"You are..."
Fu Hua looked at Irene. The golden light in Irene's eyes echoed the radiance of the Xuanyuan Sword, causing a momentary trance in Fu Hua's vision. It was as if the person standing before her was not Irene, but a valiant woman of heroic bearing. However, this illusion vanished in the next instant.
With Irene's tacit permission, Ji Lin, now manipulating Irene's body, looked at the bewildered Fu Hua. She paused for a moment, then, seeming to understand something, revealed a look of slight desolation.
Just as Ji Lin was about to speak, she suddenly heard another person's voice.
[Um, Miss Ji Lin, Ah-Hua lost her memories due to her abilities, so please don't blame her.]
Hearing the voice in her mind, Ji Lin immediately became vigilant. She could be certain that this was absolutely not the voice of Miss Irene from just a moment ago.
[Oh, no need to be nervous. Miss Ji Lin, please don't be nervous. You aren't the only extra consciousness in my mind.] Irene's voice chimed in as well. [The reason is a bit complicated. The one who spoke just now is a comrade of Hua's from a long, long time ago.]
Ji Lin fell silent for a moment. Multiple consciousnesses in one body? Mn, are the warriors of future generations already this formidable?
"No, I didn't mean that..." Fu Hua, seeing 'Irene' fall silent due to internal doubts, felt her heart tighten. She believed her display of unfamiliarity just now had saddened the other party.
Fu Hua wanted to open her mouth to explain, but she was stopped by Ji Lin raising her hand. Ji Lin smiled at Fu Hua. "It has been five thousand years. Things have changed, and people have changed, including the current me."
The light on the Xuanyuan Sword became even more dazzling, while the golden light in Irene's eyes dimmed. Within the golden radiance emitted by the Xuanyuan Sword, the phantom of Ji Lin, dressed in magnificent attire, appeared in Fu Hua's eyes.
"Ji Lin..." Fu Hua murmured as she looked at the phantom. However, she hadn't actually remembered anything or dug anything out from the ashes of her memory; she had merely guessed it.
An ancient girl appearing at this moment, emerging from the Xuanyuan Sword—other than that Ji Lin, there should be no one else.
Hearing Fu Hua's voice, a smile appeared on Ji Lin's face. "The Celestial indeed has not forgotten me, or at least still has a little bit of an impression of me, right?"
Fu Hua very much wanted to say that she had actually only guessed the other's identity and didn't have even a shred of an impression in her mind. But looking at the smile on the other's face, and that final question...
Fu Hua could only open her mouth, then stiffly nodded. She did not want to shatter the girl's final fantasy.
"Long time no see... Ji Lin..." Fu Hua could only speak stiffly like this, feeling desolation and emptiness in her heart. It made her feel incredibly distressed, but facing the girl, Fu Hua could not, under any circumstances, bring herself to state the fact that she had already forgotten her.
"It seems that in these five thousand years..." Ji Lin looked at Fu Hua's currently weak aura. Where was the imposing momentum of the past, when she shook the world with her fists and protected the mountains and rivers with her body? "It seems the Celestial has not had it easy these years..."
During that brief exchange of consciousness just now, Ji Lin had already understood the current situation. The Celestial had encountered a calamity and was forced to use excessive power that should not have been used, leading to memory loss.
And now, the world was far removed from her era. Five thousand years... she could not even measure how long and arduous that time must have been.
Irene had also requested her to keep the secret of the consciousnesses within her body from Fu Hua. Ji Lin naturally agreed to this small request. She could feel that Irene held no malice toward the Celestial; perhaps it was simply out of necessity that she needed to hide it from her.
"I..."
The two of them looked at each other in silence. Five thousand years of time left them unsure of what to say to one another, until the deafening roar of a beast was heard from the surroundings.
"Chiyou has awakened..." Ji Lin looked toward the ceiling, a trace of regret and guilt flashing through her eyes. "I am sorry. I failed to complete the task I should have done back then."
Subsequently, Ji Lin looked at the Xuanyuan Sword that had been floating beside her. "But this is my final battle. Can the Celestial rush to the battlefield with me one last time?"
"Mn." Fu Hua nodded firmly. Perhaps she had missed this battle a thousand years ago, but today she would absolutely not miss it again. This was her past regret, but now she finally had the chance to make amends.
"I leave the rest to you all." Ji Lin's figure gradually faded. She was currently too weak; these fragments of a remnant soul were simply insufficient to support her manifestation.
If she continued to force herself to hold on, she feared she wouldn't even be able to see the end of the battle. That was the victory she had waited over five thousand years for—how could she be absent?
Fu Hua watched Ji Lin's body gradually disappear. Only then did she suddenly remember Irene, who had been standing beside her the whole time. She hurriedly turned to look at Irene, not knowing how to explain the conversation with Ji Lin just now. "I... I didn't intend to hide it."
"Ah-Hua wouldn't harm me. If Ah-Hua wants to say something, you can always say it, you know~" Irene smiled at Fu Hua. After all, she knew exactly what little thoughts Fu Hua had. Of course, she still had to give her some face.
"...Thank you."
"Then, I entrust everything to you. My remnant soul possesses no combat power; I can only provide you with assistance." Ji Lin's voice also gradually vanished into the light of the sword's edge.
Then, the Xuanyuan Sword flew automatically to Irene's hand. Its meaning was self-evident.
"Mn." Irene grabbed the Xuanyuan Sword in mid-air and nodded to it. Then she looked at Fu Hua. "Let's go, Ah-Hua. Let's do what we should do."
"Let's go, Irene." Fu Hua's gaze became firm as she looked at Irene beside her. Irene, having long been prepared, nodded back at Fu Hua.
After nodding to each other, the two stopped resisting the suction and jumped directly down Chiyou's throat.
*
Inside Chiyou's Belly
On a floating rock in the air, Kiana rubbed her head and sat up abruptly, looking around with some confusion. "W-where is this?"
"We were swallowed by a super, super, super giant Honkai Beast~" Himeko's voice came from beside Kiana. "This is inside its belly."
"What?!" Upon hearing the voice, Kiana jumped up violently and looked around, but as far as her eyes could see, there was only pitch darkness.
The others seemed to have awakened long ago; only she had been sleeping soundly just now. Kiana scratched her head, trying to sort out the situation. "We were eaten by a Honkai Beast?"
Seeing that Kiana was still energetic, Himeko breathed a sigh of relief. "That's about the size of it. You finally woke up. Though, as expected of the Kaslana family, you smashed head-first into the ground and still managed to wake up so quickly."
When everyone fell, they had adjusted their postures. Although the landing was a bit forceful, they were all safe and sound. Only Kiana hadn't adjusted in time and had plunged headlong into the stone.
It was only someone from the Kaslana family who could jam their head into a rock and still wake up so fast.
"Anyway, waking up is a good thing." Himeko patted Kiana's head, then turned to look at Bronya. "Any good news on the communications front?"
"Regrettably, Teacher Himeko." Bronya shook her head. "There is no good news. This Honkai Beast's epidermis is too thick, and the intense Honkai energy has also interfered with the signal. We cannot establish contact with St. Freya."
"Not only that. According to simple calculations..." Bronya looked at the data Project Bunny had just transmitted to her. "Based on rough estimates regarding this Honkai Beast, we fell at least nearly 200 meters just now, and there is still a distance of nearly 100 meters below."
"In other words, this space is at least 300 meters high, and that's not counting the epidermis. Nor is there any guarantee that where we fell is the deepest part."
"In short, this Honkai Beast's height is at least nearly 300 meters. As for its length or width, Project Bunny's system cannot even give a response."
"I didn't expect there to be such a massive Honkai Beast." Hearing Bronya's words, Himeko gritted her teeth. Although she had never been swallowed before, judging by the size of this space, she had a rough idea of how big this place was.
But obtaining Bronya's specific data still surprised her. A super-giant beast with a height of 300 meters alone—she certainly wouldn't assume this beast was a thin bamboo pole.
Himeko wore a look of worry on her face. "With such a massive size, its mere existence is enough to be called a natural disaster. Moreover, judging from the current vibrations and the usual movement patterns of Honkai Beasts, it is most likely trying to head for land."
"But what do we do?" Mei looked around, her eyes filled with powerlessness. Against such a massive size, let alone the blade in her hand, even Bronya's artillery fire—whether it could cause damage was questionable.
"..." Himeko did not answer. She knew they had to stop this Honkai Beast from advancing, but as for how to do it, or what could be done, Himeko had no method.
"Although this isn't its strongest state." Irene and Fu Hua jumped over from a nearby floating island. "But fortunately, it isn't absolutely unstoppable either."
"Fu Hua, Irene! Thank goodness you're okay." Himeko breathed a sigh of relief seeing Fu Hua and Irene jump over. She hadn't seen the two of them when they fell; now it seemed they had just landed elsewhere.
"Apologies, Teacher Himeko." Fu Hua pushed up her glasses. "The two of us made you worry."
"It's good that you're okay, it's good that you're okay." Himeko sighed. Although she said that, given the current situation, 'being okay' was about the only good thing to say.
"By the way, what did you mean just now by saying this isn't its strongest state? Could it possibly get even stronger?"
"Literal meaning." Irene looked at Himeko. "Just now, I learned some things through the remnant soul of the ancient warrior Ji Lin, which remained in that sword."
"In ancient times, the size of this Honkai Beast named Chiyou was even larger. However, with the seal over many years and the ravages of thousands of years of time, its body shrank to the hundred-meter class."
"If left unchecked, this Honkai Beast named Chiyou will devour the land and devour civilization, and its size will grow accordingly."
"No way?" Kiana looked around. "This thing can get even bigger?"
"Yes, just as I said, it can." Irene nodded. "But also just as I said, it is not invincible. There is a way to solve it."
"We learned from Ji Lin that there are two seals inside Chiyou's body. We need to shatter those seals."
"Okay, where are they? We'll go right now..." Kiana was just about to turn and leave when she suddenly stopped, looking at Irene with a face full of confusion. "Wait, what? Break the seals?"
Irene looked at Kiana and nodded. "Correct, we need to break them."
"But aren't seals used to seal something in? Wouldn't breaking them make it more troublesome?"
"That is indeed true." Irene nodded, reaching out to stop Kiana, who wanted to say more. "I haven't finished speaking. Let me finish first."
"First of all, Honkai Beasts all have a Honkai Core. Chiyou is the same. That Core provides it with a continuous stream of power, which is why Chiyou can support such a massive body."
"Those two seals were originally intended to absorb Honkai energy, preventing the original Honkai energy from flowing into the original Core, thereby causing Chiyou to lose the ability to move its body."
Irene's gaze turned toward the rear. "But regrettably, with the passage of time, the seals originally used to gather the Honkai energy are now having the opposite effect."
Bronya, whose theoretical knowledge was the best, immediately realized what Irene meant. "Five years—five thousand years of time. The accumulated Honkai energy in the seals has turned those two seals into two additional Honkai Cores?"
Beside her, Kiana scratched her head. "In other words, as long as we break these two seals and let the Honkai energy disperse again, this Chiyou thing won't be able to move?"
"No." Irene shook her head. "After breaking the seals, the Honkai energy will flow back to the original Honkai Core. That is Chiyou's true heart."
"I roughly understand." Bronya had grasped Irene's meaning. "We need to dismantle the Honkai energy cores at three locations to make Chiyou unable to move. If we do that, this battle will be considered our win."
"But can we really do that with our firepower?" Kiana scratched her head. High concentrations of Honkai energy gathering together would definitely form crystals. The stronger the Honkai energy, the harder the crystal formed.
Even she, a poor student, knew this kind of thing. And regarding the crystals formed from Honkai energy accumulated over 5,000 years... she feared they wouldn't even be able to leave a white scratch on them.
"It doesn't matter. I prepared a backup plan long ago." Irene lightly snapped her fingers. "I made an agreement with Theresa earlier. If our signal cannot be tracked, she will prepare to mobilize immediately."
"Moreover, with such a large Honkai Beast appearing on the sea surface and moving, the Shenzhou side won't be unresponsive. As long as the Shenzhou side reacts, Theresa will bring the Hyperion over."
"And the main cannon on the Hyperion can be said to be the strongest main cannon in modern Schicksal." As the captain of the Hyperion, Himeko was very confident in her ship.
"That main cannon will definitely be able to destroy Chiyou's epidermis."
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 10 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉