Honkai, Survive

"Who exactly are you?!"

She didn't even notice anything wrong with the world. After all, there was no information to be gathered from the vast snowfield. The only breakthrough was Fang Jie... Beneath his human guise, the bottomless darkness made her feel powerless.

"My name is Fang Jie, and I come from outside your world. If you can't understand, just think of me as an alien, like Kalpas."

Rin reacted even more strongly to the name, but she was ultimately more restrained. She couldn't grasp Fang Jie and had wasted her limited energy, nearly falling back into slumber.

"I admit it, human, you're more troublesome than I thought. You've seized an opportunity," Rin's tone was dismissive and proud. "I can promise to let you go and join forces with me. Since you know who I am, you should understand how rare this opportunity is."

That's right, the Herrscher of Erosion. A disaster that once destroyed the world upon its birth. Her authority could erode and utilize anything – biology, machinery, psionic abilities, or information.

"Join forces? To provide you with Honkai energy, or to offer you my body?" Fang Jie shook his head. "Rin, times have changed. I'm not here to talk about these things with you, but about a more sincere cooperation."

"Oh? What cooperation?" Rin scoffed, secretly brewing a sneak attack.

Fang Jie was truly sincere. "To save the world, of course."

"..."

Amidst the howling frost, there was a moment of silence. Rin, momentarily stunned, never expected to hear such an... invitation at this point.

You're inviting a Herrscher, a Herrscher who once destroyed civilization, to save the world?

Are you kidding me?

"This joke isn't funny at all, human. You've successfully angered me! Do you really think I have no way to deal with you?"

While Fang Jie was sincerely engaging her in conversation, she had already eroded enough of his body, at least enough to interfere with his mind.

The nightmare was about to begin!

"I'm very serious."

Fang Jie wouldn't lie to Kiana, nor would he lie to Himeko. As for Rin...

He still wouldn't.

But since she was an idiot, it was okay to tell more truths.

He was fed up. It had only been a few days. Even a Stellaron Spirit... well, a Stellaron Spirit's body could be pierced quite early on; they had to fight a Doomsday Beast right from the start.

He needed help, teammates, trustworthy ones, and ones who weren't weak.

Even if it was just for equipment.

Murata Himeko was too weak; she definitely couldn't withstand Otto's persecution. Rin was different, completely different. She was the natural enemy of civilization. As long as she recovered a bit of her strength and didn't provoke Kevin or Su, it would be fine even if she encountered Fu Hua!

This was the kind of assistance he needed.

It was only after witnessing the destruction of a city that Fang Jie suddenly realized that perhaps he would bring a 'bad ending' to this world.

Even if he had just spoken a few more words to Kiana when they first met, it could have disrupted her plans, preventing her from stopping Raiden Mei's awakening in time.

And then, a crucial piece of that ending would be lost.

Not to mention the various chaotic developments that followed.

This wasn't a game to be carelessly scribbled on or done as one pleased. It carried the weight of civilization. If you can't be a savior, don't casually destroy the world either.

So when you have the chance to make a choice, don't let yourself regret it.

"Don't be so quick to act, Rin. I know you intend to attack, but it's meaningless. I can leave right now, and we'll never see each other again... You might not care, but what about Yae Sakura? We shouldn't be enemies. I'm willing to show sincerity to break our prisoner's dilemma..."

"Who cares about that traitor!"

The black mist once again formed a fox head, contorted in rage. Its scarlet eyes were terrifying. She unleashed her remaining strength, directly summoning the nightmare.

Because she was an idiot, she didn't think or plan much, squandering her power carelessly and venting her immense destructive urges.

She had long decided not to trust anyone. Such things were long gone for her.

It was terrifying.

But at this moment, something incredibly strange happened. Rin astonishingly felt that her power against Fang Jie... couldn't be said to be useless, but rather, it was of little use.

She couldn't even see his memories, and therefore couldn't weave corresponding nightmares.

Then, activate Yae Village...

"I told you, I can leave right now. Reality can't stop me, let alone a dream."

Accompanied by something darker than the black fox mist, Fang Jie, only showing his mouth, uttered this sentence and vanished without a trace.

What Yae Village? Not going.

"What in the world is going on? I'm going to kill you, I will definitely kill..."

However, the Stigmata Space couldn't hold him either.

"Hey, I came in, I went out, and I came in again... Hit me, you idiot!"

Fang Jie, who reappeared, was still in Yae Village. This was not just a nightmare, but also a virtual space constructed using the Stigmata Space, a truly existing one.

And he 'telepathically' felt Rin's rage. After becoming Erosion, she was already dominated by anger and hatred, and hadn't even received Aponia's blessing of humanity.

It was just that the Honkai in this world hadn't caught up yet, which had made her a bit more rational.

Well, a few provocations and she's completely lost her reason.

Pure killing intent and the desire for destruction were transmitted to Fang Jie through the residual erosion virus in his body, causing him—

What happened?

His confusion lasted only an instant before he understood.

It was like how Murata Himeko had pioneered further than him, and Rin… something more wondrous had happened to her.

At this moment, he shared Rin's vision and saw a special existence.

Flames, infinite flames, blazing flames, the brilliant gold rose, piercing the clouds, surrounding their god, the golden death, the sun of ferocious destruction.

Merely by existing there, all things in the world seemed to turn to ash.

It was an incredibly special existence, one that mortals could hardly witness in its entirety, much less glimpse. What about white hair, dark skin, a broken body, and immense wounds…

He could only remember a pair of burning golden eyes devoid of any emotion, and an unspoken understanding, conveyed simply by gazing upon them, of the Path it revealed:

[The birth of the universe is a mistake. If civilization is a cancer that quietly arises among the vast stars, then conflict is the only universally understood language between intelligent beings. To correct this error and erase the stains upon the universe, Nanook became the embodiment of entropy.]

[Destruction]

[Nanook]

Rin didn't understand what had happened, but some things had changed from that moment on.

Power, power that flowed endlessly, power had returned.

And Fang Jie understood what had happened, but he didn't understand…

The Aeon of the Path of Destruction, Nanook, cast a glance upon powerful beings across various worlds who harbored destructive impulses, marked them, and bestowed power.

This was a common occurrence in the galaxy. Believers, warriors, seekers of knowledge, the lost… mortals would always, intentionally or unintentionally, step onto a Path governed by an Aeon and become Pathstriders who enacted its ideals.

Thus, Rin embarked on the Path of [Destruction].

Thus, Fang Jie realized his own predicament.

It wasn't the surprise that an Aeon's glance could be glimpsed, nor the shock of Destruction's manifestation that allowed him to see himself, his self upon the Path, that he didn't understand:

"Why, on that Path, did I look so dark…"

.

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ps: The cover is still too old, not attractive enough. Changed it to a trash star treasure. New book, please collect and recommend, and vote for monthly tickets!

Chapter Sixteen: Embarking on the Path, Transcending All

In the depths of this boundless Path, gazing upon his own completely dark… self.

When life offers no words, no desire to face it, there is only silence.

Fang Jie watched himself fall silent, much like the silence of the Monkey King in A Chinese Odyssey when he saw himself as a monkey through the demon-revealing mirror.

Confusion, resolving confusion, more confusion…

In the wilderness of Jarilo-VI, where there was no place of Preservation to be seen, there was only snow.

If one didn't delve into it, but merely observed, it was actually a scene of breathtaking beauty.

The size of a planet, the distance of a universe; not long, not short.

At the speed at which the trailblazer Akivili laid down the Silver Rails for the galaxy, even a solo warp. I mean, a solo warp with the ability to survive in a vacuum alone, travel the cosmos, and step onto the Silver Rails for warp travel, could traverse a galaxy in 24 system hours at an unknown multiple of faster-than-light speeds.

This was also the current mainstream in the universe, the speed of companies and similar, generally cost-effective cargo ships.

This matter was unremarkable, this matter was as vast as the stars.

The long journey of the galaxy could accommodate anything.

And of these unremarkable, numerous, abundant, mundane, star-like journeys, the first half that Fang Jie remembered was him traveling alone.

To be honest, a story about 'long-distance travel' within a planet's atmosphere held no recordable value.

Even though, for Fang Jie, it was no easy task.

First, he had to endure. Not endure the snowfields, but endure… the galaxy.

Second, he had to explore. Just as a mischievous calf might be led astray by tender grass, just as a newborn infant is filled with fear of the entire world. Running blindly and ignorantly, unaware of the omens of cumulonimbus clouds appearing in the sky…

Unfortunately, Belobog does not rain.

Unfortunately, the galaxy, the galaxy…

In a vast swampy jungle shrouded in mist, there was a group of hunters armed with guns, RPGs, flamethrowers, and even the Tsar Bomba, all hostile to each other—this was the dark forest.

And you are a squirrel in a tree hollow, burying acorns in an unknown location—this is the galaxy.

So, in the end, he had to stop. Stop at the already clear, visible endpoint.

"So, I had already stepped into [His] shadow, completely unaware."

Fang Jie broke the silence, not deceiving himself or playing dumb. He insisted on being sincere even with others, so how could he avoid himself?

[Destruction] manifested, the Path was revealed, that ray of light lifted the fog.

Revealing the truly desperate state you possessed.

——Nameless people, people without a path, coming from the other end of the wasteland, clad in the splendor of the stars.

But the end of that radiance was not the sun, nor any star, but darkness that devoured everything. Everything you can see is merely the afterglow before being consumed.

——[Nihility]

All things resist nothingness, all things rush towards nothingness, all things become nothingness.

An infinitely vast snowfield, a planet, the universe, a galaxy… Above all phenomena, for some reason, at some time, it was swept into [Nihility].

At this moment, time seemed to have stopped.

Yes, time had frozen.

Yae Sakura, like an outsider, slept quietly next to Rin, who could see [Destruction], and Fang Jie, turned into a sculpture.

Rin, who possessed a strong resonance with the [Source of Power], her emotions, desires, will, soul… her impulsive, angry, and destructive source of power, all splashed out like water droplets from a wishing well's small fountain, creating ripples of footsteps that began on the Path.

In the black mist, she hovered in mid-air. In the cold, frosty wind, snowflakes continued to fall, frozen in mid-air.

Fang Jie was the same, standing still in the frozen moment, immersed in the frozen world.

All things, the vast universe.

Shattered with a roar.

The Path of [Destruction] always comes with a magnificent roar…

An explosion occurred at a corner of this Path.

A world was born.