"Damn it!"
As the dust settled, the middle-aged man's eyes widened when he saw Selene standing unharmed. A Teigu user!?
"No choice... I have to abort the mission, or I'll never make it out alive!" He quickly retracted his black bladed firearm and leapt down from the rooftop of the bandit fortress.
As he dashed toward a hidden escape tunnel, panic flickered across his face. Why would a Teigu user be here, in a backwater bandit camp!?
"Could it be... our plans have already been exposed?"
He shoved aside the stone slab concealing the tunnel entrance and prepared to dive in—
"Did you really think you could escape?"
Before he could react, a silver-white armored hand wreathed in crimson-violet light materialized before him, seizing his throat like an iron vice.
"You've got some nerve," Selene said coldly. "Shooting at me, then trying to run?" With a flick of her wrist, she lifted him effortlessly off the ground, her grip tightening.
"Ghk... Imperial... dog...!" the man rasped, his face turning purple. "You won't... have long... your Empire's days are numbered...!"
Even facing the beautiful but terrifying woman before him, the man's eyes were filled not with fear, but with fanatic conviction. For the sake of his noble—if delusional—ideal, he had long accepted death.
But before he could finish his words, the world spun violently. A thunderous crash followed as his entire body slammed into the ground.
"Oh? Still got a sharp tongue," Selene murmured, her interest fading. She tightened her grip.
The air cracked.
Her power erupted in a violent burst.
Crack!
The man's body hit the earth like a hammer blow. The ground split beneath the impact.
The sound of shattering bones filled the air.
The once-flat soil fractured and caved under Selene's immense strength. The man's entire skeleton twisted grotesquely, his chest caving in as ribs snapped like brittle wood.
His rugged face contorted hideously as his skull struck the ground, his nose shattering, blood and mucus spraying into the air in a blur of red and white.
The force was so great that his body actually bounced from the ground, lifting several feet into the air.
Selene's crimson eyes narrowed. Drawing power from her core, she swung her leg in a brutal arc. Her kick struck the connection between his hip and thigh.
Thud!
The impact was like a cannonball. His legs snapped instantly, and his body was flung through the air, crashing through the main hall of the bandit fortress.
Stone and dust exploded in all directions. When the debris settled, the central building of the hideout was riddled with spiderweb cracks, the entire structure trembling, ready to collapse.
All of this had taken Selene only a few seconds.
"Ghh... ghh..."
The man lay amid the rubble, his voice nothing more than a rasp. The impact had crushed his larynx, and blood gushed from his mouth as his body convulsed. His eyes bulged, veins standing out along his forehead.
His vision blurred—his corneas damaged beyond recovery. Through the haze, he could barely make out the silver figure approaching him. His body was paralyzed, his consciousness fading.
In that final, flickering moment, a memory surfaced.
The pink-haired girl he had taken in only months ago.
"Mine... I'm sorry... I couldn't keep my promise..." he thought bitterly. I must not be captured alive... looks like this is it.
Bang!
The debris around him shifted as a silver-white armored boot, streaked with faint blue light, crushed the rubble beside his head.
His body was ruined, but his eyes still burned with defiance. He stared at those gleaming high-heeled boots—beautiful, elegant, and deadly.
What exquisite craftsmanship... gleaming metal without a hint of weight. But to him, they were the very symbol of oppression.
Why... why do you nobles hoard all the wealth and land and still crave more?
Because of your greed—my daughter... my wife... my family... they're all dead!
A mocking voice broke through his fading thoughts.
"Oh? Still alive? You really are as resilient as a cockroach," Selene remarked coldly. "Judging by how much you hate the Empire... let me guess. Who sent you? Which faction are you from? The Western Kingdoms? Or perhaps the South...?"
Her crimson eyes narrowed slightly. "No, wait. You're from the Revolutionary Army, aren't you? One of their intelligence officers... Shu Youriang?"
The man's eyes widened in shock. How—how does she know my name!?
"Ghhk... ghhh!" he wheezed, his voice trembling with disbelief.
"Well, well... to think that a mere bandit-clearing mission would reel in such a big fish," Selene said lightly. "It seems your network runs deep. This must be one of your intel relay points, yes?"
Impossible...! Shu Youriang's thoughts raced. Could there be a traitor in the Revolutionary Army? Was this entire mission a trap?!
No. He couldn't allow the Empire to obtain the intelligence in his mind. The years of careful groundwork the Revolutionary Army had built within the Capital would all be ruined.
I can't let them capture me alive... His eyes darted toward the weapon lying beside him—Shingu: Black Heart · Edge—and a bitter smile crossed his bloodied lips. "I'm sorry, Mine... even your beloved Black Heart won't survive this. Your teacher... truly is useless."
With that, he made his decision. The self-destruction sequence activated.
Even if he couldn't kill her, he would destroy the underground cache—and all the data stored within.
Selene smirked faintly. "Oh? I see what you're planning. Unfortunately for you... you won't get the chance."
Simulation—Repulsion.
Boom!
With a casual flick of her finger, the ground shook violently. Shu Youriang's broken body was smashed deep into the earth. Blood sprayed in all directions. His limbs convulsed once, then fell limp as the last spark of life fled his body.
His face twisted grotesquely, his eyes losing their color, his body twitching faintly in its final moments.
Selene raised her hand slightly, and the black Shingu—Black Heart · Edge—lifted from the ground into her grasp. The blood coating its blade evaporated under a pulse of energy.
"Death isn't the end," she said quietly.
Honkai Energy—infusion.
Strong-force conversion—begin.
Under the surge of violet-red Honkai energy, the scattered blood on the ground began to react with the blood inside Shu Youriang's body. Thin crimson threads formed across his skin, binding his corpse tightly.
A mist of blood rose into the air, spreading through the ruined hall before condensing into vein-like strands. Moments later, a massive blood-red cocoon several meters tall took shape.
At its center, the sound of a beating heart echoed like thunder. The cocoon pulsed with every rhythmic thump, crimson light filling every corner of the ruin before gradually retracting.
Through the link forged by Honkai energy, Selene easily accessed his memories. "Hmm... interesting ideals. Two more Revolutionary Army hideouts near the Capital... and a major figure visiting soon. Codename: Razor?"
Just like any ruling power, the Empire treated the Revolutionary Army with ruthless extermination—better to kill three thousand innocents than let one rebel slip away. And the military merits for purging them were among the highest.
Selene's lips curved into a faint, amused smile. "Hahaha... looks like someone just delivered another round of glory to me."