A meeting was held in Academy City.
One person stood out in particular: Cocolia.
Otto had paid the price for his human experiments from the old era, but what about Cocolia?
Cocolia's sins weren't as severe as Otto's. After all, her plans had been cut short by Noldrei, who had directly taken control of Raiden Mei.
Furthermore, most of the children in the X-10 experiment were already infected with Honkai energy. Cocolia hadn't actively infected them. In fact, without her dedicated care, the Honkai energy might have spread and killed them long before the X-10 experiment even began.
From this perspective, Cocolia's crimes involving human experimentation were not as grave as Otto's. Moreover, many of Anti-Entropy's weapons were developed from the X-10 experiment. In the end, Cocolia chose to be judged by the laws of the new era.
It was hard to say whether Cocolia was just too shrewd or if she simply had enough faith in those children.
The laws of the new era didn't come down hard on her. Neither Bronya nor Seele, nor even Sin Mal and the Rozaliya/Liliya sisters, pursued charges against Cocolia for her past actions.
She was actually forgiven by those girls?!
The council members just couldn't figure this damn woman out.
"Why wasn't she purged? Otto was dealt with, so there's no reason Cocolia should still be around, right?"
Dr. Tesla felt that a woman like Cocolia couldn't be allowed to remain. She was one of Noldrei's zealots. Especially after Otto, the Twelfth Herrscher, chose to erase himself, Cocolia's admiration for Noldrei had only grown more intense.
She used to be a mere zealot, but now she was a rational zealot.
"Because her crimes weren't severe enough, and what happened in the past didn't make Bronya want to kill her. Her most insane moment was during the Third Honkai Eruption, but you know how that went... If she had succeeded, do you think Raiden Mei could have become the Herrscher of Thunder?" Dr. Einstein glanced at Dr. Tesla. The incident with Raiden Mei was, by all rights, Cocolia's greatest crime.
But Noldrei had descended from the heavens and saved her, preventing Cocolia's sins from accumulating to an unforgivable level. And the X-10 experiment wasn't about injecting healthy people with Honkai resistance; it was conducted on those who were already infected.
Anti-Entropy had played a rather unsavory role in all of this, so you couldn't really say it was Cocolia's fault alone. Cocolia was more like a doctor conducting a clinical trial on patients who were already sick. Otto, on the other hand, was the type to say, "Even if the patients aren't sick, I can mass-produce them for my experiments."
Although Welt Yang couldn't stand Cocolia either, he couldn't say much since Bronya and the others had chosen to forgive her. I'll just wait until Bronya decides she wants her dead after all, he thought.
Cocolia listened, fuming. She felt like ever since Otto was gone, they were all targeting her.
I am His Majesty's loyal hound! How could I stumble over such a trivial issue?
Sirin sat in the seat Otto once occupied, still unsure of what she was supposed to be doing. She had been pushed into the role without even figuring out what Otto's job on the council actually was.
The power struggles in the Academy City council were just that straightforward: whoever had the most firepower had the biggest say. Not even the United Nations was this direct.
What the heck am I even doing here?
Sirin stared blankly into space, her mind wandering. She was trying to figure out how to get out of calling Noldrei 'Papa'.
Kevin Kaslana had expected significant casualties in the last battle. He never imagined they could use the Herrscher of the Void's power against the Herrscher of Binding. The way these two opposing Herrschers interacted had produced such a miraculous outcome in the Current Era.
Exiling a Herrscher into Imaginary Space was something the Previous Era had never even considered.
Or rather, the Previous Era had never successfully created a Herrscher who sided with humanity.
Kevin wasn't here to discuss how to deal with Cocolia, even though she was somewhat isolated without Otto.
He said, "We have one last thing to do: deal with the Herrscher of Finality. But I'm wondering... why isn't Noldrei here?"
Bronya's face was a picture of exasperation. She stammered, "He's... he's... well, after he learned about the Honkai's Cocoon of Finality, he went to persuade Kiana."
"Persuade Kiana? About what?"
For a brief moment, the others could see a hint of bewilderment on Kevin's eternally stoic and icy face.
"Kiana said there's nothing on the moon. If she has to go there just to claim the ultimate authority over Honkai energy and ascend to the throne... she's not going to do it. Noldrei is trying to convince her by promising to build her a moon palace to live in."
Bronya's words sent a wave of shock through the room.
No one had expected Kiana to consider giving up the throne at a time like this simply because the moon wasn't a fun place to hang out. What were they supposed to do?
Talk about getting your priorities wrong! So she wants to build a wonder on the moon, is that it?
Elysia pressed a hand to her forehead, momentarily stumped as to why something so ridiculous was happening.
Right now, only Noldrei and Kiana could take the back door and absorb the authority of Finality. And Kiana's reason for not wanting to do it was because the moon was boring.
"Kiana said she'll only go work there if the moon is a place with good living conditions and good food," Bronya added.
Though Bronya found Kiana's words a bit absurd, she could sympathize. If you asked Bronya to stay somewhere without internet and games like Kiana, she wouldn't want to go to the moon either.
It didn't matter how much power was on the table; everyone knew the moon was a barren wasteland.
Kevin didn't think it was a big deal. He said, "The Previous Era left behind ruins on the moon. If we use those ruins to build her a palace for her amusement, it's a small price to pay for her to inherit the authority of the Herrscher of Finality and control all Honkai energy."
Wait, are you guys seriously going to build her a palace? So she's actually becoming an empress?
Bronya was even more speechless. Was this the joy of being rich and powerful? Were they going to install internet on the moon, too? And then use quantum communication so she could keep playing online games with her friends on Earth?
Dr. Tesla slammed her fist on the table in fury. "This is outrageous! If Kiana gets one, we should all get one! We need a place on the moon to eat, drink, and have fun, too! We absolutely can't let Noldrei play favorites!"
She turned to Welt, only to be surprised to see that he had put on headphones at some point.
"Alliance Leader Yang! What are you doing? Say something! Welt!"
Dr. Einstein gently removed one of Welt's headphones and listened for a moment.
She raised an eyebrow slightly. "He's listening to 'Ode to Joy.'"