Durandal suspected she was nothing more than a glorified supervisor.
If it weren't for the fact that Sa occasionally got the urge to escape and would even proactively spar with her for a bit of practice, Durandal would have thought she didn't need to be there watching her at all.
The only upside was...
Through their combat, Durandal was slowly but surely mastering the power of the Herrscher of Origin.
She was grasping it at a speed that surpassed even Elysia's growth back in the day.
There was no special reason for it; it was simply a benefit of the Kaslana bloodline.
After a while, Sa lost the desire to fight Durandal. Her opponent was clearly getting stronger with every bout. She had even mastered the power of a Herrscher that Sa had never seen before. Sa had no idea how someone could attain such a level of strength.
An apostle of the Cocoon of Finality, now in human hands, was repeatedly pummeling her, the heir to the Venusian civilization.
The whole situation was something of a dark joke, and it made Sa deeply uncomfortable.
Durandal, on the other hand, was quite satisfied with her work. Thanks to her constant beatdowns, Sa was gradually rediscovering the moral emotions befitting a human.
This proved that it wasn't that people in high positions necessarily lose their emotions, but rather that some people in high positions simply stop seeing themselves as human. They start thinking of those with emotions as mere animals in their eyes, not their own kind.
Thanks to Durandal's excellent pummeling, Sa quickly realized she was but a drop in the Sea of Quanta. Only now did she comprehend the vastness of the universe and the infinitude of time and space.
What was Venus? What was humanity? Nothing but ants and dust.
Ever since Sa learned she had been baited, she understood her situation. She knew she was in a cage with absolutely no chance of escape.
And her agent, Vitas, had most likely betrayed her as well. Otherwise, she wouldn't have severed contact so decisively.
It was easy to imagine just how much of a failure Sa felt she was at this moment.
She was like an old farmer with no power to change his fate, selling the things he grew with his hoe for a pittance in the city, only to buy back the city's high-priced goods to sustain himself.
Sa had already realized the tragic outcome: the things she created would never ultimately belong to her.
"Durandal, your people... I mean, the people who manage Earth's civilization... what do they plan to do with me?"
After long consideration, Sa decided she had to ask Durandal what would become of her after the terraforming of Venus was complete.
"That depends on how much effort you're willing to put into dealing with the Cocoon of Finality," Durandal explained. "We drew you out for three reasons. First, to probe the Cocoon's hiding place. Second, for you to imitate the Cocoon so we can study it. And third, to lure the Cocoon out."
"You... you really think I'll just obediently listen?"
Sa felt that the people of Earth were far too arrogant. If Noldrei had the right to be proud as a human from 130,000 years in the future, she couldn't understand why everyone else here seemed to think she would just meekly comply.
"How many years has it been? Hundreds of millions? You never once thought of reviving your old civilization's friends, nor did you create any useful attacks against the Honkai. You've done even less damage to the Honkai than our own local Schicksal Overseer."
Durandal sighed and looked at Sa with pity. "I really can't understand. We were able to observe you, so why did you never even think of sending someone to Earth to secretly gather intelligence? And what made you, after hundreds of millions of years, lose even the most basic scientific spirit? To despise the enemy strategically but respect them tactically—you haven't even grasped that basic concept."
"Are you... really the crystallization of a civilization?"
Having been mocked so many times, Sa was no longer as "agitated" as she had been at first.
After all, the people of Earth had personally demonstrated their power to her. They were, indeed, impressive. Although their Previous Era had failed, they had now fought their way to the final stage against the Honkai.
"According to you Earthlings, I've just been a slave master for too long and have lost the thinking capacity of a normal person. I admit my failure on that point. But how can you be so sure I won't learn and succeed in the future?"
Sa didn't quite understand this. She didn't consider herself an idiot. If she really put her mind to learning, she could surely achieve the same level.
'Are you really learning?'
Durandal suspected Sa was joking. She hadn't learned anything from all those Bubble Universes, but after getting beaten up by Earthlings, she'd suddenly see the light?
It was almost as if Sa was some kind of character from an old Earth story, needing a beating from foreigners to realize that being backward meant getting bullied.
Durandal sighed. "Sa, do you know? According to Mr. Noldrei, when a civilization reaches a certain stage, it sheds some of its own baser biological traits. That is to say, human civilizations that reach that stage will, due to their progressive nature, proactively maintain a mindset that pushes for their own development."
"But for someone like you, from a highly advanced technological civilization, to remain in a state of stagnation is actually very rare. You could even say..."
"Extremely rare!"
Every day, aside from repairing Venus, Sa would chat with Durandal. Durandal was actually a very polite young woman who was considerate of others' feelings. Her words were always so... "tactful."
"According to Mr. Noldrei's observations, he believes you've simply been alone for too long and have completely forgotten what the proper mindset for communication and competition with others is."
Sa retorted with some dissatisfaction, "If you insult me like that again, I'll kill myself and make your plans fail completely!"
But to her surprise, upon hearing her words, Durandal actually let out a sigh of relief.
The golden-haired girl smiled and said, "That's great. I was really worried you might commit suicide. A while ago, watching you work in silence, as if nothing had happened, I was constantly worried you'd kill yourself, so I kept a close eye on you. People who suddenly fall from a position of great power are very prone to mental imbalance."
"But now that you've said you might kill yourself, I'm not so worried anymore. Based on my past experience with enemies, only those who become unusually silent after being captured, or those who suddenly turn cheerful and act like they've come to terms with everything, are the ones who have truly given up hope of living. The ones who go around shouting about suicide, eighty percent of them won't actually do it."
"People who are truly suicidal don't easily tell others, because that might provoke humanitarian aid. Only those who crave attention before they die, or those who still have a sliver of hope, will attempt suicide in front of others."
"For people like that, we Earthlings have a habit of jeering from below, just in case they come back to life as a zombie and to snatch away their last shred of hope! Then we'll chant a little prayer, hoping they get a better reincarnation in the next life."
Sa was utterly stunned. She had never expected Durandal's verbal attacks to be so savage. How could the people of Earth treat her with such malice?
Sa stammered, "I... I have dignity too!"
Durandal replied, surprised, "Is the lava on Venus too cold for you?"