Tsukishiro Yanagi didn't pay much attention to him. After all, to allow Section Chief Miyabi to focus fully on her sword training, the majority of the Hollow Special Operations Section 6's meeting reports and other documents had already been handed over to her.
At this moment, Hoshimi Miyabi was staring intently at the light screen, her left hand—the one she usually used to grip her sword—trembling slightly.
"Section Chief Miyabi, can you really follow the movements of those two?"
Harumasa couldn't help but feel curious. When he watched Blade and Jingliu fight, it felt like immortals clashing—one moment battling from the ground to the sky, the next crashing back down from the heavens… Forget keeping up with their fight; most of the time he couldn't even clearly see the people.
Hoshimi Miyabi shook her head: "I can't see clearly, but I don't need to see every single movement completely. Swordsmanship mostly lies in the changes of the wrist and footwork. Just focus more on those two areas."
"Changes in the wrist… isn't that even harder?"
Hoshimi Miyabi suddenly pulled out a small camcorder: "I recorded the entire thing with this. I can slow it down 100 times to study it carefully."
——
[Blade's body was pierced through by Jingliu's single sword strike, plummeting straight down from high in the sky. His bones let out unbearable cracking sounds under the wind pressure, like a star that had burned itself out, ultimately smashing heavily into the ground.]
["Truly… a familiar feeling…"]
["…It's like going back to the first day you taught me swordsmanship."]
[Memories surged like blood, overlapping excruciating pain with the past. Back then, his chest had been run through by the Shard Sword, yet he had staggered up from the ground again and again, returning from death time after time.]
["You wielded the sword Yingxing forged for you… thrusting, slicing, piercing again and again, over and over…"]
["Those sword techniques that once fell upon enemies are now engraved upon this loathsome body, while I can only watch my own flesh twitch, heal, and restore itself… as if asking… 'Why? Why did you join Imbibitor Lunae in committing this sin?'"]
["I know you don't expect an answer from me, so I will ask the question instead. It's a question I've asked myself thousands upon thousands of times, yet one without an answer—"]
["Why… why is it only abominations that can rise again and again… why must someone like her be buried, burned to ashes, forgotten by everyone… why?!"]
[The past of the High-Cloud Quintet flashed vividly before his eyes, yet all of it was left behind—along with him and his sword—in that withered tomb by Jingliu's heart-piercing strike.]
[Only in the brief, dream-like moments of death did he not feel such pain… just like those days of raising cups and drinking heartily long ago.]
——
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
In the basement of the church, Hestia's cheeks puffed out in anger: "I think this is unfair too! Why do those malicious creations end up receiving more favor instead?"
"Perhaps this is the price one must pay for following the Hunt?"
Bell gently pressed down on the hand of his goddess, which was trembling with rage. The candlelight flickered in his eyes, making them alternately bright and dim: "If we didn't pay this price, the fate awaiting the Xianzhou could only have been even worse."
Recalling the early history of the Xianzhou that Jing Yuan had spoken of—if not for following the Reignbow Arbiter, the Xianzhou would likely have fallen into the abyss amid internal strife and external threats long ago.
"But Goddess-sama. Precisely because life is only once… the will passed down through the lives of predecessors like Baiheng and Caiyi is cherished so deeply by those who remain alive."
"Look—hasn't Miss Jingliu now taken up Baiheng's will and begun to fulfill the promise she made back then?"
——
["—Haa."]
[Blade suddenly opened his eyes, rolled over, and sat up. His chest heaved rapidly. After a long while, the cold, rigid muscles gradually regained vitality once more.]
[He looked down at the completely healed wound on his chest—even the scar was gone… Blade clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction with a "tch."]
[On the other side, Jingliu looked toward Dan Heng and asked about his plans going forward. Dan Heng simply replied calmly that he would return to the Express and continue traveling with March, Stelle, and the others.]
["The Express cannot carry you forever. Your friends each carry their own burdens, just like we once did."]
["Back when I fled the Luofu, I once thought of abandoning revenge and letting everything go. But as the years passed, it grew clearer and clearer, almost becoming an old friend who stayed by my side day and night, whispering constantly in my ear."]
["Everything I did while consumed by mara is now deeply rooted in my memories, impossible to escape. In the end, I chose to face it." Jingliu slowly turned away and sighed: "When I witness the fall of Abundance, perhaps both you and Yingxing will finally find true release. Farewell, Imbibitor Lunae."]
——
KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!
"Hey hey! Don't say such ominous things! The Express crew and the High-Cloud Quintet aren't the same at all!"
In the tavern, Megumin voiced her dissatisfaction loudly.
"How are they each carrying burdens? March 7th just wants to recover her past, that's all. Stelle… I don't really understand what she's thinking, but aside from rummaging through trash cans she definitely doesn't have any other thoughts! And! Dan Heng's past has already been successfully dealt with. Himeko-san and Mr. Welt don't seem like they have heavy burdens either, do they?"
"Uh… Megumin, adults tend to have far more worries than boys and girls. After all, the adult world is very complicated."
Yunyun, sitting nearby, tried to comfort her: "Still, I also think Miss Jingliu's words are a bit too absolute… The Express crew and the High-Cloud Quintet really can't be lumped together. If anything, the High-Cloud Quintet is more like 'legends burdened by fate,' while the Express is 'travelers writing their own future.'"
"Yeah, exactly! The relationships are completely different too! On the Express, Lady Himeko and Mr. Welt are like parental figures! The members of the crew are like family! Family and close friends… the difference is huge!"
——
[After bidding farewell to Yanqing and Jing Yuan, Dan Heng came before Blade. At this moment, his tone was filled with frustration and deep disappointment: "Even her sword couldn't do it. She still couldn't do it."]
[He turned back and looked coldly at Dan Heng: "Then, the two of us can only continue this chase. This is the price we must pay."]
[Dan Heng refused to back down: "…I'll keep you company to the very end."]
["In Elio's script, you still have a temporary need to live. And I don't mind dragging out this process of revenge for a very long time. That might make it more interesting."]
[With that, Blade left Scalegorge Waterscape. At the same time, Dan Heng received messages from the Astral Express family, all of them concerned about where he had gone.]
[Seeing all of this, Dan Heng felt a warm feeling in his heart.]
[Dan Heng: "I just met up with some old friends."]
[March 7th: "Phew, then we're relieved. Oh right, come back to the Express soon—Himeko-san said she brewed coffee for us!"]