Shu knew.
Compared to the nearly ten million people of ARC City who were brought back to life—"grafted" back to the world to rejoin the flames of civilization—the few dozen survivors from the Chiba Academy shelter who had ultimately headed for the military base were nothing.
The miracle of ARC City was something Yunmengxi had bought with her life, layered atop countless coincidences.
Even with the Core in hand, the difficulty, cost, and risk of the next "graft" remained unknown variables.
Every ounce of power, every single opportunity was so precious that it should only be used where it mattered most—where it could save the most lives or change the global landscape!
And to use a Core that qualified as a "strategic resource" to try and mend such a "trivial" regret?
From a rational perspective, it was a foolish waste.
It was nothing but sentimental indulgence.
He understood this logic perfectly.
His feeling wasn't wrong either; after everything he had experienced, he had indeed grown accustomed to the "optimal solution" mindset.
Save the majority, weigh the costs, focus on the key points.
That was the way he was "supposed" to think now.
But—
But... he couldn't control it.
He knew he shouldn't... but he just couldn't stop thinking... if only... back then...
...
He couldn't let more "regrets" exist in this world.
Therefore, he had to do it.
Even if it wasn't to make up for his past self, for the sake of humanity's future in the present, he had to do it!
The celebration around him continued.
Girls hugged each other, laughing loudly, discussing where to go next to keep the party going. The waves of joy were like a warm tide, enveloping everyone.
Yet, that world of joy shut Shu out... or rather, Shu had rejected the banquet himself.
He kept his head down, hiding his twisted expression, and practically stumbled through the crowd, walking rapidly away from the center of the venue.
He vanished from the heart of the excitement in what looked like an escape, an act that should have gone unnoticed by everyone.
However, the moment Shu turned... or rather, much earlier, the moment Shu's body uncontrollably radiated intense emotional fluctuations, someone had already turned for him.
Kiana watched with confusion as the "major contributor," who had just been celebrating with the fans, suddenly turned and left with such volatile emotions. The suspicion she had temporarily suppressed after being repeatedly interrupted flared back to life.
Who is she really?
Why does her face—and the feeling she gives off—seem so familiar?
And why did she leave so suddenly?
The questions stacked up, turning into a gaze that stuck to the retreating figure like glue.
Then, her intuition began to scream.
Follow her—follow her!
Otherwise, you'll regret it for the rest of your life!
Since her intuition said so...
"Mei, wait for me!" Kiana didn't even have time to explain. She threw out a quick sentence and immediately gave chase, leaving Mei's startled call and the boisterous festival behind.
Shu kept his head down, teeth clenched, forcing power into every step.
The noise was fading, but there was a set of hurried footsteps right behind him.
Shu's heartbeat was almost in sync with his steps, but the footsteps behind him were relentless, pressing closer step by step. Like the "responsibility" in his heart, they held a sharp blade to his waist, forcing him forward.
He involuntarily quickened his pace, but the footsteps behind him sped up as well.
Are they still not going to let me go?!
Shu hadn't realized he was this fragile—fragile enough to be on the verge of a breakdown simply because someone was chasing him.
Grab—!
Finally, as he rounded a corner into a relatively secluded area, the person behind him finally reached out and grabbed his wrist.
Shu whipped around.
It was the other [Shu].
"Let go." Shu suppressed his surging emotions, trying his best not to let them turn into rage.
But was [Shu] any different?
"What you need right now is to calm down!" [Shu]'s voice was low, sounding like a growl. "You shouldn't do this!"
It wasn't just Shu who had heard Kiana's words, nor was it just Shu who had remembered those things in that moment.
[Shu] was exactly like Shu. Everything Shu thought, [Shu] thought too.
But this time... for this one time, even though they hadn't deliberately tried to differentiate their perspectives, their final choices were diametrically opposed.
Shu's wrist became as stiff as an iron bar under [Shu]'s grip, the pulse beneath the skin like a trapped beast slamming against its cage.
"I have to do it." Shu spat out four words, each one like a stone ripped from his chest. "Those buried under the ruins aren't numbers, they are people! Those who died because of the Honkai were all people!
"Before, I was powerless. But now the Herrscher Core is right in front of us! The opportunity is right there!
"Tell me, what reason is there for me to give up this chance and abandon them again?!"
[Shu]'s fingertips had unknowingly sunk into Shu's wrist bone. His voice sounded like sandpaper grinding against metal.
"The reason is right here!
"The people in that hall, the ones laughing, the ones alive, the ones who finally have a safe place to sleep! Are their lives not lives?!
"You want to replicate the miracle of ARC City? Fine!
"Yunmengxi gave up a full Herrscher's life, plus the 'wound' created by Chen Tianwu and Anna, plus having us on the sidelines ready to back her up so she had no worries!
"What about you? What about us? What do we have?
"We have one staff, and two defective products who can't even hold themselves together!
"In the best-case scenario, you transform into the Herrscher of Dreams to tank the cost. And then what?
"You end up in the ICU, and Fire Moth's high-end combat power drops to zero!
"If a Herrscher descends then, who fights?
"You want Kiana to open the Keys of Genesis and duel them alone? You want Bronya to risk the entire Noah's Ark? Or let Bianca, who just got back, turn into a monster she can't even accept herself?
"You are using everyone's lives to pay off your own personal debt of the heart!"
Shu's eye twitched violently. The rage born from his emotions exploded, mixed with sharp pain.
"Yes! It is a debt of the heart!
"Do you know how long I've carried this debt?! Every day! Every time I see everyone living in peace, I remember those people who never got the chance to live in peace because of my cowardice!
"You tell me there's a way forward if I just wait?" Shu leaned in close, his pupils reflecting [Shu]'s equally distorted face.
"Look at this past half year! Evolution, Memory, Dream, Desire, Binding, Theory, Past, even you and me! Mirror and Hope!
"Nine Herrschers!
"In the original story? There were only fourteen!
"And the Honkai is accelerating! Finality could arrive tomorrow!
"Can we win? We don't even have the right to fight!
"And now there's a chance to increase our odds, to 'pick back up' the power wasted in the past, and you're telling me to wait? Wait for what? Wait for the moment Finality slaps us down and we don't even have the room to struggle?!"
[Shu]'s breathing became heavy.
He understood too well what Shu was saying.
Finality, time...
Every word was like a nail being hammered into his brain.
But because of that, he couldn't back down!
"You're right, the Honkai is accelerating!
"But can't you see the pattern? The Herrschers are coming in clusters!
"The ARC City cycle just ended, 'The Past' just dissipated, the mess with 'Mirror' isn't even sorted yet—and the next calamity is already on the way!
"Wringing yourself dry right now—how is that different from throwing the doors open when disaster strikes and saying 'welcome'?!
"You are gambling! Gambling that the next Herrscher will be merciful, gambling that it gives us time to breathe!
"But what are your stakes?
"You're making Kiana and the others fight a bloody battle they weren't supposed to face so soon! This isn't saving people, it's pushing them onto the front lines!"
"Then what about you?!" Shu couldn't take it anymore. Rage made him reach out and grab the other's collar, yanking him forward.
"Where is your 'future'?!
"Are you just selling pipe dreams? Saying 'there will be a way later'? Where is the way? There isn't even a shadow of one!
"At least my path is visible and tangible!
"The Core is right there, the authority is right there, the possibility is right there!
"Since we're both gambling, why is your empty check more reliable than my solid path?
"Why should your 'maybe, possibly, probably' fantasy decide the reality that Kiana and the others 'have to face right now'?!
"What I want is [Hope] that lets us seize our chances! Power that can actually save as many people as possible, one by one!"
"Step aside and let you go on a suicide excavation?!" [Shu] was also completely incensed. He didn't shy away, grabbing Shu's lapels in return and slamming his head forward.
Their foreheads collided with a loud, dull thud.
The sharp pain didn't bring them to their senses; it only made them more frenzied.
"Digging up past graves won't save today's fires!" / "What is your 'future' besides waiting for death?!"
"After the staff collapses with you, what will you have left to protect the people you say you want to save?" / "When Finality descends, what will you use to stand in front of Kiana?"
Their hands, gripping each other, suddenly tightened.
Then, like a scream erupting simultaneously from both sides of a mirror, two voices tore through the air in the exact same way, yet carrying completely opposite weights—
"I still have you!!"
The voices crashed together, exploded, and then tightly throttled one another.
Dead silence.
Only the blurred, jubilant waves of noise from the distant venue drifted over, sounding like they were coming from across a deep sea.
And dripping down from their foreheads, past the bridge of their noses—
Was the blood belonging to "Shu."