Ending and Farewell / Review ...

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The Spears of the Void created by the Herrscher of Void were far harder than ordinary architecture, and the flying stone pillar was shattered directly by the heavy blow, yet after smashing the pillar, that figure trailing right behind it arrived in the blink of an eye.

"Herrscher of Void!" With a thud, a fist made contact with the horizontal spear. The very instant they touched, Kiana felt a sense of foreboding, her hands bracing against the Spear of the Void as she staggered back several steps. Without a shred of hesitation, a flash of gold swept through her eyes, and another Spear of the Void was already materialized, thrusting fiercely toward Su Jue.

Yet under this state, Su Jue had no thought of defense whatsoever—only pure, unadulterated offense.

Bang...

Another punch smashed down, Kiana's hands trembling faintly after the immense force struck the Spear of the Void, and her entire body was driven sliding backward. The good news, however, was that the second Spear of the Void successfully struck Su Jue's back, lodging firmly in his shoulder blade.

Pain? She felt none! Wounds? They mattered not in the least!

Su Jue wrenched the Spear of the Void from his body in one fluid motion, not caring as blood sprayed into the air. He then gripped the shaft and hurled it viciously toward Kiana.

Hum...

A spatial rift tore open, swallowing the spear Su Jue had thrown. Kiana intended to hurl it back once more, but Su Jue had already closed the distance.

Fists, elbows, knees—every single one was a weapon of attack.

Originally, Kiana could still rely on the Spears of the Void to parry, but under Su Jue's life-for-a-life style of assault, her resistance gradually grew feeble and inadequate. Until, after one final heavy blow, the short spear was knocked from her grip, tracing an arc through the air before embedding itself deep into the concrete pavement.

Seeing that Kiana could no longer fend him off, Su Jue showed not an ounce of mercy, grabbing her by the neck with one hand and slamming her violently toward the wall.

Kiana, sent flying through the air, crashed against the concrete wall, which instantly fractured and cracked as crumbling chunks of stone rained down continuously.

"Cough, cough..." Coughing incessantly, Kiana felt as though her internal organs had sustained severe trauma, yet her combat capability was far from extinguished. "The fight... has only just begun."

Staring at the white-haired man wearing a mask before her, Kiana drew in deep breaths of air, recovering her physical strength.

He's enraged. What on earth is he furious about?

Chapter 56: Ending and Farewell

This was a question no one could answer for her—not even Su Jue himself.

Was it simply because Kiana had backstabbed him? Yet she had no inkling that Thousand Calamities was Su Jue, and helping a friend was only right and proper.

Was it because he had wanted to seize the puppet machine and failed? But Su Jue knew full well that such a thing mattered not at all.

Perhaps it was simply that some wishful-thinking fellow had grown far too absorbed in her role, genuinely developing affections and flying into a rage from the embarrassment of it all.

Furious at her own wild fantasies, furious at her own self-righteousness.

"Truly foolish. A spider lurking in a corner dares to dream of touching the sun."

Clearing his mind, abandoning all thought, the Theater of Domination could accommodate no emotions; only the perpetual clack-clack of swaying, colliding wooden puppets remained eternal.

Following a brief respite, the two closed in on each other once more, and this time there was no talk of retreat—every single move and stance aimed toward stripping the other of their life.

Yet after a desperate, all-out struggle, Su Jue finally discovered that a warrior of pure physical might and a Herrscher wielding authority were, in the end, entirely different.

Even though she had not yet fully mastered the powers of the Herrscher of Void, the moment Kiana gripped the Spear of the Void and wielded it like a longsword, every single strike produced interference within space itself. This spatial fluctuation was hardly violent, but to Su Jue, who fought with sheer brute force, even this minute influence was enough to alter the course of battle.

Bang...

The battered surrounding structures collapsed once more. Following a deafening roar, it was Su Jue who went flying backward this time. Continuous spatial fluctuations had nearly warped the light itself, and after trading dozens of blows in rapid succession, a miscalculation had finally occurred. The Spear of the Void interfered with the angle of his punch, and with an opening exposed, he took a solid, heavy kick straight from Kiana.

"It's over." The Spear of the Void pointed straight at Su Jue, and accompanied by the emergence of spatial fissures, a succession of spears pinned him directly to the wall. His shoulder and his thigh were all but pierced through; any attempt to move would inevitably inflict grievous injury.

"Yet you still held back." Su Jue sneered, inch by inch tearing his own body away from the impaling spears. In a flash of an instant, blood spattered everywhere, the torn lacerations looking savage and terrifying.

"Are you insane? If you keep this up, you'll bleed to death directly without me even lifting a finger." Su Jue's madness exceeded Kiana's expectations; stark white bone was visible in numerous places, yet he acted as though he felt nothing at all, refusing to take a single step back despite his body being covered in wounds.

Yet Su Jue, drenched entirely in blood by now, had no desire to speak further. He merely stood up, threw a punch, and brought it down with the force of a landslide.

Yet in the midst of Su Jue's punch, Kiana looked through that black mask and caught a clear view of Su Jue's eyes—a pair of familiar gray eyes. It was this momentary lapse in focus that left her too late to dodge Su Jue's assault.

"Kiana!" Fu Hua's cry of alarm pulled Kiana back to her senses, but Su Jue's desperate strike was already less than a hair's breadth away from her. The golden right eye flared with blinding radiance, and a brand-new Spear of the Void shot through the air.

Yet the excruciating pain she anticipated never arrived. The fist stopped right in front of her face.

Instead, the newly created Spear of the Void cleanly pierced straight through the enemy's heart, and gushing blood splattered over her entire body.

"What a pity." Blood spilled from the corners of Su Jue's mouth. He lowered his head, staring at the chain-spear that ran clean through his body and the spear lodged at his heart, thinking with a hint of self-mockery: Did I really overturn my cart after all?

"Kiana, are you alright?" Having alleviated Bronya and Mei's injuries, Theresa finally found an opportunity to enter the fray. This single move utterly shattered the equilibrium, and an utterly unguarded Su Jue was shot dead by Judah on the spot.

The taut nerves finally relaxed. Kiana let out a long breath, staring at the enemy propped up in place by several chain-spears, and instinctively took a half-step forward.

"I'm fine..."

Clack.

The sound of something dropping to the ground. Kiana lowered her head, catching sight of nothing in the pool of blood save for a star-shaped hair accessory that had been thoroughly shattered under the assault of her own Spear of the Void.

So familiar.

Kiana's movements froze stiff in place.

"Heh, how could that be?" She forced out a stiff, hollow laugh, feeling her mind go completely blank. "How could he possibly be here? He couldn't possibly be here. Impossible."

"Kiana, what's wrong with you?" Seeing that Kiana's expression was amiss, Fu Hua and Theresa hurried to ask.

Yet by then, Kiana was long past registering any sound. With trembling hands, she reached out toward that black mask.

She was terrified—terrified that behind that mask truly lay the young man from her memories.

Just as Kiana's fingers grasped the mask, preparing to tear it away, a sheet of fierce, concentrated flames descended from the sky, driving everyone back. By the time they whipped back around, the pierced corpse was already engulfed by that burning blaze.

"That's not fire; that's a person." Phoenix, adept at utilizing flames, was the first to react. Though these flames looked ferocious, their temperature was actually quite low; rather than attacking, they were meant to obscure vision.

Prompted by the warning, Theresa launched an attack instantly, but the figures driving the flames evaded every strike.

"Farewell, everyone. It would be best for my fellow compatriot to leave with me." A mature woman's voice rang out from within the fire—a voice Kiana had clearly never heard before, yet one that felt inexplicably familiar.

"Teacher Himeko!" she cried out instinctively, but the woman's movements held not a shred of sluggishness. The low-temperature flames spread instantly, turning the entire area into a sea of fire.

Amidst the flickering, glowing firelight, Kiana could only catch sight of a strand of red hair fluttering in the wind. Meanwhile, the ashen-haired man who ought to have been dead had opened his eyes, locking his gray gaze with hers before closing them once more.

Boom!

A secondary burst of flames concealed everything, and as the firelight gradually waned, the courtyard was left entirely empty.

"Kiana, come back with us." Deep in the night on the streets of Sky City, with very few passersby remaining, Theresa pleaded incessantly as she looked at the restless Kiana.

"Principal is right. Remaining alone in Sky City is far too dangerous." Bronya, cradling her damaged Project Bunny, chimed in with persuasion as well.

Conversely, Mei—who ought to have been closest to Kiana—seemed lost in thought, her mind wandering elsewhere, yet upon hearing the two, she too desired for Kiana to leave alongside them.

Gazing at her companions who watched her with worried eyes, Kiana forced a smile. "It's fine. I've uncovered some very important matters over here that I need to investigate. Besides, you saw it yourselves—my mastery over the powers of the Herrscher of Void is slowly growing stronger. The day I completely master it, I'll return."

Not a single person noticed that in her hand, she was gripping a star-shaped hair accessory stained crimson with blood.

With their persuasions failing to yield results, the group had no choice but to relent. Still, having confirmed Kiana's safety, they felt considerably more at ease. Rita's whereabouts were currently unknown, and their own target was simply too large; should they draw Schicksal's search parties, it would only spell harm for Kiana. They could only mutually agree to come find her once their own affairs were settled.

"When next I arrive, I will surely master the strength to protect you." Before parting ways, Mei grabbed Kiana's hand with a solemn expression. The lingering, resentful reluctance on her face was gone, replaced by a much firmer look.

"Mn, I believe you, Mei."

"Do you want to go find that person?" After the Hyperion's crew departed, Fu Hua asked softly.

"Mn. Whether it's him or not, I have to ask clearly."

Walking alone down the empty street, Kiana let out a long breath. It had merely been a single night, yet it felt as though she had lived through an eternity.

She raised her gaze, catching sight of the alleyway edge.

Drawing stationery was scattered all across the ground.

Chapter 57: Review

The world is a garden of branching paths; conspiracies and eternal time intertwine intricately. Before making a choice at the crossroads, no one can clearly see the scenery ahead. Only after stepping onto the path of one's own choosing does time acquire a fixed destiny, and you will never have the opportunity to know whether the choice you made was right or wrong, nor whether your choice might trap someone else.

"You seem quite pleased?" Watching Himeko sit on the sofa, smiling and teasing the cat, Su Jue's complexion darkened slightly. Was this woman finding amusement in watching him stumble?

"Whatever do you mean~ I'm merely wearing a smile because I've laid eyes on my long-lost student. If you don't believe me, look into my eyes—they're exceptionally sincere, you know~" Perhaps Su Jue's currently harmless appearance gave Himeko the courage; despite her injuries remaining unhealed, she had learned to tease a pure-hearted young boy. She leaned her face right up close to Su Jue's, her large, watery eyes staring at him until Su Jue could practically feel her breath washing against his face.

With a completely expressionless face, he raised a hand to press against Himeko's face, forcibly shoving her back onto the sofa. Su Jue gave her no pleasant expression in return. "You'd do well to have the self-awareness of a puppet, maintain a proper distance, and honestly do what you're supposed to do. You've already experienced the punishment of Domination; I have no wish to repeat it."

"Tch." Himeko let out an unamused chirp. Though her lips feigned indifference, the mere recollection of that soul-deep agony caused her body to instinctively betray a flash of fear, prompting her to obediently shift her position and create some distance.

Following the series of events from the previous night, the [Himeko] puppet and the [Thousand Calamities] puppet—the two bodies with the highest combat capabilities—had both sustained heavy injuries. Restoring their battle-readiness would likely require a considerable amount of time.

At present, Himeko was using her original body, bandages wrapped practically all over her—she looked the spitting image of a mummy. Yet it could only be considered a comforting placebo; the threads of Domination inflicted damage upon the soul, and even though Su Jue had tried his utmost to help her recover, healing was no simple matter.

Quieting down, Himeko pulled Tread Snow into her lap, gently stroking its fur and playing with its cat ears while the two of them sat in silence. After a few minutes, her restless nature getting the better of her, she raised her head to look at Su Jue, who sat frowning before his desk, and asked with a trace of puzzlement: "What is it? If it's merely failing to get our hands on the puppet machine, is there any need to be this tense?"

Hearing her voice, Su Jue glanced sidelong at her and tossed the document he was reading over. "I thought you'd be smarter than that."

"Hey, I used to be an honors graduate from a prestigious university, you know. Isn't saying something like that a bit insulting?" She casually caught Su Jue's document, resting it atop the cat's head as she slowly began to read. Yet barely had she read a portion when her brow locked tightly together; the further down she read, the worse her expression became.

"Is this thing real?" A look of disbelief surfaced on her face, and Himeko completely forgot about the cat as she flipped through the pages repeatedly, confirming she hadn't misread anything.

"What do you think?" Su Jue retorted.

"No matter how you look at it, using the population of an entire city as experimental subjects is simply too insane. Anyone with a normal brain wouldn't make such a choice." Himeko shook her head repeatedly. It wasn't that she doubted the authenticity of the document, but rather that she fundamentally believed such a thing was impossible. "If a population in the millions encounters problems, it's bound to be noticed immediately. By then, neither Schicksal nor Shenzhou would ever permit such a thing to happen."

"..."

Su Jue's silence caused Himeko's heart to skip a beat. This fellow was a Herrscher unskilled at lying, and yet he hadn't offered a single word of objection to her doubts. That meant the contents of this document were likely mostly true, which in turn implied that the organization known as World Serpent genuinely intended to use the entirety of Sky City as a testing ground.

"As a side note, your good students are about to run into trouble as well." Taking the document back into his hands, Su Jue swiped casually, opening a spatial conduit connected to the Theater of Domination. Tossing the document inside, he continued, "Did you ever wonder why I gave up the puppet machine last night?"

"Wasn't it because you couldn't beat her? Even your own puppet was killed by Kiana..."

"Ahem." Su Jue's face flushed, and he hurriedly cleared his throat to cut her off. "That was just an accident. Even if she hadn't shown up, getting my hands on the puppet machine wouldn't have been so simple. That thing was a bait put out by World Serpent; swallowing it down isn't going to be easy."

"Yet you still overturned your cart."

"I told you, that thing was bait—not something to be touched casually."

Giving Su Jue a sideways glance, Himeko grabbed Tread Snow's little paw and shook it. "Yet you still overturned your cart."

"Meow~"

"Look, even Tread Snow says so. Still refusing to admit you flipped your cart?" The kitten's cooperation delighted Himeko, though Tread Snow merely looked at her in absolute bafflement: What does this have to do with me? I'm just a little kitty who doesn't understand human speech.

"F-Fine, overturned then, overturned." Sighing with a sense of mental exhaustion, Su Jue decided against arguing with Himeko. "Gray Serpent planted a virus file in that thing. If your students are smart, they won't try to crack it themselves; otherwise, things have probably already turned into a complete mess by now."

Hearing Su Jue's words, worry crept into Himeko's expression. Though she had immense faith in the children, judging by the document Su Jue had just shown her, the World Serpent organization was a completely unhinged madhouse. It was hard to imagine what tricks they might have pulled inside the puppet machine, nor what their ultimate objective might be.

Regrettably, no amount of worry was of any use; Himeko was currently bound to the side of the Herrscher of Domination, with no means to assist even if she wished to.

"Oh right, I made you invoke the power of the Gem of Plague last night; you should have secured the item, right?" The multi-front battle last night had left Su Jue somewhat fatigued, to the extent that he hadn't paid excessive attention to Himeko's side, merely issuing the order to retrieve Gray Serpent's ocular implant—he had no idea whether it had been successfully acquired.

"Tch, making an A-Rank fight against Schicksal's S-Rank Valkyrie—even a puppet deserves some human rights, you know." Snapping out of her worry for the students, Himeko grumbled, though her tone quickly shifted, a mocking smirk playing on her lips. "Still, that arrogant fellow probably never imagined she'd lose to an A-Rank."

She retrieved a gray mechanical sphere from her pocket—the very ocular implant Gray Serpent used to control the puppet machine. After killing Gray Serpent, Rita had taken the implant away, but the item was merely equivalent to a key; the true data was stored within Gray Serpent's stronghold and couldn't be effectively read without proper classification. That was why they had laid a trap for Theresa and the others to seek out the puppet machine, waiting for the rabbits to come to them.

Yet she had indeed waited for a rabbit, but trailing behind that rabbit came Su Jue, a fellow profiteer taking advantage of a fire.

"So you killed her?"

"You wish. No matter how badly one flips their cart, an S-Rank is still an S-Rank; a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Besides, a certain fellow who also flipped his cart was waiting for me to rescue him at the time."

How truly dreadful.

Chapter 58: Long-Lost Student Life

Plans were never absolute perfections; all Su Jue could do was continuously correct the trajectory of his plans, steering events in the direction he desired.

He was neither a crafty, calculating schemer nor an unfeeling, detached observer. Since he found himself lingering within the play, he possessed the self-awareness required to become a character of the stage.

Clack... clack...

Within the theater, the sound of wooden puppet joints colliding echoed.

Upon their return, the puppet [Su Jue] had stood alone upon the stage of the Theater of Domination, performing his solitary monodrama.

Overturned? No, that was merely an outward facade. In Su Jue's view, his gains from this operation far outweighed the so-called puppet machine. As the Herrscher of Domination, what he needed was not powerful weapons nor practical tools, but rather to patch his own oversights to the greatest extent possible.

And this time, the emotional vulnerability he hadn't even realized he possessed had been exposed just like that. For him, this was both a fortunate thing and his greatest harvest. Moths flew toward the flame, inadvertently burning themselves to ashes; while Su Jue laid his trap for Kiana, he was just like that moth, drawn in by the light radiating from the maiden.

To the Herrscher of Domination, emotion was the most virulent poison.

This faint glimmer would bewilder his senses, interfere with his calculations, and ultimately cause him to be consumed by the flames. If this continued unchecked, the moment that sword of Flamescion was raised high, he would be the first to die beneath its blade.