Meanwhile, in the outside world, on Earth...
Space shattered, Time reversed.
North Africa, World Serpent headquarters, the base perimeter.
Or, to be more precise: the place where this location used to exist.
Amidst this heaven-and-earth-shattering upheaval...
"!!!"
Raiden Mei, Kiana, Bronya, Fu Hua, Theresa, Durandal, and Rita.
Who the seven who had been inside the collapsing world but remained unharmed,That were suddenly enveloped in a blinding white light.
They had been precisely and deliberately "selected" by Ling Ke.
They...
The true harm they were meant to suffer was only now arriving.
This time-reversing journey of this imposed exile, an experience was no pleasant for a team-building trip.
Instead, one by one...
"Seele!"
"Big Sister Bronya!"
Ten operatives had come to World Serpent headquarters.
But now, only seven were being forcibly issued one-way tickets to the Previous Era.
Ling Ke hadn't bothered to ask their consent.
Just as those arrogant ones in the past had never cared what their disposable materials thought.
The divine white light completely sealed them off from the world.
This was the powerless, cruelest farewell Ling Ke had arranged for his "guests".
"No, don't..."
Bronya reached for Seele's hand.
Just as she had once pulled Seele from the Sea of Quanta.
Just as she had once taken Seele to watch the sunset by the sea.
Back then, their faces had been radiant with happiness.
Back then, they had truly felt they had escaped the darkness.
But even after basking in the sunset's glow... night would always fall.
Just like... now...
It wasn't just Seele.
Rozaliya, Liliya... her "little sisters."
They were right in front of her. Against all logic, she could even hear their voices, yet Bronya couldn't reach them no matter how hard she tried.
So close, yet so far.
What would happen next... they all knew in their hearts.
Parted for eternity.
In the blink of an eye, in a fleeting daze, Bronya's mind flashed back to the words of that avenger who had clawed his way out of "hell" and returned to the world from the "abyss."
"Then I'll make you all alone again."
"!!!"
Bronya's composure shattered.
In her eyes, Seele, Rozaliya, Liliya... they were still trapped in the dying old days, about to perish along with them.
Suddenly...
As if she had already accepted her fate...
"Big Sister Bronya..."
"Please live on..." Seele wished bronya to lived on.
But the kind-hearted girl was too innocent.
She didn't realize that the farewell blessing she had uttered subconsciously...
Was actually the cruelest curse!
Its name: Loneliness.
Its meaning: Eternity.
"No wait, that's wrong..."
In the final moment, she seemed to realize.
Seele knew she'd made a terrible mistake.
But, it was too late.
There was no time to save it...
CRACK—
Ling Ke was truly cruel.
At the critical moment, just as Seele tried to speak again, it was like a flower in a mirror, a moon on water—she, along with the current eras, shattered completely.
How can a broken mirror be made whole again?
Humans, after all, are not omniscient, omnipotent gods.
All of this happened right before Bronya's eyes.
Silence.
A terrifying silence.
After a long, long time...
"Ah..."
"Ah... ah..."
The emotionless girl, whose emotional center had not been restored for long, seemed to have lost the ability to speak, babbling like an infant learning to speak.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, but what came out was not a heart-rending scream.
Yet, this low, helpless melody was undoubtedly even more horrifying.
Bronya stared blankly at the scene before her.
'Is Nihility really just darkness?'
Why, then, was she seeing a pure white that made her heart palpitate with fear?
See, darkness is so considerate and kind.
There, she couldn't see anything.
But here, in this pure white severed boundary, forced to travel against time...
She had lost everything, yet she could still see her lonely self.
And only... herself.
—
At the same time...
Shhh—
Standing amidst the ruins of Schicksal headquarters, Otto was unsealing a special container resembling a cryo pod. He held the Void Archives and the Seven Thunders of Retribution, with the Cosmic Juggernaut parked nearby. He seemed to be making a move.
He, too, was enveloped in the white light.
But a closer look revealed that Raven and Jackal lay in pools of blood not far from him.
Elsewhere...
After Domination Puppet Ling Ke entered the Elysian Realm, Kevin had been guarding the sole entrance, Judgment of Shamash gripped tightly in his hand.
He, and the entire Elysian Realm itself...
...were now bathed in the same white light.
With that, all the "tickets" for the journey back through time had been distributed.
In that instant...
Perhaps the disturbance in time and the spatial anomaly had created some unforeseen effect.
Or perhaps...
"Sigh..."
...a forerunner, an enlightened one who had already ascended and could no longer interfere with the intrinsic world through conventional means, let out a sigh of utter helplessness.
And so, in the blink of an eye...
Ling Ke, and everyone he had specifically chosen, saw... illusory visions.
It was a perfectly ordinary morning, the sky a vast, clear blue...
Inside a classroom at St. Freya Academy.
Sunlight slanted down through the gaps in the curtains, forming ribbons of light like silk.
Thwack!
"Ow!"
A piece of chalk hit Kiana squarely on the forehead.
She shot up from her desk, drool still trickling from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes weren't even fully open as she mumbled, "Auntie Himeko, I know, the answer is C."
Beside her, Mei, her deskmate, was pressing a hand to her forehead in exasperation.
Bronya averted her gaze with a look of disgust.
At the front of the class, a fiery red figure who had been explaining a fill-in-the-blank question smiled with nuclear kindness.
Not far away...
The only boy in the classroom rested his chin on his right hand, watching the daily drama unfold. The corners of his mouth had already curled into a slight smile.
As expected, Kiana was sent to stand outside the classroom as punishment.
After class...
"Kiana, did you stay up late again last night?"
"No, of course not."
"Bronya can confirm. Idiot Kiana pulled an all-nighter playing games."
"But I was playing with you! Why are you only calling me out?"
"Bronya has undergone professional training since childhood. Her perseverance is far beyond what Idiot Kiana can match."
"What's that supposed to mean? And... stop calling me an idiot!"
As the black-haired young man stepped out of the classroom, he saw the white-haired girl stomping her foot. "The one calling someone an idiot is the real super mega idiot!"
The moment she saw him...
"Ling, come over to our place for dinner tonight!" Mei smiled, extending the invitation. "I recently learned some new dishes. Class Monitor Fu Hua taught me some Shenzhou cuisine."
"I'm sure you'll like it."
"Okay!" The black-haired young man nodded with a smile. "I'll definitely be there on time."
The two of them chatted so naturally.
But Kiana, seeing him so close to her Mei, suddenly felt something was wrong. Like a food-guarding kitten, she fiercely wedged herself between Mei and the young man, repeatedly baring her teeth.
Bronya, watching from the side, couldn't help but roll her eyes.
But no matter how much they fooled around... in the end, the four of them left the school building together, laughing and chatting all the way.
Suddenly, the scene shifted...
It was during their mission to the Oceania branch. Cocolia had ambushed them with an Anti-Entropy Mech Unit, trying to remotely control Bronya and force her to attack Wendy.
But at the critical moment, the black-haired young man defied all logic and transformed in mid-air. His entire body became a humanoid mecha nearly twenty meters tall.
Ling ke called it Freedom Gundam.
With a single blast from its "multicolored cannon," he forced back all the Anti-Entropy mechs. Then, he swept his comrades into the safety of its mechanical arms, rescuing everyone.
Above the clouds, the girls spread their arms wide, their faces breaking into relieved laughter.
That was true "freedom."
Then, another scene...
At Schicksal headquarters, Otto was originally planning to make a move against Kiana.
But one evening, he encountered an uninvited guest.
The two of them struck some kind of deal... and after that, the man once known as the "Tyrant in the Heavens" underwent a complete one-eighty.
He became the kind and approachable grandpa in Theresa's eyes, and to the juniors, he was just a hopeless otaku who loved slacking off to play Kallen Fantasy.
He shut down all of Schicksal's inhumane experiments and dedicated himself to promoting welfare programs.
He bowed deeply to Durandal, a full ninety degrees, and confessed everything.
He began traveling the world, visiting every person he had ever harmed, one by one.
In the most humble posture, he sought atonement, paid his debts, and asked for nothing in return.
All because that mysterious person had told him: "There was once a 'Winter Soldier' who did the same."
Later, at some point, the bishop of the Schicksal Organization was replaced.
Otto became the right-hand man to "that woman."
After she slapped him across the face, his personality was "corrected." At her command, he began to strive with all his might for a better tomorrow.
In those days, he was truly a benevolent "priest."
But this priest, who was utterly reliable in major crises yet completely useless for minor matters and often acted incredibly flaky, was secretly bowing and scraping to that mysterious person. He begged them not to tell his "white moonlight" too soon that a certain "vixen" had also been resurrected.
According to Otto's reasoning: "The sisters need time alone to reunite. We outsiders shouldn't interfere, right?"
But as for what he was really scheming... those who know, know.
Because the final boss of Kallen Fantasy V was another fox-eared woman.
And then...
A certain purple-haired girl had a family again.
Her birth mother from her memories, her childhood friend... they were all brought back to life.
Seele, trapped in the Sea of Quanta, was able to return.
World Serpent organization moved in the shadows, and through everyone's combined efforts, the crisis in Arc City was safely resolved.
Later... there was Coral Island, Mount Taixuan... and so much more.
Nearly every event that turned sorrow into joy involved that black-haired young man.
Everyone grew accustomed to his presence, accustomed to relying on him, chasing after him, and walking alongside him.
In their vision, there was always "your" smiling face.
It was as if, so long as he was there, everyone could rest completely at ease.
And so, they journeyed to "the past era," met the "Flame-Chasers," and mended the regrets of the Previous Era, with the blessings of billions, they successfully overcame "Finality."
The human civilization of this world's Earth finally welcomed a brand new tomorrow.
Even the long-destroyed Previous Era, with the help of that black-haired young man, now existed as a "neighboring world" to the Current Era.
Not a world bubble, not subspace, but a true, genuine... Second World.
The two eras began to interact and share.
No petty villain could escape his watch.
No one dared to cause trouble.
Then, one night...
Pop! Pop!
In the celebratory room, Kiana and Theresa laughed and cheered, setting off party poppers.
In the nearby kitchen, Mei was handling the cooking with Bronya, Seele, and Wendy.
Liliya was (>_<)
Fu Hua had just pushed the door open, leading a certain head-scratching "three-year-old Senti," Li Sushang with a large steamed bun stuffed in her mouth, and the quiet Cheng Lixue. They were followed by the rest of the Flame-Chaser group, each person laden with bags.
Elysia was secretly recording everything with an electronic megaphone, her face a perfect picture of "I'm committing a crime in broad daylight.jpg" as she stuck her tongue out.
Eden and Aponia exchanged helpless smiles at the sight.
A certain short-tempered bro whose face couldn't be seen stormed straight into the kitchen. He and Mei immediately clashed, and the room erupted in a storm of flashing lightning and roaring flames.
He let out a sudden, wild laugh. Good thing this was a detached house, or the neighbors might have called the cops.
The outburst scared Pardo. She'd been pretending to slack off on the sofa, but her right hand had been unconsciously inching toward someone's pocket, and now her fur was standing on end.
Sakura, allergic to cat hair, let out a series of sneezes.
Rin gently rubbed her sister's back before thoughtfully handing her a glass of warm water.
Mobius was carefully pushed through the door by Klein, Nuwa, and Fuxi.
By the window, the silent boy? Kosma was helping dystopia to hang a banner on the wall with her telekinesis.
Griseo was fiddling with something near the chimney. When she saw her parents approaching with smiles, she quickly and clumsily tried to act cute to get away with whatever she was doing.
Kevin, Su, and MEI chatted casually while Rita set the dining table.
Just then, Durandal descended the stairs from the second floor with her biological parents, Siegfried and Cecilia.
A family of three... no, a family of five now.
Durandal hadn't asked for her old name back. She was quite content with her life as "Bianka Ataegina" now.
And she had two younger sisters: one named Kiana, and the other... Sirin.
Sirin hated it when Joyce, Old Yang, Elias (Yang's dad), Einstein, Tesla... and that whole crowd of decades-old scholars from "the greatest group photo in history" dropped by.
Especially that bird-nest-haired Doctor and the Lobster Doctor. They were always nagging her to "study, study, study.."
Hiding behind Bella was useless, so she bolted, fleeing in a panic.
As she scrambled past a certain spot in the chaos, you could see a fiery red figure draped ungracefully over a black-haired young man's shoulder, throwing a drunken fit.
Behind them, on the wall, hung the two banners Kosma and Destobia had put up, one above the other.
"Congratulations, Lieutenant General Himeko, on your honorable retirement!"
"Congratulations, Major General Ling Ke, on becoming the new captain of the Hyperion!"
In the final moment of the scene, Vill-V was taking a picture with her latest creation—an oddly shaped camera.
She was capturing a beautiful moment.
Every moment.
Suddenly...
In the instant frozen into eternity, at the very center of the richly detailed photograph, in the most conspicuous spot...
The fiery red figure, in the midst of her drunken rampage, had casually plopped a white military cap onto the head of the black-haired young man, who nearly lost his balance.
Faintly, a voice could be heard...
"You saved everyone, you know."
"Yeah. And I'll save even more people, more civilizations, more eras, more worlds in the future."
"I have the power to do it..."
"After all, I'm a 'Sav—'"
[World-Destroying Player's Current Points: 7,261,560,693]