At the same moment Zero died, Tengyi suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Fresh blood continued to flow from his ears, nose, eyes, mouth, and especially his forehead. The blue veins looked rather disturbing, as if his head was splitting apart. The man smiled slightly as he crumpled to a kneel on the ground. The rope on his wrist automatically came apart and flew towards the horizon.
(My whole life… All I’ve wanted is peace of mind. Grave robbing isn’t what I wanted. I just wanted to restore all those countless treasures… Too bad I didn’t have a chance to return to the real world to fulfil my dream or atone for my sins. But… it’s not that bad to die fighting for my comrades… Goodbye, my comrades. Let’s meet again if there’s another life after this…)
Simultaneously calculating the trajectory for Zero and the data for the heavy hydrogen had overloaded him by too much. Enduring it till now before it flared up was the limit of his abilities. This was the achievement he had exchanged for with his life. But had it brought them success?
In the distant sky, the shockwaves had disappeared. The entire space was twisting, similar to how light distorted in high temperatures. There was even a enormous crater in the ground as if a meteor had fallen, but yet there wasn’t even a speck of dust in the air. The entire region had been wiped clean.
Adam had vanished as well, but the magic formation, the Tree of Life that had formed from around a dozen eyes, still existed. There was a ball of light with wings of light in its centre, but the light had become much weaker. It was obvious that although Adam hadn’t been directly wiped out, his strength had fallen greatly. If Zero gave him another shot using the Mystic Eyes, there was no need to worry about Light of the Soul blocking it.
It was unfortunate Honglu had perished early or if that missile had gotten closer, Adam would have been at the centre of the explosion and would surely have died. It was a pity that this scheme that Honglu had laid his life down for hadn’t completed. Wangxia and Juntian were still alive and they watched that still alive Adam with despair. It was unexpected that this attack that far surpassed the Magic Cannon didn’t kill him. In other words, no one else could kill him. Every person would be killed and absorbed, and this final battle would end in failure. But what surprised them was that the Soul Link and scan were still up and running. Was Lan and the rest still alive despite being inside that giant explosion, even if they hadn’t taken Zero’s Mystic Eyes head on? Still, so what if they lived? They would just add onto Adam’s strength.
***
In truth, the other side was also filled with heavy casualties. No one had been able to make evasive manoeuvres after Tom had sucked away so much of their blood. Liu Yu had fortunately directed Obelisk to block a large amount of the shockwaves. However, Anck-Su-Namun had still been immediately knocked away by the stones being blown around by the shockwaves, before being directly ripped to shreds by the shockwaves. Kampa was on the brink of death after half his body was destroyed by rocks. Lan and Yanwei were in a similar condition, their life hanging from a thread after their severe injuries. The black dragon on the other hand had been sent flying into the sky from the shockwaves and directly erased by the Mystic Eyes. Only Liu Yu had relied on his identity as Obelisk’s owner to instinctively cover himself. However, there was still a gaping hole in his thigh from a rock punching through. He was counted as the one who got off the lightest, which was his fortune.
As for team Devil, they were all about to die from Tom’s actions before. They had all died in the explosion, the squad completely annihilated.
Of the four survivors, Kampa was catamose while the other three immediately despaired like the distant two upon seeing Adam’s continued existence. They no longer had the power to contend with Adam. How would they kill him if even the Mystic Eyes didn’t do the trick? It was an unsolvable problem. They had lost this battle...
“NO! How is this possible?! YOU CHEATED! How could it be here at this time? I did not lose! I DID NOT LOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSEEEEEEE! YOU. CHEATED! I don’t accept this! I don’t accept this! I don’t accept this! I don’t accept this! I don’t accept this! I already beat Chu Xuan! I already surpassed everything! I was about to destroy humanity! I don’t accept this! CHU XUAN! I NEVER LOST TO YOU! I WILL NEVER ADMIT IT!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!”
As despair filled their hearts, these words resonated through their minds. Then they watched as a giant hand burst out of the dry and withered ground. Just the hand alone was ten metres, while the owner of the hand, an over twenty meters mechanical human-shaped monstrosity vaulted out of the ground. The ball with wings up in the sky hadn’t even been able to respond before the monstrosity’s mouth opened… and chomped down on it! The Tree of life was simultaneously shattered by a punch. It all happened in a moment or two, and the monster had already landed on the ground with a boom before anyone recovered from their shock, causing the earth to crack apart.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!
The monstrosity was precisely the maddened Gando. He had merged with his Eva Unit-01. He had lost his rationality upon going berserk, wanting to kill Zheng and the rest relying on its instincts. But they had already left by then, so he had started to wander about. It had instinctively rushed over here when Adam had begun his Human Instrumentality Project.
The Eva Unit-01 was indeed strong, but the energy used to pilot it was Light of the Soul. Although it could revive and regenerate nigh-infinitely, it was no different from scrap metal once the Light of the Soul ran out. This was what Gando had meant by a ‘body of a god and that its sole deficiency is the lack of enough of a soul to move and control it’. But what if it had an infinite Light of the Soul? Like a supreme existence? Like a god?
The Eva had swallowed Adam. Adam’s Light of the Soul was already very weak, and based on the characteristics of the Human Instrumentality Project, the one in control when Light of the Soul was absorbed was the most powerful. Gando’s Light of the Soul was in his peak state with practically zero expended, so…
Unfortunately, the Tree of Life had been shattered by the Eva.
“What’s going on? What’s that monster?” The survivors all felt strange. What did those words mean? Who was cheating? Was it referring to that mechanical monstrosity in front of their eyes? It actually ate Adam in one bite… Was it not afraid of being absorbed?
Various doubts accumulated in everyone’s mind, until Kampa groaned and brought them back to their senses. Liu Yu hurried to the muscular man’s side, watching as the man opened his eyes to reveal the last glimmer of consciousness from passing on.
“Sorry. That word was hard to say. I actually killed my own war buddy. I may not be able to forget this sin even after entering hell. If possible… even if you can revive me, don’t wake me up again. I’m tired. So, so tired. I won’t be able to face my comrades again. So… sorry.” An expression of agony was on Kampa’s face as his eyes slowly shut. The rope on his wrist came apart, flying into the horizon.
“Big bro Kampa, big bro Kampa!” Liu Yu felt a sourness in his heart as he was unable to resist bursting into tears. Too many had died here. He was still just a kid, and facing the death of him and everyone around him, his heart had kept weakening until this moments when the dams burst.
Lan and Yanwei were also grievously injured, especially Lan. A flying stone had directly punched a hole through a stomach. Her guts and other internal organs were all heavily injured and the blood that flowed out coated the ground. Although she was a member of God’s Realm with a constitution much stronger than normal people, there was too much blood loss, and along with the damage to her organs, she would likely die soon as well.
Yanwei’s injuries were in her lung region, the right side of her chest almost completely destroyed by a rock. Now, her breaths were accompanied by blood spitting out. Although she wouldn’t die now, death was something inevitable if there wasn’t a timely treatment.
“Don’t cry, Liu Yu…” Lan smiled warmly. She could no longer speak and was using psyche force to directly connect to Liu Yu’s mind. At the same time, her body emanated a pure white light, her personal Light of the Soul.
“Don’t cry, kiddo. You need to be strong. Us team China will become the strongest team of the realm. As a member, how could you be weak? So… don’t cry. Welcome battle resolutely.” Lan’s voice transmitted over continuously while her Light of the Soul gathered on the rope on her wrist.
(Am I about to die? I feel so peaceful though. Coming to this realm… it wasn’t actually that bad. At least I didn’t have to yearn and hurt for those things in the past. A new goal, even if it was just surviving, and a new crush, even if it was just in secret, and… so much more. I really wanted to live on, and continue to look secretly at him. And everyone too… Zheng, this is the last time I can help you. So… please win.)
Lan smiled as she looked at the rope. For some reason, the rope automatically came apart despite her not being dead yet, flying towards the horizon. She said gently to Liu Yu then, “Liu Yu, Wangxia, Juntian. Bring Yanwei there. Zheng and the rest are fighting there. He needs your help. Tell him what happened as well. Say Gando ate Adam, and his Eva’s energy systems are perfected. Zheng needs to be a bit careful… But if ‘he’ wants this show to go on, ‘he’ will definitely create some accident that limits Gando who skyrocketed in power. Perhaps… forget it. My mission is complete. We’ll trust Zheng for what remains. Please win.”
When she finished speaking, she watched the flying rope, silently and unmoving. When Liu Yu looked at her carefully, he realized her eyes were closed with a slight smile on her face, while her chest was no longer rising… She had died.
“Big sis, big sis Lan!” Liu Yu began to sob as he hugged Lan’s corpse. He only finally stopped after a long while. While an obvious weakness continued to exist in those eyes, there was resolve now as well. He silently put down Lan’s corpse, instead walking to Yanwei. He checked her wounds, before supporting her up and slowly walking to where Wangxia’s pair was.
At the same time, Wangxia’s pair used the Sky Sticks to fly over. After Adam had been eaten, those unusable machines were now usable again. They were only exhausted, and compared to those at the scene of the explosion, they were like fresh troops. Thus, they immediately rushed to Liu Yu.
“Really. So many died.” Wangxia sighed, before looking at the sky.
Liu Yu hurriedly asked, “What now? Big sis Yanwei is bleeding so much. If we don’t give her treatment, she’ll…”
“Yes, Yanwei was injured heavily. What now, Wangxia?” The other rookie of team China, Juntian had been stunned upon seeing so many dead. For some reason, the veterans had taken a heavy toll, but the two rookies had survived. It felt rather ironic.
Whatever the case, as the only veteran with clarity of mind present, Wangxia had to shoulder all responsibility. The strategist for the squad had perished, but the mission had basically succeeded… Apart from the accident of Adam being eaten, the Angel Alliance and team Devil squad had been exterminated. As for Gando that had suddenly appeared… The few of them obviously didn’t possess the power to fight that Eva, so their most pressing task was to bring Yanwei somewhere safe for treatment, then find the main battlefield.
“...Then we’ll take action like this.” Wangxia roughly outlined his decisions, before looking at Lan’s corpse. “Honglu was saying some strange things just now, and Lan said that before she passed as well. What did they find out? Who is this ‘he’?”
Wangxia sighed. He couldn’t think of anything. All he knew was that if Xuan was here, he would definitely have understood something. But based on the intelligence of those present, they probably wouldn’t be able to understand anything no matter what. Thus, he didn’t talk too much. He picked up Yanwei and flew off on the Sky Stick in the direction Lan had given them while she was alive.
The other two hurriedly followed after Wangxia. But when they turned back to look at that Eva, they saw it floating in the air. Over ten wings slowly unfolded themselves behind its back and the entire machine letting out an intense light continuously… This was Light of the Soul visible to the eyes!
Team China Fallen: Xiao Honglu, Zero, Anck-Su-Namun, Qi Tengyi, Dragon, Kampa, Lan Feng
Remaining Survivors: Zheng Zha, Chu Xuan, Cheng Xiao, Zhang Heng, Zhao Yingkong, Luo Yinglong, Imhotep, Ming Yanwei, Liu Yu, Lin Juntian, Wangxia