When the continuous mountain range was leveled, when the cold permafrost turned into scorching lava.
A trumpet-shaped flower bloomed on the unrecognizable earth.
It was so magnificent, its petals like layers of towering peaks, covering a vast area and casting a large shadow.
The tranquil moonlight stained it a silvery white. Ignoring the deep ravines on the surrounding ground and the giant sword frozen on its stem, it possessed an unusual beauty.
"The moon, the flower, they're so beautiful."
Eden murmured, her chest gently rising and falling.
Her singing was the Honkai Energy barrier. She was exhausted, but seeing such a beautiful sight in her weariness lifted her spirits.
The vast earth was silent. Only the moonlight, the white flower, and the fleet on the horizon remained. The emotional ones could find beauty everywhere. The others were not drawn to the spectacle. Their expressions were grim, their eyes fixed on the distance.
What is that thing? What does it want? Everyone was full of questions. The rapidly escalating pressure had suddenly stopped increasing. It couldn't possibly be a sign of goodwill, could it? That they were preparing for peace talks?
Their minds were in turmoil. Warriors like Kevin and Kalpas were utterly confused. They had been ready to charge in for a major battle, only to find the enemy unresponsive, as if Ryan had beaten it into submission.
"Is that End? Just a dramatic facade!" Kalpas scoffed heavily, feeling the fighting spirit he had managed to muster was beginning to dissipate.
"Don't be disappointed, Kalpas. If 'He' remains stalled here, we won't have to risk ourselves. This is for the best." Hua tried to console him, only to see Kalpas turn half-way, staring at her with a complex gaze.
He seemed ready to scoff and reprimand her but couldn't bring himself to speak, his lips merely trembling slightly.
Anyone with a shred of intelligence knew that End hadn't even stepped onto the stage yet; it had merely revealed one foot and then stalled for some reason.
But the train of destiny was barreling toward the terminus, and no one, not even the Cocoon of End itself, could stop it.
Anticipation mixed with fear. The former was a wish; the latter was more like instinct. This kept everyone from speaking casually, afraid of tempting fate.
In this strange atmosphere, Ryan returned.
"What are you all staring at? All fighters of Vice-Captain rank and above, head to the bridge. We need to arrange the next steps."
The man appeared remarkably composed, just as he had responded to countless Honkai threats before. The word 'End' seemed to hold no more significance to him than any previous Herrscher.
"Ryan, what's wrong with that thing?"
"Someone is dragging their feet, causing the progress to pause. That's a good thing for us. At least we don't have to fight continuously; we can catch our breath." Ryan went straight into the battleship without turning his head. His steps were quick, but he truly showed no signs of panic.
He wasn't wrong. The knife hanging overhead wasn't coming down yet. That was torment, but conversely, wouldn't it be better to catch their breath and recover some stamina?
Even with rotations, the previous attack on the Tree was exhausting. Facing such a powerful enemy, they needed to adjust to their optimal state. At the very least, they could use the time to amend their last wills.
A moment of silence passed. Many turned back to look at the frozen moonlight and the flower.
"This guy is truly composed. He's not panicking at all?" Mobius broke the silence, naturally not mentioning that she had almost panicked to death herself.
"Perhaps he and Mei considered every possibility long ago. End's arrival is sudden, but not without warning." Sakura explained in a low voice. She knew the man had been observing something during their hunts.
"Frankly, I think welcoming End isn't so bad. It's better than that thing detonating and sinking the Eurasian continent. If 'He' tastes the sweetness of wanton destruction, what will happen if 'He' keeps bombing us? We can't just watch 'Him' destroy the Earth, can we?"
Sakura was meticulous and had long understood Ryan's greatest fear. If the enemy were truly so shameless as to resort to dropping garbage, they would be forced to pay with lives, allowing the Cocoon of End to calmly calculate the next, larger-scale attack.
"Are you saying that a decisive battle with 'Him' is a blessing?" Andavich stepped forward, meeting the girl's stern gaze.
"Yes. At least it ensures the currency of life is spent meaningfully. I don't fear fighting to the death. I fear not even getting a chance to see the enemy, and this opportunity is unique."
The crowd fell silent. Some likely understood the source of this opportunity. If they failed to seize it, the future of the Earth would depend entirely on the Honkai's mood.
"Don't overthink it. Ryan has built the platform. Let's work together!" Elysia finally stepped forward, raising her right fist high. But receiving no immediate response, with everyone staring at her, she scratched her face instinctively.
Most people weren't in high spirits. Well, the word 'End' itself was terrifying.
Just as she was pondering how to lift everyone's spirits, Kevin was the first to enter the vessel, followed by Kalpas, then Sakura. Gradually, everyone filed in. Fear existed, of course, but after years of pushing through, with this inertia, End didn't seem so different from any other Herrscher.
Thump, thump, thump.
Leather boots struck the steel floor powerfully. The man, whose murderous intent had not yet dissipated, strode forward.
Ryan hadn't had the luxury of preparing himself mentally. At least he was in control of the situation and had some preparation. For an ordinary soldier, transitioning from fighting a 'Beast' to facing End would be completely disorienting.
First, the elimination of the Herrscher of Constraint, then the Beast, then the Beast hunt led to the skeletal giant, which was followed by the giant tree. It was absolutely relentless.
One link after another, it was enough to give Ryan a headache. Fortunately, he was one of the scriptwriters and had some psychological preparation.
"Calis actually succeeded. That truly is a miracle."
Before Kevin and the others entered, Ryan sought out Mei. She had a hand in this script as well. The conference room screen was flashing with numerous images. Ryan hadn't had a chance to observe them closely yet.
"It is a miracle, but he was forced. Just now, the Cocoon of End was either going to gather all its strength for one last gamble or simply run out of patience and prepare to abandon everything."
"He couldn't accept either of those possibilities, and neither could I."
"Not even the first one?"
"Ordinary mutated Honkai Beasts can be hunted. That thing, however, would have been an instant self-destruct if it thought it was going to be cut down. Once it realized I would cleave it, it would release its energy instantly."
According to Mobius's calculations, that explosion would have been devastating, easily sinking the Eurasian continent. Even that wasn't the worst outcome. The worst was if the Cocoon of End felt the destruction was too severe, deemed the planet not worth rebooting, and simply annihilated the Earth to plague the next planet.
Reboot and Annihilation appear similar but are fundamentally different. The required methods are vastly different.
The highest level of reboot is the Cocoon of End itself descending. If you defeat Her, you pass the test. Annihilation, however, is the examiner leaving, burning down the test site on the way to the next classroom.
Ryan couldn't help but recall Vita's final data—the mutual destruction forced upon the Venusians. He was instantly thankful for the knowledge gained from the Sea of Quanta.
Venus acted as the 'Previous Era.' With their data, Ryan planned for annihilation as the ultimate test from the start. Now, they had arrived at almost the exact same point in time as the Venusians.
There are many ways to annihilate, and the most terrifying is, of course, the examiner descending in person. But it is also the scenario with the most opportunities, as it is, in a sense, a continuation of the exam.
It was far better than 'He' hiding in an unreachable shadow and simply setting fire to the place.
His eyes shifted to one of the screens, showing images captured by the deployed satellites.
On the moon, a trace of purple light appeared in the vast, dark universe, looking like a rippling wave. In the center of the wave, a huge sphere was breaking through, in a semi-virtual, semi-real state.
Honkai energy, enough to push detectors off the charts, spread through space, seemingly attempting to devour the moon. The wave formed a tail linking to the flower on the ice field 380,000 kilometers away.
"The Cocoon answered the 'Beast's' call. I see. That tree pulled it out." Ryan spoke to himself with a slightly mystical tone:
"Consolidating the Beast into one, using a massive amount of Honkai energy to trigger resonance, causing the Cocoon to manifest and bloom into the splendid flower named End. There really was a way to bypass the necessary conditions I knew about."
"Did Calis seize this opportunity?" Mei was also curious, watching the numbers scroll on the screen. Prometheus was using the energy change to calculate the final time of its descent.
Until She fully descended into reality, no one could attack, so Mei was not visibly anxious.
At this moment, all fighters of Vice-Captain rank and above arrived on the bridge, all captivated by the sight on the central screen. The anomaly appearing in the vast cosmos was indeed mysterious and beautiful.
Their eyes were fixated. They felt their souls being drawn in. Their hearts instinctively pounded. Everyone felt parched.
So, the real enemy is in the sky? The Tree was just acting as a signal tower? And why are Mei and Ryan so calm? Don't they feel that thing is ominous?
Ryan was indeed calm. He let the group stare at the screen and use their imaginations, even taking the time to answer Mei's question.
"He merely followed the natural flow. That thing has several uses; it can be a signal tower or something else."
"Will he get the answer?"
"I don't know, and I'm not interested. But Calis lit the fuse. He definitely has a way to question the Cocoon of End." Ryan chose to consider the situation from Calis's perspective, no longer dwelling on how Calis achieved this. "Until he gets the answer, holding onto 'Her' and preventing the progression objectively buys us time. How much time depends on Prometheus's calculation."
This was equivalent to the effect of Kevin's strongest sword on the original timeline, halting End's pace for twenty-four hours. Ryan had planned to secure this respite, but now it seemed that gift could be saved for later.
It was a brief but precious window. It even earned a measure of goodwill from Elysia and the others. Calis had objectively helped.
"Can he succeed?"
"I don't know, and I don't care. Regardless of success or failure, Calis is irrelevant to our world line. Find a place to sit, everyone. It's time for us to answer the question."
As his words fell, those staring at the screen or trying to figure out how to help Calis snapped out of their thoughts and scattered, only to find that there were too many people, and no place to sit. Most had to lean against the wall or squat on the stairs.
As the most important combat meeting in the history of Fire Moth—no, human history—it was surprisingly informal.
Elysia tilted her head. She didn't care about ceremony, but it was different from what she had imagined.
It should have been in a conference room with the gigantic Fire Moth emblem, with Ryan seated at the head, his authoritative gaze sweeping over everyone, each person looking serious and excited. But the current Ryan, though serious, was leaning back in his chair, swinging his right leg slightly, his steel pen spinning quickly between his fingers.
'He still shows no signs of panic. Also, dear Mobius, can you stop cozying up to Ryan? Haven't you noticed the bunny-eared bodyguard pushing you away several times?'
Elysia smiled as she watched. This atmosphere of serious vitality, of tense unity, was quite nice.
Ryan wasn't acting like he was facing an overwhelming enemy. The event had already happened. Frightening or intimidating others was pointless. Even the preliminary combat plan was already drafted.
"Execute the 'Star Epoch' operation. Proceed according to the second version, we only need to modify the details."
Making last-minute plans was not Ryan's style. As he spoke, the top-secret document stored in the central database was sent to everyone's tactical terminal.
The document contained tens of thousands of words, filled with dense tables and data. Unlike before, even Kalpas, who was usually indifferent to plans, craned his neck to read it carefully.
It was very detailed. It clearly showed numerous revisions. Each step had multiple extensions, calculating the enemy's possible responses as much as possible.
'I can't fully understand it, but it seems very powerful.'
Kalpas hadn't participated in the specialized training, and Ludicyna's page-turning was too fast. He quickly withdrew his head, staring at Ryan in the Captain's seat.
This guy arranged everything? How did he know the Honkai Beast would converge into one, attract End, and that End would pause, using the time for preparation?
I understand now. He can foresee the future. No wonder that Aponia woman is always so cryptic. No wonder I can never defeat him.
Wait, my original goal was to fight him to the death. What does this human future and End have to do with me?
Kalpas suddenly had a realization. Just as he was about to question Ryan, a small hand turned his head.
"Captain, please be serious. No one is safe once the fighting starts. If I fall, the [Annihilation] Team will still need you to lead it." Ludicyna was rarely this serious. The usual warm smile was absent from her tense face.
"To kill you, they'd have to step over my corpse!" Kalpas blurted out. He then saw a flicker of pleasant surprise in her ruby eyes. He quickly shut his mouth, turning to glare at Ryan.
Forget it. I'm trapped, but there's no going back anyway.
Why is Kalpas glaring at me? He seemed somewhat impressed just now.
Ryan was bewildered. If he knew what Kalpas was thinking, he could only shrug. Mei calculated that, not me. And I don't have future vision either.
Similar combat plans were abundant in the database. He proposed the ideas, and Mei used Prometheus to run the simulations. Humans couldn't be omniscient, but they could use tools to consider every detail.
This plan was formulated after probing South America. It had several versions and dozens of revisions, basically accounting for all of Calis's outcomes. The second version wasn't perfect, but the premise was quite good.
"At least, I still have a chance to proceed according to the plan."
"Ryan, is this why you are so composed?" Sakura heard his low mutter and couldn't help but ask.
"Composed? How can there be composure in the face of End? It's just that the few percentage points gained in success rate are enough to make one ecstatic." Ryan waved his hand, trying to keep his voice steady:
"At the very least, this is not the Cocoon of End's most perfect state, and it has lost its element of surprise and continuity."
The worst-case scenario was End not arriving, but blowing a hole in the Earth, forcing them onto a different path. In that case, his focus would be on how to extend the Earth's life.
The slightly better scenario was End arriving immediately, leaving no time for adjustment. They would go straight into a desperate fight, with success entirely up to fate.
So, this was already quite good.
Sakura didn't realize Ryan had thought so much. She turned to the girl leaning against the wall. "Is it because of Elysia?"
"Yes. I wanted to do more than just save her. Although I don't know how the Honkai bypassed that necessary condition, there must be a flaw. It won't reach a perfect state."
The foreshadowing had been laid. Whether it would be useful depended on future developments. Seeing that everyone had finished reading, Sakura stopped asking and resumed her stance, standing resolute with her hand on her sword. Mobius tried to push her away subtly, but she remained immovable.
"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? I have questions too."
"Then wait a bit longer. It's Ryan's turn to summarize now. Don't interrupt his train of thought."
Mobius's lips twitched. She scrutinized the woman, thinking that in addition to being called a rabbit and a donkey, Sakura deserved the nickname 'loyal dog.'
"You've all read it, haven't you? There's no need to understand it too deeply; just follow the steps." Ryan knew that everyone's intelligence levels varied and there was no need to overcomplicate things.
The operation was divided into three phases: preparation, probing and intelligence gathering, and the formal battle. The last phase couldn't be guessed yet, but the first two were manageable.
"All usable materials have been allocated, and monitoring satellites are in orbit. According to the plan, we'll return to Sea Abyss City first. As for how long this reprieve lasts, we have to wait for Prometheus's calculation." Mei took over, maintaining her cool demeanor.
"Then, we will take the offensive and move the battlefield as far away from Earth as possible."
"That's essential. We must learn from Venus's lesson. If we have enough time, everyone needs to get used to zero-gravity combat." Ryan had already planned this. His gaze swept over the crowd, and just as he was about to speak...
"Calculation complete. End will resume in twenty-three hours and seventeen minutes. The positive and negative error margin is thirteen minutes and twenty seconds."
Accompanied by the young girl's voice, the pen spinning in Ryan's hand paused. He felt the atmosphere in the bridge intensify by dozens of times. Twenty-three hours—a longer period than he had anticipated, but negligible in the long river of civilization.
He could almost hear the clock ticking in his ear. For the first time, he felt nervous, the instinctive anxiety before a major exam, the self-doubt when facing a super-difficult test.
Can I fulfill everyone's wishes? Can I forge a new path? Will the outcome be better or worse?
There were no reference answers. In reality, he had already walked a new path. The greatest abyss was ahead. Stepping forward now meant he didn't even know what he was stepping on.
Fortunately, he was a top student. He had done his utmost to study and prepare for this exam. Now that he was at the exam hall door, there was nothing left to amend.
The detailed, solid preparation gave his empty heart a footing. At least it was more reassuring than facing the challenge completely bewildered and relying solely on luck.
With the preparation done beforehand, I guess I don't need a protagonist's halo anymore.
Just as the bridge fell into silence and everyone was lost in thought, a composed voice broke through.
"All has been done. The end is near."