This is the land of beginning and end, and also the eternal prison and tomb that torments sinners.
The enveloping fog and spatial chaos made one lose their sense of direction and purpose.
Seele and Bronya, who were exploring in the fog, carefully avoided the Honkai Creatures, leaving marks all along the way.
But as they passed a streetlamp, the space instantly shifted, and they were back at their starting point.
Coincidentally... Ryn and Penglaiji Ryn had clearly made the same mistake and had also returned here.
Seele and Ryn greeted each other.
"Uh... looks like we're back where we started, for the dozenth time... Ryn, did you find anything on your end?"
"No, the space here is too chaotic, and the temporal turbulence is too severe.
Let's stop exploring for now. I believe after so many attempts, everyone understands that the distribution of these nodes is completely random. It's highly possible to step on multiple nodes with a single step...
The method of leaving marks along the way is also ineffective. After we leave, the Honkai Creatures will immediately destroy any marks we make."
"Mmm, Ryn is right. I've mapped out every route we've taken... but it turns out that even when we take the same route, we end up in different places.
If we rely on just blindly searching to find the correct path, the number of attempts might need to be in the six or seven-digit range..."
Bronya handed the notebook in her hand to Ryn and Penglaiji Ryn.
The mapped routes were dense and tangled, looking like a ball of yarn chewed up by a cat...
Penglaiji Ryn took out her own notebook. It was a bit clearer than Bronya's...
It's just that there were too many lines, so tangled that they had all merged into a large black smudge...
Seele leaned over to take a look and shook her head helplessly.
"It's getting dark, and the Honkai Creatures will start becoming more active. Why don't we go back to Theresa's little house, rest up, and then make a plan?"
"Yeah, we can also check if Grand-aunt is awake. If she is, we'll give her a couple more whacks."
"You're so filial..."
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In the safe house, Theresa rubbed the bump on her head and jumped off the bed.
He calls me Grand-aunt to my face, but he doesn't hold back with that baseball bat at all.
I, Theresa, no longer have a nephew like Ryn!
The Judah next to the bed had already been repaired once more by Ryn. The lance that had been broken by Mei before had also been remade by Ryn, bringing the number of lances back to thirteen.
The space in Academy City was distorted by the Honkai. It took Theresa several years to figure it all out. Ryn and the others certainly wouldn't be able to find the correct path in a short amount of time.
Weapons can be destroyed, but they can also be repaired. But a broken heart and a destroyed world can never be restored.
There's no need to create more sorrow. Everyone should just live peacefully until the end of the world...
Theresa shouldered the Oath of Judah and pushed open the door. She was going to stop Ryn and the others!
And then she froze, because Ryn and the others were now sitting on the sofa in the living room, and Bronya was in the kitchen preparing dinner for everyone.
"Yo~ Grand-aunt, you're awake! What a coincidence, dinner's almost ready."
Ryn raised his arm and waved at Theresa, signaling for her to come over.
"I am not your grand-aunt!" Theresa's brow furrowed and she looked a little angry, but she still walked over to Ryn and sat down.
"Weren't you looking for Kiana? Why are you in my house?"
"The space is too chaotic, we can't find the way. So we're planning to rest up at Grand-aunt's place first~"
Looking at Ryn's cheerful reply, Theresa really wanted to punch him in the face a couple of times.
A group of people want to kill her child, and they're cheerfully occupying her home.
"Sigh... Why must you kill Kiana? This world can't be saved anymore. Can't we just find a safe and peaceful place to live out our days until the end?"
"Who knows? I don't know what others are thinking, I don't even know what I'm thinking myself."
Ryn thought for a moment, then shrugged. The world was beyond saving, but so what? Everyone was rushing headlong into that non-existent flame of hope, burning themselves to ashes.
The fire has already been lit, so even if he wasn't going to add fuel to it, he shouldn't be the one to put it out.
Ryn: "If hope is lost in the heart, it's the same as being destroyed. Humanity still has a sliver of hope in its heart, so we choose to become torches, to carry this flame of hope, and to ignite that tower named Despair."
Penglaiji Ryn nodded, "Mmm, big brother is right. If this world has lost hope, then I will bring new hope to this world. Because we are saviors, saviors of light."
"Hah, naive. Do as you please... When the lance of Finality falls from the sky and all things turn to ash and dissipate, I hope you won't regret it..."
Theresa just laughed self-deprecatingly at Ryn's and the other's words.
She was a witness to the Great Honkai Eruption. Back then, the Cross of Finality Kiana struck down directly pierced the Earth's crust and disturbed the mantle layer. The massive impact caused the entire planet to tremble violently, even shifting its celestial orbit...
Drastic changes in surface temperature, super-powerful earthquakes, haze obscuring the sun's light, and countless other natural disasters erupted all at once...
Whether it was the creatures of Earth or the Honkai Creatures, they all went through a great cleansing at that moment.
Theresa didn't understand how she managed to survive back then, or even why some ordinary people also survived. But since they did survive, they should cherish their lives!
Let Ryn fight if he wants to. Even if he really can stand against the Herrscher of Finality, Kiana, the shockwaves from their battle would be enough to destroy the Earth several more times.
Did they think she was protecting Kiana from harm... Wrong, she was stopping them from serving themselves up on a platter to Kiana.
As long as the Honkai exists, Kiana will not be injured or die, because... she is the Honkai.
"What are you thinking about so intently, Grand-aunt?"
"Nothing... Just thinking, for all the times you've called me Grand-aunt, whether I should burn incense at your grave in the future." Theresa spread her small hands and stuck out her tongue.
"???" Ryn's eyes widened, looking at Theresa in disbelief. I call you Grand-aunt, and you curse me to die?
"Don't worry, I'll definitely outlive you. Speaking of which, don't let decades pass and my kids are all grown up, while you're still such a little pipsqueak~"