"Cough... Cough cough cough... Hhhoh..."
Kevin leaned on his sword, pulling his half-buried body out of the earth.
How exactly could one defeat Michael? Never mind the various abilities extending from the authority of Finality; even if Michael only used the most basic Imaginary barrier, it would be enough to render everyone helpless before him—it was like this fifty thousand years ago, and it was still like this fifty thousand years later.
A sliver of despair inevitably arose in Kevin's heart, but it was quickly replaced by determination. They had to defeat Michael here, to save more people, to realize their once shared dream, for the future they had once promised to reach together.
Therefore, when faced with the choice Michael offered, he refused without hesitation.
Yes, without hesitation. Since he could make the choice without hesitation in the past, he absolutely shouldn't regret it now.
"To defeat Michael, who possesses the power of Finality, is utterly impossible. This is a certain, despairing fact. But... it is precisely because of everything we have experienced that the sole possibility of defeating Finality exists... Mei..."
Kevin gripped the hilt of the Judgment of Shamash tightly. If possible, he too would like to commemorate a deceased person with a necklace, a pocket watch, or a photograph, like the protagonists in old TV dramas. But he had nothing. Mei hadn't left behind anything of the sort. The only things proving her past existence were three—a recording listened to countless times until it was damaged, memories preserved in his mind that, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't prevent from fading into obscurity, and the blazing greatsword in his hand.
"Rest assured, Mei. Because you once existed, I absolutely will not lose."
The next moment, as he straightened his body once more, the cold energy within him surged out without any restraint. It was late spring, not long after the ice and snow had melted, yet the world once again became a frost-covered wilderness. The original scorched earth was no longer visible. As for where Kevin originally stood, only a few scattered snowflakes remained.
---||---
"Ma... Master!"
Ling Shuang shivered in the raging cold air. The strange events she had witnessed this day were simply too numerous, so much so that she seemed to turn a blind eye to this sudden frost.
She merely held the Xuanyuan Sword, gifted by her master, in a reverse grip, staring blankly as two balls of fire collided in mid-air. Sparks exploded outwards, then drifted down like thousands of meteors. The sky under the eclipse, more like a night sky than not, made the explosion resemble brilliant fireworks, beautiful at least in the instant it burst.
But Ling Shuang just stared intently at the center of the explosion. When the firelight and smoke dissipated, under the pitch-black sky, two inconspicuous small black dots began to fall rapidly, then merged in mid-air.
"Master!"
The next moment, Michael, carrying Hua horizontally, landed calmly and indifferently before Ling Shuang.
"Oh? Are you calling her?"
Michael looked down at the person in his arms. Ling Shuang's gaze followed his to the person he held. Likely due to the posture, Hua's bangs, which originally covered half her face, had slipped to one side, revealing relaxed brows and gently closed eyes.
Her expression wasn't tense; instead, it carried a certain sense of release and relaxation, as if she had finally found time to rest after a day of toil—if one ignored the tiny bloody mark between her eyebrows.
But that was precisely where Ling Shuang, who had practiced swordsmanship for years, focused her gaze first. Because a faint, almost non-existent sword qi still lingered there, and also because it was what her master had taught her from the very beginning—the greatest weakness of those who cultivated the Taixu Sword.
Sword qi pierced the brow, directly entering the sea of consciousness. And the sword heart, both strong and fragile, even if one's cultivation reached the Grand Void, possessed absolutely no resistance against sword qi entering the sea of consciousness; it would only shatter completely. And the reason the sword heart was strong was because it was the foundation of the Taixu Sword. If the sword heart shattered, one's cultivation would be completely crippled. Even if one luckily survived, they would be nothing more than a cripple.
But wasn't the weak point of the sword heart also a vital point of the human body itself? The possibility of surviving after being stabbed between the eyebrows wasn't absolutely zero, but it was very close.
Clang—
Ling Shuang's hand loosened powerlessly. The heavy Xuanyuan Sword fell onto the translucent ice, making an exceptionally crisp sound.
This girl, known among the seven disciples for her indifference and ruthlessness, now clutched her face in pain, kneeling before Michael amidst broken sobs.
"You... You killed Master... She, she clearly..."
Ling Shuang didn't understand. This matter, from the very beginning... no, this matter, even before it began, she had too many things she didn't understand, couldn't comprehend.
The first thing she didn't understand was, why, when it was clearly herself who wanted to kill Master not long ago, why, if Su Mei's plan had proceeded, Master's brow would also have a wound, just that the one delivering the strike wouldn't be Michael, but Ling Shuang herself. Yet why, when she, who once intended to do so, truly faced Master's death, did she feel such despair, such pain?
Of course, this was just the doubt that surfaced first. In truth, it was merely a tiny part of countless sorrows and doubts, appearing only for this brief instant.
What she understood even less was, the man before her... why had the man before her and Master reached this current point.
She could see it; she believed the other six disciples could see it too. Clearly... clearly Master liked this man so much. And this man had just descended powerfully from the sky not long ago, solely to protect Master... Why then, just a few days later, did the two of them turn their blades on each other, to the extent that Master died at the hands of the person she loved?
She still didn't understand. Both Master and that Kevin always talked about saving the world and put it into action. And Michael, since Master still liked him, he couldn't possibly be some unforgivable villain, right? But how could they casually destroy a perfectly good city with a single blow? And when faced with the choice to save the entire city's people, why did they choose to continue fighting without hesitation?
What exactly was "humanity" in the eyes of these god-like beings? Were they objects to be protected, or expendable resources whose lives didn't matter? Or was their "protection" from beginning to end merely a divine, condescending posture? Was their so-called saving the world, their so-called protecting humanity, like her own childhood act of simply applying some medicine to an injured sparrow, a form of charity?
There were too many things she didn't understand. Many were doubts accumulated since being accepted as Master's disciple, all exploding in her mind at this moment, leaving her utterly bewildered, without even the desire to continue fighting.
"There's nothing not to understand."
Michael's arm holding Hua tightened slightly. He looked at the girl before him and scoffed. Such actions, such tears, such powerlessness, such confusion—he and she had experienced and witnessed them countless times. He didn't need to use the authority of Sentience to roughly guess the girl's thoughts.
He knew all her pain at this moment, but he was too lazy to explain, disdained to explain, and had no time to explain.
Because all the pain was just due to one sentence:
"You are simply... ignorant of Honkai."
Just like we once were.
Michael added internally.
But he was ultimately different from before. His steps would never again be halted by anything—neither the girl's tears before him, nor the gradually cooling corpse in his arms, nor Kevin's roars behind him, nor the entire city's grief and sorrow. None of it could hold back his advance.
Her love, her hate, should never expect to cause him to deviate even slightly from his predetermined path.
Using people he once loved, killing people who once loved him—everything was just to reach that ending with a beautiful future, yet no future... Unlike the Herrscher of Weakness fifty thousand years ago, from the moment he became Finality, from the moment he wanted to become Finality, he had unswervingly walked the path he believed to be correct, never again to be shaken by anything.
"Want your master?"
Michael took a step forward. Ling Shuang abruptly looked up. Master's corpse quickly filled her vision. Her entire body flew out along with it, trailing ice crystals like rain and mist.
Michael seized the opportunity to pick up the Key of Domination from the ground, swung it backward in a horizontal slash, directly colliding with the bizarre greatsword that was half frost, half flame, and covered in black mire.
Bang!
The Key of Domination he had once gifted Hua didn't even last an instant. Before it even hit the blade of Might of An-Utu: Limitless, it was shattered into countless pieces by the sharp sword qi stirred up by the swing.
The weapon shattered, but Michael remained unfazed. The Taixu Sword he had learned at some unknown point seemed to have given him a long-unseen amusement in the tedious battle. Seeing the sword body shatter into innumerable fragments, he merely uttered a soft "Go," and each fragment, large and small, enveloped in sword qi, shot towards Kevin.
"Hah!"
Kevin grabbed the sword's tail and lifted it upwards. The broad blade of An-Utu stood upright, blocking all the sword fragments aimed at his vitals.
As for the parts hitting his limbs, they were devoured cleanly by the Vishnu within the Hundred Beasts of Brahma almost the instant they entered his body. The wounds caused were also repaired as new by the Garuda factor.
He changed his move mid-way, yet his actions weren't stiff. Instead, he seized the momentum, swung the greatsword over his head, and leaped high into the air, slashing down in a crazed manner that completely exposed his vitals to the enemy.
Clang—Clang—Clang—
Michael used the previous gap to retreat two steps, creating distance. When Kevin's greatsword slashed down, he had already placed countless Imaginary barriers between himself and Kevin.
Just like fifty thousand years ago, the greatsword might break through countless barriers one after another, yet it always stopped before the very last one, unable to advance an inch.
"So, you should learn your lesson."
Michael raised his hand, gently waving it at Kevin's abdomen. An invisible fist instantly smashed into that spot, causing Kevin's entire body to bend backward into an arch.
Then Michael pushed his hand forward again. The Imaginary barrier碾压 past with unstoppable force. Anything trying to block its path was merely a mantis trying to stop a chariot. The huge trench on the ice plain extended all the way to the mountain range south of the city. The pushing force of the Imaginary barrier finally exhausted itself there, dissipating after smashing a huge square indentation into the mountainside.
"I told you... hehe."
Michael wanted to speak sarcastically as before, but the words died in his mouth. In the end, everything was reduced to a mere chuckle.
Suddenly, blue flames instantly ignited the entire mountain range, even illuminating the surrounding light and shadow to near-dawn brightness.
However, instead of bringing any warmth, the air grew even colder, almost to the point of breath freezing.
Because the blue wasn't flame at all, but just ethereal cold energy rising like burning fire.
Under the ravages of the cold, the surrounding wind howled even more fiercely. All one could hear was the "hiss-hiss" sound of wind like a knife cutting flesh.
"Is it coming?"
A serious expression appeared on Michael's face for the first time. But he only had time to see a faint gleam. His body instinctively dodged to the right, and then the hundreds of Imaginary barriers before him shattered all at once.
A bizarrely shaped greatsword tore a chunk of flesh from his waist. The monster wielding the sword didn't stop after landing the blow. He charged forward with his head down, ice and snow forming a massive wave before him. By the time Michael, thrown off balance by the immense force, stumbled and turned around, he had already leaped again, stretching backward, his entire body along with the greatsword in his hand flipping rapidly under gravity and crashing down.
Michael gritted his teeth, stretched out his hand, and another hundred invisible Imaginary barriers blocked his path. But this only brought a series of glass-shattering sounds. Fragments of Imaginary barriers flew everywhere, reflecting various lights and shadows, devastating yet beautiful like a cluster of stars.
But right now, no one could, and no one was willing to, appreciate such a beautiful sight. Accompanied by a shout suppressed to the extreme, accompanied by Michael's rapidly contracting pupils, came a deafening explosion like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami roaring, a shockwave so sharp it leveled both the northern cathedral spire and the southern mountain range.
"Ah!"
Ling Shuang had just managed to clamber up, trembling, when she was thrown backward by the impact. Her five fingers dug into the ice, dragging her back for a good two or three meters. Finally, unable to hold on, she tumbled backward again. This time, however, she crashed into a stiff, heavy body. Clinging to that body, she finally stabilized herself. As the shockwave gradually weakened, she was finally able to lift her head.
Needless to say, the body she held was undoubtedly Master's...
Why else would Master be called an immortal? Even after death, under the intense onslaught of wind and snow earlier, her features remained unchanged. Her skin was still like jade, not even a speck of ice or snow on her. Only her hair was a bit disheveled, and her hairpin blown away.
Ling Shuang looked at Master's corpse, her expression complex, perhaps fearful, perhaps regretful. But after two or three seconds, bewilderment became dominant.
Master was dead. What should she do next?
Return to the battlefield and fight Michael to the death, even though she still didn't know why they were fighting? Or flee now, since this battle was just an affair in a foreign land to her anyway.
No, wrong!
Those who fall to demonic influence must be slain. This was a precept every disciple of Mount Taixuan had to obey. Michael's situation, wasn't it demonic influence?
But... but...
Others with lesser sword heart cultivation might not perceive it, but for Ling Shuang, whose sword heart had reached the Grand Void, Master, that man named Kevin, and Su whom she had met once before...
Weren't they all under demonic influence?
She wanted to know what exactly was going on.
But from beginning to end, no one was willing to tell her the truth.
Perhaps there was no time, or perhaps they felt there would be plenty of time to explain later. But the result was merely her current bewilderment.
"What exactly... should I do..."
She slowly clenched her fist. The Xuanyuan Sword gifted by Master was also gone. For her, who didn't comprehend sword intent but had mastered sword embodiment and sword Heart, the Xuanyuan Sword wasn't actually that important.
But it still symbolized something, something Ling Shuang was unwilling to discard.
But since Master was dead, those things didn't need to be cared about anymore, right...
She wiped her nose, which was running either from the severe cold or from crying. But the next moment, the sob in her throat abruptly stopped.
She felt that her master's "corpse," which she was pressing against, was gradually regaining warmth.
"It's... it's fake, right..."
Of course, she hoped it was real. But reason kept telling her that the dead cannot be revived; this must be a hallucination brought on by mental distress.
So she knelt rigidly in the wind and snow, as if the pause button had been pressed, not even daring to look down at Master's corpse.
She clearly knew that at this moment, on a battlefield where she could lose her life at any time, she should be more focused. She absolutely shouldn't be thinking about such outlandish things. Yet, years ago, those ghost stories her second senior sister told, things she should have long forgotten, popped up one after another...
Especially since her palm was pressing against Master's flat chest, she could clearly feel the warmth transmitted from her palm.
Could it be some evil spirit, demon, or monster had possessed Master's body!
No! Wasn't Master already under demonic influence? Could it be that after her death, the demon within her, no longer controlled, consciously took over her body?
Ling Shuang swallowed again and again, her neck muscles aching, as if in her eyes, that unknown demon, evil spirit, or monster was far more terrifying than Michael, who had flattened the city.
"Hiss—"
She finally couldn't help but look down at the source of the sound. The bloody mark between Master's eyebrows had disappeared. A wisp of ethereal white vapor rose from her forehead, torn apart by the wind and snow in less than a second.
Then, she saw Master's eyelashes flutter. The muscles on her face twitched slightly, her features trembling along with them.
This continued for about ten seconds, then Master opened her eyes.
"Mmm... Er, Ling Shuang? What are you doing?"
Hua had just escaped the darkness when she saw her disciple, hand forming a sword seal, looking at her with a mixture of fear and vigilance.
"You you you... you..."
Hua stared blankly at the tongue-tied Ling Shuang for a good two or three seconds, then suddenly broke into a radiant smile.
It was, in Ling Shuang's memory, the most brilliant smile she had ever seen from her master.
As if some heavy burden had vanished. The smile, though somewhat forced, couldn't erase the faint sadness, but at least it was light enough.
"Relax, it's me, not something else."
Hua sat up, reaching out to ruffle Ling Shuang's head.
She stood up again, her long hair spreading out under the pull of the wind and snow, like a fluttering banner.
"Ling Shuang, can you still fight?"
"I..."
"Don't worry. What you want to know, I will tell you after this battle is over. I will not go back on my word. Of course, I might forget, so you must remind me."
"Master, you're going to..."
"Ling Shuang, although you've mastered the Sword Heart, you've never used Sword God in actual combat, have you? Just help me this once, okay?"