In May 2000, at Schicksal HQ, Theresa looked at the mountain of documents piled on her desk, and her head began to ache.
Over the past three months, small-scale Honkai outbreaks had continued to occur frequently in Siberia. More than a hundred people had already lost their lives. Although many believed these were merely aftershocks of the Second Honkai Outbreak, judging from when and where the outbreaks occurred, Theresa felt there was more to them than met the eye.
But for Schicksal, the biggest issue was undoubtedly the disappearance of Divine Fire Judgment. She clearly remembered what her grandfather had said when they first received the news:
"Divine Keys are of vital importance to Schicksal. Schicksal will investigate with all its might and find the cause soon enough."
Three days later, Theresa, having received no news, could no longer sit still and asked again. This time, Otto replied:
"It seems the other party possesses extraordinary methods. However, there are only a handful of people in the entire world capable of such a feat. The Divine Key may well be the best bait for luring the mastermind out into the open. We'll hold our position for now and respond to changes with constancy."
A month later, there was still no news of the Divine Key—it had vanished without a trace. This was how the Schicksal Archbishop answered:
"The best course of action would be to have the Valkyrie units conduct a thorough search of every suspicious location. However, the great battle has only just ended, and Schicksal suffered heavy losses. The aftermath will take time to deal with, and Schicksal simply lacks the ability to do so right now."
Three days ago, three months after the Divine Key disappeared, Otto Apocalypse said this at the meeting:
"If we had taken action during the first few days after Divine Fire Judgment disappeared, we might have achieved better results. But by now, the other party has probably fled beyond our reach. It's too late for everything."
Then he dumped most of the work on Theresa and Amber, while he devoted himself to studying the corpse of the Herrscher of Ice. Theresa knew very well that if even Otto had failed to reach any conclusions after three months, she couldn't possibly come up with anything valuable in a short time. She had no choice but to set the matter aside.
"Ragna wants to go to the front lines to fight the Honkai Beasts, but Grandpa sent her to the rear to help the civilians. She's already applied for a transfer four times... Sigh. Rather than deal with endless paperwork in the office, I'd be better off going to the front lines." Although Theresa grumbled, she still picked up her pen and carefully wrote down her instructions.
Unlike the Floating Island, warmth in Siberia in May was only warmth relative to its winter. To newcomers, the wind was still bitterly cold.
Inside a simple house, Enoshia sat casually on the floor, her mind racing.
Now that the Second Honkai Outbreak had finally ended, she at last had time to think about the things that had puzzled her.
According to Wang's memories, Liang, the weakest of the four in overall strength, had already been confirmed dead before Wang became a Herrscher.
As for the strongest, Chi, it seemed to have suffered the same fate several years ago. Ancestor Kevin had beaten it senseless and sealed it away. But by the time Wang awoke, Chi had already awakened as well. According to their team communications, Chi had encountered a powerful enemy and stopped responding after a very brief transmission. It had not chosen to share its vision, either.
Enoshia guessed that Chi had encountered Fu Hua after waking up. That would also explain why she, a key combatant, had never appeared in Siberia. Since she had returned safely to Schicksal HQ on February 15, there was a high probability that she had killed Chi.
As for the remaining Mei, Wang only knew that it was also on Earth. It was an oddity among the Huili Clan, and he knew nothing else. The facts that had emerged earlier proved that the Huili Clan was more suitable than humans to serve as vessels for Herrschers. If the Herrscher of Flame, the Herrscher of Binding, and the Herrscher of Thousand People also possessed terrifying regenerative abilities and could create illusions...
Speaking of Herrschers, that made things even stranger. From January 31 to February 6, six Herrscher Cores appeared within seven days: Corruption, Void, Death, Wind, Ice, and Rock. If more than half of them hadn't ultimately been allies, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, with their current strength, might have been finished outright.
The order of the Herrschers was clearly completely different from that of the Previous Civilization. As one of the original twelve Herrschers, she absolutely should not have been born at this point in time.
She suspected that either it was because of her uniqueness as a transmigrator, or... something had gone wrong with the Cocoon itself.
"Done." Sirin's voice pulled her back to reality, and the two of them stepped into the portal.
They used the authority of the Herrscher of Corruption to search for information, then the authority of the Herrscher of Void to teleport to a precise location. With the two of them working together, their efficiency in finding someone or carrying out a task anywhere was something Schicksal and Anti-Entropy could not hope to match.
In front of them stood a very shabby-looking wooden cabin.
"She left here not long ago. Those useless Schicksal fools! A mobile Honkai source that huge has been wandering around Siberia for three whole months, and they didn't notice a thing!"
Although Enoshia and Sirin were Herrschers, they had been able to control the excess Honkai Energy with their own wills not long after awakening. No Honkai Beasts appeared around them, and they could communicate normally with ordinary people. Since the concentration of Honkai Energy could not be identified with the naked eye when it wasn't causing problems, they could appear in Siberia openly and without concern.
But Misterin couldn't. As an accidental product of Cecilia throwing Sania's Sacred Blood, she was the opposite of Cecilia: her entire body was filled with poisonous blood, making her a humanoid natural disaster whose danger to humanity was second only to that of a Herrscher. Because of her special nature, she couldn't even kill herself if she wanted to.
"Sigh. Schicksal has suffered heavy losses. If we got into some kind of conflict with her..."
Although she knew it was impossible, judging by the strength of Second Final Chapter Feather Rabbit, and excluding Otto, whose capabilities involved far too many uncertainties, Schicksal alone could probably only rely on Theresa activating the Divine Prayer Barrier to trade one for one with her.
Enoshia stopped letting her imagination run wild and hurried into the wooden cabin. Alexandra lay on the bed, watching the uninvited guest with curiosity.
Although Enoshia wasn't a medical student, one look at Alexandra's deathly pale face told her that her condition was poor. And when she saw her swollen belly... for someone in such a state to give birth to the child would already be a miracle.
Before Alexandra could say anything, Enoshia gently placed her hand on Alexandra's head and began repeating what she had done to Cecilia. Sure enough, just as before, while copying Alexandra's memories, Enoshia clearly felt that something else had been preserved along with them.
Several hours later, Enoshia wiped away the cold sweat that had seeped out and took a moment to catch her breath. Alexandra looked at her in confusion, since nothing seemed to have changed in her own body.
Enoshia left soon afterward. To Alexandra, this young woman who had appeared and departed without warning was utterly baffling, leaving her confused.
Three months later, inside World Serpent's Arctic Ocean Base, the two of them finally found the place with Misterin's help.
"Hm? The Herrscher of Void and the Herrscher of Corruption? What rare guests. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Gray Serpent was initially startled by their sudden appearance, but quickly returned to his calm composure.
Enoshia let out a cold laugh and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Is it because you aren't human? You should know that if I wanted to, I could bring the entire Gray Serpent network crashing down in an instant."
"But clearly, you won't do that. Otherwise, you wouldn't have given me a chance to speak. Tell me the reason for your visit." Gray Serpent remained perfectly at ease.
"Why is everyone so utterly fearless? Sigh, fine, fine." Enoshia shook her head as she brought Divine Fire Judgment before him.
Gray Serpent could no longer remain composed. Enoshia took a large step forward and moved right up beside him.
"You're a businessman. So make a deal with me. One you can't refuse."
"There's no reason, and there's no room for negotiation."
(From here on, the second chapter begins. It will mainly focus on the protagonist and the others exploring Elysian Realm, along with some everyday scenes, so the overall tone will be more relaxed and cheerful. Why Sirin and the protagonist were unaffected by the Honkai Consciousness, why the order of the Herrschers was disrupted, and what the Huili Clan went through before coming to Earth will all be explained later on.)
Before you continue