Neko Charm
Kiana who saw all this could only ask in confusion.
"What's really happening? Why is Himeko attacking us?
"I have no idea! I don't know why she would do that!" Mei answered frantically.
"This situation is very similar to when a Herrscher transforms." Ayame added.
'Himeko' just stood still, staring at them with empty eyes before her sword was again enveloped by an enormously hot flame and slashing at then horizontally.
*Swish*
The flame strike was so wide that it filled the entirety of the cavern.
"Get down!" Kouro shouted a warning.
Hearing Kouro's warning, they spontaneously lowered themselves.
Kouro also lowered himself with much force that the ground he was standing at cracked. Unconcerned about the pain from the earlier attack, he felt the blazing heat above his head and even could smell the scorch.
Kouro paid this no heed as he lifted his head slightly. He saw the surrounding walls had melted into lava and some flame remnants remain on the walls.
Kouro observed 'Himeko', her empty eyes, to be more precise. He could feel the sad and painful emotions from those eyes, even though Himeko looked like she was being controlled, her consciousness is still there.
He gritted his teeth as he knew that the longer he wait for time to pass, the faster the Honkai energy would invade Himeko's body, and in turn would make it stronger and more impossible to resolve.
In the game, you only needed to defeat Himeko, but Kouro knows that is unlikely to solve this problem. Because this world is not a game, it's reality!
If he and the others ended up having no choice but to defeat Himeko, there was a very high chance that she would be seriously injured, or worse, die!
'What should I do to stimulate Himeko?'
'Himeko' lifted her greatsword high again before it was shrouded in a blue aura and pierced it to ground hard.
(PR: How about 'I' pierce you with my 'sword' instead?)
*BAMM*
Suddenly, the whole ground froze and sharp icicles started coming out of the ground.
"KYA!" 3x
Mei, Kiana and Ayame got hit by the icicles and received scratches all over their bodies, luckily before they get injured more, Bronya activated her energy shield to protect them.
"Kouro!!" 4x
The girls inside the shield briefly sighed before seemingly realizing something and screamed loudly.
In front of them, they could see Kouro standing straight with his back facing them as if protecting them from the attack, and that is indeed true because in front of Kouro were several large spiky ices which is now cut into several pieces.
Even so, it resulted in his body getting covered in deep scratches due to focusing of defending them, there was even a slight trickle of blood dripping from his wounds before freezing from the extreme cold.
It could also be seen that this cold is no ordinary cold, Kouro noticed that even his body is slowly being covered in a thin layer of cold ice.
He stared at his completely frozen katana on the ground briefly, before setting his focus back to 'Himeko', or rather the Xuanyuan Sword in her hands.
As if determined, Kouro closed his eyes and took a deep breath, ignoring the cold that may possibly freeze his lungs, and exhaled. He opened his eyes slowly, his purple eyes glowing brightly.
"Himeko… I will save you. No matter what."
He glanced at his status on more time before putting all of his focus on 'Himeko' again.
[HP: 21,090/22,000]
[SP: 1,000/1,376]
Kouro gave his orders to Kiana and the other 3 without looking back before dashing towards 'Himeko'.
Seeing his actions, the greatsword 'Himeko' was holding gained a blazing red aura and let out smoldering flames before slashing diagonally.
Kouro countered and slashed at 'Himeko' while activating [Alloy Boomerang]. A katana shrouded in a gust of wind and a greatsword shrouded in blazing flames met.
*Ting!*
Their eyes met, but only for a moment. 'Himeko' saw a boundless terrifying darkness inside Kouro's glowing purple eyes.
*Crack!*
Kouro's katana finally broke from the pressure and melted from the heat because it couldn't stand the sudden change in temperature.
After the katana broke, the flaming sword didn't stop and continued descending on Kouro, he could feel his body burning from the sheer heat and when the greatsword is close enough, a whip wrapped around Kouro and pulled him back.
*BAMM!*
The impact of the attack made the stalactites from the ceiling fall… wait, fall?
A few seconds earlier, a certain distance away, Bronya could be seen firing her missiles on the ceiling just before the flaming sword got close to Kouro.
Seeing their cue, Kiana and Mei ran towards 'Himeko'.
With the falling spikes they are able to outwit her a little, one of the spikes was about to hit her head, but then Mei was suddenly enveloped in purple lightning which enhanced her speed greatly.
The katana in her hands was also enveloped by a purple lightning as soon as the lightning appeared, it cut through the spikes and swiftly slashed at 'Himeko'.
*Swish*
'Himeko' didn't have enough time to add any element to her sword and could only parry away Mei's attack.
*Ting!*
*Ting!*
*Ting!*
'Himeko' is wholly focused on fending off Mei' attacks, but then she noticed Kiana approaching but ultimately ignored it, as Kiana's threat to her was low.
Not wasting the opportunity given to her by the great gods, no wait that would be the Honkai… Not wasting the great opportunity the great Kouro has bestowed upon her, Kiana jumped and flipped in the air before doing a dropkick.
(PR: The paragraph above is created by yours truly. I hope that made you amused.)
"℅Neko Charm]~!"
After Kiana's shout, a huge robotic cat paw suddenly appeared and kicked 'Himeko' from the side.
'Himeko' bounced off the wall and fainted, luckily, Kiana focused on the knockback effect and ignored the attack power so the result didn't hurt too much.
And in the last second before 'Himeko' was hit by the attack, Mei's eyes turned and focused on the Xuanyuan Sword in her hand.
Mei shocked 'Himeko's hands using her control over lightning at a very fast speed, causing 'Himeko' to slightly loosen her grip on the sword before she was finally kicked by the cat's paw.
Mei pointed her hand at the sword and gipped it tightly, shrouding it in purple lightning.
The sword vibrated in protest as if resisting, but ultimately fell silent.
In the distance Kouro, Bronya and Ayame approached the fainted Himeko on the wall, they saw a purple line on her neck indicating she was experiencing early Honkai Corruption.
Bronya examined Himeko first before saying, "Bronya can only pick up very weak vital readings from Major Himeko. Her body will not last for another 12 hours. Recommended immediate evacuation."
Hearing that, Kouro swiftly approached Himeko and touched the area by the neck and began absorbing the Honkai Energy.
"Mhn? What are you doing, Kouro?" Ayame inquired.
Kouro didn't answer. Bronya observed Kouro's actions for a while before she stepped aside.
[HP: 18,834/22,000]
[HP: 17,367/22,000]
Kouro's hands rapidly turned white and it stayed like that briefly before returning to normal.
[A Harmful substance has been detected]
[Skill 'Unknown' has activated}
[Buff: Cure Poison's effect is healing you]
Kouro didn't stopped absorbing the Honkai energy until the marks on Himeko's neck has completely disappeared, he even absorbed the stigmata energy that was damaged earlier.
After that, Kouro took out a health potion from his pocket and poured it in Himeko's mouth.
After drinking the potion. Himeko's complexion and breathing returned to normal, though she is still unconscious.
"Major Himeko's vital readings have stabilized." Bronya informed the others.
"Fyuuh!" Kouro wiped the sweat off his forehead, before falling.
"Kouro! Are you okay!" Ayame held onto Kouro who almost fell.
Kouro raised one of his hands to indicate that he was fine, he clenched his other hand behind his back to hide the fact that his hands were shaking violently from the pain.
[HP: 14,234/22,000]
He took out another health potion and drank it immediately.
[HP: 22,000/22,000]
Feeling the effect of the potion, Kouro stood straight and said to them, "Let's get out of here immediately, our mission here has been completed."
After saying that, Kouro carried Himeko on his back and approached Mei and Kiana.
Kiana was just about to speak before a communication interface suddenly appeared showing Theresa.
"[Bad news, Everyone!]"
"Aunt Theresa? What happened?" Kiana asked.
Theresa paid no heed to Kiana's (Auntie) call, she immediately said seriously.
"[The satellite has picked up a large contingent of Anti-Entropy in the seas above you.]"
"Anti-Entropy troops? "
"[I think they're going after the Xuanyuan Sword. Leave the Nine Realms immediately!]"
"[I'm leading reinforcements and and coming your way. TBA in 2 hours. Hang in there!]"
"Understood." 5x