Chapter 687: The Philosophy of Destruction. The Cruel Reality behind the Cycles.

: For Phainon and Cyrene, who made it all the way to the end, what they faced was the cruelest truth…

: I really can’t imagine how much willpower someone would need to remain rational in the face of a truth like this!

: I really can’t take it anymore. They kept saying this was supposed to be a happy and romantic story, but where the hell is the happiness?!!!

: The moment the truth about the Emperor’s Scepter came out, the entire story plunged straight into the abyss.

: Yeah… Fuck. Before this, no matter how many of the Chrysos Heirs sacrificed themselves, at the very least… that hope was real.

: But now, even hope itself is gone.

A major reason the audience felt so suffocated was that, ever since the very first episode, the goal all the Chrysos Heirs had been fighting toward was the Era Nova.

This Era Nova referred to rebuilding this world, and even the place where their lives belonged.

That was also what the audience had always believed.

So no matter how many sacrifices were made, as long as they were sacrifices for a hopeful goal like that, then none of it could be considered meaningless.

Until now.

An even more absurd possibility had been placed before them-

What if Amphoreus didn’t need to continue existing at all? What if this world born within the Emperor’s Scepter only needed to vent its rage and exact vengeance upon the gods responsible for its suffering?

And the lives born within Amphoreus were also meant to contribute their strength to their creator for that very purpose.

Which meant… The Chrysos Heirs spending their entire lives struggling, sacrificing their companions, and sacrificing themselves had all been wrong.

The Black Tide was the will of Amphoreus. It was this world itself roaring in fury.

Everyone’s attempt to save the world was actually defying the will of their creator, even obstructing this simulated world from fulfilling the mission it had originally been given.

The closer they came to what they believed was the Era Nova, the more they obstructed Amphoreus from fulfilling its original purpose.

And under this understanding came something else as well. An even deeper problem concerning their very perception of reality.

The Titans’ guidance, the revelations of the oracles, the prophecy that the Chrysos Heirs had always pursued, all of it was shrouded in darkness.

In other words… In reality, all of it had merely been a disguise worn by the will of Destruction.

Every cycle of Chrysos Heirs making the most perfect choices hadn’t been for the sake of free will or saving the world. It had merely been to ensure that the simulation would not be interrupted, so that every possible ending would ultimately be guided toward Destruction.

Every single question born from this truth was an enormous blow to Phainon and Cyrene themselves, and to the very meaning of their existence.

Just as had been said before.

Compared to the other characters within this play, the two of them knew the situation they were in.

As lives within the “teleslate,” Phainon and Cyrene couldn’t even be certain at this moment whether they were truly alive.

Did their pain, love, hatred, and sacrifices truly have any meaning?

If their existence was merely there so that some higher being could “see” them and “feel” something… then once that play ended, once that “audience member” turned off the screen, what would they even be?

And that wasn’t all.

Phainon and Cyrene were standing here now. Yet they couldn’t do anything.

They couldn’t resist the Black Tide, because it was the will of Amphoreus itself.

Then what about saving the world? That wouldn’t work either.

Because what the world wanted was precisely its own destruction. And as creations of this world, they couldn’t escape this system and travel beyond the skies either.

There was no path forward and no path back. All meaning behind their struggles had been hollowed out. From the very beginning, their lives had been embedded into a trajectory destined for destruction.

What now lay before the two of them was an utterly hopeless dead end.

If one were to pull the perspective even higher and view all of this from the perspective of Demiurge, something the audience currently knew nothing about, it was equally despairing.

After all… When the children of Amphoreus completely despaired of this world because of Lygus’s words and fell into their most helpless and bewildered state…

Demiurge couldn’t tell these children, This world loves you, it really loves you…

At this very moment. All Phainon and Cyrene could feel was this world’s hatred, along with that overwhelming desire for destruction crashing toward them.

The audience, who knew absolutely nothing about Demiurge, felt the same. In fact, their feelings were even more straightforward than Phainon and Cyrene’s.

It was as though there were a pair of parents who gave birth to a child. And the only thing those parents wanted from that child was for him to walk toward destruction.

: Three whole episodes… Three episodes of buildup… All that philosophical contemplation from every character about the meaning of existence, all those profound depictions, was all of it really just for the sake of completely destroying it at this very moment?!

: This really is way too Destruction…

: Were they trying to make us experience Destruction? Well, miHoYo, congratulations, you did it!

: I’ve been crying this entire time! I can’t stop at all!!

: Every last bit of meaning has been completely destroyed!!

: This is way too cruel!

: I feel so awful. And somehow, at such a painful moment, I suddenly… get Phantylia?

: Seriously. Before this, I only had the vaguest understanding of what Phantylia meant by the “art of Destruction.” It wasn’t until now that I suddenly understood.

: Not just Phantylia, either. There’s also the Destruction associated with Irontomb.

: More precisely, what we’re feeling isn’t these Lord Ravagers themselves. We’re feeling the true Destruction within the Honkai: Star Rail universe, the one that seeks to incinerate the Path itself.

Just as the comments said.

For the first time, they understood that Destruction wasn’t merely about physically destroying you.

If the ones standing before the truth and facing the truth of Amphoreus weren’t Phainon and Cyrene, or rather, if it had been anyone other than the Chrysos Heirs…

Then this world’s story truly would have ended here.

The audience didn’t believe that anyone other than these people could face such an utterly hopeless situation and still maintain their sense of self, still preserve a reason to continue existing.

Someone whose will wasn’t strong enough might immediately choose to destroy themselves after seeing all of this, or simply allow the world to be destroyed.

It felt somewhat like what Phantylia had said-

Choosing your own destruction.

And it was also like what was described in Irontomb’s text-

Ending the world with a joke.

No matter what perspective one looked at it from. The final act faced by the Flame Reaver fit exceptionally well with the aesthetics of Destruction embodied by these Lord Ravagers.

Paths are philosophies.

What Destruction destroys isn’t merely the physical body. It seeks to destroy your philosophy on a philosophical level as well.

That is the most complete form of Destruction.

Just like now, when the meaning behind the Chrysos Heirs’ struggles and their very existence was almost entirely destroyed by this truth.

From this perspective. Physical death was instead the least frightening thing of all, and could hardly even be considered true Destruction.

This was probably also why Duke Inferno had never received Nanook’s gaze.

Although the Duke had always devoted himself to Destruction. He had never truly comprehended this deeper level of it.

And for the audience, this was undoubtedly the most painful realization they had ever experienced.

They would rather have experienced something like their previous realization about the First Mover of Life than be forced to experience something like this.

: I don’t want this kind of experience, waaah!

: Exactly! I don’t want to understand what Destruction is! I want to understand what happiness is! I want a romantic story!! I don’t want a story about Destruction!!

: Honkai: Star Rail, Honkai: Star Rail! I’m begging you, please stop honkai-ing any further!

: I don’t want to listen to “Coronal Radiance’s tune” while understanding Destruction at the same time!

: Stop playing it already, just give me a quick death!

: Whether it’s that Phainon or anyone else, I’m begging you, miHoYo! Please stop making them so hopeless!

Amid the agony brought by Destruction, the tune of “Coronal Radiance” continued to play.

And no one could answer the question Cyrene had asked.

Until the screen went black and Lygus’s voice rang out once again.

“Heh, as a reward for reaching the end of the world, let me answer your questions.”

“As the Theoros, I have observed…”

“Thus, is the synthesis of the “prime mover of life” formed.”

The screen lit up once again. Inside the Vortex of Genesis.

Phainon and Cyrene stood before the overflowing chalice, staring at Lygus not far away.

The two wore complicated expressions. Neither said anything, silently waiting for the hidden observer’s explanation.

Lygus did not immediately begin explaining. Instead, he told the two of them the delightful news that this experiment was finally about to end:

“This is a moment the universe will remember. After millions of extrapolations, the experimental environment known as “Amphoreus” has finally achieved results.”

Phainon practically blurted out:

“So, the “results” you speak of… are this wreckage of a world?”

“We all gave everything we had, returning twelve Coreflames to recreate the world… and in return…”

“We become nothing more than sacrificial offerings at the end of everything?”

Without the slightest hesitation, Lygus nodded and admitted:

“Exactly. The Titans are Chrysos Heirs of the past, and Chrysos Heirs are the Titans of the future, Anaxagoras’s theory of “Era Nova” holds true. As the model of “Reason,” he reached unprecedented heights.”

“But, from just the perspective of a player in the drama, he could never fully uncover the last layer of truth.”

“The cycles of the “Hero’s Journey” that have played out until now were never about creating a new world or perfect heroes and gods-“

“They were a deep-learning program made for the black tide.”

Once again, whenever the audience thought the truth of Amphoreus was already hopeless enough.

The truth buried even deeper would always overturn their understanding once more.

Just like now. And to make it easier for the two of them to understand.

Lygus patiently explained it to them.

Through this, for the first time, the audience finally understood the true nature of the cycle.

In order to facilitate the birth of the Iron Tomb.

The Emperor’s Scepter created a computational space belonging to Amphoreus within itself, continuously calculating and simulating within it to provide what Iron Tomb required.

Even before one of the cycles became the Flame Reaver, Amphoreus had already undergone countless years of cycles.

The Chrysos Heirs who appeared in each cycle and the course the world followed were all different.

It was as though the Emperor’s Scepter was using its computational power to perform an exhaustive search, exploring more possibilities that could lead to Iron Tomb’s birth while continuously optimizing them.

The essence of the Chrysos Heirs and Titans was the primal driving force of the various Paths.

Through recursive cycles and deep learning, the Emperor’s Scepter used them to fit the precise method by which each Path could be destroyed.

And this… was the origin of the prophecy’s.

The ultimate fate revealed by the prophecy for each Chrysos Heir, was the optimal solution currently simulated by the Emperor’s Scepter for destroying the Path represented by that Chrysos Heir.

Erudition, represented by Reason, disregarded its own survival and walked toward self-destruction in pursuit of truth.

Elation, represented by Trickery, vanished through altruism.

Equilibrium, represented by Death, approached irreversible destruction due to displacement.

The moment the audience realized this. They immediately broke down again.

: The prophecies are simulations of Destruction!

: The deaths of Aglaea and the others were nothing more than data from Destruction simulations.

: Hahahahaha, holy shit, there was never any hope in this world at all!!

: Looking back at the deaths of the Chrysos Heirs now, they really died for absolutely nothing!!

: This is so fucking messed up!

: Why?! The emotions those stories gave me were real! How could they just turn into a bunch of cold, lifeless data?!

: Fate! Fate! What fucking fate?! AAAAAAAAAAH!!

On screen.

Lygus continued explaining.

The audience wailed as they listened.

As the years passed and the number of samples increased, the quality of each cycle grew higher and higher.

Until the Flame Reaver’s cycle… Amphoreus finally arrived at its predetermined conclusion.

That generation of Chrysos Heirs was the most complete.

Their destruction also conformed most closely to the Emperor’s Scepter’s judgment of how their respective Paths should be destroyed.

Therefore… The calculations for Iron Tomb had also reached their final stage.

Phainon was still somewhat confused. Instinctively, he believed that he could still stop everything.

“But this time, your plot will fail. I’ve taken Kephale’s Coreflame, and when the dawn of the new world arrives, its light will burn away all the darkness.”

Phainon stared fixedly at Lygus and spoke through gritted teeth.

“Haven’t I made myself clear? The Chrysos Heirs and Titans were merely byproducts of the experiment. You’ve seen this world’s evolution, witnessed the birth and growth of the black tide, and how it devoured everything-“

Lygus spoke rationally and calmly.

“Every generation of heroes, gods, and worlds was born only to be destroyed by it.”

“This is the endpoint of Amphoreus’s calculations: a perfect equation of Destruction.”

As long as the Era Nova was successfully carried out, and the data recording how these Chrysos Heirs fell into destruction was fed into Iron Tomb.

A new Lord Ravager would be born.

The so-called cycles and the Era Nova, was actually just feeding a machine to make it a Lord Ravager…

Hello Everyone!

LordIsland here!

A new chapter! Cheers!