Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

"Alright, the rate of cellular necrosis in half of his body has slowed down, but this is just a temporary measure... However, even without treatment, his physical condition alone should be able to withstand the Herrscher of Death's power... Is this... the power of fellow Herrschers?"

"Hey! Mei! I never said that he was a Herrscher!"

"Oh? It doesn't matter. At most, it just proves that you didn't know. It doesn't change the fact that he is a Herrscher."

"Then... Mei, you want to use him..."

"Don't worry. While humanity does need a living Herrscher specimen, this is someone you brought back, after all. The decision on what to do with him is entirely yours… or rather, humanity has reached such a point now that this kind of thing no longer matters."

Mei took off her glasses and gently placed them on the table. Prolonged work had made her right shoulder ache. She leaned back in her chair to rest for a few seconds before sitting up straight again.

"So… what do you want to do now?"

Elysia sat down by Mikael's bedside, her movements subtle, as if that action could draw a line between Mei and Mikael.

"Alright... I did want to borrow him for a while, but don't worry. Like I said, the decision is yours."

Mei's voice couldn't hide her exhaustion, but she still managed to stand up, giving Elysia a cryptic smile before turning and leaving the closed-off room.

Elysia took a deep breath, her fingers lightly caressing [Whisper of the Past], which was resting on her lap. She softly asked,

"When are you going to stop pretending?"

"Cough cough!"

Mikael propped himself up, his face an unnatural white, and half of his body had already become a contrasting black due to necrosis.

"Is this the Sixth Herrscher's power..."

Mikael mumbled to himself, intentionally or unintentionally ignoring Elysia.

"Hey! You... you... are actually Mikael, right?"

The person being asked didn't answer.

"...Mikael?"

"Ah ah... oh! What did you say?"

Elysia bit her lip. She didn't know what to say for a moment.

For some reason, she felt like Mikael's attitude was completely different from before… it was like he was intentionally avoiding her.

Forget it. She should ask the questions she needs to ask first.

But after thinking about it carefully, there were so many questions that she wanted to ask, and for a moment, she didn't know where to start.

So, an awkward and suffocating silence soon filled the small hospital room.

In the end, it was Mikael who asked first:

"So, what's the situation in your world right now?"

Elysia instinctively took a breath, wanting to answer. But then she froze, and her gaze became a little unfocused--although simple, Mikael's words revealed a lot of information.

"Your world," huh...

So, he really was Mikael, but from another world…

She took a couple of deep breaths and answered sullenly, "It's… all gone…"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Literally... In this base, there are fewer than two hundred healthy humans left, not counting Honkai patients. If you judge it from a biological perspective, you can basically say that humanity is in a state of near-extinction."

"Hiss..."

Mikael gasped, even though he had expected it, the tragedy of this bubble world still exceeded his imagination.

"Besides this city, the more distant areas have directly disappeared from space... there's an invisible wall outside the city. We can see the scenery further away, but as soon as you step into it, you'll disappear and cease to exist..."

Mikael remembered that. It was the Sea of Quanta's effect on the bubble world. If he had to explain using a metaphor, the people or objects that crossed the invisible boundary entered the seawater of the Sea of Quanta, and would naturally cease to exist.

"Then… Kevin, Mobius, Hua, Sakura, Captain Himeko, Captain Aton, Vill-V…"

"They're all dead."

"Oh."

Mikael closed his eyes, and his breathing gradually became slow and heavy.

"These are just illusions in a bubble world, there's nothing to be sad about."

He comforted himself with those words.

The familiar people and things here had all become unfamiliar. Even Elysia's personality was very different from the one he remembered—perhaps this was the heaviness brought by the end of the world…

None of that mattered. The most important thing was to find Kalpas...

Right, Kalpas!

Mikael's face turned a little red. He suddenly realized that he had made a big mistake—because he was too eager to escape this bubble world, to escape from Elysia, he had actually forgotten to search for Kalpas in this bubble world!

"Oh right, Ellie, among the survivors... is there anyone with a strange temper?"

"Strange?"

"Uh... like someone who's always angry, always cursing and complaining."

Elysia tilted her head, and after thinking with her finger on her chin for a moment, she shook her head.

She was about to say "no," but it just so happened that she made eye contact with Mikael in that posture…

He quickly averted his gaze, wrinkling his nose.

"No, huh… well... thank you for bringing me back, Ellie, but... I'm leaving now."

"Does your injury not matter?"

"It doesn't matter."

Even though half of his body looked paralyzed, the Sixth Herrscher's powers, like the rest of this world, were just a bubble. As long as Mikael left this bubble world, his body would recover, in a sense.

Elysia lightly bit her lip. She knew that this was probably their true farewell.

Honestly speaking, the memories of "that" Mikael were from a long time ago. While she hadn't forgotten them, they shouldn't have left such strong feelings behind.

Perhaps, this was the entanglement of different worlds…

She still had a lot of questions she wanted to ask Mikael. For example, what she was like in that world, what those people who had died in this world were like in Mikael's world… also, why Mikael, as a Herrscher, could have his own will…

But she could tell that Mikael had something urgent, something very important, and she wasn't "that" Elysia. She didn't have the right to delay him.

"Then, goodbye!"

Elysia smiled and said goodbye. Then, perhaps from the same entangled feelings, she habitually raised her hand, wanting to poke Mikael's cheek.

Mikael grunted, and unconsciously tilted his head away to dodge it.

Although he knew that it was an illusion, that sadness and unwillingness spread through his heart.

The Ellie in this bubble world was clearly more taciturn, but even this Ellie, when saying goodbye, still tried her best to hide the pain in her heart, saying goodbye to him with that familiar lively demeanor, just like... just like that could encourage him to keep moving forward.

Silly… They had just met, you know…

Golden light gradually enveloped Mikael's entire body. Because of the influence of the Sixth Herrscher's power, the speed at which Mikael could use Honkai energy was a little slow. But luckily, he was already an expert at using his spatial powers.

The next step was simple. Since this bubble world wouldn't open a door for him to leave, then he just needed to find a window and climb out.

The specific operation wasn't complicated either. All he had to do was let his perception spread out along with his spatial power to the entire bubble world—for a bubble world that only had one city left, this wasn't too difficult.

Then, by finding a large spatial rift on the bubble world's surface, which was as fragile as an eggshell, he could leave directly and continue doing... what he was meant to do…

His spatial power quickly dispersed. Mikael opened his eyes, intending to take a good look at Ellie in this world again—yes, even if this bubble world would eventually be destroyed and shattered, he still had to burn her image into his mind.

That way, the traces of your existence would always be there, always in my mind.

"Hmm?"

His spatial power detected an individual that shouldn't have been there. At the same time, Mei rudely opened the door to the hospital room.

"Elysia, the Sixth Herrscher's core has disappeared!"

"Eh!"

The half-paralyzed Mikael suddenly jumped out of the hospital bed. Golden light flashed, and the three figures disappeared from the spot.

The next moment, the people who were barely alive in the base died almost instantly and turned into ashes that drifted away.