Seeing the object in the girl's palm, Ming Yu couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath.
Although he had wondered about the existence of Ji Lin's Stigmata, he didn't hold out much hope. After all, this thing had never appeared in the Chronicles, not even a trace of it.
Although the Far East Branch's original goal was only to find the Stigmata, in the end, apart from the price of Himeko's grievous injuries, they only found a battered spherical quantum computer and assembled a rather useless cannon. Even the Xuanyuan Sword was directly dismantled.
After carefully examining the golden Stigmata in the girl's palm, Ming Yu pondered for a long time before finally nodding slowly.
Even if Ming Yu didn't care about something like the Xuanyuan Sword, he could not ignore a Natural Stigmata.
If he missed out on this Xuanyuan Sword, he could always look for a Key of Domination elsewhere. After all, with a production run of a thousand Divine Keys, even if most were destroyed, it would still be much simpler than finding a Stigmata.
From the information he knew, only a handful of people clearly possessed Natural Stigmata, a number even rarer than that of the Divine Keys.
Once he missed this Natural Stigmata, he might never encounter another one in his lifetime. Moreover, for a certain red-haired Valkyrie whose life was hanging by a thread, a new Stigmata was also extremely important.
Of course, the reason Ming Yu had the confidence to take such a risk was also related to the Celestial's presence. As long as she was here, no matter how reckless he was, the outcome of the battle would head towards the end he hoped for; it was just a matter of who achieved that ending.
"Well then, good luck to you~"
Extinguishing the light of the Stigmata in her palm, the girl who looked like Ji Lin revealed a gratified smile, as if she had completed a great mission.
As the girl's words fell, the original void gradually faded, and endless white light began to fill the entire space. The girl's figure also slowly dissipated. Clearly, the trial of the Xuanyuan Sword and the Stigmata was about to begin.
Watching the gradually disappearing girl, Ming Yu had intended to ask what kind of existence she was, but when he saw the serene smile on her lips, he no longer had the heart to delve deeper. Whether the girl's existence was tied to the Xuanyuan Sword or the Stigmata, it was merely a lingering obsession left behind by Ji Lin; the result was no different.
With a flash of white light, Ming Yu suddenly sensed that something was leaving him. But before he could perceive what he had lost, the scene before him had already returned to that battlefield he remembered so deeply. And on the scorched earth, the blonde Valkyrie, already somewhat fuzzy in his memory, was looking at him with burning eyes, her once beautiful face covered in ugly purplish-red stripes.
"Lia~" Ming Yu's lips moved, softly uttering that unforgettable name.
"Why! Why did you go back then!" The girl's face was contorted in pain, and a dark aura seemed to emerge from her eyes, yet she still directed a question full of unwillingness at Ming Yu.
Looking at the Honkai Energy patterns on the girl's face, Ming Yu remained silent. He was no stranger to such a face and knew very well what it represented. Moreover, he had personally experienced the pain of being corroded by Honkai Energy, so he naturally understood the torment the girl was suffering at this moment.
However, in front of this face, he couldn't swing his sword without hesitation as he had in the past. It was as if he had returned to that bloody day, only able to stand there in a daze.
"Why wasn't it you who died!" The girl's voice was no longer as clear as a human's, having taken on a beast-like hoarseness. The Honkai corrosion had worsened.
"I... I'm sorry..."
Ming Yu couldn't explain anything, only able to weakly utter these few words.
No matter how desperate Ming Yu's desire to protect his comrades was, he had ultimately failed, and had even implicated the teammates who trusted him. In the face of this cold, hard fact, all explanations were so pale and powerless.
After experiencing so much, he thought he had grown, but when faced with all this again, he discovered that he was still just that cowardly and timid boy.
Other than self-blame and regret, he could do nothing.
Looking at Lia's body, which was almost completely corroded by Honkai Energy, Ming Yu knew very well that the best course of action at this moment was to swing his sword and end her life, to terminate this suffering. For both him and Lia, this was the optimal choice.
However, the hand with which Ming Yu held the sword trembled uncontrollably, as if all strength had drained from his body.
The Valkyrie corroded by Honkai walked towards Ming Yu step by step. Her pace was not fast, but each step seemed to tread upon his heart, crushing him until he could barely breathe.
The girl's slender hands slowly grew Honkai Beast-like carapaces, and her delicate fingers turned into hard, sharp claws, stabbing towards Ming Yu's body with the speed of lightning.
In that split second, the combat instincts Ming Yu had developed over a long time reacted, and his body subconsciously dodged to the right.
The white claws broke through the defenses of Cold Night without any resistance, leaving five bloody gashes on Ming Yu's chest. Crimson blood splattered onto the Valkyrie's face, making her already terrifying visage even more ferocious.
The girl's delicate features were contorted by the pain of Honkai Energy corrosion, and specks of red bloomed on one side of her cheek, making her look like a demon crawling out of hell. The clear whites of her eyes had been completely stained black, and her originally azure pupils had turned into a blood-like scarlet, devoid of any life.
The pain from his chest and the fear of a close brush with death shocked Ming Yu greatly, making him realize the danger of his situation.
Staring into Lia's blood-red eyes that held only madness, Ming Yu sighed softly. Memories of the past six months with those Valkyries surfaced in his mind—those girls who rushed to the battlefield one after another, those girls who fought against the Honkai with all their lives.
They either died at the hands of Honkai Beasts, or their Honkai Energy went rampant and their lives were ended by their former comrades. Even his own hands were stained with a few such lives. No matter how hard he tried to become stronger, he could never protect everyone.
In the face of the Honkai, an individual's power was ultimately insignificant. He couldn't do it, Theresa, an S-rank Valkyrie, couldn't do it, and even someone as strong as the Celestial would eventually find herself overwhelmed.
But no matter what, those girls who were Valkyries never once regretted stepping onto this battlefield against the Honkai. Even knowing they might die in a certain battle, they never cowered because of it.
To protect the world, to fight against the Honkai, this was the mission they always kept in mind!
Closing his eyes, Ming Yu could almost see the unwilling gazes of those girls, and he seemed to hear their entrusted words in his ears.
Without opening his eyes, Ming Yu suddenly took a step forward. The ancient golden sword in his hand bypassed Lia's defense at a strange angle and pierced into the girl's chest. The frost power hidden within the Xuanyuan Sword instantly erupted, freezing the Valkyrie into an ice sculpture.
Slowly opening his eyes, Ming Yu stared blankly at the girl beneath the ice, silent for a long time.
Under the solid layer of ice, the girl's time seemed to have stopped, frozen forever at this moment, at this moment of being corroded by the Honkai.
After an unknown amount of time, Ming Yu sighed deeply and slowly said, "I'm sorry... and, goodbye..."
As his voice fell, the massive ice sculpture completely shattered, turning into countless specks of white dust that drifted away with the wind, disappearing between heaven and earth.
"This way, I haven't failed your last wishes, have I..."
Ming Yu said softly, as if asking someone, or perhaps just talking to himself.
Among the comrades he had sent off, the most common request he received was not the will to fight the Honkai, but three simple words—"Live on."
This most sincere wish was the biggest reason that supported him to this point, and it was also the reason he chose to stay on the battlefield.
Only in this way could he not fail those young lives that had passed away.
"Thank you..."
Watching the gradually collapsing world, Ming Yu said softly.
A gentle breeze blew, caressing his cheek, as if in reply.
The ground beneath his feet crumbled, and the feeling of weightlessness returned as Ming Yu once again lost consciousness.
"Ming Yu!"
After an unknown amount of time, an urgent shout pulled his consciousness back from its trance.
His vision returned, and what met his eyes was Theresa's slightly panicked little face.
And further away, a beautiful girl stood in the air, her waist-length white hair moving without wind. Lances of black and white slowly rotated behind her.