The command center, already frantic due to the Starlight's attack, suddenly felt the ground beneath their feet tremble. They fearfully checked the Honkai energy levels at Headquarters. The readings, obviously far exceeding normal expectations, plunged them into despair.
Could the Starlight have already silently breached the Headquarters base?
Just then, Mei's composed voice came through the broadcast to everyone.
"Do not panic. There is a minor leak of Honkai energy inside the Headquarters due to the Project Soldier Surgery. Please avoid the area between the warehouse and the R&D department."
Perhaps her calm rationality infected the others. After an initial moment of chaos, they returned to normal operation, ignoring the unusual tremors beneath their feet.
...
"Boom!"
The situation was actually worse than they imagined. The base's indestructible metal walls were pockmarked with numerous pits, and laser-like blade marks covered the entire corridor.
This damage was incurred under the restraint of the two combatants; neither intended to expand the scope of destruction. But sometimes, holding back wasn't entirely up to them.
Since waking up, Lin had been thinking about how to turn the combat disadvantage caused by the surgery's side effects into an advantage.
He was drop-kicked on his left arm, which he used to block. He distinctly heard a crack as his left hand bent at a grotesque angle. But with his other hand, he grabbed the girl's foot and slammed her heavily onto the floor.
When he let go, he heard the sound of skin tearing. His palm was frozen to the girl's foot, and when he pulled it back, it ripped off, leaving his entire hand bloody.
What he realized was that with the loss of the sense of touch, the perception of pain was also lost, allowing him to push beyond his own tolerance limits, unlike before.
The human body is extremely sensitive to pain, causing it to subconsciously restrain a portion of its strength to mitigate damage when encountering danger or overusing the body. This essentially increases a threshold, locking the body's maximum potential.
Thus, Lin was now equivalent to having unlocked his former constraints. Even though he was far from adapting to his body's state, this gain and loss allowed him the capability to temporarily match the girl.
"He's truly an incredible person. He can use the information from every action to determine how to manipulate his body next. It's like simultaneously driving an completely unfamiliar machine while furiously studying the operating manual," Einstein murmured, watching Lin on the screen surprisingly holding his own against the girl.
Manipulating the body—such a simple phrase. Many people think they know their body perfectly and use it at will, but in reality, how many can precisely control every part of their body?
The former Lin could do this. The current Lin might not yet, but given enough time to familiarize himself and think of new manipulation methods, it wouldn't be a problem.
But...
"Smash!"
The girl stomped on the hilt of the sword Lin was holding before he could raise his arm. The blade was crushed into the floor, effectively pinning Lin right hand.
The disparity was still clear. It was only a momentary deadlock.
As Lin attempted to resist, a peculiar shoe materialized on her foot, and an electric current shot through it, paralyzing Lin body.
All movements ceased weakly.
The loss of the sense of touch did not mean Lin body was unaffected.
The girl would not give him time to continue familiarizing himself with his body, not even a fraction of a chance.
"…"
Lin lay silently on the ground, meeting the girl's gaze.
"I won. Don't you have anything to say?" The girl was in precise control, paralyzing Lin body without causing him to lose consciousness. The crystal crown on her head shone brilliantly.
"...I don't understand why you chose to seek me out for marriage at that time."
Lin spoke an untimely confusion.
The girl paused, then smiled radiantly: "Why, that goes without saying? I saw the conditions for marriage said you were a good man."
"...Just because of that reason?"
"Could there be any other reason?"
The girl was a complete human, composed of two individuals.
The Lin of the past gave her memory and the longing to explore human emotion. The Lin of the present realized that longing.
Lin didn't understand marriage or what to do after getting married. He could only stiffly take the girl around, speak a few disjointed sentences, and awkwardly play along when the girl told lies.
As someone lacking emotion, Lin might have been as awkward as she was, but he was the one guiding her, the one who was more the "newcomer," onto the right path.
"Is there anything else you need to say? If not, I'm going in."
"...If I must say something, I haven't prepared myself to lose you yet."
Lin words made the girl stop. Her deep blue bangs quietly shadowed her eyes. The smile on her lips, which had settled into serenity, looked desolate in the wind blowing through the gap.
"I was never prepared any of the times I lost people around me. Can you allow me to prepare this time?"
Lin said faintly.
"No matter when?"
"Mhm, no matter when."
In the girl's memory, the Lin wife died in illness without any farewell.
Death was not a performance, not a romantic final curtain in an opera. There were no songs, no dances, no flowers.
Only coldness and loneliness surrounded it.
The girl walked silently to the warehouse door. She didn't try to open it, but the lock disengaged automatically. She stared down the deep, dark corridor, seemingly unable to see the monitoring camera, and whispered: "A Herrscher also has a 'limit.'"
"My Authority allows me to replicate anything I analyze, but if the Honkai energy and Authority required for the replication exceeds the limit that the Herrscher Core and my body can bear, my consciousness and body will collapse."
"I greatly admire the person who left me the memory of the Previous Civilization. The weapon he created for humanity is the pinnacle of their civilization. Even I can only replicate one unit of his ultimate masterpiece."
"And to destroy the Starlight collective consciousness, I need at least six high Honkai energy conversion devices."
"I can use the weapon named 'Falling Star' after them to crush those stars from beyond Earth."
"Of course, my consciousness will collapse then. If I'm lucky, the Herrscher Core might be preserved."
Lin listened as the girl told him her plan honestly, without any change in tone, or sorrow about life and death separation.
She spoke, and he listened, simply so that he could have "psychological preparation."
"'A Herrscher cannot possess humanity,' unless a miracle happens."
"Lin, from now on, please continue to walk forward. No matter what setbacks you face, please hold onto hope."
"Elly was right, miracles exist, and they appear for important people. After all... look..."
"I am the miracle roused by you and 'him.'"
The words of the future entered the ears of the person in the past.