12 hours remain until the arrival of Finality.
"…"
"Could you please stop fiddling with the top of my head?"
"Uh… sorry?"
The entirety of space surrounding Earth was filled with a faint purple nebula, a vista created by the surging Honkai energy. This energy came partly from the Finality Honkai Beasts crushed by the Monarch, and partly from the twelve "Zodiac Fissures" that were currently sealed.
Among them, before the birthplace of the Companion Honkai Beast symbolizing Cancer, a colossal, purple-gold, eight-legged Honkai Beast reared up on its hind legs. To give this survivalist duo a better chance of victory, the Monarch had empowered the Great Crab with a measure of the [Authority of Death] and a vast amount of Honkai energy, far exceeding what she previously possessed.
The direct consequence of this was that the Great Crab's form, once a composite of a crab and a lobster, had now incorporated certain features of a scorpion.
Layers of purple-gold carapace overlapped one another. Her primary weapons, the pair of giant pincers, were specialized even further, turning a pure,漆黑 shade that symbolized death and the void, along with her four pairs of jointed legs.
Directly on top of her head, a single eye pulsed with intense psychic waves, now glowing a solid gold. It, along with the dense patterns surrounding it, formed the image of the "Eye of Horus."
Even the Great Crab's designation had changed due to this surge in power:
[Primordial Species · Selket]
However…
Although the Great Crab—or Great Lobster, or more accurately, Great Scorpion—now looked far more savage and imposing, it did not stop Pardofelis's curious behavior as she perched atop her head.
That's right.
Pardofelis had manifested her Collapsed State, appearing as a large calico cat. Her own power was insufficient to enter this state, so half the credit for her current form belonged to Mobius's potions, which everyone had thought would never see use.
And on Pardofelis herself, the chubby orange cat [Can], manifested as a skill, had not vanished. His chubby paws clung tightly to Pardofelis's long tail.
Incidentally, the stacking game did not end with Can. The "treasures" that Pardofelis had collected and balanced on his head were the "supreme" existence within their little squad.
---o---
"You don't like cats?"
"…"
"Or does it tickle… you look pretty sturdy, though."
"…"
"No, I do not dislike cats."
Pardo, having just stopped her stroking, very unconsciously gave the Great Crab's head a couple of light taps.
Pardofelis was not stupid.
In fact, with her incredibly reliable intuition, her ability to discern malice was even more precise than that of a battle-hardened veteran. This was a "skill" unique to Pardofelis, born from a combination of her superhuman talent and the experience gained from years of scrambling to survive in Sundown Alley.
From their very first meeting on the island—though she had received quite a scare—Pardofelis knew with absolute certainty that this Great Crab held no ill will toward her.
Pardo was well aware of how her luck worked: Strong Luck had its limits. An overwhelming disparity in strength would greatly diminish its effects. The fact that she had managed to skirmish with the Great Crab for so long back then was not just due to the element of "play"; it was absolutely impossible that her opponent had not been holding back.
After seeing the other's human form, Pardo became even more certain of this. Although the memory was faint, she did have a vague, tiny impression of the Great Crab's human appearance.
Pardo prided herself on her ability to read people. In a place as chaotic as Sundown Alley, countless children were "taken in" or "went missing" every year. As the local busybody, Pardo had a good idea of where most of them were sent.
Combining this with the reactions of Chenling and Dr. Mobius, her deduction was not far from the truth: The Great Crab was a unique, one-of-a-kind hybrid, accidentally born when a human "soul" was injected into the shell of a Tide-level Honkai Beast that once served under Pavanti. This was also why the Great Crab's behavior had been so maverick before she officially joined the Monarch's legion.
---o---
"You don't dislike them?"
The impression in Pardofelis's memory grew a little clearer: the twilight of Sundown Alley, a figure who seemed to like cats but dared not approach them, who met with an accident by the railway crossing and was left behind, only to quickly disappear…
"Pardo."
Pardofelis's train of thought was interrupted. She didn't even notice the name her companion had just used.
"I know what you are thinking."
"No matter how interested you are in 'my' past, it will have to wait until after this battle… if we both survive."
The Great Crab gave Pardofelis no chance to speak further.
A pure white lily bloomed above the Eye of Horus before dissolving into a soft stream of light, which flowed silently into "Can," who was still clinging to Pardo.
"This is the 'Power of Life'."
"Against the enemy we are about to face, you will likely be of little use."
Of little use was an understatement. Not being a burden was already a blessing.
"The 'Power of Life' will use 'Can' as a medium to link our strengths. To be precise, it will allow me to share your 'Strong Luck'."
"After that—"
CLANG!
The ink-black pincers snapped shut forcefully.
The complete opposite of the "Power of Life," the Authority of Wither, symbolizing the "Power of Death," would be her ultimate weapon against the Companion Honkai Beast of Finality.
"I will be the one to sever the head of this 'Cancer'."
"…"
"Mm."
Pardo's energetic, thrashing tail slowly came to a rest. Can, holding onto the tail with one paw and his "treasures" with the other, wiped his brow in a very human-like manner and settled securely on the Great Crab's head with a grace that defied his physique.
Pardo slowly looked up.
What filled her vision was a starry river, a vista of such beauty that the word "pretty" could not begin to describe it, veiled by a thin, gossamer mist. To witness such a scene in an era of peace would be a romance so breathtaking as to be envied.
A pity there was always a 'but'…
"We will."
"We will both survive."
"…"
"Aiya~"
"It's not like I can help much anyway."
Pardo looked down at her own paws. Although they had the power to slice through gold and jade, on a stage as vast as the cosmos, they still felt woefully inadequate.
Only at moments like this did the Fusion Warrior named Pardofelis truly understand what "powerlessness" meant. But she would not run. "Powerless" was not the same as "weak," because… not far from her, there was a round, bright moon, like a shiny coin.
"It's all up to you now—"
"Boss Crab!"