Chapter 131: Sakura-Colored Samsara
Jizo Mitama possessed three distinct weapon skills: 'Mitama Manifestation', 'Key of Erosion', and 'Avidya'.
'Mitama Manifestation'allowed its wielder to summon a powerful Oni Warrior to fight by their side, while'Key of Erosion' was the very embodiment of the Power of Erosion, a corrupting and all-consuming force.
As for the final skill, 'Avidya', it granted the user the ability to project their consciousness outside their body and manipulate it with complete freedom. This was Jizo Mitama's third and most esoteric power.
And it was precisely this third ability that Rovel needed now.
He sat cross-legged on the floor, the divine key resting silently upon his knees. He focused his mind, and before long, he felt a strange lightness, a sense of his awareness drifting free from its physical anchor. It was a sensation not unlike astral projection, yet with a crucial difference: Rovel found he could still perceive and control his physical body. It was less a complete separation and more like detaching a wisp of his consciousness, allowing it to observe the world from a new perspective.
With a surge of will, Rovel plunged this projection of his consciousness into his own back—aiming specifically for the Stigma Space of Yae Sakura that now resided within him.
[Entered special instance: Sakura-Colored Samsara.]
The system's familiar prompt echoed in his mind.
When Rovel's awareness solidified once more, he found himself standing in the heart of a dense forest.
"Is this Yae Sakura's Stigma Space?" he murmured, looking around. His first observation was the unfamiliar weight of his clothes. He glanced down and saw that his usual attire had been replaced with a rather… peculiar outfit.
The ensemble was primarily red and white, with a small, tinkling bell fastened to each elbow. A large, decorative bow was tied with a sash at the small of his back, and the waistband cinching his waist was adorned with a pattern of three magatama. His lower half was clad in simple black trousers, with his calves wrapped tightly in bandages.
"Why does this look so much like the outfit Higokumaru wears?" Rovel lifted an arm, the wide sleeve flopping awkwardly. He felt a deep sense of relief that, at the very least, he wasn't wearing a skirt. If he had been, he might have just turned tail and fled the instance on principle. He had many aspirations, but developing a cross-dressing fetish wasn't one of them.
Suddenly, a desperate cry for help pierced the tranquility of the forest. Not far away, a man had collapsed to the ground, his body trembling uncontrollably. He scrabbled at the dirt, trying to crawl away, but his limbs had been rendered useless by overwhelming fear.
Looming over him was the source of his terror: a massive brown bear, standing upright on its hind legs to a height of three meters. Its form was grotesquely warped, with strange, fleshy tentacles writhing from its back.
Evidently, this was a Beast-class Honkai Beast.
Beast-class was, to put it simply, the designation for an ordinary animal that had been mutated after being infected by Honkai Energy. While their bodies underwent a degree of enhancement, their essence remained that of simple flesh and blood, a far cry from the special silicon-based physiology of a true Honkai Beast. As a result, they were generally quite weak, often inferior even to a common Charger-class Honkai Beast.
"Naruto Uzumaki?" Rovel raised an eyebrow, a wry smile touching his lips as he recognized the creature by its online nickname.
The recent plague of rampaging bears in the Far East had become a running joke among Shenzhou netizens, who had affectionately dubbed the creatures 'Naruto Uzumaki'. Of course, Shenzhou had its own regional variant; the giant pandas there were jokingly called 'Sasuke Uchiha'...
Rovel's eyes fell upon a crude spear the terrified man had dropped. He picked it up, his mouth twitching as he examined the sharpened stone tied to its tip.
'What is this? The Stone Age?' he thought with a touch of exasperation.
Still, it would have to be enough. Though this projected body felt weak, Rovel's own martial expertise was more than sufficient to handle a mere brown bear.
He gripped the stone spear, channeling his Clear Mirror Sword Intent into the primitive weapon. In a single, fluid motion, he lunged forward. The stone tip found its mark with unerring accuracy, piercing the bear's eye and sinking deep into its brain.
He expected the beast to drop dead instantly. To his surprise, however, in its death throes, the bear managed to lash out with a final, desperate swipe of its claws.
The terrifying force caught him completely off guard, sending him flying through the air. His back slammed into a thick tree trunk with a sickening crack, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"Is this… a scripted death…?" Rovel's vision swam, the edges darkening rapidly. Just before his consciousness faded completely, he saw a flash of brilliant pink, and then everything went black.
A soft sensation… a feeling very much like mousse cake.
A bitter melon-flavored mousse cake…
When Rovel's senses returned, the first thing he saw was a face hovering mere inches from his own. His brain stalled for a few seconds, struggling to process the situation. Who said scripted deaths were a bad thing? This one was fantastic!
'Maybe… I should just close my eyes and enjoy this for a little while longer.'
"Since you're awake, you can drink the rest of the medicine yourself." A calm, feminine voice spoke. Yae Sakura pulled back slightly, delicately wiping the corner of her mouth.
"..." Rovel kept his eyes squeezed shut, committed to the act.
"Alright, stop pretending. Your breathing is already erratic," she exposed him without a shred of mercy.
"...Eh? Where is this?" Rovel's eyes fluttered open as he put on his best just-woke-up-and-am-completely-disoriented performance.
Yae Sakura shot him a look that was laced with a hint of disdain, but she answered him patiently still.
"This is the Yae Shrine. My name is Yae Sakura. And you are?"
"My name is Rovel. Thank you for saving me," he replied, his voice filled with genuine gratitude.
"Drink the medicine." Yae Sakura picked up the nearby bowl, scooping up a spoonful of a dark liquid that looked even more bitter than bitter melon juice tasted.
"So bitter…" Rovel murmured, subconsciously shrinking back.
"Be good. Drink the medicine." Her tone brooked no argument. She brought the spoon to his lips and tilted the rest of the bowl, pouring the remaining liquid into his mouth before he could protest further. Afterward, she gently wiped his lips with her sleeve.
Seeing the distressed, puckered look on Rovel's face, Yae Sakura felt an inexplicable urge to laugh. The sight stirred something within her, and for a fleeting moment, fragments of a forgotten memory flashed through her mind.
But in the next second, a strange, sinister voice echoed in the depths of her consciousness:
[No! Kallen is no longer here! Your world will no longer have any hope, Yae Sakura!]
"Lady Miko, it is time for the meeting." An attendant's voice came from outside the room, the woman kneeling respectfully on the other side of the paper screen.
"I'm sorry, I must leave," Yae Sakura said, her expression returning to one of serene composure. "Please rest as you wish within the shrine. There is food prepared for you on the table."
With that, she stood and gracefully exited the room.
The moment she stepped outside and the screen slid shut behind her, Yae Sakura lowered her head, her face instantly flushing a brilliant shade of red. She felt she must be going crazy. To feed a total stranger medicine in such an intimate manner… even if he was handsome, she shouldn't have gone that far, right?
And yet… there was a familiar aura about Rovel, a strange sense of warmth that made her unconsciously want to indulge in it.
Back in the room, Rovel lightly touched his lips, his heart hammering against his ribs.
'Mm… so this is what it feels like to have your heart skip a beat.'
A short while later, holding a rice ball as big as his face in one hand, Rovel began to stroll around the Yae Shrine, taking a bite every now and then. A rice ball this enormous, he mused, could probably only be finished by one of the legendary big eaters from the Kaslana family.
From his observations, it seemed Yae Sakura had lost some of her memories. Or rather, this world, much like the data world Kallen had been trapped in, was a pocket dimension forced to constantly repeat a single, tragic event.
His wandering feet carried him, seemingly by chance, to the base of a massive cherry blossom tree. Pink petals drifted down around him, falling at a speed of five centimeters per second. It should have been a scene of stunning beauty, but a single stone monument standing beneath the branches shattered the illusion, replacing it with a deep sense of sorrow.
Carved clearly into the stone were three words: 'Yae Rin'.
Rovel walked to the tombstone and couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh. This was another pitiful child caught in the gears of fate. Used as a sacrifice by ignorant villagers, her hamstrings had been cut by her own father to prevent her from escaping the ritual. And then, she was killed, with the villagers forcing her own sister, Yae Sakura, to be the one to deliver the final blow…
"Big brother… I beg you… please liberate my sister from the curse of Remembrance!"
A soft voice suddenly rang out. Rovel turned to find that, at some point, a ghostly figure had appeared before him.
She had pink hair tied into twin pigtails and wore a simple kimono. Her lower body, however, was translucent and faded into nothing, her entire being exuding an aura of heartbreaking frailty.
It was, without a doubt, Yae Sakura's younger sister, Yae Rin.
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