Chen Ran was fleeing.
He never imagined that he and Bronya would provoke such a huge monster.
'Provoke' isn't quite right. To be precise, their life force attracted the monster's attention.
Giant tentacles slammed into the ground, causing earthquakes. Chen Ran and Bronya saw formless quantum creatures appearing.
Crabs, octopuses, horses, etc.
They looked similar to Honkai Beasts, but they could traverse space.
Project Bunny's bullets hit them directly.
Effective.
"Bronya, don't linger, let's go."
Chen Ran said, "They're made up of the smallest unit of matter, the Planck constant, so quantum creatures are actually very fragile, but correspondingly, their lives are very tenacious."
Game monsters and reality are different.
Games have programmers adjusting HP and skills; reality doesn't.
If the Honkai Beasts appearing in four-dimensional space are real things, then the creatures appearing in the quanta are more like things in a painting.
In other words, quantum creatures are as fragile as paper.
Essentially, even the largest quantum creature can be defeated with a dagger. But it won't kill them.
In the rules of quanta, there's no concept of death or survival, only assimilation and non-assimilation.
Project Bunny, single-handedly, knocked down all the quantum creatures.
This directly angered the giant octopus.
The giant octopus that could devour worlds extended its long tentacles, and Chen Ran suddenly used the power of his Stigmata.
"Gale winds, submit to me!"
The rules of fluid directly stirred the quantum tide, severing the tentacle.
However, Chen Ran's face paled slightly.
These tentacles transformed back into quantum creatures, attacking him.
At this moment, Bronya said, "There's no way forward, it's bottomless. What do we do?"
"Hold onto me."
"Okay."
Bronya held onto Chen Ran's waist.
Then, the two of them jumped into another world bubble.
…
…
"Where are we?"
After escaping the Honkai creatures, Chen Ran and Bronya arrived in another world bubble.
However, unlike the devoured world, this world bubble showed traces of civilization.
"Um, doesn't this feel familiar?"
When Chen Ran saw the city in the distance, he showed an expression of 'as expected'.
"Nagazora City in a parallel world bubble. However, although Nagazora City hasn't been destroyed, the world should be entering its countdown to destruction."
He said, "If we're lucky enough, we can witness the end of a world, but that will probably take a long time."
The Sea of Quanta has no concept of time, but world bubbles do.
The Shicksal world, detached from the Imaginary Tree, essentially fell into the Sea of Quanta, but its overall destruction is still decades away.
People in a world bubble are unaware that the entire world will be destroyed.
It's just that Chen Ran felt it was too much of a coincidence that he had come to Nagazora City again.
Bronya noticed Chen Ran's strange expression and asked, "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing."
"It's just that in my impression, Nagazora City has suffered greatly from Destruction multiple times. Suddenly seeing a complete Nagazora City feels a bit unfamiliar."
Chen Ran's words left Bronya speechless.
At that moment, someone suddenly shouted, "Hey, what are you two doing here? There are Honkai Beasts outside, hurry up and get inside!"
A person was waving at them.
"Wendy?"
The boy and girl exchanged glances, and suddenly, they felt the ground shake.
Even after leaving the world of the Imaginary Tree, Honkai still existed.
In fact, civilization itself was part of Honkai.
A massive Honkai Beast, unlike anything Chen Ran had ever seen, appeared, towering like a mountain.
Yet, he saw girl Wendy directly raising her gun and shooting at the monster.
Chen Ran noticed that she didn't have a Herrscher Core, and what she was wearing wasn't Valkyrie Armor, but a combat suit.
While shooting to divert the Honkai Beast, Wendy shouted, "Nagazora City has special protective devices, get inside quickly."
Bronya looked at Chen Ran.
Chen Ran whispered, "Let's go in."
Although he could handle the Honkai Beast, this wasn't the time to show off.
The switch for the Eye of the Abyss required a Herrscher Core to maintain, and they didn't have much time left to find Seele.
In Chen Ran's mind, there was no need to linger in this world bubble, but...
This world bubble also had a Wendy.
Half an hour later.
A thick barrier appeared around the massive Nagazora City, blocking the Honkai Beasts outside. Wendy stood on the city wall, directing the turrets to bombard the giant Honkai Beasts.
And Chen Ran learned about this world's situation.
"It should be a world bubble that just recently detached from the Imaginary Tree. It's quite dire; during the Second Honkai Eruption, all industrial centers were wiped out, and the Herrscher of the Void hasn't been eliminated yet. It's only a matter of time before this world faces Destruction."
He felt a bit melancholic.
Not every world has the ability to cross Finality, or rather, the worlds that can reach Finality are actually very few.
When Honkai distorts a rule, and that rule begins to oppose humanity, then it's humanity that will suffer.
Simply put, not every Herrscher of the Void is named Sirin.
And not every world has Schicksal or Fire Moth.
This world is quite unfortunate; unless Chen Ran could bind this world bubble back to the Imaginary Tree like Durandal did.
But he didn't have that ability.
Without Schicksal's help, without Gnius's assistance, without Blade Durandal stabilizing the world bubble...
Miracles are called miracles because of countless coincidences, and Chen Ran couldn't create such coincidental conditions.
Bronya looked at Chen Ran; although she didn't speak, her eyes urged him to hurry and leave.
Just as they were about to move, Wendy returned.
"Hey, where did you two come from? Is there still a city with people outside?"
The girl, having finished the battle, rushed to find them.
However, after she asked, she realized something was off and quickly added, "Sorry, I'm Wendy. What do you call yourselves?"
"Chen Ran." "Bronya."
Wendy murmured, "Bronya, that name sounds a bit familiar."
Chen Ran paused and directly said, "To be honest, we aren't from the city outside; we come from the world outside."
"The world outside? Are you with those people?"
Wendy's eyes revealed a hint of vigilance and disgust.
Chen Ran was puzzled, "What people? Are there others who have come?"
"Ha, a bunch of self-righteous fools," she said. "They went straight to ME Corp's president, Raiden Ryoma, claiming that this world is about to face Destruction and demanded to take away resources and books. Their attitude was infuriatingly arrogant."
Chen Ran had to exchange another glance with Bronya.
Theoretically, the Sea of Quanta connects all parallel worlds, so it was normal for people from other civilizations to come here.
Although the probability was low, it couldn't be considered unexpected.
He looked at Wendy and steeled himself to say, "I don't know who you're talking about, but Bronya and I have nothing to do with them."
"However, this world is close to Destruction... what is that?"
When Chen Ran looked up, he saw a massive spaceship blocking the sun over Nagazora City, beginning to fly above.
Wendy's expression darkened, "The people from the sky, that's their arrogant self-designation. Ha, they're just cowards driven from their homes by Honkai."
That said, her expression was still very serious.
Clearly, the people from the sky had been here for some time.
However, unlike the plot in "A Post-Honkai Odyssey," the people from the sky here chose to communicate verbally to obtain Honkai Energy.
World bubbles are not suitable for settlement, but they are suitable for plundering Honkai Energy, serving as a base for searching for a new home.
He suddenly recalled the plot in "The Foreign Land Arc."
Himeko's father, Murata Ryusuke, must have encountered the people from the sky around 2004.
He shook his head, intending to leave just like that when suddenly, a meteor fell from the sky.
Wendy's expression changed, "The Herrscher of the Void is attacking."
A massive meteor was crashing toward the flying vessel of the people from the sky, and at that moment, the people from the sky also launched a counterattack.
In Wendy's astonishment, the meteor was instantly obliterated.
"Material decay?"
Chen Ran frowned, then he saw the sky open a door to the world, connecting the imaginary realm with this world bubble.
Herrscher of the Void, Sirin.
Wendy's expression showed a hint of complexity, but she quickly returned to her combat post. Chen Ran and Bronya followed suit.
Chen Ran noticed that many mechanical titans and ELFs appeared around Nagazora City. Clearly, this world bubble relied on machinery as the main means to resist Honkai.
The people from the sky and the titans fired at Sirin, but soon they were separated by an invisible Honkai barrier.
Bronya asked, "Do you need help?"
"Yes."
Chen Ran replied, "After all, not participating in trouble and watching others die are two different things."
His eyes narrowed slightly, but at that moment, a massive machine appeared inside Nagazora City.
Wendy's eyes lit up, "It's the Father."
MSR-7 Father robot.
The giant robot aimed at the Herrscher of the Void and began to fire continuously.
Wendy suddenly shouted, "I remember now, the pilot of the Father is called Bronya."
She immediately looked at Bronya, who blinked, "Probably the me from a parallel world."
It was unclear what kind of shells were made, but they shattered the imaginary barrier.
Sirin frowned, preparing to fold space with the imaginary realm to change the trajectory of material movement.
But the Father didn't give her a chance and activated a special magnetic field.
"Anti-Honkai force field?" Chen Ran was slightly taken aback, "This thing really exists."
He noticed that after this force field appeared, all of Sirin's Honkai offensive methods became ineffective.
However, the Father's attacks weren't very effective either.
Chen Ran whispered to Bronya, "Wait for me here."
He exerted force with his legs, propelling his body with Honkai Energy, soaring high into the air.
Wendy was slightly taken aback, "What is this method?"
"Stigmata," Bronya explained.
She had no intention of participating in the battle, nor did she currently have the ability to do so.
However, when Bronya saw the many Honkai Beasts brought by Sirin, she had a vague premonition: she was witnessing the demise of a civilization.
...
...
Honkai is a special language for dialogue between the universe and humanity.
Civilizations that fail to understand this language will ultimately be eliminated.
This world bubble is no exception.
Sirin is merely a 'container' carrying the Herrscher of the Void, while the authority held by the Herrscher is what humanity should be conversing about.
A massive number of Honkai Beasts broke through the barrier of Nagazora City, and the ELFs and mechas were unable to withstand the onslaught from the Honkai army.
At this moment, Sirin, though lacking the authority of Finality, had become the Finality of all humanity.
In the Sea of Quanta, Chen Ran had no weapons, but fluid could become his weapon.
The system had said he wouldn't die.
So there was nothing to fear.
The ideal fluid from beyond the world became an important tool for him to cut through the imaginary realm. Sirin, in a fit of rage, commanded the various Honkai Beasts to pounce on Chen Ran, but they were obliterated at light speed.
The massive Father seemed to understand something, abandoning all targets to attack Sirin, buying time for Chen Ran.
With the Father's assistance, Sirin was immediately pushed back.
The battle in the sky boosted the morale of the soldiers on the ground, including Wendy, who manipulated the city's defensive devices to push back the tide of Honkai Beasts.
However, to Bronya, it felt more like a dying patient's last flicker of life.
In this world, all industrial facilities and cities had basically been destroyed by Destruction, leaving only Nagazora City.
There was no organized army, nor any human expansion space.
Technology had only developed mechas and ELFs, with no so-called Valkyries.
It could be inferred that this world was not advanced in the application of Honkai technology, but it did have decent anti-Honkai technology.
However, this technology did not support the survival of this world.
"Useless struggle."
That was Sirin's words.
Although the pufferfish was currently at a disadvantage, the swarm of Honkai Beasts made it hard to say that Sirin was weak.
Essentially, the world bubble that fell into the Sea of Quanta was already an abandoned world. Even if Sirin was defeated, without the next Herrscher, being consumed by quantum was just a matter of time.
Chen Ran felt no sadness or joy.
The Herrscher before him was too weak, even weaker than the Herrscher of the Void in the original world, with the concentration of Honkai Energy in her body barely reaching the level of a Herrscher.
Under his continuous assault and the Father's fire support, Sirin was pushed back step by step.
Seemingly realizing that success was impossible today, Sirin cast a resentful glance at Chen Ran and attempted to leave.
"Fire!"
Bronya aimed at Sirin.
Then she secured the kill.
She looked at Wendy calmly: "There will be more Herrschers to come, be prepared."
Despite this, she had already thought of a way for this world to come to an end.
Bronya's mood was actually hard to calm.
She was not a particularly noble person; otherwise, she wouldn't have collaborated with Cocolia to create Nagazora City's Honkai.
Essentially, the girl was indifferent to life and emotions, caring for no one except Seele, not even herself.
However, when a civilization is about to reach its end, it inevitably touched Bronya.
At that moment, Wendy suddenly spoke: "Thank you."
Her voice was somewhat complex: "Sirin wasn't like this before, it's just…"
Perhaps it was due to the immense disaster brought by Honkai that the girl's emotions were beginning to crumble. Through Wendy's narration, Bronya learned about the origins of the Second Herrscher.
Like Wendy, Sirin was also a frontline warrior against Honkai.
However, before the First Herrscher appeared, Honkai had already ravaged many cities, and with the outbreak of a world war, many of humanity's heavy industrial cities fell.
Afterward, the emergence of the First Herrscher dealt a huge blow to the world, leaving humanity with only a few cities.
Then, people began to create a super metropolitan area around the extreme eastern island where Nagazora City was located, a place that would "not be affected by Honkai."
The leader was ME Corp.
By the time Wendy and Sirin were fighting against Honkai, ME Corp had already gained prestige.
Later, ME Corp observed that the concentration of Honkai Energy was still rising, and then initiated the artificial Herrscher project.
Sirin participated in this project, preparing to become a Herrscher controlled by humanity, as a weapon against Honkai.
But clearly, the plan failed.
Bronya pondered.
Last night, Chen Ran had said some detailed speculations about Honkai to her to avoid awkwardness.
Honkai was a special language for higher civilizations to communicate with existing civilizations, while Herrschers were the translators of that language. Essentially, only by understanding all physics could a civilization ascend to a higher level.
And Herrschers were the tests that civilizations had to face.
Of course, the manner and method of the Herrscher's test needed to follow the free will of the Herrscher.
To summarize, this civilization failed in the face of the test.
But who set the test?
Who was using Honkai as a language for dialogue?
What kind of world exists in higher dimensions? Is it a parallel world reached by Honkai and consciousness, or a world beyond Honkai?
Bronya's mind couldn't help but think.
At that moment, Chen Ran returned.
Along with him was the pilot of the Heavenly Father.
Another Bronya.
Unlike the one beside Chen Ran, her hair was longer, her eyes more indifferent, and her body taller.
"Hello, welcome to Nagazora City."
Bronya grabbed Chen Ran's wrist.
Chen Ran paused and said, "But I'm sorry, we have to leave."
He hadn't forgotten his mission.
"Please wait a moment."
The pilot of the Heavenly Father slowly spoke, "Are you going to the outside world?"
"Yeah."
"As you can see, our current civilization has reached its end." She did not shy away from saying, "If you don't mind, please take this."
"It records all the information of our civilization, but we can no longer excavate more functions. If you find the outside world, please take the traces we left behind."
A transparent box was taken out by her.
Chen Ran's pupils slightly contracted.
"It is the Herrscher Core of the Herrscher of Reason. We have engraved the souls of all the deceased who have not dissipated here, for commemoration and prayer. The people in the sky originally wanted it as the energy device for the spaceship, but I did not agree."
"Now it is handed over to you."
What she handed over was not to Chen Ran, but to Bronya.
"Okay."
Bronya said: "Bronya understands."
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