No one knew how a Herrscher Core, long dead, could suddenly beat like a heart once more.
Just as no one could explain how the Seventh Divine Key, the Judgment of Shamash, which normally required a full two hours to charge, reached full power less than half a minute after its last use—and continued to accumulate energy far beyond its limits.
Perhaps there was only one explanation—
"For the one I love."
For the one he loved, Kevin Kaslana wagered everything: his future, his present, his past, his very life.
The energy madly surging into the Seventh Herrscher's Core, fueling its all-consuming blaze, wasn't just the drop-in-the-bucket Honkai Energy; it was predominantly the very essence—flesh and blood—that Kevin wrung from his own body.
Whether any of this was for the world no longer mattered. At least, he believed it didn't. At least, he was certain. At least, in this moment, he knew with absolute clarity for whom he would swing this final sword.
Blood trickled swiftly from the corner of his mouth, tracing jagged paths down his skin. Were it not for this crimson trail, one might not have noticed the extent of his injuries—his skin and flesh were already fracturing into countless small, fingernail-sized pieces.
As if responding to his resolve, the blade of Might of An-Utu, the form the Judgment of Shamash took in his hands, began to crack and splinter under the immense strain. Were it not for the Herrscher Core acting as an energy singularity, providing the essential centripetal force, the sword would have already disintegrated.
Naturally, Michael wouldn't stand idly by and let Kevin amass power.
Yes, it was true. He hoped Kevin could defeat him here. That way, this civilization, stripped of its future, might transcend its predetermined cycle and reach a genuine tomorrow. This was what the Flame-Chasers desired, what even Elysia had wanted. And perhaps, a part of Michael wanted it too...
However, it wasn't the optimal outcome for him. So, while he anticipated Kevin striking him down, killing him here, he clung more tightly to the hope of achieving his ideal future—even if the cost was burying his entire past in this very place!
"Hahh—huu—Hahh—huu—"
His ragged breaths echoed like cosmic bellows, a harsh, grating sound filling the void—though space held no air, the noise drilled directly into one's mind.
He raised his hands, as if to cradle the Moon, now appearing no larger than an egg in the distance.
But a streak of red light flashed, and a spear formed from an Imaginary Branch materialized between Him and the lunar sphere. He changed his mind.
Taking a step back, Michael mimicked the motion of drawing a bow, exactly as Elysia once had.
The Imaginary energy within the spear flowed out, stretching into a golden arrow that was swiftly stained an indelible blood-red.
The arrow wasn't aimed at Kevin—he was too small a target. The egg-sized Moon, however, was perfect.
"This... is the final blow. But Kevin, I'm faster..."
Kevin had just unleashed the Judgment of Shamash. Even with this miraculous rapid recharge, he knew its standard output couldn't possibly cripple Michael. He needed far greater power; he had to turn everything he was into fuel... only then could he grasp that sole possibility.
Given this, it wasn't surprising that Michael was ready to strike first, was it?
He narrowed his eyes, appearing to take aim, though aiming was pointless at this distance. Besides, this attack merely simulated archery; hitting the target had nothing to do with aiming.
Was he hesitating?
No, he was waiting for something.
He was waiting for someone—a third party—to decide what needed to be done.
A single pink feather drifting slowly before him confirmed it: she had finally made her choice.
Michael slowly raised his head, gazing at the vast expanse of the cosmos now veiled by a swirling halo of black and red light. The next instant, the center of the halo parted like clouds, revealing a tiny spark that rapidly grew, transforming in the blink of an eye into a magnificent Phoenix, wings outstretched, diving straight down.
"Hua..."
The Phoenix slammed into an invisible barrier. Oddly, Michael hadn't used his spatial authority to conjure an Imaginary shield.
Perhaps it wasn't a manifestation of his power at all, but rather a materialization of his subconscious desire to isolate himself from the outside world.
The Phoenix effortlessly shattered layer after layer of these mental barriers, only to be halted by the very last one. But this was merely superficial. In the unseen world of the mind, Michael voluntarily dropped the final barrier, allowing Hua's psychic assault to strike home.
"Michael!"
Snap!
As if someone had snapped their fingers, the all-consuming flames parted. Hua's consciousness, which had descended with the Phoenix, detached itself from the raging inferno, coalescing back into her familiar form before landing gently.
"This is..."
Hua stared at the ground beneath her. The flames dissipated, revealing a surface like rippling water, reflecting a starlit river far more brilliant and dazzling than the real cosmos outside.
Then, she saw Michael's reflection beside her own.
"You..."
"Hua. I'm sorry."
Hua bit her lip and sighed.
"You... You... What's the point of saying that now, Michael? An apology... can an apology fix anything? Can it bring the dead back to life? Michael, what are you really trying to do?
"No, I'm not accusing you. I understand. The pain your actions caused us... is mirrored by the pain inflicted upon yourself. But each of us only had to bear our own share; you had to bear the sum of it all. And yet, you still went through with it. Why?"
Hua desperately needed the answer, driven by more than just curiosity.
"You once told me that bottling things up only makes them fester, until you forget what you truly wanted, forget who you even are."
"That's true, but..."
Michael offered a helpless smile.
"Hua, unless one becomes the world itself, even the Herrscher of Finality is bound by the world's rules. Yes, we are born shackled, even as gods. So, there are things... things I can only think, never speak—
"Like those hazy dreams hinting at the future. If I were to voice them, that future would cease to exist. I don't even dare let such thoughts linger too long in my own mind. So, I truly cannot tell you.
"I can't ask for your forgiveness, but at the very least... today... I haven't killed anyone."
Hua's tightly knitted brow trembled, then quickly smoothed out.
"Hua, please, trust me one more time— Remember the promise I made to you? My feelings haven't changed."
"Heh."
Hua gave a bitter chuckle.
"If only you'd offered us even this brief an explanation earlier... things might have been different..."
"Well, this is the mental world, so I can speak a little more freely... Alright, back then, I admit I wasn't thinking clearly."
"Saying this now... telling me now... it's too late, Michael."
Hua shook her head again.
"Once I leave this space of consciousness, these memories, along with everything before... they'll be burned away. I won't remember anything. Fenghuang Down might record it, but it won't be my memory anymore."
Hua closed her eyes in anguish. When she opened them again, the scene before her was hazy and blurred, degrading into simple sketch lines. She could only faintly hear Michael's voice drifting towards her:
"It's alright, Hua. What is lost now is merely set aside, so that in the future, it can be reclaimed..."
The rest was indistinct, or perhaps Michael had simply stopped speaking.
Then, she plunged into profound darkness.
Fenghuang Down's first echelon power struck home. Michael's eyes instantly went vacant, as if He truly didn't know what He was doing or what He intended. Even the energy construct of His bow vanished, the Imaginary potential retracting back into the spear.
"Vill-V, now!"
Mei didn't even need to give the command. In this all-or-nothing moment, Vill-V slammed the retro-style control stick of the Moonlight Throne all the way forward. The gauges instantly shot past 100%, pegging the needle at the 200% limit.
"Heh... A perfect strike. Still, ending things like this is a bit anticlimactic, isn't it? No chance for a proper farewell to the audience."
Vill-V chuckled softly. Almost simultaneously with the colossal beam of light striking Michael, the raging flames from the overheating engines engulfed her and the entire Moonlight Throne.
The dazzling pillar of light struck Michael's neck, seeming to merge directly into His body like an insignificant needle prick, causing no visible damage. But the next moment, He abruptly clutched His head, letting out an agonized howl:
"AAAAAHHH!!!"
The three pairs of light wings behind Him silently shattered. A torrent of blood-red fluid erupted from His pale neck, followed by tendrils of purple Honkai Energy snaking out along the bloody path into the black void of space. They branched out endlessly, resembling a rapidly growing tree, stretching hundreds of millions of kilometers in mere seconds to touch the fiery surface of the sun.
Yet, on Mei's monitor, Michael's energy signature had only dropped by thirty percent.
"In the end... not even a sliver of hope for victory..."
Although the plan had only called for a counterattack before retreating, seeing the result after so many sacrifices was still a bitter pill to swallow.
"But, it's enough. At least you've won the future with this strike, haven't you?"
Mei nodded instinctively, only then realizing with a start—that voice wasn't hers, nor Prometheus's. It was another, disturbingly familiar voice.
"So that's how it is..."
Mei let out a wry, self-deprecating chuckle.
"Kevin, it's all up to you now!"
With the massive drain of Honkai Energy, just as Mei had anticipated, Michael's powerful yet fragile authority over time completely faltered. His own consciousness was still reeling from Fenghuang Down's primary effect, unable to exert control. Meanwhile, the Seventh Herrscher's Core brimmed with energy, filled to the bursting point. Kevin finally had his one chance.
"Judgment... unsheathed!"
No more flashy maneuvers were needed. Kevin simply raised the greatsword standing before him, lifting it high. Then, in utter silence, scorching flames erupted outwards from him, engulfing the entire Moon in the blink of an eye.
Cough, cough, cough...
This time, Kevin truly collapsed, falling to his knees.
If he'd had a choice, he wouldn't have wanted his end to be so pathetic, but now he lacked even the strength to stand. He rolled onto his back, sprawling on the lunar surface as cold blood pooled beneath him. He turned his head, glancing at his right hand—
The familiar hilt of the greatsword was still clutched tight, but the blade itself had all but vanished. Thankfully, the core remained intact. Mei and the others... they should be able to repair it...
From his vantage point, Kevin watched Michael's colossal form slowly topple backward. Blood and Honkai Energy continued to gush from the wound on His neck, but upon closer look, one could see tiny streams of it slowly, almost imperceptibly, flowing back into Michael's body.
Had his attack truly landed? He was sure it had, but how much damage had he actually inflicted?
Kevin's consciousness was fading fast, darkness encroaching upon his vision.
How much had he achieved? It didn't seem to matter anymore, as long as Mei... could live.
Just... in these final moments, he desperately wanted to hear her voice...
"Mei... live on..."
Kevin murmured, straining to hear Mei's voice one last time through the mental communication network.
But there was only silence. Had they already left the Moon?
No! That wasn't right!
A chilling premonition washed over him. Kevin could hear Su's characteristic ragged breathing from running, the clatter of the Divine Keys Su carried bumping against each other, but... nothing from Mei.
Finally, a loud CLANG echoed, as if Su had thrown open the door to the command center.
Hahh... Hahh...
Thud!
Su seemed to have fallen to his knees.
Kevin's heart clenched violently. Summoning a final ounce of strength from nowhere, he scrambled to his feet.
"Su! What happened? What's wrong with Mei?!"
"Kevin... Can you still move?"
"I... I can."
"You... You should... If you can, Kevin, you should come see for yourself."
Rationally, Su hadn't actually said anything definitive. But it was precisely that lack of information, that heavy implication, which shattered Kevin's last vestiges of hope.
He stumbled into a run, pushing himself faster and faster...
His mind consumed by a single name:
"Mei!"
The lunar soil beneath his feet was scorched black, all traces of its original silvery-grey color gone.
The ground was fractured, fissures glowing with the purple taint of Honkai erosion New Atra, painstakingly rebuilt by humanity over years, was now ruins once more. However, unlike destruction wrought by brute force, the edges of the debris bore distinct scorch marks.
This devastation wasn't the work of the Herrscher of Finality, but his own—Kevin, a human.
But what did that matter to him now?
He only wanted to see Mei. He just wanted to see Mei one more time, even if it was only her body! The thought consumed him. If he stopped to think rationally, he might have questioned himself: Did he truly want to see Mei's corpse, or did he dread it?
But what was rationality in the face of this?
In that sense, disappointment was inevitable. When he staggered into the ruins of the command center, he saw only Su.
Both Mei and Prometheus were gone.
For a moment, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Absence, after all, implied endless possibilities, though Kevin knew full well that in this situation, 'gone' was synonymous with 'dead'.
But... looking at the ruined command center, who had caused this?
"Hahh... hahh... Heheheh..."
Kevin sobbed and laughed simultaneously, his body slowly sliding to the ground. He didn't even notice Su approach.
What kind of cruel joke was this...? What kind of twisted fate was this!
He had delivered that blow so she could live. He had risked everything, fully prepared to sacrifice himself.
But he had survived, and Mei was gone—thanks to the very attack he had unleashed for her.
"Kevin..."
Su called his name but ultimately said nothing more.
He searched for words, but there was nothing left to say at a time like this.
He simply pressed a terminal into Kevin's hand.
"This is..."
"I found it inside a Soulium box. It must be from Mei, for you."
"Hahh..."
Kevin bit his lip, took the terminal Mei had left behind, and pressed the only button. A voice soon emerged:
"Number 17? Is this okay?"
"Yes, Doctor. Please hurry, we don't have much time."
"Phew... Kevin, when you hear this recording, I'll likely be gone. But, please... you have to live on. Heh, I left some things for you, too... As hope, for overcoming Finality in the future. You absolutely must listen carefully to what comes next!"
Kevin didn't listen any further.
There's no need to listen now, Kevin thought.
He turned off the terminal and, to Su's surprise, stood up again.
He had fifty thousand years ahead of him. Plenty of time to listen to this recording over and over, countless times.
...
"Oof... Ah... Hah... Phew! I'm beat! Sis Vill-V ended up so far away, I hadda go halfway 'round the Moon to get her!"
Pardofelis staggered over, dragging Vill-V's "body," and arranged it with the other eleven in a circle. She dusted off her hands, glanced instinctively at Michael, then looked away with a complicated expression.
In the center of this ring of bodies lay Michael, naked upon the ground—or more accurately, pinned to it by a red, twin-pronged spear.
His vacant eyes stared up at the lifeless Earth in the star-filled sky. Looking closely, one could just make out the ebb and flow of tides on the planet as it slowly regained its azure hue, and almost imagine the faint, illusory sound of waves.
He suddenly felt he wasn't so different from the Michael of the past—
Can endlessly looping, rewinding, reversing time truly atone for past mistakes?
If you kill someone, then rewind their time to before they were killed—a so-called resurrection—does that mean you never killed them at all?
The answer was obvious.
Michael's chest rose and fell slowly, oblivious to the wound where the spear pierced him.
Pardofelis stood still, her task complete. Idle now, she wasn't sure what to do, simply staring blankly between Michael and the monotonous landscape of ruins surrounding them.
Suddenly, a faint rustling sound near her feet drew her attention. Looking down, she saw Mobius sitting up.
At first, Mobius's consciousness was hazy, seemingly trapped within a paradox caused by the temporal rewind, unable to break free.
She stared blankly at the scorched earth, while Pardofelis stood beside her, barely daring to breathe or move.
Michael, of course, noticed her stirring, but offered no response.
A long time passed—perhaps days, perhaps years, perhaps decades.
Time itself seemed to blur in the unchanging space before Mobius finally recalled everything. The red crosses in her pupils faded, returning to their normal state, signifying she had fully escaped the temporal effects.
Then, her gaze shifted downwards, inevitably landing on Michael's form.
Without a word, she crawled mechanically towards Michael, yanked the spear from his chest, then slowly straddled him, her hands closing around his throat.
Salty tears dripped onto Michael's lips. His pupils trembled slightly before he slowly raised his right hand, gently placing it on Mobius's cheek.