Regarding the question of whether one thousand lives are enough to beat Honkai Impact 3rd.

The space containing the Holy Mark has shattered.

Standing in a vast white space, Yae Sakura, as one of the masters of the Stigmata Space, foresaw the final outcome.

She stroked the Divine Key that had come to her side, and its familiar scent and the cherry blossom-decorated hilt overwhelmed the shrine maiden with a mix of emotions.

Are you Hishikomaru or Rin?

Yae Sakura couldn't help but feel puzzled, but she quickly understood.

It doesn't matter.

For the past five hundred years, she had been protecting herself, and in the final moment, she sacrificed everything, just to earn the right to continue living in the world.

"I'll call you Rin. I don't know why, but I can sense that you like it when I call you that, right?"

The priestess murmured to herself, and in the end made a choice completely different from the path of fate.

The knife emitted a low, eerie hum, as if in response.

87. Sato Yuno, who is about to be recalled.

St. Freya Academy.

Medical room.

Sara Nishikujo casually tossed the blood-stained tissue into the trash can, her lips still bearing a hint of vibrant red.

For a woman who has entered the late stage of artificial stigma erosion, this awakening of stigma undoubtedly shortens her already limited lifespan once again.

She looked at the fluctuating data in front of her, her heart heavy.

The girl lying in the medical culture tank frowned slightly, her white hair swaying gently like seaweed as the Honkai energy inhibitor was continuously injected.

The crimson pattern on its spine continuously emitted intense Honkai energy, which was the source of this anomaly.

Stigmata.

Stigmata are supposed to be special organs that help users increase their Honkai energy resistance and absorb Honkai energy to resist Honkai energy erosion.

But at this moment, the stigmata on Theresa's body were quite the opposite; they were constantly radiating huge and intense Honkai energy, causing the girl's body temperature to rise continuously.

If Theresa hadn't had extremely high Honkai energy resistance, it wouldn't be surprising if she had been directly eroded to death by the Honkai energy released by the Stigmata.

The Honkai Energy Suppressant is currently functioning as a cooling agent to prevent the girl's body temperature from getting too high.

Su Qing'an's injury was even more extreme; his severely injured body was practically a sieve. If Nishikujo Sara had arrived a few minutes later, such injuries would have been enough to send him to meet God.

The boy is still receiving transfusions of suitable blood from the blood bank after undergoing surgery, and the massive blood loss seems to have caused him to fall into a coma.

However, after carefully examining his physical data, Nishikujo Sara discovered that things were far more complicated than she had initially thought.

The woman sighed:

"The Sacred Mark Space?"

By observing the strange frequencies of the two women's brainwaves, Nishikujo Sara quickly identified the source of Theresa's persistent coma.

St. Freya Academy is now on high alert, as a large-scale Honkai energy fog has covered the entire island.

A large number of students fell into a mysterious coma.

Only a small number of Valkyries with exceptional Honkai energy resistance survived. All the Valkyries who remain conscious have joined the rescue efforts. Due to the sheer number of unconscious Valkyries, which accounts for almost eight-tenths of the students at St. Freya Academy, the resettlement work is extremely difficult.

Following the headmistress, Himeko Murata, who is now shouldering the responsibility alone, has issued an emergency recall order at the Far East branch and reported the anomaly to headquarters.

Any incident involving Theresa Apocalypse's safety would certainly attract the attention of headquarters, even if the Far East branch, which receives little attention from the higher-ups.

After all, she is the granddaughter of the Bishop of Destiny.

Theresa, who bears the name Apocalypse, is already the designated next Bishop of Destiny.

It's not surprising that her condition is given such importance.

Himeko Murata's emergency recall order was primarily aimed at only two people.

As a pseudo-Herrscher, Sato Yuno is a B-rank Valkyrie with the power to heal injuries.

There's also the A-rank Valkyrie, Fu Hua.

At this stage, when we don't know what will happen next, the importance of whether these two people are present is self-evident.

No one thought that such eerie fog could only cause people to faint.

There is a high probability that other difficult-to-handle methods will follow.

In fact, the mere fact that the person is in a coma is troublesome enough.

Four hours have passed since the incident, but none of the victims have regained consciousness.

However, Nishikujo Sara could see that the coma state of the ordinary students was not on the same level as that of Su Qing'an and Theresa.

The former still had some clues, so she wasn't completely helpless, but the latter was almost impossible to deal with.

Nishikujo Sara recalled the sparse data retrieved from the database, repeating the word over and over again:

"Sacred Mark Space".

If what she thinks is true, the Holy Mark Space is not entirely immune to external interference, but the success rate of doing so is too slim, and St. Freya Academy cannot afford to lose its existence at present.

As one of only two A-rank Valkyries present, Nishikujo Sara cannot act impulsively according to her own whims; she must be responsible for the students of St. Freya Academy.

-------------

Russia, Siberia.

Oymyakon.

Sato Yuno lay prone in the snow, wearing only a thin layer of clothing—her Schicksal-specific armor. Besides its heat insulation and frost protection, it also absorbed a small amount of external Honkai energy to balance her body temperature.

But at this moment, the girl actively canceled this function, and her body temperature had dropped to an unbearable low along with the cold of the snow.

In this region known as the coldest in Siberia, Sato Yuno endured the agonizing cold without flinching.

Theoretically, in such an environment, blood vessels will constrict, leading to reduced blood flow, increased secretion of adrenaline and thyroid hormones, enhanced metabolism, and accelerated heat production.

However, such a change cannot be found in Sato Yuno. One reason is that after becoming a pseudo-Herrscher, her body was no longer normal, a point that Nishikujo Sara had also frankly told her.

On the other hand, Honkai energy flows quietly and obediently within her body. Even though her skin is indeed subjected to low temperatures, the Honkai energy inside her body prevents her from dying from the cold.

Perhaps her skin and body will protest later against the girl's lack of appreciation, but for now, in order to complete the mission as much as possible, Sato Yuno ignores all of that.

About 600 meters away, a group of Honkai Beasts gathered and roamed.

Unlike the most common form of the Assault-class Honkai Beasts, these Assault-class Honkai Beasts are entirely dark blue, with a body that looks as if it were sculpted from ice and snow.

It is a rare variant.

Sato Yuno had a thorough understanding of the explanation of Honkai Beasts in class. The so-called variants refer to Honkai Beasts that are different from the mass-produced Honkai Beasts.

Generally speaking, Honkai Beasts that are called "alien species" are stronger.

Indeed, these Frost-type Honkai Beasts have extremely low body temperatures, and it is almost impossible to fight them effectively in close combat without the protection of armor.

When those wing-like limbs wave, they unleash waves of chilling Honkai energy, and in such an environment, these alien species naturally thrive even more.

The reason why Sato Yuno wanted to lower her body temperature was because these alien species were too sensitive to temperature. Human temperature would be as conspicuous as a firelight in the dark in such an environment. Without intending to fight them, the wisest thing to do was to blend into the environment and leave this place little by little.

Her mission in Oymyakon was to eliminate the assassins who had appeared in a village. Now that her mission was accomplished, there was no need to create any further trouble.

Just as Sato Yuno was getting further and further away from the Honkai Beast, her school badge emitted a slight vibration.

The girl's emerald eyes trembled, breaking her calm, still-lake-like composure.

The Far East Branch takes great care of the safety of students on missions outside the region. In some missions, even the slightest noise can affect the progress of the mission. Therefore, when the school badge vibrates, it only means one thing.

Emergency recall.

88. She alone can withstand an army of thousands.

Emergency recall.

It is a summons that St. Freya Academy only issues in extremely critical situations.

Aside from missions of extremely high level, all Valkyries must prioritize responding to the summons and obey orders to return to St. Freya Academy.

Since the academy's founding, this summons has been merely a formality. St. Freya Academy has always been as peaceful as an ivory tower, with gentle sea breezes and golden sunlight as its main themes.

And today, something happened at St. Freya Academy, which Sato Yuno considered her second home.

The girl's heart was beating faster and faster, and her heart felt as if it were entering an ice cellar, along with her increasingly low body temperature.

Sato Yuno's expression darkened, and a dangerous killing intent flashed in her eyes.

"Who exactly is it?"

The girl's murmured whispers, for a fleeting moment, overwhelmed the biting wind and snow.

Honkai energy flowed violently within his body, with large amounts of Honkai energy being released from the pseudo-Herrscher core.

The unsettled state of mind caused the power to control Honkai energy to begin to leak. The sensors in the heart throbbed with slight vibrations, and the armor linked to the bomb data emitted a dangerous red warning light on the right arm.

"Beep beep beep." Just as the alarm was about to enter the second stage, the communicator rang, interrupting Sato Yuno's thoughts.

The communicator connected automatically, and Himeko Murata's voice came through.

"Yuno, calm down."

"At present, there are no large-scale enemies or extremely deadly crises in the academy, but some kind of strange Honkai energy fog has covered the entire artificial island."

"Many students with insufficient Honkai energy resistance have fallen into a coma, but so far no one is in mortal danger. However, other situations may still arise later."

"We have reason to suspect that this matter is related to the Herrscher."

"The headmistress, who is currently at the center of the incident, has fallen into a coma. I will temporarily hand over her authority and strip you of fifty percent of your powers."

"Now is not the right time for you to continue training. The Destiny Force stationed in Siberia will arrive in Oymyakon within two hours to meet you."

"Please eliminate all enemies within this timeframe."

The alarm suddenly went out, and the girl stood up, staring expressionlessly at the Honkai Beasts that were coming from all directions across the snowfield.

The Honkai energy reaction just now was undoubtedly the main reason that attracted them here.

She touched her headset, glanced at the sky as frozen as a lake, and asked: