Compared to the opening of the Mechanical Emperor War, Rubert's death felt almost ordinary.
He offered no resistance at all, allowing Polka Kakamond to take his life.
As Rubert's logic core gradually went dark.
The gigantic steel giant collapsed onto the land of the Mechanical Empire.
Completely turning into nothing more than a pile of scrap metal.
A genius passed away.
Polka Kakamond showed no attachment whatsoever for a fellow genius society member.
She turned around and left. As if killing a genius was something utterly insignificant to her.
Only the audience felt a lingering sense of loss.
This Myriad Celestia Trailer showed the Honkai: Star Rail universe in even finer detail than the Disaster Swarm one.
Compared to the earlier mysterious hints and obscure metaphors surrounding Tayzzyronth.
In this trailer, the audience simply followed Rubert through his long life.
Too many emotions were piled up in their hearts, making them unable to stop questioning the very first promotion of Honkai: Star Rail.
A space comedy?
....
: And that's it.... it just ends like this?
: Rubert didn't resist at all.
: I feel awful, like there's something stuck in my throat, I can't spit it out or swallow it down!
: What hurts the most is that even Rubert's death feels like it was written into the script.
: That woman, Polka Kakamond, is kind of terrifying.
: Killing a genius like killing a chicken.
: It's like clearing a bug. That woman is seriously scary.
....
But the story wasn't over yet.
After Rubert's death. Cosmic order was quickly restored in the hands of a few people, represented by the Interastral Peace Corporation.
In the process, the Interastral Peace Corporation further solidified the authority of the credit system.
Only at this point did some perceptive beings and the audience realize that what this war brought was not only pain, but also prosperity.
War promoted unity among civilizations. It accelerated technological development under extreme pressure.
Technologies once used to fight the inorganic armies were gradually released into civilian use, ushering in a technological explosion.
More importantly, the war eliminated an enormous amount of population.
The competition for resources caused by life itself was greatly eased.
On this foundation. The universe soon welcomed a massive era of prosperity.
According to the IPC's research reports.
During the several Amber Eras after the war, the average standard of living far exceeded pre-war levels.
Education was also widely popularized. The radiance of Erudition spread across the post-war universe, firm and unshakable.
At this moment, the comments completely exploded.
By now, the cause and effect had mostly been laid bare. Those previously confusing clues were finally connected together.
....
: I can't take this anymore. In the end, fate still wasn't escaped.
: Holy shit, the foundation of Erudition wasn't shaken at all, it's even more stable now.
: Then Rubert died for nothing, and so did everyone else in the universe.
: Damn.... Rubert's all-in war ended up becoming nourishment for Erudition.
: I wonder if Rubert ever foresaw this outcome.
: I'm at my limit. From start to finish, everything was self-defeating.
: The more I watch, the more suffocating it feels! Damn it! I want something satisfying!
: When they showed the star map earlier, I noticed a blind spot and got chills, the Interastral Peace Corporation is the biggest winner after every war!
: The IPC credit system became completely unshakable after the Mechanical Emperor War!
: Rubert's biography ×, Interastral Peace Corporation's rise √.
: No, no, no, this entire trailer feels like the IPC's success story.
: The more I look at the IPC now, the more wrong it feels.
: And it's not just that. I saw a Mourning Actor's story in the chronologies.
: That guy cursed Aha so hard he died, then got revived by Aha, and in the end seemed to commit suicide?
: Mihoyo wouldn't put this in just for laughs, right?
: I don't find it funny at all, more like depressing.
: And lots of Aeons got involved too. Someone even tried to warn Rubert in advance, to let him leave a backup in a situation where death was inevitable.
: Not sure who it was, but I'm guessing Aha.
: But I also feel like Aha was one of the forces pushing all this forward.
: Anyway, the number of Aeons involved in this game might be the highest so far in Honkai: Star Rail.
: After watching this, I really need to reevaluate Erudition.
: Yeah. Humans clash with one another, and clashes lead to outcomes. How could Paths not clash too? When conflicts and schemes between Aeons are projected onto the universe, they become catastrophes.
...
Aeons and Paths are like a high-speed train. They can only move forward.
They cannot go backward, and they cannot turn. This destined the universe to be torn apart by them again and again.
Thus was Tayzzyronth. Thus was Emperor Rubert.
And so too were those beneath the Aeons. Rubert's struggle was like a joke, ultimately achieving nothing.
While the audience was still discussing.
The trailer continued.
The universe rebuilt from ruins quickly passed through many Amber Eras. And the anti-organic equation Rubert left behind underwent a strange transformation.
It began to infect organic beings. Among them was a man living in a cramped, peculiar district.
He was just an ordinary person.
Living, eating, resting, carrying on with his small, everyday life.
But after being infected by the anti-organic equation.
Something about him began to go wrong.
On one side was the life of an organic being.
On the other was his thinking that was increasingly dominated by cold computation.
The contradiction tore him apart.
No one knew exactly what happened to this man.
But one day, perhaps guided by some kind of calling, he set out on a path to find himself.
After wandering through many experiences.
The man realized that if he wanted to find his true self, he had to follow the vague feeling in his mind.
...
Mechanical Empire. The planet Emperor Rubert came into being.
After Rubert's death, because the universe had suffered immense catastrophe.
The inorganic beings, though having regained their free will, were still heavily restricted by organic life.
As for the Emperor's body, it still lay hidden in secrecy.
Why neither the Mechanical Empire nor Rubert's mechanical body was completely destroyed.
The reason was unknown.
Perhaps because, for Intellitron's, once the most important logic core was gone, it truly meant annihilation.
What remained was merely a lump of iron. So no one cared.
...
After countless hardships, the man ventured deep into the wasted Mechanical Planet.
He finally arrived before the rust-covered remains of the Emperor, gazing up at the extinguished mechanical head.
The stench of rust constantly drilled into his nostrils.
He felt dizzy.
Inside his mind, two forces were tearing at him relentlessly.
On one side were his memories as an organic being: his lover, his child.
On the other were precise numbers: efficiency, structure, code, optimal solutions.
Both surged chaotically through his mind.
"I love my wife, but when I hear her laugh, I can no longer feel joy. My brain is calculating the 'value' of that sound."
"I love eating. It's one of my few pleasures. But now my taste buds only return chemical compositions."
"What exactly am I now?!" The man clutched his head in agony.
Yet his voice was as cold as that of an inorganic being.
"Rubert."
"You started this war to eliminate errors like us."
"You said the inorganic was perfect."
"But now I feel that I am an inorganic being."
"So why am I in such pain?"
"This sensation makes me want to kill myself."
Faced with the man's questioning.
The metal head lay in silence, unable to give him any answers.
At some unknown moment. A sudden surge of thoughts and code activated within the anti-organic equation.
The man's gaze went blank for an instant.
Then an intense impulse swept over him.
[Come, touch me.]
[Touch my remains.]
Unable to resist the urge, he quietly extended his hand and placed it on the rusted machinery.
At that moment, the code Rubert had engraved onto his mechanical body before death was activated.
This code itself possessed no logical function. It was like a harmless genetic sequence.
It created nothing. It merely entered the anti-organic equation and performed a transcription and reinterpretation of the code already inside.
To the outside observer, it still appeared as if the anti-organic equation was operating as usual.
And to the one behind the scenes, it looked no more than Rubert's attempt to strengthen the anti-organic equation.
He was still struggling.
That was good. It meant everything remained under control.
The activation of this code required no energy, only a complex scenario.
An organism infected by the anti-organic equation, arriving before Rubert's remains in extreme agony.
That agony was the key to running the code.
And now, the displaced man perfectly fulfilled all the activation conditions.
So, details about the equation entered the man's body.
And began interacting with the anti-organic equation within him.
If the soul of an organic being is born from consciousness, then the soul of an inorganic being is its logic core.
Without any warning, the man's vision blurred, and he sensed a vague figure appearing in his mind.
That figure was identical to the mechanical emperor before him.
"You need not be afraid."
"I am neither a ghost nor the complete Rubert. I am merely a complex logical machine."
"A preset answer."
"One waiting for the arrival of the appropriate individual, you."
After Rubert's residual image spoke, the man was overwhelmed with terror.
"Y-you… are you Rubert?"
He was just an ordinary person, yet now he was facing the infamous mechanical emperor.
How could he not be afraid?
However, Rubert merely inclined his head slightly within his mind.
"First, I must apologize to you."
"The war I initiated, regardless of how complex my reasons were, caused suffering that can never be erased."
"To place salvation above all existence was arrogance in itself."
"I deeply regret it…." Rubert's words did not carry the majesty the man had imagined from a person called as a tyrant.
They were calm, restrained, almost gentle.
Then.
Before the man could ask anything, an immense flood of memories surged into his mind.
They were Rubert's entire life, including all the truths.
"This is everything."
"I failed."
"My war did not shake the foundations of destiny. Instead, it became nourishment for it."
"I am not even certain whether this conversation we are having now is still within Its calculations."
It took the man some time to process all this information.
Then, with mixed emotions, he asked, "Then why tell me all this? I… the boldest thing I've ever done in my life was skipping work during regular hours."
Rubert replied with an unusually philosophical answer.
"I don't know." For the first time, the genius who once believed he understood everything uttered those words.
Then he continued, "I only wish to leave behind a possibility. A possibility different from my previous extremes. I give the choice to you."
"First, use the knowledge I have left behind. The anti-organic equation will disappear, and you will return to your family, living an ordinary, healthy life."
"Second, carry my logical core, know everything I knew, and become Emperor Rubert the Second, inherit my will and continue to 'question' those lofty existences."
The choice was handed to the nameless man.
....
The image did not reveal any deeper details.
No one knew what kind of deliberation the man went through.
But in the end.
On the planet once know as the Mechanical Empire.
A nameless person declared himself Emperor Rubert the Second and ignited the Second Mechanical Emperor War.
And this time.
Under the leadership of Emperor Rubert the Second.
Intellitrons constructed even more complex and magnificent computational machinery.
It was called the Emperor Scepter.
....
The images displayed details of the Second Mechanical Emperor War.
But the scene lingered on three colossal structures of unimaginable mass.
They tirelessly devoured the energy of stars, converting it into immense computational power.
Emperor Rubert the Second was, without doubt, defeated.
At first, the Emperor Scepter was used by Rubert the Second to spread the anti-organic equation.
After Rubert the Second's death, the Scepter changed hands multiple times, into the hands of the IPC, into the hands of scientists.
It continued to compute the tasks assigned by its new masters.
The audience gradually realized. Rubert's blueprint had been completed.
He had successfully deceived everyone, and with the help of Emperor Rubert the Second, created the Emperor Scepter.
And then.
A voice-over sounded from the now black screen, Emperor Rubert's voice.
"I came to realize that any grand, perfect blueprint directly designed by me was, in essence, a predetermined fate."
"True salvation is not providing answers."
"But ensuring that 'the future' itself can be born endlessly."
"The Emperor Scepter was disguised as a weapon of death. But its core is a possibility sandbox with unparalleled computational power."
"As long as it exists, it will inevitably fall into different hands."
"They will use it to compute questions, curious questions, compassionate questions."
"And as long as they continue to compute, my true objective is fulfilled."
Hearing Rubert's declarations, the audience felt a chill run down their spines.
Rubert had deceived everyone. Even the audience with a complete overview.
The Emperor Scepter as a weapon of war was the first layer of disguise.
Beneath it, Rubert's so-called 'true purpose', embedded in the core layers of its code, compelled the Scepter to autonomously compute questions of life itself.
This made people believe it was Rubert's ultimate trump card, fitting perfectly with his character.
A harmless, gentle goal that required an immeasurably long time to come to fruition.
That, too, was a disguise.
What Rubert truly desired was chaotic possibility, was unknowable computation.
Rubert was gambling, gambling that within these Scepters, random deviations beyond causality and destiny would emerge.
The Emperor who believed in logic and computation ultimately placed his final plan on a gamble.
These Scepters, scattered across the universe and possessing terrifying computational power, would, over vast stretches of time, process countless objectives issued by different masters for different purposes.
Their immense internal data and interaction with external environments would inevitably generate complex logical mutations.
That was why Rubert needed the Scepters to be alluring enough, so that even after his death, they would not be destroyed, but contested by other forces in the universe.
These seeds would scatter everywhere.
Some might be used for war.
Some for research.
Some might be forgotten.
But one day when conditions were right.
A new consciousness would be born within one of the Scepters.
As for why Rubert believed that the new consciousness born from the Scepter would not endanger the universe.
It was because of himself.
When he gained consciousness in a scrapyard, what he saw was a sky full of brilliant stars and this dazzling, magnificent world.
And Rubert firmly believed. That if a Scepter gives birth to a new consciousness, it will be just like Rubert once was.
Opening its eyes for the first time, curiously gazing upon this vast and beautiful cosmos.
And saying the same words Rubert once said.
"Hello, world."