"Why do you still live?"
"Why have you not died?"
"Why can you still roar?"
"Why do you still burn?"
Between the Moon and the Earth, on the battlefield where gods and mortals clashed, the Herrscher of Finality could not help but question aloud.
The golden eyes of the Goddess of Honkai were filled with disbelief. She had lost count—ten times, twenty, thirty—or even more? Each time, the white-haired boy before her stood up again.
She had pierced his heart countless times, shattered his wings, destroyed his life again and again. Yet despite it all, he rose once more.
Elias's entire body burned with flame.
It was a fire that seemed to use his own blood as fuel—the very flame of life itself—and even the Herrscher of Finality found herself transfixed by it.
This god who had annihilated countless civilizations could no longer be certain she could destroy this one boy. Even if she crushed his body entirely, his will would seize a sword and charge again without hesitation.
"Why do you persist to such an extent?"
The Herrscher of Finality asked, almost involuntarily.
...
"How long... has it been? Without everyone's support, this is really... tough. But soon... it'll be done."
Elias had lost count of how many times he had stood back up.
Then he noticed something strange—his hands had become much smaller.
Where once he could barely grip Might of An-Utu with one hand, now he needed both.
Lowering his gaze, he saw that his body had shrunk to that of a child—perhaps seven or eight years old. It was the side effect of Shesha's revival ability, triggered too many times, regressing his physical form.
He had become that same small boy who once arrived in the Previous Era.
"Mei... how much longer until the evacuation is complete...?"
"Enough... Elias, are you okay? Please, stop... it's enough. Everyone else has already entered the bubble world... you don't have to fight anymore."
Mei's trembling voice carried through the comms, almost pleading.
"Haha... Mei, you're lying to me again... Mobius... tell me, how much longer?"
"...Forty-five minutes," Mobius answered reluctantly, her tone heavy with the cruel truth.
Just moments ago, Elias had faced the Herrscher of Finality alone—buying forty-five minutes at the cost of dozens of deaths, allowing hundreds of millions of people on Earth to evacuate into the bubble world.
But to save the remaining twenty-four percent, he needed to hold on for another forty-five minutes.
"I see... got it."
Elias nodded calmly.
He lifted his gaze to the Herrscher of Finality. There was no hint of surrender in his eyes. The greatsword that now required both his small hands to hold—Might of An-Utu—once again blazed with golden fire.
To the Herrscher of Finality, that flame, capable of boiling oceans and burning mountains, was but a small torch. Yet no matter what she did, she could not extinguish it.
(Without everyone's support, facing her alone is brutal. When Elysia and the others were with me, I didn't die once in three hours. Now, just forty-five minutes, and I've died dozens of times... heh... I'm getting a little tired...)
Elias turned to glance behind him, at the Flame-Chasers.
Kevin and the others were all in tears—grief-stricken, furious, but helpless. Unlike Elias, whose Honkai energy regenerated endlessly from within the bubble world, their exhausted bodies could no longer fight.
"Why do you persist to such an extent?"
The Herrscher of Finality's question reached Elias's ears.
"What's this? Even a god can't understand something?"
Elias chuckled lightly.
"Yes. Tell me why you struggle so. Since my descent, three days and eight hours have passed. You have bought more time than any civilization before you. Why do you continue? Why are you still not satisfied?"
The divine instinct urging her to kill Elias remained—but for the first time, the Herrscher of Finality's curiosity overpowered that impulse.
She felt she had to know the answer.
Not from the perspective of a god, but as an opponent who had fought alongside this white-haired boy to this very point—
"Human... Elias. With your power, even if I destroy all of humanity and reset this era, you would still survive. You could even bring those people over there with you. So why fight me at all?"
The Herrscher of Finality remembered Elias's name.
It was the only human name she had ever remembered.
And for the first time in her existence, the Goddess of Honkai spoke so many words to a human being.
"Why save this failed era?"
...
Elias stared at the Herrscher in silence for a long moment, caught off guard. Resting his chin on the hilt of Might of An-Utu, he pondered for a bit before answering.
"Now that you mention it... I guess I never really thought about it. I just kept walking forward without realizing it, and when I finally came to, I was already standing here in front of you."
"What? You're telling me you've fought me for over three days straight—without even having a reason to fight? That's impossible."
The Herrscher's tone was absolute.
No one knew better than she how indomitable Elias's will was. He had crossed death dozens of times.
Such an unyielding will could not exist without a source. Just as fire required fuel to burn, Elias must have had a reason to fight.
"Of course I do have a reason to fight."
Elias's lips curled faintly, the eyes once filled with unyielding resolve now softening with warmth.
"At first, I probably just thought saving the world sounded cool—and I wanted the people I loved to live on. So I came to this era, trying to change its tragedy."
"But after I arrived here... I met a girl I loved. We grew up together, traveled the world together, saw the beauty of this civilization, this era."
"That journey with her made me fall in love with this world. It's so beautiful, so full of life and vitality, of love and hope—it makes you want to protect it."
"Now, I'm certain—I've fallen in love with the world itself."
The Herrscher of Finality fell silent, gazing wordlessly at Elias. Though his body was battered and broken, though his life flickered like a candle in the wind, his eyes shone with blinding light.
"Elias... Elias..."
Elysia's eyes filled with tears as she reached out toward his back, her heart aching with the desperate wish to hold the boy she loved tightly once more.
"She and I made a promise—that once this is all over, we'd keep traveling together. So to fulfill that promise, I have to protect this era and its civilization!"
"Maybe I can't stop you from resetting the era—but as long as the people of this era still exist, then civilization still exists! Even if you rewind time, Finality, civilization will not die. And that... is why I fight!"
"I will send life into the future!"
Elias pressed a hand against his chest.
His body had become a Noah's Ark. Within the bubble world that resided inside him, the people of the Previous Era could live on into the future. As long as they survived, the Previous Era itself would never perish.
"...I don't understand. This civilization holds no such value. It is no different from the countless ones I've destroyed before—all unqualified, unable to withstand the embrace of Honkai."
Confusion flickered in the Herrscher of Finality's eyes. Yet she did not realize that, in her words, she had unconsciously placed the worth of one boy's life above that of an entire civilization.
"Idiot!"
Elias glared sharply at her, his tone a fierce reprimand.
"The value of a civilization isn't determined by whether it can withstand Honkai's embrace! You've never walked upon the earth, never admired its nature or art, never witnessed the beauty and ugliness of humanity!"
"Herrscher of Finality, since you've never experienced the beauty born from civilization, you have no right to judge it!"
In the sea of stars, a boy chastised a god.
"If you refuse to acknowledge this era's civilization—if you deny its right to exist—then I will be the one to acknowledge it. I will allow it. I will bear it! And if you insist on destroying it, then I, as the representative of human civilization, will challenge you!"
...
The Herrscher of Finality fell silent.
She had never considered such questions before. As her golden eyes turned toward the blue planet below, for the first time, she realized how utterly ignorant she was of it.
"...Is that so."
A flicker of confusion appeared in her gaze.
"My questions are answered."
As a god, she could not comprehend the human heart—nor could she understand what Elias called the beauty of civilization—but she had indeed received his answer.
Thus, the divine spear rose once more.
"Tch, still going to fight, huh."
"It is my mission... But, Elias, for your sake, I will see to it that this civilization perishes without pain."
"Forget it. We don't need a god's mercy. We'll earn our right to survive ourselves."
Elias shook his head, rejecting the goddess's so-called kindness. The greatsword in his hands—Might of An-Utu—blazed once more with roaring flames.
"You can't stop me anymore."
The Herrscher of Finality spoke what she believed to be fact.
Even resurrection had its limits. As the divine embodiment of Honkai, she already understood that Elias possessed Shesha's ability—and she had deduced how to overcome his immortality.
Destroy him completely, down to the very last cell.
For the Herrscher of Finality, that was hardly difficult.
And at this point, Elias no longer had the strength to defend himself.
The Heaven Devourer Honkai Beast was dead and could not revive soon. The Dea Anchora armor was shattered. Every Divine Key except for the Judgment of Shamash lay broken.
His Herrscher Cores were all overloaded, covered in cracks—rendering his authorities unusable.
His body, riddled with wounds, could barely keep up with the unyielding will that drove it.
To the Herrscher of Finality, it was clear—this battle should end here.
"Yes... it should end. I'm pretty tired too. So I guess it's time to finish this and go home for dinner," Elias said with a faint smile.
In the next instant, to the goddess's utter astonishment—
the white-haired boy released a power unlike anything she had ever felt.
The Judgment of Shamash: Might of An-Utu, the destructive Divine Key that had already reached its peak form, began to change once again.
Its furious flames turned black, nanite soulium shifting form to match the power now pouring into it. Molten gold light flowed along the blade like rivers of magma.
At that moment, the Herrscher of Finality felt something she had never known before—fear.
This was not the might of fleets or the power of Taixuan. This was a force that could truly wound her.
The power of Finality itself.
"Impossible! How can you possess the power of Finality?!"
"Because I'm a Chimera that devours Honkai itself. Because I'm the Palatinus who can absorb it. Because I am the vessel of the Herrscher of Finality from fifty thousand years in the future. I wasn't just stalling for time this whole fight!"
Elias's voice rang out as he once again entered Artificial Cascade.
"Heaven Devourer of ten thousand beasts—bestow upon me your power!"
"Reverse God ascends the heavens, the Savior draws his blade!"
"Now, the ideals of all merge into one grand vow!"
"This is... the Signet of Deliverance!"
The [Reverse God] returned to the world once more.
Using the power of Finality within him, Elias forced his broken body back to its peak—if only for a short while. Golden Honkai patterns crawled across his skin, and his six wings blazed with fire.
Each time he had taken the Herrscher of Finality's attacks, he had absorbed fragments of her power.
After dozens of deaths, he had finally gathered enough to unleash a single, decisive strike.
The energy within him was monstrous—like a beast of apocalypse rampaging through his veins. But the resurrected Heaven Devourer Honkai Beast returned to his body, helping him barely maintain control.
"To wield the power of Finality... with a human body? That's impossible! It shouldn't be possible—!"
The Judgment of Shamash in Elias's hands could no longer be called by that name. Now, it was Might of An-Utu: Finality—a weapon that had transcended the limits of a Divine Key. By infusing the power of Finality into the blade, Elias had forced it beyond its designed boundaries, achieving a form that should not have existed.
At that moment, the [Deliverance] Flame-Chaser raised his sword high, declaring war upon the goddess before him.
"Are you done attacking? Good. Now it's my turn—no objections, right?"
Elias swung Finality An-Utu.
Instantly, golden-red flames engulfed the starry void.
From Earth, humanity gazed in awe as the heavens turned crimson—as though paradise itself had caught fire.
"Impossible! Impossible! You're truly my vessel?! No... no, I must destroy you now! Otherwise, my mission cannot be fulfilled!"
"Enough talking! Come, Goddess—time to settle our score! I shall—ignite the sea of stars!!"
Battlefire blazed in Elias's eyes. His six wings beat with immense force, propelling him toward the Herrscher of Finality. Wherever he passed, the flames scorched the void, as though setting the very stars ablaze.
And the greatsword he raised high—Finality An-Utu—seemed as though it could cleave a god in two.
"No! It's impossible—you still cannot defeat me!"
The Herrscher of Finality's divine body trembled.
She could feel the mortal danger approaching—but even then, she did not believe she could lose. Gaining the power of Finality merely gave Elias the right to harm her, not to defeat her.
For she still held dominion over time itself—
The power to stop the world. To reverse its flow.
She recognized this as Elias's final strike. A warrior of pride and honor might have faced it head-on, even knowing they would lose. But she was no such being.
She was a god.
And a god required neither honor nor dignity.
Only the fulfillment of her mission.
Thus, the Herrscher of Finality prepared to halt time itself—to evade the blade capable of slaying divinity.
But—
"!!!"
Her entire being shuddered.
In that instant, her authority was severed.
Who could possibly cut off a god's power?
The answer—was another god of the same origin.
Sensing a familiar aura, the Herrscher of Finality turned sharply. Behind Elias, a radiant figure bathed in soft pink light stood—Miss Pink Elf herself.
"You...! You're the Origin!" she gasped.
"Eli's fought so hard—how could I let you dodge this one?" Elysia said, forcing herself upright. A brilliant smile blossomed on her face like a field of radiant flowers.
"My [Origin] authority can connect every Herrscher's power. Even though my strength is far weaker than yours, Finality, I can still sever your authority—for just a few seconds!"
"Herrscher of Origin, you trai—"
"Enough noise, Herrscher of Finality—take this blade of Deliverance!!"
Before the goddess could finish her words, the white-haired boy who had ignited the stars appeared before her.
The sword that carried all of Elias's strength, power, and will—fell.
In that instant, the Herrscher of Finality's divine form was cleaved apart. Her blood scattered across the void, her entire body engulfed in raging flames.
"!!!"
A scream of agony tore through the cosmos—the voice of a god echoing among the stars.
It was the first time since her birth that the Herrscher of Finality had ever known pain.