Missiles rained down from the sky.
This was the rain of destruction sent by the Fool.
Schicksal's heavy missiles were far more powerful than others; each one was enough to instantly turn a small town into a sea of fire, and now thousands of them were about to fall simultaneously!
"Bishop, are you going to…"
"It's not real, this isn't real!"
"No, I don't want to die! Someone save me!"
"Dad, Mom, ahhh, ahhh!"
Schicksal's Valkyries had also fallen into panic. At this moment, they realized that they had been treated as pawns by Otto Apocalypse.
Their purpose was merely to keep the Herrscher of the Void in place before these thousands of missiles fell.
Otto: "As an unprecedented multi-core Herrscher, your destruction cannot be mediocre. Let these hundreds of A-rank Valkyries and three S-rank Valkyries be buried with you, Herrscher of the Void. No need to thank me, hahahaha~"
Cecilia put down Black Abyss White Flower.
Siegfried's Judgment of Shamash fell to the ground.
Theresa and the Oath of Judah were already silent.
Even though they were all S-rank combatants, they would absolutely not survive facing so many missiles.
The ultra-wide-range saturation strike was meant to completely destroy this area. After they all turned into charcoal and everyone was dead,
Otto would reappear, picking up the only four remaining herrscher cores on the barren land.
"If it's just me, I can still dodge."
Byakuya made a judgment instantly.
If it were just him alone, he could hide in the Imaginary Space that the Herrscher of the Void possessed, and then calmly reappear after all the missiles had fallen.
But only he would have enough time.
Cecilia, Siegfried, Theresa, and Sirin—at least half, or even more than half, of them wouldn't have time to be saved. Moreover, Imaginary Space is actually a very harmful environment for ordinary people.
Imaginary Space is filled with Honkai Energy; ordinary people would turn into Deadwalkers or Honkai Beasts in a matter of seconds.
Given this,
The answer to what to do was already clear.
When Byakuya opened his eyes again, his magnificent golden pupils stared directly at the storm of destruction falling from the sky. His presence was like an unquenchable fire burning fiercely in the heavy rain.
"Imaginary Number Barrier, Ideal Fluid Shield, maximum scale, open—!!"
He flew towards the sky.
The young man's raised hands seemed to be holding up the entire sky. This was his choice; Byakuya chose to face the destruction descending from the heavens directly!
This posture was as magnificent and tragic as a Fire Moth.
"Herrscher of the Void, what are you doing!"
"Everyone, get down immediately!"
"Byakuya, are you going to—!"
"Master, your core will break like this!"
Voices came from all around, but Byakuya had no time to heed them now.
He fully activated all his powers, dedicating all his Honkai Energy to defensive strength, turning himself into an absolute defense line to intercept thousands of missiles.
"Indeed, you really would step forward!"
Inside Schicksal's combat control room.
Otto stood up excitedly, knocking over his chair.
His gaze was fixed on Byakuya on the screen, and he mercilessly detonated the missiles in mid-air just before they could be transferred by the spatial gate.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom—!!!
The sky over Siberia exploded.
It was as if thousands of suns had appeared in the sky.
"Damn it! F***!"
Byakuya cursed loudly.
If stopping an unexploded missile was a minor matter, after all, no matter how dangerous an explosive, if it hasn't exploded, it's just a lump of iron, and there's no difficulty in teleporting it.
However, conversely, stopping an exploded missile requires dozens of times more Honkai Energy.
Byakuya could only grit his teeth and hold on.
The first Herrscher of Reason, Welt Joyce, once constructed a shield to protect an entire city, Manhattan, but even just one Honkai Energy Fission Bomb caused him to completely lose his power.
And now, although Byakuya was a four-core Herrscher, with strength far exceeding Welt Joyce, he had to face all of Schicksal's heavy missiles! Among them, there were over a dozen Honkai Energy Fission Bombs alone!
"I can hold on, I can still hold on! The Ideal Fluid Shield won't be easily broken, plus the Imaginary Number Barrier isolates excess blast heat, it's fine!"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
"......"
Everyone stared blankly at mid-air.
The Herrscher boy who was blocking all the missiles for them, who looked like he was only fourteen or fifteen years old, was now facing this world-destroying crisis alone.
He protected everyone, even himself, who had been his enemy until now.
The Valkyries knelt on the ground, looking up at Byakuya in the sky, their weapons long dropped from their hands, their hearts filled only with bitter guilt and remorse.
"No, Byakuya, please..."
Sirin watched Byakuya, tears streaming down her face.
She desperately reached out towards the sky, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't reach the young man.
Byakuya's overly radiant figure at this moment made her heart ache to the point of suffocation; if she could, she would so, so much want to bear these sufferings in his stead.
"Just a little bit more!"
Blood flowed from Byakuya's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth; his body was already nearing its absolute limit.
Even though the Herrscher Gem connected to the Imaginary Space, allowing him to extract endless Honkai Energy at any time, Byakuya had already pushed the power of the four cores to their maximum.
Cracks appeared on all four herrscher cores, just like Byakuya himself, who was already shattered.
"...The Herrscher of the Void, truly admirable."
Otto watched all of this with a serious and solemn expression.
Reality was a fucked-up thing.
The Herrscher, who was supposed to destroy the world, was protecting humanity, while the Destiny Organization, whose creed was 'to fight for all the beauty in the world,' was now bombarding the most beautiful existence in this world.
This utterly wicked man was momentarily lost in thought.
Otto looked at the desperate Byakuya on the screen and suddenly thought of the most beautiful existence in his heart, his only Saintess, Kallen Kaslana.
Exactly the same.
Truly exactly the same.
They were both noble and kind good people, strong individuals with power, and heroes who, when disaster struck, sacrificed themselves to save others.
Despite having the power to escape, they both risked their lives to shield others from calamity, and even... both died because of Otto.
This point was also exactly the same.
"......"
At this moment, Otto hesitated.
He overlaid Byakuya's image with Kallen's.
Fate seemed to have placed that day from over five hundred years ago before this Fool once more.
At this moment, this rational Villain truly felt an impulse to abandon the plan, to stop the attack; Otto really didn't want to kill the Saintess a second time.
However.
"Sorry, Herrscher of the Void, ultimately, what I loved was never some Saintess, but Kallen. It was I who harmed Kallen back then. To atone for that mistake, even if it means committing more errors, even if it means killing you, who are exactly like her, I will not stop."
He didn't love some Saintess; he loved Kallen Kaslana. That woman was the selfishness of his entire life.
Otto clenched his fists, manipulating one of the missiles to fly in a different direction.
............
Byakuya, whose gaze was fixed on the sky, immediately noticed the missile that had changed its trajectory.
He looked at the missile flying into the distance with confusion, as if it were going to attack some other target.
"Otto!!!"
Suddenly realizing something, Byakuya's eyes widened in fury. He once again desperately urged the already critically overloaded Herrscher of the Void core, trying his best to track the trajectory of that fission bomb.
Byakuya had already understood where this missile was going.
Block Town.
That was the first town he and Sirin went to after leaving the Babylon Laboratory, and it was also the town where Bronya's mother was located!
Block Town.
"Bronya, my child, you must be born safely and grow up healthy, hehe~ I'm feeling much better lately, Mama must also work hard to give birth to you."
Alexandra Pavlovna Zaychik, this beautiful silver-haired pregnant woman, was currently taking a walk on the street, because she heard that walking more was good for the fetus.
Alexandra was in a very good mood.
She met some very good children today, and incredibly, since meeting those children, her physical condition had improved significantly.
Some minor ailments she usually had were completely gone, and she had a lot of energy no matter what she did.
Although she didn't know why, Alexandra thought that perhaps because she had treated those children kindly, God had given her a reward.
"Bronya, Bronya, Mama wants to see you soon~" Alexandra murmured the name she had prepared for the baby.
She prayed and blessed her child with all her heart, hoping she would be born smoothly, grow up healthy, make good friends in the future, find a career she loved, and someone she loved, living a happy and beautiful life... It must be said that this mother thought very far ahead.
However, at this moment.
"Hey, what's that you guys?"
Someone on the street suddenly looked up at the sky in horror, and immediately others followed his gaze, then everyone fell into panic.
"Missile, that's a missile!!"
"Oh my God, there's a missile flying towards us!"
"No, no, I don't want to die!"
"Damn it! Why is this happening!"
Unreasonable death suddenly descended.
Madam Alexandra looked at the sky in a daze, seeing a missile flying towards the town, and despair immediately appeared on her face.
Not because she was about to die, but because of her unborn daughter.
Even though she knew it was futile, she instinctively protected her belly with her hands.
But even if a person can unleash several times their potential in times of crisis, allowing a weak woman to lift a heavy car, it absolutely cannot prevent a missile from falling.
The people of the town screamed in despair.
Some gave up and knelt on the ground.
Some hugged their family members.
Some angrily roared at the missile.
All Alexandra could do at this moment was pray.
"God, please don't do this, I beg you to save my child, I don't care what price I have to pay, as long as my child, as long as Bronya can live, I will do anything!"
It was as if heaven heard her prayer and was moved by her maternal love.
A Miracle, truly happened!
A black hole with a golden rim suddenly appeared in the sky, and the missile flew straight into it and disappeared.
And the next second, this strange black hole rapidly shrank, eventually disappearing as well.
"......"
The town suddenly became silent.
Soon, people erupted in deafening cheers.
"We survived, we survived!"
"What just happened?"
"Thank God for protection! Thank God for protection!"
"Yes, it must be God who protected and saved us!"
The people of the town couldn't think of any other explanation, and it could indeed only be described as a Miracle.
Having escaped death, they all knelt on the ground.
Everyone kept kowtowing in gratitude towards the direction where the 'black hole' Miracle had disappeared.
Alexandra was still in a daze.
It all happened too suddenly; the death crisis arrived suddenly but also disappeared suddenly.
She collapsed onto the ground, still shaken.
But for some reason, the image of a young man inexplicably appeared in Alexandra's mind.
............
"Byakuya—!!!"
Sirin watched the young man falling from the sky in despair.
The people of Block Town didn't know.
The one who saved them just now, the one they regarded as a god, was actually a young boy, and they had no idea that this boy was about to fall.
Byakuya used the Herrscher of the Void's Herrscher Authority in an overdrawn manner, forcefully opening a portal ten thousand meters away from himself to stop the missile.
Even at his peak, such an action would be challenging the limits of Herrscher Authority, let alone the fact that he was already utterly exhausted.
After catching that Honkai Energy Fission Bomb,
Byakuya no longer had the strength to teleport it elsewhere, so the fission bomb exploded directly within the Imaginary Space he controlled, and this... was almost equivalent to it exploding directly on Byakuya himself.
Thankfully, that was the last missile.
The arsenal of Schicksal could no longer find a second missile to launch, but... this last missile also achieved Otto's goal.
The Valkyries present watched helplessly as the angel who saved them was shot down by human arrows.
The boy's blood splattered like rain, and he himself was about to fall to the earth.
"Catch him, Black Abyss White Flower!"
Cecilia abruptly threw Black Abyss White Flower, and the next second, green vines shot up from the ground, catching Byakuya.
She herself immediately rushed over, her body trembling as she urged the Divine Key in her hand, continuously injecting Honkai Energy, trying to heal the boy with the power of the White Flower.
But it was already useless.
"How could this happen? This is too much! No, no, it's not too late, it's not too late! Black Abyss White Flower, even if it uses all my blood and Honkai Energy, I don't care, save him, you must save him!"
His breathing was faint, almost inaudible, and his heart had already stopped beating. The injuries accumulated in this too-young body made Cecilia's heart ache as if it were being twisted by a knife.
"No, he'll be fine, please open your eyes, Byakuya, Byakuya! We promised, we promised to be together forever and live a happy life, so please open your eyes, please, don't abandon Sirin!"
"Master, how could this happen? Humans, humans, it's all your fault! It's all because of you that my Master... No, no, Master's herrscher core is already..."
Not just Cecilia, Sirin, and Bella, but everyone present at this moment gathered around.
The Valkyries looked at Byakuya in Cecilia's arms with regret and self-reproach, desperately praying that he would open his eyes. They were willing to give everything to atone.
And as if their hopes were received,
Byakuya actually slowly opened his eyes.
"Sirin, Bella, everyone... Are you all alright? Are you uninjured?" These were the first words he spoke.
"!!!" xN
Everyone felt their hearts shatter at this moment, and tears uncontrollably overflowed their eyes.
They didn't know what to say, but everyone wanted to embrace this boy, protect him, heal him, and never let him suffer any more harm.
Even though they didn't know Byakuya, they were all absolutely certain—this boy should never be treated this way! He deserved all the good things in this world!
But such an angelic boy was forced to become a Herrscher. This world must have gone wrong to hurt him to such an extent!
Guilt filled the hearts of these Valkyries. They hated themselves for having been hostile to Byakuya earlier. What shameful and hateful things had they done!
"Idiot, idiot! We're fine, everyone was protected by you, but... why did you save us? Byakuya, you could have clearly dodged it yourself! We're not worth it, truly not worth you doing this."
"...It's good that everyone is fine."
Hearing that he had successfully protected all the people he cherished, Byakuya finally let out a sigh of relief and smiled. Seeing his smile, everyone felt their hearts ache again.
"Combat Continuation EX" activated.
Duration countdown: 5 hours.
A system prompt appeared in Byakuya's mind. His eyes lit up, and he thought, it seems this is the last time he can stay in this space-time.
Byakuya: "Thankfully, there's still so much time. I can do more."
This life can burn a little longer; he can make this story even more perfect.