick black mist, completely exposing the umbrella demon 'Chikage' to everyone's sight.
"How, how is this possible?! A mere mortal...." The umbrella demon Chikage was shocked as it watched the thick black mist before it being cleaved open by the young girl's single strike. Before it could finish speaking, a voice suddenly interrupted it.
"Now!!" Li Xuan shouted. The seven-star weapon 'Tyr's Warblade' in his hand, already loaded, roared once again in this era!
"..." Yae Sakura threw the Spirit Blade-Sakurafubuki from her waist with great force.
"Ha!" Liv raised her twin pistols and fired two silver bullets at the paper umbrella in the black mist.
"BOOM!" The rocket, shining with a golden radiance, spun as it shot out, accurately hitting 'Chikage'. Chikage, unable to react in time, could only condense a thin Honkai energy shield around its body, but it was unsurprisingly torn apart with ease by the three shots from 'Tyr's Warblade'.
Like a war god from ancient myths wielding a weapon that could shatter the heavens, a fiery light exploded with a boom...
"My domain! No!! I can't die yet!!!" The umbrella demon Chikage, at the very center of the explosion, roared in despair, struggling to break free from the high temperature and the energy that was the opposite of Honkai energy.
"Swish!" With a slight sound of something cutting through the air, a katana shining with a pink, demonic light seemed to have a mind of its own and pierced Chikage's body, penetrating the paper and the ribs... Two silver bullets sent its body plummeting into the abyss of death once again.
"Aaargh!!" A scream like that of a demon crawling out of hell.
In the dazzling light... the one named 'Chikage' finally met its end...
"The black mist has disappeared..." Li Xuan muttered to himself as he watched the slowly dissipating black mist.
"Yes, Master... The Honkai energy reaction has also stopped," Liv said with a smile, standing gracefully by Li Xuan's side.
"It's over...." Yae Sakura said, her eyes reflecting the azure sky.
"Thank you..." Hokushin Mei said softly, revealing a smile never seen before. "Thank you... Lord God. Please accept this sword manual for 'Hokushin Itto-ryu'."
Hokushin Mei took out a book made of sheepskin from her collar and said.
"Huh? God?!... No, no... I..." Li Xuan reflexively took the sword manual from Hokushin Mei, stunned for a moment, and was about to object.
"To be able to use such a powerful weapon... only a god could, right?" Hokushin Mei said softly. The 'Hokushin Itto-ryu' that she had always considered invincible was probably just a joke in front of the person before her.
But... why pursue invincibility and power anymore... Isn't it enough to be with the one you love?
"Miss Black Maple, Miss White Sakura!..." Hokushin Mei turned to look at the people she was bound to behind her.
"Finally... I get to see you..." The black-haired girl, Black Maple, was no longer being corroded by the demonic power due to Chikage's demise. She said with a smile.
"The cycle of 8,000 nights has finally been rewarded. Thank you, boy from the future. The curse on Lady Mei has finally been lifted..." White Sakura said politely to the bewildered Li Xuan.
"You're, you're welcome..." Li Xuan said, scratching his hair.
White Sakura and Black Maple's bodies suddenly began to grow fainter and more transparent...
"Black Maple! White Sakura! Hold on! I will definitely save you!" Hokushin Mei said urgently, watching the two become more and more transparent.
"...The moment we sealed the curse, my sister and I had already died. What you see now is just a lingering trace of our will," White Sakura said with a smile, shaking her head. Her waist-length hair swayed gently.
"We've been together for so long, it's time to say goodbye," Black Maple said with a smile, waving her hand.
"No... wait..." Hokushin Mei reached out her hands as if to touch them, but they passed right through. In the end, she couldn't touch anything.
"In the ten directions, the long night is filled with a red moon..." White Sakura chanted softly.
"Mirror flower, glass moon, scattering the dreams of light and dark..." Black Maple said softly.
"A splendid burial for a thousand years, waiting for the next life...."
"Don't go..." Hokushin Mei reached out her hand helplessly.
The girls named Black Maple and White Sakura dissolved into shimmering motes of light and vanished in a blinding white flash...
At the same time, a white fragment silently shot into Li Xuan's body...
.........
"Hmm?…" Opening his eyes, Li Xuan saw the orange-red sunset.... Before him was a familiar path, the roadside overgrown with weeds.
"This is... the outskirts of Nagazora City?!" Li Xuan turned his head. Beside him were Liv and Yae Sakura.
"..." Yae Sakura seemed to be in low spirits and didn't speak.
"Yes, Master. It seems we returned when Black Maple and White Sakura disappeared," Liv said.
"...Yeah, we're back again..." Li Xuan raised his head and looked at the fiery clouds stained crimson by the sunset, murmuring to himself.
'When will he be able to reach the pinnacle of other transmigrator seniors and travel back?'
(End of Chapter)