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

Shuichi Kanbara had spoken to the two about the special characteristics of living dolls.

Aside from unusual behaviors such as killing to draw blood after starving and the once-a-decade festival, the living dolls will always stay inside the shrine.

Unlike normal shrines where offerings and worship are made day and night, the interior of the shrine in Kanbara Village is a forbidden area that is not to be entered, except for the festival day held once every ten years and the large-scale Kagura dance that follows.

According to legend, those who enter a shrine on a non-festival day will be punished by the gods.

This is one of the reasons why the villagers didn't react much to the ban on the Shinbara Shuu Shrine. Because, apart from festival days, the shrine only has symbolic significance.

Shuichi Kanbara didn't understand what divine punishment was. It seemed that because of the special nature of the Kanbara family bloodline, when this man, with a cigar in his mouth and an expressionless face, blasted a living doll to pieces with a rifle ten years ago, his body showed no unusual reaction whatsoever.

The doll did not retaliate. The doll, which was as vibrant and beautiful as a young girl, was easily shattered by bullets into fragments scattered all over the ground, as if it had truly and decisively died.

The next day, when Shuichi Kanbara came to the shrine and saw the still intact girl doll with a faint smile on her face, he silently finished a cigarette, then threw the cigarette butt next to the doll, turned and left, never to step into the shrine again.

He understood that he couldn't kill the monster on his own.

It came from an unknown force on another level that he did not understand.

Later, when his connections and status gradually rose to the top of Kanagawa, Shuichi Kanbara vaguely confirmed the true nature of the living doll, which should be the calamity called Collapse.

Therefore, he went back into the shrine, smashed the living doll, picked up its fragments and handed them to Tenmei, saying that they were relics left behind by the murderer at the scene.

Ultimately, all of this led to Yuno Sato entering the shrine.

Aside from the dust-filled room and the dim lighting, the only striking feature was the eerily lifelike doll.

That was indeed the exquisite face that only a doll could possess, with a unique beauty created artificially.

The girl doll sits kneeling silently in the dust of the room, waiting for the passage of time. Her dark hair is spread out on the floor like a painting, and the pale blue veins on her bare legs and feet are clearly visible under her snow-white skin.

If it weren't for its lack of breathing and its physically empty eyes, Sato Yuno would almost never have realized that it was a doll.

A living doll.

A truly fitting title.

Even though she had prepared herself mentally for it, Sato Yuno still felt a sense of dread and fear.

Unlike the brutal and striking image of the corpses and gore in the mission photo, when facing the living doll, Sato Yuno felt a completely different kind of shock and eeriness.

After concentrating for a moment, the girl decided not to waste any more words on the doll.

The thorns twisted into long chains at her will and fell, and the living doll was inevitably shattered in an instant.

Just like Shuichi Kanbara's description.

The true nature of a living doll is not simply that of a doll.

Dolls are more like a form of expression that carries a certain power, so destroying ordinary living dolls would be meaningless.

Because the living dolls outside of the festival day, their true forms are not entirely contained within the doll's body.

To put it simply, a living doll is only truly alive on the day of the festival, and only on that day is there a real possibility of killing it.

If Sato Yuno's power is the kind of domineering, offensive ability, she might be interested in destroying the entire shrine into nothingness and seeing if the living dolls can be resurrected.

Unfortunately, her pseudo-Herrscher ability is actually more of a support type. Although its offensive capabilities are terrifying against living beings, its destructive power is not very effective against inorganic matter that does not have any vital signs.

In short, they are incompatible.

Of course, in front of a true Herrscher, the so-called living puppet is nothing but a joke.

Looking at the remains of the doll on the ground, Sato Yuno murmured:

"Is this made of a wood-like material? Or is it just a simple wooden doll?"

"But can simple wood really be used to create such exquisitely detailed dolls that look like real people?"

Yesterday she had already looked through the records of the Kambara family. The living dolls were indeed originally created by the Kambara family, but what kind of ingenious craftsmanship was needed to create such a creation?

Even if it was corrupted by the chaos and ritualistic practices, the original living dolls should have looked like this.

She crouched down, intending to pick up a shard.

Just to be on the safe side, the girl wrapped her palms in Honkai energy, and a strange reaction occurred when the Honkai energy at her fingertips came into contact with the remains of the living doll.

The wreckage melted away in an instant, replaced by a very faint red mist that formed in a flash.

The familiar Honkai energy mist obscured the girl's eyes.

Immediately.

A shift in perspective, a world turned upside down.

26. The Priestess of the Ancient Past

Yuno Sato was bound to a cross-shaped torture device.

Her tendons in her hands and feet were severed, and the remaining strength in her limbs was so weak that she had no chance to resist.

The current situation is like a first-person perspective live-action movie, where she is able to experience everything about the girl perfectly and clearly under some mysterious power.

The girl's sadness, fear, despair, and confusion.

The lingering pain in my hands and feet had been numbed by the hemp rope.

The scene that appeared before Sato Yuno seemed magical and bizarre.

From the girl's perspective, the crowd surrounding her gradually transformed into the appearance of evil spirits.

The light and shadow behind them revealed sharp fangs, and their massive, dark, and ferocious bodies stretched out behind the crowd, undulating eerily.

That was pure malice.

Malice fueled the flames of delusion.

The raging flames were reflected in her wooden yet compassionate eyes, gradually devouring her completely.

Yuno Sato was speechless. She was stuffed into the girl's body, connected to her joys and sorrows, but could only passively watch the tragedy unfold.

Yet, amidst that immense and indescribable malice, some stubbornly retained their own will.

That girl with cherry blossom hair.

"...Kill...her...for...the village..." The tallest demon in the crowd said something to the girl, and the indistinct words gradually reached her ears.

"No, no, no."

Despite her inner refusal, the girl expressed her own will.

She stared blankly at the scene before her, which seemed like an inescapable hell.

She wanted to do something, but she was too weak.

The demon shoved the knife into her hand; the girl felt terribly cold all over, but she could not resist.

He grasped the girl's hands with both of his, dragged the knife, and walked step by step to the cross.

The cold, sharp light of the blade reflected in the girl's eyes, as if it wanted to burn away everything she had along with the flames.

"Sakura, this is for the village," the demon whispered, holding the girl's hand and raising his sword.

"No!" With the girl's devastating scream, everything came to an end.

The splash of bright red, like ink, and the girl's desperate and sorrowful expression were the last things she could see.

The knife moved swiftly, shattering the illusory flames reflected in the girl's eyes.

The knife moved slowly because this scene had echoed in the girl's mind countless times and still couldn't be stopped.

After maliciously taking the girl's life, it seemed to go out.

A torrential downpour began.

A tremendous roar enveloped the world.

The evil spirits rejoiced, laughing and celebrating the arrival of the heavy rain.

The cherry-haired girl knelt on the ground, her face stained with blood.

In this ancient past recorded in fragments.

A girl named Yae Sakura lost something she cherished.

Sato Yuno regained her will, and in the instant she staggered and fell, the thorns transformed into soft vines that supported her body.

The girl simply turned over and lay on her back, panting heavily. The sensation of the blade grazing her neck felt incredibly real and clear, but what truly made Sato Yuno shudder was not the pain she felt, which she shared with the girl.

Rather, it was that malice.

Human sacrifice.

This is completely consistent with the distant past history of Kōbara Village as described by Kōbara Shuichi; it is a foolish and backward custom that existed for the purpose of praying for rain, buried in the past.

But what Sato Yuno cares about even more is the cherry-haired girl residing in the memories within the fragments.

That rare hair color, the same face, and the familiar Honkai energy mist in the fragments all made Sato Yuno think of the shrine maiden she had seen in Changkong City that day.

If she really is that shrine maiden, then is the village she lived in the predecessor of Kambara Village?

Is the essence of the living doll related to the black fox shadow inside the shrine maiden?

It's necessary to ask Principal Theresa about this witch; perhaps we can find some clues about the living doll here.

Having recovered from the shock of that memory, Sato Yuno stood up without hesitation, and the vines disappeared as she rose.

The girl turned and left the shrine.

The next day, at dusk.

The town at the foot of the mountain.

Dressed in a butler's uniform, Su Qing'an used the excuse of buying daily necessities for the young lady to travel around the town.

Most of the villagers here seem to maintain a certain degree of goodwill and awe towards Western things due to some historical issues left over from Japan.

Therefore, they were not surprised at all that the eldest daughter of the Kanbara family had brought back a butler, but they couldn't help but show curiosity in their eyes when they saw him.

He would greet people with an elegant and polite demeanor, and his usually aloof expression would turn into a gentle and warm smile when he met and greeted the villagers.

Su Qing'an was very studious and had taken most of the courses at St. Freya Academy, including acting class taught by Nishikujo Sara.

The aloof woman who usually sat with her legs crossed, smoking, revealed an elegant and serene smile during her acting demonstration.

There was a hint of shyness in her expression, like a docile little animal.