Lin pulled at the armor fitted to his wrist. The armor plates instantly expanded to cover his entire arm. Seeing this, the captain kicked off forcefully; his entire body seemed to have a "fast-forward" button pressed as he appeared before Lin. The golden vertical pupil made a viscous sound as it swiveled.
Lin raised his armored arm to block his face. The MANTIS's knee strike was no different from being hit by a hydraulic jack. Between the power armor and Lin full strength, he barely held his ground.
"You were the first person to undergo MANTIS surgery, so I respect you. It was your existence that gave me hope." The captain landed on one foot. His total strength transferred from his foot to his waist, then back to his other foot—
Boom!
Lin was sent flying, spinning once in the air before hitting the ground. He braced his hand against the earth, carving a trench in the mud.
"Many say Kevin, the first successful MANTIS, is the hope of humanity, and you are just a failure. But I believe the first person to accept the surgery, success or not, has already taken the most critical step." The captain made a silent gesture. The other team members shifted positions around Lin, maintaining a safe distance. "You accepted reality back then. Why won't you now?"
"..."
The prerequisite for accepting reality is that the reality is reasonable.
To subjectively impose an unreasonable reality on everyone...
Lin looked at the bloodstains on his screen. The figures in the hazy red mist were like ghosts, or fanatical cultists standing on a pulpit preaching their faith in a god.
He understood what Gray Serpent had meant. A blind, idiotic faith was being enacted before him.
For believers, no matter what scientific view you use to explain the non-existence of a god, they can always rationalize it and convince themselves. Therefore, Lin had no way to continue communicating with the person before him.
From the very beginning, what they saw was different.
"Sacrificing two-thirds is a cruel thing. If it weren't necessary, I too would believe it shouldn't be done. But how many people have we sacrificed in past Honkai? The Seventh Honkai even burned the entire Australian continent. It was only the emergence of MANTIS in the Eighth Honkai that gave us two years of breathing room." The captain's half-scaled face held no trace of a smile; his eyes were filled with hatred for the Honkai. "Giving all of humanity a chance to empower themselves—this is a good thing for our future battles."
Clang!
Lin gripped the greatsword with both hands, pointing the blade at the captain without a word.
Lin believed in one thing.
No matter how much humanity endured in the torrential rain, a day would eventually come when a rainbow appeared. That time might be very long; their civilization might not even survive until that day. But he would always draw his weapon to fight for the laughter and rainbows beneath a blue sky.
Even if that weapon was pointed at a "human."
Boom!
The captain was prepared for Lin to charge with the sword. To his surprise, Lin threw the greatsword directly, the blade carving a terrifying arc of cold light through the air. He ducked hurriedly to dodge, but Lin had already charged toward the other side.
Ahead was the MANTIS who could use air-blades. He was the only member of this squad capable of long-range attacks; he had to be defeated first.
The moment Lin moved, the two MANTIS on the flanks supported immediately. Armed with a blunt weapon and a spear, they attacked simultaneously with practiced coordination, striking at his chest, abdomen, and lower limbs like venomous snakes.
There was a clear difference in coordination compared to the three-man MANTIS squad he'd encountered before. Their angles were more lethal; Lin wouldn't have time to dodge even if he ducked.
Lin had fought humanoid monsters countless times, from zombies to Herrschers. Many possessed intelligence. But monsters were monsters; they couldn't compare to humans in terms of skill. And humans... understood how to deal with humans much better.
The multiple crosshairs in his helmet flashed rapidly. Lin speed increased abruptly, catching the two attackers off guard. He then performed a flying roundhouse kick that landed squarely on one MANTIS's face. He grabbed the spear in the other's hand, twirling it like a master, and slammed the pommel into the back of the other MANTIS's weapon-hand!
Whoosh—
Acute hearing and a flash of data made Lin abandon the idea of a follow-up strike. He leaned back to dodge a transparent air-blade. Drawing a pistol from his waist, he fired at the legs of the air-blade user without needing to aim.
Bang!
Clink!
The remaining MANTIS blocked the bullet in time. He shielded the air-blade user, watching the slowly rising Lin like a hawk.
The MANTIS who had been knocked down also stood up, regaining their composure. Lin was trapped in the circle once again.
These MANTIS with inhuman traits closed in step by step. Their heavy footsteps left prints in the mud, and their swishing tails splashed rainwater from the pool of waters. Amidst the deluge, they prepared to add a stroke of crimson.
Splash.
Lin tilted his head back. Raindrops the size of beans slammed mercilessly against his helmet's visor, azure light points scattering and escaping. He felt as if he could feel the rain on his face.
This rain would likely never stop.
He pressed the switch for the Phase Shift device.
Zing.
The hairs on the captain's neck stood up. In his narrowed vertical pupil, the space where Lin had been was empty.
The captain had studied Lin equipment and style extensively, including every model of Titan he'd piloted, every weapon he'd used, and every suit of armor. He instantly recognized that what Lin was using now was a Phase Shift device, which Fire Moth had strictly forbidden from being manufactured.
"Watch your backs!"
He spun around almost instinctively, swinging his twin blades in a cross. He knew Lin would appear around one of them at this moment. That man could never be measured with conventional logic—
Rip!
The captain stared blankly at the empty space behind him. His blades had swung through nothing.
Then, where was this steaming blood in the transparent rain coming from?
The tearing pain in his shoulder reminded him. He turned his head in a daze, and what he saw was the helmet casing, colder than the rain.
So it was from above...
Lin stepped on the captain's right shoulder and yanked out the long blade that had pierced his shoulder and armpit. With a backhand stroke, he parried the captain's feeble, struggling blow, then drove the blade into the left shoulder. Finally, returning to the ground, he gripped his sword hilt and delivered a cold side-kick to the captain's waist, sending him flying over a dozen meters and carving a long trail of blood in the rain.
"Whew..."
In the silence, Lin turned his head. His emotionless eyes locked onto the nervous MANTIS soldiers standing in the wake of their captain's fall.