I've already said this isn't a life simulator!

Xi Wang didn't want to argue too much about it... after all, he really did prefer Sakura.

He gently nudged Alicia, trying to signal that it was enough, but this time, Alicia didn't let go. Instead, she snuggled closer to him as if she were being affectionate.

"...Alicia?"

"...Nozomi, I'm really happy~"

She said it softly, with joy and tenderness.

“I’m so glad you’re here with us.”

The hand that had been around his neck quietly loosened, gently stroking the thin, broken, and nearly disappearing "rings" on his neck.

Even though its color is unusually pale and its shape is on the verge of breaking, it still exists.

"You... have always been a strong person... so strong that even I admire you... so I'm really... really happy."

She smiled, looked up, and met his gaze. Her eyes held tenderness, joy, and... affection for him.

"As expected... I like you the most~ Nozomi~?"

The beautiful scenery is captured here.

…………

………………

"Phew... this should be fine, right?"

In reality, Velvi breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"This will not only solve the problem of the [Herrscher of Corruption], but also delay his awakening time."

She looked up at the other side of the observation window... In the deep, dark sea, only his figure was so clear.

Three pairs of pure white wings emitted a faint glow. Countless azure "water" different from the surroundings flowed around him, mixed with pure white lily petals. His white hair, like waves, swayed gently in the water like seaweed. In front of him, a pink crystal flower shimmered, which he carefully protected in his arms... Ah, yes, this is him, the [Herrscher of Revelation], the [Herrscher of the Sea]—Xi Wang.

He still exists, still alive, sleeping in the deep sea. When the moment of "the end" arrives, he will awaken and once again bring destruction to civilization.

but……

"……Ugh."

Looking at the increasingly faint markings on his neck, Wilvi sighed helplessly and could only continue operating the equipment to prepare for Kevin's arrival.

"...I hope you're satisfied with this dream."

She said this in a soft voice.

Profile of a formidable foe: [The Heroic Chaser of Fire - Xi Wang]

Chasing Heroes - Dawn (SSS) - No Attribute

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【Blessing of the Ocean】: Dawn has a certain degree of basic resistance to physical/elemental damage and abnormal status, and is more resistant to interruption.

[Biological Adaptability]: When Xiwang takes physical damage, it increases physical resistance by a small amount; when it takes elemental damage, it increases the corresponding elemental resistance by a small amount. Each resistance can be increased by up to 50%.

【Sea Erosion】: Each stack reduces the character's maximum health by 2% (puts the character into a gray bar), up to a maximum of 15 stacks. Each stack is removed for every 10 instances of damage dealt to Xiwang. When a character on the field has 10 stacks of 【Sea Erosion】, Xiwang will unleash 【Whale Fall】 once.

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【The Beginning of Life】: After a character enters the field, Dawn will grant the field the 【Ocean】 property, stay in the center of the field and generate a shield (50 times). If the shield is broken within a certain time, the character will gain an increase in all damage and maximum health in the following battle; if the shield is not broken, Dawn will gain an increase in all damage and maximum health. During this process, tentacles will be generated on the field every 1 second to attack the character. The attacked character will have 2 stacks of 【Sea Erosion】.

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【Blood Ties Grant Me a Powerful Weapon】: Dawn wields her greatsword in a three-hit combo of two fast and one slow attacks. The first two hits deal a small amount of Cryo damage and apply 1 stack of 【Sea Erosion】 to the attacked character. The third hit deals a large amount of physical and Cryo damage and applies 2 stacks of 【Sea Erosion】. When all three hits hit, Dawn adds a 【Leaping Wave】.

【Leaping Wave】: Xiwang retreats a short distance and quickly performs an upward slash with her greatsword, summoning a wave-like sword aura that extends forward in a straight line, dealing a small amount of physical damage and a large amount of ice elemental damage, and stacking 2 layers of 【Sea Erosion】. When the 【Leaping Wave】 sword aura hits, Xiwang adds a 【Tide Strike】.

【Tide Strike】: Xiwang quickly dashes in front of the character, and after a short delay, performs a downward slash with her greatsword, summoning a small-area bombardment of the tide, dealing high physical and ice elemental damage and stacking 3 layers of 【Sea Erosion】. If the character is in a defensive stance (blocking or a state that can cause a block-like effect), it will also cause knockdown and 3 seconds of stun.

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【The Ocean Gives Me Power】: When Xiwang attacks, he will summon various marine creatures to fight together, dealing a small amount of physical damage as well as a large amount of ice elemental damage.

【Swordfish】: Xi Wang thrusts forward with his hand like a knife, and summons a swordfish to attack in the direction of the character and stack 1 layer of 【Sea Erosion】 (can be dodged but cannot be blocked).

【Orca】: Xi Wang throws a straight punch and summons an orca to attack in the character's direction and stack 1 layer of 【Sea Erosion】 (can be parried with melee attacks).

[Shark]: Xi Wang assumes a defensive stance and summons a shark to bite the character after being attacked, stacking 3 layers of [Sea Erosion] (which has a forced control effect and deals additional damage based on the number of [Sea Erosion] layers the character has).

【Crab】: Xi Wang quickly approaches the character and summons a crab to perform a strong control throw on the character and stack 2 layers of 【Sea Erosion】.

【Octopus】: Xi Wang waves his hand to summon octopus tentacles to attack the character and stacks 2 layers of 【Sea Erosion】. If the character is in the air/blocking state when attacked, it will cause the character to be knocked down/knocked down and stack an additional 2 layers of 【Sea Erosion】.

【Whale Fall】: Xi Wang leaps into the air and briefly charges up before kicking the character and summoning a whale to deal high damage over a wide area (with additional damage based on the number of 【Sea Erosion】 stacks). Releasing 【Whale Fall】 reduces the number of 【Sea Erosion】 stacks on the characters on the field by 8.

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【Ocean Current Grants Me Swiftness】: Xiwang initially has 3 stacks of 【Ocean Current】. When attacked, she will randomly move to a nearby location to avoid the attack (similar to the effect of the 【Seele Stigmata】 two-piece set). After the 3 stacks of 【Ocean Current】 are consumed, 1 stack will be restored every 20 seconds.

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【Deep Sea Gives Me Life】: Xi Wang chants in place, granting herself a shield of 20 times while summoning a vortex that gradually expands to the entire field. The vortex deals high-frequency, low-cost ice elemental damage. Each time it deals damage to a character, it stacks 1 layer of 【Sea Erosion】. For every second the vortex exists, Xi Wang randomly stacks 1 layer of 【Biological Adaptability】. For every 10 seconds the vortex exists, Xi Wang recovers 5% of her maximum health.

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【The Depths of the Sea Are Unknown】: When Xiwang's health drops to a certain value (breaking the first health bar), she gains invincibility and immediately uses 【Whale Fall】 once, then summons 【Orca】 to attack the character 3 times. If the character successfully parries 3 times with a melee attack at this time, the 【Sea Erosion】 stacks on all characters are removed and the character gains an all-damage boost; if hit twice, the 【Sea Erosion】 stacks on all characters are doubled and will not fall below 4 stacks in subsequent battles. Xiwang then enters the second phase.

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【Everything Will Eventually Return to the Ocean (Phase Two)】: Xi Wang displays greater power, stronger desire to attack, faster attack speed, and increased damage. Furthermore, the Greatsword's triple attack, 【Leaping Wave】, and 【Tide Strike】 will deal additional damage based on the number of 【Sea Erosion】 layers.

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【What I once longed for】: When the character on the field is 【Alice】, Xiwang interrupts all current actions and stops attacking, temporarily removes all skills, and converts them into 【restoring 1% of maximum health every 2 seconds】, while also giving 【Alice】 a 50% increase in all damage (calculated independently), 30% all damage penetration, and an energy recovery effect of 1 point per second.

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【What I Once Loved and Cherished】: When the character on the field is 【Sakura (Divine Attire - Forget-Me-Not)】, the damage dealt by Dawn is reduced by 70%, the desire to attack is lower, and all skills that add damage based on the number of 【Sea Erosion】 stacks are removed. At the same time, 【Sakura (Divine Attire - Forget-Me-Not)】 is given a 50% increase in all damage (calculated independently), 30% of all damage penetration, and an energy recovery effect of 1 point per second.

Epilogue: Perseverance, Waiting, Until Hope Arrives (5474)

"Hey Kevin, you can talk now."

In the cabin where everyone was gathered, watching the outside world gradually fill with seawater and eventually become pitch black, [Xiao Shi (Herrscher of Knowledge)] said somewhat impatiently.

"After going through all this trouble, you tricked us into going to the moon with the [Stigmata Project], and then you said you had an even more important plan for us to carry out, pulling us back... What exactly do you want?"

"And look at this lineup..."

Xiao Shi glanced around... Leaving aside himself, there were Kiana, Raiden Mei, and Bronya who were Herrschers, and then Durandal who had already awakened her Stigmata... or rather Bianca, as well as Li Sushang, Seele, and that [Feather Rabbit (Mistelin)], even the old-timer (Fu Hua) was there, and Anti-Entropy and Schicksal even had the [Moonlight Throne] and [Hyperion] on standby... What? What's going on with this lineup?

"Are you looking to cause trouble for someone? Or do you want to blow this planet up? Who can beat a lineup like this?"

"……I have no idea."

Kevin paused for a moment, but answered truthfully nonetheless.

"I don't know if we have the strength to defeat him now."

"Him? Hmm... Hmm?! Wait a minute? You mean he's still alive? You're kidding me?!"

Although Kevin's words were inexplicable, Xiao Shi quickly found the person Kevin was describing in his "memory".

"He... Kevin, is... the one I met there... [Ying Jie], right?"

Raiden Mei pondered for a moment, glanced at the deep, dark sea outside, and then asked.

He didn't like being called "Yingjie".

Kevin's answer was somewhat inexplicable, but it undoubtedly confirmed Raiden Mei's guess, which surprised Raiden Mei even more.

"Mei, what are you talking about...? Who is [he]?"

"You can simply think of him as the [Final Herrscher], Kiana."

Fu Hua explained to her from the side.

"Are you talking about the [Herrscher of the End]? I am one now, right? Even Kai... Kevin is now..."

Kiana still didn't know how to address Kevin... In the end, she simply called him by his name.

"No, we are not true Herrschers of the End right now... because we do not, and cannot, embrace the Cocoon."

Kevin corrected Kiana's mistake, paused briefly, and then continued.

"The one embracing the Cocoon now is still him; he is the Herrscher who brought about the end... As for us, we are at most thieves who stole power."

"……what?"

"And in fact, Kiana... you should also know him."

Fu Hua interjected. Qi

"His existence is recorded in the records of [Destiny]... however, he is recorded as the [Herrscher of the Sea] and the [Herrscher of Revelation]."

"【Herrscher of Revelation】? This title..."

"According to Bronya's records, the Herrscher of Revelation will sound the horn of doom, bringing an end to the world... A raging flood will engulf everything, and the entire Earth will be filled with seawater and Honkai Beasts, completely transforming into a blue planet, hence also known as the Herrscher of the Sea..."

"……I see."

Raiden Mei understood why Xiwang had told her in "Paradise of the Past" that "if you hear the horn, you should pray that there are only six times"—because... he was still alive, just sleeping at the bottom of the sea.

But then another question arises... How did Xi Wang in [Paradise of the Past] know this?

Wait... could it be that...?

"Wait a minute, Kevin."

Raiden Mei called out, her face showing disbelief at her own guess.

"He... is still alive, and... will wake up soon, right? And the him in [Paradise of the Past]... is also the current him, not the same [Memory Entity] as you, right?"

"...That's right."

Kevin nodded in approval.

"Although he left behind a [memory], ... due to some oversights in the past, he woke up once... In order to buy time and continue to accumulate power, we have to use some... special methods to connect his spirit to a specific area of ​​[Paradise of the Past] and use Alicia and Sakura's [memory] to soothe his emotions so that he can continue to sleep until we have accumulated enough power."

"So... [Paradise of the Past] is a lie you told him, a lie that will keep him asleep peacefully... right?"