The projectile was launched in the direction opposite the space station. Since the Soyuz Space-based Weapon station orbited Earth, if the projectile were released directly without any external force acting on it, the station's initial velocity would make it orbit Earth instead of plunging toward the surface.
The projectile's path through space could roughly be represented by an arc. A few seconds after leaving orbit, the thrusters at its tail spewed flames. Most of the Space-based Weapon's energy came from Earth's gravity; the thrusters were only responsible for course correction and attitude adjustment.
Upon reaching the reentry point and entering the atmosphere, the Heavenly Fire Greatsword provided one final burst of acceleration. The projectile made a ballistic reentry, with no control over its attitude during the descent. This was the greatest source of error in the entire process. Once it entered the atmosphere, everything would depend on Kevin's manual corrections.
Dr. Mei's voice came through the tiny earpiece in Sakura's ear. "Sakura, keep the Eleventh Law-Ruler pinned in her current position. Kevin will be here soon."
Sakura nodded lightly, then stopped holding back against the Law-Ruler and unleashed her true strength.
"Disappear!"
When the altitude indicator pointed to around 100 kilometers, Kevin suddenly felt powerless to control his body. He staggered and nearly fell face-first to the ground. But a Fusion Warrior's physical constitution remained intact, and pulling open the escape hatch was not a problem.
"Open the hatch!" When the altitude indicator reached 20 kilometers, a sheet of paper suddenly popped out. The projectile had only seven seconds left before it struck the ground. Holding Heavenly Fire, Kevin swiftly pulled open the tungsten-alloy hatch and jumped out. At nearly Mach 8, even the slightest movement could send him spinning, and under such circumstances, he still had to manually correct the projectile's deviation.
There were only ten kilometers left to the ground now, which meant he had only three seconds to correct his "trajectory."
Relying on the powerful vision granted by his Fusion Warrior body, he spotted the Eleventh Law-Ruler, her body flashing with golden crosses. Sakura saw him at the same time.
Sakura let out a faint sigh. "If not for Honkai, we all should have had a good ending..."
The silver-haired Law-Ruler nodded slightly.
"But as I said, a person may be defeated, but he must never be destroyed."
Sakura abruptly shoved the Law-Ruler away. From the corner of her eye, she saw someone—a person diving rapidly toward her—and he was already only about a thousand meters away!
"Boom!" A massive explosion erupted from the forest behind Sakura. The projectile had deviated from its course and crashed into the woods several hundred meters away. Clods of dirt blasted into the sky and rained down upon Sakura and the Law-Ruler.
The Law-Ruler instinctively tried to pull away, but a distance of one thousand meters and a speed of nearly Mach 7 gave her only 0.4 seconds to react and act. It was too late!
Kevin slammed into the Law-Ruler, driving both of them into the earth. The sudden, explosive pain made the Eleventh Law-Ruler forget to maintain her barrier. The disruption in Sakura and Kevin's bodily functions subsided as well, and they regained control over their bodies.
As the flying dust dispersed, Kevin's figure was revealed. He picked up Heavenly Fire beside him and rose to his feet. Sakura hurried over as well. They exchanged glances, then searched the circular earthen crater for the Law-Ruler's corpse.
Before long, they found the Law-Ruler's body buried beneath the soil, facedown. Kevin and Sakura both let out long breaths. The Eleventh Honkai had finally ended.
"Mei, the Eleventh Law-Ruler's kill has been confirmed. You can retrieve the body," Kevin said into the radio.
"Understood. We'll be there right away."
Kevin walked over to the Eleventh Law-Ruler's body and turned her over. Golden blood streamed from her features, sliding down her skin and dripping onto the ground. She seemed to be dead.
The Law-Ruler slowly opened her eyes. A sorrowful expression appeared on her mud-covered face.
"Everything everyone has done is meaningless..."
"Damn!" He swung his arm sharply, and the Heavenly Fire Greatsword stabbed toward the Law-Ruler's chest.
A golden barrier appeared across the earth once more.
"It's over. I can't use any strength..." Heavenly Fire, thrust at the Law-Ruler, was blocked as well. Half the blade sank into her left arm. With a light wave of her hand, Kevin fell backward onto the ground, though he still held Heavenly Fire in his hand.
Using her right hand, the Law-Ruler crawled upright. Half her body was exposed, while the other half remained buried in the soil. No—Kevin steadied his mind and looked at her. She only had half a body left. Her lower body and both legs had been severed by the Heavenly Fire Greatsword. It was a miserable sight.
Sakura and Kevin could only rely on the weapons in their hands to barely stand. Their Fusion Warrior bodies remained, but with their bodily functions thrown into chaos once more, merely standing had already taken all their strength, let alone raising their swords against the Law-Ruler.
The Law-Ruler held a severed leg in her left hand—her right foot—and pressed it against the stump. Blood continued to gush from the wound.
There was no sorrow, no pain. With only her left hand, the Law-Ruler crawled toward her other severed leg. Fine threads of blood connected the stump of her right leg to her right foot. Having completed that series of horrifying movements, she merely spoke of her longing for her family.
Kevin no longer had the strength to crawl up again. Sakura was the only one still standing in the entire area. Clearly, her condition was even worse. After several hours of battle and another disruption to her bodily functions, she had avoided collapsing only through sheer willpower. Plunging the tip of Cold Prison Ice Sky into the mud again and again, she limped toward Kevin, using it as a crutch.
She reached Kevin's side and pulled him up, but she could no longer support her own body. With a dull thud, she collapsed weakly onto the ground.
"You've worked hard."
Sakura nodded faintly, then closed her eyes and fell unconscious.
Kevin estimated that they had only forty seconds left. He walked toward the Eleventh Law-Ruler, dragging his feet along the ground as he struggled toward her.
Yet his expression remained unchanged, showing no sign of his bodily functions collapsing. The Herrscher of Binding knew he was merely forcing himself to endure. These two would be dead within seconds.
"If you have any last words, I can pass them on to Dr. Mei." Leaning against the edge of the earthen crater, the Law-Ruler watched as her two severed limbs, linked by threads of blood, slowly drew closer to their stumps.
"No. I won't leave any last words, and neither will you." Kevin drew the pistol tucked behind his waist. From the very beginning, his trench coat had concealed it so completely that the Law-Ruler had never noticed he was hiding a gun. It was an old, large-caliber pistol with no electronic components, using the chemical energy of propellant to generate high temperature and pressure and force the bullet from the chamber.
The gun was a product from decades ago, a handgun designed specifically for hunting large animals. One of its design requirements had been: "Pierce a mammoth's skull."
Kevin aimed the muzzle at the Law-Ruler's forehead and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed through the entire forest.
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