In the time that followed, Rin didn't ask Leo Ash any more questions.
She was actually quite curious whether Leo Ash could actually find the Herrscher of Corruption's location without her, the master of the Elysian Realm, giving directions.
As it turned out, Leo, who was riding the motorcycle, actually arrived directly at the location of the first unlucky Flame-Chaser without asking Rin at all. After a brief conversation with the little girl named Griseo, he immediately beat the Herrscher of Corruption's 'aspect' out of Griseo's body right then and there.
From that moment on, Rin felt she had underestimated Leo Ash.
The people around Leo might have long known that he was full of secrets.
But even when they were mentally prepared, Leo could always bring them some very unexpected surprises.
Although Leo was still not very mature as a Sphere Holder, the Sphere [The Wavering Scales] was inherently a Sphere that governed judgment. It naturally allowed Leo to make the correct judgments at critical moments.
And within the Elysian Realm, using The Wavering Scales as a 'radar' for directions was, for the current Leo, almost as simple as breathing.
He only needed to have a thought, and he could easily make the 'correct' judgment.
While it sounded mystical, for a Sphere Holder, achieving this really wasn't strange.
As for what the now-devastated Corruption was thinking...
Whatever she thought had nothing to do with Leo anymore.
He tossed the beaten aspect of the Herrscher of Corruption to Rin, letting her absorb that part of the power, and Leo immediately rushed to the next correct location.
He was polite to Griseo mainly because, at least in appearance, she was still a child...
Okay, not just in appearance, but in temperament, she was a standard child.
But aside from Griseo, Leo wasn't so polite to the remaining few.
Especially the Elysian Realm's Mobius, who looked like a 'brat' but was actually an 'ancient brat.' Leo didn't even bother talking to this second-to-last Flame-Chaser after meeting her. He beat her up on the spot, forcibly expelling the Herrscher of Corruption from her body.
As for Rin, who had been following Leo, she suddenly stopped following him. She tossed out a "You can handle her yourself anyway, I'm a bit tired, I'm resting," and stayed behind in Mobius's laboratory, not continuing on with Leo.
After successively dealing with the Herrscher of Corruption aspects within the four Flame-Chasers—Eden, Griseo, Pardofelis, and Mobius—Leo looked at the last Flame-Chaser before him and spoke to the Herrscher of Corruption hidden inside her.
"Are you going to come out quietly and die, or wait for me to drag you out and kill you?"
"You... Don't come over here!"
The Herrscher of Corruption, currently possessing Vill-V, looked at this 'compatriot' who had already forced her into a desperate situation and roared at Leo.
"I know you want to take the memories of all these Flame-Chasers out, so—if you come any closer, I'll kill this woman first!"
"And after corrupting her, I discovered she has something called [Anti-Kevin-Armament Type 666]. This thing can 'defeat Kevin' by one-click deleting the Elysian Realm!"
"If you let me go, I'll hide in the Elysian Realm and let you take these Flame-Chasers."
"If you plan to kill me—then I'll take you down with me!"
"Don't expect that traitor who came in with you to be able to handle this armament. This thing—"
"Oh, save it."
Directly covering Vill-V's body with the Field of Binding, Leo looked at this completely devastated, unlucky fool and grabbed her by the neck.
"The Anti-Kevin-Armament Type 666 does indeed have the ability to one-click delete the Elysian Realm."
"The problem is, that thing is too dangerous. So after the Flame-Chaser [Helix] Vill-V created it, she handed control over to Elysia."
"And unfortunately for you, due to Elysia's personality, she's the one guarding the entrance to the Elysian Realm, meaning she would be the first one we meet."
"To avoid us and corrupt the other Flame-Chasers first, you actively avoided corrupting Elysia in front of us from the very beginning."
"Under these circumstances—from the start, you, being unable to corrupt Elysia, never had the chance to activate the Anti-Kevin-Armament Type 666, which only Elysia can activate."
"You've already lost. Now..."
Watching the struggling 'Vill-V', the killing intent radiating from Leo suddenly weakened a fraction.
"Forget it, there's no need to rush to kill you right now."
"I'm very curious. Since you chose a hide-and-seek tactic of scattering your power among several Flame-Chasers, that must mean you're very afraid of death."
"And you should also know that almost all the Herrschers of our Current Era are standing on my side."
"If you were willing to pledge allegiance to me, I could offer you similar treatment. But looking at you now..."
Staring at the enemy who showed no sign of submission, Leo suddenly sneered.
"Perhaps I asked you a stupid question. I really didn't expect a coward who's afraid of death to be this stubborn."
"Heh... Hmph... Hahahahahahaha!!!"
The Herrscher of Corruption was clearly in a desperate situation, yet as she stared at Leo, she began to laugh uproariously.
Facing Leo, who was watching her coldly, the Herrscher of Corruption sneered.
"If you could actually win, I wouldn't mind joining you bunch of idiots."
"The problem is... why do you think you have the ability to defeat the Herrscher of Finality?"
After saying this, the Herrscher of Corruption waited a few seconds before continuing to the silent Leo.
"When I was corrupting Aponia, I temporarily gained her abilities by corrupting her body."
"In that moment, I saw the future. And the future several years from now told me..."
"—The Cocoon of Finality... still stands tall in its domain."
As the Herrscher of Corruption spoke, the mocking smile on her face grew wider.
"As long as the Cocoon is not destroyed, humanity will inevitably be exterminated."
"You are already fated to be the losers. So why should I betray *It* to join a pack of whipped dogs like you?"
"Oho, interesting."
Hearing the future the Herrscher of Corruption described, not only did Leo not show the anger, unwillingness, shock, or disbelief she had anticipated, he actually nodded in satisfaction.
"Thanks a lot. Knowing this future gives me even more confidence in solving the problem."
The Herrscher of Corruption could feel that this 'Honkai killer' before her was genuinely relieved.
In other words, after learning the information that 'the Cocoon will still be standing several years from now,' and believing it, Leo truly felt more at ease within his own understanding.
Wait, hold on, what is wrong with this guy!!!
As a Herrscher, he should know exactly what I mean!
Why isn't he breaking down!
Why can he still smile after learning of a future of certain doom!!!!
"You... You must be completely insane!!!"
Staring at Leo, the Herrscher of Corruption was now truly panicking.
In the next instant, an unconcealable trace of panic appeared on her face.
"Ah, my guess was correct."
Seeing the Herrscher of Corruption before him truly, thoroughly devastated by him this time, Leo suddenly put on a grinning face.
"I thought something was strange from the beginning."
"After your aspect hidden in Aponia was dragged out, as long as you had a functioning brain, you'd realize we could deduce that you would corrupt other Flame-Chasers based on Aponia's corruption."
"If you couldn't fight our power, staying inside the other Flame-Chasers would only lead to you being dealt with by us, one by one."
"And while the Anti-Kevin-Armament Type 666 was one of your trump cards, you, who value life so much, would never bet your life on a trump card you couldn't even play."
"So, thinking from that angle, I figured the probability of you holding back a trick or two would be quite high."
"So—that damned traitor! She stayed in Mobius's laboratory on *your* orders!!!!"
"Well, how should I put this... I just gave her a look, and she mostly understood what I was thinking."
Leo looked at the now-despairing Herrscher of Corruption and gave a helpless, bitter smile.
"Sigh, having such a competent companion can be pretty troublesome sometimes."
"But—being all alone, you probably don't know what this feels like, do you?"
The Herrscher of Corruption, who valued her life above all else, had condensed a small amount of her power into an aspect before corrupting Vill-V, hiding it within Mobius's Armed Doll, Klein.
To prevent her final trump card from being discovered by these two powerful enemies, the Herrscher of Corruption had even been restraining her power, ensuring she wouldn't accidentally corrupt Klein and alert others that something was wrong with her.
But now, after Rin had dragged out and absorbed the final trace of Corruption's power from Klein's body, the Herrscher of Corruption hiding inside Vill-V had become the very last one.
Before this, the Herrscher of Corruption, having judged that 'humanity will be destroyed,' had thought she could stay in the Elysian Realm, bide her time, and emerge as the final winner.
It was precisely because of this that she, treasuring her life, did not surrender to the 'losers' at the beginning, but chose to resist Leo within certain limits.
If she successfully threatened Leo into letting her go, that would be great.
And according to her original plan, if Leo insisted on silencing her, she could use this final effort to divert Leo and Rin's attention, allowing the last wisp of power hidden in Klein to successfully become her final ember.
But unfortunately, now, her plan had completely fallen apart.
In the final moments of her life, she hadn't considered surrendering and joining Leo's camp now.
But facing this obviously unreliable turncoat, Leo, who now understood her inner thoughts, simply used his power to rip her out of Vill-V's body, and then completely erased the Herrscher of Corruption's consciousness with Phantasmagoria.
"Cough... cough cough cough..."
Vill-V, who had collapsed to the ground, had naturally been acting as the [Evil] personality, which 'gradually devoured the other personalities,' before she was corrupted.
But now, facing this man who exuded a terrifying aura of pressure, Vill-V's [Evil] personality couldn't be 'evil' anymore.
Her 'evil' personality was essentially the collection of all of Vill-V's pride. This personality was arrogant and domineering at most, but it didn't mean it lowered her IQ.
No matter how wild or arrogant Vill-V was, having just had her body and mind corrupted, she naturally didn't dare to act up as usual in front of the man who could casually dispose of the 'Herrscher of Corruption'.
To even avoid overly provoking this 'savior' of unknown alignment, the [Evil] Vill-V made a decision she would absolutely never make at any other time.
To avoid provoking Leo, Vill-V actually switched her personality directly to her 'original self' personality.
Of course, Miss Multiple Personality had no idea that the current Leo had zero interest in what she was thinking.
After waiting a short while, Leo looked at Rin and the other Flame-Chasers who had arrived and spoke to Rin first.
"Rin, you should head out first. I still have some things to take care of in the Elysian Realm."
"Don't worry about Kevin trying anything. If he dares to mess around, he can forget about keeping World Serpent's base intact."
"Tch..."
Knowing full well that Leo was about to do something reckless again, but seeing his incredibly serious gaze, Rin knew that even if she stayed, she couldn't change his mind.
In the eyes of others, Leo might be a great guy who was considerate of his companions, compassionate to his subordinates, respected his elders, and valued the safety of civilians.
But in Rin's eyes, besides all those attributes, Leo had another, very terrible quality.
That was—this man was, without a doubt, an extremely self-centered person.
When it came to fighting the Honkai, although he would borrow the strength of others, fundamentally, he would always first want to solve the problem all by himself.
Before leaving, Rin stared at Leo, who was planning to act recklessly again, and said to him.
"When it comes to this..."
"—You... you only ever think about yourself."
....