The collapse started when Kiana came to the door

"Thank you for your compliment." Fu Hua couldn't help but feel a little ashamed to be praised so bluntly by the Herrscher of Fire. She blushed and coughed awkwardly, "After all, I also have an unshirkable responsibility for Kiana's current situation at this point in time."

"..." Looking at the Herrscher of Fire and Fu Hua talking about something related to herself, Kiana's expression couldn't help but become strange.

My relationship with the class monitor, after what happened... could it be that it could still be that good? Kiana muttered quietly in her heart.

After calming down, Kiana no longer continued to treat Fu Hua's existence as an illusion because of rejecting her kindness as in the previous three months.

Driven by the common interest of not letting the Herrscher's consciousness take over her body again, Kiana would not continue to resist Fu Hua's help as she had done in the past three months. But if Kiana wanted to let go of the grudge of being betrayed and pretend that nothing had happened, she really couldn't do it in a short period of time.

"Maybe that's true. In the past, the monitor did do something excessive to me. But, that was because I was deceived by Otto's slander, right?" The Herrscher of Fire glanced at Kiana, who looked a little unnatural, and sighed softly. "After all, in terms of being victims, both she and the monitor are the same. After knowing that he was deceived, the monitor has tried his best to make up for the mistakes he made, right?"

“……” Kiana lowered her head and said nothing.

"Although I can't forgive the monitor on your behalf, I still think that you should know who you should really resist at this stage." The Herrscher of Fire looked straight into Kiana's eyes and advised her tactfully, "The power of the Herrscher is a hot potato that is difficult for you to handle since you haven't yet overcome the Herrscher consciousness. At the same time, it is also a time bomb that can threaten your life at any time. You should know this better than anyone else."

"What about you?" Kiana raised her head and stared at the Herrscher of Fire and Flame with a bright gaze. Her azure eyes reflected the figure and appearance of another self. "You claimed that you had experienced everything that I am experiencing now, and you said that you have completely mastered the power of the Herrscher of Void, and even on top of that, you have awakened the power of the Herrscher of Flame... Since you can do these things, there is no reason why I can't do it, right?"

"Originally, you and I are the same person." The Herrscher of Fire smiled, "If the captain hadn't stood by your side, if I hadn't answered the warning with Mei, Bronya and the others, about a year later, you would have been able to rely on the power of the Plague Gem to defeat your own Herrscher consciousness and awaken the power of the Herrscher of Fire."

Kiana quickly spoke: "If that's the case..."

"But if I say..." Suddenly, the Herrscher of Firefire interrupted Kiana's words, "...this [future] is based on the sacrifice of Teacher Himeko?"

In an instant, Kiana's expression froze.

She couldn't believe her ears: "What did you say? What does this mean?"

"First of all, I can tell you one thing clearly." The Herrscher of Fire pointed at Li Shubai, "Because of the intervention of our captain, when he was fighting you - your body was taken away by the Herrscher's consciousness, Mr. Ji Zi, who fell into the imaginary space, is indeed still alive."

Finally getting the direct answer [Teacher Himeko is still alive], Kiana's expression suddenly became a little excited.

"Is Teacher Ji Zi really still alive? Then where is she?" she asked anxiously.

"Of course, on my Hyperion." Li Shubai answered Kiana's question calmly, "Although the invitation method may be... a little tough, I did intend to let you meet Ji Zi immediately, but it's a pity that you refused."

"I..." Kiana was speechless. She thought to herself, is this my fault? You told me right away that you had taken Jizi back. How could I know that you had saved her life as well?

"Okay, I understand. It's my fault for mistaking your kindness for malice. I apologize to you, please forgive me." Although she complained in her heart, Kiana also knew that the most important thing now was to confirm that Himeko was still alive, so she didn't continue to dwell on what happened before. Instead, after apologizing very straightforwardly, she immediately made her request directly, "I--"

"Are you sure you want to join the Hyperion right away?" Once again, the Herrscher of Fire interrupted Kiana's words, "To be honest, I envy you and [Kiana] who just joined the Hyperion not long ago. In a way, both you and her are much luckier than me."

"Why do you say that?" Kiana asked in confusion.

"It's a very simple assumption." The Herrscher of Firefire said, "If there is such an opportunity in front of you now, you can immediately go back to three months ago, and before the squad leader takes you back to the Destiny Headquarters, you can try to fight against the Herrscher consciousness in your body little by little with the help of others, and try to control the power of the Herrscher of the Void - such an opportunity, are you willing to seize it?"

"Of course! Is there any need to choose?" Kiana said without hesitation, "If it can make up for the regrets of the past, no one will refuse such an opportunity, but there is no such assumption at all-"

The words stopped abruptly.

Because halfway through her speech, Kiana suddenly realized something.

...From the perspective of the Herrscher of the Fire, isn't her method of returning to the past and appearing beside him an attempt to [make up for past regrets] in this way?

"……So this is ah."

After being stunned for a long while, when Kiana completely understood the words of the Herrscher of Fire, a sour feeling suddenly rushed up uncontrollably.

"Compared to me, you are lucky." The Herrscher of Fire and Fire said softly, "After all, the captain cannot watch you continue to go through the hardships I have suffered. When we appeared in this world, your future will definitely not follow the same path as mine. But correspondingly, if you really join the captain's Hyperion immediately, then for quite a long time, it will be difficult for you to fully master the power of the Herrscher of the Void."

"This is not a problem that can be easily overcome by personal efforts and will. Even I still relied on a considerable amount of external forces when I was fighting against the Herrscher's consciousness. If Benares had not chosen to stand by me at that time, and the Plague Gem had not been brought to me by the Thousand Herrschers..." Thinking of the dangerous situation when he faced the queen, the Herrscher of Fire and Flame couldn't help but sigh, "Perhaps, the result would be completely different."

"..." Kiana stopped talking.

Perhaps because they were both Kiana, just from the few words revealed by the Herrscher of the Fire, Kiana could easily understand the dangerous and almost desperate situation that Kiana had experienced.

Kiana has always been a very confident and competitive person. Even now, after experiencing drastic changes at the Sentient Headquarters, her competitive edge has not been completely worn away.

She did have the capital to be confident, with her superb fighting talent, the innate power of the Kaslana clan, the naturally top-notch resistance to Honkai, and even her beautiful appearance. Apart from the fact that it was really difficult for her to learn anything in class, Kiana's life up to this point could be described as smooth sailing, even when she embarked on a journey of wandering as a child in search of Siegfried who had abandoned her.

But when facing the Herrscher of the Fire, Kiana just couldn't be confident at all.

Perhaps it was because the Herrscher of Fire was too close to her ideal self?

Strong, beautiful, and mature, yet at the same time mature and steady, she has regained some of the vigor and vitality she had when she was still in Saint Freya.

She is not as conceited as her past self, nor as overly paranoid as her present self.

However, even the Herrscher of the Fire Flame had a period of confusion just like himself.

And the experience that allowed her to wash away all this vanity is probably something that is unattainable and unimaginable for me now, right?

How far would one have to go to become someone like the Herrscher of the Fire? Kiana couldn't answer this question.

However, even so, her choice will not change.

"..." Having made up her mind and taking a long, deep breath, Kiana turned her head and stared into Li Shubai's eyes with a sharp gaze. She said solemnly and decisively, "Please let me join Hyperion. I am willing to give you all my power. You can do whatever you want to me, but in exchange... please let me see her in person."

Yes, in the face of Himeko's affairs, what she would become... was completely irrelevant to Kiana.

Most people of the Kaslana clan place the lives of others above their own. This has never changed, whether it is Kiana today or the Herrscher of the Fire.

As for Kiana, even though she heard from Li Shubai and the Herrscher of Fire that Ji Zi was still alive, she still... couldn't just let this matter go.

If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, Kiana would have been unable to sleep or eat in this state of being neither here nor there.

"Well, since you have made up your mind, then..." Li Shubai nodded, "As the captain, I accept your application to join the ship."

The light surges.

The moment Li Shubai nodded, the precursor to teleportation to Hyperion appeared on Kiana's body.

Realizing that she would soon leave this world, Kiana took a long, deep breath and expressed her gratitude to Li Shubai from the bottom of her heart: "Thank you."

After saying these two words, accompanied by a dazzling light, Kiana's figure disappeared like a phantom.

"Okay, now that Kiana's matter has been temporarily settled, then next..." Li Shubai clapped his hands and turned his gaze to Fu Hua who was still floating in the air, "Let's talk about your matter."

Fu Hua stared blankly at the space where Kiana disappeared, then lowered her head and glanced at her translucent palm. Her lips moved slightly and she murmured in a low voice: "How could this happen..."

In her palm, a dazzling red rainbow feather was floating quietly.

"If you want to ask why I didn't leave here with Kiana when my soul was already bound to hers," Li Shubai said calmly, "I can only say that the authority of the Hyperion is not something that Yu Duchen can interfere with, even if it is your zeroth rated power. As for Kiana's Herrscher of the Void, you don't need to worry about it. She can't cause much trouble."

"But this is not the point right now." Suddenly, Li Shubai changed the subject, "Although I was interrupted by Kiana before, after hearing about the agreement between Kevin and I, you should have something you want to tell me."

"..." The Herrscher of Fire and the Herrscher of Thunder looked at each other and saw a flash of doubt in each other's eyes.

The secondary silver wing narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he was thinking about something.

"..." After a moment's silence, Fu Hua nodded, "Indeed, I apologize if I have offended you. But, I am a little curious, Mei just said that you are looking for a way to fight against the end... How is the progress of this matter?"

"I can only say that we have a general framework." Li Shubai touched his chin. "Kevin told me that the so-called power of the end is determined by the previous thirteen powers of the Herrscher. He also made me experience what the power of the end is like. Although it is indeed difficult to deal with, it should not be completely hopeless."

"Determined by the first thirteen powers together...?"

"Hmm?" Li Shubai asked, "Is there anything wrong with this sentence?"

"..." Fu Hua pondered for a moment and shook her head, "No, as a warrior who once participated in the End War, the power of the End that I know and have faced is consistent with Kevin's description."

"But, is the true Herrscher of the End really that simple?"

"?" Li Shubai tilted his head, somewhat puzzled, "What does this sentence mean?"

"...No, in fact, if you ask me to explain, it is difficult for me to describe to you what the problem is in precise words, but..." After pondering for a moment, Fu Hua finally expressed his opinion, "...I realized very early on that the 'end' I knew might not be the whole truth, and since the information Kevin told you is consistent with what I know..."

"It is very likely that he has concealed some information about 'The End' from you."

Chapter 4: Getting to the bottom of things (k)

Hiding some information about "The End" from me? Upon hearing Fu Hua's speculation, Li Shubai's first reaction was disbelief. Although Kevin was full of the Riddler's aura, his subconscious style of hiding his inner emotions from others and his cold expression all year round made it difficult for others to guess what Kevin was thinking through his external performance.

But as long as you really know enough about Kevin, you will know that his essence is actually not much different from Kiana, Yulandel, Siegfried and other members of the Kaslana clan.

Their thinking circuits are like a straight highway with no turns at all.

Deceiving and hiding things from others have never been the strong points of the Kaslana clan, and Kevin is no exception.

Most of the occasions when he appears to be a bit of a mystery man can basically be divided into two situations. One is that this incident has indeed left a deep enough scar in his heart that he is unwilling to mention it to outsiders; the other is that he simply thinks it is unnecessary, and even if he tells others about it, it will not have any impact on what he is going to do.

If Kevin really wants to hide something from someone, he will tell you directly that "this is not something you should know now". If both parties are sincerely discussing with the purpose of "exchanging information", Kevin can indeed be called a frank person.

But this mood of unbelief only lasted for a short time.

If the person who said this to him was someone else, perhaps Li Shubai would not think too much about it. At most, he would try to find Kevin when he had the chance to verify whether it was really as that person said.

However, the person who said this to him was Fu Hua.

As a comrade-in-arms who once risked her life for Kevin, although Fu Hua may not approve of Kevin's willful behavior, she should have no reason to discredit Kevin's character in front of others.

Therefore, Fu Hua's warning forced Li Shubai to re-evaluate the deal between Kevin and himself.

But before that—

"You said he hid some information about 'The End' from me? Can you tell me what reasons and evidences you used to infer this?" Li Shubai stared at Fu Hua, "As one of the warriors who once fought against the End, you should understand her characteristics as well as Kevin does."

"You are right, but I must correct you on one point." Fu Hua said, "I have indeed faced the end, but I have not witnessed the 'entirety' of the 'end' with my own eyes."

"What does this mean?" Li Shubai frowned.

Not only Li Shubai raised this question, but even the Herrscher of Thunder and the Herrscher of Fire subconsciously turned their gazes towards Fu Hua.

After the battle at the headquarters of the destiny and the awakening of the Herrscher of the Void, St. Freya Academy was in name only with the rebellion of Principal Theresa, and most of the students went their separate ways to carry out their own tasks. During this process, Raiden Mei, who followed Kevin's suggestion to join the World Snake in order to save Kiana's life, actually hadn't seen Fu Hua for a long time.

Although Hua existed in the paradise of the past, that Hua was not the real Fu Hua after all, and the 50,000 years that Fu Hua experienced did not belong to her.

Therefore, this conversation between Li Shubai and Fu Hua was also the first time that the Herrscher of Thunder learned part of the truth about "the end" from Fu Hua's mouth.

On the side of the Herrscher of the Fire, although Fu Hua on her side had indeed told them about the abilities and actual performance of the End, and had reviewed the final battle of the previous civilization against the End with Dr. Einstein and others more than once.

However, Fu Hua in their world did not take the initiative to mention that "her understanding might not be comprehensive" like Fu Hua who was discussing with Li Shubai now.

It was precisely because the Herrscher of Fire and the Herrscher of Thunder were focusing their attention on the conversation between Li Shubai and Fu Hua that the two of them did not notice it.

——At this moment, Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing], who had been silent all this time, seemed to feel something painful, and with an expressionless face, she immersed her eyes in the shadows and lowered her head slightly.

Faced with Li Shubai's questioning, Fu Hua pondered for a moment.

She gently closed her eyes, as if recalling something, then she sighed deeply and shook her head: "I'm sorry, I can't come up with enough evidence to support my words. As for the reason..."

"… Perhaps I am the only one who has not witnessed with my own eyes the means and methods used by the 'End' to completely destroy our civilization."

"What's that?" Li Shubai tilted his head. "If you mean entering the hibernation chamber to avoid the end of the cleansing of the surface... Kevin and the others should be the same as you, right?"

Suddenly, Li Shubai was stunned.

Wait, speaking of entering the hibernation chamber at the end... it seems that there was indeed a pioneer, and he was not the same as Kevin, Fu Hua and the others.

Could it be that the person Fu Hua was referring to... was Su, who had been carrying out the Hengsha Plan in the Second God's Key?

Because he did not fall into hibernation like them, so, theoretically speaking, Su, who was in the Second God's Key and executing the Hengsha Plan, should be able to use certain means to observe how the End would completely erase the world in the end.

——No, even if this point is excluded, Su, who has been observing the beginning and end of the parallel world, has already witnessed a huge number of Herrscher of the End with his own eyes.

If Su were still alive, perhaps in terms of [intelligence] and [knowledge] alone, his understanding of Honkai might even surpass that of Mei and Dr. Mobius who died in the last civilization era.

After all, what Li Shubai is doing now is actually no different in essence from the [Hengsha Plan] that Su is implementing in the Second God's Key.

Li Shubai can continuously challenge the End by constantly traveling through time, while Su can use the Second God's Key's ability to observe parallel worlds, constantly adjust and refresh his understanding of the Collapse and the End, and thus get the answer of [Let Humanity Defeat the Collapse].

On one side is time, and on the other side is space. Although from the point of view of [being able to personally descend into the future world], Li Shubai's ability to interfere with time is superior to the parallel world observation of the Second God's Key, but in the final analysis, Li Shubai's time interference, like that of the Thousand Worlds One, is the result of using the power of the Second Herrscher to transform the Hyperion.

Therefore, if it was Su who had completely observed countless world lines... there was indeed a possibility that he had communicated with Kevin in advance but had not told Fu Hua.

As for the reason... it was probably not because the two men were ostracizing Fu Hua, a little girl, for such childish reasons, but because the information they obtained was not important to Fu Hua who was carrying out the Fire Plan.

But at this moment, the secondary silver wing suddenly raised its head.

"Captain, what the monitor said is true." She said calmly, "Kevin did hide part of the truth about 'The End' from all of you."

Everyone was stunned, and they all turned their gaze to the Secondary Silver Wing who had made such a firm decision, staring at her face.

All of a sudden, everyone except Fu Hua had a sudden sense of enlightenment. Li Shubai opened his mouth slightly and said, "Oh, right, why did I notice it now, Bronya? You should be from the world where Honkai was defeated eight years later. Then you should also know how the End was defeated, right?"

Those words were like thunder.

This time even Fu Hua couldn't sit still. She widened her eyes, and her indifference and calmness seemed to disappear without a trace in this moment: "Bronya, is what he said true?"

"Yes." Cisheng Yinyi nodded. "As for what Kevin is hiding, it's actually very simple... Samsara Planet, Qingxu Civilization. I think you should understand what I'm saying, right?"

"Samsara Planet..." Li Shubai pondered for a moment, "...time?"

"Yes." Secondary Silver Wing said, "The so-called end is time."

"That's impossible." Li Shubai immediately refuted, "If it was just simple time interference, the powers of the first thirteen Herrschers would have provided more than one way to achieve it."