The warm sunlight shone through the intact window. A light breeze slipped through the crack of the unlatched window, gently lifting the white curtains with a 'rustle rustle' sound...
This was the infirmary of Senba Academy's middle school section... White ceiling, white bed, white screen... The pristine white mattress was slightly wrinkled; it was where Theresa had once slept...
"Clank!" Theresa placed the 'Judah's Oath' she was carrying on her back onto the ground. The heavy cross touched the ground, and the tiled floor let out an overburdened cracking sound under the iron spike at the bottom of the cross. The spike sank deep into the ground, and the golden chains wrapped around the cross jingled.
"Mm... I remember waking up here..." Theresa took off her hood and gazed at the familiar scene. She bent down and gently smoothed the wrinkles on the mattress... This was where she woke up after being cured of the poison.
"Why did you save me? Who are you..." Theresa muttered. Why would a complete stranger sacrifice their life to save her... She had asked Li Xuan before, but he seemed unwilling to talk about it...
"I was poisoned by the Herrscher at that time, and only fragmented memories from my dreams surfaced in my mind..." Theresa subconsciously touched the cabinet beside her, which was filled with various medicines.
"I can only vaguely remember..." Theresa muttered as if recalling, "That long, pink hair..."
"What are the Stigmata on my back trying to tell me..." Theresa looked out the window, her expression a little lonely...
A pink petal suddenly drifted past the window in Theresa's line of sight. Following its path, she saw its source... a cherry blossom tree growing tenaciously by the academy's courtyard.
"Did the Honkai energy cause it to bloom early?" Theresa gently opened the window and looked at the cherry blossom tree, which was already adorned with white and scarlet blossoms.
"Cherry blossoms...." Theresa extended her small, fair hand and said softly. The breeze blew by, leaving a scarlet cherry blossom in her palm.
"What beautiful flowers," Theresa murmured. The fragile petals in her hand were gently lifted by the breeze, and the deep pink petals twirled and scattered with the wind.
At this moment, the red mark on Theresa's back—the 'Stigmata'—suddenly began to burn... The memories residing within the Stigmata surfaced once more... The scene that had only appeared in her dreams appeared before Theresa's eyes again.
"?!" On both sides of a crystal-clear stream was a forest of cherry blossom trees in full bloom. A pink-haired girl in a thin white robe was lifting a wooden basin, pouring the clear stream water over herself... letting the crystal-clear water droplets drip from the ends of her long, pink hair.
"Hmm?" Seemingly noticing something, the girl opened her azure eyes and looked into the distance....
"..." By the stream, a white-haired girl in a black and white nun's habit lay unconscious in the water, clutching a black box. The clear stream water was stained with threads of red...
The Stigmata on Theresa's back suddenly dimmed again. The entire scene vanished like a dream, and her vision returned to the view of Senba Academy's middle school section outside the window...
"It's happening again, such a familiar feeling..." Theresa covered her forehead. The sudden disappearance of the dream-like vision left her feeling a little dizzy.
"Where is that place..." Theresa wondered, thinking of the place in her dream...
The Stigmata on her back suddenly flashed with a faint red light again...
It was as if someone whispered in her ear. [Yae Village]...
"Yae Village?!" Theresa blurted out the name that had popped into her head without warning.
"This must be the message she left for me! That place—Yae Village—must have what I'm looking for." Theresa had no doubt about the place name that came to her mind, because she was certain it was a memory from the Stigmata.
"Bang!" A sudden loud noise jolted the dazed Theresa back to her senses.
"What was that?!" Theresa looked in the direction of the roaring explosion. A ball of dazzling fire appeared outside Senba Academy, its crimson glow fleetingly illuminating Theresa's fair face.
"Nagazora City... Where did that fire come from?!" Theresa stared blankly at the fleeting, dazzling flash of fire.
.........…..
On the ground, blackened by the high-temperature explosion, countless Honkai Zombie corpses were piled up, forming a sizable pyramid of flesh. Li Xuan squatted not far from the pile of Honkai Zombies, counting the freshly harvested Honkai Crystals. Dealing with these ordinary Honkai Zombies was now a piece of cake for Li Xuan...
"Almost two thousand crystals..." Li Xuan raised his hand, and the pile of azure crystals on the ground vanished into thin air... He had stored all the Honkai Crystals in the silver ring on his right hand.
"Still eight hundred crystals short of a ten-pull..." Li Xuan looked at the mountain of bodies before him with a bitter and helpless expression... Even after killing all the Honkai Zombies on this road, he still hadn't collected enough crystals...
So ordinary Honkai Zombies are really like chicken ribs... tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away.
"Looks like I'll have to keep trying..." Li Xuan said helplessly. A barrel of gasoline appeared in his hand; he had once stored it in his ring by chance. Li Xuan unscrewed the cap and poured the pungent gasoline onto the pile of Honkai Zombie corpses...
After a few days of studying at St. Freya High School, Li Xuan had learned a fair amount about the Honkai... For example, advanced Honkai Zombies evolved from ordinary ones... No Honkai Zombie could be underestimated... because, theoretically, every Honkai Zombie had a chance to slowly evolve into a 'Herrscher'! It was just that this probability was almost nonexistent...
Furthermore, the bodies of Honkai Zombies should not be piled up... because in a Honkai environment, another special, powerful, and incredible type of Honkai Zombie might be born... and that is the [Undead Honkai Zombie]
Each Undead Honkai Zombie can continuously produce more Honkai Zombies, much like a Zerg Queen from a game... Because St. Freya High School didn't have many samples, they hadn't researched it thoroughly... but they had discovered that the probability of this type of Honkai Zombie being born from the corpses of other Honkai Zombies was extremely high...
"Click!" Li Xuan casually took out a lighter. The flint wheel scraped under his thumb, and a blue-tipped flame shot out.
"Woosh! BOOM!~" Li Xuan casually tossed the lighter onto the gasoline-soaked pile of Honkai Zombie corpses. A violent flame immediately erupted, and the orange-red fire instantly engulfed the bodies.
"..." Li Xuan quietly watched the oncoming heatwave. The tips of his hair fluttered in the hot wind. The Honkai Zombie corpses burned continuously, turning to charcoal... Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
"Speaking of which... isn't this a bit unwise..." Li Xuan suddenly realized something. "Will the fire attract Honkai Beasts?!..."
Li Xuan suddenly felt that he had done something stupid...
'I'd better get out of here... How could I make such a mistake? Was I too excited?!...'
"Bang! Bang!" Before Li Xuan could finish his thought, the ground suddenly trembled. A sound like a giant hammer striking the earth came from not far away...
Before the figure even approached, its massive shadow had already enveloped Li Xuan completely...
"BAM! CRASH!" As if a building was blocking its path, it swung its arm and struck the building in front of it with a loud bang. The sturdy building instantly crumbled into a pile of rubble.
"Woosh!~" To Li Xuan's shock, the fourth Honkai Beast on his list of 'things I least want to encounter' appeared... It had a knight-like appearance, with a huge white bone shield attached to its left limb, and its right limb was like a spear of purple Honkai energy flames and lightning.
"Blazing Lightning?!..." Li Xuan stared blankly at the huge Honkai Beast before him. His heart was actually breaking down...
As the only institution for training Valkyries, St. Freya High School would naturally educate them on various Honkai Beasts and Honkai Zombies, allowing the Valkyries to understand their weaknesses and enhance their combat effectiveness... Therefore, St. Freya High School had also created a somewhat vague ranking system for the monsters produced by the Honkai...
Among them, the one that left the deepest impression on Li Xuan was the Honkai Beast with a giant shield... This type of Honkai Beast was known for its absolutely powerful defense and attack... The weakest was the Templar-class Honkai Beast, followed by the Shield-Wielding Brigade Commander, the Templar Guardian, the Thunder God-class Honkai Beast, and finally, the 'Blazing Lightning'!
"Damn it, why did it actually show up?!..." Li Xuan was so mad. He must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck... to encounter the toughest of the Honkai Beasts, 'Blazing Lightning,' again! A high-defense, high-attack Honkai Beast....
"..." The Blazing Lightning paid no heed to Li Xuan's complicated feelings. As a product of the Honkai, its only purpose was to eliminate the dominant creatures of this world... So, the Blazing Lightning directly swung the flaming and lightning-wreathed spear on its right limb and attacked Li Xuan...
"Screech!~ Bang! Bang!" Relying on his speed, Li Xuan managed to dodge the fatal attack just before it hit him. Even so, the flames and lightning from the spear that grazed past him significantly weakened the energy of the shield surrounding his body. The spear, as hard as steel, struck the ground directly, creating a piercing sound...
"Are you kidding me..." Li Xuan looked at the huge trench in the ground before him and couldn't help but swallow... With just one strike, the high-level Honkai Beast, Blazing Lightning, had completely destroyed the concrete ground. The devastated concrete looked as if it had been plowed by an ox in the countryside, with overturned earth emitting hot steam and a scorched smell...
"This is a little troublesome..." Li Xuan gritted his teeth helplessly. It was more than just troublesome... He just wanted to make a small profit and ended up encountering such a rare, national-treasure-level monster... So frustrating.
"..." Li Xuan calmed his mind, clenched his fist, and an unknown power emanated from the emblem on his collar, empowering the fist he held at his waist...
"BOOM!!" Li Xuan took a step forward, his body instantly appearing in front of the Blazing Lightning. He struck the massive bone shield on the Honkai Beast's left limb with all his might. A force of over ten thousand catties was instantly concentrated in his fist, creating a dull sound like a hammer striking a giant bell.
"..." The giant shield held by the Honkai Beast paused slightly. The immense force from the shield caused the Blazing Lightning to lean back a little. A flash of light appeared on its head, and the large bone shield tilted slightly, silently deflecting part of the force.
"...Useless?!" Although Li Xuan was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed seeing that the opponent was still unharmed...
"Thud!" The Blazing Lightning-class Honkai Beast slammed its large shield down hard, and the massive bone shield charged forward with immense force.
Caught off guard, Li Xuan was directly hit by the giant shield. The energy of the azure shield surrounding his body rapidly depleted, and the substantial-looking shield, along with Li Xuan, was sent flying by the impact.
"Ugh..." Li Xuan gritted his teeth and couldn't help but groan. He felt that his arm had suffered from the recoil and now he didn't even have the strength to straighten it. A numb, aching sensation spread from his right hand...
"As expected... I still have to use 'Judah's Oath' to deal with Honkai Beasts..." Li Xuan watched the slowly approaching Honkai Beast with some helplessness. His own strength was still no match for a Honkai Beast of this level... He punched it, and nothing happened... How embarrassing...
As Li Xuan stared at the approaching Honkai Beast and prepared to take out 'Seele's Toy Box' from the ring on his right hand... his nervous expression suddenly froze...
"What's that?!...." Li Xuan stared blankly as an object, glinting with a golden metallic light under the sun and with its features obscured, suddenly fell from the sky behind the Honkai Beast. It descended in a parabola, aimed straight for the back of the Honkai Beast's head...
"..."
Have you ever heard of a weapon that falls from the sky?!
(End of this chapter)