Ron's words were utterly sincere.
Anyone standing here could hear the earnestness in his voice... He might have felt fear, might have considered retreating, but he had never once wavered.
Just as he said, it was precisely because he truly loved this world and everything in it that he made this choice—to willingly place himself as a bargaining chip on the scales of [The End], to attempt to usurp the throne of the King of [The End], and to seat himself in that destined, lonely position.
He knew he had no more room to maneuver under this pressure... The Aeons had already laid the board, and he had fallen into their game. The only path before him was one that had already been decided.
Perhaps he had other choices, but he couldn't accept any of the consequences.
He couldn't just stand by and watch this sea of stars march toward its fixed ending, nor was he willing to see everything he loved destined to turn to dust...
He wanted to resist, but as he drew his sword and found himself alone, could he muster even a sliver of resolve to strike?
Resist whom? And where would he find the strength to resist?
All his power came from the Life Simulation Game, which is to say, from the King of [The End]... Perhaps by following the prescribed path to replace the King of [The End], he stood a chance of success. But to use this power to resist the King of [The End]...
Putting aside the fact that Ron's current power was, at best, on par with a newly ascended Aeon and stood no chance of victory against the King of [The End], the Life Simulation Game itself was very likely a failsafe left by the King. It could probably reclaim his power at will.
After all, this was power given to him by the game. If he truly wanted to rebel, why couldn't the game just take it back?
And so, Ron had made his decision.
To allow this "story" to continue, to prevent this sea of stars from walking toward that fixed conclusion, he was willing to become the [The End] that would never arrive for this cosmos. He would gaze upon all of history from the furthest shore of the story, sitting alone forever upon that cold, divine throne. He was willing.
But... it was this very resolve, this calm acceptance, this willingness...
It made the fury in Herta's heart uncontrollable.
She looked at Ron, her voice, which had been trembling with uncontainable emotion, gradually calmed, becoming as cold as ice.
But that didn't mean her emotions had settled. On the contrary, it signaled an even more ferocious rage boiling beneath the surface.
She looked at Ron, her icy tone dripping with profound disappointment.
"Enough, Ron."
"You stand here and tell me with a straight face that you're willing to sacrifice everything you are, to replace that nonsensical thing, the King of [The End], to become a new ending for this universe, to extend the existence of this world, to let everything in it eke out a miserable existence..."
"This is what you want to do now... Do you think you're so great?"
Herta's cold questioning felt sharp and piercing. Ron opened his mouth, but for a moment, he didn't know how to respond.
He fell silent for a moment before answering, a hint of pain in his voice.
"I... I don't know why you feel that way."
"Of course I'm not doing this for some empty fame... Haven't I told you that story I like so much before?"
"In Lordran, the land where all converges, the First Flame divided all concepts. The world was born from fire, and so too shall it be extinguished by it."
"Whether the flame continues to burn affects the world's continuation, and to keep the flame alight, countless souls must be fed into it as kindling."
"And so, Gwyn, the Lord of Gods who had received a Lord Soul, stepped into the Kiln of the First Flame. Using his own soul as kindling, he became the first Lord of Cinder."
"Ever since, the gods, the witches, the pygmies, the demons... all that was noble and ignoble, brave and cowardly, eventually, at the end of each era when the First Flame was about to fade, threw themselves into the fire, allowing the world to stave off the darkness for a little longer."
"But this tragic world is destined to crumble... The souls of heroes are not enough to sustain the First Flame's eternal burn. In the end, even the dregs and ashes, burned countless times over, crawl from their graves, struggling to walk the long road to the Kiln of the First Flame."
"No matter what they were truly thinking, when they offered themselves as kindling and threw themselves into the First Flame, they likely had only one thought in their minds..."
"'Let this world continue. Let the stories of this world go on. Let everything have a chance to survive.' This was probably their only wish."
Ron's voice was tinged with helplessness as he spoke.
"I'm the same, Herta..."
"I just want this sea of stars to have a future."
---o---
"So you have to sacrifice your own future?!"
She looked at Ron's candid expression. It was clearly the body of a mass-produced puppet, yet she could feel a genuine, piercing "heartache."
She felt a tightness in her chest, a sensation of her mechanical core being overloaded—the puppet's internal thermostat was working overtime to cool down the overheating central control system. Warm coolant welled up in the corners of Herta's eyes, like tiny teardrops.
This was the first time... the first time Ron had ever seen Herta show such an expression.
Her eyes were red, and a clear liquid slid from their corners. Ron could smell a sharp, chemical odor and knew it wasn't just coolant. That cold substance couldn't be called by such a name. It had only one name, a name that represented emotion...
It was a tear.
With tears glistening in her eyes, Herta questioned Ron, her voice choked with sobs.
"You want to be a hero, I get that. But have you ever considered that this isn't a thought unique to you?"
"Tell me, you like the midday sun in Belobog, you like the bustling city life of the Xianzhou [Luofu]..."
"You like Bronya, you like Seele, you like Natasha... You like me."
"You say you love all of this, and for it, you're willing to give up your own future, willing to become the 'kindling' that prolongs the flame... But are you the only one who feels that way?"
"Do you know how Bronya was able to find us in the simulation? She knew nothing at all. She just woke up one day to find the Xianzhou [Luofu] had arrived at Jarilo-VI, and you had suddenly vanished, not a trace of you to be found."
"She flew a shuttle to the space station all by herself, risked being shot down by the Defense Section staff, and stole one of my spare bodies, all just to wait for me to come online and beg me to rescue you from the Xianzhou [Luofu]..."
"When I came online, she was a complete mess. The Defense Section had chased her all the way to the station's docking bay, and she only barely managed to escape by jumping into her shuttle."
"Tell me, why would she do all that? For whom? For herself?"
"When Bronya looks at you, what is that smile on her lips? What is that light dancing in her eyes? Don't tell me you don't know!"
"She likes you, Ron. Just as you like her, she likes you too. She's willing to sacrifice everything for you..."
"Otherwise, tell me, why would she be willing to hold that broken lantern, to let a Lord Ravager possess her, just to complete your life-threatening plan, to walk the Path of [Destruction] and personally awaken Nanook of [Destruction]?!"
As Herta spoke, she grabbed Ron's hand tightly.
"Ron, you think I'm a cold person, don't you?"
"I admit, I can be a bit aloof usually, but that's because I'm busy. I have too many research projects to complete. That doesn't mean I'm a heartless bastard..."
"I, Herta, member #83 of the Genius Society, solved the Solitary Wave Algorithm and proposed the Sparkle Model Conjecture in my youth."
"As a young adult, I discovered the conversion method for Sigma particles. In my middle age, I proposed the Herta Sequence. In my old age, I achieved rejuvenation."
"I unraveled the mysteries of the Imaginary Pleroma phenomenon, captured and sealed an extrasolar Stellaron, saved the planet Azure-Blue nineteen times from crises that would have destroyed it, and twice had an audience with an Aeon."
"Nineteen times, Ron. I faced trouble that could have annihilated the planet a total of nineteen times for Azure-Blue's sake..."
"I could have just washed my hands of it, abandoned the planet to its fate, but I protected it. I built the Herta Space Station to orbit Azure-Blue, ensuring the planet remains safe at all times."
"Many people call me an absentee owner, and even I say I just use the station as a namesake, tossing my curios inside and never looking back... But I'm just too lazy to deal with the Corporation's nonsense. In reality, I have six puppets stationed in every section of the station, and I log on every single day."
"Search your heart, Ron. Do you really think I'm a cold person? If I were truly that cold, would I have accepted your commission in the previous simulation to become an Emissary of [Salvation] and lead the new Belobog?!"
As she spoke, Herta pulled Ron's hand to her chest, pressing it firmly against her heart without hesitation.
A puppet's bionic shell should have been cool and soft, but Ron could now feel a wave of warmth traveling up his fingertips. That warmth came from the slightly overloaded central core within this puppet's body, but right now, it was Herta's "heart."
Her eyes burned as she stared at Ron.
"Tell me, Ron, am I really cold?"
"You tell me, what's the difference between me and Bronya?"
"If there's no difference between us, then what's the difference between you and us?"
"You are willing to make sacrifices for us, so do you think we are not willing to do the same for you?"
"You don't want to see everything you love walk towards its end, and I don't want to see you give up your own future for this so-called 'ending'!"
As she spoke, her tone became stern and uncompromising, her voice filled with resentful fury.
"What do you mean, 'turn this imperfect ending into the one we hope for'? If this so-called ending is a future without you in it, I don't see a single thing worth hoping for!"
Herta's emotions had never been this intense; she had lost nearly all of her previous rationality.
But it was because of this that Ron felt at a complete loss for words, left with only silence.
He understood what Herta meant... He wasn't an idiot. How could he not see their feelings?
Bronya's attitude toward him? Beyond the respect one would show a senior, there was an affection forged through their long time together in the simulations.
Bronya was like that, Seele was like that, Natasha was like that... After confirming they were all players in the simulation, Ron was of course keenly aware of how they felt about him.
Herta was a bit special, or perhaps not so special—
This woman, who had seen so much of the world's warmth and coldness, had a formidable defense around her heart, far thicker than an ordinary person's. But she had long ago accepted Ron as an indispensable friend. Ron could feel the tacit understanding between them, one that was almost too in sync.
None of them would allow Ron to just give up his future like this. This was a sentiment Ron didn't want for them, just as he didn't want the sea of stars to head towards its final end.
After a long silence, Ron looked at Herta's reddened eyes and couldn't help but let out a helpless, bitter smile.
"But... if I don't do this, what other path is there?"
"Do you really want me to do nothing? But I can't just stand by and let all of this happen..."
"This world is too twisted. Everything is heading towards a fixed end under the influence of [The End]... If I can truly exchange my future for a new ending for this world, then I would rather do it."
"If my sacrifice alone can erase the period at the end of this 'story' and write a new chapter for everything..."
But before Ron could finish, Herta cut him off fiercely.
"This world has problems, so does that mean the price must be paid by you?"
"Why should you, why should we, have to bear this cost? No one in this world has the right to demand that of us, not even an Aeon!"
Herta wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, her former confident and sharp-tongued demeanor returning.
"The Tree of Existence was twisted from the moment it sprouted, destined to grow towards a fixed, twisted future—so why don't we just burn it to the ground instead? Why must we compensate for it, why must we create a space for its twisted future to grow?"
"If the world is the problem, then we shouldn't be the ones to suffer for it..."
"To hell with the Aeons' schemes! Let's you and I turn this world upside down!"