After Li Xuan blocked the Honkai Beast's attack, Yae Sakura behind him finally regained her senses.
The Honkai Energy within her began to flow rapidly. The Pseudo-Herrscher Core in her body continuously gushed out Honkai Energy, and the Spirit Blade: Sakura Blizzard, drawn from its scabbard, gleamed with a snow-white blade tinged with a bewitching pink.
Yae Sakura crouched low, her legs coiled like a leopard's before she launched herself towards the Honkai Beast. The creature seemed disoriented, its Honkai-corrupted mind unable to comprehend how a mere human could block the attack of a god!
Seizing the moment of the Honkai Beast's hesitation, Yae Sakura leaped high, defying gravity as she ascended the creature's massive arm.
Blade flashed, cherry hair danced.
The Honkai Beast's spear-like arm was severed in a single stroke, collapsing uselessly to the ground. Instead of blood, only ominous black Honkai Energy gushed from the wound. Yae Sakura stepped onto the Honkai Beast's shoulder and leaped onto the street outside. Despite the several-story drop, she landed as gracefully as a falling cherry blossom.
"Roar!" The Honkai Beast roared in fury. Rage blinded it to the human blocking its path, and it turned its attention to Yae Sakura, who stood on the ground behind it.
Li Xuan's Shield continuously regenerated, withstanding the Honkai Beast's attacks without shattering. This gave him confidence. With a flick of his wrist, a Rifled Flintlock materialized in his hand. He raised the gun and fired two shots at the Honkai Beast's head before charging forward.
The Honkai Beast, having just redirected its attention, was struck with a sharp pain in its head. It realized it had been injured again by a mere commoner. The Honkai Beast was nearly driven mad. Imagine a god being spat on twice by a beggar—it was simply unbearable. Consumed by fury, the Honkai Beast slammed its spear down with full force. The effect was devastating: the entire building collapsed in response, burying Li Xuan alive.
Yae Sakura, watching from behind the Honkai Beast, tightened her grip on the Spirit Blade: Sakura Blizzard. Her eyes narrowed into vertical slits, her cherry lips parted to reveal two fangs, and the surge of Honkai Energy within her began to rise to a level that threatened to reach Herrscher status.
Yae Sakura bent her knees, then leaped with tremendous force. The spot where she had jumped from immediately sank into the ground, leaving behind two craters riddled with cracks.
The Honkai Beast simultaneously sensed the suffocatingly terrifying surge of Honkai Energy behind it. Driven by its primal instincts, it roared and unleashed all its Honkai Energy, swinging its left-hand spear in a sweeping arc like a thousand troops charging into battle.
But no matter how powerful a Honkai Beast might be, it could never defeat a Herrscher, especially not Yae Sakura, who was now approaching the level of a Herrscher herself.
Unable to brace herself in mid-air, Yae Sakura defied the laws of physics by twisting her body at the last moment, narrowly dodging the Honkai Beast's attack. The rest was simple: with a swift, clean stroke, she cleaved the Honkai Beast's head in two, like a blade slicing through water.
Thus, this top-tier Honkai Beast was easily dispatched after only two brief clashes with Yae Sakura.
Yae Sakura showed no joy at her victory. Her expression remained as cold and impassive as an iceberg, and her beastial form slowly receded. A flicker of guilt flashed in her azure eyes.
She knew how fragile human bodies were, and that being crushed by a collapsing building offered no chance of survival. She bore some responsibility for this outcome.
Yae Sakura suddenly felt an urge to flee, just as she had five hundred years ago.
As she turned to leave, a hand suddenly emerged from the rubble of the collapsed building. A faint voice called out from beneath the debris, "I think I can still be saved."
Yae Sakura turned back, utterly bewildered.
Meanwhile, aboard the invisible aerial warship *Hyperion* hovering above Nagazora City, a girl in military uniform reported to the person before her, "Headmaster, two more Honkai Energy fluctuations have been detected south of Nagazora City. One of them appears to be a Herrscher-level fluctuation!"
The person turned around, revealing a fair, delicate face and beautiful silver hair under the lamplight. Her small frame was clad in a black and white nun's habit.
She said calmly, "Then I should go investigate."
She turned back, her gaze fixed on the golden cross leaning against the corner of the wall.