"So this is what the world really looks like!"
The truth about bubble worlds was far too shocking for an ordinary person. Himeko felt as though her entire worldview had been reconstructed, her beautiful pale-gold eyes widening dramatically.
After being fired from Schicksal earlier, Himeko had fallen into confusion, unsure where she should go from then on. Then Elias just "happened" to appear before her and paint her a grand picture of the future.
He told her she could return to MIT, then freely pursue her dreams afterward. If anyone else had said something like that, Himeko would have immediately downloaded an anti-scam app to express her suspicion.
But Elias was different. After all, what reason would this boy who called himself a savior have to deceive her? Could it be because he coveted her body?
Would he even need to lie for that? With his strength, couldn't he just force himself on her? And thinking about it carefully, it wasn't as though she would necessarily be the one losing out...
Speaking of which, even Himeko herself didn't know why, but Elias always gave her an inexplicable sense of trust. It was as though she didn't even need to cut him open to know he was white on the inside.
(Though if I cut him open, I wouldn't be able to put him back together...)
In any case, she decided to go with Elias.
Afterward, she learned countless truths about the world from him. For example, the starry sky was fake, and beyond that false sky lay an infinitely vast Sea of Quanta.
The world she lived in was merely a tiny bubble floating within that sea, constantly being eroded and worn away. If it didn't board his Noah's Ark, then one day the world would inevitably dissolve into nothingness within that infinite sea.
Himeko was completely dumbfounded. The end of the world was actually real?! So this was the world's true form!
"This is way too shocking. Give me a moment. Elias, you've completely shattered my worldview."
"Hehe. Next, I'll show you my battleship, Himeko. It's a super Star Destroyer!"
"A Star Destroyer? It can fly into space?"
"Isn't that obvious? Of course it can!"
"Then hurry up and show me!"
Himeko's eyes immediately lit up. Humanity had never hidden its desire to conquer the stars, and naturally, neither had she.
A massive ship capable of freely sailing through the sea of stars and never sinking was simply far too appealing to Murata Himeko, who possessed an immense passion for the universe!
She directly hugged Elias' arm, pressing her enormous headlights against it. The pleasantly soft sensation was enough to improve one's mood, while Elias was more than happy to show off—no, rather, introduce his beloved, eternally unsinkable Hyperion.
"All right~ Then I'll let you see my ship!"
As Elias spoke, he opened a portal leading outside the bubble world.
Himeko and Luna impatiently stepped through. The former was intensely interested in the Hyperion, while the latter was interested in absolutely anything novel.
However...
"Aah! W-What is that?!"
"Wh-What's going on?!"
The two girls' screams came from inside the portal. Elias and the others froze for a moment before immediately following them. Those two cries sounded as though the girls had encountered something terrifying.
Elias thought that while the Sea of Quanta contained all kinds of things, surely they couldn't have just stepped outside one bubble world and immediately run into a passing Planet-class Quantum Shadow.
But when Elias, Rosemary, and Ai arrived outside the bubble world, cold sweat instantly broke out across their bodies too.
"What the hell is this?!"
"ROOOOOOOAR!!" xN
Elias' pupils shook violently. Everywhere he looked were monsters—Quantum Shadows and Imaginary Constructs. There were so many that he couldn't even be bothered counting them, and they had already completely surrounded the group.
It was a terrifying, surging monster tide, like an entire colony of ants pouring out after discovering food. Within Elias' perception, every monster in the surrounding region had gathered here.
Himeko and Luna had already been scared stiff. The moment they left the bubble world, they were greeted by this horrifying sight, and both immediately retreated toward Elias.
Then, when they looked behind them at the enormous bubble containing an entire world, they instantly understood that this was the "bubble world" Elias had spoken of, the world they had always lived inside until now.
There was only one phrase capable of describing this situation.
Do not ascend! Ascension is a trap!
Beyond the world was not outer space, but a sea of death filled with countless terrifying horrors!
"Captain, wh-what exactly is this..."
"It's a trap. This definitely isn't a natural phenomenon of the Sea of Quanta. Someone deliberately gathered these Imaginary Constructs and Quantum Shadows here. Their objective is probably to attack us."
"What?!" x4
Elias immediately understood the situation.
With this many Imaginary Constructs and Quantum Shadows gathered together, there was absolutely no way they would coexist peacefully under normal circumstances.
Just as the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta were naturally opposed, these two types of monsters would normally attack each other the moment they met.
Yet right now, they were gathered in groups outside the bubble world as though waiting for something, and only when Elias and the others appeared did they simultaneously unleash threatening roars.
On top of that, the Hyperion was still parked in its original location completely unharmed. Clearly, whoever planned this attack knew that if they attacked the Hyperion, Ai would immediately receive an alarm.
That would have alerted Elias, and they never would have walked defenselessly into this encirclement like they had now.
"Stop hiding. I've already found you. I really didn't expect you to survive after taking one of my attacks."
Elias' gaze became sharp as a blade as he stared toward the direction of a Planet-class Quantum Shadow. At such close range, he could naturally sense the enemy's presence.
It was an opponent he had defeated not long ago.
The Planet-class Quantum Shadow slowly moved aside, revealing an extremely old and battered Hyperion covered in countless marks of wear, along with a gray-robed man standing at the front of its deck.
"So you found me, devourer of bubble worlds."
"Hmph. You're the one behind these monsters? I didn't expect you to survive. I clearly used enough power to kill you last time. Whatever. Tell me your name."
Elias glanced at the man's Hyperion in surprise and immediately realized that the other party was probably the captain from some bubble world. The last time Elias dealt with him, he had acted too quickly to notice that detail.
But that didn't matter.
Elias had absolutely no goodwill toward this guy.
If the other party had approached him calmly and peacefully, Elias would naturally have treated him with courtesy too. They could have chatted about their shared experiences as captains of the Hyperion... and Elias could have casually shown off that the other man's ship wasn't as big as his.
But this bastard had already launched two surprise attacks!
The last time Elias had just arrived at this bubble world, this guy had hidden in the distance and fired the Hyperion's main cannon directly at his face. After being blown apart by a single strike, he had actually dared to come cause trouble again.
He was seriously tired of living!
"My name? I've already forgotten it. I'm merely a ferryman, and at best, the owner of a small boat. Devourer of bubble worlds, you may call me the Ferryman."
"Ferryman? That's one hell of an ominous name. I don't know why you're attacking me, but I assume you've already prepared yourself to repent. Don't think you'll survive this time."
The six wings behind Elias unfolded. The twelve Herrscher Authorities capable of destroying heaven and earth, combined with his exceedingly high Pseudo God rank, ensured that even surrounded by a terrifying monster tide, his momentum didn't lose in the slightest.
The absolute difference in biological level made the Ferryman's body tremble faintly, but it only strengthened his conviction that the white-haired boy before him absolutely wasn't human!
He was a monster wearing human skin!
In the Ferryman's understanding, humans were weak.
Some people might possess powerful willpower, but willpower couldn't be transformed directly into raw power. Therefore... humans would always fail and struggle to accomplish anything great. He himself was the best example.
Perhaps training could make people stronger, but there was always a limit.
And the pure-white person before him, rather than a human, resembled a god.
"Death? Hehe. I will eventually meet death, but not now. Only after my long-cherished wish has been fulfilled."
"Huh? Are you some kind of obsessed lunatic?"
"An obsessed lunatic? Perhaps. One day, I will cross a road longer and farther than the Red Sea and rewrite the fallen leaves destined to burn away into stable, eternal stone."
The Ferryman spoke firmly as his open right hand clenched into a fist.
"You son of a—! The thing I hates most is cryptic bastards!"
Veins bulged on Elias' forehead as his anger rose even further. He couldn't take it anymore. People who spoke in riddles deserved horrible deaths!
"Devourer, I admit that you're far stronger than me. In your eyes, my strength is probably no different from an ant's. But... even so, I still possess one advantage over you."
"What?!"
"Now, go wild to your hearts' content, monsters born from this endless sea."
The large number of Ether Anchors possessed by the cryptic bastard—no, the Ferryman—began to glow.
Indeed, just as he said, in terms of pure brute force, even if thousands or tens of thousands of Ferrymen were combined, they still wouldn't be a match for Elias.
And it wasn't only brute force. Elias surpassed him in almost every other aspect as well.
There was only one thing in which the Ferryman truly surpassed Elias.
His utilization of Ether Anchors!
Elias had piloted the Hyperion through the Sea of Quanta for less than a month, while the Ferryman had wandered this endless sea for countless years.
In truth, his Hyperion had already been destroyed long ago. It had been gone even before Elias damaged it. The current Hyperion was merely a projection created from the Ferryman's own heart.
Therefore, this battered and worn-out battleship could be said to be the physical manifestation of his own weathered heart.
But after so many years of sailing and research, the Ferryman had become a master of Ether Anchors.
In this area, he truly surpassed Elias.
Ferryman: "Everything is proceeding according to plan. Devourer of bubble worlds, meet your end within this endless monster tide."
Elias: "Tch! Ether Anchors can actually be used like this? This really is troublesome."
At that moment, Elias saw a star burning in the Ferryman's hand.
And that was an Ether Anchor.
As the core of a bubble world, burning an Ether Anchor could unleash unimaginably terrifying energy over a short period of time.
Its dazzling radiance resembled a lighthouse shining through darkness, attracting every monster within this region of the Sea of Quanta.
Elias had no idea how the Ferryman had managed to control so many Imaginary Constructs and Quantum Shadows. Clearly, this guy wasn't a genius scientist like Mobius, so he was most likely relying on the rule-based powers of other Ether Anchors.
However...
Ferryman: "Even humble, insignificant ants gathered together can bite a mighty lion to death... What?!"
Elias: "Even gathered together, ants are still just ants. One fire is enough to burn them all!"
Just as the Ferryman believed victory was already within his grasp, world-incinerating flames erupted across the Judgment of Shamash in Elias' hands. He poured Honkai energy into the greatsword with everything he had, causing vast cracks to spread across its surface.
Even before this strike had been unleashed, space itself was already distorting as though the Sea of Quanta was about to boil. Countless weaker Quantum Shadows and Imaginary Constructs had already begun burning.
"I will set the sea ablaze! Shamash Assault!!"
The white-haired boy roared as he swung the sword with all his might.
Towering flames swept across everything within their field of vision, burning and destroying it all.
It truly seemed as though he had ignited the Sea of Quanta itself.