"Clang!"
The blade of the giant claw sliced past her hair, leaving a red line on her skin. The scarlet eyes beneath the mask revealed the gaze of a predator. Her entire demeanor changed drastically. All attacks were aimed at crippling Himeko.
"Bang!"
Seele instinctively ducked, dodging Dystopia's gunshot, then delivered an elbow strike that pushed Himeko back. She retreated two steps, once again standing between Himeko and the Chairman.
The confrontation fell into a brief stalemate.
Himeko hadn't expected Seele to be this strong. Even with the limitations of the environment, Seele current strength was nearly equal to hers.
A new doubt arose in her mind. Seele was indeed a battle-hardened warrior, but Himeko's strength, boosted by her powered armor, was almost unrivaled in the Fire Moth. Yet, Seele had just managed to overpower her in terms of raw strength. This wasn't a factor that could be compensated for by experience alone.
"Is it done yet?" Sweat dripped from Seele forehead, a mixture of cold and hot sweat. She had underestimated her Captain's ability. After several rounds of engagement, she hadn't gained any advantage and had almost been seized. Sure enough, anyone who could become a Captain was a seasoned veteran, and the depth of their combat experience was incomparable.
"That Armed Puppet is constantly jamming the signal. It's impossible to detonate the bomb in this transport plane." The Chairman flipped the table and hid behind it. He didn't participate in the fight, just held his gun and observed the situation. "We need to find a way out."
The manual detonation device was on him. He could write a different signal to detonate the bomb, and this was something he felt he needed to do himself to be certain.
"Do you need the Phase Transfer Device?"
"That thing... Heh, if I use it one more time, I probably won't be able to get out, let alone detonate the bomb."
To confuse the investigation and reduce the possibility of exposing information, the Chairman and Seele had worked together, using the Phase Transfer Device to move bodies and leave misleading clues. The time Kevin ambushed them was when the Chairman speculated someone might be lurking around the high-ranking officials to catch the killer. He turned the tables, sending Seele to do the assassination while he created the false impression that the killer was male.
However, the side effects of the Phase Transfer Device were so severe that despite the number of people around the Chairman, only he and Seele could use it. Even he could no longer sustain his consciousness after using it twice. The increased Honkai corruption rate had also severely ravaged his body, making even a brief exchange with Kevin extremely taxing.
"However... it's worth a try." The Chairman gestured, and Seele immediately understood his intention, taking out the Phase Transfer Device from her person.
"Boom!"
At this moment, Dystopia, who was closely monitoring their movements, keenly noticed Seele intention. She aimed at her hand and fired, forcing Seele to stop from handing the device to the Chairman.
" Seele!" Himeko roared. She used her shoulder to ram into Seele. Seele, who hadn't reacted in time, had the device knocked out of her hand, and it clattered to the floor.
The Armed Puppet seized the opportunity, picked up the Phase Transfer Device, and retreated. The assault rifle in its hands was constantly aimed at the Chairman's hiding place. A stream of bullets shattered the tabletop, but the Chairman had already moved back to hide behind a thicker seat in the cabin.
"Tch..." The Chairman clicked his tongue, forced once again to evade and wait for an opportunity.
" Seele, why are you doing this! Do you truly support his ideology! Do you really believe there are people who deserve to die and people who don't!" Himeko bent down and slammed her fist onto the forearm of the whistling giant claw, then lunged forward, slamming a powerful punch into Seele cheek. "Didn't you cherish life the most..."
Seele was sent reeling backward several steps by the punch. Her mask shattered in two, covering half her face. She spat out the blood from her split lip and said calmly to Himeko: "Yes... I hate death. I hate the Honkai. They took everything from me without reason, crushing the happiness of others..."
"So, we must win... Humanity must defeat the Honkai. Isn't that our shared wish?"
"Lin gave everything to achieve that wish. I cannot allow humanity to destroy itself. Not even if it means helping the person I despise the most, not even if it means betraying the person I love the most..."
Seele straightened up, blood dripping from her mouth. She looked coldly at the motionless Himeko and Dystopia. She knew exactly what their eyes were saying.
All the pity, sorrow, and pain in their eyes made her see her past self and her current self.
It was like walking by a riverside at sunset, brushing shoulders with the past self who still smiled from the heart.
"So, whoever comes to take Lin's wish away, I will defeat them, even if that person is Lin himself!"
That's right. The choice to sever ties with the past was her own, made right here and now, and she would not look back at that smile.
Seele turned and tore open the cabin wall with her claw. The change in air pressure immediately created a terrifying suction force at the breach. She tore it open further with another claw to a size just wide enough to pass through and leaped out without hesitation, much to everyone's astonishment.
Before Himeko could react, a metallic cutting sound ripped through the air. She shuddered and instinctively leaned back. A metallic blade grazed the tip of her nose, narrowly missing her.
Seele was clinging to the exterior of the transport plane and attacking the interior!
Failing to connect with the strike, Seele retracted her claw. Himeko gasped heavily, staring in shock at the hole above her head.
How could an ordinary person cling to the outside of a high-speed aircraft and still launch an accurate attack inside...
"Clang!"
It came again!
But this time the sharp sound wasn't near Himeko. She instantly realized it was aimed at Dystopia and turned back just in time to see a bloody gash tear through Dystopia's shoulder and elbow.
"Dystopia!"
"Captain..." Dystopia weakly raised her gun and fired toward the ceiling, but Seele was no longer there. She slumped backward, falling to the floor, her eyes shifting. "That person... is trying to escape..."
Hearing Dystopia's warning, Himeko's peripheral vision caught the Chairman quietly moving toward the breach Seele had created.
He was trying to jump out of the transport plane to detonate the bomb!
The Armed Puppet activated its thermal scan, but it couldn't directly shoot at Seele because Himeko and Dystopia were still inside the transport plane. Based on its calculations, if it fired indiscriminately, causing the plane to crash, the death rate for the two of them would be over 90%.
It could only continuously pinpoint Seele location, but Seele speed was faster than its calculations—it was already beyond human capability.
Himeko rushed forward, covering the gaping hole with one hand and reaching out to grab the Chairman with the other: "You won't escape!"
Escape? No, that's an attack!
A flash of fierce determination crossed the Chairman's eyes. He instantly changed direction, cleverly dodging Himeko's arm, and reached out to grab the Phase Transfer Device in the Armed Puppet's hand.
"Clang!"
Himeko stepped onto her greatsword, the blade pointing upward and slashing toward the Chairman's abdomen, trying to force him back.
The sharp blade could easily cut through the outer shell of a Honkai Beast. Countless Honkai Beasts and zombies had died by this blade, so a mere graze against fragile human flesh could easily result in being cut in half at the waist.
However, the Chairman acted as if he hadn't seen the sword, showing no intention of stopping. He leaped forward with all his might, his thigh colliding directly with the blade.
"What..."
Blood spurted from the horizontal cut on his thigh. The internal structure of his entire thigh, along with some purple stripes, was exposed to the air, causing Himeko to freeze.
"Aaaaahhh!!!"
The man whose leg had been severed didn't even glance at his severed limb. He grabbed the blanket on the floor with both hands, roaring as he reached out to snatch the Phase Transfer Device.
There was no hesitation at all.