Elysia, Hand Over the Core

The casualties caused by the Twelfth Herrscher incident were not as terrifying as the Herrscher of Binding killing most of the life on Earth, but the shock it caused was no less than that event.

Hundreds of specially modified, high-yield nuclear bombs exploded in a closed city. This terrifying destructive power almost guaranteed the death of all life in the city. Even many MANTIS Soldiers were seriously injured.

In such an unexpected situation, although warriors like Kevin could react instantly and build defenses, even protecting those nearby, not every warrior had such strength, especially those who were not good at frontal combat.

Su and Eden in Fortress One were unfortunately injured in the nuclear explosion and had to be sent to the hospital. Pardofelis's miraculous luck worked again. Although she was also in Fortress One, she happened to be next to Kalpas, the strongest fighter in the entire fortress, so the weakest of them all, Pardo, was unharmed.

Mobius and Hua, who were located at the epicenter of the Twelfth Herrscher's appearance, were still relatively strong in battle. Although they were also caught off guard, they were not seriously injured.

And Lee, after diligently cultivating for so many years and enduring so much pressure, was finally about to usher in the harvest season.

Lee was actually not too satisfied with the current situation.

Take Sakura for example, the affection she had accumulated hadn't even reached the maximum! But with the sudden appearance of the Twelfth Herrscher, things had reached a point where they had to happen.

Fortunately, although Sakura's affection level was far from reaching the level of Kevin and the others, Sakura's collapse when she saw her sister killed by her own hands made up for this, and she provided a lot of energy.

Coupled with the 'gold coins' Kevin and Mei dropped when they saw her directly killing Sakura, Lee's harvest was not small.

But these things were no longer important to Lee now.

Now, she had gathered all the elements needed for the explosion.

After seeing so many people die in the Twelfth Herrscher's rampage because she didn't immediately kill Rin, Lee, whose mentality should have been shattered beyond repair, could finally carry out the final step of her plan!

And this story, which was doomed to destruction from the beginning, should also end.

...

"I see, everyone didn't survive....."

On the hospital bed, Eden, who usually looked calm no matter what happened, rarely showed a downcast mood at this moment.

At the moment the nuclear bombs exploded, she had decisively entered the Human's Bizarre Adventure form, attempting to block the explosion with the body of the huge whale-shaped Honkai beast she transformed into after collapsing, to protect the people as much as possible.

Unfortunately, the high temperature and shock coming from all directions were impossible for her to completely block. In the end, not only was Eden seriously injured, but none of the people she wanted to protect survived.

"Your choice was too dangerous, Eden."

Lee, sitting beside the hospital bed, shook her head gently. "Before going to protect others, you should also think about your own safety first..... You should think more before you act."

"I did think about it." Although she was still bandaged, Eden showed a gentle smile. "And then I thought – if it were Lee, she would definitely do this..... It's just a pity that I'm not as strong as you, and I couldn't protect them."

".....Vill-V has already brought Abyss Flower over. She's with Su in the next ward now, and will be here soon." Not continuing the previous topic, Lee silently stood up. "After your injuries are healed, take a rest for a while. I won't disturb you."

As she prepared to leave the ward, Lee stopped at the door, and without turning around, asked softly, "Eden, if we fail, but there's still a chance to survive to the next civilization..... what would you choose?"

"Are you talking about Vill-V's new The Great Hibernation?" Eden smiled and shook her head. "There are very few positions for that Divine Key, I don't need one..... I'm a person of this era. The next era doesn't belong to me."

"That's a very you-like choice." Lee smiled, said nothing more, and gently left the ward.

Poor Su, as a psychic-specialized warrior, was unfortunately near a nuclear bomb at the time and was almost blown to death.

He was still in emergency care, so Lee decided not to go to him for now, but to deal with another person who might affect her plan.

.....

"Elysia."

Outside the city, in a wilderness where no one would come without a reason, was where Elysia was located, and she was not surprised by Lee's arrival.

".....I'm sorry."

Elysia, who turned around, was full of guilt.

How could she not feel guilty? If it weren't for her, Lee wouldn't have had any luck about the Herrscher, and would have acted immediately when she faced Rin, who had just been confirmed as a Herrscher – perhaps that result would have been much better than the current one.

She assured Lee that miracles existed, but the final fact proved that her assurance was meaningless.

Even Sakura ran away while Elysia was guarding her. If she hadn't let Sakura escape, Lee wouldn't have had to personally—

"Five hundred million people."

Without responding to Elysia's apology, Lee just calmly looked at the sky. "Elysia, we had five hundred million people die in this Honkai....."

"At that time, I told everyone that I would take responsibility, but when it really turned out like this, I realized that I couldn't take responsibility at all – how can I be responsible for the lives of so many people?"

The guilt on Elysia's face became even stronger after hearing these words, but all she could say was an apology.

"I'm sorry, if it weren't for me—"

"No, Elysia, it's not your fault." Lee shook her head and interrupted Elysia. "It's my fault. I chose to believe you..... I chose to push the responsibility onto others, handed over the way to decide the outcome, and finally led to this result."

"But now reality has proven that this choice was wrong – if you want to accomplish something, you must hold all possibilities in your own hands."

"Lee, what are you trying to say.....?" Looking at Lee, whose face showed no change in expression, Elysia felt inexplicably panicked.

"Hand over your Herrscher Core, Elysia."

Lee said calmly, "This is also my bottom line. Even if you haven't hurt anyone now, no one can guarantee that you won't suddenly become like Rin one day..... Give me your Herrscher Core, so that I can ensure that you will no longer threaten humanity."