The Hyperion came to a stop near the gate, and at the same time, the main cannon installed on the Hyperion began to operate...
Bronya's eyes widened in disbelief as she watched the light gather for the main cannon's charge.
"Get me the Gray Moth squad! No... that's not right, get the frontline personnel out of the firing range! Quickly!!"
"Damn it, firing at this range...!! Do they want to destroy the gate?!" "The Gray Moth squad is refusing to answer our communications...!"
"Get down!"
Ryn and Penglaiji Ryn shouted as they rushed over and pushed Bronya, Seele, and the others to the ground.
A flash of light that tore through the sky momentarily blinded everyone. The blast passed just a few meters away from them, and the scorching air it generated caused them an indescribable pain...
Lying on the ground, Ryn looked at the cannon blast before him, and through it, he looked towards the Hyperion's position.
In the command room of the rail battleship, Murata Himeko, with her left hand in a reverse grip on the Corona Greatsword, dragging it on the floor, and her long red hair covering half of her gaunt face, watched the main cannon's point of impact with a calm, emotionless gaze.
The Hyperion's main cannon pierced through the gate that protected the Fire Moth, and it also annihilated the new type of insect-like Honkai creatures that had suddenly appeared.
But just as the Honkai creatures were annihilated, those frontline members on the battlefield whose names Ryn didn't know, who didn't even leave ashes behind, all became departed souls under the main cannon's attack.
"Phew... we survived. Those Gray Moth folks are too reckless..."
Yiselian, getting up from the ground, patted her chest, grateful to have survived another day. But when she stood up and saw the completely destroyed gate, she felt as if the sky had fallen again.
Communication with the Gray Moth squad was now possible... but no one cared anymore.
Tears streamed down Bronya's face. Her hands trembled as she held the communicator, shouting into it over and over.
"Frontline... calling frontline... Honkai creatures have been eliminated, retreat immediately... Calling frontline, Honkai creatures have been eliminated..."
Bronya's hoarse voice called out into the communicator, but not a single voice answered her...
"The Gray Moths are requesting permission to return to base..."
"Hmph, they blew up the gate themselves. Is there any need to ask for permission? Let them decide for themselves..."
In the end, it was a silent, no-longer-smiling Seele who led the dazed Bronya back into the Fire Moth base.
——————————————
Usually a bustling place filled with Emisha's angry shouts, the Medical Department was now exceptionally quiet.
After all, the Medical Department was always busy treating the frontline fighters, but now that they hadn't even left ashes behind, there was no need for treatment.
Emisha hugged her knees, sitting on a hospital bed and crying silently.
"Is this the price we have to pay every time the Gray Moths return?"
What kind of question is that? Emisha looked at Penglaiji Ryn angrily, but then she remembered that Penglaiji Ryn had lost her memory and that they had been right there on the battlefield. Emisha couldn't bring herself to be angry with her.
"...No, this is the first time..." Emisha paused for a moment, then continued, "And the last... I'm still so weak, I can't protect anything. If only I had power like you..."
"..."
——————————————
"Hah... hah..."
Bronya took a deep breath in and a deep breath out, trying to calm herself down and not let anger cloud her judgment.
But when she saw Himeko's cold, indifferent face, her anger could no longer be suppressed. Bronya clenched her teeth, glared at Himeko, and shouted, word by word.
"WHY-DID-YOU-FIRE! They went to support you! And you killed them all with one shot!! What do you take the lives of your family for!!!"
"In a crisis, time is the most precious thing. I simply executed the correct plan within that precious time. This is precisely how we've survived until now, isn't it?"
Himeko said with a blank expression. There was not a trace of sadness or joy in her eyes, as if those who died were nothing more than insignificant tools.
"Even if it meant putting everyone in danger! Even at the cost of our family's lives!"
"But the fact is, this was the option with the fewest casualties."
"..."
Bronya clenched her fists. Himeko was right, but lives shouldn't be used as chips to bargain for smaller losses...
The Fire Moth was established to protect the few remaining survivors. If survivors were sacrificed as tools, then what was the point of protecting them...
Seeing that the two were about to fight, a frantic Seele began to act as a peacemaker, speaking up for both sides.
Not wanting Seele to be upset by their conflict, Bronya forced down her anger and told Seele she wasn't mad. Then, through gritted teeth, she began to discuss the next plan and the newly emerged insect-type Honkai creatures with Himeko.
Himeko was not surprised by this. She didn't care about Bronya's anger, but she also didn't want to see the cheerful Seele upset, so she had no choice but to cooperate with Bronya.
——————————————
In Ryn and Penglaiji Ryn's room.
Ryn was fiddling with a small component in his hands, lost in thought about the Hyperion's main cannon blast.
He had hesitated for a moment between Bronya and Seele's group and the people on the front line, and he had chosen Bronya's group.
Perhaps even if he hadn't intervened, Penglaiji Ryn and Seele could have saved Bronya and Yiselian. But it was clear that he valued Bronya's group more and had subconsciously neglected the people on the front line.
It was hard to believe, but Ryn didn't feel much sadness in his heart. Was it because he didn't know those people? Had his heart changed? Or was it that, apart from those important to him, Ryn simply didn't care about the lives of others?
As Ryn was lost in thought, Tianqi's figure quietly appeared and embraced him from behind.
The two of them were pressed closely together. He could even feel Tianqi's breath on his ear and the soft touch of her body against his back.
"Tsk, tsk, you've become much colder~ What, have you finally decided to give up on that boring savior game? If so, I would be genuinely happy for you~"
"Do you have to come out and disgust me at a time like this? Besides, shouldn't the you in my heart know what I'm thinking better than anyone?"
Ryn looked at the vexing demoness, Tianqi, with a dark expression.
Previously, Ryn had thought she was his opposite, which was why she had a female form. But after seeing Penglaiji Ryn... what opposite? Isn't this clearly a grown-up, mature, onee-san version of Penglaiji Ryn!
"Oh my, so you find me disgusting? That hurts my feelings so, so much~"
Tianqi looked at Ryn with a cheerful grin. She could guess what he was thinking even with her eyes closed. But teasing Ryn and making him unhappy made Tianqi very happy.
Tianqi lightly teased Ryn's lower lip with her finger, her snow-white body pressed against his.
"If you don't like me, I'll just go back to Penglaiji Ryn~"
However, faced with Tianqi's seductive teasing, Ryn couldn't help but smile.
"Go ahead, if you want to. But it seems you can't go back, can you? Oh dear, homeless, how pitiful~"
"Heh, hehe..."
Tianqi was so angered by Ryn's reaction that she burst out laughing. She then pounced on him and pinned him to the bed in a fit of pique.
——————————————
That's right, Nightmare Tianqi was not born because of Ryn, but was a strange existence that Penglaiji Ryn encountered by chance.
After that, Tianqi had been hiding inside Penglaiji Ryn's body, waiting to awaken, be assimilated by Penglaiji Ryn, or take over her body...
(Later in Fire Moth, when Penglaiji Ryn was driven to despair by Kiana and Mei, Tianqi made an appearance, but she only said a couple of fucking lines, and then the character was never seen again in the entire game. She never appeared again even after the main story ended!!)
But Tianqi found Penglaiji Ryn too boring. At the same time, through the Stigmata left by God Kiana inside Penglaiji Ryn, Tianqi observed Ryn from another world.
Based on the idea that it was more fun to watch Ryn build a harem than to watch Penglaiji Ryn indulge in her savior game, Tianqi relied on the commonality between Ryn and Penglaiji Ryn to sever all her connections with Penglaiji Ryn and forcefully cross the world barrier of the Imaginary Tree to get into Ryn's body.
Then, because she had consumed a large amount of energy to cross the Imaginary Tree's blockade, Tianqi chose to take a good long nap in Ryn's Stigmata Space. But when she woke up, her face turned green.
The timeline had changed. She and Ryn had been stuck on the Imaginary Tree like two idiots for countless eons, and her connection with Ryn had become even closer.
To make matters worse, Ryn had miraculously brought her back to this world.
If I had known Ryn was coming, then what was the point of me, Tianqi, going through all that trouble to cross worlds in the first place?!!
Frustrated and unable to understand, Tianqi simply decided to pop out in this space from time to time to annoy Ryn with her sarcastic remarks.