Kiana could only force herself to stay lucid through those countless memories, making herself face everything Sirin had once gone through while fully awake.
At the same time, Gwen, who had infiltrated the Dominion Theater without alerting a single puppet and had just obtained a Seed of Consciousness, frowned as he watched Kiana, ready to intervene at any moment—
Gwen could tell that Kiana was at the final stage of metamorphosis, completely merging with her core and Gem.
If she succeeded, Kiana would become a true Herrscher.
But to succeed, Kiana had to accept everything contained within the core and Gem.
For Raiden Mei, Anna, and the others, it might only mean overcoming their psychological rejection and enduring the impact brought by that power.
But for Kiana, she also had to face all the slaughter once committed by the hysterical Sirin.
And for Kiana, who had been taught by Siegfried ever since she could remember that she should become humanity's shield, it was no different from the cruelest torture.
If, in the original timeline, Kiana had still had the lingering consciousness Himeko left in the Gem of Plague to offer her some comfort, then here, all Kiana could rely on was her own will and convictions.
Moreover, Gwen could clearly sense an endless stream of negative emotions pouring from Kiana's soul, nearly drowning her.
If Gwen had not been able to sense that the radiance of Kiana's soul still shone beneath those pitch-black negative emotions, he would have already acted...
"You have to make it, Kiana..."
Ready at any moment to lend aid, pull Kiana's soul back, and purify it, Gwen watched the white-haired girl with some tension.
Within the Dominion Theater, the puppets also realized that their plan had failed—each one bore a Celtic Triquetra on its forehead, had