Chapter 249: The Finality Plan
"Ah." Irene opened her eyes, stretched lazily, and after letting out a yawn, patted Theresa, who was sprawled on top of her. Theresa swatted Irene's hand away and let out a cute, muffled grunt.
"All right, time to get up." Irene gently patted Theresa's back, and as her fingers slid along, she released a thin, faint white mist that slowly smoothed away the traces left behind Theresa.
"Mngh~" Theresa let out a soft, sticky-sweet sound and groggily opened her eyes. Looking at the smiling Irene, and then recalling the situation from last night, she gave Irene's chest a somewhat irritated smack.
"What's that for? You're the one who made the first move, weren't you? It wasn't me who first stopped acting the proper gentleman." Irene wrapped her arms around Theresa and rolled them both over, away from the now soaking-wet sheets—though since they'd made such a racket last night and rolled off to the side, it was really all the same.
The Valkyries' physical constitution really is amazing, isn't it? Irene had already come to a profound appreciation of this point last night—and that, of course, included Theresa.
"Ugh, all sticky—come on, get down first." Irene pushed at Theresa, and Theresa simply went along with the motion and flipped herself up. But then her legs went weak, and she nearly knelt on the floor.
"There, there, you're an Overseer now, not a nun anymore." A sly smile hung on Irene's face. "But looking at the state of you, are you still going to handle paperwork today?"
Hearing Irene's words, Theresa's eyes went wide as she looked at her: "Didn't I come here for a little while to rest? Why do I still have to do paperwork?"
"Is there a possibility, hmm? My dear Theresa." Irene smiled and stroked Theresa's head. "You did come out to rest, yes—but that doesn't mean you don't need to work, now does it?"
"Last night I really didn't make you work, did I?" A smile hung on Irene's face, though she went on stroking Theresa's head even as Theresa's face crumpled miserably.
"But seeing as you cultivated water magic together with me yesterday, I'll cover your work for you for the day."
"What do you mean, cultivated water magic?" Theresa looked at Irene, her face flushing crimson. "Is that really how you're supposed to put something like that?"
"Is it not, though?" Irene stood up, and a black mist surged over her body once, completely stripping away the lingering traces of dampness still on her—and she conveniently cleaned Theresa off as well.
"Oh, if you don't like the term 'water magic,'" the mischievous smile on Irene's face grew even brighter, "you could be a fountain instead—though it was a little on the small side."
Theresa's mouth twitched, and she delivered a rapid-fire string of slaps right to Irene's chest: "Go and die, you—what do you mean, fountain? Then what are you, a drilling rig?"
"Mm, I'm a water pump~" Irene nodded. "Or maybe a hand-pump well. I think that one suits my performance last night quite nicely—what do you think?"
Irene was being unusually shameless about it—after all, the cards were already on the table now, the relationship was already settled, so what, were you going to dump me over it?
Since Theresa had been the one to stop acting the proper gentleman first, Irene had absolutely no reservations left at all.
And the facts proved it: compared to Irene, Theresa's skin was far too thin. In an instant her little face was teased bright red, though Theresa didn't make any further move—she only raised a dainty fist and gave Irene's chest another thump.
"Come on, take me to your room. My room's too wet—there's no way I can sleep in it now."
"Yes, yes, yes."
"Oh my." Rita, carrying dessert and Bitter Melon Juice, watched Irene sitting in the office, seemingly handling documents. "I thought it would be Overseer Theresa attending to affairs."
She had heard movement inside the office, so she'd guessed it would be Theresa attending to matters; after preparing some dessert and Bitter Melon Juice herself, she'd come over to take a look. She hadn't expected it to be Irene.
But on second thought, Rita understood why it was Irene here at this moment, and not Theresa.
"May I ask whether Overseer Theresa needs a little help?"
Hearing Rita's pointed inquiry, Irene gave a couple of laughs: "After all, last night was pretty tiring, so she's still resting. She should be along shortly."
"Understood." Rita nodded, a smile still hanging on her face, and set down the dessert and Bitter Melon Juice. "Then might I trouble you to bring the dessert and Bitter Melon Juice to Overseer Theresa."
"Mm, no problem." Irene nodded. "I'll bring them to her. And thank you, Miss Rita. Speaking of which, did Otto leave you any sort of list and the like before?"
"Lord Otto did indeed leave me a list, but please rest assured, Miss Irene—that list is no longer needed."
Rita of course knew what Irene was asking about, but with her efficiency, how could there possibly be any need for Irene to ask after the progress? Naturally she had dealt with it all long ago.
"Or does Miss Irene intend to hand me a new list that needs handling?"
"Oh, no, there's none of that. With the several of us backing Theresa, there aren't many troublemakers who'd dare to come jumping out at a time like this." Irene shook her head. As troublemakers go, they were generally smarter than ordinary folk. The ones who only ever leap about could never leap their way in front of them.
The current situation was already quite clear, too. Whatever the reason for Otto stepping down might be, they all knew very well that standing behind Theresa were nearly all of the Herrschers that had been born to date.
In combat strength, every one of them was capable of standing on par with at least an S-Rank Valkyrie—so naturally none of them would have the nerve to start acting up at such a critical juncture.
"That's good, then." Rita nodded, as though letting out a soft breath of relief. "Oh, right, there's one more thing. Dr. Vill-V hoped someone would tell you that, if you've woken up and have the time, you could go over to her place."
"Hm?" Irene raised an eyebrow slightly. "Dr. Vill-V is looking for me? How come I don't know about it?"
"Actually it was last night—Vill-V wanted to mention it at the banquet, only she didn't find the chance at the time, and then afterward..." A smile hung on Rita's face, and Irene immediately understood why.
As mentioned earlier, Irene wasn't the type to get drunk, throw a drunken fit, and then black out so completely that she had no idea what she'd done.
So she remembered what she'd gotten up to last night—for instance, airing Theresa's dirty laundry in front of everyone.
Once Irene understood, Rita nodded and continued: "After the banquet, Dr. Vill-V asked us at the time that if we saw Miss Irene, we should have you make a trip over to her workshop."
"Understood." Irene nodded toward Rita. "Once I've finished handling things here, I'll go take a look. Many thanks, Miss Rita. As for the dessert, I'll bring it over."
"Mm." Rita nodded with a smile, then turned and left, and Irene began to speed up her handling of affairs. Fortunately, after a round of screening by the Kleins who were attending to matters over at Schicksal, the remaining affairs weren't all that difficult.
Even Irene was able to complete them fairly easily. After roughly finishing up, Irene stood, ready to go and see what Vill-V wanted.
Helix Workshop
Irene looked up at the sign overhead: "So the workshop's been set up all the way out here, hm."
Irene pushed the door open and stepped into the grand workshop, where the sound of arguing drifted out. Listening carefully, those were the bickering voices of Vill-V, Dr. MEI, and Mobius—three of them.
"Quite a crowd." Irene walked into the depths of the workshop and looked at the three of them. Only then did she realize that it wasn't just these three—off to one side there was also Elysia, her face full of helplessness, seemingly unable to get a word in edgewise.
Seeing that Irene had arrived, Elysia took a stride forward and hugged her: "My dear Irene~ You're finally here~"
"Mm, I'm here. What's the matter?" Irene patted Elysia, then looked up toward the three Doctors, who had stopped arguing now that she'd arrived. "What are the three of you discussing?"
"We're discussing how to make you become Finality so you can skip out on class." Mobius folded her arms across her chest. "All the Herrschers are now assembled, so there shouldn't be another one born."
Mobius looked toward Elysia: "As for the Herrscher of Origin—or rather, because of a certain someone's manipulations, Irene, you are now this century's Origin."
"So with the Herrschers now assembled, only the last one is missing." Dr. MEI looked at Irene. "That is, Finality. We've already discussed Project Stigma. Compared to forcing Kevin to bear it, having a suitable candidate take it on might be more appropriate."
"However, right now we have a few differing opinions on the method." Vill-V glanced at the other two. "MEI would rather have you take over directly through the Will of the Honkai."
"Mobius's opinion is to carry out half of the original Project Stigma and let you take over gradually. As for mine..."
Vill-V pointed toward the Blank Key that had been recovered from the earlier battle at Schicksal. Although it had been damaged when Sirin pierced it through the chest with a single strike, the Blank Key was forged from Soulium and couldn't possibly be damaged that easily.
After some repairs, the Blank Key could now long since operate at full power, and Vill-V had also given it another round of reinforcement—its durability and safety were now far higher than in the Previous Era.
"What is it Dr. Vill-V has in mind?"
"Assuming Finality also has a Herrscher Core, perhaps we could set Finality's Herrscher Core into the Blank Key."
"So that's..."
"You really are far too confident in your own creations." Before Vill-V could finish speaking, Dr. MEI and Mobius spoke up at the same time: "We have absolutely no proof that the Blank Key can bear the power of Finality."
Vill-V's mouth twitched, and just as she was about to say something more, her expression sank. Then everyone felt the aura about Vill-V abruptly shift once again.
"Ah, excuse me." Vill-V looked at everyone somewhat timidly. "The expert me did get a little overconfident there. And I think this is a matter that needs me to take charge of it as well."
"Oh, Vill-V, you've come out at last." Elysia looked at Vill-V, surprise and delight in her eyes, and then made to pull Irene over for an introduction. "Irene, this is—"
"I know." Irene nodded, then amicably extended a hand, looking at the timid Vill-V before her. "The most primordial, original Vill-V—the ego, or rather, the true self."
"H-hello." Vill-V gave Irene a little wave of her hand, then continued: "But what the expert actually meant was to add a relay between Irene and Finality."
"Because we can't be sure whether, after bearing Finality, another personality might emerge again, or some other accident might occur."
Vill-V looked at Irene: "Irene already bears the Herrscher of Death Core and the Authority of the Herrscher of Origin. If she takes on Finality as well, it's hard to guarantee that nothing might happen to Miss Irene's body."
"That's why we hoped to make a relay—both as a fallback and to safeguard the state of Irene's body."
The moment Vill-V said this, the other two Doctors nodded as well. This was indeed something that needed to be considered. At last, Dr. MEI looked toward Irene.
"Irene, what's your take on this?"
"No particular take." Irene shook her head. "All I can say is that, within the future that I know of, I'm more in favor of Dr. Mobius's plan."
"But I'll also need to face the Cocoon."
"The Cocoon, hm." The moment the three Doctors heard this term, they immediately fell into thought, while Irene continued: "Mm, the power of Finality is easy to obtain, but to become a proper Herrscher of Finality, one needs to complete the embrace with the Cocoon."
"Dr. Vill-V's plan isn't very feasible. The power of Finality isn't as simple as Dr. Vill-V imagines." Irene looked at Vill-V and said somewhat apologetically, "So the Blank Key should be left for someone else after all. I shouldn't be the one who needs it."
"It's all right—plans always get rejected sometimes." Vill-V shook her head, then looked toward Elysia. "Elysia, do you have any opinions?"
"..." Elysia was first stunned, then thought it over. "Well, if all goes smoothly, perhaps we could first take Irene to my Land of Origin."
"Then I'll bring Irene along to find the Cocoon—but it can't be like last time, when only the consciousness went over."
The biggest problem they faced now was that they couldn't do as before—just grab a bit of power, set up a connection, and bolt. Originally they had planned to have Kevin serve as an emperor of sorts, sitting there and toughing it out; as long as Kevin was Finality, a Finality that would destroy humanity wouldn't be born.
At the same time, with humanity having become Stigmata Ideas, their consciousnesses sunk into slumber, dreaming an eternal dream, no more Honkai would continue to be born either.
Although it did carry a whiff of skipping class, that had been the only plan available.
But now they certainly wouldn't take that road. Yet the Project Stigma, which they hadn't intended to carry out in full anyway, made it very difficult to send a person inside.
"Is that so?" Mobius nodded. Where exactly the location was set didn't really matter; the most important thing for them was simply to get a person sent in.
But the problem was that not carrying out Project Stigma in full would surely cause issues—though if they could find an easier anchor point, that would indeed be a better choice.
When the time came, they'd take a multi-pronged approach, and the rest would be a matter of trusting Irene. If Irene failed, the half-conducted Project Stigma could also be unfolded then and there. No matter what, they wouldn't let anything go wrong for humanity.
Now all that was left was...
Mobius and Vill-V looked up toward MEI at the same time: "MEI, we'll leave it to you to sync things up with Kevin's side."
"Mm, I know."
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