Chapter 336: The Grieving Chika and Kaguya
"Alright!"
Hundreds of meters away, Yamauchi Sakura nodded. She locked her gaze on Asagiri through a pair of high precision binoculars and whispered softly,
"Life Link."
Yamauchi Sakura's exclusive ability, Life Link, had no distance requirement. As long as the target was within sight, it could be activated.
Because of that trait, even as a priest type professional with almost no combat ability, she could remain far from the battlefield, avoid being caught in the fighting, and always be ready to activate her exclusive ability for Asagiri.
"So now..."
After entering Life Link, a state that granted greatly increased recovery for ten seconds and prevented death, Asagiri wasted no time and directly launched an attack on the two remaining Blacklight Virus Infected.
"Playtime is over."
Seeing Asagiri, who had only his right arm left, actually charge toward them, the two Blacklight Virus Infected, both possessing intelligence close to that of humans, were stunned for a moment.
Then, they immediately counterattacked.
The black red whip lashed toward Asagiri's left chest, aiming straight for his heart, while the sharp blade swept toward his head.
Asagiri's golden eyes scanned the attacks coming from both Blacklight Virus Infected. To ordinary people, those attacks would have been impossible to react to. But to Asagiri, who had activated Human Asura Mode, they looked like an action movie slowed down to 0.75x speed.
Somewhat sluggish.
"Persona, Alice."
The moment Alice appeared, she activated her exclusive ability.
However, the two Blacklight Virus Infected were not affected in the slightest. This meant their mental strength had exceeded the current effective limit of Alice's exclusive ability.
Asagiri was not surprised by that.
With a thought, he dismissed Alice.
Then, facing the black whip flying toward his heart, he showed no intention of retreating or dodging. Instead, he met it head on.
The whip pierced through his back.
Blood burst forth, blooming into a red mist in the air.
The wide black blade grazed his face, leaving a crack across his dark gray Unpredictable Mask.
But...
"Got you."
Asagiri drove the black Rope Dart fiercely into the blade infected's eye socket.
Listening to its screams, he showed not the slightest mercy and forced the Rope Dart even deeper.
The infected's blade shaped arms flailed wildly. Asagiri only made the bare minimum movements to dodge, ensuring that his body would not suffer dismemberment or similar fatal structural damage.
As for the intense pain from being slashed, or the black whip piercing through his heart, he ignored all of it.
Silently, he drove the Rope Dart deeper with every ounce of strength he had.
When the blood mist mixed with smoke and dust finally dispersed, Sakurakawa Rikka, who had just recovered and revived her body, saw two Blacklight Virus Infected corpses lying on the ground.
The only ones left standing were the midrange infected whose hands had transformed into black whips, and Asagiri.
He had lost an arm.
A fist sized hole had been punched through his chest.
Several wounds deep enough to expose bone covered his body.
Half of his dark gray mask had shattered.
Looking at the last Blacklight Virus Infected, Asagiri did not summon his Persona.
This battle had exposed a weakness of Shadow, one he had already been aware of.
Alice and Hoder Franklin were not Personas suited for direct combat. Even Crazy Mita, the strongest and hardest to destroy among the Mitas, was still too easily destroyed in battles at this level.
Every time a Persona was destroyed, Asagiri's mental and physical strength would be consumed.
If Human Asura was the main attacker, that was fine. But once he activated Human Asura Mode, none of the Mitas could truly serve as a secondary main attacker.
That meant there was a gap in his combat formation.
But after today's battle ended, that weakness would disappear.
Walrider's attack power was inferior to Human Asura's, but its physical defense was superior. It also possessed flight and the ability to split its body into nano level particles. It was more flexible than Human Asura, specialized in combat, and could take on the role of a main attacker Persona.
"Three more seconds..."
Asagiri's vision had already become severely blurred.
Due to excessive blood loss and severe injuries, he should have died long ago, even in Human Asura Mode. However, because of Yamauchi Sakura's Life Link, his consciousness was being forcibly maintained.
"Use these last three seconds..."
Asagiri endured his battered body and stared intently at the Blacklight Virus Infected across from him.
"To kill you."
Just then, a deep red afterimage suddenly rushed over.
Yuuki Asuna, moving at high speed, saw Asagiri covered in blood, with a hole in his chest, gravely wounded, and missing an arm. For a brief instant, she froze.
Then her gaze locked onto the Blacklight Virus Infected standing there.
For the first time, strong, unconcealed killing intent appeared on that beautiful face, which usually carried a gentle smile.
"You bastard..."
Her voice trembled with anger.
"You actually dared to do this to him..."
"Flash Thrust!"
Yuuki Asuna activated her exclusive professional skill.
At that instant, her speed erupted to a terrifying, almost teleportation-like degree. With a single sword strike, she cut off the Blacklight Virus Infected's left arm.
She did not pause.
She gave the enemy no time to react.
Gritting her teeth, she activated another sword skill.
"Stardust Splash!"
Eight consecutive streaks of sword light flashed.
When Yuuki Asuna saw that the Blacklight Virus Infected's body had only gained eight more wounds and had not died outright, she showed no fear.
All that appeared in her mind was the sight of Asagiri's injuries.
Her anger and killing intent surged to their peak.
"Sword Skill..."
At that moment, Yuuki Asuna awakened a new sword skill.
It was completely different from the elegant Stardust Splash, the long range support Stinger, and the Flash Thrust that finished its attack before the enemy could even react.
The sword skill she wanted to unleash at this very moment contained only the purest killing intent.
The intent to utterly destroy the enemy.
To reduce them to dust.
"Space Killing Art!"
The moment Yuuki Asuna shouted the name of the sword skill, glass-like reflections suddenly refracted through the surrounding area.
Immediately after, those reflections transformed into sword slashes.
All of them struck the Blacklight Virus Infected's body at once.
There was no sound.
Not even the wind dared to move.
"Thump, thump... thump..."
The tall, burly body of the Blacklight Virus Infected split into hundreds of fragments.
There was no scream, only the dull sound of body parts falling to the ground.
[Sword Skill: Space Killing Art]
[Player Yuuki Asuna's original sword skill. A sword skill created by Player Yuuki Asuna in combat, containing the purest killing intent. Consumes a large amount of mental and physical strength to create hundreds of sword lights in the surrounding area, locking onto targets and slashing them according to Player Yuuki Asuna's will.]
After using Space Killing Art to kill the enemy, Yuuki Asuna did not even glance at the corpse.
She quickly ran to Asagiri's side, disregarding the blood staining his body, and reached out to support him. Tears welled in her eyes, and her voice trembled slightly.
"Does it... does it hurt a lot...?"
Asagiri glanced at Walrider floating in the air. After seeing that it had entered a motionless state, he replied with a smile.
"It's alright. It's kind of exhilarating."
Yuuki Asuna, who had been on the verge of crying, almost laughed despite herself when she heard his words.
She raised her other hand to wipe away her tears and said in a choked voice,
"Exhilarating what...?"
"Do you think I'm joking with you? It really is exhilarating."
Asagiri explained earnestly.
"When the human body is in extreme pain, the brain secretes dopamine, endorphins, adrenaline, and other substances to dull the sensation of pain. It's a kind of protective mechanism..."
Halfway through his explanation, Asagiri's pupils suddenly began to lose focus, and his voice grew weak.
Seeing this, Yuuki Asuna quickly helped him lie down, intending to wait for Asagiri to activate Sacrifice and heal all his injuries before continuing this absurd conversation.
But just as she helped Asagiri lie down, Fujiwara Chika, Kaguya Shinomiya, and Hayasaka Ai also rushed over.
When Kaguya Shinomiya and Fujiwara Chika saw Asagiri lying in Yuuki Asuna's arms, their pupils widened at the same time.
The expressions on their faces froze completely.
"U... Utsunomiya-san..."
Fujiwara Chika stepped closer.
Looking at Asagiri, whose eyes had lost their light and whose dark gray mask had shattered and fallen away, she gently touched his face with her fingertip.
Tears fell from her azure blue eyes onto Asagiri's long black trench coat.
"Why... why did this happen...?"
Her voice trembled with sorrow.
"If I had arrived a little earlier... if I had..."
Fujiwara Chika's tears kept falling, her voice carrying grief so deep it seemed to tear through her chest.
"I only just mustered up the courage to tell you... so why...?"
Seeing Fujiwara Chika and Kaguya Shinomiya silently weeping, and even Hayasaka Ai, who was not very familiar with Asagiri, showing a pained expression, Yuuki Asuna froze for a moment.
Then she remembered something.
These three did not know Asagiri's specific abilities.
Nor had they seen Asagiri use Sacrifice.
From Kaguya Shinomiya, Hayasaka Ai, and Fujiwara Chika's perspective, Asagiri had a huge hole in his chest, had lost an arm, and his long black trench coat was soaked in blood.
Coupled with Yuuki Asuna holding him in that position, the entire scene looked exactly like the death of a hero leaving the stage.
Just as Yuuki Asuna felt caught between laughter and tears and wanted to explain, a sinister laugh came from the distance.
"Is Shadow dead...?"
"Hmph. Good."
"His phone and yours, we'll be taking them."
.....
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