"You really are exactly like the cold, helmet-wearing person in my memory, aren't you? You truly look less like a human than even I do. A normal person would harbor a little hope for a miracle to happen at this point."
"To be reasonable, I even deliberately made 'me' unable to understand your words, so that 'I' would simply seem to be viewing the world differently."
"Hmm? Say something, my adorable Squad Member Lin. How are you feeling right now?"
The familiar face was pressed close to his, but the expression held a mischievous cunning that Seele had never possessed. Her long hair fell over his shoulder. Her alluring red eyes met his green one.
If it were anyone else, they might assume this was just a normal, cute girl.
But Lin knew that the person in front of him was the genuine Sixth Herrscher, the Herrscher of Death, who controlled the power of Decay.
"Not talking… You really are a boring man, aren't you? Thinking back, you rarely did anything interesting. You never socialized, never entertained yourself. You spent your entire time pursuing the goal of saving humanity, just like a robot. I don't know what makes girls like you."
"But seeing your face now does pique my interest a little bit~"
"She" giggled and reached out a hand, intending to stroke Lin's cheek, but he dodged with a quick shift of his body. Seeing this, "she" didn't get angry, but continued to speak leisurely to the silent Lin: "Speaking of which, did Fire Moth settle on a codename for me?"
"…"
"Hehe, don't be so dull. In exchange, you tell me that, and I can tell you something interesting too~"
Lin stared at "her." Seeing that "she" had no intention of attacking yet, he slowly exhaled and said: "Herrscher of Death."
"Oh~ Very fitting, but not quite complete. If they had seen the full extent of my Authority, they might have changed it to… Herrscher of Life and Death? Ugh, how weird…"
"…"
"But I'm happy you told me this, Squad Member Lin, so I'll tell you something worth being happy about." "Her" tone was feigned respect, but in reality, it was full of condescending contempt. "Your 'Seele,' she truly still exists inside this body."
Lin's pupil widened.
"Well, aren't you surprised?"
"She" wore her malice openly on her face.
…
"Is this…"
Kevin gazed at the scene of utter devastation in the city. This desolate, chaotic sight reminded him of Nagazora during the storm. He felt as if he had returned overnight to the time before he joined Fire Moth.
A night of a hundred ghosts, where neither starlight nor moonlight could pierce through.
He stood on the arm of a Titan, fully armed, and immediately spotted the building of the Fifth Branch.
The Fifth Branch looked precarious. Countless Assault-class Honkai Beasts surrounded the building, attacking the defense systems with their wing-blades, which were comparable to cutting edges. Many were mutated variants. From a distance, they looked densely packed, like a Honkai Beast nest.
The streets beneath the building were submerged by zombies. He couldn't see a single crack of the ground. The sea of corpses, made up of zombies, was as high as five stories, crawling up the base of the building and continuously stacking higher.
However, the reason they hadn't completely overwhelmed the Fifth Branch yet was due to a pink figure actively fighting on the battlefield.
A transparent blade effortlessly pierced the flesh of the Honkai Beasts as easily as cutting tofu. Coldness erupted inside them, instantly freezing the massive Honkai Beasts into ice sculptures. Then, two blades descended from their heads. Moving so fast that they appeared as two continuous streaks of light, she sliced the Honkai Beasts into three pieces, which shattered into fragments of ice upon hitting the ground.
Gripping the ice blade with a reverse grip, she slashed at the surging tide of corpses. A path of ice extended from her feet all the way to the feet of the zombies, freezing the stacked corpses into giant ice sculptures, which she then shattered again using the same method.
Clearly, the one fighting desperately was Sakura, protecting the Fifth Branch alone.
She looked like she was handling the battle easily. Even when surrounded by large numbers of Honkai creatures, she could move freely across the battlefield, but in reality, she was near exhaustion, operating on her last reserves of strength.
No matter how fast she was or how many enemies she killed, a person's stamina was ultimately limited. For every zombie Sakura killed, ten more appeared to fill the gap. When she cut down one Chariot-class Honkai Beast, three Templar-class Honkai Beasts would rush toward her.
Gradually, she began to struggle. Her powerlessness was evident in the fact that Assault-class Honkai Beasts had surrounded the Fifth Branch, yet she could only continue dealing with the zombies and Honkai Beasts on the ground.
If it weren't for the mass-killing power provided by the ice blade, the Fifth Branch would have likely already fallen.
"Kevin, I will have a portion of the Titans protect the Fifth Branch. You will be responsible for subjugating the Sixth Herrscher."
Mei's command began the moment her view, assisted by the Titan, showed this scene of hell.
Azure particles spread through the air. Dozens of Titans descended from the sky. Their terrifying weight instantly crushed the zombies beneath their feet into pulp. Beam guns, sized appropriately for their bodies, pierced the cores of the Honkai Beasts. Mechanical arms with only three fingers lifted the corpses of the Honkai Beasts and hurled them into the distance. Vulcan cannons on their shoulders opened fire on the Assault-class Honkai Beasts surrounding the tall building.
The exhausted Sakura watched these giant robots, descended like gods, in astonishment. Their size was comparable to the Honkai Beasts, yet their combat capability far exceeded them. In just a short while, the surrounding area was instantly cleared by them.
Large numbers of Honkai Beast corpses fell from the sky. The Titans used flamethrowers to incinerate them all, then assumed a defensive formation—four in the air and four on the ground—to defend against the continuously surging tide of Honkai Beasts and zombies.
"Sakura."
Sakura watched the cockpit door of a distant Titan rise. The fully armed Kevin jumped out, his surprise even greater.
However, her surprise didn't last long. She quickly adjusted her state and said to the approaching Kevin: "Are you the support unit?"
"Not just me, us."
As soon as he spoke, the cockpit doors of the other Titans also opened. Hua, Immer, Kosma, Ato, Erwin, and others all emerged from the cockpits, gathering around Kevin.
Sakura nodded gently to the cold-faced Kevin. Despite being covered in blood and completely exhausted, she showed no fatigue and was instead filled with fighting spirit.
"We need the current Herrscher status and precise location." Kevin said to Sakura, then connected to the Fifth Branch's communication channel.
"Is that the support unit?"
"I am Kevin, the captain of this mission. Dr. Spaciel, we and the autonomous Titan unit will be responsible for the subjugation of the Sixth Herrscher and the Emperor-class Honkai Beast. Please immediately report the intelligence we require."
By this time, two hours had passed since the Sixth Honkai outbreak began.
In the amusement park in a remote corner of the city, the man, pierced through the abdomen by a scythe and pinned to the ground, looked up weakly at the Herrscher floating in mid-air and gazing down at him…