"No... No... NO!"
Li Wu shouted "No" three times. With each word, his voice grew increasingly hoarse, his breathing heavier. Every syllable he forced out sounded as if he were gargling razor blades. His tone was saturated with sheer, unadulterated agony and terror.
His bones trembled. Micro-expressions rapidly shifted across his face as if he had just witnessed something fundamentally abhorrent. Instinctively, he stood frozen in place, shivering uncontrollably.
The Save Point had updated. That meant there were absolutely no means of salvation left. Even if he killed himself a thousand, a million times... he could never return to the point in time before the tragedy occurred.
In the eyes of the countless people discussing the news in the airport, Li Wu's heart-wrenching roars and erratic behavior were nothing out of the ordinary.
Even before he lost control, many others had completely broken down upon hearing the news, screaming in public and acting as if they had lost their minds.
The vast majority were people whose families lived in Nagazora. They themselves had barely survived by sheer luck of being out of town, while their loved ones and everything they had built over the first half of their lives were completely annihilated in an unpredictable, apocalyptic disaster.
"Sigh, another one lost it."
"I completely understand. Not everyone is that lucky. Look at the guy over there, he's literally slamming his head against the wall..."
However, before anyone nearby could step forward to console him, a blinding, radiant light—like the catastrophic detonation of a dying star—erupted from Li Wu's eyes.
A brilliant golden light bloomed from his vertically slitted pupils. It was so intense, so blindingly sharp, that anyone who tried to look directly at it felt their eyes sting and was forced to look away.
In the blink of an eye, Li Wu vanished from his spot. The floor tiles where he had been standing were completely pulverized, leaving only two deep, cratered footprints.
Pushing his power to the absolute limit, Li Wu arrived at the entrance to Nagazora City.
Or rather, the place that used to be the entrance.
The entire city was shrouded in an incredibly dense, hazy mist. Looking in from the outside, only the crippled, broken silhouettes of buildings could barely be seen. It was gloomy, desolate, and dead.
Li Wu took it step by step. It felt as if massive shackles were chained to his ankles, making his progress agonizingly slow.
The highway toll booth had been reduced to a pile of rubble. The canopy was twisted beyond recognition, the glass completely shattered. The inside was a chaotic mess, splattered everywhere with blood and gore.
The corpse of a young woman wearing a toll booth uniform lay quietly inside, trapped in an endless "dream."
Li Wu continued walking forward.
Hundreds, thousands of cars lay scattered erratically ahead. Some had crashed into the guardrails; others had flipped into the ditches. The doors were flung wide open, the driver's seats completely empty. In the back seat of one car, a child safety seat remained, its half-unbuckled harness swaying gently in the wind.
"..."
Li Wu stared intently at this scene. He bit his lip so hard it bled. He clenched his fists until his fingernails dug deep into his palms.
Dark red blood flowed silently.
His blood was bright red and warm.
The blood in the ruins was grayish-black and freezing cold.
Following the path from his memories, Li Wu walked toward Chiba Academy. He needed to find Raiden Mei's corpse and figure out exactly what happened.
Walking into the once vibrant and lively campus, the absolute devastation was visible to the naked eye.
Raiden Mei had indeed removed all those posters and gaudy, personalized buildings. But what did that matter?! If the Third Eruption had never happened, Li Wu would have preferred those things to remain there forever!
The roller door of the school convenience store had been ripped wide open. It was pitch black inside, the shelves knocked over and scattered across the floor. The vending machine at the entrance emitted a faint, flickering light. Its screen was heavily cracked, the images of the drinks completely indiscernible.
The main academic building had collapsed. Rebars jutted out from the massive pile of rubble like jagged knives, stabbing directly into Li Wu's heart.
A suffocating, putrid stench of rotting blood permeated the air.
Everywhere he looked... there was nothing but massive piles of corpses and zombies.
Every breath he took felt like a dull, rusty blade scraping against his throat.
At the very edge of a massive pile of corpses, Li Wu saw two familiar faces—Sato Haruko and Sato Yuno.
Li Wu's footsteps faltered. He stared at them from over a dozen meters away.
"Roar... ahh..."
Even from that distance, Li Wu could clearly hear the low, guttural snarls erupting from Haruko's throat.
A zombie.
When a Great Honkai Eruption occurred, people with zero Honkai resistance died instantly. Those with some resistance, but not enough to endure the ambient concentration, were forcibly mutated into zombies.
Mindless, humanity-less monsters.
This mutation symbolized the absolute death of consciousness. It was irreversible. Once someone became a zombie, they were no longer the person they once were.
Yet, even though her little sister had mutated into a monster, Yuno still held her tightly in her arms, not showing the slightest intention of ever letting go.
The expression she aimed at her sister was just as gentle and loving as ever, as if the monster in her arms was still the same Haruko, the family she loved most in the world.
"Haruko, don't be afraid. Big Sister is here... Big Sister is here..." Yuno reached out a hand and gently patted Haruko's back.
The only response she received was the mindless, guttural snarling of a zombie.
Numerous massive vines had sprouted in the surroundings, towering hundreds of meters high, practically sealing off the entire academy.
The vines continuously spewed out a dark green, highly toxic gas. Any corpse that touched the gas rapidly accelerated in decay, as if they had been dropped into a vat of concentrated sulfuric acid.
Sato Haruko had become a zombie.
Sato Yuno had become... a Pseudo-Herrscher.
Li Wu clenched his fists and took a step forward.
Instantly, a massive vine shot toward him like a bullet. Li Wu caught it firmly in his hand.
"Haruko, don't be afraid. Big Sister won't let anyone hurt you... Big Sister is right beside you. Big Sister will never abandon you..."
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... It's all Big Sister's fault. It's all my fault for not being able to protect you..."
"Sato Yuno," Li Wu called out.
Yuno offered no response. She remained completely submerged in her own delusion. Whenever Li Wu tried to take a step closer, he was met with indiscriminate, violent attacks from her Authority.
Li Wu stared blankly. He desperately tried to connect the horrifically disfigured monster with razor-sharp fangs in front of him to the innocent, easily flustered Sato Haruko he remembered.
Failed.
Failed.
Failed...
As a human, Li Wu's duty was to execute the Sato sisters right here and now.
One had become a completely delusional Pseudo-Herrscher, and the other had fully died and mutated into a zombie. Allowing them to live would only cost the lives of the rescue teams that would eventually arrive.
But... But...
What did they do wrong?!
"I am the one who was wrong... If I had just stayed... If I had just stayed by Raiden Mei's side..." A wave of agonizing remorse and absolute bitterness instantly flooded Li Wu's chest.
It was suffocating.
Even breathing became incredibly difficult, as if a filthy, foul-smelling wet rag dragged out of a sewer was lodged deep in his throat. Every single breath made him feel violently nauseous.
At this point, he had absolutely no right to judge Sato Yuno. They hadn't done anything wrong. The birth of this tragedy had absolutely nothing to do with them.
Amidst the endless ruins of broken walls and shattered concrete, Yuno held her zombified sister in her arms, crying and gently coaxing her.
Time slipped away, minute by minute. The massive vines grew wildly, eventually enveloping them completely.
If no one broke the seal, Sato Yuno would eventually wither and die alongside her sister within this quarantined zone.
Li Wu turned around and left Chiba Academy, allowing Yuno to seal the school off completely.
On his way out, bright red blood dripped from his fingers, falling drop by drop, splashing onto the piles of corpses beneath his feet.
Li Wu wandered aimlessly, completely devoid of purpose, like a walking corpse himself. Occasionally, Honkai Beasts and zombies would attack him. Li Wu didn't even try to resist. Several times, it took a zombie actively hacking at his body with a rusty blade before his instincts finally kicked in and he counterattacked.
It's all my fault...
His consciousness had become agonizingly sluggish, completely overwhelmed by the horrific, apocalyptic ruins filling his vision.
There was no need to race against time anymore. Time no longer mattered.
The Save Point had updated. The tragedy was irreversible...
If only I had planned things more thoroughly...
If only I had noticed the fake intel Cocolia leaked earlier...
If only I had... just killed Otto from the very beginning...
Before he realized it, Li Wu had walked back to the apartment building he used to live in. He didn't know why he had come here. But when he saw the familiar image of an octopus, a violent surge of remorse completely engulfed him, violently tearing him out of his depressed stupor.
And upon waking up, he plunged into an even deeper, more agonizing abyss of regret.
The takoyaki vendor's corpse was scattered across the street, dozens of meters away from his cart. His body parts were everywhere.
Li Wu walked over. He carefully gathered the vendor's scattered remains, pieced them together, and laid the body gently beneath the cart.
Then, he reached out. Mimicking the vendor's usual motions, he started up the still-functional equipment and made a single serving of matcha-flavored takoyaki for himself.
As he ate, the bridge of his nose began to sting fiercely. Li Wu chewed slower and slower. He lowered his head, his messy black hair completely obscuring his eyes. Faint, choked sobs echoed hollowly through the ruins.
"I'm sor... ry..."
"I'm sorry..."
Gone.
Everything is gone.
Li Wu's breathing was incredibly heavy. Several times, he choked and coughed up mouthfuls of fresh blood.
Mixed with the blood, he swallowed the undercooked matcha takoyaki.
He couldn't taste anything anymore. If there was a taste, it was only one thing: Regret.
Suddenly, Li Wu heard a human voice. He immediately sprinted toward the source of the sound.
A survivor!
But when Li Wu arrived at the source, he realized it wasn't someone "needing his help".
The massive glass windows of a shopping mall had been completely shattered, showering the ground with jagged shards. The plush toys inside the display were scattered everywhere. Some had lost their arms, some had lost their heads, and some were left with only a single, hollow eye staring blankly ahead.
Inside the toy store, Bronya stood completely frozen, her lifeless eyes staring down at Ruslan's corpse.
Ruslan lay dead on the freezing floor. He was tightly clutching a heavily scorched teddy bear to his chest. From a shopping bag beside him, an absurdly expensive gemstone necklace had spilled out, along with a limited-edition HOMU plushie. The HOMU had also been heavily scorched.
"Bronya..."
The moment Li Wu took a step closer, Bronya abruptly snapped her head up.
Her gray eyes were completely bloodshot. Her face was smeared with ash and tears. Her expression was so ferociously violent it looked like she wanted to eat someone alive.
Before Li Wu could even speak, Bronya spun around and threw a vicious punch straight at his face.
Li Wu effortlessly caught it.
Li Wu had intended to explain that it was Otto and Cocolia who had triggered the Third Eruption. But looking at the hysterically sobbing Bronya in front of him, Li Wu knew that even if he explained it, she wouldn't believe him.
Arguing after the fact was completely meaningless.
Moreover, he truly had failed in his duty to monitor the situation...
It is all my fault...
It is all my fault.
"Raiden Mei is a fucking plague! As long as she lives, everyone else has to die! I should have just fucking killed her from the very start!"
Bronya's voice cracked completely. Tears streamed relentlessly down her face, but her mouth remained as venomously stubborn as ever.
"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!! FUCK!!!"
She screamed the word 'fuck' seven or eight times in a single breath. Finally, entirely drained of her strength, she collapsed to the ground, burying her face into her knees.
"...You absolute retard... You promised you'd take me out for a good meal... You promised you'd use the money you made to buy me HOMUs..."
"Liar! Liar!"
Li Wu stood frozen in place, watching Bronya's violently trembling shoulders. He looked down at the scorched teddy bear and the HOMU, both of which had completely lost their adorable appearances.
The teddy bear was a gift Ruslan had prepared for his daughter. The necklace was for his wife. As for the limited-edition HOMU... he had likely bought it on a whim to give to Bronya.
In Ruslan's heart, Bronya was no different from his own daughter. He had dragged her out of a pile of corpses in Siberia and raised her himself.
For the next several minutes, Bronya continuously sobbed and cursed. Li Wu stood absolutely still. He didn't respond, and he couldn't respond.
"Right before he fucking died, he still sent me a message! He said, 'I bought the HOMU for you, stop swearing so much'... What the fuck is this?! He saw the Great Eruption happening and he was still in the mood to go shopping?! What a fucking idiot! And now look! Now I have to be the one to collect his fucking corpse!"
Bronya raised a hand and violently wiped her face, but the tears just kept flowing.
"And the result?! It's burned so badly I can't even carry him out!"
Li Wu said nothing. Ruslan had stayed in Nagazora City entirely because of him. Li Wu bore an unshirkable responsibility for Ruslan's death.
After a very long time, Bronya finally stood up. She walked over to the teddy bear, bent down, and carefully picked it up, along with the heavily scorched yellow HOMU.
She looked at the completely disfigured HOMU. The corners of her mouth twitched into a smile far uglier and more painful than crying.
"...It's so ugly."
Saying that, Bronya shoved the HOMU into her chest, hugging it tightly.
Li Wu stood absolutely still, not saying a single word.
Until Bronya pulled out the car keys and violently threw them at him, bouncing them off his chest.
"The outbreak of the Third Eruption has nothing to do with you. I will investigate and find the true cause myself. Until then, I never want to see your fucking face again! Take your keys back! The car is parked in the underground garage, it didn't take a scratch!"
Li Wu didn't catch them. The keys to a hypercar worth tens of millions of Far East Yen clattered uselessly onto the cold ground, completely ignored.
[Act III: "Enemy" has been initiated.]
[Bronya Zaychik is permitted to die.]
It wasn't until Bronya had carried Ruslan's corpse far, far away that Li Wu finally, belatedly snapped out of his numbed stupor.
So... turning against each other and becoming enemies was the condition to initiate Act III...
Initiated, and instantly cleared.
The storyline of Act III was successfully completed, yet Li Wu couldn't feel even a sliver of joy.
"It's not over yet."
A piercing golden light tore through the dense mist. Within the entirely empty, desolate ruins of the city, Li Wu precisely locked onto an area radiating a massive concentration of Honkai energy.
Even if Raiden Mei was dead, the Gem of Conquest would not disappear.
Although a Great Honkai Eruption massively elevated the ambient Honkai energy concentration across the entire city, the absolute highest concentration would always be the exact location of the Herrscher Core.
In a flash, Li Wu's silhouette vanished from the shopping mall, tearing toward the outskirts of the city.
The more remote the location, the more likely filthy rats were hiding there.
Just as expected, when Li Wu arrived at the outskirts of Nagazora, the scene before him exactly matched his predictions.
Over a dozen Anti-Entropy Titan Mechs were escorting Cocolia away. Each mech was equipped with a specialized device. When linked together, they formed a powerful barrier that completely isolated the ambient Honkai energy.
This was the only way Cocolia could move freely through a city actively undergoing a Great Eruption.
The moment she saw Li Wu, Cocolia instinctively sensed his overwhelming killing intent. She immediately grabbed her radio and barked an order. "Stop him!"
Her judgment was correct.
But she had completely miscalculated his strength.
Before the Titan Mechs could even execute the command, Li Wu completely obliterated every single one of them. In a fraction of a second, he appeared right in front of her, clamped his hand around her throat, and lifted her high into the air. His eyes were absolutely frigid.
"Wait... Wait... Let me explain..." Cocolia struggled frantically, desperately shoving her hands against Li Wu's arm, but it was completely useless.
Li Wu's arm didn't budge a single millimeter. He just stared at her. Just stared.
He asked no questions.
A second later, a mist of blood erupted into the air. Cocolia stopped struggling forever.
Regardless of whether it was the game or the manga, Cocolia's ultimate fate wasn't particularly terrible. At least compared to the countless innocent lives she had sacrificed, the price she paid was entirely negligible.
In terms of status, she was the adoptive mother of the main characters Bronya and Seele. If the protagonist killed her, it would permanently plant an insurmountable rift between him and the female leads.
But was a rift really more important than millions of human lives?!
Li Wu silently turned his head back. Countless corpses, endless ruins. The once bustling, vibrant streets were now nothing but desolate, silent wastelands.
The answer didn't matter anymore... Because he had failed to protect either.
Clatter.
As Cocolia's head was violently crushed into paste, the purple Gem of Conquest slipped from her limp fingers and dropped to the ground.
Li Wu crouched down and picked up the Gem of Conquest.
A sharp, pungent metallic stench of blood intertwined with the rich, soothing fragrance of lavender. The scent was incredibly faint; he wouldn't have smelled it if he hadn't brought it close.
Under the sunlight, the purple gemstone reflected a brilliant, crimson luster. Its surface was covered in micro-fractures.
The blood had already dried. Like a macabre red sticker, it clung tightly to the slightly damaged surface of the gemstone.
"...System. What would happen if I pre-borrowed the resurrection of a dead person?" Li Wu's voice was hoarse and dark.
[It would bring death to an uncountable number of people.]
[You can reference how many people Otto Apocalypse murdered in the game in his attempt to resurrect Kallen Kaslana.]
[Although you can directly acquire the result and bypass the complex, agonizing processes... a simplified process is still a process. You would need to kill an unimaginable number of people to resurrect Raiden Mei.]
"I understand."
"Then... I want to see what she said at the very end of her life."
A final testament.
Li Wu desperately wanted to know what Raiden Mei's last words were.
He couldn't be like Cocolia. He couldn't sacrifice the entire city, let alone millions of innocent lives, just to bring Raiden Mei back. The absolute only thing he could do now was remember her final words.
[You have pre-borrowed a specific memory fragment contained within the Gem of Conquest. You must fully absorb the Gem of Conquest and master its complete Authority within two days.]
As the System's narration ended.
Li Wu was transported back to the desolate, unfinished building right before the outbreak of the Third Eruption.
Right before his eyes, a replica of the Plasma Kagehide pierced brutally through Raiden Mei's chest, spraying fresh blood everywhere.
Purple lightning crackled violently around Raiden Mei. But just as she attempted to command her Authority to obliterate the woman standing before her, she realized the Authority had completely stopped responding to her.
The rampant plasma energy violently ravaged her body from the inside out. Every single inch of her flesh and blood began to crack and splinter.
Until the very last moment. Her fluffy, vibrant purple hair withered and burned into pitch-black ash. Raiden Mei collapsed to the ground, completely motionless.
"I finally have it! The Gem of Conquest!" Cocolia exclaimed excitedly.
Hiding behind her, Otto slowly strolled out from behind a concrete pillar, casually dragging the Oath of Judah in one hand.
"If you plan to use the Gem of Conquest to open a stable gateway between Deep City and the Sea of Quanta, this won't be enough."
"Not enough?!" Cocolia frowned deeply. "I followed your plan flawlessly! I leaked the fake intel about returning to Deep City, and I utilized Ryoma Raiden's technology to assassinate Raiden Mei! Why is it still not enough?! If you cannot give me a reasonable explanation right now, our cooperation ends here!"
Facing Cocolia's absolute resolve, Otto wasn't the slightest bit flustered. He walked methodically to her side and gently tapped the Gem of Conquest with his finger.
"Because Raiden Mei isn't dead yet. At the absolute last moment, she transferred her consciousness into the Gem of Conquest. As long as her consciousness remains inside, you will never be able to bypass her and assume command of the Herrscher Authority. Unless..." Otto deliberately paused, keeping her in suspense.
Cocolia sneered coldly. "Cut the crap and spit it out!"
"Hehe! The solution is incredibly simple. Just eradicate Raiden Mei's consciousness entirely. Without a physical vessel, her consciousness is trapped within the Gem. She has absolutely zero room to resist. All you need to do is command your Titans to continuously open fire on the Gem."
"Before the consciousness inside is completely annihilated, Raiden Mei's consciousness will absorb all external damage inflicted upon the Gem to protect it. Once you see the Gem showing signs of physically fracturing, order them to stop. Then, you can take the Gem of Conquest and do whatever it is you wish to do."
Otto narrowed his eyes, offering a polite, chilling smile. "What's wrong? You've come this far, and now you don't dare to proceed? It's not too late to back out now. Or rather, I should say we were incredibly lucky this time."
"I cannot fully activate the [Barrier of Binding]. If Raiden Mei had truly abandoned all hesitation and forcefully metamorphosed, triggering the Third Honkai Eruption right then and there, I would have been completely unable to stop her. Fortunately, it seems she was deeply concerned about something. She chose the absolute safest approach—transferring her consciousness into the Gem, praying her enemies wouldn't notice, rather than directly detonating the Third Eruption."
"If she had chosen the latter, I would have survived, but..."
"Make your decision quickly. I tricked Ryoma Raiden into traveling overseas for a 'business negotiation'. Once he returns, it will be a war to the death between the two of you."
Hearing this, Cocolia gritted her teeth. She completely understood that this was her one and only chance. She rapidly made her decision.
"Hmph! Spare me the act! Don't think I can't tell you're trying to goad me! But... for the sake of my daughter, I have no way back."
For the next several hours...
Over a hundred Titan Mechs—the thirteen that were still functional—aimed their shoulder-mounted heavy cannons directly at the Gem of Conquest. Following Cocolia's orders, they opened fire in a continuous rotation...
Deafening explosions and blinding flashes of fire erupted endlessly. Thick black smoke filled the air, completely blotting out the sun.
Li Wu clenched his fists and charged forward to block the bombardment, but the explosive shells simply phased harmlessly through his body.
Yes. From the very beginning, he knew this was only a memory fragment. He was completely powerless to change anything. He could only witness it.
Li Wu lowered his head, staring intensely at the Gem of Conquest being relentlessly bombarded.
Amidst the endless, deafening roar of artillery... faintly, Li Wu heard a familiar sound of sobbing and agonized whimpering. It was incredibly light, like a feather brushing against his ear; yet it was incredibly heavy, like a blood-soaked needle piercing straight through his eardrums.
Right up until the absolute final moment of her life, Li Wu never heard Raiden Mei scream or curse a single word.
But it seemed she did say something. Li Wu just hadn't heard it clearly at first—
"Little Li... I really want... to see you again..."