"Come over here, Eve! Quick, look at this carousel!"
The girl glanced around, still hesitating, when a powerful force pulled her hand, dragging her over irresistibly.
"Wait... wait a minute, Mama! This, this is..."
"Huh? This is a carousel, isn't it? What's wrong... Ah, right, in your era, you probably don't have this kind of thing yet, do you? What do you think? Isn't it cute? Perfect for girls, right?"
"Er, er... This..."
That wasn't the issue... Eve's eye twitched slightly. In reality, although she had never seen or ridden this... carousel, she had ridden real horses... Considering that, looking at this wooden horse now, the vibrant and intricate colors were indeed nice, but it was a bit... childish.
But the young woman beside her clearly didn't think so. Taking advantage of Eve's distraction, she scooped Eve up from behind, quickly placed her on a wooden horse, and then leaped onto another one herself. Then, before Eve could react, she snapped her fingers. A childish nursery rhyme began to play, and the carousel started its slow rotation.
"Sigh..."
Atop the distant castle, Michael pressed his forehead and sighed softly.
"How nice. A carousel is still too childish for Eve, but it's just right for Ely."
Another voice sounded behind him, tinged with a hint of envy.
"...If you wanted to, you could bring Adam here to play too."
"Let's forget about that."
Dr. MEI pushed up her glasses, slowly shaking her head.
"I heard from Ely that you almost never appear in front of Adam, but you get along well with Eve?"
"That's true... Adam is too much like his father. I don't know... I still don't know how to be a good mother. As for Eve... well, she's my future daughter-in-law, of course, we need to communicate more."
"Getting along with children, huh?"
Michael cupped his chin, his eyes rolling once in their sockets.
"In that case, I'm not suited to get along with children either. Ely can hit it off with both of them, but that way... I really..."
"Don't look at me, I can't learn it either."
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Michael coughed and chuckled. Indeed, if anyone else tried to interact like Elysia (Ely), it would seem forced and artificial. Only she, even if sometimes appearing overly affectionate, never became annoying.
"In the end, it's still because... we were absent from their childhood. They were almost adults when they came to the Elysian Realm. Looking at us, who appear to be around their age... If I put myself in Adam's shoes, I probably wouldn't be able to see this girl named MEI as my mother either."
"But... I remember, I left a cloned body for you and Ely. If you wanted to leave the Elysian Realm and briefly go to the real world, it's not impossible, right?"
"Yes, but Ely has never gone out, not even once. And I don't know what I would do if I went out. It's actually quite nice staying here. Everything we couldn't ask for fifty thousand years ago, a peaceful and ordinary life, it's all here. One can only say, it truly is the paradise Elysia spoke of, more ideal than Utopia, yet a world that truly exists."
"But, living such a life for too long would also become very boring, wouldn't it?"
"I said, this kind of life is everything we fought for fifty thousand years ago. Since it has been realized in this way, I naturally can't ask for more. As for the boredom you mentioned... perhaps. But it's also possible that I've grown accustomed to life in the Elysian Realm, and compared to the boredom of unchanging routine, I'm more afraid of the unknowns of the outside world, perhaps?"
MEI's soft laughter was carried to Michael's ears by the gentle wind. He glanced sideways, his eyelids blinked twice, then drooped.
"Afraid of the unknown? That doesn't sound like something you would say."
"Huh?"
MEI paused for a moment, then smiled and retorted, "Then what kind of words do you think I should say?"
Without waiting for Michael's answer, she continued:
"Michael, you still see me, see us, as the heroes from your memories. But, stripping away the halo you subjectively bestow upon me, I'm actually just a girl whose life stopped in her twenties. The pain, troubles, timidity, and cowardice that a normal person would have, I naturally have them too. Even a true hero inevitably has such a dark side. Or rather, it's precisely because a person can feel pain, timidity, and cowardice, yet still chooses to bravely face everything, that we call them a hero. Of course, I don't count as one."
Michael fiddled with the roof tiles, neither affirming nor refuting. After a long while, he suddenly changed the subject:
"So... not to be rude, MEI, but Adam doesn't still not know who his mother is, does he?"
"I haven't told him. But it doesn't really matter. He can probably guess. Even if he can't, after exploring the Elysian Realm for so long, he should have seen some memories from our era."
Michael fell silent. He sat on a roof beam, quietly watching the pink clouds formed by Ely's imagination, saying nothing.
"What? You finally came to the Elysian Realm, aren't you going to spend some time with your daughter?"
Michael still didn't reply. He stared, unblinking, at the slowly rotating carousel not far away. The melodious nursery rhyme echoed throughout this paradise, but he gradually couldn't hear it clearly, nor did he have the desire to distinguish it.
"Indeed, you haven't changed much from fifty thousand years ago."
MEI leaned against the spire of the building, waving at the back of Michael's head:
"Well then, I'm going back to rest. If possible, I suggest you still meet Eve. That child's personality is quite similar to yours, and besides... today is her birthday."
"..."
"Ah, that's right, it's the same day as that incident. Michael, Ely's and my time stopped fifty thousand years ago. But you and Eve still have to move forward. She has to move forward for several decades, and you for several millennia... Your road is still very long. Leaving some... unforgettable, beautiful memories might help you face everything in the future more easily."
"Crash—Clatter!"
Michael's hand trembled. He remembered his hand, which had been fiddling with the tiles, shaking at that moment. So, a tile rolled down the slope of the roof and shattered on the shadow-covered stone ground.
"Heh..."
Although it was a long sigh, no sound echoed around. Only a puff of white vapor curled up against the dark background, slowly rising, exceptionally conspicuous.
"How ridiculous, Michael. You, of all people, are actually trapped in a memory from five thousand years ago... Eh, five thousand years, not fifty thousand."
He chuckled self-deprecatingly, but no one besides himself could hear that sound.
He forced himself to look up. He had asked countless times before, this was clearly the far side of the moon, yet why could he see the gray Earth when he looked up?
But looking back now, that question wasn't born out of a true desire for knowledge, but merely a sense of novelty from the subversion of common sense. This was already who-knows-how-many times he had been here, looking up at the Earth. That question would never arise in his heart again.
Because he had long since grown accustomed to it, so accustomed that he was too lazy to engage in such meaningless thoughts.
"Heh... Heh... Yawn—"
He had slept for a very long time. Drowsiness surged back. He wanted to yawn, but all he got was an extremely sharp pain.
"Kevin, you really hit hard..."
He looked down at his chest. The twin prongs of the red spearhead were deeply embedded in his lungs. As the muscles of his chest and abdomen writhed, more and more blood gushed from the wound, drawing thin red lines on his deathly pale skin.
"I wonder who really won that battle back then... Honestly, that guy better not have gone sour soaking in the Sea of Quanta."
"Sigh... With his Chimera constitution, long-term survival in the Sea of Quanta isn't a problem. But, Michael... I've always wanted to ask you, are you really okay with injuries like this?"
Hearing the voice in his mind, Michael subconsciously turned his head, but felt no one around.
He paused again, then remembered it was the voice of Prometheus No. 17.
"Don't worry about me. My body is essentially still... Nothing can kill me."
"Hehe, I have no obligation to worry about anyone. Based on my personal loyalties, I should be more worried about Kevin."
"Hmph, then back then... didn't you still do it my way?"
"That had nothing to do with anything else. It was just because Dr. MEI told me to listen to you."
Michael clicked his tongue, no longer seeking a rebuff.
"So, how long was I asleep? The Honkai Impact on Earth hasn't officially started yet, has it..."
"Heh, over five hundred years. But I'm sorry, a Herrscher has already appeared on Earth. Since I couldn't wake you up earlier, I took the liberty of executing Plan B."
Michael, on the cross, laboriously tilted his head. "Oh, looks like I woke up at the wrong time?"
"No, you woke up at just the right time. Regardless of the plan, the Second and Third Honkai Eruptions are of paramount importance. And unluckily, I just tricked a girl according to plan not long ago. She'll probably be here soon."
"Ah... That's quite a coincidence. For equally boring times, dreams are much more interesting than reality. Number 17, I'll sleep a bit more. When that child arrives, remember to call me."
"You—Hehe..."
Before Number 17 could say anything, pink feathers slowly drifted down—Michael had actually used the Authority of Sentience to force himself into sleep.
However, being asleep was also good... If, for the former Flame-Chasers and the survivors of the Fire Moth, they could find everything they had once fought for, even things they wouldn't dare dream of, in the Elysian Realm.
Then for this man, there was nothing left in this world that he wanted. In other words, what he pursued was something that did not exist in this world—not in the past, not in the future, and certainly not in the present, and fundamentally, something that should not exist at all.
Continuing to stay here, continuing to stay here... was merely to feel the immense pain of being nailed to the cross.
So, only in dreams, only in dreams where all pain was artificially erased, leaving only fragmented, beautiful moments, could he briefly find the peace he desired.
"Michael... You... Next time..."
For some reason, regarding the sentence she wanted to say, she just couldn't piece together the scattered words.
"Tch... This idiot. Although his body is still the Cocoon of Finality, the Power of Finality within it... no longer belongs to you. How could it be... how could you possibly not die. Really, foolish humans, why go this far."
Her absolute rationality as an artificial intelligence could never understand this man's choice.
Betraying everything he once believed in, betraying everything he once possessed, betraying all his former glory, betraying the beliefs he once cherished, and in the end, even betraying his own life... No, among all these, life was perhaps the cheapest thing.
So, not understanding was normal, right?
...
"Further ahead... further ahead... I see it! I see the place the God-sama spoke of!"
As if sensing her creator's excitement, Benares flapped its wings vigorously. The loose soil on the lunar surface instantly billowed up, obscuring everything around.
Yet even so, Sirin could see the giant cross that the thin dust couldn't hide, and...
Benares slowly landed on the scorched, black wasteland. Unlike other parts of the moon, the soil here was hard and cracked. Even though it was night on the far side of the moon, an extremely high temperature lingered. When Benares's claws touched the ground, wisps of white smoke rose.
"Was there... a battle here before?"
Sirin blinked. Having recently become the Second Herrscher, she was in a period of extreme sensitivity to Honkai Energy. Of course, to sense the Honkai Energy here, one didn't need to be particularly sensitive, because...
Compared to Earth, compared to the place where she personally caused a Honkai Eruption, compared to the Honkai Energy storage tanks she had once absorbed... If the Honkai Energy scattered in the first three was, to her, like a drop of water in the desert, a glass of water in daily life, and a bathtub full of water she could comfortably soak in, then here...
It was an ocean that would drown even a fish like her.
She couldn't help but gasp for air, even though on this cold and scorching far side of the moon, she couldn't breathe a single wisp of air.
"Roar!"
Seeming to sense that her condition was off, Benares let out a low roar. Although the actual sound was extremely faint on this nearly airless lunar far side, it was just right to pull Sirin's attention back without startling her.
"Mm-hmm, Bella, wait here for a moment. I need to personally have an audience with God-sama..."
The young girl reached out and stroked the hard bone armor on Benares's face. Benares tilted its neck a few times, then obediently lay its entire body flat on the ground.
"Believe me, Bella."
The girl squeezed out a smile, a warm smile:
"I will definitely obtain power from God-sama, and then..."
She didn't know if Bella could hear her, but she still spoke softly, until the corners of her mouth, upturned in a smile, curved higher and higher, finally evolving into a crazed grin:
"Then, I'll destroy those who took everything from us, this ugly world, these ugly humans—all of them!"
She turned around and nodded firmly:
"God-sama, I'm here!"
She began to walk towards the crimson cross, one step, two steps, three steps...
Suddenly, a hurricane swept across the airless lunar surface. Sirin's figure stood firm in the wind, but whether in front of her or behind her, everything was obscured by yellow dust. Even the striking, giant red cross was no longer visible... Wait... Yellow!
Yellow?
How could there be yellow dust on the moon?
This question arose in Sirin's mind but wasn't caught by her attention.
Even though she couldn't see the path ahead clearly, as long as she advanced straight forward, she would surely reach the place God-sama spoke of, right?
She confidently took a step forward, but then her expression changed. An even stronger storm rolled back from the front, pushing her body backward bit by bit. And when she prayed to the authority bestowed by God-sama, which she had always relied on, she received no response.
"This must be God-sama's test for me! That's right! This must be God-sama's test for me!"
Sirin gritted her teeth and took another step forward. But the wind intensified as her foot landed. This time, she wasn't just being pushed back; she was almost about to be torn apart by the wind.
Her body felt incredibly heavy. The wind cut countless wounds on her body. Blood beads had just flowed from the wounds when they were carried backward by the wind.
"If I call Bella now... Bella..."
No!
"God-sama said, I must reach that position alone..."
Sirin trembled and took another step forward.
"Thump—"
It seemed as if a soft sound echoed throughout the space. Sirin only felt her entire body being bound by cold crystals, unable to move at all.
"Damn it... But... But I must..."
"Do you really want to keep going forward?"
A strange voice sounded in her mind.
"Isn't that obvious? Of course, I do!"
"Crack—"
Something began to shatter.
"If you continue forward, it will be very painful."
"But what pain can compare to everything I've suffered before..."
"Crack—Crack—"
The cracks on the crystal gradually widened, and that voice asked the final question:
"Then, Sirin, are you sure that your thoughts at this very moment are completely correct?"
"Isn't that... obvious!"
Sirin shouted with all her might, only to be met with a faint voice:
"Perhaps, Sirin. There's still some time before the real choice... Before then, you can obtain what you desire."
"Bang—"
Everything binding her vanished in an instant, as if the sudden gust of wind had never appeared.
When Sirin came to her senses, she was standing at the edge of the giant pit directly beneath the tall cross.
The cross extended upwards into the sky, beyond the reach of her sight. And upon the cross, there was a human figure as enormous as the cross itself...
No, to be precise, half a figure—this deathly pale body, devoid of any blood, was brutally sawn off at the waist. The blood seemed to have already drained completely, with only the last few drops trickling down the纹路 of the cross.
Gazing further up, two giant rock pillars nailed its palms to the cross. This position clearly couldn't bear the weight of the entire body, so at its chest, there was another huge red spear—that was what truly fixed it to the cross.
Looking further up, the man's face became blurry due to the shadows.
God-sama had only told her to come here, but Sirin didn't know what to do next.
"Ah—"
Just then, two blood-red points of light suddenly lit up on the man's face, hidden in the darkness.
And a not-unfamiliar voice also sounded in Sirin's heart:
"My child, you've finally come... Pull out the spear, and my seal will be broken, and you too shall obtain the power you so desperately seek..."
(End of Volume IX: The Year of Immortal Celestial)