Several days later.
Mu Continent Central War Zone.
"Whoosh—Screech!!"
A Tactical Surface Fighter, not just its frame but even its cockpit half torn off, with wind continuously rushing in, plummeted from the sky at high speed. However, just as it was about to crash onto the temporary runway, relying on the reverse acceleration of its four vector engines, the TSF was incredibly pulled up by the pilot, who endured terrifying G-forces. After leaving a frantic trail of sparks on the ground, this nearly scrapped TSF finally managed to stop at the edge of the runway.
"Hiss!"
Steam erupted from the TSF's core!
The pilot immediately jumped out of the cockpit, then, in a few quick bounds, rushed to the already scorched turf nearby and hit the deck—
"BOOM!!"
The explosion threw up a massive fireball.
Through the back of his damaged pressure suit, the high heat and shockwave seared Jack with a wave of pain.
The TSF, with 143 hollow white stars and 5 solid white stars painted on its fuselage, thus declared its final farewell to him.
————
Tactical Surface Fighter Command Center.
"Hey! Jack!"
"Jack, how many did you take down this time?"
A person's growth doesn't require too long. In just a few short days of combat, having seen his TSF squadron reconstituted three times and personally witnessed the departure of over 200 comrades, Jack had transformed from a military academy rookie into an ace pilot.
The situation on Mu Continent also didn't take long to change.
The southern TSF base had been breached by Honkai Beasts two days ago. Honkai Beasts from the northeast and east had turned nearly half of Mu Continent's territory into a living hell.
Except for the nearly 20,000 soldiers of the Soviet Union Army in the Western War Zone who were still holding on, all other units had retreated to a position less than 50 kilometers from the center of Mu Continent. Behind them was the capital, research center, economic center, and political center of Mu Continent, and also the location of the Eye of the Abyss.
From here, the army had no more room to retreat.
Jack smiled and dealt with the surrounding faces, both familiar and unfamiliar, as he walked towards the hangar in the maintenance center. According to the high command's directive he had just received, he was to go there to receive his new TSF.
This was the treatment for an ace pilot.
Regardless of the process, the TSF's recorder clearly held Jack's combat record: in the course of 17 sorties, the TSF he piloted had successfully taken down 143 small Honkai Beasts and 5 large Honkai Beasts. Throughout the entire TSF squadron (excluding the VF squad), only Jack had successfully shot down a single composite Temple-class beast.
The fifth large-scale kill was even more impressive:
Jack had even reaped a [Magma Emperor]—a kill that not even the VF squad had managed to achieve.
Just as Jack was halfway there.
This highly anticipated new ace suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure walking in a corner of the command center. Just as he was about to approach—
"Hey."
A comrade from behind grabbed Jack's arm and said in a very cautious voice:
"Jack, you're not thinking of dealing with those monsters, are you?"
"Monsters…"
Jack's steps halted.
His comrade was right; the Fusion Warriors were indeed monsters.
Especially the one with horns on his head who was leaving below—Jack had seen it with his own eyes, the other's slaughtering demeanor on the battlefield… was truly no different from a monster's.
But—
"Even if he is a monster."
"He's still our comrade, isn't he?"
Jack removed his comrade's hand from his left arm and continued running towards the figure who was about to disappear.
————
"Mister… Kosma."
By the time Jack caught up with him, he was already out of breath.
Fusion Warriors were not human, after all. With their physical constitution, even a seemingly simple, leisurely stroll was hard for an ordinary person to catch up to.
"You are?"
Kosma looked at the pilot named Jack before him—there was a nameplate on the uniform—he didn't remember having any acquaintances on Mu Continent. In fact, aside from commanders and high-ranking officers, for an ordinary person to come and greet him was an extremely rare occurrence under the current circumstances.
"My name is Jack."
"You probably don't know me… um, during the 15th Squadron's operation to attack the [Magma Emperor], you saved my life."
That's right.
The [Magma Emperor] kill that Jack got was actually scavenged from Kosma.
Griseo and Kosma.
Plus a total of five other Fusion Warriors who had arrived from different directions, after reaching Mu Continent, had separately provided support to the war zones in the east, south, and north.
When they arrived, it coincided with War Temple leading its troops to assemble and launch an all-out assault. If Kosma hadn't arrived in time, the Southern War Zone would likely have been pierced through by the highly mobile 'Crimson Cherry' Legion.
Although Kosma did not undergo an artificial Honkai Eruption, he still managed to obstruct the 'Crimson Cherry' Legion's ground offensive for a full 10 minutes through sheer strength, relying on a semi-monstrous Overload Metamorphosis. The combat power of War and Famine was ultimately somewhat lacking, not enough to fight Kosma head-on. This sudden encounter caused the legion's greatest losses since the start of the war:
16 Temple-class beasts, the main force of the legion's air power, 2 Magma Emperors, and a large number of ground-based Honkai Beasts were killed.
This combat achievement was not accomplished solely by the Fusion Warriors.
The participation of five flight squadrons (all personnel) from the Southern War Zone, the sacrifice of over 120 TSFs and their pilots, coordinated with Kosma's ground-based decapitation strike targeting the Ballista-class beasts at the rear, was what led to such a brilliant achievement.
"Oh."
Kosma just gave a simple reply.
That battle was merely an insignificant fragment among the countless slaughters he had experienced. The humans he saved might feel grateful… no, even those he saved directly or indirectly wouldn't necessarily be grateful for his actions, especially after seeing the scene of him "devouring a Honkai Beast."
"Goodbye."
Kosma didn't say much else.
And just as Jack was about to say more, a base-wide announcement regarding his orders made Jack halt his original plan. It had taken a lot of time to "catch" Kosma; he was originally supposed to report to the hangar located beneath the maintenance center.
"Good… no!"
"When the war is over, please do me the honor of letting me treat you to a meal! I know a very nice little shop on the outskirts of the central commercial street!"
Comrades who must be wary of as strangers, yet also must be trusted with one's back.
The spiral of contradiction slowly turned.
The distance between human and "human" gradually widened, until they disappeared separately into the shadows cast by the sunlight, and into the light that illuminated the darkness.