Elysia Still Loved Him

Mobius's appearance disrupted Zhu Yufeng's original plan, but in Zhu Yufeng's view, it was actually a good thing. On the plane back to the Fire Moth, Zhu Yufeng began to revise his plan. He might be able to try to persuade Mobius to carry out the Fusion Warrior Project ahead of time, and become Fusion Warrior before the Seventh Herrscher Incident. This might prevent the Seventh Herrscher from completely burning Australia.

However, we also need to consider whether climbing the technology tree too high and too fast will further increase the strength of the Herrscher, since the Restrained Herrscher is specifically designed to counter the appearance of Fusion Warrior. If it weren't for Lilith and the others risking their lives to clear a path, he wouldn't have been able to stand in front of the Restrained Herrscher at all. Moreover, he expected that he would probably perish with the Restrained Herrscher, but in the end, even after being pierced by the Black Abyss White Flower, the Restrained Herrscher did not retaliate but instead chose to give him a hug.

"Michael ..." Zhu Yufeng thought of that devout young girl. She was originally a medical worker, and Zhu Yufeng often saw her on the battlefield, tending to the wounded and praying for them. Yet, in the end, she turned against humanity's enemy, wielding her blade against the very people she had helped. No, perhaps not. Maybe she believed that dying in her sleep was the best possible ending for humanity?

No more worries about the future, no more struggles under the weight of survival; everything will end in a dream.

The Eleventh Herrscher, who controls the powers of Herrscher, can suppress Honkai Energy. Ordinary people will die instantly, while Fusion Warrior will die within one minute.

Although he had personally entered the Divine Blessing Barrier, his feeling seemed different from others. He had heard from Vill-V that the feeling was extremely painful, but he felt that after entering the Divine Blessing Barrier, it was as if an invisible hand was helping him unload the heavy burden on his body, as if it wanted him to let go of his obsession and return to the source.

There are two plans for defeating the Herrscher of Binding. One is for the Fallen Angel Squad to join forces with other Fusion Warrior for a frontal assault, while he and Kevin seize the opportunity to break through the Divine Blessing Barrier and kill the Herrscher of Binding. The other is proposed by "Evil" Vill-V, who suggests sending as many ordinary people as possible to the battlefield at any cost to break through the Herrscher of Herrscher's sealing limit and render the Divine Blessing Barrier ineffective for a short period of time.

As the leader of the strongest Fusion Warrior squad fighting against the Honkai at the time, he did express his support for the Vill-V plan. According to the "Evil" calculation, the number of people who could disable the Divine Blessing Barrier was still within the range that the reconstruction civilization could bear relative to the total number of humans. However, this plan was ultimately met with fierce opposition from Elysia, May, and others, because those ordinary people who were sent to the Divine Blessing Barrier under this plan would only have one fate: death.

Even if some volunteers were willing to sacrifice, the number would be far greater than the number of volunteers.

After much debate, the higher-ups ultimately chose the first option.

Left with no other choice, he originally planned to have his team members bypass the orders from higher-ups and forcibly send the estimated number of civilians in Vill-V into the Divine Blessing Barrier. In his eyes, the Fusion Warrior, as the strongest weapon against Honkai, were far more important than civilians.

However, before this plan could be implemented, Elysia realized that he was determined to push forward with the second plan no matter what. She decided to kill the Herrscher of Restraint with Kevin and other Fusion Warrior before he sent the civilians into the Divine Blessing Barrier.

Knowing that Elysia is the Origin Herrscher, humanity's first and last hope, Zhu Yufeng felt compelled to ensure Elysia's safety. Therefore, he terminated the first plan and led the Fallen Angel Squad to the battlefield as quickly as possible.

In the end, the Fallen Angel Squad was wiped out except for him.

Before heading to the battlefield, he told everyone that entering the Divine Blessing Barrier would only lead to death, but... not a single person retreated.

If given another chance, the Herrscher of Restraint will always be the hurdle he must overcome; without sacrificing the lives of ordinary people, he cannot change the tragedy of the Law of Restraint.

"This time... I must first subdue Elysia." Zhu Yufeng thought, "I'm sorry, Elysia, this is the only time, this is the only time I have to do this. I'm sorry..."

Meanwhile, Elysia and Mobius were still discussing their future plans.

"Elysia, since you have special feelings for Yu Feng, are you prepared to face his true other side?" Mobius asked, staring at Elysia.

Elysia sat up slightly. She had actually sensed something before, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find any clues. She said, "Mobius, are you trying to say the truth about the Rebel Army Crackdown?"

Mobius looked at Elysia with some surprise, and after a while said, "After all, you are Elysia, it's impossible that you didn't notice anything. I'll just say it bluntly, Yu Feng, he slaughtered all the surrendered Rebel Army along with their families on the spot."

Elysia's pupils contracted.

The purge of the Rebel Army occurred during and for some time after the Tenth Herrscher Incident. At that time Fire Moth faced not only the Honkai but also the Fire Moth Rebel Army. Due to incomplete early preparations, the Rebel Army members always believed that Fire Moth colluded with the Honkai Herrscher and deprived humans of their freedom, thus causing Fire Moth a lot of trouble, especially during the Tenth Herrscher Incident when they were used as targets by the Tenth Herrscher.

After the Ninth Herrscher incident, the Fire Moth officially put the suppression of the Rebel Army on the agenda, and Zhu Yufeng led the Fallen Angel Squad to the Rebel Army's main camp, Africa, to carry out the suppression.

The final publicly announced result was that Africa gave birth to multiple End-of-Law Honkai Beast, and the Tenth Herrscher, in a final counterattack, launched Honkai Energy Fission Bomb, resulting in the complete annihilation of the Africa Rebel Army.

But... that's not the case.

"From the start to the end of the suppression, Yu Feng spent several months on it." Mobius took a sip of coffee. "That's absurd enough in itself. Who are the Fallen Angel Squad that Yu Feng led? A bunch of lunatics who have turned Artificial Collapse into something extraordinary. How could they possibly need so long to suppress a Rebel Army that doesn't even have Fusion Warrior?"

Elysia remained silent.

"The suppression ended not long after it began," Mobius said calmly. "Yu Feng activated the zeroth rated power of the Black Abyss White Flower, sacrificing his own life force to destroy the entire Sahara region, wiping out 80% of the (MISSING) Rebel Army. Most of the remaining Rebel Army surrendered afterward, but after confiscating all Rebel Army supplies, they were all killed by Beelzebub and Esmodius, who were acting on Yu Feng's orders."

"Of all the hundreds of millions of humans in Africa, not one survived."

Mobius coldly stated the cruel truth that Elysia had known in her previous life.

A long silence fell over the cabin.

As time went on, Mobius began to think that if Elysia's feelings for Zhu Yufeng were limited to this, then there was nothing to fear.

Just as she was thinking this, Elysia spoke up, "I... didn't know the truth was like this. I believe everything you said, Mobius, is true, but I also believe that Feng would never commit meaningless killing. From the beginning, the Fire Moth Council agreed to this, right?"

That's more like it.

Mobius thought to himself, then revealed another fact she hadn't mentioned before. "That's right, Yu Feng asked the council how to deal with the Rebel Army, and the council's answer was to handle it themselves. Ha... those old fogies are afraid of being branded as fratricide, so they'll handle it themselves... the Fire Moth doesn't even have a plan to take in the Rebel Army, leaving Yu Feng to handle it himself..."

Elysia looked down at the floor and asked softly, "May, she knows too, right?"

"She knew all along that she even voted in favor of the decision made by the higher-ups to let Yu Feng handle the Rebel Army himself. It's ridiculous that she tacitly approved the handling of the Rebel Army, but when it came to the Tragedy of Binding, she didn't want the civilians to sacrifice themselves," Mobius replied casually. "But since she didn't tell you, Yu Feng probably spoke to her about it."

"So where did you get that information from Mobius?" Elysia looked up and asked another question that concerned her.

"Lilith told me," Mobius replied. "Yu Feng took all the blame on his own. She was afraid that Yu Feng would develop some kind of psychological problem because of it. At the time, I observed Yu Feng for a long time but I couldn't sense anything different about him. But now it seems... he probably already has some psychological problems."

"Yes, that's Feng. He won't say anything, he keeps everything buried in his heart, and he bears the sins that aren't his alone," Elysia said softly.

Both she and Mobius knew that during the Tenth Herrscher Incident, humanity's resource reserves were barely enough to sustain them. Although the Rebel Army also had resources, judging from the supplies that Yu Feng brought back from the Fire Moth afterward, the Rebel Army's resources were already running low. If they were to take in a large number of the Rebel Army personnel at this time...

In hindsight, Zhu Yufeng's choice at that time was undoubtedly wise; at least in the end, humanity did not experience panic or riots due to famine.

However, from an emotional perspective, he was a heartless executioner.

"I'm afraid it was the handling of this incident, and the impact of the Ninth Herrscher incident, that made him lift the final taboo," Mobius said. She was clearly referring to Zhu Yufeng's approval of, and even his attempt to bypass the higher-ups' instructions to forcibly implement, the second plan in the Tragedy of Binding Vill-V. He had already done this once, so why would he care about doing it a second time?

Leave light and hope to others, and bear darkness and sin upon yourself.

After a long while, Elysia stood up. Mobius frowned and asked, "Elysia, where are you going?"

"Thank you for telling me all this, Mobius." Elysia had her back to Mobius, so Mobius couldn't see her expression. "Thank you for finally helping me make up my mind."

Mobius raised an eyebrow.

"I will be honest with him, I will accept everything about him, just like I told you at the beginning, we can start over together, fight again together, and strive for a better world together," Elysia said. "Because I have realized that I love him, and it will not change because of what he has done or said. I love him not because he is the Flame-Chasers who bears all the sins alone, but because he is who he is."

Elysia gave a wry smile, then said softly, "It seems... I've become a bit stubborn too."

After Elysia left, Mobius sat alone like a stone statue for a long time before saying with a self-deprecating tone, "Heh... As expected of you, Elysia. But even so... I won't give up easily. After all, a snake will not easily give up its prey. Its greatest skill is waiting."

On the way to Zhu Yufeng's cabin, Elysia thought a lot. She had thought that when Zhu Yufeng revealed a side of himself that she didn't know, she would distance herself from him or feel sympathy and regret for him. But after Mobius told her everything, she realized that she still loved him, not out of sympathy, but out of love.

She wanted to share his burdens and experiences with him, and then change their predetermined path towards a more beautiful future.

Perhaps their ending will not change, but they can decide the process before they reach that ending.

The hatch opened, and under Zhu Yufeng's questioning gaze, she greeted him as before, "Hi~ Hello, I am the first of the Fire Moths, Elysia. Now, let's formally get to know each other again, Feng."