The Abyss Flower pierced through the sphere created by the Ninth Herrscher as if it were cutting through tofu. Lin channeled the remaining Honkai energy within the lance, and one after another, vines and plants burst from within to force open the mixture of rubble, metal, and wood. He could see the Ninth Herrscher at the center; she turned her head like a doll, her brown pupils locking with Lin rainbow eyes across the space.
An indescribable emotion rose in Lin heart. It felt as if he weren't looking at a Herrscher, but at... himself.
The sphere protecting her was destroyed, and the space around the Ninth Herrscher suddenly grew heavy. Lin and Ato grim toward the ground simultaneously!
*Bang!*
*Kada!*
The moment he made contact with the ground, Lin heard the crisp sound of bones breaking throughout his body. He then saw the ground beneath him shatter and scatter like jumbled toy blocks.
"Cough... cough..."
Lin couldn't feel the pain. Even though the blood spraying from his nose and mouth was flowing over his face, it felt like it was happening to someone else. However, he couldn't move his body—perhaps it was the spine...
"Lin, how are you!"
Ato sounded as if he were mostly unharmed; he seemed to have experienced less pressure just now... So that was it: as long as a MANTIS's strength and control over Honkai energy reached a certain level, they could resist. Ultimately, it was a matter of "raw power."
Lin couldn't move at all, yet his heart was exceptionally calm. He felt no tension; it seemed that if he were to die in the next second, it wouldn't be a surprise.
Die...
No... he couldn't die now... at least until the Ninth Herrscher was...
The Abyss Flower lay beside Lin. The rainbow pupils in his eyes shone brilliantly. The lance trembled slightly, then emitted a faint, warm light that enveloped Lin body.
*Bang!*
A second before a black sphere smashed down, Lin rolled up and grabbed the Abyss Flower. The tip of the lance flicked the black sphere away. The brilliance in his eyes grew more intense, like a sun rising in the rainy night, but the colors he saw grew increasingly dim. The world returned to a monotonous black and white.
It was as if those colors had never existed.
Finally, all the voices vanished.
The voices that had been interfering with and tempting him in his ears and mind dissipated completely, leaving only silence.
Ato saw Lin, who had been unable to move a second ago, stand up normally. His movements were swifter, as if his body were infused with power that didn't belong to him. At that moment, the color of his hair turned entirely to a pure, silvery white.
A dazzling silver, yet carrying an aura of dead silence.
Even Ato could perceive the abnormality in Lin now—that silver hair, and those extremely abnormal rainbow pupils after he slowly stood up.
Ato could no longer sense the feeling of a "human" from Lin body.
"Lin...?"
He was now, exactly like...
Shock and confusion surged in Ato's heart. He looked at the Ninth Herrscher, then back at Lin.
"Ato... if I'm still alive after the Ninth Herrscher is slain..." Lin voice no longer sounded like his own; it didn't even sound like it was coming from his mouth, but appearing directly in the mind. "Kill me."
"What are you..."
"The future where I take off the helmet... I suppose it will never come."
Lin turned his head. As Ato saw Lin face, his pupils constricted.
Beneath the drifting silver hair was a gentle smile.
"If one chooses to end the journey while on the path, they will never welcome the dawn."
One always becomes someone else without realizing it. One must accept the deaths of others, face their stories, and then... one must become the "Hero."
By this point, he was simply heading toward his own predetermined future.
"Cut my head off completely, crush it, then take the core from my body and give it to Mei," Lin told Ato the method of disposal calmly. "Ideally, incinerate all my body parts and give them to Mobius to handle. Don't leave a single cell behind."
Ato looked anxiously at the Ninth Herrscher, but she seemed to have noticed the change in Lin as well. She didn't move; she just watched him quietly from the air. Ato reached out his hand toward Lin: "Lin, don't joke with me. This is no time for jokes."
"..."
Lin looked at Ato's outstretched hand.
He had always been the one reaching out to others, but every time, he was "just a bit short."
He always told himself he would make it next time, yet he could only stand before mountains of graves, waiting for the rain to fall on the tombstones of those he couldn't save.
"Don't you want to know who she is!"
Lin heart jolted. He looked up at Ato, whose face was covered in rain.
Ato shouted loudly. He seemed to have returned to being the strict senior of the past, reprimanding a confused junior without mercy: "You're wondering which of the people around you will be the first Herrscher. But if you end the Honkai and prove that Herrschers can coexist with humans, wouldn't that solve everything!"
"You are..."
Ato stepped forward, grabbed Lin hand, and slapped him hard across the face.
Slap!
"Look over here!"
Lin face burned with pain.
Even though he shouldn't be able to feel pain, it still hurt.
"We can't decide for others, but we can decide for ourselves. You said that yourself." Ato let go of Lin hand and gripped his weapon. He watched the Ninth Herrscher, who was starting to move again in the sky. "I don't know what happened to you... but, Lin, you haven't left anything behind yet."
"Why is this world always so cruel..."
Ato thought of that ordinary, somewhat timid private.
This was his fault.
He had caused Erwin's death.
Erwin had dissipated into the world before he could do anything or leave anything behind.
"Lin, live. Everything you want to know, I will tell you."
"Right... I haven't... told you my secret yet... a girl's secret is very valuable. Please, wake up..."
"Whose voice is this..."
Lin heard intermittent sobbing. it was a familiar voice, but he couldn't remember when he had heard those words.
Bang!
This time, it wasn't a simple gravity sphere or ray. A massive torrent of black energy surged toward them like a tide. Lin pupils finally focused. He and Ato leaped together to dodge the torrent. The simple anti-gravity system on his back allowed him to hover briefly while carrying another person.
"Lin, I have an idea."
Before Lin could react, Ato stepped on Lin shoulder, leaped into the air, and charged straight toward the Ninth Herrscher!