I Am Not a Hero

The MOTH is hardly a unified organization dedicated to saving humanity. Humanity's self-destructive tendencies serve as a constant warning throughout history, and what's more, there are individuals within this organization far more terrifying than the Honkai itself.

"Staring so intently at a cute girl isn't the behavior of a gentleman~" Lin made no effort to hide his hostility. The girl smiled and pushed the file bag a little further forward.

Lin surveyed her relaxed posture again. After confirming she wasn't armed, he asked, "Who are you?"

Hearing this, the girl's eyes curved into crescent moons. "Oh my, I thought I was quite famous. Or perhaps you no longer consider your senior to be worth your notice? That truly is heartbreaking."

Senior? Pink hair, female, warrior...

The reclusive Lin recalled overhearing soldiers in the hallway discussing someone. The description seemed to match the person before him. If he wasn't mistaken, she was likely...

"Elysia..."

"Ah, you remember? It seems I'm not out of fashion yet."

Lin's mind recalled the rumors and data about Elysia, gradually aligning them with the smiling girl before him.

A female warrior who shone brightly on the front lines of the Second Honkai War and in the subjugation of the Second Herrscher. A warrior possessing beauty, wisdom, and power, who had joined the MOTH not long before him, yet already carried herself with considerable grace.

The middle sentence was something Lin had heard others say about her, reportedly her own self-description.

Compared to Elysia's surprise, Lin's reaction was much more subdued. "What do you want with me?"

"To deliver your physical examination report. The lab is swamped with work for the Herrscher of the Void, so I'm just lending a hand. It's not like I'm not a helpful girl, after all."

"..." Utterly unbelievable.

The girl chuckled, pleased with Lin's reaction. "Alright, I'm not joking. Actually, I heard that a newly joined warrior is incredibly strong, so strong it's astounding. They say you single-handedly killed an Emperor-class Honkai Beast in the first operation of the Second Honkai War. And when you first joined, you even contributed some equipment ideas, some of which have already been put into use."

"And the rumors say you're a shy and bashful young man, so I was curious and decided to come see for myself."

The rain outside intensified, drumming a bothersome rhythm against the window.

Lin turned back from the rain-streaked, indistinct window. His voice, muffled by the helmet, was calm. "First, I am not a warrior, I am a soldier. Second, what are these rumors?"

The girl tapped her smooth chin. "Well, for example, a strange creature with only a helmet above its neck? A simulation robot that trains for twenty-five hours a day and goes on missions for ten? The product of some experiment by Doctor Mobius?"

"..."

Elysia leaned forward slightly, peering curiously under his helmet. "Is that true?"

"False." Lin snatched the file bag and took a step back, blocking her view. "Seen enough? If you've seen enough, you can leave."

"Oh, don't be shy. We're all comrades. Don't you want to build good rela—"

"Bang!"

Before Elysia could finish, Lin slammed the door shut and locked it. He ignored the insistent knocking that symbolized her annoyance and sat down, opening the file bag to briefly review his report.

Outside the door, Elysia stared at the closed door with a headache. She had learned of Lin's existence from someone and wanted to see what kind of person he was.

She hadn't expected Lin to be even colder than she imagined. It was no wonder she had only heard bad rumors about him.

"Elysia, have you given him the report?" A familiar female voice drifted from around the corner, causing Elysia, who was contemplating how to get Lin to open the door, to look up. She then smiled, her eyes narrowing.

A tall, green-haired woman in a white lab coat stood there, having appeared from somewhere.

"Doctor Mobius, I thought you'd always just hide away in your laboratory~ You're interested in him too, aren't you?"

The woman addressed as Doctor replied with her usual cold laugh, "I merely heard from my assistant that someone took the report that was supposed to be delivered by her. I suspected someone might not deliver it to the intended recipient, or perhaps, might peek at things that don't belong to her."

"Hmm? You weren't planning on doing anything to that child?"

"...I'm sure you haven't seen that report." Mobius looked at Elysia's gossipy smile and turned to leave, uninterested. "That soldier's physical indicators are beyond imagination, but that's all. A glass cannon who could die at any moment. I have no interest in him."

Elysia chewed on Mobius's last sentence, a look of confusion on her face.

"That's all? A glass cannon?"

Lin's gaze settled on the last two entries: "Honkai Energy Adaptability" and "Summary."

The "Honkai Energy Adaptability" section had a red-typed entry: "Extremely Low." This was the only item among his bewilderingly high physical capabilities that wasn't "Extremely High."

The summary was written by the person who conducted his physical examination.

"All indicators are two to three times higher than an ordinary soldier. Neural reaction speed exceeds all recorded data. However, 079 possesses a significant flaw in Honkai resistance and adaptability, far below that of ordinary individuals. Direct exposure to excessive Honkai energy will result in death, with a high probability of transformation into a zombie."

Lin reread the report several times, then took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and crumpled the entire report into a ball.

The gloom beneath his helmet was almost palpable.

"Beep beep."

The communicator issued a command. Lin, having calmed down, tossed the report into the trash can, picked up the communicator, and pushed open the door, heading towards the equipment department.

"..."

After he left, a slender hand reached into the trash can and retrieved the report.

[Cabin pressure stable]

[Component confirmation initiated]

[Neural connection complete]

Lines of azure data streamed across the viewport inside Lin's helmet. The terms of service flashed by and minimized to the upper left corner. He pressed a button on the metal keyboard to his left. A red line scanned his iris inside the helmet, and two indicator lights changed from red to blue.

[Pilot Organ Stable]

[Full Structure Release Activated]

As the mechanical sounds played, the narrow hatch shifted from dark to bright. Segmented panoramic screens replaced the original darkness, revealing a ruin filled with gray hues and wandering, pale white Oddities to Lin's eyes.

"Screech."

Lin gripped the control stick, maneuvering the colossal machine. Its right hand, characteristic of mechanical constructs, extended, grasping and then releasing as freely as his own arm.

Externally, the "robot" he was piloting was no less imposing than the multi-story Honkai Beasts wandering the ruins.

This was the first anti-Honkai weapon, "Titan," manufactured by MOTH based on his ideas. Its designation was TT-079, his own number, and it was no surprise that he was its first pilot.

"079, this simulation scenario is set at the epicenter of the Second Honkai War. Please pilot the Titan to collect as much operational data as possible," instructed a member of the Equipment Department from outside the cockpit.

Lin's eyes narrowed, and he replied in a low voice, "Understood."

Then, he manipulated the Titan to draw a colossal machine gun from its back. The world in his eyes was instantly flooded with dense information: remaining ammunition, unit status, thermal analysis, Honkai energy detection...

Lin, expressionless, adapted to the overwhelming flood of information that could easily disorient a person, all while aiming the machine gun at the nearest Chariot-class Honkai Beast and pulling the trigger.

"Dudududududu..."

Massive bullets, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, tore through the deformed monster's pale skin and pink muscle. Disgusting purple blood splattered from its howling, contorted body, falling to the ground with the scorching casings, emitting a sizzling, strange sound.

"Ten o'clock, Temple-class Honkai Beast approaching."

A Honkai Beast, half again as tall as the Titan, with its hands resembling a knight's lance and shield, slowly advanced. Its deep pink, single eye emitted an eerie glow as it held the lance level, preparing to pierce the Titan's cockpit.

Lin reacted swiftly. The Titan's left hand, with its three fingers, gripped the lance and twisted it violently to the side. The immense force directly dragged the Temple-class Honkai Beast down, smashing it to the ground. The machine gun was then aimed at its defenseless head, and the trigger was pulled cleanly.

One, two, three... More and more Honkai Beasts of increasing types and numbers were killed. Those troublesome monsters were terrifying threats to ordinary soldiers, but under Lin's piloting of the Titan, they were like insignificant insects, being swiftly eliminated at a rate of approximately one every three seconds.

In reality, a Titan alone might not have achieved such results. The Equipment Department had encountered countless problems when developing the Titan. For an average pilot, their physical condition would be far from meeting the standards for piloting a Titan. Moreover, the agile, human-like movements Lin made while piloting were extremely difficult, akin to dancing with blades – a single misstep could lead to destruction.

"He's a genius. He truly is a combat genius. His performance on the battlefield was already astonishing, but to achieve this on his first time piloting a Titan, something no human has ever experienced before, is terrifying." The personnel from the Equipment Department outside the cockpit, while collecting data they themselves couldn't even conceive of, marveled at Lin's combat intuition and talent.

The last Honkai Beast was pinned to the ground and torn apart.

"079, simulation complete. There is no data for the Emperor-class Honkai Beasts you killed, so we cannot simulate them. That's all for today's piloting simulation."

"Huuu..." Lin let out a long breath, but his gaze remained sharp. He checked the remaining ammo and damage. Instead of ending the simulation, he paused for a moment before speaking, "What about the Herrscher data?"

"Uh? Herrscher?"

"The Second Herrscher. You can simulate that, right?"

"Are you sure? We've already collected enough data, and the Titan's objective isn't to fight Herrschers..."

Lin interrupted him, his tone leaving no room for argument: "Simulate."

"..."

As the corpses beneath their feet dissolved into data streams and re-coalesced not far away, a humanoid figure, far smaller than the Honkai Beasts, gradually took shape...

Lin stared intently at the silhouette.

The apostle born from the Second Honkai War, the strongest enemy of humanity, symbolizing the disaster of the Honkai.

The Herrscher of the Void.

"Simulation ended."

Lin stumbled out of the cockpit, which was now emitting wisps of black smoke. Logistics personnel, who had been waiting, quickly carried him aside to cool down, while others rushed to salvage the cockpit.

The excessively large amount of data had burned out the simulation circuits, causing the temperature control system to go haywire, nearly turning Lin into roasted meat inside a metal coffin. He could already smell his own flesh cooking.

But that wasn't what Lin was concerned about.

"Lost," Lin batted away a hand trying to remove his helmet, murmuring to himself, his expression showing little surprise.

This Titan was merely a prototype. Even if he pushed its performance to the limit, the gap between it and a Herrscher was as vast and unfathomable as an abyss. He only managed to resist for a minute before being crushed into a pile of sparking scrap by the imaginary matter.

Lin silently replayed the battle in his mind, wondering if he, fighting personally, would have had a chance to defeat the Herrscher.

The answer was obvious. He probably would have been corroded to death by the high concentration of Honkai energy surrounding the Herrscher before he could even formally engage in combat.

As a human, even if his individual combat capabilities were several times that of others, or even tens of times greater with specially developed equipment, he was still just a human. There were limits to what he could achieve.

The head of the Research and Development Department, while calculating data, walked over to Lin. He smiled, turning his gaze from the flowing green light on the screen to Lin's lowered helmet. "The data from this initial run far exceeded our imagination, Lin. What kind of mind do you have to come up with a design like the Titan?"

"...Why didn't you follow the ideas I provided?"

"..."

Lin's quiet words abruptly cooled the heated atmosphere.

The R&D head's expression turned cold, his eyes behind his glasses flickering. He let out a sigh, "Lin, with your approach, the mechs we could build would be significantly weaker than they are now..."

Lin interrupted him.

"But that would allow more people to pilot them, not just a few... exceptions."

The R&D head stared coldly at the young man who kept his head down, offering no reply.

Initially, Lin had provided them with a more generalized mech design, intended to allow ordinary soldiers to pilot the Titan. Even if it didn't significantly improve combat efficiency, it would greatly increase their survival rate.

But this first completed Titan could undoubtedly only be piloted by a top soldier like Lin.

After a long silence, the head of the R&D department replied, "The mechs require massive resource investment to resist Honkai energy erosion. Using those resources for mere 'toy cars' doesn't align with MOTH's philosophy of fighting the Honkai."

Lin also looked up. The visual display inside his helmet automatically brought up the R&D department head's information. He glanced at it and asked, "Then what's the point of making these Titans?"

"Let artificial intelligence pilot them all."

The answer was obvious. The moment Lin boarded the Titan, he should have guessed this outcome.

He should have said something, but MOTH wouldn't react to it at all, even though he was the one who proposed the Titan concept. This was because he had only provided the ideas and concept from the very beginning, not the actual design or participated in its development.

After all, he didn't have that kind of talent.

"I'm leaving." Lin stood up, his body temperature still high, but he didn't care.

Perhaps wanting to comfort Lin, the head of R&D spoke to him during this brief pause, "Oh, right. When you joined, the Second Honkai War was ongoing, so you requested solo operations. Have you been assigned to a team yet? Who's the captain?"

Lin paused, then nodded, "Yes."

"Which squad?"

"Squad Five. The captain is Himiko."

Chapter 2: Polite Little Techniques for Asking People to Leave in Daily Life

Ruins.

A place ravaged by the Honkai. No matter how prosperous and unique it once was, after the destruction, only this common noun remained.

The bustling streets were no longer filled with lively voices, only pale, walking corpses and deformed, giant monsters roamed day and night in the territories they had seized from humanity.

A person wearing a helmet took shelter from the fierce wind. The skyscrapers that once blotted out the sun had collapsed, opening up the view. From the rooftop of a building, he could take in the entire expanse of the ruins. The visual display scanned and analyzed the terrain and Honkai Beast distribution in the area, then uploaded it to the squad's shared channel.

After the scan was complete, the blue window on Lin's helmet dimmed. He connected to the squad's internal communication. "Terrain survey complete. No high-level Honkai Beasts in the target area. Captain, please issue instructions."

After hearing the report, a mature female voice spoke on the squad channel. "No high-level Honkai Beasts... Alright, Lin, you'll clear the eastern sector alone. Soul and I will clear the west. Report back after you're done."