Once a person crosses a taboo, there is no turning back.
There are countless paths to becoming non-human in this world, but there is never a path back.
...
In pink-and-white pupils, blood droplets danced wildly in the air. A cold, transparent blade passed through a neck far thinner than the sword itself, tearing through flesh and taking warmth with it.
Vill-V felt her face grow hot, as if a basin of hot water had been splashed over her.
But it wasn't water; it was blood spraying from a human body.
A few drops of blood flowed into her eye socket, making her eye feel swollen and uncomfortable. Yet she didn't dare blink. She opened her mouth, unable to make a sound as she watched everything happening before her—this impossibly strange scene.
The pink-haired, fox-eared girl held the long blade. The moment she stabbed the neck, her clouded eyes cleared. The confusion in her gaze quickly turned to panic, and finally to dead, silent despair.
The delayed sensation of pain spread from the edge of her neck. Vill-V didn't pay it any mind, because the blade was simply too sharp and had merely grazed her neck without truly harming her.
At the final moment, someone had pushed her aside, and he himself had been pierced through the neck by the blade that had taken countless lives.
Vill-V eyes turned stiffly. she didn't dare move her body—not because of the blade less than a centimeter away, but because of the body in her arms whose warmth was rapidly fading.
"Lin..." A voice that didn't sound like her own emerged from her throat. Her brain, heart, fingers—every part of her body was trembling. A sudden, ancient panic seized her heart.
The man with medium-length black hair slumped against her like a broken doll. Blood dripping from the wound pierced by the blade fell from the edge, which was too sharp for blood to linger on, and flowed into her clothes. It carried his warmth, yet it was so cold it made her teeth chatter.
Sakura pulled the blade from Lin neck. The sound of it rubbing against flesh as it was withdrawn was deafening.
Vill-V clutched Lin horrifying wound in a daze, her hands covered in blood. She couldn't stop the bleeding. Her lips trembled as she forced a roar from her throat: "Lin! Lin!"
Her head hurt so much.
As if something were about to come out, Vill-V breathed involuntarily. Lin pupils were gradually dilating, and the liquid on her hands was a blinding red.
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts—
Why did it turn out like this? She was a genius now, right...
Possessing talent, capable of doing things many people couldn't achieve in a lifetime. But why... would she cause her own... companion's death?
A wandering cowardice surged from a place that should have been sealed.
Einstein was also caught off guard by this series of sudden changes. She hurried to the three of them, looking at Sakura, whose face was pale and who hadn't even noticed her blade falling to the floor. She then looked at Vill-V, who was clutching Lin neck and screaming. Despite not knowing the cause, Einstein knew what had to be done.
She stepped forward and grabbed Vill-V shoulder. "Dr. Vill-V, we have to get Lin to the medical department immediately—"
"Don't touch him! I can't let go!" Vill-V had never been so panicked, looking like a little girl. "If I let go... Lin will die!"
"You'll kill him if you keep choking him like that!" Einstein hadn't expected the usually cynical Vill-V, who never panicked no matter the situation, to lose her calm judgment in an instant. That face full of terror bore no resemblance to the master of the Spiral Workshop.
At that moment, Elysia, who had been searching the base for any remaining polluted souls, returned after noticing the commotion in the Spiral Workshop. She saw Lin, whose life was uncertain, in Vill-V arms, the completely numb Sakura, and the screaming Vill-V. Even without knowing the backstory, she knew what to do now.
"Vill-V! Let go of Lin!" She stepped forward and forcibly pulled Vill-V away.
"No! No, ahhhhh!"
Vill-V pupils constricted rapidly as Lin was pulled from her grasp. The pain in her head exploded, causing her to lose consciousness instantly.
Elysia couldn't worry about the unconscious Vill-V now. She forced herself to stay calm and check Lin wound.
It was not optimistic. The strike had been precise and vicious; the bleeding couldn't be stopped easily, and Lin vital signs were weakening...
Elysia immediately used her ability to wrap Lin wound, barely managing to stop the blood. But it was of little use. She immediately picked Lin up and sprinted toward the medical department.
The now-sober Sakura stood in a daze. It wasn't until Elysia burst out of the Spiral Workshop that she reacted and hurriedly followed.
...
"Dr. Spaciel..."
Spaciel had just settled Dystopia when he saw Elysia burst into the medical department like a madwoman holding Lin. He froze for a moment. Seeing the dilated pupils in Lin wide eyes, his breath hitched for a second.
"What... what happened?" Spaciel wished he had an extra pair of legs as he ran to Elysia and snatched Lin from her arms. He examined Lin injuries with a grim expression, then grabbed a nearby flashlight to test Lin pupillary reaction.
Next, he quickly pressed his ear to Lin chest and placed a hand on his pulse.
"Resuscitate, now!"
For the first time, Spaciel felt his voice grow bitter.
The lights on the operating table were blinding, mocking humanity's overestimation of its own strength.
...
"Beeeeeeeep—"
The remaining piercing, elongated sound of the ECG monitor in the operating room scraped against the heart.
"Lin...?"
Elysia clutched her head and collapsed to her knees beside the operating table. She looked at the flat line on the ECG, then back at Lin, who looked like a corpse—
No, he was a corpse now. A person who had lost all vital signs was nothing more than a heap of useless bone and flesh.
She was lost and bewildered, not knowing what expression to wear.
Right now, she didn't even know what her actions or feelings should be. It felt as if she had died along with Lin. She sat blankly on the floor, her hand tightly gripping Lin palm, which had lost its warmth.
Spaciel leaned silently against the wall. He hadn't even taken off his surgical gown or gloves, which were turning white as he gripped his liquor bottle, numbly pouring liquid into his mouth.
Lin was dead?
Dead. That was the reality.
Without warning, it ended with a declaration of failed resuscitation. Death.
Why did everything turn out this way?
Hadn't they won? Hadn't Lin just had a new beginning, turning toward a different direction?
He should have... just begun...
"Lin... you're... joking, right..."
...
The Eighth Honkai ended with Kevin and Mobius capturing the Eighth Herrscher alive and Su defeating her consciousness in the conscious world, liberating the polluted souls. Thus, the large-scale Honkai battle with the fewest casualties in the history of humanity's fight against the Honkai concluded.
Still immersed in the joy of capturing a living Herrscher, Mobius received a message. She stood frozen where she was, the communicator slipping from her hand.
Heavy rain fell over her head without warning.
The Eighth Honkai. Casualties: One.