"Cough... cough..."
Her lungs felt crushed, and her internal organs seemed severely damaged. Dark red blood leaked uncontrollably from her mouth. Delta staggered up from the ruins; after propping herself up against a broken wall, she vomited another large mouthful of blood.
What happened...
Her brain felt like it had been struck by a hammer; symptoms of a concussion and intracranial hemorrhage made her consciousness and control over her body erratic.
"Roar!"
Right... that "person" floating in the sky. She had raised her hand...
Everything around them had been struck by something of terrifying weight. Hard materials were crushed deep into the ground; softer ones were reduced directly to powder.
"HOWL!"
A terrifying roar approached. Delta obeyed the warning signals coming from the Honkai Beast genes deep within her body, grabbing the sword at her feet to block in front of her.
Bang!
Again—the monstrous strength of the Honkai Beast her sister had become!
But this time, Delta was gravely injured. She lacked the strength to resist such power. She and the very ground beneath her feet were flipped into the air. Her abdomen was impaled straight through by a rebar.
"Guh... cough—"
Sweetness flooded Delta throat as she coughed up more blood. Everything before her was veiled in a red film. With blood oozing from her nose and mouth, she painstakingly gripped the rebar and lifted her head, which felt as heavy as a mountain.
Her blood-stained eyes, looking as though they were shedding crimson tears, watched her sister slowly approach on all fours.
"Are you... in there?"
Delta reached out toward the unreachable core of the Honkai Beast, a grotesque smile appearing on her blood-streaked face.
Was she smiling?
Or was she crying?
Delta, who could perceive the emotions of others, didn't even know what her own feelings were at this moment.
Should she just stop here?
"Big sister, let's stop playing. They're so pitiful."
"..."
Before the game console, they were only a single thought away from deciding the life or death of the hero's companions.
Choosing to continue would not lead to a perfect ending.
Choosing to stop was merely prolonging the inevitable.
Did any of it really make a difference?
After killing her sister, what would be left inside this vessel named Delta?
"Maybe when I was little, I thought that if my sister had me as an older sister, then I should have an older brother too."
"He should be a reliable, mature, steady person. Someone who never gives up, someone who always appears before me like a hero."
Really... when a person is about to die, do they always think of such nonsensical things?
Delta couldn't help but pull her blood-stained lips into a curve. She gripped the top of the rebar and pulled her body out, inch by inch.
The pain of flesh being ground away distorted her facial muscles.
"AAAAAAAGH!" she snarled, biting her lip until it bled as she wrenched herself free. Blood poured from her wound onto the ground without restraint.
Without a second of hesitation, Delta rolled to the side to dodge. A terrifying gale left a deep trench right where she had been.
Delta felt her eyes burning. She picked up the pink greatsword that represented her and strode toward the Honkai Beast with unwavering resolve.
And the Honkai Beast suddenly stopped all movement. Its terrifying head stared directly at the charging Delta.
Its rugged, giant arms went limp at its sides, appearing as if it wanted to embrace the girl raising her weapon.
"AAAAAAAGH!"
Zheng!
A spray of hot blood splashed across Delta face.
It wasn't the pink-purple blood of a Honkai Beast. It was human—bright red, the "water of life" like intoxicating wine.
"..."
"..."
The Honkai Beast did not let out a tragic, hoarse howl. It simply stood still, looking at the greatsword pierced into its chest and the small figure holding it.
Delta lowered her head, letting the scalding blood flow over her body.
This was her blood.
This was... their blood.
Boom.
The massive biological mass of the Honkai Beast collapsed to the ground, like a pillar of heaven snapping.
Delta knelt on the ground, both hands gripping the hilt of the greatsword. Her long hair hung down, mirroring the tears she was shedding.
The sorrowful emotions vanished.
Has the hero... arrived?
Bang!
Prometheus calmly ducked behind cover. A missile exploded beside her, but it failed to penetrate her protective field. Her sensor system was scanning the environment and the enemies.
After the Ninth Honkai erupted, the Hephaestus had not ceased its activity. It possessed firepower far exceeding ordinary Honkai Beasts and zombies. Even an ordinary autonomous Titan could slaughter Honkai Beasts at will on a large-scale Honkai battlefield; as an improved model, any Honkai Beast trying to block the Hephaestus would be crushed into meat paste by its blunt swords.
Even if Prometheus had technical superiority in design and intelligence, it was simply a difference in design philosophy. When Vil-V created this body for Prometheus, she had used Lin as a reference—meaning all her combat capabilities were similar to a human's, relying on weapons and information processing.
There was a significant gap between a Titan and a human.
Prometheus calculated the distance between her and the Hephaestus. When only fifty meters remained, as the Hephaestus's mechanical foot slammed down, she lunged forward like an arrow from a bow. She shot down an incoming missile with her gunblade, charging toward the Hephaestus under the cover of the explosion's smoke and dust.
Looking back at all of Lin battles against Herrschers and high-ranking Honkai Beasts, the disparity in strength was always vast; almost every victory was won as the underdog.
Defense, energy, attack, power... every stat far exceeded Lin. He rarely held the advantage in a frontal confrontation.
However, Lin would not lose.
Prometheus understood better than anyone where each of Lin victories came from. She knew what was contained within that body, which was frail by the standards of Honkai creatures and MANTIS.
And she, as Lin AI, naturally understood how to do exactly what he did.
Swish!
Two spider-silk-like thin lines shot from her fingertips, entangling the broken walls on either side of the Hephaestus. She had been waiting for the Hephaestus to reach this exact position!
Bang!
A scorching beam shot from the Hephaestus's chest. She leaned back, letting the heat—enough to char a human—pass right in front of her.
Prometheus slid beneath the Hephaestus's crotch. Her two arms, possessing strength far beyond human limits, gripped the lines and yanked!
Boom!
The partially collapsed walls now came down like a landslide, burying the Hephaestus completely.