Black dots descending from the sky, like raindrops in a downpour. As they got closer, it became clear that the black dots were actually huge spikes, each as long as a two-story building, raining down densely onto the peak of the back hill.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The continuous bombardment leveled half of the hilltop. Nothing remained in the rising smoke except for the churned-up earth. The porcupine, seeing this, swallowed the highly compressed Honkai Energy brewing in its mouth back into its body and began meticulously searching for the target's tracks.
The Sixth Herrscher had rushed back to her zombies. For her, nothing was more important than these "comrades."
But just as she stepped next to the zombies, intending to shatter the falling debris above their heads, Lin's figure, holding a gun, appeared directly behind her. Bullets instantly whistled out. The specialized anti-Honkai armor-piercing rounds mercilessly tore through the air, flying toward her head.
A plume of black mist shot out from behind her with deliberate awareness. The thick blackness swallowed all the bullets in its path and reached out toward Lin's body.
However, Lin's figure blurred. He flickered to a position in front of the Sixth Herrscher an instant before the black mist could touch him. He lowered the rifle hanging around his neck, bit the safety pin off a grenade, and tossed it at the Sixth Herrscher's feet.
"Boom!"
The unharmed Sixth Herrscher stepped out of the smoke. Her crimson pupils stared at the distant fluorescent green eye in the night.
It was meaningless. Conventional weapons could no longer harm her. Even though she was still in the Authority adaptation phase, the Sixth Herrscher's ability, specifically targeting the unique nature of humanity, was completely beyond what any single human could handle.
In this moment of confrontation, the Emperor-class Honkai Beast at the foot of the hill was moving with heavy steps toward the middle of the hill. It shielded the falling stones. The zombies also stood silently behind the Sixth Herrscher.
All "people" surrounded Lin. In this instant, Lin was the solitary anomaly.
"Are you a zombie with consciousness?"
The Sixth Herrscher abruptly spoke to Lin. She seemed to be worried he hadn't understood and gestured with her hands a few times. There was even some anticipation in her eyes.
Lin's finger trembled on the trigger.
Her voice was not significantly different from "hers," only carrying an otherworldly, non-human "etherealness" that distanced her from the mundane.
It was as if "she" was still "she."
"If you have consciousness, can you talk to me? I don't think you're really a monster. Is there something you can't tell me, which is why you're attacking me and my friends?"
"Killing is wrong… I'm sure you don't like killing either, right? I apologize for me and my friends attacking you. I can heal your injuries. Can we stop? If you truly have consciousness, there must be a way to turn the zombies back into humans…"
Lin listened quietly as she tried her best to smile and explain to him. Seeing that he hadn't attacked again, she seemed to relax her vigilance and gestured even more earnestly.
She was clumsy, as if returning to the time when they first met.
At this moment, Lin recalled the companion Honkai Beast of the Second Herrscher, a Honkai Beast whose abilities they still hadn't fully researched even now.
Its destructive power was not outstanding compared to other Emperor-class Honkai Beasts, but it possessed a strange ability to "traverse"—it would suddenly disappear and then reappear just as suddenly, though it always reappeared at the location where it had last disappeared.
Initially, Fire Moth treated this as a manifestation of the Second Herrscher's Authority, the Herrscher of the Void. But later, they realized that the disappearance of this Emperor-class Honkai Beast, Benares, could not be explained by spatial abilities alone.
It was more akin to the phenomenon of "traversing" time.
If the ability of that Honkai Beast named Benares truly was time travel, in this moment that made him feel weak, a corner of his frozen heart retained a flicker of wild fantasy.
"I am Lin."
Lin spoke to the Sixth Herrscher.
But the moment he spoke, the Sixth Herrscher frowned in confusion. To her, the zombie seemed to have consciously said something to her, but all she heard were irregular roars.
"You can write it down…"
"And how much of 'Lin' remains in this body?" Lin raised his head, missing his right eye, his left hand gone, his right leg amputated above the knee. The figure, barely recognizable as human, strained to shout at the Sixth Herrscher, who was still smiling and talking to herself.
His blood was corroded by toxins. His organs and muscles were pale and degenerating under the effect of Honkai Energy. His brain was surgically modified. His consciousness was scattered into fragments within memories of uncertain reality. From the inside out, Lin did not resemble a true human. The part that belonged to him was too small to see clearly.
"But even so, I am 'Lin,' not 'Zero,' nor MSA-079. Right now, I am simply 'Lin.' That much will never change." Lin looked up at the night sky. There were no stars and no moonlight. This world had been like this from the beginning—pitch dark, with no way out.
"And even with the same appearance as her, the same personality, a seemingly normal consciousness, and a nearly perfect façade, it doesn't change the fact that you are not Seele."
Lin raised his gun, aiming at the silent Sixth Herrscher. He was always composed and calm, but at this moment, the Sixth Herrscher saw a human sadness in his eyes.
"You are a Herrscher. You are not Seele. You are merely imitating her to deceive me."
Silence.
The Sixth Herrscher, who had seemingly not understood what Lin was saying just moments ago, was now surprisingly calm. She first looked up in the direction of the Fifth Branch, then her increasingly vivid crimson eyes focused on Lin, the human who was barely holding on.
"You are smarter than I imagined."
"She" spoke.
Completely abandoning the familiar tone, the contempt and playful mockery in "her" voice, like an unrestrained urge to show off, were fully revealed.
"She" casually glanced at the zombies behind her, then walked away from them without a care, taking a few steps closer to Lin.
Facing Lin's raised gun, "she" posed flirtatiously, tilting her head with a smile, and called out softly: "Squad Member Lin~ When did you figure it out~ I thought I had even fooled myself~"
"Didn't you have even a little bit of hope? Hope that the Herrscher truly retained human consciousness, that your comrade still had a chance to return to her former self, that she was still the little girl who would foolishly follow you, secretly clenching her fists, wanting to help you in your desperate struggle?"
"Or are you simply so hard-hearted that you won't even leave yourself that tiny bit of hope?"
The Sixth Herrscher's mocking laugh resonated despairingly in the night.