Li Wu had to admit, the Emperor-class Honkai Beasts that an S-Rank Valkyrie would have to face with extreme caution were no different from lower lifeforms in his eyes. He could smash them to death with casual ease; a single punch left nothing but scattered chunks of flesh. There was absolutely no sense of accomplishment in killing them.
In the final few hours, he even had to wait for them to crawl out of the spatial rifts.
And then—
The moment they popped their heads out, they were instantly obliterated.
Like a grim reaper, he harvested the life of every Honkai Beast equally.
On the Kabbalistic Tree of Life on his back, the second fruit was dyed a vivid crimson.
After absorbing the Honkai Beast blood, the Divine Blood became even more violent. Li Wu felt his strength growing exponentially. If he didn't hold back, a single punch would probably trigger a magnitude-8 earthquake.
If he were to classify his strength right now, he was definitely beyond S-Rank. Even SSS-Rank wouldn't be enough to describe it.
In the truest sense, he alone constituted an entire tier of power, unreachable by anyone else.
But what about the price?
Forget it.
It didn't matter.
Li Wu flicked his hands, shaking off the excess blood.
Thirty-six hours left.
"I can't control the Divine Blood inside me. It will continuously modify my body until my physical form can no longer withstand it and completely collapses."
Li Wu looked down, analyzing his condition with a detached expression, as if reading the debuff description of a game character—no joy, no worry, no concern.
His golden pupils could clearly see the golden blood beneath his skin, flowing through his veins with thunderous fury. Like a herd of galloping cheetahs, it raced through his dense network of blood vessels, never stopping.
"Annoying..."
Li Wu intended to use [Future Loan] to instantly find a solution to the Divine Blood modification, but suddenly, the phone in his pocket rang.
The phone had been placed inside a sturdy metal box. When Li Wu took it out, the phone had already cracked in half, the screen was shattered beyond recognition, and the metal box was filled with glass shards.
The caller ID was—
Anna.
Li Wu stared coldly at the phone. Just as his finger touched the screen, it went black.
It wasn't that Anna hung up, nor did the battery die.
The phone simply broke. The core components were damaged; receiving Anna's call just now had been a complete miracle.
"Looks like something went wrong on her end. I still have plenty of time. I'll go take a look."
Li Wu used [Future Loan] again, teleporting himself to Schicksal Headquarters. He appeared out of thin air in a strange room.
The walls were made of glazed glass, devoid of any decoration. It was incredibly monotonous, resembling a large hall, and very empty.
Aside from the throne at the far end, the room lacked almost any furniture necessary for human living.
Anna, Cecilia, and Otto were in the center of the room, kneeling on one knee.
Anna and Cecilia kept their heads bowed, staring at the floor, seemingly terrified of something. their bodies trembled slightly, not daring to look up.
Upon seeing Li Wu appear, Anna instinctively wanted to raise her head, but Cecilia nudged her with an elbow, forcing her to maintain her submissive posture.
Even Otto was not spared; he knelt humbly on the ground.
"You were the one who called me, Kallen Kaslana."
Li Wu turned around and calmly met the gaze of Kallen, who had stepped down from the eerie throne. He called out her true name.
Kallen's blue eyes were dull and lifeless, like a rotting corpse. Her gaze was hollow and unfocused.
But freed from the constraints of the throne, Kallen's body began to revive at a visible rate.
Her withered frame filled out, her pale skin regained an alluring rosy hue, and her hair, once like dry twigs, became fluffy and vibrant, swaying in the air as she walked, full of life.
Her dead eyes regained their youthful luster, but infinite memories of death instantly flooded her brain. There wasn't a single trace of emotion in her eyes.
The throne siphoned her life force while granting her humanity. Leaving the throne restored her body's integrity, but stripped her of human emotion. Filled with immeasurable, inconceivable memories, she was reduced to a hollow shell acting on instinct.
Kallen walked up to Li Wu. Her gaze was withered and utterly empty. Aside from her unmoving eyeballs, she made no subtle movements.
Li Wu was equally wooden, meeting her gaze calmly.
The two looked unexpectedly similar.
Li Wu searched his mind for information about the person in front of him.
"I'm not the person you're looking for. At least, not right now," Li Wu spoke first.
"..." Kallen didn't speak. She stared at him with hollow eyes, like a lifeless doll.
"This phone isn't yours. Give it back," Li Wu ordered expressionlessly.
He didn't intend it as an order, but his flat tone made it sound like one.
This terrified Cecilia, who broke out in a cold sweat. She stole several glances at him, her eyes darting around, wanting to warn Li Wu.
Otto, on the other hand, lowered his head, the corners of his mouth curving upward.
The plan was just beginning. No matter how Kallen dealt with Li Wu, he had backup plans to ensure Li Wu would fully empathize with Kallen's suffering.
This was just a trivial interlude. What he was looking forward to was yet to come.
"Lady Overseer!" Cecilia finally spoke up. "Anna and Li Wu are not 'heretics' opposed to humanity! They haven't harmed a single innocent person!"
Otto narrowed his eyes but remained silent, quietly waiting for the tragedy to naturally unfold.
The hall was deathly silent, save for the increasingly heavy breathing of Cecilia and Anna as they awaited judgment.
Vision, sound, sensation—everything seemed to be swallowed by this room.
They could do nothing but wait.
Kallen parted her cherry-pink lips. Judging by appearance alone, it was almost impossible to tell her age; she seemed to be in the prime of her youth, breathtakingly beautiful.
"Li Wu... Li Wu..."
"Li... Li..."
Kallen repeated the name over and over. One step, two steps—she walked steadily up to Anna and handed her the phone: "Here. You."
This strange action left Anna completely bewildered. She had even prepared herself to be sliced in half along with half of Schicksal's floating island, as had indeed happened decades ago.
This Demon King Overseer didn't execute her for rebellion but instead returned her phone?
Anna hurriedly took her phone, completely baffled.
After doing this, Kallen walked slowly toward Li Wu, like a child walking toward a parent, every step heavy.
"Li... Wu..."
She continued to call his name, making no further move.
Even as obtuse as he could be, Li Wu realized something was wrong with this Demon King.
Reviewing his memories—whether it was Argar, Anna, or Raiden Mei—all intelligence regarding Schicksal pointed to its supreme ruler being a brutal, tyrannical Demon King.
But meeting her in person shattered all those judgments. She seemed more like a child with the intelligence of a three-year-old, unable to even speak clearly, let alone lead humanity against the Honkai.
Li Wu decided to stop communicating with her. He walked straight up to Otto, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him up, glaring at him coldly.
Before Li Wu could speak, Otto beat him to it: "Want to kill me? Of course you can. The current you could easily do it. In this entire world, aside from Kallen, no one is qualified to be mentioned in the same breath as you! That is beyond doubt!"
"But—listen to me first. I am more valuable alive than dead. I know you are suffering from the torment of the Divine Blood... Forcibly activating the Divine Blood, your ordinary body probably can't support it, can it? Let me go. We have a lot to talk about, don't we?"
As his words fell, Li Wu actually stopped.
In his dissociated state, Li Wu prioritized reaching a good outcome quickly and efficiently. The process wasn't part of his consideration.
His inner voice told him to save Anna, so he came.
The imminent system warning prevented Li Wu from killing Otto immediately.
After being put down, Otto elegantly straightened his collar, his expression composed.
Then, Otto glanced triumphantly at Anna and Cecilia, raising his voice a few notches: "You really are sentimental. For a woman you've barely known, you reactivated the Divine Blood... picked up the key to misfortune once again."
"As the source of the Holy Blood, his Divine Blood is more effective and reliable than any medicine in the world. To put it bluntly, as long as you are dying, any disease or defect can be cured by his Divine Blood. Just a trivial drop is enough... Even a critically ill patient, paralyzed and blind, would be able to run like the wind and see with eagle eyes after tasting a single drop of your Divine Blood. You are an existence revered by the world, governing an era, creating countless glories..."
Otto spoke the truth hidden behind the textbooks without any reservation.
At this moment, he seemed to become the world's most famous orator. Every word was vivid and colorful, his hands gesturing with the cadence of his voice, presenting a spectacular audiovisual performance.
Kallen remained indifferent, standing there blankly.
Anna and Cecilia widened their eyes, looking at Li Wu in disbelief.
Unlike the clueless Li Wu, they clearly knew that dusty epic history.
Five hundred years ago, the Honkai ravaged the land, people lived in misery, and smoke and wails echoed endlessly throughout Northern Europe...
The common progenitor of the Holy Blood of the Kaslana and Schariac houses appeared, salvaging the desperate situation and leading the people of that time to rebuild their homes and fight against the Honkai...
Cecilia tried to connect the young Li Wu with the Progenitor of the Holy Blood.
But it was too incongruous.
Why him?
How could they be sure it was him?
"How... could it be... How could that idiot Li Wu be... the Progenitor of the Holy Blood? Divine Blood... source of Holy Blood..."
Anna lowered her head, doubting reality.
It was too jarring. Even coming from Otto Apocalypse, the second-in-command of Schicksal, it was hard to believe.
But Li Wu's various abnormalities did indicate he was extraordinary, definitely not an ordinary person.
Textbooks did mention the Progenitor of the Holy Blood, but never revealed where the Holy Blood came from. It was only known that since that progenitor appeared 500 years ago, the Holy Blood had been passed down through the Kaslana and Schariac families for generations. And under Overseer Kallen's cruel system, a production line for purifying and exporting Holy Blood was created.
However, Otto's next words were even more hair-raising: "The most useful medicine is often the deadliest poison. For your current body, activating the Divine Blood at high frequency in a short time skips the adaptation process, leading to premature bodily collapse."
"To use a simple analogy, it's like a Level 1 hero in a game skipping the tutorial and leveling dungeons, going straight to the max-level boss. If I'm not mistaken, you're about to die soon. One day? Two days? The time might vary, but the outcome is likely exactly as I described, right?"
"It doesn't matter. I have prepared a risk-free self-rescue plan for you—"
The corners of Otto's mouth curled up, his tone carrying an obvious slyness. Anyone could see he was digging a trap.
"Unite with Kallen."
The words landed with a heavy thud.
Anna's expression shifted from surprise to worry, and then to blank despair. She bit her lip hard, stood up, clenched her fists, and disregarded Schicksal's restraints and rules. She rushed forward and punched Otto's handsome face with all her might.
"What do you take Li Wu for?! What do you take the Overseer for?! What do you take us for... what do you take us for?!!"
caught off guard, Otto was sent flying. But his body was made of Soulium, so he wasn't injured. Instead, he quickly stood up from the mess, dusted himself off, and maintained his elegant gentlemanly demeanor.
Without any fluctuation in his voice, Otto continued to explain: "Valkyrie Anna, harming a superior is a capital offense. But seeing as you played your role perfectly within my plan, successfully bringing him—Li Wu—into the game, I pardon you. You may praise me to your heart's content. I will accept it all. After all, my efforts, my talent, and my wisdom deserve to be seen and applauded, don't they?"
This time, not only Anna, but Cecilia also stood up in defiance of the rules, glaring at Otto with anger.
"You disgust me, Otto!"
"That is truly the highest praise for me. Thank you, Cecilia. I have received your encouragement~" Otto lowered his hood and bowed deeply.
This action infuriated Anna and Cecilia. Just as they were about to step forward and beat Otto up, they heard Li Wu speak: "Continue."
"Li Wu?"
Anna was confused, but quickly realized.
Otto was right. Rapid increases in power often came with an extremely expensive price.
If the truth was as he said, then the price Li Wu paid to surpass an S-Rank Valkyrie from being an ordinary person in such a short time must be astronomical. It was highly likely, just as Otto said, that his body couldn't withstand the Divine Blood and would collapse and die.
And Otto, although Anna wanted to kill him, did know things ordinary people didn't.
"How intense. This tone... he had this same attitude when he left. High and mighty, despising all living beings... It seems there isn't a single person or thing in this world... that you care about."
Otto straightened his back respectfully, his green eyes brightening a bit.
"Kallen Kaslana. Thanks to you, her body has an extremely high adaptability to Divine Blood. So high that... even the current you is far inferior."