Chapter 327
Page 327
"Where did Jianwu go?"
Hoshino Yui looked at Yuina curiously; she hadn't looked carefully when she arrived. Yuina chuckled and pointed to the ceiling, saying:
"After the Dark Giant incident, Jian Wu went back to Mars to continue his research. He only returns when the monsters that appear are too difficult to deal with."
"Oh, I see. It's been resolved smoothly. Looks like you did a good job."
The girl looked gently at Jieming, and for the first time seriously tried to sense the Eternal Core's condition, but it remained unchanged. However, the team members beside her seemed somewhat embarrassed after hearing the girl's words, suggesting there was something more to the story.
Noticing this, Hoshino Yui curiously shifted her gaze to Seijin. This honest boy was rather shy, and after being stared at by the girl for a while, he finally couldn't withstand the pressure and blurted it out.
Ever since Kengo learned that he was the real Triga, his gradually recovering memories made him feel extremely guilty towards Carmilla. Several times during their battles, he tried to have a proper talk with Carmilla and even wanted to reconcile with her.
If things had gone according to plan, they might have been able to persuade Carmilla to let go of her obsession, but unfortunately, the Dark Trio had a very pure villain named Hitram.
This person noticed Carmilla's wavering and realized that Dagon was a martial arts fanatic who simply enjoyed fighting. So Hitram secretly pulled Carmilla and Dagon together, while also plotting something in secret.
Ultimately, Dagon followed his heart and chose to confront Triga head-on to settle the score, while Carmira, under Hitram's influence, fought a fierce battle against Yui. In the end, all four warriors were severely wounded, and Hitram appeared, killed and devoured Dagon, and kidnapped Yui, opening the entrance to the Eternal Core.
When Hitram touched the Eternal Core, he transformed into a dark monster. The Eternal Core also went berserk due to the corruption caused by the darkness. Ignis arrived late and managed to save Yukina, but he was unable to stop Hitram's ambition.
The terrifying darkness returned to the world. Carmilla, seeing Hitram's ugly and insane appearance, finally began to realize what she was pursuing. So, persuaded by Kenjiro, Carmilla temporarily joined Kenjiro and the others' team. In a fierce battle, they killed the rampaging Hitram together.
However, the riot within the Eternal Core did not cease, and Kengo attempted to use Triga's power to suppress it.
Driven mad by love, Carmila made a desperate gamble by touching the Eternal Core after Jianwu sacrificed himself. Already severely injured, she paid the price with her life. Her purest love blurred the boundary between darkness and light in an instant. Carmila burned everything she had to bring Jianwu back.
As Carmila's consciousness faded, two dark forces, like a curse or a blessing, carried her last words and entered the bodies of Jieming and Jianwu.
Until her last breath, this obsessive woman was determined to make the man she had chosen and her rival remember her name forever, for eternity.
"...So, because of Carmilla's final action, both you and Kengo have manifested in light and dark forms? No wonder I could sense the exceptionally harmonious dark power within you."
Hoshino Yui's expression was subtle. She was curious about what Carmilla was like before she died. She could also understand why everyone felt awkward. Carmilla had undoubtedly killed a lot of people and brought great disaster to humanity. But in the end, it was this woman who saved Triga and Kengo.
The conflicting emotions made the members of Elite Victory Team somewhat uncomfortable when talking about Carmila.
Even though this woman is dead, she will forever leave a shadow in everyone's hearts, and it will probably be very difficult for them to let go of it.
"Well, regardless, Carmira is our enemy... I'd like to say that, but she ultimately saved Kengo, so it's hard for me to say..."
Sheng Zhangren and Jieming exchanged a glance. As the youngest team members, their awareness in this regard was clearly not as good as that of experienced warriors like their captain.
"Well, since Carmilla is already dead, you don't need to worry about these things too much. Merits are merits, and faults are faults. Just look at them calmly. You can't deny the good things a bad person has done just because he's bad, and you can't ignore the bad things a good person has done just because he's good. You two need to keep a calm mindset."
The girl raised her hand and patted the two men on the shoulder, offering a few simple words of comfort. However, since she hadn't personally experienced these things, she only touched on the topic briefly and didn't delve too deeply into it.
"More importantly, I'm here to give you an invitation—to my wedding with Sagitali. I hope you can attend."
The invitation was handed out, eliciting gasps of surprise and well-wishes from everyone, creating a lively atmosphere. Hoshino Yui, as always, demonstrated how to use the invitation, once again drawing gasps from the crowd.
"I won't make a special trip to Mars, but please tell Jianwu for me."
The girl asked the Saint Zhangren to help her contact Jianwu, who was growing flowers on Mars. After all, the girl was not familiar with the base on Mars, and it would take too much time for the GUTS team to take her there. After that, she would have to go to the Land of Light to find someone to send out invitations, so it wouldn't be good to spend a whole day traveling for that.
"I understand. Leave it to us. Kengo will definitely be happy."
Keina cutely raised her hand and made a gesture of wrapping it around her body, while Iruru next to her sighed that she never expected to receive an invitation across the universe in her lifetime, and this experience was truly unique.
"Speaking of which, Hoshino-chan, did anyone wear men's clothing at your wedding with Sagita?"
Sei Akito suddenly brought up this question, which startled Hoshino Yui for a moment before she smiled and said:
"Of course we'll all wear wedding dresses. I'll have to find some time to pick out a wedding dress when I get back."
"That's great—I really wanted to go ahead and help you choose!"
Jieming murmured envy from the side, but as a giant of light, she felt it best not to wander off to places where she couldn't be rescued in time, out of a sense of responsibility.
Home is where the heart is: Chapter 633 An Unexpected Twist Came to My Door
After saying goodbye to everyone in the Elite GUTS team, Hoshino Yui's next target is the Land of Light. Whether it's Zeta and Haruki, or Zero and others whom she has met a few times, without the help of the Land of Light to locate them, finding these giants of light who are running all over the world is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
The girl piloted Unit-01 across the galaxy and arrived in the Land of Light. The fact that she was all alone in the cockpit was rather unsettling.
Unit-01 made no attempt to conceal its presence, brazenly approaching the Land of Light. Soon after, two Ultra Warriors flew in from a distance and blocked its path.
"Wait a moment, may I ask what brings you to the Land of Light?"
The two warriors did not show any hostility, but they blocked Unit-01's path. According to the girl, they were probably worried that other aliens would be exposed to the radiation from the plasma sparks and die.
"My name is Hoshino Yui. I met Zero and Zeta on Earth. I need to talk to them about something. I wonder if you could ask them for me?"
“Zeta? Oh, that newcomer… Zeta shouldn’t be in the Land of Light, but Zero might be. Wait a moment, I’ll contact the training grounds.”
The two soldiers exchanged a glance and nodded. One of them turned around and began to contact the others, while the other remained facing Unit-01, presumably wary that the girl might suddenly attack and hurt people.
However, even after Zero actually flew out, Hoshino Yui did not make any extra movements, except to record the images of the Land of Light into her device for safekeeping.
"Thank you for your hard work. You can leave Hoshino to me."
Zero greeted the two warriors, then grabbed Unit-01's arm and flew towards the Land of Light:
"Goodness, I was planning to come see you in a few days, but I didn't expect you to come by yourself. Come with me, there's some trouble you need to see for yourself."
"Huh? What kind of trouble could be related to me..."
Hoshino Yui froze for a moment, not even noticing Zero grabbing her arm. The two soldiers watched as Unit-01 rushed into the radiation range of the plasma sparks, speechless for a moment.
"Hey... do you think that woman might be someone's offspring from an affair?"
"I think it looks somewhat like it. It's clearly not from our race, but it can still bathe in plasma sparks. Tsk tsk, I just wonder which senior's child it is."
The two soldiers huddled together, recounting Hoshino Yui's origins, before returning to their posts to continue monitoring the star system near the Land of Light.
On the other side, Hoshino Yui followed Zero directly to the city where the Plasma Spark Tower was located in the Land of Light. The fluorescent green city looked exceptionally beautiful.
"Hey, where are you planning to take me?"
"Galactic Crusaders, how come you're just as half-baked as Zeta, causing this kind of trouble?"
Zero's tone was full of schadenfreude, which relieved Hoshino Yui. At least it didn't seem like a very bad problem. However, this thought didn't last long.
The two flew very fast. Hoshino Yui had learned the Ultra Sign, so she could understand the writing of the Land of Light. After recognizing the sign and the large number of Silver Tribe female Ultras here, she confirmed that they had come to the right place.
As soon as I entered, a female Omega from the Silver Clan greeted me, holding a screen in her hand.
"Zero, you're here. I was just about to look for you. This is the patient's latest condition. His emotions have stabilized, and his adaptability to the plasma spark is surprisingly high. However, he's still the same as before, unwilling to interact with people... Oh? And this is... You found someone?!"
Halfway through her sentence, the female Omega, who appeared to be a doctor, tilted her head to look at Unit-01 and then suddenly exclaimed in surprise, a reaction that left the girl bewildered. Zero nodded and said:
“This time she came to us of her own accord, Anila, take us there.”
"Huh? Not yet... I think this Ms. Hoshino doesn't seem to know anything yet. It would be better to explain the situation to her first."
The female Ultrawoman named Anila seemed a little worried and stopped the impatient Zero, even giving him a reproachful glare, which made Zero scratch his head in embarrassment.
"Uh, haha... You're right. Let's do as you say. I have to go to training now, so I'll be going now. Hoshino, if you need to find me later, just go to the training ground."
"...Alright then."
Hoshino Yui didn't say anything while watching Zero's hurried manner. After seeing Zero leave, she turned to the female Ultra in front of her and asked:
"Um... Sister Anila, can you tell me what happened?"
"Oh my, you have a sweet tongue. Take a look at this first, and you'll understand after you see it."
Anila shoved the screen from her hand into the girl's hand, even thoughtfully converting it into Earth language. Hoshino Yui thanked her and lowered her head to look at it intently. Her initially casual attitude gradually turned serious, and she remained silent until the end of the medical record. The girl's mood had plummeted.
"...Is it true that it has self-awareness, as the report says?"
"Yes, at least since we came into contact with it in the Absolut territory, it has shown a clear sense of self, and we have ruled out the possibility of it being parasitized or possessed."
"..."
Hoshino Yui gripped the screen tightly, her face pale. On the screen was a robot covered in red armor that looked very similar to Unit-01, as well as the earliest version of Mecha Zero that the Land of Light had investigated. The bright red armor seemed to mock the girl's recklessness.
“Miss Hoshino…? Don’t blame yourself too much. I heard Zeta mention that you did judge that the other party had no self-awareness at that time, which is why you made the decision to eliminate the other party at the critical moment. I believe that every decision made on the battlefield should not be judged by the person involved in hindsight.”
Anila's gentle voice rang in her ears. The girl took a deep breath, looked up, and her mind was filled with the scene of her first meeting with Anila in the human's secret factory.
The feeling of being watched at that time... was not an illusion, but I hastily judged it to be devoid of self-awareness and mercilessly killed it...
"...Could you show me it?"
"Actually, I suggest we don't meet right now. Its mind is rather confused, and it keeps talking about wanting to take revenge on its mother. I'm worried..."
Anila was somewhat worried, both about the patient and about Ms. Hoshino.
"It's okay, this can't be avoided. Now that I know, I can't just go back and get married happily without doing anything."
Home is where the heart is: Chapter 634 The Abandoned Child
Before meeting the other, Hoshino Yui had been thinking about how she should treat it. It was hard to imagine what it had gone through during the time Tartarus took it from the past.
But the moment Hoshino Yui stepped into the ward, controlling Unit-01, and their eyes met—almost identical to the Unit-02 she remembered—all the thoughts the girl had been pondering stuck in her throat, unable to be uttered.
"Roar--!!!!"
Unit-04, which had been calmly sitting on the instrument undergoing examination, suddenly erupted, its whole body radiating golden light. Like a whirlwind, it swiftly knocked down the defenseless Unit-01 to the ground!
—Click, click!
"Well--!"
The No. 4 Unit, even more powerful than it had imagined, opened its mouth and bit down on the chest armor of the No. 1 Unit. The incredibly strong bite force caused the armor, which should have been incredibly hard, to deform severely. Its arms gripped the No. 1 Unit's hands tightly, as if it wanted to swallow the No. 1 Unit whole.
—Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sharp blade shot out from the armor and then slammed into Unit-01's chest again and again. Finally, after managing to break through the armor, it pierced deep into Unit-01's body!
Hot blood spurted out, but Hoshino Yui just frowned and gritted her teeth to endure the excruciating pain in her chest. This time, she clearly felt the intensely emotional gaze from the cloned giant.
"I'll go get someone right away—!"
"No! Hmm... I'll take care of it."
The girl stopped Anila, who was trying to run out to call the guards, but this action seemed to further enrage Unit-04, who was venting her emotions!
"Am I really so unworthy of your attention?! Why?! Why did you abandon me?! Mom—! Don't look at anyone else!!!"
Unit-04, who could already speak in complete sentences, flashed its right hand, and with a shimmering golden light, grabbed Unit-01 by the throat, roaring at the girl! The intense hatred seemed to be taking shape, and a dark power began to spread gradually within the golden light.
"Cough cough... I'm sorry, if this makes you feel any better, I can cough cough... we can talk again after you've vented..."
Hoshino Yui looked at Unit-04 with a sorrowful gaze, deliberately preventing the huge wound on her chest from healing. She was pinned to the ground with Unit-04 pressing her neck down. The thought of killing it with her own hands in the past made the girl feel a suffocating tightness in her chest.
Unit-04 paused for a moment, then its increasingly violent rage erupted again. It suddenly released its grip, then flipped over and kicked Unit-01 hard in the chest! With the armor groaning and blood splattering, Unit-01 smashed through the wall without any resistance and collapsed in the corridor covered in blood!