"So, may I ask for a hug? That road of tens of thousands years was far too long... I've missed you all so, so much."
"Elias!!" ×N
At those words, none of the Flame-Chasers could hold back. One after another, they stepped forward, gently wrapping their arms around the white-haired boy before them—the most beautiful and most fragile being in existence at that moment.
"Ah... it's so warm..."
Elias ignored his body's disintegration, holding each one of them tightly in return, his eyes glimmering with tears.
For this warmth—this human touch—was something he had longed for countless times during that fifty-thousand-year-long journey along the road of time... yet could never have.
Meanwhile, the countdown on his system interface had turned red. His remaining time was slipping away fast.
Elias looked upon everyone with reluctant fondness.
"Mobius... I know you're a kind soul deep down. So go on—chase after our [Infinity] without hesitation."
"Eden, I'm someone who can't get drunk... but your singing—it's the only thing in this world that's ever truly intoxicated me."
"Aponia, you're no longer a slave to fate. You've become the very eyes through which I've seen destiny."
"Dear Pardofelis, promise me—you'll live happily every single day, alright?"
"Little Griseo, your big brother Elias has turned back to your favorite color again. Next time we meet, please paint freely on my wings once more."
"Sakura, take good care of yourself. You're someone who forces herself too much, you know?"
"Vill-V, my beloved inventor—I like you, and I like every one of your personalities too."
"Mei, I know you're a romantic at heart. So... if one day you truly stand against the stars themselves, promise me—you'll take me with you."
"Hua, you've never been ordinary. I've seen just how incredible your future will be."
"Kevin, Su... the two of you, don't you dare start petty fights over who gets to raise the child again, alright?"
"Kalpas, everyone knows about the kindness you hide behind that mask. Thank you—for treating me like a brother."
"Cosma, don't overthink things so much. Be brave—say what's in your heart. You don't have to dream anymore. The man you are now is already a true hero."
"And lastly, my dearest Ely... our promise has been fulfilled. We've traveled through every city in the world together. But... I still want to go to more places with you."
Elias summoned the last traces of his Origin power, shaping fifteen radiant crystal flowers—each glowing in a unique hue—and let them drift into the hands of everyone present, including his own.
"Don't go, Elias! We can't be without you!"
"Mm... and I can't be without you either."
"Next time, we won't let you get hurt again! Never again will we let you shoulder everything alone!"
"Live on, Elias! That's what we should be telling you! We'll always be your comrades, your partners, your family!"
"We'll find you—no matter how far into the future you go, Elias, we'll come find you!"
The Flame-Chasers clasped their crystal flowers in both hands, as if swearing an oath before eternity.
They looked upon the white-haired boy whose body was crumbling to its limit—yet who still smiled at them all with warmth and peace.
And in that moment, each one of them made a silent promise.
Elias felt only gratitude—only joy. The end was coming, but surrounded by those he loved most, he felt nothing but fulfillment and warmth.
"It's time for me to go. Goodbye, everyone—and farewell, Previous Era. From now on, the stars will shine brighter because I was here... and beauty will last forever because I never truly left."
After giving his final blessing to everyone, Elias' body shattered like glass—breaking into countless crystalline fragments before dispersing completely.
As he faded, the others were returned from the Golden Theater to the Elysian Realm.
There, countless objects materialized before their eyes—photo albums of memories, golden wine cups, expired instant noodles, the Mad King's mask, Mobius' toy serpent, a withered flower of forget-me-not...
These were the keepsakes Elias had collected from his many cycles—tokens of twelve entire lifetimes.
There were so many of them—yet it felt only natural. After all, he had carried them across twelve worlds, twelve eras, twelve rebirths.
When the Flame-Chasers looked upon those mementos, their eyes welled up once again. One by one, they picked up the items connected to them—each resolving silently to deliver it back to Elias when they met him again in the future.
Elysia trembled as she gathered the photo albums from the ground, one by one. Flipping through the pictures she herself had taken long ago, she saw his smiling face—the white-haired boy's radiant grin—and her sobs refused to stop.
But among all the keepsakes, she found one more thing.
A marriage registration form.
It was the same one she had given to Elias in the very first cycle. But now... both their names were filled in.
That day, Elysia's cries echoed throughout the Elysian Realm.
...
Hours later—space above the lunar surface.
"Human... Elias..."
The Herrscher of Finality stirred back to consciousness.
After ten full days of recovery, the shutdown caused by the last strike had finally ended. The Honkai energy she had lost had also been replenished through her link with the imaginary space.
Now, with this civilization's destroyer awake—and its savior gone—no one remained capable of stopping her from resetting the time of the Previous Era.
Yet within her golden, godlike eyes—though still filled with divine majesty and authority—there was something different.
Like the others before her, the Herrscher of Finality was no longer a puppet of the Honkai.
And so, none could have known—
At this moment, the world faced another crisis.
Because the Herrscher of Finality hesitated.
"..."
The goddess of destruction raised her hand toward the vast blue planet before her—but did not release her power to rewind time to the beginning of civilization.
She recalled the twelve battles she had fought against the white-haired boy—and the words he had spoken to her.
"The worth of a civilization isn't determined by whether it can survive the Honkai's embrace. You've never walked upon the earth, never admired its art or nature, never witnessed the beauty and ugliness of humanity."
"Herrscher of Finality, if you've never felt the beauty born of civilization, then you have no right to judge it."
"..."
The words of a single boy had shaken the heart of a god.
Something that should have been impossible.
Yet now, freed from the control of the Honkai and bearing the seed of humanity within her, the Herrscher of Finality found herself restless—Elias' words echoing endlessly in her mind.
"What is this feeling...?"
Truthfully, there were countless things Elias had done to unsettle her—and this was only one of them.
Her expression grew conflicted. She raised a hand to her lips. Even after ten days, the sensation of that kiss still lingered faintly.
At the same time, she removed something from her head—a gift, the token of that very moment: a delicate crystalline crown.
Even while she had been in her shutdown state, she could still feel its presence. That puzzled her deeply.
She shouldn't have been able to feel anything then. So why, when she recalled it now, did her heart begin to race?
Thinking back, Elias had stolen too many of her "firsts."
Her first worthy opponent. Her first embrace. Her first kiss. Her first gift. Her first prank... and many, many more.
"But my mission... must be fulfilled."
The Herrscher of Finality spoke with conviction.
Though she was no longer under Honkai's control, the countless times she had carried out her purpose had ingrained it into her very being. After a brief moment of hesitation, she raised her hand again—and unleashed her Authority upon the Earth.
A vast, blazing red-golden cross appeared upon the planet's surface. It was the mark of the Honkai—the Death Sigil—that only manifested when a Herrscher's unleashed energy reached the level capable of annihilating a world.
Then, the Authority of Time activated.
The surface of Earth began to vanish. The great cities of the Previous Era crumbled and disappeared one after another.
Soon, human civilization was gone—leaving behind only the boundless Honkai energy saturating the world, and the newborn, primal Earth of mountains, rivers, and forests returned to origin.
Even with the Fourth Divine Key, Echo of the Sky, aiding environmental restoration, it would still take tens of thousands of years for the planet to once again become suitable for human habitation.
"Mission... complete."
The Herrscher of Finality gazed upon the scene she had brought forth. Her emotions were faint—after all, this was something she had done countless times. Yet compared to the past, even that faint ripple in her heart was something new.
By all logic, after fulfilling the Honkai's command, she should have returned to the Cocoon of Finality.
But she did not.
"Just as you said... this time, I'll see this world for myself. I'll witness humanity's civilization with my own eyes. And also... I owe you a proper revenge, blasphemer—Elias."
Her golden eyes narrowed slightly as she raised a hand to her chest. Even after eleven cycles, she still remembered the pain of that sword that had ignited the sea of stars.
Though the wound itself was long gone, the memory remained. What the Goddess of Honkai had received from Elias was not only gifts, kisses, and embraces...
But also humiliation and defeat.
Twelve times. Twelve complete cycles.
As a god, she had been defeated and spared twelve times by a single human boy. To her, that was the greatest disgrace imaginable.
"Wait for me, Elias. I'll come to see you. Fifty thousand years into the future, wasn't it? Then I'll simply sleep until that time. After all, I have no interest in the civilizations before your birth."
Her body began to shrink—from towering kilometers tall to the size of an ordinary human. Then, the Herrscher of Finality descended toward the newly reset Earth.
Like the Planet-class Honkai Beast, she entered deep slumber.
...
Three days after Elias' departure.
With the reset of civilization complete, the outer world was now saturated with overwhelming Honkai energy—rendering it completely uninhabitable.
Only a few Fire Moth bases remained intact, protected through special means, meant to serve as archaeological relics for the next civilization. Apart from those, only the Elysian Realm remained untouched.
"This has been going on for three days now? Is Ely really going to be alright?"
"There's nothing we can do. We can't even begin to imagine how deeply Elias' departure hurt her."
"Let me and Sakura check on her. Vill-V, Mobius—the two of you keep working on whatever you're planning. I'm trusting you."
Eden spoke with concern, then set off toward the Elysian Realm with Sakura. Since that day, Elysia had locked herself inside her castle and hadn't come out even once.
Meanwhile, Mobius and Vill-V seemed to be working on something dangerous—but Eden decided to leave the scientists to their experiments.
When the two arrived at the castle deep within the Elysian Realm, they knocked gently on the door of the innermost room. After a long moment, the door finally opened.
What they saw left both of them speechless.
The pink-haired elf—usually radiant with optimism and warmth—now looked utterly exhausted. Her eyes were dim, her face still streaked with dried tears. She wore nothing but an oversized white shirt.
And both Eden and Sakura recognized it immediately.
It was Elias' shirt.
"Ely, you... what are you doing?"
"Elysia, please... pull yourself together."
When the door opened, the light poured into the dim bedroom—and their eyes widened further. The room was filled with countless things that once belonged to the white-haired boy.
"Only like this... can I feel a little less pain."
Elysia picked up the pillow Elias had once used and buried her face into it.
Now that he was gone, all she could do was cling to the faint traces of his scent and warmth left behind on these things.
But they were nothing more than ashes of what once was.
"Eden... Sakura... tell me... if Elias had never met me... would he have lived a happier life?"
"Ely... that's not something you should ever say."
"But... but it's because of me that Elias had to go through so many cycles! If we had never fallen in love, maybe he wouldn't have suffered so much—he wouldn't have had to bear the sorrow of an entire world, or walk that fifty-thousand-year road of time alone... or endure so many wounds."
...
Elysia clutched the pillow tightly, her tears falling onto the pink crystal flower beside her. It had only been three days since their separation, yet she already felt she could barely go on.
Such despair didn't suit her—this wasn't who Elysia was supposed to be. She had always been the one who faced sorrow and hardship with optimism, who accepted pain and moved beyond it.
But when it came to Elias, it was different. He was the only one she had ever truly loved—the only selfishness she had ever allowed herself.
Elysia loved the entire world, but the word "love" was far too small to describe what she felt for Elias.
There were no words in existence capable of expressing the depth of feeling born from twelve lifetimes of love.
And perhaps that was why it hurt so much—because her love for Elias brought her a pain that went beyond happiness.
"Then tell me, Elysia... do you regret it?"
"What?"
"Do you regret meeting Elias? Do you regret falling in love with him? Because if you do—then maybe your love truly was a mistake. Tell me, Elysia... did he make the wrong choice? Would you deny him?"
"...!!"
Elysia's entire body trembled.
Even if she denied herself—she would never deny Elias. And now, Eden's words made her realize—denying herself was the same as denying him.
"Elias wasn't wrong... our love wasn't wrong. Even with all the pain and sorrow... it was still beautiful."
"That's right," Eden said softly, smiling. "To me, you're just two hopeless fools who loved each other too much—always giving, always getting hurt for each other. But no doubt... it's the kind of love story that anyone in this world would envy."
"And besides, it's not over yet. Didn't Elias say he was only returning to the future? Then it's our turn to find him. So what if it's fifty thousand years? Compared to everything he did—for you, for us—that's nothing, isn't it?"
Encouraged by the two, Elysia's eyes regained their light. She clenched the pink crystal flower tightly in her hand.
"You're right. I'm going to see him again. Our love isn't over. Our journey isn't over. Fifty thousand years... that's nothing. Thank you, Eden, Sakura. I'm alright now."
"Good. As long as you're back to yourself, that's all that matters," Eden said gently.
"We still have some business to take care of, so we'll go on ahead," Sakura added before the two quietly left.
Elysia didn't think much of their sudden departure. Instead, she took out two small booklets.
Even on the day the world was ending, the Fire Moth's civil office was still functioning.
So Elysia submitted their marriage registration. Normally, both parties had to appear together—but who could possibly refuse the request of a tearful, broken-hearted elf with lifeless eyes?
"Wait for me, Eli... I'm coming to find you."
She brushed her fingers over the shining ring on her left hand and finally smiled again.
As she imagined their reunion in the distant future, her mood began to brighten slightly—until she noticed something odd.
Several of Elias' keepsakes were missing.
Being as clever as she was, she immediately realized the reason.
Elysia: "Eden! Sakura! Give me back my treasures!"