Prescribe the Right Medicine

February 10, 21:00

Novosibirsk, inside a room that looked like an abandoned warehouse, Enoshia found the place based on the coordinates provided by Anti-Entropy.

Bella · Glaring (Top)

Welt · Sighing (Middle)

Einstein · Shaking Head (Bottom)

Looking at the three who could almost form a set of Stigmata, Enoshia scratched her head but still asked Old Yang for the details first.

Because of the commotion caused by the Honkai Energy Fission Bomb, Welt and Einstein planned to return to Lake Baikal to check the situation, only to run straight into Bella flying at full speed. Without a word, she started fighting them. Fortunately, she was just a Quasi-Herrscher, and with the help of the Moonlight Throne Mech, Old Yang, a true Herrscher, managed to subdue her.

In short, since she couldn't win, Bella accepted their persuasion and temporarily stopped causing trouble, but anyone could see she was holding back a breath of anger.

"Cough, Bella, Sirin is fine—she's currently in a secret lab in Siberia. If you attack Schicksal's branches or headquarters, you'll fall right into Otto's trap. Not only will you fail to save her, but you'll also get yourself caught."

Hearing Enoshia's words, Bella's expression softened a little.

"Still in Siberia... That makes sense. Only five hours have passed, so conducting research nearby is the most efficient and least vulnerable approach. So, what's your plan?"

"The fewer people, the better. Bella and I will go alone. After it's done, we probably won't see each other again for a while. Thanks for stopping Bella in time."

"It was nothing. I hope we can cooperate again in the future. Anti-Entropy's doors are always open to you." Seeing that Enoshia had her own plans, Welt didn't ask further and left with Einstein.

Half an hour later, inside a certain underground lab in Siberia.

"Lord Bishop, the Herrscher of Void's DNA has been extracted. The cores of the Herrscher of Wind, Herrscher of Thunder, and Herrscher of Death have been stripped. Should we proceed with stripping the Herrscher of Void's core as well?" A woman in a white lab coat reported respectfully to Otto before her.

This lab was originally built to support the Babylon Tower experiments. If an emergency occurred at the tower, unfinished experiments could be transferred here to continue, so the facilities were well-equipped. Otto himself hadn't expected this place to play such an important role now.

"Continue... Hm?" Before Otto could finish his sentence, all the equipment in the lab shut down. A pair of hands reached out from the monitor in front of him.

"Lord Bishop... Th-this..." The researcher, seeing someone emerge from the display device, fell to the ground in fright.

"Heh, found this place so quickly. As expected of the Herrscher of Corruption."

What Enoshia didn't say was that if she hadn't worried about what stopping the core extraction halfway might do to Sirin, she would have come ten minutes earlier.

Ignoring the terrified researcher, Otto still wore a smile in the face of Enoshia's sudden appearance.

"Release her, or face the consequences." Enoshia's voice was devoid of emotion.

"Face the consequences? Hehehe. If there were things you wanted to do, you'd have done them already. Why wait until now? As a Herrscher fighting for humanity like the First Herrscher, even if I did something, the morals you use to restrain yourself wouldn't let you act. Am I right?"

Hearing Otto's mocking tone, Enoshia clenched her fists. But the man before her still wore that "everything is under my control" expression even in front of a Herrscher. That was Otto, no doubt.

Seeing Enoshia's silence, Otto continued:

"I know you care deeply about this girl named Sirin, but I have my own troubles. For unavoidable reasons, I need her cooperation in my experiments. There's no need for you to hold a grudge against me and oppose me at every turn. How should I put this? Even if you lose Sirin, you still have me. I can be your good partner, can't I? Just like her."

Though Enoshia knew Otto was only trying to provoke her to test her reaction, looking at his fake smile, she wanted to feel his Soul Steel body creak under her fists.

Otto was a villain, and Enoshia considered herself, at least compared to Otto, a good person. And when good and bad people play games, the good one usually ends up with a gun pointed at them.

Deep inside, a thought of killing and destruction kept expanding. Whether it was Herrscher consciousness or not, she absolutely couldn't let a momentary impulse lead to irreversible consequences.

"I mean no offense, but urgency overrides courtesy. To save someone, I'm sorry." Enoshia closed her eyes and silently recited in her heart. When she opened them again, Otto noticed she had changed.

"To judge me so accurately in such a short time... You're right. Even if you did something to Sirin, I wouldn't use my Herrscher Authority to retaliate against human society. But... your judgment isn't entirely correct. I'm not the same as Welt. I won't retaliate against human society, but I will retaliate against you!"

At these words, Otto still looked disdainful, even a bit expectant. Enoshia understood that his Soul Steel bodies were plentiful, making it hard to truly kill him, and he wasn't afraid of death. However... making him feel something worse than death—that, Enoshia could do.

"I will erase Kallen Kaslana from your memory completely. Everything about her—no matter how you think or what others remind you—you won't be able to recall her. Then, I'll wipe away every trace she left in the world, one by one, until no one's cognition ever remembers such a person existed. The one who went to the gallows 500 years ago was just a nameless nobody. She's been dead for 500 years, and few know of her. Using the Power of Corruption to modify their cognitions one by one shouldn't be too troublesome."

Otto, who had been calm and composed, suddenly froze. Beads of sweat as big as beans rolled down his face, finally dripping onto the floor with a deafening sound.

"Ahaha, I think we can talk again. Letting her go isn't out of the question."

In truth, Enoshia herself didn't think she could do what she'd just said. The stronger the will of the target, the harder it was to corrupt them. Trying to corrupt Otto would likely end in failure.

Though Otto wasn't a good person by any measure, when it came to unwavering will, perhaps only Bella in the whole world could match him. One had a mind full of Kallen, the other full of Sirin.

But she knew that, as the Herrscher of Corruption with the ability to alter memories and cognitions, as long as there was a theoretical possibility, he wouldn't dare gamble—even if it only twisted his cognition of Kallen, that would be worse than death. Dealing with Otto required the right medicine.

"The three Herrscher Cores already stripped—I can let them go. Your research on the Herrscher of Ice—I won't interfere. As long as you hand over Sirin and the Divine Fire Judgment intact."

After a moment's hesitation, Otto nodded.

Enoshia tapped the display, and the equipment restarted. Sirin, lying in the strange device, was released. Enoshia looked at what they had done to her, said nothing more, and carried Sirin away as she left.

She could have taken the remaining three Herrscher Cores too, but after reading the experiment records, she saw no need. Let Sirin's future days be peaceful.

The Herrscher of Finality... leave that to Kiana Kaslana.

After she left, a few lines of text appeared on the monitor in front:

"If you place the Divine Fire Judgment at the designated location within ten days, I guarantee I won't trouble Schicksal for six years."

"You know me, but I know you too. What you truly want to accomplish in your mind—it's very hard to succeed. But if I want it to fail, it's very easy."

A few seconds later, the striking text vanished. Otto wiped his cold sweat.

Outside the lab, Bella, who had been waiting, carried Sirin on her back and flew off into the distance at top speed.