Free Web NovelChapter 261: Awakened Fu Hua: Persona Garuda!
"On another note, combat output aside... the physical disparity between the five-hundred-year-old Cognitive Fu Hua and the current Fu Hua is practically nonexistent..."
Bronya stared at the two martial artists clashing, quietly murmuring her observation.
"Is this the legendary ’growth rate’ of an immortal...?"
Fifty thousand years and not a single millimeter of character development. The thought flashed through Bronya’s mind, cementing a profound sense of awe regarding Fu Hua’s incredibly stagnant biology.
"Persona!!"
A white avian mask burning with pale blue flames danced in the air.
Answering Ren’s call, a colossal, terrifying figure materialized. Sporting a silver minotaur’s head that looked as if it were cast from molten iron, and a massive, pitch-black muscular physique, the Persona Asterius descended onto the battlefield.
The heavy chains wrapped around its arms rattled with a deafening metallic clatter as it flexed.
"Eeeeek?! A-A minotaur?! It’s so big! And it’s covered in chains!! Is this the legendary Ox-Head from the Underworld come to drag our souls away?!"
Staring at the towering, monstrous Persona Ren had summoned, the elegant, heroic demeanor Sushang had been radiating instantly evaporated. Her face drained of all color, turning a ghostly white. Even her perfectly straight sword fingers curled up in sheer terror. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Her crisp, lovely voice pitched upward into a frantic, trembling squeak, and her petite body began shivering uncontrollably.
Despite possessing terrifying martial strength capable of splitting mountains and parting seas, the fearless Li Sushang had one glaring weakness: she was utterly terrified of ghosts and the supernatural.
As an archaic girl from five centuries ago, she had never seen anything like the cognitive phenomenon of Personas. Seeing a colossal, chain-wielding, ox-headed monster manifest out of thin air, Sushang genuinely believed she had seen a demon.
She thought the literal Ox-Head from the Underworld had arrived to harvest souls.
As a mortal, even practicing the Edge of Taixu would only grant her a lifespan of a century or so. Yet she had somehow survived through forced hibernation all the way into the modern era—five hundred years later.
If the Ox-Head from the Underworld absolutely had to drag someone away from this battlefield, the overwhelmingly guilty Sushang felt there was no one more historically overdue for death than herself!
"Persona! Kurikara!"
A black mask spun through the air, shattering into crimson demonic lightning. The newly revived Persona Kurikara spread its massive dragon wings and descended, opening its jaws to unleash a deafening, sky-shaking roar.
Violent gales and the piercing shriek of thunder coiled around Mei. The Herrscher of Thunder, commanding her demonic dragon, was met with Sushang’s utterly jaw-dropped stare.
"Persona! I’m counting on you, my other self!"
Seele pressed the sapphire-blue Keys of the Void pistol against her temple. She chanted the summoning words with gentle yet unyielding resolve, pulling the trigger without a second of hesitation.
BANG.
An invisible bullet pierced through space, shattering the void like blue glass. The fragmented shards scattered behind Seele. Ethereal blue butterflies fluttered around her, but in the blink of an eye, they were dyed a sinister, bloody red, transforming into a swarm of frantic, chaotic crimson demon-butterflies.
CLINK... RATTLE...
The chilling sound of shifting chains echoed. Dressed in a black lotus dress, with blood-red eyes and raven hair, the Persona Veliona emerged from the swarm of crimson butterflies.
Dragging her massive, chained scythe-claws behind her, she immediately charged into the fray.
"Allow Rita to join the festivities as well... Persona!"
Watching the Phantom Thieves summon their Personas one after another, Rita’s lips curled into a thoroughly amused smile. She expertly twirled her massive, silver-blue scythe, spinning it like a cold crescent moon.
Crescent particles surged from her Argent Knight armor, and the spectral, silver-blue knight—Argent Knight: Artemis—manifested from the void behind her like a phantom.
RUMBLE...
Persona Asterius swung its massive fist. A shadow so huge it blotted out the sun came crashing down. Faced with a terrifying kinetic pressure that felt as though it could grind the very space itself to dust, Cognitive Fu Hua, driven entirely by instinct, chose not to block.
Relying on her small, incredibly agile frame, she leaped high into the air, her feet kicking off the massive minotaur’s thick arms as she sprinted up its limb.
Hellfire erupted from the minotaur’s pitch-black body. The scorching crimson flames coating Asterius surged outward like a tidal wave, trying to engulf the martial artist running up its arm.
But Cognitive Fu Hua moved with terrifying precognition. The exact millisecond Asterius’s body temperature spiked, she launched herself into the sky, completely dodging the devastating wave of hellfire.
CRACK-BOOM!
Deep violet lightning rained down from the heavens like a violent storm, brutally striking Cognitive Fu Hua mid-air and slamming her straight down into the earth.
It wasn’t until after the lightning struck that the deafening boom of the crimson demon dragon’s thunderous roar finally echoed. Persona Kurikara flashed across the sky above.
Cognitive Fu Hua crashed into the dirt, carving out a massive crater.
The absolute instant she stabilized her footing at the bottom of the pit, extreme frost instantly crawled up from the ground. In a matter of seconds, it condensed into thick, heavy ice shackles around her slender legs, seamlessly freezing her to the earth.
SWISH!
The sharp hum of chains tearing through the air rang out. A pair of crimson, scythe-like claws shot out from Cognitive Fu Hua’s blind spot.
The chains lashed around her body, violently binding her, while the razor-sharp crimson claws clamped shut around her like living jaws, viciously crushing the trapped martial artist.
A cold, silver-blue arc of light—like the chilling gleam of moonlight—swept in silently. The bone-chilling frost from the strike reinforced the ice shackles Cognitive Fu Hua had nearly shattered through her violent struggling.
The Argent Knight phantom, wielding its massive silver-blue scythe, flashed past the martial artist like a streak of light. The razor-sharp blade tore through Cognitive Fu Hua’s robes and flesh, scattering hot blood across the frozen ground.
BZZT—PEW! PEW! PEW!
Pale blue and brilliant purple lights flared up like a dense constellation. Floating cannons constructed by the Herrscher of Reason’s authority, alongside a dense barrage of purple energy javelins manifested by Hare, rained down from the sky, relentlessly bombarding the crater.
The devastating, continuous explosions shook the entire mountain estate, reducing what little remained of the ruins to dust.
"W-What is all of this?! What is happening?! Why is everyone yelling about... about ’Purse-owner’?! And why are they summoning all these bizarre, terrifying demon beasts to help them fight?!"
Watching the overwhelmingly powerful Cognitive Fu Hua—who was a terrifying opponent in her own right—get completely mercilessly jumped and beaten down with zero chance to retaliate, Sushang’s brain completely short-circuited.
As an archaic girl from five centuries ago, she was painfully aware of how out of touch she was with the modern era. But seeing this? She felt her already smooth brain turning into absolute mush.
Sushang stood frozen, afraid to even move. She was terrified of accidentally attacking the "allied demon beasts," and equally terrified of getting caught in the crossfire of their bloodthirsty attacks.
Standing there feeling completely alienated from the battlefield, Sushang realized there were only two other people who hadn’t yelled "Purse-owner" and summoned bizarre, logic-defying monsters: Fu Hua and Kiana.
"Thank goodness... thank goodness Grandmaster Jingwei and Kiana are still normal! If I were the only one, I really wouldn’t know what to do!"
Sushang patted her chest in profound relief. Like a lost puppy finding its owner, she scurried over to Fu Hua and Kiana.
"So..." Sushang whispered, her tone laced with absolute bewilderment, deliberately keeping her voice low.
"What exactly are those ’Purse-owner’ demon beasts Young Master Zhou Ke and the others summoned? If I hadn’t seen them taking orders from Young Master Zhou Ke with my own eyes, I probably would’ve attacked those monsters before fighting my fake Grandmaster!!"
Seeing the Phantom Thieves continuously summon their Personas and launch coordinated strikes against Cognitive Fu Hua, Sushang finally realized the giant minotaur wasn’t the Underworld’s Ox-Head coming to drag her soul to hell.
Though she still didn’t dare stare too closely at the massive, chained beast, she finally worked up the courage to sneak a peek at the person who summoned it—Ren.
However, that single stolen glance caused Sushang to freeze completely.
She completely forgot she was talking to Kiana. She couldn’t even hear the deafening explosions ringing across the battlefield anymore.
Her brown eyes were locked onto Ren’s face. Without his white mask, his alluring, devilishly handsome features were fully exposed.
"Hey! Hey! Earth to Sushang! Hello?!"
Seeing Sushang staring at Ren with an utterly dazed, lovestruck expression, Kiana suddenly felt an intense wave of annoyance bubble up. She aggressively smacked Sushang’s shoulder several times, finally snapping the archaic girl out of her trance.
"A-Ah? Did you say something, Kiana?" Sushang jumped, her body twitching as if she had just woken up.
Under Kiana’s intense, judging glare, a faint blush crept onto Sushang’s cheeks. Acting entirely out of guilt, she subtly wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand just in case she was drooling.
"I mean, I could tell Young Master Zhou Ke was extremely handsome even with the mask on, but I had no idea he was this breathtakingly gorgeous underneath it..."
"Those entities are not demon beasts. They are Joker and the others’ Personas," Fu Hua spoke up softly, cutting in before Kiana could reply. Her voice sounded almost like a solemn vow.
"They are a powerful force born from the will to rebel, manifested by those who dare to swing their fists at fate itself."
Fu Hua slowly raised her clenched fist to her forehead. A roaring fire seemed to ignite deep within her chest. "I cannot betray the trust Joker has placed in me. It is time... I must finally swing my own fist at my heavy, suffocating fate."
Kiana thought she saw the faint image of burning feathers ignite within Fu Hua’s eyes. But before she could double-check, Fu Hua closed her eyes, taking a deep, centering breath.
Her stance was relaxed and entirely natural, as if she had seamlessly merged with the world itself. Yet, simultaneously, she exuded an overwhelming, blinding presence—like a phoenix reborn from the ashes, radiating a terrifying heat from the inside out.
FWOOSH!
Flames abruptly erupted into the sky.
Enveloped in the surging inferno, Fu Hua’s figure began to rapidly transform. Her beautiful, gray hair was bleached into an ash-like, pristine white, save for the tips, which were dyed a deep, striking crimson.
Two locks of hair in front of her forehead ignited, flickering like twin, deep-red feathers of pure flame. Her slender, athletic body was clad in a luxurious, crimson-dominated cheongsam accented with gold.
The hem of her skirt trailed behind her like the elegant tail feathers of a peacock, swaying gracefully in the fiery updrafts.
"No way. Don’t tell me..."
Kiana swallowed hard. Feeling the intense, scorching wind blast against her face, she brushed her white hair out of her eyes. Her blue eyes took on a hollow, dead-inside stare—the look of a girl who had completely given up on thinking.
"Don’t tell me Grandmaster is also..."
Sushang’s face scrunched up. Realizing exactly what was happening, her brain completely checked out, mirroring Kiana’s dead-eyed stare perfectly.
"I will no longer effortlessly discard or flee from the past. I will forge it into power. I will rebel against this cruel fate, and strike with a blow that symbolizes my true will!"
Fu Hua’s eyes snapped open. Her crimson irises seemed to hold the brilliant glow of flickering stars. Her determined gaze was overflowing with absolute resolve. Illusory, crimson feathers silently drifted down around her.
Ren’s overwhelming strength and commanding charisma had thoroughly conquered Fu Hua. Deep down, she was incredibly soft-hearted. She fundamentally disliked thinking for herself and was historically accustomed to following others.
In the eyes of a survivor from the Previous Era, Ren was the absolute, undeniable savior. If she followed him, she might just witness him deliver a far more perfect answer to saving the world than Kevin ever could.
The unyielding support from Ren allowed Fu Hua to finally step out from the shadow of her cruel, fifty-thousand-year history. She had acquired the resolve to conquer her own inner demons.
Even her soul of rebellion, which had been thoroughly numbed by fifty millennia of endless tragedy, was ignited once more, burning brighter than ever before.
"Therefore... answer my will! Manifest your power... PERSONA!!!"
The majestic, terrifying form of her Active Honkai Reaction—the form she previously couldn’t control without losing her mind—was fully unleashed. But this time, her consciousness showed zero signs of going berserk. Instead, her mind was clearer and sharper than it had ever been.
Even her Blade Mantra—which had shattered five hundred years ago due to her grievous injuries—began showing signs of autonomously repairing and reforging itself, stimulated by the hyper-activation of the Garuda genes.
A resonant, crystalline cry pierced the heavens.
A monstrous tide of crimson flames erupted from Fu Hua’s back, rapidly condensing into the shape of a magnificent, gold-and-crimson divine bird.
The Persona Garuda spread its colossal, flaming wings, proudly declaring its existence to the world.
