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

As Honkai energy gathered, the greatsword, like a sleeping beast, gradually awoke and revealed its ferocity as it absorbed Honkai energy with each breath.

The force had become heavier, and after catching the next sword strike, Fu Hua realized that the heavy sword had undergone some kind of change.

As the person involved, Su Qing'an naturally understood even better that this sword was like an organ he extended into the outside world to control Honkai energy.

Even without using the loop established by the Taixu Sword Qi, he could still use Honkai energy at this moment without expending much effort.

However, the price is that the so-called "organ" is naturally part of the body, and therefore it has to bear the erosion of the body by Honkai energy.

He realized the difference between what Changguang had said and what he had said.

As someone who died twice from Honkai infection, he has a certain right to speak on this matter.

If he were to withstand the corrosive effects of this Honkai energy for five minutes with his initial Honkai energy resistance, he would risk contracting irreversible Honkai disease if he did not immediately receive an anti-Honkai serum injection.

How could such a strategically valuable resource be used as an everyday consumable?

With his current Honkai energy resistance, he can maintain this level of Honkai energy output for a long time.

The greatsword seemed to be equipped with some kind of autonomous utilization of Honkai energy, automatically adding a portion of the absorbed Honkai energy to his body after it was fully activated.

If that's the case, wouldn't the basic strength and physical requirements for people with high Honkai energy resistance be greatly relaxed?

From this perspective, Honkai energy resistance is a crucial factor in every sense.

Even with the added power, Fu Hua easily parried every blow from the heavy sword. For Chang Guang, the focus of this sword trial was no longer the composite sword—Xuanwu—that was the original reason for issuing the mission.

Fu Hua's role was like a human stake, helping to test the power of the greatsword, so she simply blocked without counterattacking.

The instruments on Su Qing'an's wrist and the built-in detector of the greatsword are used to analyze specific data on the body's reaction to the greatsword.

Has it reached its limit? The power enhanced by the greatsword has reached a certain limit, and the rate of absorbing Honkai energy and the degree of consumption have reached a balance.

However, this is only the initial use of this weapon. According to the gear settings, the greatsword is currently in the first gear, which is the mode that Changguang mentioned, a normal male can use for five minutes.

The second gear maximizes the efficiency of absorbing Honkai energy, and its effect is that, in Fu Hua and Su Qing'an's perception, the heavy sword seems to expand for a moment.

It was a world that was not clearly visible to the naked eye. Honkai energy clung to this sword like a demon, baring its fangs and claws, like a beast freed from its shackles, displaying its power to its enemies and those who bound it.

As a result, the pressure on both Su Qing'an and Fu Hua was no longer on the same level as before. Fu Hua's pressure came from the increasingly heavy and rapid attacks, while Su Qing'an's pressure came from the intense erosion of Honkai energy.

Given his previous Honkai energy resistance, he would have contracted Honkai disease in one minute and become a suicide soldier in two minutes.

This is the price to pay for using the power of Honkai to fight against Honkai.

Countless lives had already fallen in pools of blood, becoming victims of the collapse. Seeing only a part of the whole picture, Su Qing'an felt the impact of this apocalypse even more deeply.

Chang Guang said that this is the gentlest weapon among anti-Honkai weapons, but for ordinary people, even a single level is a deadly demon sword.

The second level is the hellish demon that drags you down into the endless abyss.

As for the final three gears, the last sealed cage is opened, and the overflowing Honkai energy, like burning sparks, is continuously supplied from the inside of the greatsword as massive heat energy.

This portion of Honkai energy comes from the weapon's own supply channels. According to the design, the first and second gears use Honkai energy from the air, while the third gear releases a large amount of Honkai energy stored normally and Honkai energy from the air.

In theory, the role of the third gear is mostly for the final, desperate strike.

It was not designed for prolonged combat, but rather to unleash all its power directly when facing even more powerful Honkai Beasts. After this attack, the weapon itself will also be damaged.

It can be described as an attack that burns everything in its path, destroying everything in its path.

And now Su Qing'an has unleashed such a sword strike.

The heat wave hit us before we even got close, the scorching heat making our senses uncomfortable, and the terrifying heat and Honkai energy intertwined to create a domineering aura.

The composite sword, Xuanwu, was melted in two the moment it touched the blade.

"A single strike, and the mountain collapses." The girl, now without her weapon, murmured calmly, her slender white fingers clenched into a fist, and then she swung it out.

She wove the Honkai energy into a transparent and solid barrier on her fist, abruptly stopping the intense kinetic and thermal Honkai energy.

The greatsword was like a toy made of foam board, which the girl easily blocked with her fist, without it moving an inch.

The weapon's Honkai energy continued to roar and burn uncontrollably until...

"Detection indicates the body is beginning to be corroded by Honkai energy; cease weapon operation."

The greatsword and the device on the boy's wrist began to issue warnings, and Changguang in the distance activated the weapon's own limiter, forcibly putting shackles on the weapon.

A large amount of air surged from the weapon, cooling the greatsword's blade. Some of the remaining Honkai energy flowed back into the body. The boy gasped for breath; the Honkai energy had indeed corroded him for a moment.

If he remains in that state for three minutes, he will be in great danger.

Even if the risk is low, testing the performance of Honkai weapons is not an easy task.

He was fine because he was wearing special gauntlets, but the rest of his body that was too close to the greatsword was extremely red. If he didn't die from using such a weapon, the best outcome would be extensive burns.

"Cough cough." He coughed forcefully. He was already traumatized by the sensation of Honkai energy surging into his body and had an instinctive fear of it. Although this Honkai energy invasion was brief, it still reminded him of the pain of two deaths.

49. A lingering sense of unease

"Yes, yes. Your body is very healthy. Although you were briefly affected by Honkai energy, there were no lasting effects."

After testing Su Qing'an's physical data, Chang Guang nodded in satisfaction.

"This data is very valuable for reference. Although the composite sword - Xuanwu shattered, it is already a great improvement that it can withstand a second of three-level attacks before melting. After all, it is a mass-produced weapon, and this is about the limit that can be achieved at present."

The limit that Changguang Changchuan mentioned is not the real limit. As long as she wants, she can still improve the strength of mass-produced weapons, but further improvement would not be very meaningful. In the end, with her level, specializing in high-level weapons is the right path.

"Alright, Fu Hua, you've completed your task. Just report to the headmaster and everything will be fine."

"As for you, you can leave your sword here. Come back in three days to pick it up. I will try my best to reforge a good sword for you according to your body measurements." The girl patted the boy sitting on the ground on the shoulder, a calm smile of a top-notch swordsmith on her face.

"Then I'll trouble you, Miss Changguang," Su Qing'an replied. He could vaguely recognize that the swordsmith in front of him was a character from a set of Stigmata in the game.

Given her well-known name in Japanese history, it's easy to imagine just how powerful her skills are. It was a pleasant surprise that the weapon "Calming the Waves," which held such deep significance for him, could be reforged in her hands.

a long time.

After the two left, looking at the wreckage of the weapons on the ground, Nagamitsu Nagasawa muttered to himself, "Fortunately, although it deviated from what was expected, the deviation was not too great. If it had been any greater, I would have had to use up anti-Honkai serum to inject him."

"If I do that, I'll probably get yelled at by that protective little dwarf Theresa."

As she stroked the fragments of the "Calming the Waves" sword, the girl narrowed her eyes as if she had seen something interesting: "It's the sword-forging technique from Shenzhou. I haven't been there for a while, but the forging craftsmanship of this sword can unexpectedly give me some inspiration."

"Then let's get serious and go all out."

Completely ignoring the fact that he hadn't slept for days, Nagamitsu Nagafune excitedly spoke and then walked towards the sword-forging platform.

In every sense, this woman is a pure swordsmith. Compared to fighting against the Honkai and protecting the world, creating the best swords and blades in the world is what she cares about more.

----------

"Principal Theresa, if there's nothing else, I'll be going now," the girl said after reporting the results of Nagamitsu's mission.

"Hmph. That girl is still so willful, making my lovely student test such a strange and dangerous weapon. Sooner or later, I'll cut her funding to make her tone it down a bit."

Saying something that was probably impossible, Theresa gestured for the boy to lower his head. After he obediently did so, she patted his head with her small, tender hand, her face showing an adorable "I've got your back" expression.

Theresa was just too approachable at the academy, which made her seem unimpressive, and some students even treated her like a cute little child.

So, for Su Qing'an, a rather serious and earnest person like Fu Hua, although she seemed a little uncomfortable and overwhelmed on the surface, she was secretly quite pleased with herself.

Even though she wasn't one to put on airs, being treated like this made her feel happy, a feeling different from the joy of mingling with the students.

However, in Theresa's heart, all her students were important.

While realizing her own naiveté, she was unwilling to give it up. For the utopia she had created, she was willing to transform into a demon when necessary. The title of former S-class Valkyrie was not just for show.

"Headmaster, Sister Himeko must have already told you about my willful request," Su Qing'an said.

“Hmm. You want to go to Chiba Academy one more time, right?” Theresa’s smile faded, and she looked directly at the boy’s face, asking with some confusion:

"The reason is that you should know that only a few of you are left alive in Changkong City. Even if you go there, what can you do? All that's left are ruins and wandering Honkai Beasts."

"Even if there were indeed your friends there before, now they're just missing corpses or dead soldiers," the girl said indifferently, her words piercing the core of the problem like a scalpel.

"Sato Yuno is just an ordinary high school student, and she's just an ordinary friend of mine," he said, his dark eyes calm and his tone indifferent.

"I know she's dead, maybe her body or maybe she's a suicide soldier."

"I understand all of this, but I can't rest easy without seeing it."

"Are you still upset?" The girl silently repeated Su Qing'an's answer, only to find that she was speechless for a moment.

What a pure, boring, naive, and meaningless reason to feel so resentful.

But the woman named Theresa Apocalypse could not refute this; wasn't her founding of St. Freya Academy also a result of her lingering resentment?

In January 2000, for the sake of the innocent children in the Babylon Laboratory, she applied to her grandfather for an artificial island in the Far East, intending to build a school there to teach girls with Honkai energy adaptability how to control the power within their bodies.

The reason is simple: to allow them to one day return to normal life or become excellent Valkyries.

However, as time went by, this original intention remained unchanged, but an additional reason was added.

In Destiny, Valkyries are like tools of war, and their lifespans are seen by those in power as merely expiration dates on food.

They relentlessly used those children as weapons against the Honkai, treating the so-called Valkyries like cheap commodities constantly being thrown into the Honkai's meat grinder—disposable consumables no better than that.

For the Valkyries who left this world at a young age to fight against the Honkai, and to find peace with her inability to accept the actions of Destiny, yet unable to find a better way to fight the Honkai, she could only persist in St. Freya Academy, a Valkyrie training school that was considered abnormal within Destiny.

With such a willful and reckless self, having such willful and reckless students is truly something that can't be helped.

Finally, Theresa Apocalypse nodded and said:

"Hmph, although it is indeed a meaningless and capricious request, I agree."

"However, you should wait until Changguang has finished forging the weapon for you before you go."

"Don't let her unreliable appearance fool you, her skills are top-notch in the world. With the weapon she reforged, you'll be safer going out."

"Yes. Thank you, Principal Theresa." Su Qing'an certainly wouldn't refuse such a suggestion that was entirely for his safety.

In this world that is gradually collapsing and crumbling, Su Qing'an slowly builds bonds with people who would otherwise never have crossed paths with her, and strange feelings arise in her heart.

If this is the kind of world...

Then he seemed to have a reason to protect it.

50. On the eve of departure

At dawn, a bright sun rises.

Sunlight streamed into the room.