The Fire-Chasing Herrscher Who Destroyed the World

"Gurgle Gurgle--"

The sound of bubbles churning interrupted Mei's thoughts, and she realized that she had been in a daze for a long time in this "hub" of the paradise of the past.

She raised her head slightly, and a large number of intricate metal pipes were intertwined in front of her, eventually forming a strange pattern similar to the cerebral cortex. This is indeed the brain, the "brain" of the paradise.

And under this brain, in the area of ​​the brain stem, countless pipes merged into something similar to a "spine", connecting to a culture chamber below.

The culture chamber was churning with orange liquid, which looked very much like some kind of orange soda that was popular in both the previous civilization and the present era. And with the rise and fall of the orange culture liquid, there was a body full of various lines.

"Heh... Mikael really did what he said, and fortunately he didn't open this last door when he came back a few days ago, otherwise..."

Looking at the familiar face, Mei was absent-minded for a moment again.

"It's really ironic..." Mei flipped through the album on the table. The photos in the album were not the original ones. They were just abstracted from her memory due to the unique mechanism of the Paradise of the Past. But Paradise cannot construct things that did not exist in the past out of thin air, so these photos must have existed 50,000 years ago, right? "Huh?" Mei seemed to see something interesting. She wiped the hazy dust on the photo with her index finger. The first thing she saw was her and Kevin's slightly immature faces. Then she wiped the dust off the side, and it was Mikael and Ellie. The four of them stood in front of a green street scene, and everyone had a smile on their faces. When was this taken... To be honest, it was only six or seven years from the time she joined the Fire Moth to the destruction of the world. The female body was basically fully developed at the age of sixteen or seventeen, and Kevin became a fusion warrior. His body metabolism was different from that of ordinary people. His general appearance was completely stuck at the moment of the operation, so their appearance was not much different from that in the photo. As for Mikael and Alicia, two Herrschers who can live forever as long as they have Honkai Energy, their appearance will not change. It is indeed difficult to tell the time and place of the photo by their appearance.

Ke Mei still recognized them. It was not that the streets and buildings of Luluye were too recognizable. In fact, her memory of that time was already vague. How could she remember what the streets of Luluye looked like? As for Mikael and Alicia beside her and Kevin, they could not be used as evidence to judge the time and place. The four of them took photos together more than once...

The important thing is the expression...

At that time, they were all at an age when they didn't know anything. Kevin's smile was exaggerated and so heartless. At that time, she was just a high school girl who lacked confidence a little, but she immediately changed into a different person when it came to professional topics. When taking pictures, she was so close to Kevin that her face was full of blushes. When she smiled, she pursed her lips hard. Her right index finger was still touching the frame of her glasses, but her eyes naturally glanced at Kevin on the right.

"What a good age..."

Mei's hand repeatedly stroked the old photo, quietly mourning the time that could not be reversed.

"Sure enough, Mikael was a child with a lot of thoughts at that time."

In the middle of the photo, Kevin and Mikael were familiar with each other's shoulders, but compared with Kevin's smile from the heart, Mikael's smile was visibly forced. The corners of his mouth were obviously upturned, but his eyebrows were gloomy like a "chuan" character. At that time, he just thought he was not used to Kevin's enthusiasm for touching him... Now it seems that he is not used to Kevin at all... These two boys are not, and the boys who became Yingjie are all stubborn and like to bear everything alone.

But in the end, her eyes still uncontrollably slid to the figure on the far left of the photo.

She held Mikael's arm affectionately, and rested her head on Mikael's shoulder. That sweet and quiet smile, no matter when and where, as long as you look at it, you will feel comfortable.

It's really a strange feeling, obviously I am a girl.

Mei covered her chest with her palm, feeling her heartbeat become stable again. Indeed, in the eyes of most people in the Fire Moth, she is a calm, or extremely indifferent person. Only a few people like Kevin know that she is essentially a sentimental person like an ordinary girl.

Looking at this photo, how can she not be moved?

This is the moment before the gears of fate turn. At that time, she and Kevin first came into contact with Honkai, but they never thought that the peaceful campus life that they had even been bored with would change in half a year, and the memories before this would become a dream that they had been looking for for countless years.

As for Mikael, at this time, he just habitually looked at the world with the pessimism that existed in his character. His heart was still filled with hope, and he still believed that he might be able to change the original fate of the world.

And what was Alicia thinking at that time? Mei didn't know, and she even believed that even Mikael might not fully understand Ali's thoughts.

This is also a kind of proof that they are human beings.

One person opening their heart completely to another person is a fantasy that only happens in stories. Even the person who wrote the story doesn't know exactly what it means to be completely "open". May herself couldn't claim to fully understand Kevin, and the same was true the other way around.

After all, the quills on the porcupine's body will not disappear because of love. The process of love is also, to a certain extent, the process of embracing each other while enduring the pain caused by the sharp thorns. When love can no longer suppress the pain caused by the spikes, or two people embrace too deeply or too tightly, it will inevitably end in separation.

Mei suddenly laughed and touched her forehead with her hand in silence.

It really gets funnier the more she thinks about it. Now that she no longer needs to lead the world forward, she has finally gotten used to thinking about issues with a certain sensibility again.

But, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Mei raised her head again. This time, she stood up from her seat, slowly walked down the steps, and walked to the huge cultivation warehouse.

"Time flies so fast... Fifty thousand years ago, did you also expect this day, Mikael?"

As if he sensed someone approaching, the man in the training warehouse raised his head slightly and slowly opened his eyes.

There is no emotion in the silver-gray pupils, and just one look at them makes people feel heart-stoppingly empty.

Yes, this is Mikael's body, a body without consciousness.

"Ah……"

Mei took a deep breath and slowly closed her eyes. Listening to the dull "gud-dong" sound of the culture solution, Mei imagined that the river of time gradually slowed to a standstill with the sound, and then slowly accelerated, traveling upstream, taking her back to that early morning fifty thousand years ago.

…………

"You woke up so early too? Tonight is your and Alicia's wedding. Why, are you too excited to sleep?"

Mikael did not respond to her squeeze, but just stared at the stars in the sky motionlessly.

After a while, it seemed that Mei's words finally reached his ears after a long time. He turned around, looked at Mei, and whispered in an erratic voice:

"Ah? Oh. It's not that I can't sleep... Mei, I haven't slept for a long time. I just told you during the day, have you forgotten?"

Mei was stunned for a moment, then beat her head in annoyance, wondering why she had forgotten such an important thing so easily.

Maybe it's because I woke up too early and my mind hasn't fully started yet?

Or maybe it's because you subconsciously don't feel that this matter is very important, and what is really important is the result? This is very possible, but in this case, even though she has always shown a cold image, she feels a little... too cold-blooded.

While she was stunned, Mikael asked again:

"Mei, do you get up so early every day to look at the stars?"

Like Mikael not long ago, Mei did not respond immediately.

She pulled the hair around her ears, but it seemed to be in vain. As soon as she let go, the bell on the side of her glasses rang softly, and the long hair she had just arranged was blown into pieces by the evening wind.

"Well, I like watching stars, and I have done so since I was a child. Mikael, did you know that every ray of starlight in the dark night is born from the fusion reaction inside the star, and first has to go through tens of millions of years of random walks to escape to the planet? On the surface, it will take thousands of years of cold and lonely journey in the universe before it can fall into our eyes impartially at this moment."

"Oh, I know."

"Um?"

Mei tilted her head unexpectedly, covering her mouth, but finally couldn't hold it back and laughed softly.

"Hahaha, Mikael, your answer just now was deliberately imitating Kevin, right?"

"It's not a deliberate imitation, I just don't know how to answer."

Mei pursed her lips and smiled, but that was true. She was the one who asked "Do you know?" first, so Mikael responded with "I know", which seemed to be okay. It was just a coincidence that when she said this to Kevin, he also gave such a ridiculous answer.

But it's still different after all. When Kevin answered like this, his expression was slightly sluggish, as if he was still carefully pondering the special meaning of her words.

But Mikael was different. He just said the three words "I know" softly, and his brain did not think about this sentence.

Mei smiled slightly, Mikael was right, she just said it from her feelings, and there was nothing to think about in this sentence.

"I feel this way every time I look at the stars - it's as if I'm not looking at the stars, but the stars are looking at me. Do you feel this way?"

"It used to be, but not anymore."

"Why."

"Because I'm going to die."

"puff!"

Mei couldn't help but laugh again. But this time, the laughter was somewhat mixed with too much sadness and unwillingness.

"I'm kidding, I like to empty my mind when I look up at the stars. I don't think about anything, I just look at the stars quietly. It seems that just looking at them like this will calm my mood inexplicably."

Mei nodded slightly, but what she responded to was Mikael's previous sentence.

"Is it just... so unconfident?"

"It's normal to have no confidence. Generally speaking, the more significant the impact of something, the harder it is to do it..."

"Are you nervous?"

"A little bit."

Mikael did not deny it and could not deny it.

"If you fail, you will have to face the End alone. This is the most ideal outcome. There are worse scenarios. For example, what if I am controlled by the End and the End descends in my body?"

"Are you so sure that you will become or be the End?"

"Well, after all, my ability is too special, so special that it is abnormal. It is also very different from the Ruler of Reason in the 'script' I showed you. In my case, I am more like the girl who is the protagonist, isn't it?"

Mei shook her head without comment.

"However, a smart person like me will always have some back-up plans!"

"Hmm?"

Mikael's face changed instantly, and his smile quickly disappeared, leaving only the coldness that was no different from the night sky.

"It's not specially prepared for this. The key to the operation of the Paradise of the Past lies in the core of the 12th Ruler. Even if it is made into the 12th God's Key, since this core is a dead object, it may not be able to maintain perfect operation. This is another conclusion you have drawn. You should have read these reports, right?"

"Well, as long as the computing power is concentrated where it is really needed, it can be used reluctantly."

"How can that be possible!"

Mikael shook his head quickly.

"The Paradise is Ellie's dream, so of course I will do everything I can to complete it. And it's not difficult. The problem now is that the Key of God can only use a few rated powers, which is too rigid for the Paradise that requires real-time calculations. So, can't we let one person become the twelfth Herrscher directly and use its power flexibly?"

"You mean... still need Ling? No! There is no precedent for letting a dead core merge into a person's body, and it doesn't match the backup you mentioned before... No, you can't!"

"That's right, the reaction is not slow, Mei. If it's someone else, it may not be possible, but if... it's me? This can also solve another problem. By combining the power of the First Herrscher and the Twelfth Herrscher, people can construct anything they understand in the data world, and they won't starve to death."

"..."

" Don't worry, the Seventh Herrscher will only happen once. In other words, if the Herrscher is really born in this individual, it will be a good thing. After being prepared, you can place some things on that body in advance, and you can easily control its life. Of course, the most important thing is... Mei, once things really develop to the worst, I am controlled by the End, or... or something goes wrong with me and I deviate from my original ideals. If it is here, there may be no chance in this era, but in the next era, I may be able to rely on it to do something. Don't worry, I will delete my memory of this period, so that I will think that I have not left anything in the paradise in the future. After all, I can't guarantee whether the End will read my memory..."

…………

"Knock knock!"

The violent knock on the door interrupted Mei's thoughts and brought her back to reality.

"Su?"

The door was opened roughly, and Su rushed in with his eyes wide open, which was unusual.

"What happened?"

Mei's unhurried question made Su realize his overreaction, but he still took several deep breaths before he could speak in a calm and clear tone:

"Mei, Ying... died."

"?"

Mei's eyes did not fluctuate, but her head tilted slightly, as if she was thinking about something at that moment.

"How..."

"She was dismembered and eaten by Mikael."

Mei's lips twitched, and the muscles in her throat slowly rolled up, and it took a lot of effort to suppress the desire to vomit.

"It seems that you are right. He is determined to do that thing."

"Well, but... now you and I know what the essence of Alicia is. If he is just an ordinary person, he can really do what he wants to do, but as the half of the end itself... Alas... I really can't imagine, if in the end, he can't achieve what he wants to do, will he do it again in despair... In the next era, without the Stigmata Plan and many arrangements, it will almost be..."

Mei didn't reply for a long time, until the end--

"Everything continues as planned. Su, next we will rely on him in the world bubble you observed, and... get ready, we will go to pick up Kevin home together."