"The preparations were hasty, so please forgive any inadequacies in the hospitality."
The mysterious grey-haired man—Su—stood in the shadows cast by the hanging branches of the Bodhi tree. With a gentle swipe of his fingertips in the air, a dark brown octagonal wooden table solidified as if ink were spreading, its wood grain still carrying the scent of freshly cut pine.
The lid of the purple clay teapot on the table wobbled, floating up on its own as if alive. Amber tea liquid traced a crystalline arc in the air, pouring steadily into three white porcelain cups.
Curling white steam rose with the fragrance of tea, scattering into fine gold dust amidst the chirping of cicadas.
"Wow! Thank you!" Little Kallen flapped her wings and curiously leaned over to touch it.
The fact that a hand in a projected state could properly hold a porcelain cup not only surprised the girl but also maxed out her vigilance at this moment.
"It doesn't matter, we came uninvited." Mei maintained her unflappable demeanor. "So? Where is the legendary 'Lady of the Lake'?"
"..."
Hearing her mention this, the man's detached and handsome features twitched imperceptibly.
Her constantly active electromagnetic perception keenly caught this. The girl was stunned, her tone revealing a hint of disbelief: "Could it be that you are...?"
This is a guy, right?! Are the people calling him a fairy blind?
It could only be said that as a Herrscher-level beautiful girl who lamented her own unavoidable natural beauty in the mirror every day while washing up, Mei couldn't possibly understand the soul-deep impact and throbbing felt by those scruffy Celtic barbarians 1,500 years ago when faced with a slender "beauty" with fair skin, beautiful features, and a gentle temperament.
LMAO, maybe the tradition of Gay-Britain started from back then.
Su! Your crimes are heinous!
"By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet."
Seeing that the girls had no intention of tasting the tea, Su wasn't annoyed.
He leaned his upper body slightly forward and raised his right hand in a polite bow. "My name is Su. I am the Seventh Flame-Chaser bearing the Signet of Bodhi, a pioneer from the Previous Era walking in the Current Era, and also the executor of Project Valuka."
"And the Lady of the Lake!" Little Kallen added loudly.
"That's right." The man's smile crumbled a bit.
To change the subject, he had specifically omitted titles like Mahamayuri, Teacher of the Enlightened One, Founder of Schicksal, and so on, only for this unlucky child to point it out immediately.
Fortunately, these two didn't know that the Virgin Mary was also one of Su's identities when walking in the outside world, otherwise he would really have to consider activating Cycle of Cause and Effect to perform a Great Memory Erasure Jutsu.
I am just a psychic MANTIS, I don't have power like theirs X.
I am just a psychic MANTIS, I don't have weak power like theirs ✓.
After Kallen's interruption, the previous tense atmosphere was quickly alleviated.
Mei sat politely on the stone stool, scanning the spatial structure of the Seed of Sumeru right in front of him. "Since you woke up from the dormant pod as a Pioneer, joining hands with the people of this era to fight against the Honkai is the right path. Refusing to leave this alternate space above the Thames for 1,500 years... is it because of this Project Valuka you mentioned?"
"Yes... and no."
A bitter ripple surfaced on his handsome face. Su stroked the cute cat that had somehow run onto his head and lay down, explaining, "This matter starts from the time of King Arthur, 1,500 years ago."
In the story of The Legend of King Arthur, the Lady of the Lake had far less screen time than the prophet Merlin.
It was the latter who raised Arthur Pendragon single-handedly, and it was he who assisted her in ruling almost all the territories of Great Britain, making her a veritable King of Knights.
However, just when King Arthur was at the height of her power, this legendary magician exited the stage abruptly, the reason being that he was sunk to the bottom of the lake by the jealous Lady of the Lake.
Why?
"I had a disagreement with Kevin—that is, Merlin—who was also a Pioneer."
Su recounted calmly, "The only purpose he had in assisting that little girl Arthur to unite Great Britain was to turn this isolated island nation completely into a test base for Project Stigma."
Project Stigma. Stripping away those messy and headache-inducing complex terms, simply put, it was artificial species selection.
Injecting awakening serum into ordinary people. Those who succeeded awakened natural Stigmata; those who failed degenerated into Zombies.
And the success rate at that time was less than one in a thousand.
"That guy named Kevin is too much!" Little Kallen flapped her wings angrily. She almost immediately thought of Otto's sister, Risa Schariac, who had frenziedly created an army of tens of thousands of aberrations in the lunar sky.
But even for that woman, the success rate of the experiment was at least seven in a thousand.
Less than one in a thousand—this was pure disregard for human life!
"Yes." Su sighed.
As the Seventh Flame-Chaser of the Previous Era and a Fire Moth Pioneer who had awakened at the beginning of the Current Era, thousands of years of experience had long polished his heart to be as hard as a rock.
But even so, when the man learned that his best friend intended to turn an entire country into a devil's den where monsters ran rampant, he still felt indescribable absurdity and a trace of fear.
Kevin's behavior was like raising livestock, and humans were the pigs he kept.
He no longer saw himself as human.
Holding this thought, Su took action.
He had promised Dr. MEI that if he ever found Kevin going down the wrong path, he would pull him back in her stead.
"The magician Merlin was dragged into the lake by the Lady of the Lake, permanently sealed until the end of time. The prophet eventually became a bug in eternal amber, only able to watch the springs and autumns of the human world through the crystal wall."
Mei murmured Merlin's ending from the book.
"Yes, by relying on the First Rated Power of the Key of Infinity."
The arc of Su's nod was like a withered branch broken by the wind. A Bodhi leaf rested on the corner of his slightly closed eye, representing endless sorrow.
The Key of Infinity, [Cosmic Juggernaut], the Second Divine Key built with the core of the Herrscher of the Void from the Previous Era as its core.
Its First Rated Power, [Inverted Horizons], possessed the ability to open the Sea of Quanta, fold a World Bubble, and sink it into its deepest depths, permanently sealing everything inside.
That battle truly exhausted everything Su had. He first deceived Kevin into the World Bubble created by the Cosmic Juggernaut through lies, and then fought him fiercely wielding the Abyss Flower and the Star of Eden in succession.
Even so, before the overwhelming power of the Savior, Su was still nearly killed.
Or rather, he should have been killed. Unexpectedly, at the last moment, Kevin chose to stop.
He activated his Active Honkai Reaction to completely freeze the wild flames unleashed by the unsheathed Judgment of Shamash, and then used brute force to throw Su and the numerous Divine Keys out of the World Bubble. He himself sank to the very bottom of the Sea of Quanta under the effect of Void Archives, with no sign of escaping to this day.
"After sealing Kevin, I sealed the Cosmic Juggernaut in the alternate space above the Thames, and I myself dove into it to continue executing Project Valuka entrusted to me by Dr. MEI."
Project Valuka: using the Cosmic Juggernaut's ability to observe parallel worlds to find a way to completely defeat the Honkai.
The project was a success.
Yes, you read that right. Project Valuka was truly a success.
Under Su's massive observations regardless of the consequences over the past 1,500 years, he finally captured a parallel world that had survived the Honkai and figured out the cause and effect within it.
As a price, the act of pushing past his limits to speed up the observation of parallel worlds over these years meant his lifespan was coming to an end.
But no matter what, Su had finally seen the dawn of victory.
What was needed next was to gather the conditions.
He was very confident about this.
Durandal couldn't draw out the power of the Dea Anchora?
Here, take this, it's the Seed of Sumeru.
Otto, that shit-stirrer, wouldn't allow the Honkai to be eliminated because then he couldn't resurrect Kallen?
Give him the Cosmic Juggernaut and the relevant information on opening parallel worlds. He can Apocalypse-thus-spoke however he wants.
Say hello to the World Serpent and tell them when to fish Kevin out of the Sea of Quanta. Then sneak into the Elysian Realm to check the accounts with his memory sim, telling him how to guide Raiden Mei's actions after she enters the Realm.
Once a few key nodes were settled, the rest would naturally fall into place.
After doing all this, Su was finally at ease.
All that was left was for Durandal to arrive in the autumn of 2015. Then he could grandly give her the item, and then truly empty his brain and take a break.
Of course, he could rest then, but not now.
Lying under the Bodhi tree, Su looked at the white clouds filling the sky. Having nothing to do, and with a friendly wish to witness the happy ending of the story, he once again activated the Rated Power of the Cosmic Juggernaut to observe the aftermath of that parallel world defeating the Honkai.
Since he had the coordinates, it didn't take much effort for him to reconnect to that world.
"How could this be? Impossible!"
The moment the scene came into view, the man's hair stood on end.
The boundless lunar surface, Mei, Bronya, Seele, Durandal, Rita...
Renowned Herrschers and S-rank Valkyries lay on this pale battlefield one by one. Some held weapons, some had broken limbs, some had their eyes wide open in anger, but all were dim and lifeless.
They were all dead. Not a single one was alive.
To this, Su's first reaction was that Miss Kiana Kaslana, who had embraced the Cocoon of Finality, had discovered his uninvited visit and thus played a unique prank.
The man immediately denied this. That kind Earth Goddess would definitely not do such an excessive thing, even if to her he was just a stranger peeping into her territory.
Then what happened?
Why did the perfect world line that defeated the Honkai turn out like this?
Where did the invincible moon-dominating tuna-cat go?
And why did that small jointed hand that suddenly popped out and swiped the broken Moon Ring next to Theresa look a bit familiar?
Su knew none of this.
He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and activated the Cosmic Juggernaut again, searching madly for other parallel worlds that had defeated the Honkai.
The breakthrough from 0 to 1 was often the hardest. With the coordinates from the first time, his search went very smoothly this time.
Then—
End;
End;
End;
End...
The perfect world lines that defeated the Honkai, without exception, all perished.
The chain reactions triggered by it, disasters like death spots, were so huge that the total number of the [Honkai Series Parallel Worlds] began to plummet.
The bitterness on Su's face was like the fine cracks on imperial kiln porcelain. "And this is also the reason why I did not stop you two from coming."
It was also the reason why he didn't intervene in the Third Honkai Eruption, and didn't hinder Fuli and K423 from meeting in Shenzhou.
With Su's unpredictable methods, stopping this event would have been all too simple.
Just slightly influence Fuli's alarm clock, let him sleep in during the day. The boy who was late for class would definitely not meet that lively white-haired Finality who helped others fight injustice.
He would continue to be his little knight in that small patch of land, finish high school, graduate from college, marry a considerate, rich wife who brought her own dowry, have two cute and lively precious daughters, and spend a life full of happiness in infinite sincerity and beauty.
Durandal, not meeting Fuli in advance, would still maintain her own style. Even if she recalled the past after becoming the Palatinus Equinox, she would only smile nostalgically at those childhood events and move on. As for Rita, since Fuli didn't show his talent, the maid, who still believed he was dead, would only act according to Schicksal's established route.
Bronya and Mei wouldn't even have the chance to know Fuli. Without the life-saving grace of the Third Eruption, Theresa wouldn't be able to recall the little boy who followed Kiana back then even if she racked her brains.
This was another timeline, a [Perfect Timeline without Fuli].
Often, a powder keg didn't need to be detonated; letting it disappear quietly was also a good choice.
But not this time.
Because the world lines that "defeated" the Honkai were not only imperfect but even more fatal.
Su, plunged into self-doubt, dared not rashly change history, fearing that [changing Fuli's fate] was the key node that would push the world into the abyss of destruction.
But before that.
BOOM—!
Silky dark purple hair flashed with arcs of electricity winding around her body, floating and scattering due to the airflow.
"You should thank yourself for not recklessly stopping Fuli and Kiana from meeting."
The cold, ruthless, and beautiful face displayed anger. The exquisite nose and soft pink lips matched the purple eyes perfectly, yet there was no lack of killing intent and majesty when facing an enemy.
Mei raised her right hand, and the giant blade suspended in the air moved with it.
"Otherwise, I would absolutely kill you myself in the cruelest way!"
The girl didn't know what her other timeline selves were like. Perhaps, as Su said, they were warmed by the light that was Kiana, becoming the Origin and Finality accompanying her.
But at least here, the thought that she almost didn't meet Fuli, the thought that perhaps Su in countless parallel worlds had indeed acted to make [Fuli] and [Raiden Mei] strangers, filled her heart with fear and boundless rage, urging Mei to slash down a heaven-reaching blade of thunder at the 'culprit' before her!
"You bastard who plays with other people's fates without permission!"
Kallen's gaze was also stern.
Even if the Saintess wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, she could imagine that if Fuli hadn't descended from the sky back then, Otto would definitely have forced the Life Equation onto her in the dungeon!
Facing a virtual Otto who had lost his self, Kallen, having gained a soul, would definitely not leave out of guilt, staying alone in the fake world until the end!
"Sigh..."
Facing the soaring rage of Mei and Kallen, Su not only didn't open the Cycle of Cause and Effect to return the favor in kind, but instead spread his arms, intending to actively take this Thunder Light Ship-Cleaving Blade, which was intended merely to vent anger and not truly meant to hit his body (?).
He understood it all too well. That horror of almost missing an important person by a hair's breadth, that bitterness of being bosom friends yet missing each other due to various factors.
Like getting a Normal Ending in a Galgame and checking the guide only to find that a single correct choice somewhere would have led to the True Ending route. However, this wasn't a game, but life where there were no regret pills.
However, what exceeded Su's expectations was that while he intended to take this hit to reconcile the two sides...
As the Herrscher of Origin and Thunder with a huge weight, Mei also had the qualifications to make him yield.
But the little guy lying on Su's head didn't agree.
"Meow—!"
The charge in the air already made Pardo-cat's fur full of static. Seeing that Su not only didn't retreat but went straight up to meet it, the cat, not wanting to go bald, flicked its tail and extended that chubby cat paw which Fuli had personally tested to feel amazing.
Slap!
With a single swipe, the clouds dispersed and the mist vanished.
Whether it was the terrifying thunder sword or the rolling ink-colored clouds in the sky, all vanished into nothingness under the cat's casual strike, leaving only a clear, clean blue sky.
After doing all this, Pardo-cat scampered in front of Mei and extended its paw pad to her, its nervous little eyes seeming to say, 'Look how cute I am, everyone come pet the cat, let's not fight, okay?'
Startled by the scene just now, the girl subconsciously hugged the cat and rubbed its soft little belly.
A series of analysis data on Pardo's casual strike flashed before her eyes. The values far exceeding S-rank made the usually composed Raiden Mei dumbfounded:
"Holy crap! A Grand Sequence?!!"
"Meow~"
The cat purred and nuzzled Mei's hand again.
...