Chapter 600 Before the Battle Begins

The flames spread everywhere, and the ground under his feet was burned black. The boots did not make the "rustling" sound of ordinary soil, but the crisp sound of carbonization and shattering.

And looking down along the charred layer on the surface of the soil, the cracks were full of traces of lavender collapse energy.

The flames could not get close to him at all, but were offset by the surging cold air in his body at a distance of four or five meters. Every time he took a step, the leaping flames around him would freeze at that moment and be wrapped in thick ice.

Did he start this fire? The man doubted.

The reason for this question was that the man could not forget the consequences of the first time he fully released the rated power of the weapon in his hand.

It was an entire city. Although most of the people became dead or simply corpses at the moment of the collapse, it was undoubtedly the city written in the mission objective and urgently needed to be saved by him.

But the city was destroyed in his hands. In the cry of "Skyfire - Unsheath", he could not control the power and turned the city that needed to be saved and the Honkai beast that needed to be killed into scorched earth.

The funny thing is that the coalition government did not care about this "mistake". Perhaps with some purpose, they even held a commendation meeting for themselves that the other man had never enjoyed.

No one would care about the ordinary people who died in the skyfire, and even the man himself did not feel guilty, because he never dreamed of the victims who wanted his life in his dreams - although not long after, he lost the ability to dream forever because of the precepts.

But if you insist, there was enough time in between. Why didn't I dream about it?

Why never dreamed about it?

I didn't even feel regretful, but something was stagnant in my heart, as if the blood in my heart had also frozen into ice.

In short, I was not sad.

Is it because there is no one I know in that city?

Well, it doesn't matter. The problem is, since it is impossible to dream, then -

What's going on now? Isn't he still dreaming?

Why would he dream when he was given the commandment of "not dreaming"? And why would he dream about these things?

The ice could even freeze everything before the flames went out, but it still couldn't stop the wafting roasted aroma and the wailing that could no longer distinguish between male and female voices.

So, it shouldn't be there, right?

Then where was he dreaming about?

The surroundings seemed familiar. He looked up, but he couldn't see the sun in the dim smoke.

No, in fact, he could see it - in the middle of the dark night sky, where the sun should have been hanging high, there was only a faint halo.

Solar eclipse -

Was it... that time in Klosten?

Whenever he thought of this place name, he would feel a stinging pain in his heart. Even if he didn't need to breathe at all, he would always feel dizzy and his chest and lungs would be shrunk, as if he would suffocate in the next moment.

He was also watching the destroyed city, why did he feel so much sadness this time?

Kevin didn't need to ask too much, he was actually quite clear and understood.

What made him feel heartbroken and even unable to breathe was not the destruction of a city and the life and death of hundreds of thousands of people.

After all, Kevin once admired heroes, but in the end, he only admired the moment of becoming a hero.

Just like when he was playing basketball, he only enjoyed the moment when the ball was thrown into the basket.

As for the responsibilities and weights that heroes meant, he was aware of them, but for a long time, he didn't need to bear these things, and he didn't care at all.

What really made him feel uncontrollable sadness was the back of the person he once chased, the dishonesty of the best comrade in his heart, and even... betrayal.

He was always like this, always like this.

He always carried a heavy burden in his heart that he didn't understand, but he had no intention of sharing this burden with himself from beginning to end.

Of course, things that he didn't understand five hundred years ago, now seem to be understood in part.

Therefore, he was so sad when he was in the world bubble, and he never had any disputes with Mikael again... In the memory of those few days, the two seemed to have returned to the time when they were on a mission together five hundred years ago.

Perhaps compared to this moment, the memory in the world bubble is more like a dream.

The flames will not stop.

Kevin looked at everything that was burning coldly.

"Why are you always so naive?"

This is not an accusation or ridicule from anyone, but he is blaming himself.

He knows what Mikael wants to do, and he also understands what he should do.

But it is precisely because he knows what that idiot is thinking, that he... can never really treat him as an enemy.

That's why he gets hurt again and again, and feels betrayed again and again.

"Really... I am also a fool. Oh yes, he and I have always been fools."

A smile that he hadn't seen for a long time suddenly appeared on his face, and the next moment, he heard a shout that he had to respond to in a distant dream.

"Kevin? Kevin. I know you're okay, wake up."

It wasn't even a shout, just a very calm murmur. Because of this, there was no need to distinguish who was calling him.

"It really doesn't let anyone rest at all, Mei."

In a sense, the pun-like teasing did not get the response it deserved. Kevin opened his eyes and rubbed them with his hands. What he saw was a huge hole connected to the sky.

"That's..."

"It's very familiar. He dug a hole in our underground city in this way. It's not an exaggeration to say that the sky collapsed."

Kevin twisted his neck, and his spine only slightly rotated before he felt a terrible tingling sensation. There was no doubt that he had a stiff neck. He put his frost-covered palms between his neck and the stone, regardless of whether there was cold compress therapy or not. use.

"...How are the casualties? How many people survived?"

His lips opened and closed silently many times in succession, but Kevin finally chose to skip those meaningless emotions and memories and directly asked the core question.

Mei's eyes swept across his face, her brows furrowed slightly, then slowly relaxed, only revealing an imperceptible sadness at the moment of change.

Anyone would probably just think that she simply frowned, and even if it were someone who didn't know her well, they would inevitably wonder, "Why doesn't this guy care at all when his lover is seriously injured?"

But Kevin understood that part of the subtle sadness was Mei's sentimentality dedicated to him, but it had to be suppressed at this moment.

Anyway, the Garuda factor injected into his body as a result of the Chimera Project gave him almost [immortality] characteristics, and the original wounds had long been healed during his coma, so there was nothing to care about.

And there is another part of that sadness, needless to say, it is...

"The situation is not optimistic. It is conservatively estimated that the number of people who died on the spot and were missing has already exceeded half of the personnel at the Salt Lake City base. The remaining combat-capable personnel should barely be able to maintain the operation of the Hyperion. Calculate. The good news is that there are only two of them. The combat power that can be used to fight the Herrscher will not be lost much. Moreover, the location is relatively remote. Hyperion's hangar and the location where Benares is imprisoned have not been affected. arrive."

Listening to Mei Ping's calm narrative tone, Kevin's mood gradually calmed down.

This is not a matter of indifference or indifference. Fifty thousand years ago, even those warriors who hated Mei's rational performance had to be sure of one thing - as long as they heard Mei's tone of voice, which was always dull and sleepy, they would feel that the difficulties in front of them were nothing. Big deal.

Same goes for Kevin.

"Where's Bronya? My attack at that time didn't have any room to spare, and she should have been affected. But after all, she is the Herrscher of Reason. Although reconstructing the body is a little more troublesome than the Sixth Herrscher, it is still …”

"Don't use that man's standard to measure all Herrschers of Reason."

Mei glanced at him lightly.

"Bronya's problem is either big or small. She suffered severe burns and lost everything from the middle of her thigh down. The burned area has been healed by Xi'er and Anna, but with their abilities, it will not be possible in a short time. Can't make Siegfried for Bronya But there is still Velvet, who has equipped Bronya with two 'iron feet', which look like half-covered armor. Fortunately, Bronya is used to helping Bunny with heavy equipment. Walking in a floating style will be troublesome if you are approached during combat.”

"Well, even if the body cannot be completely reconstructed, it shouldn't be difficult to reconstruct the two legs, right?"

May gave a rare shrug.

"Theoretically, that's the case, but Bronya... can't use her powers now."

"Did the core be taken away by Mikael? It shouldn't be. I should have really stopped Mikael at that time..."

"It's not like that. You did stop him. The core is still in Bronya's body, but the power cannot be used."

"Has a core but can't use the power? I remember that Mikael also seemed to have this situation, but at that time he..."

"Perhaps it is a psychological problem, or it may be that the power was taken away by [Domination]. Although this kind of thing does not exist in our era, even if the Herrscher of Domination removes the God Key and obtains the power within it, the core is still the same It can work on the blank key. But there are differences between the two eras, and [dead core] cannot be generalized with [living core]."

"Um……"

"Kevin."

A hint of coldness suddenly fell on his cheeks, and Kevin's body trembled as if in response, only to realize that it was Mei's fingertips.

The backs of Mei's fingers gently traced across Kevin's cheek, leaving only a silent smile in the end.

"Let's take advantage of this moment to rest a little longer. Once the personnel here are reorganized, we will immediately carry out the plan to rescue Kiana."

Kevin opened his mouth in vain, thinking for a moment that he was still in a dream.

】

"I thought you would never show this side to others. After all, it would make..."

"It's okay."

Mei came close to Kevin, took off her glasses, and left a kiss on his forehead.

"plum……"

"It's almost over, Kevin."

"Um."

The muscles in his cheeks twitched slightly, and Kevin responded to Mei with a frown that looked like she was crying.

Mei said nothing more, she pressed Kevin's hand and stood up from the ruins.

"By the way, Mei, I just... seemed to be dreaming."

"dream?"

Mei's eyebrows twitched slightly, and then before Kevin could explain, she narrowed her eyes and nodded thoughtfully.

"I understand."

With a smile on her lips, Mei put her hands in the pockets of her white coat and stopped talking.

She began to walk towards the noisy and shouting crowd, but after taking two steps, she turned her head back and looked at Kevin deeply, leaving him with a smile again.

The moment she turned her head back, she muttered in a breath that only she could hear:

"There is only one time left."

…………

"Teacher Walter, are you okay?"

Walter was dragged out of the ruins by Jizi. He hid in the corner of the wall in time when the collapse came. When the collapsed ceiling fell, it just formed a stable triangle. Although the former Herrscher of Reason with a face full of dust looked quite embarrassed, at least the whole person was intact from head to toe.

No one can predict what will happen in the future, but at least for now he has handed over the power of the Herrscher of Reason to Bronya. Facing injuries, his body is as fragile as that of an ordinary person.

So, probably because he was just dug out of the ground by Himeko, he still looked dizzy, and even scratched his head when he heard Himeko calling him teacher.

After finally sitting down next to a ruined wall, he panted and kept pushing the glasses frame on his nose - even though the lens had disappeared.

However, the plain glasses were originally worn to make himself look more handsome and mature, so the loss of the lens did not have much impact.

"Thank you, Jizi. But the Honkai reaction here is too high for you. In this situation, I can't tell you to rest, but at least put on the protective suit?"

Jizi and Walter leaned against the wall side by side. She sighed heavily first, then shook her head with a wry smile:

"The warehouse has been buried for a long time. Most of the search equipment and protective suits now are taken from the Hyperion. The number is small. I was a Valkyrie after all. I can still bear this Honkai reaction. The protective suits should be given to ordinary soldiers."

Walter rubbed his eyebrows, and his breath was trembling slightly while he was panting.

Jizi saw it clearly from the side. It has been 62 years since New York was destroyed. The Salt Lake City base that Anti-Entropy spent 62 years to operate was destroyed overnight. Walter's psychological quality can be considered quite strong to be able to maintain it like this, and even try to think about the next problem.

But sadness and anger are only suppressed, and it does not mean that they do not exist.

Looking at this teacher who had taken good care of her at Caltech, she remembered that he looked like this at that time, but she looked much older. Jizi's eyes couldn't help but tremble, and then she stood up with the help of the wall and prepared to leave.

"Teacher Walter, please rest here for a while. I'll go see if there's anything else I can help with."

"Yeah."

When Jizi turned around, Walter also lowered his head, but when he heard a certain name, he raised his head again.

But Jizi had already left.

After a while, there were hurried and overly forceful footsteps from the ruins on the right.

There was no need to make an effort to identify. Walter felt that he couldn't mistake the footsteps, so even though he felt extremely heavy at this moment, the corners of his lips unconsciously hooked to both sides.

Sure enough, the next moment, a too loud voice floated over from the right:

"Joachim!"

"Tesla..."

Walter covered his waist with one hand and held the wall with the other hand to stand up, but Tesla, who rushed over, pressed his shoulders back with both hands.

"Uh..."

"What's wrong, Joachim?"

Unbearable pain came from the chest, abdomen and waist, and it was unclear when the injury occurred.

However, compared to what he had experienced before... it seemed nothing.

But when Walter raised his head and saw Tesla's anxious expression and the tears that had not yet been wiped away from the corners of his eyes, he suddenly recalled the time when he had just inherited the power of the Ruler of Reason and the name Walter sixty-two years ago.

Every night, the power overflowing from the core of the Ruler would tear apart all the cells in his body, and then grow completely under the self-healing ability far beyond that of ordinary people. If you have to describe the pain, it is probably the pain of growing taller when you are ten years old, magnified hundreds of thousands of times.

At that time, the lobster-headed doctor who was always irritable during the day would always comfort him gently.

For some reason, when he thought of this, all the emotions that were surging in Walter's heart calmed down.

He raised his dirty hand and pressed it on Tesla's right hand without the mechanical arm.

"I'm fine, Tesla, please... pull me up."

Tesla pursed his lips and did not agree to Walter's request, but turned around and sat where Ji Zi had sat before.

"Take a break, that bastard... hehe... I also need to calm down."

Walter turned his head and looked at her. For a moment, he thought about holding her hand, but when he looked at the dusty palm, he still used this reason to convince himself not to do anything.

"Is Einstein okay?"

"Yeah."

Tesla's reaction was a little too calm, which made Walter quickly swallow the words asking about casualties.

"Hehe... Now, the place under our feet looks like hell."

The dark night leaked down the huge hole above his head, and the languid moonlight was divided into tiny light spots by the dust that could not settle down. Looking at the mess within his sight, Walter couldn't help but laugh at himself.

"Anyway, the situation is better than 62 years ago, isn't it?"

Looking at Tesla, who was quiet and not like Tesla, Walter swallowed his saliva and responded softly.

At least, it was only the base of Salt Lake City that was destroyed, unlike 62 years ago, when an entire city was destroyed, an entire city... It could almost be said to be the most prosperous city in the world at that time.

And...

"By the way, are Bronya and the others okay?"

"Bronya... was injured, but she's fine and can still fight. Seele and Theresa are also fine. The former civilization's Velvet used local materials to make a lot of instruments and machines. Theresa is reorganizing the personnel with her injuries. After all, she was the commander-in-chief of the front line during the second collapse. She is better than us in this aspect. According to Theresa, conservatively estimated, the remaining personnel can restore basic combat effectiveness before dawn."

"That's good..."

Walter scratched his head, trying his best to think about something, but soon he had to lean his head against the wall again because of fatigue.

"Don't think about it, you don't need to do anything now, just stay here with me and rest for a while."

"...Okay."

It's also strange that Tesla has been keeping his head down, but he seems to know Walter's thoughts clearly.

She kicked a stone away with her heel, then took off her glasses and wiped them gently with the hem of her shirt.

"By the way, Tesla... do you know about Jizi's past?"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"Nothing... Although I've heard of you for a long time, in fact, I should have seen her for the first time two days ago, but she kept calling me teacher."

"Hmm?"

Tesla shook his ponytail, was quiet for a while, and replied:

"After the second collapse, in order to recover from your injuries, didn't you substitute for Jiwotou at Caltech? In 2002, Wuliangta Jizi entered Caltech, and she should have been in Jiwotou's class."

"But I really don't remember it."

Walter frowned and pushed the glasses frame that didn't slide down his nose at all.

"Logically, such a bright red hair should be very memorable. But why..."

"Who knows? Maybe she dyed her hair, or maybe there are other reasons. Are you suspicious of her?"

"I don't doubt her... I just think it's a little strange..."

"Okay, don't be serious. No matter what kind of story is behind her, at least from the observation of me and the chicken coop head, she is absolutely fine."

"Really..."

"..."

"..."

"Hello, Joachim?"

"..."

The call did not get a response, and Tesla gently nudged it with his elbow, which seemed to have no effect at all.

Putting his ear close, he could hear deep and even breathing.

"Ah..."

Walter fell asleep without knowing when.

The broken moonlight clearly reflected the stubble on the chin of this middle-aged man. Tesla rarely watched all this quietly, and he didn't know how long it had been.

Suddenly, an unknown impulse surged in his heart. He wanted to give him a hug like he did when he was a child, but he was entangled. Perhaps for this age, it would be better to gently hold his hand like when he danced with his partner.

In the end, neither the hug nor the handshake happened.

While she was still hesitating, she saw a blue ray not far away waving at her. (End of this chapter)