The collapse started when Kiana came to the door

On the other side, the intrinsic world, the imaginary space.

"I didn't expect that someone could... huh?"

When the barefoot girl floating in the air spoke to the newcomer in an unfathomable tone, her words were suddenly stuck when she saw the figure that came into her sight.

"Wow, this place is so beautiful. It's just as beautiful as I imagined."

The pure white high heels left circles of ripples on the mirror-like, ethereal and clear lake surface. With joyful footsteps, Alicia [True Self: Herrscher of Man] looked around at the dreamlike and beautiful scenery with curiosity, raised her head, and cast her gaze on another self floating in the air.

"Although it may confuse you, this is what I should say at this time—" With a smile on her face, Alicia [True Self: Herrscher of Humanity] raised her hand and waved it gently towards the barefoot girl with a surprised expression.

"Hey - how's it going?"

Chapter 4: The [People] Who Were Given New Life, The [Origin] That Cut Off the Old Shadows (k)

[Star trails do not record the paths of stars moving across the night sky, but the time their light stays on Earth.]

Alicia [True Self: Herrscher of Man] stood on the boundless sea, the clear and waveless water reflected the starry sky above. The girl holding a scepter sat lightly on the back of the Origin Spirit that looked like a ray, and quietly floated in the air with it, her beautiful feet as white as jade.

Two girls with the same appearance and 90% similar clothing styles were staring at each other from afar across the sea level that divides the sky and the earth. One had an excited expression while the other was full of surprise.

Time passed slowly, and the starry sky drew one arc-shaped light trail after another in the cloudless sky. Hundreds of colorful auroras swirled and flickered between the star tracks, changing unpredictably, like a piece of gorgeous silk that could cover the entire world, hanging like a goddess's long skirt in the sky that was so beautiful that it did not seem like the human world.

——Of course, if you have to say it, everything displayed in this place is indeed not the natural scenery that should exist in this world.

To put it more romantically, as the prelude to the end and the emergence of a new generation, the scene displayed in this land of origin is exactly the mental landscape that Alicia, the [Hersher of the Origin], has.

If conditions permit, Alicia [True Self, Herrscher of Man] can even project this scene and the Spirit of Origin into the real world.

However, although the scenery revealed by this [Land of Origin] is no different from the mental landscape of Alicia's [True Self, Herrscher of Man], the [Land of Origin] itself does not have the ability to reflect the mental landscape of the visitor.

The reason why it became like this is simply because Alicia left too strong a mark here, that's all.

"Really? So that's how it is..."

After a long silence, Alicia [True Self: Herrscher of Humanity] suddenly put away her joyful expression.

She lowered her head and sighed softly.

"I'm sorry, I'm not the new Herrscher, but I'm the one who showed up here. I guess you're disappointed."

"Ugh?"

After hearing the dejected voice of Alicia [True Self: Herrscher of Man], the barefoot girl in mid-air with a shocked expression first uttered a somewhat confused syllable, then quickly shook her head, denying her words.

"No, that's not right. You misunderstood. I was just a little surprised. Why do you think I'm disappointed by your arrival?" The barefoot girl said hesitantly, "But, right, how should I tell you...? It's probably normal to feel surprised and unbelievable when suddenly called by another self, right? New generation of Herrscher?"

As she spoke, the barefoot girl gently tapped the Spirit of Origin beneath her feet with her toes, and then her beautiful body gracefully fell in front of Alicia [True Self, Herrscher of Man].

"A new generation of Herrscher...?" Alicia [True Self: Herrscher of Man] first repeated the barefoot girl's description of her word by word, revealing a somewhat strange expression, and then suddenly burst into laughter, the sound of which was as clear and pleasant as a silver bell, "You said I misunderstood, but it was you who misunderstood, right?"

"Uh... is there something wrong?" The barefoot girl tilted her head in confusion, her smart and elegant face showing a confused and uneasy expression for the first time in a long time. "Although you look exactly like me, since you can appear in front of me, it means that you are different from me, the phantom and afterimage left in the old world. You should be a Herrscher from the new world... Is that right?"

[Hersher of the Origin] Alicia had completely disappeared from this world on that day fifty thousand years ago.

Although she left countless traces in this world, and her memories are preserved in the paradise of the past, it is an indisputable fact that Alicia herself has completely disappeared from this world.

For the barefoot girl, the appearance of another person with the same appearance and personality as herself was a little surprising, but not to the point where she could not accept it at all.

After all, after returning to Honkai, she already knew the true nature of the end. If, after experiencing the reincarnation of time, a miracle that had happened once in their era happened again - no matter how small the probability was, it was not completely impossible.

Alicia was born in the pre-civilization era 50,000 years ago. Then, another Alicia appeared in the new era 50,000 years later. It seems...

"I'll tell you, you've misunderstood me from the beginning." Alicia [True Self: Herrscher of Man] supported her forehead and sighed softly, "Not speaking clearly is the enemy of communication~"

“But it doesn’t matter! Although it may be a little late now, it’s not too late!” But soon, Alicia [True Self·Herrscher]’s face was covered with a bright smile again, and she generously extended her hand to the barefoot girl, “Hello, I am Alicia, the deputy leader of the Thirteen Heroes, a fusion warrior from the pre-civilization era, the captain’s Valkyrie, and of course as you can see - a beautiful girl who lives up to her name.”

“Eh? Huh?” The barefoot girl, whose line of self-introduction was completely snatched away, was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously grasped the hand that Alicia [True Self: Herrscher of Man] extended to her, “Um, um, hello? Me too… wait! That’s not right!”

Now, no matter how hard it was to face the reality, the barefoot girl had to say the unbelievable conclusion with her eyes wide open: "Could it be... could it be that you are really? Me?"

"What? Don't you believe in yourself?" Alicia [True Self: Herrscher of Man] smiled and shook the barefoot girl's hand. "Except Alicia herself, who else can reproduce Alicia's image so perfectly in this place of origin?"

“Eh?” The barefoot girl opened her mouth. “Although, although it is true, but…but I should have already…”

"In order to spread the seeds of [Human Power] in [Cocoon] and use the power of origin to try to shake fate... so he completely disappeared from this world." This topic obviously made Alicia [True Self: Herrscher of Humanity] feel a little frustrated. She lowered her head and her pink hair also drooped down. "I'm sorry, no matter which side it is, the final result... doesn't seem to be as perfect as I imagined at the beginning."

All human beings are puppets, unable to escape the manipulation of fate even if they fall apart - for the previous civilization... no, for all human beings in this world, this absurd and weird description is an objective physical law.

Everyone will follow the thread of fate to the predetermined ending, and no one can escape from it. In the past, Aponia once made such an assertion to the world.

Compared to others, Aponia, who can observe those [Threads of Destiny] with the naked eye, has always been pessimistic about whether humans can defeat the Honkai.

...Yes, even the Stigma Project, which Dr. Mei judged to be a sure success, could not shake the power of fate.

However, Aponia also saw the scene where all the [threads of fate] were broken because of what Alicia did.

Fifty thousand years ago, after the last dance, what did Alicia do?

Until now, no one in this world has been able to truly answer this question.

None of the Thirteen Heroes have the channel that Alicia has to [return to Honkai], so no one can accompany Alicia until the last moment.

But only now...

When Alicia [True Self, Ruler of Man] appeared in the Land of Origin, all these questions were answered.

After all, even if her life was saved by the Hyperion, all Alicia originally wanted to do would remain the same.

In a sense, [Origin] may be a more powerful power than [End]. If [End] is the end of everything, then [Origin] is the beginning of everything. At the moment when [Origin] drives with all its strength, everything will be pried into a closed gear because of the wish of [Herrser of Origin], and the closed gears will develop in the direction that [Herrser of Origin] wants.

Of course, no matter how mysterious it sounds, [Origin] is ultimately just a projection of [Cocoon] in reality. Like all other Herrscher powers, it has a quantifiable [output limit].

Unfortunately, after making that decision, the world did not leave Alicia much time to think and prepare, so she wanted to forcibly change everything without sufficient preparation. In the end, she only completed part of the task, and even paid the price of her life for exceeding her limits, which became an inevitable result.

In other words, before actually arriving at the [Land of Origin], even Alicia herself didn't know what she should do specifically to accomplish everything to the best of her ability.

If there was more time left for Alicia in the pre-civilization era, with the help of Dr. MEI and Mebius, she might even be able to perfectly control the extent of her power and the extent to which she could rewrite the world.

Originally, Alicia was just trying to implant [Human Power] into the inside of [Cocoon], so that the Herrscher of the next civilization era would be born with [Human Power] like her.

However, her power alone is still too small.

Although Alicia did succeed in implanting the power of humanity into the [Cocoon], when the fixed amount of power was distributed to all the Herrschers of the next era, the [Power of Man] that each Herrscher could get was reduced to only a flickering flame.

Among the Herrschers of the new era, there are Kiana, Mei Raiden and others who successfully ignite the flame further and eventually turn it into a raging fire with the help of external forces and the influence of internal factors, but more Herrschers still cannot escape the fate of having even that spark extinguished.

Undoubtedly, Alicia [True Self, Ruler of Man] has done the best she can, but for someone as kind as an angel and with the best intentions towards everyone, when she faces [her] afterimage, uncontrollable pain still surges in her chest.

——It’s not just because my past self didn’t end everything perfectly, but also because... the [Hersher of Origin] standing here is her afterimage, and it is just her afterimage.

“Well… even if you make this expression to me, I don’t know how to comfort you…” Looking at the depressed expression of Alicia [True Self: Herrscher of Man], the barefoot girl couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable.

No matter which Alicia it is, she is not the kind of person who is not good at comforting others. If the person standing in front of the barefoot girl is someone else, she can probably think of a hundred ways to soothe the other person's emotions in minutes. If the other person is a beautiful girl, she can even create a wonderful encounter.

But when facing [herself], her ever-victorious mouth lost its former agility.

Therefore, the barefoot girl could only calmly change the serious and regretful topic.

"Just now, when you introduced yourself, didn't you mention an identity that I didn't know?" She put on an expression of great interest, "The deputy leader of the Thirteen Heroes, a fusion warrior from the pre-civilization era... and, the captain's Valkyrie? Hehe, reminiscing about the past with [your other self]. Based on my understanding of [Alicea], you would not miss such a rare and novel opportunity, right?"

Seeing the excited expression of the barefoot girl, Alicia [True Self: Herrscher of Humanity] couldn't help but smile, as if she was infected by her. "You are just curious about my experience, right?"

“Of course!” The barefoot girl nodded without hesitation. “It’s a bit strange to say this, but… after you’ve confirmed that you’ve definitely disappeared, you suddenly see another version of yourself standing in front of you. No matter who you are, you’ll be extremely curious!”

"Then let's... have a good talk?" Alicia [True Self, Herrscher of Man] snapped her fingers lightly.

On the other side, in a void of imaginary space, Kiana [Hersher of the End], who had waited for a long time but received no response, could not help but mutter to herself: (It's been so long, why hasn't that guy appeared yet? Could something unexpected have happened?)

Chapter 4: Beyond the World (k)

Stigmata space.

"I see, that's what's going on."

In the pure white world, Li Shubai stood in front of Otto, who was smiling, and sighed with a complicated expression: "I should have realized it long ago. Even if the amount of memory and knowledge I have is different, why would someone with my personality do such a stupid thing as sealing my own memory, and even forcibly gag you Stigma Wills...Except for encountering an insurmountable technical problem, there is no other explanation at all."

"That's right." Otto said with a smile, "As you know, the holy scars standing here are all independent souls that were once taken in by Hyperion, the first one you possessed, and then transferred to this imaginary space through the hands of Miss Yutu."

——According to the information Li Shubai obtained from Otto, just like the [List of Valkyries] originally held by the Hyperion, the will in this stigmata space was originally just a stigmata stored in a warehouse.

Up to now, there are three Hyperion ships owned by Li Shubai.

The first one - the one that appeared as his golden finger when he first crossed over to the collapsed world.

In a way, the original Hyperion could be considered the [system] he possessed when he came to this world. He could obtain the permission to allow the Valkyrie to join according to the [daily tasks] issued by the Hyperion, as well as the [main storyline and gameplay] similar to the previous life's [Honkai Impact 3rd] game; or other things such as weapons, strength, and consumable items.

With the support of the Hyperion, which could provide the Captain with a steady supply of power and equipment, Li Shubai soon possessed power that rivaled or even surpassed most Valkyries, and with the help of this power, he achieved his goals within his capabilities.

He changed many tragedies, saved many people, and even in the end, he solved [the end] in the way he thought was the best.

However, it was at the moment when [The End] was forcibly controlled—

Li Shubai's abilities and senses, which were magnified countless times by [The End], made him realize a very cruel truth.

He had been focusing on [The End] and [Collapse] ever since he crossed over to this world, but he didn't understand until that moment.

——The humans in this world are completely trapped in this star system with the sun as the center by an extremely deep barrier.

In fact, even before he traveled through time, Li Shubai had felt extremely confused.

Fifty thousand years ago, in that era of prosperous technology, people had clearly mastered the [Second God's Key - One Thousand Worlds], which could even observe parallel worlds. But why, until the day when [The End] completely clarified everything, except for the [Ark Project] with Grayshu as the main executor, they never thought of extending their hands into the endless space?

Logically speaking, with the abnormal physiological functions of the fusion warriors that allow them to survive freely in the universe, and the ability of the Second God's Key to travel through various spaces at high speed, it would make no sense for people 50,000 years ago not to conduct in-depth exploration of the universe, which can be said to be endless.

Before Li Shubai traveled through time, humans in the real world had never given up exploring the universe. However, in the collapsed world, whether it was the pre-civilization era 50,000 years ago or the current civilization era that was actually completely controlled by Otto... after exploring the universe to a certain extent, they all chose to terminate all exploration plans for the universe and blocked all information about the universe before that.

In the real world, the impediment to human progress has always been the underdeveloped level of technology. However, in the Honkai world, relying on the research of Honkai energy, both the pre-civilization era and the current civilization era have already broken through the technological barriers to exploring the universe. The Honkai energy reactor with ultra-high energy density, the universal material Soul Steel composed of countless nanorobots, and the super-variable factor technology that allows humans to resist the extreme environment of space, and even the God's Key that can use the power of the Herrscher for its own use... For Otto and Dr. MEI, the level of technology has long been no longer a barrier to hinder their advancement into space, but they both made exactly the same choice.

Are Otto and Dr. MEI short-sighted? No, the reason why they all stopped all plans to explore deep space was not because of ignorance, but because they knew too much.

Before Otto and Dr. MEI blocked all information about the universe, they each spent a lot of energy and resources to explore the space, but after detecting the almost endless strange energy lurking outside the Earth-Moon system, they all understood at the same time.

[The End] is not a cage that traps humans, but the world itself.

In the deep and lonely universe, endless strange energies fill every corner outside the Earth-Moon system. Those energies completely isolate this world in a narrow space.

In the universe outside the Earth-Moon system, even light can hardly move an inch.

For a long time, Dr. MEI and Otto secretly buried this desperate fact in their hearts, and Li Shubai was probably the third person in the world to realize this.

It was only after realizing this despairing fact that Li Shubai finally understood.

not enough.

Whether it was the Hyperion he owned... or the [End] that he barely controlled, the universe outside the Earth-Moon system was too weak.

Moreover, the original Hyperion had many limitations that were difficult to overcome.

First of all, only those who are on the Valkyrie list from the beginning can join the Hyperion.

Secondly, the abilities he possessed were limited to a certain scope by the Hyperion.

If we don't find a way to surpass the current situation, it will be impossible to break through the imaginary energy entrenched outside the Earth-Moon system by relying solely on the Hyperion.

Therefore, he sealed the Hyperion that he originally owned in his heart, and used the abilities he gained from Hyperion to recreate another one in the real world - this is the Hyperion he is using now. He connected this Hyperion to himself, and separated it from himself in the form of [a part of himself].

This is how the [second] Hyperion came to be.

In this way, Li Shubai obtained the power to freely recruit all the people he wanted to join Hyperion, and made the current Hyperion completely surpass the one that originally followed him into this world.

After all, after he successfully overtook [The End] through evil means, no matter how Kiana and the others in that world viewed his method, Li Shubai already had a solution to this problem.

[Change the past][Save lives that were originally impossible to save][Completely resolve the collapse], in addition to these two goals, Li Shubai’s real goal is more about [transcending this world itself].

"So, the specific location of this holy scar space is also near the [Cocoon]?" Li Shubai touched his chin, suddenly raised his head, and pointed his index finger in a certain direction in the sky, "Then... the pink meteor in the sky should be Alicia who is attacking the [Cocoon], right?"

"It seems that you have noticed it."

Tap, accompanied by the sound of crisp footsteps, the voice of Mistierin [Zhi Yu Meng Jing] sounded from behind Li Shubai.

"Their actions were so obvious, it would be strange if I didn't notice it." Li Shubai turned his head away, then hesitated for a moment, "Thank you."

"Why thank me?" Mistellin's expression suddenly turned resentful, and her tone turned sour. "I pulled the captain back into the stigmata space with good intentions, hoping to use everyone's strength to help you regain your memory, but you still stood up to me to this extent... I trusted Kiana and the others so much when I lost my memory, but you just didn't trust me. Sigh - it really makes me sad when I think about it."

Li Shubai turned his gaze away a little embarrassedly.

Although he did not think it was a wrong choice to be wary of someone he was not familiar with when his memory was incomplete, his behavior just now did seem a bit like taking his kindness for granted. It was natural for him to feel sorry for Misterlin [Zhi Yu Meng Jing] who sincerely wanted to help him.

The moment he arrived at this stigmata space and all the stigmata wills were reconnected to him, Li Shubai, with the assistance of these stigmata wills, completed the task of [memory decompression] which should have taken more than half a year to complete.

Li Shubai, who has recovered all his memories, has completely understood everything about himself and all his abilities. He also understands why Mistrine [Zhi Yu Meng Jing] brought him to the Holy Scar Space.