Chapter 159: The Final Battle of the Previous Era? Main Story 14: Dispel the Darkness!
After the crash of the Eos, Rita and Kiana moved to a secluded corner via spatial teleportation.
["I didn't expect that someone as cold as you would act so impulsively...."]Looking at Rita beside her and recalling the maneuver that had scared her back into her "Tuna" state, Kiana felt a lingering sense of fear. ["Hey, hey, you're not going to do something drastic just because of the heavy casualties among your crew, are you?"]
["To prevent you from doing anything stupid, I must tell you beforehand: I did my best to save some of your people."]
Facing Kiana's comfort, Rita shook her head and revealed her true purpose. The enemy's numbers and layout were likely spread throughout the city, and they could be hunted down at any moment. She only wanted to create the illusion of mutual destruction to buy a little time. While it wouldn't be enough to fool Raven and Jackal, the massive commotion would be enough to distract them.
Before the World Serpent could find their trail... Rita didn't finish her sentence; due to exhaustion, she lapsed into unconsciousness.
Chapter 13, The Ash of a Long Night, ended right there.
Just as Senti was about to follow her usual routine and flame Su Mu—"Old Thief Su Mu, cliffhanger again? One day, blade in hand, I'll slay all the cliffhanger dogs!"—she saw the next chapter, Dispel the Darkness, and the words died in her throat.
Watching Senti's expression—like a punch landing on cotton or someone biting into a rotten persimmon—the audience in the stream couldn't help but roar with laughter.
[Streamer didn't read the preview and announcement carefully again, did she? This time the Old Thief released two main story chapters at once!]
[Hahaha! Streamer's face is too funny! It's exactly how I look when I bite into a bad sunflower seed!]
[LMAO, the insult was right at the tip of her tongue and she had to swallow it back down. That must be agonizing!]
"Habit, force of habit, haha!" Senti scratched her head with a dry laugh. It had practically become muscle memory. After all, that bastard Su Mu was a master of cliffhangers, the kind that could drive a person insane! To be honest, if the story truly ended there, Senti definitely wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight! The plot was entering its climax; Rita and Kiana were about to ally and confront World Serpent to save the city... ending it there would have been pure torture.
[Damn, the Old Thief is finally acting like a human? He finally stopped dangling us!]
[Seriously, you don't know how much I wanted to tear my hair out at the last cliffhanger. I wanted to slice that dog!]
[Sometimes I really wonder if this guy started as a web-novel author, he's so proficient at cliffhangers.]
Amidst the "praises" for Su Mu, Senti impatiently clicked on Main Story Chapter 14: Dispel the Darkness!
However. Chapter 14 didn't immediately follow the ending of the previous chapter. Instead, it opened with a view of a boundless, bone-white desert.
[On this silent land, she and seven comrades with the same goal were about to welcome the end of a long war.]
[After the conclusion of this battle that decided the fate of all humanity, would any of them stand here to greet the dawn of a new day?]
[She had no answer in her heart.]
["Hua, start the preparations. According to MEI's calculations, there is only one hour left before 'His' arrival."]
A white-haired, blue-eyed man looked at the girl. His name was Kevin, and the audience was naturally familiar with him. He called out that name, which naturally led the viewers to realize: this was the Fu Hua of the Previous Era.
["Kevin, I hope that after today, humanity can continue to walk on."]
["....It will. If you have a sliver of doubt, look back at the Earth behind you."]
At Kevin's words, Hua turned around. Earth, like a blue marble, hung suspended in the infinite deep space. Its dark-blue arc emitted a warm halo, as if struggling against the embrace of the darkness.
["Every time I look up, I shiver at the darkness and coldness of the universe."]
["But even so, it still has temperature."]
["Because the Earth nurtured us, because the stars still shine above our heads."]
[Earth.... the girl couldn't help but wonder: what are the people on Earth doing at this moment? Are they lamenting, crying, or holding a doomsday revelry?]
[From the perspective of the moon, all the disputes and anger, the pain and lingering attachments of the past.... none of it mattered anymore.]
[The only thing that mattered was the future.]
[If humanity can continue and flourish again, pain and dispute will return as well.]
[But the most important thing is always the future.]
[Hua looked at Kevin: "Kevin, the dispute between me and Dr. MEI, and the things I said to you.... I am sorry."]
[Kevin shook his head: "There is no need for apologies between people who can entrust their lives to one another."]
[Hua asked: "Is that so.... then what should I say?"]
["A promise. If any of us can walk off this battlefield alive, we must bear more responsibility." Kevin paused. "The plans MEI prepared—'Project Stigma', 'Project Ember', 'Project Ark'.... although not everyone agrees with these plans, these efforts will become the seeds for human resurgence."]
["The survivors among us must nurture these seeds, preventing them from repeating the same mistakes, until a new civilization is built."]
["Hua, I believe the hope to permanently end the Honkai lies within them."]
["To reach that day, humanity will lose much."]
["....But humanity will never lose hope."]
As Kevin's voice faded, the screen fell into darkness, and soon returned to the stage selection menu.
In Guinaifen's livestream, Kiana was currently scratching her head. "Eh, what? That girl named Hua is definitely the Class Monitor, right?" Rita nodded: "Mhm, it should be. Hua was Lady Fu Hua's name in the Previous Era. Indeed, she once fought side-by-side with Kevin."
Guinaifen wore a confused expression: "But why are they on the moon? Who is their enemy? It looks like this battle is incredibly important, even deciding the survival of humanity?" Rita thought for a moment and replied: "Most likely, that is the Final Battle of the Previous Era." Kiana slapped her forehead, remembering the setting previously mentioned in the game: "Oh right! I remember now. There are fourteen Herrschers in total, and the last one possesses power far exceeding the ones before! Her appearance signifies the extinction of human civilization!"
"Clearly, that must have been a very tragic battle." Rita sighed. "The warriors fought desperately against the final Herrscher, but the Previous Era still perished, meaning they ultimately failed." Kiana was dumbstruck: "So that means Kevin and the Class Monitor are among the few survivors of the MANTIS soldiers? No wonder the Class Monitor was chosen as the lead for that project, to protect the knowledge of the Previous Era in the current civilization...."
[Such a prosperous civilization with technology beyond imagination still couldn't escape destruction....]
[They probably didn't even need the final Herrscher; the Previous Era was practically destroyed already.]
[True, the Twelfth Herrscher—the Herrscher of Corruption—launched nukes and destroyed the last three cities. Meaning before that, there were barely any humans left on Earth....]
[So by the time the Previous Era fought the last Herrscher, humanity was already basically extinct?]
[I know about Project Stigma, and Project Ember is the one Fu Hua participated in, right? But what does Project Ark mean?]
[The Previous Era left backup plans; their knowledge truly helped current humanity fight the Honkai. The fire was indeed passed down.]
[Sigh....]
The audience was deeply moved by the glimpse of the battle against the Herrscher of Finality. Such a prosperous civilization ultimately couldn't escape its fate and could only pass hope to the humans of the next era. Even though they had built sprawling super-metropolises and left behind hymns of human courage, spreading their footprints across the world... it all turned to dust, leaving future generations to rediscover their past glory from surviving relics.
This sense of the world changing and civilizations falling gave everyone a profound feeling of helplessness.
"But why insert such a story here? The current Kevin is clearly different from the one during the final battle on the moon. Even if his resolve to fight the Honkai is real, what he did in Arc City... sigh...." At this point, Kiana couldn't help but sigh. She understood that Kevin's shift toward extremism was inevitable. As a survivor of the Previous Era and that final battle, Kevin must have experienced an unimaginable hell. It was why he had become like a block of ice, determined to avenge himself against the Honkai at any cost.
[Honestly, I'm really interested in what happened in the Previous Era. When will we get to see a story fully dedicated to it?]
[Yeah, I want to know who the other MANTIS warriors fighting alongside Kevin and Fu Hua were!]
[Well, Sakura definitely wasn't there, since she died early....]
[Shut up, you beast! Why bring up Sakura now!!!]
Amidst the audience's intense curiosity about the Previous Era, the plot returned to Arc City. After a brief recap, the scene opened in Kiana's shelter. She woke up suddenly from a dream and told Fu Hua about it. She dreamed of standing on a place like the moon, preparing for a grand battle.
Fu Hua told Kiana that it was her memory. Perhaps for some reason, their consciousnesses had intertwined; as Kiana dreamed, Fu Hua could also recall the past. It was then that Fu Hua informed Kiana about being a survivor of the Previous Era. Although Kiana was somewhat prepared, she was still shocked. When she asked who the person talking to Fu Hua on the moon was:
["Kevin Kaslana. The source of your Kaslana bloodline, a survivor of the Final Battle of the Previous Era, and humanity's strongest protector...."]Fu Hua listed one title after another for Kevin, but her tone suddenly shifted. ["....Had he sacrificed himself in that battle, everything would have been as intended."]
["But the result of the Final Battle was too tragic.... It changed me, and it changed Kevin."]
Fu Hua told Kiana everything about Kevin. After that war ended, Kevin founded the organization "World Serpent" and began executing the human resurgence plan left behind by the Previous Era. Project Stigma.
The plan might have been necessary, but the price it required was something humanity could likely never bear. Many Pioneers couldn't agree with Kevin's actions, leading to splits and resistance against him.... but then he suddenly vanished from history. Fu Hua didn't give Kiana the details because it was too complex. After Kevin vanished, World Serpent became a mess of scattered pieces. Fu Hua even thought it had perished hundreds of years ago.
The experience at Heliopolis made Fu Hua realize the organization had simply been hiding in the shadows, waiting for its master's return. Given Fu Hua's understanding of Kevin, once he found Kiana, he would strike her down!
["So, Class Monitor? I can only run?"]
["But Class Monitor, running.... where can I go? I've run countless times. Fear, regret, curling into a ball in a corner—did I escape in the end?"]
["I will not leave Arc City. I don't want to look back in the future and find that every choice I made was an act of fleeing."]
Kiana's firm will finally made Fu Hua yield, but she warned Kiana: if Kevin's trail appeared, she must avoid him for the time being. To understand the full scope of World Serpent's conspiracy, Kiana chose to return to the Heliopolis industrial zone to track down Raven, who commanded the zombies!
Seeing Kiana no longer running and choosing to stay in Arc City, many viewers showed very relieved expressions. Undoubtedly, the courage and decisiveness Kiana displayed were truly admirable. Even knowing Kevin possessed terrifying strength and that Fu Hua said he would take her life upon meeting... Kiana did not choose to run this time.
Seeing her brave side in the game, Kiana felt that this mature Void Drifter was simply cool! "Running away doesn't solve problems! Doesn't Shenzhou have a saying about 'meeting the enemy'?" Guinaifen reminded her: "When the soldiers come, use the general to block; when the water comes, use the earth to cover." Kiana nodded: "Right, right! That! Kevin hasn't appeared yet, has he? If he actually shows up, I can just use spatial teleportation to run!"
[True, spatial teleportation is too broken. That's why the Herrscher of the Void was so hard to deal with, right?]
[In any story, anyone related to 'Space' is a top-tier existence.]
[But Kevin might not necessarily kill Kiana? He didn't kill Welt before, which means there's room for negotiation.]
[You can't put it that way. World Serpent is executing Project Stigma. Kevin might not let Kiana go if she interferes.]
[Now we can only hope Kevin doesn't come to Arc City!]
[Kiana is going to confront Raven alone; won't she be in danger?]
[It's definitely dangerous, but taking a risk is the only option, right? She's isolated and helpless. To save the city, she has to gamble!]
Amidst the discussion, Kiana left the shelter and rushed to the Heliopolis industrial zone. But she didn't know that Rita had woken up long ago. The Herrscher, who was supposed to have lost her humanity and lived for destruction, was trying to save the city. The one who was supposed to be the prey had even extended a helping hand in a crisis.
Just now, Rita had witnessed Kiana talking to the air, to a shadow she couldn't see. This segment of text amused everyone in the stream.
[Pfft!!]
[Oh man, I've been thinking about this! What does talking to the Squad Leader in Fenghuang Down look like to others?]
[Like talking to oneself! So it really is true that only Kiana can see the Class Monitor?]
[LMAO, did Rita have a split second where she thought Kiana was mentally ill?]
[Ill or not, standing in place talking to yourself is indeed pretty creepy.]
Because of the distance, Rita didn't hear clearly. Regardless, she couldn't sit and wait. She had to do what she could while Kiana's actions distracted World Serpent. She contacted the surviving Immortal Blades members, but since comms were jammed, she couldn't send a distress signal to the outside. Rita could only leave a message to report to Durandal first. True, while she couldn't contact Durandal now, she had actually sent an "invitation" to Kiana's friends earlier.
While Kiana was infiltrating Heliopolis, Jackal informed Raven during a comm that time was running out. Raven believed the plan was currently impossible to execute; having been targeted by a Herrscher, the plan would be completely compromised. During the Second Eruption, Raven had witnessed the full terror of the Second Herrscher. But Jackal was dismissive, believing the current Herrscher of the Void was not as strong as imagined—perhaps she had just awakened and couldn't master her power.
["According to my live intel, the newborn Herrscher of the Void lost control at Schicksal HQ and caused mass destruction, but was quickly defeated just hours later."]
["Three Schicksal S-rank Valkyries were present. One of them, Rita Rossweisse, just clashed with you."]
["The result? Defeat at the hands of our meticulously prepared plan."]
["This shows the power of a newborn Herrscher is not as unreachable as you think."]
Jackal's words were full of arrogance and contempt. Clearly, she viewed Schicksal's S-rank Valkyries as mere paper tigers. Raven expressed dissatisfaction with Jackal's attitude, believing these were all assumptions and there were too many unstable factors—after all, no one knew what plans Otto was hiding.
["Otto? It is common knowledge that Otto is a coward hiding behind his Valkyries."]
["Instead of believing he can solve the problem, you might as well tell me Otto invented some incredible armor, found a nearly retired Valkyrie to wear it, and took down the Herrscher of the Void in one strike."]
Jackal's "mysterious confidence" combined with her accidentally hitting the correct answer made the viewers' expressions turn peculiar.
[Be more confident, you're actually right.]
[Holy crap, it's practically the same....]
[You guessed it all? Nani, the intel is real??]
[Did you read the script too?]
[Half right. The 'Blank Key' tech is from the Previous Era, and Himeko-sensei was indeed almost retired....]
[It seems World Serpent's intel isn't necessarily accurate. Durandal and Rita didn't fight the Herrscher of the Void at all; it was Himeko-sensei.... truly just as Jackal blindly guessed, wearing the Vermilion Knight armor and then....]
[Stop it, brother, I'm thinking of 'Final Lesson' again!]
[I miss you, Himeko-sensei!!]
After Raven and Jackal's comm ended, the scene returned to Kiana infiltrating the industrial zone. After evading the guards, Kiana successfully broke in. Finding Raven's trail, she tracked Raven's convoy and intercepted it halfway.
Smoke and fire filled the air. Kiana Kaslana, with her long hair flowing, held the Sky Shredder. Facing the mechs, she showed no fear. During the battle, Raven threw a transport truck toward her; following the truck's explosion, serum gas filled the air. Kiana's power drained rapidly, but Raven pulled out a syringe and injected a certain liquid into her own body. This allowed her to remain unaffected by the serum gas and utilize her original strength. Kiana gradually became overwhelmed and was ultimately defeated by Raven.
Jackal had intense curiosity regarding a living Herrscher. She couldn't wait to use Kiana as an experimental subject, so she stopped Raven from killing her.
"This lady.... lost like that?" Kiana looked at the screen, face full of disbelief. Just a moment ago, Fu Hua had warned her to be careful, yet she still fell into a trap and into the enemy's hands? "I was so cool intercepting the convoy, why did I take an L so quickly! I can't even stay cool for a little longer! So annoying!!"
END OF CHAPTER
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