Since the battle location had been reached, the next step was pre-battle preparations.
The sky was already dark.
Looking up, the heavens were filled with glittering stars.
These stars were like fine quicksand, spreading out a brilliant Milky Way that flowed diagonally toward the dome of the sky.
Extremely beautiful.
Regarding this, Fuli felt obligated to make such a starry sky a few shades more beautiful.
He formed his fingers into a sword shape. One by one, crystalline blue phantom field swords condensed in the cold air.
They flew silently upward, hanging upside down and disappearing into the boundless night, merging with the canopy of the dark sky.
—Trailing Shadow Swords (Yeying Jian), a B-rank skill Fuli exchanged from the Schicksal representative who issued the mission after completing the Mediterranean patrol mission in his previous loop.
Consuming Honkai Energy to generate any number of constructs for manipulation; the shape and quantity created are entirely up to the user's choice.
As a special technique for releasing/controlling energy, Trailing Shadow Swords is generally used to shoot projectiles or rotate around the user as a protective shield. If the control is sufficient, one can even create a large number of Trailing Shadow Swords in one breath and attack the opponent with different formations, or directly create a super-giant ship-slashing sword the size of a small mountain, weighing tens of thousands of tons, to crush the opponent with force.
The larger the construct, the more complex its structure and functionality, and the higher the Honkai Energy consumption.
[Note: Break free from shackles, let your imagination run wild, don't be bound by common sense, and remember that you are omnipotent.]
The duration of status-type skills is determined by the total energy input. The Honkai Energy Fuli infused into each Trailing Shadow Swords was enough for them to last for one to two hours.
Once the tense and exciting combat phase began, these big babies would turn into Swords of Damocles, delivering justice from the sky.
Since they were set up in advance, Fuli didn't even need to expend effort controlling them.
With just a single word "Fall!", the plummeting Trailing Shadow Swords could interrupt casting and make the enemy hesitate for fear of collateral damage.
According to known intelligence, once the sealed Jizo Mitama is released, it will appear in the form of a four-tailed demon fox.
Although its body length is only a dozen meters, its comprehensive strength is probably not inferior to an A-rank Rule Breaker.
That's right, not Critical-class.
The channel connecting the Herrscher Core to the Imaginary Space was cut off long ago;
It was confined and locked in the Divine Key production program "God's Box" and resisted for a full fifty thousand years;
Afterward, it continuously consumed its remaining Honkai Energy to tempt outsiders in attempts to break the seal;
When it finally managed to squeeze out five hundred years ago, it was beaten up by a certain white-haired Schicksal saintess wielding the Oath of Judah;
Then it was sealed again, engaging in a battle of wits and will with the simultaneously sealed Yae Shrine Maiden, wearing each other down for over five hundred years.
The lonely old RIN, having gone through the above experiences, could no longer bear the excessive expectations from everyone outside the screen, nor could she achieve the great accomplishment of nuking Nagazora City.
Rather, the fact that she still possessed such combat capability after such treatment was proof enough of how heaven-defying the existence of a Herrscher is, as well as the tenacity of RIN's will—or rather, her grudge against her sister.
However, even so, with Fuli's current strength, wanting to take down an A-rank Rule Breaker like RIN head-on was simply a fool's dream.
But who told that unlucky fox to be currently sealed?
Jizo Mitama was in a sealed state, so it couldn't blame Fuli on the outside for playing dirty.
Preconditions and first-mover advantages are also part of combat. If you're unhappy, don't play.
In addition, the Mikazuki Munechika Fuli specially obtained was also prepared specifically for it.
Currently known Honkai Beasts can be roughly divided into two categories:
The first category is silicon-based-like life forms directly condensed from Honkai Energy;
The second category is mutated animals infected by Honkai Energy.
The latter's strength isn't necessarily weaker than the former, but this type of Honkai Beast generally has a flaw:
On a genetic level, they are still carbon-based.
Compared to the iron-wall-like silicon-based life forms, the flesh and blood of carbon-based life forms inevitably puts them a notch lower in terms of defense.
Under normal circumstances, this slight difference is irrelevant.
Is the difference between 100 and 95 large? It's just one-twentieth. Those who can win will win, and those who can't will still lose.
But for the current Fuli, the difference of whether it was a carbon-based creature or not was huge.
—Famous Sword: Mikazuki Munechika. Special attack against biological entities, suppression against spiritual bodies, scratch damage against mechanical ones.
It also comes with the skill Tenka-Goken (Five Swords Under Heaven), which can increase sharpness by significantly consuming the weapon's durability.
The four-tailed demon fox possessed by Jizo Mitama—just seeing the words "demon fox" was enough to judge its composition.
Fuli wouldn't do baseless things, even if they seemed meaningless to a third party in the early stages.
This is the importance of intelligence. Combat begins long before both sides exchange blows.
Another forty minutes passed, and Fuli, finally having made all preparations, stood at the entrance of the shrine.
He gripped the baseball bat tightly and silently activated the Demon Blade Shiranui.
Honkai Energy, like mirage-heat, surged from inside his thin body. Like a mixture of liquid and gaseous glazed flames, it dyed the quiet night with a layer of dreamlike, gorgeous color.
With him as the center, the surrounding temperature began to climb sharply.
But immediately, this illusory flame was retracted back into Fuli's body, leaving only a thin film on the surface.
This was his first time activating the Demon Blade Shiranui, and the life force being frantically extracted from his body was telling him why Shiranui was only rated C-rank despite being able to boost the user's physical fitness to A-rank.
Let's end this quickly.
Thinking this, he gave the command.
The Trailing Shadow Swords descended from the sky with the sound of breaking air, striking the Killing Stone in the center of the courtyard, creating spider-web cracks on its surface.
Crack!
Crash!
Heaven! Earth! Resounding! Shake!
Herrscher! Descends!
"ROARRRRRR!!!!!"
A giant canine beast coated in red and white broke out of the cocoon and howled at the sky. Scorching breath with the smell of sulfur sprayed from its huge nostrils. The sacred ropes wrapped around its body unfurled along with four fox tails, fanning the airflow and whipping the atmosphere, creating deafening booms.
The demon fox leaped from the crater, stepping onto the boundless earth after five hundred years. Its four legs wrapped in flames suddenly expanded, scorching the soil beneath its feet black.
This was considered getting off lightly, because the actual target, the wreckage of the shrine, was now nowhere to be seen.
After doing all this, the monster amidst the sky-filling fire shadows lowered its head. Its crimson eyes, the size of cartwheels, focused on the little pipsqueak who had liberated it, and the corners of its mouth curled up anthropomorphically.
RIN didn't know why this person in front of her wanted to liberate her, and it didn't matter to her.
Die.
She raised her forelimb and smashed it down toward Fuli's location.
The scorched, soft earth was instantly smashed into a crater. Dust rose up and was ignited by the high temperature surrounding the giant claw, forming a rapidly spreading spark.
If you want to blame someone, blame your own bad luck, kid.
RIN withdrew her foreclaw mockingly.
The five-hundred-year battle of wills had long exhausted Yae Sakura, who was sealed with her, and she was in a dormant state most of the time.
If he was lucky enough to catch the shrine maiden while she was awake, RIN might have restrained herself a bit under her interference.
Now? Blame your own bad luck, kid—
Hmm?
The dust was burned away by the sparks, and there was nothing under the ruins.
A long blade, having accumulated power for a long time, attacked from the side!
Clearly just a cold weapon forged by humans and held in human hands, its momentum in flight was like a supersonic fighter jet sailing at full speed!
An air shockwave wrapped around it. Fragments of the shattered Killing Stone, scorched earth, and sparks ignited from residual particles in the air were all picked up by the shockwave, rotating around it at high speed!
It was as if a hurricane had blown up in the basketball-court-sized courtyard. The two figures crossed paths like in a samurai theater!
"Urgh!"
The hurricane left a wound on the demon fox's lower abdomen.
A large amount of blood splashed out along the wound, instantly extinguishing a large patch of fire!
...