Sigh...
Lin dragged the cross, walking through the starry night.
His pseudo-Herrscher core was sealed, but his body could not revert to a normal state. While his self-healing had returned to normal, his athletic ability, sleep, and eating were all in a non-human state.
No matter how he closed his eyes, he couldn't fall asleep. The clarity of his consciousness was like an iron gate, separating him from normal people.
He decided to wander aimlessly to pass the lonely night.
The Imaginary Tree, the Sea of Quanta, Yama, Rita, "Him"...
Lin leaped onto the collapsed buildings of the Atla ruins. He sat on the ground amidst the wreckage of civilization, quietly sensing the direction of the natural wind.
Originally, he thought that as long as they defeated the Honkai, humanity would see the dawn.
Later, having gained the upper hand in the fight against the Honkai, Lin felt that as long as they ended humanity's internal strife, they wouldn't have to let the pain continue.
But now, what direction should he choose? What exactly must be done to reach the best ending?
...Regardless, he had to choose to keep moving forward.
He looked up at the sky. "Time to head back..."
Suddenly, his pupils shrank, and he rolled to the side!
Clang!
A longsword plunged into the spot where he had been sitting. Lin hoisted the Oath of Judah and looked warily toward the sky.
"Yo, you dodged it?"
A pitch-black cloak blended into the night, floating in the sky. Seeing Lin dodge the sword, the figure smiled playfully.
Lin deployed the Oath of Judah and deftly grabbed a spear.
Who was this now?
"Don't be nervous, just saying hello." The man opened his palm toward the sword stuck in the ground; the blade vibrated and flew back into his hand. He wiped two fingers across the blade, and the longsword transformed into a single-edged long blade. He grinned brilliantly. "How does that saying go... the fastest way for men to build a friendship is through 'fencing'?"
"Who are you?"
"Hi, hi, hi. Who are you? Who am I? Where do you come from? What are you going to do?" The blade tapped lightly against his shoulder as he shook his head and sighed as if in helplessness. "Please, can we have some originality? Change the lines? Having a long confrontation every time is really boring. How about this..."
The tip of the blade pointed at Lin head under the moonlight and a bloodthirsty smile.
"Let's skip the boring prologue and fast-forward to shouting hot-blooded lines. For example... 'I'm going to kill you.'"
Schwing!
The friction of the blade against the air was as sharp as the chirping of summer insects!
Lin saw the opponent move so fast that even his dynamic vision struggled to track him. One second he was a hundred meters away; the next, the cold glint of the blade was pressing against his eyes!
The smile beneath the cloak was remarkably prominent.
This guy...
Lin swung his spear with a backhand to knock away the blade, then slammed his shoulder into the man's chest!
"Whoa, now that's more like it." The man, knocked back, patted his chest. He smiled and took two empty swings with his long blade. "You're a pseudo-Herrscher, after all. It wouldn't do if you couldn't even beat a normal human like me."
A normal human?
Lin stared silently at the man's feet, which were nearly thirty meters off the ground.
"You think I'm flying? Actually, I'm not. I don't belong to this plane of existence. It's like a magnet behind a piece of paper attracting iron filings... Okay, fine, I'm just flying. Honkai energy can explain anything; just accept the setting that I can fly."
The man was a chatterbox, talking incessantly once he started. As he talked nonsense, he reached into the air and pulled out a second, identical longsword.
Then he had a bright idea—he placed the newly drawn sword beneath his feet, making it look like he was flying through the air by standing on a sword.
"Hey, what do you think of this setting? I'm flying on a sword. Since the style of these swords is Shenzhou-style anyway, there's no problem with a normal human like me practicing cultivation to become a Great Ascension stage cultivator, right?"
"Who the hell are you?" The chains of the Oath of Judah behind Lin slowly extended, twisting in mid-air as if possessed by a self-aware will.
"...I already told you." A hint of coldness seeped into the man's smile. "Stop asking... who I am!"
Danger.
Lin heard a sharp, invisible sonic boom in front of him. He immediately pulled the Oath of Judah in front of him as a shield. Suddenly, a monstrous force slammed into Judah. Even as heavy as the cross was, it was knocked back dozens of meters before stopping!
The fixing spikes at the bottom of the Oath of Judah bit into the ground. Lin frowned as he looked at the spot where the attack had hit.
A deep gouge met his eyes.
If the Oath of Judah hadn't blocked the attack, he would have been cut in half.
A wind blade?
"This move is called 'Storm Steel Blade Flash.' I just came up with the name." The man swung his long blade again. Countless wind blades sliced toward Lin like invisible sharp edges, but because Lin was using Judah as a shield, they didn't affect him.
Clink, clink, clink!
The continuous strikes didn't leave so much as a scratch on the Oath of Judah.
"Hmm..." The man stopped, puzzled, looking at Lin, who was hiding entirely behind the cross. "Isn't that a bit of a cheat?"
"..."
"Alright then, let's try something real."
The attack stopped. Lin eyes narrowed as he watched the cloaked man. The man gripped the sword with both hands, eyes forward, taking a formal swordsmanship stance.
What was he doing now?
"Even though most of what I said was nonsense, I really do practice cultivation."
"Sword Form: Swift."
Boom!
Lin watched blankly as he was sent flying backward. The scenery before him blurred rapidly. Before he could understand what had happened, the spear in his hand had been shaken loose.
The man stood in place, smiling. He wiped the blood from his blade and slowly sheathed it.
Thud!
Lin collapsed onto the ground, blood splashing under the moonlight.
From his chest to his right shoulder, there was a wound so deep the bone was visible.
"Let's call it a day here, Lin."
The man waved at the prone Lin with great interest, and his figure faded away.
Cough, cough...
Drenched in cold sweat, Lin slowly crawled up from the ground. Clutching his bleeding wound, he walked slowly toward the Oath of Judah.
What just happened?
Before the man's last word had even finished, only an afterimage remained.
That move... seemed to have traces of Fire Moth's combat techniques...
Just... what is going on...
Bang, bang, bang!
Einstein's door was hammered loudly. She startled awake and hurried to the door. The sight she saw when she opened it shocked her beyond measure.
Rita stood at the door, carrying a weakened Lin. His chest bore a hideous, terrifying sword wound—one could even see his heart and the faintly glowing pseudo-Herrscher core through the gash.
"What happened!" Einstein hurriedly told Rita to carry Lin in while she went to find needles, thread, and medicine.
"I don't know. It seems he was attacked." Rita took the needle and thread. "Let me do it."
She skillfully began to stitch Lin wound. At that moment, Lin flickering gaze finally found a bit of peace.