The Fire-Chasing Herrscher Who Destroyed the World

"call……"

The bright moon hangs high in the sky, and is hazy by the white steam exhaled by Mikael, as if no matter how hard you reach out, you can't even hope to touch it.

But the two people on the ground were both familiar with the moon, and they also clearly understood that... that kind of thing only looks good when it is 380,000 kilometers away.

Standing alone on the surface of the moon, the endless gray wasteland, the dark and endless universe, and the inescapable loneliness and cold are all things that can torture most people to the point of wanting to commit suicide.

"Is there a problem?"

Kevin tried to use the same relaxed tone as before.

"Why bother pretending anymore."

Mikael shook his head, took out a small wine bottle from the inner pocket of his uniform, unscrewed it, and took a sip.

"...When did you find out?"

Now that Mikael has made it clear, there is no need for Kevin to continue pretending. He took a deep breath, his eyes gradually became indifferent, and his expression became no longer childish.

"I spent five hundred years assimilating with the sea, coupled with the power of Brahma's beasts, even if you are the creator of this world bubble, it is difficult to distinguish me from the characters that should be in the world bubble, right? "

"After all, you left traces in the last bubble."

Mikael tilted his head and smiled.

"Of course, if you really want to say it...you probably used too much force in your initial performance."

"Too much force?"

Kevin's brows twitched.

"Yes, it is not that easy to construct a fully functioning world bubble. To put it simply, it is like art. No matter how much the artist imagines, he cannot create something that is completely separated from cognition. For example, the appearance in human imagination Star people, no matter how science-fiction they are, are just the superposition of human beings and various creatures on the earth. The same is true for the world bubble. To save trouble, every living person in this world bubble is based on my memory of them in reality. and impressions created.”

"So, my performance at that time should be very consistent with my past self."

The corners of Mikael's mouth curled up. He didn't know if it was an illusion. Kevin's words could easily give people the misunderstanding of "Come and praise me."

"Maybe it does fit in a sense. But Kevin, you forgot one thing."

"Um?"

"I've never seen you like that... If I have to say it, it's just that time with Luluye. So, shouldn't Kevin, who is shaped by my memories and impressions, be pretending to be deep? Do you want to do something indulgent once in a while?”

"ah……"

Ah yes.

Kevin joined the Fire Chaser during the Third Collapse, while Mikael experienced his first death at that time and had to leave the Fire Chaser because the Herrscher's identity was exposed.

Once I left, it took more than two years.

In the past two years, although it is not that we have not seen each other at all, the "reunion" is still the same as passing by.

After the fifth collapse, Anti-Entropy re-merged into Fire Chaser. Kevin had become a qualified and serious warrior, and was no longer the childish, pushy high school student.

"I thought I acted very similar."

Kevin spread his hands, his smile full of helplessness.

"Are you over the top?"

Mikael looked at him puzzled.

"No, I just remembered something funny."

A wall of ice formed behind Kevin, becoming his support as he leaned back.

"Mikael, in the past five hundred years, I have thought a lot, a lot. It's really strange. Many things that originally took fifty thousand years to not figure out, now only took five hundred years to think clearly. ,It really is……"

Mikael tilted his head, silently waiting for his next words.

"Doubt, confusion, fear, I used countless attitudes in despair to guess your mind, but now think about it, it's all too ridiculous, isn't it? If you really regard us as enemies, maybe the power of time For some reason, it cannot be used directly against us. What about the power of restraint? Whether it was 50,000 years ago or 500 years ago, you have never tried to use that power to defeat us easily. "

"Perhaps I just enjoy the process of fighting, the pain caused by injuries, and the uncertainty of walking on the edge of death. Is this possible?"

Mikael raised his head and wanted to sip as lightly as before, but in the end he took a big sip.

"If your name was Qianjie, then I would probably believe this, but you don't."

Looking at Mikael who was pouring wine into his mouth one after another, Kevin was silent for a moment and then said:

"Of course, I will not ask you any more questions, nor will I draw a sword against you like I did 50,000 years ago. Since you don't confess to us, it must be because you think there is an unspeakable reason. I trust you. , I believe that you are still the same Mikael, and I also believe that you will definitely be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in Klosten, but I...I want to apologize to you. At that time, I was addicted to revenge... …Now that I think about it, the reason why I drew my sword against you five hundred years ago was not to ensure the implementation of the Stigma Plan. It was simply because I couldn’t let go of my hatred for killing my comrades and... my lover.”

"No one can put that down."

Mikael added silently from the side, as if he was excusing Kevin, or just stating the facts.

"But Mei is still alive."

"oh."

Kevin responded calmly.

"It's not an accident. In other words, I should have realized it from the moment I found out that Hua was still alive. But at that time, I was still too uncool after all. Besides, you didn't give me time to calm down. You suddenly took action, how can you react? Of course, this is not to defend yourself...Forget it, your goal has been achieved by then, right?"

"Well, until now, there hasn't been much difference from the plan."

"That's good……"

Kevin lowered his head and sighed, as if there was something else he wanted to ask, but when he thought of what he said before, "I won't ask in detail," he finally swallowed some questions back in his stomach.

Two old friends who had been separated for a long time just stood stupidly in the courtyard of the orphanage, looking at the moon without saying a word.

Except for the soft sound of sand dust touching the leaves, all that was left was the clang of Mikael's wine flask. After drinking one flask, he took out the second flask from his inner pocket.

Kevin opened his mouth and said with some surprise:

"Really wine? No, since when did you start drinking this kind of thing?"

"Huh? Didn't I drink before?"

Mikael's answer was a little absent-minded.

Unlike Kevin, he pursed his lips and shook his head quite seriously.

"No, I have never seen you drink before. Every time someone asked you to drink, you would refuse it. Even at every drinking party after defeating the Herrscher, you would only drink orange juice. I remember that Captain Hen and Captain Himiko were still talking to me. I'm joking, saying that a boy like you who doesn't even drink will be unable to control himself in the future..."

A drop of cold sweat ran down Kevin's forehead. Fortunately, he reacted quickly enough and added the object in time:

"I won't be able to control my subordinates in the future."

"That's it..."

Mikael sipped his drink one sip after another, showing no intention of stopping.

"I've forgotten when I started drinking this stuff."

Mikael swung the half-empty wine bottle and handed it to Kevin's mouth.

"Want some?"

Kevin raised his hand, but put it down again.

"Forget it, I haven't drank anything like that since I became a fusion warrior."

"Um?"

"If you can't get drunk after drinking this kind of thing, then orange juice is indeed better."

"Hmm? That's really because I'm a bit lucky. After all, both the power of death and the power of reason can change the body structure. It's not difficult to get drunk like a normal person. Well... speaking of this, Kevin "Have you ever been drunk?"

Blinking, Kevin pursed his lips tightly and fell into a brief memory.

"No, no, I don't like drinking that kind of thing either."

"That's such a shame."

"What's a pity?"

"It's a shame that I've never been drunk once as a human being."

"Ah."

Kevin chuckled softly, and the cold air around him dissipated a little, obviously disapproving of Mikael's words.

"I really forgot when I started drinking. However, I remember the first time I got drunk very clearly. At that time, I drank one cup after another. I obviously felt that this kind of thing was not as good as orange juice. But strangely, I couldn't let go. I drank and laughed, and when I drank all the bottles on the table, I stood up and took two steps. It was okay. I continued to take two steps forward, and everything started to change.

"Turning, spinning... But it didn't bother me. I walked to the edge of the rooftop, lay down against the railing, and continued to laugh. It was such a strange feeling. There was nothing to make me laugh. I didn't think of anything funny. To be precise, I was completely blank. I couldn't think of anything, but I was laughing so happily that I couldn't stop laughing just like when I was drinking. At that moment, I suddenly understood human beings. Always a reason to enjoy drinking.

"Kevin, it's very difficult for human beings not to live in the past. But it's also very simple. As long as the present moment is happy enough, so happy that you can't even think about the pain of the past, that's it. In the same way, when humans are sad, We always look at the uncertainty of the future from a pessimistic perspective, but as long as we are happy enough in the present, the uncertainty of the future may also become an expectation. Of course, we may be directly hit and killed by a car on the road in the next second, or we may be picked up. When it comes to a lottery ticket that wins a 100 million jackpot, there is not much difference between the two in terms of probability.”

Mikael's words were so long that Kevin unconsciously crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his arm lightly with his right index finger.

But suddenly, he stopped all movements and looked at Mikael's side face illuminated by the moonlight in disbelief.

"Mikael, could you be..."

"No, how is that possible?"

Mikael raised the wine bottle and covered his face.

"How is that possible? I just thought of this and then complained."

Mikael, who was not aware that he had repeated the same sentence twice, was still sipping his wine and continued:

"How can that kind of thing be possible? It's just that reality is often much more complicated than theory, and people's mentality is also something that may change at any time. For example, the same person may have been unsatisfactory about his current life just a second ago, and then he may be worried about the future. He is worried about whether his life will become more unsatisfactory. But the next moment, he will feel satisfied with the unsatisfactory present because the future he imagined is too miserable. "

"……well."

Kevin held his forehead in pain.

"The stuff you're talking about... reminds me of Mei."

"If it were Mei, you would definitely try your best to understand the meaning of every word she said, but if it were me, you would just have a headache, right?"

"a ha ha ha--"

Kevin laughed dryly.

"Hey, Kevin, do you no longer know what you should do?"

"Um?"

Kevin held his chin up and thought seriously for a while, trying to find a negative answer.

Unsurprisingly he failed.

From the beginning, the reasons for his fight were not so noble.

He has been listening to Mei's orders and got to where he is now step by step.

Mei wanted him to become a fusion warrior, so he lay on the operating table. Mei wants him to carry out the Stigmata plan, even if he is unwilling in his heart, he will do it.

But now, what's the point of saying all this.

All plans in this era are based on the fact that Mikael has betrayed humanity. Then, if Mikael did not betray, he only needed to use his final authority to directly grant peace to the world. In this case, fighting and other things, the Stigmata plan and so on, are no longer necessary.

"No, that's not it, Kevin."

Mikael patted his shoulder lightly.

"Imagine that without my existence, you have pushed the Stigmata project to the end. At that time, you who have stolen the power of the end can also give up victory to the new era of mankind, but will you do so?"

"No... probably not. Even if the Stigmata Project can win, it will be a victory of the previous era. This victory does not belong to this era."

"I think so. Kevin, if you don't know what to do, just do it as originally planned. Although it is redundant for me to say this, Mei will definitely ask you this after leaving the Quantum Sea.

"Kevin, I am no longer human. I am the End, the Herrscher, and Honkai Impact. I can be defeated, and I also want to see myself defeated, but this victory cannot come from My own charity should be earned through the efforts of all humans, past and present. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Is this so..."

An inexplicable sadness surged into Kevin's heart.

So in the end, nothing changed?

"It's not a big problem, Kevin. Believe me, the future will not be worse than now, it will only be better. The pain of the past will definitely be erased. Believe me, you just need to prove that you are worthy of this. That's it after all...

"After all, I also really want a happy ending!"