— Fifty thousand years?
Everyone in the living room stared at Zane, looking completely shocked.
“…” Bronya was the most stunned of all.
She had only come over to gather information, but the first thing she heard sounded like a fairy tale.
Was Elysia’s world really from fifty thousand years ago?
Her first thought: Liar.
Then Bronya remembered the Sea of Quanta, where time could almost stop.
Thinking about it that way, Elysia being fifty thousand years old didn’t seem impossible anymore.
The others looked just as surprised and unsure, but they were starting to believe Zane might be telling the truth.
“Gulp.
Gulp.” Elysia finished her cocktail in one long drink.
Her face turned red right away, but she still took out a folded map and spread it on the coffee table.
“I found this in a shop,” she said.
“It looks real.
It’s also completely different from the world map I remember.
If fifty thousand years of geographical change really passed, then I can understand most of the differences.
But…” Elysia pointed to a spot on the map, frowning.
“Why is the Mu Continent missing?” Mu Continent??
Kiana, Raiden Mei, and Bronya leaned in to see.
Elysia was pointing at a large area in the western Pacific Ocean, south of the Far East.
All three froze.
As far as they knew, that part of the world was just open ocean.
“In the future timeline, during the Ninth Eruption, the Herrscher of Rock created a Pseudo Black Hole,” Zane explained.
“It swallowed the entire Mu Continent.” The room went still.
“The few surviving cities sank into the Mariana Trench and became what Anti-Entropy later identified as The Deep.
Humanity lost one-sixth of its population in that single event…” Zane stopped for a moment, then went on.
“During the Eighth and Ninth Eruptions, Dystopia, Hen, and Blanca also sacrificed themselves one after another.
After that, Mobius performed the Meta-Morph surgery on a weakened Griseo.” He shook his head and let out a quiet sigh.
Boooom!!
Elysia’s mind buzzed loudly.
Her vision dimmed, and her face lost all color.
She believed him!!
She didn’t know Dystopia yet, but she knew Hen, Blanca, and Mobius well.
When she joined the MOTHs, Hen was the one who tested her.
That meant her Previous Era was already gone.
Wiped out.
Elysia clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles popped.
Was their future truly doomed to end in destruction?
“!!” Kiana, Raiden Mei, and Bronya listened in shock, mouths slightly open and faces full of disbelief.
A massive continent had once existed there?
And a single Herrscher had swallowed the whole thing?
Gulp.
The three girls swallowed hard, cold sweat forming on their foreheads and backs.
That was horrifying.
“…” Kiana glanced quietly at Raiden Mei.
She thought about the Herrscher from the past and compared them to the Herrscher standing in front of her.
Both were Herrschers.
For some reason, her best friend seemed a bit…
Weak.
“…” Raiden Mei caught the look.
She suddenly felt a strange sense that she was being personally attacked.
Furina and Miyabi Hoshimi stared in shock, still trying to understand what they had just heard.
Herrschers were already scary, but the thought that one could erase a whole continent made it even worse.
Only Evanescia and Silver Wolf remained calm.
They were already used to conflicts this big.
After all, what kind of Emanator couldn’t destroy a few planets?
“And… the Ninth Herrscher?” Elysia asked, her voice hoarse.
“Kevin killed it alone with the Judgment of Shamash.” “Judgment of Shamash??” Kiana snapped out of her daze.
“Isn’t that my stupid dad’s weapon?” Zane nodded at her.
“Yes.
Kevin started the Kaslana family.
He’s your ancestor.” Kiana opened her mouth, but couldn’t say anything.
There was so much information that her mind almost shut down.
“Before the final Honkai Eruption arrived, the eight strongest warriors of the Previous Era went to the moon for the last battle against the Herrscher of the End.” The room became even quieter.
“Within five minutes of the fight beginning, two of them were dead.” Kiana’s face went stiff.
“Kevin pushed himself past his limits and unleashed a full-power strike, but even that only shut down the Herrscher of the End for twelve hours.
Humanity’s countdown to extinction began from that moment.” Zane kept talking.
“After that, the Pioneers of the Previous Era entered cryo-sleep.
Over the next fifty thousand years, they gradually awakened to guide the next civilization in its war against the Honkai.” “And Kevin was placed in charge of Project Stigma.” When Zane finished, the three shivered.
Their faces looked even paler than before.
The Ninth Herrscher could swallow an entire continent, and Kevin had killed it.
Yet against the Herrscher of the End, his strongest attack had only bought humanity twelve hours.
The difference was just too big.
How were they supposed to fight something like that?
The Previous Era had already been erased.
What chance did the Current Era have?
A heavy gloom filled the living room.
“What about me?” After a long silence, Elysia finally looked up.
Her eyes showed both hope and deep worry.
“So I really am… a Herrscher?” “Yep,” Zane said.
“Why do you think your Honkai adaptability is so high?
Why don’t you have parents?
Why did you feel regret when you killed the Herrscher of the Void?” “I see.” Elysia looked down and gave a bitter smile.
“Then what happens to me in the end?” “You die before the Herrscher of the End even arrives,” Zane answered.
“Is that so…” Her smile softened, turning a little sad.
“Was I hunted down?” “No.” Zane shook his head and looked at her with clear pity and respect.
The honesty in his eyes made Elysia feel something warm inside.
“You are the first Herrscher of the Previous Era,” he said.
“The Herrscher of Origin.
The Herrscher of Human: Ego.” He paused to let the words sink in.
“You are the Herrscher of Human.” The room went quiet again.
“You grew up surrounded by humanity’s love, and you loved humanity in return.” Zane’s voice softened.
“You are the only Herrscher who wasn’t controlled by the Honkai.
The chance of a Herrscher breaking free and being born like you was so tiny that the decimal point would have dozens of zeroes after it.” Everyone stared at Elysia.
Dozens of zeroes?
What kind of probability was that??
“Before the End came, humanity started to fall apart,” Zane said.
“To bring everyone together again, you chose to sacrifice yourself.” The room went dead silent.
A shiver went through the group.
One by one, they looked at Elysia with new respect.
Even Evanescia and Silver Wolf saw her differently.
Self-sacrifice was one of the heaviest choices a person could make.
It was also one of the hardest.
“Hmm~” Elysia blinked and then gave a gentle smile.
“Now that I think about it, that does sound like something I would do.
If it meant humanity could survive, I think I would gladly give my life.” “…” Kiana’s nose stung, and her eyes quickly turned red.
Furina felt the weight of those words too.
Tears ran down her cheeks before she could stop them.
“Your sacrifice was not meaningless,” Zane told Elysia.
“Because of what you did, the Herrschers of the Current Era are able to retain their humanity.
They are no longer just cold weapons manipulated by the Honkai.” The living room erupted into shock once more.
Everyone immediately turned toward Raiden Mei.
She was a Herrscher of the Current Era, yet she still possessed a clear, rational mind.
She had not lost herself completely to the Honkai.
Was Elysia’s sacrifice the reason?
Bronya sat in silence, feeling numb from all the information.
Her mind was close to shutting down.
It was just too much to take in.
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