Within the illusion, time continued to flow.
According to Leo Ash's own speculation, for a period after the Twelfth Herrscher manifested, Finality wouldn't immediately pop up just because Rin wasn't doing her job.
So during this time, he urged the research teams to work together to develop an enhanced version of the Moonlight Throne and prepared the Blank Key, enhancing the connection between the Blank Key and the Moonlight Throne.
He even made Prometheus his auxiliary computing AI after Dr. Bianka developed it.
Everything was progressing steadily. Some members of Fire Moth even began to fantasize about the future after defeating the Honkai.
But only Leo Ash and Elysia knew—this alone was not enough.
Finality was not an opponent that could be easily defeated.
No, even saying that was too arrogant.
For humanity at present, defeating Finality was still an event with extremely low probability.
Not enough.
If it was just this, it wasn't enough.
So today, when Leo Ash sought out Elysia alone, she was even prepared to confess her identity.
Then, Su outside the illusion, and Elysia within it, witnessed an incredibly rare scene.
"My apologies, Elysia."
The moment Elysia closed the room door, Leo Ash directly released his Phantasmagoria to weaken Elysia's power. At the same time, under the effect of Mind Like Still Water, he struck Elysia's body with a single punch.
"You—"
Before this sudden attack from Leo Ash, Elysia had imagined what kind of treatment she would receive when her true identity was discovered.
But when the terrible future she had envisioned actually became a reality...
How should I put it, even the sunny and cheerful Miss Pink Elf couldn't help but feel a little helpless.
But in the next second, Elysia had an even stranger feeling.
After Leo Ash's fist pierced through her body, he was actually fumbling around near her heart.
Then, with his Precision Control, he directly pulled out a transparent, flawless core.
Elysia, whose body was repaired by Leo Ash's Powerful Healing Spell, sighed helplessly and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Ugh... even if you're going to perform surgery on me, you don't have to be so rough."
"No girl will like such a violent approach."
"Heh, heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know."
After pouring a bottle of clear water onto the core, Leo Ash, under the utterly shocked gazes of Elysia and Su, threw the core into his mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed it whole.
"You you you you you—spit it out!"
Seeing Leo Ash's incredibly wild action, Elysia completely panicked.
"That's a Herrscher Core! You just swallowed it like that—"
Elysia's right, that's a Herrscher Core! You just swallowed it like that—
Thinking about this question, Su suddenly froze.
No, this is an illusion.
Mr. Ash also knows he's in an illusion.
And from the beginning, even knowing he was in an illusion, Mr. Ash hadn't done anything superfluous.
Could it be...
Inside the illusion, Elysia could feel the intensity of Honkai Energy on Leo Ash's body rising nonstop.
"This... that..."
Looking at Leo Ash, whose eyes were perfectly clear, Elysia waved a hand in front of his face and even prepared for battle.
"If you don't say something soon, I'm going to assume you've been controlled by the Honkai."
"Elysia, I need to emphasize one thing."
Leo Ash suddenly spoke, looking at the unarmed girl before him, and spoke again.
"After losing your Herrscher Core, you can no longer defeat me."
This is bad. Could Leo Ash have really been controlled by the core?
He's undoubtedly exuding an oppressive aura, but his eyes... they look like he's still conscious. What on earth is going on?
At this moment, Leo Ash, who had used the [Implant] skill to implant the Core of Origin into his body, truly felt...
—Damn it, this negative buff is too severe.
He didn't know if Elysia heard any strange voices after getting this core, but he was definitely hearing a lot of static right now.
This unpleasant static directly gave Leo Ash a terrifying desire to attack.
If he hadn't activated Mind Like Still Water long ago and also cultivated the Heart Skandha of Taixu, this would have been enough to make him go berserk on the spot.
And Elysia saw Leo Ash's expressionless face—don't ask, it's just the Cold, Handsome Man title still carrying.
After a standoff of about two minutes, Leo Ash finally let out a soft breath of turbid air and temporarily regained his ability to move.
"Ha, I guess it was a success."
"You... you really are Leo Ash, right?"
Seeing a flicker of lingering fear on Leo Ash's face, Elysia immediately walked over to him and began to worriedly check his body.
"Do you feel hurt anywhere? Or do you feel uncomfortable somewhere?"
"Elysia..."
"Hmm?"
"I know I'm handsome, but if you're going to feel me up, can you pick another time?"
"...You, really."
Hearing Leo Ash's half-joking words, Elysia was truly angry this time.
"You still have the leisure to joke with me???"
"Swallowing a Herrscher Core, even if you were going to do it, you should have prepared in advance!"
"How could you just lure someone into a room, brutally make them bleed, and then complain about them..."
"How should I put it... I was prepared long ago."
Pulling out a chair and sitting down, Leo Ash leaned back on the white plastic chair and looked up weakly at the ceiling.
"The plan I announced some time ago wasn't just to cover for Rin."
"In fact, as soon as I had this idea, I put it into action."
"It's just that this time, the host I selected wasn't someone else, but myself—after all, it was my own proposed plan, so of course I had to try it first."
"So during this period, I have been calculating the odds of victory against Finality, and using my psychic MANTIS powers, I was also writing my self-cognition."
"In the end, I finally completed my plan."
"Under my self-hypnosis, I judged that Finality was unbeatable, and then..."
"—As the de facto leader of humanity, I despaired."
After hearing Leo Ash's explanation, Elysia sat down next to him in silence.
She had many things she wanted to say, but right now...
She couldn't say them.
"The leader of humanity, after despairing, actively chose to become a Herrscher. Take a guess—would the Honkai actively help me?"
At that moment, Elysia saw something appear in Leo Ash's hand that shouldn't have been there.
"This is... Stellar Harmony?"
"Ah, the Herrscher power you never wanted to use is actually the key to victory in this battle."
At this moment, Leo Ash could feel that the activated Core of Origin was continuously transmitting terrifying energy into his body.
The abilities of the Herrscher of Origin were never clearly explained in the original work.
Some people speculated, based on Mei's words, that the power of Origin was the ability to 'make wishes come true'.
Others had different opinions, refuting this with the point raised by the Herrscher of Sentience about 'connecting all Herrscher powers'.
However, no matter which speculation it was, in Leo Ash's view, it didn't affect his decision to seize the Herrscher Core and implant it in himself.
And now, he had finally confirmed one thing—the guys discussing it online were all correct.
Both abilities were part of the power of Origin.
As the first Herrscher, Origin could indeed connect to the powers of other Herrschers.
But as the last Herrscher before Finality, Origin could also allow one to 'make things happen as one wishes' within a certain range.
Of course, it was impossible to expect the power of Origin to give Leo Ash the ability to instantly kill Finality.
But for the current Leo Ash, all the conditions to break the stalemate had been met.
Everything was ready, so now...
Let me, as the illusory king on this chessboard, make the final move.
After all...
—If the king doesn't move, how can his subjects follow?
.....
In the six months after Rin became a Herrscher, she still maintained her sense of self.
And during this time, everyone's attitude towards her changed from 'Although we have our doubts, we'll believe it since Boss Leo Ash said so,' to 'Wow, Miss Rin is so cool, she actually managed to seal it'.
Damn it, this is an illusion, an illusion!
But what is this exhilarating feeling!
At this moment, Rin had to sorrowfully admit one thing.
Even after fifty thousand years, her essence was still that of the little girl from back then.
A little girl with an ordinary state of mind, yet unable to control her own destiny, who could only embrace a tragic future and completely transform into a demon.
However, now, even knowing this was an illusion, being looked at with such respect and admiration within it...
No, it feels better and better.
Remember, those hateful guys back then killed me with hatred, how could I—
No, I can't think about it. If I do, it feels even better!
Although she still tried to resist this feeling in her heart, Rin's heart had been completely softened by this illusion without her realizing it.
But at the same time, in the meeting room, Leo Ash and the other high-ranking members of Fire Moth did not share Rin's relatively relaxed feeling.
After all, they, the higher-ups, all knew that the time for Finality's awakening was drawing ever closer.
"Alright, let's not all look so gloomy."
In front of everyone, Leo Ash was the first to speak.
"After I implanted both the Core of Origin and the Core of the Herrscher of Reason, I now have the confidence to break the stalemate."
"Right now, according to Dr. Bianka's tests, the Cocoon of Finality's energy has not yet finished charging."
After Leo Ash mentioned her name, Bianka tapped on the terminal in her hand and shared all the observational data she had with everyone.
"Just as Warrior Leo Ash said, there are still about three months until the Herrscher of Finality fully awakens."
"But in these three months, honestly, there's still very little we can do."
"Yes, it's still too little."
After Bianka finished speaking, Leo Ash picked up where she left off and said to the crowd.
"So I think—let's not wait any longer."
"Since everything is ready, in three days, I will directly lead the combat force to the moon and have it out with it."
"If we win, everyone will be happy. If I lose... Heh, how could I possibly lose?"
With this confident expression, Leo Ash directly revealed the battle plan to everyone.
"Phase one, have the members of the pilot unit harass it from the outside with the mass-produced Moonlight Thrones."
"Dr. Ryusuke, as the overall commander of the mass-produced Moonlight Throne unit, the Moonlight Throne you pilot has the ability to perform an over-limit bombardment."
"This ability can only be used for a few seconds, so the timing is up to you to judge."
"Ah, I understand."
"As for everyone in the combat unit, you are responsible for clearing out any Honkai Beasts that may appear near the Cocoon of Finality."
"This battle is, after all, a decapitation strike. The main thing is whether we, who have been fused with powerful Honkai Beast genes, can achieve results."
At this moment, the plan that Leo Ash announced and arranged wasn't just simple, it was practically like having no plan at all.
But at this stage, no one doubted Leo Ash's decision.
He had already led humanity this far—to question Leo Ash at a time like this would only get you taken down as a spy sent by the Honkai.
But even Su, who had been observing Leo Ash all along, had no idea what he was planning to do.
After all, even though Su had not faced Finality directly, he knew very well that a being that even Kevin, with an over-limit strike from the Moonlight Throne, could only shut down for twelve hours was definitely despairingly strong.
And now, although the humans in the illusion had avoided many tragedies, their combat power...
Alright, it was much stronger than in Su's own era.
But this combat power still seemed to be a little bit short of defeating Finality...
But what was even stranger was that I didn't feel there was anything wrong with Mr. Ash's words.
He was truly acting with confidence—and I actually believed him, just like everyone in the illusion.
If someone had led us like this back then...
—At that time, we surely would not have had the slightest doubt in him either.
...