Fuli thought he was just a transparent nobody no one cared about, unaware that Kiana cared about him far more than he imagined.
RIN was the same.
The current her was deeply concerned about the white-haired girl who was quickly moving away.
"Kallen..."
A name that did not belong to this battlefield was spat out from those cherry-soft lips panting with mist. The shrine maiden with scarlet eyes suddenly abandoned Fuli after an exchange of blows, turning and speeding towards Kiana.
Fuli naturally wouldn't let her succeed. A snowy blade light slashed from bottom to top, forcing her to reverse her blade to block.
"Get the situation straight, will you?" He looked down from above. "Your enemy right now is me, not some damn Kallen, Jizo Mitama."
"Kallen..."
RIN turned a deaf ear to these words. She strode with her long, shapely lotus legs, stubbornly chasing Kiana for the second time.
The white stockings on her thighs were already riddled with holes from the battle, and the skin glowing under the firelight was exceptionally enticing.
The enraged RIN no longer rejected Yae Sakura's memories, and this obviously came with a price.
"Memory makes the person." Although this saying seems extreme, it is enough to explain the importance of memory to a person.
Having merged with the other's memories, she would naturally be obsessed with what the other was obsessed with.
So what was Yae Sakura obsessed with?
Naturally, it was the Kaslana Saintess who drifted to Yae Village five hundred years ago—Kallen Kaslana.
Kiana's relationship with her certainly wouldn't be some melodramatic reincarnation.
The problem was that the girl, also from the Kaslana family, possessed white hair and blue eyes exactly like Kallen's.
The misunderstanding was only logical.
"Tsk!"
Seeing this scum woman abandon him again, Fuli raised his sword again in dissatisfaction.
His body paused unnaturally at this moment, allowing her to escape the sword range of Mikazuki Munechika.
In the end, his normal endurance wasn't enough.
He had already overdrawn once when fighting the demon fox. Even with the temporary replenishment of two Healing Bullets, it was impossible to quickly recover to peak condition.
"Dodge!"
Fuli couldn't help but shout a reminder, activating Void Shunpo again, wanting to intercept the enemy by arriving later but striking first.
Unexpectedly, RIN was faster. Perhaps there was a displacement skill like Shukuchi (Ground Shrinking) in the Setsuna Blade style; she actually arrived in front of Kiana ahead of time, leading Fuli by nearly half the distance!
"Kallen! Kallen!"
With a fanatical and twisted face, she raised her long blade and slashed down hard at Kiana, who had her back to her!
The girl, who had just completed the task Fuli assigned, turned around subconsciously, the blood-colored blade enlarging in her pupils.
"Bark!"
At this critical moment, a dog bark echoed through the field.
Sauce, who had been ordered to stay away from the battlefield, leaped up and bit the shrine maiden's sword-wielding wrist!
The MKII-type mechanical dog could not only track people by scent; the tungsten steel saw-teeth in its mouth had a bite force of a full ton!
With force applied to such a small area, plus the fact that RIN had been eroding Yae Sakura's body for five hundred years...
Sauce's bite failed to bite off her wrist directly, but it successfully interfered with this attack!
"Dog thing! Get lost!"
Attacked, RIN completely forgot the fact that she was also a canine (fox) and kicked Sauce fiercely in the stomach.
The plump and beautiful leg, enough to play with for years, turned into a killing weapon at this moment, kicking the mechanical dog in two with a single blow!
"Whimper!!!"
Sauce whimpered, still stubbornly biting RIN's wrist and refusing to let go.
"Sauce!"
Kiana couldn't help screaming. Fuli, arriving in time, shouted violently, "Let go!"
The mechanical dog, with only its upper body left, obediently opened its mouth. Then Fuli scooped it up along with Kiana, one under each arm.
RIN obviously didn't want to let go of this kin that bit her. She flipped her dainty fist and smashed it down, directly shattering the dog's half-body nearby.
Then, she continued to pursue Fuli and Kiana in his arms relentlessly.
RIN's footwork was superior, and the distance between them was visibly shrinking to less than three meters.
It looked like a re-enactment of the previous situation, but this time, Fuli wouldn't give her another chance.
In mid-air, he turned around and stepped on the forehead of the unsuspecting RIN, kicking her into a stumble.
"Go down, Jizo Mitama."
A red lotus bloomed in front of him. A spherical blazing white barrier rose, enveloping the enemy separated by only a thin line.
Endless light and flames, like the sun falling, swallowed the shrine maiden's ferocious figure.
[Name: Blazing Sun Apollo]
[Rank: C]
[Category: Item/Explosive]
[Effect: A special alchemical weapon in the shape of a soft and bouncy red crystal. It contains terrifying energy inside. It relies on mental power or injected energy for detonation. It needs to be guided before exploding when used, or can be buried after injecting energy in advance.
After the explosion, it will form an orange sphere with a diameter of fifty meters lasting for thirty seconds. The temperature inside the sphere will reach a terrifying level, with power far exceeding dozens of fuel-air explosives exploding simultaneously. Not even a bit of temperature will spill outside the sphere.
Apollo itself contains huge energy inside and is relatively stable under normal circumstances. Please do not court death by stimulating it, such as injecting energy.]
[Note: Reincarnation Paradise activated! Pipi Xiao, let's go!]
Fuli said from the beginning: All warfare is based on deception (pun: explosion).
Thus, victory is decided.
...
Although Blazing Sun Apollo could be made into a trap, Fuli discarded this idea from the beginning and chose to carry it with him.
The aftershocks of an A-rank battle could collapse even mountains. Burying it in advance under such circumstances would mean either Apollo getting hit by an attack and exploding hastily, or the enemy running away the moment it exploded.
Let alone an explosion diameter of fifty meters, even a radius of fifty meters was just a matter of lifting a leg for RIN and Fuli.
What? Why not detonate it directly at the beginning to blast her?
Why does Ultraman always use his finishing move at the end? Why save the ult for last when playing LoL?
The enemy isn't stupid. If they get hit hard at the start, why would they still go head-to-head with you? Are my legs just for show and not for running?
The most crucial point is that this thing couldn't one-shot RIN, whose defense was heaven-defying at her peak. That big fox had thick skin and flesh and was extremely durable. Even the seven-sword nuclear explosion required wearing her down for a long time and catching her off guard to barely harvest her by focusing on one point.
Therefore, in this battle, Apollo could only serve as a means of mutual destruction at the last moment.
Fuli indeed did so. Of course, he didn't need to die with her; he had the Flying Raijin Kunai.
The second-phase Shrine Maiden RIN indeed exceeded his expectations, at least she wasn't in the data he had on hand.
However, he didn't panic. Instead, he showed weakness to the enemy, tempting the girl to constantly approach him.
All warfare is based on deception.
In layman's terms, it's bamboozling.
RIN indeed gave him face, even confident enough to walk up to Fuli and lift his chin with the back of her blade to tease him. What a precious famous scene of "Divine Shrine Maiden Training Rebellious Little Puppy."
Immediately after, just when Fuli felt he could take this beautiful head, a loud noise came from the sky, and Qi-bao (Baby Kiana) made her shining debut.
Seeing her, Fuli's brain short-circuited instantly, like a certain author who just finished typing a four-thousand-word draft meeting the word count, only for the computer to crash before saving.
Can't say all previous efforts were wasted, but it was basically busy work for half a day.
Fortunately, this new teammate was quite reliable. She completed Fuli's final instructions, setting up the Blazing Sun Apollo at the preset position while he and Shrine Maiden RIN were locked in a death struggle.
Needless to say what happened next. BOOM! The sun fell, divine flames filled the sky.
If this RIN could still activate a third phase, Fuli would have nothing to say.
Time, and Fate.
Fortunately, RIN didn't give him a chance to try and salvage the situation. Thirty seconds passed, and the pseudo-sun formed by Blazing Sun Apollo gradually dimmed.
In the center of the twenty-five-meter radius void, a pitch-black Gem of Corruption refracted enticing light halos.
Besides that, there was a crystal containing a large amount of Honkai Energy. That was the Honkai Beast Core RIN took from the four-tailed demon fox when she hastily transferred bodies.
As a product of the Authority of Corruption, this item was highly polluting and basically unusable. It was just right for throwing to the system for a lottery draw.
...