CHAPTER 458: MICHAEL’S FINAL KINDNESS

[September 23, 2016: Pink-haired woman first appears in the Cavalli Islands, Northland Region.]

[The next day, the same woman appears in Whangarei, Northland Region.]

[Same day, silver-haired man appears in Cornwall Park, Auckland, distributing leaflets and giving a speech to the public.]

[October 2: The two appear together in Hamilton Gardens, Waikato, to give a speech.]

[From October 2 to October 7, the two suspects travel between various regions, giving speeches, distributing leaflets, and even giving away free plane tickets to leave New Zealand.]

[October 8: National Security Agency requests identity file search access from Schicksal. Cross-referencing confirms the identity of the pink-haired woman—Yae Sakura, from the Far East. The police system prepares to arrest her on charges of disturbing the peace.]

[October 9: Police clash with the two suspects in Wellington Botanic Garden. The suspects escape, and no civilians are injured. Same day, the identity file for the woman named Yae Sakura is confirmed to be a complete forgery.]

[October 11: Arrest attempt in Palmerston North fails again. Over one million people depart the country on the same day. Emergency lockdown of all entry and exit routes is enacted. Same day, a request for assistance is sent to Schicksal and is rejected.]

[As of October 15, all entry and exit routes are closed. The number of people who have left the country within twenty days reaches over 3,780,000. Another request for assistance is sent to Schicksal and is rejected.]

"Sakura, Su... so it really was you two..."

Michael let out a soft sigh. He put down the file he had gotten from Rita, weighed it on his knee for a moment, then tossed it lightly onto the bench.

He had initially thought that, given the efficiency of government agencies, the file would be of little value. But now it seemed he didn’t even need to search for online videos or other data. This file, combined with the events of yesterday, was enough to confirm their identities.

But he couldn’t understand. What was the point of all this?

If they were truly plotting something behind his back, shouldn’t they have kept a low profile to avoid his notice, so they could strike at the most critical moment?

Or was this just a warning? But what was it meant to warn him about? And if it really was a warning, why not tell him in a clearer way?

Also, how did they know that a Honkai Eruption would occur in New Zealand...?

Ah, right.

That part, Michael could easily explain. For so many years, Su had been carrying out Project Stigma. The Imaginary Space and the Sea of Quanta didn’t operate on human concepts of time. An observed world could correspond to the past, the present, or, naturally, the future.

By summarizing the possibilities from observing these future parallel worlds, one could always find certain events that had an extremely high probability of occurring. These were the so-called worldline convergence points.

In that case, did they leave traces behind because they were trying to evacuate as many civilians as possible before the disaster?

That was even more unlikely. Setting aside whether M.E.I. would have made such a choice if she were the mastermind, even if this was just Sakura and Su acting on their own, Su’s abilities were more than enough to make everyone who saw him forget his face.

So what if he was filmed? Just like the Eighth Herrscher, he could have easily set his and Sakura’s appearances as "keywords." Even if photos were taken or videos were recorded, the human eye would see nothing but a blank space when looking at them.

Wasn’t it that simple?

Michael’s thoughts went in a full circle, only to end up right back where he started.

He propped himself up with his hands on the bench. A faint numbness, accompanied by a stinging from the cold, spread through his palms. It was the dead of winter. The hospital ward might be warm, but the hallway was drafty and exceptionally cold.

He leaned back slowly, his head tilting up to stare at the round fluorescent light on the ceiling.

The light was the same sickly white as always, casting the entire corridor in its pale glow. Michael shivered instinctively. It was the kind of light that reminded one of snow-covered ground on a rare, clear winter day—it looked warm, but in reality, as the snow sublimated, the chill only grew more intense.

Besides, a light like this...

It always made one think of the night.

This world was strange that way. The brighter the light, the more it reminded you of the pitch-black night. Especially in a hospital corridor like this one, where the lights were on for almost the entire day, only dimming late at night. If you noticed the lights seemed brighter than before, it usually meant that night had fallen.

It wasn’t hard to understand. The brightness of the lamp itself didn’t change, so if it appeared brighter, it must be because the surroundings had grown darker.

Michael pursed his lips, picked up the New Zealand government’s report again, and scanned it twice more. Confirming there was no more useful information, he tore the paper files to shreds. He appeared to stuff them back into his pocket, but in reality, he tossed them into a spatial rift.

Without the protection of his authority, the fragile sheets of paper were torn into atoms the moment they entered the rift.

Then, he stood up again. Taking two steps to the side, he could see into the ward through the window.

Seele was still sleeping peacefully, an IV drip attached to her arm. According to the monitors, all her vital signs were as normal as could be, yet she showed no sign of waking.

Bronya sat by Seele’s bedside, holding her hand and silently watching her sleep. Mei and Kiana were lying on a cot and a sofa on opposite sides of the room. It seemed the three girls had agreed to take shifts, ensuring someone was with Seele twenty-four hours a day, ready to react the moment she woke up.

Of course, from a purely rational standpoint, this was unnecessary. The room had surveillance, and the critical care department would have someone monitoring a patient like Seele. Their vigil was, in a way, just gilding the lily...

But it was precisely because humans were bound to do such superfluous things that they could be called human.

Just as his own actions, compared to what he sought to achieve, were entirely superfluous as well.

Michael blinked, and another figure appeared in the room. Bronya seemed to sense something. She looked up and saw Michael peering in from the hallway. Bronya blinked, showing no further emotion, and quickly turned her gaze back to Seele.

But a new figure was indeed standing in the middle of the room. She was dressed in white, with only her eyes and a single lock of hair dyed a fiery red, much like the Azure Empyrea battlesuit—ah, right. This was just a feather from Fenghuang Down that Hua had left on Seele, now with Hua’s consciousness projected onto it.

She stood there in the center of the room, staring coldly at Michael. But aside from him, no one else noticed her presence.

Their staredown lasted less than half a minute. Hua walked straight toward the window, her body passing through the wall and glass to stand beside Michael.

"How is Seele?"

Michael leaned forward, resting his elbows on the windowsill and propping his chin on his fist, leaving his back completely exposed to Hua.

As he expected, seeing this posture made Hua’s attitude soften, and even her words lost their edge.

"The situation is strange, Michael. I know this might sound... but are you sure you had nothing to do with this?"

Michael shook his head without hesitation.

"Perhaps one day I will cross blades with Mei, Kiana, and Bronya. But no matter what, I will never do anything to harm Seele."

Hua nodded. This was consistent with her understanding of Michael. Or rather, this was the Michael she knew. More importantly, although Michael also possessed the Authority of Sentience, she could still use Fenghuang Down to determine, to an extent, if he was lying.

The good news was, Michael wasn’t lying. At least, not this time.

Michael was indeed telling the truth. He had just played with the concept—Seele and "Seele" were both Seele, right?

In such a short time, and with Hua only considering the other Seele to be a second personality, she naturally couldn’t detect the hidden meaning in his words.

Having ruled Michael out as a suspect, she began to state her findings.

"There are no external injuries on Seele, which I’m sure you’ve already confirmed. I’ve also used Fenghuang Down to examine her consciousness. Overall, there are no issues, but... the consciousness currently inside her body... it feels like... a phantom."

"A phantom?"

"That’s right, like a phantom... I can clearly sense that her consciousness is within her body, and I can even feel that it’s unharmed. But when I try to touch it with the power of Fenghuang Down... I can’t touch anything at all."

"Like Mobius’s snake," Michael added, cutting straight to the point.

Hua paused, then nodded involuntarily. "Yes, like Mobius’s snake."

They turned their heads in unison, their gazes meeting mid-air. Hua quickly looked away, while Michael offered a small smile.

It was a term unique to their era. In this new era, the equivalent, more widely known term was "Schrödinger’s Cat."

So it really is related to the Sea of Quanta, Michael thought. No wonder Hua had suspected him at first. If there was one person in the world who could treat the Sea of Quanta as their personal backyard, it could only be Michael.

Of course, that wasn’t entirely true. "Seele" herself had a high affinity for the Sea of Quanta. When Su carried out Project Stigma, he used the Second Divine Key to create a world bubble called Sumeru and sank it into the Sea of Quanta to observe parallel worlds. Besides, no one knew how far Otto or Anti-Entropy had progressed in their research of the Sea. But regardless, if Seele’s condition was related to the Sea of Quanta, Michael was naturally the prime suspect.

But for Michael, this was also an incredibly important clue.

"The Sea of Quanta? The three of them were dragged into a world bubble in the Sea of Quanta before? No, impossible. Su didn’t have time to determine if their bodies were compatible. Doing so rashly would be tantamount to murder. But Seele’s current state... was a large-scale environment constructed based on a world bubble, which then pulled their consciousnesses in, without involving their physical bodies?"

Michael had straightened up at some point. He rubbed the stubble on his chin with his right hand, muttering to himself, his eyes vacant and unfocused.

"You have a theory?" Hua’s voice cut through his thoughts.

"A few, but I might need to confirm them."

Michael didn’t turn his head. In the ward, Mei sat up from the cot. She immediately saw Michael standing at the window.

Michael waved to her. Without hesitation, Mei rubbed her eyes, said something to Bronya, and then hurried toward the door.

Hua glanced at him. Michael shrugged, as if to say their conversation was over.

Hua didn’t press the matter, but just as she was about to return to Seele’s body, Michael suddenly spoke again.

"Yesterday, I met Sakura."

Hua froze. A pang of fear exploded in her chest. If her current body wasn’t a manifestation of Fenghuang Down’s power, her back would have been drenched in cold sweat.

But when she turned her head again, she only saw the back of Michael’s head.

"If they truly intend to do something, they will definitely contact you... no, perhaps they already have. But Hua, this time, I won’t interfere with your choice. Whether you choose to help me as you have countless times before, standing behind me, or to stand against me, like you did in Cocolia’s orphanage, the choice is yours. But Hua, if you choose the latter, I hope that when the time comes, neither of us will hold back."

The ward door opened, and Mei walked out slowly. Michael subtly shifted his body. Behind him, Hua was gone.

---||---

Gasp—

Hua shot upright in bed. Just as she’d expected, cold sweat had completely soaked her back, plastering her bangs to her forehead.

"Did you have a nightmare?"

A gentle voice sounded from beside the bed.

Almost instinctively, I raised my hand to throw a punch at the dark figure, but thankfully, my composure returned quickly enough.

The raised hand continued upward to brush back my hair, the movement appearing perfectly natural, especially under the cover of darkness.

She didn’t answer Fuxi’s question, instead asking one of her own.

"Aren’t you leaving yet?"

Fuxi chuckled softly, unperturbed by Hua’s bluntness.

From the moment they met, Hua had maintained this cold demeanor, neither actively driving her away nor giving her a chance to speak.

But Fuxi hadn’t expected Hua to be the one to break the silence.

"What do you all really want?"

The corners of Fuxi’s lips curled up. She had been hiding in Hua’s dorm for three days and three nights, finally getting her chance to speak. Even though she was much more composed than her sister, she couldn’t help but feel a rush of joy.

But Hua seemed to regret asking. Before Fuxi could even utter a single syllable, Hua shook her head vigorously in the darkness.

Only a rough silhouette was visible in the gloom, but Fuxi could feel the air currents stirred by her hair swinging like a rattle drum, and even the faint scent of her shampoo grew stronger.

She wanted to say something, but she was a step too slow. Hua spoke first.

"Whatever it is you want, your purpose in finding me is to have me stand against him when the time comes, isn’t that right?"

Fuxi was speechless. She could only nod, though she didn’t know if Hua could even see the gesture in the dark.

But she soon heard Hua’s answer, spoken with almost no hesitation.

"I agree."

Mission accomplished. Fuxi felt she should be happy.

But she couldn’t muster the feeling. Perhaps she understood what a painful decision this was for the girl before her... every single time.

She left quickly using the Second Divine Key. Hua watched the spatial rift close, shaking her head slightly.

In the darkness, Hua covered her face, and tears soon streamed through her fingers.

Her voice echoed faintly in the room, words that, for someone who had lost so many memories, were incomprehensible even to herself.

"So, even my helpless self from the past was a form of help to you?"

"So, you always noticed me standing behind you..."

"But... I still can’t save you. How truly... sad this is..."

She knew she had made the right choice. To her, both Michael and the Flame-Chasers were just very familiar strangers. Setting aside those feelings, based on pure reason, she had to defeat the man who was equivalent to the Final Herrscher.

But every cell in her body was weeping...

She had the urge to delve into all the memories stored in Fenghuang Down, but she didn’t even have the courage to uncover her past.

She was afraid those burdensome memories would make her change her mind.

---||---

"So, Mei, what exactly happened when you were all unconscious?" Michael asked in a low voice as he gently wiped Mei’s nose.

The stark difference in temperature between the ward and the hallway had made the groggy Mei, who had come out without a jacket, sneeze several times in a row before Michael could even ask his question.

Mei silently accepted Michael’s care, but after hearing his question, she hesitated for a moment before taking the tissue from him.

"We... dreamed... I think it was a dream? We dreamed of a very strange place."

"Strange how?"

"Um... there was a big sister there who looked a lot like Himeko, the class monitor, Mobius, and... you were there too."

Michael’s brow relaxed slightly. Just as I thought. A world bubble?

"Also, that world seemed to have Herrschers, too."

Michael nodded. That was normal. Su had once shown him a parallel world with the conclusion that any world with Elysia in it would also have the Honkai. Because Elysia, as the Herrscher of Origin, was a part of the Herrscher of Finality—and Michael was Finality itself.

He also understood now that those world bubbles containing him and Elysia were byproducts of the other Michael’s repeated time interventions.

So, the presence of Herrschers wasn’t surprising.

"Anything else? Can you be more detailed? It might be a great help in solving Seele’s current problem."

"Seele... she was acting a little strange. The big sister who looked like Himeko said that this world’s Seele was already dead, and our Seele seemed to... know the you from that world..."

Michael’s brow furrowed. Seele had spent fifty thousand years in the Sea of Quanta. It wasn’t impossible for her to accidentally return to a world bubble she had visited before.

But the combination of keywords gave Michael a foreboding feeling—Himiko, Hua, Michael, Seele, Herrschers, Mobius...

Wait a minute! Wasn’t this...

"When you met the big sister who looked like Himeko, what was she doing? Do you remember?"

"Watering flowers? I think they were sunflowers," Mei replied without thinking.

A muscle in Michael’s eye twitched. He said nothing more.

It was confirmed. The events cycling on repeat in that world bubble were those of the 7th Honkai Eruption.

The other Michael had interfered with this world five times. Aside from the first time, Michael suspected that each interference corresponded to a time when he felt a gaze from the Imaginary Space.

In that case, less than a week before the 7th Honkai Eruption, a time interference had likely occurred, making the creation of a corresponding world bubble plausible.

Considering the cyclical nature of a world bubble, perhaps it was created because, in the original timeline, the Seventh Herrscher had destroyed humanity, which in turn prompted the other Michael’s intervention.

But why would Su specifically seek out such a world bubble?

Did he intend to pull the "Michael" from that world out to fight him?

That was laughable. A world bubble was just a phantom of the past. A phantom was, in the end, just a phantom. How could it possibly become a reality in the real world?

"Um, Michael..."

"Hm? What is it?"

Michael’s silence seemed to frighten Mei, though he himself didn’t yet understand the source of her fear.

"Can you help Wendy? The doctor said... the Gem of Desire has completely fused with her. If they try to remove it, Wendy will die. But if they don’t... she might have to spend the rest of her life..."

"I know. You’re as kind as ever, Mei. Don’t worry, I was planning on finding a way regardless."

Michael gently patted Mei’s head. Then he stood up and paced a few steps nonchalantly.

"I’ll do my best, but I’ll need some time to prepare. I might disappear for a day tomorrow."

Where he was going went without saying.

But whether it was for Hua or for Mei, this was likely his final act of kindness.