Noon sunlight scattered across Nagazora City's former prestigious all-girls school, 'Senba Academy'. The campus appeared empty and desolate; the once laughter-filled school grounds were now only home to a few scattered, wandering Honkai Zombies.
In stark contrast to the current tranquility of 'Senba Academy', the roads outside the campus, teeming with countless Honkai Zombies and Honkai Beasts, had become a scene akin to hell.
Innumerable blood-tinged vines coiled around these Honkai Zombies and Honkai Beasts, which had been driven by instinct to gather around the Herrscher's Honkai energy fluctuations. Purple light continuously surged from the bodies of these Honkai Beasts and Honkai Zombies, only to be completely devoured by the vines wrapped around them as if into a bottomless pit.
"Power… I must absorb more power… and then…" The black-haired girl, protected at the center by the vines, opened her green eyes and slowly said, "…go and kill the other Herrscher!"
"To thoroughly cleanse this filthy world!" Countless vines wrapped around the girl's curvaceous body, forming a green cocoon. Vines extending from the cocoon remained connected to the innumerable vines entangling the Honkai Zombies and Honkai Beasts, turning these monsters that once roamed Nagazora City into energy supply packs.
The Honkai Zombies and Honkai Beasts, immobilized by the vines, were continuously absorbed until they became dried corpses, then turned to dust. Dust to dust… earth to earth…
...............................
"Ugh…" Theresa Apocalypse, lying on Yae Sakura's lap, let out a painful groan. Her delicate face, with its willow-leaf brows, was slightly furrowed, and a feverish flush colored her fair cheeks.
"…" Yae Sakura silently wiped the white-haired girl's feverish forehead with a towel soaked in cold water, hoping to lower Theresa's temperature slightly.
"Give up. There's basically no cure for a Herrscher's poison…" Higokumaru, lazing on the clean white bed, said with a sigh.
An ordinary person poisoned by a Herrscher would immediately turn into a Honkai Zombie. This white-haired girl could resist the poison for a while with her powerful body, but she couldn't last long… Only another Herrscher of the same kind or a 'Chosen One' with Natural Stigmata could be immune to a Herrscher's poison.
"Why do you still want to save her?" Higokumaru said faintly. "You remember, don't you? After seeing that 'Schicksal' symbol and that golden cross… you remembered the events of 500 years ago?" Higokumaru stared at the silent, head-bowed Yae Sakura, its gaze seemingly able to pierce through one's soul.
"Or is it because she carries the scent of the person you once loved…"
"Kallen Kaslana's scent?" Higokumaru said.
"Forget her, Sakura… Isn't the kid you've met now pretty good? Start over, forget the past…"
Higokumaru looked at the still-silent Yae Sakura and said earnestly, "Don't lie to yourself. That person died hundreds of years ago. Humans don't have lifespans as long as ours!"
"You're no longer alone now. Someone is by your side again."
Higokumaru helplessly lay back down on the bed and said analytically, "A Herrscher has been born near us. We need to quickly get Li Xuan and the others out of here… We are no match for that thing right now."
"Cough cough…" Suddenly, a weak cough sounded in the empty room. Theresa Apocalypse, who had been unconscious with her eyes closed, suddenly woke up. She opened her azure eyes and, with a slight smile, reached out her small hand to gently touch the slightly stunned Yae Sakura's face.
"I will… I will… I will definitely protect you," the white-haired girl said softly, a forced smile on her feverish face.
"…" The white-haired girl's small hand drooped powerlessly again, falling onto the clean white bed. The Herrscher's poison had already exhausted the last of her strength. The flame of her life was like a candle in the wind, flickering precariously.
"…" Yae Sakura's pupils instantly turned into bewitching vertical slits. The memories sealed deep in her mind burst open like an explosion… The longing and complete memories from 500 years ago filled her mind. She completely recalled the words of that white-haired girl.
'Because I promised you…'
'Because! I will fight alongside you!'
'Mm… I will definitely protect everyone!'
'I don't want to anymore…' 'I'm sorry, Kallen, it was all my fault…'
"This little brat is finally going to die… A Herrscher's poison is incurable…" Higokumaru stood up and stared at the faintly breathing Theresa, saying flatly.
"…" Yae Sakura lowered her eyes without a word, a hint of resolve flashing through them.
"No, there is another way," Yae Sakura suddenly said, her voice a little hoarse.
"How could there be a way… The only thing that can suppress a Herrscher's poison is a Herrscher Core… Could it be!" Higokumaru raised its head in shock, staring at the calm-faced Yae Sakura, its blood-red eyes filled with fear.
"Are you crazy?! If we give her the Herrscher Core that we spent 500 years of slumber to condense, we will disappear! Why would you do that?! Won't that kid Li Xuan be heartbroken?!"
"Higokumaru…" Yae Sakura said softly.
"What is it? You've given up, right…" Higokumaru persuaded.
"Please help me bring Li Xuan-kun over here…" Yae Sakura reached out and smoothed her somewhat messy long hair, her azure eyes gazing at the black fox Higokumaru before her as she spoke.
"…"
(End of this chapter)