"You two intend to oppose me as well?"
Michael's smile was utterly indifferent. It was clear he was mocking some overconfident behavior, yet it also felt as if he desperately desired this outcome.
Hua opened her mouth, instinctively wanting to explain something, but clamped her lips shut again after two or three seconds.
Since things had reached this point, perhaps it was better to dispense with the pointless chatter.
Let all intentions be conveyed through battle.
She signaled backward with her hand. She and Ling Shuang dispersed to the left and right. Adding Kevin approaching from behind, the three silently formed a loose, imperfect encirclement.
"Hua, this is for you."
Kevin produced a Key of Domination from somewhere and tossed it to Hua as a weapon. During the battle fifty thousand years ago, Fire Moth had brought all the Keys of Domination to the moon. The number actually used was small; most were brought back to Earth. About a hundred were scattered on the moon, eventually given to Hua by Michael. However, over the long passage of time, most of those Keys of Domination were lost to the world along with the masters Hua gifted them to.
But it didn't matter. Just Keys of Domination; Kevin had plenty.
Hua caught the golden longsword. Her long sleeve whipped out, lightly stroking the intricately patterned blade. The longsword immediately shone with dazzling light, vanishing into thin air in the blink of an eye. But it hadn't actually disappeared; it had transformed into a pair of gauntlets, hidden like Hua's hands within her wide robes.
The trio didn't attack immediately. Their gazes continuously crossed in mid-air, seemingly communicating tactics through this method alone... Ha, indeed. Hua possessed the Eighth Divine Key; establishing a mental communication network wasn't difficult.
Michael narrowed his eyes, scanning the surroundings. Perhaps seizing the initiative and attacking before the three could finalize a complete tactic was the correct choice. But he did nothing, just stood quietly in place, waiting.
But one had to find something to do, at least to pass the time, otherwise, it would be too lonely. Thus, he cast his gaze upon the earth, upon this city that, just an hour ago, was peaceful and serene.
The ground beneath his feet could only be described as black, yet it wasn't smooth. Instead, it was wrinkled with trench-like patterns, like scorched meat... Hmm, similarities, and differences. Michael prodded the soil with the tip of his boot. Apart from the topmost charred layer, the inside... was also charred black. Roast meat wouldn't be like this. But if there was a similarity, it was the occasional crisp sound as the sword tip ground against the earth, and the thick smell of roasted meat lingering in the surrounding air.
As for the city? The buildings? The ruins?
Hardly any standing structures remained in the entire city. Even fragments of bricks and tiles were scarce. The celestial fire would equally incinerate everything it encountered, and the remnants would be pulverized into fine dust by the subsequent shockwaves.
The spire of the distant cathedral still stood tall, but the pure gold cross at its peak had long since flown off somewhere. The fortresses and city walls further away had vanished like most buildings within the city. Only the small mountain range south of the city remained standing, though closer inspection revealed traces of flattened peaks.
Of course, this was only within the range of sight.
With his and Kevin's power, even if both intentionally held back at the last moment, the destruction couldn't possibly be limited to the small city of Kolosten.
Vienna, supposedly the largest city on the continent, over ten kilometers away, was likely in no better condition. If one had to say...
"Forget it, I am a Herrscher after all... never mind."
Michael looked around the scorched earth, his gaze returning to Kevin. He sighed softly and slowly closed his eyes.
The next moment, a bone-chilling coldness struck three vital points simultaneously—neck, waist, and chest.
Ling Shuang held her sword in a reverse grip, the blade slicing horizontally across his neck, perfectly cutting the carotid artery on the side.
Kevin swung the Judgment of Shamash in a horizontal slash. The thick blade cut through his waist and abdomen, finally getting stuck on the unusually hard spine. The dancing flames on the blade drilled into his body through the opened abdominal cavity, frantically burning his internal organs. The sound of blood and fat mixing and burning sizzled, white steam drifting out from the wound along with it.
And the final, most fatal blow came from behind. Hua formed her five fingers into a hand-blade, accurately piercing the location of his heart.
To be precise, it was about two centimeters to the right of his heart, the location of the Herrscher Core in most Herrschers.
To defeat a Herrscher, removing the Herrscher Core wasn't necessarily the easiest way, but if achievable, it was undoubtedly the simplest and least costly method.
Of course, removing a Herrscher's core wasn't as simple as knowing its physiological coordinates. After all, the core's essence was an Imaginary singularity, existing between Imaginary Space and real space. Generally, only another Herrscher could accurately extract the core.
Hua wasn't a Herrscher, but she was better than one. She possessed a body comparable to a Herrscher's granted by the Divine Voice, and also possessed a Herrscher Core—albeit a dead one, it still contained minuscule amounts of authority.
Theoretically, she should have been able to accurately remove Michael's Herrscher Core. However, when her left hand pierced through Michael's chest and emerged, her palm was empty. She hadn't even sensed the core's existence.
"As expected, Finality is different from ordinary Herrschers?"
As this thought flashed through her mind, her palm had already turned horizontally, then swiped sharply towards the location of the heart on the left, preempting the celestial fire, churning Michael's heart into fragments.
Michael's expression remained completely frozen, showing no surprise, no pain. He kept his eyes tightly shut as before, as if nothing had happened.
Thus, the trio also maintained their respective postures, but not because they wanted to, but because they genuinely couldn't move.
That's right. Time froze at this moment. Only their consciousnesses were excluded. Michael likely did this intentionally. After all, if not, they would have no memory of what happened before the next moment.
That wouldn't be shocking enough.
Time began to flow backward. Initially slow and steady, the reverse flow rapidly accelerated. Everything seen before their eyes resembled a fast-rewinding videotape. Amidst flashing lights and extreme dizziness, everything returned to the instant Michael first closed his eyes.
If time had progressed as before, the three should have attacked tacitly at this moment. But everything that happened felt like a dream seen in a trance, a future foretold in that dream. Only after stopping, clutching their heads, and frantically trying to discern, did they vaguely feel it had actually happened.
"The authority of Finality?"
Despite having experienced this authority named "Time" fifty thousand years ago, experiencing it again now, Kevin and Hua still couldn't remain completely calm.
As for Ling Shuang, who had never seen this power before, she still didn't understand what had just happened. She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her and was about to attack again when she caught sight of her master standing frozen in place. Only then did she belatedly halt her charging figure, freezing on the spot.
But Kevin couldn't care less. His figure vanished from its spot again, appearing directly half a step in front of Michael like a skipped frame in a slideshow. In just that short instant, his appearance had completely changed from the previous frame. Half his body turned greyish-blue, and small purple horns grew from his head and shoulders.
The blazing Judgment of Shamash once again stabbed into Michael's chest, and then time froze again at this moment.
First still, then reverse. Everything was the same as before. Just a trance, a blink of an eye, and Kevin returned to his original position, without even a trace of the half-beast transformation caused by the Artificial Honkai Transformation remaining.
"What? Still not giving up? Want to try again?"
Michael opened his eyes, smiling faintly at Kevin. The latter leaned on his greatsword, also narrowing his eyes, either thinking about something or communicating something with Hua.
Michael pursed his lips. Seeing the battlefield return to silence once more... perhaps as he himself said, after long periods of solitude, shaped by fifty thousand years of loneliness, if he didn't say something, just like talking to himself in the past, he would feel exceptionally lonely.
He began to superfluously explain everything that had just happened:
"Heheh, Kevin, you said earlier, here today, either you die, or I live, right?" (Translator's Note: Kevin actually said "you die, or I perish")
Without waiting for Kevin's reply, nor intending to let Kevin answer, Michael burst into laughter first.
"Good, very good. As you wish."
Michael pointed his index finger upwards. In the center of the pitch-black firmament, the faint white ring of light stubbornly hung.
"Don't you find it strange? Has any solar eclipse ever lasted this long? Alright, I won't keep you in suspense. The authority of Finality is time. You two indeed understand this point thoroughly. But in practical application, it's not as simple as just time. Of course, explaining it more complexly, you might not understand either. But since I've grasped time, involving causality is inevitable, right? This was inspired by Su.
"See the eclipse ring in the sky? I played a little trick. You can think of it as using the authority of time to directly anchor causality—wherever the eclipse ring can be seen, Michael will not die. It's that simple."
After saying this, seeing no reaction from the others, Michael found it strange:
"What's wrong? Why silent again? Is the truth too cruel? Then let me give you some hope. Hmm, hmm, hmm, just pretend I didn't say anything just now. Yes, yes, yes, it was just time reversal..."
His hand pointing at the sky straightened upwards, snapping his fingers listlessly—Snap!
The surrounding light and shadow began their abstract transformation again. When the light and shadow settled, Hua, Kevin, and Ling Shuang were no longer in their original positions.
Kevin returned to the crowded square. The nun wearing the black-winged eye mask was shouting in a crow-like hoarse voice:
"Handmaidens of God, bring forth the wicked criminal to face the Lord's judgment!"
And Ling Shuang and Hua returned to the rooftop where they had stood before, along with the other six disciples, gazing from afar at the world plunged into darkness.
Then, the three simultaneously raised their heads, looking at the thin eclipse ring overhead. The next moment, Michael's voice sounded in their minds:
"How about that? Thorough enough reversal this time, right?"
"This..."
"..."
"Heh..."
The three reacted differently, but it didn't stop Michael from continuing:
"Kevin, Hua, you cannot win. No matter how many times you kill me, you cannot win. But I can give you another choice—if you admit defeat now, obey my words obediently, I can make all the battles that happened afterward cease to exist. Kolosten will not be destroyed, and the hundreds of thousands on this plain will not suffer undeserved disaster. But if you insist on your own way, continuing that meaningless battle with me, then everything returns to that previous moment."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Such a familiar choice. It was just the trolley problem they had faced countless times before.
Precisely because it was too familiar, precisely because they had faced it countless times, Kevin and Hua responded almost the instant Michael's voice faded.
As for Ling Shuang?
While she hesitated, unsure, the question ended with two votes against, one abstention, and zero votes in favor.
Light stretched into threads. Amidst the dizzying transformation, everything returned to that point anchored in the river of time.
The pitch-black land and world, the smell of char and dust assaulting the nostrils—this wasn't something caused by nodding or shaking one's head. But because of the time that had flowed backward just now, this sin was unavoidably shared among those who shook their heads.
But Hua didn't regret it, and absolutely wouldn't.
Regret was merely a form of escape. And she remembered Michael saying that escape couldn't save anyone or anything. All escape could do was make oneself feel slightly better.
The clash of weapons already rang out. Hua looked up. While she stood frozen, Kevin and Ling Shuang had already engaged Michael in battle.
She stared blankly at the figure before her. Two identical voices sounded in her mind, speaking contradictory words:
"Go forth, use your sword, kill him, kill him as Finality, kill him as Honkai..."
"Go forth, use your heart, reclaim him, save him, save him just as Michael..."
Which voice should she obey?
Hua's heart struggled, but her body naturally took a step forward amidst this conflict. After all, whether killing him or saving him, the one constant was "going forth."
So she took a step forward, then another, then another again...
She looked down at her feet continuously stepping forward. Finally, she simply closed her eyes, letting memories from fifty thousand years ago flood her mind over and over.
"Let it be then..."
She stopped ten steps away from Michael. Michael stood with arms outstretched. A momentary flash of white light blinded everyone. An invisible barrier crushed outwards in the direction his palms pushed. The scorched earth fled outwards from Michael as the center. Ling Shuang and Kevin's figures were lost in the dust.
Only Hua stood motionless. Only she could stand motionless. She had entered a profound and mysterious state, just like the words she chanted:
"Divinity is the apex of change, subtly encompassing all things, indescribable by form. Michael, I am no longer the me of fifty thousand years ago. This sword strike, how will you block it?"
The Key of Domination reverted to sword form in Hua's hand. She held the sword vertically before her, then her entire body ignited in flames. Like a fire phoenix, she spread her wings and soared straight into the clouds, burning the pitch-black night sky red. Then she swiftly dove down, the outstretched wings making it hard not to mistake the flame-condensed phoenix for a giant sword.
"Has she grown to the point where she can unleash this strike without Fenghuang Down?"
Michael naturally wasn't surprised by this, merely lamenting.
"But... Hua, if I use the same move, how will you respond?"
It was just the Sword of Taixuan. If Michael wanted to learn it, it was as simple as eating and drinking. Besides, who knew if he hadn't paused time and practiced alone for two and a half years?
His entire being transformed into a golden streak of light, charging straight towards the fire descending from the sky.
It seemed only at the moment before collision did both belatedly roar out the name of this technique:
"Taixu Sword God!"
Resplendent swords met edge to edge, with at least one destined to break.
Soon, Hua heard something shattering, like glass hitting the ground and breaking into countless pieces, but not as clean. The shattering sound was more like water, muffled and prolonged.
What was shattering?
Only when a faint pain touched her brow did she realize it was her sword heart that had shattered.
Perhaps, when she had to unleash this strike amidst confusion and contradiction, the outcome of a shattered sword heart was already destined.
But a smile appeared on Hua's lips—is the one with a shattered sword heart necessarily the loser?