On the snowy plains of Siberia, watching Sa who was about to be erased by the Cocoon of Finality's power, Lucius asked:
"Sa — at this point, do you have anything left to say?"
Sa closed her eyes, her expression perfectly serene: "My skills fell short. There's nothing to say."
"But didn't you just say you lost to the diversity of the human species?"
Hearing Lucius's teasing, Sa — who had just a moment ago been composing herself to face death with dignity — suddenly flared up.
"That's enough of that. The winner takes all, the loser accepts defeat. I accept my loss to you wholeheartedly — let's leave it at that!"
This defeat had to be because her skills fell short. Full stop.
Losing to Lucius and Kallen she could accept — but if it was said she lost to the biological diversity of certain human-adjacent lifeforms, she would die with eyes wide open in resentment, and even a million years wouldn't be enough to make peace with it!
Perhaps because she knew death was imminent, or perhaps to forcibly change the subject, Sa completely dropped her suppression of her own emotions.
"I lost this time — but I will be back." Sa looked at Lucius coldly. "And when that day comes, you can look forward to a million years of being worked like livestock!"
But upon hearing Sa's bold declaration, Lucius rested his chin on his fingers and fell into thought.
"Sa — from what I know of you, you're not someone who lets emotions get the better of you."
"Isn't surviving the most important thing to you?"
Sa was a bridge-camping survivor type, with an extraordinarily cautious nature. At the first sign of any danger she would retreat immediately, never allowing herself to be trapped in a perilous situation.
But the Sa in front of him — wasn't she being just a little too reckless? It was almost as though her intelligence had plummeted after some kind of mental interference.
Though he quickly set that thought aside. As one of the beings who had walked the furthest in the realm of consciousness, he couldn't think of who would be capable of interfering with Sa's mind.
Sa shot him a sidelong glance at his remark.
"I wanted nothing more than to part ways and leave. But given my current circumstances — if I continued hiding in the Sea of Quanta, some calamity arriving from an unknown source would eventually finish me off someday."
"Given that — I figured I'd take a gamble. If I could harvest enough energy from Earth, I'd have a chance to avoid that disaster."
However, upon hearing Sa's words, Lucius's expression became extraordinarily peculiar.
"Is there any possibility — and I'm only saying possibility —" Lucius pointed to himself, "that the calamity is us?"
Sa was momentarily taken aback. After reviewing her own actions in her mind, she suddenly realized — that actually seemed entirely plausible!
What do you mean my own actions fulfilled the prophecy?
Does that mean everything I did was the behavior of a clown?
The thought was unbearable, so Sa immediately sent a message to her main body in the Sea of Quanta, requesting it to use the Wisdom Eye to run a calculation.
The next moment, the Wisdom Eye returned its conclusion.
— The calamity has not disappeared.
Receiving this result, Sa felt somewhat relieved — but at the same time, considerably more disappointed.
The calamity still remained. That meant the prophesied disaster was not Lucius, but something else entirely.
The disappointment, however, came from the fact that not only had she failed to harvest any energy to grow stronger, she had ended up losing everything — a catastrophic drop in her power. Which meant when the yet-to-arrive calamity finally came, her situation was now significantly worse than before.
Thinking of this, Sa felt an overwhelming weariness. But in this moment of parting, she still said to Lucius:
"Well. Talking with you has been rather interesting — but unfortunately, the next time we meet we'll still be enemies."
"Just you wait. I'll drag you back and work you like livestock for a million years!"
Seeing this woman still acting this insufferably arrogant when she was about to face her end, Lucius reached out without another word and wrapped his hand around her throat.
"Since you put it that way — how could I possibly let you go back?"
His reason for closing the distance with Sa had nothing to do with idle chatter. He had been waiting for the Cocoon of Finality to weaken her to the absolute limit.
At this point, Sa's power had fallen to an unimaginable low — and only now, in this state, was she at her safest to handle.
"It's no use." Even with Lucius's hand around her throat, Sa remained completely composed. "If you want to hold onto me, you'd first have to keep me intact under the Cocoon of Finality's power."
The Cocoon of Finality's power was already on the verge of grinding her completely to nothing — perhaps in this very moment, perhaps the next, she would be fully erased.
Right now, with her power weakened to the absolute limit, the killing intent of the Cocoon of Finality had paradoxically become the very thing giving her confidence to escape.
Thinking of this, Sa felt a deep sense of irony. "How absurd."
"What are you muttering about?"
Paying no mind to Sa's rich inner monologue, Lucius gripped her throat with one hand and opened his system inventory with the other.
Then — stuffed her in immediately.
Within the system inventory, time was in absolute stasis. Sa was frozen at the very moment she was about to be erased by the Cocoon of Finality's power.
Lucius felt Sa might still have some other uses. Simply letting her die like this would be far too wasteful.
Sa, frozen in the inventory in this state, was essentially a bomb sealed with the power of Finality. With the right method, she could be used as a strike equivalent to an attack from the Herrscher of Finality.
As Lucius stored her away, a white figure descended from the sky — it was big Kallen, currently in her artificial descent state.
"Is it dealt with?" The moment she landed, Kallen looked to Lucius and asked.
Lucius gave a slight nod.
Seeing this, Kallen let out a breath of relief, then asked: "What's next?"
In response to Kallen's question, Lucius snapped his fingers.
A deep spatial rift tore open in front of them, and a girl with purple hair and golden eyes stepped out from within.
It was the Selene, controlled by Lucius.
During the earlier battle with Sa, she had been lurking in the boundary between the real world and the Sea of Quanta, acting as a lock to seal it shut and prevent Sa from tearing open the space to escape.
Now that the team battle was won, she could finally emerge from the Sea of Quanta.
Once the Selene had come to stand before the two of them, Lucius said: "Next, we put on a performance. Or rather — we do a little showboating."
He looked at Kallen first: "You are the Schicksal Saint who returned from death. But after coming back from the dead, the name Kallen no longer holds any meaning for you. From this moment on — you are Theresa."
Although she had long since known Lucius's plans, actually contemplating having to walk the path of Theresa going forward still made Kallen feel deeply conflicted.
Then Lucius pointed to the Selene beside them and said: "She is the Herrscher of the Void who sought to destroy humanity."
He then moved his finger from the Selene, gesturing at the surrounding snowfield — devastated into complete ruin by the earlier battle with Sa.
"Siberia's devastation — all the work of the villainous Herrscher of the Void."
"And you, Kallen — no, I mean Lady Theresa — at the moment the Herrscher of the Void was about to extend her evil hands beyond Siberia, you defeated her and saved all of humanity."
"That is the scene the two of you are about to perform."
Having listened to Lucius's briefing, Kallen couldn't help but complain: "Compared to the Herrscher of the Void and Sa, somehow you feel far more like the villain here… bonk!"
Lucius produced a black-and-white clapperboard and lightly tapped it against her head.
"Alright, stop dawdling. Let's wrap this scene up quickly — I still have something very important to go take care of..."
Shortly after, making use of the ready-made cast and setting, the camera rolled. Kallen and the Selene stood far apart, facing each other.
Snowflakes drifted down one after another, filling the air with a solemn stillness.
The Selene, under Lucius's control, stood with one hand on her hip, striking a strange yet inexplicably magnetic pose as she watched Kallen walking toward her from a distance.
"Ho ho ho — not running away, but actually charging at me instead?"
"Please." Kallen's brow twitched. A golden cross gathered in her hand, and she instantly closed the distance to the Lucius-controlled Selene and swatted her flying with a single strike.
BANG! ——
The Selene went flying under Kallen's heavy blow, tumbled several times across the snow after landing, and finally flopped face-down into it.
Looking up at Kallen walking toward her, she said in a weak voice: "To think… to think you could be this powerful. I'm sorry for failing to make Lady Theresa use her full strength..."
Saying that, the Selene's face dropped into the snow with a splat, her legs gave a little kick, and she went still.
"Cut!"
At this moment, Lucius appeared between Kallen and the Selene, pressing down the clapperboard.
"One take. Well done."
"With evidence of you defeating the Herrscher of the Void, taking command of Schicksal from here on will be simple."
"Lucius — isn't this a bit too half-hearted? Will people actually believe it?" Kallen couldn't help but protest.
She had originally imagined that even if it was just a performance, she'd at least have to go through a proper epic battle with the Herrscher of the Void — at minimum the practical effects would need to be maximized, otherwise how would anyone be convinced?
"A one-hit victory — doesn't that just demonstrate how powerful you are?"
Lucius wasn't particularly bothered by the concern. This was only the rough cut anyway — he'd still need Prometheus to unleash her AI powers afterward and apply a little 'polish.'
"Alright. With that, the most difficult plot point is behind us. What's next is the First and Second Honkai Wars."
"Though a few key cast members still aren't in position — it might need a few more days. In the meantime, you can rest."
Kallen paid little attention to what Lucius said about resting. Compared to that, she was far more concerned about something else.
Looking out over the devastated Siberia, her heart was filled with worry.
With her extraordinary vision, she could see that everything within her line of sight had been nearly completely flattened.
The First Honkai War according to the script hadn't even happened yet, and Siberia had already been almost entirely leveled.
If Lucius's script continued unfolding like this — could Mother Earth really take it? Kallen held a deeply pessimistic view on the matter.
I hope Mother Earth will be alright.
At this moment, Lucius suddenly said to Kallen: "Kallen — head back to the European continent, take control of Schicksal, and then go absorb the Second Fire Moth!"
"And you?" Kallen snapped back to attention and asked reflexively.
"Me?" The corners of Lucius's mouth curved into a brilliant smile. "I'm obviously going to rescue someone from peril!"
Schicksal HQ. Near Nicholas's residence.
After seeing the black vapor drifting up from Nicholas's residence and sensing the intense Honkai energy fluctuations within it, Elysia had been on the verge of acting.
But before she could even move, the black smoke surging skyward abruptly collapsed and scattered.
Elysia could sense that even the Honkai energy that had suddenly surged was dissipating along with it.
"The Honkai disaster was resolved — was that Lucius's doing?"
Having learned that 'Mu' was in the vicinity, Elysia had already made Lucius her primary suspect.
As the person who considered herself to know Lucius best, she knew that although he could be rather abstract, when faced with a disaster like this he would never simply stand by and watch.
A smile involuntarily crossed Elysia's lips.
"Lucius — you've finally shown yourself."
If the Honkai disaster had been resolved, it meant Lucius was almost certainly at the location where it had broken out.
With that thought, Elysia prepared to head toward the site of the Honkai disaster.
Partly to check for any lingering traces — and partly, of course, to beat Lucius into the ground!
But just as she was about to move, she heard a commotion from a tree not far away.
Elysia instinctively drew back and suppressed her presence, turning her gaze toward the tree where the sound had come from.
Through the gap created as the branches swayed, she caught a flash of pink passing through the leaves.
Elysia's eyes sharpened.
"No mistake — that color. That's my hair."
"So you were here all along… Lucius!"
Elysia understood. She understood it completely.
No wonder she hadn't been able to find him no matter how hard she looked. Lucius had been hiding right beside her the entire time.
"Placing yourself in the most dangerous location to evade my search."
"How very you, Lucius!"
"If it were anyone else, you probably would have gotten away with it."
"But unfortunately for you — you ran into me. It seems fate is smiling upon this pink little fairy today~"
Elysia pondered how to capture 'Lucius.'
Then suddenly she watched the tree shake again, and a person bearing an uncanny, ten-out-of-ten resemblance to herself dropped down from it.
The moment they landed, they took off running into the distance without a single moment's hesitation. Elysia could even read the completely undisguised panic on their face.
"You sensed me the instant I was about to move, didn't you?"
"Lucius — we really are perfectly in sync!"
Identical to her own appearance. Certain habitual movements in the way they carried themselves that only someone like Lucius would have, imperceptible to most. And on top of that — an extremely keen sensitivity to her own presence.
Elysia was certain: this person was absolutely Lucius.
"What a shame — this time you've been locked onto by me, and at this close a distance, you can't escape!"
"Hmph hmph… I'm definitely going to beat you into the ground!"
Elysia was completely unfazed by 'Lucius' making a run for it. She rummaged around on herself and — from some inexplicable location — produced a burlap sack and a rope.
Then she leaped down from the tree in a single bound and charged after 'Lucius' at tremendous speed.
"There's no one to save you this time, Lucius — start preparing your confession!"
Sa, who had dropped down from the tree, had not noticed Elysia following close behind her.
The moment she hit the ground she immediately ran in the direction that took her furthest from the estate.
She could feel that the portion of herself in Siberia had gone silent — most likely already erased by the Cocoon of Finality by now.
And now, it was her turn to start struggling.
"The only option at this point is to run as fast as possible." Sa's face was pinched with bitterness as she ran without stopping.
Previously, the Siberian portion had been drawing the Cocoon of Finality's attention, allowing her to hide safely.
But with that portion erased and Nicholas — her cover — gone as well, the Cocoon of Finality would soon be turning its gaze her way.
If it had been the very beginning, the death of this projection would have been a trivial matter. It didn't have much power anyway — it would have been like giving the Cocoon of Finality a buy-one-get-one deal.
But now, this projection was carrying a substantial amount of power. Losing it here would be yet another enormous blow.
When she had been returning Nicholas's fate just now, her main body in the Sea of Quanta had channeled a considerable amount of power into this projection to make the bomb more destructive.
But the result was that Nicholas had chosen to resist his fate — which meant this transferred power had been left stranded on Earth.
She had already suffered tremendous losses in Siberia. This power naturally couldn't be wasted.
And so, following the principle of proximity, her main body had redirected all of it to this projection instead.
At the same time, she had been told to find an opportunity to slip off Earth and bring this invested power back — minimizing the losses from this failed withdrawal as much as possible.
It was a contingency move at best — a stop-loss play. If it worked, wonderful. If not, there was nothing to be done.
As for the life or death of this projection?
Her main body in the Sea of Quanta had given her exactly one message:
— Good luck.
"How bitter. How truly bitter." Sa's face was tight with resignation.
But after weighing everything carefully, she still resolved to preserve as much power as possible.
As for the method — she already had an idea.
She planned to do what she had done with Nicholas before: seal herself, suppress her power, and find a host to serve as a shield to conceal her existence.
Even if it meant falling into deep sleep, she would preserve the power.
"I need to find a new host as quickly as possible."
But after the humiliation of this defeat, Sa had also decided to change her criteria for selecting hosts.
This time, even if she had to pick someone smarter — she absolutely could not pick another abstract specimen like Nicholas!
"All for the continuation of Florscha!" Sa sighed, but her pace didn't slow.
Though above her the Cocoon of Finality's eye watched hungrily, and below her Lucius that insufferable bastard was giving chase — it wasn't all bad news.
Because to deal with the other portion of her, virtually all of Earth's high-end forces had been tied up in Siberia.
Which meant she, currently in Europe, was paradoxically in the safest position.
"First, use self-sealing and sleep to evade the Cocoon's sweep. Then figure out the next move slowly."
As her thoughts ran on, Lucius's annoyingly smug smiling face floated into her mind.
"Insufferable man — I will definitely drag you back and work you like livestock!"
"As for the duration — let's make it a million years!"
"No — ten million years!!!"
The thought filled her heart with renewed fighting spirit.
Very shortly, riding on her extraordinary speed, Sa left Nicholas's estate behind.
Only then did she exhale in relief.
"Good — they haven't reacted yet. Now I just need to find a suitable host to hide in..."
Just as she was thinking this, an extremely familiar voice sounded right beside her.
"Hey~?"
"Did you miss me?"
At the sound of that familiar voice, Sa had not yet processed where the familiarity was coming from.
The next instant, a sharp stinging pain suddenly erupted from the back of her neck.
Even though this body had been constructed from Soulium, when that sting arrived she could feel her consciousness beginning to sink into darkness.
Thud! Sa crumpled lifelessly to the ground.
Before her consciousness fully faded, she saw a woman standing in front of her — face obscured by a cap pulled low, pink hair spilling out from beneath the brim.
But what made her heart seize with even greater dread was the fact that this strange woman had a rope and a burlap sack in her hands...
Under what circumstances would someone need such things?
What the — don't tell me I'm about to fall into the hands of some terrifying degenerate?
Even as her consciousness was on the verge of going completely dark, terror still rose within Sa.
I carry the hopes of Florscha's civilization. I am a deity of the Sea of Quanta!
How can I fall in such a laughable manner?
How can I be defiled by this incomprehensible Earth creature?!!
"I won't allow it — I absolutely refuse!"
"My body, my consciousness — move, damn you!"
Drawing on what little clarity and survival instinct remained, Sa inched and writhed across the ground — but alas, weakened as she was, even a deity of the Sea of Quanta was utterly powerless under the divine might of the Herrscher of the Origin.
All she could do was watch as this incomprehensible Earth creature crouched down before her with rope and sack, a terrifying smile curling at the corner of her lips.
"Guh — main body, save me..."
In absolute despair, Sa lost consciousness entirely.
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