After the Battle I

The Fire Moth Base.

Amidst the ruins, both the Herrscher and SEELE had vanished without a trace, leaving only the Black Abyss White Flower embedded in the rubble, and the Herrscher Core lying on the ground. The opening mechanism of the Sea of Quantum was also affected by the explosion and was completely destroyed.

With a bunch of tubes inserted into her body, Rovoc slumped in a makeshift Power-supplying Device. She had overdrawn her Honkai Energy and forced open the portal to the Sea of Quantum despite the effects of the Divine Blessing Barrier. She was also affected by the explosion and was now close to death. If SEELE hadn't killed the Herrscher or if the Divine Blessing Barrier hadn't been destroyed, she certainly wouldn't be alive now.

Klein was closer to the scene Rovoc. Although her Herrscherization form shielded her from most of the damage, her Herrscher body was also incompatible with the power of the Sea of Quantum was being Corrosion by it.

Zhu Yufeng arrived at the scene immediately after the Divine Blessing Barrier was lifted. He saw the Black Abyss White Flower stuck in the ground, a golden Herrscher Core, and the dying Rovoc and Klein. He looked around but could not find any trace of Seele or the Herrscher.

He stood there stunned for a while before stepping forward, picking up the Black Abyss White Flower, and using Abyss Flower power to heal Rovoc and Klein. However, both Klein and Rovoc showed some resistance to the power from the Black Abyss White Flower. This resistance was clearly not Imaginary Energy.

Zhu Yufeng looked at Rovoc. At this moment, Rovoc's physical state seemed to have fallen into semi-quantization. This power undoubtedly came from the Sea of Quantum. Klein's situation was even more serious than Rovoc's. Her body began to show signs of collapse due to the incompatibility between quantum and imaginary numbers.

Zhu Yufeng paused for a moment, then raised his hand and used his power to temporarily slow down the passage of time for them. Both of them were seriously injured. The Black Abyss White Flower was slow to heal, and because of the power of the Sea of Quantum, he could not reverse the time in their bodies. If he were to expel the power of the Sea of Quantum, their bodies would not be able to withstand the Imaginary Energy.

He could only temporarily slow down the passage of time on them, and then use the Black Abyss White Flower to slowly heal them.

"Yu Feng... what happened here?" Mobius's weak voice rang out.

Zhu Yufeng turned around and looked over. Mobius had reverted to his childhood form from his previous life when he was forced back into it by Qianjie due to an experiment. However, this time it seemed to be because of the Herrscher of Binding.

Mobius's lab coat was tattered and no longer fit him properly. Judging from Mobius hurried manner, he must have arrived as soon as possible.

"We... we won, but..." Zhu Yufeng stepped aside, "This time, we still paid a heavy price... The Herrscher has been killed, SEELE is missing, and when I arrived, only the Herrscher Core and the Black Abyss White Flower remained. Rovoc and Klein seem to have been Corrosion by the Sea of Quantum, and the Black Abyss White Flower's effect on them was limited... but at least, for now, they've survived."

"Klein..." Mobius saw Klein's appearance and sighed softly. She looked around again and indeed found no trace of Seele. She immediately guessed the reason.

To fight the Herrscher of Binding, Rovoc and his companions borrowed the power of the Sea of Quantum, just as Zhu Yufeng said, Vita used the Sea of Quantum to fight against Corrosion. However, the channels they opened were not as large as Vita's, but the collision and annihilation effect between the power of the Sea of Quantum and the Imaginary Tree still managed to kill the Herrscher.

Seele... was probably at the epicenter of the explosion, serving as the vessel for the power of the Sea of Quantum, and perished along with the Herrscher of Binding.

"... And Michael?" Mobius asked again.

"When I arrived, I saw her and Disaster. Disaster was seriously injured, but Michael seemed to have created an anti- Divine Blessing Barrier for her in the last moments of his life, which temporarily saved her..." Zhu Yufeng lowered his eyes.

"This time... we've really been outmaneuvered by the Herrscher... I never expected there would be Third Herrscher of Binding..."

"No, what we're facing there is Gabriel, who has been enhanced with the ability to create Divine Blessing Barrier." Zhu Yufeng glanced again at Mobius's tattered and ill-fitting lab coat, then used the power of the Herrscher of Reason to make a garment and draped it over Mobius's shoulders.

Then he continued, "I'll stay here with the Black Abyss White Flower for now; my powers will continue to function... I'll go check on Astaroth's condition."

"Is Lilim alright?" Mobius asked after glancing at his clothes.

"She's alright," Zhu Yufeng said. "However, having endured so long inside the Divine Blessing Barrier, I'm unsure of Astaroth's condition. If she was only protecting Lilim and Griseo, Astaroth should be fine..."

Mobius fell silent. She recalled how she had urgently relocated Danzhu and Cangxuan with some researchers to the villa to receive Astaroth's protection... What if something happened to Astaroth because of this...?

"... You go ahead... I'll watch over things here for now," Mobius said.

Zhu Yufeng nodded. Although Mobius was somewhat weak, Shesha's ability would allow her to recover quickly. At least compared to Klein and Rovoc, Mobius was not in any serious condition.

Zhu Yufeng had just taken a step when a sudden, sharp pain shot through his heart. The intense pain made him instinctively bend over slightly, and his movements became stiff.

He forced his way through the Divine Blessing Barrier, enduring the direct attacks of the Herrscher of Binding. After arriving here, he expended his own Honkai Energy to heal Rovoc and Klein. His current physical condition is far from good.

At that time, the Herrscher of Binding used more than half of the power of the Divine Blessing Barrier to target him. The remaining half of the power was needed to maintain the existence of the Divine Blessing Barrier and to fight against SEELE. This is one of the reasons why she did not notice the intentions of Rovoc and others. Part of her attention was on Zhu Yufeng and the other part was on SEELE. She simply did not have time to care about what Rovoc and Klein were doing.

Mobius instantly sensed that Zhu Yufeng's aura had suddenly become chaotic. She turned to look at Zhu Yufeng, but Zhu Yufeng only paused for a moment before using his power to accelerate his time and leave.

"You..." Mobius clenched her hands. She knew that Zhu Yufeng was putting on a brave face again. In her previous life, she had known Zhu Yufeng from beginning to end, and she immediately realized that Zhu Yufeng was forcibly hiding his poor condition.

Zhu Yufeng was indeed aware of his own body's limitations. He knew he wouldn't continue pushing himself if he couldn't hold on any longer, but as long as he could still move and wouldn't die immediately, he would continue to abuse his body.

She wanted to catch up with Zhu Yufeng, but she was still very weak and had stumbled her way here. Catching up with Zhu Yufeng was impossible, especially with two seriously injured people nearby...

"What has happened will happen again... If this is the Tragedy of Binding, then Yu Feng..." Mobius's fingernails were digging into his palms. They had done so much, yet in the end... What has happened will happen again?

How can anyone accept this...?

On the other side.

Elysia and the others finally arrived at the Fire Moth. Everyone had lost some Honkai Energy due to the journey and the fact that they had just come out of the Divine Blessing Barrier. They immediately saw Hen leaning against the wall, and Kosma went up to check on Hen's condition.

Sakura and Xila went directly into the Fire Moth base. Sakura headed straight for the family area, while Xila rushed towards the area where there were still remnants of powerful energy reactions.

"How is Hen's health?" Kevin asked.

"His breathing is very weak, but also very even. He's badly injured. It seems Feng came and gave him some treatment," Kosma said, then looked back into the base.

"The Divine Blessing Barrier has disappeared," Lilith said. "The Herrscher of Binding should have been destroyed, but..."

Lilith paused for a moment, then headed straight towards the family quarters.

Elysia paused for a moment, then quickly followed. She could tell that Lilith was worried about something, but given Lilith's personality, she probably wasn't worried about her adopted daughter, Lilim. Rather, Lilith had always been very pure in this regard; the only person Lilith cared about from beginning to end was Zhu Yufeng.

"What happened to Feng?" Elysia asked.

"He's not feeling well, and he's trying to push himself too hard again," Lilith said, frowning.

Elysia paused for a moment before asking, "How did you...?"

"Don't forget, in the last period of my past life, Feng and I were bound by consciousness. When he completed the Project: Ascend to Divinity and truly became Herrscher, he probably formed some kind of connection with me, who, like you, is an Origin. In any case, I can sense his physical condition," Lilith said. "His current physical condition is probably worse than when he was forced to self-destruct at the face of the Seventh Herrscher, but that doesn't matter. What's wrong with him is that he still intends to push himself."

Elysia: "... So this is him..."

Upon arriving at the family quarters, Elysia and Lilith were greeted by people lying near the villa entrance, and among them, Blanca's blue hair was easily recognizable.

"Blanca..." Elysia's pupils contracted.

"She's dead, just like the others lying there." Lilith didn't even glance at the others. "It seems Astaroth really did protect more than just a few people this time."

Elysia and Lilith entered the villa and saw some researchers and quite a few children. Eden, standing at the door, called out to Elysia, "Elysia..."

"Eden... what's going on here?" Elysia asked, glancing at the others present. Lilith ignored them and went straight upstairs.

"Cangxuan and Danzhu brought some researchers, and then... Disaster brought people from the nearby family quarters." Eden sighed softly. "The Divine Blessing Barrier was temporarily dispelled, but it reappeared later, stronger than before. Astaroth's health deteriorated significantly, and in order to ensure the children's survival, Blanca and the other parents..."

Eden didn't continue, but Elysia already knew the outcome.

After a moment of silence, she also went up to the second floor.

When she arrived at Zhu Yufeng and the others, Astaroth was coughing, and with each cough, some blood splattered out. Zhu Yufeng had one hand on Astaroth's shoulder, clearly using his power to rewind time for Astaroth.

Lilith and Sakura, who had arrived earlier, stood to one side. Lilith frowned and said, "It's alright, Kaede, your body..."

"It's nothing serious."

Zhu Yufeng interrupted her, Lilith fell silent. Elysia, who was about to speak, swallowed her words. She could clearly see that Zhu Yufeng was not in a good state, but Zhu Yufeng was obviously not listening to anyone right now.

After a while, Astaroth's coughing stopped, and she was in much better condition than before. Zhu Yufeng stood up from her half-kneeling position, and suddenly her expression changed. She bent over slightly and unconsciously placed her hand on her heart.

"Maple!"

Elysia's expression changed, and she hurriedly stepped forward to support Zhu Yufeng. Zhu Yufeng glanced at her, sighed softly, and said, "Let's go to Disaster... she's also seriously injured..."

Sakura silently watched Zhu Yufeng, then quietly withdrew her hand that had been halfway outstretched. This time, Elysia's movements were indeed faster than hers...

"Disaster, she..." Elysia hesitated. Disaster was definitely partly responsible for Astaroth's current state. Should she... tell Maple?

"I know... she brought the people from the family quarters here." Zhu Yufeng's tone was calm.

Lilith simply crossed her arms and said, "So, are you planning to keep pushing yourself? You just came out of the Divine Blessing Barrier, and now you're forcibly traveling through this enhanced version of the Divine Blessing Barrier, right?"

Zhu Yufeng looked at Lilith, opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything. He just silently walked out the door. As the one supporting him, Elysia could clearly feel that he was in a very bad state.

Lilith and Elysia left with Zhu Yufeng. Sakura stood there, looking at Astaroth, who had recovered, and then at her younger sister, who was anxiously asking Astaroth how she was feeling. After a long silence, Sakura waited until Eden came up to the second floor from the villa entrance before turning to Eden and saying, "Eden... what do you think I should think about Disaster?"

This question seems to be directed at Eden, but it's not really directed at her.

Eden remained silent; she couldn't answer the question.

"My wish has always been very simple. I just want Kaede and Rin to continue living... That's all." Sakura's gaze became distant. "Just that... Is that so hard?"