During this period, of course, quite a few things happened.
For example—half a month later, after the short film game, at St. Freya and the Anti-Entropy base—Mobius and Vill-V could no longer keep everything a secret.
After all, the Stigma Project was progressing too slowly, and in its preparation phase, it depended on far too many participants.
In the end, the two of them had no choice but to entrust the plan to more people. Naturally, according to what they said, this was already the entirety of the plan.
Four brilliant scientists were now engaged in a rather heated and not-so-harmonious debate.
"It's just a small tweak to the method of harvesting the Finality 's energy, that's all. I don't see what's so surprising about it~ Our plan is at most just slightly different from the game's version when it comes to harvesting the Finality 's power. And besides, we don't have the Stigma Project to rely on anyway, right?"
Mobius sighed helplessly, rubbing her forehead as she glanced at the red-haired-and-blue-haired duo, shaking her head before continuing:
"You two are the most brilliant scientists in this era—you should stay calm."
"Exactly, exactly!" Vill-V chimed in noisily from the side.
Of course, it could be taken as a mild provocation… or as a challenge.
"I—%￥#!... You two can't seriously think this is a perfect plan, can you?! The risk here is way too high—completely unheard of!"
"Why don't you just do it like in the game? This is adding unnecessary danger out of thin air!"
Tesla snapped, stopping herself mid-rant, clearly frustrated as she looked at the two.
This was a dangerous experiment—though she wasn't claiming her own experiments were all perfectly safe. Rather, she believed that when it came to safeguarding the safety of the world, you should minimize risks as much as possible. This was basic scientific professionalism, and the foundation that allowed one to keep experimenting in the future.
Even though in the game, both of them had been portrayed more than once as mad and dangerous, the truth—as shown by historical records and their heroic deeds—was that they never mixed personal obsessions into humanity's critical moments of survival. Even if it meant swallowing their pride and letting go of boundless ambitions, they would do it without hesitation.
So, Tesla actually didn't hate the so-called "mad scientists."
Because scientists shouldn't be caged—especially not in their thinking. Genius and madness were often separated by only a thin line.
But right now, she simply felt it was unnecessary to take such an absurd approach.
Einstein, meanwhile, stayed silent for a long time, deep in thought. She was wondering why they brought up Kiana, and why Kevin would want to complete such a plan of Otto's…
To be blunt, even with the Finality's power, across a span of 50,000 years, this was still a fragile hope.
"I think… you should be bolder," Mobius said with a sly smile, her tone full of encouragement.
"And I think… we should be more cautious…" Tesla took a deep breath, speaking weakly. Maybe she'd never imagined she'd one day be the "conservative" one in someone else's mouth.
"Without the Stigma Project as backing, Kevin will have to use some tricks to harvest the Finality 's power anyway. Besides, if we recreate it ourselves, Kiana and the others will find it easier to control—don't you think?" Vill-V tilted the brim of her felt hat, speaking with a faint smile.
Mobius narrowed her eyes, spreading her hands.
"Anyway… that's how I convinced Kevin. If you can't pull it off, then you two can handle it~"
Tesla and Einstein were left momentarily speechless.
In truth, they felt that dealing with Kevin might actually be easier than artificially creating the Finality's power—at least they wouldn't be stuck like in the game, restricted to a three-person squad.
But… in front of Kevin's old friends, they really couldn't bring themselves to say that out loud.
"I want to hear your real reason. You say that if it fails, we can still follow the original plan and just… make a selection. But I can't accept that."
"That would consume too many resources, and squeeze the timeline to the absolute limit," Einstein said calmly.
"...If Kiana gains the Finality's power in that way, she might still have to endure the Finality Cocoon's fatigue in the end—its crimson pull dragging all the power back to its origin. After that… it'll be extremely difficult to run this experiment on her again."
"Aren't you considering her at all?" Mobius tilted her head slightly, smiling in a way that wasn't quite a smile.
"We have to think about the rest of humanity, too. And stop twisting the issue—just because we can doesn't mean it'll definitely happen," Tesla said, pushing up her glasses, still weighing the truth in their words.
"Ah, well, I can't help it then. You two know exactly what this experiment means," Mobius said with open palms, helplessly, before glancing at the ever-eager Vill-V beside her and preparing to leave.
"No, we agree. In fact, with or without us, you were going to do this anyway, weren't you?" Einstein sighed.
"Exactly." Vill-V nodded, smiling mysteriously. "After all, the most important ones here… aren't you two."
Tesla and Einstein exchanged puzzled looks.
But since they'd agreed to help, they began studying the plan in more detail. Soon, they realized Vill-V was telling the truth—the most important figures in all this weren't the two of them.
---
In Theresa's Villa
By now, all the Stigmata had been gathered.
Compared to the others, Luo Mo was actually the one most in favor of Mobius's method. He knew that in the future, Kiana really would fall into a slumber because of the Finality Cocoon. Though he didn't know exactly what changes this would bring her later on, he thought it was worth a try.
Vill-V's excuse managed to convince him—after all, he'd already created so many Herrscher-level beings. Wouldn't it be a waste not to experiment a little? This was the kind of "if you've got the guts, just do it" moment he liked.
But as for the idea that he was acting as a loyal ally to them… he made it clear that he'd never intended to get the Finality's power this way in the first place. All he wanted was to give Theresa an "Extreme North Ice Cavern."
After hearing that, Theresa gave him a deadly glare, snorted coldly, and ignored him for several days.
He still liked her all the same—as much as when they first met—treating her as his sharpest point.
Following Mobius's request, Luo Mo chose the massive "draw" method—using all the stigmata from the ordinary pool to obtain a large number of low-tier Stigmata, mostly 2- and 3-star.
What no one expected was that among them, a few 4-star Stigmata appeared. One of them was even a buried relic.
This made Luo Mo pause in thought. Could fate really arrange such coincidences?
After all, in Mobius's plan, while she might be giving Kevin a grand disaster, it didn't mean she was letting him die without a second thought.
Fifty thousand years was an unbearably long stretch of time, and not many objects could survive such a span. If one could find something sturdy and resistant to damage to anchor things down, it could be quite a useful aid.
Vill-V's first decision in her plan was, unsurprisingly, the Key of Nothingness — it was simply too important to the nature of the project. But now she had something even better, something that could be directly integrated into the Kevin system.
As for all the low-star Stigmata pieces… of course, he didn't plan on using them in their complete, whole form. Even if he drew countless amounts of Stigmata, the numbers were still laughably small compared to seventy billion units. From the start, Luo Mo had been determined to extract special Stigmata.
Now, however, he needed to supply Mobius with enough Stigmata to serve as specialized energy-storage nodes. As Vill-V put it:
"In this world, there's no equipment that can transmit Houkai energy with virtually zero loss… and nothing that can withstand the powers of multiple Herrschers at once."
That was, until she saw Stigmata — the strange, normally intangible "Stigmata cards." If treated purely as a material, it was even better than Honsteel: almost no loss in transfer, and unlike a single Herrscher core, which couldn't handle other concentrated energies, quality Stigmata could.
She said outright:
"If we could combine Stigmata with a Herrscher core into a God Key, it might be even stronger."
But for now, they didn't need that.
---
One week later.
Worldwide Honkai energy monitors hadn't yet reached their peak readings, but the experiment could wait no longer.
At St. Freya, in a rarely visited corner of the world — where forest met ocean, waves rolled toward the beach, and sunlight danced off foam, leaving wet traces on the sand — a delicate, circular device stood in the middle of the gathered group. Its base gleamed with dark metallic luster, the outer sphere patterned with protruding rings, and at its center was an upward-facing round opening.
"Come on, relax~ It's nothing major, just an island we're talking about here~"
"Yeah, be generous! What, you think we can't even afford to lose one tiny island?"
Vill-V's words were meant to be reassuring.
Theresa's forehead was covered with black lines.
Easy for her to say — it's not her island she's sacrificing, so of course she's not upset! Couldn't we just do this on Raven's island? We even have another one nearby that's technically under a company name but actually belongs to Raven…
Kiana stroked her chin in thought.
"If we used that island… even if there's mystical factors at play, we'd still have to think carefully before stepping foot there."
Luo Mo nodded in agreement. This was, after all, an island that could blow sky-high at any moment — even if nothing around it looked dangerous. Such forces came from systems even they couldn't explain.
"...Boss, if you're going to talk bad about someone, at least avoid doing it right in front of them, huh?"
Raven sighed, covering her forehead. She'd been observing from a short distance away, not expecting to get dragged into the conversation like this. When will people stop bringing up that island explosion incident? And of course the internet had to record it… now I'll never escape that black history for the rest of my life.
Su Lu looked at the group with an uneasy expression.
"I'm still wondering… is this really doable?"
She'd never used Herrscher powers herself, nor had she been trained by the traditional Valkyrie methods. And the way they were planning to defeat a Herrscher this time was completely different from before — she'd only heard about it from Mobius and Vill-V. Even from a gamer's perspective, it felt… not exactly reliable.
"In theory, yes. This is going to be a grand experiment."
"Just look at it — such a magnificent performance! And if we fail, Finality's power might blow this whole island straight into the heavens!"
Vill-V was practically buzzing with excitement, which only made Theresa's mouth twitch harder. She really didn't appreciate all these "if we fail" scenarios.
"By the way… does this mean we've gathered the most Herrschers in one place, ever? Let's see… one, three, twelve!"
Theresa massaged her temples, feeling them swell. She'd known this fact for a while now, but it still left her speechless. Her academy was really full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers… every single one of them a powerhouse. And yes, that included herself — though right now, she couldn't help feeling irritated. Her eyes landed on Luo Mo's profile, and an odd discomfort welled up in her chest.
Bronya raised a small hand.
"Does this experiment have to be done here? Why not choose the Moon instead?"
It seemed to her like the obvious, reasonable choice — after all, in the game's Stigma Project, the final battle had taken place on the Moon.
"We're just running a small trial. I'm not expecting it to succeed in one go."
Mobius glanced at Theresa, lips pressed together, her eyes burning with a strange intensity. The friction and interaction between Herrscher powers here was almost child's play compared to the constraints she wanted to push. To her, the Herrscher of Binding was still utterly unique — proof that Honkai evolved alongside human civilization. Herrscher powers that restrained Honkai energy itself… it was unimaginable.
"And this machine is…?"
Mei poked the metal device curiously.
"If something goes wrong, we can dump uncontrolled energy into it."
Tesla, watching nearby, explained in her usual blunt tone:
"We used quantum computers to calculate the various Stigmata properties, planned countless configurations, and combined them into this — basically, a trash bin."
"An accurate description, but next time, don't describe it like that~"
Mobius' mouth twitched as she shot Tesla an unamused look.
"It automatically collects nearby unstable energy and stores it. Of course, it has limits — the final step of the experiment will push it past those limits."
"Call it what you want, but I prefer 'tolerance equipment.'"
Vill-V puffed out her chest proudly.
For a dangerous and critical experiment, having a safeguard was essential. Yet for this particular experiment, neither she nor Mobius had thought of any truly effective method to improve the success rate. Only through trial runs and observation could they find the optimal solution.
"What… am I supposed to do?" Theresa asked, a little uneasy.
Great, she thought—she hadn't expected to be used as the breakthrough point the moment she arrived. She'd been hoping to avoid it for a while longer.
"Honestly, I still don't understand—what's the difference here? Isn't it still just me becoming the Herrscher of Finality?" Kiana was confused about the point of it all.
"That's why I said, this is merely an exploratory experiment into the power of Finality. Nothing too big." Mobius spread her hands helplessly, though no one believed her words.
"There are two goals," Luo Mo explained, trying to clear things up.
"First, to obtain the Power of Finality, we have to steal it from the cocoon—we can't replicate Kevin's method from the game. Second, because you, Kiana, have completely accepted the Cocoon of Finality to become the Herrscher of Finality, we want to see its long-term pros and cons."
Of course, Mobius and Vill-V each had their own motives as well. Mobius longed to seize the power of gods, to build a bridge between Herrscher authority and the Power of Finality.
If Honkai energy could perform feats similar to Herrscher powers, then afterwards… perhaps she could go even further.
Vill-V's thoughts were simpler—she wanted to perform a grand, fear-inspiring magic show. One greater than Otto's most ambitious experiment, letting the world witness a performance that would reach its ultimate crescendo! And if her experiment failed, well… she could at least give the world the grandest fireworks display of the century.
(T/C:... I have a bad feeling. And excited guess. It can't be, right?)
"…Alright, I'll try first," Theresa said, closing her eyes. She cleared her mind, stripping away every stray thought, and then drew upon that deep golden power within her.
A wave of pressure suddenly filled the room, brushing over everyone present, but it vanished in an instant—Theresa kept it under tight control. Even so, her face showed signs of deep concentration and strain.
"Next… Luo Mo, you and Elysia, try using your powers to help them a little," Mobius instructed, her eyes glinting.
Luo Mo didn't waste time. Compared to Theresa, a strand of deep blue silk-like energy slid from between his fingers, directly clashing with and dispelling the restraining power. Elysia didn't even have time to act.
There was no doubt—this trial ended in failure.
The next few attempts failed as well. Even when it was just Binding and Corruption colliding, Elysia found it hard to maintain their fusion. This made Mobius frown in deep thought. She had known it wouldn't be smooth, but the fact that they couldn't integrate at all was beyond her expectations.
She had assumed that, just as in the game where Ice and Fire had been proven to merge, Herrscher powers should be able to combine. So why wasn't it working? Was Binding and Corruption simply too high-level?
Where exactly was the problem? She fell silent, pondering.
(T/C: O no no no~🥰)
Eventually, she abandoned the hardest combination and tried other Herrscher powers. To her surprise… from the Herrscher of Reason to the Herrscher of Sentience, pairs could merge. With Elysia's coordination, these powers could even briefly attach to each other as a whole.
But when it came to merging with the power of Sentience, accidents occurred again and again.
Mobius' eyes showed slight disappointment, but she wasn't discouraged. Instead, she announced that the experiment would be temporarily halted—she needed time to think it through. Was it because of the cores from St. Fontaine? Or was it because the very concepts of the powers were fundamentally incompatible?
Either way, it was clear now—simply stacking multiple Herrscher powers did not cause a qualitative change. The shadows of Finality and the true Cocoon of Finality were still worlds apart.
Before leaving, Luo Mo suddenly felt a chill at the back of his neck, like a venomous snake had set its sights on him. The icy feeling along his spine made him instinctively lower his head to look.
What met his eyes was a pair of curious—and barely restrained, wild—pupils staring at him. Mobius, biting her index finger, tilted her head slightly.
"In truth… if we're talking about who would have the easiest time becoming a Herrscher… I think your body is worth a closer study," she murmured.
"You might actually be a better vessel for the Cocoon of Finality than Kiana."
"Really… sure you don't want to try?~" she whispered temptingly, like a devil in disguise.
---
At Schicksal Headquarters.
Recently, the number of Honkai Beast attacks had risen sharply, keeping the Valkyries extremely busy.
In training new Valkyries, Luo Mo's natural Stigmata had been more helpful than the previous man-made versions, reducing losses to their lowest point in years.
"Master Overseer, are you sure you don't want to check out that important experiment at St. Freya?" Rita asked, bowing slightly.
"No. Compared to an experiment that's certain to fail, these final deployments are more important," Kallen replied with a smile. The pen in her hand paused briefly before signing off on an approval request—from a branch shelter seeking aid.
Ever since Otto's Stigmata had been shattered, her mind had cleared considerably. She felt she understood the truth of the world more deeply, and her comprehension of Honkai-related knowledge had become almost instantaneous.
"Then why don't you voice your opinion on it?" Rita asked, puzzled at her apparent lack of intervention.
"Because Luo Mo is right—we might not be able to deduce the Power of Finality, but understanding it even a little is still valuable. And those two geniuses from the previous civilization are very interested in it."
"Besides, Honkai won't be humanity's only enemy in the future," Kallen said calmly. "Trying to extract the Power of Finality from each Herrscher's abilities… is a worthy experiment. Who knows, we might even gain some unexpected rewards."
She stopped writing, speaking with sincerity. Her gaze drifted out the window toward the deep blue sky and the blazing sun.