The Fire-Chasing Herrscher Who Destroyed the World

The dark rain is still falling, falling endlessly, and it is bound to dye the entire world black before reincarnation.

If Bronya could come back here, she would be extremely surprised.

After she left, the world bubble that Mikael kept saying existed to test her was still running, with neither reincarnation nor complete disintegration.

Well, based on Bronya's understanding of the world, these questions should not arise. It's impossible for her to come back here.

"puff--"

The rain-soaked sand and mud suddenly opened a small hole, and a snow-white arm emerged from the ground. The ink-like rainwater slipped from the skin, leaving long traces, like an ugly tattoo, but it only stayed there. The top layer can be removed with just a gentle wipe.

The second arm followed and emerged from the soil. The slender arm was waving confusedly in the rain, as if it wanted to hold something, but it was impossible to hold something.

Human beings always view their own power through the filter of unrealistic arrogance. So I always feel that I can do anything - especially after there are fusion warriors who can be called superhuman beings.

However, it turns out that they are far weaker than they thought.

Just like the person who is struggling to get out of the grave now, no matter what era she is placed in, she is enough to be regarded as one of the most powerful humans. But after being buried deep under the earth, just relying on her His own strength, reaching this point now, is enough to be called the limit.

Anyone who has been buried alive knows this truth. The thick and solid soil will tightly bind the limbs. If you want to struggle, you can't even use force because there is no point to draw strength from. People who are buried alive in the earth can only deeply understand their own death in those five or six minutes, which are countless times longer than their previous lives combined.

"die?"

"Well, what does death mean to you?"

She couldn't remember when she had discussed this topic with Mikael. Those six years that will never be forgotten? Or this extremely long and extremely short fifty thousand years?

In fact, this question is not important. She knows very well that such a conversation has actually happened in past history and is definitely not a figment of her own mind. This is enough.

"By the way, why do you think of asking this kind of question? Did you just--? Or is it because of your--?"

"Uh... not really, it's just... anyway, how do you view death?"

"Um……"

In the impression, Mikael held his chin with his hand, raised his face that was completely blurred in the memory slightly, and looked at the deep night sky.

Her gaze in the memory also shifted, and her own eyes also turned to the darkness that even if human beings exhaust the entire civilization, they could not cross it. Her eyes were blurred in the salt grains in the sky.

"Sigh... Don't you think it's too early to talk about this kind of topic at this age? Okay, okay, looking at you, you are also a person who likes to bury things in your heart. Well... how should I put it? I am only that old. If you really want me to answer this question, I can only give the answer at this age - death is not a bad thing, but it is not relief. Death is death itself. "

"Then what?"

"Gone."

"ah……"

"I said before, I can only give this answer at my age."

"No...I think...compared to adults, your answer is much more mature."

"Well?"

"Don't you think? Most adults won't think about this kind of question, and you can give this answer quickly. This should be considered mature."

After that, Mikael didn't speak for a long time, and in her memory, she could only see herself moving her gaze to her knees, wiping a crotch with a silk handkerchief under the moonlight, and the moonlight like water reflected on the knife. The body is condensed and the blade is not long. Holding it is like holding a ray of ice and snow.

"But there's one thing I don't understand - if death isn't a relief, why isn't death a bad thing?"

"Well, because death can give us time. The only comfort thing about death is that it gives us enough time to reflect on our lives. Living people will always use it for various purposes. The decisions made by oneself are whitewashed and distorted. Only at the moment before death can a person completely review his past life and make a final conclusion on his life in his heart without hesitation. This is only for those who are about to die. The privilege of man.”

"That is to say, for those who do many evil things and refuse to repent, death may be the only chance for them to admit their mistakes, right?"

"This is your understanding, but I don't agree with this idea."

"Why?"

"Because... I don't like death. What I hate most is witnessing the death of others, whether that person is a good person or a bad person. This will give me a... very uncomfortable feeling. There is only one kind of death that I like - That is, after doing everything I can do, I will get a death that corresponds to my life, as long as it is a death that corresponds to everything I have done, whether it is surrounded by people or alone. Yes, I won’t hate it.”

"But... didn't you say that death is not a relief?"

"Well, everyone is mortal. And, precisely because death is not a relief, death is death, so death has its value."

?

Sakura's head burst out of the ground, and the cold rain hit her face, but she couldn't feel any pain.

"Mikael..."

She seemed to understand when that memory came from.

It turns out... it was the first time they met.

It was the first encounter in the real sense, not the assassination that ended in an anticlimactic manner, and I still find it funny in retrospect.

The reason why she was able to recall time through the conversation was actually just because she joined the Poison Chrysalis for training not long after this conversation.

About a month before that, my father and mother, whose appearance I could not remember, went shopping at a convenience store and stayed up all night. The next morning, their gnawed, deformed bodies were found on the river beach two kilometers away.

In the following weeks, Sakura took a leave of absence from school and went to the local police station with Suzu every day to request that the murderer be tracked down. The reason why I took Ling with me was naturally because I was worried that she would be alone at home, but in addition, it was also to take advantage of it - it was summer, and when I went to the police station, I just had to sit in the lobby and impose on those adults. If they are under pressure, they can enjoy free air conditioning, and the people at the police station are not bad now that they think about it. They prepare lunch and dinner for them every day... maybe it is because they are afraid that they will starve to death in the police station.

At first glance, their family is not considered poor. They have a large courtyard in an area that is neither in the city center nor in the suburbs. Their father directly opened the kendo gym at home, and the monthly tuition paid by the disciples is also a large sum of money. income. However, most of it was invested in antiques, swords, and various strange stocks, funds, and bonds. There was not much cash. Sakura had just turned ten at the time, and she would have to wait at least six years before she could go out and find one. It is a legal job. Before that, I could only save money if I could.

People are always like this. Although their lives are as fragile as cherry blossoms, no thirty-year-old person has ever thought about "What should I do if I die tomorrow?" Once an accident happens, only trivial things will be left behind. Fortunately, there are no relatives in Ying's family, so there won't be any bloody drama. Of course, even if there is, it has nothing to do with their parents.

Thinking about it now, those police officers were very friendly to her and Ling. I still remember that at first, the police only gave them instant noodles. After two or three days, they were given pork chop rice from the police station cafeteria. If they arrived early, they would also prepare breakfast for them.

But Sakura didn't feel this kindness at that time. She was just obsessed with finding the murderer of her parents.

The people at the police station should have known something that Sakura didn't know at the time. Of course, there was nothing they could do about that kind of thing. At that time, Fire Chaser Moth was just a member of the Honkai Impact Division who had just become independent from the coalition government. The organization even used the banner of "Paranormal Phenomenon Research Department" when recruiting external personnel. It was impossible for them to go to war over the mysterious deaths of two adults.

This world is like this. Two lives are really a drop in the ocean compared to the total population of 7 billion in the world, but these two lives mean everything to Ling and Sakura.

Looking at the past with current eyes, it is really full of childishness and ridiculousness everywhere...

Sakura remembered that she was completely immersed in a strange negative emotion at that time. If it was hatred, then she didn't even have a specific object of hatred. She had seen the corpses of her parents and knew that they were not human. Can be, more like some kind of beast. But where do such beasts come from in human settlements called cities? It would be better to say that he was brutally devoured by a wild beast raised by some people, which is more in line with the logic in her understanding.

She only hoped that the police department could find the murderer as soon as possible, but all she got was a perfunctory response and three meals a day.

Why do the police act perfunctorily every time?

Are two human lives something insignificant?

Without your parents, how will you live in the future?

Ling has just started going to school. After she enters higher education, who will take her to and from school, and how long will the tuition fees support her?

Her nerves were like a string. The indifference of the world and the anxiety of the future pulled the string from both ends, tearing it apart like crazy. She persisted in this tearing for a month.

A month later, the string in my mind broke.

That afternoon, she suddenly started crying and making a fuss in the office hall of the police station. Then she grabbed Ling's hand and ran away without waiting for the police to come forward to ask.

But she wasn't running away, running home. Compared with the vague future, the possible dangers of the present have been completely forgotten.

Sakura made the most impulsive decision. She ran to the convenience store where her parents went the day they died. It was two blocks away from home because her mother always thought the convenience store closest to home was too expensive. It's not new yet, I'd rather go somewhere further away to buy things.

Sakura and Suzu walked along every street and alley where her parents might have walked, looking for anything unusual that might exist.

And at the moment when the night fell completely, she found the answer with the bell.

She had calmed down again by then. Darkness was frightening after all, especially for a child who was only ten years old. But just as they were about to leave, the sound of a beast swallowing saliva came from the dilapidated house around them. And she, Sakura, an unruly child, just followed the sound and pushed open the door of the house.

The courtyard was filled to the brim with a Honkai beast that was almost as big as a room. When it stood up, the shadow it cast completely blocked the light of the full-moon night, and instead, the huge purple beast's eyes lit up.

Ling's cry, the fishy smell on Honkaimon's body, his own continuous heartbeat, and the yellow liquid flowing out from under her skirt, everything was as clear as if it happened yesterday.

But when she came to her senses, two boys and girls who looked no older than her were already standing in front of her. They were holding blue translucent swords, and they easily killed her before causing a huge commotion. Honkaimon is resolved.

Then she vaguely invited them to go home with her. Ling was frightened and soon fell asleep with Alicia accompanying her. However, for some reason, she changed out of her urine-stained underwear. After a little cleaning, I just felt like I had endless energy and my spirit was unusually high, so this conversation started under the moonlight.

A ten-year-old girl ignorantly sought the meaning of death from an equally ignorant fourteen-year-old boy. What she got was an answer that sounded a little unintelligible and completely changed her life.

After that, Sakura quickly discovered that she was different from ordinary people. She became far stronger than the boys in the class, and could always easily complete some actions that ordinary people could not do. Sometimes she just practiced Su Zhen. , can directly break the bamboo knife.

So not long after, she got two invitations. A letter came from her father's former student, hoping that she could go to a killer organization for training, on condition that she would be paid generously. Another one suddenly appeared in the mailbox at her door. The letter was stamped with the red seal of Poison Chrysalis. It also invited her to train, but the pay was much lower, but it promised not to let her participate in assassination missions until she was fourteen years old. What both invitations have in common is that they both promise to protect the bell.

If that conversation hadn't happened, Sakura would have chosen the former without hesitation.

After losing her parents, she was of course more inclined to make money quickly to support her younger sister. What's more, she was extremely confident in her own power at that time.

But when she made her decision, she remembered what the young man said under the moon.

He doesn't like to witness the death of others, and he certainly doesn't like the person who brings death.

Sakura finally chose Poison Chrysalis.

Now think about it, if you had chosen the former, you might have been abandoned in a certain mission. Even if you were lucky enough to survive, you would have been sent to Poison Chrysalis for breaking the law. This is true, Poison Chrysalis. The main sources of members are either young girls like her or serious criminals, including her father's student. The charges include but are not limited to subversion of the country, child trafficking, and murder.

Although it was only a small change, Mikael's existence at least made the five years between the ages of ten and fourteen a lot brighter. The next two years in the Golden Courtyard were the happiest time in her life.

Most importantly, he kept Ling alive instead of...

However, the boy who once hated death the most finally stood with death.

The tears mixed with the dark rain, and Sakura couldn't even tell if she was actually crying.

It’s just that she really doesn’t have the strength, and reaching this point is her limit... But if she could, she wished that Mikael could stand in front of her and drag her out of this quagmire...

Whether it was like when she was a child, or like when I took her away from the Fire Moth later...

Mikael is really a liar. He clearly said that people will have the most objective evaluation of their lives before they die, but why did she think about it all with memories of him.

"Snapped!"

The palms were held firmly.

"pay close attention."

The man's voice passed through the rain curtain and reached Sakura's ears clearly.

He didn't use any power. He just held her hand with one hand to prove his existence to her. He dug his other hand into the dirty soil and quickly dug out Sakura.

He took her in his arms and held her tightly.

"sorry……"

Sakura didn't respond.

"I had to do it."

Sakura still didn't respond.

"Cold?"

"I'm not afraid of the cold."

"Too."

The two people suddenly hugged each other and started laughing. Even though they were in the rain and so embarrassed, they were laughing from the bottom of their hearts.

Until Sakura's words ended it all.

"Thank you, Mikael."

"Is there anything...that I should be grateful for?"

"This is how Suzuhara and I will end."

"You...don't you suspect that I fabricated all this?"

Sakura shook her head slowly, her long hair wetted by the rain caressing Mikael's cheek, causing him to close his eyes and take a deep breath.

"Su has seen similar world bubbles. Of course, even if you don't consider this, I believe you. I believe you, Mikael. I am neither as good at expressing things with words as Alicia, nor can I be as good at expressing things with words as Alicia. Dr. Mebius always stood by you. But I believed in you fifty thousand years ago, I believed in you five hundred years ago, and I still believe in you."

"Yeah……"

Mikael's vision was also blurred in the rain.

"Well, I believe that you will not betray your past, and I also believe that you will be able to do what you want to do. I believe even more that you are still the boy who hates death from the bottom of your heart. So, I understand what you have to do. What kind of thing is that? That's why I want to draw my sword against you, because I know that this is what you want to see, and it is what we failed to implement fifty thousand years ago."

"Sakura, I..."

"Just go ahead as you originally planned. I am very grateful to you for protecting my soul before devouring it and extending my life for a few days, but this should not be in your original plan. Since it has Once you have reached this point, you must go to the end with determination. And...Mikael, do you still remember what you said at that time - just because death is not a relief, so die. It is death, so death is meaningful. I hope that I will die in the most tragic way against the gods, and please... don't desecrate this death, at least not before the real victory comes."

"I see……"

Mikael gently grabbed Sakura's hair.

"But at least, let me keep some..."

"Isn't it still there?"

"?"

"That wakizashi. The night we first met, I gave you a wakizashi that my father had collected. You shouldn't have thrown it away, right?"

Mikael chuckled softly:

"How could you throw away something like that?"

"That's good……"

The sound of rain fell endlessly, and Sakura's figure gradually became blurred. Without the protection of power, the soul of the dead body could only dissipate in the future.

But she suddenly withdrew from Mikael's arms, and then gently held Mikael's face with both hands.

"Mikael, I am the one who really wants to say I'm sorry. It's not about drawing the sword against you... I know this is what you want to see... but... it's about causing you pain. I'm really sorry."

Mikael's eyes were already red.

Fifty thousand years ago, just fifty thousand years ago, a girl with pink hair disappeared in front of his eyes while talking to herself like this.

The nature of the world may be ruthless reincarnation, but Mikael doesn't like it.

Just like he doesn't like death.

Only this time, he had time to catch up and hugged Sakura's dissipating body at the last moment.

"Sakura, I promise you, humanity will definitely defeat Honkai. You, Suzu, and those who sacrificed their lives for it will all meet again in the new world after the war."

"I will always believe in you. But I have one last wish, Mikael, can you grant it to me?"

"certainly."

"[Please] You must also come to the new world to find us, okay?"

Sakura does not have the ability to command, but sometimes, some people's words are a kind of commandment in themselves.

"good."

He responded hastily, and in the endless coolness, he suddenly felt a small patch of warmth on his cheeks.

Sakura in her arms still disappeared, leaving only half of an unfinished sentence:

"Some words are still too late...so please be sure to come see me again so that I can tell you..."

The person in his arms turned into dim light particles and dissipated. Mikael waved his hand, and each light particle turned into a pink cherry blossom petal and dispersed into the distance against the dark rain.

But he still hasn't left this world.

After walking in the other direction for a long time, a white-haired man stood on the scorched earth, but he did not move. Although his lips were slightly open, he was not breathing, and even his eyes were stuck on a certain moment not long ago.

"There is a hint of Kevin. Over the past five hundred years, have you been infiltrating your own power into the Quantum Sea? Kevin, I am really looking forward to the day when I see you again..."

With a gentle pat on the shoulder of this strange old friend, this long-dead world completely collapsed. (End of chapter)