Kiana didn't want to hurt anyone anymore. She waved her hand, erasing the explosives on those people, and picked up Mei, preparing to leave.
"Where are you trying to escape!?"
"We're not going anywhere... If you want to kill us, come to the place where we first met.
That is the place where everything began, and also the place where everything will end... The revenge you want, the hope you seek, you will find the answers there."
Kiana, holding Raiden Mei, took a step and instantly vanished from before everyone.
The Honkai energy corrosion on the bodies of the Fire Moth members was also taken away by Kiana, and the underground area that had been emptied by Ryn was long since refilled by her.
It was as if the two of them had never appeared, but the ME Corp building behind them, pierced through by Ryn, told everyone that they hadn't been dreaming.
"The place where everything began, the place where everything will end... so it's at Senba Academy..." Ryn muttered to himself and turned around, wanting to check on everyone's condition.
But the only response Ryn received was a series of thuds as people fell to the ground...
First, those who had been corroded by Honkai energy lost consciousness one by one and collapsed. Then came the Gray Moth squad, and even Himeko fell into a coma.
Ryn could understand the ordinary people, but the Gray Moth squad and Himeko...
Was it because their lives had reached their end, and the countdown had begun...
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"Himeko, wake up!"
A cheerful, energetic white-haired girl patted the sleeping Himeko on her desk, waking her up.
"Seriously... Himeko, didn't you say we had training this afternoon? If it weren't for Mei insisting on waking you up, I would have openly skipped class!" Kiana shouted thoughtlessly, but her eyes held a hint of worry and care.
Mei, beside Kiana, gently asked Himeko.
"Are you not feeling well, Teacher Himeko? Would you like to go rest?"
"Kiana... Mei..." Himeko sat up straight, holding her head. "No, I'm fine, just a little dazed..."
Kiana stood with her hands on her hips, looking at Himeko with disdain. "You must have drunk too much again last night, right? You definitely got dumped again~"
Himeko: "None of your business... You two go to the training room first, I'll be there in a bit..."
Himeko opened her eyes and looked around. She was in the infirmary of the Hyperion, not St. Freya High School...
"So... was it a dream? To think I'd dream of such a scene after so long. Looks like I'm really getting old..."
Himeko pulled out all the tubes attached to her, got dressed, and walked out of the infirmary. She knew her own body's condition best; it was long past the point where treatment could cure it...
As soon as Himeko walked out of the infirmary, she saw Emisha waiting for her just outside the door.
Emisha pointed angrily at the hospital bed and shouted at Himeko. "Go back! Your condition is already critical!"
"Yeah, I know. That's why I can't lie here any longer."
"Why! Why do you have to push yourselves this far? Can't you just recuperate here quietly?
The battle between Herrschers, you saw it. Besides Ryn, we can't do anything...
Since we can't do anything... at least we can spend these last moments in peace. Even if we die, we can die together!"
"You're right. How wonderful it would be if we knew how to give up...
If that were the case, Fire Moth shouldn't have existed from the beginning. Everyone could have just peacefully accepted the fate of destruction, with no need to struggle for survival.
After all, only Ryn, who joined Fire Moth recently, can participate in the battles, right? But we've been fighting all this time without Ryn...
From the very beginning, we were fighting for a hope that didn't exist. We've always known in our hearts that this is an unwinnable battle, but it's precisely because we fought together that we have the motivation to move forward. If we lose our reason to live, that would be true destruction.
That's why I won't accept a result where we just sit and wait for death! If I must die, I'd rather die on the battlefield!"
"Then you're already too late... Ryn has already taken people to Senba Academy."
"Huh???!!"
——————————————
This was no longer a battle that could be won by just charging in recklessly. Only after truly fighting a Herrscher could one understand their own insignificance.
If Ryn's crushing victory over Mei had ignited a passion in them, rekindling their hope for survival...
Then the subsequent appearance of the Herrscher of Finality, Kiana, who nonchalantly stopped the fight, was like a bucket of cold water poured over the members of Fire Moth, completely extinguishing their desire to take the Herrscher down with them.
Their attacks had no effect on the Herrscher; they couldn't even face her directly.
During the time Himeko was unconscious, Seele and Penglaiji Ryn visited everyone, asking them about their thoughts for the future.
But without exception, they all had second thoughts, no longer daring to continue confronting the Herrscher.
People who had lost their will to fight would only be sending themselves to their deaths on the battlefield, so Bronya simply let them stay at ME Corp to fend for themselves.
Ryn gathered those who still wanted to fight and headed to Senba Academy for the final battle with Kiana.
Although it was estimated that it would be a battle fought by Ryn alone, or perhaps with Penglaiji Ryn, and that the members of Fire Moth would be of little use in the fight, this was their world, and they needed to protect it themselves.
But the only ones who went were himself, Penglaiji Ryn, Bronya, and Seele.
There was also Kukulkan. It didn't want to face Kiana, but Ryn told it,
"You're partly responsible for Mei's serious injuries. Kiana holds a grudge. If you don't go kill her now, just wait for her to come and slap you to death later!"
Not wanting to be suddenly slapped to death in its sleep one day, Kukulkan had no choice but to board Ryn's pirate ship.
With Kukulkan as a transport, the group quickly arrived at Academy City, where Senba Academy was located.
But the area was shrouded in a thick fog, and they couldn't see anything.
The group couldn't fly directly there either, so they could only feel their way along the roads.
But on the only road leading to Senba Academy, a short, white-haired girl with messy hair, carrying a huge golden cross on her back, was now standing guard, waiting for their arrival.
The Oath of Judah was indented in the ground, its twelve golden chain-lances glimmering faintly in the fog.