Facing Rover's murderous gaze, Zane shrank guiltily behind Jiyan.
"Um… this was force majeure."
But Rover didn't respond. She just glanced faintly at the wounds all over his body, then subtly took two steps toward him before turning her attention back to the TD in the center of the battlefield.
After the battle, there would be plenty of time to teach him what it meant to "take care of himself."
At that moment, the human-like TD suddenly vanished from in front of them. In the next instant, its long claws, carrying a sharp tearing sound through the air, slashed toward Zane.
But Rover seemed to have anticipated this. Her swift blade left its sheath, bursting with dazzling golden light as it slashed toward the TD's neck.
In response, the TD had no choice but to change direction, using its claws to block Rover's blade.
With her interference, Jiyan also reacted. Raising his dragon spear, he thrust it straight toward the TD's core at its left chest.
But in the next second, the TD's action left Jiyan both shocked and furious.
The TD quickly changed its move. Its left hand extended straight, turning from claw into blade. With a thrust and an upward flick, it knocked Jiyan's spear aside.
"This is… Midnight Rangers swordsmanship… absurd."
By absorbing the residual frequencies of fallen Midnight Ranger soldiers, this TD had actually learned the move.
Jiyan let out a cold snort. Using the force from his spear being deflected, he spun it to dissipate the momentum, then turned and thrust again.
Since it was Midnight Rangers swordsmanship, who in Jinzhou could be more familiar with it than Jiyan?
At this moment, its right hand had just been blasted open by Rover's diffraction attack, and its left hand had just completed an upward motion and couldn't retract in time.
With its defenses wide open, the TD had no way to counter. It could only flap its dark purple wings, trying to escape the battle and reset its stance.
But Zane had no intention of letting it leave.
Since it treated him like an easy target, he had to make it understand just how solid and hard his… fists were, and knock out a couple of its front teeth.
With the speed movement granted by the Nexus Armament, Zane quickly appeared behind the TD. Then, with the armament's boost, he threw a powerful straight punch.
At that point, the mysterious TD's defeat was inevitable.
Jiyan's spear moved like a dragon, piercing straight into the TD's abdomen. He then turned and delivered a flying kick, sending it flying while pulling the spear back out.
"This is for Zane."
Jiyan had naturally seen the piercing wound in Zane's right shoulder. Although he didn't know how Zane could still fight with such an injury, as a friend, he couldn't swallow that anger.
Rover looked at the TD crashing to the ground and softly asked, "Is it over?"
Zane wanted to cover her mouth to stop her from raising a flag that would make the enemy revive, but he was too late.
Threads of black light seeped out from the moon behind the TD, which looked like a giant eye, and gathered onto its fallen body.
In the blink of an eye, the lifeless TD spread its wings again and rose back into the air.
Zane's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.
"What the hell? Second phase boss?!"
Before he could finish complaining, beams containing annihilation energy shot out from spatial portals that suddenly appeared around the TD.
Dark purple beams struck the ground, instantly igniting blazing flames, making the dim space even more ominous.
"I bet your next line is, 'now, face judgment!'"
Only now did Zane clearly recognize that this TD was the same one he had seen in the simulation domain before.
Could it be that the daughter chased the mother all the way here?
As he thought this, he secretly glanced at Rover.
Fortunately, her attention was focused on the revived, second-phase TD. Otherwise, his head might have suffered another blow.
But the TD seemed to have no intention of paying attention to him. More projectiles fired from the portals behind it.
"Get behind me."
Seeing the dense rain of annihilation beams falling like a storm, the Nexus Armament on Zane's wrist flashed. A light blue barrier appeared in front of him, shielding Rover and the others behind it.
Beams struck the barrier one after another, creating ripples across its surface.
It was beautiful, but Zane had no time to appreciate it.
Through the barrier, he saw the space around the TD begin to distort. Soon, more than a dozen new portals appeared around it.
Zane's pupils shrank sharply. He instantly pulled a shield from his system space and tossed it to Rover, then pushed her back toward the doctor and Jiyan.
In the next moment, more than a dozen dragon spears shot out from the newly opened portals, heading straight for Zane.
"Jiyan, looks like your abilities got copied too."
Zane joked. Now that Rover and the others had some means of self-defense, he could go all out.
If the prophecy of the age lord was true, then Rover had to absorb power from the Threnodian.
As long as he could severely injure this thing, at least the process of her absorption would be less risky…
With that thought, ignoring the Threnodian's shameless ability-stealing behavior like some Ace Killer or Sharingan, Zane leapt into the air against the storm of spears, charging energy with both hands.
Sensing the aura of death gathering in Zane's hands, the mysterious TD frantically controlled the spears to attack him.
It hadn't expected Zane to be this insane, daring to counterattack while facing a barrage of falling spears.
What was he relying on?
But the TD had no time to think. It could only unleash more attacks, trying to stop him.
As two spears pierced through his legs, Zane couldn't help but gasp.
Only then did he realize that he had been fighting while injured the entire time. His body had already reached its limit.
If not for the adrenaline surging through him, he would have collapsed long ago.
But after realizing this, Zane didn't feel fear. He simply glanced quietly at Rover and the doctor, then looked at the TD floating high above. Raising his blood-covered face, a faint smile appeared on his pale lips.
In that case, let him contribute a little to this final boss fight.
"Over-Ray Schtrom."
Facing the storm of spears, Zane formed an L-shape with his arms. In the next second, an enormous stream of light energy burst forth, tearing through the barrage and slamming into the mysterious TD.
Through the viewing window of the shield, Rover stared blankly at everything.
She felt that she would never forget that figure standing alone against the dim moonlight.
Never forget the back of that person, one that made her feel at ease.
Unfortunately, the moment the beam struck the TD, it was interrupted.
Five or six spears pierced through Zane's body.
"Zane!"
Seeing the sky filled with blood, Rover's mind shook violently. She threw aside the shield and rushed toward the falling figure, like a kite with its string cut.
Meanwhile, the Threnodian on the other side wasn't in good condition either.
The Over-Ray Schtrom could decompose enemies at the molecular level. Even with less than a second of contact, the Threnodian, behind the TD, felt its consciousness almost being broken apart.
Not to mention the TD that directly took the hit. It now sat collapsed on the ground, nearly unable to move. No matter how it tried to use frequency to heal, the decomposition continued.
At this point, it had already begun to retreat.
That white-haired boy was terrifying.
Even as he was killed, he could still tear off a chunk of its flesh.
"Zane… Zane…"
Rover held Zane's blood-covered body, letting his blood stain her pale skin red. Looking at the holes left by the vanished spears, she was at a complete loss.
The doctor and Jiyan, who had rushed over, turned pale at the sight.
With injuries like this, unless an extremely powerful healing-type Resonator was present…
His white hair had long lost its luster, soaked in blood. The face that usually wore a smile was now covered in wounds.
Even so, he forced his eyes open and gave Rover and the doctor a smile.
"Don't worry… I won't die just yet…"
"Shut up!" Rover shouted. "You clearly promised…"
"Sorry…" Zane gently shook his head. His emerald eyes gradually lost focus as he stared at Rover's face so close to him, as if trying to engrave it into his memory.
"Looks like… I'll have to break that promise… just think of me… as a liar…"
Looking at her beautiful face, Zane chuckled softly, only to cough up blood.
"Didn't that old dragon predict it… you'll take back power from the Threnodian… while I've weakened it… go absorb it…"
Rover carefully held his broken body, afraid that even a little force would shatter him.
"Did you really… do all this just for that…"
She covered her mouth, feeling as if something was gripping her heart. Something important was slipping away.
If gaining that power meant sacrificing Zane, she would rather not have it.
Seeing her expression, Zane silently grinned.
"This isn't something small…" He paused, wanting to tell her that for him, her matters were never small.
But after hesitating, he didn't say it. Instead, he started rambling about other things.
"In the future… don't be so foolish… don't believe everything people say… I know you like treasure chests… I left one in my room… inside is everything I've saved over the years…"
"Oh… and… when it's something external, ask the doctor… when it's something internal… also ask the doctor…"
Rover didn't expect him to still be joking at a time like this. She instinctively raised her hand… but it stopped midair, unable to fall.
Zane could barely see her movement now, but he could roughly guess.
Dodging her hits all this time… only to avoid them like this… kind of a shame…
"Help me tell Sister Jinhsi… even though Master looks like a strong woman… she's actually quite fragile… she's always afraid her fire will burn others… but she doesn't know… her fire is actually warm… please ask her to take good care of Master…"
"And Sister Jinhsi always suppresses herself… please help me take care of her too…"
Zane actually had a lot more he wanted to say, but he was running out of time.
There were still many people he cared about. He wondered if they would feel lonely because of him.
Maybe not.
After all, he was always causing trouble for others.
"In the future… if you run into trouble in Jinzhou… just say my name… it'll definitely work…"
Feeling the scent of the girl beside him, Zane closed his eyes. His thoughts slowly drifted away.
"I…"
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