"..." The Herrscher silently watched Sakura's eyes, as though mourning for her.
"You remind me of my sister." To Sakura's surprise, she took Sakura's hand and supported her unsteady body. "I can often remember a song she taught me."
"Oh, flowers of the past," the Herrscher sang softly.
"Where are you today?"
Sakura gritted her teeth and tried to raise her blade at her, but the Herrscher's invisible force field suppressed her.
"Oh, meteors of today,"
"Where will you vanish again?"
As if by coincidence, a meteor dragged a long white trail across the sky, dazzling against the orange-and-black heavens.
Six hours earlier, aboard the Space-based Weapon station in orbit, Kevin sat in a blue chair, tilting his head as he stared at the blue planet beneath his feet, the planet that had nurtured countless lives.
If anyone supported so-called war, they should be dragged into outer space to look upon Mother Earth and experience just how insignificant humanity was, and how much of the world remained unknown.
Earth was humanity's cradle, but humanity could not remain in its cradle forever.
Two months ago, he had boarded a Fire Moth spacecraft and entered this station. He had never gone back down since. All supplies were delivered by cargo ships. Fortunately, the station had ways to pass the time, as well as people to talk to.
A harsh, piercing alarm suddenly sounded. Kevin broke off his thoughts, stood, and headed for the communications terminal.
"Kevin, the eleventh Honkai eruption has begun. I need you to prepare for deployment immediately." Dr. Mei's projection appeared on the screen, her cool voice reaching his ears.
"Understood." Kevin said nothing more.
"Also, this time, you may have to wait several hours, or even several days, before deployment. Prepare yourself mentally." Kevin nodded, then headed toward the weapons module.
The alloy security door vented several bursts of steam. The door behind him sealed shut and locked. Without any protective gear, Kevin entered the airlock. The pressure dropped until it became a vacuum, then the outer door opened and he stepped outside. Fusion Warriors differed from ordinary humans; they could walk through a vacuum without any protection.
Kevin walked along the exposed outer corridor, and a blue phantom rapidly formed beside him.
"Hello, Kevin." Qin Su gave Kevin a brief greeting.
"Hello."
"I imagine Dr. Mei told you as well. This time, you may have to wait a long time."
"I know," Kevin replied flatly.
"No. Not the kind of waiting you're imagining. You'll have to remain in one position without moving until opportunity reveals a corner of itself."
"I can do that. I can remain like that for months if necessary. As long as I can kill the Herrscher." Kevin's cold eyes held a suffocating calm.
The entire weapons module was exposed to outer space. In essence, it was a massive electromagnetic accelerator. But to save construction time and resources, it lacked conventional cooling systems, relying instead on several Tenth Law-Ruler Cores resembling the Herrscher of Fire and Herrscher of Ice to dissipate heat.
Qin Su said to Kevin, "We're here. This is the place." The corridor lights lit up as they passed.
Kevin nodded. "What do I do?"
"It's no different from the previous plan. Wait inside the projectile."
A sheet of paper popped out of the control room printer. "This is a diagram of the entire process. The distance from the transition phase to atmospheric reentry will be controlled by the computer. After that, once you enter the barrier, control will be entirely up to you."
Kevin stepped into the projectile's payload compartment. Its official designation was "Hypersonic Rod Penetrator." Contrary to what most people imagined, it had propulsion engines, allowing it to enter the atmosphere at a specific reentry angle. Space-to-ground strike weapons needed tremendous impact velocity to achieve effective results, which required maintaining a steep trajectory during reentry.
Qin Su's phantom produced a pointer. "This may be the last time I explain the projectile's internal structure to you. You must remember it all clearly and act at critical moments."
Kevin stood ramrod straight, like a fresh recruit standing at attention, listening carefully to his instructor's guidance.
"If there's no chance to deploy today, I'll come teach you every day."
The pointer indicated a hatch near where Kevin had entered. "This is the escape hatch. Unlike most other parts, it's made of tungsten. That means that while you descend into the barrier, the Soul Steel will solidify and change properties, but this won't. This is so you can manually correct any landing error caused by a number of factors. If it can't hit that Herrscher, then you will. Even a frail child can pull it open, preventing you from being trapped inside the projectile by the Herrscher's barrier."
Then it pointed at a recess behind him. Judging by its shape, it seemed specially designed for the Heavenly Fire Greatsword. "This is the recess specifically for storing Heavenly Fire. You need to put your Heavenly Fire there now."
Kevin combined the Heavenly Fire Twin Pistols holstered at his waist and placed them into the recess. Several mechanical devices then locked Heavenly Fire in place and lifted it somewhere beyond Kevin's sight.
"At the reentry point, once the fuel in the thrusters has been completely burned away, the Heavenly Fire Greatsword will be used for one final acceleration. After that, Heavenly Fire will be returned to you before you enter the barrier."
The pointer tapped an altitude indicator, producing faint clanging sounds. "This is the altitude indicator. Its principle is similar to a mechanical watch, and it will display your current altitude, though there may be slight errors. The altitudes inside were calculated in advance through simulations, so there's no sophisticated electronic equipment involved. But you must trust it."
Finally, Qin Su pointed at a small hole. "This is the observation port, for observing the outside. Do not open the hatch too early before the altitude indicator tells you to."
"Lastly, if you get bored, you can play games or chat."
"Play games?" Kevin was somewhat puzzled. There was no computer here for him to play on.
Qin Su smiled slightly. "I can show you one."
He projected an image before Kevin. It was not some dull, monochrome little game, but a AAA title. There was even a keyboard and mouse projected specifically according to the size of Kevin's hands and his habits.
Kevin tried it and found that he really could play. He could even feel the texture of the keyboard and mouse. Curious, he asked, "How did you do this?"
"Actually, you aren't the one playing. The computer is playing. It merely repeats your actions, then shows you what happens. It's just simulated using a Herrscher of Reason-like core."
Several hours later.
Qin Su forcibly shut down the projection. Kevin, who had been immersed in it, immediately understood what was happening, even though his expression was a little dazed.
Qin Su said with a smile, "Although you haven't finished a single round, I kept your save progress." A grand strategy game like Stellaris could not be finished in less than a week.
Kevin nodded, indicating that he was ready.
"I hope you can still finish this round." The alloy hatch slowly locked shut. The projectile rack slid the projectile into the armature along conductive rails. Once the rack detached, the conductive rails on both sides began charging, while the station's Honkai energy reactor also ramped up to full power.
"Good luck, Kevin." Qin Su's voice came from above. After that, only the emotionless electronic countdown remained.
"Ten seconds until charging is complete..."
"10."
Strapped down by the safety harness, Kevin recalled his youth, those leisurely, beautiful days.
"9."
Back then, he had been a boy who understood nothing, one who never thought about anything. If the him from back then met the him of now, perhaps the current him would, as the movies said, "kick my ass."
"8."
One day, he transferred schools.
"7."
That day changed his life forever. He fell in love with a girl.
"6."
It was love at first sight. He had been drawn to her like a magnet. Beneath her bookish air lay a lively, intelligent soul.
"5."
Unlike most girls, she only liked to roam the sea of knowledge. No matter what he did, she could ignore him perfectly.
"4."
Yet as she avoided him, he gradually entered her heart as well.
"3."
Thinking back on his behavior then, it still carried some of the childishness of youth.
"2."
If those days had continued forever, they might have struggled through life like any ordinary married couple.
"1."
But then the Honkai erupted.
"Launch."
Blazing white light gathered into a sphere before exploding in a flash, leaving behind a long blue trail of flame as the projectile hurtled toward Earth below.
PS: 1. I have to go out tomorrow, so I'll be taking a day off.
2. The effect is shown in the picture.
Before you continue