Chapter 516 The Shape of Death

"Ha--Hu--Ha--Hu--Ha--Hu--"

In the overly spacious elevator, Bronya leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

Although it was only a few hundred meters of extreme speed, this extreme speed was for Sakura, not for her.

Moreover, the reason why she had to breathe was not only the almost unbearable speed, but also the air mixed with ice and fire, which made it impossible to breathe.

"Bronya, are you okay?"

Sakura lowered her head and wanted to get closer, but for some reason, she finally kept a certain distance.

"I'm fine, Sister Sakura, this alarm is..."

"It seems that you are not from this base..."

Sakura smiled bitterly.

"Hearing this alarm means that the Herrscher has been born."

Bronya felt that she should be surprised, but her nerves could not mobilize such emotions in a short period of time.

After all, she had seen too many strange and not strange things in this short half an hour. It was really not worth being surprised that the alarm method for the same thing was just the same.

But just a second later, she remembered something that was almost forgotten, and then swallowed hard, gritted her teeth, and turned her eyes to Sakura.

"Sister Sakura, the Herrscher... that is to say..."

The long bangs covered the upper half of Sakura's face, making it difficult for Bronya to see her expression. The number on the elevator jumped from "B13" to "B14", and then jumped to "B15". The machine is so impersonal. Except for failures and power outages, it will not stop running for any fact.

But for Bronya at this moment, she would rather the elevator explode directly and never go down to the 33rd floor underground.

She didn't know what the chances of Sakura winning against the Herrscher were, but she was afraid that she would die without a doubt. She was not afraid of death, but she was afraid of a worthless death, and she was afraid that she would lose the only chance to save Seele because of her own death.

But the reason was not just herself.

She was also afraid, or didn't want to see another thing happen.

"Sister Sakura..."

"I know. Bronya, I know."

Sakura also leaned against the wall slowly.

"I've prepared myself mentally. Didn't I just say that if Ling is not a Herrscher, I will take you out and settle you down, and then help you find your sister, and then go to the Fire Moth to surrender. And if Ling has become a Herrscher, then I will also fulfill the promise I made to her as a sister. I will accompany her until the last moment of her life."

"Promise..."

"Yes... That was a promise made a long time ago. When I was very young, Ling and I encountered Honkai Beast. That time, both of us almost died, so we agreed that no matter who died first, the other would accompany her to the end of the journey and not let her leave alone."

"But... According to Kevin, if Ling has become a Herrscher, does it mean that she has..."

"No, it won't."

There is no high-pitched but weak voice when ordinary people argue. Sakura just said this in the most plain tone, firm, confident, without the slightest doubt.

Even if she knew, she was denying something that has been regarded as common sense for more than two years.

But human civilization has developed all the way to this stage, and has overturned common sense?

Yes, generally speaking, after the birth of the Herrscher personality, the original personality will die. But when exactly does the extinction happen? Is it the first time the Herrscher personality is born? Is there no other possibility?

Is the human emotion displayed by the Sixth Herrscher before his death really a disguise of the Herrscher? Is the smile that the Seventh Herrscher showed to Hua and Kevin really not the original personality of Himiko?

No one can tell this kind of thing. Sakura doesn't know whether Dr. Mei and Dr. Mobius have studied this kind of thing, but for the warriors, they don't need to know this. They only need to know that the Herrscher is an object that must be killed, and killing the Herrscher is not killing people. The original personality died at the hands of Honkai, which is enough. More information will only cause unnecessary panic and trouble.

But Sakura thought, if the original personality of the qualified person had extremely strong obsessions, maybe... maybe...

"Rin will wait for me."

Hearing a slight sob, Bronya turned her head and saw tears sliding down Sakura's cheeks again.

"We agreed, and Rin will definitely keep her promise."

Facing Bronya's eyes, Sakura said word by word.

"This kind of idealism is too... inappropriate."

Bronya wanted to complain, but... couldn't say it.

She couldn't say it at all.

Even if it was the truth, she couldn't say it.

As an outsider, as a bystander, this matter had nothing to do with her, she just wanted to find Seele. If she had to say it, it would be more in her interest to leave Sakura behind and contact Kevin at this time. Although she didn't expect Cocolia to push her into the Quantum Sea, with Dr. Mei's attitude, she should have intended to let her enter the Quantum Sea to find Kevin.

But now...she really wanted to see Rin's ending. But...she was afraid to see this ending.

Such anxiety and meddling, these are not the emotions that should appear in a seasoned mercenary and killer.

But that was in the past after all... Bronya suddenly didn't want to dwell on her past identity, nor did she want to be bound by past experiences.

She now had only one thought - I hope... things can go as smoothly as Sakura said.

Because people always unconsciously compare things happening around them to themselves, Bronya hopes to see Sakura and her sister have a good ending. If so, she and Seele must also have a good ending...

The numbers on the big screen jumped from "B21" to "B22", then "B23", and there were only ten floors left.

"Hurry up... Hurry up..."

Sakura prayed silently, but Bronya felt that while she was praying for "hurry up", she should also be praying that time could be frozen at the moment before the elevator opened.

"B28", there were only five floors left.

"Huh... Bronya, maybe I should leave you with Kevin."

"Hmm?"

"He is the strongest of all the fusion warriors, and... I was a little excited just now. He... is actually still an innocent boy in essence. He must be the most painful one caught between his comrades and his lover. If I leave you with him, he will definitely protect you first. It is... dangerous to follow me here."

"But I can only escape by following you, right?"

Bronya replied expressionlessly.

"Lie."

"!"

"You, in fact, don't care about what will happen to you. Rather than whether you will die here, you are more worried about what will happen to your sister after you die here, right?"

"..."

Sakura forced a smile and turned to stuff a wakizashi into Bronya's hands.

"Maybe because we are both sisters, I always feel that we have many similar ideas. We may encounter danger next, you take this. I can see that you have been trained."

"Yeah."

Bronya did not shirk it. It was indeed inconvenient to have no weapons. She originally had two daggers hidden in her boots, but the attack range of the wakizashi was much larger than that of the daggers.

Taking the wakizashi that was about as long as her arm, Bronya gently pressed the hilt with her thumb and pushed it, and the scratched blade slipped out of the sheath. What surprised Bronya was that she thought that the secondary weapon carried by a warrior like Sakura would be better, but this wakizashi looked like an ordinary manganese steel or carbon steel. She was worried that if it was a weapon of the same level as the long sword on Sakura's waist, she would not be able to use it.

"This is a gift from Ling a long time ago. It saved me many times in critical moments in the early years, so I always carry it with me. I originally had another knife, but that was for dirty work, to be precise, it was used to eliminate traitors, but I am a traitor now..."

"Very good, even if I am given a better weapon, I can't exert the corresponding strength."

Bronya slashed at the void twice, making a "whoosh-whoosh-whoosh" sound of breaking through the air.

"So, Bronya, do you understand?"

"Hmm?"

"This wakizashi is a gift from Ling in the early years. I just lent it to you. When this matter is over, you have to return it to me, understand?"

"Hmm."

Bronya nodded vigorously.

"Sister Sakura is the same. My memory is not very good. If you don't come to me for it, I will forget to return it."

"Hmm."

Sakura smiled, although the smile was full of fatigue and far-fetched, but...

Bronya suddenly had a bad premonition in her heart...

I always feel that this will be the last time I see Sakura smile.

"By the way, Bronya, there's one more thing."

"What?"

"You must have never been to Far East, my and Ling's hometown, right? The cherry blossoms there are beautiful... I still remember the cherry tree in my family yard at that time... It's almost time for it to bloom... Bronya, let's make a promise. When the time comes, you must return this wakizashi to me under the cherry tree in my family..."

Bronya's lips moved twice.

Far East... Far East...

Bronya has been there for three years. Every spring, they organize a viewing of the withering cherry blossoms. She is tired of it.

She was not the kind of person who would be sad about the withering of cherry blossoms. But this time, she felt...

!

"Cherry blossoms, and the withering of cherry blossoms, are really unlucky..."

Before she could finish her complaint, the elevator finally slowly walked through the last five floors.

"Click--"

Amid the noise of "boom boom", the door to the 33rd floor underground opened.

A large amount of white steam gushed out of the power pump, and the vision was completely obscured for a moment.

Bronya and Sakura crouched at the same time, but... nothing happened.

The two had many versions of speculations about the current situation on the 33rd underground floor.

The soldiers here might receive a notice and then ambush the two. Or maybe the collapse happened here, and this place has become a battlefield.

However, the reality is...

There is nothing...

There are no bullets that break through the white fog and shoot at them, no gunshots, no vibrations, no shouts of soldiers in battle, no screams of the wounded, and even the sound of the collapse beasts trampling everything does not exist here.

If there is still something here...

Sakura and Bronya sniffed their noses at the same time and smelled the strong smell of blood.

"The worst case scenario, has it happened..."

Bronya muttered in a low voice. The wakizashi had been inserted and pulled out too many times, and the mouth of the wakizashi was so loose that the blade could slide out directly. However, she still followed Sakura's example and pushed the knife out half a thumb's distance in advance, so that she could pull it out. This step saves nearly tenths of a second. Although the naked eye cannot even accurately grasp such a short moment, sometimes, this is the difference between life and death.

The white fog that obscured their vision gradually dissipated, returning the silent darkness to the two of them.

"Bronya."

"clear!"

After looking at each other, the two of them jumped out together.

"These are... dead soldiers!"

In the darkness, a vaguely human-like silhouette could be seen about to move. As soon as Bronya's warning voice came out, the sharp sword light completely illuminated the surroundings like moonlight.

"These dead soldiers are still wearing the uniforms of Fire Chaser. They are the soldiers guarding this place. Could it be..."

Sakura's voice deepened. Sometimes, the distance between people and the truth is not far. What determines whether people can dig out the truth is not whether their brains are good or not, but... whether they have the courage to accept the truth.

"Where is the bell...where is the bell!"

Sakura shouted hysterically while swinging the knife without hesitation.

But... sometimes, even if you think you have the courage to face the truth, when the truth is really revealed in front of you, you will feel caught off guard and unable to accept it.

"Sister Ying! Where are you going!"

Bronya could hardly keep up with Sakura's speed. Fortunately, the dead soldiers along the way had already turned into pieces of flesh flying everywhere under the sword light like a net, otherwise she would have been overwhelmed by the dead soldiers.

Sakura seems to be quite familiar with the structure of the 33rd floor underground. Although she shouted "Where is the bell", she was shouting subconsciously when her spirit was almost broken. In fact, she knew very well that the 33rd floor underground, as a Where the Eighth Herrscher was once imprisoned, there was only one prison cell.

"bell!"

The door to the prison cell was open, and Sakura rushed in without even having time to think.

"ah--"

Sakura was mentally prepared.

She had already prepared for the possibility that Suzuma would become a Herrscher.

Especially after discovering that all the Fire Chaser soldiers on this floor had become dead warriors, she knew very well that Ling might really have become a Herrscher.

Then all she had to do was to kill Herrscher as her sister, which was considered a different kind of thing, accompanying Ling until the last moment of her life.

However, she never thought of such a possibility——

In the dark prison room, the body of the girl in torn clothes was soaked in dark red blood.

The long hair and the entire scalp were shaved off with a knife and thrown randomly on the ground. Every strand of the originally pink long hair became as red as the highlight on the forehead. The girl's limbs were twisted in unnatural postures, with irregular cuts at her wrists and ankles. One of the girl's severed hands was stuffed into her own mouth, and the other hand and two feet were thrown around the prison room. The white shirt was covered with long blood holes, like hundreds of bloody locusts crawling on that piece of clothing - if only this weren't a metaphor.

"Boom——"

Sakura took a step forward, but she seemed to have kicked something round. Looking carefully, she saw that it was one of Ling's eyes.

"Oh……"

"Oh……"

"Hehehehe..."

"Boom!"

Sakura's thin body knelt down in front of Suzu's body. (End of chapter)