Come to think of it, this guy's life was pretty tragic.
Would she simulate Kallen in the future?
"Maybe."
Welt sighed softly.
"Senior Liu Bai, could you tell me more about the organization known as Schicksal?"
Are you sure you won't regret it after I tell you? Schicksal's sheer scale, and Otto's resources, aren't something that can be explained in just a few words.
"I won't. I'm already certain that the Bishop and I have fundamentally different values."
Then let's start with Schicksal's three great families...
Eden Star
The trip to the resort ended quickly.
Although you had encountered Schicksal's Bishop, an immortal from Shenzhou, and North American agents at the resort, your lives still seemed calm and ordinary.
—Seemed.
Soon, Aida completely cracked the encrypted information within the soul steel, allowing you to see the true secret preserved inside.
"Follow the Freedom Trail, then visit Lexington at midnight."
"Seriously, this thing really wants to drag us back and forth across half the globe."
Tesla grumbled. At the same time, the blood-soaked Valkyrie from the previous footage appeared once more in the image within the soul steel.
However, unlike the blood-covered, deathly figure from the earlier recording, the black-haired Valkyrie before you looked older. She wore a suit and tie, looking like some underground powerbroker from a story.
"First, congratulations on successfully decrypting this, explorers from the future," the woman said.
"Although I admit that my claim that Schicksal cannot defeat the Honkai is merely my personal opinion... I still believe it."
Compared to the person in the previous recording, the Valkyrie in the footage seemed more worldly and gentle.
That fierce hatred of evil, that urgency to seize every moment, was gone.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ammonie Ayette. My maiden name was du Motier, and I am a descendant of Gilbert du Motier... Or, if you prefer my business title, you may call me—the 'Godfather.'"
Gilbert du Motier had joined the American Revolution at eighteen, the French Revolution at thirty-six, then joined and led the French Revolution again at seventy-two.
A legend in every sense.
But one's ancestors belonged to one's ancestors, and one's own life belonged to oneself.
Ammonie explained the philosophy she believed in to you.
After fully expressing what was in her heart, the video within the soul steel came to an end. The real guidance had already been given.
Freedom Trail. Lexington.
After a unanimous vote, you set foot on North American soil once more.
Led by a hired driver, your group arrived at the starting point of the Freedom Trail at night.
Along this route, Aida successfully received a Honkai Energy signal.
This time, it was no longer Ammonie's voice that appeared, but an unfamiliar voice—intellectual, with a faint trace of sorrow.
"If people from another civilization discover these materials in the future, I hope to leave them a complete story."
This was a civilization's final account.
"On this planet, the Honkai was born alongside civilization."
"The more humanity's civilization developed, the stronger the power of the Honkai became..."
Boston Park, the State House, Park Street Church... until finally the USS Constitution. You visited all sixteen landmarks along the Freedom Trail one by one.
"In Lexington, I left you a weapon capable of standing against that Bishop."
Near the final stop, the USS Constitution, Ammonie's voice appeared again.
"Remember, 'the best threat is taking no action.'"
"Once you take action and fail to achieve the corresponding result, others will no longer fear the threat, right?"
Tesla pursed her lips, looking both displeased and understanding.
"When all's said and done, isn't it just that she lacks the confidence to oppose that Bishop?"
Tesla firmly believed that the way to stop war was to raise its cost and consequences beyond what anyone could bear. That was precisely why she did not reject the creation of weapons.
So Tesla was quite dissatisfied with Ammonie's "weak" way of thinking.
But...
"We can only find the weapon first and decide what to do next, right?"
Tesla also understood why Ammonie had said it. After all, her hypothetical enemy was Otto...
You drove to Lexington—the place where the first shot of the War of Independence had been fired.
With Aida's help, you successfully found the target item.
"Hyperdimensional camouflage disengaged—the target is directly in front of you."
Even without Aida's reminder, everyone saw the target: a yellowish-white sphere resembling the moon.
"This is..."
"Type 1625 storage chamber. It possesses hyperdimensional camouflage and can hover over a fixed area for long periods without being discovered. Shall we open it, Dr. Einstein?"
"Why not let Liu Bai try first?"
"I don't think I can do anything to something with such advanced technology."
Though he said that, Liu Bai still gave it a try.
The item within the storage chamber was the Ninth God Key—Eden Star.
Relying on his ghostly body, Liu Bai easily passed through Eden Star's storage chamber and saw a sphere roughly ten centimeters in diameter.
Possession—
Unexpectedly, Liu Bai's possession went remarkably smoothly.
But...
The core was impossible.
Put simply, a God Key was a weapon forged from a Herrscher Core and soul steel.
Liu Bai could easily possess the soul steel now, but he could not touch the God Key's most essential component, the Herrscher Core, at all.
In other words, he could control the thing and make it float around, but he had no way to use the God Key's abilities.
If the God Key were fully activated, the power of the Herrscher Core might even reject him and force him out.
"I can possess it, but I can't use it. The thing inside is the Ninth God Key, Eden Star."
Liu Bai briefly explained it to Einstein.
"The Ninth God Key!"
Even Aida, who was merely a virtual projection, could not help revealing a shocked expression.
"Why would a God Key be here?"
"Who knows..."
Einstein and Tesla's expressions also turned grave. As Schicksal's top scientists, they actually only had a superficial understanding of God Keys. What they had learned through official channels was even less than what they had learned from Reanna and Aida.
After all, "top scientists" sounded impressive, but when it came to their actual standing within Schicksal, the two of them were in an awkward position.
They had both ability and reputation, yet headquarters did not value them. They normally had no access to truly core matters like God Keys or Valkyrie Armor.
But saying they were not valued wasn't quite right either... Whenever there was a scientific problem no one could solve, Lab 42 still had to be called in.
They were nothing but tools, begging on their knees for a living.
Even so, that did not stop them from recognizing the importance of a God Key.
"Behind us—!"
Just as Einstein was about to say something, Liu Bai made the soul-steel shell of Eden Star flash and float behind the group.
"That is..."
Einstein, Tesla, and Welt turned around along the path Liu Bai had taken.
Flames. Thick smoke...
"Was there an explosion in downtown New York?"
The Laboratory Explosion and Welt's Resolve
"Cough, cough, cough... You really outdid yourself, Professor Elias Nokianvitanen."
Edison emerged from the billowing smoke in protective gear. Her once-delicate face had been blackened by soot, but the killing intent in her eyes could not be suppressed.
"A Honkai Energy bomb... Who gave it to you? No, there's no need to guess. The only person capable of producing such a dangerous weapon is probably the Bishop."
"You..."
The usually carefree Finn now wore a face full of pain. Looking at Edison as she emerged from the smoke, he could not hide his shock, yet he inexplicably felt relieved.
"The real Moonlight Throne was moved long ago. What you blew up was merely a replica fitted with a Honkai radiation device... Having scholars serve as spies really is Otto's style."
"You were prepared from the start... I see."
A bitter smile appeared on the Finn's face. "It seems Bishop Otto's actions were seen through by you from beginning to end... From the altered Dead Sea Scrolls to this explosion."
"I never saw through anything. Someone else merely warned me."
Edison shook her head. "As for you... what do you think I should do with you?"
Just as Edison had remarked before, having scholars act as spies... Edison truly had not discovered it.
No, rather, the Finn—Elias Nokianvitanen—had always been conscientiously helping them before this.
Under those circumstances, without Liu Bai's help, Edison would never have suspected that the Finn would betray them.
"I have nothing to say."
The Finn plopped down on the ground and spread his hands, looking rather shameless.
"You—!"
At that moment, Edison truly wanted to put a bullet through the Finn's head.
But obviously, now was not the time.
"Don't look at me like that." The Finn seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. "I have a family: elderly parents, a beautiful wife, and a son still in school. People are not creatures who can do whatever they please."
"You want to say you had no choice?" Edison laughed in fury. "If what you had blown up were a real Moonlight Throne, then what happened in Berlin back then would have happened in New York!"
"...I admit my guilt, but I truly didn't know it was a Honkai Energy bomb." At this point, the Finn lowered his head. "Since you, Princess Nancy, have already seen through Bishop Otto's plan, then the city..."
"It wasn't fully evacuated."
Edison's face darkened beneath her protective gear.
In other words, Honkai Energy had begun leaking.
"You must know what Otto wants. Tell me everything you know."
"Maybe... he just wanted to eliminate you, Princess Nancy?" The Finn showed a bitter smile. "I don't know what that Bishop truly wants anymore. My original mission was only to help you translate that ancient scroll so you could smoothly carry out the Moonlight Throne project. As for altering it... he only said it would make you waste some time. Of course, I knew that was a lie."
"Then you discovered that the data had been corrected and told Otto?"
"No, I didn't tell him... because it had nothing to do with me."
A very practical answer.
As both a professor and librarian, and someone close to Lab 42, how could the Finn possibly not know what consequences faulty data might bring?
Otto's leverage had merely forced him to bow his head.
So after seeing the data on the ancient scroll restored, the Finn had not the slightest intention of informing Otto. He acted as though he knew nothing. Even if Otto became suspicious afterward, he could claim that Edison had discovered the error herself.
Before you continue