"Manipulating Honkai energy"—the words were simple, but the execution was difficult.
Can one imagine how to fly after growing wings? How to control two extra hands? Controlling an energy one has never touched is no different from operating a newly grown organ. It was clearly impossible for Lin to achieve this without borrowing the power of the Pseudo-Herrscher Core.
Whether it was MANTIS or Herrschers, their ability to control Honkai energy was equivalent to being plugged into an external organ capable of autonomous manipulation. Those without it couldn't even begin to imagine the process.
Lin reached out his hand, trying to gather the energy—treating it as an offensive force like a Herrscher would.
Light and heat...
In the long silence, he maintained the posture. He felt nothing, but cold sweat seeped from his face and hands. He still couldn't transform the energy into the form he wanted. He couldn't even perform the basic task of calling upon the surrounding energy.
"What are you doing?"
Lin opened his eyes to see Bianka watching him from a distance, looking suspicious as he made strange gestures with empty hands.
Lin replied steadily, "Cultivating."
Bianka thought for a few seconds. "Manipulating Honkai energy?"
Lin looked at her silently. He hadn't seen Bianka use Honkai energy autonomously; the armored phantom was an ability of her suit, and her brute strength was physical enhancement.
"The Holy Sword Durandal is essentially an artifact of the Previous Era... a supercomputer of your Fire-Moth. Its control unit is inside me; it helps me calculate and control Honkai energy, like this."
Bianka snapped her fingers, and a spark of electricity flickered between them.
"...Teach me."
"No."
"..."
Bianka tucked her hands under her arms, smiling slyly, seemingly happy to have checkmated him.
Lin let out an expressionless sigh, then propped himself up and stood.
The girl tossed her golden hair, a playful smile on her finely crafted face. She wasn't afraid of Lin attacking; anything that could be settled with fists wasn't an issue for her. In fact, she was in a bad mood and wouldn't mind giving the culprit a beating.
The man walked across the grass toward her in the night breeze. His deep pupils reflected the girl's charming face.
"I like you."
"..."
"..."
"A... Ah?"
It took thirteen seconds for Bianka to assemble the words Lin had dropped so suddenly and understand their meaning. Her entire body trembled, her eyes darted around frantically, and her hands flailed in the air, unsure of where to go.
She looked as if she might faint at any moment.
"Y-Y-Y-You..."
"You wouldn't refuse the request of someone who likes you, would you?"
...
Lin wasn't lying. He did like this girl, and he would let out a bit of his "interest" toward her; teasing her was quite entertaining. Bianka wasn't blind to it, but there's a saying—"stupid to the core." She was roughly that type. Everything she felt was written on her face.
"Imagine the Honkai energy as part of your body, not a tool to be wielded. You can't pick up something formless," Bianka instructed. Her face was still flushed, but her expression was stern. "To start, treat it like an extra joint on your finger. What you need to do is manipulate that extra joint."
Lin focused his mind entirely on his body, but no matter how he imagined it, the surrounding energy didn't move toward him.
"You need to 'call' it, not 'absorb' it."
Bianka pressed two fingers against Lin lower abdomen, on the midline, three inches below the navel. She said coldly, "There are many methods of manipulating Honkai energy passed down in Shenzhou; they call them martial arts techniques. Most involve absorbing energy into the Dantian point. Long-term practice leads to Honkai corruption and transformation into a Zombie."
"So, what you must do is let the energy 'flow' through your body without 'storing' it. In the words of the people of Shenzhou, build a walkway, not a container."
Under her rigorous guidance, Lin could finally feel the energy entering his body from the outside and then leaving in a cycle. Previously, he could only stand in a pool and splash; now, he could manipulate a pipe to draw water from the outside and spray it out.
It took about five hours for Lin to truly experience the sensation of autonomously controlling Honkai energy as it passed through him.
"Is this... enough?"
Bianka shook her head. "Even a novice Valkyrie can use a Valkyrie suit to control the release of energy after five hours of systematic training. You only just felt it. Your Honkai adaptability is quite low... but it can be achieved with effort."
She was a hard worker herself and never questioned the idea that effort leads to success.
"Valkyrie suit..." Lin gaze fell on the simple armor Bianka wore. She currently had it stored away, but it was a suit shaped like knight's armor.
Facing Lin scrutiny, Bianka smiled calmly. She clenched her fist, and two phantoms—one with a sword, one with a shield—appeared behind her. "King and Queen are the combat systems for this suit's energy release, known as the Phantom Module."
"Can I use it?" Lin rubbed his chin. "Or is there a blueprint I can reference?"
"Valkyrie suits are armaments designed for specific Valkyries. They are actually anti-Honkai armaments created by referencing Previous Era technology. Don't you have them?"
Fire-Moth did have anti-Honkai armaments, but power armor and Valkyrie suits clearly didn't use the same type of technology. He furrowed his brow, searching his mind for any technology that might match.
"What technology was it based on?"
"A suit known as the 'Blank Key' (Vermilion Knight: Eclipse / Key of Blankness)."
Lin froze. He remembered the part he had filed away in the corner of his mind. Mei and Vill-V had mentioned creating a Divine Key that could directly use the most primal power of a Herrscher Core.
Bianka continued, "According to analyzed data, the Previous Era user of the Blank Key was a warrior designated 'MSA-079.' Do you recognize it?"
"...MSA-079?"
"What's wrong?"
"That's my designation."
Bianka suddenly stopped all movement. She stared at Lin blankly, as if looking at a bubble about to burst.
...
"The Blank Key... After embedding the Gem of Haste, I developed the fourth-generation God-Slayer armor based on this prototype. Truly a breathtaking achievement, isn't it? Both as technology and as their 'will'."
"Will?" Bianka stood behind the blonde man. He had his hands behind his back, looking like a poet.
"The original owner of this suit was designated 'MSA-079.' Based on information deconstructed from the armor, he wore this suit to defeat the Herrscher of Domination, successfully protecting humanity."
"If the record ended there, it would be a standard account of fighting the Honkai."
The blonde man turned, his lips curling into a subtle arc.
"But the way he died... that is exceptionally interesting."
"He was killed by 'humans'."
Bianka frowned slightly. In the dim light of the laboratory, the man's green pupils were like two quietly burning torches.
A warrior fighting the Honkai, killed by humans?
"MSA-079 was killed by humans. According to the records in the armor, the humans crushed every bone in his body, tore off his skin, and then hacked off his limbs. Finally, piece by piece, they cut through his neck and tore his head from his body. Like killing a demon in a myth—shredding its hide and placing its soul upon a holy fire."
"..." Hearing the man's vivid description, Bianka clenched her hand for some reason.
"His consciousness remained clear throughout the process until his neck was cut. Yet, he offered no resistance."
"A warrior who fought the Honkai, ultimately murdered by humans. This gave the armor a legendary, mythological quality."
The man opened his arms as if praising the warrior's greatness, yet the smile on his face seemed to mock his stupidity.