This place was precisely what Lin Luo had seen in the illusion of the True Mirror—the small mountain village where he and his elder sister had depended on each other in his previous life. He had suddenly thought that Luo Tianyi might appear here, and indeed, that was the case.

“Yes, because this is where we began and where we end,” Luo Tianyi said faintly, then turned to face Lin Luo, offering a slight smile. “How is it? Do you feel nostalgic?”

“I do,” Lin Luo replied honestly, nodding. It was in this very place that his sister had made the vow: "I would rather become the Primal Sin itself than deny him happiness." It was because of this oath that she became the destined sacrifice, incurring countless sins—the beginning of their ordeal. It was also because of this vow that they bid farewell to innocence and weakness, marking the start of their strength and freedom.

What Luo Tianyi referred to as the end was the mutual reliance they shared.

How could Lin Luo forget such a place? How could he not feel nostalgia? But whether that nostalgia was predominantly good or bad, perhaps only he truly knew.

Luo Tianyi walked slowly toward him, her face devoid of any hostility, showing only the tenderness and beauty inherent to a woman. She stopped before Lin Luo and gently reached out, her hands caressing his face.

At the same time, Lin Luo reached out and placed his hand on her cheek, tenderly stroking it as if she were a lover.

“Finally, let me kiss you one last time.”

Luo Tianyi whispered softly, standing on her toes to offer her fragrant lips.

In that moment, Lin Luo could not restrain himself either. He pulled her tightly into his embrace, kissing her lips forcefully, then thrusting his tongue past her teeth to tangle with hers, greedily drawing in the moisture from her mouth.

They kissed with abandon, deep and engrossed, seemingly forgetting their current adversarial positions entirely.

The intertwining of lips and tongues, the friction of their bodies, and their tender touches were unrestrained, as if the dry kindling could ignite into fierce flames at any second. Yet, how could an outsider know that beneath the depth of their kiss lay a heartbreaking agony? For both understood that after this kiss, it would be a fight to the death!

“It’s a pity this isn’t my own body after all,” Luo Tianyi said after a long pause, her clear eyes fixed on Lin Luo, a trace of regret in her tone. “Otherwise, I would certainly do everything I possibly could. But this child, her choice is her own; I cannot decide for her.”

Lin Luo remained silent, merely watching her intently.

Then Luo Tianyi broke from his embrace and stepped backward. With every step she took, the ground beneath her shattered. Space began to peel away. After she had taken seventeen steps, the tranquil mountain village and the boundless ocean had vanished. Standing in the void where nothing existed, the gentle expression on Luo Tianyi’s face slowly turned cold. Finally, Lin Luo could no longer find a single trace of human emotion on her features; her gaze was chillingly sharp, like the edge of a blade.

At this moment, Luo Tianyi forgot everything.

The True Mirror emerged, its divine light radiating outward, causing heaven and earth to turn to ash. The entire Endless World trembled, and all beings across the myriad realms bowed their heads.

The True Mirror, one of the supreme world-ending weapons in existence, had never unleashed the power befitting its name. But now, with just a single beam of divine light, it generated such terrifying might. It was clear… at this very instant, Luo Tianyi could fully utilize its destructive potential.

Furthermore, she herself was a powerhouse from Beyond the Heavens. Although her transition from illusion to reality meant she could not recover her absolute peak strength, supported by the authenticity of her host body, bolstered by the primal power of the Heart of Truth, and assisted by the Heart of Loyalty and the Heart of Sacrifice… her combat prowess alone far surpassed her former zenith.

Even the formidable Qiqi from her peak era might not be her match now.

Yet, Lin Luo remained utterly unfazed. With a casual wave of his hand, he shattered the divine light capable of annihilation with a single palm strike. Then, the Law of Creation and the Rule of Destruction both manifested. More astonishingly, nine faint, almost invisible threads wrapped around him. No matter how terrifying the divine light, it could not pierce the protection offered by these nine threads.

Though it sounded exaggerated, it was logical. After all, each of those nine threads was refined from the power of Inverse Causality. Though they appeared insignificant, their might was equal to, if not greater than, that of the True Mirror itself.

These nine streams of Inverse Causality, encompassing all death in the world, guaranteed Lin Luo’s survival. Unless he willed his own demise, no one could hope to kill him before shattering those nine threads.

Although the battle between Lin Luo and Luo Tianyi was distant from their hosts, the moment they engaged, the hosts and the World Heart powerhouses immediately sensed it. After all, the entire Endless World was shaken; they could not ignore it.

The first to perceive the shift were Misaka Mikoto and Number 36.

In the vast expanse of the cosmos, the two had been fighting for an indeterminate time, their battle far exceeding what ordinary beings could comprehend. They moved without trace, leaving only the sound of crackling electricity and the streak of a sword wreathed in red flame flashing past each other, never pausing… The immense universe around them had been utterly ruined by their combat, completely transformed into a forbidden zone for life.

“Truly… I never expected you could fight me to this extent,” Number 36 said, leaning on her sword, kneeling on one knee in the void as the electric light and sword glow suddenly separated. Her nearly indestructible armor collapsed with a crash, revealing her half-bare body.

Even scorch marks from electricity marred her arms and thighs… For a supreme powerhouse from Beyond the Heavens to be unable to heal such superficial wounds demonstrated the terrifying power of Misaka Mikoto’s attacks.

However, Misaka Mikoto on the other side was not faring much better.

She too was kneeling on one knee, her face pale, her chest heaving violently with each breath, looking on the verge of collapse. Her clothing had been shredded into tattered strips, dyed crimson with blood, exposing three-quarters of her body to the air. Her exposed skin was covered in countless sword marks.

The fight had reached a stalemate; neither had gained the upper hand.

“I also didn’t expect… I was absolutely confident at first. Truly… I underestimated you.”

“Heh, how interesting… you actually… looked down on me.”

They glared at each other, trading broken words.

Then, with a flash of sharp focus, they charged toward each other once more.

…

“Form the array! The Seven Sages Array!”

At the Border of Reincarnation, in their struggle against Number 39, the seven of them—including Tohsaka Rin—had managed to hold their ground for a long time, leveraging their numerical advantage and the primal power of the World Heart. However, the gap in their cultivation levels eventually told. As time wore on, they began to fall behind, barely managing to defend themselves.

But when the aura of Lin Luo’s battle with Luo Tianyi reached them, they seized a rare opening presented by Number 39’s momentary lapse. In a flash, the seven surrounded her, forming their ultimate killing formation.

Number 39 cursed her carelessness but was even more stunned by the scene before her.

“How is this possible! You are one person short, yet you still managed to form the killing array?!”

“Have you forgotten the nature of our Second Group?” With the formation locked, Tohsaka Rin looked at her, an expression of triumph naturally crossing her face. “Our World Hearts symbolize the Path of the Belief Beacon: the supreme Path of Kings, the Path of Everlasting Hope, the ultimate Path of Infinite Martial Pursuit, the Path of Noble and Elegant Charm, the Path of Trust unto Death, the Path of Unsurpassed Wisdom, and the Path of Willful Corruption… Every beacon is a belief, and we ourselves can transform into belief! Although Alice (Mercury) is absent, she imbued us with the belief of Hope, so… witness it now, our Seven Sages Array!”

As the Seven Sages Array activated, seven streams of solidified belief instantly surged toward Number 39.

Trapped within the formation, Number 39 had no escape and could only use all her strength to resist. But how terrifying was the killing array derived from a World Heart? Even if the formation contained only those at the Ninth Heaven realm, its activation held the power to exterminate a powerhouse of Beyond the Heavens. Although Number 39 fought with all her might, she gradually lost the ability to counterattack, relying only on defense. If she hadn't also possessed a World Heart and possessed deep knowledge of such killing arrays, any other Beyond the Heavens expert would have already perished.

It wasn't just the Second Group deploying a killing array. The hosts of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Groups activated their ultimate formations almost simultaneously… the Seven Colors Path of the Third Group, the Seven Liberations Array of the Fourth Group, and the Seven Primordials Array of the Fifth Group. Each of these killing arrays possessed the might to annihilate all creation, formidable even to World Heart powerhouses who had reached the realm of Beyond the Heavens.

In five battlefields, one was evenly matched, and four held a clear advantage. In the remaining two arenas, the five members of the Special Group—including Yakumo Yukari—battling Number 42, gradually suppressed the arrogant and overbearing little loli, relying on their unique traits. However, without a full killing array, their advantage was not overwhelming; they held only a slight edge.

On the other side, however, Artoria, Katsura Hina-giku, Arcueid, Shiki Ryougi, and Misaka Miko-zero not only lacked a killing array but were also significantly weaker. They were being beaten down by Number 40 with almost no chance to fight back, seemingly on the verge of total defeat. Suddenly, a heroic, cold-faced black-clad maid appeared before them.

Upon seeing this figure, Artoria and the others instantly rejoiced.

Because this person was none other than the Vice Commander of the Time Traveler Corps, the unparalleled powerhouse—Qiqi!

Qiqi was unarmed. With a mere flicker of her silhouette, she appeared behind Number 40 and tapped her lightly on the back with a hand-chop. The latter immediately collapsed in dumbfounded silence.

Seeing this, Shiki Ryougi and the others were also stunned into silence.

No one expected the formidably powerful Number 40 to be as fragile as an infant before Qiqi!

Was this… the true strength of the First Person?