◇ Unlock early-access chapters on Patreon and enjoy an exclusive limited-time offer just released.Join us now: @patreon.com/plotwired
Just as everyone was caught between shock and uncertainty—
"Lady Durandal! Look—those stars!"
[Within the starry sky opened by the Second Divine Key, the very first star vanished!]
[Immediately afterward, hundreds… thousands… tens of thousands of stars appeared across that expanse of starlight.]
[Within this starfield formed by parallel worlds lie countless possibilities.]
The scene shifted.
Inside the World Bubble that was on the verge of extinction—
The once lush grasslands and towering trees had withered away,
no longer basking in sunlight, no longer brimming with life.
It seemed to foreshadow that Dr. Su's life, too, had reached its end.
Under the moonlight,
Su sat beneath the withered tree, gazing up at the sky, murmuring to himself with quiet satisfaction.
"It seems Miss Bianka has delivered my message."
"Mr. Otto has already guessed the answer. All I needed to do was point him toward a shortcut."
"Although everyone views Mr. Otto as a sinister man…"
"But…"
"In Miss Bianka's heart, he still possesses a bright side."
"Within the environment of the trial, I saw the deep bond between them, and I also saw the light within Mr. Otto!"
With a sincere sigh,
Dr. Su stood up.
Looking at Kevin's reflection mirrored in the water, he spoke softly.
"My dear friend… were we not the same?"
"This is the last time I will come to see you."
"Let the people of this era strive on their own."
"People like us… people like Mr. Otto… in the end, we are nothing more than sacrificial pieces on this great chessboard."
As leaves drifted down,
The World Bubble Su resided in was visibly swallowed by darkness.
And Su's words stirred an uproar.
Dr. Su…
One of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers of Fire Moth, the anti-Honkai organization of the First Civilization Era.
One of the few remaining Pioneers who survived beneath the Herrscher of the End.
The executor of the 恒沙 Project—the crystallization of humanity's wisdom!
Using the power of the Second Divine Key,
He observed countless worlds within Sumeru in a Mustard Seed, peering into human nature with an immeasurably vast and transcendent vision!
And yet—
Such a sage of humanity…
Held Otto in such high regard?!
[Ningguang: This… is Su's evaluation of Otto?!]
[Jean: No wonder he entrusted that leaf to Durandal.]
[Venti: It seems that in the illusions Miss Bianka experienced, her impression of Bishop Otto was quite positive too!]
[Durandal: The bishop has indeed harmed many innocent people through various plans.]
[Durandal: But his intent—and Schicksal's intent—to fight Honkai and protect humanity has always been perfectly clear. I believe this is true of all of Schicksal.]
[Rita: Yes, Lady Durandal.]
[Silver Wolf: But… what Otto shows to the outside world…]
[Tesla: That bastard must've used some trick to deceive you all!]
[Black Swan: Countless worlds, countless memories… could Otto truly be as he claims?]
[March 7th: But the things Otto's done are really awful! And his brainwashing methods are terrifyingly effective…]
Following Durandal's words,
Many fell into quiet contemplation.
Perhaps Durandal was easily deceived by Otto—
After all, she had been raised under Schicksal's education since childhood, becoming an S-rank Valkyrie.
What surrounded her were Otto's ideas, day in and day out.
That Otto fellow… aside from his cold-blooded nature, it was hard to find fault with him in other aspects.
His ability to manipulate hearts was downright frightening!
Durandal might very well have been fooled by Otto's surface image.
But—
Dr. Su was different.
A Pioneer with an immeasurably long view of time,
one who had observed the divergence of countless worlds.
An evaluation coming from him—
Could not be ignored.
Did Otto truly possess a light unique to himself?
Within the pure white space,
Watching Dr. Su's appraisal of Otto on screen,
Watching the subjective judgments of Durandal and the others,
And learning that Otto had always remained steadfast on the path of protecting humanity and fighting Honkai—
Kallen could not help but lift her chin slightly, a hint of pride in her eyes.
This was her great inventor.
Otto… had never forgotten the promise between them.
With such doubts lingering,
The scene shifted again.
Otto—now in possession of the information within the leaf—
Formally began his final plan!
And the timeline finally arrived at a moment all were painfully familiar with—
Himeko's elegy.
Before the screen,
Kiana and the others felt their hearts grow heavy.
Fortunately…
In reality, Himeko was still safe and sound!
Revisiting this scene now,
It no longer felt quite as devastating.
[The Queen Descends — The Final Lesson!]
[This was a trial of human will—an experiment testing whether human emotions could overcome the will of Honkai.]
[During the experiment, Fu Hua did not yet know Otto's true objective. She believed Otto was still pursuing his old plan—reviving Herrschers to seek resurrection. She thought the experiment had spiraled out of control and tried to stop Otto's madness. But Otto was not mad—he was perfectly lucid.]
[Fu Hua refused to accept it. She condemned Otto's ruthlessness, his cold-bloodedness, his madness. She believed that Otto's idea of "killing a Herrscher with love" was nothing but a colossal joke—mere manipulation of human emotions. All talk of fighting for humanity, in her eyes, was a lie.]
[At the moment of her death, Fu Hua activated the Zeroth Power of the Divine Key Fenghuang Down.
Her consciousness found Himeko, asking her to don the Godslayer Armor—Vermilion Knight: Eclipse—to help Kiana.
In the final lesson, Himeko was already critically eroded by Honkai energy, beyond saving. In her last moments, she implanted the Godslayer Spear into Kiana's body.
The experiment ended with the Herrscher consciousness temporarily sealed.]
[After the Fourth Honkai Eruption, Kiana's whereabouts became unknown.]
[In order to find Kiana, Theresa and the Anti-Entropy group traveled to Shenzhou's Sky City. There, the cruel experiments conducted by World Serpent and its subsidiary pharmaceutical companies were exposed to the public!]
[Afterward, the group arrived at the Eye of the Deep. During their exploration of the Sea of Quanta, Bronya found Seele and inherited the power of the Herrscher of Reason.]
[And because of this—]
[The leader of World Serpent appeared.]
[—Kevin Kaslana, returns to the world!]
"...So this is your plan? To end Honkai in this way?"
"To bring permanent liberation to humanity…? No. I refuse. I will never agree to such a plan! This isn't salvation at all…"
Anti-Entropy's leader, Welt Yang, seemed to be speaking to some unseen existence, his expression filled with anger.
As the scene shifted—
A deep, shadowy serpent emerged from the darkness.
A heavy voice echoed.
"Whether you accept it or not, I will return…"
"Judge you… and save you."
"I salute you. In this era, there are still heroes who hold firm to their ideals and fight for humanity."
"But you are still too naïve—so naïve that your ideals will get you killed."
"—You know nothing of Honkai."
"I will command and lead humanity to complete the true mission of the Pioneers."
"Let us meet again… in reality."
Kevin's voice, resolute and weighty, slowly faded into the Sea of Quanta.
Leaving everyone shaken to the core.
What had been revealed—
Was something no one before the screen had yet experienced!
And it was very likely…
The future of the main world itself!
Toward this future—
Everyone felt an overwhelming sense of unease.
No matter how tense or heavy the events shown in the past had been,
Everyone knew those were things that had already happened.
Many already knew their outcomes.
But now—
What was being revealed on screen was the future.
A future whose direction no one could predict.
That uncertainty gnawed at the heart.
[Tesla: One side has Otto going crazy with schemes… and now World Serpent pops up too…]
[Tesla: Aaaaah! I'm going insane! Why is this world so messed up?!]
[Einstein: Reality is like this. But in the end, humanity has only one true enemy.]
[Theresa: —Honkai!]
[Honkai Himeko: World Serpent… another organization that's deeply worrying…]
[March 7th: The Stigma Project! That was a madman's plan from the start!!]
[Himeko (Star Rail): Indeed. Even if their ultimate goal is to fight Honkai, such an organization is far too extreme!]
[Durandal: Kevin… Kaslana…]
[Rita: A truly concerning existence.]
Somewhere far away.
An unknown place.
Within a dim, lightless corridor, Gray Serpent advanced without hesitation.
He did not light a torch, nor did he recite a map of the terrain.
Yet whenever a fork in the path appeared, the correct direction surfaced in his mind as if from nowhere—
as though he were walking a road he had traversed countless times.
In truth, this was his first visit to this shelter.
Fifteen hundred years ago, this had been the starting point of the Lord's return to the world, revered as holy ground by his followers.
But after the Lord was sealed beyond the far shore, this place fell into silence, its coordinates becoming a lost secret.
Gray Serpent stopped.
At the end of the corridor stood a massive metal gate, thick as a fortress wall.
"Destruction and rebirth."
As Gray Serpent murmured the phrase,
The enormous doors slowly parted, as if struggling against the weight of a thousand years of time.
Within the hall, a man leaned against a throne, silently lost in thought.
Fifteen hundred years had passed.
Power changed hands again and again among humanity; fire and sword scoured the earth time after time.
On this planet, history rose and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Yet compared to the last time Gray Serpent had seen him—
The man before him had not changed in the slightest.
Nor had his will.
This man transcended time and stood outside the cycle of rebirth.
Only one who transcended time could defeat the destruction hidden behind history—
a destruction that itself transcended time.
These eyes had witnessed miracles beyond mortal imagination.
They had also endured the sorrow of all things being destroyed.
And yet, everything those eyes had seen—
Had been tempered by an extraordinary will, becoming two blocks of merciless, indifferent ice.
Gray Serpent bowed deeply.
"Please forgive me for failing to personally welcome your return."
"How are the preparations progressing?"
"Smoothly. The world now possesses all the conditions required to implement the plan. Even if the Herrscher of Reason can block your path for a time, he cannot halt the march of history."
Gray Serpent's gaze grew dark.
"Jackal's research is nearly complete. Only one final verification remains."
"Begin the operation."
"Yes. To celebrate your return, I have a gift to present."
Gray Serpent lifted a greatsword, offering it with both hands.
The blade was dim and lusterless. The flames that once incinerated all things had long since vanished.
Yet its very shape was enough to stir memories in a warrior's heart.
Kevin gazed at the greatsword.
He had once wielded this blade to slay all monsters that threatened humanity—
to face divine punishment head-on!
"Old friend… we meet again."
The warrior grasped the hilt.
As if clutching his own past.
He stared at the darkened blade, just as he had before countless battles in ages past.
The Soulium-forged greatsword trembled as it awakened.
Its form stretched and shifted, responding to the surging fighting spirit within the warrior's heart.
As though it were not merely a sword—
But a living being with a soul.
The flaming sword that guarded Eden,
the Heavenly Fire that burned Sodom—
Humans who had once glimpsed this sacred relic used countless myths to describe its divine might!
And now—
After a thousand years—
Myth was about to become reality once more.
"From this moment on—fight alongside me!"
This command not only echoed through the hall,
But struck the hearts of all followers far away like a silent thunderclap—
Proclaiming that the storm was about to arrive.
And as she stared at the screen—
Kiana's pupils suddenly contracted!
In that single instant—
She recognized it.
That greatsword—
Judgment of Shamash, wielded by Siegfried!!
Then… the missing Siegfried…?!
◇ Leave a review and help unlock bonus chapters!For every 10 reviews, I'll drop one extra chapter as a thank-you.
◇ Power Stones = More Content!Every 100 Power Stones will trigger a bonus chapter release. Keep the support coming!
◇ Want early access?Get 60 chapters ahead on P@treon—plus a limited 6% discount on all tiers.👉 patreon.com/plotwired