The veil of light gauze was torn by a sharp corner on a wall. The pure white, flawless long hair was dusted with a layer of grime. A corner of the ice crystal crown was broken. The empress, who had been high above not long ago, stumbled forward.
"Anna… Lin…"
The shocking wounds on the Fifth Herrscher's body were healing at an incredible speed. The injuries, which looked like they had been scorched by some kind of energy and high temperature, healed under the effect of Honkai energy, as if a ragdoll were being mended with needle and thread.
She kept muttering something in her mouth. Her clear, hollow eyes reflected the windy, snowy sky. She moved forward, seemingly oblivious to pain.
The nun's habit beneath the light veil was faintly visible. She seemed completely unaware, as if she could no longer see anything in front of her.
This was not a hidden location. The Honkai energy, which soared as her body healed, would expose her position. Soon, after she had moved slowly for less than a hundred meters, a sound of uniform footsteps began to emerge around her.
The Fifth Herrscher stopped her tottering steps. Her emotionless eyes looked at the people who appeared before her.
"This is Kevin. The Fifth Herrscher has been found. The target is heavily injured and can be subjugated."
There were people surrounding her from behind as well, aiming their guns at her.
"This is Elysia and Ato. The Fifth Herrscher has been found."
"…"
There was nowhere left to run.
The Fifth Herrscher's hollow eyes swept around. This deathly gaze made some soldiers involuntarily shiver with dread, and some couldn't help but raise their guns, wanting to shoot.
Kevin saw someone about to open fire and shouted, "Stop!"
However, his voice couldn't overcome the fear in the soldier's heart.
"Bang!"
The bullet struck the generated ice shield. Extreme coldness erupted from beneath the Fifth Herrscher's feet. A blizzard that made it impossible to open one's eyes instantly covered an area of several hundred meters.
With the arrow already drawn, and knowing that everyone would be frozen into ice sculptures in this temperature within a short time, Kevin could only rely on instinct to fire at the Fifth Herrscher's original position. However, after a series of gunshots, there was no reaction.
"Swoosh!"
The icy-blue figure broke through the ice mist and flew into the sky. This act of escaping caught everyone off guard—except for Elysia.
Elysia had set up her sniper rifle sometime earlier, aiming at the sky. The moment the Fifth Herrscher entered her crosshairs, she naturally pulled the trigger.
"Bang!" The modified anti-Honkai bullet shot out of the barrel, flying toward the Herrscher's heart like a mythological, never-missing sacred spear.
"Cough—"
In the final moment, the Fifth Herrscher condensed a layer of solid ice on the surface of her skin. The bullet forcefully pierced her protective layer, then plunged into her body. Her figure stalled in mid-air.
But this strike still failed to kill her. After the pause, the Fifth Herrscher tried to continue flying toward higher altitudes.
As long as a Herrscher was still breathing, she could rely on her inhuman regenerative ability to return to peak condition. They couldn't give her any chance, so Ato immediately called for the transport plane to prepare for high-altitude combat.
"Wait a minute…" The previously solemn Kevin suddenly widened his eyes, looking into the distance.
A meteor radiating azure particles rose from the ground.
"That couldn't be…" Ato, who had witnessed this scene not long ago, had a change in expression.
In the sight of everyone, the burning meteor struck the ascending Fifth Herrscher from the side.
"Boom—"
…
"Hoo… hoo… hoo…"
His vision was completely black, with only a negligible area still retaining color.
His breathing was so heavy that it felt like it would disappear in the next second.
Lin stared at the only remaining icy blue in that field of color. His arms hung down. Blood still oozed profusely from his hollow right eye socket. His tightly clenched teeth were stained with blood.
Because the helmet had suffered major damage, all systems were shut down. PROMETHEUS could only curl up in the small black box of the helmet. The only sound in his ears was the whistling of the cold wind.
In the darkness, endless hallucinations flashed.
Children's laughter.
Adults' crying.
Sitting on the clouds.
The hustle and bustle of all living beings beneath his feet.
A warm beach.
Laughing people.
Why… is it always so far out of reach…
Lin looked at the Fifth Herrscher, who was also clinging to life like him. That familiar face, that unfamiliar face, gradually became blurred under the light of a firefly.
"Anna… Lin…"
He couldn't distinguish if it was a hallucination or words spoken by the Herrscher.
A faint rustling sound entered his ears. Lin felt the Fifth Herrscher, who had fallen to the ground, crawling toward him, slowly, weakly, and fatally coldly approaching him.
Lin remained motionless, allowing the Ice Reaper to come to his side. Then, a body colder than ice pressed onto his.
Two hands gently pressed against his helmet, trying to take it off, but were obstructed by the helmet's clasp.
After a long period of fumbling, she found the helmet clasp, clumsily undid it, and then pulled the helmet from Lin's head.
His blood-soaked hair froze into ice blocks in the cold air. His left eye, on the verge of closing, met the gaze of the Fifth Herrscher.
After a long while, the Fifth Herrscher reached out and grabbed his neck.
"Lin…" she still whispered.
And Lin, upon hearing the words from her mouth, slowly widened his left eye.
"Bang!"
A jet of blood burst from the Fifth Herrscher's chest, splattering onto Lin's cheek.
It wasn't frozen into ice crystals by the cold. It was warm, like that of a normal human, steaming and rising on Lin's face.
He watched the light in the Fifth Herrscher's eyes gradually fade, but in the final moment, she looked at him, and her hands still reached for his chin.
"Pat."
Her fingers gently stroked his cheek, a warmth like the spring wind in March.
The Fifth Herrscher collapsed onto him. Under his gaze, the eyes that had once offered warmth to the children slowly closed, falling into a quiet sleep.
"Lin! Are you okay!"
Elysia's voice rang out in the distance, growing closer. She arrived by Lin's side and hastily helped him up from the ground.
The barrel of her gun, behind her, was still smoking, indicating that she had just fired the shot that killed the Fifth Herrscher.
Elysia injected a syringe of unknown medicine into Lin's body. He allowed Elysia to support him, kneeling on one knee on the ground.
Elysia inspected Lin's injuries, which were painful to look at. His right eye and right leg were completely gone. Lines of Honkai energy corruption were wrapped around his body, and his unfocused left eye couldn't maintain its focus.
But Lin was alive, even though he was now virtually indistinguishable from a dead person.
"This is Elysia. The Fifth Herrscher is confirmed dead."
Lin's sightless right eye looked at the Fifth Herrscher lying on the ground. Her blood was still flowing.
She was no longer cold. She had returned to the nun girl named Hina, just quietly sleeping.
The cold clouds that had enveloped Trant dispersed.
The children, waiting for their family, hugged each other.