Time goes back to five minutes ago, in a high-rise building near Chiba Academy, a special existence appeared here.
She stood on the high platform, looking down at the academy filled with rich Honkai energy, her face calm.
It is special because of the ancient miko costume that is not quite suitable for this era.
A shoulder-baring shrine maiden costume, a black undershirt, and a shimenawa rope tied around the waist; underneath is a plaid skirt, white stockings, and wooden clogs.
This Miko costume is obviously not the style of today but rather seems to be a style that was circulated in a remote village hundreds of years ago.
If someone is willing to look through ancient books and do research, they might indeed discover that this shrine maiden is closely related to a place called Yae Village five hundred years ago.
In addition, there are long fox ears that are very eye-catching above her long pink hair.
Although this pair of fox ears looks very cute, it also proves that she is definitely not a human at this moment.
This is indeed the case, she is a ghost, a ghost from five hundred years ago.
The guardian of Yae Village, the last combat priestess of the Yae family, and... Yae Sakura, who was influenced by the Herrscher of Corruption in the past and turned into a pseudo-Herrscher.
Five hundred years ago, after she went berserk and was defeated by Kallen, she was sealed away in the Far East by her opponent and has never appeared in the world again.
However, as she has become a pseudo-Herrscher, her life span is extremely long. A mere five hundred years is not enough to wear away her life span.
And because of the Herrscher-level Honkai disaster that occurred in Nagazora City, the seal on her body also loosened.
This Miko, who had been silent for five hundred years, finally saw the light of day again.
Yae Sakura, who had just awakened, did not have a clear understanding of the world today, but she was still very familiar with the feeling of destruction.
Relying on instinct, she came to the vicinity of Chiba Academy. She could clearly recognize that she was near the existence that caused her seal to loosen.
She thought she should do something.
"I advise you not to meddle in other people's business."
A resentful voice sounded behind her.
Then, a huge, pitch-black fox appeared behind the girl.
She is Higokumaru, whose will now depends on Yae Sakura and the true form of the Herrscher of Corruption from the previous era.
Higokumaru warned:
"The one in that direction is a true Herrscher, and you are not in a position to interfere with it now."
"…"
The pink-haired girl did not respond but just looked in that direction silently.
"Why, is your sense of justice coming out? Don't forget, five hundred years ago, you were also a demon who killed countless people."
Higokumaru said sarcastically:
"Don't you remember how many people you killed in Yae Village?"
"I will not deny that fact, but they... those executioners, they deserved it, and I have never regretted it until now."
Yae Sakura said calmly.
She placed her hand on the spiritual sword Sakura Fubuki at her waist and once again looked seriously in the direction of Chiba Academy.
She has made her decision:
"…I'm going to defeat that Herrscher."
Just like Kallen saved her five hundred years ago, she should do something too.
"Hey, I don't want to die with you!"
Higokumaru objected fiercely.
Now, it and Yae Sakura are like grasshoppers in the same boat, living and dying together.
"Even if you have a lot of faith, what can you do? You are now at best just a pseudo-Herrscher, which is completely different from a real Herrscher..."
The difference in strength between a pseudo-Herrscher and a true Herrscher is simply heaven and earth.
Higokumaru sneered disdainfully:
"Besides, you can barely maintain your spiritual body now. You don't even have your own physical body. What can you use to fight the Herrscher?"
She, or rather they, who had just broken through the seal and returned to reality, were now quite weak.
Going to the genuine Herrscher now would be like throwing an egg against a rock, and would only lead to their own death.
"What you should do now is to hide in this city and wait until the Herrscher leaves here or is destroyed by other humans, then absorb the remaining Honkai energy in the city to restore your strength."
In order to survive, Higokumaru had to make a serious proposal.
With the genuine Herrscher here, they can't do much now. Even their desire to absorb Honkai energy will be disturbed and cannot be realized.
Here, it is better to avoid the sharp edge and be tolerant for the time being.
After things here are over, they can slowly absorb the Honkai energy to recover. At least, they can rebuild their complete body first.
Of course, Higokumaru does not have the right to control Yae Sakura's body now, so she can only give suggestions in this way.
——Now that Yae Sakura is no longer obsessed with hatred, Higokumaru has no way to directly influence any of her decisions.
"...There is one more way."
Yae Sakura's gaze fell on the street.
She saw a human running non-stop towards Chiba Academy.
"——That's the [Descending God]."
A spiritual advent is a way of requesting supernatural will to descend upon one's body.
This was a technique she had learned when she was a shrine maiden, asking the fox god to descend into her body.
To put it more commonly, it is "possession."
Of course, this trick never worked. After all, she later realized that there was no such thing as Lord Fox God in the world.
The so-called "Fox God" that Yae Village has always believed in is probably just a fox that has been infected by Honkai energy and mutated.
But at this moment, for her who is only a spirit left, she can indeed become a being that possesses others.
With a physical body as support, the power she can exert will be more complete.
"Although I don't know why that human appeared here... but do you want to rely on him? Do you think a normal person would agree to such a sudden thing?"
Higokumaru tried her best to stop her again.
She really wanted to live, not die here in vain.
Even if Yae Sakura really possessed that human's body and exerted stronger combat power, she would have absolutely no chance of winning against the real Herrscher!
Unfortunately, she had no way to change Yae Sakura's decision.
"…We have to give it a try."
Yae Sakura has made her decision.
Under the desperate gaze of Higokumaru, the cherry-colored girl jumped down from a high altitude, flew to the front of the human at an extremely fast speed, and intercepted him.
"Human, I have a favor to ask of you."
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