Faced with the girl's furious visage, Li Sushang really wanted to tell her that she wasn't Otto's lackey, just his partner.
But Sirin, whose painful memories had been stirred up, had already cast aside her cat-and-mouse mentality.
Faced with a subordinate of her sworn enemy, her greatest desire was, of course, to kill her immediately.
Only in this way could the long-dormant Sirin slightly quell the flames of rage in her heart.
Facing Sirin's wrathful assault, Li Sushang, who dared not be the least bit careless, still felt immense pressure after the battle began.
As a Stigmata Awakened and a practitioner of sword qi, Li Sushang could already be considered among the most outstanding fighters on the human side.
But against the enemy's Lances of the Void, which could be projected from any angle, Li Sushang, lacking any means of long-range counterattack, could only continuously dodge the enemy's attacks, unable to find any opportunity to strike back.
The girl before her, her eyes filled with hatred, was furious, but she hadn't lost her reason because of it.
Facing Li Sushang, who was armed with a close-range weapon, her opponent maintained her distance, showing no intention of getting near.
Although the two were still in the probing phase, after a moment's thought, Li Sushang felt that her side was at a massive disadvantage.
Her opponent was draining her stamina with just ranged attacks, while also getting to observe her fighting style and attack patterns.
On her side, just dodging and parrying was already extremely difficult.
At the same time, even if Li Sushang could spare the energy to observe her opponent's movements, but...
*—Aaargh! This woman can project these weapons just by standing there without making any movements! Observing her is useless!*
If this situation continued, Li Sushang would only face the outcome of having her stamina depleted, her weaknesses found, and being killed directly.
*I must find a chance to counterattack, or else... I'm really going to die at the hands of this little girl.*
Besides, I have some questions I want to ask her.
"You, wait a minute!"
After another perilous dodge of a self-detonating Lance of the Void, Li Sushang deliberately feigned weakness, rolling to the side and panting as she asked Sirin.
"What... what on earth did Otto do to you to make you so angry at him?!"
"Isn't he the Archbishop of Schicksal? Schicksal is supposed to be an organization that saves the world, right?"
"Schicksal? Saving the world?"
Hearing Li Sushang's question, Sirin uncharacteristically ceased her assault and replied with a cold smile.
"Ah, yes. That's what those hypocrites claim to the outside world."
"Over a decade ago, they claimed that a place called Babylon Tower could treat the ailments caused by the Honkai, and they took all of us ignorant fools there."
"They told us that everything we were doing would make the Valkyries' Stigmata more perfect, that we should feel honored."
"Just like that, speaking such righteous words, they injected Honkai Energy into our bodies—what do you think happens when a child is injected with Honkai Energy?"
"..."
Li Sushang said nothing.
But from her grim expression, Sirin instantly knew that this Valkyrie already knew the answer.
As a practitioner of true qi, Li Sushang of course knew that true qi and the so-called Honkai Energy were one and the same.
Among the true qi martial artists of Shenzhou, some could use true qi to help heal others.
But Li Sushang wouldn't assume that the 'Honkai Energy injection' the girl faced was a form of treatment just because of such cases.
Even though there was no evidence, just looking at the girl's hate-filled eyes and hearing her teeth-gritting tone, Li Sushang was already fifty percent convinced of the past Sirin described.
After all—someone like her, who would stop attacking after just a few shouts, was definitely not a cunning person.
People who aren't cunning are generally not good actors. When their expressions are natural and rich, what they say is usually not far from their perceived truth.
"But, that was something those people did on their own, right? Otto..."
"You want to say he didn't know, right?"
Hearing Li Sushang's attempt to defend Otto, Sirin cut her off with a cold laugh.
"Hmph, I don't know what he was specifically thinking. But considering I was once dead, and yet Otto took the initiative to resurrect me, an 'enemy of humanity,' he's definitely not a good person."
"Only you Valkyries who blindly believe in him would think he's some kind of saint."
"But, the idle chat ends here. No matter what I say, you won't believe the words of an enemy like me anyway."
At that moment, Sirin lightly snapped her fingers.
At the same time, Li Sushang immediately rolled aside, dodging Sirin's attack.
However, seeing the bolt of lightning suddenly descend from the sky, Li Sushang's heart skipped a beat.
*Is this a new attack method?*
*If I hadn't been prepared, that last lightning strike would have definitely hit me.*
Even without being struck, just by feeling the Honkai Energy dissipating from where the lightning hit, Li Sushang could roughly guess that the destructive power of that attack was by no means low.
And now, Li Sushang had to admit that her mind was truly in turmoil.
Previously, when Li Sushang saw Otto cooperating with those iron men who controlled the beasts, doubts had already begun to creep into her heart.
And after arriving in Shenzhou, when she met the woman at the foot of Mount Taixu who bore ill will towards Otto and said certain things, her suspicions of Otto grew even more.
Now, even the enemy before her was saying that Otto was no good.
One person is suspected of colluding with villains, and various parties have simultaneously stated that this person is no good...
—Even if Li Sushang was grateful to Otto for helping her once, she could no longer choose to continue believing him unconditionally.
But now, facing Sirin directly, Li Sushang no longer had the energy to think about the future.
Just now, lost in thought, Li Sushang had almost been struck directly by Sirin's lightning bolt because her mind had wandered.
If her opponent could use that strange exploding spear and the lightning strike simultaneously...
"Alright, I'm tired of playing."
"You, die right here."
Seeing the sky suddenly fill with lightning while countless terrifying spears appeared behind Sirin again, Li Sushang was completely dumbfounded.
*Wait, she can actually do that?*
*It's over. This is a huge problem.*
Originally, Li Sushang had planned to test the waters before using Sword God to decide the outcome.
But now, facing Sirin who was using two Herrscher Cores at once, Li Sushang, completely unable to get close, realized that if she didn't find a way to use Sword God to settle this soon, she wouldn't just fail to defeat the enemy, she might not even have a chance to escape the battlefield.
The moment she made her decision, Li Sushang instantly released all the true qi within her body.
Using a portion of it to form a protective barrier, Li Sushang, ready to fight to the death, slowly floated into the air.
"This is..."
Seeing her opponent make a move completely opposite to before, a sense of unease suddenly arose in Sirin's heart.
From the moment she completely regained control of her body until now, Sirin had fully recovered her past memories.
And because of that, she could not possibly forget the ultimate attack that the gray-haired woman had unleashed after igniting flames on her body all those years ago.
The sense of pressure that attack had brought upon Sirin was simply too strong.
Facing that woman directly, Sirin had even used those feathers with strange powers combined with Honkai Energy at the end, nearly making her feel 'death.'
If not for the God of Honkai blocking part of the force for her at that time, Sirin might have really died at that woman's hands.
And now, Li Sushang, floating in mid-air while withstanding Sirin's attacks, gave Sirin a feeling similar to that time.
The aura emanating from Li Sushang had some discrepancies compared to that woman's back then.
But Sirin wasn't going to think she could carelessly take the opponent's blow just because of that small difference.
She was now missing three cores from her peak, and this time she had no god to protect her.
*If I'm not careful, I'll die by this woman's sword?*
*What a joke!*
As the sense of urgency in her heart grew stronger, Sirin dared not be the least bit careless and began to push her Herrscher Cores into overdrive.
Faced with this ultimate attack, Sirin already had a solution to deal with the enemy.
But even so, she still dared not be careless.
In past battles, I've been careless several times, which resulted in those damned bastards getting the upper hand.
*And now—I can't make those same basic mistakes again!*
"Spirit, the pinnacle of transformation; it shapes all things, yet cannot be described by form!"
Chanting the words from the sword mantra, Li Sushang, with her eyes now closed, had completely gathered her true qi.
And in Sirin's eyes, the bird-shaped emblem that she dreaded so much appeared before her once again.
Sirin had already activated her Imaginary Shield and wrapped Honkai Energy around her body, forming a second shield.
But even so, these two layers of powerful protection failed to give her even the slightest sense of security.
The fifth skandha of Edge of Taixu, [Spirit Skandha], was essentially a powerful technique that combined Honkai Energy and a mental attack to deliver a blow that was both unavoidable and difficult to defend against.
Back then, Sirin, who had faced Fu Hua's ultimate attack head-on, had relied on external forces to block the mental aspect of the attack and avoid death.
However, now, facing this unavoidable blow that could definitely severely injure her, the prepared Sirin, though feeling little security in her heart, had a slight smile beginning to form on her lips.
If you were to ask why...
"This all ends now!"
With those words, Li Sushang mercilessly unleashed Sword God upon Sirin.
In the next instant, Li Sushang, who had just unleashed Sword God, was horrified to find that her own body had appeared in the spot where her enemy had been.
"What?!"
Completely baffled as to what had just happened, Li Sushang, now drained of her true qi, was shocked to find that she was now locked on by the very Sword God she had just unleashed.
In that very instant, Sirin, who possessed the Key of the Void and was the Herrscher of the Void herself, had seized the opportunity the moment Li Sushang launched her attack.
The Phantasmagoria Sword God, which attacked on both the physical and mental planes, was indeed a powerful sword technique that was difficult for an enemy to evade once released.
But even locking onto an enemy on the mental plane took time.
And Sirin, who was already prepared, used the authority of the Herrscher of the Void and the power of the Key of the Void to cleverly seize the gap after Sword God was released but before it had time to lock onto its target, and swapped their positions.
And because of that, the Sword God that Li Sushang had released, after being unleashed, locked onto 'the creature that appeared in that position' and launched a powerful attack.
Even under normal circumstances, Li Sushang was not confident she could take a direct hit from an ultimate technique like 'Sword God.'
And now, the young swordswoman, having exhausted all the true qi in her body, felt the power already beginning to invade her body and knew clearly...
—she definitely couldn't survive this on her own.
As her life was about to end, Li Sushang thought of a person.
*Raksha...*
*Are you really a bad person?*
*Was I really wrong to help you, my benefactor?*
At this moment, Li Sushang's heart may have already found an answer.
But just then, Li Sushang did not die by her own sword technique.
After all...
"How pathetic."
With a voice full of violence, Li Sushang felt that the blow that should have torn her body and spirit asunder was unexpectedly blocked by a single person.
When she opened her eyes, Li Sushang saw a woman who should not have been there. The woman glanced back at her with a look of disdain and said with displeasure.
"Getting yourself almost killed by your own sword technique?"
"That unworthy disciple, Cheng Lingshuang, how on earth did she manage to teach a good-for-nothing like you?"
At the same time, Sirin, who had been ready to watch Li Sushang die by her own attack with a smile, now stared with wide eyes.
"You... you...!"
Then, Sirin, who held Kiana's memories, seemed to recall something and shouted at 'Fu Hua'.
"So, so that's how it is."
"You're that damned woman who was with Otto fourteen years ago! And all this time, you've been lurking around me..."
"Ah, I completely understand now."
"You're still working with that dog Otto, which is why you've been spying on me."
After reaching this conclusion, Sirin sneered.
"Ha, that little brat still doesn't know she's been deceived this whole time. Good, very good."
"Thank you, Fu Hua. Because of your 'deception,' my plan has taken two steps forward."
....