On the lunar battlefield.
Two colossal figures stood tall, like divine angels of the heavens themselves. Had any devout believer seen the forms of [Reverse God] Elias and the Herrscher of Finality at that moment—
—they would have undoubtedly fallen to their knees, trembling in awe and ecstasy, offering fervent prayers.
Yet, the scene between these two so-called angels was far from sacred.
"Hm? What's going on? Can't find it?"
Elias's brows furrowed slightly. One hand gripped the Herrscher of Finality's shoulder, while the other reached into the imaginary space within the Goddess of Honkai, groping for something unseen.
Though the Herrscher of Finality's inherent imaginary space was tens of thousands of times larger than that of other Herrschers, Elias had already spent three whole minutes searching at his usual superhuman speed—inside and out, every corner examined.
Yet no matter how he searched, he couldn't find anything resembling a Herrscher Core.
"Could it be she doesn't have a Core? No, impossible. Keep looking—her insides are massive, maybe I missed something."
Elias adjusted his posture slightly, this time using both hands to rummage deeper into the Herrscher of Finality's imaginary space.
But perhaps his movements were a bit too rough.
"Mmh~"
A soft moan escaped her lips.
The sound was sweet, melodic—enough to make anyone's thoughts wander. But for Elias, it made his entire body freeze in place.
In that instant, the [Reverse God] moved like a malfunctioning machine, turning stiffly to face the Honkai goddess whose "heart" he was currently rummaging through.
"!!!"
The Herrscher of Finality, who was supposed to be completely dormant, frowned slightly. Her once-closed eyelids twitched open just a little—Elias could see the faint glimmer of her golden irises.
"Everyone, open fire!!" Elias shouted without hesitation, yanking both hands out and blinking away in an instant.
At the same time, he gave the command to the waiting Flame-Chasers.
And the next second—
"Shamash Assault—!!"
"Radiant brilliance, shine upon the earth!"
"Prayers—far too late!!"
"Let the melody resound!!"
"Burn all to ashes!!"
"One flash—cut through the void!!"
"Moonlight Throne main cannons—fire!!"
...
Kevin and the others did not disappoint. The instant Elias withdrew, countless ultimate techniques erupted simultaneously toward the Herrscher of Finality—all aimed straight for the head.
The still-groggy Goddess of Honkai took the brunt of the full bombardment from the Flame-Chasers' combined assault. Yet somehow, she didn't collapse again as before.
Seeing this, Elias's heartbeat skipped a note. Without hesitation, he decided to play his next trump card.
"Hua—!!"
"Understood!"
At Elias's call, Hua stepped forward without hesitation, her body igniting in a crimson blaze.
"To burn away all delusion, and see the truth! One must understand death before speaking of life! Artificial Cascade—activate!!"
Like a phoenix reborn from its ashes, Hua's once-gentle, graceful form transformed into that of a blazing immortal bird. Her gray hair turned red-and-white, and behind her unfolded a pair of burning crimson wings. Her eyes blazed gold and red.
In that moment, Hua's beauty and radiance rivaled even the divine.
Among the Flame-Chasers, her Artificial Cascade form was perhaps second only to Elias's [Reverse God] in magnificence. But the beauty was merely a side effect—the true gain was her explosive surge in power.
Yet Hua didn't awaken her Artificial Cascade to unleash a stronger variant of her "Ki Impact."
She did so to amplify what was to come.
Hua: "All that has been—ends with this blade!"
Elias: "Let memory become the sword that severs form and annihilates gods!"
Crimson feathers rained down like a fiery storm, painting the cold, desolate moon in a warm golden-red glow.
It was the Zeroth Power of the eighth Divine Key—Fenghuang Down—manifested to its fullest: expanding the domain of consciousness to its absolute limit.
"Taixuan Eminence!!" ×2
Elias and Hua unleashed their divine technique in perfect unison.
The next moment, a colossal white sword and a blazing flame-forged sword appeared above the Herrscher of Finality's head. They didn't descend right away—instead, upon contact, the two merged into one.
The kilometer-long white blade became wrapped in roaring golden-red fire, magnificent and awe-inspiring beyond measure.
The massive sword floated above the Herrscher of Finality's head—
Like the legendary Sword of Damocles.
Herrscher of Finality: "!!!"
The Goddess of Honkai's eyes snapped fully open—but it was too late for her to react.
The tip of the Taixuan Eminence, refined and strengthened to its absolute limit, had already fallen upon her head.
BOOOOM!!!
Herrscher of Finality: (((φ(◎ロ◎;)φ)))
The Goddess of Honkai, who had just awoken for less than five seconds, was once again rendered offline.
"Haa~!" ×16
Elias and the Flame-Chasers all let out a collective sigh of relief.
After unleashing that all-out Taixuan Eminence, Hua immediately exited her Artificial Cascade. Her consciousness slipped into unconsciousness, and her body slowly fell toward the lunar surface. Although the moon's one-sixth gravity meant she wouldn't be hurt, Elias still caught her in his arms.
The Taixuan Eminence—this was yet another trump card Elias had prepared.
The fifth essence of the Edge of Taixuan—Divine Essence.
Divinity—transformation in its purest form,
The marvelous truth of all things, beyond form and comprehension.
Neither possessing nor requiring a physical shape, this sword fills all of space—it is space itself. Therefore, it is everywhere, unstoppable.
Even the Herrscher of Finality could not withstand it.
It was a technique capable of bypassing all defenses and directly striking the enemy's consciousness—created by Fu Hua forty-five thousand years in the future.
And now, across tens of thousands of years and space, it had fallen upon the head of the Herrscher of Finality of the Previous Era.
As for the result…
Mei: "Reanalyzing the Herrscher of Finality's state! Confirming Honkai energy once again fully depleted—subject has re-entered a second dormancy. Though her divine body remains unharmed, estimated downtime duration is... fifty-five hours!"
Elias: "...Damn it! Should've waited to use that move—what a waste!!"
Kevin: "What kind of move was that? That's insane."
When their earlier barrage had failed to knock the Herrscher of Finality out, the Flame-Chasers had felt their hearts sink—but thankfully, Elias and Hua had acted in time.
The combined version of the Taixuan Eminence was unimaginably powerful.
But it also had side effects.
At the moment, Hua was suffering from temporary amnesia.
Hua: "Who am I? Where am I? What was I doing?"
Everyone: "???"
Elias: "Don't worry, I'll fix your memory right away."
The crimson-feathered Fenghuang Down in his hand reverted into the form of a lotus flower.
He connected to the Herrscher Core of Sentience within and re-infused Hua's memories back into her mind.
Back when Hua had completed the [SWARA], Elias had taken the Edge of Taixuan he learned from Fu Hua fifty thousand years in the future and taught it to her past self. Using the Herrscher of Sentience's authority, he trained her rapidly until she reached the Fifth Essence—Taixuan Eminence.
Of course, the Taixuan Eminence itself did not require burning memories as fuel—that effect was simply a side reaction of Fenghuang Down's Zeroth Power. For the peak-era Fu Hua, this move was merely a standard strike.
Elias: "The Taixuan Eminence is a divine art that targets the mind—it cannot be dodged or blocked. When it comes to forcing the Herrscher of Finality into shutdown, it's even more effective than my Stellar Excelsis or Kevin's Shamash Assault. However..."
Since the opponent was the Herrscher of Finality—
The Goddess of Honkai who could reset entire civilizations—
Elias knew that a simple Taixuan Eminence, even if successful in shutting her down, likely wouldn't keep her dormant for long.
That was why he and Hua had agreed in advance: if they ever needed to use this technique, they would burn all of their memories as fuel to activate Fenghuang Down's Zeroth Power.
They would push the Taixuan Eminence to the ultimate limit—
And fuse both of their sword gods together for maximum amplification—
To ensure they delivered the greatest possible damage to the Herrscher of Finality!
Back then, honest Hua truly had been ready to lose all of her memories for the sake of this battle—but Elias had told her there was no need for such a sacrifice. There were other ways to avoid that cost.
"Thanks, Misteln."
Elias expressed his gratitude to his [Idea] Miss.
"You're welcome~ it's what I should do."
Misteln replied with a gentle smile.
Aside from his past-life memories, Elias's memories from this life had indeed been completely burned once. But since Misteln existed as his Stigma, she had already backed up his memories countless times.
What had just been burned away was merely one of those countless copies. Elias's original memories were perfectly intact—he hadn't forgotten a single second, and every emotion that came with those memories remained fully preserved.
Hua, however, who did not possess a [Idea]-type Stigma, couldn't perform the same trick. Though her memories could still be backed up, copies were never truly the same as the originals. Even if they could later be reloaded, she would only remember the images and sounds—forgetting the emotions and thoughts she'd had at the time.
Thus…
Hua decided to store a backup of her memories in her own mind beforehand and entrusted Elias with her original memories for safekeeping.
Once the Taixuan Eminence was unleashed and the backup memories burned away, Elias would return the original memories to her.
That way, nothing would be lost.
But even then, there was still one small issue…
"Hua, are you alright? How's your memory?"
"I-I'm fine. My memories are all intact."
As they spoke, neither Elias nor Hua met the other's eyes—the former out of embarrassment, the latter out of shyness.
(I can't believe Hua actually likes me...)
Elias was utterly stunned.
Handing over one's original memories to another person meant allowing them to know one's entire life—every moment, every feeling, every thought. Original memories didn't just contain visuals and sounds; they carried the emotions that had been born alongside them.
To put it simply, it was as if Elias had watched a film titled Hua—complete with visuals, subtitles, audio, and every thought that crossed Hua's mind.
For example, during the Third Honkai Eruption—
When she had been saved by a white-haired boy descending from the sky and secretly fallen in love with him, though she'd never told anyone.
Now, that secret had been completely exposed.
"Ahem! I don't know what's going on between you two, Elias and Hua, or why the air suddenly feels so... tender—but we're still in the middle of fighting the Herrscher of Finality, you know?"
Miss Pink Elf cleared her throat to remind them.
"Even if she's offline again, we can't let our guard down. So… if you're going to confess, do it after the battle."
"U-Understood…"
Hua turned her head away awkwardly.
She hadn't done it intentionally. When Elias had proposed this method, she'd realized it could serve as a new kind of confession.
Since Elias would see her original memories, he would naturally learn of her feelings for him—so even if she couldn't bring herself to say it aloud, he would still know her heart.
Being the straightforward person she was, Hua had simply gone along with it.
So, she had managed to both force the Herrscher of Finality into a second shutdown and make Elias aware of her feelings. Truly, worthy of the future Immortal Phoenix—two birds with one stone!
"Ahem! Anyway, I've made a discovery—a theory, actually. The Herrscher of Finality is even more unusual than we thought."
Elias glanced at the once again slumbering Herrscher of Finality, who slept like a child, then removed his damaged Hand of the Void and retrieved its internal data recorder.
"Prometheus, connect to the Hand of the Void's data and forward it to Mei and Mobius."
"Understood."
Prometheus nodded, and soon after, Mei and Mobius on Earth received the Hand of the Void's transmission.
This Divine Key, which had ventured inside the Herrscher of Finality's body, had no eyes—but it did possess a data-recording device. It had fully captured the condition of her internal imaginary space.
When Mobius and Mei saw the data, both their faces showed clear astonishment.
"The Herrscher of Finality... doesn't have a Herrscher Core?"
"Wait, are we sure this data isn't bugged? The range is absurd! No Core, yet her internal imaginary space is ten thousand times larger than a normal Herrscher's?!"
"It's not that she lacks a Core," Elias shook his head, voicing his judgment. "It's that she herself is her Herrscher Core."
"For ordinary Herrschers, using their authority requires the Core within them. Without it, even someone with high Honkai adaptability is just a powerful human with strong Honkai energy control."
"But the Herrscher of Finality is different. Her very existence is her authority. That's why I couldn't find a Core inside her earlier."
"In truth, all Herrscher powers we've known until now are merely partial reflections of the Finality's authority. The reason she's so difficult to force into dormancy this time, I believe, is because she invoked the Herrscher of Sentience's authority within herself."
Elias tossed the Fenghuang Down lightly in his hand as he spoke.
The Herrscher of Finality was the unification of all authorities. Time was merely one aspect of her essence—but not its entirety.
If she wished, she could use any other Herrscher's power, and her mastery of it would surpass that of its original wielder.
"She must have used the Herrscher of Sentience's authority to shield her consciousness. Otherwise, she couldn't have withstood everyone's combined attack without falling unconscious. Fortunately, Hua and I strengthened the Taixuan Eminence to its absolute limit—it still managed to pierce her mental defenses."
And it had even bought them an extra half day of time.
Thinking of this, Elias couldn't help feeling a pang of regret.
He wasn't sure if using the Taixuan Eminence again would yield the same effect.
If he had waited—used it right as her first dormancy was ending—they might have perfectly maintained their advantage.
"Don't dwell on it too much, Elias," Mei comforted him gently. "If we could force her into a second shutdown, we can do it a third time. This time, we just got unlucky with the timing."
She too felt regret—not for using the Taixuan Eminence too early, but for failing to obtain the Herrscher of Finality's Core.
Because they knew the success rate was low, Elias and Mei hadn't told the other Flame-Chasers about this plan in advance. According to their arrangement, if they could seize the Core of Finality—
Then everything would change.
Humanity could migrate peacefully into the bubble world. There would be no need for the Flame-Chasers to risk their lives buying time.
As for civilization's reset—Elias could simply embed the Core into the Key of Blankness and activate its power instead.
It was a gamble—one where risk equaled reward.
If Elias obtained the Core of Finality, he could directly ascend as the new Herrscher of Finality.
But if he failed, then facing the awakened Herrscher again would force him to expend his final trump cards to render her dormant once more.
Elias hadn't truly failed—his hand had entered the Herrscher's body—but she was far too extraordinary.
A Herrscher without a Core, whose very existence was her authority... such a being was beyond anyone's prediction.
Elias: "Forget it. We just didn't take the shortcut, that's all. Back to the original plan. Everyone, recover your strength and prepare—fifty-five hours from now, we'll put the Herrscher of Finality into shutdown for the third time!"
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