That was not long after the Earth itself had formed. A planet, now called "Theia," collided with Earth. It left behind many elements essential for life, while its shattered remnants gathered anew in orbit, forming the solitary, silver-grey rock humans see today, suspended in the firmament.
That is the Moon.
Long before humanity's birth, the Moon already hung alone in the sky, observing every movement on Earth with a detached, vacant gaze.
It watched as Earth's temperature gradually dropped, as water vapor silently condensed, eventually falling upon the land as rain.
Earth itself might forget time, but the Moon recorded it—that rain fell for a full fifty million years, until trickling streams merged into oceans.
And from this point, humanity's appearance was still another 3.8 billion years away.
The Moon attached no meaning to this. It merely stubbornly reflected the light captured from the Sun, ensuring that the utterly barren Earth, even in the pitch-black night, possessed a minuscule glimmer of light.
Even though… there was no life on the surface back then.
So, all it could do was wait, seemingly in vain.
But… why did it undertake such a vigil?
Some say it's because the Moon cannot escape the shackles of Earth's gravity, but that seems too cold, too unfeeling. Besides, the Moon is indeed moving away from Earth, inexorably so.
It's just that… it took over four billion years to traverse a distance of 380,000 kilometers.
The truth is simply that the Moon wanted to wait, because it knew its waiting held meaning.
It knew that billions of years later, bipedal beasts who had gained sentience would gaze up at it from the mouths of caves.
They would survive the dark nights by its light; they would create the concept of time based on its waxing and waning…
And simultaneously, it anticipated, anticipated the moment when the life created from the elements it brought to Earth would, after billions of years, step onto its surface once more, reuniting with it.
This is the memory of the Moon.
......
"Hua, still looking at the Moon?"
"Ngh! Ah…"
Hua felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. She turned quickly, relaxing when she saw it was Eden.
"Today seems to be your Shenzhou's Mid-Autumn Festival, right? A pity we can't go to the surface to appreciate the moon anymore."
Eden looked at the screen in front of Hua. It displayed the night sky captured by a camera left on the surface.
Hua pressed her lips together, unsure how to respond.
The image from the camera was strange. It wasn't blurry, yet it always felt indistinct.
Small white dots were evenly distributed across the picture—noise generated by intense ionizing radiation bombarding the camera sensor.
"Hua, let me watch here for a while too, okay?"
Hua nodded silently. Eden found a stool and sat beside her, joining her in gazing at the silent, dead planet in the sky.
"It's been over three months. Will they ever come back?"
Eden didn't think Hua was asking her directly. Perhaps she was just accustomed to talking to herself, or perhaps she simply wanted a false answer from someone else that could offer comfort.
But regardless, aside from Hua, Eden was the only one here. Not answering… seemed somewhat impolite.
Although such "politeness" had lost all meaning in the current circumstances, Eden still had principles she felt she should follow…
However, giving false hope was not among them.
"Personally, I certainly hope, I'm willing to believe, they will definitely come back. Even if not now, perhaps thousands or tens of thousands of years later, when we awaken from the Divine Keys, they'll be waiting for us outside."
"Their first words to us would be—'Oh my! Where did you all run off to sleep? We've been waiting for ages!'"
"Maybe they'll even wave towards someone behind them, bringing over a group of grey-haired humans: 'Look, Michael and I have had a whole bunch of kids already! Come on, children, quickly call them Uncle and Auntie!'"
"Pfft!"
Hua shrugged, suppressing a chuckle. It was the first time she knew Eden was so good at telling jokes.
"But that's all an uncertain future, Hua. All we can be sure of is the past and the present. Hua, let's go. It's time to head to the Fifth Divine Key."
Hua frowned, clearly reluctant.
"So, why did Dr. Mei order all of us to enter hibernation within the Divine Keys? Most of the personnel remaining at HQ were 'blessed' by Michael with Abyss Flower, gaining lifespans of thousands or tens of thousands of years. And our lifespans as MANTISes are nearly infinite. We could accomplish much more, couldn't we?"
"But there's no point."
Eden shook her head.
"Aside from the underground city and the Golden Courtyard where the Elysian Realm is located, plus a few other strongholds, most places outside are affected either by Honkai energy radiation or nuclear radiation. That level of dosage… even a MANTIS might not withstand it… Hmm, with your near-Herrscher level Honkai adaptability, perhaps you could try, but what can you alone accomplish?"
"No! Don't we still have mechs? The Twelfth Herrscher is dead. We can unlock a large number of automated devices now, can't we?"
Eden didn't speak, just turned her head, gazing into Hua's eyes with sorrow.
"Hua, I understand your thoughts. You don't truly want to do something; you feel you should do something. After all, they are definitely doing something in places unknown to us, even helping us defeat the Twelfth Herrscher. So you feel even more strongly that, even if you can't help them, you can't just do nothing."
Hua lowered her head, not answering, which was essentially an admission.
"Subjectively speaking, everyone thinks this way. But we must yield to reality—we can't do anything. Besides those two, none of us have a way to enter the Imaginary Space. And even if we did, we couldn't find their location. Of course, the worst-case scenario…"
Eden paused, not voicing the bleakest possibility.
If possible, she still didn't want to completely shatter the hope in the young girl before her. But the fact remained, nearly a week had passed since the Twelfth Herrscher was killed, and they hadn't returned. The most likely reason was…
"Then Eden… what about you? If I recall correctly, Vill-V mentioned before that there's a lot of data in the Elysian Realm you need to process. You should be in the Golden Courtyard right now."
Hua sharply noticed the anomaly. Eden, perhaps she too…
"Hmm? Was there such a thing? I might have forgotten."
Eden shrugged. Hua couldn't read any extra emotion on her face. She remained as languid as ever, only occasional flashes of sorrow flickering in her eyes. But Hua felt something was "different" about her.
"Honestly, for a civilization like ours that has already perished, is there really any meaning in organizing data? I can't say. But it's what they wanted, so I'll do it, just not right now… There will be plenty of long, boring times ahead. If I finish all the work now, hehe."
Eden chuckled lightly, but the sound held no trace of ease.
Hua finally understood what was "different" about the Eden before her—she wasn't carrying her ornate goblet, nor did she smell of alcohol. She was unprecedentedly sober.
"Eden… Tell me… We clearly won ten times before, why did we lose specifically to the Twelfth Herrscher?"
Like before, she wasn't seeking a genuine answer, merely talking to herself… Or perhaps, Eden thought she was mistaking her for someone else, someone who always had an answer whenever she asked such questions.
Unfortunately, that person was now unreachable.
So the task of answering fell back to Eden:
"It's a long story. You could say the Twelfth Herrscher's Authority was just too targeted. Endless individuals, omnipresent existence, able to possess humans, able to trigger Honkai outbreaks through its terminal avatars. In a straightforward fight, it naturally stood no chance, but it never gave us the chance to fight."
Hua closed her eyes in pain, recalling the final battle two months ago—
Hundreds, thousands of deadwalkers suddenly appeared within the Fire Moth headquarters, startling everyone. And every single one wore a familiar face.
This was the second time Hua had been forced to strike down "acquaintances." She immediately used Fenghuang Down to protect everyone's consciousness. But not everyone was as decisive as she was. Besides, the 'Corruption' of the Twelfth Herrscher didn't spread solely through consciousness.
Even now, with the Twelfth Divine Key completed and serving as the hub for the Elysian Realm, its designer, Vill-V, couldn't explain the principle behind that corruption, only summarizing it as the transmission of excessive Honkai energy.
But Hua had clearly fought consciousnesses corrupted by the Twelfth Herrscher in the mental space… Ordinary deadwalkers didn't have such consciousness. She thought she had protected something back then…
But the reality was, while headquarters suffered heavy losses and attention was diverted, rebels infiltrated the nuclear missile base in North America, where over three thousand nuclear warheads were stored.
Although all launch sequences required codes from headquarters, that posed no obstacle to the Herrscher of Corruption.
As those rebels cheered, launching all the base's missiles towards "Headquarters," they watched in horror as the last few ascending warheads detonated right above them.
And the remaining three thousand warheads were aimed at the few dozen surviving human settlements around the world.
Half an hour later, the deadwalker tide within Fire Moth was suppressed, and the incoming nuclear missiles were diverted by the Second Divine Key. But for the rest of the world…
They could only watch helplessly as dazzling mushroom clouds bloomed one after another on the horizon. The aftershocks of the explosions hadn't dissipated even by the next morning.
Half a month later, Sakura and she found the last Herrscher terminal in the ruins of North America. It was already dying. Before it could even be brought back to headquarters, it perished, leaving only a dark purple core.
Mei told everyone that Michael and Elysia had done something in the Imaginary Space.
But unfortunately, it was half a month too late.
No one blamed them, though. According to Mei, their ultimate goal was to prevent the arrival of Finality, something only they could accomplish…
"But if you wish, you can also believe we didn't lose—because even before this, the world was already irredeemably broken, beyond the possibility of salvation."
"I don't understand…"
"Given your experiences, it's normal not to understand. In fact, if, if there had been no Twelfth Herrscher, the rebellion would still have emerged, the trust between humanity and Fire Moth would still have collapsed. Story developments involve both chance and necessity; these things were bound to happen.
"The element of chance was that people, swayed by the Twelfth Herrscher, formed the rebellion. Harboring noble intentions, they used nuclear weapons—originally created by humans with the goal of 'ending war'—to help the Honkai deliver the final blow to human civilization."
"…"
"Perhaps some would say Mei took control of the world too late. But I don't think so. The Honkai was never just a simple disaster. Or rather, every disaster in the world is a test of human nature. Neither Mei nor Michael, not even Aponia, possessed the ability to change human nature."
"However, if one absolutely had to find someone in Fire Moth to take responsibility for this, I think it would be myself."
"You? Eden, you did nothing wrong."
"No, Hua, the problem is precisely that I did nothing—I once arbitrarily decided that art could no longer save the world, which is why I joined Fire Moth and became a MANTIS. But the truth is, I still wasn't much use in battle. Whereas, if I hadn't abandoned art back then, if I had used art to nurture the beautiful parts of human nature, perhaps the relationship between humanity and Fire Moth wouldn't have been so fragile."
"No, Eden, not only is this unrelated to you, but you weren't useless either. The people here grew up listening to your songs. As long as you're here, they can maintain a certain level of morale. Soldiers without morale cannot fight."
Now, what started as Eden answering Hua's questions had turned into Hua comforting Eden, making Eden herself feel rather wry.
"Alright, I know what you're saying too, it's just…"
Eden sighed softly:
"Hua, tell me, after a disaster, would you rather believe you did something wrong that prevented you from averting it, or that you were simply powerless from the start?"
Before Hua could sort out her words, she answered herself:
"At least for me, I'd rather believe my mistakes led to the disaster than admit I was inherently powerless against it. But ultimately, it's meaningless, because our world has already been destroyed."
"The world… destroyed!"
Hua's mouth fell open, her voice rising unconsciously.
She couldn't believe it. She was still waiting for them to return, to return and see this world still breathing, yet her comrade was telling her—the world was already destroyed!
"We still have these thirty thousand people in headquarters. We… Dr. Mei is still here. Once the Fourth Divine Key finishes restoring Earth's ecosystem, we can still revive our civilization, can't we?"
"Perhaps."
Eden shook her head noncommittally:
"We do indeed have thirty thousand people left. From a biological standpoint, it's hard to definitively say humanity is extinct just yet. But to borrow Mobius's words—would you call something that's only a brain, with the torso and limbs gone, a person?"
Hua didn't know how to answer. Eden continued:
"Perhaps, for young people like you, there's still hope for rebuilding civilization. But for someone my age, the era I knew is gone forever."
She gave Hua a deep look, stood up, and stretched lazily:
"Alright, I'm heading back to the Hibernation Vault first. You should hurry too. There are still three hours before the Divine Key activates. We'll be dreaming for a long time afterward, or perhaps we'll be woken up halfway—that's the worst-case scenario, meaning those two failed completely, and Finality has arrived. In that case, there would be no need to dream anymore, right?"
Eden turned elegantly and walked away, making no sound with her footsteps.
Hua watched her leave, suddenly feeling cold. She turned her head and realized she was alone in the vast command center.
"…"
But soon she rubbed her eyes, rushed out of the command center. The lights in the corridor were dim, a stark contrast to the bright-as-day impression she had before. Eden's receding figure became blurry, just a dark shape moving away.
"Eden!"
Hearing her call, Eden stopped but didn't turn around.
"Eden, you… you're going the wrong way…" Hua's voice trembled, but she still spoke firmly. "That's the passage leading outside. You should go back."
"Oh, oh…" Eden drawled, sighing twice, then stood still.
Just as Hua was debating whether to stop her if she continued outwards, Eden spoke again:
"Hua, you said it yourself earlier. Many people in this era grew up listening to my songs. Now that they're gone, my era is over."
"Eden… I know you're anxious, but please don't be anxious first…" Hua became somewhat incoherent in her agitation, but finally found a way to persuade Eden: "At the very least… let's wait a little longer! What if Michael and Elysia come back? If they hear you left without saying goodbye, Elysia will definitely be very sad…"
"Ah… That's true…"
In the dim light, Eden nodded heavily. Then she turned around, gave an apologetic smile, and walked past Hua again, this time towards the hibernation pods.
Only after her figure disappeared did Hua let out a long sigh of relief.
Then she pressed her lips together, complex emotions welling up inside her.
Three hours left…
Could they really wait until they returned?
Suddenly, she heard a noise in the corridor. She narrowed her eyes—
"Who's there?"
She almost shouted it but stopped herself.
She was also curious. Who would be sneaking around at a time like this?
So she tiptoed towards the source of the sound.
She quickly realized the sound came from Michael's office. A flash of joy appeared in her eyes… but dimmed just as quickly—if Michael had really returned, he would surely appear openly…
But she couldn't be certain. What if it really was Michael? She didn't want to extinguish this sliver of hope.
So she gently gripped the doorknob and pushed it open forcefully with a whoosh.
In the darkness, she easily found the pair of glittering eyes.
"Pardo?"
"Ah… Ah ah… Hua, hi!"
"What are you… doing here?"
Even if she wanted to pilfer something, she should go elsewhere. Michael hadn't been here for three months; what could possibly be in the office?
Pardo didn't rush to answer. Instead, she leaned back in the chair, stretched luxuriously, and then replied nonchalantly:
"Hey! Didn't I bury my long-saved treasures in Twilight Street before? I was worried I wouldn't find 'em when I got out, so I drew a treasure map, and the key to the chest… But when I went to the hibernation pod just now, they said you can only go in with your underwear on. So I thought I'd find a good place to hide the map and key!"
"But… aren't there storage lockers in the hibernation area?"
"Aiya, you don't get it! I could open those lockers with my eyes closed. Too insecure."
"...Pardo…"
"Huh?"
"Why are you trying to hide things from yourself?"
"…"
The two stared at each other in the darkness.
Pardo really wanted to jump up and shout "Oh yeah!", but felt that would make her look too silly…
Fortunately, at that moment, someone turned on the lights, easing the…
Wait!
Hua looked up in horror. Blood-red lights flashed overhead. If her guess was correct, what came next would be…
Wooo—Wooo—Wooo—
The alarm blared sharply three times. There was no mistaking it. A Herrscher had appeared…
And for the alarm to sound at this time, there could only be one outcome—the final Herrscher, the Herrscher of Finality, had arrived.