Schicksal HQ. The Archbishop's office.
Nicholas, mid-work, suddenly felt his vision beginning to rise higher and higher. The surroundings shifted in an instant — the office dissolved and was replaced by an endless ocean.
This was Nicholas's sea of consciousness.
"What is this place?" Nicholas murmured uneasily.
He was quickly transfixed by what he saw in the sky. The pitch-black canopy above seemed to have been sliced open by a sharp blade, and through the gap, a crimson eyeball rolled around several times before forcing itself through the tear.
"This is… the deity I once saw in a dream?" Nicholas remembered — that dream which had changed the entire trajectory of his life.
Then he watched as a stream of pitch-black radiance poured down from that eye in the sky.
"What was taken must be returned."
"This power is yours. Take it."
As those black streams of light flooded into his body, the real-world Nicholas shot to his feet.
"This… what is this?"
He looked himself over and saw pitch-black mist beginning to pour from his body.
The potted plant on the edge of his desk withered the instant it came into contact with the black vapor.
At the same time, as though born already knowing, a moment of clarity rose in his heart.
He was now a divine instrument commanding the power of disease.
Nicholas's face was consumed by wild ecstasy. Looking at the black mist gathering in his hands, he burst into laughter.
It wasn't that the sudden surge of power had gone to his head — it was that he had immediately realized he now possessed the ability to unleash rivers of blood.
With the power he now held, triggering a great plague would surely cause carnage on a massive scale. His long-dormant second brother would certainly awaken under the stimulation of that sanguine atmosphere!
"Hehehehe hahahahaha!"
"Second brother — RISE!!!"
As the current Archbishop of Schicksal, Nicholas's place of work was quite a pleasant environment.
The layout was broadly similar to an estate, surrounded on all sides by lush, verdant trees.
At the moment Sa was returning to Nicholas the authority that had always been rightfully his —
On a large tree whose height surpassed the surrounding walls, the branches and leaves gave a tremble, and a purple figure pushed through them and poked her head out.
It was the Faded Elf, who had arrived here on orders from the Li Mu Cluster.
At this moment, she had her long legs hooked around a branch, hanging upside down from the tree.
"Elysia, my Elysia — where are you~?"
Monocular in hand, the Faded Elf used the cover of the surrounding foliage to scan the area.
She naturally spotted the column of black smoke rising from that direction, and recognized it as an authority resembling that of disease.
But she wasn't the least bit flustered. Although Nicholas manifesting as a pseudo-Herrscher was admittedly an unexpected development —
Thanks to the extensive contingency plans they had prepared in advance, the situation before her was nothing worth making a fuss over.
It was just some pathogens, after all. If necessary, she could even apply to borrow the Erosion Authority from Purgatory and assume the form of the Herrscher of Erosion herself.
As the ancestral progenitor of all viruses, she genuinely couldn't see how Sa's so-called extraterrestrial virus posed any threat whatsoever. Could it really know more about viruses than she, the Faded Elf?
The more important reason she had come to this location was that she had detected traces of Elysia in the area.
But strangely, after sweeping the area several times, she couldn't find Elysia anywhere.
"Well, I suppose I'll deal with Nicholas first." The Faded Elf put away her monocular with some disappointment and prepared to go handle Sa's backup plan.
But just as she was about to move, she noticed the rising column of black flame suddenly dissipate.
"Hm? What happened?"
What the peeping Faded Elf had not noticed was that on another equally tall tree not far from her —
The branches and leaves gave a gentle tremble, and hanging upside down from it was a pink figure.
She too had a monocular, trained toward Nicholas's residence. It was Elysia, who had tracked 'Mu' all the way here.
"Strange — where did it go~?"
The pink fairy swept her monocular across the surroundings and found no sign of the person who shared her appearance.
Beyond that, she wasn't sure if it was just her imagination — but she kept feeling a faint, persistent chill rising in her heart.
Yet looking around she found everything perfectly quiet, with not another soul in sight besides herself.
"Must be my imagination."
Noticing the silence all around, Elysia let out a long breath of relief.
"That gave me a fright — I thought some terrifying gravity-field creature had spotted me..."
But very quickly, she saw a column of black smoke shoot up from the direction of Nicholas's residence.
"Is something on fire?"
"No, that's not right..." Elysia furrowed her brow slightly. "There's something unpleasant about this — is that a Honkai energy fluctuation?"
"I should go take a look. I hope no one gets hurt."
But just as she was about to move, she noticed the black column of smoke suddenly scatter and disperse.
"It's gone?"
Neither the Faded Elf nor Elysia had noticed that on yet another large tree not far from either of them —
With a faint rustling of branches and leaves, a face bearing an uncanny, ten-out-of-ten resemblance to Elysia's hung upside down from it.
It was Sa's projection, who had come here wearing Elysia's appearance to ensure the plan proceeded smoothly.
She too was holding a monocular, trained on Nicholas's residence.
Seeing the black vapor erupting skyward, Sa gave a satisfied nod.
"Good — this is proceeding quite smoothly. If they want to stop a great plague from breaking out, they will have no choice but to divert power away from the main body."
"And if that happens, the main body trapped in Siberia will be able to successfully withdraw."
But despite the plan going smoothly, Sa's expression remained rather unpleasant.
Because no matter how it was dressed up — her plan to come to Earth and harvest it had ended in complete and utter failure.
And all of it was thanks to that bastard Mu. Thinking of this, Sa couldn't help grinding her teeth.
"This isn't over. Once I'm back in the Sea of Quanta, I'll find a way to drag you back there and work you like livestock for a million years! A million years!!!"
Fuming inwardly, Sa suddenly felt a chill flash through her heart.
"Eek!"
She looked around uneasily in every direction — and found nothing but lush trees. No one else in sight.
But out of caution, she still sent a message to the portion of herself in the Sea of Quanta, requesting it to use the Wisdom Eye to run a calculation.
Only after receiving the conclusion of 'all clear' did Sa finally let out a relieved breath.
"That gave me a scare — I thought something terrifying had spotted me!"
But just as she had barely finished exhaling in relief, she heard a sound of sheer horror coming from the direction of Nicholas's residence.
"GYAAAH——!!!"
Sa recognized it immediately. That scream had come from Nicholas.
"Wait — no, that can't be right, that absolutely cannot happen!"
"What on earth is Nicholas freaking out about?"
Thinking it over, Sa connected to the Wisdom Eye that was in the process of returning the authority, and the scene of Nicholas receiving it played out before her eyes.
The Nicholas inside the room no longer wore the expression of joy from when he had first received the power. In its place was an expression of pure, unbridled terror.
Because at the very moment he was about to fully receive the authority of disease, he had instinctively come to understand how the authority worked and what it entailed.
Upon receiving the authority, he would gain the power to command all manner of diseases.
If that were all there was to it, this would naturally have been a cause for tremendous delight.
But the information the authority provided did not stop there.
As disease incarnate, any illness he personally possessed would be solidified, amplified — and forged into the sharpest blade in his hands.
Taken at face value, this was also a formidable power.
However, the very first thing Nicholas thought of was his long-dormant second brother. Did that… count as a disease?
He wondered, so he asked — and the authority gave its answer.
— Yes.
Upon receiving that answer, Nicholas felt as though the sky itself was collapsing. Every shred of elation from receiving the power transformed instantly into terror.
Because he suddenly realized: if he truly accepted the authority of disease, once the illnesses within his body became solidified —
He would be permanently and irrevocably separated from his second brother for the rest of his life!!!
The moment this devastating realization set in, fear and fury took root in his heart, ultimately overwhelming his reason entirely.
"GWAH — No! Anything but this! This is absolutely unacceptable!"
"I don't want this divine power — spare my second brother!!!"
But very quickly, as more information flooded in from the authority, Nicholas's face became saturated with complete and utter terror.
Because divine authority was a gift from the gods — not something given on request, and certainly not something that could be relinquished on a whim.
Thunder and gentle rain alike are the grace of heaven.
The moment he understood this, the terror on Nicholas's face froze in place.
He looked at the projection of the Wisdom Eye that was pouring power into him.
His expression began to slowly contort. Fury and ferocity filled his face entirely.
"You insignificant thing — did you think I would abandon my second brother for some so-called divine power?"
"You can dream on!!!"
In this moment, Nicholas's spirit became incomparably resolute — so resolute that even the Wisdom Eye's interference began to slow.
Seeing this, Sa felt entirely speechless.
If this man had possessed such iron willpower during the five hundred years she had been watching him, would she have needed to wait until now?
But to successfully withdraw from Earth, Nicholas had no choice but to accept the disease authority and become a bomb. She had no option.
She increased her output.
"I am merely returning what is rightfully yours. You have no right to refuse."
Watching more black smoke pouring in from the Wisdom Eye, Nicholas's face became completely consumed by madness.
"No — I absolutely refuse to accept this outcome!!!"
Nicholas's eyes turned bloodshot, his manner wild and unhinged, as he roared at the Wisdom Eye:
"What meaning does life have without my second brother?!"
"Bastard — do you think you can arrange my life however you please?!"
"You can dream on! No one will stop me from being with my second brother!"
Using the spiritual link, Nicholas finally locked his gaze onto the Wisdom Eye that occupied the entire sky of his sea of consciousness.
Then, within that sea of consciousness, his power surged in tandem with the strengthening of his spirit.
He leaped from the ground — carrying a conviction he had never possessed at any point in his entire life — and hurled himself directly at the Wisdom Eye.
"My brother — lend me your strength!!!"
Sa had not originally intended to pay Nicholas's actions any mind. She simply did not believe this gutless, spineless wretch could change anything.
But very quickly she realized something was wrong.
Nicholas's spiritual intensity was beginning to skyrocket exponentially. As he leaped from the ground, he rapidly transformed into a meteor hurtling straight toward the Wisdom Eye.
And now — he was almost at the projection of the Wisdom Eye within his sea of consciousness.
"Wait — what do you think you're doing?" For the first time, a note of genuine panic entered Sa's voice.
"No one can separate me from my second brother — not even death!" Nicholas roared as he slammed into the Wisdom Eye.
— BOOM!!!
A brilliant explosion blossomed, its violent reverberations echoing through the entire sea of consciousness, shaking the whole world to its foundations.
Then Nicholas's shattered spiritual form began drifting downward like a helpless, broken bird.
At his energy level, he naturally could not inflict any actual damage on the Wisdom Eye.
"Heh heh heh… HAHAHAHAHA!"
But Nicholas was laughing — and laughing with deranged abandon at that.
His goal had never been to destroy the Wisdom Eye in the first place. He had simply wanted to die.
Death was terrifying. Every time he contemplated true and final annihilation, he couldn't breathe for fear.
And so he had never been able to empathize with those who chose to embrace death willingly — regardless of whether their purpose was noble or despicable.
In his view, all such people were fools. What in this world could possibly be more precious than life? Only by living did anything matter at all!
And so for five hundred years he had lived on — scraping by, surviving by whatever means necessary, clinging to life no matter what.
But in this moment, faced with the choice between his second brother and his own life, he understood at last: there truly were things in this world more important than life itself.
As Nicholas fell, he caught a glimpse of his own wretched state reflected in the pupil of the Wisdom Eye.
His form shattered. Flesh and bone crumbled apart. Blood erupted like a geyser.
Gruesome. Absolutely gruesome.
More gruesome than every sanguinary scene he had witnessed in his entire lifetime — because this gruesome sight was his own, and felt through his own flesh, was a hundred or even a thousand times more devastating.
But gazing upon his own wretched state, Nicholas felt as though his second brother was responding to him. A deranged smile stretched across his lips.
"Yes — this is it, this is exactly it!"
"GWYYAAAH!!!"
"Second brother — RISE!!!"
"BOOM — !!!"
Nicholas's spirit detonated completely, and his physical body in the real world crumpled lifelessly to the floor.
And naturally, the disease authority that had been in the process of being returned shattered and dissipated — having lost its intended recipient.
Along with it dissipated Sa's last hope of a successful withdrawal.
Siberia.
With no pressure coming from any other direction, Kallen — through revival after revival — ground Sa down until she was completely spent.
Under the Binding Domain, Sa's form had been extinguished and rekindled over and over, until at last she reached her absolute limit.
Her power had now fallen to a point where even a self-destruct could no longer tear open the Binding Domain. Which meant her hope of successfully withdrawing from Earth had been completely and utterly extinguished.
This time, when the Cocoon of Finality's gaze descended upon her, she did not extinguish herself again. She simply watched its gaze fall upon her with calm composure.
Under the Cocoon of Finality's erasure, her body began rapidly dissolving.
At this moment, Lucius stepped in front of her and said: "Sa — you've lost."
"Yes. I've lost."
With her human nature loaded back in, her emotions were extraordinarily rich.
Sa raised one hand and covered her face, hiding the expression she could no longer keep composed — but Lucius could still hear, in her teeth-grinding tone, just how turbulent she was inside.
In this humiliating and crushing defeat, if she had truly been beaten by Lucius and Kallen, she could at least have accepted it.
After all, if one's skills fell short, there was nothing worth complaining about.
But the problem was — she felt that this loss had not come at the hands of Lucius and Kallen at all. She had been defeated by the sheer diversity of the human species.
And defeated utterly and completely at that.
The very thought made Sa's chest heave violently with suppressed fury.
Even the composure of an enlightened being was insufficient to contain her indignation. A string of fluent Florsian profanity burst from her lips without restraint.
"Nicholas, you @￥@＃￥%...＃!!! (Florsian expletives)"
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