Arknights: It Can't Possibly Be My Fault... Right? — Chapter 80

Chapter 80: Chi Xiao!

Thick, suffocating dust choked the air. Ch’en pressed her sleeve over her nose and mouth, her lungs burning with every shallow breath. The swirling grit completely obscured her vision, leaving her fighting blind in the hazy ruins.

“Hey there, Officer Ch’en! I prepared this little gift specifically for that annoying fellow from Rhodes Island. How does it taste?” Mephisto’s singsong voice drifted through the haze, echoing from all directions. “With this concentration of active Originium dust, even a mighty Draco would probably contract Oripathy after a few deep breaths.”

Ch’en refused to give him the satisfaction of a response. She narrowed her stinging eyes, tracking the subtle shifts in the dust clouds to pinpoint his location.

“How is it? Are you despairing yet? Are you angry?” The boy’s grating, theatrical tone scraped against her nerves. “All of this isn’t even a ten-thousandth of the agony we Infected feel every single day!”

A shift in the wind. Ch’en pivoted, her blade slicing through the air toward the source of the sound. The strike cleaved nothing but dust; Mephisto had already danced out of reach.

“Tsk, you stubborn fool.” Mephisto’s voice dropped its playful lilt, hardening into venomous irritation. “Fine, fine, fine. Since you want to play the tragic hero so badly, I’ll grant your wish! Rise! My true… Herd!”

Ch’en coughed, her grip tightening on her hilt. The atmosphere around her suddenly shifted. The stagnant air grew heavy, thick with a sickening, unnatural vitality.

A guttural, wet roar erupted from her blind spot. A bloated, misshapen figure lunged at her through the veil of dust. Ch’en nimbly sidestepped the heavy assault, but as her eyes locked onto her attacker, a cold knot formed in her stomach.

It was a Reunion soldier she had cut down just moments ago. Logically, the man should have been dead, or at least incapacitated. Yet here he stood, his movements jerky and completely devoid of human restraint.

As the dust began to settle, a horrifying scene unveiled itself. Every single enemy she had previously defeated was convulsing on the ground, struggling to stand. Jagged, glowing Originium crystals violently tore through their skin and clothing, rapidly multiplying as if the infection was devouring the host from the inside out to pilot the corpse.

“You did this to your own people?” Ch’en demanded, her voice laced with disgust as she backed away from the encroaching monstrosities.

Mephisto had no interest in debating morality. He simply raised his staff with a twisted grin. The settled dust violently surged upward, swirling around the mutated soldiers and coating their crystalline growths in a sickly, glowing sheen.

“Tear her apart,” Mephisto commanded, his voice trembling with cruel anticipation.

Answering their master, the abominations he called his Herd unleashed a chorus of agonizing shrieks and threw themselves at Ch’en.

“Damn it!” Ch’en cursed, swiftly retreating from the tightening encirclement before the monsters could fully coordinate their assault.

Her radio crackled to life, the frantic voice of an LGD officer cutting through the static. “Madam Ch’en! A massive amount of Originium dust just flooded the battlefield! The fallen Reunion members… they’re mutating! They’re getting back up! The defensive line is collapsing!”

Ch’en gritted her teeth. She had no luxury to issue new tactical orders; survival was the only priority now.

“How about it, Officer Ch’en?” Mephisto taunted from the shadows. “Do you see the truth of this world now?”

“See what? See you manipulate your so-called compatriots like mindless puppets?” Ch’en parried a crushing blow from a mutated soldier, the sheer force rattling her bones. She kicked the creature back, her breath coming in ragged gasps. “Turning them into these twisted husks… neither human nor ghost. If this is the grand ideal you keep preaching about, then their deaths are nothing but a senseless tragedy.”

The Herd possessed an unnatural, steel-like resilience. Every strike they delivered carried immense, bone-shattering strength. Relying on standard LGD swordplay was rapidly draining her stamina.

She needed more power. Ch’en’s left hand dropped to her waist, her fingers wrapping around the crimson scabbard of Chi Xiao.

‘Why now?’ she thought, her knuckles turning white. Of all times, when she needed its power the most, the legendary blade remained stubbornly locked within its sheath, refusing to yield to her will.

“Static… Madam Ch’en, the mutated soldiers are swarming us. We’ve barricaded the access routes to the rooftop, but we can’t hold them off for much longer!”

“It sounds like your little friends are reaching their limit, Officer Ch’en.” Mephisto resumed his psychological assault, pacing just out of sight. “Since things have come to this, I think we can finally have a proper chat.”

But Ch’en was a seasoned veteran, not a green recruit easily swayed by battlefield terror. She completely tuned out Mephisto’s garbage, pouring all her focus into her grip on Chi Xiao, desperately trying to force the blade free.

“Don’t waste your energy,” Mephisto sneered, orchestrating the Herd to close the net around her. “I know all about that famous sword of yours. You’ve wanted to kill me for a long time, haven’t you? But you can’t even draw it.”

Through the swirling dust, Mephisto’s eyes gleamed with sadistic realization. He had noticed something utterly fascinating. Ch’en’s breathing was ragged, her skin flushed with the telltale signs of active Originium contamination. That explained so much.

“Mephisto, we need to eliminate her now. We cannot risk her drawing that weapon.” Faust’s cold, pragmatic voice echoed over the tactical comms.

Mephisto immediately dismissed the sniper’s warning. “Don’t be so impatient, Faust. She can’t draw it. After all, she is already becoming one of our compatriots… Just watch. I am going to break her spirit into tiny little pieces.”

A sickly, euphoric smile stretched across the boy’s face. If there was one thing in this miserable world that brought him more joy than torturing a body to death, it was utterly shattering a person’s will, leaving them begging for the sweet release of the grave.

“I say, Madam, are you really still trying?” Mephisto mocked, his voice dripping with faux sympathy. “I already know what you are. Someone like you will only ever be used as their pawn, and then discarded the moment you become inconvenient. So, how about joining us? I’ll give you a chance…”

“You’re so damn noisy!” Ch’en snarled. Her hand trembled violently against Chi Xiao’s hilt. A faint, volatile red glow began to bleed from the scabbard. She didn’t know why the hidden Reunion crossbowmen had suddenly ceased their suppressing fire, and she no longer cared.

“Officer Ch’en! Reunion is the only true home for the Infected. You’ve chosen the wrong side. Those Lungmen vermin aren’t worth throwing your life away for. Just say the word, and I’ll let you and your pathetic subordinates walk away…”

“I said, you’re really noisy!” The crimson aura surrounding the scabbard flared erratically, pulsing like a dying star on the verge of going supernova.

Seeing her struggle, Mephisto spread his arms wide, reveling in his perceived victory. “You hate this city, don’t you? Officer Ch’en, you are just as disappointed in Lungmen as we are!”

His venomous words merged with the howling, dust-filled wind. Deep within Ch’en’s mind, buried memories violently clawed their way to the surface.

‘I hate this city. I hate him. Don’t make me hate you too…”You will never have my love. Ever…”This city has never cared about us…’

“Shut up…” Ch’en whispered. It was a response to Mephisto, yet equally a desperate plea to the ghosts haunting her own mind.

“Hmm? What was that?” Mephisto leaned forward, assuming the broken woman was finally begging for mercy.

‘What you need to discard has never been mere distracting thoughts…’

“I said… shut up!” Ch’en roared, her voice tearing through the battlefield. “Chi Xiao… come forth!”

With a deafening metallic shriek, the blade broke free. A brilliant, blinding radiance erupted from her hand, illuminating the dust-choked ruins like a miniature sun.

In that split second, Mephisto froze. The sadistic grin vanished from his face as the entire world seemed to lose its color, leaving nothing but the terrifying, apocalyptic crimson light of the blade surging directly toward him.

The Herd roared, throwing their mutated bodies forward in a desperate bid to shield their master.

It was utterly futile. Like a searing hot knife gliding through butter, the monstrous soldiers evaporated within the blinding arc of the sword light, unable to withstand the overwhelming Arts output for even half a second. Mephisto remained rooted to the spot, completely paralyzed by the suffocating aura of death bearing down on him.

A split second before the crimson wave consumed him, a shadow tackled Mephisto to the ground. Faust had materialized from the dust just in time, violently shoving his partner out of the lethal trajectory.

Blood sprayed into the air. Mephisto’s head remained attached to his shoulders, but his entire right arm was cleanly severed, spiraling high into the crimson-lit sky.

For a long moment, there was only the sound of the howling wind. Then, as the paralyzing shock wore off and the agonizing reality of his missing limb set in, Mephisto let out a bloodcurdling, hysterical scream.

“My hand! My hand! Faust, my hand is gone! Argh, my hand!”

‘…Did I… did I fail?’

A short distance away, Ch’en watched the gruesome scene unfold. She collapsed to a half-kneel, her left hand planted firmly on the cracked concrete to keep herself from face-planting. Her right hand, still gripping the hilt of Chi Xiao, hung completely limp, feeling as though every bone in her arm had been shattered. She coughed, wiping a thick trail of blood from the corner of her mouth as her chest heaved violently.

She had managed to force Chi Xiao half out of its scabbard, but the sheer, untamed power of the blade was far beyond her current ability to control. Without having truly earned the sword’s recognition, merely aiming that devastating strike at Mephisto had drained every ounce of her life force.

“Damn it, kill her! Kill her, Faust!” Mephisto shrieked hysterically, thrashing on the ground as blood poured from his stump.

Ch’en spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm onto the rubble. Her strength was entirely spent. She couldn’t even lift her arm to defend herself. The only silver lining was that the monstrous Herd had been completely incinerated by the blast.

She closed her eyes, letting out a ragged breath. There was just… a lingering trace of regret that she hadn’t aimed a few inches to the left.