The warm and vast road sign of light, trailed by that reverse-flying meteor, not only pierced the night sky shrouded by Abzu's shadow but also acted like an invisible fuse, igniting something deep within another dying body on the ice plain.
The gentle glow of the Authority of "Dreams" emitted by the path of light, like the purest nectar, sprinkled onto Shu's broken shell and despairing mind.
"Ugh..."
On the ice, Shu's fingers curled abruptly.
Nerve endings that had long been numb regained the perception of cold and pain, then controlled that tattered body to make a gripping motion born of survival instinct.
His heart gave a heavy, critical beat inside his broken chest cavity.
Thump.
The temperature of life, accompanied by that expectation crossing through the air, flowed back into this shell that was about to cool.
Broken bones connected with difficulty under the weak traction of a newfound [Hope], and his chaotic vision began to refocus.
Shu sucked in a mouthful of cold air mixed with ice chips and smoke, a searing pain shooting through his lungs.
This pain felt so vivid right now!
"Hah... Hah..."
Intermittent gasps escaped his throat as his arms exerted force again.
This time, a piercing pain came from his broken forearm, but it didn't collapse again.
Gritting his teeth, pressing his forehead against the ice, every muscle in his body exploded with new strength amidst wails of agony, inch by inch propping himself up from the ice layer.
Kneeling, then swaying, standing up.
His vision was still shaking, but the direction of the sky was incredibly clear.
He threw his head back, his gaze locking deathly onto that road sign of light which had already gone far away yet still left a brilliant mark at the end of his vision.
Something was burning in his chest—it was residual strength, reviving vitality, the impulse to catch up with that light.
Together...
We must stand before that monster together!
I can't let him go alone!
I can't...
But before that, a cold question, like a lurking venomous snake hiding in the dark, threatened to bite through his hot blood at any moment.
How exactly did it appear?
That Honkai Beast... planetary-class mass right in their faces.
The Authority of Gravity could explain its deception of monitoring instruments, and even partially explain its "concealment" from physical rules.
But... what about him and the other Shu?
Their perception of energy, space, and "existence" itself was far beyond comparable to mundane instruments.
How could such a behemoth, with such a terrifying Honkai energy reaction, be directly "in their faces" without any warning?
Unless... jump.
A precise spatial teleportation across extremely vast distances and extremely high dimensions.
Or...
Shu's pupils trembled suddenly.
—Unless, the "thing" that came...
Was not just one.
Even before this thought appeared, Shu abruptly felt pain as if his body were being cleaved in two.
Having just stood firm facing the sky, without any warning, he turned sharply to his left with a twist that nearly snapped his waist, simultaneously raising his arm to block his side.
CLANG————————!!!
A sharp, massive sound of metal clashing, loud enough to tear eardrums, exploded violently!
A bizarrely shaped giant guandao, entirely an ominous black-gold color with a slowly rotating clock pattern embedded in the hilt, stabbed out from seemingly frozen space-time and smashed heavily onto Shu's blocking arm!
This was not a simple physical impact!
Shu felt as if the opponent had solidified an entire segment of "accelerated time" or "frozen space" itself and smashed it over!
"Cough—!"
His blocking right arm suffered a comminuted fracture, and Shu's unrecovered body abruptly coughed up a trail of fresh blood.
His full-force block only prevented him from being directly sliced in two by this blade, but it was completely unable to withstand that irresistible immense force.
Shu's body flew out uncontrollably sideways like a struck pebble.
In his spinning vision, Shu decisively abandoned his intake of information from the surrounding environment, instead focusing all his information capture methods on the enemy who had ambushed him.
It was a humanoid "existence."
Its whole body was covered in a smooth shell that was neither metal nor stone, seemingly flowing with black-gold data streams.
Its limbs were slender, its posture elegant yet deathly still. Its head had no facial features, only a massive, glowing surface resembling an abstract clock face.
Holding that giant clock blade, after one strike, without the slightest pause, its feet lightly tapped the ground...
No, it seemed to directly "shorten" the distance between itself and the flying Shu. Ignoring physical inertia, it swung its blade again!
Imaginary Construct—Nihilus!
This title instantly branded itself into Shu's mind.
At the same time, all previous broken clues, all unreasonable doubts were forcibly connected at this moment!
Abzu's "abrupt" arrival... space-time jump... shielding specifically targeting Herrscher perception...
And this enemy right now, so skilled in Space-Time Authority, appearing at such a precise moment...
The third link of the conspiracy!
A defensive measure truly from the "World" itself!
That planetary-class Honkai Beast was directly "transported" to Earth's doorstep by this Imaginary Construct possessing high-dimensional space-time manipulation abilities!
One responsible for physical "zeroing" judgment with absolute mass and gravity, and the other responsible for cleaning up "variables" like him who might appear possessing "abnormal" abilities!
Sure enough...
Grafting world lines...
Still incurs "Heaven's Wrath"?
The Imaginary Construct's goal right now was incredibly clear; it wasn't as simple as killing Shu.
That blade condensed from Space-Time Authority, that pursuit method of precisely cutting space... it was here for "control"!
It wanted to imprison... or somehow nullify his "Death Rewind"!
His final trump card, the ultimate reliance that allowed him to challenge limits countless times and even duel himself... had long been calculated by this deeper malice, and a specific "handling procedure" had been arranged.
Heh...
If this interlocking development, where every step was a killing move, was man-made...
Then what a fucking beast.
Starting from "Mirror Split" to induce two Shus to fight to the death, then dropping a planetary-class Honkai Beast on the scene to "finish the job."
Now there's even an Imaginary Construct descending to beat a dead horse...
It really was a thorough, interlocking, progressive targeting!
Shu felt the deep malice from this world.
Or rather...
For the first time, he felt his own insignificance in front of the world.
Fourth link?
Fifth link?
Maybe there were more hidden killing moves in the dark.
But at this moment, Shu had no time to think.
Facing this Imaginary Construct that came to strip away his last reliance, feeling the dying embers within his body that were nearly exhausted yet forcibly ignited by some fervent expectation, he grinned with bloodstained lips. Forcibly twisting his body in mid-air, a dim light also ignited in his broken left hand.
The errand he went out to do was finished.
Now.
He wanted to go home.