Layer Seven, the Heaven of Saturn.
In the far western reaches, away from the Throne of God, the battle between Fuli and AL was still raging.
Inside the Void Archives, Otto was frantic. "Brother! Are you done yet?!"
The mental fragment he had sent with the feather had long since been annihilated. All he could do was wait anxiously for news from Fuli.
Soon, the man saw Fuli close his scarlet eyes, as if suppressing something.
"Let's settle this in one blow."
When he opened them again, his heart seemed to be ablaze. "Cousin, can you use the Taixu Sword God one more time?"
"I can't."
Fu Hua, who had used the zeroth rated power of Fenghuang Down to bind her mind to Fuli's after unleashing the Taixu Sword God, replied.
She wondered how this 'little cousin' knew her, but now was clearly not the time to ask.
"Then please maintain the Key of Creation. My brother will handle the Key of Revelation, and I'll take care of the Key of Destruction myself!"
Judgment Of Shamash Unleashed, the zeroth rated power of the Cleaver of Shamash, could unleash a storm of flames capable of annihilating an Emperor-class Honkai Beast in a single strike. When the Judgment-class Benares was merely grazed by its aftershock, the dragon's wings were catastrophically damaged, unable to regenerate.
Might of An-Utu the Divine Key's state after its energy index surpasses 150%, breaking its limits and transforming into a massive, alien greatsword. It was like the descent of a god of destruction, a brilliance that could only be rivaled by the light of a dying star.
Both of these had already appeared in the battle.
But it wasn't enough.
To defeat Ella, who was empowered by the Brahma of a Hundred Beasts and her world authority, Extinction alone was far from sufficient.
"Then, let's climb even higher."
"With my own flesh and blood!"
It is common knowledge that the intensity of a fire depends on the kindling thrown into it.
The higher the quality of the fuel, the higher the temperature of the flames.
Until now, Fuli had been using the Honkai energy surging from the Imaginary Tunnel.
That immense energy, three times that of a normal Herrscher, was enough to ignite the greatsword known as Might of An-Utu and push it to its peak, but no further.
So, it was time to switch to better fuel.
"...I understand."
Receiving the information from Fuli, Fu Hua, who was controlling Abyss Flower, had a look of awe, admiration, and reluctance in her eyes.
The human body has 23 pairs of chromosomes, over 100 organs, 206 bones, more than 600 muscles, and over 800 types of tissue.
The human body itself is an incredibly intricate machine, composed of 40 to 60 trillion cells.
Every minute, hundreds of millions of cells are born and die.
These cells operate according to the rules selected by nature, unconsciously maintaining the body's functions.
And now, following Fuli's instructions, Fu Hua used the Divine Key's ability to [accelerate cell division to repair wounds] as a foundation, ordering Fuli's cells to go into a complete frenzy, a crazy overload, continuously breaking their own limits, surpassing themselves every single second!
Then, Otto, who was in charge of the overall situation, silently gritted his teeth and 'stuffed' all this Grand Herrscher-level flesh and blood into the blazing greatsword!
This was the true meaning and secret art of the Creation-Destruction-Samsara! To load one's own life into the chamber!
Using the highest-grade flesh and blood continuously generated by Abyss Flower as fuel, they would elevate the Key of Destruction, the Cleaver of Shamash, to the realm reached by the strongest MANTIS of the Previous Era in his battle against the Herrscher of Finality!
As for Fuli himself, he had always considered himself a tough guy.
In fact, having endured the bloodboil curse just like Kallen, he was definitely a master when it came to pain tolerance.
However.
Pain.
Excruciating pain.
Pain that made him wish for immediate death.
Every second, sixty trillion cells in his body were torn apart and reassembled in the creation-destruction cycle of Abyss Flower and the Cleaver of Shamash. The rising blood mist was instantly evaporated by the high temperature, filling the air with a twisted, terrifying heat.
In response, a heat that could burn even flames enveloped his entire body. A ferocious inferno spread in all directions, a blaze that could scorch the heavens shot into the sky, but was forcibly condensed by its master's will, extending and coalescing into a magnificent, dazzlingly long sword.
In an instant, night turned to day. The dark sky was dyed crimson, and the surrounding temperature suddenly rose to the level of the Sun's core, forming a tornado that swept violently in all directions!
The entire world was burning. The one holding the sword shone with the aura of a conqueror, the ultimate end that could ignite the world, the source of endless light and heat!
—Divine Key Overload 400%: Cleaver of Shamash - Calamity Quencher.
A scorching radiance instantly tore through the day, waiting to deliver the final judgment upon the enemy!
...
Throne of God, at the easternmost edge, far from the battlefield.
The 'eyelids' of the ruined corpse nailed to the cross twitched.
He lifted his empty, pitch-black eye sockets. His gaze instantly crossed thousands of miles, 'looking' at the Calamity Quencher in Fuli's palm before slowly lowering again.
A soft sigh echoed silently.
Neither Fuli nor Ella noticed this.
The former was obvious, but the latter, also realizing that the decisive moment was at hand, would not remain idle!
—Simulated Construction, the final ability of the Brahma of a Hundred Beasts, in addition to the previously mentioned immortal body, information predation, and infinite evolution.
The body and cells of the Brahma of a Hundred Beasts possessed the ability to simulate things, allowing it to exhibit various abilities and an extraordinary defense by simulating various creatures and phenomena.
For example, simulating gravity to create supergravity or anti-gravity, simulating the generation of cosmic storms to create organs that could reproduce them, simulating gravitational lensing to create organs that could distort space. It was a combat ability that could respond to anything, as long as it had enough information.
And now, empowered by the authority of the world's will and a massive amount of computational power, Ella gathered starlight between her hands, condensing it into a magnificent simulated universe.
Galaxies swirled like giant whirlpools, countless stars and dust intertwined under the pull of gravity. Interstellar dust drifted in the vacuum, shimmering under the starlight.
Ella's heartbeat synchronized with the pulse of the stars; every breath seemed to resonate with the cosmos.
It was an unprecedented feeling. She could perceive the life cycle of every star, the evolutionary history of every galaxy. She could hear the whisper of black holes devouring matter, feel the shockwave of a supernova explosion.
This data, this information, flowed in her palm, finally collapsing into the primordial star, forming an unstoppable force!
It was the power of the Big Bang!
At this point, there was no need for further talk.
The Quenching Flames and the Primordial Star gathered before their respective masters. The two, who were theoretically brother and sister, stared at each other from across the space, their expressions equally calm.
A fierce wind swept across the land but dissipated into nothingness as it neared the two of them.
The next moment—
BOOM!!!!!
The structure of spacetime was suddenly torn apart. The all-encompassing Primordial Star, under its master's will, converged to a single point, a directional strike on a small area, the energy created in that instant enough to shatter the heavens and split the earth!
Fuli's eyes reflected the immeasurable brilliance of the universe's dawn. His heart pounded violently in his chest, as if resonating with the flames in the sword.
The Brahma of a Hundred Beasts, upon this body;
The Chimeric Demon enters the abyss, the savior draws his sword!
Step forward, for this is—
"The Inscription of Deliverance!!!"
A torrent of Honkai energy erupted from his body as two pairs of wings that could burn the heavens, as if the entire world was on fire!
It was the ultimate power that could tear the world apart and incinerate everything, a heat so extreme it could burn even the real stars in the sky!
The collision between the two did not produce a loud noise; sound could no longer travel in this shattered vacuum.
The clashing starlight and blazing white light occupied opposite sides of the night sky, drawing a clear line that separated heaven and earth, carving out an irreconcilable yin and yang!
Now, all we can do is wait for the outcome of their clash, thought the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who were observing this scene through the authority granted by the outside Otto.
They watched intently, when suddenly, they heard a sound.
"OOOOOOOOOH!!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"
It was the roar of Fuli and Otto.
A roar filled with anger and determination!
"Open your eyes!"
Kallen, fighting within Ella's body, felt her eyelids twitch.
"Breathe!"
She suddenly looked up.
Then, she gently averted her gaze, no longer looking through Ella's eyes at the two ferocious figures.
Just go.
Compared to me, who prefers to stay in this virtual space, you are the ones who should enjoy a life without restraints.
"Liar!" Fuli gritted his teeth.
"I'm not..."
"Liar!"
"I'm not."
"Liar!"
"I'm not!!!"
"You are!"
Kallen subconsciously took a step back.
Fuli roared, "You say this is where you belong, so why did you look so happy when you were curled up in that chair, binge-watching anime?"
"You say you shouldn't leave, so why were your hands, holding Judah, trembling when you said goodbye to me?"
"That's right! For Chen Duo, her happiest time was in the Yaoxian Society."
"But that's because she was trafficked there from birth! She has no idea how precious a normal life is!"
"Because her worldview has long been twisted!"
"But you're different!"
The boundary between the Primordial Star and the Calamity Quencher was constantly being pushed toward AL under the infinite explosion of the Creation-Destruction-Samsara. This proved that, even for a moment, their overall power had surpassed hers.
This was the moment Fuli had been waiting for!
The moment when AL was at full power, with no time to spare to seal Kallen, when even a C-rank spell could affect her!
Clockwork Trick, activate!
A golden dial of emotions appeared before the boy's eyes. It was Kallen's.
CLANG!!!
He almost haphazardly grabbed the four gears floating around and stuffed them all into the slots!
What followed was a shout.
"But you're not Chen Duo, imprisoned from birth! You are Kallen Kaslana!"
"You've traveled across the continents of Asia and Europe! You've seen the snowy peaks of the Alps! You've eaten steaming soup dumplings in a small shop in Shenzhou! You've swum freely in the calm Mediterranean Sea! You've even been to the Far East, where that Yae Miko lives, and experienced unprecedented relaxation and beauty!"
"You, who have tasted freedom, who have seen the vastness of the world, how could you possibly give it up!!!"
No...
I haven't...
Kallen wanted to say those words. She wanted to refute Fuli's claims.
She was just an ordinary NPC, not a miracle like Otto, nor as radiant as Fuli.
Just go! Leave me!
She wanted to scream it again, to make those two stop fighting so stubbornly, to stop getting hurt.
But...
But.
But!
You're cheating, little bro!
She placed her hand on her heart, feeling the emotions surging out.
Clockwork Trick was never about brainwashing.
Everyone gets lost sometimes, hesitant, unsure of which direction to go.
But there is no need to fear. Just as people feel lost, at some point, they will make up their minds, make a bold but wonderful decision...
Whether it is calmness, joy, anger, or sadness, all they need is a little push, and then they can take a step forward, toward their own future.
Clockwork Trick is the nameless one who gives them that push! The Clocksmith is the Nameless!
"I... want to go..."
The screams she had held back every time finally coalesced into a tearful sob.
"I want to leave this place! I want to get out!"
"I want to see! I want to see what the world is like 500 years from now!"
"I want to see the sparkling streets and alleys! I want to see the people who have enough to eat! I want to see the snow on the world's highest peak! I want to take a submarine down to the deepest part of the Mariana Trench!"
The World's Unsolved Mysteries, The Loch Ness Monster, Up and Down Five Thousand Years...
The Encyclopedia, Savages and Yetis, A Hundred Thousand Whys, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea...
Deserts, snow-capped mountains, Death Valley, no-man's-lands, the magical Paradise Island at the end of the sea...
"I really, really want to see it all!!!" the girl cried out, hugging herself, her voice heart-wrenching.
"That's more like it!"
"Then it's our turn to save you from your 'boring' daily life!"
Fuli and Otto smiled at the same time.
The Otto of the outside world had set Kallen Kaslana to gradually realize her own falsehood, wanting to see her ugly downfall.
But this wasn't a downfall. A soul yearning for freedom is never a downfall!
"Cousin!"
"Fenghuang Down's Zeroth Rated Power, activate!"
The zeroth rated power of Fenghuang Down binds the user's mind to a specified mind capable of thought.
This binding is not just a physical connection, but a deep mental bond, making the two closely connected on a spiritual level.
Fu Hua, of course, knew what Fuli meant, so she unhesitatingly chose Kallen as the target!
There are two possible outcomes for the binding: you come to me, or I go to you.
The outcome is determined by the mental strength and resistance of the two parties. In addition, Ella was now unable to spare any attention.
And so, Kallen successfully escaped her original body and, like Fu Hua, entered Fuli's body!
"How dare you! How dare you!"
Having lost her last trump card, Ella was instantly enraged.
"Since you're all so ungrateful, then you can all just die!"
—Active Honkai Reaction (Meta-Morph Overload), the interaction between the paragon factors in the body and the MANTIS's own will stimulates each other's power, maximizing the versatility of the Honkai cells, and amplifying one's power beyond its limits for a short time.
Originally, AL couldn't use this most basic yet strongest trait of a MANTIS because Kallen was causing trouble inside her. Now that she was gone, the power of the Brahma of a Hundred Beasts was instantly unleashed!
The scales of victory were about to tip again!
But just then!
"Eleanor!!!"
"What?!"
At Otto's urgent call, a black spear shot across the sky from afar!
Previously, in the Heaven of Mars, Fuli and the others had only gotten the "White Flower" part of the Key of Creation from Eleanor.
And now, the "Black Abyss" had been sent by her at this critical moment!
AL was startled at first, then burst out laughing. "An NPC is an NPC! As a restricted existence, do you really think your attack can penetrate the boundary of the fifth layer?"
"Of course not!" Fuli grinned. "So, I made my move."
"Awooo—!"
A beast with the heart of a blue moon, resembling both a fox and a dragon, appeared out of nowhere, snatched the shaft of the Black Abyss, and plunged it straight into AL's chest!
Jizo Mitama's innate rated power: Manifestation of the Heart Beast!
Such a wound was certainly not enough to seriously injure AL, but to be hit like this at a critical moment while clashing with an enemy... the attack of the Primordial Star was inevitably halted for a moment!
And that was more than enough.
"Quencher—"
As if to engrave its flames onto the myriad stars, the greatsword displayed its supreme destructive power.
The calamity fire that could destroy eons surged in the Herrscher Core. The high-temperature blade glowed crimson, its hum like a dirge.
"—Unsheathed!!!"
Fuli and AL shot past each other. He wielded the greatsword that could burn the heavens and the earth, felling the divine court.
The souls that fell to this sword would not even leave behind dust.
This was the twilight of the gods, the end of the divine history.
This was the Sword that Surpasses Finality!
...