Humanity Will Surely Defeat Honkai

Kevin Kaslana became Fusion Warrior.

After initial physical examinations, it can be concluded that, in a sense, the Fusion Warrior are less human than the Herrscher who are Honkai Apostle and humanoid calamities.

At least the Herrscher still retain 100% human genes and appearance. The only difference between them and humans, apart from their immunity to Honkai Energy, is the power and abnormality caused by the Herrscher Core.

As Fusion Warrior, Kevin can hardly be called human from a biological perspective; perhaps it would be more accurate to call him Honkai Beast that maintains a human form.

His entire body's flesh and blood structure still appears to be that of a normal human, but in a more subtle essence, he possesses the characteristics of silicon-based life forms. As a result, his Honkai Energy literacy has undergone a qualitative leap, reaching the level of Honkai Energy immunity in another form.

The most compelling evidence that they are not human is that the bestial phenomena that appeared in the experiments have not completely disappeared; they have been suppressed like recessive genes and are not outwardly expressed.

However, once one actively enters beast form and stops suppressing oneself, all bodily functions and abilities will be enhanced to different levels.

This actually implies that Kevin's beast form is his truest appearance at this stage.

Therefore, because he subconsciously and subjectively dislikes this attitude, the more he suppresses it, the less he can unleash his full potential.

At the same time, the basic human organs also underwent various levels of mutation after gene fusion.

Now, his body unconsciously exudes a subtle yet extremely cold temperature, and even without conscious control, it passively generates a certain range of temperature differences.

This is not a result of Honkai Energy, but a physical phenomenon that arises from the mutation of the body after becoming Fusion Warrior.

Therefore, the feather that Su Qing'an gave her that day could not absorb this warmth even with the [Stigmata] ability. It could only use the Honkai Energy inside the [Stigmata] to surround Mei and form a Honkai Energy membrane, keeping the severe cold outside and trying to give the two a little comfort.

Kevin has undoubtedly become stronger, so much so that this transformation can only be explained in terms of sublimation and evolution.

The strength, durability, resilience, and even lifespan of the body; the reflexes of the nerves; the instinct to control the chilling currents; and even the Honkai Energy membrane that circulates on the body surface like Herrscher.

His entire body has become a large organ for breathing Honkai Energy. Every cell is constantly containing and breathing trace amounts of Honkai Energy, and the strength and toughness of every fiber are constantly moving towards another shore with each breath, constantly increasing the rate and output of Honkai Energy, as well as the basic strength.

This is a true increase in breathing strength.

If we were to compare Kevin Kaslana to an unknown species distinct from humans, he would have just been born. Every breath he takes now is roughly equivalent to the gradual growth of a human infant, only at an amplified rate.

According to Mei, this was a normal phenomenon that was expected.

The initial data target of the Fusion Warrior Project was to combat the Herrscher as super soldiers.

Even if a warrior of this caliber finds the exact shortcut and embarks on that path, it doesn't mean they will immediately leap to the level of Herrscher after the experiment is successful.

This is unreasonable.

Kevin Kaslana has a very good foundation; she was able to hunt Emperor-class Honkai Beast before becoming Fusion Warrior. However, this is still a completely different level from Herrscher can control power and possess infinite Honkai Energy.

The success of the experiment only means that the genes of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast have initially fused with it and reached a stable stage, which is more appropriately described as the immature nascent stage.

Despite the significant transformation, it still lags behind not only the current Herrscher in terms of Sequence Number, but even the original Herrscher.

Mei truly believed that the Fusion Warrior capable of resisting the Herrscher were those who had reached a mature stage of deep fusion with the Emperor-class genes.

In other words, only a warrior who has fully mastered the beast form and even completely incorporated it into himself can defeat a true Herrscher through his own power, even when Kevin has perfect control over it.

Once the initial gene fusion threshold is overcome, the rate of maturation will be extremely efficient.

This is one of the reasons why the Fusion Warrior Project required such a long preparation period and had such high requirements for the test subjects.

Given the current time constraints, Mei had to prioritize the speed at which the Fusion Warrior could be deployed, which indirectly increased the risk of death during the experiment.

According to Mei's initial estimates, Kevin will be able to truly enter the mature stage of Fusion Warrior in about a month, possessing the combat power to resist the Herrscher.

Such a growth curve is already terrifying, but it still barely manages to stay around the time predicted for the birth of the Seventh Herrscher. Just as the two initially discussed, it would be more appropriate to create the Black Abyss White Flower after the experiment with the Fusion Warrior. They had to consider the time required for the Fusion Warrior to grow on their own.

While proclaiming the feasibility of the Fusion Warrior Project in both theory and practice, Mei is reflecting on the experiment and analyzing the data. At the same time, she is preparing for the selection of the next Fusion Warrior and making specific plans, thereby truly establishing a high-end combat force for humanity.

With Kevin Kaslana as a pioneer proving Mei right, official support and the soldiers' willingness will no longer be as difficult to change or win over as before.

On the other hand, Su Qing'an also discovered the fundamental reason why the Fusion Warrior were not chosen by the Honkai Consciousness to become Herrscher during this experiment.

The life form of the Fusion Warrior is very unique.

Judging from Kevin's case at least, the painful stage of fusing with the Emperor-class gene seems to have led to a further integration of soul and flesh, which indirectly made it easier to control Honkai Energy.

The specific advantages resulting from the further integration of soul and flesh are still unclear, but Su Qing'an vaguely suspects that the other party's control over the power to freeze everything might also be related to these.

However, the reason why the Honkai Consciousness cannot transform Fusion Warrior into Herrscher is quite clear.

Since the soul and flesh have a closer connection, the method of crushing the original soul, reshaping a blank soul, and forcibly occupying the body will naturally fail, and at the same time, it will make it more difficult to plunder its will.

After all, the Honkai Consciousness itself is merely a large-scale mechanism, and everything it does must follow the self-rules of this mechanism.

Personally creating Herrscher is probably one of the biggest ways the other side interferes in the human world, and Su Qing'an thinks it's not advisable to repeat it so many times.

Therefore, targeting Fusion Warrior is an extremely risky approach.

Crushing the opponent's soul will cause the physical body to die and annihilate, causing the original qualified Herrscher body to disappear directly, thus the goal of creating an Apostle will fail on its own.

Choosing to seize the will of another will provoke even stronger resistance, and may even lead to the forced severing of the link between the two, resulting in the ridiculous situation of the Herrscher Core and powers being given away as a package.

Imagine the combination of the powers of Fusion Warrior and Herrscher Authority, and you'll understand that the concerns about the Honkai Consciousness are not unfounded.

Of course, with the advent of Divine Key technology, the combination of Fusion Warrior and Herrscher Authority has become possible to some extent, but this still cannot be a reason to personally send off humanity to recuperate and preserve the strength corresponding to the Finality in the later stages.

Therefore, Su Qing'an drew this conclusion.

If Fu Hua becomes Fusion Warrior, the possibility of the opponent being Honkai Consciousness and becoming Herrscher will be minimized.

Fiji.

In this desolate world, only the pure white expanse of ice can be seen.

Those skyscrapers that still bear traces of human habitation gradually crumbled and turned into fine dust as the cold winds swept across the land.

Kevin knelt on one knee, gazing at the eyes reflected on the ice, their darkness slowly fading. Sensing the utter exhaustion within his body, he whispered:

"Can you break through your defenses?"

Su Qing'an silently raised his hand and released all the Honkai Energy he had absorbed. He gazed at the pristine world and endless cold current that had been created, and then withdrew from [Udu-dust • Critical].

The Little Feather drifted leisurely into his pocket, only half of its plume showing. It drooped its head, sensing the Honkai Energy that the boy had released, feeling that its things had been stolen, and was somewhat unhappy.

Su Qing'an pressed its "head" with her fingertip, somewhat speechless.

Kevin's output is almost enough to break through the combined capacity of Udu-dust and [Stigmata]. If the Honkai Energy inside him is not released immediately, the overflowing Honkai Energy will probably freeze him into a dry, stupid feather.

The recent frequency of use of [Udu-dust •Critical] has caused its ability to avoid contact with matter to disappear again. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a problem to let the Little Feather play with so much Honkai Energy. After all, given its consumption rate, it can consume a lot of Honkai Energy just by being a little far away from you.

Su Qing'an responded:

"That's good enough. You've improved very quickly."

"If things continue at this pace, you'll soon be able to prevent the fused genes from causing rejection, and you won't revert to beast form even when you use your full strength."

Kevin was silent for a moment, then he asked:

"Did the teacher think that at that time, I could control my physical condition?"

Su Qing'an gazed at the distant world of ice. It was said that temperatures below minus one or two hundred degrees Celsius were called ultra-low temperatures, at which matter would undergo tremendous changes.

After incorporating elements of Honkai Energy, it reached its current terrifying state.

This freezing power originating from Parvati has far exceeded the limits of its own body. Even with Su Qing'an's honed physical abilities, he still needs to rely on the Honkai Energy shield to ignore it.

Kevin should have understood the answer to his question even if he didn't answer it.

The chilling domain that comes with the fusion of Parvati is a physical phenomenon resulting from the mixing of organs, genes, and even Honkai Energy. Even if the Parvati genes are fused to perfection, reaching a point of true indistinguishability, this chilling domain will still remain like a curse.

Perhaps as one becomes more familiar with controlling one's own power, one can restrain it to some extent, but completely concealing it is already a difficulty that goes against one's instincts.

Moreover...

Su Qing'an had already heard about another plan Mei would take over after Kevin became familiar with this power.

Chimera Project.

That is, the fusion of multiple Honkai Beast genes.

After fusing with Parvati's genes to maturity, the time required to continue improving one's strength will be extremely long.

Even considering the incredibly long lifespan of Fusion Warrior, it would still be a considerable number. Time would be used to refine and further enhance the synergy between the two, thus indirectly increasing their strength.

This is the curve that allows the Fusion Warrior to continue down this path without utilizing the Chimera Project.

From this perspective, the existence of the Chimera Project is almost a tailor-made upgrade path for Kevin Kaslana, in which all the power he desires will be realized.

Mei's ideas and plans were not wrong, and it was also Kevin's own wish, but the shackles and curse between the two would become even deeper, until they could never be freed.

After all... if it's just the Parvati, Kevin still has a chance to perfect it over the next few years, and it's not impossible to maintain a body temperature that's slightly different from the norm.

However, once the Chimera Project officially begins, it remains to be seen what state he will become as he continues to integrate other Emperor-class genes, let alone embrace his loved ones again.

Even though he himself was already scarred and wounded, the boy still couldn't bear to let those close to him suffer such pain and cruelty.

So Su Qing'an chose to lie. He reached out to the exhausted Kevin, helped him up, and said earnestly:

"Even if it doesn't work then, there will definitely be a way later."

"Once the Honkai truly ends, Mei will have enough time to research effective solutions for travel."

Until then, just try to survive.

Kevin was stunned for a moment. In fact, he had always thought that a taciturn person like Su Qing'an would not say such things, and comforting others seemed completely out of the question for him. But now, the person he thought he was talking about earnestly saying that he should try to live on was quite refreshing to him.

The white-haired warrior smiled and said:

"I used to think that teachers were the kind of people who only talked about welcoming victory and despised those who lived a life of mediocrity."

Su Qing'an looked at his face and said softly:

"No, Kevin."

"I'm just a coward, a coward who clearly craves death but has had to keep it at bay, clinging to life until now."

Kevin thought that a teacher should never be described with such terms.

Having single-handedly shouldered heavy burdens for civilization on numerous occasions, he should never, and would never, be a coward when facing the Herrscher.

But for a young man to speak so casually, perhaps he himself feels that such words are more fitting to describe himself.

Kevin couldn't agree with this, but he also couldn't offer a formal rebuttal. If this self-description made the other party feel better, perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing.

The somber tone in the other person's words made Kevin feel somewhat heavy, just as he had thought back then. Even if he had crossed the line and accepted the cruel reality again, Su Qing'an would still be deeply affected by it.

It seems that cooperating with my training is already the limit of what they can do.

As for actual combat... even if the other side didn't say it outright, I could see many problems from the numerous details of their training.

It seems unlikely that the teacher will be able to participate in this battle against the Seventh Herrscher.

However, Su Qing'an's inability to fight was within his expectations, and this was also the reason why he insisted on conducting the experiment.

Therefore, he was more concerned about whether the other side would be forced to take action under these circumstances than about the lack of combat power.

Shadows and mental illnesses are not things that can be overcome by simply forcing oneself or pushing oneself. Even if such methods are used to temporarily overcome mental problems, a deeper level of collapse will inevitably follow.

The only way Kevin could think of to prevent these things was to defeat the Seventh Herrscher alone.

Therefore, becoming Fusion Warrior is only the initial threshold to take a step up from one's opponent. One must thoroughly master and integrate Parvati's genes in a short period of time. Simply being able to break through the teacher's defense limit once is far from enough.

He understood that the power of the [Stigmata] lay in its ability to absorb and release all Honkai Energy phenomena, freeing up a portion of its upper limit to infinitely extend its lifespan. However, he knew that he was powerless to continue after barely breaking through the upper limit once, and therefore did not have the ability to deal with the Herrscher.

Judging from past battle records and various factors at the time, it can be seen that the Fifth Herrscher in her prime and the Sixth Herrscher when truly fighting seriously both had the ability to completely break through the defenses of [Stigmata] within a few seconds. Coupled with infinite Honkai Energy, they were quite difficult to deal with.

Su Qing'an was able to win against the former because the Herrscher of Ice was in a partially crippled state at the time, while the latter simply had no will to fight.

However, praying for a similar event to happen to the Seventh Herrscher is somewhat unrealistic. Kevin is not even as good as Su Qing'an was before, so it is even more impossible for him to take on the responsibility of fighting against the Seventh Herrscher is almost certain to be stronger.

Fortunately, I am still in a high-speed growth phase where my breathing is getting stronger. My primary goal right now is to reach my limit before the other party appears.

Kevin's mind was momentarily dazed as he was exhausted. Sensing the constantly rising and falling chilling currents and countless Honkai Energy particles within his body, he asked softly:

"Is there nothing left in this world worth cherishing for teachers?"

Su Qing'an suppressed her jumping and bouncing after hearing this, as if she wanted to say it was her Little Feather, and replied:

"Some."

"So... even so, I still want to give up. I'm a coward."

He was silent for a moment, then continued:

Someone once told me that as long as you live in this world, there will always be a day when you can see hope.

"Perhaps I am not qualified to say this to others, but I still want to say the same thing to you."

"As long as you keep living, there will always be a day when you can see hope. At least... I think she was right."

Kevin gazed at the boy's clear, dark eyes that still held a glimmer of light, his calm and beautiful face, his slightly pursed lips, and the hair that swayed gently in the cold wind, slowly etching this scene into his heart.

He thought that perhaps the opposite of what Su Qing'an said was true; no one was more qualified to say such a thing than the person in front of him.

But what kind of feelings led this teacher, who seemed to have no desire to live, to say such a thing?

It must have been very complicated, with expectations, hopes, disappointments, and regrets.

Kevin didn't know how to respond to such words, but carrying the other person's expectations wasn't an unpleasant thing; on the contrary, these expectations might give him more reasons to move forward.

So in the end he only said softly:

"Humanity will surely defeat the Honkai, teacher."

I assure you.

Looking up at the vast sky filled with swirling, dark dust, Su Qing'an smiled upon hearing the other person's words and said softly:

"Yes, I believe you."

"I can't wait for a world without Honkai."

"If... that day really comes, it won't be so hard for everyone anymore, right?"

The boy's final, barely audible murmur merged with the surging, cold current, flowing down into the debris and dust, dancing and rising and falling in the clear light...