Elliot left Teyvat, using his mastery of space to leap beyond the confines of this world—beyond the eggshell of Phanes.
His eyes widened as he beheld the vast expanse before him, realization striking that his suspicions had been correct.
From the first of his reincarnations to the end of the ninth, he had lived for more than a thousand years in Teyvat—so long that he had almost forgotten he was once a traveler from "Earth." He had even forgotten that all of this had begun as nothing more than a game.
Only when those memories returned did Elliot understand that his journey was far from over.
Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact 3rd shared the same universe.
And within this shared cosmology existed two supreme entities: the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta.
Each trunk of the Imaginary Tree represented a world, a civilization. Every leaf that sprouted from those trunks held that world's past, present, and future.
In other words, each leaf was a parallel world.
Theoretically, if Elliot could locate the branch belonging to Teyvat, he would be able to travel freely across all Genshin worlds—even return to his past eight lives.
However, the enormity of the Imaginary Tree was far beyond comprehension. Such an idea was utterly impossible in practice, achievable only in theory.
Although the Imaginary Tree could give rise to countless parallel worlds, its nourishment could not be distributed evenly among them.
Powerful civilizations demanded more sustenance to thrive, while those too weak to evolve would be abandoned.
And from that truth, the phenomenon known as the Cataclysm was born.
No human world could escape it. The Cataclysm would eventually descend upon every civilization. Only those that survived could continue to grow and prosper.
If a world failed to endure, its leaf would be cast off the Imaginary Tree and fall into the Sea of Quanta.
The Sea of Quanta was the Imaginary Tree's eternal rival; the two existed in perpetual opposition.
Worlds that withered upon the Tree would fall into the Sea of Quanta, forming "world bubbles." Before long, those bubbles would be devoured, reduced to nourishment for the Sea of Quanta itself.
...
Now, the trunk known as "Teyvat" had already fallen from the Imaginary Tree.
In other words, the continent of Teyvat had suffered a Cataclysm long ago, in an age so ancient that its scars were lost to history.
The result was inevitable—Teyvat had lost. It had become a fallen world, severed from the Tree.
Having broken through the boundaries of Teyvat, Elliot surveyed the dark void around him, his brow furrowed. Countless black spheres floated in every direction.
Most drifted above the Sea of Quanta, while a few were already half-submerged within it.
Each sphere was a parallel version of Teyvat.
Those dark globes were the so-called "False Sky"—the so-called "Phanes Eggshell."
At this stage, Teyvat had been completely abandoned by the Imaginary Tree. Its consumption by the Sea of Quanta was only a matter of time.
And within Teyvat itself, the Sea of Quanta's devouring force had another name—
The Abyss.
Yes. The ever-spreading Abyss was born from the erosion of the Sea of Quanta. It had already seeped deep beneath Teyvat's surface.
Although Elliot had temporarily quelled the disaster of Khaenri'ah, the Abyss could not be banished. It remained—a slow, unstoppable rot that would continue until the world itself was destroyed.
When that day came, no matter how powerful he was, he would still be forced to watch as the world perished before his eyes.
Elliot would rather discard the efforts of nine lifetimes than stand idle and witness Teyvat's extinction.
"The Sea of Quanta..."
He descended slowly toward the endless, lightless expanse.
The pitch-black sea stretched infinitely, its depths unseen, emanating an aura that stirred a primal unease within him.
Even standing near the surface made it hard for him to breathe.
The pressure was suffocating—inescapable. Even after unfolding layers of spatial barriers to isolate himself from the surrounding matter, the oppression could not be blocked out.
Pain surged through his body—like drowning, like a blow cracking his skull open. His chest tightened, dizziness clouded his mind, and his entire being screamed in resistance.
Every cell in his body rejected the Sea of Quanta's presence—just as living beings instinctively rejected death itself.
Gritting his teeth, Elliot cautiously extended his foot toward the sea's surface.
Sizzle!
He vanished instantly.
Suspended in the void, Elliot frowned as he looked down at his leg. His right calf had completely disappeared, leaving only scraps of necrotic purple flesh dangling from the bone—bones that themselves had turned a sickly violet from corrosion.
He had merely brushed the surface, yet half his leg had been obliterated in an instant.
The Abyssal corrosion crept upward from his calf.
Elliot immediately poured life force into his limb, forcing regeneration. The process was unbearably itchy, but effective—the leg reformed in an instant.
Yet the corruption didn't cease. Instead, it turned downward, devouring the newly regenerated flesh once again.
"What a vicious thing," Elliot muttered. A moment slower, and half his body might have been gone.
It was a dangerous experiment—but it revealed something vital.
The Sea of Quanta wasn't completely untouchable.
...
Soon, Elliot returned to Teyvat, a new plan forming in his mind. It was risky—but it might work.
The Lord of the Underworld had already departed Celestia, leaving only his shadow behind.
Elliot withdrew all of his shadow powers, left behind a letter, and departed once more.
This time, he was ready—truly at his peak.
He reached the Sea of Quanta again.
Practice made perfect. With the lightest touch, like a dragonfly skimming the surface of a pond, he extended his foot and pulled it back immediately.
Sizzle!
Prepared for the pain, he endured as his leg dissolved halfway before flooding it with life force, instantly restoring it.
"It might work…" he whispered.
Growing bolder, Elliot gathered all his power into his right leg and pressed it against the Sea of Quanta once more.
The flesh vanished and regrew in rapid succession. He didn't retreat. Instead, he remained there, enduring.
His leg's flesh regenerated and corroded repeatedly, the pain so intense that veins bulged across his temples as he clenched his fists tightly.
"It's working… There's still a chance…"
With life energy surging like a torrent, Elliot extended his other leg.
Soon, both legs were locked in the same torturous cycle—flesh regenerating, flesh dissolving, again and again.
His body began to sink, each millimeter downward magnifying the pain tenfold.
Before long, both his legs were fully submerged, and the corrosion crept upward to his thighs.
His flesh and bones continuously decomposed and reformed, over and over, second after second. Not even his skeleton escaped the agony.
Centuries passed. After billions of cycles of disintegration and regeneration, his body had become strong enough to resist the erosion—to slow it to a crawl.
When the corruption could no longer reach his vital organs, Elliot took a final breath… and plunged headfirst into the Abyss.
Alone, he descended into the Sea of Quanta that devoured all things—searching for the final spark of life within its endless darkness.