The golden cube observed the figure walking in the crimson desert. Anyone could see his physical weakness and spiritual exhaustion.
The man left long traces in the sand, the wind and sand beating on his face, almost causing him to stumble and fall.
But Void Archives knew that he was propelling his body forward with superhuman willpower. At this moment, the emotions surging in his heart far surpassed what an ordinary person could imagine, even surpassing the miraculous and amplifying ability of Luo Lin, which it had just discovered.
In the past, Void Archives didn't understand why the golden-haired man could accomplish such a great feat in this situation, but now it seemed to understand a little.
"Love, and even broader emotions, they can all cause miracles..." it murmured, "Anger born out of love can also possess power equal to love."
This man, who seemed to be on the brink of death, who would never die before reaching his goal, even if he suffered severe injuries or exhaustion.
Otto Apocalypse was marching towards his own end.
Void Archives floated up, transforming into a golden cube slightly larger than an ordinary six-sided die, and gently landed in Luo Lin's hand.
"This is the great gift I want to give you—[Key of Revelation · Void Archives]."
"What the hell?!"
The golden cube observed the girl's expression change from confusion to astonishment, and burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, being able to make someone like you show such an expression is worth the trip... Of course, I won't give myself to you, I still have things I must do—don't you want to get rid of the interference with your teleportation?"
Luo Lin held the golden cube in one hand and scratched her head with the other. "So, what do you mean?"
"The Divine Key is the Divine Key, and I am what is I am..." Void Archives said meaningfully, "The [Key of Revelation] is not [Void Archives], so it's no problem for me to give you the [Key of Revelation]."
The girl stared at the shimmering golden cube in her hand, her mouth half open in astonishment.
"However, after losing me as the core AI, whether the [Key of Revelation] can continue to function depends on your own research and ability...
Or, you can use your miraculous ability to casually find another world, find the creator of mine from the previous era, and stuff another AI into it?"
Bright light rose from the cube, condensing into a blurry figure of a child's size—Void Archives lowered its head, curiously examining its own "soul", waving its arms and nodding with satisfaction.
Then, the young boy tilted his head and asked in a much younger and even tender voice, "Are you satisfied with my gift?"
"You... I don't even know what to say..."
Luo Lin could feel the connection established between her and the ownerless [Key of Revelation], and as she rotated her thoughts, the divine key emitted light exactly matching her breathing frequency.
Later, Luo Lin tried to use the [Key of Revelation], but found that a vast amount of data far beyond what her brain could process and comprehend rushed through the connection. To prevent herself from being overwhelmed by this data and becoming a fool, the girl quickly severed the connection with it.
But Luo Lin knew that the [Key of Revelation] had become completely hers.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations on achieving the achievement "Crystallization of Civilization"]
[Crystallization of Civilization: Gain ownership of any divine key.]
[Achievement reward: "Divine Key Pavilion" module unlocked]
[The host can store the divine key in this module, strengthen and tune the divine key, passively enhance various attributes of the Valkyrie, and also spend a small amount of crystals to actively activate certain functional effects.]
Luo Lin relaxed her fingers, and the [Key of Revelation] was sent into the newly opened module of the system. She could feel that something on her had changed and gained a boost, but what exactly it was remained unclear.
Void Archives watched this scene with some contemplation, but soon it gave up the idea of delving in deeper.
Because the time had come— The golden boy no longer hesitated, inserted his hand into the vine already rendered blood-red, and the black and gold representing imaginary numbers instantly engulfed half of Void Archives's body, making him look even more similar to the former Archbishop who was staggering not far away.
Void Archives nodded in satisfaction, just lightly snapped his fingers, and the interference with Luo Lin's teleportation completely dissipated from her body. The system prompt timely popped up, announcing that as long as the girl wished, she could immediately return to her own home.
"Oh, I can feel it... There's an anxious soul waiting on the outskirts of this space—she's from the same world as you, and I'll send both of you back." Void Archives snapped his fingers again, and the girl could feel the space collapsing in front of her, condensing into a rotating red teleportation gate.
Luo Lin looked inside, and the red passage gradually extended, reaching towards the boundless imaginary tree of numbers, leading to that warm and familiar branch—that was her old home, her parallel world. Then, the girl was somewhat caught off guard to see Adult Bronya and the others flying out from inside, crashing into a golden branch with a similar aura to theirs.
"It looks like they're going back too?" Luo Lin could see a smile on the blurry face of the boy.
"I'll take care of things, you go back... quickly. You know, the flow rate between different worlds varies greatly."
"What about you...?"
Before Luo Lin could continue her inquiry, Void Archives grinned and happily spoke out loud, turned around and left without looking back.
"Goodbye, and goodbye forever!"
...
Otto watched as the black figures rose from the crimson desert, each one resembling the golden-haired man... or a replica. He seemed unsurprised by this, showing a slightly sinister smile.
Otto reached out, the familiar weight condensed in his hand, using [Cleaver of Shamash] shattered the enemy's body, and the [Abyss Flower] pierced through the stony body...
Otto felt the slowdown in the convergence speed of the mimetic divine keys, but this was normal.
Under the control of the imaginary tree, he had used Void Archives many times in the battles against Durandal and Kiana, so it was normal for his energy to be depleted now.
In fact, what the golden-haired man didn't know was that Void Archives from the parallel world silently suppressed his own self in this world, easily taking over various functions of the [Key of Revelation].
"Relax... you see, we're just the same person. Why be so vigilant?"
"... "
The suppressed Void Archives couldn't speak, only staring at the boy who was completely different from himself, manipulating operations that he couldn't understand and invading the imaginary tree.
At this point, after some time in the battle, when Otto found that ordinary monsters posed no threat to him, countless tiny shadows made a different choice, overlapping to create huge monsters. The shape of that monster was so similar to the rampaging Honkai Beast charging on Kallen's execution grounds that it was a nightmare Otto couldn't escape—it roared and charged towards the golden-haired man!
With the authority of the imaginary numbers, the young boy watched as scenes of Otto's battles overlapped with Kallen's battles, which also meant that Otto had locked in the moment he wanted to arrive from the nearly infinite branches of the imaginary tree.
With the final explosion of Mimetic Judah, Otto, who had shattered the monster's head, rolled awkwardly on the red sand, raising a cloud of dust. He staggered to his feet, only to get his heart pierced by the still-living monster.
Just like five hundred years ago with Kallen.
But Otto stood up again, breaking the black branches piercing his body, and with Void Archives's complete dispersal, he shattered the remains of the monster, shattering the final obstacle blocking him!
"Once a person's soul disperses, they cannot be resurrected..."
"The world allows consciousness to match new vessels, but it doesn't allow vessels to collect dispersed consciousness..."
...
"Otto, I think I understand what you're thinking now." Void Archives raised its head, and the vast branches of the imaginary tree spread out from there, dissipating and reconstructing in Otto Apocalypse's hand—
"I can't save him, because in my world, there's no one who can do the grand act of deceiving the world anymore!"
The boy grabbed Otto Apocalypse's clothes, tilted his head, and gazed at Otto's face.
"So! Even in parallel worlds... Haha, let me be the selfish evil for once!"
...
The golden-haired man focused all his attention on the spreading imaginary tree, unable to see anything else in his eyes.
A white light enveloped all, changing the scenery into a town of old with the sun high up in the sky.
This is it...
Now, all he can see was the execution grounds of five hundred years ago, with Kallen's scars gone. Next, all he needed was to use the Judgement of Shamsh...?
"Who?!"
Otto turned his head in astonishment at someone grabbing his clothes mid-air, watching the gradually clearer face of the boy beside him.
That appearance was clearly his young self. And the erosion of the imaginary numbers on Otto's body gradually disappeared, all transferred to the body of the child.
"Who do you think I am?"
"...Void... Archives?"
"Correct, I reward you for surviving in this lifeless, thoughtless, and dilapidated world!"
He laughed heartily, snatched the Judgement of Shamash, and kicked Otto Apocalypse hard in the waist, causing him to be swallowed by a crimson teleportation gate. Before the teleportation gate closed, the golden-haired man saw a Honkai beast threatening Kallen being killed by Cleaver of Shamash's strike.
Void Archives, in his tone, conveyed everything he wanted to say to Kallen Kaslana.
—As if he had seen it before.
...
"You're so slow, are you looking forward to seeing me die?"
Void Archives smiled. He sat on top of the church, watching fron afar as Kallen Kaslana opened her eyes and shed crystal tears.
The boy lowered his head, and black and gold were about to occupy his entire body.
"Hoo~ now, how do I prevent myself from becoming the destroyer of the world, the best lackey of the imaginary tree?"
Naturally. Void Archives remembered his experience at St. Fontaine.
"Well, there is that way."
He stretched lazily, opened a teleportation gate with a casual flick, and hopped in. "Come on, come and fight me, you stupid Sea of Quanta!"
[——!!!]
The surging tide rushed in, and Void Archives closed his eyes.
Emotions. They are truly interesting things...
Thank you, Miss Luo Lin.