As time passed, large numbers of Honkai Beasts began appearing throughout the Fire Moth base.
Although the Honkai Beasts spawned by the Binding Herrscher itself never actually got the chance to meet Fire Moth’s warriors face-to-face, the base was packed with all sorts of research devices containing Honkai energy. As the Binding Barrier shifted, some laboratories found themselves partially engulfed within its range, causing their equipment to malfunction and eventually leak Honkai energy.
And once the first wave of Honkai Beasts appeared, they quickly infected the soldiers stationed nearby, turning them into zombies. Since the vast majority of MANTIS soldiers and regular troops were fully occupied fighting the Binding Herrscher head-on, these Honkai Beasts and zombies ran rampant throughout the base, becoming a secondary disaster indirectly caused by the Binding Herrscher.
Fortunately, Seele sensed something was wrong ahead of time. Before the horde of Honkai Beasts could reach them, she moved the incapacitated Bronya from the open testing ground to a more sheltered corner, doing her best to use the terrain to fight back.
“Hmph. Finally… things aren’t so boring anymore. I sure hope you all… give me a good show…”
Seele’s scythe gleamed with a crimson light as she finely minced every Honkai Beast that charged at her. The mangled corpses and spilling blood only fueled her battle lust. Dark Seele, who had been cooped up ever since entering this bubble world, finally let loose completely, slaughtering Honkai Beasts left and right. Before long, a small mountain of Honkai Beast corpses lay piled before her. Between her radiant, healthy smile and the grisly mound of bodies beside her, it was hard to tell who the real villain was.
Elsewhere, at a hastily set-up operating table, a green-haired “girl” was hard at work. Lying motionless on the table was Qian Jie, who had only barely recovered enough to move.
An unfamiliar weakness coursed through his entire body, but he felt no concern over it. Borrowing the words of a woman he utterly despised, this was “the fatigue of one who has revealed the divine”—the sense of depletion felt after briefly reaching the absolute limits of one’s vision and power. Everything was only temporary, and he knew it well.
“No wonder you’re different from Hua and the others—you collapsed the instant you touched the Binding Herrscher’s barrier. How utterly pathetic, Qian Jie.”
“…Do you want to die?”
The words carried Qian Jie’s usual fury. But coming from a man currently lying on an operating table, completely at Mobius’s mercy, they hardly carried any weight.
“Alright, alright. You know you can’t kill me, so save your breath… Done.”
“The surgery I just performed on you… is the exact opposite of the MANTIS procedure—I simply removed a few things from your body.”
“…Shut up.”
Mobius’s tone remained as sardonic as ever.
“Heh… just like before. Once you get what you want, your attitude does a complete one-eighty. Fine. In any case, because of the unique structure of your body, which differs from ordinary humans, you’ve now finally become a MANTIS soldier… as a ‘human being.'”
“…How much time do I have?”
“What are you referring to?”
“The time it takes to reach the battlefield as quickly as possible before everything ends. And… the time I can still maintain my human sanity in this state.”
“…So you want to know both, huh. Don’t worry. If you’re not willing to change who you are, then both… are more than enough. Before you fully become a beast hostile to humanity… I’m certain you’ll have long since burned yourself out in the flames of Honkai.”
“But, Qian Jie…” “You’re the first person willing to go to any length just to keep fighting. You truly are… utterly hideous.”
“Also, about that deal we made before—you played me. So I’m not going to bother looking into that whole ‘hometown’ excuse anymore. The secrets hidden within you… I think directly ‘studying’ them will be far more efficient than ‘investigating.'”
“Qian Jie, before you leave this place… you must first hand over that unique ‘heart’ of yours… to me.”
Some time later, a masked man once again charged toward the Binding Barrier, annihilating every Honkai Beast in his path with a ferocity that trampled all things. But if anyone knew him well enough, they would surely notice that the way he fought now was subtly different from before.
After entering the Binding Barrier, Qian Jie didn’t collapse immediately like last time—but the feeling of weakness and exhaustion kept piling up. For a MANTIS soldier, every step forward inside the Binding Barrier was a countdown to death. Upon reaching the base, Qian Jie collapsed face-first into the dirt once more, the blazing flames around him gradually dimming.
Though he could still press forward before burning out completely… how much farther could he go? One kilometer? Ten? Clearly, the difference between one kilometer and ninety wasn’t all that significant, because either way, he still wouldn’t even catch a glimpse of the Binding Herrscher itself, let alone inflict any meaningful damage.
Obviously, the Binding Barrier was a three-dimensional space. With the Binding Herrscher at its center, everything within a hundred kilometers upward remained its domain.
Fire Moth had also tried air-dropping MANTIS soldiers from outside the barrier. But even if they free-fell from over a hundred kilometers up in the thermosphere, it would still take several minutes—more than enough time for the Binding Herrscher to detect them. The MANTIS soldiers who carried out this plan did, physically speaking, get closer to the Binding Herrscher than Qian Jie did. However, their abilities continuously weakened inside the barrier, while the Binding Herrscher was completely unaffected. In the end, every single one of them became a sitting duck—not a single body remained intact.
Lying in the loose soil, Qian Jie could see nothing, say nothing, do nothing.
Death? Could it actually happen to this man? Before this, probably no one would have believed it.
And amid the silence, only one voice he did not wish to answer continued to reach him.
“Qian Jie? Can you hear me? This is Su. Under the influence of the Eleventh Herrscher, no reconnaissance drones can reach your battlefield, so… I had no choice but to link to your mind without prior consent.”
“It seems the situation has become dire beyond imagination… even you have been pushed to this point.”
His communicator had long been lost in battle, so this voice was clearly coming directly from within his head.
“I can get you moving again, just as I inadvertently did during that one mission. But… I need your permission first. Qian Jie, lend me your body.”
Permission… Did he really have a choice?
A moment later, a masked man burst out from the earth and continued forward with an unusual gait. At this moment, within his pale blue sea of consciousness, a slender man was now in full control.
Moving alongside Qian Jie was Hua, who had managed to hold on inside the Binding Barrier this long only thanks to Fenghuang Down.
According to Mei and the others’ speculation, as long as there were still “targets” to be “bound” within the Binding Barrier, its energy would continuously be depleted. That meant even if Hua couldn’t attack the Binding Herrscher directly, every additional second she stayed inside the barrier would weaken it by a fraction. Though… she wasn’t sure whether her meager efforts, like a drop in the ocean, would make any difference to the overall battle.
War doesn’t always have the grand, blood-pumping spectacles you see in movies. More often than not, it’s exactly like this—brutal, bloody, and yet mind-numbingly tedious attrition. Whether Fire Moth could ultimately claim victory basically depended on how many people could be thrown into the grinder.
Inside Fire Moth’s temporary command center, Mei stared unblinkingly at the data streaming across the instruments. Whether it was MANTIS soldiers or regular troops, Bronya or Fire Moth personnel—those who had died inside the Binding Barrier and those who still held on—their efforts would all eventually be reflected here.
“We’re still short a bit more… How many MANTIS soldiers can still be deployed?”
Kevin glanced around the room.
“Pardofelis is unable to come due to illness. If we don’t count Griseo and Su, that leaves me, Eden, Elysia, Sakura, Mobius, and Aponia. From a rational standpoint, keeping Aponia and Mobius alive would generate the greatest value. And you’ve said that Kosma’s potential for the future is limitless, so the rest…”
Mei shook her head.
“No. You can’t go in at this time either. Even though it’s obvious that you, as the strongest MANTIS soldier, would have the greatest impact on the Binding Barrier, we still don’t know enough about the Binding Herrscher. We need to ensure that the moment the Binding Barrier fails, someone can eliminate it in a single strike. And that person has to be you.”
At this moment, Mobius was still busy at the makeshift operating table. Kosma was elsewhere with Griseo. Su was controlling Qian Jie. Aponia was in the base, imposing disciplines on panicking soldiers while also working alongside Sakura to eliminate the zombies and Honkai Beasts within the base. Kevin, Elysia, and Eden all stood beside Mei.
Upon hearing Mei’s words, Eden immediately made for the door—but Elysia stopped her. She looked at her dear friend, and even now, as always, an unconscious smile lingered on her face.
“Mei, when you said we’re still short a bit… did you really mean just a bit?”
Mei nodded with absolute certainty.
“Then… I think we don’t need anyone else to sacrifice themselves from here on out…”
“We… still have a better option.”
