"Clang!"
The timing and angle of this blade's appearance were so tricky that even by stopping her momentum at maximum speed, she couldn't fully block it. Furthermore, not only was the blade-wielding zombie's sword intent raging like a master swordsman's, but the one-eyed, limping zombie also raised its gun and aimed at her forehead.
In this moment of crisis, she instinctively, like a reflex, used the power of death within her body.
"Whoosh—"
The moment the black mist appeared around her, the blade-wielding zombie ceased its attack. This sudden withdrawal of the blade startled her, but it also gave her time to react and retreat. She immediately vanished into the void, disappearing without a trace.
…
Seeing that the Herrscher truly did not continue the pursuit, as Lin had predicted, Sakura also sheathed her sword to prevent the uncontrollable coldness from spreading further.
Their attack had been a feint. Lin had warned Sakura that the Sixth Herrscher would emit a black mist that decomposed organic matter, so she hadn't used her full strength from the start, specifically to be able to withdraw her blade in time and avoid hitting the black mist with excessive force.
But even so, the chilling aura of death that brushed past her as the black mist grazed her sent a shiver down her spine.
"Ha… Ha… Ha…"
As cold sweat poured down her, Lin's heavy gasping as he knelt on the ground, leaning on his hands, drew her attention. A single glance left her stunned.
A purple tumor bulged from Lin's left shoulder. Swollen blood vessels and repulsive lines in the still-pulsing tumor made it look exceptionally horrifying. Its distorted shape was definitely not something that could appear on a human body.
"What's going on?" She rushed toward him but was stopped by a look from Lin.
Lin had lost sensation in his left shoulder. A certain nauseating sense of displacement emanated from his body. In the few seconds of close contact with the Herrscher without protective gear, the raging Honkai Energy had become active within him, causing his body to undergo another mutation.
It was predictable that after this battle, his death would arrive as scheduled, and his corpse would likely be a hideous, unrecognizable mass of flesh.
Given that Lin's body had now become a ticking Honkai Energy bomb that could explode at any moment, Sakura would also be eroded by the Honkai Energy if she got too close. Therefore, he stopped Sakura from approaching him too closely.
"Sakura…" He endured the alien sensation, struggling to speak a sentence to the helpless Sakura, "Cut this flesh off…"
"Okay."
Sakura didn't procrastinate. She could see that Lin's pain originated from this flesh mass that had already torn through his clothes. She immediately drew another standard issue knife from Fire Moth.
With a flash of cold steel, a large chunk of flesh and blood was severed from Lin's body. The completely purple-pink blood pooled into a small puddle at their feet.
"Cough…" Lin's muscles relaxed, and he slumped into the pool of blood. The bizarre flesh mass even wriggled twice as if it still possessed life before stopping.
Sakura was startled by the color of Lin's blood and the mass of flesh. Even without knowing about the Honkai Virus, she could tell there was something wrong with Lin's body: "You… You should retreat first. I can delay her alone."
Even if the mass was a foreign object, it was still composed of Lin's flesh and blood. This was equivalent to cutting off nearly a pound of flesh from his body. His left shoulder now lacked a corresponding amount of flesh and blood, exposing the pale bone, where purple lines had already merged with the blood vessels, making them impossible to distinguish.
"No…"
Sakura might possess unparalleled skill in killing humans—no other soldier in the entire Fire Moth organization knew the weaknesses of the human body better than she did—but her experience in fighting Herrschers was completely blank. Therefore, Lin could not leave. Assisting Sakura here was the most he could do, and even if he died, the mission would be complete.
Lin had never felt his body so heavy. He lifted his face from the blood. The saturated bandage peeled off half of his face, revealing a pair of weary eyes and eyebrows.
"You…" Sakura was stunned into silence when she saw the upper half of Lin's face. Because after this small part of his face was revealed, his entire aura changed. The previously overly sharp eyes, softened by his gentle brow and nose bridge, became less severe. Sakura even wondered if the Lin in front of her had instantly transformed into another person.
But now was clearly not the time to ask that question.
"…What is it?" After catching his breath, Lin took out three vials of glowing green medicine from his clothing, and noticed Sakura's hesitant expression as he asked.
"Nothing." Sakura shook her head vigorously. To change the subject, she shifted the focus to the Sixth Herrscher: "From your tone, you seem to be quite familiar with her… the Herrscher?"
"She was once my comrade."
Lin removed the safety guard from the syringe and extended the needle.
"She still seems to retain her consciousness. Can't we just…"
"Clang!"
Before Sakura could finish her sentence, Lin plunged the syringe into the carotid artery in his neck right in front of her, pushing all the medicine inside in one breath.
This action completely choked the words in Sakura's throat. She watched Lin throw away the syringe in pain and kneel on the ground, coughing, with a hint of emotion in her eyes.
When they first met, Lin was sitting in a wheelchair, which didn't look like a disguise. Later, he miraculously recovered when he stopped her from assassinating Mei, only to be gravely wounded by her again, and now he still appeared to be gravely ill.
It was as if this person had never had a healthy day in his life.
Sakura had joined Fire Moth for Rin. What was Lin doing this for? For his little sister named Prometheus? But after joining Mei's newly formed Cocoon of Corruption, Mei told her that the little girl named Prometheus was merely an AI assisting Lin.
"Cough, cough…" The coughing gradually subsided. Lin's eyes regained clarity, but the pupil of his single eye had changed from the original quiet black to a somewhat enchanting glowing green. He stood up normally from the ground, showing no signs of abnormality.
He picked up his crutch and said to Sakura: "The retention of her consciousness is merely a façade, making her appear not too different from before her Herrscherization. In reality, the consciousness within that body has been replaced by the Herrscher consciousness, which harbors absolute malice toward humanity."
"Right now, she is merely maintaining this pretense. To behave as she once did, she won't carelessly use her Authority to kill people, and even when she does, the range of her Authority won't be too large. But once she sheds this disguise, she will transform into a natural disaster."
Have no hesitation or pity, otherwise, it is a betrayal of the fallen.
Lin had said this to Seele, and he repeated it to himself, constantly reminding himself that no matter how similar her appearance might be, she was no longer the person he knew, but a monster intent on destroying humanity.
"A façade…" Sakura murmured the word, recalling the chilling scene she had witnessed upon entering the amusement park, at the place where the soldiers had vanished.
It was a haunted house, literally a place of amusement meant to frighten people. All the props inside were skeletons, severed limbs, and pools of blood, but in the deepest part, Sakura saw a sight she would never forget.
The equipment of all seven squads was piled there. All the clothing and weapons were stacked together, but the wearers had vanished without a trace, leaving not a single mark behind.