Since the battle began, at most six or seven minutes had passed, yet the small half of Mount Yae, which served as the battlefield, had already collapsed.
Red-hot rocks shattered amidst the tremors and shocks, gathering into flows of lava that surged like tides through the valleys. It was as if the Yamata no Orochi from ancient myths had stretched its body, filling all eight valleys and eight peaks.
Yes, this was A-rank.
In the truest sense of stepping onto the stage of the Honkai world, the aftershocks of battle would wantonly rewrite the surrounding environment, creating a landscape of the strong in a short time that would be difficult to appear under normal circumstances.
"Ying ying ying ying ying ying ying!!!" (Fox noises like "Waaaaaahh...!!!" idk I don't know what the fox's voice is like)
RIN stretched her body wantonly, her mocking laughter echoing in the hinterland of this riddled mountain peak.
At the peak of Herrschers, proud in the world! If I, RIN, am here, there is sky!
Even if I was weakened for a full fifty thousand years in God's Box by that damn black-hearted perverted cold-blooded four-eyed woman!
Even if five hundred years ago, after a fierce fight with that white-haired nun from the Kaslana family, I was sealed under the Killing Stone and isolated from the world!
Even if during this period I was constantly in a tug-of-war of will with the sealed Yae Shrine Maiden, causing my strength to retreat greatly!
Having experienced three defeats, I am still invincible in the human world!
"Oh? Is that so?"
As if reading RIN's thoughts from that fox face full of mockery, a clean and crisp voice suddenly rang out.
"Go!"
Green lotuses bloomed. Fuli, who had used Void Shunpo to arrive at her side while the enemy mindlessly unleashed her ultimate, formed his fingers into a sword shape!
This move again? Can you do it or not, skinny dog?
Scrutinizing the seven Trailing Shadow Swords speeding towards her, RIN's eyes showed disdain.
The wound on her lower abdomen had almost healed. Without breaking her weak points, these little needle-like things couldn't even break her defense!
"Sakura · Scatter!"
Until that familiar move blossomed before her eyes.
RIN saw blood-colored cherry blossoms.
...
The current world is polarized, dominated by Schicksal and Anti-Entropy.
This is not to say that there are no other forces besides them. Official agencies of major countries, supernatural organizations resembling hobby clubs, or Russia's domestic Mikoyan Weapon Design Bureau, and the World Serpent hiding in the dark, watching covetously...
Big and small forces are scattered all over this planet. Some flaunt justice, others are obsessed with scientific research.
Those who flaunt justice also need people to do dirty work, and powerless researchers also need manpower to collect data in dangerous areas.
Not to mention that many small groups of a dozen or few dozen people simply cannot cover everything. Once they encounter a field they are not good at, they can only "close my eyes and it's dark~" (pretend it doesn't exist).
So mercenaries like Ms. Raven were born in response to the times.
Mercenaries, how convenient are they?
Give them some rewards and they will escort you like loyal dogs; when needed, they can also tear at the enemy like hyenas.
Moreover, if they die, it doesn't hurt. At most, you lose that little deposit.
Thus, gradually, not only those small and medium-sized organizations with incomplete industrial chains, but large and even super-large forces like Schicksal and Anti-Entropy also began to frequently use mercenaries in non-critical fields.
However, since they are hired, commissions must be paid.
Rewards from the Honkai side naturally won't just be money. Skills, techniques, technological products, Honkai weapons, etc., all count.
—Sakura · Scatter was a reward Fuli exchanged from Schicksal after completing a mission.
After adjusting posture, perform a short-distance displacement forward while quickly swinging the bladed weapon in hand to slash the target creature.
The wound on the target will burst open after a very short time, causing further damage to the injured.
Whether in power, technique, or difficulty of use, this move has reached the C-rank category. But for some reason, Schicksal lowered its price to D-rank and put it in the store, allowing anyone with enough Crystals to exchange for it.
This is puzzling. A large organization like Schicksal wouldn't have any "kindness" to speak of.
There were also staff members responsible for this aspect who reported the problem to the higher-ups, but the documents submitted were like stones sinking into the sea, never to be heard from again.
Therefore, many people speculated whether the owner of the move Sakura · Scatter had offended some high-level executive of Schicksal, causing this executive to not hesitate to use the operation of selling at a reduced price to humiliate the other party.
Is your move awesome? I'll let everyone in the world have a set and see if you can still be awesome!
However, this has nothing to do with Fuli, who is a beneficiary. Not only is it unrelated, but he even secretly regretted that the owner of Sakura · Scatter, Bull-head—cough, didn't offend that executive ruthlessly enough. If it were a bit more ruthless, could the prices of other supporting moves also be brought down?
Truly a panda receiving a package—bamboo shoots (bad/mean) all the way home.
But actually, even with the combination of Trailing Shadow Swords + Sakura Scatter, breaking RIN's defense was still fraught with difficulties.
In fact, since the battle started, apart from the initial charged attack, Fuli hadn't broken RIN's defense more than a few times.
B-rank vs. A-rank is just like that. Being able to struggle until now is all thanks to Fuli's many pre-match preparations.
But this was enough.
The huge wound on the lower abdomen healed quickly under non-human healing power, which in itself would consume a part of RIN's Honkai Energy;
In the entangled battle, fueled by rage, she didn't suppress the energy consumption of her moves at all;
Plus that final blazing white pillar of light that swept across half the sky.
In human terms, the execute threshold has arrived.
The next thing to do was to follow the third step of the plan and harvest at light speed with a super-dreadnought-level powerful output method.
Does Fuli have such a method?
Yes.
Isn't the power of the Trailing Shadow Swords + Sakura Scatter combination insufficient?
Indeed, it's insufficient. It can break RIN's defense, but only just break it.
But what if, with such a move, seven shots are fired in one breath, and all seven shots hit the same spot?
On the scorching and dull battlefield, with a splash, a large amount of blood suddenly sprayed from the wound on RIN's side.
Her gaze towards Fuli was hard to read, and finally, covered in bruises, she collapsed to one side, kicking up large clouds of dust.
regarding the art of sword control: summoning and controlling sword weapons;
Controlling sword weapons to attack or defend;
Using sword weapons to execute moves;
The above three absolutely cannot be roughly generalized.
In many movies and TV shows, Sword Immortals and Sword Saints unleash ten thousand swords at once, blocking out the sun. At first glance, it looks incredibly cool.
In fact, that method of use is far inferior to controlling a drone for precise point strikes, highlighting a disorderly mob engaging in indiscriminate bombardment.
The effect cannot be said to be nonexistent; it has commendable points in clearing trash mobs and bluffing.
This is the most basic realm of sword control.
Above this is something like a drone swarm input with specific formulas, setting a few anchors for formation to guide other sword weapons to attack or defend simultaneously.
Reaching this level can basically be considered as having entered the hall of mastery in the way of sword control.
What's next?
Carrying techniques with the sword, letting the sword weapon itself act as an independent floating unit to execute moves.
Now, the grade of sword control instantly goes up.
Even if the moves a sword weapon can carry are extremely limited, as long as the timing is grasped well, this is directly equivalent to two fighting one.
At this level, the amplification brought by sword control in terms of attack won't be much worse than the widely recognized "Three Heads and Six Arms" technique for fighting many with few.
Some might ask, "Three Heads and Six Arms" directly adds two heads and four arms, instantly increasing combat power by more than three times. How can you compare by just adding an extra sword?
The comparison is in potential and attack power.
No one said that a sword controller can only control one sword at a time.
As long as one has the talent, a sword controller can completely control two, three, or even multiple sword weapons simultaneously, giving them self-awareness-like abilities to execute different moves simultaneously to coordinate with oneself in combat. In layman's terms, it's multiple actions in one turn.
Like that young prodigy who inherited the name Yanqing of the Seven Swords of Taixuan. Having joined a famous sect and practiced martial arts from a young age (harmonized), he could control six flying swords simultaneously at the age of a child (approx 8-10 years old), truly a genius of the Sword Dao rarely seen in a century.
So what about Fuli?
Our protagonist, how many Trailing Shadow Swords can he control simultaneously?
Answer: Having practiced the sword for no more than two years, he can control seven swords simultaneously.
Seven swords nuking simultaneously—this is exactly where Fuli's confidence in being a stable B-rank Rule Breaker lies.
It is also the trump card in his plan to harvest Jizo Mitama.
He is a freak. Casually learning the sword while leveling up during his two years of contact with the Honkai side, he could surpass that No. 4 freak of the "Heaven" character (Yanqing) with the Sword Embryo and Martial Bones.
However, a freak is just a freak. Meeting a pervert who likes to nip seedlings in the bud or a cheating Child of the World (Protagonist) still means giving it away for free.
For example, that Baraba, the Herrscher of Domination, or the Herrscher of Human: Ego with self-will.
...