Only in moments of true crisis do people realize—time is never enough.
"Mei, what's the status of the evacuation?"
"It's reached eighty-nine percent! We still need at least six more hours!"
"...Alright. Got it."
Elias nodded and closed the comms.
He cast another glance at the beautiful blue planet below. To be honest, rather than describing it with some elegant word like gem, the first thing that came to his mind was a giant lollipop.
Fifty-four hours had now passed. The Herrscher of Finality's second dormancy could end at any moment. The Flame-Chasers stood ready, waiting for the awakening of the Goddess of Honkai.
The fifty Moonlight Throne main cannons were fully charged. Vill-V, ignoring barrel wear, had kept them in launch-ready state for two straight hours.
Transformed into his [Diabolic] form, Kevin held the blazing Might of An-Utu in both hands, its flames roaring, prepared to strike with his strongest blow at a moment's notice.
Hua, too, had entered her Artificial Cascade state. The girl didn't hesitate for even a second—her memories burned once more. A thousand-meter-long flaming divine sword hovered above the Herrscher of Finality's head.
Elias was no different. In his right hand, he held the golden, radiant lance; in the other, the activated Fenghuang Down, glowing as its first rated power ignited. Another thousand-meter-long white sword god floated beside Hua's fiery blade, both suspended above the Herrscher's head.
The remaining Flame-Chasers had also readied their ultimate techniques, prepared to unleash everything the very instant the goddess awoke.
Seconds ticked by.
Then, in a single moment—
The Herrscher of Finality opened her eyes.
"Pathetic humans... how dare you defile a god?"
A surge of overwhelming Honkai energy erupted like an endless ocean, flooding the battlefield. The Herrscher of Finality's golden eyes locked onto the [Reverse God] before her—her gaze brimming with fury.
When she last awoke, the first thing she saw—aside from the blazing white Taixuan Eminence—was Elias with both hands inside her imaginary space, rummaging through her chest.
She raised a hand to her breast, as if the warmth of those intrusive hands still lingered there.
That sensation of him searching through her imaginary space... it was something the Herrscher of Finality would remember for eternity.
"Such blasphemy... your sin deserves a thousand deaths."
"Like I care! Everyone, open fire! Let memory become the sword that severs form and annihilates gods—Taixuan Eminence! Pierce the stars!"
The Sagittarius Astra once again fired toward the Herrscher of Finality, accompanied by the Taixuan Eminence already suspended above her head.
Of course, Elias wasn't the only one attacking.
Vill-V: "Moonlight Throne—main cannons, full barrage!"
Kevin: "Shamash—Assault!!"
Hua: "Taixuan Eminence!!"
Sakura: "One flash—cut through the void!"
Kalpas: "Annihilate—all things!!"
...
All of their attacks rained down like a storm upon the Herrscher of Finality. But among them, the most crucial was the simultaneous firing of the fifty Moonlight Thrones' main cannons.
To ensure they struck without fail, Elias simultaneously unleashed both the Taixuan Eminence and Stellar Excelsis while invoking the Herrscher of the Void's power—redirecting the fifty energy beams through spatial gates to strike the Herrscher from her blind angles.
As long as they could scatter her Honkai energy—
Then the rest of their attacks would hit directly, forcing her divine body to take the full impact.
Even if she used the Herrscher of Sentience's power to erect a mental defense, she couldn't possibly withstand two Taixuan Eminences pushed to their absolute limits.
Just as everyone thought victory was certain—
"Humans… you will pay the price."
"What?!"
Everyone's eyes widened in shock.
All their attacks—those that were about to strike the Herrscher—froze in midair.
The Moonlight Thrones' beams, the descending twin Taixuan swords, the oncoming Stellar Excelsis and Shamash flames, every strike from every Flame-Chaser—
All suspended in place, as though time itself had stopped.
Then the Herrscher of Finality raised her hand and swept it gently.
"All things shall turn—time shall rewind."
In the next instant, everyone's attacks began reversing, flying back the way they had come. The satellites monitoring the lunar battlefield captured the horrifying sight—
The moon itself began rotating in reverse!
The twin Taixuan Eminences that had already fallen rose back into the air and vanished. The Sagittarius Astra that Elias had fired returned to his hand. Kevin's Shamash flames flowed back into the Might of An-Utu.
Even the fifty Moonlight Thrones' beams—
All of their attacks had been rewound.
This was the Herrscher of Finality's authority over time.
"Damn it! She just reversed time across the entire moon! She rewound our time! This is the true power of Finality!"
"Elias, the Moonlight Thrones are showing a time discrepancy of one full day! Our time's been rolled back twenty-four hours! Damn it, the main cannons all need to recharge!"
"Vill-V, abandon the Moonlight Thrones—get out of there, now!"
Elias shouted urgently into his comm.
After two shutdowns, the Herrscher of Finality was finally revealing her true power. With a single gesture, she had rewound time for everything except herself by an entire day.
But that wasn't even her real attack.
From behind her, the massive golden-red wings of Honkai energy—each thousands of meters long—flared open, unleashing a storm of meteor-like light beams.
"Don't block them—move!!"
"!!!" ×15
Elias's expression twitched as he sensed the terrifying energy within each beam. Every shot carried enough power to rival even Kevin's Shamash Assault.
And the Herrscher's targets were clear—
The fifty Moonlight Throne warships.
...On the flagship's bridge...
(Am I… going to die?)
Vill-V stared blankly at the incoming barrage. Her face had already gone pale with the realization of death. For the first time, the [Helix] Flame-Chaser felt the breath of death itself.
It was too late to flee. None of her defensive measures could stop what was coming from the Herrscher of Finality.
Just as despair consumed her and the main ship of the Moonlight Thrones was about to be obliterated by the cascading light—
"Hold on tight!!"
A spatial gate opened beside her. A hand reached through—and Elias pulled Vill-V through it in an instant.
"You alright, Vill-V?"
"I-I'm fine… thanks, Elias."
When Vill-V came back to her senses, she realized she was now on the lunar surface. If not for the white-haired boy before her, who had used the Herrscher of the Void's authority to pull her through a spatial gate—
She would already be space debris alongside the Moonlight Thrones.
"The Moonlight… the Moonlight Thrones are all gone…"
Vill-V turned her gaze toward space, her heart breaking. The fifty Moonlight Throne warships had all been pierced and obliterated by the Herrscher of Finality's barrage.
"The Herrscher of Finality wouldn't fall for the same trick three times anyway. It can't be helped. We'll fight her ourselves."
Elias took a deep breath, steadying his emotions.
There was no flame in the vacuum of space—those fifty Moonlight Thrones hadn't even managed to become fireworks. Once struck by the Herrscher's beams, their lights flickered for only an instant before vanishing into ruin.
In a single strike, the entire Moonlight fleet was wiped out. For the first time, everyone truly witnessed the terror of Finality.
And yet, Elias couldn't help but feel a small sense of relief.
Because he realized—the Herrscher of Finality's gaze was locked solely on him. Those golden, divinely radiant eyes blazed with unmistakable rage.
"So, you hate me now, huh? Perfect."
Rather than fear, a smile spread across Elias's face.
With the Moonlight Thrones destroyed and the Taixuan Eminence no longer a surprise, the only tactic left to them was hit-and-run harassment—stalling for time however they could.
The worst possible scenario would have been if the Herrscher of Finality had ignored them entirely and gone straight for Earth—erasing the remaining billions yet to evacuate and resetting civilization.
But now, that fear was gone.
Because all of her hatred was directed at him.
Before killing the rebellious god—the white-haired boy who had dared commit blasphemy—the Herrscher of Finality had no interest in fulfilling her divine mission.
"You shall die to atone for your sin."
"If you can do it, then come try! Seven Thunders of Retribution—Zeroth Power!"
Elias smirked, flipping the Herrscher off with an unholy gesture just to deepen her hatred, then drew the Third Divine Key, transforming it into its sniper form.
Bang!
Against such a massive target, aiming was pointless. Elias fired directly at her.
The round that could disintegrate matter at a molecular level didn't inflict damage—but arcs of electricity crackled across the Herrscher's divine body, paralyzing her for four seconds.
(Tch, seriously? The Zeroth Power Output only paralyzed her for four seconds? Fine then!)
Four seconds was far too little compared to the six hours they needed—but if he could repeat that four-second window thousands or tens of thousands of times, it might just be enough.
"Blasphemer, is that all your power amounts to?"
The Herrscher of Finality glanced at her chest where she'd been struck and sneered in contempt. But—
"Seven Thunders of Retribution—Zeroth Power!!"
"What—?!"
Another thunder round struck her divine form.
Another four seconds of paralysis.
"Heh, what was that you said? Say it again—Seven Thunders of Retribution—Zeroth Power!"
Elias grinned and fired a third shot.
Even the Flame-Chasers around him were stunned. Everyone knew the sniper mode of the Seven Thunders of Retribution could deliver an absolute kill that disintegrated its target—but at the cost of damaging the Divine Key itself after every shot.
Yet Elias had fired three times consecutively.
"Enough! Return!"
Annoyed, the Herrscher of Finality activated her temporal authority again, reversing the last bullet back into Elias's rifle.
"Guess you're not that bright after all. You just burned your ultimate move to dodge a bullet? We don't even have a way to knock you out again."
Elias smirked and fired the rewound bullet once more—
—paralyzing the Herrscher for another four seconds, completely wasting her time-reversal.
She had just undone her own move for nothing.
Meanwhile, the Seven Thunders of Retribution in Elias's hands broke—again and again and again—but the Codex of Truth floating beside him radiated a bright light, repairing the Divine Key completely in mere seconds.
"It… it can do that?!"
As the creator of both Divine Keys, Vill-V's eyes widened in disbelief. Inwardly, she couldn't help but think—genius.
"Human, you will pay the price!"
"Tch, cheating again."
Elias frowned deeply.
This time, the Herrscher of Finality chose to defend. Pure Honkai energy condensed into a radiant barrier, completely nullifying the Seven Thunders' shots.
Though the Zeroth Power of that Divine Key couldn't harm her—only paralyze her for four seconds—no one liked the feeling of being repeatedly restrained.
At the same time, the Herrscher's enormous golden-red energy wings flared once more. She was preparing to unleash the same devastating beam attack that had annihilated the Moonlight Thrones in an instant.
"Fenghuang Down—Zeroth Power!"
Elias swapped the Divine Key in his hand for the Key of Consciousness.
The Fenghuang Down's Zeroth Power was originally a defensive measure—a last-resort safeguard. But Elias altered its nature, redirecting its full power to create a mental illusion.
The instant the illusion enveloped her, the Herrscher of Finality's gaze went blank. The cataclysmic light beams she was about to release dimmed and faded into nothing.
Crack!
Fenghuang Down fractured—the Divine Key had been pushed beyond its limits, driven by an immense surge of Honkai energy and even a few burned memory backups.
The Key of Consciousness was destroyed—but the illusion it created would keep the Herrscher dazed for a full ten seconds.
"It's not over yet!! Abyss Flower—Zeroth Power! Holy Blood Liberation: Lilium Sanguineum!!"
There was no time to repair anything. Elias dropped the Fenghuang Down and switched to his beloved weapon. Slashing his arm, he let his blood soak into the Abyss Flower.
He poured in seventy percent of his Schariac Holy Blood and an overwhelming amount of Honkai energy, pushing the Abyss Flower's Zeroth Power to its absolute limit.
Crimson petals scattered, bringing fleeting beauty and life to the cold, desolate lunar wasteland.
"Break for me!!"
Elias's face went pale as cracks spread across the Abyss Flower. Even so, he hurled the Divine Key with all his strength toward the Herrscher of Finality.
In the next instant, the blood-stained spear struck her Honkai energy barrier like a meteor.
That barrier was stronger than the Herrscher of Wind's ideal fluid shield—ten times tougher, perhaps impervious even to nuclear fire.
And yet—
When the divine shield met the bloodstained Abyss Flower, it began to crack.
Elias's Schariac Holy Blood was the greatest natural nemesis of Honkai energy—its effect even greater than that of the Moonlight Thrones or the Elysion Pedion. A single drop of his blood could slay an Emperor-class Honkai Beast.
No matter how strong the Herrscher's barrier was, if it was born of Honkai energy—it would be purified by Holy Blood.
Crack! Crack! Snap!
At last, while the Herrscher of Finality was still entranced by the illusion of the Fenghuang Down, her barrier shattered completely. The bloodstained spear pierced her shoulder, pinning her in place.
The next moment, countless attacks were unleashed at once.
Elysia: "Elven Hymn!!"
Kevin: "Shamash Assault!!"
Hua: "Taixuan Eminence!!"
Kalpas: "Annihilation!!"
...
If they let this chance slip, they would no longer deserve to be called Flame-Chasers.
Every single one of them struck through the opening in the barrier. Though the Abyss Flower's breach was only ten meters wide compared to the Herrscher's colossal, kilometer-tall frame—not a single one of them missed.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The combined assault was so powerful it could have shattered part of the moon itself. No mortal being should have been able to withstand the full might of the Flame-Chasers.
And yet—
"Humans... I underestimated you."
The Herrscher of Finality was no mortal. She was a god.
Even after enduring such devastation, the Goddess of Honkai stood unscathed. Her expression showed no panic—only arrogance, fury... and now, for the first time, a trace of seriousness.