Chapter 253
"I remember I had a veto power..."
"Wait, isn't the veto power in my hands?" Theresa's eyes widened when she heard Freya say that.
She felt that Freya had gone too far.
They even tried to take away her sole authority Grand Bishop's Aide.
"I think I misremembered. Let's just pretend I don't have a veto right. But who can stop me from making this decision?" Freya slammed her hand on the table. Of course, although the projection could transmit sound, it had no mass and could not interfere with the table and chairs in front of it.
The crisp sound of slapping the table came from Freya's side.
She gave everyone a haughty look and stuck to her own ideas.
Freya doesn't really need a reason to attack the World Serpent; if she really wanted one, she could come up with many.
Those high-sounding excuses were simply because she hated the World Serpent and... didn't want her ancestor to cause trouble so early, at least... give her three more years.
Within three years, she will surely explore the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quantum.
298. Okay, I also support going to war.
I am very likely to be the vessel of the Herrscher of Finality, and at that time, crossing the Imaginary Space and the Sea of Quantum with my physical body will not be a problem.
That being said, these are all issues to be considered later.
At present, Freya needs to maintain a balance among all parties and preserve the current peaceful atmosphere.
Whether it's the reorganized Human Alliance or the trapped ancestors, they are both destabilizing factors.
Disliking World Serpent could be considered a reason, but... if necessary, Freya wouldn't stop the ancestor from leaving. After all, the other party was also a warrior against Honkai, and in the face of the crisis brought by Honkai, they would eventually stand on the same side.
Ultimately, the Human Alliance is causing trouble and World Serpent is preparing to cause trouble is simply because they have too much free time.
The current Honkai crisis mainly harms the general public and hardly affects those in power, which is why they are constantly fighting amongst themselves.
If a super Herrscher were to Honkai in the Honkai right now, and Schicksal couldn't withstand it, then... even organizations hostile to Schicksal would choose to cooperate at this time in the face of such a super Herrscher.
Just like during the Second Eruption War, when faced with the Second Herrscher with five cores, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy chose to cooperate, and even the ruling classes of various countries did not hold back at this time.
After all, if they cause any more trouble at this time, the meteorite could very well hit them on the head.
Just as Moscow and Los Angeles were directly hit, countless coastal cities were also affected, with the death toll exceeding hundreds of millions. Under such circumstances, any act of hindering progress is an act of betrayal of the race.
Of course, no one would do such a thing when their life is threatened.
The reason why there is so much chaos in various countries is ultimately because they have been too well protected.
In Freya's opinion, it's all because they've been spoiled.
Freya elevated the status of Valkyrie and was willing to train Valkyrie for various countries. However, she increased the cost of hiring Valkyrie and the funds for training Valkyrie by dozens of times, causing the countries to secretly resent her, but they were powerless to do anything about it.
Let's get back to the main topic.
Freya painstakingly built up the balance bit by bit...
The constant checks and balances, the digging of traps, and the elimination of any signs of conflict—but the return of the World Serpent's ruler will undoubtedly disrupt the current balance.
Within the circle Freya had drawn, there was no place for her own ancestors.
It's not the right time yet, at least not now.
Even though Freya was in the wrong, she still said defiantly, "No matter what, now is not the best time to bring back the leader of the World Serpent. We have no means to counter him, and it will only cause the hard-won peace to return to a tense situation."
Three thousand Honkai Energy fission bomb are a lot, but Freya sees such strategic weapons as a waste of resources to be used for internal strife.
"... In that case, the garrison cannot withdraw. Besides, the value of Sea Abyss City is not low, and it should not be handed over to the World Serpent without doing anything."
After a moment's Welt supported Freya's proposal.
Beat!
We must fight!
"Sigh..." Tesla sighed and said, "Personally, I don't want to support a war with the World Serpent, but if the World Serpent gets Sea Abyss City, it will disrupt the current peaceful atmosphere. So, let's start the war and take this opportunity to completely destroy the World Serpent!"
Tesla was a pacifist.
But she never believed that inventors should refrain from inventing new weapons for the sake of peace.
In her view, even if she didn't invent new weapons, someone else would, and the number of people dying from war wouldn't decrease as a result.
Making the costs of war unbearable for both sides is the only way to eliminate war from the world.
Unfortunately, World Serpent didn't follow her strategy this time.
The war between the World Serpent and the Alliance is too costly for either side to bear.
However, if war is not waged, the World Serpent will self-destruct.
In order to divert attention from internal conflicts, World Serpent must go to war, and even hopes to have a major war with the Alliance.
With the World Serpent's attack, the Alliance can abandon Sea Abyss City. With just one order, the researchers, regular troops, and Valkyrie troops stationed in Sea Abyss City will quickly evacuate.
However, the harm caused by allowing the World Serpent to rescue its true leader from the Sea of Quantum is even greater than the losses from the Alliance going to war.
Based on the idea of choosing the lesser of two evils, Tesla also switched its stance to support going to war.
However, while all three had made their decisions, Theresa raised her hand to voice her dissenting opinion.
"Freya, I still want to object. Even if... the leader of World Serpent really returns, he may not necessarily disrupt the peace you've maintained. He might choose to cooperate like Anti-Entropy, and then the three organizations could fight against the Honkai together."
Freya and the others were stunned for a moment.
Theresa's stunt double, A-374, stared wide-eyed, looking as if to say, "Are you serious?"
"I'm sorry, Freya. I know that thinking like this is wrong, but if we go to war with the World Serpent, those children will die... Grandpa said that the World Serpent's strength is not just what we see on the surface. If we go to war, even if we win, it will only be a Pyrrhic victory."
Freya, Welt, and the others naturally understood what Theresa meant.
In fact, Freya dared not underestimate the World Serpent, which is why she kept causing it trouble.
Even if it slows down the alliance's development, they hope to expose as much of the World Serpent's trump card as possible before the World Serpent's leader returns.
Their alliance's scientific and technological Schicksal come from relics and the First Divine Key; Anti-Entropy's scientific and technological advancements come from ancient texts, as well as the efforts of several modern genius scientists.
In contrast, compared to the two organizations that still need to search the world for relics from the Previous Era, World Serpent inherited the scientific research technology of the Previous Era from the very beginning.
Its completeness surpasses that of the two organizations. If it weren't for the fact that some of the researchers within World Serpent are incompetent, based solely on scientific research and technology, even if the two organizations combined, they might not be able to defeat World Serpent.
What Anti-Entropy cannot solve with all its technological power may be a trivial problem for World Serpent.
World Serpent today, but this problem comes from within, from the bottom up.
They lack a core figure to unite all members, and a key figure who can keep the entire organization in check with a single word.
These are things that neither Kiana nor Gray Serpent can do.
"Theresa, we are aware of these problems. In fact, I went to war against the World Serpent with the conviction that my Schicksal might very well be over..."
"Freya, is there no way to talk to the leader of the World Serpent? Since he is our ancestor and a warrior from the Previous Civilization who fought against the Honkai, he should be on our side..."
Theresa still refused to go to war.
Ultimately, it's better to go to war with any country than to go to war with the World Serpent.
"... Just because someone has a common enemy doesn't mean they're allies. It's the same principle as the enemy of an enemy being an enemy."
Freya shook her head, but Theresa's reasons for not wanting war were clear to both her and Welt and Tesla.
A-374, who is Theresa's stand-in, has a flicker in her eyes, seemingly having some reservations about Theresa's kindness, but also understanding why Otto favors her so much.
The clones of the A-Series were filled with envy and jealousy towards the beloved 'A-310'.
However, Theresa's statement contained a fatal flaw.
In fact, it was not they who truly craved this war, but rather the Gray Serpent who wanted to use the alliance to eliminate internal destabilizing factors.
This is the power of the Gray Serpent.
Whether Freya chooses to go to war or avoid it, it will only benefit the World Serpent.
The price was the annihilation of half, or even the entire, organization in this war.
Gray Serpent clearly saw that morale was declining, so he flipped the table and decided to abandon all the members.
Such courage is clearly beyond what Jackal, also a cadre, could demonstrate.
Call him crazy or whatever, the Gray Serpent did indeed outmaneuver Schicksal.
If we follow the Gray Serpent's strategy, Schicksal will lose a large number of grassroots troops, but in return, it will give them an opportunity to destroy World Serpent. No wonder Kiana would agree. No... Kiana could not possibly agree to such a crazy operation, but the operation can still be carried out. In other words, the two have at least reached a consensus in some aspects.
Freya sighed. Her young lady's hatred for Otto had reached the point where she was willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of people at will.
This is the operation to resurrect the World Serpent.
Kiana went to become the acting leader of the World Serpent Organization in order to use the power of the World Serpent to find Otto.
However, the World Serpent was constantly suppressed by Freya and turned into a pile of mud.
Kiana isn't stupid. After being tricked by her own sister for over a year, how could she not see that Freya was doing it on purpose?
When the situation in the World Serpent became so chaotic, it became a constraint for her, the acting leader.
With Siegfried protecting her, her safety was guaranteed, but this also meant she couldn't use the World Serpent to track down Otto.
Freya had already succeeded from the moment the World Serpent was driven to the Sahara Desert.
Kiana, belatedly realizing the situation, was also helpless, while the Gray Serpent's side was utterly humiliated by internal strife. This led the two to reach a consensus and decide on a crazy battle—
If the World Serpent doesn't use its trump card, then in this war between the World Serpent and the Alliance of Schicksal Anti-Entropy, it will most likely suffer a crushing defeat.
It can also allow Gray Serpent to eliminate those members who have already harbored rebellious intentions.
If we're lucky, the operation can succeed, and Kevin's return will bring an even more powerful World Serpent.
The cruel act of scraping off rotting flesh with a knife is the true nature of this operation.
It's cruel, but the benefits of success are huge.
Even if we fail, we can still achieve our goal of eliminating the traitor.
Freya shared her speculations with Welt and the others, leaving Theresa listening in a daze.
"Indeed, if we were to truly wage war against the World Serpent, the Alliance would suffer heavy losses. However, the Gray Serpent has two main objectives for this war: one is to resolve internal issues, and the other is to rescue Kevin, who is trapped in the Sea of Quantum."
Freya said with a slight upturn of her lips.
"So the Gray Serpent will split into two groups. One group will take the Herrscher Core, no... it should be the Divine Key, and infiltrate the Sea Abyss City with a small number of elites to save the Sea of Quantum through the Eye of the Sea Abyss. The other group will bring a large number of members to their deaths, and also to wear down the Alliance's forces."
Welt couldn't help but ask, "Freya, are you serious?"
"Yes, it's very likely that the forces will be divided like this. After all, Gray Serpent started the war to solve the problem; he hasn't really gone mad..." Freya nodded and said.
Gray Serpent's actions may seem insane, but he is not insane.
In everyone's eyes, this war would not benefit the three major organizations.
A closer look at the details reveals that it is only beneficial to World Serpent.
The members of World Serpent are ultimately of varying quality. Most importantly, many of them achieved extremely high status while concealing their identities, and these members are now feeling unbalanced due to World Serpent's loss of power.
Freya's arrangement of the Shadow Knight was merely a catalyst; the real reason World Serpent experienced two internal conflicts within six months was the members' unbalanced mentality.
It makes sense. Although they lived a life of luxury and beauty because of World Serpent's connections, they also lost everything because of their status as World Serpent members. They don't remember the good things about World Serpent; they only remember that they lost everything because of their status as World Serpent members.
It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality; this best describes these members.
This is also a long-standing drawback within the World Serpent Organization.
Some beliefs are more firmly upheld by older people, but younger members don't necessarily feel a strong sense of belonging to the organization.
Even though the Raven was bred by the Gray Serpent itself, it did not particularly agree with the World Serpent's philosophy.
"This war will only benefit the World Serpent and harm us, but if we don't fight this war, the World Serpent can get the Sea Abyss City for free and rescue the leader from the Sea of Quantum."
"...I see."
Upon hearing this, Theresa understood why Freya had been advocating for war.
"In the end, it was Gray Serpent that disrupted your original plan, right? You originally intended to use World Serpent to trap Kiana... but now you can't."
"Yes!!" Freya gritted her teeth and emphasized her voice.
Welt and Tesla both looked at Theresa with strange expressions.