BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
With each rage-filled punch, it was as if a boulder had been thrown into a calm lake. Ripples of force radiated outwards from Fuli, spreading wildly in all directions. The earth groaned under the unbearable strain. The continuous, powerful earthquakes should have easily leveled an entire city district, but thankfully, at the critical moment, several ancient-looking longswords materialized out of thin air.
Under their master's control, they hovered in mid-air, forming an invisible barrier that weakened and blocked the most lethal shockwaves.
"That guy... we were only separated for a little while. What on earth did he see?" Her beautiful hair whipped around in the chaotic airflow as Yunli stood steadily on one of the inverted swords. She looked down at the massive crater being punched into the ground, her brow furrowed, her clear eyes filled with confusion and worry.
For once, Fuli wasn't using any fancy techniques. He wasn't even mobilizing the vast Honkai energy within him. He was just using the most primitive, purest method, relying on sheer physical strength to bombard the depths of the earth. Each punch landed with a thunderous roar and even more violent tremors.
Compared to Heavenly Abyss of Infinity, whose destructive power could rival the unsheathing of Might of An-Utu, or River Styx Guardian, which could devour all things, or even Bitter Yaksha, which condensed ideal fluid, this purely physical approach was extremely inefficient. It was more like a release, a way to vent the pent-up rage in his heart in the most direct way possible.
That being said, the girl could still tell that Fuli hadn't lost his last shred of reason. Otherwise, he wouldn't have deliberately confirmed the situation with her and Anna before making his move. It was just that, compared to this silent destruction, Yunli would rather have seen Fuli consumed by rage, drawing his blade in a frenzy.
If that were the case, at least she, a Critical-class limit-breaker, was here. She could find a way to forcibly suppress the boy and calm him down. After all, when anger or any other negative emotion is suppressed for too long and too deeply without an outlet, it becomes truly immeasurable when it finally reaches a tipping point and erupts.
But from another perspective, to be able to maintain his bottom line and convictions under such intense emotional impact was also proof that this guy's mental fortitude was far beyond that of an ordinary person, wasn't it? The girl thought with a grim sense of humor. Yet, as she looked at the ever-deepening crater, she couldn't help but feel a hint of schadenfreude towards the enemy.
Even with Yunli's straightforward, almost reckless personality, she hadn't planned on blowing things up and involving innocent people before the final battle. This was a densely populated urban area with millions of ordinary citizens, after all. Otherwise, she wouldn't have chosen to barge into the headquarters so openly, uncharacteristically planning to try diplomacy before force.
And what was the result? That bastard Kane Pepian had pulled such a dirty trick. It was like the Nameless Pharaoh raising his Duel Disk and challenging you to a DUEL, and you had the audacity to refuse? Fine, then. The Dark Magician and the three Egyptian Gods were about to have a friendly little chat with you on a physical level.
---||---
Meanwhile, several kilometers away.
Because most of her high-grade defensive items had been lent to Anna, who was guarding the reservoir, Yunli's barrier formations could only do so much. The buildings in the area continued to sway under the constant aftershocks.
In such a dangerous environment, Gray Serpent stood gracefully atop a high tower. The black surface of his umbrella spun slowly in the wind, deflecting the dust falling from the sky. He silently watched the superheated torch of fire in the distance bisect the typhoon that had just made landfall on the island. He could clearly feel, even from so far away, the furious will that seemed to want to burn the very stars. He spoke to a figure who had appeared beside him at some point.
"I now understand why you strictly forbade anyone from approaching the Hyperion, Hare."
The newcomer had a perfectly delicate, melon-seed-shaped face, with dignified and exceptionally holy features. Her long, silver-white hair cascaded like a waterfall of silk, adding a touch of mystery and nobility. If any old-timer from Schicksal were here, they would likely cry out in shock the moment they saw her, "Lady Cecilia, you're not dead?!"
Their profiles were just too similar, one could even say identical. However, someone like Theresa, who had actually known Cecilia, would immediately become wary. The difference in their temperaments was too great; they were so distinct they might as well have been two different people.
"Yes..." came the soft reply from Misteln, the Stigma Crystal of Schariac, a high-ranking executive of World Serpent also known as "Hare." Her gaze seemed to pierce through tens of thousands of meters, locked firmly on the boy who was continuously bombarding the ground to vent his anger. Her eyes shimmered with emotion and a trance-like fascination.
Gray Serpent found his colleague's current expression and tone rather strange, but he didn't pry into her personal affairs. Instead, he continued to discuss the matter at hand. "In your previous report, you mentioned that the individual known as 'Fuli' has the potential to replace the Lord and become the vessel for this era's Herrscher of the Finality. You also suggested that we could attempt to make contact with him once he has collected three to five of the highest-order Stigmata."
He paused. "According to the intelligence I've gathered, this person currently possesses at least the Stigma of Thunder, imprinted from Raiden Mei; the Stigma of Rock, replicated from the Welt clone; and the Stigma of Death, obtained from the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan."
"No, there's more," Misteln shook her head gently. "I can sense that the number of Stigmata he has imprinted and fused with is nearly double what you described."
Gray Serpent's umbrella-twirling hand paused for an imperceptible moment. "Are you certain?"
"I am."
"In just half a year?"
"In just half a year."
This speed far exceeded their initial estimates. At this rate, wouldn't this person be able to gather all the necessary conditions within a year and become the artificial Herrscher of the Finality that Dr. MEI had proposed in a meeting, only to be rejected by the higher-ups of the Fire Moth? No, perhaps it was even more than that.
Gray Serpent's mind raced. He hadn't forgotten that the core technique Fuli cultivated was the extremely unique Peerless Nine Revolutions. Even though the technique would cause one to go berserk at the seventh layer and was relatively weak in terms of combat power, it did indeed involve the Brahma's Hundred Beasts.
One side was the foundation of the world, capable of bearing the Finality; the other was the True Authority of the Saint, formed by the fusion of thirteen of one's own highest-order Stigmata without external aid.
Then...
"My judgment remains consistent with the conclusion in the report," the pleasant voice pulled Gray Serpent back from his thoughts. "If the Cocoon's ultimate goal is to select or even create an existence identical to itself, then the individual named 'Fuli' is very likely the final answer it has been searching for."
If Misteln had previously held a sliver of doubt about this bold hypothesis of hers, after experiencing that special dream and making deep contact with Fuli, she no longer had any doubts.
That night's experience had been tragic and chaotic for her. No matter how she resisted or begged, Fuli, whose reason was dominated by instinct, had simply roared and pounced on her again and again, using every means possible to ravage, to kill, to torture... His face was ferocious, his killing intent palpable, as if they were mortal enemies.
It was in this literal "heart-to-heart" that Misteln had keenly captured an extremely subtle aura. Deep within Fuli's soul existed the mark of the Herrscher of the Finality! It was this aura that had completely suppressed Misteln, who was far stronger than Fuli at the time, completely reversing the roles of hunter and prey.
The humiliation of being dominated by absolute power and a strange sense of trepidation were deeply carved into the will of the Stigma Crystal. It made it difficult for her, in the guise of Cecilia, to even mount a decent resistance, allowing him to repeatedly devour and tear at her will and existence itself.
If Kallen hadn't chanced upon that dream and managed to calm the rampaging Fuli in time, Misteln had no doubt that she would have long since been crushed and devoured by that absolute authority derived from the Finality, becoming a slave who would obey the boy's every command.
So what if she was the will of a Stigma Crystal? So what if her strength was comparable to Cecilia's? Before you reached S-rank, you were a frog in a well gazing at the moon. Once you reached S-rank, you were a mayfly gazing at the sky. Such was the absolute suppressive power of the End, even if it was just a wisp of its aura.
Incidentally, after Kallen's intervention, the tone of the dream had taken a sharp turn, heading straight towards a certain indescribable atmosphere.
Recalling the chaotic and absurd ripples of events that followed, the silver-haired beauty very lightly rubbed her long legs, which were encased in thigh-high boots.
After all, the then-fledgling Kallen couldn't handle Little Li in his Brahma's Hundred Beasts state on her own. In order not to be completely torn apart by that furious will, Misteln, as the only other female present, could only throw herself into the fray and be torn apart in a different sense.
Not an exaggeration. It was a truly soul-shattering experience. Given the reprehensible things the Herrscher of Domination had done, Fuli's knowledge of Cecilia's body parts far surpassed that of anyone else in the world. And Misteln, being the Stigma Crystal born from her, had an identical physical structure. With multiple factors combined, naturally...
"The Cocoon's final answer, you say..." Of course, Gray Serpent had no way of knowing the complex thoughts swirling in his colleague's mind. He repeated the phrase in a low voice, nodded slightly, and his figure began to blur, eventually disappearing from the rooftop as if melting into the shadows.
As the de facto lord of World Serpent, he had no intention of doing anything, nor did he intend to curry favor with Fuli just because he had learned this important piece of information.
On one hand, the future held too many variables, and no one could predict the final outcome. On the other hand, he wasn't a hypocrite. Just as Gray Serpent had muttered to himself earlier, the ultimate meaning of World Serpent's existence was singular: to fight and defeat the Honkai. For this, no sacrifice was too great.
As long as Fuli could truly defeat the Honkai, even if he were to liquidate all members of World Serpent, including Gray Serpent's own countless avatars, and take Raven and Hare into his harem after his success, so what? Gray Serpent didn't care. Just as he didn't care about the feelings of the failed experiments of the God-Eating Serpent.
---||---
As Kane Pepian's base of operations for many years, the Pepian headquarters was naturally equipped with an extremely powerful security system.
The deep underground area, in particular, which housed the core secrets, had a defense level beyond imagination. It had corresponding countermeasures for conventional intruders, whether they used stealth, brute force, or hacking, enough to make most powerhouses meet their end.
However, today they encountered Fuli, and his completely unconventional method of intrusion.
Thirteen thousand meters underground, in a control room filled with screens and consoles.
"Punch by punch, he's tunneling through ten thousand meters of earth and layers of alloy structures with pure physical force? This isn't how a normal person thinks!" Cold sweat dripped from the security chief's forehead as he stared at the red dot representing the intruder on the main screen. Under his gaze, the red dot was breaking through layer by layer at a despairing speed.
The headquarters' energy shield system was powered by an independent fusion reactor, its energy output sufficient to easily meet the electricity needs of a provincial capital city, and it possessed extremely strong automatic defense and rapid recovery capabilities.
Yet, the intruder named Fuli, with just his fists and a rage that seemed to want to destroy everything, had managed to overload the energy shield! Even if the shield could recover quickly, it couldn't keep up with the speed of his destruction, which far exceeded its recovery limit!
The only fortunate thing was that this harbinger of doom's target seemed to be very clear. When he passed the level where the control room was located, he didn't even pause. He simply punched through the special alloy floor and continued towards the deeper levels, leaving a shocking hole in his wake.
The control room was dead silent. Half a minute later, the survivors let out a collective sigh of relief, many slumping into their chairs. However, before they could even wipe away their cold sweat, a burly black bodyguard behind the security chief leaned in and asked in a low voice, "Sir, the individual codenamed 'Fuli' is heading towards Area 51, eight hundred meters below. There's an elite security team equipped with submachine guns stationed there. Should we...?" He made a throat-slitting gesture.
The atmosphere in the once-silent control room instantly became strange. Everyone, from the director to the assistant director to the assistants, looked at him as if he were a complete idiot.
The security chief patted his shoulder. "If our organization still exists after today, you should resign. Buy a plane ticket to America, find a farm, and plant and pick cotton. That's where you'll be of most value."
Some more time passed.
BOOM—!
With a deafening roar, Fuli's fist shattered the final barrier, breaking into an exceptionally spacious area. It was hard to imagine such a vast, open area with a radius of several kilometers existing eighteen thousand meters underground.
But considering that an unassuming company boss could quietly build such a large-scale underground fortress at this depth, one could only say that the law of "Honkai can do anything" was sometimes so authoritative it left one speechless.
As far as the eye could see, the scene here resembled a giant ritual site. The dark ground was inscribed with countless complex and strange runes that emitted a dim glow. An indescribable energy fluctuation permeated the air, making one feel instinctively uncomfortable.
On a high platform at the far end of this strange site, a figure with his back to the entrance slowly turned around, looking down at Fuli from above. It was Kane Pepian. He was still wearing his expensive custom suit, his hair impeccably styled, his face showing the same composure and arrogance as before, as if he weren't the one whose base had just been smashed into.
He lifted his chin, opened his mouth, and was about to say something: "You—"
BANG! The boy's fist smashed into his face. He was sent flying like he'd been hit by a full-speed truck, spinning through the air and crashing violently into a twisted totem pole in the distance!