The Fire-Chasing Herrscher Who Destroyed the World

The moment they looked at each other, Bronya's heartbeat suddenly accelerated to the point where it almost jumped from her chest to her neck, but she soon discovered that Alexandra didn't seem to see her this time.

She just... glanced at the white snow outside the window with a gaze full of sadness and confusion, and then crossed the towering birch forest, as if her mind had wandered to a far, far away place, or as if she was innocently trying to catch a white cloud with her eyes.

"I originally planned to go to Sochi to give birth to this child... Alexey took me there once before. It is backed by snow-capped mountains and faces the sea. Especially at the turn of summer and autumn, the sea breeze makes the warmth even more... It's slightly cooler, seabirds are chirping non-stop, and all kinds of small insects and animals are coming to life. When night falls, there are always sounds of movement in the dark night where nothing can be seen clearly. , the child in the belly has the opportunity to see such a beautiful place as soon as he opens his eyes.

"But, maybe, maybe this child will like the boundless white snow and the bare birch forest more than the Yukxing Sea, which is as deep and dark as the night sky. Because she has her own future, what she likes and what she doesn't like Whatever she likes will be decided by her own will, not mine or yours.

"Isn't this the most amazing thing about human civilization? We are not long-lived creatures. Although our lifespan is longer than some animals, it is shorter than others. We can only pass on everything we have through reproduction. , but we cannot control the thoughts of our descendants. They will also have their own pursuits and want to get everything they want...

"It is precisely because of this that human civilization 50,000 years from now will look completely different from the civilization of Homo sapiens that just left Africa 50,000 years ago. It is precisely because we have chosen to believe in our descendants and believe that they will make Make their own choices to welcome a future that only belongs to them, so the future will not be a repeat of the past, and the world will not be a futile reincarnation again and again.

"This is the meaning of human reproduction and passing on the fire from generation to generation - at least that's what I think. Therefore, I want to give the child in my belly a future, even if the cost is my own past, even if there is nothing in this child's future I can still remember the past, and I still want to do it.”

"Is that how you understand it?"

Mikael held his forehead with his hands, parted his bangs with his five fingers, pushed them up, and finally closed his eyes weakly.

"I'm sorry, I have never been a father for even one day, and I can't understand your expectations for the future. In my opinion, it is absolutely unwise for you to choose to give birth to this child. You must pay the price with your own life, and even if In this way, you are very likely to die before giving birth. Even if the child is born, how will she survive after losing her father and mother? Will she be bullied by her peers, and will she survive in the ice and snow of Siberia? If your toes are frostbitten, will you suddenly die in a Honkaiju attack one day? The future you want to give to that child may not be good, or it may be very bad - I'm sorry, this is not some kind of arrogance, but Very likely to happen."

"Of course I understand this. The future may indeed get worse, but it also does have the potential to get better, right?"

Mikael shook his head impatiently——

"Someone once said this to me, but this is just a meaningless dialectic, because it is never a person's will that determines the quality of the future, but the objective reality that is not shaken by will."

"But even then, there is only a greater probability of getting a bad future, not [certainty], right?"

"?"

"Many times, compared with the fact that something will become worse, the thing itself is obviously more terrifying if there is no possibility of it happening. And as long as there is a possibility, there is a possibility of getting better, even if there is only a slight possibility. , it’s all worth looking forward to, isn’t it?”

Mikael sat up straight again and didn't respond for a long time.

The first words after a long silence were:

"Someone once said something similar to me."

"I just said it casually. If you think about it carefully, my unauthorized expectations are not much different from your self-righteous desire to decide the fate of me and this child. However, is it suffering or happiness? , do you want to continue living or die, how do you want to live... After all, we cannot and are not qualified to make decisions for this child, so... let the future be left to her. "

Alexandra turned her head, looked at Mikael, and smiled calmly.

"I am willing to trade my life for my child's life. As things stand now, this seems to be the only way. But it is quite fair."

"It's your decision, that's fine."

At the end, Mikael only left these words.

"A year later, I took Raven to Sochi and followed clues to find the sanatorium where Alexandra had stayed, but I only saw her tombstone."

Bronya turned back suddenly, and Mikael was already standing beside her at some point.

The surrounding environment has changed, the snowfield has disappeared, and there is only muddy and smelly black soil underfoot. The wooden houses around him no longer exist, but there are patches of broken bricks and broken walls.

"..."

"We only saw a cold stone tablet. Except for Alexandra's name, not even an epitaph was left. Later I found your Uncle Maxim, and he told me that Alexandra was After giving birth to you, I cried alone for an afternoon and then... nothing more.

"But actually, at that time, from the first sight of Alexandra, I already knew everything that would happen so far. I knew that the child in Alexandra's belly would be In the future, I will become the third Herrscher of Reason. It was just a thought at that time, and it was my last chance to regret it before anything happened.”

"What's the point of telling Bronya this?"

Memories from when a child is just born are rarely retained until he or she grows up.

And the only tombstone that can prove to Bronya the existence of her mother is gradually moving away as Uncle Maxim's team continues to migrate. And because of Uncle Maxim's death, Bronya The coordinates of that tombstone are lost forever.

If Mikael hadn't presented all this to her, she would never have thought of the name "Alexandra", would never have known that she had perfectly inherited her mother's appearance, and it would have been even less likely that she would have known that her own life was almost A little bit will end before birth.

"Is it meaningful? As you can see, everything you saw just now should have happened in the past, but it can be repeated at this moment. She can even see you, if I hadn't deliberately cut off your breath , when you meet for the second time, you can definitely put on a good show of mother and daughter recognizing each other - and this is the Stigma Project. "

"Project Stigmata? Shouldn't that be some kind of genetic engineering?"

"That's right."

Mikael nodded calmly, stretched out his hand, and caught the black raindrops falling from the sky.

"But genetic engineering is just a form of stigmata. The purpose of things like stigmata from the beginning is to preserve our [past]. Because we don't have the confidence to face the future, because we don't dare to imagine getting it. The future of victory, so through the Stigmata, we can live in the past forever, and the same is true for the current Stigmata plan——

"In the simplest terms, the so-called Stigma Project is to select people with qualifications so that they can pass the test of Honkai, but to abandon those without qualifications. Of course I am not so cruel, so I The method is to deceive Honkai. The qualified people are on the moon, and you have seen that when this is over, they will re-establish civilization, and those who are not qualified will not die, but will enter. Stigmata World].

"Everything about the development of human civilization so far has been recorded there, and they themselves will serve as nodes of the grid to support the operation of the entire Stigma Project. In return, the Stigmata Project will grant them endless dreams - whatever happens Things that have happened in the past can be satisfied in dreams. Even if a person has never experienced something, he can get the answer from another person's memory, and some people who should have passed away can also get answers. Just like Alexandra."

Bronya's eyes were moved for a moment, but then came anger:

"This kind of thing...isn't it equivalent to using dreams to keep humans in captivity? What qualifications do you have to do this!"

"Really? Your angry look is exactly the same as Alexandra's. But Bronya, you may have misunderstood. They are not imprisoned in the world of stigmata like livestock. As long as they are willing, everyone can They can leave the dream and return to reality by their own will, but since the beginning of the Stigmata Project, there are less than a thousand people who can do this. "

"..."

"Even... do you know why you can't use the power of the Lawyer of Reason?"

Mikael stretched out his hand towards Bronya out of thin air, without any chance or strength to resist. A core flew directly out of Bronya's body and fell into Mikael's hand.

There is no doubt that that is the core of the Herrscher of Reason, but now it has completely dimmed, showing the same silvery gray as the two people present, and no longer the same blue as the sea and sky.

"You...couldn't you be..."

"That's right, Bronya. What I did is quite simple. I did not block your power like I did with Kiana, but... regarded you Herrschers as inheritance and dependence. Those three hundred thousand thoughts were also integrated into the Stigma Project."

"What did you say! Bastard, how could you do this!"

Bronya, who had always been calm, completely lost control of her emotions at this moment, but was easily stopped by Mikael with one hand on his head, and then he kicked Bronya casually, tripping her to the ground.

"That's what I did, okay?"

The rain suddenly became heavier, and the splashing water vapor was hazy like fog, but unfortunately it was as black as the land.

There happened to be a small pit in front of Bronya, which was filled with rainwater in a few breaths. Mikael threw the core of the Herrscher of Reason twice in his hand, and then threw it directly into the puddle, abandoned as if Broken shoes.

"The owners of those 300,000 thoughts were just ordinary citizens before the outbreak of Honkai Impact. They had their own ordinary lives, they had their own ideals that they wanted to realize but were unable to achieve in reality, and they also had their own feelings as human beings. Dirty and dark, they will naturally linger in the dreams of the Stigmata Project. Even as people who have died once, they will rely on this dream more than those who are still alive.

"In the end, what does the 300,000 people have to do with you, Bronya? In the final analysis, the core of the Herrscher is just a force. Divide the core into 300,000 parts, disperse them in the body, and use them to use muscles. Memory to make up for the lack of synchronization rate - IMHO, this is completely putting the cart before the horse. How to use power, to whom power should be used, and when power should be used. For all of this, only one voice is enough. .

"But if you can't do this, you just regard those 300,000 thoughts as statues worthy of respect and hang them high in your heart. When you fall into a powerless situation, is it possible that these statues can still help you win?"

Mikael didn't look at Bronya again.

He raised his head and let the rain full of nuclear radiation soak him from top to bottom, then turned around and prepared to leave.

The moment he turned around, he caught a glimpse of Bronya with a struggling expression on her face. She reached into the puddle and grasped the core of the Herrscher that had lost its color.

"snort--"

He chuckled lightly, as if he was mocking the overestimation of a Herrscher who had lost his power.

It seems like... I am missing something.

When he took the third step, there was a weak but continuous attraction behind him.

Mikael turned around leisurely and saw that what Bronya was holding in her hand was no longer the Herrscher core, but the Star of Eden constructed with the power of the Herrscher of Reason.

"So that's it. After taking over the power of the Herrscher of Reason, you have become [one in three hundred thousand]. Even if the other three hundred thousand thoughts have been dragged into the dream of the Stigma Project, you can still use three One hundred thousand thought-armed bodies named the Herrscher Core... But the Herrscher of Reason is already weak, so how much of that weak power can you retain?"

Before Bronya could explain, Mikael had already seen through everything.

Of course, if Bronya is given time and opportunity, she will not explain. She will just remove the Star of Eden as soon as possible, and the scattered light spots will turn into dozens of suspended rail guns in mid-air. Unsurprisingly, the muzzle pointed at Mikael.

"Fire!"

The blue beam of light cut through the space in an instant, dyeing Mikael's eyes the same color.

But the next moment——

"Fire!"

The same suspended rail guns, the same number, the blue beams collided and exploded in mid-air, without exception, exactly.

"To put it simply in terms of the concept of [Herrcher of Reason], I am undoubtedly the weakest Herrister of Reason. With only one hundred thousandth of the strength, you are not even as good as me, so don't even think about moving forward." ”

"asshole--"

"Look up to the sky."

Only then did Bronya notice the beam of blue light in the sky. It drew a huge arc, perfectly bypassing Bronya's direct field of vision, and then fell directly above her head. Waiting for her to see By then, the beam of light had landed at her feet.

"boom!"

Her petite body was blown away. Bronya wanted to get up, but the land full of radiation was now extremely muddy. The torrential rain not only hurt her body, but also quickly took away her body temperature, making her already weak and uncomfortable. The remaining strength of the injured Bronya quickly disappeared.

Even so, Bronya still struggled, her five fingers digging into the soil like an animal's claws, trying to support herself to stand up again, but this was not easy either. After more than ten attempts in a row, she finally managed to stand up again. All ended in failure.

The temperature of the body flowed into the mud with the rain, and the impact of the explosion made the head feel dizzy, and it has not recovered yet.

I don't know what happened, but she choked on two mouthfuls of rainwater that was the same as oil. Even the taste was very different. Fortunately, she was a Herrscher. If most people took a mouthful of such sewage, they would probably turn into Godzilla.

The blood seemed to be rushing towards the brain, and everything in his sight was gradually filled with blood red.

In a daze, she returned to the burning city.

"Is this the new Herrscher of Reason? She looks so young and weak. Can she do it?"

"Who knows, but Joachim was younger than her when he received this power, right?"

"That's right. Don't jump to conclusions so hastily. Maybe this girl has the potential to become the Lawyer? No matter what, I still believe in Joachim. No matter how bad it is, I still believe in Tesla and Love. It’s Instein’s decision.”

"However, her synchronization rate with the core is not high. It is about the same as that kid Joachim. Joachim still has decades to develop muscle memory, but she does not have so much time..."

When I first took over the power of the Herrscher of Reason, questioning, tolerance, compassion, trust...

As Mikael said, although these 300,000 thoughts are unified into the concept of "Law Lawyer" at the macro level, individually, they have their own thoughts, which involves the use of power. Sometimes, it often becomes a hindrance.

As a result, when Bronya, who was only one in three hundred thousand, used her own thoughts to drive this power, the power she exerted was far greater than the original one in three hundred thousand.

But one person's thoughts were too weak after all, and they were not enough to control the full power of the Herrscher of Reason.

There was only one way left.

[Metamorphosis], this was something that both the stupid Kiana and Mei had experienced.

So far, no one has been able to explain what metamorphosis means, but judging from the results, Mei swallowed up the consciousness of the "Queen of Thunder" and Kiana swallowed up the consciousness of "Cierne".

So...

Bronya hesitated for a moment, and her struggle also paused for a moment.

There was only this way.

Only this way could pull the three hundred thousand thoughts out of the dream of the Stigmata Plan, and only this way could make the power of the Herrscher of Reason really work in the next battle.

Even though this meant that the three hundred thousand thoughts would be assimilated by Bronya's mind, and the personality in them would be annihilated, and she would completely die.

In other words, if this decision is made, Bronya will kill 300,000 heroes who have fought for humanity for more than half a century in an instant.

Is it worth it?

Is it right?

For some reason, the words of her mother Alexandra echoed in her mind--

"I want to give this child in my belly a future, even if the price is my own past, even if there is no past to recall in this child's future."

"Many times, compared to something getting worse, it is obviously more terrible that the thing itself has no possibility of happening. As long as there is a possibility, there is a possibility of getting better, even if there is only a trace, it is worth looking forward to."

Saving the future at the cost of the past. To be honest, Bronya doesn't like this idea of ​​choosing the lesser of two evils.

But...

People who can't give up anything are destined to do nothing.

Bronya doesn't want to say this, but it is true.

As her mother said, the evolution of human civilization for tens of thousands of years is that one generation lives a short life and then hands the world over to the new generation.

Because inheritance is something that needs to disappear to prove its existence.

Because the past that has long been concluded is bound to be unable to defeat the present.

The past is just a warehouse and a mirror. Only the future can defeat the present.

The 300,000 thoughts belonging to the Herrscher of Reason are just the echoes of history, and it is impossible to solve all unknown problems.

Magnifying the scale of time and space, this truth is actually obvious -

People who actively closed their country could not understand the rapid changes of the Industrial Revolution; the brave Zulu warriors could not defeat the ruthless flames of machine guns.

When civilization is frozen at a certain moment, it will lose the power to defeat the future.

And for the Herrscher of Reason, for Bronya... if she does not devour those 300,000 thoughts, if she does not complete the transformation, this power will not be able to become a force that can fight against the Stigmata Plan and Mikael - Mikael himself just expressed this very clearly.

The space began to change again, the dark cold rain faded, and among the swaying grass and trees, a predecessor she admired appeared in front of Bronya, the starting point of all this inheritance. In the past, that was the existence that she and even Joachim knew they could not catch up with, but still tried to approach.

Now, they finally stand side by side, but as the 300,000 thoughts are swallowed by the core of the feather, this will be the last glimpse of each other left in the world.

"I'm sorry, in order to reach tomorrow, Bronya overturned the past you left behind."

Bronya said calmly after wiping her dry forehead.

"However, as a Herrscher of Reason, Bronya does not regret it. After all... the only unchanging truth of mankind is that the truth of mankind will inevitably change."

The other party said nothing as usual, but this time, the smile on his face was far better than before.

"Goodbye, Walter Joyce. Bronya is honored to carry your legacy."

What exactly is the power of the Herrscher of Reason?

Some people believe that the power of the Herrscher of Reason breaks through the laws of physics and reverses the entropy increase by transforming the collapse energy as a manifestation of entropy increase into an orderly civilization. This is the origin of the name of anti-entropy.

Some people also believe that the power of the Herrscher of Reason is essentially to use all the achievements of human civilization in the past to fight against the current collapse.

But no matter what, the power of the Herrscher of Reason has been reinterpreted by Bronya - starting from one in three hundred thousand, all of it is relived in the present, and far surpasses everything in the past.

In another trance, many blurry figures appeared behind Walter, waving their hands and saying goodbye to Bronya.

All of their memories as [people] were merged into Bronya's consciousness without reservation, until the end -

When she opened her eyes, Bronya returned to the ruins with heavy black rain.

She saw it.

She saw the ruins of the sanatorium, saw the children sitting around the long table waiting for chicken soup, and watched him exchange chicken soup and potatoes with the girl who led the seat.

She also saw him become the Herrscher of Reason, and saw that everything in this place that was the only place he could call "home" was destroyed by the nuclear bomb launched by the third Herrscher before he could return.

He also saw everything that the woman who looked exactly like Himeko said to him in the burning sunflower field.

"Did you leave a part of yourself here, Mikael..."

For a moment, excitement, sadness, pity, and pain all surged into his heart.

But Bronya knew very well that at this point, there was nothing he wanted more than to fight the other party to the end.

"Then come on!"

Bronya carefully felt the power in her body and felt the abundant power she had never had before.

The weapon was deconstructed and reassembled, turning into a double-headed spear that fell into her hands, and then she swung it hard, and the holy scar space that trapped her was directly cut off.

"Ka--"

The tip of the spear hit the golden chain, and looking at Seele's face close at hand, Bronya realized that she had returned to reality.

Retracting the weapon, falling from mid-air to the ground under the worried eyes of Seele and Kiana, Bronya looked around, but could not see Mikael's shadow.

"Where did he go?"

"He destroyed the star gate under the crater and left."

Otto withdrew his power expressionlessly.

"But, Bronya, you looked like that just now... did you metamorphose?"

"Look?"

Bronya raised her hand, and a mirror appeared in her palm.

Only then did she realize that her image was completely different from the original one.

There were two pink pupils in her silver-gray eyes, exactly the same as that man.

The ends of her hair shone with a faint blue light, the same color as the small crown on her head.

"Maybe... the metamorphosis was successful."

Bronya was a little uncertain, and felt that all this was a little too unreal.

After all, whether it was Mei or Kiana, their metamorphosis had experienced too much mental and physical pain.

Compared to that, her metamorphosis was too simple, and she was even deliberately guided by Mikael.

Is it because of pity for the allotropic? Or is it the inheritance of being a Herrscher of Reason?

Bronya didn't know, but there was one thing that was certain.

She looked down at the destroyed star gate under the crater.

"Give that thing to Bronya. Bronya now can definitely do it, even if she doesn't understand it and doesn't have any drawings, but Bronya can repair it, she can definitely do it."

"Really? Sister Bronya..."

Seele was a little worried instinctively, but Bronya only gave her a faint smile.

"Don't worry, Seele, Bronya now is stronger than the Herrscher of Reason in the past."

[Einstein Space Bridge, perception confirmed. ]

[Gravity anomaly detected, start injecting strange substances. ]

[Three... two... one... Star Gate core assembly repair completed, ready to start! ]

The star gate, which was as big as the entire third floating port of the Destiny Headquarters, started to rotate again, although slowly, but it was indeed repaired.

Then, in the third minute after Bronya woke up, these Stigma Awakeners and Herrschers successfully passed through the star gate and appeared in the Abyss City. (End of this chapter)