"I'll kill her if you dare come any closer!" At her wit's end, the 'Pseudo-Herrscher' dangled Theresa in front of her, a vine with a blood-red tip aimed at Theresa's throat as she threatened him.
"..." Li Xuan stared coldly at Yuno, silent. Although he wasn't very familiar with this white-haired nun of a principal... he couldn't just ignore her life. If Theresa died... wouldn't Sakura's sacrifice have been in vain?!
"Damn it..." Li Xuan gritted his teeth in frustration. Did this mean he still couldn't just get rid of this vine woman... Li Xuan seethed with hatred.
"Let me go!... Or I'll kill this kid!" Yuno pulled Theresa closer, grabbing the weak girl's face with one hand and continuing her threats.
To think that she, a 'God', had been forced into such a state by this man... She swore that once she absorbed all her power and evolved, she would tear this man to pieces.
.......................
'Damn it! I was careless again... Am I going to die here this time?' The weak and powerless Theresa slightly opened her azure eyes but couldn't see clearly, only vaguely hearing someone talking.
'I clearly resolved to protect my dear students after seeing Kiana, to fight against the [Honkai] for this world and protect these seeds of hope, but...'
'I'm sorry, Li Xuan-kun, I failed to protect you as my student...' The dizziness and fatigue in her head made it hard for Theresa to stay conscious...
[No, you will not die...]
[I will protect both Li Xuan-kun and you...]
[So... please lend me your body...]
As if a faint scent of cherry blossoms reached her nose, a pink-haired woman standing under a cherry tree smiled and gently embraced her, speaking softly.
'If...'
'If you can really do it, then you can borrow it...' Theresa closed her eyes with a smile on her lips... The next moment, her consciousness sank into darkness, but she felt a warmth spreading through her body from her back, like the winter sun. It seemed everything was different now...
"Crack! Squelch!" With the sound of breaking bones, dark purple blood splattered into the sky, the viscous liquid falling and blooming like flowers on the ground.
"!!!!" Yuno stared blankly as Theresa suddenly broke free from the vines, bit off her arm, and held it in her mouth. Her forehead was covered in a cold sweat of terror, her green eyes staring in disbelief at Theresa, who was now on all fours like a fox.
The Theresa before her had eyes that had turned into bewitching, beast-like vertical pupils. Fear once again crept into Yuno's heart. Although as a 'Pseudo-Herrscher' she no longer felt pain, she still instinctively felt the sensation from her severed arm.
"No, impossible... you got rid of my poison in an instant—" Yuno's mouth opened in a trembling gape as she stared at Theresa. A Herrscher's poison was a peculiar toxin created from a mix of special Honkai energy and other substances... even Honkai Zombies and Honkai Beasts would be completely paralyzed by it.
Yet now, she had encountered two humans who could immune themselves to the poison produced by her vines in one go...
"..." The canine-toothed Theresa lowered her head slightly, making her expression unreadable. The surface of the pale, severed arm she was biting on suddenly began to flash with white patterns, and streams of white light flowed from the arm into Theresa's mouth like water.
"You... you're absorbing my Honkai energy?!...." Yuno said, trembling. She was completely terrified... The other party could actually absorb Honkai energy, which was an absolute poison to humans?! And this wasn't pure Honkai energy, but Honkai energy infused with her Herrscher power...
The roles of predator and prey had been completely reversed...
"..." The arm in Theresa's mouth had already turned to ash and dissipated into the air. She stood sideways in silence for a moment. Hearing Yuno's trembling words, she turned around, revealing a somewhat ferocious smile. The ends of her originally snow-white hair were now tinged with a cherry red, and a pair of long fox ears had appeared on her head.
".....How is that, possible!" Mustering her last bit of courage, Yuno raised her remaining arm and swung it at Theresa. Under her overloaded Honkai energy output, dozens more vines split off and grew from the vines coiling around her body, stabbing towards Theresa.
"Bang!!" The vines accurately struck Theresa's position with a huge roar. Concrete debris and dust flew everywhere, but a look of panic appeared on Yuno's face. She could feel that the vines still hadn't hit anything. This meant...
"....." Yuno trembled and slowly lowered her head to look at her only remaining right hand. What she saw was a bloody, mangled stump... She had lost both her hands.
"Pah!" Theresa indifferently spat out the pale arm in her mouth. The human arm, dripping with purplish-red blood, fell onto the dusty ground.
'I... I have to escape...!!' Yuno looked at Li Xuan watching her silently in the distance and, with a glance from the corner of her eye, saw Theresa standing behind her. The thought echoed uncontrollably in her mind. The trembling from within her heart made her smell the scent of the Grim Reaper, and a sense of foreboding filled her.
"Go....." Yuno wanted to take a step to escape, but she found that she couldn't move at all, her legs feeling weak...
"....." Theresa ignored the trembling Yuno and walked straight to the giant golden cross standing on the ground. She reached out her small, fair hand and gently touched the sword-and-shield symbol at the intersection of the cross...
"Oh, Soul Steel of Judah's Oath, feel my soul, show my fangs!" Theresa said in a soft, chant-like voice.
A pink glow, carrying an immense Honkai energy reaction, emanated from her hand, spreading over the golden surface of 'Judah's Oath'. The massive Honkai energy condensed into the shape of pink cherry blossom petals, scattering in the air and enveloping the golden cross.
The next moment, a pink cross appeared within the glow. The central sword-and-shield symbol had changed into a three-magatama pattern, and the Spears of Light on the extended lance mounts on both sides had become... Sakura Blades...
The energy-formed cherry blossom petals slowly dissipated into the air.
'Judah's Oath: Spirit Blade Form'!
(End of this chapter)