The Prelude of the Third Eruption

Kouro's sudden words left Mei dumbfounded.

Her mind was filled with Kouro's words now before her gaze unconsciously fell on the large guitar case he carried on his back.

After a moment she turned to Kouro again, her face completely flushed, her heart filled with hope and her eyes slightly sparkling.

"Is this— Is this the official confession?"

"Although I want to nod with a smile right now, but that's not it. Actually, the topic we're going to talk about is rather heavy. " Kouro said while turning his face away because he felt heavy after seeing Mei's expectant expression.

Mei's expression dimmed after hearing his words, but she quickly fixed her expression to normal after hearing Kouro's continued words.

"I can only say so far, if I say more, some people who are watching you might find it odd. "

Kouro seemed to look around as if he was wary of someone else eavesdropping on their conversation and then whispered to her.

"It's about the weirdness that's happening to you right now. I'm sure that you're hearing other people's voices in your mind or even your emotions are getting out of control... "

Mei's pupils instantly shrank to the size of the tip of a needle, her mouth opened as if to say something before closing again.

He seemed to stare at Mei earnestly and patted his chest while saying confidently.

"I promise you that if you are willing to trust me, then I will try my best to do something."

"... "

Mei looked at Kouro intently as if this was the first time she recognized him before putting on a thinking expression and then asking.

"In the beginning, when we practiced swordsmanship together for the first time, was the pressure you showed earlier related to this matter? Because of me?"

"...Right."

Kouro nodded after a moment's pause, he did not expect Mei still remembered that.

After all, several months had passed now and the flaws he had inadvertently pointed out had been completely rectified since then.

Kouro was prepared that Mei would question him as to why he approached her with ulterior motives.

Even at this moment, he was prepared to face Mei's anger.

But he was wrong, Kouro saw Mei bow her head.

"Thank you. "

"!?"

When Kouro was silent for a while due to Mei's completely unexpected reaction, Mei raised her head again then looked at Kouro with a happy smile.

"Thank you for being willing to bear so much pressure for me secretly. "

Mei's eyes looked full of earnestness and trust before continuing.

"Even though I don't know what's going on, I'm willing to trust you for now and the future, I always believe in you."

Hearing Mei's words touched Kouro so much that he took a deep breath and nodded.

...

Half an hour later, on the outskirts of Nagazora City.

Mei looked around her, other than the grassland and forest not far to her side, there was nothing special here that made her confused as to why Kouro had brought her here.

"If you wanted to bring me here, why did you take the detour earlier?"

"To avoid surveillance cameras, in case anyone asks questions later on. "

Kouro looked around before continuing, "I hope you never mention that you've been here and it's best not to say that you've gone outside the center of Nagazora City."

"Oh, I understand. " Mei nodded without investigating Kouro's words.

She also showed no nervous expression as he took her to the deserted and secluded suburbs, as she believed Kouro would not hurt her.

Kouro then asked her permission to touch her back and Mei quickly agreed with a shy expression.

Don't get wrong! She didn't agree to Kouro's request not because she wanted to feel Kouro's hands, okay!

"Maybe you will feel pain or maybe not, but trust me I will never hurt you."

After Kouro said that, he then extended his hand and pressed it against Mei's upper back.

What about the Valkyries who have artificial stigmata or even natural stigmata?

Kouro wasn't sure, but what he did know was that the system he had besides strengthening his physique. It was also able to strengthen the Honkai energy within his body while increasing his level of control over it.

The so-called Herrscher was an existence born in the disaster area at the time of the Honkai Eruption with Honkai energy concentrations reaching over a thousand HW.

Herrscher is not something that exists randomly but was handpicked by the 'Will of Honkai'.

Herrscher is an infected human who has high adaptability to Honkai.

The researchers speculate that the location of the eruption was not random. But because the area has humans with Herrscher characteristics, this increases the likelihood of Honkai eruptions.

In general, a human with Herrscher qualifications will first absorb the energy from the Honkai Eruption and form a Herrscher core inside the human body before turning into a true Herrscher.

However, Mei is a little different, she already has a Herrscher gem core inside her body.

Mei who is embedded with the [Gem of Conquest] has the possibility of awakening and turning into a Herrscher like a ticking time bomb.

When Mei turns into Herrscher, she will create an energy blast like a nuclear explosion that is enough to destroy everything she holds dear.

Kouro therefore wanted to try to make such probabilistic events controllable.

At least until the relevant organizations had to prepare before it happened.

If Mei knew how many people were killed by the Honkai Eruption she caused, how would she feel, desperate to the point of suicide?

Kouro intended to rely on the Honkai energy brought by his Honkai status that he had upgraded to try to stimulate the gem core inside Mei's body.

He basically wanted Mei to become Herrscher at the right time and place and then defeat her and restore her.

As for extracting the [Gem of Conquest] directly, it would cause internal damage to Mei.

At the same time, as a former gamer, the playable characters other than Valkyrie also had Herrscher, so he had no hatred towards them.

Starting the Third Eruption with your own hands, then ending it with your own hands also sounds really cool, right?

Due to the high level of control over his Honkai energy, some of the plans that were initially strange made sense.

As Kouro channeled his Honkai energy into Herrscher's gem core inside Mei's body, the atmosphere around them began to change.

As Herrscher's core began to activate, the concentration of Honkai energy around them increased significantly.

Although there were no other people in Kouro's chosen location, there was never a shortage of animals on the outskirts of the City.

In addition to humans who when infected with Honkai energy became 'Zombies', there were also infected animals that turned into 'Honkai Beasts'.

*BAM!*

In a forest not far from their location.

Huge trees that were more than 5 meters tall were knocked down by the impact of a huge creature, the force of the creature's impact was enough to crush a human body.

The creature rushed out of the forest to attack Kouro, it was a huge Honkai beast that measured over ten meters.

The huge tree was as small as the tree trunk at the Honkai Beast's feet which destroyed everything in its path.

The Honkai Beast was near and launched an attack on Kouro.

Not only one Honkai Beast, deeper in the forest, several other Honkai Beasts that were also large in size were faintly visible.

Their bodies were white as the main color, the Honkai Beasts rushed to their spots to the point that the ground shook as they moved.

"You are here."

The sight of a monster was enough to make an ordinary person despair and resign themselves to death.

Kouro smiled confidently and extended his hand to the large guitar case on his back.

*Swosh! *