Chapter 204: Unleash Your Imagination
Welt's gaze swept over the approaching monsters. He gently tapped his cane on the ground, and a gravity field, like ripples in water, instantly spread out in a very short time.
The moment they were caught by the gravity field, the monsters, whose bodies were entwined with branches and silver leaves, seemed to step into a marshy predicament, as if invisible hands of gravity reached out and grabbed their bodies.
Welt Yang was very restrained when using his power.
Firstly, although these creatures looked strange, their strength wasn't worth his full effort.
Secondly, unless absolutely necessary or in urgent situations, he was accustomed to leaving the stage to the younger generation.
By applying a negative BUFF of gravity suppression to the enemies, he believed the youngsters could easily handle them.
And indeed, that was the case.
"Wow, monsters! Take this, old man's stick!"
Unaware of Welt Yang's intervention, Stelle's baseball bat, gleaming with blue and gold light, smashed directly into the monster's chest. The armor formed by branches cracked like a spiderweb.
"I can't believe we're fighting as soon as we landed."
March 7th drew her bowstring, an arrow radiating cold air nocked onto her longbow.
From turning high-speed moving targets into low-speed moving targets.
Little March transformed into a sharpshooter, her Six-Phase Ice arrows accurately striking the heads of the Mara-struck soldiers.
"A'Qi, that's a cool shot! My turn."
Caelus threw down his yo-yo, joined his index and middle fingers of his left hand horizontally in front of him, and lifted the faintly blue-glowing string.
The yo-yo, surrounded by an azure gleam, bounced after hitting the ground. Caelus stepped forward with his left foot, stepping on the string, thus making a bowstring.
He loosely gripped the yo-yo with his right hand, placed the ball on the stretched vertical string, pulled the ball back, and aimed.
"Go!"
Releasing the string, the yo-yo immediately transformed into a swiftly flying arrow. A sharp whooshing sound pierced the air, and the azure gleam condensed into a sharp projectile.
It shattered the hard face-armor, causing the flesh, made of what was hard to say, to dent inward.
"OvO?"
March 7th's eyes became wide and narrow, unable to comprehend Caelus's move.
"No way, can a yo-yo be used like that? I think Miss Herta really lost out giving you this Curio for free."
"Exactly!"
Caelus made a gesture that March 7th found utterly baffling.
He tilted his head, as if a good idea struck him, then suddenly straightened his neck with a jolt.
March 7th: "???"
The question marks multiplied.
"I just wonder when I'll be able to make the yo-yo string wrap around a planet once."
Previously, due to a time-flow BUG compensation in the Honkai world system, three equipment "re-regularization" cards were issued. Silver Wing used one for the Jizo Mitama.
Caelus used one for his Curio yo-yo.
Perhaps due to the yo-yo's special nature as a Curio, or something that happened during the re-regularization process.
The Curio yo-yo was bound to Caelus to some extent. In mystical terms, it was a "spiritual treasure recognizing its master," meaning it wasn't only Caelus who could use it, but Caelus could infinitely extend the string with Path energy.
Theoretically, let alone wrapping around a planet, wrapping around a galaxy would be achievable.
But....
"Wrap around a planet, what kind of move is that?"
March 7th didn't understand, but it sounded somewhat shocking and confusing.
"Heh, you don't get it, do you? This is called imagination."
"Unleash your imagination, A'Qi."
Caelus's playful tone made March 7th unsure if he was joking or serious.
Knowing Stelle and Caelus's strength, Welt Yang didn't say much while they chatted and fought. His attention was mainly focused on Bronya.
Honestly, Welt Yang found Bronya's abilities and her attack methods a bit hard to understand.
Bronya held a plasma energy gun that Caelus had picked out from a gift from Miss Asta, a popular weapon from the Interastral Peace Corporation, stylish, cool, and quite powerful.
The price of being stylish was the lack of advanced biological information lock, i.e., bullet tracking.
So, this was a gun for a skilled marksman.
This Bronya from a parallel world was much weaker in firearms skill than the junior Welt Yang remembered, and therein lay the problem.
The bullets Bronya fired had an odd amount of power, which could be explained by enhanced and modified weaponry.
However, Welt Yang clearly saw the plasma projectile's trajectory was off, yet it oddly dealt damage, and its power was much higher than even those already odd bullets.
Welt Yang couldn't understand the principle behind this.
"This is the legendary 'human-body-tracing' marksmanship. Haven't you seen it, Mr. Welt?"
Bronya, sensing Welt Yang's puzzled gaze, turned back, a slight smile playing on her lips.
"Ah, this..." Welt Yang's expression was odd.
The marksmanship lived up to its name, but, are you serious?
"These monsters are really strange."
Stelle, swinging her bat with fierce momentum, noticed an anomaly: the monster whose head she had half-smashed was visibly recovering.
"What an abnormal regenerative ability."
"Is this what Dan Heng referred to as the 'Mara-struck' state?" Welt Yang also noticed the monsters' characteristic, his brow slightly furrowed.
"Average strength, somewhat disgusting mechanism."
With one swing of her bat, Stelle thoroughly smashed the monster's head, then pierced its heart with a flame spear, giving it a "warm" chest. Seeing that it recovered as before, Stelle nodded and gave her assessment.
These monsters' combat power wasn't high, but their recovery ability was ridiculously strong!
However, no one present was a simple character.
With Welt Yang's gravity field controlling them, Stelle, Caelus, March 7th, and Bronya quickly dealt with a dozen Mara-struck soldiers.
Caelus deliberately left one alive, bound it with his yo-yo string, poked and prodded it. He planned to conduct an experiment later.
The others returned to the severely wounded soldiers.
"Seele, how is his condition?" Welt Yang asked.
"His physical injuries have recovered, but it seems to have triggered other problems."
The navy-blue haired girl held a black and white lance. The Black Abyss White Flower touched the soldier's chest, and the black and white power of creation surged out.
Seele was currently controlling the body. White Seele, finding an anomaly halfway through treatment, was a bit at a loss. In her anxiety and panic, Seele simply took over herself.
"No... no... no! Kill me quickly!" the soldier shrieked, clutching his head.
After his dying body was healed by the Black Abyss White Flower's power of creation, it stimulated the Aeon of Abundance's power within the soldier, and his physical injuries rapidly healed.
However, his expression was clearly one of immense pain, as if he was slowly falling into hell, begging those around him to kill him before he completely succumbed.
Then, the newly grown flesh underwent grotesque mutations. Branches and leaves tore through his skin and grew from various parts of his body. This soldier seemed to regain some strength, as if in a final burst of vitality.
"This!"
The distinct features like branches and ginkgo leaves made Welt Yang's eyes narrow slightly, completely confirming the monster's identity as one of the Mara-struck mentioned by Dan Heng.
"What should we do, Uncle Yang?"
Seeing the soldier's mutation, even March 7th could guess that the monsters were probably transformed humans, especially this soldier in front of them.
Should they grant his request and kill him?
Dan Heng had compiled some information about the Xianzhou for everyone, but due to time constraints, the content was somewhat broad and didn't mention how to handle this situation.
Welt Yang's thoughts raced.
"Let me try."
Bronya's sudden remark drew everyone's attention.
Bronya's hand revealed a beautifully ornate black and red katana, which from its appearance, exuded an ominous aura.
Stelle was stunned. She had seen Caelus use this sword in the Simulated Universe. Was it Bronya who lent it to Caelus?
Considering their relationship, Stelle wasn't too surprised.
"This aura."
Welt Yang immediately frowned, involuntarily showing some surprise.
Although he hadn't had much contact with it, he had seen it in weapon arsenal data, coupled with the familiar Honkai energy fluctuations emanating from the blade.
"Could this sword be...!"
"The 12th Divine Key, Jizo Mitama." Bronya chuckled, providing the answer.
Caelus didn't have Honkai energy. Imaginary energy could, of course, also drive a Divine Key, but it was a matter of efficiency. However, for its first reveal, it was most appropriate for Bronya to bring out the Jizo Mitama.
Later, when Caelus used it, they could say Bronya lent it to him.
Moreover, Bronya had only just joined the Astral Express crew, so it was normal for her to have some unknown abilities up her sleeve.
The main factor was that in the Honkai Impact 3rd world, Silver Wing had interacted with Rin.
Welt Yang fell silent.
By universal rationality, it was quite reasonable for Bronya, as a transmigrator from a parallel Earth, to possess a Divine Key.
But how do you have two Divine Keys?
Those were limited weapons, only twelve of them in the entire world.
While Welt Yang was pondering, Bronya had already drawn the blade, flipped the Jizo Mitama, and touched its tip to the forehead of the mutated soldier.
The blade shimmered with light, crimson particles flowing out, invading the soldier's mind.
Through Rin's feedback, Bronya could perceive the vast and extremely negative memories within the soldier's mind.
Caelus and Dan Heng had discussed the Mara-struck state. Dan Heng only said it was a curse of Abundance, and he wasn't very clear, possibly related to accumulating memories.
Over long periods, only the most vivid and extreme negative emotions accumulate, and this suffering can trigger the Mara-struck state.
Using the Jizo Mitama to invade memories, Bronya linked with Rin, browsing the soldier's memories.
Innumerable fragments had few positive emotions; even good deeds were twisted into other negative situations in this person's eyes.
It was somewhat unsettling.
Bronya used the power of erosion to delete and seal all negative memories, just as Rin had once done to Yae Sakura in the Sakura Samsara.
"He really changed back!"
March 7th exclaimed, seeing the branches slowly retracting and the soldier returning to human form.
"He should be fine now."
Bronya walked towards the Mara-struck soldier Caelus had tied up: "Let me see how far Jizo Mitama can go."
The blade penetrated the Mara-struck soldier's arm, and the power of erosion spread throughout his body. Bronya frowned.
"Seele, come help me."
"Okay, Big Sister Bronya."
Seele walked over, activated the Black Abyss White Flower's power, suppressing the Abundance power with power of decay, and healing the human body with power of creation.
The flailing, restless Mara-struck soldier stopped struggling, and the plant branches and ginkgo leaves on his body slowly disappeared.
This scene was witnessed by the soldier who had been healed earlier and was now groggily opening his eyes.
"???"
"!!!"
The Mara-struck state, was it cured?
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