Beyond the Zenith

The last vestige of Zhang Dao’an’s life, sustained only by source energy, was fading. The head training instructor of Regiment 425 was about to die.

This man had drawn nothing but resentment and frustration from others for years. He always held his head high and kept his back ramrod straight.

They watched as that same man’s head drooped, and his back buckled. His tall, imposing frame crumpled over the pillar sword that had been driven through his abdomen.

Everyone grieved in silence. They seared the image of his blood-drenched figure standing alone against the Glowing Blue Sharpie into their minds.

No one truly understood the peace Zhang Dao’an felt at that moment. Not a single person present did.

In the haze of his final moments, he saw his old platoon leader and comrades again, the people who had died in part because of his mistake. He saw the strongest platoon in the history of the 425th Regiment, the Red Erasers, and could finally say the long-held words: 34473, requesting permission to rejoin.

His years of living with guilt, walking the path of atonement, had finally come to an end. Years after his mistake, he had sacrificed his life to add one last stroke of glory to the legend of the Red Erasers. He had finally made his contribution to the Erasers, the Ninth Army’s Regiment 425.

Every person on the mountainside, from the nearest cliff edge to the farthest ridgeline, raised a hand in salute.

“For all who still draw breath, we fight with no retreat, our bodies shielding the sky.”

The motto of the Azure Coalition’s Only Witness Legion rang out across the mountains, drowning out the Glowing Blue Sharpie’s furious howls.

Suddenly, the Sharpie surged into motion. Its target was singular: the figure standing on the cliff’s edge.

It had only left the device after setting it up because its close-quarters combat style couldn’t block enemies from getting near. Despite its immense power, if enough soldiers reached it, they could destroy the device regardless of the outcome of the fight itself.

This was why the Glowing Blue Sharpie chose to mount the device on the clifftop, then move a distance away to intercept, driving off attackers and killing them quickly. This was well within its capabilities. Its speed even meant it could rush back at the first sign of trouble.

Only, it hadn’t expected to run into a hastily established team of seventeen people from the Only Witness Legion and face the most brutal, tenacious resistance of the past five to six years.

Disregarding the wounds littering its body, the Sharpie fixed its gaze on the cliff’s edge and took a step forward.

What happened next would be remembered for a long time.

It was Zhang Dao’an’s last act before death claimed him. Everyone presumed him dead, yet in this moment, he abruptly stirred, perhaps under the watchful eye of Platoon Leader Wang and his comrades.

Fighting through the pillar sword still lodged in his abdomen, Zhang Dao’an pushed himself forward, closed the distance, and locked his arms around the Sharpie’s waist from the front, gripping the handles of the two straight blades buried in its lower back for leverage.

These were the worst wounds on the Glowing Blue Sharpie’s body, two dead iron straight blades half-driven in on each side of its lower back.

Platoon 1123’s lieutenant and his comrades had delivered those blows during the earlier battle. They had done it for their platoon leader, for the Coalition, and for the honor of the designation of 1123. They had done it for the recruits, to repay a debt they couldn’t afford to owe.

Those were the last strikes of their lives.

This way, when they stood before their old comrades and captains in the afterlife, they could at least do so with pride. It was a last stand worth bragging about.

***

Han Qingyu ran as fast as he could. Zhang Dao’an had used the last of his strength to buy him time.

The Glowing Blue Sharpie’s sole target was him. It ignored everyone else, and no one else could keep up with it either.

The chase had already gone on for over ten minutes now. At first, the gap had closed rapidly, but it eventually stabilized at somewhere between 200 and 300 meters.

If not for the Sharpie’s injuries, Han Qingyu would likely already be dead.

He ran ahead with the Sharpie in hot pursuit, but there was also another person chasing behind the Sharpie.

It was Xin Yaoqiao. As she ran, she shouted strange sounds at the Sharpie in every tone and pitch she could manage, likely threats, negotiations, insults, and more. The Glowing Blue Sharpie paid her no mind.

Han Qingyu heard her but couldn’t understand a word. Glancing back, he called, “What are you saying?”

“Huh? That wasn’t for you; it was for the Sharpie. I was trying to make up some alien language on the fly,” Xin Yaoqiao shouted back in reply. “Doesn’t seem like it understands either. Or maybe it just doesn’t care.”

Han Qingyu was speechless. “Then why are you still chasing? Go!”

“I...” She found she had little to say to that.

The attempt at communication had failed, and she couldn’t catch up. She also didn’t have time to wonder how a mere recruit could run that fast. This was probably why he had been placed in the prospective tier despite being a combat-capable individual.

“Run toward that ditch where we were lying!” she eventually shouted. “There’s a bag with lots of fully charged energy cores there!”

Han Qingyu immediately changed direction and doubled back toward the ditch. As he ran past it, he snatched up Xin Yaoqiao’s bag and rifled through it while sprinting. Inside was money, lots of it. It took a moment, but he soon found the energy cores as well.

He slung the bag over his shoulder, swapping out energy cores whenever he had the chance, running the whole time.

The Glowing Blue Sharpie pursued him like it had gone mad.

The chase lasted over an hour.

Then, the whirring of helicopter blades. Two military-painted helicopters landed nearby, and four people stepped off.

One wore a mask and had a maneuvering device strapped to his back. Drawing his blade, he walked straight toward the Sharpie.

This was Han Qingyu’s first time witnessing an S-rank super combatant of the Coalition in their prime. The fight was too fast for his eyes to follow, with the entire thing lasting maybe ten seconds. By the end, the man had fully dismembered the already grievously wounded Glowing Blue Sharpie. He not only severed its arms and legs, but even bisected it at the waist. It had been carved into pieces.

Despite this, the Sharpie still self-destructed. It seemed capable of triggering self-destruction both by actively channeling source energy and by being drained of source energy entirely.

Someone went to collect the blood it left behind while the masked man sheathed his blade and turned to glance at Han Qingyu.

At that moment, Xin Yaoqiao emerged from the treeline, spotted the masked man, and immediately turned to run.

She was promptly brought back.

Han Qingyu didn’t hear their conversation, still standing there in a daze. If I were that strong, everything would’ve turned out differently.

After the masked man finished speaking to Xin Yaoqiao, he stood at attention and saluted in the direction where Zhang Dao’an, the other instructors, and the soldiers of Platoon 1123 had fallen.

As the man passed ‌Han Qingyu, he paused and said, “Thank you. And I’m sorry I was late.”

He then headed over to the helicopters to wait.

Xin Yaoqiao walked over.

“That’s my teacher. He’s also one of the four S-rank combatants in the Oriental Republic Army Group, the Legendary Lu, Lu Moyi.” She paused. “You’re allowed to know because you’re in the prospective tier.”

Han Qingyu blinked. “What prospective tier?”

“It’s a... file.” Xin Yaoqiao said with a smile, as if that explained everything. “I’m in it too.”

“Oh.” Han Qingyu lost interest when she didn’t mention any perks. Between that and his state of mind, he didn’t feel like saying much.

The helicopter was waiting for Xin Yaoqiao, so Han Qingyu returned her bag.

“I have to go now. I’m sorry that our first meeting was under these circumstances. I thought about it, and I don’t think it would be right to say that I’m glad to have met you, but I still am. I’m also glad we got to lie in that ditch together. My name is Xin Yaoqiao. You can call me Qiaoqiao, Yaoyao, or even Huanghuang, any of those works. My name doesn’t mean ‘swaying’ or anything like that, okay?[1] Anyway, we’ll definitely meet again. And remember, no jumping!” With that final warning, she waved and walked toward the helicopter.

“Hey!” Han Qingyu suddenly called out from behind.

“Hm?” Xin Yaoqiao happily turned back to look at him.

“Thank you, too. And that little bug of yours? Remember to wipe it off.”

Xin Yaoqiao froze. “Oh.”

She had actually forgotten about it, and the reminder set her off. In a panic, she undid her collar button and carefully wiped away the remains of the crushed beetle. Her slender, graceful neck was fair, and judging by the noticeable dip at the base of her throat, her collarbones were probably quite pretty too.

But Han Qingyu noticed none of it.

It was time for him to go back. In one night, he had witnessed things that would stay with him for life and lost people he had known to death.

1. 摇晃 (yáo huàng) means to sway or shake. ☜