"Uh, it seems I underestimated it a little too much."
Countless waves of malice seemed intent on drowning Elias. His body trembled, and he could no longer control his own power. His entire form automatically entered [Deliverance] mode.
At the same time, the six white wings behind Elias folded inward, their flawless snow-white feathers turning pitch-black one by one.
The twelve gemstones of different colors, symbolizing the twelve authorities he possessed, were also stained black by the malice.
Only a single pink gemstone continued to resist.
After fifty thousand years, Elias had once again gained complete control over the authority of Origin. However, unlike the forceful seizure back then, this time, Elysia had willingly offered him her authority.
As long as Elias did not use this authority to make a wish that would cause him harm, Elysia would naturally give him her power without hesitation.
But...
"This is bad. The authority of Origin isn't working."
Elias' expression was grave, and cold sweat poured down his face.
The Herrscher of Origin's authority indeed had a suppressive effect on the authorities of other Herrschers. After all, the former could be considered a form of administrator privilege. At this moment, it effortlessly suppressed the power of the Herrscher of Million.
However, while it could suppress the authority of Dominance...
It could not suppress all the malice in the world.
"How can this be?! Eli, hold on! No, hurry and take out the Core! We don't need this gemstone anymore!"
Elysia was frantic with worry. Seeing that three of Elias' wings had already turned pitch-black, she immediately tried to help him remove the Gem of Domination, but she did not possess the Divine Key Hand of the Void.
At the same time, Elysia sensed that something was terribly wrong.
She knew very well how many hardships her beloved husband had endured. Given Elias' mental fortitude, even facing all the malice in the world should not have left him in such a wretched state.
"No. Some bastard is interfering."
Elias shook his head, his face pale. He could sense a certain existence using the Gem of Domination as a medium to stir up the malice of humanity, attempting to corrode him and make him fall.
"What? Wait! Could it be Honkai?!"
Elysia's expression changed drastically as realization struck her.
At this moment, the Cocoon of Finality, which was observing Earth from the moon as always, was sparing no effort to influence and interfere with Elias through the Gem of Domination. For it, this was also a rare opportunity.
The pure will of Honkai could not affect Elias. Even if it implanted a Herrscher persona within him, with Misteln, the Herrscher authority, and Elysia's blessing all protecting him, not even Honkai itself could reduce the white-haired youth to its puppet.
But now, through the Gem of Domination, it could connect to all the malice in the world and directly use brute force to corrode Elias.
"What a bastard. It really won't let a single opportunity slip past!"
The corner of Elias' eye twitched violently as another wing was dyed black.
Then his vision darkened. The beautiful, dreamlike Everlasting Elysium transformed into a dark, clamorous abyss. He instinctively understood that this was the internal space of the Gem of Domination.
Within this space, a gate connected to all the malice in the world had already opened. Endless malice surged from it like a tsunami, completely submerging Elias' consciousness.
It was as though an angel had been dragged into the mire of hell.
Endless malice polluted him little by little.
Fortunately, the victim was Elias. An ordinary person would not have been capable of resisting at all. They would have been completely corroded in an instant and transformed into the newborn Herrscher of Dominance.
But even Elias, when faced with this overwhelming evil deliberately guided by Honkai, could only feel his soul gradually stained by the color of malice. At the same time, countless anguished cries filled with negative emotions exploded endlessly inside his mind, seemingly intent on reforging his personality.
Elias felt as though he had fallen into a swamp formed from condensed malice. The more he resisted and denied it, the deeper he sank.
Conversely, if Elias submitted to the malice, he would immediately be granted release. The malice of humanity would accept him, embrace him, corrode him, assimilate him, and grant him new power.
It seemed that as long as he offered [Good] as a sacrifice to [Evil], he could obtain happiness within this despairing darkness.
His steadfast will gradually began to sink.
His memories of the past became blurred and indistinct.
Countless voices tempted Elias to surrender himself to corruption.
Even he began to feel that indulging in evil might not be so bad.
But...
"It's not over yet... I don't want any of you... What I truly desire... could never exist within an abyss of malice..."
Elias narrowed his eyes, seemingly on the verge of losing himself, yet his right hand had remained tightly clasped around something all this time.
It was his lifeline.
The beacon preventing him from losing himself within the malice.
Even if Elias let go, it would not matter, because no matter what happened, the person on the other end would never release his hand. Elysia would never let go of Elias' hand! Never!
"The only person in this world capable of making me fall... is Ely... Mere malice... is still fifty thousand years too early..."
"Although hearing you say that makes me very happy, Eli, your condition really does look terrible right now. Your wings... All of your wings have already turned pitch-black. What should I do?"
Elysia looked worriedly at Elias' black wings. She gripped the white-haired youth's hand tightly, so anxious that tears were about to fall.
Elias barely opened his eyes a sliver. His weak voice carried longing and yearning.
"Hold me tightly... Ely... Don't let go."
"All right. I won't let go. I won't let go for the rest of my life!"
Elysia immediately embraced Elias tightly, as though she intended to offer herself to purify the malice within him.
In the past, she had watched this person perish before her very eyes.
At that moment, Elysia had decided that she would never let Elias go again. This white-haired youth, who had taught her the beauty of humanity, was the most important existence in her life.
The corners of Elias' lips curled upward slightly. Right now, he could not move so much as a finger and was utterly defenseless, yet he felt incomparably secure and relaxed.
There was no longer any need to fear or worry.
He would no longer be corroded or polluted.
Because the most beautiful person in the world was holding him in her arms.
An emotion called happiness welled up from his heart. In that case, how could Elias possibly be polluted by despairing malice?
Perhaps the love and beauty between them were insignificant before all the malice and despair in the world. But as long as that beauty existed, as long as Elysia did not release him, Elias would never yield to those negative emotions.
With this beautiful happiness as a seed, Elias gradually regained his clarity. He recalled even more wonderful memories—the precious time he had spent with Mei, Kiana, Bronya, Cecilia, Eden, Mobius, Vill-V, Sakura, Kevin, and the others.
Ordinarily, this would have been impossible.
Before the malice of humanity, even a psychic-sensory MANTIS or the Herrscher of Sentience would have struggled to maintain coherent thought, let alone recall the past to resist the malice's corrosion.
But one must not forget that this place was Everlasting Elysium.
It was a palace of memory created from the collective memories of all fifteen Flame-Chasers of Fire Moth. Elias had once stored all his beautiful memories within this paradise. With a single thought, Everlasting Elysium automatically transmitted those memories back to him.
There were also the memories of the other Flame-Chasers.
"My thoughts alone might not be strong enough. The memories of fifteen people might not be rich enough. But we ourselves are proof that beauty still exists in this world! Of course life contains pain and sorrow, but... they are not the entirety of existence!"
The white-haired youth shouted defiantly at the malice of humanity.
It was as though a white flower had bloomed within the mud.
It was as though a beam of light had pierced the endless night.
"..."
Honkai silently disconnected once again. It understood that it had failed yet, yet, yet again. No matter how powerful the malice of humanity was, it could not corrode a youth who sincerely believed he had lived a happy life.
Unexpectedly, however, Elias did not reject the malice. Within this realm of consciousness, he could easily have imagined beauty as a sword and used it to cleave through the malice.
Even if he could not destroy all the malice, it would have been enough for him to carve a path out of the encirclement and return to reality.
Although this sounded extremely idealistic, one must not forget that Elias currently possessed the authority of Origin.
(The ultimate idealistic Herrscher authority.)
Yet Elias did not do so.
His choice was acceptance and acknowledgment. Elias voluntarily embraced the malice of humanity, then used an ability known as [Miracle] to harmonize good and evil.
"Whether good or evil, both are parts of human nature. I fight for all that is beautiful, but that does not mean I will deny all malice."
"Because kindness alone often cannot resolve crises and problems. Evil is also one of the flowers of humanity. At the end of the day, I have never considered myself a purely kind and virtuous person."
The white-haired youth described his understanding of malice.
He also understood that the coexistence of good and evil, blooming together like a hundred flowers, was the origin and essence of human nature. It was humanity's truest form.
Here, Elias chose to accept the contradictions of human nature, transforming the shackles of malice into a crown and the sword of goodwill into an embrace.
After all, human nature was immensely complex. It was beautiful, filled with love and hope that drew people toward the light. Yet it was also cruel, its ugliness breeding evil everywhere and fueling endless conflict.
"But both are proof of what makes humans human, so there is no need to deny either one. Just like day and night, shadows still exist upon land illuminated by sunlight, while the radiance of the stars and moon still shines in a sky shrouded by darkness."
"Therefore, the freedom of human nature lies in choice. After all, no one can remain completely good or completely evil throughout their entire life. Only by choosing good or evil at the appropriate moment can humanity transcend rigid law and become what it was always meant to be."
Elias used himself as a vessel to contain the evil of humanity.
But this was not submission or corruption. It was acknowledgment and acceptance.
At that moment, the scales of good and evil achieved balance within him.
The Herrscher Core of Dominance changed accordingly, becoming like light and shadow, one side white and the other black.
"Th-This is!!"
Elysia's eyes widened as she stared in shock at the scene before her. She realized that she was witnessing an extraordinary miracle.
This was a youth's transformation.
This was a Herrscher's ascension.
This was the awakening of the purest "human" in the world.
The white-haired youth opened his eyes, and Elysia discovered that her gaze was irresistibly drawn toward him. An indescribable feeling of attraction immediately welled up within her heart.
Elysia experienced an incredible sensation. If Elias had once been a sun, then that sun now seemed to have found its own shadow.
Elias looked at his hands with satisfaction. Following his will, his newborn authority was released.
Everlasting Elysium transformed from a virtual world into reality.
This was because Elias had chosen to make this palace of memory his Nation of Domination. However... Herrscher of Thousand, Herrscher of Million, Herrscher of Dominance—those titles had now become things of the past.
Having brought this authority through its ascension, Elias would henceforth possess yet another title. Its name was—the Herrscher of Good and Evil!