Chapter 54: A Death That Grants Me Honor

Kazkhan felt a sharp pain across his back as if countless piercing blades had struck him, leaving him breathless for a moment. Biting down hard on his teeth, he scrambled desperately toward the shallow waters nearby. Only then did he realize that the rhythmic, popping thuds he had heard moments before were the sounds of bullets tearing through the water's surface.

The chieftain of the Sand People braced his body and leaped forcefully out of the lake. In that fleeting instant, it felt as though every single bullet was lunging directly at him, only to be either deflected by a sweep of his hand or blocked by his darkened scales.

Enduring the agonizing pain, Kazkhan finally rolled beneath the cliff face, finding a semblance of safety in the upper blind spot of the enemy's line of fire, and drew a long, ragged breath. Immediately afterward, however, a wave of grief and despair crashed down upon him like an avalanche, almost utterly crushing the resilient chieftain.

"They... they even set up a perimeter here? This leaves us no way out at all!" Kazkhan felt tears welling up in his eyes, born of despair, but driven even more by overwhelming terror. He felt like a mosquito trapped in a spider's web—no matter how desperately he thrashed or resisted, he only managed to entangle himself more tightly.

He looked toward the lake, and this time he almost truly wept. Miyun was floating face up on the water's surface, her azure scales fading into a ruined, desolate grayish-blue, while the ripples around her were thoroughly stained a deep, brownish-red by blood. Her body still drifted and bobbed gently with the water's motion, but there was no longer any sign of life.

Kazkhan himself was a "Guardian," a combat-oriented psionic whose constitution and defensive capabilities had been enhanced. Perhaps that was why he hadn't died after taking a full burst of gunfire—in truth, those bullets had not inflicted fatal wounds; they were merely lodged precariously in the gaps of his scales and his outer skin, easily shaken off with a casual flick.

Miyun, however, was a "Believer," which, to put it plainly, was a greenhorn healer.

Yet, out of all known parallel universes, how many healers could you name that possessed frontline tanking capabilities?

The tank survived, but the healer perished. How starkly realistic, yet how cruel a scene!

Kazkhan opened his mouth in agony, then suddenly bit down hard on his own arm. He hammered his fist against the cliff face inches from his body—once, twice, thrice, four times—until dirt flew in all directions and a fist-shaped crater was gouged into the rock.

"I couldn't protect them. Why couldn't I protect them? I lack the strength! I need power!"

The iron-gray star cluster in his spiritual vision grew increasingly bright, rapidly expanding to the second ring. Within the nebula, the number of glowing, radiant stars multiplied from a mere dozen to several hundreds. Anger, despair, and anguish transformed once more into determination and fighting spirit. Stirred by this turbulent emotion, Kazkhan finally broke through the boundaries of his psionic tier, completing his first evolution since awakening.

He entered the shadow side of the Guardian constellation, officially stepping onto the "Protection" path. The second ring he unlocked was named "Heavy Infantry."

"The Will of Wanu!" he muttered to himself in the ancient language of the Sand People, a whisper meant only for his own ears.

"I haven't lost everything! Do I not still possess life? As long as I am still breathing, I can still fight!" Kazkhan felt an unprecedented surge of abundant physical strength and overflowing vital energy circulating through his body. Returning with it was a fighting spirit that had never truly faded.

Here was an indomitable warrior, equipped with every quality a legendary hero ought to possess.

Clinging tightly to the rock face, he ran swiftly, sheltering within the enemy's blind spots above. The enhancement direction for the Heavy Infantry remained focused on physical fitness and constitution, granting him an instinctive intuition for defensive counterattack techniques. Yet, even with a body forged of steel and iron, his agility and stride remained far superior to those of ordinary people, fully comparable to armored buggies and raptors.

He also heard the din of voices echoing from atop the cliff. The enemy had clearly discovered him, but for the moment, they were utterly helpless against his position in the blind spot.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The enemy began their assault with grenades and mortar fire. Explosions erupted continuously around Kazkhan, but these shockwaves and searing flames posed no significant danger to him in his current state.

It would be even better if the enemy attempted to jump down from the cliff to intercept him; having reached the second ring, Kazkhan's confidence was soaring. In any case, the terrain beneath the heights consisted entirely of canyons and shallow flats, leaving no room to deploy a large enemy force. In such narrow terrain, even when facing dozens of foes equipped with powered exoskeleton armor, he was confident he could fight and emerge victorious.

I can escape! Kazkhan told himself. Clasping his amulet tightly, he felt as though the souls of his ancestors, his parents, the Grand Elder, as well as Shaxue and Miyun, were all with him, transformed into his own strength!

Returning to his tribe, he could still rally tens of thousands of warriors, providing a foundation to gather the routed troops. Yes, he also needed to find the children. His and Shaxue's children.

He would lead the sons of Wanu to continue their resistance, and he would raise those children to adulthood! This was his responsibility.

I will not die.

Gritting his teeth and enduring the harassment of shrapnel, shockwaves, and gunfire, Kazkhan truly ran a wide circle around the Archie Highlands. Concealing himself among the mountain ridges in the distance, gazing at the undulating peaks rolling away into the horizon, he felt his path to survival lay right over there.

The last two hundred meters! This was the final two hundred meters of open ground! Once he sprinted across this stretch, he could plunge into the mountains. The enemy would never be able to cut him off again!

Kazkhan took a few deep breaths. The power of his psionic energy painted his scales with an even deeper hue of dark metallic gold. With a violent tremor in his legs, his muscles coiled like springs. The next instant, his entire body launched forward like a cannonball.

In that fleeting moment, his speed surged past a velocity that even a Black Panther armored vehicle could only watch and despair of reaching. He heard the cries of astonishment from the enemies atop the Archie Highlands, followed by a fierce storm of bullets raining down.

However, his speed was simply too great; the bullets all fell harmlessly behind him.

I can make it! Kazkhan felt a surge of wild exhilaration.

Yet at that very moment, he suddenly felt a chilling sensation in his leg, followed by a distinct numbness, causing him to stagger violently.

The consequences of losing one's balance at high speed were devastating. Even with Kazkhan's exceptional athletic prowess, he crashed uncontrollably to the ground. Rolling several times across the flat terrain, he caught sight of a massive protruding boulder nearby and leaped desperately behind it. Bullets struck the giant rock behind him with a rapid succession of thuds, sending rock chips flying. Kazkhan examined the fresh gunshot wound on his leg, lowered his eyelids, and felt his spirits slowly sink.

He knew that with this setback, he would never have another chance to escape.

Sure enough, the very moment he crouched behind the boulder, several muffled heavy thuds echoed from behind—mobile infantry clad in powered armor must have used their glide functionality to catch up.

"Ina! Great job!" someone shouted loudly from the opposite side, though Kazkhan, who had not yet studied abroad, could not understand the words.

Was it truly the end of the line after all?

The young chieftain closed his eyes, offered a bitter smile, and, enduring his injuries, calmly stood up from behind the boulder. He had originally thought of launching a desperate final charge, vowing to drag a few enemies down with him even if it meant being torn to pieces, but he halted, staring in mild surprise at the leader of this group of human infantry.

The opponent made no particular effort to conceal his faint transcendent energy resonance, allowing even a "Heavy Infantry" unskilled in perception like Kazkhan to guess the man's identity as a psionic.

The opponent was sizing him up in return, scrutinizing him perhaps a bit too carefully, as if confirming something. Finally, the man spoke: "Kazkhan... Yes, it truly is you. My name is Yu Lian! A Commonwealth warrant officer. I have been awaiting you for quite some time."

The stranger spoke in the native language of the Sand People, causing Kazkhan to hold him in somewhat higher regard.

"I do not know you," Kazkhan said.

"It is enough that I know you. In my eyes, you are far more important than Hersen."

The chieftain was momentarily flattered, followed instantly by a sense of absurdity. Although he was confident in his own abilities, upon reflection, he realized he had never truly done anything that should have drawn the attention of so many people.

"I don't quite understand!"

The opponent's face was filled with grief and despair, as if he refused to close his eyes even in death.

Yu Lian's emotions were somewhat complex for a moment. Putting aside the matter of differing stances, in future eras, he actually held a deep admiration for this Founding Father of the Sand People's independence. He spoke in the Sand People's language, which only the two of them present could understand: "...Well, he is the past, but you are the future! I reviewed your intelligence reports and determined that you are the Commonwealth's greatest hidden threat on this planet!"

The garrison command headquarters did indeed possess an intelligence file on Kazkhan, but it consisted of only a single page. In reality, they held dossiers on nearly every tribal chieftain and city-state monarch, and Kazkhan's priority ranking hadn't even cracked the top ten.

"Thank you for your high regard, Your Excellency... If you are attempting to comfort me, I am deeply grateful," Kazkhan said with a bitter smile.

He was a robust and powerful heavy infantryman, yet his temperament was remarkably steady for a Sand Person, laced even with a touch of humor.

"I am severely injured now, my stamina exhausted, like a lizard trapped in a rock crevice by a Luo beast. Yet even so, I have no desire to die beneath a random hail of gunfire..." The chieftain sighed, appearing strangely relieved, a faint smile touching his face. With that, he calmly walked toward Yu Lian.

He was indeed smiling. Yet, aside from Yu Lian, no one else could read the expressions of the Sand People, and the soldiers raised their weapons in unison.

"Halt! Sandman, put your hands behind your head! Kneel!" ordered Lieutenant Parkin.

"He won't do that," Yu Lian shook his head.

"Grant me an honorable death! The death of a warrior!" Kazkhan shouted aloud.

Yu Lian looked at him for a full three seconds, then suddenly deactivated his powered armor and leaped down.

He looked up at the Sand chieftain, who towered a full head taller than him, his gaze sweeping swiftly across the amulet on the opponent's chest before he drew two crystal swords from the backup weapon rack of his command unit.

"Very well, but we are both in the first ring, so it will be a one-on-one duel!"

"What does that have to do with me?" Stein, who had been hiding among the crowd eating melon seeds, felt a wave of grief wash over him.

Ignoring him, Yu Lian tossed one of the swords forward.

The standard hand-and-a-half sword (scaled to human proportions) landed in the burly Sand chieftain's grasp, looking no larger than a dagger. He nodded gratefully to Yu Lian, casually swung the blade to test its balance, and then assumed a fighting stance.

"Come! Grant me honor, or I shall grant it to you!" he roared loudly. Despite being covered in wounds, despite being utterly exhausted, and despite facing a desperate impasse, he believed that his current state would be the most perfect of his entire life!