The Rain Seems to Have Stopped

Kiana stared at the Honkai Beast's left arm transforming back into a sword-spear, scratching her head in frustration. "Why!! Why isn't it dead yet! This thing is unkillable!"

Suddenly, Kiana remembered seeing Sheng Jiu seemingly inject something into himself moments ago. She immediately turned back, just in time to see Sheng Jiu pull out two more syringes, preparing to inject them into his own neck.

"Ouch!" Sheng Jiu clutched his hand, looking at the shattered Amplifier on the ground, then at Kiana, who was glaring at him with fire in her eyes. "What are you doing!"

"You... you have the nerve to ask me that? Do you even know what that stuff is!" Kiana lifted Sheng Jiu up by his collar. "Do you know you could die!"

"So what? If we don't have the Amplifier, we'll all die!" Sheng Jiu shouted back, not backing down.

A sword-spear flew towards them without warning. Sheng Jiu tackled Kiana, pushing her down beneath him. "Watch out!"

The tip of the spear whizzed past Sheng Jiu's back. Seeing that they weren't killed, the Honkai Beast became enraged and raised its sword-spear again, preparing to run them both through.

"This is really it!" Sheng Jiu shielded Kiana with his body, his back facing the approaching spear...

A flash of light streaked across the sky, and six orbs of light rapidly descended, striking the Honkai Beast. Its massive body convulsed as if electrocuted.

"Huh?" Sheng Jiu watched the Honkai Beast slowly fall, a realization dawning on him. "Ah, so the Hyperion's support arrived just in time!"

"Say, is it comfortable having me as a cushion, Miss?" Kiana's voice reached Sheng Jiu's ears. A shiver ran down his spine, and he immediately prepared to get up.

"Take this!" Sheng Jiu's vision went black. When his sight focused again, he was lying on his back, staring at the sky.

Kiana, who had just performed a judo throw on Sheng Jiu, clapped her hands and stood up, looking at the utterly defeated Sheng Jiu. "I'll deal with you later!"

The others gradually gathered around the Honkai Beast. Himeko cautiously approached and kicked its massive hind leg. There was no reaction. Himeko turned back and smiled at everyone. "It's okay now, it should be dead—"

The Honkai Beast, which should have been dead, suddenly twitched and let out a roar, spewing a large amount of blue fluid from its body.

Everyone was too slow to dodge and was splattered with the fluid to varying degrees. Yae Sakura, who was hit the most, was horrified to find her entire body slowly freezing over.

"Ah! What's happening?!" Yae Sakura frantically slapped at the spreading ice, but it continued to spread.

"Yae Sakura! You bastard! I'm going to kill you!" Kiana raised the Fire Fairy Type I and unleashed a barrage of attacks at the Honkai Beast's single eye.

The scorching flames quickly pierced the Honkai Beast's eyeball, from which more fluid continued to gush out.

"Everyone, fall back!" the Heavy Trooper Bunny raised a car door, shielding everyone.

Sheng Jiu desperately tried to brush the ice shards off Yae Sakura, but it was no use.

Just as the Honkai Beast struggled on the ground, trying to get up, a massive scythe flew from not far away and pierced its head. This time, the Honkai Beast fell straight down, lifeless. The ice on Yae Sakura's body miraculously stopped spreading and slowly fell to the ground.

"Yae Sakura, Yae Sakura, are you okay?" Kiana hugged Yae Sakura tightly, trying to melt the ice with her body heat.

"I'm fine, Kiana~ Don't hug me so tight, everyone's watching..." Yae Sakura blushed, too embarrassed to push Kiana away.

"Beep, Heavy Trooper Bunny 19C, preparing artillery strike!"

"Hey, hey, hey, Bronya, what are you doing!"

Sheng Jiu bent down, examining the scythe that had suddenly appeared, a look of confusion on his face. "Hmm, strange, where did a scythe come from?"

"It's mine, Mr. Sheng Jiu~" a voice, both unfamiliar and familiar, echoed across the battlefield.

Sheng Jiu stumbled back a few steps, startled, then looked up towards the source of the voice. A figure stood on a nearby rooftop, smiling at him.

"Rita? What are you doing here?" Himeko looked at Rita, who landed softly, with disbelief.

Rita was not wearing the maid outfit Sheng Jiu had seen her in at Schicksal Headquarters. Instead, she wore a set of dark green, lightweight armor. The armor was angular and simply designed, and on this S-class Valkyrie, it exuded a sharp, deadly aura.

Rita walked closer, gently pulled out the scythe, which was disproportionately large for her height, and smiled faintly. "Yes, Major Himeko, Rita is here."

"Rita discovered this Emperor-class Honkai Beast an hour ago. I tracked it and severely wounded it, but I didn't expect this little guy to be so resilient, so you all ran into it. My apologies." She then bowed deeply to everyone with an apologetic expression.

To think we struggled so hard to barely hold it back while it was heavily wounded. Just how powerful must an Emperor-class Honkai Beast be at full strength? And Rita, who managed to inflict such severe wounds on it, her strength is even more unfathomable... Thinking this, Sheng Jiu got goosebumps.

"The Emperor-class Honkai Beast has been defeated. Rita's mission is complete. Please follow me and withdraw from this area."

"Besides, your current situation isn't very good, is it?"

Sheng Jiu looked at Rita, utterly bewildered. "What do you mean by that?"

Rita smiled and raised a signal flare, firing a flare into the sky. The flare traced a beautiful arc before igniting, illuminating the surroundings.

Near the street, a dense, seemingly endless swarm of Mortals and zombies had gathered. The weapons in each monster's hand glinted coldly.

"Lead the way, Rita," Himeko broke the silence.

"My pleasure," Rita chuckled and snapped her fingers. "Let's go, Carbon-based Hunter."

A figure shot out like lightning from the shadows, charging towards a Mortal. The Mortal didn't even have time to swing its scythe before its head was severed.

The black and green mechanical hunting dog shook its head, letting out a hoarse growl, then charged back into the horde of Mortals, mowing them down like grass.

"Let's go, we only have two hours and thirty minutes until the bombardment," Rita led them along the path cleared by the mechanical hunting dog.

"Hey, what is that dog, anyway?" Sheng Jiu poked Kiana. Kiana remained silent, let out a soft hmph, and turned her head away, ignoring him.

"What's wrong?" Sheng Jiu looked at Bronya, confused.

"Bronya believes that the foolish Sheng Jiu's reckless injection of a large dose of Amplifier has angered the foolish Kiana."

Sheng Jiu glanced at the sulking Kiana with a wry smile, hesitating to speak further.

Hey, you! Say something! You blockhead! When a girl is angry, you should go and appease her! Kiana thought to herself, hmphing again indignantly.

With the help of Rita and the Carbon-based Hunter, they soon successfully reached the blockade line at the Manila border.

Standing inside the tent, everyone looked out at the fallen city through the rain, silent.

A few minutes later, a small point of light appeared in the distant sky. An F-16 fighter jet fired a missile, which struck Manila under everyone's gaze. A massive orange mushroom cloud rose into the air.

After the Honkai Energy fission warhead detonated, the entire city fell utterly silent. It was so quiet Sheng Jiu could hear his own heartbeat.

The buildings at the center of the explosion had been reduced to a shapeless, blackened mess. The surrounding Mortal and Honkai Beasts had also turned to dust, leaving behind utter devastation.

"Brother, look, the rain has stopped!" Chen Tianwen excitedly tugged on her brother's sleeve, pointing outside.

Everyone turned their heads. The rain had stopped at some point, and the dark clouds that had hung over them had dispersed. The sun slowly rose from the other side of the horizon, marking the end of an extraordinary night.

Amidst a pile of rubble not far from the blockade line, an unknown plant stood tall. Even after the immense explosion, it remained steadfast, its still-verdant branches defiantly displayed, mocking death with its resilience.

Himeko clenched her fist, "Humanity... will surely defeat the Honkai."

"Well then, it's time for us to part ways. Be sure to visit me if you get the chance!" Anna smiled as she bid them farewell.

"Yes, yes! You must come visit the Far East Branch, Anna-neechan!" Kiana reluctantly said goodbye to the gentle and beautiful older sister.

"Please wait, Miss Anna," Chen Tianwu called out to Anna, taking out the half of the heart-shaped pendant. He spoke sheepishly, "That... our bet..."

Anna's pretty face flushed. "We'll talk about it when you can defeat me!" She then walked forward alone. After a few steps, she turned back and said irritably, "Aren't you coming?"

"Oh, oh! Coming!" Sheng Jiu whistled. Chen Tianwu snapped back to reality, and with his sister in tow, he followed. He didn't forget to bid farewell to Himeko and the others, "Everyone, we'll be taking our leave now. Thank you all sincerely for your help. Goodbye!"

Watching the group depart, Yae Sakura said to Himeko with a hint of amusement, "I feel like those two have a story..."

"Agreed."

Sheng Jiu looked at Kiana, who was wrapped in a blanket and still pouting, and slowly walked over to stand beside her. "Um... Kiana..."

"Tch! I don't want to talk to you right now, go away!"

Sheng Jiu tried hard to explain, but unexpectedly, he started to stammer. "I'm sorry... it was my fault before, I didn't listen to you properly... It was... it was my fault, I'll give you... I apologize, please don't... don't be angry..."

Seeing Sheng Jiu stuttering but trying his best to finish his words, his face flushed red, Kiana finally couldn't hold back and let out a laugh. But to maintain her composure, she immediately put on a stern face. "What was wrong?"

"I... I shouldn't have... not taken care of my bo... body."

Kiana let out a "Mhm," then twisted Sheng Jiu's ear hard. "Dare you do it again?"

"Oww... I won't dare... It hurts so much..." Although Sheng Jiu gasped in pain, he let Kiana pinch his ear.

Watching the two bicker, Bronya turned her head away, hugging the Hovos plushie in her arms expressionlessly