Swish— Swish—
The sound of waves washed over Michael's nerves, again and again. Before him stretched an ocean of vibrant red.
White foam, like a boundless net, gently covered the sea's surface, warping and shifting with the surge of the tide.
"The sea... why is it red?"
He opened his eyes in the darkness. This shouldn't be a dream.
In fact, ever since the day he lost his sense of taste, he had soon been stripped of the ability to dream as well.
No, perhaps it wasn't the ability to dream that was taken, but rather the ability to fall asleep like a normal person. If he couldn't sleep, then dreaming was out of the question.
But when he closed his eyes again, the scene, its meaning unclear, reappeared before him.
Blood-red filled his vision, sea and sky merging into one. It was impossible to tell if the sky had stained the sea red, or the sea had stained the sky.
Waves washed over the shore, pale as moonlight, again and again, as if trying to erase every trace from the sand—but the beach was already utterly empty.
The waves were the only sound in this world. No seagulls cried, no human voices bustled, not even his own breathing could be heard. It was as if, from the very beginning, only the red ocean existed here.
Wait, myself?
In this dreamlike, yet not-quite-dream world, Michael looked down. His body was intact. Only his clothes rustled, wrinkled by the sea breeze carried on the waves. That was all.
Everything paused in that single moment of "that was all."
Michael opened his eyes, no longer trying to force a pretense of sleep.
He gently lifted a corner of the blanket and swung his legs out of bed. There was no need for such caution, really. There were two blankets on the bed—he used the blue one, Elysia the pink one, distinctly separate.
Barefoot, he walked silently across the cold floor. As he neared the balcony, the familiar sound of waves returned. He pushed aside a corner of the curtain, slid open the door, and sat down on the deck chair.
Before him, the ocean surged as always, the perfect moon scattering countless white scales upon its surface.
This was Eden's cruise ship. They were continuing a journey across the Pacific that had once been cut short.
Of course, this time it wasn't just a simple trip or vacation. According to Elysia, she wanted to film a grand movie starring the entire Fire Moth organization, so that...
So that even if they failed against the Herrscher of Finality, copies of the film stored at the moon base and within the Elysian Realm could serve as proof for future generations that the "Flame-Chasers" had once existed.
Getting every single one of Fire Moth's hundreds of thousands of members to participate was impossible. In the end, the only ones willing to spend their vacation time indulging Elysia's whim were the small group known as the "Flame-Chasers."
For most people, either duty prevented them from leaving their posts, or, in an era like this, they simply didn't have the habit of saving up vacation time. Use it when you have it. Why save up all year for a long break, only to die the day before it starts? How frustrating would that be?
Furthermore, the arrival of Finality was already on the horizon. Many had already used up all their vacation days in the previous two months, squandering their rest time. Given the current speed at which Herrschers were appearing, the final battle would likely occur within the year.
If Finality arrived and you still had a pile of unused vacation days, how was that different from dying with money unspent?
But what did any of that have to do with Michael?
As always, he gazed up at the moon hanging solitary in the thick night sky. The sky was clearly bright, yet the Honkai Energy radiation pervading the planet acted like a dark curtain, erasing the stars from view when no one was looking. Only a few scattered, exceptionally bright stars remained in the night sky, stubbornly letting their light travel the millennia-long distance.
But what did that have to do with the moon?
It remained silent as ever, floating there properly, coldly, distantly. It watched Michael from 380,000 kilometers away, just as he watched it. It could probably see the shadow cast by Michael's eyelashes on his face, just as Michael could easily see the shadows cast by the massive craters and great rifts on its surface.
Michael gazed deeply at the moon. The moon gazed deeply at Michael.
Michael gazed deeply at Michael. The moon gazed deeply at the moon.
Then, although Michael could perhaps no longer be called human, the stirring deep within his DNA awakened.
In the 4.5 billion years since the moon formed, not a single night had passed without it casting its silver glow upon the Earth. Humanity's entire existence was less than a fraction of the moon's age.
Its faint radiance was, for a long time, the only light visible to humans in the long night. Its waxing and waning created the concept of time in the human mind.
"So, the encounter between humanity and the moon is romantic."
Michael suddenly spoke, his voice drifting on the sea breeze. Luckily, Elysia was standing right behind him. Before the wind could tear the words apart, they reached her ears.
She said nothing, simply wrapping her arms around Michael from behind, letting the back of his head rest against something warm and soft.
A hint of warmth rose on Michael's face, but the cold sea breeze quickly dissipated it without a trace.
"Elysia, tell me, who was the first human to look up at the moon?"
Elysia didn't answer. She knew Michael wasn't looking for a standard answer; indeed, there couldn't be one for that question.
Even if such a person truly existed, someone who looked up on a night when no one else had noticed the moon, earning the right to be the first to meet its gaze, the question of who they were was now completely unverifiable.
"Elysia, have you heard? Many astronomers believe human life came from the moon—and it's not entirely baseless.
"Perhaps tens of millions of years after the Earth formed, a planet rich in various elements, flying in from the distant universe, collided with Earth. Maybe it hit the South Pole, though it doesn't really matter where.
"Anyway, this planet, involved in a cosmic traffic accident, left the necessary elements for life on Earth. Some of its remains merged with Earth, but most became debris, flung back into space. Eventually, gravity pulled it back together, forming the chunk of rock that hangs in the sky every night."
"If you put it that way, all life, including humans, shares the same origin as the moon! Doesn't that sound a bit too incredible?"
"Indeed. One is tiny, short-lived, yet soft, warm, and infinitely varied humanity. The other is the unchanging, cold, hard, round moon. Such a conclusion certainly feels unbelievable, but compared to some of the truly bizarre things in reality, it's not that shocking."
"But it is very romantic."
Elysia's breath warmed Michael's earlobe. She leaned down, fully embracing him, their silhouettes merging into one.
"The moon is the starting point of all life, but it couldn't descend to Earth itself. It could only hang alone beyond the sky, waiting for the life that shared its origin to reunite with it. It witnessed the withering and succession of countless lives, only to finally welcome its reunion with humanity after 4.5 billion years—if you wait long enough, reunion is always possible, isn't it?"
Michael let out a noncommittal puff of air through his nose. He didn't, and wouldn't, respond to Elysia's last sentence.
Or perhaps, she had simply stolen the words he wanted to say to her.
"Soon, Finality will descend upon the moon. If humanity can defeat It, then the moon will represent nothing less than a new beginning for us. But if the opposite happens, if humanity fails to overcome Finality, then ending at the moon, the starting point of life, could be considered having a beginning and an end."
"This isn't the time for discouraging words, Michael."
Every fine hair in his ear stood on end from her warm breath. Michael's Adam's apple bobbed, and he chuckled self-deprecatingly.
"Elysia, weren't you the first one to say something discouraging?"
"Eh? Was I?"
Elysia blinked innocently, searching her memory for a moment before locating the phrase Michael was referring to—
"If you wait long enough, reunion is always possible, isn't it?"
Her heart skipped a beat. She silently cursed herself for letting the words slip out, while also fearing whether Michael truly understood the meaning hidden within them.
Undoubtedly, Michael understood. He wasn't a dense fool like Kevin; his thoughts possessed a sensitivity most boys lacked. How could he possibly miss Elysia's hidden meaning?
Thus, in a fluster, she began to awkwardly change the subject:
"Anyway, don't worry about it too much. Tomorrow is the first day of shooting for Elysia's film crew! You have to rest well and look good on screen!"
"Pfft!"
Michael chuckled softly, seemingly having no intention of pressing the issue further. This brought Elysia a wave of relief, quickly followed by a faint, rising anxiety—
His lack of questioning could only stem from two diametrically opposed reasons.
One: Michael didn't care about her and didn't want to know what she was planning.
Two: Michael knew exactly what she wanted to do, making further questions unnecessary.
Which possibility applied to Michael? It was self-evident.
Elysia immediately grew apprehensive, narrowing her eyes to subtly observe Michael's expression.
Her suddenly racing heartbeat had already betrayed her, yet Michael, despite knowing everything, seemed to have no intention of stopping her.
So she breathed a long sigh of relief again, followed by an even deeper sense of disappointment and apprehension.
In that fleeting moment of distraction, she missed the corner of Michael's lip first curling upwards slightly, then smoothing out, before his lower lip pushed towards the center, ultimately making no sound at all.
"Elysia."
"What is it?"
Elysia was often boisterous, and Michael wasn't exactly the silent type, but lately, long silences had taken up far too much space in their conversations.
"You know, I don't actually approve of your movie plan."
"Don't be so serious! Look, besides you, everyone else is really happy!"
That was inevitable. For the Flame-Chasers, barely coping with four Honkai Impacts in just four months had left them feeling somewhat like spent arrows.
Even Michael felt a faint weariness lingering in his heart, impossible to shake off.
Not to mention, the Flame-Chasers weren't all overwhelmingly powerful beings—like Pardofelis... Besides, being strong didn't mean being fearless. So, even after consecutively dealing with four Honkai Impacts almost unscathed, the Flame-Chasers couldn't help but feel a profound exhaustion beneath the relief of their luck holding out.
From that perspective, Elysia wasn't wrong. Everyone truly needed this kind of unrestrained fun to face the upcoming Twelfth Honkai Impact, and Finality, in a better state.
Otherwise, if the string in their hearts remained constantly taut, never slackening, it would eventually snap completely.
Pop!
Just a soft sound like that, and the bowstring snaps completely. The originally recurved limbs instantly straighten, bending into an entirely opposite curve.
If something like that happened, it wouldn't be good at all.
"But, we still don't know when the Twelfth Honkai Impact will happen. If this causes any delay..."
"Hm? Didn't you and Mei already discuss countermeasures?"
Michael's eyelashes fluttered. He didn't answer.
So that's how it is. Just as Michael clearly knew what Elysia had done and would do, Elysia was equally aware of what Michael had done and intended to do.
"Actually... you haven't done anything wrong, Michael."
"..."
"Whether your final choice was to sacrifice Rin, or to sacrifice more ordinary people, I wouldn't blame you. Of course, I'm not the one making the choice, nor do I have the right to blame you, because I know... you actually never had a choice at all."
"...The one who made the choice wasn't me. It was Rin."
"I know. But when you chose to tell her everything, this ending was already set in stone, wasn't it? She's braver than we imagined."
"Perhaps."
Michael stood up, breaking free from Elysia's embrace, and leaned alone against the balcony railing.
Looking down, he saw the inky black seawater radiating a chilling coolness.
He suppressed the urge to leap down and sighed:
"But the situation is different now. The longer this drags on, the more uneasy I feel. Although it's currently just sporadic, abnormal Honkai Energy fluctuations appearing worldwide, my intuition—yes, that's right, my intuition tells me that perhaps the Twelfth Herrscher has already been born, but the one who became the Herrscher wasn't Rin. All our preparations were for nothing."
"That doesn't matter either. Look at it differently, isn't Rin safe for now? As for the Herrscher, even someone as troublesome as the Tenth Herrscher was dealt with easily. What waves can the Twelfth Herrscher possibly make? Ultimately, with our current combat strength, a Herrscher has no chance in a direct confrontation. We just need to create an opportunity for a head-on fight."
"Theoretically, that's correct."
Michael gave a dry laugh. He wanted to explain the Twelfth Herrscher's powers to Elysia, but suddenly felt it was unnecessary—
Just as she said, in a direct fight, they feared no Herrscher. What they lacked was the opportunity for that fight.
And just like with the Tenth Honkai Impact, luring the snake out of its hole was undoubtedly the best way to create such an opportunity.
So, Elysia had known everything from the beginning.
And this movie plan was undoubtedly meant to create the illusion of human complacency for the Herrscher.
I see.
Elysia silently stood beside him, smiling softly, seemingly having read his thoughts.
Actually, things weren't entirely as Michael imagined. Elysia wanted to explain that her desire to make a movie wasn't purely to lure the snake out.
It was always a plan to kill two birds with one stone.
After all, she had personally watched Michael carry his burdens all this way. All the Flame-Chasers, the entire Fire Moth, indeed the whole of human civilization, had reached this point weighed down by heavy hearts.
This wasn't what she wanted to see.
If the journey was filled only with loss and pain, then even if they defeated Finality and won the future, facing a devastated world and numb hearts, what meaning would that future hold?
What she hoped to see was that, even facing the most painful reality, even while performing the futile labor of pushing a giant stone up a hill knowing it would roll back down, people could still, like Sisyphus, feel the happiness and joy in the process.
That was what she truly wanted to see, what she wanted to leave behind.
She herself might be able to achieve this, but she couldn't make others do the same, not even Michael.
So, she thought—at the very least, something should be left behind, to prove to those who came after that even in such desperate times, even as the end drew near, we still had moments of joy. Even knowing all our efforts might be futile, our hearts, like Sisyphus, were filled with happiness.
This, rather than mere solemnity and pain, was a more fitting motivation for their successors to move forward.
"After all, even if a beautiful girl has to leave some last words, she can't use cold, lifeless text! Even farewells should be met with laughter and joy, no crying allowed!"
She desperately wanted to say this, but she didn't.
Not out of embarrassment, nor fear of being misunderstood.
There was only one reason—how could Michael not understand these things?
"Pfft!"
She suddenly let out a soft laugh, then quickly sniffled.
"Elysia."
"What is it?"
She deliberately tried to make her voice bright and cheerful.
But that annoying choked sob clung to her voice like a shadow, impossible to shake off.
Her hand rested on the iron railing, chilled by the night-long sea breeze, yet she felt no cold, no pain. She was, after all, no longer human.
But the next moment, she felt warmth on her hand.
Michael came up behind her, placing his hands over hers, pulling her body into his embrace.
"Look, Elysia, the dawn is breaking."
They both looked up. The once heavy night sky had turned a pale grey-blue. The distant horizon now had a faint curve separating it from the sky.
The full moon still hung high, seemingly in no hurry to depart, while the few scattered stars gradually faded against the grey-blue backdrop.
"Elysia."
"Mm."
"Did you know? Actually... the moon is slowly moving away from Earth."
"Eh? Really?"
This was the first time Elysia had heard this.
A thought flashed through her mind, but frustratingly, she couldn't grasp it immediately.
Indeed, the moon is slowly, but irreversibly, moving away from Earth.
I mean...
No one can stay with anyone forever.
In another 4.5 billion years, the moon probably won't be waiting for the existence that shares its origin to meet it again.