He looked down at his hands, feeling the energy within him swell wildly, threatening to burst everything apart at any moment. He remembered his eleven reincarnations, the warriors who had held fast to their weapons even in despair, and the ordinary people who had lit torches in the darkness.
"If... if I really do this..."
Liu Zhipeng raised his head, his voice a little hoarse. "What will happen to this timeline? The people I met, the people who followed me, will they..."
"They will be erased."
The Emperor hid nothing. "When a new timeline is born, the old one will become a possibility, a what-if. Everything here, including me, those warriors, and the entire universe, will become a... nightmare that never happened."
"But their sacrifices will not have been meaningless."
The Emperor's voice grew gentler. "Because it was all the suffering in this timeline that forged you. And you will carry their will into the new timeline and make their dreams come true."
Liu Zhipeng's eyes reddened.
He bit his lip hard, fighting to keep his emotions under control. Only after a long while did he ask in a raspy voice:
"What about you? What will happen to you?"
The Emperor smiled.
It was an extraordinarily gentle smile, filled with profound relief.
"Me?"
He said softly, "Along with this timeline, I will become a dream that never existed. And in the new timeline, perhaps there will be an Emperor of Mankind, but he will not be the me you see now. He will be a better me, one who never made so many mistakes."
"Or..."
His smile grew warmer. "Perhaps he will not need to exist at all. Because with you there, humanity will no longer need a god."
"You're shirking your responsibility!"
Liu Zhipeng suddenly roared, his voice trembling.