Star God's Destiny and the Cocoon of the End

"Hmm? It's... afraid? What's happening outside?" Enoshia, hidden within its brain, suddenly sensed its intense emotional shift.

"Hmm... maybe I should change my approach and look from the end to the beginning? If I want to help the others, I need to keep up with the pace."

Soon, she finished reviewing the memories from the moment everyone woke up to the present.

"I knew Sirin was weak, but I didn't think she was this weak. That fight was just embarrassing. Once this battle is over, I'll have to find a way to give her some serious remedial training."

Though its body had been repeatedly destroyed by Sirin, that hadn't truly harmed its brain, and Enoshia hadn't merged with it—she was merely possessing it. No matter how the world outside shifted, as long as Wang wasn't truly dead, she remained unmoved.

"The reason it fled, and the reason it's afraid now, isn't because the sudden surge of energy risks bursting it apart, but because it saw... the greatsword form of Divine Fire Judgment?"

Tracing back through this memory, Enoshia finally found the source of its fear.

It was when it first arrived on Earth. It opened its eyes and saw nothing but white all around.

The sky is vast, the earth is wide, but eating is paramount. For a Huilizoo, switching planets was just switching cafeterias.

Yet, just as it was feasting, that man appeared. He had hair as white as the snow on the ground and eyes as blue as the sky. Aside from the oddly shaped greatsword in his hand, there seemed nothing special about him.

"Oh, fresh food." Wang thought to itself, activating its ability, intending to plunge the man before it into an utterly real illusion, then devour him, as it always did. It paid no heed to this diminutive life form.

As the black mist was released, the man fell into the dream. But... only for an instant, he woke up. There was only one explanation for this phenomenon: he realized he was dreaming the moment he entered, and without a moment's hesitation, killed the person he most wanted to see.

Now it was Wang's turn to sweat profusely, but it still believed that this life form, less than two meters tall, could do nothing to it.

However, the next moment, Wang understood how foolish its thoughts were. The man simply swung the greatsword in his hand casually, and a terrifying heat spread through its entire body. Then, its head was severed.

Though it couldn't die, the fear in its heart made it dare not devour when faced with the greatsword's slash.

No, it was that it simply couldn't devour in time. Every time it mustered the courage to swallow this power, the greatsword's slash had already cut and shattered its body again. Because it couldn't die, this battle... no, this one-sided execution, turned from decapitation into an endless torture.

After being cut and pierced tens of thousands of times, that man used a truly unforgettable method to carve himself and that greatsword deep into its heart. Perhaps infected by its fear, Chi, who had been in constant contact, voluntarily disconnected from the link. Wang understood: before him, it was the food.

After grinding its bones to dust tens of thousands of times, that man knew that while it was far from his match, he couldn't kill it either. So he chose a patch of land in this desolate place, froze it, and threw it underground. If it hadn't happened to suddenly master the ability to control ice and gravity, it would have been trapped there forever, until the end of time.

"Great. First thing it runs into is Ancestor Kevin, who chops through Herrschers like they're vegetables. Talk about bad luck. But if even Ancestor Kevin couldn't break the Abundance Miracle and could only seal it underground, how did Sirin manage it? Did she really brute-force it through sheer power?"

Wang's memories didn't have a direct answer to this question, but Enoshia still found clues from the traces.

Wang woke from its long slumber, shocked to find that something had changed it. Besides gaining control over gravity and ice, it inexplicably developed an urge for destruction and chaos, beyond just eating.

"Hmm... since it became a Herrscher, it must have been changed by the Cocoon. Honkai Impact 3rd and Honkai: Star Rail are both worlds under the Tree and Sea worldview. The energy they use is fundamentally the Imaginary energy from the Imaginary Tree... And because the world of Honkai Impact 3rd, located at the tip of the Imaginary Tree, is wrapped in the Cocoon of the End, the original Imaginary energy is converted into Honkai energy. So Honkai energy and the energy used by Pathwalkers are, at their source, the same thing."

"So can I understand it this way? The Paths in Star Rail and the Cocoon have a similar effect to some degree—both are devices that convert Imaginary energy into another form of energy that fits their own rules. For example, the rule of Abundance is to process Imaginary energy into energy with terrifying regenerative capabilities. And those who walk the Path of Abundance are people who can use this Abundance-processed Imaginary energy."

"Based on the above speculation, one fact can be deduced: since Wang's terrifying regenerative ability comes from the Path of Abundance, it means this power must not conform to the Cocoon's rules. But the entire Earth is definitely the Cocoon's territory, so... during its long time underground, did the Cocoon partially break the rules of Abundance, turning its regeneration from theoretically infinite to finite?"

When two different energies collide, which one influences the other ultimately depends on their strength. Although every Aeon can influence the entire universe while the Cocoon can only affect the Solar System, Wang was completely dominated by Kevin the whole time. It's hard to see it being on the same level as the Cocoon.

Though these are all just speculations, at least Wang's act of fleeing now has a reasonable explanation. What it truly fears is that anyone wielding Divine Fire Judgment might have Kevin's strength, because then, even with its Herrscher authority, it could be completely killed.

But unfortunately, Ancestor Kevin was the strongest in the Previous Civilization, and remained the ceiling of combat power in the current civilization until his death. While among Divine Fire Judgment's users, Siegfried's strength is indeed second only to Kevin, the gap between first and second is enormous. Even if you gave Siegfried a Herrscher Core, he would be far from a match.

"Hmm, looks like I've achieved a temporary victory. Hope I can be of some use in the final battle."

As Enoshia examined its information, trying to find weaknesses, the power of erosion affected its nerves like termites gnawing at wood. Facing an enemy whose combat power definitely exceeded hers but without a qualitative gap, Enoshia was very cautious. She hoped to subtly influence or even alter its consciousness, thereby affecting the battle.

But since Wang came from Star Rail, Enoshia couldn't help but think a little more.

"What would happen if I, a self-aware virus, entered the Simulated Universe?"