Honkai Impact 3rd: My Days as a Captain in Schicksal

Once his mind starts racing, Keng Huo's ideas flow like a raging Yellow River, and nothing can stop him except the headmaster's Judas...

Keng Huo's hand casually touched his pocket, and in the blink of an eye, several dark figures flew towards Yae Sakura.

Yae Sakura's pupils contracted, revealing for the first time a physical ability beyond human capabilities. Almost in a flash, Keng Huo didn't even see her draw her sword; he only saw the sparks of metal clashing in the air before his hidden weapon was knocked away.

“I was just about to say that a samurai shouldn’t rely on these insidious things…” Yae Sakura seemed to remember something and frowned as she said, “Look, they fly so slowly and their trajectories are fixed, they’re completely useless…”

"Eat my Metal Storm!" Keng Huo seemed to have gone mad, frantically throwing all sorts of projectiles at Yae Sakura, including not only darts but also many strange things, and even a test paper with the word "zero" written in bright red ink.

Yae Sakura frowned. The barrage of hidden weapons in front of her forced her to be cautious. Although their power wasn't great, their density was simply too much...

Yae Sakura finally drew her sword, the blade of which was tinged with an eerie red, like fresh blood. Keng Huo didn't have time to examine the sword closely, because he felt as if his mind was almost sucked away after just one glance.

Yae Sakura's hands, wielding swords, danced in the air like ribbons of silk. Her long sleeves, swirling with her arms, resembled a magnificent dance, with countless sparks flashing in mid-air accompanied by tinkling sounds.

Just then, a sudden change occurred. A large cloud of red smoke appeared unexpectedly around Yae Sakura, completely surrounding her. Caught off guard, Yae Sakura felt a burning sensation spreading through her respiratory tract and lungs, and even her eyes began to ache intensely.

Poison? A sudden sense of unease rose in Yae Sakura's heart, but the intense pain left her no time to think. She let out a scream, and the energy in her body surged like an explosion. With a sudden swing of her sword-wielding hand, a huge energy blade flew out of her hand, sweeping away the barrage of hidden weapons thrown by Keng Huo with unstoppable force, scattering them all.

Keng Huo, still shaken, looked at the enormous blade that shot straight into the sky. Seizing the opportunity, he fled like a weasel that had successfully stolen a chicken.

"Higokumaru!" The intense pain made Yae Sakura unable to concentrate. She subconsciously tried to rub her eyes, but this only brought on a more intense burning sensation and pain.

Almost simultaneously, the huge black shadow that had been left in Theresa's room suddenly sprang up, flew out of the room, and headed towards Yae Sakura.

But when it arrived, all that was left was Yae Sakura, who was covering her eyes and crying uncontrollably, coughing incessantly, and a mess of trash.

·

·

Keng Huo, who had fled, was still somewhat frightened as he played with a small, dark, round ball in his hand. Through a thin, hard membrane, he could vaguely see something liquid flowing inside.

It was made by Keng Huo using the special super hell volcano curry that Hagi and the others made at the last school festival, plus pure capsaicin from who-knows-where, and all sorts of strange and wonderful things, creating what he believed to be the only one of its kind in the world...

The Super Invincible Chili Bomb (literally) is a tiny device that, once broken, unleashes unparalleled diffusion force under immense pressure. The liquefied chili liquid inside, due to the high pressure, instantly vaporizes, turning into a deadly spicy mist.

"It's decided! To commemorate this great victory, from now on we'll call it 'The Chatterbox Buster'."

Chapter 83 My body is... the blade that slays demons!

Before long, the powerful self-healing ability of the pseudo-Herrscher allowed Yae Sakura to get rid of the terrible burning sensation, but she did not pursue, but stayed in place, sitting blankly, without moving.

After an unknown amount of time, she turned around blankly, raised her hand, and gently stroked the huge black shadow beside her.

"Hello Maru..."

"Ok?"

Am I... disliked?

"Obviously."

"..."

"I've said it before, in this hell, the only one who can stay with you... is me."

———————————————————————————————————

After confirming that the other party was not chasing him, Keng Huo breathed a sigh of relief, took out his personal data terminal to check the map, and this time he did not have any accidents, but arrived at the location of Theresa's communicator signal very smoothly.

As expected, there was only a lone communicator lying on the ground, transmitting a signal.

Keng Huo meticulously reconstructed the scene.

He deduced from the location reported by the transmitter on the "Oath of Judah" that Theresa lost her communicator while escaping from Chiba Academy, because there were very messy footprints at the scene, the hem of her skirt was torn by nails, and even long white hair.

Keng Huo looked with some concern in the direction Theresa had gone, pointing to the area he had just fled.

“Theresa…you really are in that woman’s hands…” Keng Huo murmured to himself, “But she’s just too strong…even breaking free of my Beast-Trapping Talisman only allowed me to escape from her clutches…to infiltrate and rescue her is practically an epic mission…”

With a thought racing through his mind, Keng Huo turned his head towards the direction of Chiyu Academy: "We have far too little information about that woman... In that case, let's go to the scene of the first battle, deduce her abilities from the battle traces, and then consider how to rescue her..."

"I just hope that short guy is still alive."

After saying that, he suddenly darted into the ruins and rushed towards the direction of Chiba Academy.

·

·

“Strange…” Keng Huo frowned, peering through his binoculars into the dim light of dusk to observe the interior of the academy, but the result was unexpected. “Where are the signs of battle? Something feels… very strange!”

Keng Huo had assumed that the battle between the S-rank Valkyrie and the pseudo-Herrscher would be earth-shattering, especially since Yae Sakura seemed to prefer head-on confrontations to trickery. He was certain that the commotion between the two would be deafening, leaving craters everywhere, and whether even half of Chiba Academy would survive was another matter entirely...

However, the Senba Academy in front of them was too quiet. Apart from the conspicuous "Oath of Judah" standing on the playground, there was no sign of a battle, which puzzled them greatly.

"Was the battle inside the teaching building?" Keng Huo looked at the clean playground with some unease. "If the battle really took place there, then this clean playground makes sense... So, Yae Sakura was born here? Was she a student?"

Recalling Yae Sakura's face, which was clearly much more mature than a young girl's, Keng Huo shook his head: "Maybe she's a teacher or something."

Keng Huo carefully jumped off the roof and crouched low as he sneaked into the interior of Qianyu Academy.

However, apart from the lush vegetation that had grown without human intervention, there was no sign of any living creatures or moving inanimate objects along the way.

Everything was quiet, as if the entire Chiba Academy had been frozen in a photograph.

"Speaking of which, I remember Kiana saying that they escaped from Chiba Academy... I didn't expect this academy to be so grand. Is Kiana really that rich?" Keng Huo nimbly jumped over the academy wall and landed silently on the ground.

As Keng Huo approached the Oath of Judah, he remained on high alert, constantly scanning his surroundings, but apart from that chilling sense of unease, he could not perceive anything else.

Finally, Keng Huo approached the "Oath of Judah" and gently stroked its patterns.

But the weapon did not answer Keng Huo. Keng Huo looked around but could not find any trace of the battle. The Oath of Judah remained folded up, standing on the ground like an art sculpture.

Keng Huo crouched down and touched the dark red bloodstains on the ground with his finger. The blood, which stretched all the way out of the school, had congealed but hadn't dried up. Next to the bloodstains were the heavy footprints on the ground. As if remembering something, Keng Huo slowly raised his head and saw a broken window on the third floor directly above him.

"The battle took place inside the building, and they escaped through a window...?" Keng Huo pieced together various clues in his mind, reconstructing the scene of the battle. "I was already injured at the time, seriously injured, to the point that it would affect my combat ability, so I had to temporarily flee to avoid the battle..."

"Let's go in and take a look..." Keng Huo made up his mind and carefully approached the teaching building.

Inside the teaching building, however, there was a deathly silence. Overturned desks and chairs, broken door frames, shattered windows, and classroom signs hanging limply...

But only one thing disappeared.

"Where are the bodies..." Keng Huo felt more and more that something he couldn't understand had happened at the school. "So chaotic, so much blood, but... where are the bodies? It's only been a few months, enough time for a body to naturally decompose?"

"Or..." Keng Huo's words stopped abruptly halfway through, because the scene before him no longer required him to make any further deductions.

The entire third-floor corridor of Chiyu Academy was piled with corpses, making it impossible to even step inside.

The dried-up, broken-in-two, naked, and strangely shaped corpses looked like a scene from hell at first glance.

Keng Huo carefully chose his landing spot and headed towards the classroom where he had previously deduced the battle had taken place.

Keng Huo's confusion was growing exponentially. There were just too many suspicious points in the whole thing... If Theresa really fought with Yae Sakura here, then why are there no traces of sharp weapons slashing here?

Moreover, the vegetation in this academy... is far too lush... Could it be that the first battle wasn't fought here? Keng Huo felt that he had overlooked a very important clue, which was why his reasoning had stalled.

When Keng Huo slowly pushed open the relatively intact door of the classroom, he finally discovered why all the corpses in the school were concentrated on the third floor.

A huge red flower bud was wriggling slightly on the floor in the center of the classroom. Dozens of tentacle-like vines extended from its roots, deeply embedded in dozens of corpses, seemingly absorbing nutrients.

Seemingly sensing someone's entry, one of the corpses slightly opened its eyes and weakly cried out for help to Keng Huo: "Help..."

"Don't be afraid! I'll go right now..." Keng Huo was terrified. He hurriedly drew his knife and ran towards the girl who had cried for help.

"I'll blast your face until it's all chrysanthemums bloom!" Just as Keng Huo was about to run to the girl's side and cut off the vines embedded in her body, he suddenly twisted his body and made a sharp ninety-degree turn without any hesitation, running straight towards the window with a large hole in it.

The girl, who looked extremely weak, paused for a moment, seemingly unable to comprehend the meaning behind the other person's smooth and effortless actions. However, the round, strangely familiar object that had fallen in front of her forced her to stop thinking and prioritize her own safety.

The moment Keng Huo leaped out of the window, he reached out and grabbed the windowsill. His body quickly drew a semi-circle in the air, leaping towards the window of another classroom diagonally below. He then used the windowsill as leverage to jump again, grabbing the drainpipe next to him and sliding down to the ground like a zipper.

"Boom—" Only then did the high-explosive grenade that Keng Huo had left in the classroom explode. Surging flames darted out of the window like the forked tongue of a viper, then retreated in a flash.

"Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!" An ear-piercing scream came from the teaching building. The sound was so loud that it shattered the few remaining intact windows in the building. Keng Huo drew his sword and focused his mind, fully on guard against the opponent's attack.

"You...I'm going to kill you!!" A large shadow suddenly burst out from the gap in the classroom. Keng Huo could barely make out the other party's appearance by the moonlight. Sure enough, the large shadow was made up of countless tentacled vines, and wrapped in layers of vines at the center...the girl who had just cried for help. "Why didn't you save me! Why!"

The girl let out a fierce scream, her eyes glowing crimson like traffic lights in the night. Her clothes were tattered and bore obvious burn marks, clearly indicating that although the high-explosive grenade had not caused her any real harm, it had at least threatened her.

"A high-explosive grenade can create a threat that forces them to defend..." Keng Huo pushed up his glasses, which were about to slip down. "So it seems you're not that strong after all."

"You bastard! Why!" The girl entangled by the vines seemed to have gone mad. Countless vines coiled around her lower body, wrapping it tightly, and rushed towards Keng Huo like a giant snake.

Keng Huo suddenly flipped to the left, dodging the opponent's attack, and casually slashed the snake-like body made of vines with his long sword: "Are you an idiot? How long has it been since the Honkai outbreak? Is there still anyone alive at this time? Is this trap an insult to me or to yourself?"

"Die!! Die!!" The girl seemed to have lost her mind. After her first attack failed, she suddenly pressed her hands to the ground. As if injected with something strange, the earth around her suddenly began to writhe wildly, and thick vines broke through the soil, lashing out at Keng Huo as if they were alive.

"Can we talk this out properly instead of resorting to violence right away?" Keng Huo rebuked the other party righteously, seemingly forgetting that he had just thrown something in the other party's face. "It's not good to start with fighting and killing. How about we play a tense and exciting game of Gwent to ease the tension?"

"Why didn't you come to save me! You selfish bastards are all the same! You all deserve to die!" the girl screamed. With her scream, the thick vines extending from the ground seemed to be injected with adrenaline, no longer whipping, but instead pointing their vine heads at Keng Huo, thrusting straight at him like spears. "It's precisely because this world is full of people like you... that I was chosen! To eliminate you pests!!"

Keng Huo's eyes sharpened, and his figure suddenly became elusive, moving left and right, making it impossible to predict his movements. The attacks of the thick vines all missed their mark and burrowed into the ground.

Although Keng Huo still had the mind to talk nonsense, his heart was actually in turmoil.

He finally understood the truth behind those points that he had been unable to explain all along...

The truth is... there are currently two pseudo-Herrschers in Changkong City!

“Yae Sakura…isn’t she a pseudo-Herrscher? Impossible, she must be a pseudo-Herrscher…but what is this thing in front of me? A vine monster that has become a spirit? Didn’t they say that it’s forbidden after the founding of the country…oh right, this isn’t Shenzhou…” Keng Huo had nowhere to hide under the seemingly omnipresent attacks of the opponent. He swung his sword, making the area around his body impenetrable, and cut off countless tiny vines that came from the dark corners.

"But why are there two pseudo-Herrschers? This doesn't conform to the efficiency principle..." An impossible thought suddenly flashed through Keng Huo's mind, "Could it be... impossible! That's too far-fetched!"

"Could it be that only one pseudo-Herrscher was generated here, and the other one is... a later one? Someone who moved here?"

"Wait a minute! Now that I think about it, it does make sense! Yae Sakura said she hadn't spoken for five hundred years... Holy crap? Isn't that five hundred years an exaggeration? Or is it a real number?"

Suddenly, perhaps because of Keng Huo's distraction, a thick vine burst out from the soil beneath his feet. Although Keng Huo managed to dodge the first wave of attacks, he couldn't escape the subsequent lashes.

Keng Huo felt as if his internal organs had been ripped apart by the whip, and his entire body flew sideways.

"Fear! Scream! That's what you should be doing!" The pseudo-Herrscher, whose entire body was entangled in vines, seemed to be in a better mood after landing a blow. Standing on the vine platform that had been formed, he crossed his legs and sat down, the vines beneath him automatically weaving into a huge chair. "Kneel down, weeping and begging me to grant you a peaceful death! This is..."

"You sinners deserve the punishment you deserve!"

"Idiot..." Keng Huo's face turned ashen. After rolling twice on the ground to dissipate the force, he immediately ran behind cover, trying to shake off the relentless pursuit. "The opponent's defense is completely disproportionate to her attack power... Even a casual slash can damage her vines, but these vines seem to be very powerful... Moreover, they are plant-based abilities, so poison is quite possible... It's best not to get wounded by her..."