In order to accelerate the observation of Project Valuka, Su's body had long surpassed its limits, and his time was running out.
But in the end, Su never found the so-called method to fight the Honkai, because in countless parallel worlds, none had succeeded in fighting the Honkai.
A world that has not passed the test of the Honkai can only observe other worlds that have also not passed the test of the Honkai. Therefore, the idea of finding a way to fight the Honkai by observing parallel worlds was flawed from the very beginning.
Only when the prime world succeeds in fighting the Honkai can the parallel worlds projected from it have a chance of victory against the Honkai.
So Su's Project Valuka was, in fact, doomed to fail from the start...
Project Ark's Executor, Griseo, lost contact a thousand years ago. Project Ember's Executor, Hua, was declared a failure two thousand years ago.
And Project Valuka...
Su sighed. He, who had executed Project Valuka, who had firmly believed that parallel worlds held the answer to fighting the Honkai, was really just like a clown...
(Su chose to bet everything on Durandal, only to bet on the wrong protagonist, turning him into a clown once again...)
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While Su was sighing, Durandal, who had been teleported away by him, reappeared, but she was already unconscious.
Su placed her under the great tree and used his vast psychic power and the power of the Second Divine Key to pull Durandal's consciousness into an illusion he created.
In the illusion... Durandal would take Su's place and experience everything Su had experienced in the Previous Era...
And Ryn... the combat-wise weaker Su couldn't defeat him, so he chose to throw him to Kevin...
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When Ryn opened his eyes again, a white-haired, stoic man was looking at him. He wore a long black coat with an orange lining, a blue high-collared tight shirt underneath, and a black harness across his chest.
The two were silent, calmly observing each other for a long time.
Ryn thought of the Armed Doll from before. Hua had said its master's name was Kevin. The Armed Doll and the man before him looked very similar, so he must be the Kevin Hua had mentioned.
"Kevin...?" Ryn asked tentatively.
"Yes."
Kevin gave Ryn a cold, sweeping glance from head to toe, then turned and sat on a throne made of ice and snow.
He sat there quietly, like a stone statue. Ryn didn't know how to describe Kevin. He was just there. At first glance, he seemed full of openings, but a second look revealed warnings of danger from all over.
There wasn't a single ripple of emotion in his eyes; you could feel that he no longer cared about anything. You could say he was aloof, yet it was different from being aloof.
But none of that mattered. Ryn needed to get back to Sumeru. Durandal's situation was still unknown.
Ryn tried walking around, observing the environment, only to find that this Bubble Universe was like a prison, isolating everything from the outside world. The Honkai energy in Ryn's body was constantly leaking out, unable to be replenished from Imaginary Space.
Ryn: "Where is this?"
Kevin: "A cage. The place that seals me."
"So... you're not with that Su guy from before? Sitting on a frozen throne, I thought you weren't afraid of the cold... I didn't expect your body to be even colder..." Ryn was pleasantly surprised and walked over to Kevin's side. Then he was a little shocked by Kevin's cold aura.
"Hey, that guy threw me in here too. We can team up, break out, and then teach him a good lesson."
"No, he and I are on the same side. I was sealed here voluntarily."
Kevin looked up at Ryn, rested his cheek on his left hand, leaned against the throne, and continued:
"Su chose to leave the fate of civilization in your hands, hoping I would not interfere...
I did not agree, but I was willing to trust Su. So... I have remained here, for a thousand years."
"..."
"So, that means if I want to leave, you'll stop me."
"Yes."
"Sorry, it seems our acquaintance is not off to a pleasant start. But I have a reason I must leave. My partner is still in danger, and I have to go help."
A black hole hundreds of meters wide exploded into existence behind Ryn, beginning to collapse and devour the space.
"..."
Kevin looked at the black hole behind Ryn, silent for a moment, then stood up.
"Has it already reached the Ninth Herrscher? It seems... there isn't much time left."
Kevin's hands transformed into giant claws of frost. He crossed them in front of his chest and, facing Ryn and the black hole behind him, performed a cross-slash.
*Swoosh—*
The thousands of meters behind Ryn were instantly frozen. The black hole was also cut open, its spin ceasing before it dissipated...
And Ryn... turned into a block of ice that fell to the ground and rolled a few times...
*Voom—*
With a blast of heat vision, Ryn melted the ice and flew out, hovering in front of Kevin, looking down on him.
"Don't talk nonsense. I'm not the Ninth Herrscher. I'm just a lucky guy who happened to get an Authority."
Ryn's eyes glowed red as he attacked Kevin with heat vision.
"An amateurish little trick."
Kevin didn't defend himself, didn't even move an inch. He just stood there and took Ryn's heat vision head-on.
A confrontation of ice and fire, but it was clear that for now, Kevin's ice was superior.
Seeing that his heat vision did nothing but melt Kevin's clothes, Ryn stopped firing.
He accelerated in the air, charging up a punch and striking down.
Kevin caught Ryn's punch with his hand, the impact sending him sliding back several meters on the ground.
Then, with a flick of his wrist, Kevin broke Ryn's wrist, and with another heavy punch to Ryn's stomach, sent him flying.
Ryn bounced off the ground, landed again, had a few more intimate encounters with the earth, and finally came to rest in the embrace of Mother Earth, dazed.
"You're still not dead after taking my full-power punch. You're quite skilled. What's your name?"
Kevin slowly walked over to Ryn, pulled the limp Ryn out of the crater, then let go and distanced himself.
"Thanks for the compliment, but no thanks."
Seeing that Kevin had no intention of continuing the fight, Ryn activated his Authority of Death to heal himself. If it weren't for the "body of steel" he had made, similar to Superman's, Ryn would likely be a cloud of blood mist right now, waiting to be resurrected in the depths of the Sea of Quanta.
"Ryn, occupation: savior, though I don't have many leads yet. Currently serving as an S-rank Valkyrie in Schicksal, slowly working towards my goal of saving the world."
"Heh, saving the world... To think you have such a naive idea. But to possess the Authorities of both the Herrscher of Rock and the Herrscher of Death, you are truly one of a kind." A hint of praise appeared in Kevin's cold eyes, but it vanished just as quickly.
"Salvation is no easy task. Since you wish to save the world but do not know how, then let me tell you how to save the world."
Kevin walked back to his throne, step by step, and looked down on Ryn from above.
"And that is... to defeat me."
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Kevin: "I am Kevin, the warrior who bears the name of salvation. Salvation is not easy. V me 50 to help me obtain the Judgment of Shamash and defeat Finality."