Kevin's mood was complex. Noldrei was truly using every single person to their absolute limit.
"If you can't touch him, then don't. Natasha's hands aren't stained with too much innocent blood, and she's helped quite a few lost orphans. My personal recommendation is to teach her a lesson and let her come out after she has atoned for her sins."
This was the only way Kevin could think of to handle Raven. He didn't expect Noldrei to simply let everyone in World Serpent off the hook.
World Serpent was a quasi-religious organization primarily built by Gray Serpent. Many of its members had done a lot of dirty work, with the group centered around Jackal's Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical being particularly vile.
Natasha had run errands for these people and even worked as an assassin, so she could hardly be called innocent.
The reason Kevin was speaking to Noldrei about her in such a good-natured way was that he hoped to give Natasha Cioara a chance to walk cleanly in the sunlight once more.
"The new civilization can bear many of the old one's pains. Since I have this confidence in the new civilization, you don't need to worry about me carrying out an overly cruel purge."
Even with Schicksal, Noldrei had only purged the faction centered around Otto. The remaining Valkyries were integrated into society as they always would have been.
Even Rita, who had done plenty of black ops work, was alive and well.
He had promised not to perpetuate the political vendettas of the old era, and so he would absolutely not allow them to continue.
Kevin had great faith in Noldrei's word; so far, the man had always done what he said he would.
"Then I can rest easy. As for the rest... my friends in the Elysian Realm."
Kevin thought for a moment and concluded that they probably weren't part of Noldrei's calculations. Besides, with a mind as sharp as Elysia's, she would surely find a way to protect everyone.
Unlike him, who had become completely trapped merely by touching the authority of Finality.
If Kevin had known back then that it would cause so much trouble, he would have died before letting Kiana take his place.
The world was fickle and unpredictable. Ancestor Kevin sighed again and again at what an honest, simple man he was.
Kevin now felt that Noldrei was setting a trap for him, but if Overseer Otto were still around, he probably would have dug an even bigger one.
"Elysia will communicate with them," Noldrei said. "I won't meet them directly, so you don't need to worry about that."
The only ones close to Noldrei were Elysia and Mobius.
The former was an annoying but endearing old woman, and the latter was a brilliant researcher he greatly admired. Would Noldrei really resort to special tactics against those two?
Kevin wasn't sure, but he chose to believe him anyway.
After all, Elysia wasn't the kind of fool who would trust someone blindly. When it came to intellect, Elysia was far superior to Kevin.
"Is there anything else you want to say?"
Noldrei waited for Kevin's final words.
Kevin surely had a lot he wanted to say, but for a moment, he didn't know how to put it into words.
His heart having been sealed away for so long had nearly cost him the ability to communicate with others. He spoke only in riddles, and every word was steeped in philosophy.
Perhaps only in front of friends who knew what he was originally like could he reveal his true self.
As a person grows, they lose the ability to forget pain, and in doing so, they also lose the strength to make genuine friends.
Noldrei's future humanity had to make countless reparations to create new life forms that could forget pain. The benefits these things brought to the future were self-evident.
Kevin was silent for a long time. He didn't know what else he needed to discuss with Noldrei.
He couldn't very well discuss the emotional bonds between ancestors and descendants with this man who looked so much like him, could he?
Then, as if remembering something, Kevin asked, "There is one thing I specifically want to ask you. Why did you think that greatsword was a gift from MEI? Generally speaking, aren't gifts supposed to be things with commemorative value?"
Noldrei pondered for a moment, then looked at Kevin and asked in a low voice, "Based on what I've learned about MEI from Elysia, she doesn't seem like the type to give you something completely useless as a gift, does she?"
The two looked at each other in silence, deciding to temporarily ignore the question.
Clearly, neither of them had any idea what MEI had been thinking.
Noldrei cleared his throat lightly, steering the conversation back to business. "Now then, let's start considering how to transfer the authority of Finality."
Kevin nodded. "It's actually very simple. As long as Kiana can gather the authorities of the other Herrschers, she just needs to go and touch the dimensional space deep within the Cocoon of Finality. Inside, the Cocoon will generate a field similar to a Stigma Space."
"Within this 'field,' the one who inherits the power of Finality will be able to see an existence akin to the will within a Stigma. Kiana just needs to eat that existence."
"Just like what she did in the Stigma Space."
"She just needs to charge in and eat the dream of the Cocoon of Finality!"
Noldrei himself was incapable of dreaming, so of course, he had no idea what it felt like to devour a dream. He could experience the sensation of dreaming by linking to someone else's body, but such an experience was of little use.
Dreaming, after all, was a necessary part of the Honkai's way of thinking.
To eat the dream was, in reality, to eat the consciousness of the Cocoon of Finality.
"I see. It seems my initial hypothesis wasn't far off. The essence of a Stigma is also a method of utilizing the Imaginary Renormalization group."
Once Noldrei had confirmed the ritual for transferring Finality, he knew what Kiana needed to do next.
"What about Prometheus? Where is she now?"
Noldrei asked about a crucial figure. Now that Durandal had inherited the authority of the Herrscher of Origin, the last backdoor was Prometheus.
Prometheus, as the herald, was essential. She had to be there to announce the new empress's ascension.
"Prometheus has been with Misteln the whole time. The two of them get along quite well, and they've... adapted? Yes, adapted much more easily to the new civilization."
Kevin couldn't quite describe the feeling, but he could sense that the new civilization was far more tolerant and inclusive.
Misteln and Prometheus had no need to make a special effort to blend in. They weren't even the most peculiar people here; the Current Era was teeming with all sorts of diverse new humans.
"Alright, I will go and inform Prometheus to come over."
Kevin couldn't shake the feeling that he was sending a lamb to the slaughter. The hope that Prometheus might be able to slightly restrain the next Emperor of Finality was probably a lost cause.
Kevin could only hope for the best for Prometheus's future.
Working under a leader like Noldrei must be a terrifying experience. It was the very definition of a high-risk, high-reward job.