The Vixen's Gambit: Tonight We Hunt

"Elysia? Kevin? Where is this place...?"

At this time, Hua also finally staggered out of the cave.

Unlike Kevin and Elysia, Hua was seriously injured before entering hibernation. Even though The Great Hibernation repaired her body during this period, it still made Hua's current state much worse than the previous two.

"I remember I lost to the Herrscher, and then..."

"It's over." Without looking at Hua, Kevin just silently hugged the child and walked towards the direction of the jungle. "There is a tribe of this civilization across here. Let's go there first to see the situation..... You explain it to her, Elysia. I'll wait for you there."

"Okay, I understand....."

Looking at Kevin's departing figure, Elysia looked helplessly at the confused Hua.

Although she herself had not witnessed the whole thing, she could more or less guess the current situation.

Most likely, when Lee was about to kill Hua, she was stopped by Kevin, who rushed over, right?

After that, Hua fainted, so she didn't know the real situation.....

But the problem was, should she tell Hua the truth of this matter?

Hua's personality was a bit introverted and conservative, and she valued the people around her very much – if she knew all the ins and outs of this, could Hua really bear it?

And before Lee's last consciousness dissipated, she had given Elysia some requests, one of which was that if other people also survived to the future, Elysia should not tell them the truth..... Rather than letting everyone be sad because of her, it was better to let them be angry at the non-existent Thirteenth Herrscher.

But..... If Lee's actions were never known in the end, and she was still hated by her remaining friends as the culprit who destroyed everything – wouldn't that be too uncomfortable?

"Hua, Lee is dead." In the end, Elysia still made a decision.

Lee's sacrifice should not be buried.....

...

Lee's ending shouldn't be spread.

Kevin walked expressionlessly in the jungle.

In the end, he didn't tell anyone about Lee's final encounter, not even Elysia and Hua, these two teammates who also came from the previous civilization.

Lee and the end of civilization were all suppressed by Kevin in the depths of his mind.

Since Lee risked everything to preserve a future with hope for humanity, then he would let it exist, and he would bear the rest of the unbearable things alone. Other people didn't need to know the truth.

Humanity could live with hope and longing for the future..... And when the Project Stigma was realized, they could enter an eternal and beautiful dreamland and fall asleep.

And he would completely destroy the Honkai after plundering all the power of the Herrscher of Finality – and then start his endless revenge.

Until the last existence of that Honkai civilization was torn apart by him, his footsteps would never stop.

Kevin only hated that the current civilization was still too weak, so that the Project Stigma could not be carried out immediately..... But, maybe it was a good thing.

Looking at the baby in his arms, a trace of melancholy that was difficult to conceal appeared in Kevin's eyes.

The life of a MANTIS Soldier was endless, but the lifespan of this child was no different from that of ordinary people, so she was destined to die much earlier than Kevin.

The Project Stigma would take some years to start, so at least this child could die in this real world.

.....It could also be considered as the last bit of tenderness of Kevin as a [father].

...

"Lee, isn't a Herrscher.....?"

On the cliff, Hua, who had listened to Elysia's explanation of the cause and effect, froze.

She opened her mouth blankly, but in the end she could only say something absentmindedly.

So..... was she wrong again?

Lee was still right this time, even if her behavior was incomprehensible for a while..... Haven't such things happened many times?

The Herrscher of Flames, the Herrscher of Legion..... Every time, she doubted Lee, dragged her back, and even hurt her.

Hadn't she learned her lesson?

She had clearly told Lee before that no matter what she did, there must be a reason, and she would believe her no matter what, but this time she still.....

But this time, Lee was dead.

She would no longer walk out of the ward like before, smiling and telling her that she was fine.

.....It was all her fault.

If it weren't for her not keeping her promise and doubting Lee..... If she still firmly believed in Lee and was with her, Lee might not have been killed by Kevin as a Herrscher!

It was all her fault..... It was her fault again!

How could someone like her still have the face to live in this world?

"I, I—"

Hua's pupils began to tremble, and her breathing gradually became rapid. Even Elysia could see that something was wrong when she saw Hua's frightened expression reaching for her neck.

"Wait, Hua, are you—?!"

Just as Elysia was about to reach out to stop her, Hua suddenly lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

Then, in Elysia's thoughtful and sad eyes, Hua opened her eyes again with a confused expression.

"E.....Elysia?"

"Where is this place, did I—did I die too?"

".....No, Hua, you didn't die." Elysia silently averted her eyes. "This is the new era. We came to the era of the new civilization through The Great Hibernation..... The injuries you suffered in the battle before, even after being treated by The Great Hibernation, have not fully recovered. Just now, your injuries flared up and you fainted."

"You..... Although you lost to the Thirteenth Herrscher at that time, you were rescued by Kevin, who rushed over." Speaking of this, Elysia's voice paused for a moment, and then she said as if nothing had happened, "Kevin killed the Thirteenth Herrscher, but human civilization was already irreparable, so it was decided to activate The Great Hibernation."

"Is, that so....."

Hua looked a little silent. After a while, she said softly, "The Thirteenth Herrscher she..... she killed everyone with her own hands—"

"Don't think about these things, Hua, we should look forward." Elysia interrupted Hua's melancholy memories. It was not until the other party nodded slowly that she breathed a sigh of relief.

The MANTIS Soldiers who had fused with Honkai Beast genes were originally more prone to extreme emotions, and Hua, who had undergone the SWARA experiment, was even more so..... For and had told her that in order to prevent Hua's mental problems, she had specially set up mental protection for the other party.

In the worst case, this protection would erase Hua's memory of great stimulation to ensure her mental stability.

And obviously, that was the situation just now.

So the truth of this story could only remain in her heart, and Hua couldn't know it?

Elysia sighed softly. In the end, Lee's plan still succeeded – Hua had no way of knowing the truth of what Lee had done. She only knew that the other party was a Herrscher who had betrayed civilization and wielded a butcher knife against humanity.

But even with such resentment towards the Herrscher, how could Hua not be sad about Lee's death.....

Elysia clenched the Eighth Divine Key in her arms, as if it could give her some strength.