"From the results, I am indeed the main culprit."
Misteln honestly admitted her mistake. "But it's precisely because it was unsolvable that I had Prometheus contact you, Captain, placing our hopes on you, Captain, who has been deceased for a year."
"Yes,"
Prometheus also said with slight remorse, "Just like the precarious fate of this world, I also believed that the dead cannot be resurrected. To think I would so carelessly wager my own mate selection rights."
But since you've come, Captain, please don't let my mate selection rights be sacrificed in vain."
"Oh my, how can you call it a sacrifice, Prometheus?"
Misteln stroked Prometheus's head. "Rest assured, I will definitely find a good match for you. Do you not trust my judgment?"
"..." Prometheus fell silent. Just based on her tone, which sounded like she was pimping her out, she didn't feel reassured in the slightest.
"Let's put my tragic experience aside for now,"
Prometheus No. 17 looked wearily at the Captain. "So, to make my mate selection rights worthwhile, do you have any good ideas, Captain?"
"I do."
After all, Jun An had seen the plot unfold. He knew who the main culprit was and roughly remembered the solution.
"If I'm not mistaken, the rules of this world bubble have been artificially altered."
Jun An stated, "Because of errors in the underlying code, even becoming Tower Sages couldn't save Salt Snow Holy City for you."
Just like how Honkai Energy produces Honkai phenomena, it's precisely because of errors in the underlying code that various tragedies unfold.
"And based on my judgment, this world bubble, like others destroyed by Sa, uses the most common method—"
Injecting a rule called 'Wish' into the world bubble."
The Herrscher of Sentience was greatly puzzled. "What kind of rule is that? How can that destroy a world?"
"Human wishes always tend towards greed, so of course, it can."
Jun An explained, "Let's put it this way: because of the legends among the people of Salt Snow Holy City, the Tower Sages and the Tower came into existence; because the people of Salt Snow Holy City firmly believed the Sages could let them see their deceased family members, the Iron Sand Nation came into existence."
And now, to fulfill their second wish—to see their dead relatives—the Iron Sand Nation is merging with Salt Snow Holy City, and then... 'Boom'."
"Then who did this?"
Kira Shigure frowned and asked, "Since you know her methods, you should know the culprit too, right? Where is she?"
Kira had come to Salt Snow Holy City precisely to investigate the true culprit behind its impending destruction. If possible, she also wanted to take care of this entity that was destroying world bubbles everywhere.
After all, she had secretly "borrowed" a part of the Candy House's Outer Key, the Sugar Silver Key. If she didn't achieve some results, or at least see the mastermind, she'd probably get chewed out by Elder Konpeito when she returned.
"Didn't your Elder Konpeito over there already give Her a name?"
Jun An said, "Sa. That's Her name."
"It really is her!"
Kira's eyes instantly lit up. "Where is she? Let's go take her out!"
"I'm not a prophet, how would I know where She is?"
As far as Jun An knew, Sa was an ultimate survivalist terrified of the Cocoon of Finality, operating far from Earth, doing things like accelerating the destruction of world bubbles.
But even though Her rank could be considered the top individual entity below Finality, She was still incredibly cautious. Counting from the destruction of Venus, She had probably holed up in the Sea of Quanta for about two hundred million years.
One could say, She was definitely the ultimate King of Laying Low.
The only time She acted personally—and it wasn't even certain if it was Her—was when She sneak-attacked Jun An and killed him, then ran immediately after firing the shot, cleaning up Her tracks perfectly.
"In short, our opponent right now is an existence that absorbs energy on the scale of world bubbles, whose rank is no less than the Cocoon of Finality, but whose overall magnitude is much smaller."
Jun An looked at Kira Shigure. "So, wanting to eliminate Her now, with our current strength, is definitely quite difficult. But our enemy right now isn't Her; we just need to save this world bubble, which makes things much simpler."
"Then what's the method?" Misteln continued to ask.
"Naturally, it's changing the underlying code."
Jun An said, "Pull the two world bubbles near Earth, then let Kiana modify them."
"Modify the rules of the world... Can't you do that, Senpai?"
Susannah asked doubtfully, "I remember you tried something like this before, right? And brought back Lady Cecilia and the others."
Jun An had once charged into the Imaginary Tree, touched it to some extent, and brought back Cecilia and others who died in the Second Great Honkai War from its branches. He even took the time to rescue Ragnhild's assault squad.
In a way, that was much harder than modifying the world rules of a small entity like a world bubble.
Jun An shook his head. "Putting aside the fact that I was just riding Otto's coattails back then, my current strength is less than a tenth of what it was. I simply can't do something that troublesome."
After all, world laws aren't things visible to the naked eye, and attacking them requires specific means and methods.
"But as I said, modifying the underlying code is Kiana's job. Our job is to pull the world bubble close to the space where Earth is located."
Jun An continued, "Of course, there is a simpler method, but I don't think you'd want to use it."
The Herrscher of Sentience asked puzzledly, "There's a simpler method?"
"Just cleave the two world bubbles apart. That way, they naturally won't merge anymore. Though it treats the symptom, not the root cause."
Jun An clapped his hands. "Alright, let's not talk about that. Next, let's assign tasks."
"First, to pull the world bubbles, we need sufficiently stable anchor points. Then, we use these anchor points to invert the effect onto a specific person, and have that person carry the anchors towards Earth."
"During this process, it's best not to use spatial abilities. After all, there's no Herrscher of the Void here; it's impossible to teleport two world bubbles near Earth. In other words, this requires actual running."
"So, the work is divided into three parts. Part one: creating anchor points. This can be done using the abilities of the two Seeles as Tower Sages."
"Part two: creating a definite, fixed main 'anchor point'. To put it bluntly, a Herrscher of the Sea of Quanta. Since Sa uses the Cocoon of Finality's program, the method of creating a Herrscher is largely similar: gather a large amount of Honkai energy to create an Ether Singularity, then generate Honkai phenomena and form a Herrscher."
This second part requires all of you to contribute. I will be responsible for intruding into Sa's rules to help you become a Herrscher, so as to avoid future troubles."
"Part three: I will pave a path from Salt Snow Holy City to Earth, and then, Susannah, you will bring these two world bubbles back."
Simply put, it's about driving nails into the two worlds, creating a nail—the 'Herrscher of the Sea of Quanta'—strong enough to pull the two world bubbles, and then pulling them back.
Jun An's jobs were to handle the Herrscher creation and pave the road back to Earth.
Jun An's plan was almost a copy of the original story, except that the risky parts were mostly undertaken by him.
"Right, the opponent's powers also include an ability called the 'All-Seeing Eye'."
As Jun An spoke, he used his own blood to create crystals and distributed them to everyone present.
"Because of my unique nature, the All-Seeing Eye, and even Her remote surveillance, have no effect on me or my surroundings. Take these. For the next two hours, you won't be monitored by Her, by Sa."
As a transmigrator, Jun An was unbound by causality and did not enter the cycle of reincarnation. Just like how the Second Divine Key couldn't retrieve information about Jun An from history, the causality-based skill 'All-Seeing' naturally had no effect on him either.
Everyone received a crystal made from Jun An's blood, including Dark Seele and the Herrscher of Sentience in the Iron Sand Nation, passed over by Misteln opening a spatial rift.
With the tasks assigned, everyone got busy.
Misteln, Prometheus No. 17, and the others were responsible for finding suitable locations for the anchor points. Seele would then create the anchors once the locations were found. The division of labor was clear.
Of course, there were a few idle individuals, such as Jun An, who had no tasks in the first phase, and Vita, who had "no power."
Naturally, Jun An wasn't completely idle. He stood at the top of the tower, observing the situation in Salt Snow Holy City.
Because of the 'Wish' rule, Salt Snow Holy City was constantly absorbing energy from the Sea of Quanta. This caused its volume to continuously expand while also triggering Honkai phenomena.
Jun An's job was to ensure the safety of the residents within Salt Snow Holy City.
The method was simple: coordinating with Seele, who used her Tower Sage identity to provide coordinates, Jun An picked up pebbles from the ground and threw them towards the Honkai Beasts, instantly killing any that appeared with a single strike.
"Captain, you're still as amazing as ever."
Seele couldn't help but sigh in admiration as she watched Jun An wield pebbles with power far exceeding bullets.
"In my eyes, I'm actually much weaker now."
Jun An shrugged somewhat helplessly. "Honestly, I might not even be able to beat Bronya anymore."
Bronya was now the Herrscher of Truth. As the Herrscher with the highest growth potential, coupled with the fact that Jun An had locked her in a 'small dark room' and crammed her full of knowledge, her combat power was considerably higher than Jun An's current state.
"Right, she should be a university professor by now, shouldn't she?"
Jun An mused, "With the knowledge I crammed into her, she shouldn't be any worse than a university professor."
Although the Bronya of the original worldline liked making games, Theresa had said she held an important position, so she probably wasn't just a simple game developer anymore.
"Th-that..."
Seele gave a somewhat wry smile. "She's doing something very important right now, but she didn't tell me what. By the way, does Bronya-oneechan know you're back, Captain?"
"My return needs to be kept secret, after all. Of course, she doesn't know."
Jun An aimed at a Honkai Beast attacking civilians and killed it with a single pebble. "By the way, we're not on duty right now. There's no need to call me by my title anymore, right?"
"Well, you were usually working most of the time back then, Captain, so I got used to it."
Both Seele and Jun An were adopted by Cocolia in Siberia, so they were technically adopted siblings with different parents.
"There's no one else around now, and the Honkai crisis ended long ago. My position as Captain will probably become just a nominal post in the future anyway."
Jun An habitually reached out to stroke Seele's hair, only to realize she was slightly taller than him now, making it a bit awkward.
Seele, however, crouched down and held his hand that was stroking her hair. "It's been so long since I felt this..."
"Yeah, after all, since the Great Honkai War started, the time we could spend alone together has been pitifully scarce."
Seeing this, Jun An continued to stroke Seele's soft hair, like petting a cat. Jun An had always liked ruffling pretty girls' hair like this since way back.
"That's true too. Since there's no one around..."
Seele seized the opportunity while they were alone, leaned forward, and pressed her lips against Jun An's. "Welcome back, Jun An Gege."
————
Meanwhile, Vita moved away from the tower.
Using the pretext of needing to care for an elderly person, she temporarily detached herself from the group. With Jun An and the crystal he provided, reconnecting with Sa was impossible.
Although she enjoyed this time free from Sa's "coercion," she understood that it all stemmed from the Captain from the Third Planet.
Something that cannot last forever must be preserved somehow.
Thus, Vita crushed the blood crystal Jun An had given her, allowing herself to reconnect with Sa.
As expected, once she was far enough from Jun An, she could contact Sa again.
[What happened on your end?]Sa questioned.
"I encountered someone with a special constitution."
Vita reported truthfully. "He can consciously sever the connection between us. He even plans to tell that god on the Third Planet about your existence after returning, intending to find you through the 'rules' you've set."
The god of the Third Planet, the Herrscher named Finality, and the Cocoon behind her—this was a nightmare Sa dared not easily touch under any circumstances.
Because She had acted once before, although She eliminated the man She couldn't predict or observe, She had played it safe and only resumed activities recently, a year later.
To think She was targeted so quickly! She absolutely could not let them find her!
Even after two hundred million years of growth, Her magnitude was only about twenty or thirty percent of the Cocoon of Finality's. She was no match for it!
[—Kill them, and destroy this world bubble! Leave no survivors!]
A triumphant smile appeared on Vita's face. "Yes."
PS: Setting-wise, the Captain is a survivor of the Second Great Honkai War. He was first picked up by Cocolia and taken to Cocolia's Orphanage, then disappeared and was picked up by Theresa and brought back to St. Freya.
PS: Then, Cocolia, in order to find the Captain again, made a deal with Gray Serpent, which led to the Third Great Honkai War.