"I didn't expect... you'd win in the end..." Body pierced, Honkai energy rapidly dissipating, the Herrscher of Corruption's expression was bitter, the red light in its eyes dimming bit by bit.
"Everyone must pay the price for their choices."
"Is that so..." Losing support, the Corruption swayed, slowly falling towards the void.
"But... have you perhaps forgotten what my ability is?"
The moment the words fell, sharp pain suddenly erupted from Mei's abdomen. She looked down, only to see a fair hand piercing through her body, emerging from her back through her stomach.
Simultaneously, a girl's gentle voice whispered beside her ear.
"It's Corruption... and Replication~"
Excruciating pain eroded Mei's consciousness. She slowly turned, only to see a Herrscher of Corruption, who should have been dead, standing behind her, smiling with pure malice.
And the one she had killed earlier dissolved into countless data motes, scattering with the space.
"You thinking you could kill me was just an illusion I created." The Herrscher of Corruption withdrew its arm, letting blood gush freely from the massive hole in Mei's abdomen.
It lowered its voice, leaning close to Mei's ear, whispering conspiratorially, "Let me tell you a secret. During the time I corrupted the Elysian Realm, I replicated at least 100,000 clones. As long as you can't kill all of me instantly, I can replicate again in just a few seconds."
At this point, Mei could barely hear what it was saying. Massive blood loss blurred her consciousness, and her left forearm had been completely erased by data annihilation.
Even so, she furiously drew her sword again, slashing behind her.
Unsurprisingly, the attack missed. The Herrscher of Corruption leaped back lightly, creating distance. "Still struggling? In your current state, perhaps giving up would be better."
"Shut up!" Blood trickled from the corner of Mei's mouth. Eyes wide, she forced herself to remain conscious.
Knowing she was cornered, she gritted her teeth and plunged the Seven Thunders of Retribution directly into her own wound.
"Oh? Are you really giving up resistance and choosing suicide?" The Corruption sounded surprised.
The next second, the crackling sound of arcing electricity filled the air, accompanied by Mei's pained grunt. The Corruption's initially amused smile froze, replaced by a long silence.
"Directly using electric arcs to cauterize your own wound, carbonizing your internal organs along with it to stop the bleeding... You're truly ruthless to yourself, Mei."
"I won't let you succeed." Stopping the bleeding, Mei stumbled upright. She knew this method couldn't heal her; at best, it could only maintain her combat capability for a short time. In a few minutes, she would lose consciousness completely.
Therefore, she must...
"Chidori! Blade Draw!"
Thunder roared from the void. The world plunged into darkness, leaving only the eternal flash of lightning.
Amidst the storm of Honkai energy, Mei stood firm. The raging wind tore at her clothes, howling, trying to drag her into the darkness.
She held her long sword high, her body wreathed in crimson lightning.
Her bangs whipped across her face with the storm, and a pair of blood-red horns slowly emerged.
In that instant, the roaring thunder fell silent for her, the flashing lightning danced for her, for she was the one and only, Queen of Thunder.
BOOM!
The moment the thunder cracked, the world was reduced to a single line of white light.
...
An unknown amount of time passed. The sound of thunder gradually receded. After the storm swept through, only devastation remained in the consciousness space.
The gears left by Vill-V had long since disintegrated, leaving behind debris. The platform leading to the outside world had completely vanished, leaving less than ten meters of ground to stand on.
In the center of the battlefield, Mei stood silently, the Seven Thunders of Retribution piercing another body before her. Opposite her, the Herrscher of Corruption had stopped breathing, its pupils devoid of color.
She had won!
No one cheered, no one rejoiced. Mei remained unresponsive, like a corpse.
"You won." Amidst the ruined battlefield, the girl's voice sounded again. Mei's fingers trembled slightly, but she no longer had the strength to draw her sword.
The Herrscher of Corruption slowly walked out, looking at Mei with a complex expression. "In terms of direct combat, I lost utterly. If it weren't for the fact that I am the Herrscher of Corruption..."
Viruses are immortal. Even though Mei had killed the Corruption hundreds of times, it could still regenerate through data.
However, the Corruption had still deceived Mei. While it could revive, it couldn't guarantee each clone possessed such strong combat power. If Mei had enough time, she could indeed have killed it completely.
"Unfortunately, you don't have the chance anymore."
Even the weakest replicated body was sufficient to deal with someone near death.
Without the help of the Flame-Chasers, without the cooperation of friends, Mei alone was utterly isolated and helpless.
"Don't worry. I'll make it painless for you."
With that, the Herrscher of Corruption walked over to Mei. Countless motes of light spread from its hands, enveloping Mei's body.
"I will completely corrupt you, preserving all of your data." Its voice was gentle, easily mistaken for a lover's soft greeting.
But the authority of Corruption surged forth without reservation, gnawing at Mei's consciousness.
"Found it." Amidst the chaotic search, Mei's hidden consciousness was located. Swiftly, the Herrscher of Corruption's consciousness flooded in, consuming it entirely.
"Death... is not the end."
Having killed Mei, the Herrscher of Corruption began to proliferate new data. Yet, for some reason, Mei's consciousness shell remained strangely stable.
Invading had been effortless, but detaching proved exceptionally difficult. If it hadn't confirmed Mei was dead, the Corruption might even suspect it had fallen into a trap.
After several attempts, it could only attribute this to its current weakened state; its present data capacity was insufficient to completely overwrite Mei's data.
Just as it prepared to destroy Mei's body along with everything else, a dark blue tentacle suddenly lashed out. Caught off guard, the Corruption was hit, an arm torn clean off.
"It's you!" The injured Corruption gritted its teeth, looking furiously in the direction the tentacle came from. Soon, a grotesque tentacle monster tore open the space, revealing its body.
"Kosma!"
"..." The cascaded Kosma had long lost consciousness, existing only as a pure combat monster.
"Hehe, I didn't expect you to actually believe that [Pure Evil]'s nonsense. Using your own data as bait? How pitiful. Besides giving me another show to watch, what meaning did your sacrifice have?"
Kosma remained silent, but a little girl's voice answered the Corruption's words, "Ah Mo's sacrifice wasn't meaningless. He is a hero."
"Heh, Griseo. Another one delivering herself to my doorstep. You were lucky I didn't kill you last time."
Clearly, the pink-haired figure Griseo had seen before was indeed the Corruption.
"In that case, you can both die here with Raiden Mei." Even weakened, dealing with two lesser Flame-Chasers shouldn't be a major problem with its Herrscher authority.
Or so it thought.
The next second, furious tentacles wrapped around its body. Simultaneously, three colors of paint, somehow smeared onto the tentacles, suppressed its abilities the moment they made contact.
"Damn it!!" The Corruption screamed as it was torn into pieces.
"This is all of Ah Mo's paint, and also all of my paint." Griseo stood obediently beside Kosma, using her brush to paint the final colors.
Gulp. The Corruption's fragments were swept into a mouth and devoured.
Reviving again, it clearly felt a large portion of its data missing. This filled it with both shock and fear.
Mei had nearly eradicated 70% of its power. In its current state, if Kosma truly devoured it a few more times, it might actually die.
The threat of death flooded its nerves, breeding terror within its core.
"No, I don't need to fight them to the death. The main threat is already eliminated. Now I just need to wait."
A final shred of reason remained in the Corruption's mind. It chose to retreat. After all, Kosma and Griseo, having used their own data for the painting, were already doomed. And it had killed Mei. The remaining few Flame-Chasers posed no threat.
"You can't change the outcome." Muttering this final sentence, the Corruption's figure vanished. Simultaneously, the consciousness space, lacking support, lost its data integrity and completely collapsed.
Returning once more to the Eternal Paradise, everything had already reached its end.
An unknown amount of time passed. Mei, who should have been dead, slowly opened her eyes. In her pocket, the mechanical crystal Ren had given her had, at some point, quietly activated.