Death Match

In the pouring rain, six people and one beast faced each other, the atmosphere freezing over.

Theresa, those two minutes of yours had better be right on time... Sheng Jiu silently repeated to himself.

"Bronya, fire!"

"Heavy Trooper Bunny 19C, fire!" Heavy Trooper Bunny transformed her left hand into a cannon and fired a shell at the Temple Honkai Beast.

The Honkai Beast raised the shield on its left arm toward the incoming shell. The shield's surface split open, and a stream of blue, freezing air drifted out through the cracks. The moment the shell touched the cold air, it froze solid and dropped to the ground as a large chunk of ordinary ice.

"Leave it to me!" Kiana lowered the Glock 18 in her hand and drew two sleek, orange revolvers from the holsters at her waist, firing two flaming rounds.

Both flaming rounds struck the Honkai Beast's legs dead on. It cried out in pain, then raised its sword-lance and fired a beam at Kiana.

Kiana somersaulted to the side to dodge the beam. When she looked back, she saw that the ground where it had struck was already covered in a thick sheet of ice. She patted her chest, still shaken. "Phew, that was close! I almost turned into a popsicle."

"But at least we know this thing's afraid of fire!" Kiana showed an unusual flash of intelligence.

"Now it's our turn!" Anna and Yae Sakura raised their longswords and charged at the Honkai Beast as it lunged toward Kiana.

"Shadow Dash Slash!" Yae Sakura blurred out of sight and reappeared behind the Honkai Beast, moving so fast she left several afterimages. She swung the Demon Blade Muramasa repeatedly, her slashes tracing the shape of a cherry blossom in midair. Then she sheathed her sword and shouted, "Cut!"

A stream of cherry-blossom sword energy shot toward the Honkai Beast's hind leg, stabbing deep into a vulnerable spot not protected by its carapace.

"Silver Owl, draw!" Anna murmured a string of words. The pure-white military saber in her hand seemed almost alive as its blade savagely sliced into the Honkai Beast's hind leg. Sky-blue bodily fluid instantly began to flow from the wound.

The two of them quickly retreated and watched the Honkai Beast's movements. Unexpectedly, it didn't clutch its leg, howl in pain, and die as Kiana had imagined. Instead, it continued charging forward as if nothing had happened.

"Damn it, leave this to me!" Veins bulged on Himeko's forehead. She hefted the several-meter-long Sunfire Greatsword in one hand, pushed off the ground with her toes, and leaped into the air, bringing it down hard toward the Honkai Beast's head.

A thunderous crash rang out. Himeko's attack should have landed, but at the last moment, the Honkai Beast blocked it with its sword-lance.

"What?!" Himeko was startled. She tried to pull her greatsword free, only to discover in a panic that it had somehow frozen fast to the sword-lance. No matter how hard she pulled, she couldn't get it loose.

"Roar!" The Honkai Beast hurled Himeko away. Just before she hit the ground, a claw caught her.

"Careful, Teacher Himeko! Heavy Trooper Bunny, fire!"

The Markov Type A on Heavy Trooper Bunny's left arm transformed into a massive lance. It rushed forward and blocked the Honkai Beast's spear. The enraged beast swung its sword, clashing with the lance in a shrill screech of metal. Kiana seized the opportunity to fire a torrent of flaming rounds from the Fire Fairy Type I at its back.

Watching the two collide, Sheng Jiu gritted his teeth. "Fuck you!" He pulled a satchel from his waist, drew out two syringes, and plunged them into his neck.

"Whoa, what are you doing?!" Kiana jumped in fright and hurried over to stop Sheng Jiu, but it was already too late.

After injecting himself with two Honkai Energy Amplifiers, Sheng Jiu's eyes glowed a blood-red. He gripped Absolute Shadow and flicked the switch to the fourth setting. A cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth. "...Supernova... Slash!"

As Sheng Jiu brought his arm down, a purple-blue sword aura burst from Absolute Shadow's blade and shot toward the Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

Sensing the immense pressure contained in the sword aura, the Honkai Beast struck Heavy Trooper Bunny back with a powerful blow, then turned its shield toward the incoming attack, trying to block it.

The sword aura exploded against the shield. With a sound like shattering glass, the shield on the Honkai Beast's left arm crumbled into ice fragments.

Sheng Jiu collapsed to the ground, blood welling in his mouth. "...Tch. I thought you'd be impressive. You're still just as pathetic."

"Are you all right?" Chen Tianwu ran out from the wreckage of an armored vehicle and helped Sheng Jiu up. The battle had been so intense that no one had had a moment to spare for the fallen Sheng Jiu. Even Kiana, the only one who had noticed him, had been dodging the Honkai Beast's attacks and couldn't afford to look away.

Sheng Jiu smiled and wiped the blood from his face, then made a shushing gesture at Chen Tianwu.

The Honkai Beast, now without its shield, let out a pained roar. Blue bodily fluid gradually spread over its severed arm, slowly hardening into a sword-lance matching the one on its right arm.

"You've got to be kidding. Again?"