The Curtain Falls

"Kevin, why are you just watching?!" Su said with a smile.

"I want to know why I'm just watching too!" Kevin said, torn between laughter and tears.

"Destiny was clearly an organization meant to fight the Honkai. Why did it so easily abandon the lives of half of Asia?" Elysia could not understand. To her, every life was unique, while Otto's order to abandon half of Asia was cold-blooded in the extreme.

"It was realistic. Even Kevin believed the rampaging Herrscher Core would consume all of Asia. Otto only gave up half of Asia, which could be considered saving the lives of the other half," Mei analyzed.

"But..."

"Cecilia..."

Under the healing of Abyss Flower, Siegfried gradually woke up. Overly worried about Cecilia, he told her to leave quickly, only for Cecilia to refuse.

"Don't say something so foolish!"

"I won't leave you behind!"

"And you absolutely cannot give up either!"

Just then, the energy from the rampaging Herrscher of the Void Core was already rushing toward them. At that critical moment, Ahalato suddenly appeared and deployed its defensive barrier at full power. In that instant, Siegfried seemed to see Walter Yang again.

Siegfried and Walter met once more. Encouraged by Walter, Siegfried forced himself to stand. Walter told him there was one final chance: strike the Second Herrscher with Judgement of Shamash. But within such dense Honkai energy, there was no way to determine the Second Herrscher's location.

Cecilia pondered for a long time. Every moment they remained here meant countless lives would be lost, so she made up her mind to leave. She told Siegfried to be ready to seize the moment and not worry about her.

The scene abruptly cut to Cecilia's memories from several years ago, when she had spoken with Otto. Otto told her that she possessed the Schariac holy blood. Combined with Abyss Flower, it could make Honkai energy disappear in an instant and could even kill a Herrscher.

The price, however, was enormous. After losing so much holy blood, Cecilia's life would also come to an end.

"N-No way..." Pardo stammered, looking at Yaqing. "Brother Yaqing, didn't you say this was a sunny, uplifting movie? Why would the protagonist die? Why..."

Yaqing remained silent.

A sorrowful accompaniment began to play. Standing atop a cliff, Cecilia gazed at the dense Honkai energy in the distance, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry, Siegfried. I lied to you..."

"This time, I can't go back with you."

"I'm sorry, Kiana. When you grow up, take good care of Daddy..."

Blood had already stained the hand clutching Abyss Flower, dripping onto the cliff covered in white flowers. She raised the enormous white lance high, like an angel descending upon the world.

"Abyss Flower, Saint's Blood Unleashed!"

The white flowers were dyed red with blood as holy blood condensed into a crimson spearhead, aimed directly at the space where the Void Herrscher's Core was rampaging.

"For Siegfried, open a path forward."

"Go!"

"Mom..." When Kiana heard Cecilia mention her name, the maternal love in her voice finally broke her. Tears poured down her face as she sobbed uncontrollably.

Family affection was a blade of empathy, and a mother's love sharpened that blade even further.

"Yaqing, you really had the nerve," Kevin could not help saying. "You actually killed off the protagonist. This was the sunny plot you mentioned?"

"Yaqing!!!"

Yaqing flipped over and sat in the seat beside Mobius in the row behind.

Mobius wore a half-smile.

"It's hard to believe Walter appeared again. Could he really be impossible to kill?" Su asked in confusion. As a doctor, he had never seen someone with such tenacious vitality in real life.

"He's a business partner." Kevin's single sentence cut off Su's doubts.

With the opportunity Cecilia had created, Siegfried's eyes hardened. He injected the final activator into his body, gripping Walter's Herrscher Core and Judgement of Shamash together.

"Walter..."

"Once again—"

"Fight beside me!"

Detecting the energy of a second Herrscher Core, Judgement of Shamash's limiters were released. Siegfried closed his eyes, and the gentle, lovely faces of his wife and daughter appeared in his mind.

"Judgement of Shamash, unleash all your power. Even if it burns my body to ashes, it doesn't matter."

Siegfried abruptly opened his eyes, filled with fighting spirit and murderous intent. "To protect the people I love most."

"I am willing to offer up my life!"

Judgement of Shamash: Rupture revealed its true form for the first time. Siegfried swung his sword with all his strength, and the massive blade of fire devoured Sirin's position. Even from space, the dazzling blaze over the Siberian Snowfield could be seen clearly.

"That was so awesome!" Siegfried was so excited he nearly jumped up. Especially that line about protecting the people he loved most and being willing to offer up his life—it had struck straight at his heart.

"It was awesome, but why was it used against me?!" Sirin slapped her thigh angrily.

Bella winced in pain.

"How much must those special effects have cost?" Dr. Tesla's mouth fell open. Anti-Entropy could certainly make effects like that too, but the income would never match the expenditure. Yet Yaqing, that young Destiny director, seemed to have no such worries. He just kept throwing money into it without seeming to consider the later returns.

Welt Joyce watched with envy. He believed the ideas in his mind were no worse than Yaqing Schariac's, but Cocolia controlled the funding chain. She was practically a miser.

Judgement of Shamash: Rupture possessed more than triple the energy intensity of Judgement of Shamash, and after the Heavenly Fire erupted, all Honkai energy reactions in Siberia disappeared.

Amber asked Otto whether they should dispatch a Valkyrie squad to provide support. Siegfried and the Second Herrscher had already been located, while Cecilia was missing and her fate unknown.

"No, Amber. Block all information."

Otto refused to send support to Siegfried. At the same time, he ordered Amber to fire Honkai energy fission bombs toward Siegfried and the Second Herrscher, then claim publicly that Destiny had defeated the Second Herrscher.

"Siegfried, that power is too dangerous."

"You should just die in Siberia."

"That's infuriating!" Pardo scratched at the leather seat in anger. Otto's attitude was utterly repulsive. It would have been one thing if he had merely dragged everyone down earlier, but now he was trying to claim the credit that Siegfried and Cecilia had risked their lives to earn.

"What do you think?" Mobius leaned toward Yaqing with a half-smile. "Do you really not intend to keep working at Destiny? You wrote your own superior like this."

"Cough, cough. President Otto won't care," Yaqing said with a few coughs.

"The hero who saved the world died in an empty snowfield, while the clown behind the scenes stood in the spotlight and enjoyed the world's adoration." Mei's feelings were complicated. "What an ironic scene."

"What a despicable Otto!" Walter Yang clenched his fist. He had clearly contributed to defeating Sirin in the end, yet Otto had directly changed everyone's achievements into Destiny's achievements.

Ignoring Dr. Tesla's chatter beside her, Einstein was thinking. What benefit was there for Yaqing in writing Otto this way?

"Otto..."

Before Otto could react, Kallen kicked him off the bed.

The Curtain Falls

"I can't feel anything... Am I... dead?"

Thinking he was surely dead, Siegfried opened his eyes and found himself lying in Cecilia's lap. Cecilia's tears fell onto his face, and hearing her choked voice, he was utterly bewildered.

"I'm sorry, Siegfried... I lied to you. This time, I have no way to go back with you."

"You must take good care of Kiana and make sure she grows up healthy."

"I hope that by the time she grows up, the Honkai will be over and she can live freely..."

"There are still so many things I want to tell you, but unfortunately, I don't have much time left."

"I love you, Siegfried."

Watching Cecilia prepare to leave, Siegfried reached out to stop her, but he did not even have the strength to raise his hand. After telling Abyss Flower to protect Siegfried, Cecilia went to complete one final task.

"Cecilia..." Hearing Cecilia's final confession in the story, Siegfried could no longer hold back. He embraced Cecilia, and the tough man shed tears.

Unable to endure Sirin slapping her thigh so hard any longer, Bella ran off, pulled out several tissues, and handed them to Siegfried and Cecilia. Then she took a few more, ready to give them to Sirin, who was about to cry.

As Sirin kept falling into darkness, at the end of her life, she murmured for her mother. As if heaven had answered her call, Cecilia embraced her from behind, that gentle embrace smoothing away the furrow in her brow.

"Sirin, my poor child."

In a sea of white flowers, Cecilia gently comforted Sirin. Beneath the blaze of the Honkai energy fission bombs, Sirin opened her eyes. At the end of their lives, the two vanished together into the light.

"Ich liebe dich."

"Mom!" Sirin had never expected Cecilia to stay by her side at the end of her life, even though in the story she was the Herrscher who wanted to destroy human civilization.

Sirin snuggled into Cecilia's embrace, trying to squeeze Siegfried away.

"Yaqing, this plot was really too cruel..." Cecilia said against her heart, wiping away the tears at the corners of her eyes.

"The curtain has finally fallen. I never expected this plot to be so good—there was heartbreak and warmth, excitement and emotion." Sakura wiped away her tears. Her impression of Yaqing had still been stuck on Saintess Redemption Chronicle.

"By the way, you wrote something this heartbreaking. Aren't you afraid someone might mail you razor blades in private?" Kevin asked doubtfully.

"I have my own clever plan." Yaqing smiled confidently.

Kevin scratched his head. "What does that mean?"

"Idiot." Mei tapped Kevin on the head. "Yaqing means he has a way to deal with the razor blades you mentioned. I think he'll most likely use a pseudonym."

"Would he..."

Amber's narration appeared again: "The Second Herrscher's Honkai energy once spread beyond the Siberian Snowfield, and more than one hundred thousand civilians suffered Honkai energy radiation.

"They could only helplessly await death, but a blood-colored petal falling from the sky saved them. The Honkai energy in the bodies of those who touched the petals disappeared, and in the end, fewer than three thousand people died."

The Second Honkai Eruption had come to an end.

"The movie is finally ending," Sakura said. "This is the first time I've ever seen a movie that lasted three and a half hours. It was so long."

"But it was really good," Ling said.

"By the way, today is the movie's first screening. As the director and screenwriter, is it really okay for you not to attend the premiere?" Sakura asked Yaqing.

"It's fine. Even if they went, I wouldn't want to. I don't want to wrangle with those reporters." Yaqing could already imagine their questions. Just like with Saintess Redemption Chronicle—he truly regretted taking the blame for Otto back then.

"Mobius, after the movie, do you want to go shopping with me?" Elysia deliberately avoided looking at Yaqing as she asked.

"No. It would be a complete waste of time. I'd rather go back and do some experiments," Mobius said, not looking at Elysia.

After the Second Honkai Eruption came to an end, Otto sat beside Theresa's hospital bed, peeling an apple with his eyes closed as he listened to Amber's report. The report exaggerated Destiny's role, and when Theresa heard that Cecilia had requested the firing of the Honkai energy fission bombs, she could no longer hold back.

"Enough, Grandpa. Is what Amber said true?"

Faced with Theresa's questioning, Otto calmly stated that people only believed in the truth they wished to believe. He used Feather of the Wind to hypnotize Theresa and make her believe that truth.

Meanwhile, Siegfried returned Walter's Herrscher Core to Anti-Entropy and learned from Einstein that Walter's consciousness had not disappeared, but was instead residing within the Herrscher Core.

At the same time, Einstein invited Siegfried to join Anti-Entropy, but he refused because his daughter was still waiting for him at Destiny.

At this time, wary of Siegfried's power, Otto extracted Kiana's DNA. Yet no matter how he researched it, he could not uncover the source of that power.

Just then, Amber reported to Otto that the Second Herrscher's body and four Herrscher Cores had been recovered. However, Fu Hua had already left Destiny headquarters.

Otto was not worried in the slightest, because he knew—

"She has nowhere left to return to."