Ashes of Void•Critical Point

Why run?

The voice of the gods could always appear in her ears at will, and Satou Yunona had long been used to it.

She pursed her lips and said:

"I can't beat him."

[Those were merely humans with such low Honkai Energy literacy that they barely avoided being turned into Zombie. Even if they were somewhat special, it was meaningless under the influence of their powers.]

[You should go and kill him. That human may be weak, but he's still not normal.]

The girl hesitated for a moment, then stubbornly repeated:

"I can't beat him."

[My apostle, whether you like it or not, this is a choice you must face.]

Satou Yunona was sullen. She cautiously glanced behind her to make sure she had completely shaken off the other person before silently landing on the balcony of a high-rise building.

The girl walked barefoot into the now deserted apartment; the interior, devoid of any human warmth, felt rather desolate.

She tried walking properly on her own two feet, and after walking around once, she calmed down a bit and then obediently sat down on the sofa.

Satou Yunona hugged her pink backpack tightly; it was full of her treasures, lots and lots of good things.

For a girl who has only been born for a short hour, the contents of her backpack are her entire world.

Inside was a bag of cream puffs, several cans of cola, two pieces of chocolate, a small toy that came free at the convenience store, a doll found in the mall, a marker, a fairy tale book with many colored pages but no words, and finally a brand new notebook.

She thought about the times she lost control of her power and felt a little afraid that her power might destroy these treasures due to her loss of emotional control.

After hesitating for a while, Satou Yunona reluctantly decided to leave the schoolbag in her bedroom, planning to secretly retrieve it later when she could better control her powers.

This practice is somewhat like burying treasure in your memory; although you might feel reluctant when you bury it, you'll be pleasantly surprised when you dig it up later.

Satou Yunona comforted herself with this example, temporarily putting her precious treats out of her mind, clearly ignoring the harsh reality that cream puffs expire.

The girl sat back on the sofa, curled up, hugging her legs, looking rather pitiful.

She said softly:

"Why kill him? Does destroying civilization necessarily mean killing humanity?"

"In the concept of civilization given to me by the gods, destruction is considered successful once the soil for human survival is completely destroyed and the remaining population is insufficient to organize a new civilization."

She deeply understood the immense power she possessed. The annihilation of everything caused by that casual snap of her fingers in the mall, and the unintentional regional destruction that erupted again earlier, were enough to demonstrate that Su Qing'an could not possibly survive under this power.

However, as long as the gods insist that she kill that human, the subconscious constraints prevent Satou Yunona from refusing.

The lingering emotions of that relationship had long since dissipated, leaving only lingering inertia and a vague sense of kindness in the girl's nature as the only reasons for her insistence on refusing to kill Su Qing'an.

She continued softly:

"So... it's okay not to kill him."

[That individual possesses mature Honkai Energy manipulation technology that should not exist at this stage of civilization. If this technology were to spread widely, it would be detrimental to the end-of-civilization plan, which is unacceptable.]

The existence of [Thousand Stars] has attracted the attention of the Honkai Consciousness, which has been carefully observing humanity's research and development of Honkai.

Although they have been able to utilize Honkai Energy in their existing technologies and establish new branches, the technology of human manipulation of Honkai Energy is still in a highly immature stage.

This makes it impossible for humanity to develop a high-end combat force capable of truly restraining Herrscher- level opponents in the short term.

For example, Himeko, who is the captain of the Moth to Fire, has top-notch combat experience and skills, and is also wearing the most advanced armor.

In the realm of humanity as a whole, finding a single individual far more powerful than her is simply wishful thinking.

Even with Himeko's armor alone, it would take a long and arduous battle to kill Ganesha, the most average-strength Emperor-class Honkai Beast, and there was even a risk of defeat.

This is enough to prove just how lacking humanity is in high-end combat capabilities at this stage.

Let alone Herrscher -level enemies, even multiple Emperor-class Honkai Beast would require humanity to deploy large-scale technological weapons for a serious response.

The long-term consequences of doing this are widespread destruction and waste of resources.

However, the things on Su Qing'an could potentially disrupt this situation. His own combat power is not within the scope of the Honkai Consciousness's considerations, but the possibility of breaking the deadlock ahead of time is something that should be ruled out.

The Honkai Consciousness does not want to underestimate the potential of humanity.

If one possesses a Herrscher body that can be manipulated at will and whose power is fully utilized, these possibilities might be as insignificant as dust, not worth paying attention to.

But the reality is that this is impossible.

He should therefore have a limit, and the time required for human wisdom and understanding to reach that limit is immeasurable.

However, there exists a limit, a situation that even an intelligence devoid of arrogance needs to be highly mindful of.

Satou Yunona tried to refute, she said:

Even so, it shouldn't be this fast.

The little girl stretched out her hands and drew a very large circle in the air. She recited earnestly:

"I'll achieve my goal before then. I'm very capable, so it doesn't matter if I don't kill him."

The Honkai Consciousness said indifferently:

[You will kill him, for you have no choice, my apostle.]

"--."

The slight sound of the door opening made Satou Yunona understand the specific meaning of those words. She stared blankly at the boy who was stepping into the room.

Verbal negativity indicates a complete disregard for the Honkai Consciousness, but behavioral negativity reveals the opposite.

Even if killing Su Qing'an wasn't actually that important, after Satou Yunona showed concern for this human, he became the most suitable person in the mind of the Honkai Consciousness to completely succumb to the Honkai side.

If he had personally killed someone even remotely important, then breaking the girl's fragile defenses and completely igniting a war would have been even easier.

Like a wild beast drinking blood for the first time, the savagery that stimulates its instincts will naturally drive it to follow its desires and plunder other lives.

From the very beginning, the Honkai Consciousness had no intention of letting Satou Yunona truly stop.

Even if it means sacrificing some of the purity of the soul, it doesn't matter. As long as a delicate balance is achieved between the utilization rate of power and the obedience of the Herrscher, it will be considered a success.

The Honkai Consciousness could not truly regard the Herrscher as its own daughter. It does not possess any human emotions. Even its seemingly human conversations with Satou Yunona are nothing more than constant calculations and imitations.

Therefore, regarding Satou Yunona's own wishes, the Honkai Consciousness has no possibility of yielding to anything outside the scope of the target elements.

[Kill him, my apostle.]

The seductive words fell heavily, and the three shackles already present in the subconscious mind intensified the restraint.

At the same time, He transferred Satou Yunona's own negative emotions about her parents' deaths into this blank consciousness.

This approach is sufficient to make the battle utterly unavoidable without compromising the purity of the soul.

Despair, sorrow, anger, confusion, escapism...

These intense, dark emotions surged like a tide, oppressing the pure white consciousness and squeezing out corresponding irritability and an uncontrollable loss of reason.

Su Qing'an looked at the girl's suddenly empty eyes and the Fierce Wave in her soul aura, and understood the current situation.

The Honkai Consciousness is not stupid. Even if it retains the humanity of Herrscher for some reason, it also has the means to manipulate Herrscher when necessary.

Even though he had mentally prepared for the battle beforehand, Su Qing'an still found it difficult to control himself when he truly sensed the involuntary lamentations of the soul within the body of the person before him.

The despair and sorrow intertwined in their souls were so oppressive and dark that they suffocated even the boy who could understand them.

The high and mighty gods thus used their power to twist the souls of their friends and toy with their future.

In that instant, the burning rage buried everything, far more than the fear of facing Herrscher head-on.

Su Qing'an said indifferently:

"I'll make you get out of Yuno's body, and I'll beat you down until the wires break."

For the Honkai Consciousness, this is a pointless declaration.

In His eyes, the boy's body was extremely weak against Honkai Energy, and [Thousand Stars]'s technique was already the limit that allowed him to overcome many obstacles and catch up with the Third Herrscher.

No matter how hard a human body is tempered, it cannot withstand a casual blow from Herrscher wielding their power.

Nothing Su Qing'an said is worth paying attention to.

Satou Yunona looked at the only other living being in the room besides herself. Her mind was already clouded, and the urgent need to vent her emotions became the sole guide for her actions.

Destruction, destruction, slaughter.

Only plunder can extinguish this boundless despair and suffering.

Thus, attacking becomes an unthinking, self-evident act.

"Snap." That was the crisp sound of fingertips rubbing together.

Amidst the raging thunder, the boy's clear, cold voice pierced through the deafening roar and fell softly.

"Udu-dust • Critical Point"

This is the first hour since Su Qing'an left the shelter.

Based on the exact distance between here and the academy, regardless of whether Satou Yunona had encountered any problems, Su Qing'an should have already started his return journey by now.

If he just waits patiently for a maximum of one hour, the boy can return to the shelter.

At that time, the atmosphere here will not remain so tense.

If... there are no unforeseen circumstances.

The distraught girls remained silent; whether they considered the possibility that Su Qing'an might not return remained a mystery.

But discussing this under these circumstances is clearly inappropriate.

The reason for the prolonged silence, besides being in a bad mood, was that Su Qing'an had instructed before leaving that, depending on the type of Honkai Beast, the level of sensory sensitivity it possesses in searching for humans would also vary.

For safety reasons, remaining silent and concealed is the most appropriate approach in the current situation.

Fu Hua gradually became more adept at using her sword heart to sense her surroundings. She extended her slender white fingertip and gently tapped the swaying, seemingly delirious crimson feather beside her, softly murmuring:

"Chi Yuan, you also feel lonely without Master Su, right?"

This feather was given to her by Su Qing'an before he left, saying that keeping it here would make her feel more at ease.

The name that Su Qing'an would find very strange was one that Fu Hua had chosen in her heart a long time ago.

The reason is that only he and Master Su can see the feathers.

Fu Hua's own guess was that it was because both of them cultivated the Void Sword Qi.

Based on this, the girl recalled the Immortal Chi Yuan who created the Void Sword Qi, as mentioned by Master Su, and inexplicably felt that this beautiful, spiritual feather was very suitable for her.

Udu-dust floated listlessly in the air for a while before lazily settling on her head. The distance between it and Su Qing'an was now far too great, causing its internal Honkai Energy to rapidly dissipate every second.

Even though Su Qing'an had anticipated this and had been injecting a large amount of Honkai Energy into the Udu-dust for half a month in advance, this reserve could only last for about two hours at such a distance.

This resulted in the feathers, which were originally very spiritual, becoming quite wilted.

Seeing the feathers looking listless, the little girl steadied her head, trying to keep them from slipping down. She pursed her lips slightly and murmured softly:

"That's true. Even if you're very intelligent, you still can't speak."

Udu-dust struggled to turn over, and it floated down to the girl's eyelids, nuzzling her fair face as if to offer comfort.

Fu Hua's lips parted slightly in a faint smile as she cradled Udu-dust in her hands.

In the dim light, the crimson glow of the feathers dispelled the unease and fear.

The girl whispered:

"Thank you, Chi Yuan."

In the fleeting moment when the feather's tail swayed as if to indicate that it was alright, the line Soul Link suddenly appeared in her holy blue eyes.

A pale red thread pierced through all matter, tied to a feather, stretching endlessly into the distance.

The essence of the thin thread is the chain of the soul. Su Qing'an's emotions conveyed a few fragments of warmth, which made Fu Hua vaguely see a dreamlike illusion.

In the unknown end, there was a boy...

It is burning in flames.

It seemed as if only a fraction of a second had passed before the fine thread and feather vanished without a trace.

The girl tried to clench the emptiness between her palms and her chest; she understood the answer.

That person is fighting.

A battle so dangerous that this feather must be used.

"----!!!"

At the same time, a deafening crashing sound came from all around.

It's Honkai Beast.