"Ready? Have you worked things out with Kevin?"
After making his rounds, Noldrei returned home. Various factions around the world were already preparing to build the new world.
Even Yae Sakura had gone off to do her own work.
"I'm ready. I'm prepared to reclaim all the Herrscher Cores, and then... huh? Where are we going to hold the final battle?"
Kiana was indeed prepared for the end. She was ready to accept the destiny of the entire world.
But first, she needed an opportunity to complete one more step.
She had to bring the Herrscher of Origin back into the world.
The problem was... the authority of the Herrscher of Origin was still in Elysia's hands.
Elysia blinked, feeling a bit redundant. The current civilization didn't seem to need the Herrscher of Origin's help at all. The leadership had already taken control of the Herrscher Cores, so there was no chance of the same kind of internal squabbling that had plagued the Previous Era.
"Um... maybe Ely should just watch from the sidelines? With Kiana's current physical condition, she can probably handle the modifications just fine."
"Or how about I put on a cheerleader outfit and cheer for you and Kevin?"
Elysia proposed a startling idea, clearly planning to be part of the spectator tour group.
Kiana stared at her in shock, wondering what on earth was going on inside her head.
"No, that won't be necessary. Just give me the power of the Herrscher of Origin. I'll align my will with my Stigma to attain a state that's compatible with the Herrscher's power."
Kiana shut down Elysia's plan to stir up trouble while enjoying the show.
"Oh, is that so? Then I guess not..." Elysia sounded quite disappointed. It was a rare opportunity to hack the Cocoon's backdoor, and she really wanted to see how the people of the current era would deal with the Honkai.
But Elysia didn't give up. She turned to Noldrei and said, "In that case, why don't you try being the Herrscher of Origin?"
"Huh? Me? A Herrscher? No thanks..."
An expression of clear disgust appeared on Noldrei's face, as if he looked down on Herrschers as a lifeform.
Noldrei's attitude made Kiana a little uncomfortable.
What's going on? Didn't he say the Honkai was a vital authority for Earth to access Imaginary Energy? Didn't he say it was the future's equivalent of a royal mandate? Why is he so disgusted by it?
Kiana realized Noldrei wasn't just acting disgusted; he genuinely despised it.
Elysia retorted indignantly, "What's with that look? Let me tell you, I've already registered my gender as 'Herrscher' out in the world! If you keep this up, I'll sue you for gender discrimination!"
Who knew what Elysia had seen out in the world to make her equate "Herrscher" with a gender.
What a mischievous woman. Didn't that mean all Herrschers now had a different gender from everyone else?
"Fine, you can be a 'Herrscher-kin' from now on!"
Noldrei couldn't be bothered to argue with Elysia. He wasn't falling for her games. He wouldn't care even if Elysia registered her gender as 'Mei.'
Kiana thought for a moment and said, "I think Elysia has a point. If you can control the power of the Herrscher of Origin, you can come with me into the Cocoon and see how to operate the authority of Finality. I'd feel a little worried without you there..."
She wasn't sure why she felt that way. It was like she was about to take her college entrance exams and wanted her parents to come with her.
Dammit, why am I even having thoughts like this?
Kiana started to wonder if Noldrei had been manipulating her all along.
"What's there to be worried about? Besides, doesn't the power of Origin have to be accessed through the Elysian Realm?"
Noldrei recalled that Kevin had protected the power of the Herrscher of Origin very well.
If the Previous Era's Ely hadn't declared herself the Herrscher of Human:Ego, if she had been the first person Noldrei met in this world, Elysia would be a slime by now. Then they wouldn't have to worry about Herrschers at all.
"That's right. We'll have to make a trip there. Does little Kiana want to come along? We're going to a secret place where no one can find us, you know?"
Elysia's words were suggestive, but Kiana was completely unfazed.
To others, Ely was like a humanoid succubus, but to Noldrei, she was merely a memory construct, incapable of stirring any extraneous emotions in him.
"Sigh..." Kiana lamented, "If you can really do it, you can teach me then. I'll have to split my focus to watch Kevin hack into the Cocoon. What if we need to use all of humanity's... dreams?"
Kiana also found the Honkai's methods bizarre. Hiding the Cocoon's backdoor in the dreams of living beings... wasn't that just a needlessly complicated move?
"I just don't get it. The Honkai is supposedly all-powerful! Given its nature, it could easily replicate genetic structures and create new lifeforms completely loyal to it, like Honkai-based organisms. It could hide in anyone's dreams it wanted. Why does it have to pick a fight with a primitive species like humanity?"
"It's a higher-dimensional being, but instead of focusing on its own problems, it acts like an emperor obsessing over a random farmer in some remote field, using all his political power just to make life miserable for one peasant household."
Kiana had long since studied the political histories of various nations, and that's exactly how the Honkai's actions appeared to her now.
It had so many options, yet it chose the most foolish one.
It insisted on personally entering the fray for a 'thrilling' and 'evenly matched' final battle with humanity.
In all her life, Kiana had never encountered anything so utterly idiotic.
Noldrei had thrown humanity into chaos without even using much of his future technology. Yet this being that, according to Otto, possessed countless cosmic truths, could only come up with a strategy equivalent to an emperor challenging a peasant to a duel.
Elysia didn't know what to say. She whispered to Noldrei, "Did you teach her too much about political strategy? I feel like her way of thinking is getting more and more like yours."
Noldrei, however, was puzzled. "Is there any other way to think? How else are we supposed to defeat the Honkai? By screaming about 'love and bonds' and charging in? Wouldn't that make the sacrifices of all the soldiers and Valkyries meaningless?"
Elysia actually did have that thought in mind, but she couldn't say it. She even liked to be a little pony sometimes. Was that something she could admit out loud?
"Mhm, you have a point..." Elysia nodded, accepting Noldrei's answer.
The current civilization was developing in a direction completely different from what she had imagined. It wasn't following the plot of a classic shonen anime at all. Instead, it was twisting and changing, heading down a completely unpredictable path.
From the Honkai's perspective, the human vessels it could descend upon were completely incapable of dealing with the current situation. The most capable, Bishop Otto, had betrayed it without a second thought. Now, it was anyone's guess if the Honkai would ever trust its next Herrscher.
Elysia thought seriously for a moment and said, "You're right. The Honkai is pathetic. It can't even monitor human thought. It has to rely on Herrschers to actively manipulate and corrupt human consciousness. It's so useless. A final boss like that is no match for you guys at all."
Even Noldrei's ideological infiltration of humanity was far more effective than the Honkai's own Herrscher of Sentience.