NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 432: The Finality Protocol
Herrschers are apostles of the Honkai, born from chaotic destruction, walking the earth as agents of a divine will. They are extensions of the Honkai's will, projections of the end.
When Senti chose to abandon her individuality and fight as a complete Herrscher, she established a connection with the Will of the Honkai.
Upon her defeat, her consciousness would return to the Honkai's embrace, replaced by a puppet controlled by its will.
"I'm not dead yet!" Senti protested loudly within the empty Honkai space.
But clearly, the Honkai didn't care whether she was dead or alive. Once defeated by Kiana, she had lost her value.
To the Will of the Honkai, Senti was a dead Herrscher. Her ability to retain independent thought within the Honkai space was solely due to her nature as the Herrscher of Sentience.
But that was the end of it.
Trapped in this void, there was no escape. A stay of execution didn't change the final outcome. When all was said and done, her existence would be erased.
Perhaps it was because she had already "died" once, or perhaps it was witnessing her own defeat, but Senti seemed to have let go of her anxieties, becoming much more candid.
"Aren't you going to say anything, Old Antique?" Realizing her helplessness, she turned to her fellow prisoner.
Unlike her previous animosity, having experienced defeat, Senti felt a strange kinship with Fu Hua, a camaraderie of losers. Fu Hua was now much more tolerable in her eyes.
"This was your choice." Fu Hua remained silent, still reeling from her earlier despair.
"But if you hadn't barged in, my mental defenses wouldn't have crumbled. Even if the Honkai had corrupted me, I could have held on a bit longer. You share some responsibility for this." Having shed her anxieties, Senti became talkative, almost like when she was first born.
"Think about it. I was born from your memories, with a personality completely opposite to yours. But essentially, we're both Fu Hua. If you think my personality is bad, it must be because you're so boring."
"…"
"Okay, okay, I was wrong before. I shouldn't have called you a loser. Look, I'm a loser now too, aren't I?"
"…"
"Say something!"
Senti's voice echoed in the empty space.
Finally, perhaps unable to bear Senti's incessant chatter, Fu Hua looked up, meeting her gaze.
"You're afraid of dying, aren't you?"
"What nonsense are you talking about, Old Antique?"
"In the end, you're just a Herrscher who's barely two weeks old. Even if you inherited my memories, you're still a child. It's normal to be afraid of death." As if suddenly gaining a boost in emotional intelligence, Fu Hua reached out and patted Senti's head, like one would a child.
"You…!"
A long silence stretched between them, long enough to lose track of time. Finally, a voice broke the silence.
"Old Antique… Do you think Kiana will come save us?"
…
Kiana was unaware of what was happening within the Honkai space. She only knew that she was probably going to die here.
She looked up at the sky, seeing only oppressive darkness.
This is definitely not a Herrscher!
She had known that the moment she saw this monstrosity, and that realization filled her with despair.
The corrupted Senti seemed oblivious to Kiana's presence. It stood high above, its empty eyes scanning the earth, searching for its target.
The Honkai energy that had belonged to Senti was now completely black, rapidly consuming everything around it like ink.
Even a single glance was enough to suffocate.
The Will of the Honkai!
This was Kiana's first encounter with it, her first time feeling such immense pressure. If she were at full strength, she might have found the courage to raise her blade against a god. But the clash with the Taixu Sword God had drained her completely.
This time, it seemed she truly was cornered.
Fortunately, she had one last card to play.
As the Honkai swallowed all light, plunging the world into eternal darkness, Kiana took a deep breath, and then…
"*Ren!!!***"
"Right here."
[Finality Protocol: Configuration Manifold]
An invisible hand grasped the mindscape, squeezing with the force of a black hole, crushing the area corrupted by the Will of the Honkai.
Crack.
A sound like a cracking eggshell echoed, and then the sky, like a fragile egg, split open.
The connection between the mindscape and the outside world was broken. Golden sunlight poured through the fissure.
Wherever the light touched, the swirling black mist melted away like snow, like the dawn chasing away the night, bringing with it the warm promise of a new day.
And amidst the dawning light, Ren stepped through, kicking the corrupted Senti in the face and tossing a white core towards it.
"[Finality Protocol: Convolution]."
17th's voice echoed once more. Ren immediately retreated, grabbing Kiana's hand.
The next second, the core before the Will of the Honkai expanded rapidly, detonating in a blinding flash of white light.
Bracing himself, Ren shielded Kiana with his body. The world-ending light spread outwards from the Will of the Honkai, annihilating everything in its path, both Honkai energy and remnants of consciousness.
The shockwave tore through Mount Taixu, reducing the landscape to rubble. The giant swords atop the peaks melted instantly. Yet not a single strand of Kiana's hair was out of place.
"I've got you."
Despite the apocalyptic storm raging around her, Kiana felt a profound sense of security. She knew that no matter what, Ren would always come for her.
[Ren, mental interference complete. The rest is up to you.]
Having breached the mindscape and delivered the payload, 17th's task was complete. This was the most she could do for him.
Her reason for doing so was the deal she had struck with Ren.
While remaining outside the mindscape, Ren hadn't been idle. He had noticed the changes within the domain the moment Fu Hua had infiltrated it.
And it was Fu Hua's departure that had allowed him to establish a connection with Kiana through the Fenghuang Down.
When Senti had charged the Taixu Sword God, he had sensed the unusual energy fluctuations and warned Kiana in advance. Without that warning, even with her quick reflexes, Kiana wouldn't have been able to withstand the attack.
While it had seemed like Kiana was fighting alone, in reality, she and Ren had been working together. However, due to the earlier incident with the Herrscher of a Legion, Ren hadn't been able to fight alongside her openly.
Of course, Senti's attack wasn't his primary concern. His true target was the Honkai itself.
17th had approached him, revealing a crucial piece of information: the Will of the Honkai was essentially a cluster formed from her projections, and the current Will of the Honkai in this world was 17th.
But to prepare for the impending Finality, 17th had awakened from her slumber, separating herself from the Honkai cluster.
The God of the Honkai in this world had been killed twice by Ren. With 17th now gone, even the mindless cluster should have noticed something was amiss.
If the Will of the Honkai decided to intervene directly, its actions would be unpredictable. That was why 17th had sought out Ren.
She needed someone to fill the void she left behind, someone to kill the Will of the Honkai.
And the only thing that could draw the God of the Honkai's attention was the Herrscher of Sentience's authority. Her communication with Ren through Senti was a deliberate clue.
In other words, 17th wanted him to replicate the miracle from fifty thousand years ago, using the pathway of consciousness.
That's why she had provided the power to tear through the Honkai's blockade, lending Ren her strength.
[I hope you succeed.]
With those final words, 17th erased her browsing history. She would rendezvous with Kevin, ready to execute the Finality Protocol.
The Will of the Honkai, having been unexpectedly slapped by 17th, finally realized it had been played.