I am Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.

"Speaking of which, you should have retained your will within the Serenity Gem..."

Jill seemed to remember something and smiled happily. "Well then, I have a plan."

With the activation of the Omniscient and Omnipotent Star, Jill instantly located the Tranquil Gem.

"This is it!"

Jill suddenly reached out and passed right through Sirin's body, grabbing the pale green gem.

"Waaah... Human... If you do this, this body will die too!" Sirin roared hysterically.

"How could that be? I've never thought of letting my lovely student sacrifice herself like that, so just watch..." A flash of black light appeared beneath Jill's green compound eyes.

Then, Kiana's body slowly collapsed, and then a shadow appeared on the Tranquil Gem, which slowly materialized.

Long purple hair, a white and purple dress, and golden cross-shaped pupils—

Without a doubt, that was Sirin, the Second Herrscher who triggered the Great Collapse in Siberia sixteen years ago!

Gil loosened his grip, tossing her aside like trash, then stepped forward and picked up Kiana.

"Lian, Kiana is in your care." Gil handed Kiana over to Lian. "I'll handle that guy."

Chapter 222 The Truth

"Hmm... my body...?" Sirin looked at her hands in surprise. Had her body recovered?

"Of course, I helped you. It's merciful of me to help you as an enemy, isn't it?" Jill shrugged, looking at Sirin with a malicious expression. "But now I can finally teach you a lesson, right?"

Jill raised her hand, a crimson light flashing within it, carrying a fierce glint. "Enjoy yourself, won't you?"

"Huh?!" Sirin shouted immediately, sensing something was wrong. "Benares!"

Then she turned her head and saw Benares being pinned to the floor and beaten by Arthur. However, since the two of them were still dragons, the fight was not graceful at all. It was basically a back-and-forth of ice, snow, lightning, and fire flying everywhere, with occasional storms.

However, in the end, Arthur was still the one beating Benares, because Jill didn't see many wounds on Arthur, while Benares was already covered in injuries.

This also reflects, to some extent, that Arthur's power even suppressed Benares.

It's important to know that Arthur was only two years old. Although he had been hatched inside Jill's body long ago, he was unable to be born because he lacked the special star essence to replenish his energy. Although he was still growing, Jill did not actively summon Arthur, so Arthur could only grow slowly in that space in the form of sleep.

This is why Arthur was born with the appearance of a child approaching adulthood, unlike Pal.

Arthur has undoubtedly evolved into a Holy Dragon in the past two years, and his combat power is naturally incomparable to that of two years ago.

If you drag Izayoi Sakamaki in front of her, she might even breathe fire at you.

Although afterwards, she was definitely toyed with relentlessly by that problem child...

Don't ask, the only answer is that that kid really would do it...

Who knows, it might even scare Arthur into turning back into human form and then grope him...

Although Arthur can't beat Izayoi, she's now extremely confident and can handle Benares.

Therefore, when Sirin saw her kin being repeatedly rubbed against the ground, she was stunned for a moment.

"Stop looking, Arthur isn't so easily defeated." Jill's voice rang in Sirin's ears, and his figure, clad in crimson and white armor, looked down at her from above.

"Back then, you couldn't even use those abilities you acquired, and I took care of you. Even in your current state after being resurrected, I could take you down with one hand."

As Jill said this, she raised her hand and lifted Celine up. "Look, it looks like this."

"Ugh...! If only my abilities weren't not fully restored...!" Sirin uttered with difficulty.

"Oh? You mean you can defeat me once your powers are restored?" Jill said with a half-smile. "I can even kill the [god] who gave you your power, let alone you?"

Jill wasn't joking.

He must meet that "god" to confirm the true nature of the Honkai and make the "Honkai" disappear completely in this era.

That's what Jill has to do.

"Don't joke around, you can't do it—"

Whether you can do it or not, you'll have to experience it for yourself.

Jill raised her hand, and a dark light instantly flowed across it.

It was a light filled with an aura of destruction, giving one a chilling feeling just by looking at it.

And Jill's power is indeed something like that.

The power of destruction—cannot be used to destroy life and soul.

It can do many other things.

For example, what Jill is about to do—

The black light flowed directly from Jill's hand to Sirin's body, but Sirin felt no pain whatsoever. Instead, she experienced a strange, unobstructed sensation flowing into her body—

"boom!"

It sounded like something breaking, and Jill put Celine down.

“Well then, Sirin, let me ask you a question—” Jill said with a smile, “Do you still think about destroying humanity?”

For any Herrscher, the answer to this question would be a resounding yes. If Gilles asked it, Sirin would undoubtedly give the same almost certain answer without hesitation.

"Do you think I would have any sympathy for humans who turned my body... and my friends into this kind of humans?!"

Sirin shouted at Gil in an indignant tone, "Schicksal uses us as human test subjects in the name of fighting the Honkai... saying that sacrificing for humanity is our honor—but to hell with honor, we... we just want to... want to live..."

Tears slowly streamed down Xilin's face, a sight that left Fu Hua completely stunned.

"Why is the Herrscher crying...?" Fu Hua asked, looking at the scene in disbelief.

"Why? Because I've destroyed her connection to the Honkai." Jill turned around, pulled the driver bottle from her waist, and her red and white armor dissipated into countless light particles.

"There is no such thing as good or evil in power." A ball of dark light flickered in Jill's right hand. The power that seemed capable of destroying a person's soul with just a glance was so free in Jill's hands.

“It all depends on what the user expects, desires, and hopes for.” Jill clenched her fist, and the black light dissipated.

"Roar!"

With a deafening roar, Arthur raised its head, and a purplish-black light instantly surged toward a magic circle on its forehead!

At the same time, Arthur blasted Benares away with a ball of light, and after struggling for a couple of moments, Benares could no longer get up.

"...It seems it's over, Sirin." Jill looked at Sirin. "Let me ask you a question: what do you think of this world?"

“…It’s very cold…but…” Sirin hugged herself slightly, “Actually…it’s very warm.”

Sirin's consciousness wasn't actually always asleep; she could also sense some things through Kiana's perspective.

"If there hadn't been the Honkai, if Mom and Dad hadn't died...would I be as happy as that idiot?" Sirin asked softly.

“…” Jill did not answer, but looked at Fu Hua.

He no longer needs to deal with these matters.

After thinking for a long time, Fu Hua sighed softly, then shook her head and nodded.

“Sirin, would you like to come to St. Freya Academy?” Jill asked.

Mei and the others looked at Gil with surprise, seemingly wondering about the question Gil had asked.

"Why... I'm clearly a Herrscher, aren't I? I'm clearly the monster you all talk about... aren't I?" Sirin raised her head, looked at Gilles, and asked.

"Do you remember what the founding principles of St. Freya Academy were?" Jill asked the Valkyries over there as if she were asking a question.

"...In order to cultivate Valkyries who value their own lives rather than prioritizing missions...?" Mei asked.

Jill chuckled softly, "You're half right. There's actually another sentence before that."

"To help these orphans who were originally test subjects of Destiny," Jill's eyes flashed with sadness, "you may not know, but of all the children rescued from the Tower of Babel laboratory more than a decade ago, only one is still alive..."

Sirin, who was behind Jill, grabbed his hand. "The one who survived..."

Looking at the hopeful light in Sirin's eyes, Jill sighed deeply and shook her head. "It's you."

Reality is cruel, and this extinguished the hope in Celine's eyes.

“However, the damage caused by Sirin was actually very minor,” Jill said with a smile.

"Why... I clearly killed everyone in that lab!" Sirin asked.

"Well... I'm not going to comment on what those Schicksal guys did. Anyway, if I caught them, I'd probably just do the same thing." Jill shrugged indifferently. "Although it might sound like I'm being harsh, in my opinion, the lives of those people are less important than whether my students get a good night's sleep or a good meal. Even though they are, in a sense, truly fighting against the Honkai, I think this resistance built on sacrifice is not as good as the Anti-Entropy mechs."

Bronya looked at Jill and pursed her lips.

If Seele had pleaded with him for help, he probably would have taken her away even if he had wrecked the Cocolia Orphanage...

“Alright, now it’s about this girl.” Gil looked at Kiana, then took two steps forward. A white light shone in his palm, and then—

Snapped.

A light chop to the head struck Kiana. "Wake up, or you won't get any food tomorrow if you don't study."

These are the words Gil used to say when waking Kiana, who was pretending to be asleep. In the past, Kiana would simply bury her head in the blanket and pretend she didn't hear anything to get away with it.

But today is not the case as it used to be.

Kiana opened her eyes, saw Gil's face, and asked in an unusually soft and cute tone, "Devil Teacher, is this heaven?"

“People don’t go to heaven after they die; their souls return to the underworld, where the goddess of the underworld decides where they go,” Jill said in a half-joking tone. “What’s wrong? Are you distraught now that you know the truth? This isn’t the Kiana Kaslana I know.”

Half serious and half joking, Kiana covered her eyes with her hands. "Teacher, you don't know... one day someone suddenly pointed at me and said that my life was just a bubble, and that I was just a homunculus created from nothing..."

“...Ha, so it seems that the person who should be comforting you is not me, but someone else…” Jill smiled with narrowed eyes, “However, he should be here soon, that annoying, dishonest daughter-obsessed man.”

Just as Jill said those words, a loud voice shouted, "Make way! Make way! Make way! Aaaaaaah! The emergency landing is going to fail!"

"What the hell are you yelling for!" A "well" shape appeared on Jill's forehead. She raised her hand, and her large white hand grabbed the screaming figure from the sky!

That was the power of "creation," and without Jill noticing, he had become increasingly adept at wielding that power.

"Ugh! You brat!" the burly man who was pulled down cursed. "Even now that you're all grown up, you still have this unpleasant temper!"

"It's better than you, you old man!" Jill snorted. "You made me take care of your daughter, where did you go?"

"Well... it's just about handling some important matters..." Siegfried muttered.

"Let's not talk about that. Your daughter has some problems right now and needs your guidance. Go ahead." Gil shoved Siegfried in front of Kiana. "Kiana, tell me, even if you want to beat up your old man, your teacher will help you hold him down and let you beat him up."

"Kiana...wait...what's wrong with you? Don't cry..."