Chapter 404

Freya had no intention of delving into Bianca's background. Whether she was Kiana from a parallel world or simply Bianca, Freya had already poured a lot of effort into her.

If she truly possesses the potential to defeat the Herrscher of Finality, Freya would actually be very happy.

This means that even if things get out of control among her, Kiana, and Aurora, someone will step in to stop them.

463. Simply put, it's settled.

The unstable factors surrounding Bianca are different from those surrounding Kiana and Aurora; they are what is known as benign unstable factors.

"Because Kiana is most likely the vessel for the Herrscher of Finality, or rather, if the Herrscher of Finality were to descend, Kiana would be the most likely vessel chosen. Therefore, the mastermind's target is very likely her. But as you all know, these things shouldn't be made public..."

Freya couldn't completely trust Welt, partly because he was more impartial. Even if there was only a one in ten thousand chance, Freya was unwilling to gamble on his character.

Rather than putting Aurora in a difficult position between her and Welt later, it would be better to keep it a secret from Welt and the others from the beginning.

Welt, who repeatedly put himself in danger for others and sacrificed himself many times to protect the world, is a truly virtuous and noble figure.

Comparatively speaking, neither the more selfish Theresa, nor Rita, who is mutually dependent on her, would choose to be her enemy in order to protect the world.

Freya would rather believe Kevin, who is determined to take revenge on the Honkai, than Welt, who is fighting against the Honkai to protect the world.

It must be said that the reasons for the three parties' confrontation with the Honkai are actually different.

Freya's reasons are the same as Otto's, which are also very selfish. However, unlike Otto, who acted for one person, Freya acted for a group.

However, for Freya, the most important people are those who are superior to this group, and this group is superior to the world and all of humanity.

Freya became increasingly aware of her own nature; even without deliberately imitating Otto, she was not much different from Otto.

Of course, Welt is very humane, and there is almost a 99.99% chance that he will not betray them, much less leak this matter.

But the meaning represented by the Herrscher of Finality is too special.

Freya wasn't sure if her explanation would convince everyone.

In fact, the Herrscher of Finality can indeed descend upon any person as a vessel.

But as Freya said before, those who resemble the Herrscher of Finality more closely, like Kiana, are the preferred vessels for the Herrscher of Finality when she descends—

"I hope you can keep this a secret, and... Bianca, I hope you can take on the responsibility of drawing attention away from my sister and share some of the spotlight."

Since Kiana couldn't be made public, she was likely the target of the mastermind. Freya naturally used Bianca was universally recognized, as a cover to divert the league's attention from Kiana.

Don't be fooled by the fact that all the high-ranking members of the alliance have been led astray by Siegfried and seem quite silly. The fact that they were able to stand out and become high-ranking members under Freya's extremely high standards, or rather, under her favoritism towards the Valkyrie, proves that they are quite capable.

There are scientific geniuses like Mei, but there are certainly geniuses in other fields as well.

With the league's powerful reputation and abundant funding, many talented individuals who excelled in certain fields also chose to join the league.

For example, many Type-B Valkyrie in the Alliance possess the power of Stigmata that can manipulate plants and promote their growth. However, an expert in plant hybridization can increase their original yield several times over.

Originally, it would have required over ten Type-B Valkyrie to continuously promote plant growth to achieve self-sufficiency for the entire alliance. Now, however, only half the power of a plant-type Stigmata is needed for Type-B Valkyrie to complete the task, and the remaining Type-B Valkyrie can naturally research new types of plants. For example, plants that can survive in the high-radiation environment of outer space, or plants that can store large amounts of oxygen...

Those high-ranking officials who remain in their positions after repeated screenings are not truly idiots. They know very well that Siegfried is her father, so in order to maintain a good relationship with Siegfried, they don't mind lowering their IQ to the same level as Siegfried and being idiots with him.

A large part of the reason why Gray Serpent was isolated was that he was neither a fool nor aware of the unspoken rules of the alliance, so he couldn't get along with the current high-ranking members of the alliance.

However, they may not necessarily believe that Bianca is the target of the mastermind.

While it's a good thing that the league's top brass are capable, this situation is indeed giving Freya a headache.

"Yes, Your Saintess Lord."

Bianca nodded and accepted the order.

Freya looked at Kevin and SU; now only the two of them had to make their statements.

"Kevin, SU... what is your decision? Especially you, Kevin... since everyone could potentially become a vessel for the Herrscher of Finality, are you going to eliminate everyone, or join us in fighting the Herrscher of Finality?"

"..."

Kevin's eyes flickered twice; he wasn't unaware of Freya's desire to protect Kiana.

"Perhaps what you said is true, but I believe you are still holding back some things. Of course, I think SU and you should know some inside information that I don't know."

After hearing Freya's explanation, Kevin was the first to question the origins of the Previous Civilization's Herrscher of Finality.

Unlike Freya's claim that all people in the current civilization are potential vessels for the Herrscher of Finality, since the Herrscher of Finality's consciousness can lie dormant within all humans in the current civilization because of the Stigmata system created by Mei.

However, the Stigmata are a gift from the Previous Civilization, giving the current civilization the 'miracle power' to fight against Honkai. Although, in the end, this miracle power may have been used by the Herrscher of Finality, there was no such miracle in the Previous Civilization.

So where did the Herrscher of Finality from the Previous Era come from?

Kevin seemed to get the answer from SU's face, and Freya seemed to know some inside information as well, which made Kevin somewhat depressed.

But he also knew the importance of the matter, so he continued.

"... I won't delve into those details. Just like you said, since anyone could become a vessel for the Herrscher of Finality, even if I eliminate Kiana and you, the Herrscher of Finality will choose someone else as a vessel. Ultimately, it will only delay the Herrscher of Finality's arrival. But to lose people like Kiana and you as the price is clearly not worth it..."

Kevin nodded slightly at this point.

"You want to know SU and my stance on this matter, so here's my answer: If killing Kiana, or killing you, could prevent the arrival of the Herrscher of Finality, then I would do it. But if doing so would only delay the arrival, I have no reason to lose an important disciple and a powerful comrade for that little bit of time..."

"The odds of defeating you are already low. Even if killing Kiana could prevent the arrival of the Herrscher of Finality, as long as you stand in front of Kiana, no one in this world can do that."

Kevin's answer was very honest, making him seem like an honest person, but it also highlighted the fact that she was hiding something.

Freya wasn't angry; the other party's answer had already made their stance clear.

Freya also hoped that Welt could understand her good intentions if possible, but she was ultimately worried that her ideas would clash with Welt's, which would put Aurora in a very difficult position.

Just like the others present, even though SU and Kevin had different opinions, Freya was confident that she could persuade them.

Moreover, Freya shattered Kevin's long-held hopes for the Stigmata Activation Plan.

Considering that the Herrscher of Finality might use the Stigmata Terminal to put her consciousness into slumber within the bodies of everyone in the current civilization, the Stigmata Activation Plan could very well be the reason for the Herrscher of Finality's premature arrival, which means Kevin needs a lot of time to sort out his feelings.

Kevin had poured too much effort into the Stigmata Activation Plan. If what Freya said was true, regardless of whether the Herrscher of Finality tampered with the Stigmata Terminal, the Stigmata Activation Plan was simply unable to prevent the Herrscher of Finality from descending. He estimated that he would not be able to recover from this blow for a long time.

This blow was second only to the news of Mei's death upon his return from the moon and to FU's decision to break with them.

"Without you, the current civilization will lose its means to fight against the Honkai. Please rest assured, I would not do such a foolish thing."

Although no one in the current civilization has reached Mei's level, Freya, Tesla, and others are just as important to the Alliance and to this world as Mei was to the Previous Civilization.

Most importantly, Kevin no longer wants to be enemies with his 'bad friend'.

Although there are many things that are completely different, Freya does have some of the characteristics of her 'mischievous friend'.

Kevin looked at SU, who had been maintaining a calm smile. Faced with Freya's question, SU naturally chose to remain silent on the matter.

Everyone present seemed to have reached a consensus on this matter.

"In that case, the next step is to deal with that Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast, or rather, bring it back."

Freya's lips curled up slightly. Just confirming Kevin and SU's attitudes toward this matter was enough to make her efforts worthwhile.

Simply put, it's settled.

"Bring it back?"

Theresa looked blank again. She felt that everyone else had reached a consensus, but she was the only one who had been confused from beginning to end.

After all, according to Freya's previous statement, the more someone looks like the Herrscher of Finality, the more likely they are to be the vessel chosen by the Herrscher of Finality when she descends. So... she can be counted in that category to some extent. Regardless of where she ranks, Otto, whose whereabouts are unknown, still has a large number of her sisters in his possession.

Most importantly, Kiana has more than four hundred clones, who have been frozen and dormant.

However, before Theresa could even process the massive amount of information she had gleaned from the news, Freya threw out a new topic.

Theresa missed her two adjutants terribly at this moment, but unfortunately, Freya couldn't allow them to attend the meeting.

"Yes, it's also a good opportunity for Kevin to witness the true power of the Key of Reason prototype."

"Oh? Could it be that those three prototypes possess some power I'm unaware of?"

After learning about the three prototypes of the Key of Reason from Freya yesterday, Kevin made a special trip to the First Research Institute to see them.

However, he did not feel any special power from the three prototypes. Rather, because of the lack of Stigmata Terminal, the performance of the Stigmata developed by the First Research Institute was quite average.

"... Let me show you something new."

Freya answered confidently.

464. I never said that each person could only use one of these external Stigmata.

Seeing Freya's confidence, Kevin felt a little more confused.

Yesterday, after learning about the three prototypes of the Key of Reason from Freya, he immediately went to the First Research Institute to carefully study the three prototypes, but he did not sense any extraordinary power from them.

It's not that the three prototypes weren't strong, it's just that they didn't meet Kevin's expectations.

Simply put, the performance of the Key of Reason prototype is roughly equivalent to that of general-purpose combat weapons developed in the later stages of the Previous Civilization.

So-called general-purpose combat weapons are relics that modern civilization has excavated from some ancient ruins.

For example, the dual-pistol-type 2nd Relic is a lightweight, long-range, general-purpose combat weapon manufactured in the Previous Era. It is powered by a material similar to the Herrscher Core. Because its structure could not be analyzed by the scientific and technological methods of the Schicksal, the Schicksal has been unable to replicate it.

Of course, this situation improved after Schicksal and Anti-Entropy joined forces to form an alliance. The First Herrscher's ability to copy and analyze greatly improved the alliance's speed of analyzing Previous Civilization creations.

This also shows how little Otto cares about the Valkyrie's life, or rather, how little he cares about the Schicksal.

Besides the dual pistols 2nd relic, there is also the 5th relic, a heavy-duty long-range special operations weapon, and the 7th relic, a general-purpose slashing weapon, etc...

Although these general-purpose combat weapons manufactured in the late stages of the Previous Civilization were very powerful, they were ultimately inferior to the Divine Key and could not be used to Fire Moth organization in large numbers. Therefore, this series of weapons was not mass-produced and was only used to arm a small number of elites within the Fire Moth.

That's roughly the impression Kevin had of the Key of Reason.

Although he expected the prototype of the Key of Reason to have performance comparable to the Divine Key, the current civilization ultimately did not have Mei, and the gap between it and the Previous Civilization could not be shortened in a short period of time.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely change your impression..."

Although Kevin didn't say anything to belittle the prototype of the Key of Reason, Freya sensed that Kevin didn't seem to have any expectations for the Key of Reason.

It's important to know that the Key of Reason was the result of Freya's research in a parallel world.

Although the scientific research level of that world was lower than that of this world, that world also had a Previous Civilization and a Mei.

In addition, Freya had conceived of the idea in her mind long ago, and finally completed the theory of the Key of Reason in a parallel world.

It has to be said that Freya was glad that she had gone to that Previous Civilization- created World Bubble world with Bianca, Sophia, and Rita.

Although she didn't do anything particularly meaningful in that world, after she reunited with Bianca and the others, she learned about their adventures from Bianca.

Among them, the experience in Alexandria was the most special. Although the intelligent robots in Alexandria relied on the power of the Reason Crystal, there was also a Faust in Alexandria who built an intelligent computer, which was a supercomputer assembled from a human brain.

Bianca and the others' experiences were a great inspiration to Freya, and also made her discover another way to use consciousness-based abilities.

After she threw the consciousness of almost half the world's population into the dream world, the physical bodies of the other half of the world's population remaining in reality were controlled by Freya.

In reality, Freya connected everyone's consciousness, forming a huge network of consciousness.

This network of consciousness is the soil in which the dream world exists. It is because of this network of consciousness that the dream world can capture everyone's consciousness.

However, the space a dream world can occupy is limited, and Freya used the remaining space on that consciousness network to assist her calculations.

This is equivalent to having the computing power of nearly half the population of a parallel world helping her calculate, in addition to using her own brain to do so. Even if a portion of the computing power of the consciousness network is occupied by the dream world, a dream world cannot occupy much of the computing power of the consciousness network.

Just as Doctor Faust used the brains of the missing outsiders in Alexandria to build a supercomputer, Freya built a supercomputer on a network of consciousness.

With the help of such a supercomputer, Freya successfully developed the Key of Reason.

In fact, those parallel world "two"s never discovered another use for the consciousness network.

"In that case, I look forward to your performance."

Kevin paused for a moment, then spoke seriously.

Freya didn't offer much explanation for the Key of Reason, after all, facts speak louder than words, and she hoped to refute it with facts.

In order to demonstrate the true performance of the Key of Reason prototype to Kevin, and also to bring back a certain overly arrogant Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast, Freya notified the First Research Institute.

Tesla, the director of the First Research Institute, and Einstein, the deputy director, naturally came along as well. As researchers, they naturally had a strong sense of curiosity and were very Freya about why Freya had left Kevin and Bianca behind.

Fortunately, they knew how to restrain themselves and did not immediately question Freya Aurora.

Welt, obviously bored, also came along. Rather, after hearing that Freya was going to test the prototype of the Key of Reason, many high-ranking officials who had been paying attention to the Key of Reason left the banquet and came with Siegfried. For them, the Key of Reason might be the future development direction of the Alliance, and even if they could not use it themselves, they had to understand the performance of the Key of Reason.

(After using the restroom, Gray Serpent returned to the banquet hall and found himself completely alone. He immediately felt very annoyed...)

Freya used the deck of her ship, the 'St. Freya', to test the prototype of the Key of Reason.

At this time, the Saintess was parked in Airport No. 2 of Changkong City. Apart from routine maintenance and patrol missions, the Saintess herself had no other sortie missions.

After all, both the Saintess and Theresa's Bishop were more ceremonial than combat-ready vessels, so while they were very ornate in appearance, their actual combat capabilities were inferior to those of conventional Floating Battleship.