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

Every scale on the dragon's head was stained with crimson feathers.

Because it is an illusion, it cannot be destroyed.

Because it is an illusion, it cannot be shaken off.

The [Stigmata] cannot withstand Honkai energy all at once, so it is naturally fearless to clear the path with tens of millions of times.

The trajectory of Honkai energy is as intricate as the fine weave within a magnificent feather robe.

The crimson feathers on the dragon's head flickered like breathing, and the [Stigmata] allowed Honkai energy to circulate within them.

Thousands of feathers slowly faded away, disappearing into nothingness.

Once a certain amount is absorbed, space is released to allow for further absorption.

These two simple processes almost caused the dragon's head to fall apart, while the Honkai energy flowed obediently to a certain location, like information from a port.

—The calming of the storm, forged from bones and power.

The clouds and rosy hues completely dissipated, and the dragon's roar abruptly ended under the trajectory of [Time Cut].

This sword strike, like an unyielding destiny, annihilated the creation of the power, borrowed the Honkai energy of the power to accelerate, and incorporated the techniques of the Void Sword Qi and the inspiration memes of the Inch Heart Fist, pulling out meteor-like potential energy and invisible sword qi, which landed on the body of the Third Herrscher.

This is going all out.

To be truly wholehearted.

This sword strike contained all of the boy's martial arts and Honkai energy techniques from the beginning to the present. It was closer than ever to the meaning of "Time Cutting," like the limit of a single frame in a movie, falling like light before even the blink of an eye had passed.

After the girl's frail body was struck, she was sent flying thousands of meters away like a kite with a broken string. The sword energy along the way continued to shred everything into fine dust, clearing away the buildings full of Honkai Beasts and zombies, leaving indelible scars on the ground.

The impact, lasting several seconds, created a commotion loud enough to echo throughout the entire Canghai City. The Third Herrscher leaned against the wall of the ruins, her bare feet and skirt still spotless.

Sato Yuno's hair fell loosely, obscuring the fair skin above her delicate collarbone. Her expression was obscured, but the surrounding scenery testified to the effectiveness of the sword strike.

But unlike last time, he immediately got up and squandered his power to launch an attack.

This time, she seemed to be lost in thought, gazing into the distance.

The extent to which his ability to absorb Honkai energy can extend is unknown, but this action further demonstrates that this ability has an upper limit.

Although he/she is a strange human, he/she is still not a threat.

[Simply avoid physical contact with him; lavish your power as you please, my apostle.]

The words of the broken consciousness entered Sato Yuno's heart without any hindrance; His words were a command that the girl could not disobey.

The things and sounds of the outside world had long since faded away. In that instant, the limit that this blank consciousness could achieve was to compress the range of the thunderstorm to focus only on what was in front of it.

And the purpose...

It was simply protecting that backpack.

Sato Yuno inexplicably came to understand that her strange feelings for the boy were not entirely her own.

It's like a counterfeit plagiarized from someone else; even if you feel a strong resonance with it, it's still a counterfeit.

But that backpack was different. Even though the contents inside were the same as what Su Qing'an said, and no money had been paid for them, the girl thought she would make up the difference sooner or later.

Well, even if I feel a little guilty and think it's not proper.

But... but it only costs a few hundred dollars to fix it.

So it's okay, she'll work hard to earn money.

In Sato Yuno's mind, the odds and ends in this backpack, worth a few hundred dollars, were all she had. These were all she had, and naturally, these were all she cared about.

It's like a farmer sitting in a barren field with a pile of scrap metal. How could he not know that these things are just scrap metal to outsiders?

Even so, he wouldn't allow himself to lose this junk that he had no reason to keep.

Because he had nothing else.

Clear footsteps echoed along with the words of the broken consciousness, and the boy slowly came into view, holding a broken, black sword blade, silently staring at himself.

No feelings, no thoughts.

The girl clearly looked clean and tidy, but her silent posture leaning against the wall resembled a worn-out, abandoned doll.

He seemed to be gazing into the void behind the girl's empty eyes, the broken blade in his hand disintegrating back into the original Honkai energy mixed with the black particles of the corpse, and then reassembling into a brand new ancient sword.

Sure enough... I couldn't suppress this emotion no matter what.

Revealing your [Stigmata] ability to the enemy is the most foolish and arrogant thing to do, and not going all out from the start is tantamount to courting death.

The unharmed Third Herrscher before us is the best proof of this.

Even his strongest attacks were like a gentle breeze to her, having no effect other than being impressive.

But if this is the folly that must be tolerated to achieve the best outcome, Su Qing is happy to accept it.

Facing the shattered consciousness, the boy indifferently repeated the words he had spoken at the beginning:

"I'll make you get out of Yuno's body and beat you until you break down."

But now, these words, though still spoken in a light tone, carry a weight that the Honkai consciousness cannot ignore.

76. The balance of souls: equivalent exchange.

The Honkai consciousness remained silent. It could not empathize with human emotions, yet it was better than any human at using these things to create corresponding flaws.

It took less than five minutes for Su Qing'an's words to go from being completely ignored to needing to think about them a little.

As an intelligent being, He clearly understands that even events with extremely low probability, or even those that are impossible to occur, are still possible.

But in the instant the boy suddenly got close, this person did indeed have the ability to threaten the Herrscher's life.

Although the [Stigmata]'s ability is only a one-time product that exploits information asymmetry, and it is unlikely to play the same role again next time, this potential is something that the Honkai consciousness needs to pay attention to.

The situation of the Third Herald was a groundbreaking new attempt for Himself.

The Honkai consciousness naturally didn't want to be defeated at the very beginning, so even such a tiny speck of dust could attract its attention.

Of course, at this point, there's really no need to care too much.

In this first attack, in which humanity had the best chance of harming the Third Herrscher, he deliberately held back.

The only reason can be attributed to the fact that this Herrscher entity itself is of great significance to him, but this does not change the fact that this behavior is foolish.

Severing the connection between oneself and the Herrscher body is not something that can be achieved simply through combat power. Moreover, after slightly analyzing the essence of the power and making the technique of releasing Honkai energy more complex, the Third Herrscher will not be stuck in a stalemate.

The humans in front of us are struggling to survive, let alone sever the connection.

Su Qing'an's sword is essentially made of Honkai energy particles and nearly a million bones as its foundation. It is shaped into a more resilient material by the power of the Third Herrscher and then arranged in the form of "Calming the Storm" by the constraint of the Taixu Sword Qi.

Its most convenient feature is that it can be used temporarily as a Honkai energy container in addition to Feather Dust and [Stigmata].

Its other characteristics are also excellent, because its essence is forged from countless tiny Honkai energy particles, and it is forcibly condensed into the shape of a sword blade by the constraint of the Void Sword Qi.

Therefore, even if it breaks or is completely eliminated on a physical level, it can still be forged into a similar substance and reshaped into a blade by utilizing the Third Herrscher power stored in the [Stigmata] and the ubiquitous black ash in the atmosphere.

The fact that Su Qing'an had anticipated that her all-out [Time Cut] would fail to harm the Third Herrscher was exactly what she had expected.

【Feather Crossing Dust o Critical】helped me break free from the shackles that allowed me to unleash my full power.

Its other two functions are also excellent.

First, illusions can serve as an extension of the [Stigmata] ability, compensating for the upper limit and breadth of defense.

Secondly, the brief but complete connection between the Honkai energy storage space of the Feather Dust itself and the Honkai energy storage space of the [Stigmata] greatly increased the upper limit of the Honkai energy absorption phenomenon. This is the core reason why the Third Herrscher has been unable to inflict any harm on Su Qing'an.

All attacks using Honkai energy that do not reach this limit are ineffective; otherwise, the fragile human body will be completely annihilated in the aftershocks of the energy, leading to death.

The [Stigmata] seemingly grants absolute immunity to damage, but it is not invincible.

Facing an enemy like a Herrscher who can output Honkai energy indefinitely, relying on this ability to fight head-on is like walking a tightrope on the edge of a cliff; a slight misstep could result in total destruction.

In short, even though Su Qing'an used his full strength, his poor adaptability to Honkai energy still limited his output limit.

Even the seemingly powerful [Time Cut] only achieved its destructive power by using the Third Herrscher's authority to release it in reverse, which led to the exaggerated scene described earlier.

This is essentially playing Tai Chi; trying to defeat the opponent using only a portion of their strength is wishful thinking.

This result also confirmed a fact for Su Qing'an.

That is, even if he used all his strength, he couldn't kill Sato Yuno.

Under the control of the Honkai consciousness, the Third Herrscher's defense was virtually unbreakable. The fact that [Time Slash] failed to sever a single strand of Yuno's hair truly made the boy deeply understand the stubbornness of this impenetrable wall.

This fact is very important to him.

This was enough for Su Qing'an to truly put aside any unnecessary concerns and carry out the subsequent plan.

After all, even if she was prepared to kill the other party, she couldn't let her become a puppet that aided and abetted the Honkai.

But in reality, a teenager's emotions cannot be so rational.

If Su Qing'an had been even slightly rational, he shouldn't have fought the Third Herrscher.

The most rational, safest, and even correct course of action is to leave Canghai City immediately, reach the outside world where communication has been restored, inform the Herrscher of the situation, and help the human side kill Sato Yuno.

But he didn't.

Absolute rationality and so-called correctness are nothing but a joke in this battle.

To truly sever the link between the Honkai consciousness and Sato Yuno, the only thing Su Qing'an could think of was to use the essence of the soul to shake the chain between the two.

The method with an almost 100% success rate is to burn out the soul and sever the link completely, but this is the least desirable approach.

He had already anticipated the price of burning his soul away; the dual death of body and soul was the inevitable outcome.

Let's set aside the question of whether the gods would restart the timeline for someone like Su Qing'an, giving him another chance to start over.

Even assuming a restart, this action seems utterly pointless.

If it cannot be restarted, then that is even less desirable.

Su Qing'an also has to be responsible for Fu Hua and others who are still in Canghai City. Death is no longer a simple result of punishment.

However, simply using the superficial method of "momentum" mixed into the slash is clearly insufficient to shake the consciousness of the Honkai.

The example is simple: in the previous Nine Netherworlds, Su Qing'an once used [Power] to force out Ji Xuanyuan's remnant soul.

But her appearance only wavered slightly; there was no real harm done.

Even though the ability of "momentum" itself has been quietly updated and replaced several times, and the essence of the soul has been reborn after the last death, the enemy it faces now has jumped directly to the level of a broken consciousness.