"I'm sorry, Mobius."
Feeling the coldness and rigidity transmitted through his palm, Michael unconsciously repeated the words, then released his hand.
Thump—
Mobius's small body fell beside his feet. He pressed his lips together, looking down in silence.
In his vision, Mobius's originally pale, almost deathly white complexion darkened slightly, quickly shifting towards greyish-white. It was unclear if it was stained by the silver-grey sand.
In the profound silence, the wind began to howl once more.
Silver-grey grains of sand danced behind Michael; the hem of his clothes fluttered noisily. Across this vast and desolate land, only his solitary figure stood against the horizon.
Crack—
"Just like back then..."
Michael sighed softly. The next moment, space froze. The Imaginary Barrier shattered layer by layer like fragile glass. An utterly piercing white light flashed, coalescing into the shape of a crescent moon in the dark night, sweeping across Michael's right arm.
It was Sakura, who had remained hidden in the darkness from the beginning, taking no part in any attack, waiting for this exact moment, when Michael thought victory was secured, to deliver the fatal blow.
"Michael! What did you do to Mobius!"
After the successful strike, she raised her long sword high in a zanshin pose, then spun around rapidly… only to freeze—
"No… impossible!"
As the most observant among all the Flame-Chasers, others might not have noticed the subtle ambiguity between Michael and Mobius, but she had sensed it. Yet Mobius's cold corpse now lay at Michael's feet.
She had initially thought Michael had merely used the Authority of Sentience to control Mobius's consciousness, putting her to sleep. But the body, lacking a heartbeat, lacking warmth, told her an incomprehensible truth—
Mobius was dead.
Mobius was killed by Michael.
"No, that's wrong… Mobius can't be killed so easily. As long as she's given Honkai energy, reviving her isn't difficult."
But against Finality… could Mobius truly not be killed?
Sakura's gaze swept inconspicuously over Mobius's body. But that wasn't the most important thing, nor what shocked her the most—
Michael still stood in the same spot. His arm, which should have shown a bloody line, was pristine… But Sakura's senses wouldn't deceive her! She had clearly hit the target just now. Even if Michael used his authority to heal, it wouldn't be this fast, right?
Or perhaps, she hadn't hit him at all?
No time to think further. Whatever the reason, a miss was a miss. Hitting but having no effect was still a miss.
As an experienced assassin, she knew well that after a failed strike, she should retreat swiftly, conceal herself in darkness again, and wait for the next opportunity for a killing blow.
But just as her foot moved back, she quickly changed her mind—setting aside whether there would be a next chance, even if there was, so what?
She was by no means the strongest attacker among the Flame-Chasers. What she could do, others could likely do as well. But if everyone's attacks were rendered ineffective as strangely as before, then there was no point in fighting.
Sakura quickly made her decision. Rather than gambling on the next attack landing effectively, it was better to use her space-freezing ability to engage Michael, see if she could figure out the principle and weakness behind the earlier strange phenomenon.
Even if she couldn't achieve that, she had to find a way to retrieve Mobius's "corpse."
Having figured this out, Sakura abruptly halted her retreat and charged towards Michael again.
Sakura continuously swung her blade. The frost-blue ice sword grazed past Michael's body time and time again. Countless times it seemed she was just a step away from succeeding, but only she knew how effortlessly Michael dodged.
"Hah!"
Sakura swung horizontally before her, forcing Michael back while simultaneously using the momentum to create distance. The next moment, space froze again. Her figure became a white line, weaving intricate patterns of flashing blades around Michael.
But Michael merely snorted softly, easily breaking free from the frozen space. Then his body twisted into an impossible S-shape, dodging all of Sakura's attacks with just that one move.
"How is that possible! No, this is that ability from before…"
Sakura's steps faltered. In that momentary opening, Michael, again as if anticipating it, kicked Mobius's corpse at his feet. It struck Sakura, who was moving at high speed, sending her flying like a white streak straight beyond the horizon.
"Michael!!!!"
Boom!
A body resembling flowing lava slammed heavily onto the Imaginary Barrier. Before Michael could counterattack, it kicked off the barrier, using the force to create distance, leaped to the ground nearby, landed on all fours like a beast, then used the recoil to launch itself like a massive cannonball.
Bang!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The human cannonball smashed through three layers of the Imaginary Barrier. The fourth layer dented visibly under the immense pressure. Even Michael's body seemed affected by the force, staggering backward.
As his body tilted, the previously vertical Imaginary Barrier slanted with him. Kalpas seized the opportunity, standing on the barrier, wildly flailing his hands, sometimes punching down, sometimes tearing with claws, more frenzied than ever before.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Haaaaah!!"
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The Imaginary Barrier shattered layer by layer. The exploding debris, like fine glass shards, cut numerous scars across Kalpas's body.
But for this man, pain was never something to be endured; quite the contrary, he reveled in it.
"Hehehehe… Hahahaha… Hahahaha… Hahahahahaha!"
Viscous saliva dripped from sharp teeth to the corner of his mouth, instantly evaporating into white steam against his scorching skin. Kalpas laughed wildly, watching the refractive layers caused by the overlapping Imaginary Barriers dwindle, watching the distance between himself and Michael shrink, until only the final layer remained.
"Hahahaha! Michael, die!"
He leaped violently into the air. Surging flames erupted from his body, rapidly cooling and solidifying before him into a Pillar of Destruction hundreds of meters tall. The pillar's tip, sharp and blazing hot, guided by gravity, plunged effortlessly towards the final layer of the Imaginary Barrier—
"Ha!"
Ding—
The ground around Michael caved in again. Spiderweb cracks rapidly spread across the Imaginary Barrier, looking as if it would shatter completely like glass in the next moment.
But "looking as if" was ultimately just "looking as if."
Michael watched everything coldly, motionless. Only when the final layer of the Imaginary Barrier groaned under the strain, emitting brittle "crackling" sounds, did he seem to awaken from a dream and extend his hand.
He reached overhead, palm supporting the fracturing barrier. Then, simply by slightly altering the barrier's angle, he flung both the Pillar of Destruction and Kalpas aside.
"Overestimating yourself."
Boom!
The Imaginary Barrier shot violently towards Kalpas, plowing a trench tens of kilometers long across the silver-grey plains.
The dust settled slightly. Kalpas was buried headfirst like an upside-down scallion, only his two legs dangling outside.
Just as Michael was about to press his advantage, the light and shadow around him suddenly dimmed.
"Hm?"
Boom!
A giant blue palm slammed down. The rising dust obscured vision. In the monstrous form, long devoid of human appearance, the human consciousness was rapidly dissipating. But the feedback from his palm told him—he had indeed hit the target.
"Gurgle gurgle…"
Kosma's throat rumbled, saliva streaming down his face. He was desperate to see the result. So he opened his maw wide, a powerful gust of air erupting from between his lips and teeth, blowing away the dust that almost seemed to solidify in the low gravity.
Then he saw him. The human target, and the spear that hadn't been used yet, still standing straight right there, between the gaps of his claws.
Michael raised his hand, palm facing Kosma, and gently pushed. The Imaginary Barrier rapidly advanced, crushing the massive form of the MANTIS miles away.
"Heh."
Michael sneered, beckoned towards the void, and a black line streaked across. He grasped Abyss Flower.
"Seele…"
He habitually murmured the name, yet no familiar echo responded from the depths of his heart.
Thus, the sneer quickly turned into undeniable self-mockery. But he still firmly reverse-gripped the spear, preparing to throw it.
"Don't!"
Michael's movement froze slightly. The next moment, he spun his body, Abyss Flower dancing with him, deflecting over a hundred Keys of Domination flying in from all directions.
"Don't you dare hurt him!"
Dystopia charged out from an oblique angle. But as a psychic MANTIS, her physical body was inherently weak. Moreover, she had already revealed her position before the sneak attack. Michael merely shifted his body slightly and passed her by.
He followed through with a trip. Dystopia, caught off guard, pitched forward onto the ground. Although her combat experience was indeed limited, her daily training had never slacked. She quickly used her hands as support, twisting her body, sweeping her legs like helicopter rotors. However, for Michael, it was merely a matter of taking half a step back.
"Hmm?"
Michael's retreating foot hadn't even landed when he lightly jumped up. A sharp Key of Domination swept horizontally past where his ankle had been—
Compared to Dystopia's rashness, Ato's attack was clearly more sudden, though equally ineffective.
As Michael landed, he thrust the reverse-gripped Abyss Flower into the ground, easily blocking Ato's second sweeping sword strike. Immediately after, he kicked the tip of Abyss Flower sharply. Ato, bent low and already in a poor position to exert force, felt the sudden impact send the longsword flying from his hand.
Ato quickly leaned back, the spear tip flashing with black light grazing past his nose. Michael danced the spear backward, initially intending to thrust it into the chest of Ato, who couldn't get up in time. But he changed trajectory halfway, bringing the spear behind his back, precisely blocking Dystopia's lunging sword.
"Tsk!" Michael's lips twitched. Gripping the spear tail with one hand, he swept it horizontally around his body. Ato and Dystopia instinctively retreated to dodge, but Michael unexpectedly tossed Abyss Flower into the air.
"Hm?"
"!"
Before the two could react, they saw Michael make grasping motions with both hands, extending them towards each of them.
The next moment, both their pupils suddenly turned into blood-red cross-shaped stars. Their bodies flew uncontrollably towards Michael.
An almost imperceptible hint of frost-blue flashed in Michael's pupils. As Dystopia and Ato's bodies were rapidly pulled within three meters of Michael, numerous ice spikes erupted from the ground at his feet, impaling both their bodies and hoisting them high into the air.
"Micha...el."
Michael lowered his hands. Their bodies remained skewered on the ice spikes.
All of this, though complex to describe, happened in merely two or three seconds. When Kosma, in his MANTIS form, struggled to his feet, what he saw were two…
Two bodies, whose names his current consciousness couldn't even recall, yet felt incredibly important, hanging high on the ice spikes.
Thump-thump—Thump-thump—Thump-thump—
Thump-thump, Thump-thump, Thump-thump, Thump-thump—
In that instant, at least in that instant, the entire world fell silent, leaving only the heartbeat of Kosma… only the heartbeat of this inhuman monster.
"Mooooo——————"
Boom!
A blue flash of light streaked across. In an instant, he crossed thousands of meters, charging directly at Michael, slamming headfirst into the Imaginary Barrier.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
A continuous series of sounds like shattering glass echoed endlessly. Even Michael, for the first time, couldn't stop his figure from stumbling back repeatedly.
The gaping maw filled with sharp teeth was only inches away from Michael, yet he still hadn't broken through all the barriers.
"Pity."
The blood-red in Michael's pupils brightened. A thick red beam shot out, easily piercing through Kosma's body. The excess energy then shot out parallel from his sides, forming a giant cross shape of red light on the ground.
Only then did Abyss Flower, previously tossed into the air by Michael, fall back precisely into his hand.
He first ignored the heavily injured Kosma, turned, and glared behind him. Countless layers of Imaginary Barriers lit up in the void tens of kilometers away, then slammed down violently, crushing Kalpas, who had just pulled himself out of the ground, back down again.
Then he lowered his head. The blood-red in his pupils flared again. The thick red beam was instantly compressed the moment it left his eyes, becoming a red thread as fine as steel wire.
As he turned, the red line slashed diagonally from the silver-grey lunar regolith towards the sky, leaving a long white trail in the cold night sky.
Time seemed to pause for 0.1 seconds. The next moment, everything swept by this red line—whether hard rock, loose regolith, thin air, or the massive monstrous body—was bisected.
Sploosh————
Blood, a mixture of blue and red, spurted into the air, then fell as a light rain, outlining the shape of the Imaginary Barrier around Michael.
"One more."
Michael turned again. This time, he finally threw the Sixth Divine Key in his hand.
Abyss Flower instantly flew tens of kilometers, its ominous black spear tip precisely piercing into the mouth of Kalpas, who was once again climbing out.
The maniacal laughter hadn't even escaped before it was silenced forever.
The world returned to silence. Only the wind continued to blow relentlessly across, as it seemingly had for over four billion years.
But Michael knew that wasn't true. The lunar atmosphere was so thin it was almost negligible. Where could wind come from?
This wind merely arose from the depths of his heart, then manifested by his authority. Tragedy, happiness, survival, death—he brought it all.
Fine, silver-white grains of sand swirled like mist, drifting everywhere. Michael stood facing the wind, behind the Imaginary Barrier. His eyes seemed to have gotten sand in them; his eyelids narrowed, something reflecting light within his eye sockets.
The next moment, he closed his eyes, motionless, as if he had been like this for hundreds of billions of fifty-thousand-year cycles.
Equivalent exchange is the most fundamental law governing this world. Even Finality cannot escape the constraints of this rule.
To gain something, one must first lose something. This world is like this; this world has always been like this.
But what could everything he lost today possibly gain in return?
"We, all of us, will never be separated. Ever."
He hadn't lied. He wouldn't lie. He especially didn't want to lie to the Flame-Chasers. It was just that, limited by rules, there were things he couldn't say. But this was indeed what he wanted to achieve, and without any compromise, without missing a single person.
And to achieve this goal, he must first… lose everything.
Yes, everyone here today would inevitably lose something.
But only he would lose everything.
"No, you might misunderstand. This isn't the price required to fulfill your wish."
Michael's eyes opened a crack. He seemed to see another version of himself before him, but upon closer inspection, there was nothing before him, nothing beside him.
He had merely conjured another self in his mind, perhaps to feel less alone.
"To fulfill your wish, such a small price is far from enough."
"Then what do our losses today count for?"
"This can only be considered the price of godhood. Nothing more."