"Kevin."
"If you insist on this… we will stop you."
The grip on Kalpa's End, which had momentarily loosened, tightened once more as he raised it to the sky.
In his current state, Kevin was undoubtedly far beyond what the main trio behind them could handle. But for MEI and Elysia…
Kevin's full-power burst was merely on par with their own standard combat strength.
This was indeed remarkable.
But as members who firmly held their positions among the [Three Founders], they had no need to enter their崩落 state. Their already superior combat power, combined with a two-on-one advantage, guaranteed them victory.
"…"
Kevin cast aside his final hesitation.
Without a verbal response to Elysia, he brought the sky-piercing pillar of fire in his hand crashing down with all his might!
Fwoooosh!!
It was as simple as a kitchen knife slicing through butter.
Once this sword strike landed, the entire moon would cease to exist. Fortunately, Australia had long since been transformed into a sea of fire, so there was no need to "habitually" worry about any large pieces of garbage falling from the sky.
CLANG!!!
A crystal flower bloomed in the heavens.
The entire lunar sky was covered in a translucent brilliance. Amethyst petals condensed to form a complete dome, catching all the flames Kevin had unleashed.
Before Elysia, a Star-Buster level attack was far from enough to breach her defense…
CRACK!
A fissure appeared from the center where the flames made contact.
As the crystal flower disintegrated and scattered, Kevin raised Kalpa's End high for the third time.
"As expected."
A longbow as tall as she was materialized in Elysia's hand.
"No matter where we are, your man is never so easy to deal with, is he?"
"Mei."
Whoosh—
Pinkish-purple light flowed at her fingertips.
Pure golden Imaginary energy surged forth from the other side of the Imaginary Space, dyeing the pure white longbow in Elysia's hand an elegant and regal violet-gold.
Sword and arrow, in a single instant.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
---o---
"This isn't working."
Kevin's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
To think that his proudest asset, his head-on combat power, could only result in a stalemate… As expected of Elysia, perhaps.
Time was running out.
Prometheus No. 17 was still undergoing "fusion." Logically, he shouldn't have taken this step so early.
But Kevin had no confidence in taking them down in a short amount of time.
After all, besides Elysia, there was MEI, whose aura was no weaker than Elysia's, waiting for an opening.
The sequence… no longer mattered!
"Prometheus!"
Kevin's power had not yet reached its limit.
Despite having a similarity of over ninety percent, the current Kevin had not yet completely transformed himself into the "Herrscher of the End."
Now.
He would borrow the power of Prometheus No. 17 to forcibly infuse the "Honkai Will," sealed on the lunar surface for fifty thousand years, into his own body!
With this… he would complete the final step of the Stigma Project!
Rumble.
BANG!!!
A violent tremor echoed from deep within the moon.
As the earth cracked and towers collapsed, a "conceptual entity" of indescribable essence leaped out from beneath the ground!
If one were to judge by appearance alone, it looked remarkably like a black-haired, red-eyed version of Bronya.
"MEI!"
"I know!"
As the creator of Prometheus and the initiator of the Stigma Project, Dr. MEI was of course more than familiar with Prometheus No. 17.
Even if it was just a parallel counterpart, Dr. MEI had a way—
"!?"
The emergency shutdown command yielded no response! Prometheus No. 17 did not respond to Dr. MEI's mental link at all!
In the next instant.
BOOM!!!
A sacred fire, which had transformed from azure to gold and no longer held any trace of its bewitching evil, ignited slowly as Kevin's eyes opened.
"How is this possible…"
A terrifyingly immense presence raged forth from within "Kevin."
From Star-Buster level to Super Star-Buster level.
From Stellar-level, a quantum leap to Super Stellar-level.
Until—
"Galaxy-level!?"
That was utterly impossible!
Galaxy-level was the domain of a Grand Monarch!
Forget the Herrscher of the End from a planet-bound civilization, even the most advanced civilizations in the sea of stars, those who had yet to set out into the cosmos, couldn't possibly…
"Xingqiong."
A seemingly calm voice issued from "Kevin's" mouth.
The moment these two words were spoken, Kiana and the other two, who had been shielded behind MEI and Elysia, were instantly and unceremoniously knocked unconscious.
Even MEI and Elysia's consciousnesses were plunged into chaos for a split second.
That wasn't an attack. It was the purest form of "conversation" at the Grand Monarch level. If the Emperor didn't deliberately restrain his power, even confining most of his movements to the sun and the space between the [Pillars], his mere existence would inflict devastating damage upon the Empire's home world.
"Since you've already arrived."
"Why not show yourself?"
---o---
The moment "Kevin's" voice fell, to the utter shock of MEI and Elysia, a somewhat familiar white-haired junior slowly stepped out of the void.
Kiana Kaslana.
To be precise, it was the body of Kiana Kaslana. As for the terrifying power it now contained, MEI and Elysia understood everything the moment they regained their clarity.
"MEI, Elysia."
"Take them and retreat further."
"Kiana's" voice was equally calm and unhurried.
The Emperor's full name was [Emanator, Grand Monarch of the Firmament, Crown of Order, the Great Imperial Entropic Dragon].
The name "Xingqiong" (Firmament) that "Kevin" had just spoken was the "direct" address that Grand Monarchs used only among themselves.
Without needing any intelligence, the titles possessed by a Grand Monarch were as conspicuous as the North Star at night to another of the same rank.
That's right.
The "Kevin" at this moment was no longer Kevin.
To be precise, the Honkai Will that Prometheus No. 17 had become was no longer the Honkai Will from Dr. MEI's plan.
One might recall that the reason the "People from the Sky" appeared on Earth was due to the Void Archives making contact with them—and the latter was one of Prometheus's "numbered avatars."
It was self-evident.
The Honkai Will that the Emperor had always been wary of, the Honkai Will now occupying Kevin's body…
Its origin was—
"A pleasure to meet you…"
"Kiana's" tone was very polite, but there was not the slightest hint of a smile in her eyes.
"Juemie."
---o---
The Grand Monarch of Annihilation, Juemie.
Leader of the Antimatter Legion, the most trusted Emanator and commander of Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction.
His full title was—
[Emanator, Grand Monarch of Annihilation, Crown of Chaos, the Annihilator of Spacetime and Silence]
The Emperor.
Yes, the will inside Kiana's body originated from a mental avatar of the Emperor.
Her mission was completely different from the other agents. The reason she was the last to descend was to make sufficient preparations to better serve as a vessel for the Emperor's avatar… just like Kevin on the other side.
As a "descendant," the "Origin" Kiana possessed was the closest to the Emperor's, making her an indispensable vessel for the avatar's descent.
The contact between Grand Monarchs was simple and unadorned.
Just as Juemie could perceive the Emperor's information, Juemie's information, especially the part concerning his "True Name," appeared in the Emperor's cognition without any reservation.
Wei was dimension.
Ke referred to scale.
Xiao was to erase.
Ji was the void.
Without a doubt, just how powerful the Grand Monarch of Annihilation, who had silenced the sea of stars, was, could be glimpsed from his True Name, which meant the "erasure of spacetime."
Even if it was just an avatar… it was an avatar at the level of a Grand Monarch.
"Not far enough."
MEI and Elysia had already teleported the main trio a considerable distance away—the coordinates of this instantaneous leap spanned far more than just a few galaxies.
But.
They were estimating the destructive power of a Grand Monarch using the combat standards of an [Emanator]… The discrepancy was far from small.
The Emperor was transmitting a message to them.
And Juemie clearly had no intention of stopping him. In his eyes, even a fellow [Emanator of Destruction] like Dascain from his own faction was of little value.
This was not arrogance.
As a Grand Monarch who could go head-to-head with any Aeon who wasn't in the top tier, the scenery Juemie saw… had long been no different from that of an Aeon.
"A time vortex has pushed the Legion here."
The coordinates, which had already been anchored, were directly thrown to Elysia by the Emperor.
"Even with the help of a Super-Titan, Houraiji Kyuusyou can only last another 136 seconds. You and MEI go assist her."
Houraiji Kyuusyou's attack was no accident at all.
There is no before or after within a time vortex. The Emperor's plan had been aimed at this "accident" from the very beginning.
"Ji Lin and 'Fu Hua' have been waiting for a long time."
A tributary that did not exist in the "main history" was plucked by the Emperor from a story traced back thousands of years. From the perspective of "Propagation," this special army that had waited for so long had been "cultivating" for no less time than the races on the home world.
Incidentally.
The Empire had no "Fu Hua."
This Apostle-level combatant, who had the same appearance and even a very similar aura to Hua, was actually the mental avatar that had trapped Hua on Mount Taixu back then.
That's right.
This was "Senti," the one and only "Fu Hua."
---o---
"You are quite fond of your tools."
When only the wills of Lù Xíng and Juemie remained in the entire solar system, Juemie, who had watched the Emperor do everything, slowly spoke.
"Civilization is no mere tool."
The Emperor unhurriedly refuted Juemie's statement.
"…Correct. After all, the difference in the 'Paths' we walk dictates the difference in our styles."
Unexpectedly, after a moment of thought, Juemie actually agreed with Lù Xíng's words.
"Different?"
"Are you sure?" the Emperor retorted with a hint of a smile.
"Oh~"
The conversation between Juemie and the Emperor showed no trace of the tyrannical nature that could turn a nebula into a sea of fire at a whim.
"How much do you know?"
"Not much," the Emperor said with a shrug.
Of course, this action was actually performed by Kiana's body.
"I only know how you descended here."
There was no spatial fluctuation, no tearing of the dimensional barrier. The Emperor's action of retrieving an object from the Imaginary Space was as casual as opening his own front door.
In his hand, a rhombus-shaped floating crystal shone as brightly as a star.
"Excellent."
Juemie expressed his "approval."
"I have indeed underestimated you. For beings like us, the length of our existence proves nothing."
"Next time I do something like this, I really must be more cautious… although I don't believe there will be another fellow like you for a very, very long time to come."
Juemie did not deny the Emperor's earlier topic.
The special individual, a Creature of the Fragmentum printed from a Stellaron, whose true name was the [Will-Integrator]—
This name came from the Honkai Will of "Honkai Gakuen 2."
That's right.
The time vortex surrounding the Earth seemed simple, but it was actually an extremely dangerous and destructive astronomical phenomenon. By anchoring an avatar that shared a large amount of Imaginary energy at the origin point of time, one could, to a certain extent, micromanage this power.
If the Emperor didn't wish it, even Juemie would have found it difficult to interfere in this battle… at least, he couldn't have just sent a mental avatar. To break through head-on would have also consumed a significant amount of Imaginary energy.
As for how to break through this defense…
Smuggling.
Using an object that contained a large amount of the Authority of Destruction, at least at the Emanator level, to anchor coordinates and smuggle oneself in.
That was the [Will-Integrator] crystal in the Emperor's hand.
In other words, at the cost of allowing Juemie's avatar to reach the battlefield, the Emperor had confirmed a piece of very important intelligence:
What is the Honkai Will?
No matter who occupied this position, the source of the phenomenon of Honkai was, in the end, nothing more than an extension of the power of the Aeon of Order.
[Authority of Order]
The Grand Monarch of Annihilation, Juemie, held the Authority of Order.
And more importantly—
It didn't matter whether the Authority of Order Juemie held was greater or lesser than his own. But since they both possessed the power of Order, and neither had reached the apex of their Path to become an Aeon…
The matter was clear:
They possessed the Authority at the level of a Grand Monarch, yet had not ascended to become an Aeon.
Who else could?
That's right.
Another Aeon.
The Emperor's [Authority of Order] came from the power left behind during the era when the "Honkai God" presided over the Path. For at least these four thousand years, which wasn't a long time, the power of his Path had not changed significantly… neither increasing nor decreasing.
Which meant that the seat of the Aeon of the Path of Order had not changed in four thousand years; it remained vacant in the cosmic sea.
Now, this line of thought might need a new perspective:
There is an Aeon who currently holds the Path of Order. But because the Path they already possess is extremely powerful, they have not become the Aeon of Order, but instead maintain their original [Path].
Who could it be?
Any Aeon who had made a deal with the Aeon of Order was a possibility.
The only way the Emperor could imagine persuading another Aeon to use their own Path as a bargaining chip was to offer "the means to command multiple Paths simultaneously" as the price.
Lù Xíng held many Paths.
Among them, Order was dead, Permanence had dissipated, Trailblaze was gone, Beauty had passed on, Voracity was incapable of managing worldly affairs, Finality dictated the end, and Preservation had no intention of conquest.
The remaining "suspects" were—
The Erudition, The Abundance, The Remembrance, The Enigmata, and The Destruction.
These five were all very powerful Aeons. But The Abundance, who was countered by the Reignbow Arbiter (Lan, Aeon of the Hunt), and The Erudition, who had ascended not long ago (Nous became an Aeon after the Aeon of Order fell), could also be eliminated.
Among the remaining three Aeons…
As the Grand Monarch of Annihilation revealed traces of "Order," the previously vague speculation had likely become very clear:
Order belongs to Nanook.