Vill-V felt a complicated mix of emotions. More often than not, her best performances were inspired by people from other fields, and she understood this truth all too well.
"Isn't that basically your daily routine? You leave so many 'masterstrokes'—eventually one will land."
Mobius didn't even look up as she replied, which only made Vill-V more annoyed and at a loss for words.
Too many surprises, and your friends just get used to them—so how do you break through?
"So, what's the point of that pocket watch you left behind, Vill-V ♪~?"
Elysia asked curiously, patting Vill-V's shoulder.
"Ah~, that? Think of it as a surprise—and it has something to do with you. Want to guess?"
Vill-V narrowed her eyes in a sly smile.
From the sound of it, Elysia clearly had no idea—after all, it was something that only happened later.
"Now I'm really curious—what exactly are you hiding in there?"
Elysia looked completely intrigued, but Vill-V just smiled without answering.
----
At the studio, in the recording booth
"Ahem, Kiana, you know what I'm about to say."
Luo Mo coughed twice, trying hard to hide a laugh.
(T/C:🤭)
"Don't you dare turn this into some famous painting! There's no such art in the world! That whole 'Kiana at St. Freya' thing—absolutely not, no way, never!"
Kiana immediately cut him off without thinking, speaking straight from instinct. Then she raised her face to glare at Luo Mo, her expression already sour from the script becoming even more displeased.
Mei, in broad daylight, dreaming of playing at an amusement park with Elysia?
That was even more upsetting than dreaming of her own tragic family past.
Of course, in a way, it also showed the tacit understanding developing between Luo Mo and Kiana—it was still growing steadily.
"Kiana…"
Mei's face showed a bit of helplessness. She slightly lowered her head, her gaze avoiding Kiana's.
"Pfft—Kiana, you… you said that yourself just now."
Bronya covered the corner of her mouth with her small hand, trying to suppress a smile. If it weren't for her trembling shoulders, Kiana might actually have believed it was convincing. And if she did… she might even think this was some kind of "Bestie Dream NPC" moment.
"Ah—?!"
It dawned on Kiana a moment too late. She had just been thinking of that exact line and fully expected someone to throw it at her… but no one had?!
"That's it, Boss! You set me up!"
She glared at Luo Mo.
"No, absolutely not! You were just too tense—jumpy, thinking every rustle was an enemy soldier…"
Luo Mo hurriedly defended himself.
"Exactly. Have you considered that maybe you're just too worried about Mei? You should trust yourself more—you're going to be the strongest Herrscher, Kiana!"
"Too many insults at once… My brain's short-circuited. I'm the Valkyrie Goddess, the Valkyrie Goddess!"
Kiana sighed in exasperation, ignoring the original topic entirely.
"Ki—A—na!"
Suddenly, Kiana heard Mei calling her name slowly, word by word. It hit her what Luo Mo had just said, and she quickly tried to explain herself.
"Wait, Mei—don't listen to him! I completely trust you! He's just slandering me, bad-mouthing me!"
Mei could only smile wryly at her antics, unsure whether Kiana had grown more clever… or more clueless.
This obviously wasn't her fault at all, yet somehow the blame had been redirected entirely.
---
In the game.
Mei woke from her dream, clutching the pocket watch tightly—
As if holding a newly-found hope.
She told Kiana and the others that she might have found a "back door" left behind by the previous civilization.
Half an hour later, Mei was gone, and their plan was already in full swing. Rita and Durandal had returned to the Schicksal headquarters, while at the Salt Lake base, Tesla and Dr. Einstein kept in constant contact. Soon, everyone gathered at St. Freya—their Herrscher powers assembled.
From here, St. Freya would be the starting point for their counterattack against Project Stigma.
But before that, they needed to confirm their primary target.
Tesla and Einstein brought up a plan they had discussed long ago—the Countercurrent Plan. Of course, they admitted that before they could face Finality directly, there was still much room for improvement.
—The Second Generation Moonlight Throne Project aimed to artificially create a Herrscher of Finality, using Herrscher powers to complete the Moonlight Throne system.
From humans themselves… to mastering Finality's power.
This was the original draft of the "surpass Finality" plan.
Research on Herrschers in the Countercurrent Project had never stopped, but because the Herrscher of the Void hit a dead end, they never imagined her consciousness could awaken after such a long dormancy. That failure had doomed the original Moonlight Throne plan before it even began.
But while fighting the Herrscher of Dominance, they discovered something they had misunderstood.
They realized—all Herrschers are somehow mysteriously connected to the same singular object.
In the past, they thought it was the Imaginary Tree. But in human-level dimensions, the Imaginary Tree is infinite and fundamentally unobservable.
It wasn't until the concept of the "Cocoon" reached them that they suddenly understood.
All Herrschers are linked through the Cocoon of Finality, and the Stigma Project was essentially a manipulation of this Cocoon—stealing it.
The Cocoon of Finality is actually the only singular point in the Imaginary Number realm—the sole Herrscher core. Its projections across different dimensions cause the different Herrscher powers to manifest in reality.
In other words, the Finality has always existed—its power lies beyond the control of time itself. All Herrschers are just projections of the Cocoon in various time-space dimensions. The Herrscher of Finality is simply a selection mechanism—appearing once every 50,000 years. If the selection fails, the system resets entirely.
Because the gap between the Cocoon and humanity spans countless dimensions, the choice is always full of errors.
So it gave the Herrscher of Finality power over time, allowing trial and error until the final outcome.
Tesla and Einstein called another "Save the World" meeting, this time dividing their mission into three stages:
1. Reclaim Earth
2. Explore the Source
3. Surpass the Finality
The first two stages would begin simultaneously—and their results would determine how to approach the final step.
To reclaim Earth, they decided to follow a long-term island occupation plan — seizing one "island" after another, like the main HQ of Schicksal and the Anti-Entropy base islands — cutting away at the Stigma Project while seeking a way to resist the enemy.
One part of this plan was under Schicksal's control. Through the repaired Stigma space belonging to Theresa, together with the apex Stigma Awakened, Durandal, they held a significant advantage in this regard.
But the other starting point… came from Mei's faith in the heroes of the Previous Era. She firmly believed they wouldn't have left behind useless information at such a crucial time.
That's why she persisted in searching for that "back door" from beginning to end — believing it concealed the miracle this civilization needed.
Just as she believed in Elysia.
----
[Moonlight Throne? Such an ancient concept… isn't that a device for channeling Honkai energy movement?]
[The real world and the Imaginary Tree are separated only by the Cocoon of Finality. Extraterrestrial lifeforms…]
[Such a high-level concept… could it be that the Twelve Herrscher powers are just the Cocoon's shadows?]
[Detected elements… Origin! Ellie…!]
----
In the Recording Room—
"So the original plan for Anti Entropy was to reach the Cocoon? The doctors never told us that before."
Bronya was surprised. Kiana ultimately becoming the Herrscher of Finality was already something they all tacitly understood.
The earliest Anti Entropy plan had also been this way — one could even say the Moonlight Throne was their attempt. It was considered the great secret of Anti Entropy.
"Because they weren't too confident about the plan's feasibility. To be precise, the Stigma Project is also about reaching the Cocoon — only it would spread the Cocoon's power across every person in the world, while Anti Entropy aimed to raise one person to become the Herrscher of Finality."
"In their view, the one most likely back then was clearly the Herrscher of the Void — because she had already absorbed nearly half the cores."
Luo Mo explained, with a touch of emotion.
All methods to surpass the Cocoon pointed to one path — becoming the Cocoon. The Cocoon could not be defeated; humanity could not reach it. The strongest warrior of the Previous Era, Kevin, had already tried.
But to embrace the Cocoon through the method of a "chosen cocoon-bearer" was too difficult — which was why the Previous Era prepared the Stigma Project instead.
"Hmm… could it be that in the end, my second sister was the one who saved the world? If that's the case, then the Second Eruption's events were actually…"
Kiana hesitated. She knew well that these worlds differed — aside from Otto, the biggest difference was that she herself was not the cultivated K423.
"That's why, as a trial, you could still easily contain two Herrscher cores. Abandoning such an important mission would hardly be possible."
Luo Mo looked at her, gaze pausing for a moment on the Stigma mark on her back, cutting her off. This was not a question of whether she "wanted to" or not.
"…Tch, who would think like that! Saving the world and becoming a hero — isn't that just the Kaslana family's compulsory course?"
Kiana pouted.
On this matter, she would never back down.
---
In the Game.
The plan progressed with strange smoothness — the imagined intense resistance never came.
After reaching the designated location, Theresa and Durandal encountered the digital skeleton of the enemy, and from there began the reversal of the Stigma Project, using Black Abyss White Flower as the medium.
Taking a deep breath, the two glanced at each other, their resolve set.
In the depths of the digital space, they placed their hands simultaneously on the grip of the Black Abyss White Flower, pouring their Honkai energy into the Divine Key, chanting solemnly:
"I have come from the black of Hell; I have come from the white of Heaven."
"Born before Creation, enduring after the Burial… I shall overturn the cosmos, and return order to the human world."
"Black Abyss White Flower, Second Limit Configuration — Reverse Flow of the Sacred Spear, Overlimit Release!"
BOOM—
A dazzling white light rose from the Black Abyss White Flower — the pure radiance of one person attempting to reverse the world.
In the pitch-black digital space unchanged for millennia, this flash of white light illuminated all around as if it were day, stirring great turbulence through the Stigma network.