In the end, the Valkyrie squad found the targets of this mission in front of a river.
The boy among the two targets was sitting on the ground with his back to them, staring at the calm river in front of him, lost in thought.
Beside him lay two nearly destroyed prosthetic limbs, which meant that Shun currently had no ability to move at all.
"Oh, you've arrived? You must be tired after chasing for so long. Why don't you sit down and chat?" Shun turned his head. As expected, it was an entire Valkyrie squad. There was naturally no need to compare the physical stamina of two children with that of Valkyries. Fortunately, Sirin had escaped by train.
"Where is the other girl?" Unfortunately, the Valkyrie captain had no intention of chatting idly with Shun. When carrying out a mission, it was best not to interact too much with the targets to avoid developing unnecessary feelings.
"I don't know. Don't ask me. Or rather, why do you think I would tell you? Just because your face is big?"
The Valkyrie captain was not surprised by Shun's answer. She had never expected him to tell her anyway. However, the fact that the other, more important mission target had disappeared made her feel it would be difficult to explain.
The Valkyrie captain silently stepped forward and pressed the muzzle of her gun against the back of Shun's head. Shun was a target that was supposed to be killed during the mission, so she naturally felt no pity for him.
"If you have any last words, I can listen." Shun was probably the youngest human she had ever killed, and he had actually caused her quite a bit of trouble.
The other mission target was missing, and their entire squad had been lured here by Shun. The failure of this mission was already set in stone.
"What is the name of the river in front of me? I'm not very good at geography, and I didn't look at the map while escaping, so I'm not sure."
"Moscow River." The Valkyrie captain answered simply.
"Moscow? Isn't that the name of this country's capital?" This was outside Shun's range of knowledge. There was actually a river called the Moscow River.
The river flowing through London is the Thames, the river flowing through Paris is the Seine. Why was Moscow so impressive that it could make the river change its name?
"Actually, the Moscow River existed first, and then Moscow was named after the Moscow River…" The Valkyrie captain explained the origin of the name, wanting Shun to die with understanding.
Tch, so Moscow was actually the most pathetic one… Shun thought with disdain in his heart.
Moscow: "Sorry, I couldn't make Lord Shun use his full strength."
"Then let me ask one more question…"
"Go ahead." The Valkyrie captain sighed helplessly.
"Would being shot through the brain be a very painful way to die?" Shun suddenly asked.
The Valkyrie captain paused, but then felt that Shun had realized how he was going to die. It was normal for a child to be afraid of pain. No matter how mature he had appeared before, he was still just a child.
"No. The bullet will destroy your brain in an instant. You won't have the chance to feel any pain at all."
"Mm, that's good." Shun nodded, very satisfied with this answer.
"Then, will you regret killing me?" Shun turned his head and looked at the Valkyrie captain.
Only then did the Valkyrie captain see Shun's face clearly for the first time. There was no doubt that if he didn't die here today and was allowed to grow up, this child might grow into someone even she would find attractive.
"No." The Valkyrie captain answered firmly. The finger that had been resting on the trigger of the firearm immediately pulled it.
"I see. That's good then…" Shun closed his eyes. At the same time, the pulse rifle in the Valkyrie captain's hand fired, bursting forth with dazzling light and powerful energy fluctuations.
Shun was about to die. This was what everyone present firmly believed. But one person did not think so.
"This way I can kill you without any guilt, baby!" The bullet fired from the pulse rifle passed straight through Shun's head, as if Shun did not exist in reality at all. At the same time, Shun reached into the inner lining of his clothes.
This was a situation no one had anticipated, so no one could stop Shun's action. Of course, even if they stopped him, it would have been useless.
His body in an Imaginary state was invincible. If he didn't feel the timing was wrong, he would even want to say "Kawaii!"
"This shot is for you. Have a safe journey, baby!" The safety of the Makarov pistol in Shun's hand had already been quietly released. His finger gently rested on the trigger. The surroundings were deathly silent, as if even the air had frozen. In this suffocatingly tense moment, suddenly, a loud "bang" broke the silence. A yellowish bullet shot out like lightning, carrying endless killing intent and power, flying straight toward the Valkyrie captain.
In an instant, time seemed to slow down. The bullet traced a deadly arc through the air, stirring the surrounding airflow into turbulent rolls. The Valkyrie captain's eyes widened in shock and fear, but it was already too late.
The next moment, the yellowish bullet accurately sank into the center of her brow! Instantly, blood splattered everywhere like a tragically blooming blood flower. The Valkyrie captain's body trembled violently, then fell straight backward like a puppet with its strings cut…
"In your next life, don't work for a dog." The moment he finished speaking, almost the next second, a high-frequency vibration particle lance emitting blue light pierced into his chest, lifting Shun's thin body into the air.
The one who attacked was actually the young girl named "Vina" who had just been reprimanded by the Valkyrie captain. The moment Shun pulled out his pistol, she had snatched the weapon from a nearby teammate and thrown it at him.
Shun flew through the air like a broken kite, tracing an arc before falling into the water with a "splash." Blood dyed a patch of the Moscow River near the bank red.
The high-frequency vibration particle lance had shattered Shun's internal organs the instant it pierced his chest, so no one believed he could survive.
At this moment, Shun was already in an extremely weak state. His consciousness was as faint as a candle in the wind, on the verge of extinguishing. Compared to the instant death of being shot directly in the head, the current situation of having all his internal organs shattered yet being unable to die immediately was simply a nightmare. Every breath was accompanied by heart-wrenching pain, cold river water pouring into his throat, and the broken organs inside his body brought him unprecedented torment and suffering.
When Shun's scarred body was tightly wrapped by the icy river water, a chill rapidly penetrated his skin and reached deep into his bones. He felt as if his blood had frozen, and even his soul seemed to be frozen by the endless cold, becoming stiff and extremely heavy.
Noisy sounds seemed to come from the shore. The only sense Shun had left now was hearing. However, all the liveliness belonged to them; he only found it noisy.
"I wonder if Sirin can survive…" Shun's only obsession now was Sirin.
Actually, he had been worried before that Sirin would sneak attack him at night, but in fact it was Shun who had sneaked into Sirin's room while she was asleep and done something to her.
Of course, as a proper gentleman, he would never do anything improper.
Did he just dodge the Valkyrie captain's Imaginary state earlier? Why didn't Shun continue using Imaginary state to dodge the lance that took his life?
Naturally, it was because he had run out of Honkai energy. Honkai energy was already extremely scarce on Earth before the Second Eruption had even occurred, and the amount he had accumulated over these months had all been used on Sirin.
He still remembered clearly the inhuman Herrscher of Thunder from the Third Eruption. So even while doing his best to avoid Sirin's Herrscher transformation, Shun had used all his Honkai energy reserves to cut the threads of fate on Sirin's body.
Otherwise, Shun estimated he could have used that Honkai energy long ago to trigger the blessing of the Abyss Flower on his body and regenerate his severed limb.
"Sirin, I really hope… you can live on…" However, no matter how much reluctance and attachment he felt in his heart, Shun understood that his time had come to an end. He could only carry endless regret and emotion, allowing that last trace of consciousness to gradually dissipate like light smoke.