Xingtie: My silly online friend is actually a raccoon!

Not long after the dragon's roar was heard, Benares's furious roar came from outside the door.

The sound was completely different from the previous Honkai Beast roars.

The Honkai Beasts' cries are sharp and chaotic, like metal scraping against glass, making you want to cover your ears.

But Benares's voice was heavy and deep, carrying an overwhelming sense of power. Each sound was like a heavy hammer hitting the chest, making one's internal organs tremble.

Then came the impact.

The first impact caused the entire room to shake violently.

The instrument panel on the control panel was flashing wildly, the ceiling lights were flickering, and fine cement dust was falling from above.

The heavy hydraulic door bulged inward in a grotesque arc, and several intersecting cracks appeared in the center of the alloy door panel. Purple destructive energy seeped in from the cracks, casting eerie light and shadow in the dim room.

Lu Ze struggled to his feet and shielded Xilin behind him.

The second impact tore a huge gash in the hydraulic door.

A dragon claw covered in crystalline scales reached in from the crack. Each scale was the size of a palm and gleamed with a purplish-black metallic luster under the reflection of Honkai energy.

The dragon claw gripped the edge of the crack and tore the alloy door panel apart like tearing paper.

Amidst the ear-piercing sound of metal tearing apart, Benares's crimson eyes flashed on the other side of the rift—eyes the size of lanterns, pupils vertical, churning with pure destructive urges.

Lu Ze knew there was no way to avoid it.

There was only one door to the control room, the one he had just closed himself.

The four walls were made of thick rock and reinforced metal lining. There were no windows, no ventilation ducts, and no escape route.

He locked himself in a small, dark room from which he could not escape, and the only exit of the room was being torn open from the outside by a dragon.

He had already tested the strength of the Qi Shield.

The claws and teeth of those Honkai Beasts could leave marks on the shield, but one of the claws of this dragon was bigger than the entire Honkai Beast.

The feedback from his divine sense scan extinguished the last glimmer of hope in his heart.

Benares's energy response is on a completely different level from those Honkai Beasts; the difference is so great that there is no room for trickery.

It can't be stopped.

Without needing to calculate, instinct had already given the answer. This claw strike would render his true energy shield completely ineffective.

But he didn't move aside.

Lu Ze shielded Xilin behind him, using his own body to protect her from the impending impact.

He knew he couldn't stop it; once this claw struck, the outcome would be a foregone conclusion.

But he did it anyway.

It wasn't because the action had any practical defensive significance, but because the girl behind him needed someone to shield her.

Even if it's just to block for a second, even if it's just to block for half a second, even if it's just to delay her fate by a fraction of a second, that's what an adult should do.

Xilin stood behind Lu Ze, looking up at his back.

A dusty white lab coat, a shirt soaked with sweat, and legs trembling slightly.

This figure was unlike any of the adults she had seen in the laboratory.

The adults in white coats looked at her with scrutiny and cold eyes, treating her like an object on an experimental table.

Even as the dragon's claws were about to tear his body apart, this person still did not leave her side.

A glimmer of color finally appeared in her usually empty golden eyes.

It was very faint, like a pebble thrown into a lake that had been frozen for too long; the ripples were barely perceptible, but they were indeed spreading.

This was the first person, besides her friends, to be kind to her.

Not with words, not with promises, but with one's life.

He was willing to risk his life to protect her.

The hydraulic door was finally torn open completely, and Benares' massive body squeezed into the room.

The light tube on the ceiling was smashed by its pair of sharp horns, and fragments rained down.

Its crimson eyes locked onto Lu Ze, and its massive dragon claws rose high before slamming down with a single blow.

Lu Ze raised his true energy shield, and a pale golden light enveloped him and Xilin behind him.

All his true energy was drained in that instant, and his shield shone brighter than ever before, like a dying star burning its last flame.

But he knew in his heart that this was far from enough.

The moment the dragon claw landed on the shield, there wasn't even a fraction of a second of pause.

The pale gold shield shattered instantly, scattering fragments like glass.

Then came the sound of flesh being torn apart.

Before Lu Ze could even feel the pain, his consciousness was completely swallowed up by darkness.

In the last moment before his consciousness faded, he saw an unharmed Celine standing behind him.

The force of the dragon claw was negligible by his shield, and the rest was absorbed by his body.

At least, she wasn't hurt.

"Run! Cough..."

He used his last bit of strength to force those two words out of his throat.

His voice was hoarse, and he choked on the spilled blood in his trachea, gradually growing weaker.

Until finally, his consciousness completely plunged into the abyss.