The fading body temperature warmed up in the scorching heat. Su ran with all his might, hearing the vibrations in his ears, the instability of the ground beneath his feet, and the wailing of the child against his chest.
Looking ahead, he saw no way out. Endless flames, endless ruins, and only his diminishing strength cruelly reminded him that time was still marching forward.
Pain.
His hands, legs, and head were throbbing with a tearing pain. His entire being felt as if it were about to be ripped apart by this agony.
How far was that monster from him?
Ten meters?
Five meters?
Or perhaps…
"Boom!"
A swollen, giant palm slammed onto the ground behind him. The fierce wind pushed him, sending him tumbling dozens of meters, and his right leg snapped with a crack.
"Pfft—"
Saliva and blood, unable to withstand the heavy pressure on his chest, spilled from his lips.
Su tightly clutched the child, whose crying had grown fainter. He scrambled to his feet, having just expelled his last breath. Unable to continue running, he gently placed the child beneath a nearby broken wall, covering them as best he could, then turned to face the monster.
Biologically speaking, this creature should not exist. Its mere presence before Su made him feel unwell.
But now was not the time to investigate the structure of a Honkai Beast. He let his numb, wounded arm hang down and raised his other hand's ridiculous-looking fist.
Su had always thought that when he died, he would recall his life, reliving every detail in a brief yet endless moment before welcoming death.
The patients who died in the hospital—each of them was filled with reluctance. In the moments before death, they murmured the names of those important to them, either surrounded by family or lying alone until life faded away.
But Su found that his heart was calmer than he had expected.
There was no echo of reluctance, no playback of memories.
He simply looked up at the grotesque arm that was about to send him to the next world, waiting without blinking…
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Bullets tore through the terrifying arm, scattering flesh and blood and rupturing what looked like an indestructible body. Then, a continuous barrage of gunfire pierced the core of the Honkai Beast.
"Rumble…"
The giant beast's body collapsed.
In the hopeful sunrise, a small figure holding a firearm walked up to Su, who was staring blankly.
"Dr. Mei, this is Prometheus III. After losing contact with TT-079 Kai and falling into Nagazora City, I found a survivor. Please arrange recovery."
…
"Want a smoke?"
Fal leaned against the door, pulling off his blood-soaked gloves and tossing them onto the pile of zombie corpses. He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his white coat and asked Ragna, who was sitting by the door covered in blood.
"…I remember you don't smoke." Ragna used her left hand to pry open the fingers of her right hand, which were still clutching a broken wooden stick. She took the offered cigarette but did not put it to her mouth.
"I really don't. Smoking causes damage to lung function, and long-term heavy smoking can lead to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, not to mention the secondhand smoke contains…"
"So, why do you have cigarettes?"
Fal shrugged and smiled indifferently: "That patient was an old chain smoker. His lungs were black, looking even more terrifying than organs turned purple by Honkai Sickness erosion. I found the cigarettes in his hospital gown. He was secretly smoking in the hospital."
"…So, should we smoke?"
"Forget it, I talked myself out of it." Fal put down the cigarette pack and glanced at the cigarette in Ragna's hand. "How about you?"
"I won't either. I used to be a maid. The family I served was allergic to cigarettes, and strictly forbade servants in the house from smoking. The impression was too deep." Ragna tiredly took off her blood-red outer coat. After a thought, she tucked the cigarette into her pocket.
"You were a maid?"
"Just for interest… There are always times when one wants to experience a different life, so I got a professional maid certification and worked as a maid for about a year."
"That truly is a rich life experience."
"Is it? I think life is still long. These are nothing much."
"Life is still long, huh…"
In the operating room behind the two who were speaking softly, the line symbolizing life on the electrocardiogram screen was beating strongly.
…
"…"
The sky was vast and azure. Small clouds layered one upon the other, casting mottled spots of light onto the girl's cheeks.
Clusters of pale white flowers embraced her, and the gentle breeze ruffled the red and blue strands of hair near her ears.
"Hoo…"
The wind pressure swept up the petals, carrying them toward the sky. The scarred people stepped into this flawlessly white flowerbed, and drops of blood slid into the flower centers.
The man wearing the helmet arrived beside the girl, supported by Sakura. After a nod of acknowledgment, Sakura let go, and he crouched down to meet the girl's gaze.
"…Your human sky is vast and boundless. It's truly wonderful," she pursed her lips, her voice faint and ethereal.
"The sky doesn't belong to humans. It's just there. Anyone can look up at it," the man replied flatly, letting out a long sigh.
The girl looked at the cloud again and couldn't help but chuckle: "Is that so?"
"…"
Her breath was as thin as silk. Her azure and crimson pupils looked together at the man: "Have you ever lain down and looked at the sky?"
The man pondered for a moment, then shook his head: "I'll look later."
"Then you must take a look. It is much more beautiful looking from here than looking down from the sky."
At this moment, she no longer smiled falsely, nor did she chatter incessantly. She was simply appreciating the sky.
The layer of cloud was finally blown away by the wind. She didn't seem too bothered, or perhaps she had never intended to confine her sight to that unremarkable cloud in the ever-changing sky.
The man drew his pistol from its holster.
"Oh, right, could you help me pick a name?"
His hand, which was cocking the gun, paused for half a second. As if forgetting his previous mockery of the girl, he asked calmly: "What kind of name?"
"Anything is fine… But Seele doesn't like names that are too long, and I hate having the same name as others, so I'm a little picky," the girl glanced coolly at the stern-faced Kevin and shook her head. "It's okay if you don't pick one."
Lin gazed at her familiar face, the smile he had seen countless times, which paused in its final moment beneath the sun-drenched, spring-like sky.
"...Seele (Xi'er)," he whispered softly, thinking of the embrace that never happened.
"Hahahaha… Do you have naming difficulty? You ended up using Seele (Hun) name after all."
The laughter traveled far, and then came back.
Slowly, both the crimson and azure faded from her body, leaving behind only pure black.
The girl stopped laughing and silently closed her eyes, resting in the sea of flowers, her breathing even, as if entering a long slumber.
White flowers became her blanket, covering all of her.
The man stood up, raising the muzzle of the gun.
"Goodbye, Lin."
"Goodbye, Seele (Xi'er)."
"Bang."
White petals covered the smoking muzzle of the gun.
TL Note: So for the human name Selee the pronunciation is (Hun) and the new one for Herrscher is Seele (Xi'er)