Above the Moon

Kevin's training began. Knowing that Durandal had previously suffered severe injuries, he did not immediately put her through harsh training. Instead, he had her start with basic physical conditioning.

This was also what he had gone through when he had first joined Fire Moth. He believed that his descendant possessed the potential to surpass him.

"How nostalgic. Kevin was the same back then. At that time, he was such a bright, sunny young man!" Elysia rested her chin on her hand, watching the scene with nostalgia.

"Kevin truly deserves respect as a senior. On the battlefield, he was also an admirable leader," Hua said sincerely.

"The destruction of the Previous Civilization wasn't caused by Honkai—it was caused by humanity, wasn't it?" Zhang Wei wore a mocking smile. If they had been even a little more united, things would not have ended that way.

Humanity's inherent flaws had been displayed to the fullest within Fire Moth. Those so-called higher-ups were nothing more than useless parasites clinging to their positions. They were nowhere to be seen when it was time to take to the battlefield. As the soldiers died one after another, they filled their own pockets to the brim. The temptation of power had made them completely lose sight of who they once were.

Perhaps Fire Moth's leadership had indeed initially sought to save humanity and fight against Honkai. But gradually, they lost their original intentions. The vortex of power swallowed them without mercy.

"..."

Hua and the others fell silent. Even Elysia, who loved humanity, could not help falling silent at that moment. Honkai was only one factor. Humanity's ignorance, arrogance, conceit, and greed—were they not also the fuses that ignited civilization's destruction?

"If you ask me, you Fusion Warriors had strength far beyond ordinary people. You should've just dealt with them directly. You were already down to the last few Herrschers anyway, and failure was practically inevitable. You might as well have gone all out and fought it out. Wouldn't that have been much more straightforward?

"Afraid of unrest? Easy. Hua could've given the higher-ups a brainwashing package with Yu Du Chen. And if anyone refused to comply, they could see whether Kevin's Jie Mie was sharp enough!" Zhang Wei spoke with forceful emphasis.

"The Captain is right. That truly speaks to my heart. If there were anyone unwilling to comply, you could send them to me as well. My laboratory happens to be short of that kind of 'talent'!"

Mobius approached, dressed in a white lab coat. Her voluptuous figure was impossible to hide, and as she walked, her body swayed lightly like a beautiful yet dangerous serpent. She wholeheartedly agreed with what Zhang Wei had said.

They had reached the end anyway. Before facing the enemy outside, they should settle matters within. A quick brainwashing with Yu Du Chen, then a final all-out gamble—what could be more satisfying?

"Wouldn't that be a little inappropriate?" Elysia felt that this was a bit too extreme. It wasn't that she was naïve; she simply felt there might be gentler ways to handle it. After all, there might still be good people among them.

"Heh." Mobius gave a disdainful laugh and said coldly, "Elysia, don't think so highly of them. Fire Moth is rotten to the core. Don't harbor any illusions. I know that better than you do!"

Elysia sighed softly. Even though she was only a warrior, she could see that Fire Moth had become corrupt.

"Alright, Elysia, Elysia, don't be sad!" Zhang Wei consoled her.

"Pfft."

"What is this, are you comforting a child?" Elysia was amused. She did not care too much about the Previous Civilization's affairs. Being able to live in this current civilization with her friends was already the best redemption for them.

"Captain, what are we doing on the moon?"

Kiana and Zhang Wei walked across the moon's barren surface. Kiana did not particularly want to comment on this familiar place.

In her world, the moon had been the site of the final battle. The Captain had united their strength and defeated the final boss. Because of that, they had completely overcome Honkai and could now travel everywhere like this.

"Of course we're here to find someone. It just occurred to me that I could bring you back to revisit an old place. But why have you reverted to your Finality form?" Zhang Wei asked curiously as he looked at Kiana's magnificent Finality attire.

"I sensed the Power of Finality. Although it isn't from the same source, it still stirred the power within me!

"If I wanted to, I could easily suppress it. But there's no need," Kiana said casually.

That was this world's Cocoon of Finality, while she was Finality itself. After all these years, her strength had not remained at its former level. The quality and quantity of Honkai Energy within her had increased day by day, far surpassing even this Cocoon of Finality.

Destroying a planet like Earth would take no more than a slight flick of her finger. Destroying the universe would not be particularly difficult either. The eruptions of dead spots she unleashed could blanket the entire universe, bringing about Finality.

She had been able to do that back then as well, but not nearly as effortlessly as she could now.

Even now, the power within her continued to rise steadily. Yet everything remained under her control. Even she did not know exactly how powerful she had become, but she felt she had long since surpassed the scale of a single universe.

And that was all thanks to the Captain. After defeating the final boss back then, he had taken the Hyperion along the "network cable" into another universe and wiped out the source root and branch. Thus, Finality had become her personal possession, no longer subject to anyone else's control.

Moreover, her world differed greatly from this one. It was not a parallel world; it was not even on the Tree.

The Hyperion was simply that incredible. It could travel to the world of Guns Girl Z, which lay outside the Tree and Sea. That was why her world did not have something like the Cocoon of Finality.

"Captain, who are you looking for? Do I know them?" Kiana asked curiously.

"Kiana, you really didn't pay close attention to the story, did you?" Zhang Wei said disappointedly.

"It was so long. Of course I only read the important parts!" Kiana replied helplessly.

Zhang Wei rubbed Kiana's head. It still felt as good as ever. "You'll see soon enough. When the time comes, you might mistake them for someone else at first glance!"

"Really? Then I should look forward to it." Kiana raised her brows. Someone who could make her mistake them for another person—she wanted to see just who they were.

Cold, desolate, motionless...

That was how the moon felt. There were also traces of civilization here—structures built by the Previous Civilization during the Finality era. Yet they had still lost. Finality's power had been too great. Even after exhausting the Previous Civilization's peak strength, all they had managed was to make Finality shut down for twelve hours.

The fragments of weapons scattered across the ground spoke even more clearly of just how brutal that battle had been.

Using the Authority of Space, Zhang Wei began sensing the spatial nodes around them. There were several World Bubbles here, and their target this time was within one of them.

Empowered by the Power of Finality, he quickly found the target. Taking Kiana's hand, he entered that World Bubble with her. As for the Cocoon of Finality, neither of them had any interest in it. The Earth had only recently given birth to its Second Herrscher.

"A little familiar?"

Kiana murmured to herself. On the ruined walls and broken remnants, she saw a figure in a white lab coat. That familiar back, that familiar hair color—those traits made Kiana feel as though she had seen them before, and a few guesses began to form in her heart.