"The Authority of Erosion."
Vill-V glanced at the Armed Automaton she had meticulously crafted for Sakura, and then at the anomaly that had occurred within herself just a moment ago. The various "vintage devices" Vill-V used for self-defense did not possess intelligence of their own; they were all driven by Vill-V's direct, subjective control.
But just now, at the very instant Sakura was controlled, all the devices she commonly used had lost responsiveness. It was only after the Black Emperor spoke that they gradually returned to a controllable state.
Considering the fact Mei had mentioned—"the Black Emperor severed her connection with Prometheus"...
"Sakura," Vill-V said, glancing at the Black Emperor, who was looking at her with an "encouraging" gaze. "I'm afraid Rin's power doesn't come entirely from Mister... Black Emperor."
"If I'm not mistaken," she continued, "the person who was originally supposed to become the Herrscher of Erosion..."
"Correct."
As Vill-V paused, Lu Xing picked up the second half of the sentence she had left unsaid.
"If I had not intervened, then the true Twelfth Herrscher would have been your sister, Rin. Different hosts, due to the disparity in their 'potential,' have vastly different levels of mastery over the same Authority, and the effects they can trigger vary greatly."
Lu Xing glanced again at the gears behind Vill-V, which had resumed their "regular" rotation.
"The current Herrscher of Erosion," he explained, "while its energy level is high enough to erode the Core of Reason, which possesses its own consciousness, the 'scope' of what it can affect is extremely limited."
"The same ability," Lu Xing's gaze shifted, "if wielded by your sister..."
He paused for a moment before continuing.
"Vill-V has already experienced it with her 'personalities'."
"This 'Erosion' ability would not be limited to the 'machine' category. In the absence of protection from a similar Authority, both intelligent humans and non-intelligent machines would act according to Rin's will."
"The resistance of a Fusion Warrior is indeed high," he acknowledged. "But Fusion Warriors alone cannot support an organization, let alone a society."
"Compared to that," Lu Xing concluded, "three cities and a MANTIS legion controlled by the Herrscher of Erosion... a price that is enormous, but not unacceptable."
"Is it not?"
---o---
"Now."
Lu Xing walked slowly along the right side of the conference room.
The sensation of his palm brushing against the artificial fiber of a chair's back was now purely a feeling from memory for him.
"Fulfill your promise—"
"Mr. Bai!"
"..."
"I do not appreciate being interrupted."
"But if your next question can eliminate the dissatisfaction and doubts of those few, I suppose a little explanation wouldn't hurt."
Lu Xing shifted his gaze back to Dr. Mei.
"Can you, or can you not, interfere with this 'test'?"
Swoosh.
Lu Xing did not answer Mei's question immediately. Instead, with a wave of his arm, he projected a massive image of the starry sky into the center of the conference room.
"The answer is: I can."
"But every time I make a move... as you have seen, it makes all subsequent test questions more difficult."
"This is!?"
Under the incredulous gazes of everyone present, he explained.
"Having lost Prometheus, humanity has lost its eyes to see into deep space."
"However, in my perception, there is no essential difference between the starry sky above and the earth below."
"This is the image I 'saw.' To put it simply, as early as a week ago, the Prometheus linked to Dr. Mei had already been assimilated by the Herrscher of Erosion."
"In other words," Lu Xing stated flatly, "all of humanity's intelligence—unless Elysia has some exclusive scoop—is in the hands of the Herrscher of Erosion."
The image was from beyond the planet.
A full eighteen [Divine Machine · Avalons] appeared in the outer parts of low-earth orbit!
They might not be as "complete" as the prototype housing Prometheus, and their exteriors looked somewhat tattered and broken, but none of that mattered. As long as the [Weapon God] railgun installed in the center of each machine was real, in the eyes of the Flame-Chasers, they were eighteen genuine Divine Machines.
"This one is smart," Lu Xing remarked. "And it has a very good memory. Well, I suppose memory isn't an issue for a machine. I once said myself that a direct hit from a [Weapon God] railgun could deplete about 30% of my Honkai energy."
"And so..."
"This thing started construction on eighteen of them simultaneously in the sky."
Lu Xing was well aware that the prototype built by humans had a massive energy deficit.
"Don't worry about them being mere decorations. After all, Dr. Mei, the Prometheus you created is truly outstanding. So outstanding that the Herrscher of Erosion didn't need to put in much effort to quickly begin manufacturing one-time replicas of the [Cosmic Juggernaut]. The minimum requirement of being able to fire just one shot greatly compressed the construction costs."
"To prevent detection," he added, "it even used the meteor-throwing technique I used back in the day, adding every possible shielding measure."
"No, no, no."
"Kosma, your gaze should not be filled with such hatred... especially when Miss Griseo hasn't made any indication."
"Although we all fought for our own side, the righteousness of that battle... who was right and who was wrong, I'm sure Dr. Mei has hinted at it to you, hasn't she?"
"Don't be so quick to deny it."
Lu Xing spoke slowly, a "smile" in his voice that made Kosma's blood boil.
"Before you do, I suggest you think carefully about what you have 'heard'."
"Your actions, your thoughts, they are all worthy of the title 'hero' to humanity. But in terms of intelligence..."
"Pardon my bluntness."
"Even if you want to be like your big brother Kevin, you'll have to wait for Griseo to grow up so she can 'replace' your thinking, just like Dr. Mei does for him, won't you—"
"—Mr. Lolicon, still in denial about your foot fetish?"
"You!?"
"Mr. Bai."
Su, sitting next to Kosma, raised a hand to stop his companion's impulsive action.
"You seem to be... very familiar with us?"
"..."
"Does it look that way?" Lu Xing replied after a brief pause, feigning "surprise."
"Perhaps it's because this form has made me recall the past... Looking at it this way, perhaps 'sister's' Authority really did play a significant role."
Lu Xing changed the subject with a teasing tone.
"To get back on topic."
"When I made contact with Prometheus, I left a little backdoor in it. That's right, it was when I severed your connection to the Divine Machine."
The latter half of the sentence was clearly directed at Dr. Mei.
"In terms of a single Authority," he conceded, "I must admit, the Herrscher of Erosion is indeed much better than me."
"The only thing the backdoor can do is transmit this thing's operational reports back to me. If it weren't for Xiao Zi, I really wouldn't have been able to extract any useful information from the vast sea of data."
[Machine Species] and their evolved form, the [Primordial Species] (currently referring specifically to Xiao Zi), all possessed powerful computational and deductive abilities, with Xiao Zi being the foremost among them. After obtaining the [Authority of Reason], this power was further enhanced.