“The Herrscher…
has gone silent…” The command base fell into a long silence.
“Did someone use a nuke?” someone asked aloud.
“It wasn’t a nuke,” Kevin was the first to realize.
“This strike precisely destroyed only the Herrscher.
It looked massive, but it didn’t cause any damage to the surrounding battlefield at all.
Frontline soldiers also reported no ill effects other than the blinding light.” “This is a powerful force unknown to us.” Kevin gave the order, “Send the remaining drones at the front line to search, and have the combat personnel go to the ruins to rescue survivors.” After firing that arrow that pierced the heavens, Elysia let her bow down listlessly, and the longbow immediately dissipated into light dust.
Her entire body lost all strength, and she could only lean helplessly against a broken wall nearby.
Is it my fault?
she thought.
In the plot of her previous life, the First Herrscher was killed by conventional weapons, without causing any noteworthy destruction, showing that its strength was nothing special.
However, the First Herrscher here destroyed an entire Lannington City upon its first appearance, taking millions of lives, and completed its emergence just hours later.
If not for her, how high a price would humanity have paid to eliminate it?
It was her arrival that created the butterfly effect, causing the Cocoon of Finality to increase the difficulty, indirectly causing the deaths of so many people.
Self-blame, she thought heavily.
She knew very well that the Honkai was the root of everything, and even following the original plot, it would eventually lead to the complete annihilation of civilization.
But she just couldn’t help but think this way.
Many people’s lives shouldn’t have ended at this moment; they might have been able to enjoy a few more years of peace, but because of her, their lives had to come to an abrupt end.
And…
she truly cared about them, and the moments they spent together were impossible to forget.
But had she really protected them?
And what would happen after this?
Would future Herrschers emerge as emanations, or perhaps directly as fully-fledged ones?
There were still so many people in this world she cared about; could she really protect them well?
If someone changed history, then she naturally had to bear the cost of changing it.
Elysia stood in the center of the boundless ruins, silent.
“Honkai…
why must you bring such cruel destruction…” After a long while, the sound of rocks breaking came from underground, bringing Elysia back to her senses.
The ground began to tremble, and then a dark golden drill machine embedded with gear decorations broke through the ruins, kicking up a large amount of dust.
The hatch of the drill was kicked open, and a girl wearing a highly mechanical style emerged from it.
“Finally out, I almost thought I was going to suffocate underground,” Vill-V said, cheering as she poked her head out.
What met her eyes were broken walls and ruins stretching to the horizon, and she froze in place, “What…
happened…” “Vill-V…” Elysia shed tears silently.
“Boss Elysia.” Vill-V turned back, wanting to ask about the situation, but only saw the bottomless grief in Elysia’s eyes.
Those eyes once swirled with lively smiles, but at this moment, they were extinguished by sadness.
She was silent for a while, sighed, jumped off the vehicle, and then handed over a communicator, “Contact me if you have any problems.
I’m going to save people first.” Saving people.
Elysia’s heart, which had fallen into despair, gave a jolt.
Right, under Great Honkai, those with high resistance to Honkai Energy could survive.
She still had a chance to rectify some of her mistakes.
She didn’t take the communicator, but instead grabbed Vill-V’s hand, a light igniting in her eyes like embers in ash.
“Take me with you.” That was all she said.
Along the way, she and Vill-V only maintained the most basic communication.
Relying on her superb perception, Elysia could accurately distinguish heartbeats amidst various noises, while Vill-V used the mechanical arms deployed from the drill to move ruins and rescue survivors.
The two worked together and had already rescued thousands of people.
On the way back to the ruins after settling the survivors, Vill-V glanced at Elysia.
She was contacting managers of various branches, asking them to organize manpower and bring supplies to support as soon as possible.
The eyes that had been like stagnant water were gradually regaining their luster.
Fortunately, Vill-V breathed a sigh of relief.
If Elysia had truly remained depressed, she would have had to find time to act as a psychologist.
After notifying the last branch, Elysia closed her phone and slowly closed her eyes.
After the initial loss of focus, she gradually pulled herself together.
“What is past cannot be corrected, but what is to come can still be pursued.” Remembering the dead and preserving the living—this was what she should do.
And as for everything that tormented her, she would return it all to the Cocoon of Finality without reservation in the end.
Seeing her mostly recovered, Vill-V finally had the courage to ask that question: “Boss Elysia, what happened before?” “The Herrscher descended and destroyed the entire city.
Its authority is analytical construction, which is very difficult to deal with.
The army couldn’t resist it at all.” Elysia spoke disjointedly.
“Hmm.” Vill-V inferred the general idea from her fragmented words.
The Herrscher must be the agent of this great disaster.
“Then I rushed back and sniped it from afar with a bow, and then you appeared.” “Mm-hmm, hmm?” Vill-V’s eyes twitched.
It seemed like something crucial had just floated by quite casually.
A bow?
Was the arrow you shot a nuclear warhead?
Elysia also realized that she had spoken a bit too sketchily.
She pondered for a while and asked back: “Vill-V, how is your investigation into the Honkai going?” “Only some of the most basic understanding—that it’s born with civilization, is the cause of various disasters, and so on.” Speaking of this, Vill-V also realized, “So you’re saying this was caused by the Honkai?” “Hmm, Great Honkai.
Previous Honkai were just ripples compared to this, while Great Honkai is a periodic flood.” “Periodic?
This kind of disaster will happen again in the future?” Vill-V almost couldn’t hold the steering wheel steady.
“Is this what the Fire MOTHS you joined earlier told you?” Elysia and Vill-V had always kept in touch during their travels, and Elysia told her everything.
So Vill-V was basically aware of her movements.
Originally, Elysia wanted to reveal some information about the Honkai, but Vill-V insisted on finding out for herself, so she refused.
“They currently only know the most superficial part.” Elysia leaned back in her chair and let out a long breath.
“They know nothing about the Origin of the Honkai, its purpose, the essence of the Herrscher, or the truth of this world.” “Doesn’t that just need a genius like me?” Vill-V became interested.
“Give me some time, and I will definitely be able to find it out.” “Finding the answers to these questions is quite time-consuming.” “So, I’ll give you the answer directly.
The Honkai is a man-made disaster caused by the Cocoon of Finality deployed by the high-dimensional civilization parallel truth.
Its purpose is to manipulate the direction of civilization and eventually form a consciousness integration body.
The Herrscher is the apostle of the Honkai, a projection of finality, with the mission of destroying civilization.
As for this world, after every round of civilization perishes under the Honkai, the finality on the moon will use the authority of time to restart civilization, trying again and again.
This cycle has already lasted for at least millions of years.
This might be hard to believe, but you can verify it yourself in the future.” This was what she had summarized after monitoring the Cocoon of Finality for years as a child, and corroborated with her memories of her previous life.
It was absolutely credible.
With every sentence Elysia spoke, Vill-V’s expression became more serious, not just about the Honkai, but also about her.
“So, the Honkai really isn’t a good thing.” She changed the subject.
“So, Boss Elysia, how do you know all this?” Elysia was silent for a while, then asked a question out of the blue: “How long have we known each other, Vill-V?” “Three or four years, I suppose.
But Boss, why do you ask this…” Vill-V stopped talking.
She sensed that she might be about to touch upon Elysia’s deepest secrets.
“No matter what you hear next, can you trust me, Vill-V?
I have already lost enough today, and I don’t want to lose you too.” Elysia’s tone carried a hint of pleading.
“You’re not going to say you’re actually on the Honkai side, which is why you know so much, are you?” Vill-V tried to liven up the atmosphere, half-joking.
However, Elysia did not respond, only sighed, and the air suddenly froze.
“No way…” Vill-V’s eyes twitched.
“Fifteen years ago, the ‘Fire MOTHS’ discovered a huge remnant on the moon.
They named it—the divine corpse of finality.” Elysia spoke as calmly as if she were telling someone else’s story: “And while studying the divine corpse of finality, a human error caused a part of it to separate and fall to Earth.
They called that fragment [Origin].
After falling to Vostok-51 in the form of an infant, [Origin] was discovered and sent to a local orphanage.” “That was you…” Vill-V finished her sentence.
“Exactly.
I am the First Herrscher, the Herrscher of Origin.
As for this information, you can think of it as factory settings—innate knowledge.” She still hid the fact that she was a transmigrator.
Since she had come here, she would continue to live as Elysia.
She would find excuses for her various foresight, and attribute what couldn’t be explained to the omnipotent [Origin] Authority.
With the cognition established in her previous life, Elysia wasn’t resistant to her identity as a Herrscher.
Herrscher powers were just tools; it depended on who could use them well.
She was mainly worried about other people’s opinions.
Rather than being secretive, it was better to lay it all out from the beginning.
As the Honkai heated up, the whole world would gradually become obsessed.
If Elysia showed her hand at that time, she would probably be considered a Herrscher-possessed and ordered to be subjugated.
Of course, she would only tell this to people she could trust.
“Herrscher of Origin…
no wonder.” Vill-V’s previous doubts dissipated for the most part.
“And because you were separated directly from the divine corpse of finality, you are naturally higher in status than these projections of finality, which is why you were able to kill it so easily.” “Hmm, that’s right.” “Oh~” She drew out this exclamation for a long time, then rested her chin on one hand and pondered for a moment, “Then that’s not strange.” Then she switched to autopilot, turned around, and examined Elysia curiously, as if looking at a rare animal.
“Aren’t you afraid?
I am of the same kind as that world-destroying Herrscher.” “Why would I be afraid?” Vill-V was a bit puzzled.
“Eh?” Elysia was stunned.
“Will it help the unemployed solve their employment?
Will it help people fight crime?
Will it stand on the side of humanity to fight against the Honkai?” She stared into Elysia’s eyes.
“Elysia, I once said that ‘becoming another person’ is not difficult for me, and that is also because I can easily see through a person.
And in my eyes, Elysia, you have always been a good person.” “Is that so…” Elysia was a bit touched.
“As for this ‘truth’, I will gratefully accept it.” She blinked.
“This is indeed…
the best ‘performance secret’ so far.” ————————
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”