"Sister Irene?" Mei, who had been hacking away at Honkai Beasts, suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked back at Irene with some confusion.
Although Mei had never wanted to admit it, nor did she want to use that power, she was indeed the Herrscher of Thunder.
As the Herrscher of Thunder, she could clearly sense that the surrounding Honkai energy, which was dense but relatively calm, was suddenly being stirred by something and gathering around Irene.
"What is it?" Irene turned her head to look at Mei, then realized what she meant. "Oh, you mean this? It's nothing, just a skill for quick recovery."
Fu Hua, standing to the side, raised an eyebrow. As the creator of Taixuan Sword Qi, how could Fu Hua not recognize that Irene was drawing upon the surrounding Honkai energy to replenish herself?
To be honest, Fu Hua really hadn't taught Irene this skill yet. Or rather, she hadn't told Irene that Taixuan Sword Qi had this kind of efficacy.
After all, Irene hadn't started learning the sword forms yet, and her physical constitution wasn't exactly robust. Okay, fine, it was actually terrible—her combat power was pitifully low, even though back then it was said Irene had the strength of an A-Rank Valkyrie.
At least for those few days, Fu Hua felt she should let Irene build a solid foundation first. Without a foundation, everything else would just be castles in the air.
However, as she practiced over these past two days, Irene's talent still exceeded Fu Hua's imagination. In less than three days of cultivation, she had directly entered the realm of Still Water, and her mental level had improved by leaps and bounds.
When she first started learning, she could begin mobilizing Honkai energy after just two seconds of meditation. Her Honkai Adaptability was like she was cheating.
However, since the time was too short and Fu Hua hadn't found a suitable weapon for Irene, she indeed hadn't started teaching the sword forms or the aspects of Taixuan Sword Qi related to Honkai energy manipulation.
But looking at it now, it seemed Irene had mastered it without a teacher. truly an astonishing talent.
"The epidermis is just ahead." Bronya pointed forward, but the scene before them made them stop in their tracks. They saw several towering Temple-class Honkai Beasts holding shields, rhythmically ramming against the surface layer of the skin over and over again.
Just like Project Bunny signaling to the outside earlier, they were continuously hammering Chiyou's epidermis.
"Oh ho." Irene stopped and looked at those Temple-class Honkai Beasts behaving strangely. With the arrival of Irene's group, several of the Temple-class Honkai Beasts stopped the shields they were constantly banging and turned to face them.
"What are they doing?" Kiana looked at the Temple-class Honkai Beasts in front of her, then looked down at the weapons in her hands. After all, they weren't weapons that had undergone specialized reinforcement treatment.
Instead, they were standard-issue equipment. After being used thoroughly by Kiana's distinctive Kaslana Gun Kata, the gunshots were no longer as crisp as when she first took them out on the sea surface. There was even minor damage in quite a few places.
There was no helping it. The Kaslana Gun Kata, to put it bluntly, was a fighting style created specifically to support that unique weapon, the Judgment of Shamash.
The movements involved a lot of smashing people directly with the gun body; the actions of actually firing the gun in the true sense were quite few. Although a Valkyrie's weapons weren't made of ordinary materials, a Valkyrie's strength wasn't something ordinary people could compare to either.
Under normal usage, or even for emergency blocking, it was fine. But they definitely couldn't withstand being used like this continuously.
However, looking at the state of the gun body, Kiana nodded expertly. In this condition, it could still be used for a while; it shouldn't break that quickly.
"It's simple. They want to forge the signal we send out or interfere with it," Fu Hua pushed up her glasses. "Making it so the Hyperion cannot aim at the true location."
"We have to create a window of emptiness and kill all the Honkai Beasts here as much as possible."
"I believe Teacher Himeko probably has the same plan on her end."
"Mn, then let's get to work." Irene nodded. Just as she was preparing to pick up Judah, she stopped and looked at the Xuanyuan Sword hanging at her waist. For the final battle, she still hadn't used a sword yet.
[Lixue, can you demonstrate for me now?] Irene transferred her consciousness into the Palace of Consciousness and looked at Lixue. [Demonstrate the combat style of Taixuan Sword Qi.]
[Now?] Lixue was somewhat surprised. [Miss Irene isn't familiar with my combat style yet, right? According to Miss Kallen, Miss Irene needs to learn before she can master our respective combat styles.]
[Isn't it a bit unwise to start sharpening the spear right before battle?]
[Then wouldn't it be fine if I just handed control of the body over to you?] Irene smiled at Lixue. [Besides, I just feel that for the final battle, we have to let the Xuanyuan Sword witness this fight that is already 5,000 years late.]
[...]
Lixue nodded. [I understand. Then, leave it to me.]
The time inside the consciousness did not completely correspond to the time outside. So, even though they chatted for a while in the Palace of Consciousness, the people outside were only just preparing to engage the enemy.
During this brief pause, Irene took out another card from her pocket. White particles of light faded from Irene's body once again.
Noticing the white light suddenly lighting up behind them, everyone stopped and looked back at Irene, who was shrouded in light and vaguely seemed to have changed her appearance again.
"Teacher Irene, why did you change your look again?" Kiana looked at Irene amidst the white light. "Just how many transformations does Teacher Irene have?"
"Who knows?" Irene emerged from the white light, and that familiar appearance made everyone immediately look at Fu Hua.
Mei looked at Fu Hua and spoke with some strangeness: "Is Teacher Irene imitating Squad Leader Fu Hua's appearance? But doesn't something feel a bit off?"
"Of course it's off." Kiana pointed her hand at Irene's chest. "The chest area is completely different! Teacher Irene still has her own unique features."
Irene [Lixue], hearing Kiana's words, reached out and patted Kiana on the head: "You must show respect to Master... cough, the Squad Leader."
"Ouch." Kiana rubbed the spot where she had just been bonked by Irene, but still muttered, "I didn't say anything wrong... it is different."
Then Irene [Lixue] slowly raised her fist. Seeing the raised pink fist, Kiana hurriedly waved her hands: "I-I didn't say anything! I didn't say anything, right? Squad Leader... Squad Leader, what's wrong?"
Kiana had just wanted to look at Fu Hua to ask her to put in a good word, but she discovered that Fu Hua was staring at Irene [Lixue] in a daze.
The ashes of broken memories in her mind churned increasingly violently. Vaguely, some voices even began to echo within her mind.
But she couldn't hear clearly what was being said. She could only see, amidst the shadows, the figure of a young girl holding a sword walking into the distance.
And the young girl pierced by a long spear. She clearly remembered that the young girl should have said something, but what exactly was she saying? Why couldn't she hear it? Why couldn't she hear clearly?
She couldn't remember. She couldn't recall clearly. Yet she clearly remembered it should be very important. No matter what, it should be very important. She could only remember a field of white snow.
After numerous questions flashed by, only one question remained in Fu Hua's heart.
What was the girl's name?
"Squad Leader, Squad Leader?"
Under Kiana's repeated calls from the side, Fu Hua finally snapped back to reality. "Classmate Kiana, what did you say just now?"
"Um, I wanted to ask, Squad Leader, are you okay?" Originally, Kiana wanted Fu Hua to help put in a good word, but seeing Fu Hua's moment of absentmindedness just now, Kiana was more worried about whether Fu Hua had remembered something bad.
"No, I'm fine." Fu Hua shook her head. She took one deep look at Irene [Lixue], then withdrew her gaze and turned to look at the Honkai Beasts coming toward them.
"First... let's resolve this matter first."
"Understood, Mas..." Irene [Lixue] still wanted to follow her previous habits, but before the words could leave her mouth, she was blocked back by Irene inside the Palace of Consciousness.
[Deal with the matter first. Don't call her Master yet. We'll find a chance for you two to have a proper meeting later. For now, focus on the situation in front of us.]
[Mn, I know.] Lixue nodded. Although she had her own weapon, the Ruoshui Sword, just as Irene had said, slaying Chiyou—or ensuring Chiyou could never threaten Shenzhou again—was the wish that the Xuanyuan Sword, Ji Lin inside the Xuanyuan Sword, and the two who had slept for 5,000 years sealed together within the Palace of Consciousness, Cangxuan and Danzhu, had waited 5,000 years for.
At this moment, it was indeed more appropriate to use the Xuanyuan Sword to complete this battle.
However, the body of the Xuanyuan Sword was quite different from her Ruoshui Sword, so she still needed to adapt slightly.
"Hu..." Lixue skillfully mobilized the Taixuan Sword Qi within the body, communicating with the surrounding Honkai energy. The dim Xuanyuan Sword in her hand immediately flashed with golden light.
Subsequently, she skillfully stood in front of Fu Hua. The blade in her hand traced a trajectory, cutting into the gap between the shield and the spear of the Temple-class Honkai Beast with exquisite precision, slicing open the Honkai Beast's body.
The Honkai energy that the blade edge could touch formed Sword Qi upon the blade, directly cutting open the Temple-class Honkai Beast's body.
"Sword Initiation..." Seeming to be protected behind Irene [Lixue], Fu Hua watched Irene [Lixue]'s movements. Fu Hua immediately recognized this as a sword form she absolutely had not taught Irene.
Irene [Lixue] formed a sword finger with the hand not holding the hilt. The surrounding Honkai energy immediately attached to Irene [Lixue]'s feet, lifting Irene [Lixue] directly into the air.
"Ah, Teacher Irene is flying?" Kiana watched Irene [Lixue], who had flown directly up, begin to battle the Honkai Beasts in the air.
"You can play like that?"
"Idiot Kiana, if you have time to marvel at that, you might as well hurry up and help." Bronya directly commanded Project Bunny behind her to follow beside Irene.
Irene [Lixue] looked at Project Bunny beside her and turned back, nodding slightly to Bronya. Artillery cover plus iron fist sanctions made it so Irene [Lixue] had no need to worry about her rear.
"Bronya, mark an area. We will start sweeping."
"Understood." Bronya nodded. After calculating the firing solution slightly, she commanded Project Bunny to fire shells at a specific area, marking the zone they needed to clear.
"Understood." Irene [Lixue] looked at the area Project Bunny bombarded and nodded. More golden light emerged from the Xuanyuan Sword in her hand. She swung out a massive golden Sword Qi, slashing forward.
Lixue, who had already reached the realm of Sword God, was like a fish in water within the environment of Chiyou's body, which contained terrifying levels of Honkai energy.
The Honkai energy environment, originally used to nourish the Honkai Beasts, became her weapon instead, greatly strengthening the Honkai energy Sword Qi she swung out, turning it into Sword Qi that found nothing it cannot cut.
"Miss Ji Lin, please witness this moment." The sword finger formed by Irene [Lixue]'s hand swept across the Xuanyuan Sword. A layer of even more dazzling blue light slowly swept across the Xuanyuan Sword following her finger.
And with this movement, the Honkai energy around Irene [Lixue] was also drawn in, constructing several phantoms of the Xuanyuan Sword in the air that accompanied Irene.
"Go!" As soon as Irene [Lixue]'s sword finger stopped, the newly formed Xuanyuan Sword phantoms immediately flew out, piercing through the various Honkai Beasts trying to pounce on her.
Meanwhile, Mei and the others, who temporarily couldn't fly, traversed the various rocks floating in the air to reach the vicinity of the epidermis, attracting Honkai Beasts and slaying them.
Although they hadn't passed the Valkyrie exam yet and temporarily hadn't obtained their titles, their combat power didn't lag behind in the slightest. Facing these Honkai Beasts, they showed no fear.
After Project Bunny cleared a clean area, it began to hammer the wall of that zone which temporarily wouldn't emit any more clutter.
Watching Project Bunny's actions, the surrounding Honkai Beasts became even more frenzied, even abandoning Irene who was attacking them to try and move forward to interfere.
But the result of exposing their backs to Irene [Lixue]—when they couldn't even resist her while facing her with shields—was imaginable.
Lixue unceremoniously stepped forward, waving the Xuanyuan Sword to slay them, ensuring they couldn't interfere with Project Bunny sending the signal.
After banging for a period of time, Project Bunny immediately retreated and returned to Bronya's side.
*
External Sea Area
Outside, the Hyperion was currently being chased all over the sky by a Honkai energy light cannon. But fortunately, the speed of the Honkai energy light cannon couldn't catch up to their movement speed for the time being, so it wouldn't cause any danger.
"Colonel Himeko, detecting a window of emptiness!" The Adjutant at the side suddenly shouted. On the screen, an area on Chiyou's back immediately appeared where the originally incessant impact sounds had suddenly stopped, like a window.
"I need to confirm if there is a signal coming out." Himeko looked at the Adjutant calmly. An empty window didn't necessarily represent anything; she had to wait for a signal matching theirs to come out of the window.
And just as Himeko's words fell, impact sounds rang out again in the center of that empty window zone on the screen. The signal frequency matched their agreed-upon signal exactly.
"Lock onto the vibration source." The moment the vibration appeared, Himeko immediately gave the order. "Redistribute the energy system. Cancel power supply to shields. Supply full power to the propulsion system. Dodge the light cannon fired by Chiyou. Adjust altitude. Lock onto the target."
"Understood."
The shields on the surface of the massive Hyperion immediately dissipated. Propulsion flames, far brighter than before, drove the Hyperion to rapidly circle around to the calculated firing path.
"Hyperion Main Cannon! Fire!"
The blazing stream of light from the Hyperion's main cannon tore through the sky, piercing Chiyou's body like a long spear and striking through Chiyou's Honkai Core.
After losing the mobilization of the Honkai Core, Chiyou's body slowly came to a stop, moving no more, like a mountain peak protruding from the sea surface.
Inside Chiyou's belly, Irene [Lixue] stood in the air. Although she had stopped supplying Honkai energy to the Xuanyuan Sword, the Xuanyuan Sword still flickered with brilliance at this moment.
Inside the Xuanyuan Sword, the soul of the young girl, too weak to appear again, finally awaited the arrival of this victory that was 5,000 years late.
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