The sweet, metallic taste in her mouth was like a milk candy melting on her tongue. The blurred world gradually lost its color in her eyes, becoming a series of indistinct afterimages.
The rain was so heavy; it hurt as it struck her skin.
It felt as if her body were soaking in ice water. Blood spread through the pool of water beneath her, a blooming flower of blood enveloping her half-body.
She couldn't tell if the blood came from her nose, her mouth, or the wound where her internal organs were exposed.
Thump, thump, thump...
The monstrous shadow that shook the earth trampled through the rain, walking in the gray-white world.
Was she soon going to become a corpse too?
The next dead person in this ridiculous world—it didn't sound like a big deal.
Delta turned her body over to face the sky. Rainwater flowed into the gaps of her mouth, tasting faintly sweet and salty.
Thinking back, has it really been a year? She had been a MANTIS for such a long time without realizing it.
From initially only wanting to fulfill her sister's dying wish of maintaining "the pride of a MANTIS," to now... the change was truly immense, making even her own recollections seem incredible.
It turns out that for a person to go from an ordinary citizen to a soldier, it only takes this much time.
Huh? She was so contradictory—saying it had been so long one moment, and such a short time the next.
Rain fell into her eyes, sliding over her dilated pupils and then flowing from the corners like pearls.
Actually, she really should thank that twisted helmeted man for his guidance. He looked unreliable, but he was actually a very dependable person. He taught her how to calmly analyze a situation and find a direction... In that case, Sakura hadn't lied: just by looking at his back, one could always find their way.
That guy... when they ate together at night, she could always see the darkness in his heart, but he rarely talked about it with anyone... truly not a straightforward man... If he could have been a bit more frank, she probably would have respected him more...
He must be someone who has gone through a lot and lost a lot.
Sometimes she wanted to say something comforting, but she would feel intimidated just by looking at his profile.
Hahaha, she... wasn't frank enough either...
The curled corner of her mouth stiffened.
The dilated pupils lost their color.
The rain submerged her, and she could no longer see anything.
Life, concluded here—
"H-Honkai Beast! Why is there still a Honkai Beast here!"
A blood-curdling scream rang out in the ruins. A researcher trapped under the rubble watched in panic as a monster, part machinery and part biological, approached him with hooves capable of crushing anything. Steaming heat hissed from the vents of the mechanical body. The moment it discovered the human, it emitted the sound of grinding mechanical structures and an utterly bizarre roar.
"HOWL!!!"
Its hind limbs had completely vanished; it could only move using its two front claws and two front hooves. With slow, uncoordinated, yet terrifying steps, it approached the screaming human.
At this moment, Lin and Ato, arriving from a distance, saw this scene. Lin sprinted with all his might toward the victim and the beast, weaving through the ruins in the torrential rain.
But it was too late!
The Honkai Beast had already raised a front limb capable of smashing the victim and the rubble on top of him into a deep pit, and Lin was still far from reaching them!
Lin threw out his chain and fired his firearm with the other hand, but at this angle, he couldn't hit the beast's core!
There was still a chasm of distance for the chain to cover.
The victim's eyes were filled with despair. Even Ato, who was also chasing from behind, gritted his teeth and wanted to turn his head away, unable to bear the next scene.
Just... a little more...
At that moment, the sphere of the Ninth Herrscher circling overhead opened a slit. A hand and a brown eyeball emerged, aiming directly at Lin.
"Lin! Get down!"
Lin charged forward as if he hadn't heard. He watched the monster's massive limb gradually descend. The pressure coming from above was almost enough to force all the blood out of his body, but he still reached out toward the victim regardless of everything else.
He wouldn't make it...
But he had to make it.
Zheng!
A broken sword accurately severed the front limb the Honkai Beast used for support. It lost its balance, its massive body collapsing like a landslide, and the giant fist it had swung veered off course, missing the victim.
Lin seized this opportunity, his speed soaring again. He grabbed the victim's hand, smashed the debris on top of him with a single punch, and then threw him toward Ato in the distance!
The entire process was so fast it was a blur. Ato caught the victim in the air, but Lin was now directly exposed to the Ninth Herrscher's attack. The "Sword of Damocles" above was about to fall!
But another greatsword shot out from afar, stabbing toward the arm and eyeball extending from the sphere. Just as it was about to cut the arm in two, the arm changed direction and pointed at the incoming blade.
Crach!
The greatsword stopped abruptly in mid-air as if hitting a transparent wall, falling powerlessly to the ground.
At that moment, Lin looked toward the direction the sword had been thrown from.
Delta, with only half her body remaining, was propping herself up against the rubble. Her blood-stained face gave Lin a slight smile.
After intercepting the sword, that ordinary-looking arm now pointed at Delta.
Lin wrenched his soul, dragging his physical body as he charged toward Delta. He opened his mouth wide, shouting something he couldn't hear.
The girl couldn't hear it either. She simply smiled with relief and softly opened her mouth to Lin.
"Thank you for your guidance, Lin... this time, allow me to not call you 'adjutant'..."
She peacefully closed her eyes, her head resting on her shoulder as she fell asleep.
"Go, my hero... you promised me..."
Bang!
The girl vanished in a spray of blood. The hand Lin reached out was so numb he couldn't even feel the warmth of her blood.
Halted time moved forward.
Waves washed over her ankles, and warm sunlight shone on the beach, casting her shadow behind her.
The girl shielded her eyes from the sun and looked out into the distance, unable to tell if the blue above was the sea or the ripples below were the sea.
Da.
A swim ring bumped into her shin, spun in a small circle, and then tumbled onto the sand.
A pink-haired little girl saw the ring stop and stopped as well, looking curiously at the girl staring into the distance.
"Big sister! Don't go too far!"
The girl's delicate eyelids fluttered. She bent down, picked up the swim ring at her feet, and looked at the blue-haired girl waving at her and the couple standing behind her.
The girl showed a warm smile. Carrying the swim ring, she slowly walked toward them.
"I've gone too far, haven't I?"