"How should I put it? There really is no need for conflict between us."
Upon hearing Aaron's words, Su immediately responded.
But hearing this, Aaron sensed that the fighting spirit in Su had not dissipated.
"But for us, whose time is limited, communicating with fists is the most efficient method, is it not?"
Not my foot. You dirty old man, you just want to trick me into attacking so you can counter with your reflection move.
This old man is very bad; I don't want to believe a single word of this.
But whatever, I roughly have a method to break the deadlock.
Considering Su honestly bears me no malice, and the worst case is failing the test and getting thrown out...
I'll just obediently step into your trap this time.
"Sigh, in that case..."
"Forgive me!"
Good, he took the bait.
Seeing Aaron's figure vanish from the spot, Su, who was long prepared, directly activated the Karma Wheel.
"No matter how much you struggle, it is futile."
Having spoken these words indifferently, Su used the power of the Karma Wheel, causing countless leaves to wrap around him.
As Aaron threw a fierce punch, he saw that the strike failed to hit Su's body and was instead neutralized by Su using the power of the Cosmic Juggernaut.
Just as expected. Then next...
The moment the strike was neutralized by Su, the power of the strike transformed into a giant fist.
This time, feigning panic as if unable to retract his move in time, Aaron was hit squarely in the body by this giant fist.
"Gwah!"
Huh?
Wait?
Watching Aaron get knocked flying by the power of his own punch, Su felt the situation was a bit off.
He had a rough estimate of Aaron's strength. With his power... would he be defeated so easily by his own punch?
Hmm, I didn't take Aaron's punch head-on. He was downed by his own fist. Does this imply—the destructive power of this strike was just that strong?
It still feels a bit wrong.
Indeed, I still need to go to his mental world to see the specific situation before I can make a correct judgment.
With such thoughts, Su immediately activated his ability as a Fusion Warrior and easily invaded Aaron's consciousness.
Then, Su, who was supposed to manipulate Aaron's consciousness and begin testing him within the consciousness space, suddenly found he couldn't seem to get out.
Su, who was supposed to be manipulating Aaron's consciousness, was now trapped inside Aaron's consciousness space instead.
"Wha..."
"This is?"
After entering Aaron's consciousness space, Su saw a consciousness space different from ordinary people.
In the consciousness space of ordinary people... no, even the consciousness spaces of those Fusion Warriors were mostly not much different from ordinary people.
After all, aside from Psychic MANTISes like Su, most Fusion Warriors were enhanced physically.
Except for feeling the physical torture brought by the Meta-Morph Factors, their daily consciousness was still similar to ordinary people.
But Aaron's consciousness space was completely different from those people's.
At the very least, Su could guarantee—there wouldn't be such a massive castle in an ordinary person's consciousness space!
This castle, which looked like it had some years on it, vaguely emitted an evil aura in Su's eyes that felt very unsettling.
Su, who had fused with a Honkai Beast, had no right to disdain others.
But he just felt that this castle was definitely an evil city that shouldn't exist in the world.
This was definitely not his prejudice, but the evil aura emitted by the castle that made him feel this way upon seeing it.
Moreover, after entering Aaron's consciousness space, Su saw Aaron quite unexpectedly.
Or rather, a very lucid Aaron.
"I see. At first, I wondered why you went down so fast. It turns out, the one who fell for the trap wasn't you, but me."
Seeing Aaron, Su thoroughly understood why Aaron had fallen for the trap so easily just now and gone down so easily.
Just as Aaron knew other intelligence, Aaron actually already knew the intelligence regarding Su and the Key of the Void.
So he knew Su could reflect damage, and also knew Su could enter his consciousness space.
And quite coincidentally, he possessed special abilities in the aspect of consciousness.
Therefore, Aaron deliberately took the reflected damage himself, setting up this trap in advance.
At the cost of heavy injury to his external body, he exchanged it for the result of Su entering his consciousness space.
And now, Su, who had taken the bait, seemingly couldn't get out anytime soon.
"I must say, I indeed lost a move this time."
"Actually, I really didn't want to fight you. But now, since you've entered this place, fighting here is better than accidentally blowing you up outside no matter how you look at it."
"Besides, in this consciousness space, you can no longer use the authority of the Second Divine Key to fight. In other words, your so-called [Karma Wheel] can no longer take effect."
"True, the current me can no longer use the power of the Divine Key. But inside the consciousness space, my combat power is much higher than in reality..."
[Revive Hourglass], Gale Mode, activate.
Before Su could finish his sentence, Aaron inside the consciousness space directly pulled out the Revive Hourglass and adjusted it to Gale Mode.
Under the enhancement of Gale Mode, his speed instantly accelerated to dozens of times the original.
By the time Su finished speaking, he incredulously saw Aaron's fist imprinted on his chest.
"Magnetic Field Rotation 249,999 Horsepower—"
"—Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist!"
A punch blasted out. At the split second before landing this punch, Aaron switched the Revive Hourglass to Steel Mode.
Accompanied by the Revive Hourglass drastically buffing Aaron's offense and defense, Aaron, who threw this punch, easily sent Su, who couldn't react in time, flying.
"Personally, I understand your idea of wanting to test others and hand over intelligence to a reliable person. But the problem is—the prerequisite for testing others is that you are qualified to test that person."
"What a pity. I don't feel you have the qualification to test me in this space, Mr. Su."
"Cough... Indeed..."
Su, lying on the ground, spat out a mouthful of blood and said with a helpless smile.
"This one was arrogant."
"Alright, let's talk back in the real world."
Snapping his fingers lightly, Aaron returned both their consciousnesses from the space formed by the Power of Dominance back to their bodies.
After regaining his consciousness, Su, whose consciousness was heavily injured, felt a sweetness in his throat and directly vomited a large mouthful of blood.
He knew very well that Aaron inside the consciousness space had actually held back at the end.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have had the chance to leave that incredibly bizarre space alive.
Hah, I intended to test him, but instead, I was spared by him?
How ironic.
To think I would have such high-and-mighty thoughts, and failed in the end.
Laughable, this is simply too laughable.
"Ah, vomiting this much blood..."
Watching Su who kept vomiting blood, Aaron walked to his side, thought for a moment, and chose to activate healing Magecraft to temporarily heal some injuries on his body.
However, while healing Su, Aaron also detected the problems existing in Su's body.
Observing various bubble universes for tens of thousands of years had consumed a massive amount of Su's energy.
The current him, even without suffering Aaron's attack, was almost running on fumes.
In the original work, Su could last until 2015 because he supported himself to that moment with his own will.
If Su was left alone now, he might die directly inside this bubble universe from overwork at any moment.
"Hah, this kind of power..."
After his body was healed by magical energy, Su opened his eyes slightly and began to size up Aaron's body.
"This special ability is not the same ability as the one you used to beat me just now. And neither of these abilities is Honkai energy."
"Plus the power that formed that castle in your consciousness space... Mr. Aaron, the powers on your body are too chaotic."
Raising his right hand slightly, Su smiled and said to Aaron.
"You came to find me hoping I would help you organize these slightly complicated powers in your body, right?"
"Exactly."
"This matter isn't difficult. Although you hold four or five types of power, under your own usage, these powers have already merged to a certain extent."
"Even if I don't act, as long as you spend a certain amount of time and energy, you can successfully complete the fusion of these powers."
"Yeah, spend a certain amount of time... but how much time do we have left."
While Su was helping him adjust his body, Aaron leaned helplessly against the large tree in the center of the Seed of Sumeru and closed his eyes in resignation.
"There are only three to four years left until the Cocoon of Finality hatches. Three to four years later, if I have no way to solve the Herrscher of Finality, our era will only meet the same end as your era."
"...You really know a lot of things."
Hearing about the Herrscher of Finality from Aaron's mouth, Su was completely no longer surprised by these details.
This man knew simply too much intelligence. If he said right now that Kevin liked to lead the team to slurp noodles during team building, Su wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised.
But so what if he knew a lot?
At least judging by Su's judgment, this man wasn't a bad person.
However, before handing that leaf to him, I still have a few questions to ask him.
"Since you already know about the Cocoon of Finality, presumably you also know about Project Stigma. Mr. Aaron, how do you view Project Stigma?"
"The lousiest plan, but at least it's a safety net."
Feeling the powers in his body gradually beginning to fuse, Aaron indeed felt his body was much more comfortable than before.
Although previously when using those several powers simultaneously, Aaron hadn't felt any novel-like situations where 'power conflict caused severe pain', after the powers completed fusion, he still felt his power was completely different from before.
This feeling of seamless unity brought a massive improvement to Aaron's speed of power activation and conversion efficiency.
Although his current limits in various strengths hadn't changed, after fusing all powers, his actual combat power was completely different from before.
The problem is... why is Magnetic Field Rotation still stuck at 249,999 Horsepower.
That last single Horsepower is stuck there dead; even after Su helped him organize his powers, this one Horsepower is just motionless there, refusing to jump forward even a tiny bit.
"The lousiest plan, at least it's a safety net—does this mean you don't oppose this plan?"
"No, knowing the true face of Project Stigma, how could I, as an ordinary person, accept such a plan."
At this moment, maintaining that helpless expression, Aaron opened his eyes and looked towards the very top of this bubble universe.
"A massive number of people in the world will die because of this plan; who would like such a plan? I won't like it, you won't like it, and even Mr. Kevin, who insists on executing this plan, presumably wouldn't like this lousiest plan either."
"But... hah, I'm not afraid you'll laugh at me saying this. I don't like this plan, but I feel this plan is also an insurance."
"If Finality descends, and the people of our era cannot fight against Finality, then at that time... hah, would there still be time to execute Project Stigma?"
"Executing Project Stigma is undoubtedly not defeating the Honkai, but running away right in front of the Honkai. But... lingering on with one's last breath is still better than dropping dead on the spot."
"This is my understanding of Project Stigma."
"...Truly unexpected."
After hearing Aaron's summary, Su chuckled lightly and said.
"I thought Mr. Aaron would be a bit more romantic. I didn't expect your thoughts to be so close to Kevin's."
"Romantic? How could an orphan who didn't have enough to eat or warm clothes to wear in the past be a romanticist? Be realistic, old grandpa. In this day and age, if you lose your life, then you really lose everything."
Is that so?
But why do I feel that when you fight, you look so reckless with your life?
"Wait, what about the injuries on your own body?"
Having chatted for so long, Su only now reacted; Aaron hadn't healed himself.
"Huh? Oh, this kind of injury is a small matter."
Looking at his body which had been smashed by the giant fist, Aaron very calmly used healing Magecraft to heal his body on the spot.
"This time it's just some cracked bones and a bunch of breaks; no blood all over the floor, and intestines and internal organs didn't fly out. Compared to the past, I've made great progress."
...I'm starting to regret it a little.
Su, staring at Aaron, suddenly began to doubt his decision.
Do I really hand over the intelligence I gathered with such difficulty to the man before me?
He had no more concerns about Aaron's character.
The problem was... this person talked about cherishing life, but looked like a reckless daredevil.
If I hand the refined intelligence Su selected over tens of thousands of years to this guy, and then he capsizes somewhere outside one day, then the intelligence Su carefully selected would just go 'oops'.
No, save a copy, save a copy. Besides him, I have to leave a copy of this intelligence for someone else.
But the problem is, the Key of the Void has been hijacked by Mr. Aaron's sister, so... will I still be able to meet others worthy of entrusting this intelligence to in the future?
Sigh, never mind, I'm thinking too much.
I have done everything I could do. As a zombie of the Previous Era on the verge of death, at a time like this, after completing my mission, I should just obediently exit the stage.
"Then, Mr. Aaron, please keep this safe."
After handing the leaf he prepared to Aaron, Su spoke with incredible solemnity.
"This leaf contains the selected intelligence I've picked out over all these years executing Project Valuka. If possible, I hope you can hand it to someone who can make good use of this intelligence."
"Hmm, many thanks."
Although I can't think of who I should give it to at all.
Give it to Otto—ban this option first.
Otto has enough IQ, but the problem is this old bastard doesn't act human.
He would do anything to revive Kallen. Letting Aaron give this intelligence to him...
This move is improper; better switch to someone else.
And besides Otto, only the currently missing Welt counts as a candidate.
But although Welt is reliable as a hero, as a leader...
Forget it, there are no other candidates.
Sigh, if Lord Otto could just act like a human, I wouldn't have to be this conflicted.
But if he acted like a human, he wouldn't be Otto.
"Alright, I've adjusted your power for you. I've given you the intelligence too. Next, if there's nothing else, I will let you leave this bubble universe."
"As for the remaining time... just let me rest alone for a bit..."
Su, having handed the leaf full of intelligence to Aaron, felt thoroughly relaxed at this moment.
Shouldering the heavy responsibility of assisting the humans of this era against the Honkai for fifty thousand years, his body and mind had long been exhausted by this.
And this exhaustion had reached its peak fifteen hundred years ago when he stopped Kevin from executing Project Stigma too early.
Now, Su, having put down all burdens, just wanted to let himself rest well.
"Mr. Su, in your view, making choices on behalf of others is a wrong thing, right?"
"Yes... It is precisely because of this that I stopped Kevin, who was making choices for you all, back then."
"Thank you for your righteous action. Otherwise, if Project Stigma were executed fifteen hundred years ago, ninety-five percent of humanity now wouldn't even have the chance to be born."
"But, I'm very sorry. I am different from you."
"I am a person with double standards. While I don't like others making choices for me, I like making choices for others."
"No, I should say I'm not even a good person. After all, right now..."
After condensing his fused power onto his right fist, Aaron smashed it towards Su's head.
"—I still intend to continue using you to fight the Honkai."
"Mr. Aaron, you—!"
In an incredibly relaxed state, Su couldn't make any counter-move in time and was hit in the head by this strike from Aaron.
Aaron's strike didn't shatter Su's body, but Su felt his soul seemed to be shackled by something, no longer free as before.
"Your body is running on fumes because of observing bubble universes for tens of thousands of years, but your consciousness and soul will not perish simultaneously because the body is running on fumes."
After using the Power of Dominance to instantly dominate Su's soul, Aaron said to Su with apology.
"Sorry for exploiting your kindness. But in my personal judgment, humanity truly still needs a Pioneer from the Previous Era to assist us against the Honkai."
"...Sigh."
Feeling his body and soul begin to separate, Su gave a long sigh and shook his head with a bitter smile.
"I'm starting to regret it a little. How come I'm about to die, yet I get my soul pulled out to continue working overtime."
"Look at what you're saying. You joined the Fire Moth back then to fight the Honkai; I'm just using this method to make you recall your original intention back then."
"Original intention... let it be, let it be."
Su, whose body and soul had thoroughly separated, said helplessly to the man before him.
"It's just pushing the time of my demise from now to three years later. Continuing to work overtime for another three years is actually not unacceptable."
"That really is many thanks."
"Heh, do I have a choice?"
Seeing that thousand-year-old castle again, Su finally thoroughly understood why he felt this castle gave him a slightly evil feeling.
Entering the interior of the castle, Su saw—a bunch of dead people's souls.
And these souls still possessed self-awareness.
They were clearly like Su, all forced into soul contracts by Aaron using this method and sent into this Millennium Castle that only Aaron knew of.
However...
"Sakura? Rin?!"
Seeing those faces completely identical to his old friends, Su still couldn't control his emotions.
Subsequently, seeing the surprised expressions on their faces, he realized he had miss-spoken.
Sakura had died in the turmoil caused by the Herrscher of Corruption, and Rin...
"Ah, you are... Su??????"
Seeing Su, the dumpling-form Higokumaru following beside the sisters Yae Sakura and Yae Rin revealed an incredibly terrified expression.
"Boss! You said you'd cover me! How could you bring Kevin's best friend over here!"
"You... really are Rin?!"
Hearing these words from Higokumaru, Su thoroughly confirmed that this humanoid dumpling before him was his comrade's sister, Rin.
Fifty thousand years ago, after Rin was judged to be the Twelfth Herrscher, she was protected by Dr. Mei.
As a result, due to an accident caused by Aponia's Discipline, Rin died at the hands of those soldiers restrained by Discipline.
Precisely because of this, Su, who failed to stop this tragedy, always held a bit of guilt toward that young girl.
Although Rin, who later transformed into a Herrscher, decisively took revenge on humanity... did he have the right to blame her?
Rin agreed to be detained because she believed in the organization her sister was in, and in the end, without doing anything bad, she was killed so miserably...
"Oh, don't worry. He had a falling out with Kevin; back then it even got to the point of tearing hearts out."
"Now he's on my side. Relax, relax."
"Is that really so?"
Higokumaru sized up the awkward-looking Su and spoke with slight suspicion.
"Hmm... if Kevin didn't have Dr. Mei back then, I always thought the two of them... Cough, cough. Anyway, as long as Kevin doesn't come, it's fine."
Watching Higokumaru walk away, Su found that he wouldn't be surprised by anything he saw now.
Even Rin's soul is sealed in this place; looking at it this way, Mr. Aaron's castle seems even more wrong.
A Herrscher!
That is a Herrscher of the Previous Era!
Even a Herrscher can be sealed... doesn't this mean he indeed possesses the power to fight the Honkai?
He had chosen the right person by accidental luck, yet Su felt not a shred of joy at this moment.
He only felt this world was incredibly absurd.
"Alright, this is the place. Dr. Magi, get to know this Mr. Su."
"This Mr. Su is a Research Institute Director of the Previous Era. The research you are conducting now might find new inspiration after getting his guidance."
"...Boss, do you still remember what I asked you to bring back when I met you last time?"
At this moment, inside a room filled with calculation formulas, Dr. Magi looked at Aaron with a somewhat ferocious expression.
"Scientific equipment! Without scientific equipment, even if I calculate the formulas to perfection, I can't start work!"
"Although I'm very happy you invited an old senior over, the problem is what I need most right now is equipment, equipment!"
"...I looked for the equipment you mentioned."
Watching the incredibly ferocious-looking Dr. Magi, Aaron very proactively took a step back.
Although he counted as saving the souls of this grandfather and grandson pair, once researchers like Dr. Magi got heated up with paranoid thoughts about research, they wouldn't care about these details.
Wow, that momentum; for a split second, I was really scared.
"The problem is those devices can't be found on the ordinary market. You asking me, a commoner with no background, for Schicksal's instrument requirements—isn't this nonsense?!"
"...Boss, I'm not lecturing you."
Hearing these words, Dr. Magi said with an air of 'hating iron for not becoming steel'.
"If you can't buy it, go rob it. It's normal to have a psychological burden robbing others' stuff, but if you casually rob some instruments from Otto's side, I can start work."
"You already formed a death feud with him after taking his Gem of Serenity. At a time like this, if you don't lower your moral standards to ransack Schicksal, what on earth are you thinking?"
"...You say that like I know the coordinates of Schicksal HQ."
"You don't know, but I know!"
"You didn't say either!"
"Nonsense. I saw you killing your way out so awesomely, I thought you had done your intelligence work long ago to be able to stop the Honkai triggered by Otto and Cocolia in Singapore in time. Who knew you didn't even know the coordinates of Schicksal's HQ and branches?"
Taking out a piece of paper and writing down the addresses of Schicksal HQ, branches, and several Anti-Entropy bases on it, Dr. Magi said to Aaron with heartache.
"Seize the time, seize the time."
"...Alright, alright, I got it."
Although I did have considerations in this regard when I brought him back, this feeling of the guest acting as the host...
Forget it; as a slacker, I have nothing to say to a workaholic.
"By the way, Mr. Su, was it? I've already seen the research data left by your Previous Era. Actually, I've always had some problems regarding anti-Honkai energy potions that I can't solve."
Watching Dr. Magi who had already proactively invited Su to start a heated discussion, Aaron very tactfully left the room on his own initiative.
Everything is operating normally, and Su, who originally planned to let his life fade away just like that, has now become a 'liberty' in my hand.
Phew, I feel my body is indeed much lighter.
And after the Power of Dominance fused with other powers, it can already erupt with stronger domination intensity.
Otherwise, with my previous understanding and usage of the Power of Dominance, I couldn't have dominated a soul as powerful as Su's.
Everything is looking up. So now, it's also time to fulfill the contract made with Bronya back then.
Returning to the real world, Aaron saw this uncontrolled bubble universe beginning to enter a state of collapse.
Is this bubble universe about to collapse?
Then before it collapses...
Seeing a scene behind a rift, Aaron galloped towards the rift without hesitation, charging directly into it.
The little girl Bronya is looking for is right in this Sea of Quanta.
Hope she hasn't encountered the [Serpent] right now.
Otherwise, bringing her back to the real world won't be that easy.
Welt Yang won't execute the Eye of the Deep plan until two years later, so he won't enter the Sea of Quanta right now.
Expecting him as reinforcement is unlikely. Now, I should think carefully about what to do if I meet Kevin.
Although in the original work, Kevin had no hostility toward heroes fighting the Honkai, who knows if he might treat Aaron as some villain and beat him up on the spot.
For Aaron to lane against Kevin with his current strength...
Even a Kevin without the Judgment of Shamash and who hasn't absorbed Chiyou's corpse yet is not someone Aaron can deal with at this stage.
Sigh, can I only hope for good luck not to meet this guy?
With such thoughts, Aaron, having entered the Sea of Quanta, immediately felt his body starting to show adverse reactions.
If not for the mixed powers maintaining his body, he might have already dropped dead directly inside this 'Sea' by now.
.......................