"So... you're just carrying the Herrscher Core in that?"
Acheron stared at the black plastic bag in Elysia's hand, her expression more than a little odd.
After all, that plastic bag was just too common, exactly like the standard black trash bags you'd use at home.
"We left in such a hurry earlier, we didn't notice the Herrscher Cores dropped by those Honkai zombies. It was only later I realized there was a whole bunch of these small cores, like little glass marbles, on the ground. There were so many, I couldn't carry them all, so I just found a bag."
Elysia looked back at Acheron with an utterly innocent face, shrugging her shoulders.
She was indicating that with limited options, this was the best she could do.
As she spoke, Elysia placed the bag right in front of Acheron.
Driven by curiosity, Acheron's gaze swept across the bag's contents. Inside were cores, each about the size of a glass marble, one thousand in total.
To be honest, the Herrscher that had appeared this time was just too weak, so weak that Acheron hadn't even realized these zombies were actually Herrschers.
But, you couldn't really blame Acheron and Elysia for being careless. I mean, since when does a Herrscher get kicked to death on the side of the road like a stray dog?
The previous Herrschers, while not exactly strong, had at least managed to force Acheron to draw her blade since the Herrscher of Flame. But this batch of a thousand Herrschers? They were like a freight truck rolling over speed bumps—barely even a pause.
Heck, these Thousand Herrschers were practically indistinguishable from ordinary Honkai zombies.
Weren't they just acting like it was the end of humanity before? And now it's come to this?
Acheron had this nagging feeling the Honkai was just... phoning it in.
Of course, she knew that was probably impossible.
When Elysia and Acheron returned to base with a bag full of "marbles," they ran right into Kevin's squad, just back from their own mission.
Though, much like Acheron, Kevin and his team also had rather strange looks on their faces.
"What's wrong, Kevin? You seem puzzled by something too?"
Noticing Kevin's troubled expression, Acheron couldn't help her curiosity.
"Yeah. This mission... we thought it was pretty routine, but unexpectedly... we encountered a Herrscher."
As Kevin spoke, his face seemed to struggle to maintain composure.
"You ran into one too?"
Elysia exclaimed in surprise from the side.
"Too?"
Hearing Elysia's words, Kevin was visibly taken aback. "Don't tell me..."
"Alright, alright, Kevin. Judging by your faces, the Herrscher you met must have been pretty weak too, right?"
Elysia's face showed no worry, only clear delight.
"Correct. Very... weak."
Even as he said it, Kevin seemed barely able to keep a straight face.
Compared to the Herrschers they'd faced before, the one they encountered this time was pathetically weak.
Then, Kevin began recounting their encounter to the two of them.
"Originally, while we were on the mission, we came across someone who still seemed conscious. We were planning to rescue them, but then they announced they were actually the Herrscher of Corruption."
"We were startled, of course. Who'd expect a Herrscher to show up in a place like that? We'd already steeled ourselves for potential sacrifices. But then... that Herrscher seemed to offer no resistance at all."
"I cut it down effortlessly... For a moment, I wondered if my power had skyrocketed after obtaining the Judgement of Shamash, but it just wasn't apparent before because I was comparing myself to Acheron... But thinking back on it later, the opponent was genuinely just weak..."
"It called itself the Herrscher of Corruption, with a power being an insidious, all-pervading virus. But when it tried to invade and take control of our equipment... it was blocked by the system's own firewall."
?
Acheron tilted her head, a giant question mark practically appearing above it.
Wait, the Herrscher of Corruption was stopped by a standard firewall? Was this some kind of joke?
"And what happened to that Herrscher?"
"It was quarantined and eliminated by the system's built-in antivirus..."
Even as he said it, Kevin sounded incredulous.
Had human civilization suddenly advanced a thousandfold overnight without him knowing?
How else could he explain the fact that the Herrschers, once humanity's greatest enemy, had now become so feeble?
If all Herrschers were this weak, they should forget about exterminating humanity and just go be mascots at a zoo or something.
In the conference room, Dr. Mei stared blankly at the Core of Corruption in Kevin's hand and the bag of tiny glass marbles that were the Thousand Herrscher Cores.
Was this even the Honkai anymore? How did it become so lousy after not seeing it for a few days?
"I... I need a moment to process this. I've never encountered anything like this before, I don't know what to do..."
Under the group's collective gaze, Mei shook her head, at a loss for words.
The global intensity of Honkai outbreaks had weakened not just by factors of tens, but hundreds or thousands compared to before. Yet, Mei felt no joy about this.
After all, it made no sense. To drop from an extremely brutal level down to something that barely impacted human civilization... such a drastic change probably meant something big was waiting in the wings...
However, for now, Mei had no leads. She could only dismiss the returning teams and tell them to get some rest.
"Mei... what do you think?"
On the way back to their room, Elysia, seemingly deep in thought, asked without turning her head as she walked.
"With my brain."
Acheron replied flatly.
"Huh?"
Hearing this, Elysia stopped in her tracks and turned to stare directly at Acheron.
"What is it?"
"Nothing... just feeling like Mei is being a bit humorous, making a little joke like that. Heehee."
Elysia couldn't help but laugh lightly.
"I'm not some overly serious person."
Acheron shrugged her shoulders.
For some reason, after learning that Kevin had also slain a Herrscher, Acheron felt an inexplicable sense of relief.
After all, for her, the most difficult part wasn't actually fighting the final enemy, the Herrscher of Finality.
It was figuring out how to better protect human civilization under the Honkai's assault.
Because, while the battlefield against the Final Herrscher was on the moon—no matter how fierce the fight, it wouldn't much affect Earth—the other Herrschers were different.
Each appearance of those Herrschers genuinely dealt a heavy blow to human civilization.
Like the Herrscher of Flame who could burn Australia, the Herrscher of Star who could sink continents, or the Herrscher of Binding which hard-countered MANTISes and could kill ordinary people on a massive scale.
Fortunately, although these powerful enemies had indeed caused some damage to human civilization, it had all been within acceptable limits.
Now, they had surpassed the twelve Herrschers. All that remained was waiting for the final Herrscher of Finality to appear, and then she could take care of it for good.
For Acheron, defeating the Herrscher of Finality was probably much simpler than protecting human civilization under the Honkai's attacks.
However, humanity's current defensive capabilities were truly strong. After acquiring the hyper-evolution surgery technology with a 100% success rate, the number of MANTISes had reached a staggering level.
In fact, Mobius and Mei were already considering reducing the number of super-soldier surgeries.
After all, having too many MANTISes wasn't necessarily a good thing.
Maintaining a number sufficient to cover all regions of the world was enough. Any more might lead to... other complications.
Of course, those were matters for Dr. Mei and the others to consider. Acheron only needed to kill Herrschers.
As for whether this world would descend into civil war because of these MANTISes after she left... Acheron wasn't really worried.
With Kevin and Kalpas around, they were more than enough to suppress any unrest in this world.
In terms of this world's combat power, Acheron, who didn't belong here, was in a tier of her own. Kevin and Kalpas were roughly on the same tier, their strength not too far apart, though with the Judgement of Shamash, Kevin was probably slightly stronger now.
After them came the original Flame-Chasers like Elysia, and finally, the other MANTISes.
In reality, the average MANTIS wasn't that powerful. Kevin and the others were ultimately the rare exceptions.
Nighttime. The evening breeze brushed gently. Acheron stood on the balcony, enjoying the cool refreshment of the night air.
The cool wind lifted strands of her hair, revealing her smooth cheeks and pale, slender neck.
Compared to the previous world, she had spent much longer in this one. Today, when Kevin brought back the Core of the Herrscher of Corruption, Acheron was suddenly struck by the realization: it seemed it was almost time for her to leave.
For a moment, Acheron felt a little unaccustomed to the idea.
Over such a long time, she had grown used to everything in this world, used to the company of a certain pink-haired girl.
Before she knew it, the time for farewells had arrived.
The arrival of the Final Herrscher wouldn't be delayed for long.
Acheron had her own theories about the recent anomalies of the Honkai.
Back when she first arrived, the Honkai's intensity had skyrocketed. It seemed her very presence, single-handedly raising the ceiling of the entire civilization, had driven the Honkai into a frenzy, with Emperor-class Honkai Beasts appearing like dumplings dropping into water.
However, after the battles with the Herrschers of Binding and Rock, it was as if the Honkai... realized that no matter how hard it spammed units, it couldn't deal with Acheron. So, it changed its strategy.
It began to accumulate power. After that, the Honkai's intensity decreased, and the frequency of its appearances also dropped.
If Acheron's guess was correct, the Herrscher of Finality descending upon this world would likely be far more powerful than the original, perhaps even exist on a completely different level.
After all, the Cocoon would design it based on her own combat strength as a blueprint.
Which meant, this time, facing the Herrscher of Finality, everyone else would probably be instantly annihilated in a single encounter.
Even Kevin would be no exception.
"What are you thinking about?"
Just as Acheron was lost in thought, Elysia appeared behind her. In her hands, she held a blanket, which she gently draped over Acheron's shoulders, even though Acheron wasn't bothered by the slight chill.
"Nothing."
Shaking her head gently, Acheron didn't voice her hesitation to Elysia.
"Before we know it, the Honkai is reaching its end. If I'm not mistaken, once we defeat the final Herrscher, the disaster of the Honkai will be completely over."
Elysia gently clasped her hands behind her back, looking at Acheron with a soft smile on her face.
"Mei, did you know? The state of the world right now is something I never even dared to imagine in my dreams. And all of this is because of you."
She gazed at Acheron with a smile, speaking softly.
"Me?"
"Mhm, that's right. I've dreamed many times of humanity's final state. Sometimes, civilization is destroyed, leaving only scattered survivors barely clinging on without a true culture. Or, the world is in ruins; humanity ultimately triumphs over the Honkai, but is left with a scarred land needing repair... Only... I never dreamed of a world where humanity remains as prosperous as before..."
"Mei, because of you, I've witnessed a fantasy, an ending, that never even appeared in my dreams..."
Elysia lightly pressed a hand to her chest and leaned gently against Acheron's shoulder.
Though it was just simple words, Acheron could feel the deep emotion filling the girl's heart.
"It was all just what I should do."
"There's no 'should' about it. If Mei hadn't been here... this world's ending would likely have turned out completely different! Mei saved this world. So, don't say it was just your duty..."
Listening to Elysia's rebuttal, Acheron fell silent for a moment before nodding.
"But, I still can't help feeling a bit unwilling... The final battle is probably upon us. But with my current strength, I'm afraid I won't be of much help to Mei. In fact, I might even become a burden, right?"
Faced with Elysia's question, Acheron didn't answer.
"...Mei, what do you think defines a person?"
Looking at the somewhat silent Acheron, Elysia watched her with a smile, asking her question.
She was so careful, seeming to be hoping for something, yet also fearing something.
"The definition of a person? In my heart, any being capable of joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, and possessing empathy can be called a person, even if they aren't biologically human."
Acheron glanced at Elysia, then slowly spoke.
"Then, Mei, do you think a Herrscher can become human?"
"Naturally, they can. I've always believed that even Herrschers born from the Honkai possess their own will. A person's identity is shaped by their experiences and memories."
"If a Herrscher was born into the human world, lived in it, experienced human joys and sorrows, grievances and affections, then even if her essence is that of a Herrscher, the moment she acts according to her own will to do what she wishes, she has already become a true human."
"Mhm!"
As soon as Acheron finished speaking, she saw Elysia nod excitedly beside her. "Heehee, that's what I think too! Mei, we're so in sync, even our perspectives on things are the same!"
Skillfully sidestepping a certain topic, Elysia looked at Mei, a look of perfect, contented beauty gracing her face.
--+--
The peaceful time didn't last long. Three days later, massive Honkai energy fluctuations appeared on the moon!
Moreover, the intensity of this fluctuation far surpassed any previous instance, even exceeding them by a hundredfold, a thousandfold.
Clearly, something terrifying was awakening on the moon.
"It's time."
Sensing the powerful presence brewing on the moon, Acheron lifted her head slightly and then slowly took a step forward.
The next moment, without informing anyone in Fire Moth, she arrived on the moon.
The time for parting had come. The Final Herrscher descends!
Now, all that remained was to wait for the birth of the Final Herrscher.
However, though Acheron thought her actions were stealthy enough, she was still discovered.
A short while later, a portal slowly opened beside Acheron.
It was a portal opened using the Core of the Herrscher of the Void.
And from the portal, only a single figure emerged.
It was Elysia.
"Mei, you wanted to face this final enemy alone, didn't you? That's so sneaky. How could you not call me for something like this?"
"...It's too dangerous."
Acheron looked at the slowly appearing Elysia, somewhat surprised, but upon reflection, it also seemed to make sense.
"Dangerous? When has fighting the Honkai not been dangerous? But I have a reason I must come. Mei, this time, I must face it together with you."
"Beginning with me, ending with me."
"I'm sorry, Mei, I never told you my true identity all this time. I am a Herrscher. I am the Herrscher who descended upon this world over two decades ago..."
"Let me reintroduce myself, Mei."
A beautiful smile graced Elysia's face as Honkai energy swirled and gathered around her. Finally, like a mermaid revealing her form, a form of infinite grace and beauty unfolded before Acheron.
"I am the Herrscher of Humanity. I am also this world's first Herrscher, the Herrscher of Origin, Elysia."
--+--
T/N: Now when did she figure that out?
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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