On the way to the village.
"Sorry, Pardo," Dystopia said softly, looking at her. "This should have been your chance to spend more time with Silas…"
Pardo waved her hand dismissively.
"It's fine, Dys-sis. I'll have plenty of chances in the future. But for you, there are hurdles you'll have to cross sooner or later, right?"
Besides, with Kevin sticking close to Brother Silas, there's no way Sister Ellie will get her way so easily.
"You're right," Su added. "You'll have to cross this gap called 'reality.' Fighting the Honkai may not be what you first imagined. It doesn't always appear as monsters. This is a war—and war always demands a price."
"I… I just don't understand…" Dystopia murmured. "We fight against the Honkai for the sake of humanity. But for those already corrupted by it, we're supposed to abandon them… even kill them. In the end, what are we really protecting?"
Su glanced at her, then shifted his gaze toward Sakura, who was scouting ahead and keeping watch on their surroundings.
"Maybe, in the end, we won't protect anything. But if you try to save everyone, you'll end up protecting nothing at all."
It wasn't as if Su had never wished to save those consumed by the Honkai. In fact, in his last life, he had tried. He tried countless times afterward—even using the Cosmic Juggernaut to observe other worlds. But the result was always the same… helplessness.
All he could do was pin his final hopes of victory on Kevin and Silas.
In every world Su observed through the Cosmic Juggernaut, Kevin always stood as a hero. But Silas… that was the most troubling part. Across three thousand worlds, Su had never once seen another Silas.
Only one Silas existed.
That was why Su believed Silas could achieve what others could not. But at the same time, he wanted Silas to walk beside them—to see that tomorrow they called victory.
"It's like this," Su explained. "Imagine two ships on the ocean, both sinking. One carries many people, the other only a few. But you can only save one. Which would you choose?"
Dystopia fell silent. She remembered something Kosma had once said: 'When faced with two evils, there is no choice at all.'
She knew Kosma well. That was why she couldn't understand why he had said such a thing. But now, thinking about it again… could it be because he had already known?
With a heart weighed down by conflict, the girl followed the team into the village.
A middle-aged man appeared before them, leading several villagers.
"You must be the ones the government sent, right? Greetings. I'm the village chief."
As the appointed leader, Su answered kindly:
"Hello, Chief. Yes, we were sent to conduct an investigation. Has anything unusual happened here?"
"This… I'm not sure myself." The chief sighed. "It's as if it happened overnight. The military sealed off this whole area, and no one's been allowed out."
One of the men beside him suddenly spoke up:
"I'll tell you what happened—it's that cursed family! They brought the plague to this village! Their household was the first to show those strange symptoms. Only after that did the military show up and lock everything down!"
"They brought the plague?" Su asked calmly. "Where are they now?"
"Hmph. They were driven into the mountains long ago," the man sneered. "If not for them, why would people keep showing those red marks? They must have angered the mountain god, and now he's punishing us!"
"Mountain god? That's ridicu—" Dystopia started, but Pardo quickly clamped a hand over her mouth. She smiled nervously at the villagers.
"Haha, what she means is… surely a great mountain god wouldn't hold grudges against ordinary people, right? How could this be divine punishment?"
"You don't understand, little girl," the man shot back. "If it were just some small offense, of course the mountain god would be generous. But that family wanted to build a factory in these mountains! A factory! I heard outsiders say those pollute badly. Isn't that like dumping garbage into the mountain god's home? I opposed it from the start, but they still chose to do it anyway. And look at us now—the god is angry!"
The chief sighed heavily.
"What use is arguing over this now? Young man, what do you think…"
"Hmm…" Su thought for a moment.
"Please take us to see that family."
The men around the chief exchanged uneasy glances, none of them moving. In the end, it was the chief who spoke:
"It's not that we don't want to take you. But… we drove that family out from the village and into the mountains—they've all started showing the same symptoms. So…"
Su asked again, "Then… where exactly was that family sent?"
The village chief pointed in a direction.
Everyone fell silent.
That direction—was precisely where the Honkai outbreak had originated.
"Then for now, let us see the other symptomatic villagers first," Su said calmly.
Elsewhere.
Kevin kicked a Zombie flying, and Kosma immediately followed up with a clean shot to finish it.
Silas, meanwhile, blew a hole through another Zombie that lunged at him, then turned his gaze toward a tightly shut wooden door.
Elysia tried pushing against it and then glanced back at Silas.
"It's locked from the inside."
Silas exchanged a look with Kevin. Considering that someone might still be alive within, they chose not to use weapons. Instead, they braced themselves and, together, forced the door open.
Inside lay a dilapidated room. On a bed, a young girl struggled for breath.
Crimson lines—the mark of Honkai corruption—already covered half her face. They ran down her exposed right hand as well, etched deeply into her skin.
Elysia took one glance, then quietly stepped out of the room.
Kosma looked to Kevin and Silas. Silas hesitated only a moment, then raised his gun. Kosma sighed heavily and turned his back.
Moments later, the three emerged. Elysia was flipping through a notebook she had found. Seeing them return, she asked gently,
"When she passed… was it painless?"
Silas's expression remained unreadable.
"The Honkai energy had already consumed her body. In the end, at least, she felt no pain."
"…Why were they even living here?" Kosma asked the question that troubled him most. To him, the family's fate seemed directly tied to the fact that they had lived far too close to the outbreak's source.
Elysia held up the notebook.
"According to this, the parents wanted to build a factory in the mountains—to bring prosperity to the village. But because of that… and perhaps other reasons, the Honkai manifested. The family was driven out and forced to live here."
"So the outbreak's source… is that factory?" Silas stepped toward the door. "Let's go take a look."
Just then, Su's voice came through Silas's earpiece:
"Silas, did you find the family that was said to be living in the mountains?"
Silas turned his head slightly, eyes flicking toward the broken-down home.
"Two Zombies. One heavily-corrupted host. All dealt with."
There was a pause. Then Su's voice came again, grave:
"From what we've gathered, the source may house a mutated Honkai beast. Level unknown."
"How many infected in the village?" Silas asked.
"Five showing mild symptoms, twelve with moderate symptoms, and two in critical condition," Su reported. "How do you want to handle them?"
"Take the mild cases back to Fire Moth for treatment. As for those with moderate or severe symptoms… keep them confined. We'll deal with them after we return."
"…Understood."
The comm link went silent. Silas relayed the findings to the others.
"This started as goodwill," Kosma murmured with a sigh. He recalled a story Silas once told him—about a boy who wanted to be a hero, robbing the rich to help the poor. Yet the children he gave to were soon beaten and extorted, their lives worse than before.
Kosma couldn't shake the feeling that the story had been about himself. But how could Silas have known? They had never met when Kosma was a child.
"The most unreasonable thing in the world… is reality," Silas said as he pressed onward toward the factory. "Reality doesn't need to be fair. But we can choose how we face it."
When all had left the house, Elysia quietly set a crystal flower by the doorway.
Back in the village.
Su lowered his gaze. Several children had gathered around, eyes filled with hope.
One boy tugged at his sleeve.
"Big brother… did your friends see Aya and her family?"
Su paused, then smiled gently. He crouched and patted the boy's head.
"They've been taken away for treatment. You may not see them for a long time."
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