There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 606 - 600. Last Battle

Chapter 606: Chapter 600. Last Battle

Normally, it was important to assess and analyze a new enemy before attacking. While they had been fighting the Fallen Star three times thus far, this form was still new for them, so thorough calculation was needed.

But there was no time for that.

There was a strong pulse from the center of the grotesque eyes assembly; a struggle between two energies that brought all kinds of bad feelings for them.

Purely out of instinct, the Eastern Sun shot a flame arrow toward the creature--right on the legions of eyes. She incorporated the mana pattern shown by Bassena earlier, and it exploded right in front of the Fallen Star.

"Agh--it’s hard!" she spat and glanced at Bassena, who was just standing up after being thrown away earlier. Is there no other way than to attach it to something?

Bassena grabbed Zhan’s wrist since his commlink was melted by the fire earlier. "Launch all long-distance attacks!"

There was no time for careful consideration, so they just had to analyze on the go. Senia took the lead by commanding the elemental spirits, and Gus took charge of the ship’s cannon and raygun. Afterward, the magicians and marksmen also sent spells, arrows, and bullets toward the legions.

The first attack, a blooming ice flower that shattered into hundreds of sharp petals, managed to graze the flesh sphere and wounded some eyes. But they quickly regenerated and some of the swaying tendrils immediately covered the vulnerable legions like armor and swatted the rest of the attack with the whipping tendrils.

"The attacks didn’t work on that...tentacles," the Eastern Sun shuddered at the swaying and whipping tendrils. "It worked on the center itself, though."

"We need to use the cosmic energy to pry the tendrils open," Bassena said.

"But using spells is..."

"We need to do it by hand," Bassena said. "I need to do it by hand."

The Eastern Sun looked at the amber eyes; firm and focused. She let out a sigh and a wry smile. "I guess I can only act as a support this time. Very well."

"Thank you," Bassena nodded and turned toward Gus. "Those below four-star will be tasked with eliminating the remaining beasts. Five and four-star espers will try to keep all of those tendrils busy."

"Alright!"

"There’s no need to destroy them if you can’t, just make sure those things keep away from the center."

"Yes, Sir!"

Gus gave a salute with a smirk, eyes blazing with determination to end this today. The same determination that made them all regain strength after fighting for a long time, even though they were out of breath just a while ago.

Bassena patted the swordsman’s shoulder and made a fist bump before turning to Zein, who seemed to be a bit agitated still. "It’s there, isn’t it? Beneath those slits?"

"...I think so," Zein closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Yeah, I think so."

"I’ll get it," Bassena gripped the guide’s shoulders. Patting it while smiling reassuringly. "Don’t worry; I’ll get it first, as soon as I can."

Zein had no idea what to think. He saw what Bassena did earlier, throwing his body with a fire that could melt the highly resistant commlink. It gave him dread, especially since it was done for his request. He was experienced enough to realize that it was the only way for the cosmic energy to be pulled out properly, but he also loved his esper enough to feel scared about it.

How many times had Bassena thrown his body headlong to the line of fire in this whole fight? He was supposed to be a magician-type!

"Zein?" Bassena grasped the guide’s face, who hadn’t said anything for a whole minute. The course feeling of the black scale in the esper’s palm shifted Zein’s focus to the scales beneath Bassena’s eyes.

Those scales represented Bassena’s life.

Seeing two of them still shining and unused, like a pair of beautiful onyxes, Zein unconsciously let out a relieved breath. Yeah, he’ll be alright. As long as it wasn’t an instant death, the [Second Skin of Immortality] would activate.

Zein looked into the amber eyes, feeling the confidence and the conviction there. In a short second that almost passed like a blur, he pressed the button of his mask and pulled the esper for a kiss. One second. Just one second. Just to feel the esper’s lips and heartbeat.

Before the miasma could enter his respiratory system, he pulled back and put his mask on, leaving Bassena stunned and the Eastern Sun scoffing about ’youth’.

"Be careful," Zein whispered.

Bassena blinked slowly, twice, and the corner of his lips twitched in longing. "I’ll finish this quickly."

"No, you’ll finish it carefully," Zein said sternly. "Carefully."

Bassena chuckled softly and nodded. "Yeah, okay..." he smiled. "Let’s have another date at that cliff after it’s all over, yeah?"

"Mm,"

Bassena smirked and turned around, raising his clenched fists in front of his chest. "My hands," he glanced at the Eastern Sun. "Just concentrate the fire in my hands."

"Fine," this time, the Easter Sun reached out her hands and touched Bassena directly, as if infusing the mana pattern to the black-scale armor instead of the fire. "As long as you don’t cancel the armor and I don’t run out of mana, the flame will never die."

"Good," Bassena exhaled slowly, before his figure scattered into darkness, only to appear on top of the tendrils-wrapped legions and slammed a pair of fairy fists down.

Immediately, the swaying tendrils tried to lash out toward Bassena. But several thorny vines and iron chains sprouted from the ground and held them from reaching him.

"Can’t hold them for too long!" Hari screamed while scrunching his face, while Cohen could only grunt with gritted teeth.

"Attack! Attack the tentacles!" Gus ordered while unsheathing his two swords and pushing a group of tendrils away from Bassena. "Don’t let them reach Commander!"

All the four and five-star espers on the site launched their attack while the rest continued cleaning the city of any beasts that could reach the battlefield and disturb the battle. Whether the warriors, the magicians, or the marksmen, however, attacking the Fallen Star without the objective to beat it.

Their role was clear; to get the tendrils away from the center. They used their weapons to push the tendrils away or restrain them on the far side. The magicians, including Senia, either used ice magic to freeze the air around the tendrils or projectile magic to create a shockwave and repel the tendrils off the center.

Still, there were a lot of tendrils and only nine damage dealers, so some tendrils still go around unchecked. Some whipped around Bassena and tried to crack his black armor, yanking him away from the main body--and some were trying to attack the support magicians in the back of the formation.

"Senan, go and aid them," Zein ordered.

"Young Master--"

"Go," Zein repeated firmly. "Those things won’t reach this place, so I’ll be safe here. But if the support collapses, it’ll be harder for the frontline."

Senan clenched his jaw, but his eyes caught the sight of the Eastern Sun, who was quietly standing while watching the battlefield just a few steps away from Zein. He exhaled heavily and plucked out his shield from the ground. "Very well, please be careful, Young Master."

When Senan finally ran toward the battlefield and no longer kept an eye on him, Zein took a deep breath and bent his knees, panting. His head throbbed, his sight felt blurry, and his legs felt weak. He felt so, so tired that all he wanted to do was lie down and wait for everything to be over. He had been running around guiding a lot of people by himself and using the Saint’s staff, so not only was his vessel almost full, but his mental strength was also at its limit.

Perhaps that was why he felt so anxious about Bassena earlier. The reason he could still stand at that point was nothing more than tenacity that was supported by the Earring of Still Water and the ring that Xue Ren gave him. Elena’s bracelet had turned completely black, offsetting the miasma effect from his body as much as it could.

But he couldn’t fall now when they were at the very end. He hit his knee and pushed himself up to straighten his back. Fortunately, everyone was watching the battle keenly, so they didn’t see him swaying and wobbling for a bit before regaining his balance.

"You don’t look good, kid."

Everyone except for the Eastern Sun.

"I’m tired," Zein replied briefly. He couldn’t find enough energy to speak a lot. "Everyone’s tired."

"Hmm...I guess so," she nodded, staring at Bassena fiercely battling the tendrils that wrapped the Fallen Star’s main body, smashing and peeling them one by one with two blazing hands. "But it should end before you need to use your power again."

"I hope so," Zein took a deep breath again, regulating them while slowly digesting the miasma. He still had to make some room for emergency guiding. It didn’t matter if he got a burnout after the Fallen Star had fallen.

He watched Bassena dig the layers of tendrils and turn toward the old lady. "Once he pried it open, he will take something from inside. Once the thing’s out, you should send your attack directly before it tries to close the wound--"

"And explode it?" she smirked.

"It’s good if you could," Zein nodded, before tension came back to his body as he heard Bassena’s groan.

It wasn’t something bad, however. Bassena was trying to peel the layers all at once before they could regenerate, letting the flame burn the tendrils while at it. The Fallen Star was shrieking and with two occupied hands, Bassena couldn’t cover his ears.

Still, his grip was relentless. With a shout, he pulled the layers outward like opening a stubborn vault door by force. He gritted his teeth and used his shoulder as a wedge so his right hand could reach down the slits.

A deafening roar blasted the city ruin as the cosmic fire burned the Fallen Star’s main body. The black armored hand reached deeper, toward a pulsing nucleus that let out the only light inside the squirming dark purple flesh. The roar damaged his eardrums, but Bassena had no leeway to care as he grabbed the light and pulled it out with all his might.

"Grraaaah!!" with a growl that sounded more like a beast than a human, he pulled the weakly pulsing crystal away from the rotten darkness.