Venus, Earth, and Mars.
Three civilizations struck by the honkai. Each of them came up with different last-ditch countermeasures: Venus' Sa; Mars' Supercomputer; and Earth's Project STIGMA.
Undeniably, the plan who came the closest to succeeding was Project STIGMA. The "unqualified" humans are placed inside the imaginary space and turned into wishes. Then, these wishes form the Spiritual Adam. The Spiritual Adam is responsible for empowering the new batch of humans (i.e., stigma awakened). Project STIGMA turns humanity into a part of the Honkai itself, hence it will no longer be destructive. Its Proportionality Law would also lose effect.
This entailed sacrificing the majority of humanity to save a few. It is a final failsafe kept for more than fifty thousand years.
Today, the thwarted failsafe showed itself once again.
The people of Mars felt a connection appear out of nowhere. They uncontrollably fell unconscious. Soon, they entered their dreamlands.
Hare's flag swayed as light spots gathered around it. Strangely enough, the lights are a mix of black and white. She frowned when she sensed the unwelcome power.
Hum.
Shi Tian appeared beside her.
"That's the Shadows. A power belonging to the Cocoon of Finality."
"No wonder it felt familiar." She nodded in agreement. "I shall pass this onto you."
"Thanks."
"You are welcome."
He was very formal when talking to Hare. The latter did not mind and gestured to him to hold her banner.
Sou-!
A long lost sensation returned within Shi Tian.
'As expected. Mars is the perfect place to pull this off.'
His fight with Nihility cost him the Core of Origin. He exchanged it for a strike belonging to the Dao Integration Realm. Now, the power of wishes filled his entire being once again.
Mars' Bubble Worlds lay in the Sea of Data. It is a special place within the Sea of Quanta. Wishes can be turned to reality here. Moreover, the 'people' living in this simulated world are not digital lifeforms, but real humans. They are akin to the stigma awakened, granting them unique powers (i.e., control over shadows and wish manifestation).
Given such a perfect place, Project STIGMA temporarily gathered all of Mars' power to recreate the Spiritual Adam. Its biggest downside is its extremely short duration lasting five seconds. Anything longer than that will incur permanent damage to Mars' people.
'It won't last long. I need to recall that moment..!'
"Final blow. Retract!"
Everyone followed his words. The imaginary barrier lost the powers sustaining it. In exchange, they were freed up. Sa was immediately greeted by their attacks.
One second.
The power of wishes turned into the familiar Core of Origin.
Two seconds.
The Core of Origin is mobilized.
Three seconds.
Shi Tian began summoning a past projection. Four out of six eyes have been lit up. Sa's final attack neared completion.
Four seconds.
Seele and Veliona held each others' hands, summoning someone again. The projection of the Herrscher of the End sent terrifying waves to the birds and branches, obliterating them all. The rest focused their attacks to the hourglass-like apparatus protected by an egg-shaped crystal shell.
An ominous sense of foreboding arose amongst them, though it quickly died down.
They trusted the man behind them!
Then…
Five seconds passed.
"My samsara is that of life and death…"
Sa's six eyes fully lit up. The power of Abundance blossomed throughout all of Mars' two Bubble Worlds. It threatened to erode everything—to become her samsara.
Flutter-!
The swaying of Daoist robes took Sa's attention. Her words came to a halt. She glanced towards Shi Tian. His appearance did not change…
Except for his eyes.
Click.
The time projection belonging to his past self fully assimilated with Shi Tian.
Why call the past instead of the future?
The answer's simple.
He had once stepped into the realm comparable to an Aeon!
He joined his index and middle finger, forming a sword-gesture. He pointed it straight at Sa. His overwhelming aura halted time itself. The world came to a stand-still, save for the two of them.
In her eyes, nothing but a sword remained. The entire world turned into a sword pointed at her.
"Face the weight of the world."
Along Shi Tian's words…
Shiing-!
…the World Rendering Sword fell.
*****
Time is something perceived by everyone. For mortals, it can only go forward, not backward. They are to be stuck within the Present, unable to touch the Past nor the Future.
However, at this exact moment…
Time froze.
Every immortal cultivator present has their eyes on the sword… which is not exactly a sword. They never saw a sword, yet their minds registered it as one. It is formless, yet it has a form. Such a contradiction grinded their minds to a terrifying halt.
'...as if the entire world is my enemy…'
Chen Tianwu's thoughts drifted away. All that remained in his mind was that sword. Its forms began changing. From a sword, it became a towering tree; then a boundless ocean; then an expanse of nothingness…
'Forms are not fixed… and so is the Tao. The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.'
Steadily, his third level Tao Heart rose to the fourth level, the equivalent of Golden Core Realm. It wasn't just him. Everyone who paid a modicum of attention to the boss battle cutscene gained benefits. Their comprehension of their Tao Heart rose. Some raised their techniques' mastery to a higher realm. Be they the cultivators within Langqiu, Oxia, or even the real Mars, the sword appeared under their sights.
They, who were the bystanders in this world-ending boss battle, gained experience packs and leveled up.
They did fail to notice one thing. Their minds are focused to the extreme on the sword. They did not notice the irregularities of time and assumed Sa was defeated by the sword.
'Time stop…'
Shi Tian saw the glimmer of white on Sa's disintegrated body. He knew what happened. Right after he struck Sa with the weakened version of the World Rendering Sword, Kiana's attack came to ensure her death. It obliterated Sa's backup plans as well as the trace of Abundance left on her.
Hum-!
Buzz-!
A metaphysical sound spread throughout the solar system. Shi Tian eyed the imaginary barrier enveloping them.
'The Cocoon's power is enough to hold it off.'
He let out a sigh of relief. The most dangerous part wasn't Sa, but the Aeon of Abundance. Fortunately, the Cocoon of Finality showed him why it remained undetected amongst other Aeons for billions of years.
With the threat gone, a sense of emptiness filled his entire being. The events of the past repeated once again:
Shi Tian fell unconscious.
*****
A/N: Bonus chapter (2/2)