"This is truly... spectacular."
This was the first time Delta had seen the disaster caused by a Herrscher up close. It was like the end of the world had arrived, giving people a sufficient sense of visual oppression.
To prevent being swept away, they established a temporary command post fifteen kilometers outside the city. Even at this distance, they could still detect the wind field covering the entire city.
This is what a living Herrscher could do...
While in shock, Delta contacted Lin, who was inside the storm.
"Lin, is your communication being interfered with?"
"...Phew, have you arrived nearby?" It took a moment before Lin responded.
"What's your situation in there?"
"Not optimistic."
Lin leaned back, his hands supporting him on the ground, and kicked out with both feet, pushing away two Honkai Beasts. Just as he was about to land a finishing blow, four tentacles lunged at his back.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
Bullets accurately shredded the tentacles. Lin took the opportunity to throw a grappling hook, binding the two Honkai Beasts, and drew his Plasma, cutting them in half.
After supporting Lin, Kevin turned to fend off the Honkai Beasts on the other side.
Compared to an hour ago, the city was now overrun with Honkai Beasts. New types of Honkai Beasts rained down from the sky, becoming the city's new masters. These were the "ambush troops" the Herrscher had prepared long ago.
Their individual power was not strong, but they were as numerous as insects, all Sea creaturess corrupted when the Herrscher was born.
"Tsk... this is going to be trouble." Delta looked solemnly at the distant sky. Though he couldn't see it, he knew a transcendent being was up there. "The wind field alone is enough to keep flying objects out. We already attempted to shoot down the Herrscher with fighter jets, but it failed. Total annihilation."
He had seen the "fireworks" bloom in the sky a little while ago.
Lin asked while slaying a Honkai Beast: "What about the Titan?"
"The anti-gravity flight system can ignore the wind field." Delta turned to look at the fully armed Titan. The remaining parameter adjustments would take less than an hour to complete. "But now there's another problem."
"The pilot, you mean..." Lin murmured.
Delta's hair fluttered wildly in the wind: "The neural link was added for better control, but now it's an obstacle to piloting... And even if a combatant could withstand the load, they lack piloting experience."
They were completely at a dead end.
Delta sighed and gave a bitter smile: "To be honest, you've probably been abandoned. After the fighter jets failed the mission, headquarters didn't issue further orders. It's likely they're using your lives to buy time to discuss countermeasures, and then will continue the operation after the Herrscher has killed you all and dissipated the wind field."
"..."
With no response for so long, Lin had also considered that they were likely being used as pawns.
Buying time to formulate a countermeasure against the Herrscher using just three squads was a pretty good deal.
If it were just Lin alone, he would do his best to stall for time, but he wasn't the only one in the city right now. There were other combat personnel and some residents who hadn't left yet.
He had to...
Suddenly, a voice, somewhat relieved and somewhat guilty, came through.
"Lin, I think there are some things I need to tell you."
Delta bent his legs and sat on the ground. He looked at the distance with a complicated expression, where Lin was probably fighting.
Just like back then.
"I lied."
"..."
He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky.
There were no birds. How could there be birds flying high in such violent weather?
"You once asked me why I gave you special treatment. I told you it was because you were willing to throw yourself into battle even though you weren't special," Delta mocked himself, drawing out the words. "That was a lie."
"I can't say whether I saw my past or the shadow of another person in you, but I knew I was definitely treating you as his substitute."
"I stayed in the rear; he went to the front line."
Every time a new name appeared in the Moth of the Flame graveyard, Delta would question himself: was the choice he made back then really right?
If only he could have fought alongside those people, if only... it had been him who died then.
Until that person fell on the front line, until Lin appeared before him.
"Why are you saying this now?" Lin asked.
"Heh heh... why indeed..." Delta laughed bitterly and clenched his fists. "Maybe it's because there were so many things I didn't get to say to that person back then. If I don't say them now, I might not get the chance later. Like many of the weapons and equipment he always dreamed of..."
Is that why he talked to Lin so much usually?
"I know."
"You know... huh? You know?" Delta's surprised expression popped up, and the emotion he had just built up vanished.
Lin said calmly: "I checked."
"..."
Suddenly, Delta felt this was perfectly reasonable. After all, it was Lin.
"You knew, and you still came to me every other day?" Delta asked somewhat awkwardly. Being found out like this was too strange. "I treated you like another person. Most people would find that ridiculous."
"People naturally hold onto the past. You don't have to be so hard on yourself."
In the end, it was Lin who ended up comforting him.
"I need your strength to save more people. That's all."
"..."
Save more people?
Someone seemed to have said those words before.
Delta took a deep breath. He focused his eyes.
"I understand."
...
After hanging up the communication, Lin drew his Raikiri with his other hand. With both blades drawn, he sprinted wildly through the wind. Blooming blood spatters and the dismembered corpses of Honkai Beasts were swept into the wind.
"Lin! An Emperor-class Honkai Beast is approaching!"
A massive red dot on the detector was closing in on their location. A colossal black shadow loomed over everyone's heads.
It flapped its pectoral fins, changing the direction of the gale, and its caudal fin swept past a high-rise building, toppling it as easily as a sandcastle.
The members of the Moth of the Flame looked up, gazing at the massive object floating in the air.
Kevin gripped his rifle, his messy hair whipping in the wind and rain: "Is that... a Manta Ray?"
An unimaginably huge manta ray was actually "swimming" through the air!
It wasn't in seawater but flying freely in mid-air, as if in the deep sea.
By a rough estimate, its body length already exceeded two hundred meters, and its outstretched pectoral fins were monstrously large, beyond imagination.
"How are we supposed to... What's that?" As Kevin gritted his teeth, considering a countermeasure, the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of a figure seemingly standing on a building along the monster's path.
Because the wind pressure generated by the Emperor-class Honkai Beast had dispersed the surrounding rain and mist, he clearly saw that it was an ordinary person not wearing a battlesuit.
"Oh no!" Kevin's expression drastically changed, and he immediately sprinted in that direction.