LIGHT NOVEL Chapter 309: Death
"Anna."
A raspy, faint voice called out. Chen Tianwu slowly opened his eyes after an unknown period of unconsciousness, his vision filled with the sight of ruined buildings.
The dizziness gradually faded. He looked around, startled, and only relaxed slightly after confirming the Herrscher of Ice was nowhere to be seen.
Checking his body, he found his prosthetic left arm completely severed, and a gaping hole in his abdomen. Fortunately, his vital functions were mostly intact, barely clinging to life.
Struggling to his feet, he gasped for breath. Even this small movement was a burden, but he was alone, with ample time to treat his wounds.
"The Herrscher… is she dead?" He remembered piercing the Herrscher, but there was no body, only a large pool of frozen, dark red blood.
Lacking experience in killing Herrschers, he couldn't tell if she was dead or alive, or if Herrschers even left corpses. Regardless…
A smile spread across Chen Tianwu's face.
He'd done everything he could. Whether the Herrscher was eliminated or simply injured, a fully equipped Valkyrie squad could handle the rest without heavy casualties. This, at least, ensured Anna's safety.
He stumbled toward his briefcase, which contained emergency medicine to stabilize his condition.
His shoes crunched on frozen red ice crystals. He felt a strange, sticky sensation underfoot. Looking down, he saw an identification card, mostly covered in blood, only the back partially visible where he'd stepped.
"Schicksal?" As an intelligence operative, he was familiar with Schicksal's emblem, especially since he'd been secretly investigating them because of Anna's Valkyrie status.
But why was a Schicksal ID card here?
"A Schicksal staff member stationed here?" He quickly considered the possibility, trying to wipe the blood from the front, but the damage was too extensive. He could only make out something about "…Squad Valkyrie…"
He frowned, puzzled. Intel hadn't mentioned any Valkyries stationed on Coral Island. The nearest squad, Snow Lotus, was hours away. Could a Schicksal search and rescue team have arrived while he was unconscious?
But the surroundings looked untouched, the blood still fresh. No one could have been here.
He held the card up to the light, examining it closely. Aside from the blood, there were no other stains. It didn't look like it had been there long.
"The Herrscher!" Eliminating all other possibilities, the card most likely belonged to the Herrscher herself.
He recalled intel he'd seen at World Serpent. Herrschers needed hosts with high Honkai adaptability. If the Herrscher of Ice was a Valkyrie before her awakening, that would fit the criteria.
However, realizing the card's origin didn't bring him joy. He stared at the Valkyrie ID, unease creeping into his heart.
"There shouldn't be any Valkyries on Coral Island." As if reassuring himself, he muttered, "Anna is still hundreds of kilometers away. Even if it's a Valkyrie, it must be from another squad."
But the more he denied it, the stronger his anxiety grew, turning into a frantic panic.
He pocketed the ID card, forcing himself to suppress the terrifying thought, and dragged himself toward his briefcase. Just as he opened it, a crisp ding echoed through the air.
Startled, he turned to see the laptop he'd brought, miraculously intact after the battle, displaying a new email notification.
The email was unsigned, the sender identified only by a black and white mark.
The moment he saw the symbol, Chen Tianwu's pupils contracted. He remembered the voice he'd heard during the fight.
Back then, he hadn't had time to think. His obsession with Anna and his own desire to survive drove him to use the power granted by the Obsidian Concord mark.
But now, with the battle over, the sudden arrival of this email filled him with unease.
As a regular young man, Chen Tianwu had seen enough movies and read enough novels to know that deals with devils, whether born from greed or desperation, rarely ended well.
If the Obsidian Concord mark was a curse, what price would he have to pay?
"If my life can protect Anna, I won't regret it." He looked around as if answering the question Ren had once posed to him.
No one responded. Chen Tianwu stood there, the youth's voice absent from his mind.
After a long while, he swiped his finger across the screen. The laptop wasn't connected to the network, yet it still received the email. He'd grown accustomed to the sender's mysterious ways, so he wasn't surprised. What he cared about was the email's content. In any web novel, this would be the mysterious entity's threat.
But there was none.
No threats, only a few short lines of information.
Herrscher of Ice File: Anna Schariac
Location: Coral Island
Herrscher Status: Deceased
Herrscher Killed By—
"Chen… Tian… wu." His trembling voice read the final name. He felt like he was swallowing shards of glass, each syllable tearing open new wounds within him.
Crash!
He slammed his head against the screen, blood flowing down his forehead and over his eyes. He threw the laptop away like a hot potato, clutching his face, stumbling backward.
He didn't stop until his back hit a towering ice spike. He slid down the wall, collapsing无力地.
"Impossible! This is a joke!" He bit his tongue hard, the pain forcing him back to his senses. He quickly regained his composure, knowing the depth of his obsession. He wouldn't mistake Anna for anyone else, much less kill her.
The Obsidian Concord had always been shrouded in mystery. This information could easily be a deliberate attempt to mislead him.
"They know about my relationship with Anna. They must have planned this."
What were they after? World Serpent intel? His abilities?
Forcefully diverting his attention, he refused to think about Anna, understanding this was a ploy by the Obsidian Concord.
"I have to escape. I have to find her." Abandoning any attempt at first aid, he ignored his body's protests and dragged himself toward the exit.
"Even if the worst has happened… even if the Herrscher isn't dead…"
The light in the ice-covered ruins was dim, with only faint rays filtering from above. The oppressive surroundings made it hard to breathe.
Suddenly, he stopped, his gaze fixed on something in the ruins. The Herrscher core, faintly shimmering, lay beside a familiar heart-shaped pendant.