Honkai Impact

in the courtyard.

"Father."

The middle-aged man glanced at the cherry blossom blizzard in Yaeji's hand and said, "When there are no monsters attacking, the cherry blossom blizzard must be enshrined in the shrine."

"Yes!"

"Also, the festival will proceed as scheduled tomorrow. Bring Sakura with you to participate."

Chapter Nine: Naïve

"Brother, what happened?"

Seeing that Yae Ji's expression was not good, Yae Sakura asked cautiously from the side.

"No, Sakura, you should go to bed early tonight. Father asked me to take you to the sacrificial ceremony tomorrow."

"A sacrificial ceremony?" Kneeling obediently on the floor, Yae Sakura frowned slightly. "But I heard that Daisuke-nii and Ryo-nee-san have already... you know... Shouldn't the offering to the gods be a pure woman?"

"I don't know either." Yae Ji shook his head. He didn't think Daisuke was lying. It was impossible for the village to determine another pure girl for the ritual in such a short time. The trick involved was probably with the old woman who checked whether 'Ryo' was a virgin.

On the other side, Yae Rin carefully stroked the back of Sakura Fubuki's blade, the entire spirit sword displayed on a wooden stand.

In Yae Rin's hands, this peerless beauty did not reveal its sharpness at all; instead, it brought out a faint cherry blossom light on the blade, making it even more gorgeous.

A barely perceptible hint of anticipation flickered in Rin's eyes as she gently gripped the hilt of the knife made of a special material.

It wasn't as cold as a blade, but it didn't react either. The disappointment in her eyes was easily concealed; Rin's small hand twitched, as if she wanted to forcefully lift the Sakura Fubuki from the sword rack.

Perhaps due to her extreme weakness, Sakura Fubuki remained completely still on the sword rack.

When Yae Ji noticed that Sakura's gaze kept glancing at Sakura Fubuki, he smiled and said, "Go ahead and try it if you want. I brought it here to show you."

Sakura's petite body trembled slightly, her knees twitched, but she quickly regained her composure: "Is it really okay to take the enshrined spirit sword out of the temple? Won't my brother be punished by Father?"

Recalling the scene of herself holding the Sakura Fubuki and unleashing 'Rondo', Yae Ji laughed and said, "If nothing unexpected happens, I will be the master of this generation of Sakura Fubuki. It's not a problem if I don't take the Sakura Fubuki out of the shrine during normal times."

Wow! Brother is amazing!

Just as Yae Ji raised her head to accept Sakura's praise, the little girl didn't even turn her head and ran straight towards Sakura Fubuki, who was emitting a pale cherry blossom light!

"Uh"

Yae Ji was speechless. He never expected that his younger sister, whom he had raised for so many years, would be kidnapped by a knife.

"Sister, try to pick it up." Rin's voice was full of anticipation.

"Ah."

The petite Sakura was also very excited. She assumed a less-than-perfect horse stance and gripped the hilt of the sword tightly with both of her small hands.

"Hey~"

The cherry blossom light on the Cherry Blossom Snow Blade intensified, and the blade trembled slightly.

"Sister, how do you feel? Don't you feel like you've become a powerful and outstanding priestess?"

Rin was overjoyed, while Yae Sakura replied with difficulty, "I feel it's so heavy, and, and, I don't think I can control it!"

Sitting some distance away, Yaeji raised an eyebrow and stood up, wanting to go forward and help her sister.

"Hey! Hey hey hey! I, I can't control it!"

Yae Sakura's childish voice even carried a hint of a sob, "It...it's carrying me away!"

Yae Sakura gripped Sakura Fubuki's wrist tightly, the cherry blossom light shining brightly, and the entire spirit sword trembled slightly, as if guiding Yae Sakura to do something.

Slash sideways with the knife!

"not good!"

Yae Ji immediately drew the sharpened katana from its sheath and instantly unleashed the sixth stage of the [Falling Cherry Blossom Slash].

Instantaneous movement!

The cherry blossom-colored blade light it generated collided with the blade wave emitted by the cherry blossom blizzard!

"Boom!—"

Having successfully countered Sakura Fubuki's 'Round Dance', Yae Ji herself was not faring well either. The katana in her hand was still humming softly, causing Yae Ji's hands to go numb from the shock.

Clang!

Fortunately, this attack successfully knocked Sakura Fubuki away from Yae Sakura's grasp.

Yaeji let out a long sigh and threw the katana to the ground.

Of the three siblings in the Yae family this generation, excluding the naturally weak Rin, Yae Sakura is the strongest in terms of swordsmanship talent. Yae Ji only managed to greatly increase his strength by relying on some strange and unusual things in his dreams, thus gaining Sakura Fubuki's recognition.

Unlike Sakura, when Yae Sakura first picked up the Sakura Blizzard, that spirit sword actually guided her to unleash the [Falling Cherry Blossom Slash]!

This is something that has never been heard of before!

However, given Yae Sakura's current physical condition, forcibly unleashing Sakura Blizzard would not only cause significant harm to the surrounding environment, but would also keep her bedridden for several days.

Yae Ji ran to Sakura's side, took her small hand which was red from the shock, and comforted her, "Does it hurt?"

Yae Sakura shook her head, but tears welled up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright, it's alright~" Yae Ji hugged Sakura and comforted her softly.

Seeing that Sakura's emotions were gradually stabilizing, Yae went to comfort the terrified Rin. Rin remained seated in the berth, with Sakura closest to her.

"Don't be afraid, your brother is here."

"Um"

Yaeji kissed Rin's forehead, gently helped her lie down, and then covered her with the blanket.

Sweet dreams.

Yaeji sent Sakura Fubuki back to the shrine where she was enshrined, and the two little girls no longer had any desire to see Sakura Fubuki.

Early the next morning.

Yae Ji put on a black coat over her clothes, while Yae Sakura wore the outfit of a candidate shrine maiden.

Yaeji kept the fox mask distributed at the shrine to one side, only putting it on completely when the festival officially began.

I glanced at my sister, who wasn't in much spirits. I couldn't tell if she was still upset about what happened yesterday or if she was feeling uneasy because of the oppressive atmosphere of the sacrificial ceremony.

He gently placed his hand on Sakura's slender shoulder and patted it lightly.

Sakura raised her head and looked at Yae Ji.

"elder brother?"

"After this is over, I will start training your physical fitness. Once your physical fitness catches up, you can try to control Cherry Blossom Blizzard."

"Really?" Sakura was excited at first, then lowered her head, looking dejected. "I can't control it at all. I'll never be as good as my brother."

"What are you thinking about, you silly girl?"

Just as Yae Ji was about to reach for Sakura's head, she remembered that today was the day to worship the gods. She couldn't let Sakura go to the ceremony with her hair all messed up, otherwise the older villagers would say that this generation of Yae was ill-mannered.

"You should know that compared to me, a man, Sakura Fubuki clearly prefers girls like Sakura."

"It has already recognized its elder brother as its master."

"How can a shrine maiden not be equipped with a spirit sword? Sakura is going to become a shrine maiden. I remember someone saying yesterday that they wanted to surpass me and become a shrine maiden who protects everyone?"

"I...I said it." Sakura's face flushed slightly, her shyness making her a little hesitant.

"That's right, from now on, brother will rely entirely on Sakura to protect him!"

"Yes!"

Yae Sakura couldn't help but place her two clenched little fists in front of her chest, seemingly to cheer herself up.

As for what Yaeji said, she didn't feel there was anything wrong with it at all.

A shrine maiden is destined to protect a region.

Chapter Ten Sacrifices

I don't know if it's because of the upcoming sacrificial ceremony, but the weather is quite gloomy today, with dark clouds gathering in the sky.

"It must be that the great Fox God sensed our sincerity!"

"After the successful sacrifice, the great fox god will surely bestow divine water!"

Yae Ji held Yae Sakura's small hand as the siblings walked past the villagers.

"Lord Ji!"

"Sakura-sama!"

Because it was a formal occasion, people used more formal titles and were not as casual as they would be on a normal day.

This was Sakura's first time attending a festival ceremony. Seeing the usually warm and friendly villagers become incredibly serious, she could only keep a straight face. In reality, she was very uncomfortable with this kind of occasion and even a little afraid. Her petite body shrank slightly, and even though her brother was holding her hand, the little girl still lagged behind by half a step so that she wouldn't be so noticeable.

The village's rituals were far less elaborate than those at the national level; people simply wore black clothes and fox masks. Yae Sakura, as a candidate shrine maiden, wore full shrine maiden attire.

On the altar, a little girl knelt with her head bowed and her two small hands tightly clasped together in front of her chest.

There were still a few drops of water on the floor.

First, the head priest of Yae Shrine appeared, followed by an old woman with gray hair and a hunched back praising the fox god who protects the village.

The process was simple; Yaeji silently put on the fox mask.

Through the slit in the mask, the field of vision was extremely limited, as if the whole world was distorted before one's eyes.

The area around the altar fell completely silent. The girl kneeling on the ground trembled slightly, and more and more water dripped from the ground. Yaeji seemed to have thought of something, and wearing a fox mask, she scanned the villagers.

Daisuke didn't come!

He may still be imprisoned in the village warehouse.