Chapter Two Hundred, Gray Serpent: I Really Deserve to Die! / Chapter Two Hundred One, A Problem He Could Not Face

"Can true consciousness and spirit be born from machines? This is an unthinkable subject, one that even Previous Civilization never studied—no, it should be said that they didn't have time to study it. But it seems that we can only end here for today. You have won, and you deserve praise."

Skyfire said without any joy or sorrow.

Even after he floated lightly into the ocean, there was no sign of panic or fear on his face.

Of course, a soul can exist within a machine.

Otherwise, how did the will to erode spread? How did Anqi's clones survive within the Titans?

This topic doesn't need research; Anqi already knows the answer, at least in this world, the answer is clear.

Chapter 200 Gray Serpent: I deserve to die!

The conflict ended with Anqi being handed over to the heavily Hyperion by Welt, Delta and Wendy diving into the deep sea to escape with the Gem of Serenity, and Skyfire falling into the sea and disappearing without a trace.

The subsequent impact is extremely widespread.

For example, in North America, the governments of the Americas, which once took advantage of the fact that the three elder statesmen of Anti-Entropy were politically incompetent (honest and easy to bully), have suddenly become much more obedient. This year, the cooperation fees (protection fees) that should have been paid have been doubled and paid in advance, and the various voices clamoring for technology sharing have suddenly disappeared.

For example, Tachibana Yuki's dominance in the Far East became increasingly unshakable. The capitalists and dignitaries, large and small, who had previously complained about her extracting large amounts of profits to supply St. Freya and the East Sea Base, quickly disappeared even from their private complaints, and knelt down with unparalleled elegance and obedience.

Things are fine in Europe; they've always been very obsequious to Otto, and after this, everything will just continue as before.

Three days after the Battle of the East China Sea, Delta, who had gotten lost (on a date) with Wendy on the ocean several times, finally presented Otto with the intact Gem of Serenity, greatly demonstrating her absolute loyalty.

Therefore, Otto summoned all the S-Rank Valkyrie gathered together for a debriefing meeting to summarize the incident.

"Gah~~"

"Oops--"

The sounds of the archbishop drinking tea, and Delta's wailing as she read aloud from her wheelchair, mingled in the spacious and cozy office.

"Year-end bonus doubled."

"Uh... Ouch..."

"Three times. The extra portion is a personal thank you for bringing back the Gem of Serenity; it means a lot to me, thank you."

"Serving the Archbishop is my duty, and I dare not thank you!"

Delta sat up straight, solemnly unscrewed the thermos, and poured herself some goji berry tea.

Three seconds later, she looked suspiciously at Wendy standing next to her.

Why don't you hit me?

"... Behave yourself and don't cause trouble."

Wendy patted Delta's head helplessly.

The horrific wound that pierced her chest was still vivid in Wendy's mind. No matter how much Wendy disliked this disrespectful and greedy behavior, she couldn't bear to do anything more to Delta.

Furthermore, she has actually been reflecting on her actions these past few days.

No matter what danger she faces, Delta always puts Wendy first, regarding her as the most important person in her life.

On the contrary, Wendy has been forcing Delta to fulfill her Valkyrie, compelling her to go to those extremely dangerous battlefields.

'Am I really worthy of Delta's adoration?'

A young girl's heart is always sensitive, fickle, and unreasonable.

Once that ambiguous relationship was broken, Wendy's colleague stance disappeared, replaced by the stance of best friend and lover.

From this perspective, she was truly despicable in the past, completely betraying Delta's deep affection.

"Well..."

Wendy sighed dejectedly.

Delta sipped her goji berry tea, blinking blankly, completely oblivious to Wendy's self-pity. She could only lie back and continue being a lazy bum, silently waiting for Wendy to recover.

"Overall, Cocolia played a good game this time."

Otto shifted his gaze from the young couple and immediately began to offer his overall assessment of the incident.

Everyone pricked up their ears and fell silent, listening to Otto's analysis.

"Schicksal has suppressed Anti-Entropy for a long time, so this time, when the Titans flew out of the Celestia, they had already won by too much."

"In terms of results, we suffered an unprecedented setback, while the loss of Anti-Entropy was almost negligible."

"The most brilliant thing is that she returned the Gem of Serenity. Now the terrifying World Serpent will focus its attention on Schicksal. From a rational point of view, I can no longer go to great lengths to punish her."

"Once Schicksal falls silent, the woman who slapped us hard will have transformed all the internal and external pressures of the past half-century into her own prestige."

"The biggest winner is Cocolia, without a doubt."

Otto took a sip of tea and spoke slowly and calmly, his demeanor seemingly without any temper.

Aren't you angry?

That's impossible!

Having been a master strategist for five hundred years, suddenly having his chessboard disrupted by a passerby he had previously ignored, he lost face and his situation became chaotic. It would be strange if he didn't want to kill someone!

But after his anger subsided, Otto ultimately placed his own plan in the only unshakeable position.

Preserving his strength, protecting the gems, and continuing to advance the Sirin Project were his only options.

"It was my lack of ability. Next time, I will definitely not let the bishop down again!"

Durandal spoke solemnly, her beautiful face revealing an iron will.

This is Durandal.

Her failure, though hard to imagine, was not impossible. But her giving up was something I simply couldn't fathom.

Otto knew that Durandal would turn failure into nourishment on her path to growth, and that her next attack would be even more perfect, as always fearless and never retreating.

"I've always trusted you. Keep it up, but remember to rest. Keep an eye on Rita and make sure she doesn't collapse in the training room."

"Yes, Lord Otto."

The two exchanged a smile.

Durandal hesitated, trying to tell everyone that she wasn't stupid and that no matter how much she trained, she wouldn't lose her mind. But then she thought that doing so would seem a bit childish, so she held back, her face expressionless, and said nothing more.

"Ha! That may be true, but our loss is really just in terms of face. What's truly important are the Valkyrie here, and the gem that holds the power of the Herrscher. You're all still here, so we can accept everything else and don't need to worry about it too much."

Otto smiled reassuringly, glancing around at the S-Rank Valkyrie sitting on the sofa.

Rita overlooked the fact that her role was not on the high-end battlefield.

Needless to say, Durandal will naturally become more determined with each setback and faithfully carry out her orders.

As for Delta, although she has lost twice now, the first time she had to stabilize the sea and control Chiyou, which took a lot of effort, and then she had a fight with Welt before finally losing to that peculiar Ninti. It was really not her fault in battle. As for the second time, facing Skyfire, it goes without saying that it would be strange if she won.

Otto did not doubt Delta's power, nor did he need to worry about Delta's loyalty—as long as Wendy was taken care of and appeased, this Artificial Herrscher, who might not even care about her own life or death, was actually easier to control than Durandal.

Then Otto looked at Yae Sakura and frowned as he saw her gentle posture with her sword in her arms and her head bowed.

"Sakura, I have absolutely no experience in treating Divine Key. Although I managed to awaken you by injecting Honkai Energy, I'm still unsure about the potential side effects. How have you been feeling these past two days?"

"Mr. Otto, I'm fine. I'm just sorry I couldn't be of any help. I will continue to explore the power of Jizo Mitama, hoping it will come in handy next time."

Yae Sakura smiled gently, twisting her fingers shyly.

However, there is neither the despondency after defeat nor the lingering fear of having almost died.

Otto rubbed his forehead, knowing that she was similar to Delta, having almost no attachment to the human world. The only reason she still lived in human form was because someone expected her to.

Otto was certain that, thanks to his relationship with Kallen, Yae Sakura would once again smile and risk her life for him.

But, is it really necessary to exploit the relationship with Kallen like this?

This was undoubtedly the thing Otto resisted most, and it was even completely taboo for him.

"Sakura, you..."

"Hmm? What is Mr. Otto trying to say?"

"Alright, there are still a lot of troubles to deal with afterward, so you guys should rest for a few more days. Hopefully, that scary snake will stay quiet for a few more days, and that will be fine."

Otto spread his hands, a nonchalant smile on his face.

Although it may seem a bit unconventional, as a leader, this kind of poise and ease in any situation is undoubtedly very reassuring.

"Are you sure you can handle this, Jackal?"

"Shut up! I hate it when people say I'm no good! Am I a scientist or are you the scientist? You stupid snake!"

Jackal casually flung the pen away, the immense force causing it to pierce the Gray Serpent's mechanical chest.

The Gray Serpent's mechanical eye flashed once, and its body crashed to the ground.

Then another Gray Serpent came in and watched silently as the Jackal fiddled with Skyfire's body, without saying a word.

It would be a waste to sacrifice his body like this, but Gray Serpent understood Jackal's frustration. He had been working for days and nights, and if destroying a body could help Jackal vent his frustration and improve the efficiency of the repair process, Gray Serpent thought it was worth it.

"The most foolish hermitage's will, the most wicked of all...

"I didn't expect Cocolia to break the deadlock in this way. Actually, Great Void Mountain shouldn't be too hostile towards us. The ones who are hostile are Master Hua's disciples."

"That means your intelligence work was inadequate! The blame is on you!"

Yes, I know.

The Gray Serpent sincerely admitted its mistake.

The unexpected turn of events was indeed at Great Void Mountain. Who would have thought that Cocolia, by leveraging the events in Changkong City, would so effortlessly drag Great Void Mountain directly into the battlefield?

Even more unexpectedly, it turns out that Hua Daren's mental attack skills can even affect mechanical beings like Armed Doll.

Because they didn't realize the potential variables that Anqi might bring, this small oversight led to a complete loss. Not only did they fail to obtain the gem, but they also exposed the World Serpent, making any further secret operations impossible.

After reviewing the entire situation, Gray Serpent genuinely believed that the problem lay with himself.

You mean Lord Skyfire?

Skyfire crippled Schicksal and held a sword to Anti-Entropy's neck. She almost single-handedly suppressed an entire era. With such achievements, what wrong could she have done?

It was our own intelligence work that dragged down the overall situation!

Gray Serpent lowered his head in shame, a sense of loss spreading through his personality network, lingering for a long time. If it weren't for the fact that it was all in vain, he would have even slapped himself twice on the spot.

Chapter 201 An Unspeakable Problem

"Did the gem finally return to Schicksal's hands?"

"Yes, Skyfire."

"It's a pity. If we fail this time, Schicksal will definitely strengthen its defenses. Unless we prepare for a full-scale war with the guardian organization of this era, we probably won't have another chance in the short term."

Upon waking, Skyfire immediately inquired about the whereabouts of the Gem of Serenity, but his calm tone revealed little disappointment.

The Gray Serpent lowered its head in shame.

"It was all my oversight. I never imagined that Master Hua's disciple would become the fuse."

"That's none of your business. I've never had any experience fighting against mental beings in the previous era, so the fact that mechanical beings are immune to mental attacks has always been common knowledge to me... Gray Serpent, that move of yours was very powerful."

"After all, it is Hua Daren's special skill. Before she was seriously injured, she single-handedly suppressed the Honkai of the entire Shenzhou. When the Black Death ravaged Europe, the Shenzhou at the same time was still blessed with good weather and abundant harvests, which shows her strength."

"The Gray Serpent said with a sigh."

It was a strange and somewhat absurd sight: the Western Hemisphere had lost one-third of its population to the Honkai, while the Eastern Hemisphere was peaceful and almost devoid of any trace of Honkai activity—because wherever Honkai was generated, the sword energy of the Immortal Crimson Kite would descend from the sky, annihilating all demons and monsters before they were even born.

That incredible power often reminded the Gray Serpent of its Venerable Lord, filling it with deep awe.

Do you think Hua Hui and Kevin should go together?

"Although Hua Daren's disciples may resent us, such resentment is insignificant compared to the future of civilization. The Stigmata Project is a viable path, so I think she will."

"My view is exactly the opposite of yours."

"This..."

The Gray Serpent was unsure how to respond.

As fellow Flame-Chasers, his respect for them was equal, but he simply admired Kevin's Stigmata Project even more.