---o---
The sword finally fell, slashing through God's body.
The smile remained on God's lips as its body began to disintegrate and vanish. Fu Li knew with certainty that God had not died.
"You will bleed," Fu Li said with conviction before God disappeared completely.
In the next instant, the white space shattered, and countless white fragments reflected different versions of him.
When Fu Li opened his eyes again, Elysia, who had just transformed into the Thirteenth Herrscher, her pupils constricted. She turned her head and looked at Fu Li in disbelief.
The aura he exuded was one the Flame-Chasers present were all too familiar with: the Thousand-Man Herrscher, or rather, the Herrscher of Domination.
But hadn't the Herrscher of Domination already been eliminated? Why would it appear again, and with Fu Li as its host?
In the span of a single day, two 'traitors' had appeared among the Flame-Chasers.
"Fa-Father? Why is it you?"
On the outermost edge of the battlefield, Aponia saw this scene, and for the first time, her hands trembled visibly.
In her vision, the threads of fate above the world were undergoing another bizarre change.
The countless entangled threads were now being ground to pieces by the meshing of a great gear, crushed until they became nothing.
Only this time, the grinding of the gear did not bring hope, but a bone-chilling fear and unease.
The nun, who had always been compassionate and held the hands of the weak, felt a selfish thought rise in her heart for the first time.
Why Fu Li? Why did it have to be him who became a Herrscher?
[You have become the final individual of the Herrscher of Domination.]
[Congratulations on obtaining the talent 'Herrscher of Domination'.]
[When this talent awakens, you will become the final individual of the Thousand-Man Herrscher, gaining the complete Authority of Domination.]
Fuck! What kind of useless authority is this?! He didn't want it at all!
At this moment, Fu Li could feel another strange consciousness within his body, aided by countless lingering resentments, constantly fighting him for control.
And that wasn't the most fatal part. The most lethal thing was the will of the Honkai—or perhaps the will God had instilled in him—to destroy and annihilate humanity.
"Quickly, while I'm still conscious, kill me!"
In an instant, Fu Li and Elysia moved almost simultaneously, launching attacks on all the Flame-Chasers present, except for Griseo who was not there.
The difference, however, was that Elysia's attacks seemed relentless and overwhelming, but they wouldn't truly harm the Flame-Chasers.
As for Fu Li, because he could still control parts of his body, his sword swings were subconscious and posed little real threat.
Simply put, both of them were throwing the fight.
"Su and I will deal with Elysia. The rest of you, handle Fu Li."
In the end, it was Kevin who gave the order, brandishing his blade and charging toward Elysia.
Fu Li, meanwhile, was surrounded by the others.
"Dammit, Li! Snap the fuck out of it!"
It was Kalpas who struck first, throwing a friendship-breaking punch straight at Fu Li's face. Fu Li didn't resist and took the hit squarely.
However, the trope of being punched back to one's senses only happens in anime. The consciousness in Fu Li's mind was not knocked out.
At the same time, a series of urgent, gentle commands rang out.
"Father, [please] wake up!!"
"Father, [please] stop!!"
"Herrscher consciousness, [please] get out of his body!!"
...…
A series of helpless requests came from Aponia's lips, yet against Fu Li, who possessed the same Honkai Beast genes as Su, they seemed exceptionally powerless.
Her ever-effective [Discipline] lost its meaning at this moment, eventually turning into a feeble plea.
"Father, [I beg you], recover."
As she uttered this final plea, Fu Li's body trembled, and the weapon he was swinging froze in mid-air.
"Aponia," Fu Li said, using all his strength.
"I'm sorry, my consciousness is about to be dispelled. Please, at least allow me to die with the dignity of a human."
"So, goodbye."
With that, aided by Aponia's [Discipline], Fu Li used the last of his sanity to retract all the Honkai energy protecting his core.
The tip of the Divine Key 'Ruoli' reversed in an instant, aiming at its own master.
"Don't! [Please] stop!"
Seeing this, Aponia's pupils shrank, and her body subconsciously lunged forward.
However, it was too late. The Divine Key had already pierced Fu Li's body, running through his life and his core.
Unseen and unfelt, the threads bound the fates of all.
It guided life, born amidst cries; it gently held the soul, returning in silence.
In a daze, amidst the threads of fate being endlessly churned by the gear, two seemingly delicate yet resilient pink threads snapped at their very source.
The Thread of Romantic Fate, woven together at the end of destiny, had been severed the moment one of its owners met their 'end'.
And at that very moment, on the other side of the battlefield, the Sword of Kaslana, Might of An-Utu, also pierced the body of another Herrscher.
The two strongest Herrschers beneath the Herrscher of the End had ended their own lives without killing a single person.
"Cough, cough… It's no use, Aponia…"
In the center of the brutal battlefield, Fu Li, impaled by 'Ruoli', collapsed into Aponia's arms. He looked at the pleading nun and smiled with relief.
"No, [I beg you], you have to live, [I beg you]."
Feeling his blood drip onto her, Aponia's heart was filled with endless regret.
If she had known that changing fate would have such devastating consequences, she would have rather been entangled by the threads and lived a life of solitude than lose him.
"Aponia, don't be so sad. Look…"
Meeting Aponia's terrified eyes, Fu Li raised a trembling hand and pointed to the sky.
Aponia looked up at the sky where Fu Li was pointing.
There, the great wheel had vanished. What remained were countless glowing filaments that only she could see—the "puppet strings" of fate.
Now, those strings were disappearing, bit by bit, into the void.
It was as if a hand that arranged the stars was erasing the predetermined future, one thread at a time.
But as they were being erased, Aponia vaguely glimpsed a hidden thread of fate that had run through her all along.
It was the thread of fate where she had never met Fu Li from the very beginning.
In that timeline, she saw the destruction of the sanatorium, the death of Rin, her fallout with Kalpas, and her powerlessness in the face of those she wished to save.
Suddenly, Fu Li's weak voice pulled her back to reality.
"Nia-jie, you know, ever since we became adults, I haven't heard you call my name…"
"Actually, I really wanted to hear you… call me… my…"
The hand pointing to the sky fell limp. Before Aponia's eyes, Fu Li lost all signs of life.
"Father… No, Li… you really are… a fool…"
Aponia lowered her head, carefully and tremblingly leaving a kiss on the corner of his lips.
She resented fate, and she resented herself for believing in it.
If the inevitability of fate hadn't made her believe so deeply, this kiss could have been given much earlier, leaving no regrets.
A roughly made stone carving slipped from Fu Li's pocket, fell to the ground, and was stained with blood.