Honkai Impact 3: Deadwood

Enjoying the warmth in the captain's arms, the girl opened her eyes slightly. Even though she was exhausted and her vision had become blurred, she could still clearly see the tears rolling down the boy's eyes.

...?

Captain...are you crying?

Mei's pupils shrank slightly, and she couldn't believe her eyes. She even wondered if she had seen it wrong. Was it just the rain sliding down the captain's face?

The person whom she had always admired, trusted, and cherished, the person whom she thought was stronger, smarter, and who made her feel at ease than anyone she had ever met, actually... cried?

why?

Why are you crying? You have such a reassuring smile on your face.

“…This time, I’ll hold your hand, Mei.”

The words that came out of the weeping boy's mouth were full of joy and redemption.

Sparkling tears and a sky full of stars fell into the girl's eyes.

The tears falling from the captain's face were like a star that had traveled across billions of years and finally broke through the sky on a silent night and was seen by her.

The dazzling light engraved in the night sky is the beautiful light that the girl named Raiden Mei will never forget in her life as she walks hand in hand with the person she trusts.

Mei could feel her heart twitching unsteadily, but even so, the strong emotions that kept bursting out of her chest made Mei use up all her remaining strength to reach out her hand, and with trembling, she used her frayed fingers to re-apply the half-open swelling-reducing patch that she had applied to the person she trusted:

"Captain... don't be sad... Mei... is right here..."

"...!!"

Listening to the words the girl tried desperately to squeeze out in order to make himself feel a little more at ease, the captain took a deep breath with a trembling voice, trying his best to calm himself down quickly.

Tens of thousands of years of lonely wandering, thousands of years of earthly journey...

In this long life, he lost too many precious things, left too many irreparable regrets, and accumulated too many tears that he only intended to use to burn himself...

Time flies, struggles...

To this day, the cycle continues...

But this time, he finally caught up...

Even if the price was the "end" that was constantly devouring his soul and consciousness at this moment, at the moment when he grabbed the hand that only he needed to grab, and saved the girl in his arms who only he could save, all the shortcomings turned into a tear containing countless joys, and turned into the most unforgettable star in the girl's eyes.

"Captain...sir...Mei...did you do what you were supposed to do?"

"Yeah, yeah! Of course, you did a great job, Mei. You are worthy of being the Valkyrie that I am proud of, so..."

The captain nodded solemnly to the girl, and his hand slowly climbed up the girl's left arm covered with crimson armor: "So... take a good rest, Mei, leave the rest to me."

The captain's fingers quickly operated on the holographic projection that popped up from Mei's arm armor, and soon, the scarlet Valkyrie armor protecting Mei's entire body responded.

"Confirming armor command authority..."

"Confirmed, Armor Authorization: Level 0"

"Impulse Suit Scarlet, begin executing the emergency release command..."

Along with the electronic sound emitted by the system, the metal armor on the girl's body made a crisp sound at the same time, and then fell off together and scattered on the ground, leaving only the black tight protective suit that wrapped the girl's torso and limbs, outlining the girl's perfect body curves.

Through the life detection system of the "Moon Blade", the captain had already discovered the danger that Mei was facing. The life-and-death battle with Sirin with all her strength just now and the act of half-forcibly removing the explosive device by herself must have brought a huge burden to her heart.

That's why he had to urgently remove the Valkyrie armor on Mei so that he could carry out the next operation.

"Sword Knight·Moon Blade", armor rights transfer, transferee: VKF-003 "Pulse Suit·Scarlet" Raiden Mei."

"Warning! You are performing a dangerous protocol operation. After the armor authority is transferred, you will lose all the rights to use this machine. Do you know this agreement and choose to continue..."

"continue."

"Confirming command... Please enter the authorization key..."

Hearing this, the captain's eyelids twitched slightly, but immediately, he calmly read out the authority key:

“I like the long light the best.”

"The key was entered correctly..."

"Executing instructions..."

"Authority transfer begins..."

As the girl gasped in pain and erratic rhythm, the captain's silver armor gradually turned into light and dissipated from bottom to top, and simultaneously appeared on the body of the girl in his arms.

As a "prototype fourth-generation Valkyrie God-killing Armor", "Sword Knight Moon Blade" possesses an emergency treatment and life-sustaining system that the third-generation armor does not have. In order to allow Mei to survive until returning to Hyperion for further treatment even without her own protection, this is the best method the captain can think of at the moment when the "Key of God" is seriously lacking in energy.

Fortunately, the "Moon Blade" is a universal body armor that was improved from the Valkyrie armor. It has the function of body adaptation, which saves the captain a lot of extra adjustment effort.

After the authority transfer was completed, the God-killing Armor, which detected the abnormal physical condition of the new user, immediately activated the treatment system and injected him with adrenaline and powerful life-sustaining drugs specially used by Valkyries.

As a faint tingling sensation came from the girl's waist, Mei, who had just been gasping in pain due to her heart spasm, gradually calmed down her breathing and looked much better.

"Ai-chan, emergency induction plan EPT003, connection permission, please help me pick up Mei."

"Ai-chan got it!"

"Well, I have already prepared the evacuation plan and sent it to you. After recovering Mei and the Helios, you must assist Dr. Einstein and help her command the fleet to evacuate."

"The command authority has been confirmed. Leave it to me, boss!"

A serious and reliable electronic girl's voice came from the wing-shaped communicator beside her ear. After completing the final induction settings, the communicator disappeared from the side of the captain's face and moved to Mei's right ear.

"Captain...Sir..."

The girl, who was about to fall into a deep sleep due to the injection of drugs, saw all kinds of information displayed on the tactical eyepiece on the communicator beside her ear that was automatically extended due to the activation of the emergency plan before she completely closed her blurry eyes.

Staring at the young man in front of her who was smiling gently at her, the girl's dazed eyes gradually widened and trembled, and she couldn't stop emitting painful whimpers from her throat.

"Ugh... Captain... you——"

Mei's breathing had finally calmed down, but now her chest began to rise and fall irregularly again. She gasped for breath, trying to squeeze out some sound from her mouth, but she was too weak to utter any decent words.