"H-Honkai Spike within his body!? How's that happening!?" Asked Mei, who now began to notice the red, vine like markings of a Honkai Infection beginning to spread over Alex's body.

"It must be something with the Stigmata Dataspace that's causing Subject Alex to have this Honkai Spike." Said Bronya.

"W-Well how do we stop it!?" She asked.

It took Bronya a moment before she began digging around in a container she had brought until she eventually found what she was looking for

"U-Um, what exactly is that Bronya?" Asked Mei.

"It's a Homu-Homu Virtual Reality Comm Link. Wearing it will allow Mei to link up with the Stigmata's Dataspace. Once inside the dataspace, Mei will be able to find out what exactly is going on that's causing the Honkai Spike within Subject Alex's body." Said Bronya.

Mei grabbed the large head device and examined it for a bit, still unsure about it before eventually coming to terms with it as it'd be the only way to solve the situation.

"Alright. I'll do it." Said Mei as she placed it on her head as Bronya began to type stuff into the screen.

"The Bronya will keep in contact with Mei via this terminal. The goal is to locate Subject Alex's consciousness within the dataspace." Said Bronya as Mei nodded, closing her eyes as the machine activated, as the words "All Systems Go.", appeared before her.

Eventually, Mei's eyes opened as she surveyed her surroundings as she was in a burning and destroyed village.

She also noticed that she was no longer in her school uniform and was now in a white and dark blue shrine maiden outfit.

"This, is the dataspace? Everything here's in ruin. Is the dataspace really storing all of this?" Asked Mei.

In front of Mei, a hologram popped up showing Bronya who was indeed connected to Mei via the terminal.

"Mei, there's no trace of Subject Alex in the current dataspace sector! The Bronya's gonna send Mei the waypoints to the next sector. Please head there immediately." Said Bronya.

Before Mei could agree, she turned around and saw on the ground a white haired girl in a dark outfit resembling that of a nun.

"K-Kiana? No wait, this lady looks a lot like her, but this isn't Kiana." Said Mei as she approached the white haired lady.

As she helped her up, the girl woke up and a small golden cross pendant over to Mei.

"I-I may not know your name, but please, grant me a wish." Said the white haired girl.

"W-Wait hold on! Are you okay? What happened to this place?" Asked Mei who obviously wanted answers to what was happening.

"I-I'm done for. If, you find a priestess with cherry colored hair, then please give the pendant to her. That's, all I ask of you."

That was all the girl could say before finally succumbing to whatever befell her as she went unconscious, a single tear falling down her face.

All Mei could do was look at the golden cross pendant she was given before Bronya chimed in again.

"Mei, the dataspace sector is collapsing! The Bronya will force transfer you to the next sector!" Urgently said Bronya.

Mei clutched the pendant tightly, as she closed her eyes, being sent to the next sector.

It was night time at the village, as two young girls looked at a Shrine Gate, seemingly the exit to the village.

One of the girls was about to move on ahead before the other girl tugged on her dress.

"Sakura. Can, we really escape from our village?" Asked the girl revealing themselves to be Yae Sakura and Rin when they were kids.

Yae simply smiled and patted Rin's head.

"No need to worry Rin. We won't ever be hurt once we leave the village. All we gotta do is run for it. Now, let's go!"

Yae grabbed Rin's hand as the two kids immediately made a bee line towards the shrine gate as quick as possible.

Unfortunately, Yae lost grasp of Rin's hand as she turned to see the girl had fallen over.

"Rin!" Said Yae before another hand firmly grabbed her shoulder.

Yae turned to see that it was non other than their father, the priest who had caught them.

"Why're you here Sakura? Do you truly think you can escape with Rin? She cannot escape her fate. She's meant to live with the gods. Now come! The ritual cannot start without you!" Said the priest.

And thus, the fabled, endless and cursed cycle of hatred that Rin informed Alex about continued on, as Yae was forced to relive her failure and eventual murder of Rin over and over again.

Obviously, Yae still had the will to fight, and tried every different scenario she could think of to save Rin and break this cycle.

Unfortunately no matter what she did, every plan ended the same, with the priest capturing them and forcing Yae to slay her younger sister.

Eventually, this began to really screw up Yae's mental state as after another failure, the cycle repeated once more.

"I-I'm back, again." Shakily said the young Sakura, holding herself as she shivered.

Her attention was then caught by Rin who had a worried expression.

"You okay Sakura? You dozed off there for a moment. You must be getting exhausted for constantly having look after me." She said.

Yae didn't respond and just kept holding herself in fear.

'I-I tried killing us both to save her from this endless cycle, but that didn't even work. That fiend just won't ever stop. H-How, many cycles have I already gone through by now?' Thought Yae to herself, as she was legitimately reaching her breaking point.

"You should get some rest big sis! I'll drink the herbal soup by myself. I know that I can do that on my own at the very least." Happily said Rin.

Sadly, as she went to pick up the bowl of herbal soup, she ended up spilling it.

"Ash! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" Said Rin who immediately apologized.

Yae saw this and with a monotone voice just shrugged it off.

"I-It's okay Rin. I'll, just prepare you another one." She said as she got up and turned to leave.

"N-No it's alright Sakura. You, really don't need to. I, know that I won't be getting any better, so-."

Rin got interrupted by the entity, the fiend that had been tormenting Yae as it spoke within her mind.

"Just give up, Sakura."

"N-No! I'll never give up!" Shouted Yae as she immediately ran off with a flurry of thoughts running through her head.

'I have to flee the village with Rin! I must make her happy and prevent her cruel fate! I promised her that I'd take her to the hills and have a picnic amongst the flowers! I cannot give up! I can never give up! I have to keep trying!'

By now, Yae was on her last legs, being fully desperate for a miracle, a change.

She ended up tripping and falling face first onto the wooden floor, as she finally just let her pent up emotions out, beginning to sob and cry.

"I-I'm too weak. I'm, too pathetic. There's, nothing I can do anymore." She somberly said.

"That's why you should give up Sakura. Keep relieving the cycle as usual. That's your fate, for all eternity." Said the fiend's voice.

By now, Yae was just out of energy, and no more will to just keep going on anymore.

However, before she was about to just fully give up, she felt a lick on her cheek, as her attention looked up and saw an animal.

"Hm? A, dog?"

Chapter 5: Complete