It had actually been less than six hours since Aaron last used [Roman Artillery: Pumpkin].
Because the 'sense of crisis' Artoria gave Aaron wasn't small, last time, utilizing Pumpkin's characteristics, Aaron used an overloaded shot to blast Artoria's face, then broke her neck with the Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist.
Of course, because Pumpkin overloaded in that battle, if the enemy encountered this time was a strong foe, Aaron would absolutely not bring out the Pumpkin which already had quite a few cracks to fight.
But the problem was... although Higokumaru's abilities were troublesome to Aaron, this guy, even inhabiting Yae Sakura's body, couldn't provide Aaron with even a shred of a sense of crisis.
Under these circumstances, completely unworried about Pumpkin self-destructing from overload, Aaron naturally wouldn't give up such a useful ranged weapon.
Higokumaru, who was still releasing Honkai energy preparing to set up the barrier, had already detected Aaron's position.
And after discovering the opponent's existence, Higokumaru immediately sped up to perfect the barrier beneath their feet.
However, precisely for this reason, she failed to dodge this shot in the first instant.
Although Aaron hadn't practiced shooting, relying on the Kaslana constitution, he now had decent dynamic vision.
Facing a target that almost hadn't had time to move, even across a distance of over a kilometer, Aaron still accurately hit 'Yae Sakura's' face.
"You guy...!"
Higokumaru, who got blasted in the face on the spot, could feel Yae Sakura, whose body she had usurped, trying to seize the opportunity to break free from her control.
Damn it, this woman... can't she be obedient!
I managed to briefly suppress this guy with great difficulty relying on the characteristics of the Third Honkai Eruption... if this continues, my power will be further weakened.
No choice.
Higokumaru, who had just been blasted in the face by the opponent, manipulated Yae Sakura's body to flip up from the ground, then leaped into mid-air with a fierce look in her eyes.
Right, as long as I rush to that man's side now and use my remaining power to pull him into the mental world, I can slowly take away his body based on the things he fears deep in his heart.
So now—
Mid-thought, Higokumaru in the air was once again blasted in the body by Aaron using Pumpkin.
To be fair, if a creature jumping into mid-air had no other means, it was equivalent to being unable to move again in the air.
And at a time like this, as long as one estimated the opponent's landing position slightly, an enemy unable to move in the air was simply a target for others to attack at will.
Regrettably, although Higokumaru had a battle record ranking in the forefront among Previous Era Herrschers, her ability to cause trouble back then was entirely due to her Authority which specifically countered technology, aside from some accidents.
If one really talked about combat experience and combat skills... None. Absolutely none.
As the girl Rin, she had a very strong sister, but her own strength... a civilian had zero strength.
Just like that, Higokumaru in mid-air was directly blasted into the ground by this shot from Aaron.
"You guy!"
Although she was blasted into the ground by Aaron, this hit also caused the body Higokumaru controlled to plummet rapidly from the sky to the ground.
At this moment, Higokumaru had already released Honkai energy with characteristics. If she used her Authority directly here... it should be enough to pull the enemy into the mental world, disable his power in the real world, and then torture him slowly.
But the problem was, with the barrier incomplete and a certain distance between them, the power Higokumaru had now after being weakened couldn't compare to her peak in the Previous Era.
The best way to find a new body originally was to let Yae Sakura's Pseudo-Herrscher Core form a Stigmata, and then Higokumaru would use the Yae Sakura Stigmata as a springboard to completely erode the opponent's physical body.
The barrier was already a fallback plan, and now with the barrier incomplete, if I use this very risky method again...
No!
What am I hesitating for!
Higokumaru, who originally wanted to draw the Spirit Blade, suddenly felt a terrifying oppression coming from the man in front of her who had put away his firearm.
This oppression reminded her of a guy she had been hostile to in the past but hadn't really fought.
Kevin... How is the feeling this guy gives me somewhat similar to that guy?!
Wait, it is now the Post-Era tens of thousands of years later. If that guy Kevin didn't die immediately back then, it's entirely possible he left behind DNA to create clones or combined with a woman through special means to leave descendants!
If this guy is Kevin's descendant, then...
I can't hesitate even more!
The success rate was low to begin with. Anyway, if I lose the gamble, I'll definitely end up like [Thunder].
At a time like this, I should go for it without hesitation!
Higokumaru, causing the body to erupt with full power, slashed out a blade from a distance.
Using the swordsmanship Yae Sakura possessed which was a cut above ordinary people, Higokumaru directly slashed out a vacuum blade.
Only, this vacuum blade had already been infused with her full power.
Before Aaron could make a response, the vacuum blade dispersed in the air, allowing the Authority of Corruption to directly erode Aaron's body.
"Hoh, brain spins quite fast?"
Feeling that his control over his body had indeed dropped quite a bit, Aaron looked at Yae Sakura in front of him who revealed a cruel smile before immediately dazing out, and roughly understood one thing.
Higokumaru's control over Yae Sakura was ultimately still too low. Just now, after he blasted Yae Sakura's body twice, it had already promoted Yae Sakura's progress in retaking her body to some extent.
It's just that now... Hah, a bit sleepy.
But this sleepiness is 'physical'. I can feel that my 'mind' hasn't developed any problems.
Heh, you want to disable my physical strength and then completely crush me in the mental world, right.
Fine, since this power of erosion can't last long anyway, I'll play with you for a bit.
After creating a barrier with magnetic field power to completely wrap his body, Aaron slowly closed his eyes.
On the other side, Higokumaru, who had completed her power release, directly abandoned control over Yae Sakura's body.
But at the same time, Higokumaru, having fully released her power, linked with the incomplete barrier she set up to bring both Yae Sakura and Aaron within the barrier into her control range.
In the next instant, Yae Sakura and Aaron, who had regained consciousness, had their consciousness temporarily stolen by Higokumaru simultaneously.
................
Mental World. Yae Village.
After her vision went black, Bronya, who had just been squatting in Nagazora City observing the situation, glanced at the surrounding situation and felt herself dazing out a bit.
"Where... is this?"
"Project Bunny."
"Project Bunny???"
Bronya, who tried to call out Project Bunny, suddenly discovered that she had lost connection with Project Bunny.
And the abnormal situation appearing on her wasn't just this point.
What she found even stranger was that her crippled legs now actually looked the same as before that incident.
"Where exactly is this..."
After walking out of this Japanese-style room, Bronya, wearing a kimono, saw a group of villagers with unkind expressions all looking toward her.
"What exactly is going on with this Raksha brat! Lady Miko is getting more and more excessive!"
"Lord God, this is definitely not our intention. Please absolutely do not bring down punishment upon us because of Lady Miko's actions!"
"Ah, if divine punishment descends again because of this brat's reason, causing the earth to dry up... many people in the village will die again!"
Listening to these people's words, Bronya roughly understood a thing.
Although she didn't know where this place was, this place seemed to advocate a strange religion.
And the villagers who believed in... or rather feared that god, had clearly treated Bronya, this outsider, as their 'enemy'.
This room shouldn't be their territory. They probably came here to force the 'Miko' they mentioned to clean up the mess.
Mn, but it's very strange.
A place having no rain is a climate reason, right?
Are these guys idiots?
Bronya sighed helplessly, then calmed her mood a little.
If it were her in Nagazora City, she would probably have started expressionlessly mocking these people by now.
But right now, her body had clearly recovered to the state before that incident.
In this state, not only were her legs fine, but even her emotional circuits had returned to their original state.
Bronya, with normal emotions, felt very calmly and cool-headedly that there was no need to provoke these people without clarifying the situation.
"Everyone, please calm down. The rain failing to fall isn't because of any god. This is a climate reason..."
However, the moment Bronya spoke, she knew she had misspoken.
She indeed had an extremely high IQ, but the problem was that this girl underestimated these people's level of belief in the god.
The instant she said this sentence, a woman furiously picked up a teapot on the table and smashed it directly at Bronya's face.
"You guy, you actually dare to blaspheme Lord God!"
"This Raksha person really isn't anything good! Kill her! Must kill her!"
"No, only by offering her as a sacrifice to Lord God can Lord God's anger be quelled."
As the atmosphere became increasingly wrong, this group of people surrounded a seemingly very weak girl.
Bronya, realizing she misspoken, took action after letting out a faint sigh.
One minute later, the girl returned to her previous expressionless state and slowly slid open the wooden door.
Behind her, those villagers who tried to control her were currently wailing on the ground.
Although she lost Project Bunny, Bronya's martial arts skills far surpassed ordinary people to begin with.
If not considering that she hadn't figured out the situation, Bronya, formerly a hitman, wouldn't have needed a minute to disable these people.
It was only because she considered that this place looked off that she didn't deal heavy hands to these people; otherwise, these people wouldn't be just screaming a few times.
"Strange, where exactly is this place. Although it's not strange for such thoughts to appear in a rural village in the Far East, but..."
Bronya, who walked out of this area, immediately tried to contact Cocolia using her chip.
Then, unsurprisingly, she failed to establish contact with her adoptive mother.
"Even the brain chip has failed... The Herrscher of Thunder's Honkai energy should have gradually lost its absolute influence by now."
Moreover, Bronya's legs couldn't have been cured suddenly.
Plus, Bronya had remembered what happened right before Bronya fell unconscious.
Chip failure, legs can move, emotional circuits seem repaired, Project Bunny is missing...
Here is indeed not the real world.
That makes sense. After all, Bronya was still in Nagazora City. Nagazora City counts as a metropolis; how could Bronya come to this strange small village without activating the quantum teleportation system.
Then, Bronya, who was thinking while walking, suddenly saw a huge fox in the very front.
Without giving her any chance to react, this huge fox rushed over.
When Bronya regained consciousness again, she found that she had returned to that house she was in before.
Only, unlike before, beside her, there appeared a woman with sakura-colored hair and a black-haired man.
Wait, isn't this woman that Herrscher with donkey ears from before?!
And this man... a guy who can appear beside a Herrscher, can he be any good person!
Bronya, who thought of this point, immediately took a step back with immense vigilance, opening up a certain distance from the two.
And Yae Sakura, who had just regained self-awareness, glanced at this room and felt a bit dazed.
This was the guest room of her house. Logically speaking, she should be incredibly familiar with this place.
But strange, why would she feel... so strange toward her own guest room?
Also, aside from this matter, what is up with these two strangers?
That little girl looks like a Raksha.
And that black-haired man over there looks similar to people from our side, but his clothes are of a completely different style from ours.
This...
What exactly is going on?