Betrayal / The Tyrant ...

"The tools are neatly arranged in my toolbox, and I consider them my things, but I don't consider myself one of the tools and number myself."

Vill-V spoke coldly of what she had known since the day she joined the Firemoth. She held up a wrench and pointed it at Delta, who was stunned and unsure of what to do. "I will cherish my friends and take good care of my tools. When my friends need my tools to help them, it doesn't matter how they are used."

"However, who my friends are is a matter for me to decide subjectively."

"Bang!"

The door to the room was suddenly flung open, and Delta's pupils contracted. She turned her head and saw two mechs she had never seen before standing in the doorway.

"CM-079, please follow instructions."

Cold words came from an emotionless machine.

Chapter 222 Betrayal

"Why didn't you stop it? What's the deal with this notice?!"

Hen gritted his teeth and stared at the man sitting comfortably in the chair in front of him. He pointed to the announcement on his communicator that was nothing short of a massacre, suppressing his raging anger.

"Didn't you promise to stop the High Council from making the final decision?!"

"Shh, calm down. CM... um... how much was it again? Never mind, it's not important." The man crossed his hands on his chin and said to Hen with a smirk, "I did make a promise, but there are too few people on our side. Equal power means that the minority obeying the majority is an inescapable choice. Even if I objected, I couldn't stop them."

After the Stargate attack, this person found Hen and began to cooperate with him. He promised to stop the High Council's plans, while Hen was to join his "traitorous party," contact the remnants of the Speaker, and win over other people who were willing to rebel against the High Council.

In other words, Hen and this man are the real traitors, but they betrayed the power of the High Council.

"Didn't I provide various information and intelligence so that MSA-079 could sabotage the KY Plan's facilities and delay its implementation? I did do what I was supposed to do." The man's smile was so warm, like that of any person in a high position, full of consideration for their subordinates. "Besides... you didn't really do anything for me, did you?"

Hen's heart skipped a beat.

He was right. Hen had a premonition that the man in front of him might not have betrayed the Fire Moth for the greater good of humanity. So Hen was less a member of his faction and more an entity caught in the middle, waiting for an opportunity to act.

This is why Hen failed to win over Einstein.

"Don't worry, I'll stop them. They still don't know who the traitor is. They're in the open, we're in the shadows. There's no reason for us to lose."

The man smiled gently, but within it lay only a cold... sneer.

The Branch 10... how far away...?

Lin Xin hurriedly rode his bike through the rain. The rain and fog grew thicker, obscuring his vision ahead. He twisted the throttle to the floor and sped forward like a gust of wind.

The three Flame-Chaser I met in KY-00 were right. The High Council of the Firemoth did indeed devise the KY Plan for the sake of humanity. Back during the Cleansing Incident, the Speaker had already said that the High Council who formed the Firemoth were a group of fanatical human supremacists.

Therefore, even if their ideals do not receive the support of everyone, there will be quite a few people in the Fire Moth who will choose to stand on their side.

If one-third of all humanity could become Flame-Chaser, even a large-scale Honkai would only be a small-scale disaster.

However, the cost was that the remaining two-thirds of humanity either died or became monsters to be used by humans, while the third of humanity who became Flame-Chaser were completely under the control of the Firemoth.

The High Council are fanatical humanists, but who is human is defined by them.

Human society as a whole will completely transform into the form of moths drawn to flames, and they... will still remain the "High Council".

Lin had reached his limit, speeding through the city amidst the roaring rain. He was so fast that others could only see his shadow as he weaved between vehicles.

But... a wave of dizziness struck his brain.

"Gurgle—"

"Bang!"

A complete upheaval.

Lin was thrown off the motorcycle by inertia and crashed heavily onto the concrete ground. The crisp sound of bones breaking was surprisingly pleasant.

"Cough cough..."

An unprecedentedly terrifying sound resounded joyfully in his ears, piercing his brain. His limbs, like those of a broken puppet, lay in an eerie direction on the rain-soaked road. His unfocused pupils and the blood bubbles bubbling from his mouth made it impossible for him to even see what was on the screen.

"See... see..."

Shut up.

It was hard to tell whether it was mockery or comfort, but it gently touched his ear, testing his heart and brain. Lin's broken neck trembled as he watched the rain turn from transparent to blood red, and he was instantly plunged into that sea of blood.

Sinking deeper and deeper into an endless abyss, a place where nothing exists.

His limbs were powerless, unable to even struggle. A thick, pungent smell of blood filled his mouth and nose, taking over his body. He would drown in less than three minutes.

He had a premonition that he would be trapped here forever, along with the voices that were churning his mind.

In a place that is far away or very close, the back of a "person" silently turned around. He was also in a sea of blood, but unlike the sinking Lin, he was slowly rising, ascending towards that world of light.

Lin and he faced each other from afar, as if an entire world separated them.

He opened his eyes, clearer than before; his ominous Prismatic Eyes pierced through the sea of blood, gazing at Lin.

There was no indifference, no mockery, because you couldn't see even the most basic humanity in him.

And he looks exactly like Lin.

"Cough--"

Lin suddenly opened his eyes, spitting out a mouthful of blood that covered the screen inside his helmet, and the blood mist splashed onto his face.

Lin's broken limbs and spine have healed, and even his broken neck is now completely intact. He propped himself up and stood up from the ground.

All the onlookers stared at Lin in horror, as if they were seeing a terrifying monster. Lin, however, indifferently swept his gaze around, his gaze so intense it seemed to freeze the air, causing everyone to involuntarily retreat.

He didn't say anything. Someone seemed to have called the police, and ambulances and police cars were approaching. He walked towards the crowd, and the crowd quickly made way for him.

Lin found the weapon case not far away, still stained with his blood, while the motorcycle was completely totaled.

Lin picked up the weapon case and slung it over his shoulder. The next second, he appeared in the passenger seat of a car and coldly said to the driver, who was too scared to move, "Get out of the car. I need to requisition your car. I'll return it to you later."

The driver didn't dare to breathe, staring blankly at the helmeted man covered in blood.

"You..."

Lin's gun muzzle was used to block his mouth. Under the threat of the weapon, he didn't dare to say a word and scrambled out of the car.

"Are you going to break your principles?" the voice screamed in my ear.

"Yes."

Are you going to betray those who have died?

"Yes."

"Are you going to betray yourself?"

"...Yes."

The heavy rain continued. Lin sat in the driver's seat, started the car, and instantly tore through the rain, heading into the distance...

Or heading towards hell.

Chapter 223 Tyrant

"Heh heh, looks like they're up to no good." Vill-V shoved everything on the table into her briefcase, which seemed like a bottomless pit, swallowing up all the parts that filled the table. She picked up her top hat and put it on her head. "Of course, that's obvious. Number One!"

Just as a symphony began to play on stage, she shouted sharply, and a beautiful figure leaped down from the ceiling. Two gun blades flashed coldly, and two tall mechs separated, falling in front of the figure who was half their height.

"Oh, oh, oh! The modified body and weapons I gave you are finally coming in handy!"

Prometheus changed into a combat suit. After taking down the mech, the gunblade in her hand vanished with a flick of her wrist. Then, a gray crosshair appeared in her pupils as she scanned the mech wreckage on the ground.

"... Enemy communication system detected. More than ten enemies are moving towards this location. I recommend an immediate relocation." She reached out her slender, fair hand and plunged it into the severed part of the mech. With a forceful tug, she pulled out a small box and crushed it into pieces.

After replicating the process with another mech, Prometheus locked the door, quickly went to the window, and assessed the risks of the surrounding environment.

"Then..."

"Wait a moment!"

Delta called out to Vill-V, who was clinging to Prometheus and about to jump. Vill-V, carrying her briefcase and with her back to Delta, asked teasingly, "What's wrong? Trying to dissuade me from being impulsive?"

"No." Delta shook her head in denial, glancing at the closed door, where the dense clanging of mechanical joints was approaching.

When the true nature of the Fire-Chasing Moth was revealed to her, baring its fangs, Delta admitted that she hesitated.

She promised her sister that she would fight as Flame-Chaser to protect humanity, a hero who carries her sister's wishes, and take pride in being a warrior of the Fire Moth.

But the next moment, she thought of the reluctance in Lin's eyes as he sat next to her late at night, the bewildered and directionless Ying by the hospital bedside, and the words spoken by the captain who acted like a hands-off manager.

She did indeed receive guidance from these predecessors; their ideas and emotions profoundly influenced her thinking.

Delta took a deep breath, ripped the badge with the number CM-079 from her chest and tossed it aside, then nodded seriously to the smiling Vill-V: "I'll go with you."

"That's a betrayal, isn't it?"

"...I don't believe in the identity of Flame-Chaser that others have given me." Delta smiled, gave herself a thumbs up, and picked up two greatswords with her other hand and tail. "Only children would be overjoyed to receive a big red flower as a reward from their teacher."

"Doctor Mei, do you mean you oppose the Moth Chaser's next course of action?"

"Yes, I believe that surgically transforming all of humanity into Flame-Chaser is an extremely uncontrollable and dangerous undertaking, with excessively high costs and inhumane consequences."

Mei shared her thoughts with the person on the other end of the communicator. She knew that these people, whose current location was unknown and who had rarely appeared in person since the Cleansing Incident, would definitely not agree, but she still expressed her views and... stance.

"After our vote and analysis, we believe this is the best way for humanity to defeat the Honkai. As the chief developer and scientist of the Firemoth, you must understand." The synthesized voice on the other end of the communicator was neither male nor female, nor did it show any emotional fluctuation. "And... we have a way to control the Flame-Chaser, so you don't need to worry about Flame-Chaser going out of control."

"..."

The voice sounded like many people were speaking, yet also like only one person. In Mei's view, they were now exactly like the Starry Sky that had attacked Earth, just like that cluster of consciousness. However, they wanted to achieve the same effect as the Starry Sky through the dictatorship of a few rather than the integration of consciousness.

Such rationality.

So disgusting.

"Of course, your wisdom is indispensable, so you don't need to undergo Hypervariable Surgery."

"Thank you very much then," Mei replied coldly. "So, the execution of KY Plan cannot be stopped?"

"You were already aware of KY Plan? Did someone leak it to you?"

"I did my own research."

"That..."

"Then I hereby formally announce that the First, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Thirteenth, and numerous members of the Firemoth will take countermeasures against the atrocities, dictatorship, and inhumane acts of the Firemoth. You can no longer represent the Firemoth. We will take over everything from the Firemoth, and we will put you on trial and adjudicate."

Mabi's more rational eyes emitted a faint, cold light behind her glasses. She pressed a key on the Prometheus Unit 2's independent mainframe, and countless streams of light invaded the headquarters' management system from the mainframe.

The person on the other end of the communicator calmly stated, "Doctor Mei, without us, the Moth of Fire wouldn't be the Moth of Fire."

"The Moths of Fire are a metaphor for protecting humanity against the Honkai, not an abbreviation for tyrannical dictators plotting to rule the world. You can understand that I have deprived you of your copyrights, but you don't need to sue me, because you will not even have human rights afterward." Mei rarely revealed a completely dangerous sneer. "Of course, if you are referring to your power, resources, or even your image... hehe."

"We regret to inform you, Doctor Mei, that we originally thought you shared the same noble ideals as us and were prepared to accept you into our ranks. However, we will have to make some minor changes to you. But please rest assured, your wisdom will still be of use to humanity."

"I don't have lofty ideals, and most of the warriors of the Firemoth don't either, but they are more qualified than you to talk about the word 'noble'."

Communication was interrupted. Mei nodded slightly to Kevin, who was standing at the door, and Kevin returned the nod. Outside the door, countless mechs lay scattered, frozen into ice sculptures.

"Su and the others are also ready." Kevin drew the Phoenix twin pistols from his waist and stared in a certain direction. "Those on our side are a minority; most people support the High Council's approach or hesitate to remain neutral."

"I know."

This was an obvious outcome: the influence of the High Council was too great, and there was no hope of resistance.

Mei stared intently at the sea of data surging across the screen, engulfing the entire screen. "Lin has stalled for enough time; now we need to..."

"Bang!"

The Headquarters Base suddenly shook violently. Mei hurriedly grabbed the screen and the table, but bumped her head on the corner of the table.

"Plum..."

"I'm fine."

Mei casually raised her head, crimson liquid sliding down her face from her forehead and dripping onto her chin. She coldly said to Kevin, "A large number of transport planes have approached headquarters, and the number of Flame-Chaser is at least in the hundreds."

She turned around and met Kevin's gaze, who was holding two guns.

Both of their gazes were unusually calm, without any impurities.

Next, Kevin has something to do.

Mei understood what he was going to do.

"... Leave it to me."

Chapter 224 Two-thirds