Kiana felt like she didn't have much to do. Some issues were a bit troublesome, but not that troublesome.
Even with the Stigmata undergoing a subtle change and beginning to fuse with the human body, it wasn't a huge deal to her.
So what if the Will of the Honkai left behind a contingency plan? Isn't the Will of the Honkai already finished?
Would a Will of the Honkai from another world really cross the Imaginary Tree just to avenge this world's?
What a joke.
If the Wills of the Honkai were that united, would human civilization even stand a chance? They might as well have formed an inter-imaginary multiversal alliance.
But in reality, the Will of the Honkai didn't do that. It clearly had the ability to connect to other worlds, but it was pummeled to death before it could even use it.
Although Kiana usually couldn't be bothered to think too much, she could tell something was off after a moment of reflection.
Work in Academy City was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
Her staff was even more dedicated than Kiana herself, and with the integration of bionic androids for supervision and the large-scale application of AI systems... Kiana could guarantee that there was no place more open and transparent than Academy City.
She didn't even know how such an excellent social system had been built.
As the central figure, Kiana's daily job was simply to set a direction, point a finger, discuss how to maximize benefits, and then let her subordinates take the initiative.
The collective power born from the Stigma organization was far stronger than she had imagined, completely sweeping away all the distrust and obstacles of the old era.
It made Kiana wonder if she was redundant. Despite being the ruler, she could get away with doing no work at all. It seemed things would be just fine without her.
Most of the time, in the normal workflow, she was just doing the job of a robot.
Kiana had perfectly inherited the job of "authentication."
Returning to the floating island, Kiana was still a bit dazed. Many of the matters that once required her attention no longer did, now that the Stigma organization was on the right track.
She could clearly feel a different kind of power pushing back against her, the supreme being.
Noldrei's room could no longer be considered just his room. Kiana sometimes lost track of how many people would sneak in from time to time.
Back in Nagazora City, when they lived in Mei's small place, not many people could fit inside.
But after moving to the floating island, Noldrei's room was bigger, and so were the number of visitors.
After casually tossing Sirin and Bronya out, Kiana told Noldrei exactly what she had encountered after going to Academy City. This included the discovery of the Stigma mutation.
"A plan to pull the rug out from under me?!"
Noldrei truly hadn't expected the Will of the Honkai to leave behind such a parting gift. It was like a repeat of the moment "Misteln" was born.
Replication, replacement, reproduction... the Will of the Honkai had studied it all thoroughly.
It wasn't doing anything beyond its capabilities. On one hand, it gave itself the power to reproduce its own kind; on the other, it tried to destroy the society Noldrei had built upon Stigma genetics from the ground up.
The two parts were complementary, giving Kiana a bit of a headache.
And now, here she was. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have bothered Noldrei with such a minor problem.
"Let me think... This isn't a big deal. The Will of the Honkai copied my methods to use against me, but the end result will only make me stronger. The vitality of 'Proliferationism' is contained within the creativity of life itself."
"It's a dead thing; it can't rely on those two things to defeat the new society I've created. You don't need to worry about it causing any trouble for me. I've been prepared for something like this for a long time."
You were prepared for this?!
Kiana suspected her brain wasn't big enough for this. She was always hanging around Noldrei, so how had she never seen him make any special preparations?
He couldn't just be bluffing in front of her, could he?
But on second thought, there was no need for him to do that.
So Kiana grabbed him curiously and asked, "What preparations? How come you've never told me? Do you have a specific countermeasure?"
Noldrei shook his head. "It's not that complicated. Since I'm operating based on the principles of Proliferationism, of course I'd keep enough aces up my sleeve."
"Back when I was hanging out with Otto, we already discussed it. If this world failed to cultivate what I wanted, then we'd keep a backup world and try a different route. And the fact that the two worlds are so similar is a huge advantage for us."
Otto?!
Kiana's head was buzzing. She had no idea how this could be connected to Otto. Wasn't Otto long dead? Even the Void Archives had been reshaped by Noldrei and sent off to be a high school student.
"Yes, Otto. From the very beginning, I foresaw the possibility that the Will of the Honkai would fail. So, after Otto explained his plan to use the Imaginary Tree to reshape a world where Kallen was alive, I took a liking to that world he had on hand—one that could be kept as a backup."
"The same Previous Era, the same Cocoon of Finality, the same Herrscher forms, and the same civilizational progress. And that world is even a full several hundred years behind this one, giving us plenty of time to make more arrangements."
Kiana stared at Noldrei in shock. She never would have imagined that something like this could be tied to Schicksal's Overseer, Otto.
This guy Noldrei really knew how to keep a secret!
"No, I thought... that... you were holding onto that world... wasn't it for expansion? Didn't you already publicize that?"
Kiana realized she could never keep up with Noldrei's train of thought. For a moment, she really couldn't grasp this other use for that world.
"Of course it was publicized, but that was just propaganda to get things started. We've already connected the solar system of this home world and the Sea of Quanta. By the same token, I was already prepared for the absolute failure of this world being completely converted by Proliferationism."
Noldrei didn't believe he could succeed on the first try. The initial parallel world was just bait on a hook.
Being an emperor is all about one thing: balance.
What is balance? It's not about carefully holding up two sides so neither falls.
It's about being able to replace the players on both sides at any time, while still allowing 'both sides' to continue to exist.
Noldrei smiled and patted Kiana's head. "It's that simple, not as troublesome as you think. If this place fails, we just find the next place to try it out. If you don't have that kind of confidence, you can't become an excellent ruler."
"When have you ever seen a tiger starve to death on one mountain? It just finishes eating on this mountain and moves on to the next."