"Hoo..."
After Hua left with Ling Shuang, Su let out a short, heavy breath, turned his head with difficulty, and said:
"I know you probably still have many questions you want answered, and many you can't figure out. But those things can be explained later. The main task now, our main task, is to restrain this monster before us, understand?"
"Tch, give it a rest, you old coot are just being pretentious! Just tell us directly what needs to be done."
"Sigh..."
Su sighed again. Unlike before, this sigh was filled with helpless exasperation.
"As you can see, my power is locked in a stalemate with this big guy. I need the two of you to use the Abyss Flower to inject a small amount of Honkai energy into its body and maintain this state... Just do this, leave the rest entirely to me."
"Alright, alright, we know you're powerful."
Eleanor, as always, was sharp-tongued, but her actions were exceptionally proactive. She quickly walked past Su, approached Mobius's corpse, and gently pierced it with the tip of the Abyss Flower.
Kallen followed beside her. The effects of the herbal soup she took before the execution had gradually dissipated, allowing her to offer some help. However, her mental state seemed poor; she was like a block of wood, showing no desire to speak. Even when moving, her body was extremely stiff, like a puppet mimicking Eleanor's actions.
"Tch!"
Eleanor suddenly clicked her tongue, withdrew the hand holding the spear hilt, turned back, and asked:
"So, 'small amount of Honkai energy,' how small is small?"
"Small means a little bit."
"How much is a little bit?"
"A little bit is a small amount."
Eleanor's rather beautiful face twitched twice. Her lips opened and closed rapidly, muttering something silently, finally forcing out:
"...Fine, I'll figure it out myself."
Turning back, she and Kallen tacitly gripped the spear shaft simultaneously. The Stigmata hidden beneath their clothes glowed faintly, and Honkai energy flowed like a drip into the corpse before them—though they still didn't know why they were doing this.
But some entity who enjoys watching chaos unfold (if such exists) seemed to think today hadn't had enough accidents. Two or three breaths after Honkai energy began flowing into Mobius's corpse, the surrounding sludge became active again. After overcoming the initial daze, it surged frantically towards the Abyss Flower.
"Don't panic! Leave it to me!"
Su shouted lightly. Under the suppression of golden light, the sludge's undulations were temporarily smoothed out. Su took several gasping breaths, then immediately instructed:
"The situation is trickier than I thought. Don't be surprised by whatever happens next. You just need to ensure a continuous input of Honkai energy."
"Sigh—"
Eleanor turned back, intending to seize the opportunity to ask all her questions clearly, but Su wasn't behind her. In his place was a "peacock" with its eyes closed, displaying its tail feathers.
"Holy crap! You really are an old coot peacock!"
---||---
"Well, well, I've been waiting for you for quite some time, Su."
"Mobius, your consciousness is indeed awake."
Su turned his head with difficulty. He had just entered Mobius's mental landscape and wasn't quite used to it yet.
Everything around was enveloped in dark green. His surroundings were clearly void, yet it felt as if he were encased in viscous, cold sludge, unable to move, almost suffocating.
"Oh?"
Mobius sat in the void, nonchalantly crossing her legs, biting her sharp fingernails as she teased:
"Tsk tsk tsk! They say you men prioritize romance over friendship... What? Flirting with that Schariac girl outside for so long, yet when you see me, your old comrade of fifty thousand years, you can't even spare a greeting?"
Su held up his index finger and explained seriously:
"Firstly, I don't have much of a relationship with her, let alone what you're thinking. Secondly, until I figure out what you and Michael truly intend to do, your so-called 'comrade' relationship is essentially defunct, considering we've already crossed swords."
"Tch, at least say 'long time no see.' Don't you even have that simple courtesy?"
Su shifted his gaze to the evasive Mobius, nodded as if understanding something, and asked directly:
"So, Mobius, your task is to stall me?"
Mobius's smile gradually became forced, finally disappearing completely after five or six seconds. She pouted slightly in annoyance but had to nod.
"Yes, yes, yes, I just need to keep you here, that's all."
As her words fell, Su's lips curled up almost imperceptibly. He pressed on with a hint of amusement:
"Oh? Why me, and not Hua?"
Mobius clenched her left hand into a fist. The fingernail she was chewing suddenly lost its appeal.
This was why she hated psychic-type Fusion Warriors. For people like them, even without using their abilities, just through keen observation and understanding of psychology, the thoughts of most people were laid bare before them.
"Who knows, maybe because you're stronger?"
Despite being in a mental landscape, Mobius somehow produced a nail clipper and meticulously trimmed the previously bitten, uneven nails, trying to dispel the earlier awkwardness.
Seeing her apparent lack of hostility, Su grew even more suspicious, but outwardly replied calmly:
"That's not the truth. Never mind the current Hua; even her disciple is far stronger than me in direct combat."
"Then I don't know. It's Michael's intention anyway. If you have the guts, ask him directly."
Seeing her attempt at deflection fail, Mobius simply gave up. As long as she maintained her current state, Su couldn't leave here anyway.
And just as Su said, her purpose was merely to keep Su here. As long as the goal was achieved, that was enough.
The next moment, identical words sounded simultaneously in the deeper recesses of her mind and from Su's mouth:
"Fortunately, everything is within Michael's calculations."
The air froze for about a minute. Mobius lowered her head, her eyes darting rapidly within their sockets, unable to think of an explanation.
Conversely, Su, despite the situation seeming unfavorable for him, still appeared calm and composed.
After all, this was the value of psychic-type Fusion Warriors in internal conflicts. Perhaps he couldn't handle Michael, nor could he handle Hua with Fenghuang Down, but bullying Mobius was still achievable.
"Don't be nervous, Mobius. If, as you say, all this is within Michael's calculations, then he must have foreseen the current situation. Clearly, this is the result he wants."
"Heh! You believe whatever I think? What if I'm also one of those deceived by Michael?"
Su shook his head:
"That possibility can't be ruled out. But based on the information I've received, Michael did indeed calculate something. He visited the Elysian Realm five thousand years ago, celebrated his daughter's birthday, you know about that, right?"
"Yes, so what?"
Mobius tried her best to empty her mind, answering purely on instinct, naturally unable to use complex sentences.
"He didn't just celebrate his daughter's birthday; he also had Eve leave a recording, preserved within the Schariac family, predicting that either I or Kevin would open this recording five thousand years later. Of course, judging by the language he prompted Eve to leave, the 'or Kevin' part was merely a cover; he knew from the beginning that the one opening the recording would be me. Then he predicted a battle with us in Kolosten... Hua's side too, his timing was perfect... Everything feels like a pre-arranged script, and we've all just unknowingly performed our parts perfectly."
"So? Maybe it's coincidence, or maybe it's something else of his..."
"Mobius, the power of Finality, we've all experienced it. Possessing the authority over time, seeing through the possibilities of the future, isn't surprising."
"Hmph! So what? What are you trying to say?"
Su stared straight into Mobius's vertical pupils. The latter met his gaze without flinching, even unconsciously straightening her posture to appear taller.
Su suddenly closed his eyes and sighed deeply:
"I see. Mobius, you don't know either?"
Mobius's expression grew increasingly awkward. But just as Su thought she was about to get angry again, the surging fury suddenly dissipated. Mobius's attitude did a complete 180-degree turn. She beamed, and the words that slipped out instantly made Su's heart sink:
"Tsk! As expected of my... Michael. Even every word you say is within his calculations."
Su clenched his fists. He appeared perfectly calm, but his eyes snapped open again.
"Calculations... calculations again..."
"Yes, let me be blunt, Su. You can understand this calculation as a kind of... fate."
"Fate..."
Su bit his lip. He still looked calm, but the eyes he had just closed opened once more.
"What an utterly detestable word. But didn't Elysia already sever the threads of fate? Is he going against even Elysia's will?"
"Ho!"
Mobius let out an exaggerated short syllable, unclear whether it was surprise or mockery. She immediately explained:
"It seems Mei did indeed leave behind many precious materials. But perhaps your interpretation is flawed. I said you can understand Michael's calculation as a kind of fate, not that this calculation is fate itself. There's naturally a difference between the two."
"For example?"
"The fate you speak of ceased to exist long ago. Although I dislike that woman, she truly accomplished it. She achieved the greatest feat none of us could. I don't know if Michael still has the ability to redefine fate, but his original words were like this—"
She cleared her throat, lowered her voice, and deliberately imitated Michael's tone:
"When the Star of Finality descended in the Cretaceous period, only the free birds could escape extinction. Fate, for humanity, is like shackles binding their wings. If the shackles remain unbroken, no matter how humanity struggles, they can never truly soar into the sky."
"Hmm..."
It wasn't a difficult metaphor to understand, but Su still pondered with his chin in hand for some time.
"And then?"
This time, it was Mobius's turn for her lips to curl upwards:
"Tsk, you really are clever. The next part goes like this—"
It seemed Mobius didn't intend to recite it herself this time. She snapped her fingers, and Michael's voice from her memory echoed through this space:
"But just as there is no true freedom in this world, for a bird to fly, the air is both resistance and an indispensable element. Therefore, to ensure they can reach the high heavens, I must artificially place some obstacles on their path of growth, while also allowing them to shed some of the heavy burdens left by the old era. This also aligns with Elysia's wish.
"After all, many traces left by the past are more than just aids to the present. Like Project Stigma, frankly, it's just another fate shackle Mei imposed on this era, though she did leave humanity the possibility of breaking it. As for what I need to do, it's merely using various powers to foresee some futures, and then correcting parts of them.
"You can consider this a kind of fate. In truth, we can never escape fate. Humanity is like this, the Origin is like this, and Finality is also like this. Because apart from the external restraints imposed upon us, what truly binds us is precisely ourselves—a person's character is their destiny. Just like a bird needing to fly to the sky, it was destined from the moment it was born a bird. It must fly."
Did the long speech end there?
No, there was one last sentence:
"Wouldn't you agree, Su."
"!"
Su's eye sockets trembled from the excessive force. He turned his head, searching everywhere, but found nothing.
"Stop looking. This really is just a recording."
Mobius waved her hand impatiently. "You've already heard one recording yourself, aren't you mentally prepared yet?"
"Unless something like this is repeated seventeen or eighteen times, it's hard to say one gets used to it."
Su replied deadpan, seemingly to prove his point, even wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
But after he finished this series of actions, Mobius fell silent, lapsing into a strange quietude.
Su took continuous deep breaths. He understood Mobius's silence wasn't because she had nothing to say, but because everything that needed to be said had been said. There was no need to embellish further.
"Heh... hehehe... So, you weren't here to stall me, Mobius."
Su smiled bitterly non-stop, simply sitting down cross-legged.
"After all this, Michael didn't send you to stall me, but to make me defect, right?"
"You already know, so what more is there to say? Ultimately, the 'stalling you' part was always your own speculation, wasn't it?"
"Yes... I still underestimated him in the end."
Su's words were double-edged, but Mobius only focused on trimming her nails.
"Alright, anyway, I've told you everything I needed to. Whether you believe it or not, what choice you make, that's not my concern."
"Even so, since Michael made no further interventions, this means that in his calculations, or rather, in the future he foresaw, I undoubtedly made the choice he desired, correct?"
"Yes, that's right. I don't know how you will choose, Su. I've never liked guessing people's thoughts. So not just you, I can't be bothered to guess which choice Michael would rather see you make either. But since he let all this unfold, it means that regardless of which choice you make, the corresponding future is one Michael can accept."
Even so, since Michael went to such lengths to reach this point, which decision he preferred Su to make wasn't actually hard to guess.
A hot current surged to the back of Su's head. He gritted his teeth, wanting to make the opposite decision.
But it wasn't easy for a person to go against their own heart.
Or perhaps, a person's character is their Destiny.
Or, perhaps, what Michael wanted wasn't his choice right now. The result he desired at this moment was merely for Su himself to know "these things"—
He wanted Su to understand that everything he was doing was actually just to enable the humans of the new era to overcome Finality, overcome him, by their own will.
As for the decision at this very moment, it wasn't important anymore.
As for "defection," that was even more of a joke. If the premise of "opposition" no longer existed, how could one speak of defection?
But Su still shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts:
"Even so, was it necessary to do this... Kolosten, the entire Kolosten is destroyed. Was it necessary to cause disaster in this era for the sake of the previous era?"
"Heh! Well said. Then what about Project Stigma?"
Su was speechless. He could certainly argue that he prevented the premature implementation of Project Stigma. But what was the point of saying that? Was he seeking credit from Mobius?
When the appointed time came, could he really persuade Kevin again?
They were six of one and half a dozen of the other; no one should feel superior to anyone else.
"However... things might not be exactly as you think."
"What do you mean?"
"Su, if..."