Collapse, Kaslana's Way of Survival

Yaezakura bent down slightly.

"that's enough."

Iai──

Draw the knife!

The moment the sword in her hand was unsheathed, Yaezakura used her legs to rush towards Kaino at an extraordinary speed, without even leaving a trace.

Even as a shrine maiden, she had a natural talent for swordsmanship. Five hundred years of simply practicing in her spare time had honed her skills to perfection. And with her flesh eroded by the Scarlet Prison Maru, her sword strikes were incredibly fast. Even ten of Mei, equally accomplished in swordsmanship, would be unable to stop her.

But the climb of memory for five hundred years is by no means as good as the grinding of skills for thousands of years.

Kayno, who was taught everything by the Red Kite Immortal and practiced in person, and who had the power of the Ruler of Reason to cheat, would definitely go further than Yaesakura who trained alone, even if it was just in the field of swordsmanship.

Almost at the moment when Yaezakura drew her sword, with the help of Xuanyuan's sword-opening technique, Shunchen took shape instantly, and a sword like light and shadow directly swept across the large distance between the two of them.

jingle.

The long knife fell to the ground.

A thin sword mark stretched from Yae Sakura's right wrist upwards, reaching her smooth neck. Kaino's free left hand slapped her abdomen to prevent the opponent holding the long sword from falling directly on him.

Surprise and relief quickly alternated in her eyes, Yaesakura's face was dazed for a moment, and finally she sighed softly.

"You could have just killed me."

After a moment of silence, Yaezakura glanced at the sword against her neck and spoke softly.

She could feel that the other party deliberately restrained his strength at the last moment.

"You finally held back, didn't you?" After withdrawing Xuanyuan, Kainuo shrugged and said, "Besides, I saw everything you did just now. You fell out with the Herrscher of Corrosion because you mistakenly thought he was involving innocent people. It would be wrong for me to kill you."

Kaslana doesn't kill people easily.

Even if the other person is no longer a human being in the physiological sense.

"Besides, you want to confirm something, right? There's no grudge between us, and we even have some connection. There's no way I can prevent you from even realizing this obsession."

"Is that so?" After a moment of distraction, Yae Sakura looked at Kaino intently.

"You said you were from Kaslana, so... do you know Kallen?"

"I know." Kainuo nodded with mixed feelings. "Saint Kallen is a big celebrity to us."

"Is that so..." Her eyes flashed, and Yaezakura looked at Kainuo with anticipation.

"Karen, are you still alive?"

Although she had already expected this in her heart, Yaezakura still held on to a glimmer of unrealistic hope.

"In 1477, Saint Kallen was hanged in the small town of Klosten. However, at the same moment, countless Honkai beasts attacked the execution ground. Saint Kallen was killed by Honkai beasts while trying to protect the civilians."

"execution ground……"

Yaesakura's eyes flickered, and her uninjured left fist clenched unconsciously.

"The textbook states that the reason is that the Saint stole important research results from the Destiny, but—" After a pause, Kainuo continued, "I once hacked into the Destiny database with a friend while tutoring my sister, so I know the hidden truth."

"Kallen openly declared in court that she had fallen in love with a Herrscher, and that is why she was sentenced to death."

Kaino sighed.

The fact that the Holy Maiden of Destiny openly declared her love for the Herrscher had a bad influence on the Valkyrie of Destiny, so it was normal for a certain blond bishop to hide it.

"So, you're being sentenced to death because of me, Kallen?"

Yaezakura's eyes dimmed slightly.

"Well, don't be too pessimistic." After a slight hesitation, Kaino patted Yae Sakura on the shoulder and continued, "It's possible that the Herrscher Kallen mentioned is Feiyumaru and not you?"

After being rebuked by this remark, Yae Sakura stared at Kainuo silently, and the sadness that had been brewing in her heart dissipated immediately.

"Come to think of it, is this all you need to confirm?"

Kaino then asked, "I know quite a lot of information."

"No, there's nothing else I want to know. I'm already satisfied just to know about Kallen at the end."

Yaesakura shook her head and smiled softly.

"As Higashimaru said, I'm ultimately just a village girl who's barely left my village. Now that Yae Village has been destroyed and my only friend from outside of town has died, my last remaining connection to this world has been severed."

Kaino fell silent.

Tilting her head slightly, Yae Sakura looked at Himekumaru, who had been silent and lying quietly in the cage since her defeat, and sighed slightly.

"I'm sorry, Higashimaru. In the end, I may have to break my promise to you."

"Hey, wait, wait, wait!"

Feiyukumaru's eyes widened.

"Yae Sakura, what do you want to do? I didn't give you control of the core to do whatever you want!"

"Yae Sakura!"

Kainuo:?

He suspected that he had just heard wrongly.

Ignoring Feiyumaru's hysterical roar, Yae Sakura lowered her eyes and raised her left hand. After a burst of light, a ruby-like core condensed in her hand.

"As a consciousness being drawn in, you probably won't be able to return to your body without its protection." Yae Sakura handed the core to Kaino and stared into his eyes.

"This is the final thank you gift I can give you."

Chapter 175 Xier's eyes became sharp

In Changkong City, in front of the dilapidated Yae Shrine.

The concentration of Honkai energy, which had surged for a moment, was now rapidly decreasing like the receding tide. Before Seele and Bella could fully enter a state of alert, the alarm device that was originally buzzing suddenly became silent as if it had been silenced.

Xier turned her head to look at Kainuo, and while she was alert, there was still a hint of surprise in her pupils that could not dissipate.

An ordinary person might just suspect that all this was a misjudgment of the alarm device, but as a holder of the natural stigmata, she could clearly feel the sudden increase in the concentration of Honkai energy.

There is no doubt that the collapse had definitely occurred at that moment.

Although she didn't know why the concentration of Honkai energy dropped again after just a moment of explosion and was even lower than before the explosion, it was enough to arouse her vigilance.

"Hey, what the hell just happened...Kaino?!"

Speaking of which, Xier saw Kainuo closing his eyes and holding his forehead with a look of pain on his face. After a moment of hesitation, she rushed forward and checked Kainuo's condition anxiously.

Kainuo, who was chatting and laughing with them and planning where to go for fun just a second ago, now clenched his teeth as if enduring great pain.

Seeing this, Xier became even more anxious.

"What's wrong with you? If you can hear me, reply quickly! You..."

"Hiss—don't worry, I just feel a little uncomfortable, I'm fine."

Keno stood up with Xier's support, shook his head, opened his eyes and looked listless.

First, after realizing that he was indeed fine, he relaxed and rubbed Xier's head twice to comfort her. Then, Kainuo turned his head and looked at Bella, who was holding the communicator in her hand and was about to contact Tianming urgently, and twitched his mouth.

Bella, you are a Honkai Beast, why is it that when something happens your first reaction is to look for help in a very human way?

"Bella, put down the communicator and don't contact headquarters for now... This collapse involves some things, so let's keep it a secret from headquarters for now."

"Ok, I see."

Bella obediently put down the communicator in her hand.

"Bella, wait a minute."

Waving a hand to signal Bella to stop, Xier shook her head to get rid of Kayno's hand and stared at Kayno with a scrutinizing look.

"Why did you suddenly look so uncomfortable just now? Explain this to me first, otherwise I will let Bella contact your aunt."

Xier, who had resorted to the ultimate move of reporting the matter to the parents, looked at Kainuo, who seemed to be fine, and puffed out her lips with a fierce look on her face.

"Of course, if you dare to say you're just playing a trick on us on a whim... well, I'm warning you, you'll face the consequences!"

"How about Xi'er, tell me what it is first...hiss, I was wrong. It hurts, it hurts, Xi'er, let go!"

"Humph."

With a cold snort and a glare at Kainuo, Xier withdrew her hand that was twisting the other's thigh.

"Okay, tell me what's going on."

"It's probably not enough to just tell me directly, so I'd better show it to you, Xi'er."

With a light sigh, Kainuo placed his right hand on his chest. When he took it away, there was a crystal red gem floating in the air.

"Xi'er, you haven't seen it before so you probably don't know what it is. Let me explain it to you."

Without waiting for Xier to continue asking questions, Kainuo spoke directly:

"The Herrscher Core of the Corrosion Herrscher is, in a sense, a product born from this destruction. Just now, for some reason, I was forced to merge with it, and it became what you see."

Having said that, Kainuo also sighed.

In order to return from the spiritual space created by the Ruler of Erosion, directly obtaining the opponent's power is definitely the most convenient and quickest way.

But when it excitedly integrated the core into its body, it suddenly discovered a big pit hidden in it.

Unlike Yae Sakura, who had voluntarily dissipated after letting go of her obsession, Higashimaru's consciousness nestled within and bombarded Kaino's mind with a relentless barrage. Trash talk, sassy behavior... he employed nearly every tactic imaginable to truly disgust Kaino.

And the facts have proved that although Keno can bully his fifty-year-old aunt Theresa and exploit his eight-year-old sister Kiana, he still can't tolerate a fox twisting and howling in front of him.

If it weren't for the fact that Feiyuwan was essentially still the consciousness in the core of the Herrscher of Corrosion and Kayno couldn't kill it, Kayno would have definitely killed it at that time.

Mental pollution is too terrible...

Fortunately, he reacted quickly and pulled out Yae Sakura, whom he knew in the spiritual world, to suppress Feiyuwan. Otherwise, he would probably still be lying dead in Xier's arms.

Sounds good?

cough.

"Well, okay, are you okay now?"

Nodding, Xier finally felt relieved.

She was really scared when Kaino, who had basically acted like he could do anything (except cooking) since they met, suddenly behaved like that.

"But speaking of which, Keno, how are you going to explain this collapse to Tianming?"

Xier asked curiously:

"I don't think you'll be able to hand over the Herrscher Core, but then how do you explain the destruction of Changkong City? There are satellites in the sky watching us."

"Although we haven't reported it to the Tianming headquarters yet, they should have known about the Houkai outbreak when the alarm sounded. Furthermore, the Houkai energy concentration in Changkong City is decreasing. Tianming and the others are definitely not stupid."

"Don't worry, I've already thought about this."

After rubbing Xier's head twice, Kainuo couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth when he saw her ashamed and angry look.

"There's no way to explain it to Tianming. We should just explain it to Bishop Tianming. There's no need to hide many things from him. And it just so happens that I have something I've been holding back for a long time and I want to tell him."

When Otto mentioned destiny, Keno's expression suddenly became gloomy.

Kayno really didn't believe that Otto had no influence behind the collapse of Changkong City, which was related to Kallen and the Herrscher of Corrosion.

"Okay, then I'll contact the Tianming headquarters right now and have them come pick us up. It's a shame for our plans to visit Changkong City—stop touching it!"

Noticing Bella's gaze, Xier's cheeks flushed. She once again pushed away Kaino's hand from her head and glared at him unhappily.

The more she faces someone she is familiar with and likes, the more shy she becomes. In this respect, she is very similar to Lan Xier, even worse than her.

"Okay then." Kainuo sighed and withdrew his hand with a look of regret.

Kayno casually threw the core of the Herrscher of Corrosion into the imaginary space and placed it together with the Gem of Desire, then waved to Seele and Bella.

"You two wait for the plane here. I'm going to go to Xiaozhi's place first. I met a friend during my three days in the Herrscher of Corrosion's spiritual world. I'll leave her there for now."

After all, this Yae Sakura was a fabricated figure, and in Otto's opinion, she might even have a vengeance for stealing his wife. Putting her directly in front of St. Freya would be too conspicuous, but putting her in front of Xiaozhi, who was far away from home, would be fine.

"Friend? Three days?" Xier raised an eyebrow and immediately became alert: "Male or female?"

She couldn't help but be alert. Since returning to this world, she had hardly seen any men around Keno.

Fortunately, the people around her are either related to her or have a couple, so forbidden love is almost impossible to exist, otherwise she would be annoyed to death every day.

Kaino tilted his head.