Ruling Schicksal was merely a necessary step toward accomplishing that goal.
Fighting Honkai was only to ensure he could capture Herrschers at the first possible moment.
"...So that was how, over those long five hundred years, you erased every person and thing that might have posed even the slightest threat to Schicksal's rule."
Ming Yu spoke softly.
The people of Anti-Entropy, along with Siegfried Kaslana, were certainly not the only two examples.
Over the long five centuries of Otto's rule over Schicksal, there were likely countless "threats" personally strangled in their cradles by him.
A complete and utter... dictator.
Ming Yu sighed and said:
"I really do hate you."
"On that point, I feel the same."
Otto smiled and nodded, then continued:
"Through this observation, I have confirmed that you are the kind of person I cannot control."
He was not some Demon King who obediently sat in a castle waiting for a hero to challenge him. Naturally, he would eliminate threats at their source.
While Ming Yu was still weak enough to be killed, erasing him was naturally the best choice.
"I dislike things and people beyond my control, so... die here."
Otto stretched out his hand and tapped several keys on a virtual panel beside him.
In an instant, countless lights appeared in the sky—multiple Honkai Fission Bombs identical to the missile they had joined forces to destroy earlier.
After all, this was a virtual world constructed from a database. Here, Otto, who possessed every authority, was an omnipotent god.
"You no longer have the ability to leave this virtual scenario, and if you die here... your mind will be annihilated along with you."
Otto said with a low laugh.
Using the Schicksal Overseer's authority, he had completely sealed Ming Yu's ability to leave this virtual space.
If one's mind died in virtual space, it was equivalent to becoming a vegetable.
Afterward, he only needed to fob Theresa off with something like an accident.
He believed this was a flawless arrangement. No matter what abilities Ming Yu had yet to use, he could erase him with absolute certainty.
"As one of my rare acts of mercy, I will make a special allowance for you... to say farewell to that false First Herrscher before you die."
Beyond Time's Blessing
As Otto's words fell, his figure gradually faded away. Everything around them recovered from its frozen state, and time began to flow once more.
Apparently believing Ming Yu was doomed beyond doubt, the real Otto no longer paid attention to this data space that would soon be completely destroyed.
The lights of destruction filling the sky were blinding. Just now, everyone had worked together to deal with one Honkai Fission Bomb, but there was far more than one spread across the sky now.
This number of Honkai Fission Bombs was enough to erase everything in this city dozens of times over.
However, the people by the shore seemed not to have noticed this at all. They were still cheering over their victory against Otto's final trump card.
—Well, everyone except Joyce.
Ming Yu felt no fear toward the death awaiting him and walked over to Joyce.
"Joyce, you—"
He asked hesitantly.
"Yes, I know. Everything here is merely an illusion. I... we are nothing more than data, aren't we?"
Joyce nodded, then said with a faint smile:
"I can't even remember when I awakened. I have been repeatedly living through this same month, repeating the journey of searching for the Star of Eden with Einstein and Tesla, repeating all of this..."
Like an actor in a play, he had to follow the role he was meant to portray.
Of course, this was not a bad thing for him. This month of living as a human was the most precious and important period of his brief three-year life.
Every ending was more or less the same. Reanna flew into the sky to destroy the Honkai Fission Bomb and died, while he sacrificed his life to deploy a shield protecting the entire city. Then, he passed the Herrscher Core to the young child, Joachim, before another cycle began.
Only this time, an unexpected figure had appeared: Ming Yu.
Though he had no definite proof, Joyce guessed that everything around him had been created by that man, Otto—only someone who knew the whole truth could possibly create such a realistic virtual world.
So, he had not revealed anything unusual along the way. Otherwise, if that man who might have been secretly observing them noticed, things would have become troublesome.
Just like in the countless cycles before, he awakened at the appropriate moment, fought Otto at the appropriate moment, met the unavoidable ending of death, and then started all over again.
But this time, with Ming Yu's help, he had achieved an ending that he had failed to reach in the past, in a sense.
Now that the performance had reached its end, there was no need for him to keep pretending.
"Ming Yu, you came from the future... didn't you?"
The blue-haired young man asked with a quiet laugh.
"From your perspective, that is correct. I came from roughly fifty years in the future."
Ming Yu nodded.
It was now 2014, while the day he had experienced here with Joyce and the others was in 1955.
"Fifty years..."
Joyce sighed.
To him, that was a rather unfamiliar number. After all, from his birth to his annihilation, he had only existed for three short years.
He then asked with concern:
"Are Einstein and Tesla alright in reality? I remember the two of them were affected by the Abyss Flower, so their lifespans should have been extended greatly."
"...After your sacrifice, they rebelled against Schicksal along with the entire North American Branch and established an organization called Anti-Entropy. They are still active in the world today."
Ming Yu told the man before him everything he knew.
Blessed by the Abyss Flower, the two scientists' bodies had surpassed those of ordinary people and would never grow old.
Of course, there was also Anti-Entropy's evolution and growth, as well as the story of the second Herrscher of Reason, Welt Yang.
Overall, although vermin like Cocolia had appeared, Anti-Entropy as a whole still remained active in accordance with Joyce's dream.
"Is that so? That's good..."
After hearing this, Joyce revealed a rare smile.
Knowing that his friends were still active and had not been executed by Schicksal gave him some measure of comfort.
Then, he looked up at the sky, at the Honkai Fission Bombs gradually drawing closer, and said:
"Death is about to arrive, yet you do not seem afraid."
As mere data, he had no need to fear or shrink from the death approaching him. But the young man beside him was different.
He did not belong here... nor should he die here.
"...I do have a way to reverse all of this."
Ming Yu nodded and said.
As long as he used Rewind, he could erase this future where Otto had noticed and killed him, returning to before he entered Schicksal's database and avoiding this fate of death.
That way, avoiding Otto's notice for now would not be difficult.
Of course, if he did so, this story he had experienced together with these Anti-Entropy founders would become a memory only he retained.
"Then do it. Compared to us, who no longer have any hope, you still have to keep moving forward."
Joyce said frankly:
"Although I said during my fight with Dr. Schrödinger that I would realize several better possibilities in the future, I understood long ago that neither the real me from history nor this false me has any future left."
As nothing more than data, he could no longer fulfill the words his real self had once spoken.
"...But you still have hope to do something. So carry my blessing and keep moving forward."
Joyce patted Ming Yu on the shoulder.
"I will."
Ming Yu nodded.
He had always been acting for that very purpose.
The multiple Honkai Fission Bombs were already close at hand. Joyce took two small steps back, raised his hand, and waved farewell to Ming Yu.
Ming Yu looked deeply at the dark blue-haired man before him, then finally said:
"...Goodbye, Welt Joyce."
Time rewound.
After entering St. Freya Academy, he once again used this ability to avoid death after a long time.
Everything he had experienced from entering Schicksal's database until now would become nothing more than a simple memory that had never existed.
Yet some things could transcend time.
As everything around him receded and dissipated, a warm current flowed into his body.
"..."
He understood that this was Welt Joyce's blessing.
"This is..."
Like the ability to manipulate electromagnetism, the power brought by this gift from the Herrscher of Reason clearly revealed its information in his mind—
Projection Magic.
Projection Magic
So-called Projection Magic...
A special power originating from a certain ally of justice: magic that materialized mirror images and replicas of objects that existed, or had once existed, in reality.
In a sense, it did indeed share similarities with the Herrscher of Reason's ability to construct things from nothing.
Since it was formed from energy, it could not be manifested for long periods and could only be used immediately after projection. In that respect, it was somewhat inferior.
Of course, whether it was the power needed to manipulate electromagnetism or the energy needed to project illusory objects, Honkai energy could be converted to provide the necessary consumption.
Well, perhaps this was what they meant by "Honkai energy can do anything."
This gift from Joyce was indeed an unexpected present for Ming Yu, but now that he had received it, he would make good use of it in the future.
—He had long known that helping Joyce and the others in that virtual world involved a certain degree of risk. As expected, the real Otto, who had been observing all along, had eventually acted and attempted to erase him completely.
But with Rewind as his safeguard, the Schicksal Overseer's careful calculations could only come to nothing.
If anything, it had instead given him rather important intelligence—the Schicksal Overseer was excessively cautious regarding unforeseen factors that might interfere with his plan to revive Kallen.
Welt Joyce fifty years ago, Siegfried Kaslana fourteen years ago...
He would eliminate all people and things he could not control.
Of course, even with Schicksal's authority and power, there were still things the Schicksal Overseer could not accomplish. The future did not always unfold as he wished.
He was indeed intelligent and skilled at scheming, but he was not omnipotent.
Whether it was Anti-Entropy's establishment, development, and growth, or Mr. Siegfried, he had failed to eliminate these unstable factors as he had hoped.
Well, this time, Ming Yu himself counted as one too.
Before you continue