Bengtie, I'm really not a villain!

Each wisp of mist that dissipated was like a bloody mark etched on Himeko's lifeline.

When Himeko blasted at the Herrscher of the Void, the flames she generated were abruptly extinguished before the spatial barrier, like a candle flame being snapped by an invisible hand.

Raiden Mei's pupils contracted sharply as she saw golden cracks spreading through the gaps in the armor like parasitic vines, burrowing into Himeko's skin along the joint seams.

Where those lines passed, the originally healthy wheat-colored skin turned an eerie bluish-black, as if the shadow of death was slowly devouring life.

Each time the Spear of the Void fell, the flames that Himeko held aloft swayed more violently, and Raiden Mei knew that the erosion by the Plague Gem was accelerating at a visible rate.

The blood tinged with gold dust that spilled from Himeko's panting breath

Her increasingly slow movements concealed an undisguised tremor, and each time she regained her balance, she paid a heavy price.

What chilled Raiden Mei to the bone was that Himeko's left eye was completely covered by golden markings, losing its former luster and appearing as if shrouded in the shadow of death.

Beneath the skin of his right hand, the energy of the Plague Gem was flowing through his blood vessels, transforming his entire hand into a grotesque golden sculpture.

Even so, when Himeko gave her a pale smile, as if to say "don't worry," that smile was like a poisoned blade, piercing straight into her heart and making it almost impossible for her to breathe.

At this moment, although the battle in the imaginary space had ended, the silence was more suffocating than the roar.

Raiden Mei's nails dug deeply into her palms as she gazed at Himeko's increasingly pale face. The unease that had been suppressed during the battle surged back like a tidal wave.

From the moment Himeko took out the potion, this terrible thought was like a thorn stuck in her heart.

Kiana has returned to normal, but what will become of Himeko?

At that time, the battle was urgent, and she could only devote all her energy to fighting. But now that the dust has settled, this cruel problem is laid bare before her.

"How could this happen..." Her voice was broken and incoherent. Her trembling fingers touched Himeko's blood-stained cheek, the cold touch making her shiver all over.

In my memory, Himeko always encouraged everyone with a smile, and that smile never disappeared, even when facing the most powerful enemies.

But now, that familiar face is only ashen and filled with pain, its breathing so faint it's almost inaudible, each rise and fall like a struggle against death for the last vestige of life.

Raiden Mei's gaze swept over the spreading signs of erosion on Himeko's body, then looked at the unconscious Kiana not far away, her heart feeling as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand.

Do I really have to choose between these two people who are so important to me?

She couldn't bear to abandon Kiana; she couldn't stand by and watch her best friend be consumed by the power of the Herrscher. Those memories of training and laughing together would become an eternal regret.

But she could give up Himeko… The thought of this possibility made her throat feel like it was blocked by molten iron, and tears uncontrollably blurred her vision.

The images of Himeko teaching her, the warmth of her hands correcting her sword-wielding posture, all now transformed into a sharp pain, churning in her chest.

"No... This can't be..." she murmured, her voice filled with an almost desperate stubbornness, as if she were trying to convince herself, or as if she were fighting against fate.

The stigmata throbbed wildly beneath her skin, but even the greatest power couldn't dispel the gloom in her heart at this moment.

This dilemma of choosing one of two options is more terrifying than any enemy, because choosing either side is an excruciating pain, a matter of tearing apart the most important part of one's own life.

In this suffocating despair, Jing Ye's face, which always carried a mocking smile, appeared in her mind without warning.

She suddenly remembered that before they set off, Jing Ye had leaned against the doorframe, fiddling with his pocket watch, his gaze ambiguous.

"From Kiana's abduction to her transformation into a Herrscher, and then to Himeko-sensei..."

She looked at the unconscious Kiana, the girl's pale face overlapping with the meaningful smile on Jing Ye's lips.

The golden patterns spreading across Himeko's armor suddenly emitted a faint hum, as if echoing her inner thoughts.

Raiden Mei finally understood why Keiya always looked at Kiana with a scrutinizing gaze whenever they met.

Raiden Mei's nails dug deeply into her palms, and a sharp pain shot up her spine through her nerves, but she was completely unaware of it.

Blood dripped from between her fingers, spreading an eerie purple hue on the black ground of the imaginary space, creating a stark contrast with the slowly writhing golden patterns on Himeko's armor.

Those patterns were like living parasites, and with each expansion, Himeko's breathing became even weaker.

She closed her eyes, and Jing Ye's face with his gold-rimmed glasses immediately appeared in her mind.

In her memory, the other person leaned against the door of the Hyperion, playing with a pocket watch. His gaze was like a poisoned silver needle, seemingly casual, yet always able to precisely pierce her most vulnerable spot.

The curve of his lips never changed; it was mocking and contemptuous, as if he had seen through everything.

"Are we really going to fall into the clutches of evil once again?"

Raiden Mei once naively believed that by escaping fate, she could control her destiny, and that with the katana in her hand, she could protect all the people she cherished.

But now, Kiana's slightly furrowed brows when she was unconscious and Himeko's blood-stained lips are silently accusing her of naivety.

From Kiana's capture to the corruption of the Plague Gem, every step precisely targeted her weaknesses, driving them into a desperate situation.

"Tormented and humiliated..."

Her voice suddenly lowered, like a trapped beast with its throat choked. Raiden Mei slowly curled up; the stigmata beneath her combat suit were incredibly hot, but nothing compared to the chill in her heart.

The past, when Jing Ye schemed against her, flashed before her eyes, along with the helplessness of watching her loved ones get hurt time and time again...

If it were only her who was being tortured by Jing Ye, she could grit her teeth and swallow all the pain, even if her dignity was trampled on and she was tortured to the point of being completely broken, as long as she could have a chance to live.

But when she turned to look at Himeko and then at Kiana's pale face, a metallic taste rose in her throat.

Not far away, the unconscious figures of Bronya and Theresa suddenly appeared in her hallucination. They were covered in blood, yet they were still reaching out to her.

"I can't do it..." Raiden Mei collapsed to her knees, pebbles piercing her knees, tears splashing onto the ground.

"I can't do anything..."

"Crack—" The tremor of the imaginary space was like the war drums of death, violently pulling Raiden Mei back from her painful thoughts.

She looked up and saw that the space above her was cracked like a shattered mirror, with countless spiderweb-like fissures. Golden energy gushed out from the cracks, like lava from the apocalypse.

The moment the Herrscher of the Void was repelled and vanished in a stream of light, the entire space began to collapse at a visible speed.

The black ground beneath Raiden Mei's feet was no longer undulating with eerie waves, but rather resembled an ancient city wall weathered for thousands of years, with bricks slowly crumbling and peeling away.

Tiny fragments of space crumbled and fell, the rising dust swirling in the dissipating darkness. Even more chillingly, as space disintegrated, beams of sunlight pierced through the cracks and shone in.

Golden light intertwined with the energy flow from the collapsing space, creating a bizarre yet magnificent spectacle.

Himeko and Kiana's bodies began to slide as the ground collapsed, sliding towards the bottomless abyss.

Himeko was too weak to struggle due to the corrosive effects of the gemstone, yet a stubborn refusal still lingered on her pale face.

Kiana remained unconscious, her hair fluttering wildly in the interplay of light and shadow, like a butterfly drifting in the wind.

Raiden Mei launched herself into the air almost instantly, purple lightning exploding around her like a bolt of lightning slicing through the darkness.

Her combat boots shattered fragments of space on the crumbling ground, each step carrying a desperate, all-or-nothing resolve.

The stigmata surged wildly beneath her skin, bringing excruciating, tearing pain, but she had long since forgotten the pain, with only one thought in her mind: she couldn't let them fall!

When they were only half a meter from the edge of the abyss, Raiden Mei bent down and grabbed Kiana's wrist. The huge inertia almost caused her to fall into the abyss with Kiana.

She gritted her teeth, twisted her body, and braced her knees against the protruding rubble on the ground, while desperately reaching out her other hand towards the sliding Himeko. "Himeko-sensei!"

Her screams were laced with sobs, and tears mixed with sweat streamed down her face.

The collapse of space intensified, and more and more gaps allowed sunlight to penetrate. Raiden Mei knew she couldn't wait any longer.

Despite the excruciating pain throughout her body, she channeled the power of lightning into her legs, and the three of them shot into the sky like arrows released from a bow, bursting through a sunlit rift just before the space completely closed.

Raiden Mei crashed heavily to the ground, the intense pain from the spatial turbulence burning her throat causing her to cough violently, the taste of rust spreading in her mouth.

The blinding sunlight pierced through the clouds like a sharp sword, scorching her retinas, which were sensitive due to being in an imaginary space.

But she didn't have time to adjust to the sudden light, and she forgot about the stinging pain of her knees scraping against the gravel. She stumbled and fell towards the two people beside her.

Kiana lay there quietly, her face as pale as paper, like an angel with broken wings.

A strand of hair, damp with sweat, clung to her bloodless cheek, and the faint rise and fall of her chest proved that she was still alive.

Raiden Mei's fingers trembled as she gently brushed aside a strand of hair. The skin her fingertips touched was terribly cold, as if the warmth of life was slowly draining from her body.

In comparison, Himeko's situation was much worse.

The Crimson Armor was already riddled with holes, and the blood seeping from the damaged areas was mixed with strange golden fragments that gleamed ominously in the sunlight.

Each breath was accompanied by a labored gasp, like the mournful wail of a broken bellows. The rose pattern on the armor's surface was dull and lifeless.

The once blazing flames are now reduced to scattered sparks flickering in the cracks, as if they could be extinguished at any moment.

Raiden Mei's fingers trembled as she felt Kiana's pulse, sensing the faint beating. Her heart, which had been pounding, eased slightly.

Thankfully, the bleeding was weak but relatively stable. But the thought of that vial of medicine made her heart leap into her throat again.

Can the potion truly suppress the Herrscher of the Void's power completely? What if Kiana loses control again...?

Countless terrifying images flashed through her mind, and large beads of cold sweat rolled down her forehead, dripping onto her combat uniform.

"Himeko-sensei..." Raiden Mei pressed her ear to Himeko's lips, afraid of missing a single breath.

Himeko's lips were cracked and bleeding, like a dried-up riverbed, and the golden lines spreading under her skin were still slowly writhing, like venomous snakes that could take her life at any moment.

Raiden Mei bit her lip. Himeko's hand was exposed outside the shattered armor, and the golden patterns, like parasitic vines, were climbing wildly along her veins. With each step they spread, her skin lost a little more color.

Sweat dripped from her hair. She could clearly feel the disease gem corroding Himeko, almost like the feeling given by the Herrscher of the Void.

The only thing that could cure Himeko was the potion injected into Kiana's body, but that only potion had already been used up.

The entire Destiny and Anti-Entropy systems only have that one tube left. How can we save Himeko now?

Despair overwhelmed her like a tidal wave, but Jing Ye's face incongruously surfaced in her mind.

Chapter 156 Raiden Mei's Voluntary Deeds

Raiden Mei's fingernails dug deeply into her palms, drawing blood from the crescent-shaped wounds.

If we don't do something soon, Himeko's body will become an empty shell when the sun rises tomorrow.

"No... I can't..."

Raiden Mei suddenly picked up Himeko, her combat boots slipping on the gravel, and she staggered as she supported the unconscious Kiana.

Tears fell onto Kiana's pale cheeks, mingling with the dust and meandering into a murky stream.

Finally, she gritted her teeth and made a decision—to go find Jing Ye.

Even if it meant stepping into his meticulously crafted cage, even if what lay ahead was an abyss darker than the imaginary space, she was willing to plunge into eternal damnation as long as it could save their lives.

Raiden Mei's combat boots slammed heavily on the ground as she half-embraced the unconscious Kiana. The girl's body was terrifyingly light; each breath seemed to drain all her strength.

With his other arm, he held Himeko's gradually cooling body firmly. The broken edge of the Crimson Armor cut her palm, and blood trickled down her arm, spreading into dark red flowers on the ground.

The stigmata throbbed wildly beneath her skin, and a burning pain spread from the depths of her bone marrow, as if countless fire ants were gnawing at her nerves.

The distant roar of the Destiny Shuttle had long since disappeared, replaced by an eerie silence. This silence was like an invisible net, enveloping the three of them, and even the sound of the wind seemed particularly oppressive.

"Why..." she murmured to herself, her voice so hoarse it was almost incoherent, and was instantly swallowed up by the howling wind.

Logically, Schicksal would never let go of the vessel of the Herrscher of the Void and the Disease Gem; otherwise, they wouldn't have gone to such lengths to capture Kiana for experiments, even at the cost of so many resources from Schicksal headquarters.

Since they left the battlefield where they fought Sirin, they haven't encountered a single reconnaissance drone.

This unusual tranquility sent chills down her spine.

The clouds overhead churned like an iron curtain, the leaden-gray clouds pressing and colliding with each other, occasionally flashing with dark red lightning, casting an ominous filter over the entire world, making this abnormal calm all the more chilling.

A burnt smell filled the air, like the burning fumes of an overloaded circuit, or a warning of some unknown danger approaching.

Himeko's head slumped limply over her shoulder, her hair still adorned with golden fragments of imaginary space. Her breathing was so faint it was like a whisper, each exhale a bargaining chip with death.

Raiden Mei gritted her teeth and quickened her pace. The bandages under her combat uniform were already soaked with Himeko's blood, and the sticky sensation constantly reminded her of the urgency of time.

The blood seeping from the erosion of the disease gem stained the bandages with eerie patterns, as if mocking her helplessness.

Kiana's body temperature continued to drop, and her pale face appeared even more fragile in the wind and sand. Her eyelashes trembled occasionally, but she was unable to open her eyes.

Raiden Mei could sense a restless power beneath the girl's skin—the lingering aura of the Herrscher of the Void, like a sleeping beast that might awaken at any moment.

She held the two people in her arms tightly, the burning pain from the Holy Mark intertwined with her inner anxiety, yet she could only grit her teeth and rush towards where Jing Ye would be—

Before she set off, Jingye told her that as long as she returned to the Hyperion, she could find him and get what she wanted.

Her clenched fists turned white from the force, and her fingernails carved crescent-shaped bloodstains into her palms.

Himeko's blood trickled down her arm, spreading dark patterns on the fabric of her combat uniform.

The vow she had once made, so resolute that she would never seek Jing Ye's help again, now echoed in her ears, turning into a sharp mockery that tore her pride to shreds.

Scalding tears and inner despair intertwine to form an inescapable purgatory.

She recalled Jing Ye's nonchalant expression as he fiddled with the pocket watch, and his chilling smile as he manipulated everything in the shadows.

Those meticulously woven webs of intrigue had already wounded countless comrades and shattered countless hopes back in Izumo.