Eat

"Pegmont possesses the most twisted trait in this world—more terrifying than He Tangtang's, and even more powerful than Han Qingyu's." As Wen Jifei hung up the communicator, that was the conclusion he reached in his heart, his brow tightly furrowed. Although the Chief of Staff had spoken those final words in an easy tone, Wen Jifei felt anything but relaxed. Because right now, the benchmark for Pegmont's self-assessed strength was Qingzi. Qingzi had not managed to carve completely through this swarm of Great Spikes—the facts lay plain before their eyes, just as the casualties and desperate plight of the soldiers of Stream Blades lay plain before them. He had been forced into a one-on-one duel with Daie and had yet to return. If he were defeated... Of course, Wen Jifei could claim it was because Qingzi was gravely wounded after All Blades Pay Homage. That way, Pegmont probably wouldn't equate his own strength to Qingzi's post-injury state for the moment. Yet the logical extension followed: Pegmont would also conclude that he couldn't slice through so many Great Spikes either, and that if he kept hacking away, he would soon be gravely wounded as well. In human eyes, not even Chen Buer at his peak could pull off such a feat. No matter how ignorant and inflated Pegmont might be, there was no way he could form a self-perception so bold as to place himself straight above Chen Buer. "Logic! Logic..." Building a rock-solid logical foundation was far harder than he had imagined. In his anxiety, Wen Jifei even forgot to fire his rifle, his eyes full of worry as he looked once again toward Pegmont's sprinting figure. Lap twelve! Wouldn't he start thinking that he would get tired? "Aiyo, how are there so many of these things? There are way too fucking many!" Pegmont felt a brief surge of annoyance, then chuckled, "Haha! As expected, when I slice through ordinary Great Spikes, it's just like chopping melons and vegetables—a whole sweep with every swing..." "Too bad I can't do that trick where tens of thousands of dead iron weapons come flying." "Is that that bastard's trait? Is his trait a magnet? No, a dead iron magnet?!" "So powerful. What an enviable trait. Sigh, so what the hell is my trait anyway? Could it really just be taking beatings, being hard to kill? But every time I get beaten, it hurts like hell, and I get pretty badly hurt, too. I still have to get treated..." Previously, the whole of Azure had told Pegmont that his trait was stubborn vitality—that he simply couldn't die. He had once believed it completely, and thus courted death without restraint. But starting last year, his conviction had begun to waver. During the Zenith War, the moment he witnessed Han Qingyu cleave Daie in two with a single slash, Pegmont's heart had trembled. For the first time in his life, he had felt fear—a terror of death. His somatic awareness had told him that if that blade had landed on him, he would have been dead without question. Ever since, Pegmont had begun to reconsider and search for what his trait actually was. Of course, he only pondered this occasionally, musing on it when prompted by circumstances; for the vast majority of his life, he never dwelt on anything for long. Actually, even if he realized right now that his trait might be a perpetual motion machine, that would be wonderful—just as the Stream Blades soldiers speculated. Then he could keep "ch-longing" like this indefinitely. Yet the pink-haired man's brain was definitely not like that of normal people. He didn't think along those lines. Unable to figure it out, he simply gave up. *Pant! Pant!* "Can't finish cutting them all! There are too many!" "I think I'm tired!" Thinking this, Pegmont swapped out a tube of concentrated source energy block and turned to shout at Wen Jifei, "Why hasn't that bastard come back yet?" Wen Jifei hesitated for a second. He wanted to say Qingzi was wounded, but the moment he opened his mouth, he clamped his lips shut... He couldn't say that. "He's chasing Daie! That thing ran too far—the Rejectors said it even ran into the volcanic crater!" In the end, Wen Jifei could only fob him off like that. "Oh!" At the same time Pegmont answered—*shoo!*—with a sudden burst of power, he brought his blades together and spun upward into the air, taking in the overall situation. "Going on like this won't work. I feel like I'm about to give out too," he said. Wen Jifei's heart dropped. *It's over.* It was sound logic—after all, seventeen laps! Even if it were Qingzi in peak condition, he probably wouldn't be able to hold out by now. Yet when Pegmont thought this way, when his body and consciousness fed him that judgment... it was an extremely dangerous sign. His strength was currently still pegged to being slightly below Qingzi's peak—a state capable of standing against Daie. That was his firm self-perception. According to what the Chief of Staff had just instructed, encouragement and flattery were completely useless. Coaxing him, praising him, telling him he could do it—without logical support, it was just empty talk. Pegmont wouldn't genuinely believe it, and thus would not produce the judgment that his strength had increased. Otherwise, wouldn't Azure have told him long ago that he was invincible in the mortal realm, invincible in the universe? "No other choice. I might as well try charging the tractor field!" While Wen Jifei was still hesitating, Pegmont's voice reached his ears again. By the time the words arrived, the man himself was already carving a path toward the tractor field. "Don't! Stay here!" Wen Jifei blurted out before he could think. Yet Pegmont didn't hear him—or heard him and ignored him. Pink Peg was someone with a mind of his own; in this world, apart from listening to his mother when he was a boy, he had never listened to another human being. With pink hair flying, Pegmont's silhouette continued charging toward the tractor field... In truth, the only workable plan Wen Jifei had just come up with was to have Pegmont remain here. When he grew tired from charging, they could have him return to the center of the defensive formation to rest for a bit, and once rested, head back out to keep "ch-longing." And after that, see if they could hold out until Qingzi returned... Or until a He Tangtang emerged who had devoured a Beyond Zenith-tier Yanxiu. *** At the Mount Erebus crater, He Tangtang continually swapped source energy blocks. Maintaining his ultra-limit defensive state consumed an immense amount of energy; he felt as though he could already smell his own roasting flesh. No one could comprehend what terrifying, colossal willpower it took for someone at the peak of the top tier to stand on this volcanic slope for so long. He Tangtang himself didn't think about it, because up until now, his entire head was numb, his physical responses sluggish to the extreme. In his mind, the image of devouring Qingzi surfaced again and again, over and over, until his entire heart felt as though it had been shredded countless times. *Boom!* Suddenly, another tremendous rumble of swirling magma echoed from deep within the mountain. *It's coming!* As if the instincts of that scavenger beast were telling He Tangtang, the food was about to appear. Because this time, the surge of magma was distinctly rising, erupting like an oil well. It was coming! *Boom!* From the crater that had already been erupting continuously, a massive column of magma—several times larger than normal—shot into the sky with the roar, climbing two to three hundred meters straight up. Subconsciously, He Tangtang bent over, bowed his head, drew in his chest, and used the large sheets of dead iron he had brought to shield his head and back, protecting himself. Because of this, he missed a scene. A scene captured by the Rejectors' video feed. At the peak of his ascent amidst the surging magma, Major Qing suddenly turned, gripped his column sword with both hands, and cleaved down heavily against the magma column below. The upper section of the magma column split in two. And in the lower section, something seemed to have been knocked down by his strike. *** *Crash!* Great torrents of magma pounded violently against the dead iron sheets. At long last, the sound gradually subsided. He Tangtang turned his head to look up toward the crater. "... Qingzi." There, above the falling magma, Han Qingyu's body hung horizontal in midair. He had no weapons left on him; his limbs dangled limply, and he seemed to have lost all control of his body... *Thud!* In free fall, Han Qingyu's body crashed heavily onto the ground beside the crater. At the crater, the lava suddenly ceased erupting. Perhaps it had been temporarily blasted into quiescence. Or perhaps that last eruption had momentarily drained it hollow. "Qingzi." It was not a shout, but a soft, unconscious murmur of his name. His bodily instincts automatically minimizing contact with the magma, He Tangtang walked on tiptoe, his eyes dull and numb, slowly advancing toward the body on the ground. This inadvertent, tiptoeing gait made him look just like a scavenger animal that had waited in hiding for ages, finally emerging from the shadows, ready to feast on helpless prey that could not fight back. "Qingzi." "Qingzi." No one knew what agonizing psychological struggle He Tangtang had undergone during this time, but the answer was clear: he had decided to do it. To do as Qingzi himself had said, and as Plague Chicken had instructed. And then, fight his way back to the tractor field. Whether he could save the brothers of Stream Blades or not, die there... he must die. The magma finally slid clean off him. Han Qingyu's body stirred ever so faintly. Turning his head, he slowly opened his eyes to look at He Tangtang. He couldn't move. He was dying. He Tangtang saw it and looked back at him, continuing to step forward, one pace at a time. As he walked, tears slid down his cheeks without a sound. He Tangtang was a man who rarely shed tears—rarely, so very rarely. Perhaps at this moment, he wasn't even aware that he was crying. The tears simply kept flowing. And he kept walking forward, slow and steady. "Qingzi." He was close now, close enough to clearly make out the look in Han Qingyu's eyes. He Tangtang continued to murmur, his devouring trait slowly surging. "... No." The first word from Han Qingyu's mouth was so faint it was barely audible, yet in his eyes, at a time like this, there appeared a trace of helpless exasperation. Making another effort, he spoke again with some urgency, his voice a bit clearer now. The corner of Han Qingyu's mouth twitched as he said softly, "Not me, Tangtang... it's about done for too." As he spoke, Han Qingyu shifted his gaze toward the crater to the side. Down below, the sound of swirling magma could still be heard... "... Huh?!" It took two seconds for He Tangtang to snap out of it. With stunned, confused eyes, he looked at Han Qingyu. "Eat it, okay?" A soft, coaxing tone. "We're both almost dead. For the sake of our old brotherhood—even though I used to mess with you all the time... I was wrong. Eat it, okay?" Han Qingyu was still weak, but a faint smile touched the corners of his mouth. Looking at He Tangtang, he put on a pleading tone.