Although both sides were showing signs of fatigue, the aftermath of their battle was still enough to sweep through the entirety of Imaginary Space.
"Now!"
—Clang!
In that instant, something happened that neither the Queen nor any of the viewers had expected.
The cockpit's armored panel opened, and Ye Ming leaped out.
The Herrscher of the Void clearly had not expected the pilot to dare leave the cockpit. Her trembling eyes were filled with shock.
"You damned bastard!"
Without the mech's protection, Ye Ming immediately became the Queen's top priority. However, before she could act, BT seized her.
"Your opponent is me."
The viewers who had watched this video had probably never imagined that one day, a machine-generated voice would make them feel so cool.
As more and more people became fans of BT, the barrage of comments expressing affection for BT also grew considerably.
"A pathetic puppet like you thinks you can stop me?!"
The enraged Queen wanted to crush this lowly thing into pieces, but BT opened the missile bays on its body and blasted her point-blank.
Meanwhile, Ye Ming ran toward the greatsword that had been left behind after being corroded by Honkai energy.
He held his breath and focused, letting gusts of wind swirl around his body. Then...
"All things... heed the wind's call!"
Wind-element runes lit up in Ye Ming's eyes, while a faint streak of pale green appeared in his originally black bangs.
Unlike the fierce winds BT had unleashed before, this wind gathered with green fluorescence and had clearly moved beyond the realm of science.
Ye Ming could use magic?!
Damn, the pilot was stronger than the mech?!
Even Gundam wouldn't dare write something like this!
Amid the overwhelming barrage of comments, Ye Ming coated the greatsword's blade in wind elements.
Then, using the power of the wind, he manipulated the massive sword from afar, a weapon dozens of times larger than himself.
"End this... quickly!"
Ye Ming compressed the wind elements in his hand, forming a visible vortex.
The greatsword controlled by the wind reacted in the same way. Drawn by the vortex, it aimed at the Queen, who was battling BT.
"Wind Pressure Sword!"
As Ye Ming released the condensed power of the wind, the greatsword shot forth as well.
"?!"
The Queen was struck directly before she could react, finally beginning to falter.
"Ye Ming!"
Just as Ye Ming was about to pursue her, Himeko called out to him and handed him the God-Slaying Spear in her hand.
"Use this... bring Kiana back!"
"Got it!"
After taking the God-Slaying Spear, Ye Ming and BT charged forward together.
The furious Queen still retained considerable strength, and amid roars of rage, she forcibly drove BT back.
"It's over!"
Although the Queen's power made Ye Ming's scalp tingle, the God-Slaying Spear in his hand was a treasure designed specifically to counter Herrschers.
"Aaaaargh!!"
The Honkai energy faded, the Queen's consciousness gradually collapsed, and Imaginary Space began to crumble apart.
Unlike The Last Lesson, Himeko had not suffered any fatal injuries in this battle, and Ye Ming's arrival put everyone at ease.
It was finally a happy ending.
Fanfiction really was better. No angst.
Weren't there still some unresolved plot threads?
Oh right, Ye Ming still hadn't told the story he mentioned to Himeko.
And back when Ye Ming flirted with Himeko, that part about the time he spent with you in the dream...
Someone had said back then: Remember that line.
Come on, people in the comments were just talking nonsense. Same as those brats who spammed "high-energy scene ahead" everywhere.
The viewers had already begun discussing their impressions, yet they seemed not to have noticed that nearly half the video's progress bar remained.
"Thank goodness..."
Seeing that both Ye Ming and Kiana were safe, Himeko's tightly wound nerves finally relaxed.
"Urgh!"
But as soon as she let out a breath of relief, the adrenaline she had been overdrawing began to fade.
The accumulated injuries from all these years and the corrosion of Honkai energy surged forth together.
"Hah... hah..."
Himeko's breathing grew increasingly rapid, yet the signs of oxygen deprivation in her body became increasingly severe.
Her widened eyes showed surprise at first, but Himeko, who understood everything, quickly stopped feeling nervous. Instead, her face became filled with relief.
"I see... there's nothing that can be done about this..."
Her vision began to blur. Amid the haze, Ye Ming's figure was the only one she could still make out.
"I have to... get to Ye Ming..."
Himeko suddenly remembered something. She struggled to prop herself up and staggered toward Ye Ming as fast as she could.
"I've already... regretted it once..."
Unlike her increasingly blurred vision, the memory of the kiss she had failed to give him grew clearer and clearer in Himeko's mind.
"I finally... have another chance..."
Because Imaginary Space was collapsing, Himeko's journey was far from easy. Fortunately, Ye Ming noticed that something was wrong with her and came to her side on his own.
"What's wrong?"
Himeko did not answer. Instead, she tightly grasped Ye Ming's hand, greedily taking in everything about him.
"I want to finish the selfish thing we couldn't continue before, here."
"Huh? Here?"
The platform beneath Ye Ming's feet had already begun to collapse. Before long, all of Imaginary Space would disappear. It really was not a good time to express love.
"Please..."
Himeko pleaded:
"It... won't take much of your time."
As she spoke, Himeko leaned against Ye Ming of her own accord, as though she were racing against time.
"Himeko?"
Ye Ming sensed something, and a painful flicker of unease passed through his heart.
But Himeko had already offered him a bloodstained kiss. Ye Ming could only slowly close his eyes and wait for Himeko's selfishness.
"..."
"..."
"?!"
Yet the sensation his lips had been waiting for never came.
The instant before Himeko's face touched Ye Ming's, it weakly tilted to one side. In the end, her entire body fell into his arms.
·
There were originally two more lines after this, but I deleted them because I was afraid people would accuse me of cutting the chapter off here.
I really didn't mean to end the chapter on purpose. I hope my dear readers can understand.
The Death That Was Meant to Be
"Himeko?"
Feeling the girl in his arms losing her warmth, Ye Ming's eyes began to tremble.
"Hey! Himeko! Don't scare me..."
He actually already understood what was happening before him, but Ye Ming was unwilling—and unable—to accept the truth.
"Himeko! Can you hear my voice?!"
There was no response from her pulse or heartbeat, and her breathing had already stopped. Yet Ye Ming still wanted to call Himeko's name and make her open her eyes.
"Why... did this happen..."
The devastating truth left Ye Ming's mind completely blank. Helplessness swept through his entire body like a mountain flood and a roaring tsunami.
He had already done everything he could. Himeko had not suffered a fatal injury, and the Herrscher of the Void had returned to being Kiana.
The story of a hero saving a beauty should have ended perfectly here!
"Urgh!"
Just when Ye Ming felt most helpless, the platform beneath his feet completely collapsed.
Ye Ming lost his balance and fell backward, while Himeko's battered body fell in the opposite direction.
The two were forcibly separated like this...
Although Ye Ming tried several times to rush over and bring Himeko back, the shattered Imaginary Space continuously rained sharp crystals down between them.
It was as though it were preventing their farewell, which had come too late.
"Ye Ming, it's dangerous here!"
BT grabbed Ye Ming with one hand and pulled him back into its cockpit.
"You came at the right time! Hurry and bring Himeko back!"
"That would be meaningless."
"What nonsense are you talking about?! Did you forget Protocol 3?!"
"Ye Ming..."
BT said in a low voice:
"Murata Himeko's vital signs have disappeared. Her biological signals are no longer detectable."
"..."
Ye Ming had actually known this all along, but when BT delivered the verdict through the most objective data possible, his scalp still went numb.
"Where exactly did things go wrong..."
"Murata Himeko's vital signs had always been weak. Although she did not suffer fatal injuries, the corrosion within her body worsened whenever she entered combat."
BT reported the data it had previously scanned and stored.
"For her, every second she used her power was a second spent draining her life."
"If I had arrived ten minutes earlier..."
"According to calculations, even if you had arrived ten minutes earlier, Murata Himeko's life could only have been extended by at most half an hour."
Before you continue