Himeko looked at Yae Sakura, who had just spoken, with confusion.
"Someone who needs it? Theresa, did you make some kind of deal with her?"
Not understanding what Yae Sakura meant exactly, Himeko looked at Levi with a probing gaze.
"Do you remember why we came to Nagazora City?"
With that one sentence from Levi, Himeko instantly understood.
They had only come to Nagazora City for one reason, and that was to find the Stigmata she needed.
To eliminate the effects Honkai had on her body.
Looking at Yae Sakura, Himeko suddenly realized, her eyes revealing a trace of gratitude.
The Stigmata she needed was the kind that naturally appeared on a person. Only that kind could perfectly eliminate the effects of Honkai.
But that kind of Stigmata was extremely, extremely rare.
Even in gacha games, a one percent rate still often needs pity. Let alone the birth rate of a Stigmata, which is one in a million.
Even with pity, only one person in a million would be born with a primal Stigmata.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as pity when it comes to Stigmata.
Everyone has a one-in-a-million chance.
Either you have it, or you don't.
It was easy to imagine just how rare it was.
Every discovered holder of a primal Stigmata was usually recruited by Schicksal and became a core force against Honkai.
As for someone like Himeko, who didn't have a primal Stigmata, and wasn't like Theresa, who was half a Honkai beast from birth, she could only gain the power to fight Honkai through transplanting an artificial Stigmata from Schicksal.
But artificial Stigmata also came with a cost.
If primal Stigmata consumed the luck of your past lives, then artificial Stigmata consumed your lifespan in this life.
Under intense battles against Honkai, the average lifespan of Valkyries was very low.
Most Valkyries didn't even live long enough to see the side effects of artificial Stigmata before they had already turned into bones.
Himeko was considered lucky, being able to live long enough for the side effects to appear.
Noticing Himeko's gaze, Yae Sakura nodded politely.
Having some knowledge of medicine, she had already noticed the problems in Himeko's body when she first appeared.
As she got closer, she could even smell a faint trace of alcohol. She must have been drinking to ease the discomfort in her body, numbing her nerves.
"I haven't asked for your name yet."
Just like how Mobius would feel excited seeing someone willingly step onto the operating table, Himeko was extremely emotional right now.
Facing Himeko's question, Yae Sakura replied politely, "I am Yae Sakura, just an ordinary shrine maiden. I am not anyone important, so there is no need to use honorifics."
'An ordinary shrine maiden can live for hundreds of years?', Theresa complained internally.
At first, she didn't know Yae Sakura's background, but when that big fox appeared, she understood.
This person was the second pseudo-Herrscher Levi had mentioned.
She couldn't be a true Herrscher. Herrschers weren't this weak.
Just as Himeko was about to call Theresa and head back to St. Freya Academy to prepare for the Stigmata transplant surgery, Yae Sakura walked to her side, placed her hand on her back, and smiled slightly at her.
"Please make good use of my power."
"?"
No matter what Himeko was about to say, a pink light lit up from Yae Sakura's palm.
In just a few seconds, Yae Sakura turned into cherry blossoms and dissipated before everyone's eyes.
The only things left behind were probably the katana on the ground, and the sakura-shaped Stigmata on Himeko's back.
Feeling the slight warmth on her back, Himeko stood there blankly and reached out to touch the place where Yae Sakura had just pressed.
She turned to look at Theresa, her eyes seeming to say, "What just happened?"
"Exactly what you saw."
Levi picked up Yae Sakura's belongings and handed them to Himeko for safekeeping. She put them away, but her expression was still full of confusion.
Everything had been fine, so why did Yae Sakura suddenly disappear?
And those last words… why did they sound like last words…
She had never heard that transplanting a Stigmata required someone to die.
Levi shrugged. Transplanting a Stigmata didn't require death, especially for a pseudo-Herrscher like Yae Sakura, who would find it hard to die even if she wanted to.
But since she had lost Kallen, she simply didn't want to live anymore.
Noticing Himeko's increasingly complicated expression, the idea of someone sacrificing their life in exchange for her survival was something she found hard to accept.
"No need to worry, she really isn't dead." As if feeling his wording wasn't precise enough, Levi added, "Not completely dead yet."
That sounded a bit like something a villain would say.
"Half-dead?"
Levi pinched his chin. "It would be more accurate to say, the body is dead, but the soul remains."
"No need to say anything more, Theresa."
Looking at the katana in her hand, Himeko's eyes became firm. "I will inherit her will and fight Honkai until the very last moment!"
Levi tilted his head.
She thought he was comforting her?
Ridiculous. Levi never lies to comfort people.
But he didn't plan to say anything more. He would just let Himeko keep misunderstanding. As long as it didn't cause any psychological issues, it was fine.
He lightly jumped onto the aircraft and glanced back at Himeko, who was still immersed in her emotions.
"Oh right, don't sleep too deeply at night from now on. Be careful you don't suddenly wake up in the middle of a pile of Honkai beasts and can't react in time."
Himeko didn't understand what he meant, and Levi had no intention of explaining.
Although he didn't know what would happen to the body outside if someone died inside the Stigmata space, it was better not to die if possible.
He glanced at Himeko's back. "Since she gave her things to you, I'll leave what comes next to you."
Leave it to her?
Himeko looked at the sword in her hand, and Levi also glanced at it. "You don't need to deal with this thing."
'You don't have the ability to deal with it anyway.'
If Himeko dared to take this thing to Otto, she'd probably be sent to Siberia on a mission the very next day.
Better to let Theresa handle it.
Himeko just needed to deal with matters inside the Stigmata space.
Let's see if she, an experienced Valkyrie, could solve the problems in the Stigmata space on her own.
If she really couldn't…
There were still Kiana and the other two in the protagonist team.
At worst, he could join in too. There was no way they couldn't handle a mere Stigmata space.
How many Herrschers could there even be inside a Stigmata space?
Could it really leave the protagonist team helpless?
———
[Ding! Mission complete!]
Sitting down on the aircraft, Levi heard the system's voice in his ear.
At the same time, his vision shifted backward. The surrounding scenery rapidly shrank into a single white dot before disappearing.
Levi blinked, and colors returned to his sight, but he was no longer on the aircraft.
Instead, he was in a corner of the Luofu.
"Gh… ghost!"
As he rubbed his head, a scream came from behind him.
Turning around, he saw a man and woman running away at full speed, their eyes filled with fear.
"How dramatic."
To avoid any trouble, Levi quickly left the area, planning to find somewhere else to check what rewards this mission had given him.
"I'm not asking for much, just give me Judas so I can show its power!"
But that was too idealistic. As a Divine Key made from a Herrscher core, its drop rate was obviously extremely low.
If Judas really dropped in one go, Levi would seriously set up a memorial tablet for the system at home.
Offer three sticks of incense every morning, noon, and night.
And worship it like an ancestor.
Not long after Levi left, several Cloud Knights, fully armed, arrived at the scene.
They conducted a thorough search of the empty area.
On the aircraft, Himeko looked at Theresa, who had her head drooping and was about to fall asleep, and also prepared to close her eyes to rest, calming her current emotions.
Just as she was about to close her eyes, she saw Theresa suddenly raise her head.
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