After hearing Bella's words, I froze for a moment before I started laughing. "Ha... hahahah! Hahahahaha!"
For once, I felt like a hypocrite. I had always criticized those other people, yet I hadn't even asked for Bella's opinion. I had decided her fate based only on my own ideas. My roaring laughter startled Bella, but she quickly regained her composure. She stood steady and waited for me to calm down.
After a long bout of madness and laughter—to the point where I almost confused myself with the Joker from DC—I finally calmed down and looked at my beloved companion.
"You are right, Bella," I said. "You are my sword, my shield, my warrior, my kin, and my friend. I didn't ask for your opinion; I simply imposed mine upon you. My apologies, my dear. Come, let us go big and loom over our enemies. Whether this leads to our life or our death, let it be a hell upon them all. Let Earth burn just as Horus burned the Galaxy in Warhammer."
I took Bella's hand and opened a portal straight to Earth. We stepped in together. This time, the Earth of Honkai Impact 3rd will learn about the "Grimdark" despair of a cesspit galaxy. They will learn that hope is nothing but a poison that drowns those who are drawn to it.
After spending more than two and a half hours, we finally arrived at our destination: Nagazora. I commanded Bella to transform back into her dragon form, Benares, and rampage from Nagazora to the surrounding cities to cause chaos. Upon hearing my command, Bella transformed immediately, bringing a massive storm across the Far East.
Meanwhile, I turned toward the ruins of Yae Village. It had been abandoned for five hundred years, ever since Kallen sealed Yae Sakura, who was infected by the Herrscher of Corruption from the Previous Era, named Rin.
I did not travel there by flying or teleporting. I used my Void authority to "delete" the distance between us, arriving instantly. This act of deleting distance consumed more energy, but it was well within my limits. When I arrived, I simply stomped my foot. Using the Desire authority, I created an ideal fluid for a storm attack that shattered the surrounding area. Trees went flying, ruined buildings crumbled, and boulders were tossed aside. A massive crater formed as if something had rammed into the earth.
In the middle of the ruins, a broken barrier of golden Honkai energy held the seal together, but now it began to crack and break apart.
With no hesitation, I used my power over the wind and air to grab the Black Box from a distance. I didn't have time to play around with the "Pink Miko" who green certain blond Overseer.
As I got my hands on the Black Box and prepared to extract the Core of Corruption, the Pink Miko appeared. She drew her sword and slashed at my neck. I smirked. She definitely thought her sneak attack was successful, but too bad for her—her own bioelectrical signals betrayed her. Even the surrounding wind, oxygen, and air acted as my agents.
"Such an amateur swordswoman," I thought. "Your only success in life was given green hat to Otto."
I simply lifted the useless Black Box—which only contained Rin's consciousness—and coated it in an ideal fluid to create zero friction and no air resistance. Then, I flicked it hard, accelerating it with electromagnetic force straight at Yae Sakura. The box sent her flying backward. I lifted my palm and slammed it down hard from a distance. A gigantic Imaginary construct, comparable in size to a large truck, formed from Imaginary numbers and slammed down on her. The massive force crushed both her and the box into dust.
"This is my final mercy to you, ghosts of the past," I said. "Let those 500-year and 50,000-year-old ghosts rest in peace. There is no more future for either of you. One has no Kallen, and the Previous Era of the other is gone. Stay dead and do not get up."
I signaled for Bella to return and retreat. Once Bella arrived, we retreated back into my personal Imaginary Dimension within the Imaginary Space.
While we were within the Imaginary Dimension traveling to another location, Bella asked me, "My Queen, if I am not wrong, Yae Sakura is something called a 'waifu' in your past life's terms, right? Why did you kill her instead of trying to keep her alive?"
I had shown Bella some of my past life's knowledge and memories during our two-and-a-half-hour journey from the moon to Earth.
"Bella," I replied, "in my past life, I was also infected by that 'waifu virus' and had moments of brain rot. But when I laid my eyes upon the real Yae Sakura, I only saw a lonely ghost abandoned by time itself. Her home is gone. Her sister is dead. Her beloved and only friend, Kallen, has long been a cold, stiff thing in a coffin inside a Schicksal storage room.
She is just a lonely figure passed by time. Letting her live is like slowly boiling her alive in her own guilt and self-blame. Why torture her that way? Just set her free. Death is a painful truth; life is a beautiful lie.
As for Rin, she is even more tragic than Yae Sakura. Why not send them on their final journey together? After all, Yae Sakura looks like Rin's sister, and Rin looks like the Yae Rin who died five hundred years ago. Imagine them meeting now, remembering how they fought tooth and nail for five hundred years, biting each other like dogs. Then what? Should they just lick each other's wounds?
As for those people from my past life? They are nothing more than horny creatures who think with their own desires. They are worthless people behind a screen who can do nothing but satisfy themselves. That is all they are capable of."
"Remember, Bella," I said, "clinging to the past too much causes stagnation. And with stagnation, there is no future." She nodded and replied that she would always remember my teaching.
Then, I fused the Core of Corruption into myself. I became a Herrscher with two Cores and four Gems—holding a total of six Authorities. This was the first step and the true beginning of my plan. I condensed the power of Corruption into two solidified Honkai crystals. One was meant to corrupt Chiyou, and the other was to delete Ji Lin's consciousness from within the Xuanyuan Sword. After giving them to Bella and instructing her on what to do, I opened a portal for her and another for myself. We were going to different places. She headed for Chiyou in the depths of the ocean, while I traveled to a city in Shenzhou.
I traveled under the sunlight in the real world with no fear of being discovered for two reasons. First, the EMP jammer of my Conquest authority was passively active. Second, my attack on Nagazora had definitely reached the ears of the three major organizations by now. It was time for step two.
Anti-Entropy HQ, North America
Tesla was cursing Sirin at the top of her lungs for the surprise attack on Nagazora. After all, that city was a major metropolis with one of the top economic GDPs in the world and served as a base for Anti-Entropy operations. Einstein continued to calculate and simulate Sirin's actions, trying to analyze her personality and mindset. Meanwhile, Welt Yang focused on the losses, counting the number of casualties. They worked in sync, trying to find the Second Herrscher as fast as possible to stop her madness.
Schicksal Headquarters
Otto was still reading the experimental data reports from the Babylon Tower laboratory while listening to Amber, his assistant. She reported on the Nagazora attack carried out by Sirin and her Honkai beast companion. He narrowed his eyes. The child-like personality Sirin used to have wouldn't act like this; attacking a city so openly wasn't her style.
He stood up and commanded Valkyrie squads to rescue civilians and search for more clues. He also ordered an increase in global surveillance for a Second Herrscher that seemed completely out of control. His second command put all Schicksal branches across the globe into a combat-ready state. Under his third command, the headquarters' Valkyries were assembled. Even Cecilia and her Snow Wolf squad were included in the mobilization.
World Serpent
The World Serpent remained in slumber. They had no active combatants ready, and their lord was still drowning within the Sea of Quanta itself.
While traveling through Shenzhou, I already noticed one massive, powerful bioelectrical signal within the territory. I didn't need to guess who it was. That was definitely the "Flat-Board of Shenzhou," Jingwei—the Phoenix, Fu Hua herself.
After arriving at a nearby city, I released the Corruption virus into the global network. I launched a cyber-attack on every military base and nuclear missile silo in the world using the power of Corruption. With this in my hand, I held an additional trump card that they didn't even know existed. After all, the true location of the Herrscher of Corruption had been a secret ever since Kallen stole the Black Box five hundred years ago. she had hidden it away and refused to reveal its location, even in the face of death.
This was both fortunate and unfortunate for Kallen. She saved the European continent five hundred years ago, only to leave this Herrscher behind so it could eventually become my weapon. What a twist of fate. Maybe this is what the "Equilibrium" philosophy of the Aeon of Equilibrium truly means.
While I was still in Shenzhou, I sensed that two of my crystallized Corruption orbs were being used. It seemed Bella had already finished her mission and would be returning soon. Now, it was my turn to complete mine.
With a flick of my wrist, a massive Guandao appeared. This was my masterpiece, a weapon name Herald of Dawn, but infused with Matter Disruption Fields (MDF) and built with Soulium as the base material. It was incredibly sharp and durable. Even without activating the Matter Disruption Fields, a single cut from this blade was something Fu Hua would have to evade with her life. If she dared to try and "tank" an attack with the MDF active, let's just say she would end up in a "Fu" and "Hua" state—split in half like that "Go" and "Jo" guy from the Jujutsu Kaisen world.
Then, I flared my Honkai energy signature high into the sky. I stood there, waiting for Hua in a true Wuxia style, like a character from Where Winds Meet. With the dramatic wind blowing through my hair, I radiated the aura of a grandmaster.
When Hua arrived, I immediately activated my Conquest authority. I used it to control the electron and electromagnetic spectrum waves, disrupting the Fenghuang Down's ability to manipulate or interfere with my mind. Then, I activated my Void authority to unleash the Limitless Infinity technique.
"Fu Hua, protector of Shenzhou, immortal Jingwei of the divine land... you have finally come," I said.
I used the Desire authority to coat myself and my weapon, allowing for frictionless movement and smooth, high-speed maneuvers. Combining the Haste and Conquest authorities, I accelerated the vibration frequency of my atoms and pushed my mind's electronic processing speed to its absolute limit.
Hua activated her Fenghuang Down and her 3rd-generation battlesuit. Within a nanosecond, we clashed. I slashed with my Guandao, but she dodged and sent a kick straight at my neck. I twisted my body with insane speed, dodging her strike, and delivered a counter-kick that sent her flying backward several meters before she stabilized herself. She then launched condensed Honkai energy infused with the Fenghuang Down as a hidden weapon. In response, I sent a flying slash of my own Honkai energy back at her.
Our combat caused massive shockwaves that leveled the surrounding buildings, turning them into ruins in the blink of an eye. All of this destruction happened within only the first few second of our meeting. We exchanged a few more fierce, life-threatening strikes before we finally broke apart.