"Impossible! How could your will be so much stronger than mine?!"
Watching Shi Hen steadily approach, the Stigmata Will kept backing away like a mouse that had seen a cat.
"Hey, tell me. Why were you born?"
Shi Hen asked.
"Why... Of course, because of your weakness."
The Stigmata Will muttered before giving its answer.
"Yeah. But I already cast aside my weakness." Standing before the Stigmata Will, Shi Hen thrust his bat straight forward, completely ignoring the face identical to his own. "I'm the man who'll become this world's final boss!"
As his words fell, Shi Hen's bat pierced the Stigmata Will's chest. Countless rays of white light burst from its body, like dawn tearing through darkness at sunrise.
"So... I was no longer needed."
Struggling to look at the bat mercilessly piercing through him, the Stigmata Will revealed a bitter smile.
"So, farewell."
After saying his goodbyes, Shi Hen viciously twisted the bat in his hand. The burst of force instantly shattered the Stigmata Will's body into countless flecks of white light.
For a moment, motes of light danced through the air, and the entire space seemed to be filled with drifting snow.
Bathed in that white radiance, memories from after arriving in this world surged from the depths of Shi Hen's mind. He could not help closing his eyes, a hint of nostalgia appearing on his face.
Weakness, confusion... The Stigmata Will had been his past, the hesitation he had carried in this world.
When he had first arrived in the Honkai World, Shi Hen had considered going to St. Freya Academy and seeking Theresa's protection.
At the very least, at St. Freya Academy, he would not have had to worry about being locked up and sliced apart for research one day.
Unlike now, when even though he possessed strength comparable to Durandal's, he still had to worry about World Serpent possibly stabbing him in the back, even if the chances were low.
But they were all people who lived in the underworld. Asking Shi Hen to trust Gray Serpent and the others' moral standards... that was asking rather a lot of him.
After pondering it for a long time, however, Shi Hen ultimately gave up on St. Freya Academy.
He did not believe in love and peace, nor did he pursue fairness and justice. He had never even considered saving the world.
The only thing he wanted was to become this world's final boss!
It was hard to say whether Shi Hen's inner desire had caused the system to issue that main quest, or whether the system itself had nurtured such thoughts within him. At the very least, though, the youth was quite willing to complete this main quest.
Once he had clarified his future path and discarded his confusion and weakness, defeating the Stigmata Will became effortless for him.
Just as Kevin had never been trapped by the past or defeated by the Kaslana Stigmata Will.
And for someone who had awakened their Stigmata and possessed an unwavering will, the Imaginary Tree naturally offered additional rewards.
His black hair grew longer and turned white. His hooded white robe transformed into something closer to a Miko Robe. Upon closer inspection, countless diamond-shaped patterns could be seen on it, resembling the scales of some creature.
"The Heavenly Sovereign Realm, huh?"
Feeling the immense power as though all heaven and earth could be wielded by him, Shi Hen smiled softly before vanishing.
The Sight of Shattered stars
"Where did he go?"
Noticing Shi Hen's disappearance, Jackal asked Raven.
"Uh... I think he said he was going to level up..."
Blinking, Raven wore an equally bewildered expression.
Such a huge Shi Hen had just vanished without warning. There was nothing she could do about it either.
Frowning, Jackal could not quite understand. "Level up? Is something wrong with his—"
Before she could finish, a familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar figure appeared before them.
"...Bai?"
Looking at the masked figure with waist-length white hair, Raven hesitated for a few seconds before calling out tentatively, deliberately using the name that matched Shi Hen's current identity.
"Mm, it's me." Shi Hen nodded. "Sister Natasha, lend me Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge."
"Huh?"
With a startled cry, Raven had yet to react when the Sniper Rifle she held had already appeared in the youth's hand, instantly transforming into a fruit knife.
"I'll give you one last chance, if you don't want to become seven pieces."
Staring at the fruit knife in his hand, Shi Hen spoke calmly.
Now, he possessed the strength to break a Divine Key.
Trembling slightly, Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge swiftly transformed into a baseball bat under the youth's gaze.
**Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge: Baseball Bat Form unlocked!**
Shi Hen swung the Divine Key-turned-bat around to test its feel, then nodded in satisfaction.
Though it was not a sword form suited for combat, the bat was what he used most comfortably.
Besides, as someone determined to become this world's final boss, Shi Hen did not care about flashy things like blade intent or sword intent.
All transformations shared the same essence.
No matter how sharp your blades and swords may be, one swing of my bat will break them all.
"Have you ever seen what it looks like when stars shatter?"
Gazing at the three clusters of flame that had become faintly visible in the sky, Shi Hen spoke softly. It sounded as if he were asking Raven and the others, yet also as if he were talking to himself.
Without waiting for anyone to answer, Shi Hen transformed into a streak of white light and shot straight into the heavens.
Raven's pupils instantly dilated. She stared blankly at the afterimage left behind by the youth for a long time.
She had seen it clearly just now. Shi Hen had not paused in the slightest as he flew into the sky.
Clearly, he had truly mastered the power to roam the heavens and earth!
From disappearing to reappearing, Shi Hen had taken only ten short seconds, yet the changes in him were almost earth-shattering.
Not long ago, the youth had felt like a fierce tiger poised to strike. That dangerous, violent aura had been impossible to conceal.
But now, he was like a mountain lake. Though he looked calm and gentle at a glance, no one could fathom his depths.
Ignoring Raven and the others' shock, Shi Hen had already charged straight toward the three nuclear missiles.
Lightning surged across Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge. Intense numbness and scorching heat simultaneously burrowed into Shi Hen's body, making him feel as if he were gripping not a bat, but a mass of dancing lightning.
"Ha ha, you really are an enthusiastic child."
Shi Hen could not help chuckling softly.
The more powerful a weapon was, the more demanding it naturally was of its wielder.
Just as the flames released by Phoenix Incinerator at full power would burn even its wielder to ashes, Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge now unleashed similar power in Shi Hen's hands.
"After lying dormant for so long, you must be starving for battle already, right?
Then let me see your power, Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge!"
Shi Hen shouted, lightning seeming to dance endlessly in his eyes as well.
Vast quantities of Honkai Energy rapidly poured into Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge. The patterns engraved upon the Divine Key grew ever more brilliant as Shi Hen gripped the bat and swung it with all his might at one of the missiles.
In an instant, as though the scene from fifty thousand years ago had reappeared, Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge erupted with radiance no weaker than its prime. Endless lightning surged from the bat, instantly swallowing one missile whole.
Without even the faintest struggle, one nuclear warhead and the rocket carrying it were decomposed into atoms in the blink of an eye.
"Next, the second one!"
Without pausing in the slightest, Shi Hen charged toward the second missile with the force of countless bolts of lightning.
A burst of flame appeared as the second nuclear warhead detonated.
But before that terrifying energy could spread outward, even more violent lightning had already devoured it first.
If Phoenix Incinerator possessed the most terrifying destructive power among the Divine Keys, then Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge, known as the Key of Judgment, represented the most powerful single-target attack among them.
Though a baseball bat did not naturally concentrate power the way a Sniper Rifle did, Shi Hen's own strength was enough to make up for that gap.
In fact, it surpassed it.
When an ocean of lightning converged into one, concentrating enough power to destroy a city into a single point, the strength of that instant was enough to destroy anything.
Like a dying candle flickering in the wind, the second nuclear warhead's radiance was extinguished before it could bloom, following in the footsteps of the first.
Yet at the same time, the third nuclear warhead began to erupt. Incomparably intense light and heat spread outward, like a blazing sun.
Glancing at the dimmed Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge in his hand, Shi Hen did not force the Divine Key any further after it had reached its limit.
His left hand opened slightly. A thread of white light surged from the youth's palm, instantly growing into a pure white baseball bat.
Facing the power of a nuclear warhead head-on and feeling the searing heat rushing toward him, Shi Hen's vision was completely filled with blinding light.
"Let this strike pierce through the stars!"
With a loud shout, Shi Hen raised the bat in his hand and smashed it toward the sun before him.
In an instant, a white baseball bat several thousand meters long appeared in the sky, crashing down upon the erupting sun with irresistible force.
On one side was a massive bat condensed from Honkai Energy. On the other was humanity's greatest weapon, the crystallization of a thousand years of technology. Terrifying forces met, collided, and ground against each other in the heavens, blasting away every surrounding cloud and allowing brilliant sunlight to pour down.
But at this moment, no one cared about the sunlight anymore. Everyone's attention was fixed on the other sun that had appeared in the sky.
Within the city, the Valkyries and soldiers still present all looked up. Watching the bat and sun confronting each other in the sky, their hearts were filled with shock.
Those among them who were more knowledgeable naturally understood what that sun was. And precisely because of that, their horror ran even deeper.
On one hand, they were shocked that someone had actually dared to throw a nuclear weapon into an urban area. On the other, they were shocked that someone could resist an exploding nuclear warhead through his own power alone.
This world was becoming harder and harder to understand.
At the transport ship's location, Raven looked at the confrontation in the sky, her beautiful eyes filled with worry.
Given her understanding of Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge, she could naturally tell that the lightning unleashed earlier had come from the Divine Key's power.
But now that the lightning had vanished, it proved that the Divine Key had entered some unusable state. Without Seven Thunders of Sin's Purge, could Shi Hen really resist a nuclear weapon with his own strength alone?
Beside her, Leona and the other Valkyries also looked up at the sky, their eyes involuntarily carrying traces of concern.
From the standpoint of their positions, they were enemies of Shi Hen and the others. At a time like this, they should have been cheering for the nuclear warhead and hoping it would blast Shi Hen, Heaven's enemy, straight into the sky.
But after interacting with Shi Hen, it was difficult for them to feel any dislike toward this fake Welt.
Besides, regardless of whatever excuses existed, Shi Hen was saving them as well. How could the Valkyries curse him now?
"Set sail, set sail! Let's get the hell out of this place!"
Meanwhile, Jackal began directing the personnel aboard the transport ship.
She did not want to stay in this damned place for even another second. Who knew whether another nuclear weapon would be thrown their way?
If Heaven's Bishop Sir continued going insane, there would not be a second Shi Hen here to save them.
"Jackal! What do you mean by this?!"
Seeing Jackal preparing to run away, Raven could no longer endure it.
Shi Hen was still fighting for his life over there, yet Jackal was running off alone. That was more than a little inappropriate, wasn't it?
"Heh! If you want to stay here and keep getting nuked, then stay. I'm not accompanying you."
Jackal sneered coldly.
She had figured it out. Shi Hen was nothing but a walking disaster.
She had spent so many years in the underworld without ever taking a bullet, yet on this trip alone, Heaven had sent four nuclear weapons after her.
What the hell happened to justice!?
As for abandoning companions... World Serpent had no tradition of being required to save its companions.
"Besides, think carefully about why that guy is blocking those nuclear weapons in the first place."
Seeing that Raven was on the verge of erupting, Jackal hurriedly reminded her.
At a crucial moment like this, she did not want to start an internal conflict with Raven. It would seriously delay her escape.
Hearing that, Raven could not help falling silent.
Before you continue