"Swish—"
A strong beam of light descended from the sky, hitting the Honkai Beast's core and momentarily stalling its brutal movements.
But the three children did not snap out of their fear to run away, nor was the destructive power of the light beam strong enough to penetrate the Honkai Beast's core. So, after a brief pause, the Honkai Beast raised its massive arm again, ready to smash them into paste.
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
Three more beams of the same specification accurately hit the position struck by the first shot. Under the continuous bombardment, the Honkai Beast's epidermis and muscle tissue were broken open, and then…
"Swish!"
The final beam penetrated the core.
The Honkai Beast's raised massive arm swayed, then crashed to the ground in the children's tear-blurred vision.
"Boom!"
After the massive corpse hit the ground, another, much smaller figure landed right in front of the three of them.
The man in the helmet didn't feel "standing" when his toes touched the ground; his limbs were loosely held up by the flight device on his back. He looked like a lifeless puppet on strings, lacking any vitality. Six oddly-shaped floating cannons hovered around him as a warning, adding an eerie atmosphere.
In a way, he looked even more frightening than the Honkai Beast just now.
Fortunately, the three children had seen this helmeted man before; he was the person Anna had brought back that day.
"Y-you are…" The children, having seen both the monsters from stories and, in a sense, high-tech soldiers all in one day, were even more confused for a moment.
"Where are Anna and Hina…" Lin's hoarse voice was mixed with a low cough. He asked the three children weakly.
Shouldn't they have gone to the shelter? So why would Anna and Hina leave them behind?
"You're the person Sister Anna brought back, right! Please, quickly go save Sister Anna and Sister Hina!" The leader of the boys was the first to react. He disregarded Lin's attire, knelt on the ground, and cried out to Lin with tears streaming down his face.
"…"
Seeing the zombie's corpse, Lin roughly guessed that the three little ones hadn't failed to evacuate in time, but had secretly turned back. The reason for their return was likely Anna and Hina.
"What exactly happened?" he asked.
"Wuwu… Sister Anna… Sister Anna said she still needed to save other people… and she ran back…" The boy wiped his snot and tears, sobbing loudly, "Then… then Sister Hina… she was worried about Sister Anna… she told the others to take us away… and went to find… Sister Anna… wuaaah…"
"They still haven't come back… until now…"
Hina and Anna… didn't leave?
Lin looked at the ice-sealed city, then lowered his head to look at the three children.
The other two, influenced by the boy, also burst into tears. For them, who had been well cared for by Hina, simultaneously losing two elders who were as close as family and experiencing the feeling of being homeless was something they couldn't bear at all.
Lin forced himself to suppress his nearly fainting nerves, and after taking a few deep breaths, he said to them, "You go back first… I will bring Hina and Anna back…"
"R-really?" Hearing Lin say this, the most mature boy lessened his crying, his red eyes looking at Lin.
"Yes."
"Then… then you must bring them back! We promise! You must bring them back!"
"Alright…"
Lin no longer knew whether his flesh was tugging at his soul or his soul was pulling his flesh. He looked at the hopeful eyes of the boy in his visual display and gently nodded.
"I promise…"
…
"Lin, the Fifth Herrscher has been confirmed to have been born."
After flying at a low altitude for some time, PROMETHEUS suddenly reminded Lin, as if she had just remembered something.
But this sentence was actually redundant. A Herrscher is born simultaneously with the outbreak of a large-scale Honkai, so there was no need to bring it up additionally.
Therefore, what PROMETHEUS really wanted to say was the following.
"The Fifth Herrscher's coordinates have not moved since her birth." PROMETHEUS displayed the coordinate map on Lin's visual window. The scarlet dot appeared in Lin's pupils, "The coordinate location is… the orphanage in Trant."
Orphanage.
What did these three words mean?
Lin remained silent after seeing it.
"Lin, the Moth of the Fire is fully prepared for this subjugation. My calculation shows the success rate of the operation is above 90%, so your assistance is not required." PROMETHEUS continuously popped up the Moth of the Fire's operational plans, as if intentionally trying to obstruct Lin's view, but the permissions Lin gave her only allowed her to appear in the upper right corner.
"Nor do you need to go and kill your friends."
Lin continued to fly without a word: "…"
"You can return to Headquarters now to receive treatment. Perhaps you can even be able to stand up again. Those three children won't know the truth of today. They will only think you broke your promise, and their older sister died, but they won't know their older sister turned into a murderous monster."
"You don't have to witness a Herrscher you know die in front of you. Truly… you don't have to."
PROMETHEUS's voice was subdued.
At Lin's non-slow flying speed, he returned to the snow-covered Trant in the blink of an eye, cutting across the sky like a bird's cry sounding in the air.
The city, covered in white snow, was eerily quiet and peaceful, like a city of the dead.
"Cough cough…"
Lin had lost count of how many times he had coughed up blood. At first, it was a normal bright red, but later it was gradually replaced by pinkish-purple blood, and now he couldn't even cough anymore. His throat was burning with pain, as if insects were crawling inside.
The closer he got to the high-concentration Honkai energy area, the more exhausted his body became, and the symptoms of Honkai sickness gradually worsened.
Some Biting-type Honkai Beasts discovered Lin and immediately flew toward him in droves, but they were instantly shot down by Lin's floating cannons at random, frozen into ice blocks in mid-air, and shattered upon landing.
It would take another three minutes to fly to the orphanage's location. The high altitude and the low temperature within Trant City caused frost to form on Lin's outer armor. If it weren't for the anti-cold material, he would have been frozen into a block of ice by now.
The orphanage, which looked like it was sealed in an ice coffin and yet also like it had formed an ice cocoon, appeared in the distance, as if quietly awaiting someone's arrival.
"Lin, you cannot change the fact that people are converted into Herrschers. They are the envoys chosen by the Honkai. This is a destiny they cannot change."
"But you are different. You still have two years. You have already given your 'everything' for humanity. Now all you have left is your life."
"I beg you, Lin, go back."
PROMETHEUS's emotionless voice was uttering words that an artificial intelligence should never say.
"No."
However, Lin looked at the world weakly yet firmly.
This world where Anna lived, the world she said she loved, the world covered in heavy snow.
Had he already given everything for humanity?
He said:
"Not all of them."