Honkai Star Rail: I Played the Villain, Now the Heroines Want Revenge — Chapter 227

Chapter 227: Rebirth in Destruction

As soon as March 7th’s words fell.

Rumble—!!!

The universe screamed.

After only a few seconds, the physical aftermath of the two Aeons’ clash—the impact of divine will upon reality—reached the Luofu.

The entire ark lurched, a tectonic shift on a cosmic scale.

The artificial ground began to crack, massive fissures opening up and venting raw plasma from the ark’s core.

Buildings, centuries old, were torn apart like paper. The artificial sky, a marvel of engineering, shattered, revealing the horrifying, warped void above.

The Xianzhou itself was collapsing.

“No! The Luofu is going to collapse!” Welt’s expression changed drastically. He grabbed the railing, his knuckles white, as the entire balcony of the Seat of Divine Foresight tore away from the main building.

March 7th watched the cracking ground beneath her feet in horror. “We… we’re going to fall! The whole city is falling into the core!”

“Quick, find a Star Skiff!” Himeko decided instantly, her voice cutting through the panic. “Leave the Luofu immediately! Dan Heng, help Stelle!”

The Express Crew ran desperately, searching for any flying vehicle to escape.

Stelle, the Trailblazer, was weakened and pale, supported by Dan Heng. Without the Stellaron, she could barely stand steadily, her body trembling from the shock.

“There’s a Star Skiff over there!” Dan Heng pointed into the distance, at a small transport docked on a collapsing platform.

Everyone rushed in that direction. The ground behind them continuously collapsed, as if being swallowed by an invisible, giant maw!

They leaped across a newly formed chasm, the other side crumbling just as their feet left it.

And you.

You hovered in the void, a solitary, silent figure.

The power of the twin Emanators—Destruction and Finality—surged within your body, resisting the terrifying, reality-bending aftermath of the Aeons’ battle.

You stared intently at the two deities in the sky.

A chance…

You were waiting, waiting for a chance.

Your new power was immense, but it was still the power of an Emanator, a follower. To kill an Aeon, you needed the perfect moment.

As long as the two Aeons were inextricably entangled, as long as there was a momentary flaw…

Suddenly!

Lan began to draw his bow!

He had pushed Nanook back. Divine light gathered, a cold, pure, and terrifying light arrow was forming.

He was going to unleash a full-power strike on Nanook!

Now!

The moment Lan was fully focused on charging up, his entire being dedicated to the concept of killing his opposite—that was the best time for you to strike!

You instantly activated your Mystic Eyes!

Die, Lan!

Power erupted from you, the combined, paradoxical energy of Destruction and Finality. You prepared to rush towards the deity you hated to the bone…

However!

Just as you were about to move!

Lan’s head suddenly turned.

His head, a featureless mask of starlight, turned away from Nanook…

And looked directly at you.

Even in fierce, divine battle with Nanook, even while fully accumulating divine power, he still perceived the killing intent of you… an ant.

The next moment, something incredible happened!

The divine bow, originally aimed at Nanook, changed direction in a thousandth of a second!

The arrowhead pointed directly at you!

“What?!”

Your pupils constricted sharply!

You never expected Lan to suddenly change his target!

Whoosh—!

The light arrow left the string!

You had no time to react at all!

No escape!

Absolutely no escape!

In a matter of seconds, you saw the only hope…

Nanook!

The Aeon of Destruction was conveniently blocking your path!

For that light arrow to hit you, it would have to pass through him first!

You could only hope that Nanook’s divine body would be able to block this arrow…

Pfft—!

The light arrow instantly pierced through Nanook’s abdomen!

But the arrow’s momentum did not diminish in the slightest!

This arrow was more powerful than any before!

It pierced through Nanook!

Then—

It continued, its trajectory unchanged!

It pointed directly at you!

The moment before the light arrow was about to obliterate you, you suddenly understood.

This arrow, from the very beginning, was always prepared for you.

Lan had long since perceived your existence, perceived your threat!

He knew that, besides Nanook, the only one on this battlefield who posed a threat to him…

Was you!

It was your Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, the eyes that could see through death lines!

So that’s how it is…

Lan had long realized that you had the potential to kill an Aeon.

But your power was still too weak.

He only needed to use a tiny bit of force to instantly obliterate you!

Therefore, his first target was not Nanook…

But you.

But you understood too late.

Boom!!!

The light arrow engulfed you.

Even with the power of the twin Emanators, this strike was absolutely, conceptually fatal!

Your body instantly disintegrated!

Flesh and blood turned to dust. Bones turned to powder.

You could feel life, memory, and energy turning into nothingness in an instant.

This was the power of an Aeon.

Your body was disintegrating. Your soul was dissipating.

Your vision gradually blurred, and the world became a blank, white void.

“Damn it…”

You used your last bit of strength, your fading consciousness, able only to watch Lan helplessly.

Watching his indifferent, colossal figure.

Just like back then…

Just like when he destroyed Fanghu all those years ago!

“Jiang Li… Neergul…”

Why…

Why am I still so powerless in the end…

Even though I received the blessings of two Aeons…

Even though I tried so hard…

Yet I still… can’t do anything…

No!

NO! It can’t end like this!

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Hate!

Overwhelming, pure, conceptual hatred erupted!

Hatred for Lan!

Hatred for this unfair world!

Hatred for the Aeons!

Hatred for your own, pathetic powerlessness!

“I HATE IT—!!!”

Even though your body had dissipated, your consciousness was still roaring!

“WHY! WHY CAN AEONS ARBITRARILY DECIDE THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MORTALS?!”

“WHY CAN THEY STAND HIGH ABOVE, LOOKING DOWN ON THE SUFFERING OF ALL BEINGS?!”

“WHY DID MY SISTER HAVE TO DIE?! WHY DID NEERGUL HAVE TO DIE?!”

“WHY!!!”

This hatred burned like a flame!

No, it was more fervent than fire!

More complete than destruction!

Darker than the final, cold emptiness!

This hatred began to distort!

“I WILL… KILL LAN!”

“I WILL… END THIS WORLD ORDER PLAYED WITH BY AEONS!”

“I WILL MAKE EVERYTHING… RETURN TO ITS DESTINED END!”

Boom—!

Suddenly, at the moment you were about to completely dissipate!

Your remaining consciousness erupted!

A pale, all-ending, gray-white light rose from the point of your “death”!

Your body began to reassemble and sublimate again!

Broken bones transformed into new laws!

In The Hunt’s light, your flowing blood condensed into new concepts!

In Destruction’s fire, your dissipating soul burned into a new Path!

Heaven and earth shook!

The sea of stars wailed!

The entire universe trembled!

All the Aeons, at this moment, felt it!

A new peer was ascending to godhood from the ashes of destruction!

The white light dissipated.

You reappeared in the void.

You floated in the void, your body completely changed.

A gray-white divine body, like the blankness after all colors have been erased.

That was the color of the end, the color of all things returning to Asat Pramad.

[Inorin’s Note: “Asat Pramad” seems to be a term for the ultimate “End” or “Void,” the final state of all things.]

Your eyes were bottomless black, as if they could swallow all light and hope.

Around you, countless tiny cracks in reality continuously formed and healed; that was space itself being ended by your very existence!

You were no longer Orion, the human.

You were no longer an Emanator.

You were—

The Aeon of “Gui Zhong”!

The Terminator of all continuation in the universe!

[Inorin’s Note: “Gui Zhong” (归终) is a Chinese term literally meaning “Return to the End.” This is the author’s custom-named Aeon.]

You raised your hand, looking at your new, gray-white palm.

You could feel a brand new power.

A new Path.

Restitution.

The Path to forcibly settle all accounts. To judge all existences that should have ended but haven’t.

To instantly return everything to its destined end.

“Lan…”

Your voice resounded through the starry sky. It was no longer human, but a chorus of a billion endings.

“You should not have been born.”

“Your existence, in itself, is a mistake.”

“And I…”

You slowly turned to Lan, your Mystic Eyes having evolved into the “Eyes of Gui Zhong” that could see through all endings.

“I will personally judge you, and send you back to where you belong—the Void!”

At the same time, another voice echoed in your heart.

Jiang Li…

Your death is the greatest mistake in this universe.

Once I end them…

I will definitely bring you back.

This was the last shred of humanity belonging to Orion, and also the last lingering obsession that supported the birth of “Gui Zhong.”

Nanook stopped his movements.

His golden eyes looked at you with a new, burning interest.

And Lan, meanwhile, tightened his grip on the divine bow in his hand.

He knew that the greatest threat—the one he had tried to erase—had, after all, emerged.

An Aeon who ascended from destruction just to kill him!

A judge who transcended all things, above the very end!