Chapter 21 - The Unmerciful

Like a crescent moon.

Directly beneath the plaza ruins, the Ranger-class that had been hiding for so long bared its fangs.

"Little Purple" possessed no such exquisite ability to control timing; the sneak attack was clearly orchestrated by the Floater-class—if it truly had that level of tactical acumen, Lu Xing would have been sliced up during their first encounter.

[Dash] engaged, Honkai energy at full power.

In this form, the "Purple of the Purple-White Twins" reached an extreme speed, just as the data described: "capable of intercepting subsonic cruise fighters at low altitude."

Forget counter-attacking.

A human's line of sight couldn't possibly track its movements—note the prerequisite: being a human and failing to anticipate the opponent's trajectory beforehand.

Xiū could do it.

Human females adapted to Honkai energy far better than males. Although Xiū was young and lacked experience, her "talent" in this aspect was quite outstanding.

In the heat of battle.

Arno had completely failed to sense the presence of the hidden Ranger-class. However, Xiū, while en route to provide support, had already detected the ambush in advance.

To ensure a devastating blow.

The high concentration of Honkai energy was impossible to conceal.

The instant the ground surface was gouged open, and soil flew along with gravel—

"Clack."

MP5KA4s, and dual-wielded at that!

Light submachine guns with a 30-round magazine capacity and a rate of fire of 900 RPM.

The magazines were loaded with [Small Honkai Beast Suppression Rounds].

Although the researchers had given the ammunition such a name, in reality, these rounds were more effective against humans—this type of ammunition lacked penetration power. The soft-tipped bullets, upon hitting a target, would disperse their kinetic energy vertically, creating a powerful concussive wave to stun the enemy.

Suitable for capturing small Honkai Beasts, or for continuously suppressing heavily injured Honkai Beasts, or perhaps... rendering spies incapable of resistance, without affecting subsequent "pork cutlet rice" sessions, hmm, or "hair tea" chats, perhaps.

————

"Da! Da! Da!"

An incredibly impactful scene.

It strongly resembled a scene from the last century's Japanese film "Sailor Suit and Machine Gun"—the girl drew two MP5-type submachine guns from behind her waist and, amidst a shower of ejected shell casings, emptied all her ammunition in just two short seconds!

From fast to slow, then to a standstill.

The Ranger-class, which had launched the sneak attack, was hit by 60 bullets and brought to a dead stop, frozen motionless in mid-air.

At this moment, the distance between them was barely less than 3 meters.

"Clack!"

The excessively high rate of fire caused the surface of the black submachine guns to glow a dull red.

Although the rifling wasn't worn smooth, the overheating of the firearms had raised their temperature beyond what the heat-insulating material on the grips could block.

Xiū made no move to reload.

She tossed the two MP5 submachine guns aside casually. Before the whitish-gray dust could be kicked up from the ground, the Soul Steel metal blade was already in her hand.

She slashed forcefully at the target before her—

"Zing!"

The Ranger-class had already been injured in its confrontation with Ethan.

Its head, missing a quarter of its volume and not yet healed, was directly split open by the girl's single strike!

Severely injured and near death, but alive.

At least its Honkai Core wasn't damaged.

At the same time the blade fell, the Ranger-class raised its still-intact wing, slanting it defensively in front of its body like a shield.

This action absorbed half the damage.

Xiū's body, after all, hadn't recovered. The injuries to her ribs and chest muscles made it difficult for her to exert sufficient strength in combat—plus, the Ranger-class had absorbed enough experience from battle (Lu Xing had blocked its [Spinning Slash] in the same way), preventing Xiū's attack from finishing it off.

And just as the girl prepared to withdraw her blade and strike again.

"Watch out!!"

Arno warned Xiū for the second time.

The moment that Ranger-class was forcibly stopped, Arno had already realized something was wrong.

This Ranger-class.

Was not the same individual that had ambushed him earlier!

Whether it was its posture when using [Dash], its size, or the color of its carapace, there were quite obvious differences!

The veteran Arno immediately spotted the discrepancies.

But... it was too late!

————

"Pfft!"

A roaring wind swept close to the ground.

The same trick, but as effective as ever.

Lu Xing, who had been preparing for a long time, launched himself into the air from a distance of less than 20 meters. The gushing jet of energy instantly dyed the battlefield in brilliant purples and reds—what he didn't know was that if his Honkai Core hadn't been a Honkai Crystal (albeit only one-third of one), but an agglomeration of Honkai energy like a typical Ranger-class, he probably would have been discovered long ago.

But there were no ifs—

Purple was Honkai energy; red was fresh blood.

Lu Xing showed no mercy just because the opponent was human, not even for a cute girl.

The [Vortex Jet] provided extreme speed, combined with the power boost from [Power Strike] and the strong cutting force generated by high-speed rotation.

"Schlick!"

Flesh and bone, sinews and skin.

The girl's entire right arm, as she slashed at the Ranger-class, was severed at the root by Lu Xing's wing like a guillotine!

"First one."

There was not a shred of mercy in his heart.

No, it should be said, the situation at that moment simply didn't allow him to have any soft-heartedness.

The enemies on the field... there were a full three of them!

"Swoosh!"

Along with the flying right arm.

Xiū forcefully suppressed the urge to scream from the intense pain. At the instant [Power Strike] was about to cut her in half at the waist, she took a step back, dodging the fatal attack.

But she wasn't much better off.

Xiū's injuries were already severe. After taking morphine and adrenaline, she could only barely maintain combat effectiveness for a short time.

Encountering a sneak attack...

She wasn't dead, but her remaining left hand could only choose between her gouged-open abdomen and her "right shoulder" from which blood was gushing.

After all, one was severed, and from the other, her intestines were spilling out.

Lu Xing did not pursue.

He only needed the opponent to lose their ability to fight.

Because if there was a "first," there would naturally be a "second," until the "third" also had no ability to resist—

His wings spun in mid-air, turning almost 90 degrees.

The excessive kinetic energy caused large cracks to appear across the surface of his pure white wings.

From launching the sneak attack to now, only a little over a second had passed. The distance between Lu Xing and Arno had already shrunk to a mere three meters!

The opponent had no way to dodge.

He himself... also had no way to dodge!

A metal block, full of nostalgic style, utterly devoid of aesthetic appeal, and embodying unrefined brute force, was already rushing up with a crude trail of fire from a position completely overlapping his flight path but in the exact opposite direction, just as Lu Xing was turning in mid-air!

Mechanical Flying Fist!

The [Steel Arm], having expended all its ammunition.

Accompanied by a BGM that seemed to echo like an auditory hallucination in Lu Xing's mind—"Hundred Thousand Horsepower, Seven Great Powers"—it made intimate, but not pleasant, point-blank contact with him!

"BOOM!!"

————

Author's note:

PS: Strange censored words.