"Ahem…"
Looking at the memory manifested by Fu Hua through Fenghuang Down, the three of them fell into silent contemplation.
From the memory playback, Ana hadn't shown any signs of underestimating the enemy.
The moment she realized she'd become the target of the attack, she immediately used the Authority-interference ability she hadn't yet fully mastered.
But just as Lynelle had said, after the black ice enveloped the doll, Ana's Herrscher authority didn't take effect right away.
Or rather, since Ana's ability worked by freezing the connection between a Herrscher's core and the Cocoon, thereby interfering with other Herrschers' powers, it was less effective against the Herrscher of Domination—because like the Herrscher of Reason's, its core was distributed in a decentralized arrangement.
And after the black ice covered the doll…
"Up to this point, things are pretty much as we guessed."
Lynelle paused the projection from Fenghuang Down.
"So it seems, Otto transferring Ana to St. Freya might not have been because her ability could counter the Herrscher of Domination… If anything, she was the one being countered."
Tesla frowned slightly. "Is the Honkai getting too smart these days? The previous Herrscher's power conveniently counters the others, and now Domination just hard-counters Ice…"
"If this kind of power creep were in some game, the planner's mother would've been shot out of Earth long ago."
"To be fair, the 'planner' you're talking about is basically the Will of Honkai…"
Lynelle's mouth twitched. If she remembered right, the current Will of Honkai could be seen as Prometheus, and Prometheus's mother…
Wait, Prometheus's two moms, Mei and Vill-V—one's in a lunar Bubble World, and the other's physical body is almost to Jupiter.
So they really did leave Earth.
"Anyway, putting that aside… We probably don't have any disagreements about the earlier parts of the memory. So the only thing we still can't understand is the later part—'2 > 0.5.' What does that mean?"
Lynelle resumed the playback, watching the scene continue.
"If I remember right, the Herrscher of Domination originally intended to use that move against me."
"Judging by the win-loss relationship, Ana should be the 0.5 side. So… in the Herrscher of Domination's perception, my value should also be less than 2?"
"Could it represent the level of authority Ana commands?" Fu Hua couldn't help but glance at the sleeping girl.
"Ana just obtained her core not long ago, and her mastery over it is still low, so the Herrscher of Domination counted her as 0.5… But the question is, why is the Herrscher of Domination itself 2?"
"Moreover, if this really does represent the number of cores…"
Fu Hua didn't continue, but Lynelle understood what she meant.
If those numbers truly represented the number of cores or authorities, then Lynelle—who possessed both the Origin and the Corruption authorities—should also be counted as 2.
In theory, the Herrscher of Domination shouldn't have targeted her.
"Goddammit, this whole thing is too fishy." After a moment of silence, Tesla sighed.
"I've contacted Schicksal headquarters and the Salt Lake base. We'll hold an online meeting soon to discuss this…"
"If the Herrscher of Domination is another targeted move by the Will of Honkai against humanity's Herrschers, then this operation's main force will have to rely on Durandal and the others."
"At the very least, until we fully understand the Herrscher of Domination's abilities, everyone who has integrated a Herrscher core needs strict protection. Lynelle, Wendy's back from Oceania, right?"
"Yeah, that's right." Lynelle nodded, then added, "Especially those who haven't fully mastered their Herrscher cores. They're probably all targets for the Herrscher of Domination."
"Then I'll go arrange things right away… You and Fu Hua can keep observing Ana's condition."
With that, Tesla hurried off, leaving the two of them silently watching Ana in the incubation pod.
"…Fu Hua, how's Little Senti been lately?"
"She accepted the fact that she really is the Herrscher of Sentience pretty quickly—didn't seem awkward about it at all. Now she's running around everywhere in a body she crafted herself."
Fu Hua paused briefly, then smiled.
"Don't worry, the Herrscher core is still in my body. If the Herrscher of Domination tries to go after Little Senti, it'll have to get through me first."
"No, it's just… I suddenly thought of something."
Lynelle stretched out her hand, gazing at the bluish-purple glow shimmering in her palm.
"If your guess is correct, then my number in the Herrscher of Domination's eyes might not be 2."
"Leaving aside the fact that I haven't fully mastered the Corruption core yet—still missing that final step of 'Ego'…"
"Can the Origin authority I carry really be counted as one full authority? Or rather… since the Herrscher of Domination has never seen Elysia, would it even recognize that [Origin] is a Herrscher authority?"
"You mean…" Fu Hua mused, "in the Herrscher of Domination's view, your number is less than 1?"
"If that were really the case, Wendy and I never could've made it back." Lynelle shook her head.
"Before attacking Ana, the Herrscher of Domination's number was 2. Since Wendy hadn't fully mastered the Wind core, she was less than 1."
"If my number was also less than 1, then the Herrscher of Domination could've just forced its way and taken both of us out. But it didn't do that."
"That means, for some reason, the authority it possessed judged my number as greater than 1—maybe even greater than 1.5… So, to play it safe, it chose to kick Wendy and me out of the Theater of Domination."
"Looking at it that way, the meaning of those numbers might not just be the quantity of authorities."
"At the very least, it's not as simple as 'how many cores, how many points.' There should be a complex judgment mechanism behind it. And there's plenty of evidence to support that idea. For example… Otto."
"Otto?"
Fu Hua blinked. She felt like she was getting a bit of her old 'Watson' vibe back today.
"Yeah, Otto is the best evidence." Lynelle stated with certainty.
"Durandal speculated earlier that Otto might have already encountered—or even fought—the Herrscher of Domination."
"That's why he made the move to transfer Ana into St. Freya. And the facts show that if Ana hadn't been caught alone, several Herrschers together would definitely have a combined number greater than the Herrscher of Domination's 2."
"So here's the question: How did Otto manage to face the Herrscher of Domination, experience its authority, and still escape its grasp? Remember, Otto isn't a Herrscher—at least not now."
"Therefore, there must be other ways to counter the Herrscher of Domination's authority…"
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.