The Vixen's Gambit: Tonight We Hunt

"What do you mean..... 'can't win'?"

Kevin stared at Lee on the ground in disbelief, unable to believe that such words were spoken from the other party's mouth.

"We just can't win."

Lee murmured. Kevin didn't even know if she was talking to him or to herself.

"Humanity can't win against the Honkai. From the beginning, there was no possibility....."

"What are you talking about, Lee? Haven't we been winning until now?!" Kevin's emotions were rarely agitated.

He couldn't help but be agitated, not only because of what Lee had done, but also because she was now denying their struggles all along.

What did she mean by "can't win against the Honkai"? They had been fighting until now, and had eliminated so many Herrschers! And the one who had always stood at the forefront facing the surging Honkai was Lee herself!

But now this undeniable hero of humanity told him that humanity had no chance of defeating the Honkai from the beginning?

"Have we ever won.....?" Lee gave a bitter smile and said hoarsely, "Never, we've never won....."

"The Honkai only needs to send a few Herrschers to push the entire civilization to the corner..... But how many people have we lost?"

Kevin didn't know how to answer. The other party only paid the price of twelve Herrschers and wiped out nearly seven billion people of humanity.

And these twelve Herrschers were not even the existence of the civilization that brought about the Honkai itself, but just messengers created by them using people from Earth.....

The victory that Kevin was talking about only meant that humanity had survived. No matter how many people were sacrificed during this period, as long as civilization and humanity could eventually continue, it was considered a victory.

But if the two civilizations were measured equally, then humanity could only be said to have been defeated miserably. The other party just casually made a move, and it could almost wipe out the entire human race.

"But, we're already about to face the Herrscher of Finality....." In the end, Kevin could only change the subject and say such an answer.

No matter how many people were sacrificed, humanity had at least struggled to see the dawn of survival, right? As long as they survived and didn't perish, that could be considered the worst kind of victory in a sense.

"The Herrscher of Finality, yes, the Herrscher of Finality....."

Lee smiled. Even though she was still coughing up blood and looked very painful, she was still smiling.

But the despair in this smile, even Kevin could feel it.

Finally, Lee stopped, and her vacant eyes looked at the dim sky. "Humanity can't win against the Herrscher of Finality at all."

"We have no chance of winning, Kevin..... Even you."

"Why is there no chance of winning? Lee, didn't you tell us that humanity still had hope? Didn't you tell us that as long as we persisted to the end, we could eventually create a miracle?!"

Looking at Lee, who seemed to have lost all hope and motivation, Kevin said excitedly, unable to control himself. "Now the Herrscher of Finality hasn't even arrived yet. We haven't even seen her appearance. Why are you so desperately concluding that we can't win!?"

"Because, that's how the future is....." Lee said calmly, "You should know, I can see the future?"

"That's how the future is. Kalpas died, then Kosma, Hua..... In the end, everyone died, even you."

Indeed, although this matter couldn't be spread, because Lee trusted Kevin very much, she had told him about this before.

After the Sixth Herrscher incident, Lee seemed to have lost this ability, and she was not heard to mention it again..... Was it just that she didn't say it?

But so what?!

"If we see the future, can't we change it?!"

Kevin clenched the Might of An-Utu in his hand. "Should we not strive because the future is difficult? Have you forgotten the experience of your principal!"

".....Ah, yes, I didn't tell you the ending of this matter."

Lee slowly turned her head and said indifferently, "He died."

"—?"

Kevin was speechless for a moment, but then he thought that this was a very normal thing.

After all, Lee's principal sounded like just an ordinary person. In today's world, which was full of crises due to the Honkai, it was all too normal to die.

"Was it because of the Honkai?"

Was it because a respected elder had also died at the hands of the Honkai that she felt that the Honkai was impossible to defeat? But he and Lee were different from the principal, who was an ordinary person. They had the power to resist—

"No, he committed suicide." Lee said lightly, as if she was talking about an insignificant trifle.

"It had nothing to do with the Honkai. In the end, he was robbed of the school he had poured all his blood and sweat into by those loan shark gangsters. And because the other party had background and power, calling the police and finding the media didn't work..... So he committed suicide in the end."

"....." Kevin was silent.

He had thought of many possibilities, but he didn't expect it to be such a realistic and insignificant reason.

For them, who had already become MANTIS Soldiers, they only needed to think about dealing with the Honkai or those in high positions. As for the matters of some local gangsters, it was completely insignificant for MANTIS Soldiers.

"Ridiculous, right? But that's how the world is. The gap in strength won't change because of one's willpower. When your opponent is too much stronger than you, no matter how you struggle, it's useless, it will only add to the joke....."

"Just like everyone is not my opponent, and I am not your opponent, you are also not the Herrscher of Finality's opponent." Lee calmly stated this fact.

"Neither the Divine Keys nor the SELENE can change this..... Because we humans were never the opponent of that civilization from the beginning. Our battles with the Herrschers, in its eyes, might be the same as how you view the principal's matter..... insignificant."

"It's different, we haven't given up yet, we're still resisting! Lee, I don't understand why you've become so pessimistic?!"

".....I'm sorry, Kevin." Lee lowered her eyes slightly. "I, I've always been this kind of person..... It's just that, no one likes a person who is always crying and always throwing cold water on everyone."

"The reason why I told you not to give up before was just to hope that everyone would build the fortress and gather humanity together, so that it would be convenient for me to act....."

"....."

Kevin had always thought that he understood Lee. After all, he even knew that Lee didn't love him, but just didn't want him to be disappointed, so she agreed to his confession.

But the fact proved that he didn't understand Lee's heart at all from the beginning.

He just took it for granted that the other party was always a flag-like person leading everyone, and thought that she wouldn't be sad, wouldn't be fragile, and wouldn't have pessimistic emotions about the future.

No, it wasn't just him..... Lee hid her true self too well. How many people saw her heart?

It seemed to be, no one.

Everyone was just enjoying the warmth and light she brought, but they didn't consider what kind of person was behind this false light.

Was this, for Lee, a little..... too lonely?