Inside the wrecked jeep, blood splattered everywhere. With the driver dead, the vehicle lost control, veering onto the sidewalk. After plowing through roadside stalls and barricades, it finally screeched to a halt against a bus stop.
"Hiss—hiss—ha..." Kevin and Mei were stunned by the sudden carnage and violent crash. The battle-hardened Mike reacted instantly. He raised his automatic rifle and sprayed bullets across the roof. After several muffled groans, the "zombie" tumbled off the vehicle and rolled onto the pavement nearby.
Seizing the moment while it struggled to move, Mike continued firing. Under the torrent of gunfire, the "zombie" had both legs shattered and collapsed.
"This is no slow-moving zombie. It's a swordmaster with a katana."
Fueled by rage over his fallen comrade, Mike jumped out of the vehicle, intending to finish it off. Then he heard Kevin shout behind him. Mike immediately threw himself forward onto the ground.
Swish! A pitch-black scythe sliced through Mike's tactical backpack. Even his battlefield instincts had failed to detect the enemy. If Kevin had not warned him, he would already have been cut in two.
The scythe-wielding undead lunged toward the prone Mike—
Bang! With a deafening blast, its body was blown backward by the force of a shotgun shell.
The one who fired was not Kevin, but Mei. She now held a smoking shotgun firmly in her hands.
Splattered with the scythe-wielder's blood, Mike rose shakily, still pale. "Girl, if you hadn't held that steady, I'd be Swiss cheese right now."
A shotgun's recoil was no joke. One slip in aim could have sent pellets straight into Mike instead.
Mei calmly explained, "I braced the shotgun against the jeep and secured it with a tied strap. Even a child could hold it steady that way. Don't underestimate a high school girl."
The tying method involved knotting the strap twice along the barrel, threading the rope through one end and back through the other, then looping it around again before fastening a final knot. It effectively absorbed recoil and maintained accuracy.
Even so, Mei could feel sharp numbness in her chest and hands from the impact.
If not for the urgency of the situation, she would have opted for an even safer double-layer tie.
The steering wheel had been completely destroyed. The jeep was unusable.
Mike pulled the two of them out, changed out of his blood-soaked clothes into spare tactical camouflage, and then hauled a Gatling gun from the back compartment.
"Carrying that... isn't it heavy?" Mei asked in confusion. "Are we really going to fight through hordes of zombies?"
Judging from the zombie's earlier durability, rifles were more than sufficient. And if they truly encountered a swarm, it would be wiser to flee than to waste bullets fighting an endless tide. If escape proved impossible, then even a Gatling gun would not save them.
"Girl, judging from the situation, it's worse than that. And I only feel safe with this beauty."
The three moved through the shopping district.
Only then did they fully grasp what Nagazora City had become.
Monstrous, grotesque creatures prowled the streets, chasing and slaughtering screaming civilians.
Some people, like Kevin and the others, tried to flee by car—only for towering colossus-like monsters to overturn their vehicles. The occupants were then torn apart by swarms of "zombies."
Above them circled bloated, pale pink creatures resembling eagles with broken wings. They occasionally dived into buildings, triggering waves of screams, or intercepted private planes attempting to take off.
This was no war.
It was a massacre...
With the Gatling clearing a path, the trio fortunately did not encounter any of the colossi.
But Mike knew this was not luck.
His teammates had gone ahead, drawing away the worst and most dangerous creatures at the cost of their lives.
These white monsters possessed bodies as hard as ancient bedrock buried deep underground. Earlier, they had clearly seen vehicles slam into them as if crashing into reinforced concrete walls.
Along the way, Mike saw the corpses of his own men more than once. Yet the battlefield instincts forged into him allowed no time for mourning. He could only press forward.
Because Mike and Kevin had to match Mei's pace, their advance gradually slowed. Many nearby survivors began gathering around them, drawn by the sight of their weapons, seeking protection.
Some attempted to join them outright.
Mike kept them three meters away at gunpoint.
Seeing Kevin about to speak, Mike cut him off first. "Boy, this is war. They can follow behind us if they want—but they cannot slow us down. Even if you don't care about yourself, you should care about Girl. Don't be reckless."
At that moment, a spirited voice interrupted.
"Uncle, from Ido's perspective, the one being reckless is you."
The speaker was a vibrant girl with a high ponytail, dressed in a white trench coat. Her sharp eyes were framed by bangs, gleaming silver-gray with an unrestrained spirit that made her loves and hates clear as day. Her slender waist and knee-high boots outlined a body taut with strength.
She stood there, spear leveled directly at Mike, radiating killing intent.
Her appearance was as sudden as lightning. No one had seen how she arrived.
"Kevin can do whatever he wants. You don't have the right to interfere!"
"Don't forget your mission!"
Only then did Mike snap back to reality.
His mission was to follow Kevin and Mei's commands. But because he had taken charge of the escape route, he had unconsciously ignored their opinions.
It was not entirely his fault.
That escape path had been carved out with the lives of his comrades. Naturally, he did not want to offer Kevin and Mei alternative options. Besides, he could not imagine they would choose anything other than fleeing Nagazora City.
But still—he had violated the terms of the contract.
The girl planted her spear into the ground with a resonant clang and looked at Kevin firmly.
"Kevin. Say what you're thinking!"
Kevin turned to Mei at his side. His voice was steady, resolute, leaving no room for doubt.
"Mei, I want to go find Su!"
...
Ido briefly explained the situation of the Honkai to Kevin and Mei.
"So the epicenter of this disaster... is Chiba Academy?" Mei said in shock. She had never expected the source to be so close.
"That's right. Are you still planning to head back?" Ido shrugged. "Ido doesn't mind. I'd like to see this so-called 'Herrscher' for myself. But fighting one? I'll pass."
Mei frowned. "What is a Herrscher?"
As if answering her question, a blinding flash descended from the direction of Chiba Academy. Only after a moment did the thunderous roar reach them.
Just moments ago, the sky had been perfectly clear.
Ido's expression turned grave as she pointed toward the lightning.
"That... is a Herrscher. A being who commands the laws of nature and delivers divine punishment upon the world."