"Just Taixu Sword God? Don't you know how your master was defeated?"
Facing the tangible giant sword formed from intangible qi descending from the sky, Michael's only response was a meaningful smile.
"This isn't enough to defeat me."
Michael formed a sword seal with his left hand. Just as the giant sword was about to sever his head, he casually flicked the long spear forward. The greatsword that spanned heaven and earth shattered in an instant.
But, was it over?
No. Michael's vision blurred for a moment, like a water droplet falling onto a calm lake surface. Everything in sight distorted and fragmented like ripples.
Ultimately, what imprinted itself on Michael's retinas was a fire phoenix diving down, already before his eyes... or rather, Azure Phoenix.
"Hua..."
Raging flames quickly incinerated the surrounding ice and snow, along with Michael's body.
The world fell silent once more. The azure ice plain, the white snow, the red flames, and the dazzling yet dim eclipse ring—all ceased to exist.
When Michael felt light again, he was surrounded by an expanse of azure.
He looked down. He stood on the surface of an already shattered lake. The lake's surface was covered in fine cracks like ice, but it ultimately wasn't unchanging ice, because Michael could still see round ripples spreading outwards from where he stood.
And further away, and overhead, apart from blue, there were no other colors. Not even a wisp of cirrus cloud. Precisely because of this, Michael stared at this blue for a long time, unable to find the dividing line between the lake and the sky.
"This place is..."
"This is my heart's lake, Michael."
"..."
Michael clenched his fists, instantly regaining his indifferent expression, then slowly turned around.
"No need to pretend. You anticipated all of this, didn't you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have made time nearly freeze here."
Looking at Hua, who stood less than a step away, Michael bit his lower lip and raised his hand, only to retract it as if shocked by electricity before his fingertips could touch anything.
"Heh, what does this have to do with me? Isn't this the first rated power of Fenghuang Down?"
Hua's sword heart had shattered, and her Taixu Sword cultivation along with it. To unleash Taixu Sword God again seemed impossible. But in truth, it wasn't complicated, nor unbelievable. The one who struck with Taixu Sword God was Ling Shuang, and also Hua. Both attacked simultaneously, just one in reality, and one within Fenghuang Down's illusion.
Or rather, Fenghuang Down, first rated power...
"Using the Taixu Sword God in reality to conceal the power of Fenghuang Down, good, good, very good..."
"But I'm not talking about that!"
Looking at Michael, who was almost muttering to himself, Hua felt a surge of anger for no reason. She suddenly lunged forward, grabbing Michael's right hand in her palm.
Her eyes, stubborn yet mixed with far too many emotions, made Michael momentarily dare not look directly, forcing him to sheepishly turn his head away.
But immediately, Hua made an even bolder move—she released Michael's right hand, not to give up, but to cup Michael's cheeks forcefully, turning his head back to meet her gaze.
"Fenghuang Down... how could it be that powerful? You know this better than I do, Michael. I only unleashed Fenghuang Down's first rated power. But I couldn't pull you into my heart's lake, let alone... make time nearly stop at this moment, stop before my memories were completely burned by Fenghuang Down... right?"
Michael pursed his lips, neither affirming nor denying.
He couldn't deny it either, because these things, in this world, only he could do.
But what exactly should he say, or rather, what exactly did he want to achieve by doing this? What did he want to say? He himself didn't know.
He even just did these things subconsciously. He subconsciously entered Hua's heart, and then, just before Fenghuang Down burned her memories, he made time nearly stop flowing. These actions perhaps had no special reason, let alone any unavoidable justification.
It was merely that, in that instant, Michael thought of doing so, and so he did, that's all.
Upon the heart's lake, the barriers between people were minimized. Even a slight ripple in one's heart, that thought would be transmitted to the other person through the waves.
Hua knew what Michael was thinking, but she clearly didn't see it that way—weren't a person's subconscious actions following their own instincts? And what were those instincts? Wasn't it that Michael first had the subconscious desire to communicate with her, and then his body produced the corresponding instinct?
"Don't refuse to answer me, Michael! You must have something to say to me, right?"
But ultimately, she failed to get the response she wanted.
Michael stubbornly and forcefully turned his head away again. He bit his lower lip hard, unwilling to speak.
"Heh... hehe..."
Hua shook her head, smiling wryly as she took two steps back.
But just as Michael thought everything should end, that time could continue to flow as usual, and that he should, as per the resolve he had just established—not slow down for anything, let alone stop for anyone.
Because he had things he had to accomplish, because he was unswervingly walking the path he believed to be correct.
However, the next moment, Hua suddenly threw herself into his arms.
Caught off guard, Michael lost his balance, his right foot stepping back half a pace, the tip of his foot touching the ground. Yet, it neither came forward again nor allowed the heel to touch down, just the tip of the foot remained.
Time flowed slowly. Even if slow, it was still flowing.
After all, if time truly stopped completely, then consciousness couldn't function either, let alone communicate.
To control all this so well in an instant, thinking carefully, even Michael couldn't be sure of his own heart... whether, as Hua said, he had words he wanted to say to her.
But he pondered, wracked his brains, yet still found no words he could speak.
Even if a fleeting inspiration struck, it would be pulled away by the warmth on his chest, unable to grasp deeply what he truly wanted to express.
It wasn't that he didn't want to break free. He leaned back slightly, but when he sensed Hua's arms tightly encircling his waist, preventing him from leaving, he wasn't as resolute as he imagined himself to be.
He even unconsciously bent his elbow, raising his arm, only to forcefully press it back down a third of a second later.
However, it wasn't actually necessary to be so troublesome. Anyway, the authority of time was in his hands. He only needed a thought to make time flow normally again. In less than the blink of an eye, Hua would forget everything that had happened...
Or, he could forcefully leave this place using the authority of the Eighth Herrscher. If he wanted to, there were plenty of ways.
But in the end, he did nothing, just stood there blankly, even his thoughts ceasing to exist. He just wanted to quietly feel the strength and warmth Hua's embrace brought.
He even found it hard to control such thoughts from emerging in his mind—let time flow slower, even slower, let this embrace last longer, much longer.
In the long past, it was less about Hua making a meaningless bet with Michael, and more about Michael deliberately avoiding her.
Michael, he actually understood himself too well.
If she was born a god, came to the human world, and then re-ascended to godhood due to humanity, then Michael was born human. Even now, holding the authority of a god, he was merely an ugly, base, selfish person.
People are all afraid of loneliness, especially when they themselves are about to do something impossible for others to understand... No, hehe, perhaps only a selfish and cowardly person like him would be like this.
He couldn't even say clearly why he still had to unswervingly stride towards "that future"—was it because he himself wanted to do so, because he truly loved this world, and loved her, so he had to do so?
Or... was it merely because... he didn't want to be lonely.
He didn't want to exist in an era completely unfamiliar to him. He didn't want to be like a Neanderthal, luckily surviving to modern times, seeing streets full of figures extremely similar to himself, yet not having a single person to communicate with... He couldn't be sure if his extreme longing for that future was simply because he couldn't bear such loneliness.
Loneliness would destroy everything, especially loneliness spanning fifty thousand years. Fortunately, he wasn't completely alone. He still had Mobius, Hua, Sakura, Pardofelis, everyone in the Elysian Realm, even Kevin and Su, and the more than thirty thousand surviving members of Fire Moth...
They were to Michael like straws seen by a drowning person, grasped without a second thought, of course, they had to be grasped.
But Michael also knew he shouldn't, couldn't do this.
Straws are fragile; how could they bear the weight of a drowning person?
Besides, they weren't straws either, but... also drowning people.
Drowning people embracing drowning people would only cause both to sink, not produce a positive from two negatives.
And, as for Hua, there was actually another issue, one Michael was most wary of...
"..."
Hua took a deep breath, pressing her ear tightly against Michael's chest, listening to the non-existent heartbeat.
The heartbeat indeed didn't exist. This was a space of consciousness; Michael might not even need a heart.
She wasn't doing this for any other reason, merely because when characters were first created, the ancestors of Shenzhou stubbornly believed consciousness came from the heart, not the brain. It wasn't that she hadn't tried to correct this view, but this line of thought was both harmless and somewhat romantic, so she didn't insist.
"Heheh..."
Thinking of these ancient memories, she actually laughed out loud. Unlike before, this time it was just a pure laugh, without bitterness, without forcefulness, without mockery, just a pure, happy smile.
Because... pressing against the heart, one could truly feel another person's consciousness...
Although this was just an illusion brought about by the space of consciousness. Although those ancient memories, along with the happiness of this moment, would all vanish completely in the next instant of the real world, becoming a meaningless record from then on, but...
"Thank you, Michael..."
Michael still kept his lips tightly pressed, not speaking. He already didn't know what to say, and he knew what Hua was about to say, so he had even less desire to speak.
Then, besides the warmth of the embrace on his chest, the coolness of tears soon followed. Michael looked down. Hua had truly buried her head in his chest. She wasn't sobbing, just tears uncontrollably escaping her eyes.
"Thank you, thank you for once truly having that tiny bit of affection for me... Thank you..."
Michael finally moved. He raised his hand again, but this time he didn't retreat, instead returning Hua's gentle embrace.
"I'm sorry. I've made far too many mistakes in the past, and I also have a future I must pursue. I can't love you anymore. But if I had to say, I did, truly, at some point in the past, have such feelings for you."
"Then have you ever thought—"
Hua's words caught in her throat. She actually understood that she didn't need to pour out every word, every syllable, because this was a space of consciousness. The moment before she truly voiced those words, Michael already knew her thoughts.
But she still decided to say it. Because some words, only when personally verified, only when personally rejected, could prove she had made every effort to change an outcome she truly wanted to change.
She pressed her body even tighter against Michael's, as if wanting to interlock their bodies. But this was merely a preparatory action to ease her tension before truly speaking.
"So, Michael, have you ever thought, just stopping like this? Just stopping, and being with me?"
She bravely looked up, her eyes tinged with a poignant red, her eyes sparkling, her lower lip slightly pouted upwards, symbolizing her stubbornness.
"Perhaps... I don't understand the truth of the world. I still don't understand what Honkai truly is, what Finality truly is, how Honkai will end, how someone who becomes Finality will conclude... But I can also ignore all this. We both have enough time. Before Honkai truly descends, we still have enough time to spend together, accompanying each other, don't we?"
Agree, agree... No, he won't agree with me—this was what Hua thought.
She knew Michael would never agree. Because he had reasons he had to move forward.
But she also had reasons she had to voice all this.
She certainly also wanted to return to that former world, wanted to see Carole running around with a toothbrush in her mouth in the dormitory corridor every morning when she woke up, wanted to get up early every morning even on holidays at home to participate in the martial arts hall's morning practice, wanted to be tempted into drinking by Captain Himeko, and also wanted...
She also wanted everything from the past to be corrected. She also wanted that truly flawless woman to exist again.
But, if the price for all this was the dissipation of the man before her.
Then she couldn't accept it, absolutely couldn't.
Compared to that, she would rather live on with Michael in this era that was clearly extremely familiar yet completely strange. Anyway... the things she once possessed were too few, too few to offset Michael's weight in her heart.
And this was what she truly understood, what she truly wanted, after breaking free from the shackles of the Divine Voice.
This was the reason she had to stand here, even at the cost of burning all these memories, even though she would soon forget this reason completely.
"I'm sorry, Hua, I can't agree to your request."
Michael didn't hesitate... perhaps he hesitated for an imperceptible moment, because if he truly wouldn't hesitate, he could have taken a more direct approach—just leave.
But he didn't. Hua voiced everything; he did the same.
But before he could explain, Hua's cold fingers gently pressed against his lips, seemingly wanting to push back those unnecessary explanations.
But when it came to stubbornness, Michael and Hua were more or less evenly matched.
"Hua, I can't agree. I can't stop for this. Once I stop, I'm afraid I'll lose the motivation to continue forward. Besides, I've also said, I've made far too many mistakes in the past era. I can't make new mistakes... That's just how it is."
Such pale, powerless words.
Hua let out a long sigh, holding Michael even tighter.
She understood, or she thought she understood, that the fundamental conflict between them was actually due to one reason—she had too little in the past, while Michael had too much.
Everything she possessed in the past combined couldn't outweigh her desire to be with Michael. And she, to Michael, was completely incomparable to what Michael once possessed in that past era.
Yes, never mind anything else, just her alone, the entire world combined couldn't compare.
Michael's mouth moved twice more. He seemed to want to explain further, but likely felt there was no need for more explanation, so he closed his mouth again, saying no more.
Then, as if by telepathy, both released their embrace at the same time. Hua took two steps back, her eyes vacant, as if seeing through everything. Michael, seeing tears glinting at the corners of her eyes, raised his hand, wanting to wipe them away. But thinking that he had no "status" to support such an action, he sheepishly withdrew his hand again.
He had to move forward. So, although decisiveness was cruel, perhaps it was the best course of action for her, and for him, at this very moment.
"Michael!"
Hua suddenly spoke again.
"What is it?"
"I..."
Hua's mouth hung open, the sounds long unable to form into sentences.
She originally seemed to want to say something, but it was always like this... always like this!
Whenever she was about to speak, she would forget everything completely.
Perhaps that was also the body's protective mechanism, the body's instinct resisting, nipping the unformed words in the bud.
"Nothing."
She tilted her head, trying her best to squeeze out a relatively natural smile.
"Just wanted to ask you, how long until we meet again."
"Five hundred years."
"Five hundred years, huh..."
The corners of Hua's mouth actually curled higher and higher:
"It's only five hundred years."
And then the entire azure world began to disintegrate.