Kevin's experience at the banquet in the Elysian Realm was excellent.
It was as if he had returned to the past.
There, he could even faintly see the shadow of MEI.
Kevin had once thought his will was as hard and unshakable as ice in the depths of space. But today, with the Honkai crisis gone, Kevin just wanted to find a quiet place to be alone.
The Cocoon of Finality had left its shadow on this world.
It had left the power to replicate itself in this world, as one of the methods to deal with Noldrei.
Just as the Previous Era had painstakingly left behind a sliver of power as a hope against Finality, Finality had done the same.
After speaking with the memory constructs of his past friends, Kevin was actually very clear that his current, broken body had no chance of defeating Noldrei.
Whether in will or ability, he had already reached the point of being completely spent.
The power of Finality repeated its cycle of destruction and rebirth within his body, even summoning him back to the Cocoon of Finality several times.
The will of humanity shifted chaotically within the Stigmas, and on his body, the ultimate endpoint of the Stigmas had condensed.
This power made it almost impossible for Kevin to do anything else.
The only one who knew of this situation was Elysia.
But even though Elysia understood Kevin's condition, she couldn't persuade him to let go so easily.
There was no helping it. This was everything the Previous Era had burdened Kevin with.
It couldn't be changed with just a few simple words.
Other than Noldrei, who could stand against him, Elysia couldn't think of any other way to make Kevin 'see the light' on his own.
It was just that Noldrei's thoughts were very difficult to understand.
"Kevin, what are your plans now? Or are you just waiting for a descendant to take the authority of Finality from your hands at any time?"
Elysia looked at him with concern. At this moment, she couldn't be sure if Kevin was still the same MANTIS from back then.
Fortunately, Kevin hadn't changed. He pondered for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't know. And Noldrei hasn't made a move. I can't figure out what he wants to do. If it were for the authority of Finality, he shouldn't be dragging it out like this. He would have sent a Kaslana descendant to take this power from my hands long ago."
He was still considering whether the descendants had the ability to inherit this hope.
But because of certain ideas left behind by the Will of the Honkai, Kevin was more worried that someone who shouldn't inherit this hope would obtain this power.
Elysia had a flash of insight. She probably knew what Noldrei was waiting for.
It wasn't just a simple transition of the Cocoon of Finality from one person's hands to another's.
It was very likely that the handover of this authority would be completed in another way.
Kevin's brow furrowed tightly. "Logically speaking, the Will of the Honkai shouldn't have just vanished. Under normal circumstances, it should have hidden behind the scenes, not come out to face me directly and then disappear."
Elysia didn't have much confidence when it came to the authority of Finality.
It wasn't that she didn't understand the power of the Herrscher of Finality, but that she wasn't clear on what form the authority of Finality should take at this moment.
Elysia wasn't an omnipotent Doraemon; there was no way she could know the direction the Cocoon of Finality had chosen.
"It left something behind with its own death, which forces me to consider these things. For the Current Era, I'm not worried about whether they have the ability to overcome Finality. I'm more worried that this is a trap set by Noldrei."
"He's too strange..."
Kevin sighed subconsciously. Before sitting on the throne of Finality, he had thought Noldrei was the best leader for civilization.
But after sitting on that throne, especially after trying to infiltrate the Stigmas with the power of Finality, Kevin clearly realized just how deep Noldrei's control over the entire human civilization was.
Yet he hadn't done it himself. Instead, he had propped up others to walk this path, turning them into the tentacles of his power.
Compared to that, Sa's so-called 'proxy' game was utter garbage.
Elysia subconsciously tried to persuade him, "Kevin, just let it go. You can't outplay him."
Kevin looked at Elysia blankly. Why did that sound a bit off?
Elysia seemed to realize she had been too blunt and corrected herself, "I mean, with your wisdom, you can't possibly think through these problems."
Kevin subconsciously leaned back. He felt Elysia was getting more and more out of line.
Elysia quickly tried to salvage the situation, "I'm sorry, Kevin. I meant to say, without MEI, you're nothing."
Kevin took a deep breath and looked up, stopping Elysia's 'eloquent' speech.
He said helplessly, "I know what you mean, but the worries I can't let go of... I just can't let them go."
Elysia sighed. "What is there to not let go of? It's not a big deal. Either humanity burns itself out and enters a new world in a few thousand years, or it becomes the future that Noldrei spoke of."
"Think about it. It's just feeling a pain that modern people can't feel, right? When that time comes, it's not even certain if we can solve the problem. But this pain doesn't mean it's bad. At the very least, it can carry human civilization forward in endless progress, can't it?"
"No matter how painful it is, can it be more painful than the loss brought by the Honkai crisis?"
Elysia's words did comfort Kevin quite a bit.
Kevin then asked, "Ely, what do you think... how should I hand over the Finality in my hands?"
Elysia then asked for details about the problem of Finality.
And so, Kevin truthfully recounted his conflict with Noldrei, and even explained the trouble the Will of the Honkai had left for him.
Elysia had originally just thought that Kevin hadn't handed over the power of Finality out of a sense of responsibility to civilization.
But she never would have thought that Noldrei's deep control over human organizations would cause the Honkai's consciousness to, in reverse, be forced to stand on humanity's side.
The strongest destructive force against humanity was created by humanity itself.
And the Herrschers, who should have been matched with this suffering, were now all standing on humanity's side.
But if they stood on humanity's side, they had to consider how to overcome the endless suffering created by humanity.
If they couldn't win together, they would surely lose together.
Only then did Elysia realize that her idea of persuading Kevin was too simple. It even involved many problems that she couldn't control.
And with the changes she had left behind in the Previous Era...
She had caused the Will of the Honkai to choose Herrschers who would follow the will and suffering of humanity, and this antecedent was then further utilized by Noldrei, binding it to the social contradictions of humanity.
'Equal power and responsibility. Is this what true equal power and responsibility is?'
Elysia never would have thought that the authority of Finality would become a volcano's crater.