The Herrscher of Death was the weakest Herrscher, yet as the wielder of the authority of death, she could create death with ease.
No living creature could escape the immutable laws of birth, aging, sickness, and death.
It was not merely that cells rapidly deteriorated. Even inanimate objects showed signs of decay and withering.
All of it happened in a single instant.
MOTH's forces had originally recorded only a two-digit death toll, but that number instantly surged into four digits.
Almost everyone involved in the battle against the Herrscher, including the logistics personnel, suddenly dropped dead.
They did not even have time to realize what had happened.
On the front line against the Herrscher, only Kevin remained.
The Herrscher of Death was struck down by Kevin once again. This time, he offered neither hesitation nor unnecessary words.
In midair, Seele's body was split open by Kevin's blade, and her scalding blood poured over the cold, silent land of death.
The plants across the earth withered with her.
"Ha... It's over."
Kevin used his greatsword to support his trembling body.
It was already too late for regret.
He had made a catastrophic mistake.
He should have killed the Herrscher immediately.
Feeling death coil around her body, the Herrscher of Death sneered. "Hmph. Death is not the end of everything. It is the beginning of despair."
"Enjoy the 'hope' I have granted you, humanity!"
"My blessing of life upon you will continue for ten thousand years, even tens of millions of years."
Upon the corpse of the Herrscher of Death, beyond the reach of human sight, the authority of life unfolded in its entirety and spread through Imaginary Space.
Yes, the Herrscher of Death had possessed authority over "life" from the very beginning. Command over all life and death was the true essence of the Herrscher of Death's authority.
During battle, the authority of life could only accelerate the growth of plants. It could be used for support, but before the authority of death, "life" seemed utterly useless.
In reality, however, the authority of life was the most terrifying authority of all. It represented occurrence, propagation, and possibility.
What were life and death?
Death was the severing of a thing's future possibilities.
Creation of life was the generation of future possibilities for a thing.
This did not apply solely to living beings. Everything that created a future possessed life and death.
Even the Imaginary Tree was no exception.
The authority of life directly opened a newborn branch upon the Imaginary Tree.
What Otto had dreamed of accomplishing was achieved effortlessly by a Herrscher of the Previous Era.
Of course, the authority of life would still have been useless to Otto, since it could not fundamentally reverse Kallen's death.
Unlike the False God Otto, who had genuinely created a world that existed because of Kallen, the branch produced by the authority of life did not possess the power to alter the world. It could only be considered a malformed secondary branch. Once its nutrients were exhausted, it would lose the ability to continue growing upward and fold back into its parent.
The only thing it altered was the Herrscher of Death's own "life"—everything Seele experienced upon that branch.
Yet the authority of life lacked the power to create a different ending. Her experiences could change, but the torrent of time would ultimately converge history's conclusion... upon the moment of the Herrscher of Death's demise.
It was an unchangeable cycle of eternal recurrence, a Möbius loop formed from the infinity of the past and the future.
The authority of life could not overcome time. It could only create the loneliest form of suffering.
The Herrscher of Death had simply been too young. At first, she did not realize this.
She met many people, and she killed many people.
Idovia, Isabella, Sirin... She saw those dead friends once more.
Upon the snowy plains, the Herrscher of Death witnessed their deaths again and again.
She destroyed Dusk Street, only to be killed by an enraged Kevin.
Not once could the Herrscher of Death save her companions. They would always die in all manner of accidents. Not once could she defeat Kevin. Even when Kevin was on the verge of death, he could still send the Herrscher of Death into another cycle.
"You still want it, and you want it countless times over?"
"But none of your choices can change the final outcome."
Only after experiencing this cycle of life and death time and time again did she finally understand.
This was fate.
Life followed death, and death followed life.
Some people were destined to die, while others were destined to survive.
Everything seemed as inevitable as fate itself, an illustrated book whose contents never changed.
"She has been trapped to death within the cycle of life and death she created herself."
"Before the cycle, everything has lost its color and sound. Seele can no longer even hear her own voice."
"Become the true Herrscher of Death, or face a genuine choice. That is what Seele came to understand through her Herrscher instincts during the endless cycle."
"The Herrscher of Death is unique. She could be called a child of the Imaginary Tree, an unusual projection of the Imaginary Tree itself."
"Seele is unique as well. She is the witness of eternal recurrence, a marionette manipulated by fate."
"Whether the cycle has repeated tens of millions or hundreds of quintillions of times, Seele's fate has never changed in any significant way."
"But... none of that matters to Seele anymore. No one can stop the inexorable wheels of fate."
"Least of all the cowardly Seele."
"Within the endless cycle, the Herrscher of Death has long since transformed into a true agent of the Honkai. She disregards life and tramples upon it."
"To her, life has lost all meaning. Mechanically carrying out the mission dictated by the instincts of the Honkai has become her only destination."
"But just before Seele truly surrendered herself to the Honkai, she met Mother Vill-V."
"This time, Seele's circumstances changed completely. Those horrifying memories of the Herrscher of Death failed to erode and possess her."
"But that is merely a matter of time. Once the moment arrives for her to become the Herrscher of Death, Seele will become the figure from those memories regardless of her wishes... the embodiment of death—the Herrscher of Death."
The silent room.
Closing the illustrated book of death that recorded her own "past," Seele sat on her bed, clutching her arm as she murmured to herself:
"It's all right, Seele. When that time comes, as long as I face death alone, no one else will die. I'll be the only one who dies."
Seele did not like the illustrated book of death, but whenever she drew, she would unconsciously reproduce the images inside her mind.
Each of the countless cycles involved the resetting of the world, and Seele's memories were inevitably erased as well.
Only after Seele came into contact with Honkai energy again could she gradually recover fragments of those memories.
Yet those memories did not immediately enter Seele's mind. They could only reveal themselves to her through unconscious drawings.
Seele had no habit of tearing up her own pictures. To her, drawing was a form of happiness. It was only thanks to Mother Vill-V's care that Seele could possess such happiness, and every picture was one of her treasures.
Seele hid all the illustrated books away and told no one about them, not even Mother Vill-V.
The more people who became involved, the more people would die because of her.
Seele was terrified. She feared that she would become like the self from her memories, controlled by the Honkai as she personally killed her friends and tens of thousands of innocent people.
Seele's petite body trembled continuously as guilt, fear, anxiety, and countless other emotions intertwined within her. "Everything is Seele's fault. Soon... everything will be over very soon."