Let's Make a Deal You Can't Refuse

May 2000, Schicksal HQ. Theresa stared at the mountain of paperwork piled on her desk, and her head began to ache of its own accord.

Over the past three months, small-scale Honkai eruptions had been occurring frequently across Siberia, with over a hundred people already dead. Though many insisted these were merely aftershocks of the Second Honkai Outbreak, the timing and locations struck her as far too suspicious.

But for Schicksal at present, the biggest issue was undoubtedly the disappearance of Divine Fire Judgment. She clearly remembered her grandfather's words when she first received the news:

"Divine Keys are vital to Schicksal. If we devote our full strength to the investigation, we will surely uncover the cause soon enough."

Three days later, with no progress to report, Theresa couldn't hold back and asked again. This time, Otto replied:

"It seems our opponent's methods are extraordinary. Few in the entire world could pull off something like this. The Divine Key may be the perfect bait to lure out the mastermind. For now, we hold still and let the enemy make the first move."

A month later, news of the Divine Key remained as lost as a stone dropped into the sea. The Schicksal Overseer answered thus:

"The best course would be to have Valkyrie squads conduct a carpet search of all suspicious locations. But the great battle has just ended; Schicksal's losses are severe, and cleanup still needs time. We lack the capacity to do so."

And just three days ago—three months after the Divine Key had vanished without a trace—Otto Apocalypse said this at the meeting:

"If we had taken action in the first few days after Divine Fire Judgment disappeared, perhaps we might have achieved a better result. But now the enemy has likely fled beyond reach. Everything is too late."

Then he dumped most of the work on her and Amber, while he devoted himself wholeheartedly to studying the Herrscher of Ice's remains. Theresa knew full well that if even Otto couldn't produce results after three months, she couldn't possibly find a valuable answer in a short time. She had no choice but to set the matter aside.

"Ragna wants to go to the front lines to fight Honkai Beasts, but Grandpa keeps sending her to the rear to help civilians. She's already applied for a transfer four times... Sigh. Rather than stuck in the office dealing with endless paperwork, I'd rather be on the front lines myself." Though Theresa grumbled, she still picked up her pen and carefully wrote down her handling opinion.

Unlike the Floating Island, for Siberia in May, "warmth" only meant relative to its winter. To a newcomer, the wind was still bitingly cold.

In a simple wooden house, Enoshia sat casually on the floor, her mind racing at full speed.

With the Second Honkai Outbreak completely over, she finally had time to think about the things that puzzled her.

According to Wang's memories, Liang—the weakest of the four in overall combat strength—had been confirmed dead before Wang became a Herrscher.

As for the strongest, Chi, it seemed to have followed in his footsteps years ago, getting beaten down by Ancestor Kevin and sealed away. But when Wang woke up, Chi was already awake. Based on their team voice chat, Chi had encountered a powerful enemy, and after a very brief exchange, there was no further contact—nor did he choose to share his vision.

Enoshia guessed that Chi must have run into Fu Hua after waking up. That would also explain why she, a key combatant, had never appeared in Siberia. Since Fu Hua had returned safely to Schild HQ by February 15, it was highly likely she had already killed Chi.

As for the remaining Mei, Wang only knew that she was also on Earth, an oddball among the Huili Clan. Nothing else. What had happened before proved that the Huili Clan were better vessels for Herrscher cores than humans. If the Herrscher of Flame, the Herrscher of Binding, and the Herrscher of Thousand People also had terrifying regenerative abilities and could create illusions...

Speaking of Herrschers, that was even stranger. From January 31 to February 6—just seven days—six Herrscher cores had appeared: Corruption, Void, Death, Wind, Ice, and Earth. If more than half of them hadn't ended up on their side, with Schicksal and Anti-Entropy at their current level, they'd probably be finished.

And the order of Herrschers was clearly completely different from the Previous Civilization. As the original Twelfth Herrscher, she should never have been born at this point in time.

She speculated that either her uniqueness as a transmigrator was the cause, or... something was wrong with the Cocoon itself.

"Done." Sirin's voice pulled her back to reality. They stepped through the portal.

Using the Herrscher of Corruption's authority to query information, and the Herrscher of Void's authority for fixed-point teleportation. The two of them working together—if they wanted to find someone or do something anywhere—their efficiency would leave both Schicksal and Anti-Entropy in the dust.

Before her stood a very crude wooden cabin.

"She left here not long ago. Those idiots at Schicksal—a mobile Honkai source this big wandered around Siberia for three whole months, and they didn't react at all!"

Though Enoshia and Sirin were Herrschers, they had been able to control their excess Honkai Energy by willpower shortly after awakening. No Honkai Beasts spawned around them, and they could interact normally with ordinary people. As long as they didn't cause problems, the level of Honkai Energy couldn't be seen with the naked eye, so they could swagger around Siberia openly.

But Misterin couldn't. As an accidental byproduct of Cecilia throwing Sania's Sacred Blood, she was the opposite of Cecilia—a humanoid disaster made of poisonous blood, second only to Herrschers in danger to humanity. And due to her special nature, even if she wanted to kill herself, she couldn't.

"Sigh. Schicksal is depleted of troops right now. If they got into a conflict with her..."

Though she knew it was impossible, using the Second Final Chapter Feather Rabbit's strength as a benchmark—excluding Otto, whose variables were too many—just Schicksal alone could probably only manage a one-for-one trade by having Theresa activate the Divine Prayer Barrier.

Enoshia stopped her wild thoughts and walked quickly into the wooden cabin. Alexandra lay on the bed, staring curiously at this uninvited guest.

Though Enoshia wasn't a medical student, one look at her pallid face told her the woman's condition was terrible. Then she saw her swollen belly... In this physical state, just giving birth to the child would be a miracle.

Before Alexandra could say anything, Enoshia gently placed her hand on the woman's head and began repeating the same procedure she had done on Cecilia. Sure enough, just like before, when copying Alexandra's memories, Enoshia clearly felt something else being preserved along with them.

Several hours later, Enoshia wiped the cold sweat from her brow and caught her breath. Alexandra looked at her in confusion, because nothing had changed about herself.

Enoshia then left. To this young lady who had appeared and disappeared so suddenly, she only felt bewildered and utterly lost.

Three months later, inside the World Serpent's Arctic Ocean Base, the two of them had finally found the place, relying on Misterin.

"Hm? The Herrscher of Void and the Herrscher of Corruption? Rare guests. What business brings you here?" Faced with the sudden arrivals, Gray Serpent was startled at first but quickly regained its composure.

Enoshia sneered at this and placed her hand on its shoulder: "Is it because you're not human? You should know that if I wanted, I could cripple the entire Gray Serpent network in an instant."

"But clearly you won't do that, or you wouldn't have given me a chance to speak. State your purpose." Gray Serpent's tone remained unhurried.

"Why is everyone so brazenly confident? Sigh, fine, fine." Enoshia shook her head as she brought Divine Fire Judgment before it.

Now Gray Serpent could no longer stay calm. Enoshia took a big step forward, closing in beside it.

"You're a businessperson. So make a deal with me. One you cannot refuse."

"No reason, and no room for negotiation."

(Next up is Chapter 2, mainly focusing on the protagonists' exploration of the Elysian Realm and some daily life. The overall tone will be lighter and more cheerful. Why Sirin and the protagonist weren't affected by the Honkai Consciousness, why the Herrscher order is scrambled, and what the Huili Clan experienced before coming to Earth—all of that will definitely be explained much later.)