No Other Choice

"You've worked hard these past two years, Immer."

For the past two years, Immer has provided Anti-Entropy with a wealth of information about Fire Moth. Sometimes, when Vasak suddenly gets the urge to chat with Anti-Entropy, he often chooses Immer as the bridge for communication—a tacit understanding between them.

But this kind of work… has been quite a burden for Immer.

"Captain Mikael… I'm not doing this for your vague promises. I only believe in the facts I see with my own eyes—you should know that."

After clearing the airport runway, the ground crew hastily retreated, not wanting to stay a second longer. After all, thanks to the Fifth Herrscher, the outdoor temperature had dropped to minus twenty degrees Celsius. Standing outside in this weather was just asking for trouble, right?

So, for a moment, only two small black dots remained on the runway—Mikael and Immer.

"Don't put on such an unfriendly face!"

Mikael shook his head. He didn't say these words out loud. In the two years since they last met, Immer had lost too much… too much humor, lightness, and too much of what should belong to a young man.

And Mikael felt he was one of the culprits.

Immer wrapped his coat tighter around himself. Even so, he was still shivering all over from the cold, his lips almost freezing together.

So, if he knew what Mikael was thinking, he would probably rush to defend himself:

"Hey! Captain Mikael! It's not that I'm unfriendly; I'm just too frozen to talk, okay?!"

Opening his mouth just let in a gust of cold wind. Who would speak loudly in this kind of weather?

Except for some kind of weirdo.

Immer glanced enviously at Mikael. Compared to Immer, who was bundled up like a dumpling, Mikael was practically wearing just a single layer of clothing…

"Sneeze—"

Both of them suddenly sniffled at the same time. When they looked at each other again, they suddenly smiled simultaneously, as if they were back in those days when they were in the dorm, taking ugly photos of each other to make emojis and profile pictures.

Now, seeing each other again, they were already adults.

"By the way, Immer, did you ever change your profile picture later?"

Immer didn't even need to think much; the scene of Mikael sleeping with underwear on his head immediately flashed through his mind.

"Of course… Huh? It's here."

Mikael followed the direction he pointed. A black dot suddenly appeared in the eastern sky. In just a few seconds, this black dot had magnified hundreds of times, and the outline of its body was already clearly visible.

"Fire Moth Three?"

"No, this is already Fire Moth Five. They've streamlined the weight again and upgraded the engine. Its current cruising speed can reach three times the speed of sound!"

"Hmm… that's pretty impressive…"

Mikael chuckled to himself. He suddenly felt that the scene just now had some historical significance—humanity was showing off its stronger weapons to a Herrscher.

The elements that could be interpreted from this were too numerous. To some, it might seem ironic; to others, perhaps it was despair; and to still others, it was filled with a spirit of unyielding struggle.

Fire Moth Five didn't seem to be planning to land at all. Anyway, being nuclear-powered, it didn't need to refuel.

It hovered directly hundreds of meters above the airport runway, and then the delivery hatch, originally used to drop heavy equipment, opened from the bottom of the fuselage.

A white figure flashed by in an instant.

"*Thump!*"

A not-so-violent collision sound came from behind them. Then Immer started shivering even more violently.

"W-what's going on? Why is it getting even colder?"

He quickly used the fur collar of his coat to cover his mouth and nose completely. If he had been a step slower, his nose might have fallen off.

"I was saying…"

Mikael quipped without turning his head, "Kevin, was it really necessary to design your entrance to be so cool? And even landing right next to m— *Achoo!*"

"Ughhh…"

"Thump thump thump…"

The expected response from Kevin didn't come. Instead, there were muffled groans and the sound of struggling and hitting the ground.

Mikael and Immer turned around together and saw Kevin headfirst in the ground like a radish.

"..."

"..."

Mikael grabbed Kevin's ankle and yanked him out.

The latter slumped to the ground, quickly took two sets of deep breaths, and then scratched his head apologetically, saying, "Um… first time doing a high-altitude un-parachuted drop, got a little… hasty…"

"It's okay, the pose was perfect—by the judging standards of slapstick comedy."

Mikael quietly put his hand behind his back. He had deliberately not used Honkai energy to protect his hand. Just a brief contact with Kevin's skin had caused frostbite over a large area of his palm. And this was based on the fact that his Herrscher physique far surpassed ordinary people. Roughly estimating, Kevin's body surface temperature must be minus thirty degrees Celsius!

So it's still like this…

He remembered Mobius bragging to him some time ago, saying that with current technology, hyper-evolution wouldn't leave any visible side effects.

But for Fire Moth, for Mei, this was still the first hyper-evolution.

Some side effects were unavoidable, and from the current perspective, these side effects weren't particularly serious—they even had a miraculous effect in the summer.

But only after time passed would he and she understand what these side effects meant.

Mikael couldn't help but feel melancholy for them in advance.

Kevin touched his nose and looked at Mikael expectantly, "Long time no see, shouldn't you give me a warm welcome?"

The sad mood was still brewing, but it was interrupted by Kevin. Mikael was momentarily speechless, just staring blankly at him. Then in just a few seconds, the corners of their mouths unconsciously widened, and silly smiles were reflected in each other's eyes, unable to stop—

This was the reunion between men, no earth-shattering hugs, no tears, and no need for any nonsense.

Just a smile so silly it couldn't be any sillier was enough. This was true for Immer, and it was also true for Kevin.

Immer suddenly touched the comms device in his ear. Mikael only heard him mutter a few words quietly, and then he returned to serious mode:

"The United Government Armed Forces guys are causing trouble again. I have to go deal with it."

Without waiting for Mikael to respond, he had already disappeared.

Mikael lightly kicked Kevin, then grabbed Kevin's wrist and pulled him up from the ground.

Palm to palm, Mikael took a comms device from Kevin's hand and put it on his ear.

"Static… static… Long time no see, Mikael."

Unsurprisingly, it was Mei's voice.

"Congratulations."

Mikael softly uttered two words. Although not explicitly stated, Mei probably knew what he was congratulating her on.

To this, she only responded with a silent bitter smile.

"I've roughly understood the situation from Immer. Mikael, how long can your Imaginary Barrier hold?"

Before Mikael could answer, she apologized first, "Sorry, I…"

"It's okay, I understand."

Kevin was utterly confused by their conversation. He didn't understand why Mei suddenly needed to apologize.

It was just that Kevin had gotten used to Mei being in a commanding position and hadn't even considered one thing—Mikael wasn't Mei's subordinate, nor did he have the same kind of special relationship with her as he did.

To be precise, Anti-Entropy, where Mikael was, and Fire Moth, where Mei was, should be in a semi-"hostile" state.

Kevin didn't understand these things, but how could Mei not understand?

But she still made this kind of basic mistake at the beginning. Was it that she didn't notice it herself? How could that be?

So Mikael said, "I understand." He could imagine Mei's complex feelings when she pushed Kevin onto the hyper-evolution surgery table. Even now, this strange emotion—self-blame, lingering fear, dread—was still interfering with her normal logical thinking.

This naturally contradicted the image of Mei that Mikael had once seen through the screen, but it also implicitly showed a fact—the current Mei was just a girl with extraordinary talent.

She wasn't yet the rational leader she would become later.

But in Mikael's eyes, she had already done well enough, so he was happy to help her share some of the burden.

"Don't worry, Mei. The upcoming battle, the Fifth Herrscher's life, is now in your hands—I'll just be an observer."

"Ah… okay, thank you."

"Then…" Mikael gently pushed Kevin, then reached out from the void and stuffed a broken sword into the latter's hand: "Next, it's up to you, Kevin. Go prove your strength to everyone."

"Ah—ah? Captain Mikael, you're not… I… I understand."

Although somewhat surprised, Kevin knew the meaning of doing so—

He needed to show the world something:

[Look—as long as the method is correct, we humans can also use our own hands—]

[To slay a god!]

For this reason, he must, he definitely must, he had no choice, he had to kill the Fifth Herrscher.