Chapter 668 Why Do Birds Fly?

"At this point, there is no need to repeat the tactics. Since you choose to fight directly at this moment, I can't say anything more."

A few hours ago, beside the Hyperion, which was undergoing pre-flight inspection, Otto smiled and sat on a velvet-padded chair, holding the red wine that he could not miss, and quietly watched the three people who were about to embark on the ship. A girl on the battlefield.

"I know that all three of you have a blood feud with me. If it weren't for the goal of fighting Honkai, you would definitely slap me without hesitation if you had the chance to get so close to me. I am self-aware, so I believe that I have hardly ordered you or forced you in recent months - even though I have the power to do so under the Agreement of Rome."

"So, you might as well make it clear to me directly, Otto."

"Well...is it really more to your liking to be frank? Then I'll tell you straight. This should be the first and only order I give you - when you have the chance to kill him, you must do it by Kiana used the power of space on him first."

"Huh? Why bother...I mean, is there any deep meaning in this?"

"Of course, of course. Do you think that becoming the Endgame means having freedom? No, obviously not. For Kiana, favors and dreams will bind her hands and feet in addition to [power]. And for that man, it's even more tragic - because with his identity as [End Page], he can never do what he wants to do.

"The Cocoon of Ending has enslaved the earth, but in the final analysis, the cocoon itself is just a tumor parasitic on the Tree of Imaginary Numbers. Ending must also abide by the laws of the Tree of Imaginary Numbers. As [End Page], its existence is anchored On the tree of imaginary numbers, in the intrinsic world, so even if it has the power to change the tree of imaginary numbers, it cannot do this - because you cannot count on a fruit on the tree to build branches for the tree.

After saying that, this time, Mikael really turned around and left without any nostalgia.

"I'm not kidding."

"I really want to thank you this time. I originally wanted to guide you in the next battle, but I didn't expect Otto to have already told you that... However, I have nothing to repay for this gratitude. Instead...I will trouble you again."

On the contrary... I want to make time flow a little slower.

"And through this method, Alicia's body was finally stripped away from the cocoon of the End. As for her personality, when I became the End, I had already tried every means to save the time that belonged to her personality. Pause, I also know that this sounds a bit unreliable. Maybe when you return to reality with her body in your arms, you will only get a vegetative state. If that is the case, I have a second plan. At least for now, love. Lissia is left to you, Mei. Just think of it as... fulfilling my last wish."

"Sure enough, I still can't help but want to say it, although you have probably guessed it - Mei, Kiana, Bronya... don't look at me like this. You have saved the future of the world, next , let me, the sinner, save the world's past. That's right. Raiden Ryoma, Cecilia Chaniat, Siren, Himeko, Alexandra... all those who died because of my actions. People, all the people who died because of my inaction will get a second life like Alicia... Maybe this is better as a surprise, but I still don’t want to fight with him as an [enemy]. Say goodbye."

Maybe it will take a long time.

When the distance is slightly closer, you can vaguely see the girl sleeping in the crystal.

"Kiana, from today on, you are truly the God of the Earth. But you must not relax. Mei once said that every star in the sky is our enemy. No one knows what will happen next. When the war will come, no one knows whether the power of the end is enough to cope with the next battle, and before you completely master the power of the end, all the rest of the Herrscher power will continue to flow back into the cocoon due to the siphon principle. It will be their weakest time, and all the responsibilities will be shouldered by you... But I believe you can do it. As for endless life, endless time and acquaintances who will eventually say goodbye, this is indeed true, but I believe you can do it. I believe this won’t defeat you, because no matter what, the three of you will be together, right?

Mikael was knocked down by the punch and fell to the sand.

That was the place of origin and end, and since it was nothing, he no longer had the qualifications to stay there.

Kevin ignored Mikael's teasing. He looked at the Imaginary Tree not far away. For a moment, sadness and unwillingness sank into his eyes, and there was a hint of smile in his eyes.

Mikael chuckled and patted Kevin weakly on the shoulder.

Kevin's slender eyebrows trembled, he opened his mouth suddenly and took a breath. Looking at the blood dripping from Mikael's body, he asked:

Mikael bit his lip, and harsh and vulgar words came out of his mouth, but everyone could see that he just didn't want Kevin to see himself now.

As for why Kevin appeared here, he was not surprised. With the Stigma Project that has not yet completely collapsed, No. 17 can easily pull Kevin, the starting point of the Stigma, into the imaginary space, and even if it is not Deliberate manipulation will also appear not far from Mikael, the [end point of the stigmata].

"Okay, okay, it hurts enough. No need to whip the corpse. This time, I will indeed die completely."

"But I am different. Although the authority of the End has left me, I still have the authority to modify the Tree of Imaginary Numbers in a short period of time. It is really ironic. The End cannot break the rules of imaginary numbers to modify the data on the tree, but it does have such authority. Or perhaps, the original Cocoon of the End can do it, but the Tree of Imaginary Numbers patched it up to deal with my sudden consciousness. After all, Su also proved the existence of a higher status.

Kevin has calmed down and said coldly:

"Who do you think you are? Why do you decide our own memories for us? Why do you think it is a good thing for us to forget you? Everything is just your self-righteousness."

Whether it is the pink left by Ellie or the blood-red cross star, they have disappeared. Mikael's eyes have long returned to the beginning, but it is only the eyes that have returned to the beginning.

One said cruel words, but there was no intention to cut down the raised long sword.

"Ikaros made wings with feathers. He rose high just to come to the sun. That is a place no one has ever reached. He will melt and fall into the sea, and after that, countless people will fly over his body and fly to higher skies.

"Why do birds fly? I have heard the wise man ask this question twice. When he was young, he thought that birds fly because they want to fly. If we are lucky enough to go back to the origin of the world and see the first bird, it must not have wings. At that time, what it had was not the wings obtained by praying to the gods, but a heart as noble as the moon that wanted to touch the zenith.

"Since then, this idea has been binding me until now. Mobius and Hua have persuaded me to start over in various ways. In fact, it is not difficult to start over, but limited by the idea at that moment, starting over has become impossible.

"In a world bubble, I saw someone make the same choice, but what he touched was not the real imaginary tree, and he did not have the authority to change the imaginary tree, so in the end he just deleted everyone's memory of him, but did not change what had happened, but just became a clown.

Of course they saw the knife that Mei swung, but there was no wound on Mikael now.

"Mikael - father..."

"Because... this was originally the script I prepared for myself, and what I want to do is the same as him in some ways. It's really ironic. If we could change the time and make us peers, we would definitely have a lot in common..."

The half with the purple cross slid down from the broken space, fell on the water and fell into silence, but Mei felt something swelled in her heart, as if she had connected something in the dark, and then the broken half of the cocoon of the end quickly completed itself.

"So, why do birds fly? Because they have seen that the first bird tried to touch the sky with a heart as noble as the moon, but fell to the ground. Because they had seen that later birds also made similar attempts and flew higher and higher - so at this moment, the birds were still circling in the sky.

"I'm... here to say goodbye to you."

However, Kevin kept smiling and did not move.

"Have you heard of Ikaros?"

"I know that story, so you don't have to repeat it."

"Mei! Did you succeed?"

After saying that, Mikael turned around and prepared to leave without paying attention to the three people with different expressions and hesitant words.

Mei lowered her head and hugged the crystal in her arms, making it "crackling", but she didn't know whether to say "congratulations" or "goodbye" at this time.

The other two girls soon landed beside her.

He heard Mei's hoarse shouting, but he just smiled and didn't look back.

Kiana asked quietly.

"From the very beginning, when we all thought that the collapse was just an ordinary disaster, that it was just a continuous earthquake, tsunami, drought, virus, etc., and faced it with an optimistic attitude, you have been carrying all the pain and despair alone, and working hard for it. Now, you have used your own bones as a ladder for those who come after you to step over. But you are still not satisfied, you still want to save the past...

Kevin stared at Mikael in disbelief, and even his hands began to tremble... Until the end, he couldn't help it and punched Mikael in the face.

Kevin pursed his lips:

"You still want to save the world."

He wanted to turn around, but his body moved, and he supported his forehead with his hand and thought for a moment, and finally suddenly spoke softly:

"Bronya, when you return to Earth, remember to say sorry to Seele and Nata for me. In addition, there is an island numbered Z-08 in the South Pacific, with an area of ​​about 80,000 square meters. It is not big, but all the fees have been paid, and all the procedures have been completed under Nata's identity. Hasn't she always wanted an island to live with you and the children? Just consider it as a gift from me.

Mikael gently stroked the "rock" in front of him, and before Mei said anything, he suddenly reached into his brain, dug out a group of pink crystals, and sprinkled them on the fragments of the cocoon of the end.

"Isn't this what you should..."

The memory stopped abruptly. According to Otto's instructions, at that moment just now, Kiana had already fired a bullet containing the power of space.

With a calm smile, he handed his hand to Mikael.

With a hoarse voice, Mikael pointed casually, and the three of them found a crack on the Cocoon of Ending that they had not noticed before, but the crack was extremely neat, as if someone had cut it out with a knife.

Their eyes met, and in Mei Yi's eyes that had returned to their original silver-gray color, she saw herself about to strike with a sword.

Mikael was only halfway through his cold words when he was interrupted by Kevin who looked even colder.

Mikael laughed miserably.

"Although you have lost the final power, you are still a Stigmata Awakener. After the power returns, they will not dare to do anything to you. At most, it will only be a symbolic imprisonment."

"Look, there's a crack here."

"So, we won't even remember you, right?"

"I told him that the reason why birds can fly is because they have to fly - when the final meteorite falls in the Cretaceous, only free birds can escape from their destined demise. My answer made him silent, and then , he shared the story of Icarus with me.”

"Why, I thought you were here to supervise me. Could it be that at this time, you want to stop me?"

At this speed, how long will it take to reach the tree of imaginary numbers?

Mikael opened his eyes.

In the blink of an eye, Kevin seemed to have made up his mind again. He walked down the sand dune and came to Mikael. He raised his hand to support him, but Mikael looked at him without any wavering. Next, he finally had no choice but to take back his hand.

Kevin opened his mouth in vain, but only managed to choke out one sentence——

"It's rare to see you speak in such a tone..."

"sorry."

Mikael shook his head in shame, but this made Kevin feel even worse.

Under Mei's unsurprised gaze, Mikael turned around and walked slowly and hard towards the Cocoon of Ending not far away.

it's all over.

There were still too many things that he had not had time to think about, and there were still many things in the past that he wanted to recall. In fact, as long as he stopped, he was still moving forward stubbornly, until he saw on the sand dunes in front of him. A cold figure.

Kevin snorted slightly, seemingly not surprised by this.

Mikael's expression was extremely serious.

"You...forget it, you're hopeless."

Mei's question was met with a lonely look from Otto——

Mei just shook her head, she knew what Mikael was going to do.

Mikael blinked, squeezed the tears from his eyes, and took Kevin's hand.

In the past, when imagining this moment, Mikael always felt that he would be anxious, but when it actually came to this moment, he didn't feel anxious at all.

Kiana was also a little at a loss and just leaned close to Mei. Bronya, who knew everything about Mikael as the [Herrscher of Reason] from the inheritance, sighed helplessly and helplessly. , finally asked softly:

"Are you leaving?"

"Icarus will eventually fall to welcome his victory. Although many people say that he is an arrogant villain and his own death is to blame, he is undoubtedly a hero. Because heroes are divided into two parts. There are two kinds of heroes: heroes who trample on other people's ideals, and heroes who hope that their own ideals will be trampled on. The former carries everything on his own, becomes a sinner, and tramples on his ideals, while the latter, through his own failure, leaves the cornerstone for advancement for those who come after him. He is waiting. The latecomers surpass themselves and usher in the day when they can truly touch the sky.

Does Mei Yi want to call her father, or does she want to talk about her father? Mikael didn't know, didn't want to know, and had no need to know.

"After entering this era, I told everyone this: The reason why I want to save this world is because Alicia must want to see such an ending. I believe it myself. But maybe This is not an excuse. From the beginning, the reason why I embarked on the path of saving the world was because Alicia wanted to save the world. In this regard, I am the same as you, Kevin.

After being targeted one after another, Kevin also became angry. He simply grabbed Mikael by the collar and yelled at him. But after yelling in one breath, he just let Mikael go with trembling hands. .

Did that knife fail? No one would believe that Mei's attack would fail at such a short distance. No one would question whether Mei would hold back at the critical moment, but...

"You ask me, why are we still moving forward... I don't know. Kevin, I just rescued Alicia. Although it may not be successful, even if that plan fails, the second plan will be enough to make up for it. . But... I didn't feel any joy or satisfaction. I didn't even dare to have much contact with her. I just handed her over to Mei Yi before she woke up, and then escaped from there...

"No, I think it's safer to cut it twice more. For people like you, it's better to grind it into powder and spread it through the black hole throughout the universe."

Mikael didn't answer.

"Come on, your body can't hold on for long. Since I can't stop you, all I can do is accompany you through the last part of the journey. This is also my honor."

The power of the end no longer exists, the power of reason and the power of death can no longer be used, and the power of the stigmata is temporarily unable to respond due to the collapse of the stigmata plan. However, there is still a power that is constantly repairing his body. .

The stare lasted only 0.1 second. When Mei swung the knife without hesitation and the blade was about to touch Mikael's neck, he closed his eyes without any expression, as if it was just a very ordinary blink.

"That's too much Kevin. There is nothing more disgusting than facing a grown man before dying. Or do you have some special fetish that Mei doesn't know about?"

Kevin's right hand, which had just punched, was still trembling. He grabbed his right fist with his left hand and tried to make his voice as cold as ice again.

"What do you want to do?"

"She did come, but I let her go back... It was a torture for her, and you know this kind of pain best, Mikael."

Mikael dug his fingers into the crack and exerted a little force. The cocoon of the end, which was obviously countless times larger than him, broke neatly into two halves along the crack.

Mikael responded lightly, and finally there was a little smile on his face.

His movements were much faster than before in front of the three people, and the range of his movements was much larger, but still slow.

Mikael walked slowly, cracks appeared on his skin, and they were quickly repaired. Only blood dripped into the sand under his feet.

"And the power of the Herrscher of the Void is extremely special. When it is running at full power, the power obtained from the imaginary space will distort the imaginary space corresponding to the real space, resulting in a complex phenomenon called [Imaginary Renormalization]. You don't need to know the specific principle, you just need to know that in this way, the man can completely get rid of the identity of [End]. He will lose all his power, and the only thing he gets is the possibility of changing the imaginary tree. You must give him this opportunity, because this is exactly what he expects from this battle."

"I'm sorry..."

"But I don't agree with this answer. I really want to know how he will answer the same question differently after he has lived his short life. So, when the wise man was about to die, I met him again. I asked him why birds can fly, but he gave the same answer. This disappointed me a little.

Soon, his figure disappeared from the gorgeous galaxy.

"Finally, Meiyi, I...you are the child I care about the most. In fact, it doesn't have to be like this. Maybe I always treat you as Eve when I am not sober...I am sorry for the harm I have caused you. But I still have to say a few words - sometimes Kiana eats instant noodles and snacks or plays games all night, so don't be too strict. You are all Herrs, and your body metabolism is different from that of humans. Even if you don't sleep for half a year, it won't be a problem. "

"You bastard! Do you know what you are talking about! What kind of weird logic is this? One moment you say you don't love Alicia, and the next moment you say you must be the one to save him. Who do you think you are! And what are you saying next, are you serious? Are you really serious?"

"..."

The man turned around, swept his sad eyes over Mikael's embarrassed figure, and couldn't help closing his eyes.

"So, I will delete everything about [Mikael] from the Tree of Imaginary Numbers. From now on, [Mikael] in all timelines will no longer exist, and the world will automatically repair the void caused by my absence. Those who originally died because of me will also [exist] because of my [non-existence].

In front of Kevin, Mikael fell directly on the blood-red sand. Kevin leaned over and tried to pull him up, but then realized something and slowly sat down beside him.

"It's okay, Mikael, you can stop here."

Then, the purple lightning blade passed without any hindrance, and a few drops of blood floated in the vacuum, but there were only a few drops.

"Don't act on your own as if you are thinking about us."

"So..."

"But if I ask you to stop, will you stop, Mikael?"

Although the killing appearance was just a one-meter-long cut on the giant, exposing Mikael's body, it did use the full strength of the Herrscher of the Sky. Mei felt it clearly, that was the embodiment of Kiana's extreme mastery of power-not too much power was used in the form of collapse energy in the real world, but the corresponding collapse internal energy in the imaginary space might have collapsed long ago.

"But the difference is... you have been practicing the path of saving the world, even if the original intention was just a selfish idea, but I am different. Everything I have done has almost destroyed the entire world. This is an indelible sin. Since it is a sin, it must be paid. Didn't you just say that I am already a bastard? So don't stop me anymore. A bastard suddenly repents and wants to take responsibility for his mistakes. Shouldn't you encourage him?"

"Hehe... Mikael, about two thousand years ago, I met a wise man in Attica, and he told me a story."

For the last time, Mikael temporarily stopped moving forward.

"Mei!"

But this did not affect what he was going to say.

It was not until the hand holding the knife could no longer feel any resistance that Mei realized this and had to accept it.

"It's just because Alicia wants to see it."

…………

While thinking, Mei had rushed to Mikael, less than half a meter away from him.

Poof——

"In this case, Mei is also the real origin."

"Mei, do you want to stop him?"

Without any special instructions or reminders, Mei put down the knife in her hand, walked forward, and took the crystal wrapped in Ellie from Mikael's hand.

"Mikael, you..."

Her hands and feet were also very cold, and the cold air overflowed from these places uncontrollably, and there were even ice chips on her fingertips.

"Well..."

As he said, Kevin had already stood up.

"Listen to me, Kevin..."

He came to the blood-red sand, and at the end of his sight was the big tree emitting sacred golden light.

"You...you bastard, do you know what you are saying?"

"I..."

"I thought the person who came was Hua. After all, we agreed that she would send me off for the last time."

Mei hesitated, but her hand raised the long knife again without hesitation, which made Mikael smile bitterly.

Kevin's roar was almost broken in his ears, and a few slender branches of the imaginary tree were vaguely visible in the sky above his head.

"Well done, Mei, Kiana, Bronya."

But suddenly, the scenery in front of him changed.

Even so, he still said this sentence.

"As the [End], I can't change the rules of imaginary numbers, and I can't even affect the cocoon of the end itself. This is what I said, I can't even commit suicide. However, five hundred years ago, through the battle with Kevin, I forced him to extract the power of the end from my body in advance, which enabled me to successfully find the dividing line between [End] and [Origin]. In the next five hundred years, I have not taken back the power, just waiting for the two powers to become clear."

"But... there is really no way... If possible, I also hope that you can remember me, but if that's the case, there is no way to save the world."

Mikael swallowed his saliva, and there were no more cracks on his body, and the pain was maintained at a constant level.

The dazzling light obscured the vision of the three people. When the light dimmed, Mikael had already walked back with a human-sized pink crystal block in his arms.

"No matter what your motive is, your actions will not lie. Heroes can never become heroes on their own initiative. Whether it is us or Kiana and the others, if we are facing a peaceful era, we will only be ordinary people. We just happened to appear in such an era and encountered such a disaster. Even so, we did not choose to save the world for any particularly noble reasons. If you think we are heroes, then you are also. That's right, you have never been a sinner. You are a hero who saved the past of this world and created the future for this world.

"But...but..."

But even such a light could not illuminate this dark purple sky.

But after walking two steps, he turned around with a wry smile and said:

"It doesn't hurt to tell you. This is still a method I saw from another world-I want to delete my existence from the tree of imaginary numbers. "

The monotonous dark universe was suddenly filled with brilliant starlight, and the water surface under the feet faithfully reflected all of this, and at the intersection of the sky and the water surface, the cocoon of the end was twitching regularly. Such a scene is not unfamiliar, but Mikael in front of Meiyi is still standing, but there is no horizontal line on his neck.

Mikael wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and explained in a low and cold voice.

"What?"

Then, the eyes that were originally closed without any tremor opened.

According to Otto's words, [Imaginary Renormalization] should have succeeded, right?

"But why should I save the world? You know Kevin. In the scorched earth of Klosten, in the snowfields of Siberia, and in the ruins of the Salt Lake City base, do you know what I feel - cool, very, very, very cool. It turns out that killing is such a cool thing, and it turns out that destruction is such a cool thing. Don't worry about it, just destroy those who deserve to die and those who don't deserve to die together - if I thought so from the beginning, if I destroyed civilization like a normal Herrscher would do from the beginning, and then was killed by humans, wouldn't I have experienced so much pain? "

"I will be proud of being your comrade-in-arms and your family. I am like this, they are like this, and Alicia must be like this. If we are destined to forget you, it is also our regret, not a good thing. "

"Just now, you thought you cut my neck, but in fact I deliberately induced you to swing the knife, and the one you cut was exactly the dividing line between the two powers... I'm sorry, I also hope that this person can be not you, Meiyi, but only those who have the power of the origin can do this, and only those who have not completely become the origin can swing the knife at the cocoon of the end.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Do I still love Alicia? I can't answer this question. Maybe I didn't love her before the seventh collapse. She can never be my lover. Because from a certain moment at that time, I thought I was not worthy of standing on the same level as her. She can only be the one I must save, and I can only be the one who finally saved her, that's all.

Gulu——

"Then what do you think I should say? Like a 'hero' urging you, a bastard who is eager to die, to die quickly and save the world? Can I just say this? I am not a hero in the first place. , and I don’t want to save the world. I joined the Fire Moth because of Mei. I went to save the world because Mei wanted to save the world...I am...I saw that you are cool in saving the world. , that’s why I want to save the world... So, what’s wrong with me wanting you to live? I’m such a selfish person!”

"How cruel, Mei."

"And...Mikael, I know that without you, I will be the one who becomes Icarus. You not only saved the world, saved her, but also saved me and us. Because of this, I... …Mikael, I know I can’t stop you. Soon, I will completely forget even this conversation. But at least for this moment, I hope you understand——

"Well. When the concept of Mikael itself no longer exists, the related memories will not exist. No one except the Herrschers will remember Mikael... I'm sorry, maybe my name should be used as an object of hatred. Those victims will be remembered for a lifetime. This is the ending that a sinner deserves, but I really can't change everything on the basis of taking this into consideration, but it is also a good thing for you, right? If you don't remember me, you can forget about it. Some pain.”

One person spoke with words of complaint, but there was only relief and satisfaction in his slightly trembling voice.

Kevin's words made Mikael silent for a full half minute, and in the end he just repeated the unfinished sentence before:

"That's not something you should say."

The flesh and blood at the place where Kevin was punched seemed to have dissolved and peeled off quickly, and then repaired quickly. However, with so much pain, he didn't even feel the new injury. He just rested for a moment, looked at the silent Kevin and spoke again. :

"As expected... Alicia..."

Looking at each other at such a close distance, even though it was only for a very brief moment, what Mei Yi saw was the faint and peaceful smile on his lips.

"Uh...but, how do you know this? And how do you know he needs us to do this?"

"Did you inject yourself with Garuda's factor in advance? Are you crazy? Why on earth do you continue to move forward despite such pain?"

Mikael's movements were really slow, and every step he took forward seemed to be using all his strength. Even though the cocoon of the end was not far away from him, it still took a lot of time to reach the cocoon.

"Millions of people will be reborn in an instant. Teresa and the others will have a headache. And because I still retain the final person, my existence itself is an extremely heavy weight. In exchange for this At the end of the day, there will be residual power, and those powers can be used to exchange for the ending of "our era will not be destroyed" and "Alicia will definitely survive". As for the outcome of our era. I don’t know if it will be repaired, but Sakura will definitely come back.”

Kevin only said two words before he felt his throat tightening.

The two spoke almost at the same time and lowered their heads at the same time.

Time was suspended, but it wasn't Mikael who did it, and presumably it wasn't Kiana.

The muscles on his cheeks began to twitch, because he could see the bright stars lighting up in the purple sky in the imaginary space without raising his head.

And, a strange voice sounded from behind:

"I'm sorry, but I think you won't be able to walk this last stretch." (End of Chapter)