Things had reached a point that was completely beyond Leo Ash's control...
Alright, ever since a bunch of people started squatting in Nagazora City for an intense showdown, this world had never been normal.
Cocolia managed to create a Welt clone months, or even a year, ahead of schedule.
Gray Serpent had Raven release Chiyou and then mass-produced the clones.
With all these crazy things happening one after another, Leo Ash felt his deductions were already bold enough.
In his view, about a month after Cocolia's death, it would be time to prepare for the next Herrscher.
However, in Leo Ash's vision, the next to awaken should have been Wendy, who was captured by World Serpent and whose current whereabouts were unknown.
But now, the harsh reality told Leo Ash that his guess was a little off.
A new Herrscher had indeed descended.
But this Herrscher wasn't the Herrscher of Wind, but the Herrscher of Sentience.
They were both Herrschers, but the difference was huge!
And to make matters worse, Fu Hua's body had been healed by him before...
*I'm so stupid, truly.*
*Su is smarter than me. The fact that he didn't heal Fu Hua right away means he definitely had his reasons.*
[It's not that dramatic. He just purely felt that Fu Hua couldn't act well enough to fool Otto, and the timing wasn't right, so he didn't give her the healing potion.]
*What a pain—I have a question!*
[Alright, stop asking. You can block it.]
[After your strength increased, your own resistance to Fenghuang Down has gotten much higher. As long as you fully activate the Void Demon Stone Fragment to resist the Herrscher of Sentience's mental attacks, she won't be able to get to you.]
[And because of the trait (Resistance to Mental Attacks) which has the effect of 'the attacker will not realize their attack has failed', she won't be aware that you resisted the Herrscher of Sentience's attack.]
*Huh?*
*Are you sure? I remember the Herrscher of Sentience can see what's in other people's minds.*
*If I block it, even if the skill blocks her attack and the trait fools her, she'll still realize something is up when she can't see my thoughts, right?*
[Ah, you've found a blind spot, my dear Watson.]
*So it's really going to be like that, huh?*
[Yeah. In the end, it all depends on what you want to do.]
[Also, just so you know, even if she reads your mind, the existence of this System will never be detected. Why? Because this System is just that powerful!]
*Yeah, yeah, you're amazing... well, actually, you really are amazing.*
*But, sigh... whether it's the Herrscher of Sentience or Fu Hua, since the System said so, it means she truly has no intention of harming me.*
*Debts of gratitude are hard to repay.*
*Under these circumstances, I definitely can't provoke her any further.*
*The fact that the Herrscher of Sentience is inside Fu Hua can't be hidden from her forever.*
*But if I can calm her currently extreme mindset and then handle it slowly, it's better than letting the bomb go off right now.*
*A plan, a plan, a plan...*
*I've got it.*
At that moment, Leo Ash directly activated Phantasmagoria on himself.
Using the cognitive rewriting effect of Phantasmagoria, Leo Ash completely altered his own cognition of the title 'Herrscher of Sentience' and all the information he knew about it.
Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to make such a simple, irreversible move.
While rewriting his own cognition, Leo Ash used the power of Phantasmagoria to leave a backdoor that only he could trigger.
*Right, this way, if she wants to read my mind, I'll let her. In the end, even if she reads my mind, she won't know that she is...*
*She is what again?*
*Never mind, that's not important. The main thing is to stabilize my master.*
*No matter what, her current state is very wrong.*
*For both sentimental and logical reasons, I can't just leave her alone.*
.....
Almost at the same time, at Schicksal HQ.
Inside Schicksal HQ, Otto, who had already activated the rebirth program and loaded his consciousness and recent memories, was running for his life.
At this moment, Otto had already retrieved Void Archives, which he had obtained through a special program, and was rapidly heading towards the location of the Gem of Haste.
But speaking of which, Otto felt that although Fu Hua had recovered her strength, the current Fu Hua, while possessing power, clearly lacked a bit in the brains department.
In Otto's opinion, if Fu Hua had even half of her usual observational skills, she would have noticed that Void Archives had disappeared from the room.
But the current Fu Hua, while beating him up, seemed to have paid no attention at all to the Divine Key that had suddenly vanished from the floor.
However, for Otto, this was not a good thing.
A powerful, brainless, and impulsive Fu Hua was now, in Otto's eyes, as difficult to deal with as an unbridled husky.
Otto could hand over command of Schicksal to Fu Hua and Su, not only because he was confident he could regain command upon his return, but for another reason as well.
In Otto's eyes, Su was a good person who had gone a little crazy, while Fu Hua was a genuinely honest person.
If these two were to take charge of Schicksal together, with Fu Hua acting as a brake on Su, no matter how crazy Su got, he wouldn't completely destroy Schicksal.
But now, things were not right.
Fu Hua, whom Otto had considered a fail-safe, was now rushing straight towards his location as if she had gone mad.
He knew that the warehouse where the Gem of Haste was stored not only contained the gem but also some of the Soulium bodies he had stockpiled.
*Fu Hua... how did she sense these things?*
*...Wait.*
*I have a question.*
*Is the current Fu Hua really my old friend?*
*She has been acting very abnormally ever since we met today.*
*And what I was thinking before I met her was...*
*—to find the people from World Serpent and negotiate with them using the Gem of Haste?*
At this moment, Otto was clearly running at full speed, yet he felt as if his Soulium body was about to break out in a cold sweat.
*No, no, it can't be such a coincidence.*
*After the Stigmata Project succeeds, although it will cause immense losses to the people of this world, it might indeed be possible to 'defeat the Honkai'.*
*And if I take the Gem of Haste to World Serpent, and my theory is correct, then I might become an accomplice helping World Serpent execute the Stigmata Project.*
*So, just because I had this idea and was planning to give the Gem of Haste to World Serpent, the Honkai got desperate and turned my old friend into a Herrscher?*
*The one who just killed me wasn't Fu Hua, but her Herrscher Personality???*
This theory was abrupt, even ridiculous.
But as the mastermind who had been 'nurturing' the Honkai all along, Otto actually felt—that there was a certain probability his ridiculous theory was the truth.
Otto considers helping World Serpent → World Serpent, obsessed with the Current Era's Herrscher Cores, obtains the Gem of Haste → With the gem, World Serpent has a greater chance of executing the Stigmata Project → Stigmata Project succeeds → Humanity defeats the Honkai.
If this line of reasoning is correct, then if I were the Honkai's will...
Otto plans to help World Serpent → The Honkai's will panics and places a Herrscher Core in Fu Hua → The Honkai's will deceives the Herrscher Personality in Fu Hua's body to attack Otto, seize the Gem of Haste, and sever the foundation of cooperation between Otto and World Serpent → The Stigmata Project is further delayed or even forced to be aborted → Humanity loses a means to defeat the Honkai.
Damn it, case closed.
Damn it, I was wondering what was going on. Is the Honkai messing with me???
Is the Honkai absolutely insane? Placing the core in my old friend's body, aren't they afraid that this resolute MANTIS, at her peak, will suppress the Herrscher Personality and switch sides?
Or is it that my actions could really push the Honkai to such a desperate point???
That can't be right. It's just one gem. The Honkai didn't get this desperate when Wendy was sent over.
But now, no matter how puzzled Otto was, he couldn't hide another emotion welling up inside him.
Anger.
Having been inexplicably beaten up and, in a sense, hunted down by Fu Hua... no, that Herrscher, which interrupted his plans, Otto was now furious.
He wasn't a good-tempered person to begin with, and with his plans being thwarted repeatedly recently, Otto was already bottling up a stomachful of fire.
And now, the Honkai, which he had been allowing to develop, was actively trying to mess with his head—it would be a miracle if Otto could swallow this insult.
*Heh, you don't want me to take the Gem of Haste? Well, I'm going to take it and throw it to World Serpent.*
*My plan has reached a stalemate. The best way to break this stalemate now is to muddy the waters.*
At that moment, Otto, having dashed into the warehouse, immediately grabbed the Gem of Haste and prepared to leave.
But just as he was about to depart...
*Wait, so fast?!*
With this thought, Otto felt a huge fluctuation of Honkai Energy coming from directly above him.
In the next moment, an incredibly terrifying force tore through the metal paneling above the warehouse, and Otto was naturally blown away by the blast.
...
Schicksal HQ, inside the Thousand Worlds.
Inside the Thousand Worlds, Su was supposed to continue his strategic planning based on the intelligence he had gathered today.
But today, a sense of unease in his heart made his planning progress incredibly slow.
*How strange. The situation isn't great, but it's at least better than what I had envisioned.*
*So why—what is this Honkai Energy fluctuation?*
*Mr. Otto, has he finally lost his patience?*
*That shouldn't be.*
*No matter how much of a scoundrel he is, he wouldn't lose his mind just because he wants to do something bad.*
*Schicksal HQ is his lair, and it's also his capital for challenging other organizations and me.*
*Even if he doesn't care about the lives of his subordinates, he wouldn't mess around at Schicksal HQ.*
*In other words...*
*—An enemy has invaded Schicksal HQ?!*
The moment he thought of such a terrible thing happening so close to him, Su took action.
Otto had his problems, but that didn't mean the organization of Schicksal was flawed.
Having observed countless worlds, Su knew very well the importance of Schicksal to this world.
Even in Otto's hands, Schicksal was undoubtedly the most suitable organization to save the world.
And now, if the Honkai were to 'go on a rampage' at Schicksal HQ, and if its actions were successful, humanity's anti-Honkai forces would inevitably suffer a devastating blow.
Teleporting to the scene of the incident using the Key of the Void, Su saw a figure he never expected to see.
"Hua..."
Looking at Fu Hua, who had changed into a black martial arts uniform, Su suddenly didn't know what to say.
Before meeting his old friend Hua, Su had thought of many topics to discuss with her.
But now, face to face with his old friend, Su sensed something from her that should not be there.
"Yo, it's Su."
'Fu Hua', having just unleashed a powerful attack, now looked at her old friend and waved with a smile.
"Long time no see."
"But speaking of which, why do you have that look on your face?"
Looking at the utterly shocked Su, 'Fu Hua' said with a hint of dissatisfaction.
"We haven't seen each other directly in a long time. As an old friend, don't you have anything you want to say to me?"
*No, on the contrary, I have far too much to say.*
*But right now—I absolutely cannot speak.*
Su had become a MANTIS largely to counter the Eighth Herrscher of the Previous Era, the [Herrscher of Sentience], who had put countless people into a coma.
Back then, after Fire Moth had dealt with the Herrscher of Sentience, Su thought he would never have to face this nemesis again in his life.
However, now, Su was certain of something he absolutely did not want to face.
At this moment, from his good friend Hua, Su sensed the feeling that only his 'nemesis' could give him.
*The Honkai has chosen Hua to be the Herrscher of Sentience for this era?!*
*This... has the Honkai gone mad?*
*No, the current Honkai has already been infiltrated by No. 17. In other words, as long as Kevin and I don't open the backdoor, No. 17 is the 'Honkai's will'.*
*Before it remembers its own mission, it will definitely be serious about destroying this civilization.*
*So, in other words, No. 17 genuinely believes that Hua is suitable to be the Herrscher of Sentience?*
*Hua's will is very strong.*
*But Prometheus's judgment will not be wrong either.*
*I can't take that risk.*
*Right now, I must keep Hua stable and not let her realize that her body and mind have been eroded by the Honkai.*
*I must proceed slowly and let Hua gradually accept this truth.*
*Otherwise, if two consciousnesses fight for control of her body...*
*If it were the Herrscher Personality of any other Herrscher, it would be fine.*
*If it were a nascent personality of another Herrscher, Hua would definitely be able to handle it.*
*But the Herrscher of Sentience is different from other Herrschers. This Herrscher's physical destructive power is average; all of its enhancements are focused on consciousness.*
*In other words, if Hua were to realize the truth now, the two conflicting consciousnesses clashing within her would be more likely to drive her mad.*
*And thinking back, No. 17's choice... was not wrong.*
*The Herrscher of Sentience is not a Herrscher skilled in physical combat, but No. 17's stroke of genius was having the Herrscher of Sentience descend within Hua's body.*
*Hua's Garuda genes made her a warrior who 'could not die in battle', and her martial arts, honed over tens of thousands of years, gave her enough power to protect herself and even destroy her enemies.*
*As long as the Herrscher of Sentience's personality is sufficiently malicious, then—the Herrscher of Sentience this era has to face will be significantly more difficult to deal with than the one we faced back then!*
"Ah, what's wrong, Su?"
Seeing the silent Su before her, 'Fu Hua' asked with dissatisfaction.
"In the past, although you didn't talk much, you were at least a kind-hearted person who cared about your companions."
"But today, you're acting very strange."
At that moment, 'Fu Hua' naturally tried to read Su's thoughts but failed, and then clicked her tongue in frustration.
"Heh, I forgot you're a psychic-type MANTIS. My Fenghuang Down doesn't work on you."
*No, Hua...*
*The power you're using against me is far more than just 'Fenghuang Down'.*
*Is it because Fenghuang Down was created from the core of the Herrscher of Sentience that you mistakenly believe you're using Fenghuang Down to probe me, while you're actually using the authority of the Herrscher of Sentience's core?*
Having been unexpectedly hit with a mental attack, Su could only force himself to remain calm and continue thinking of a countermeasure.
But for 'Fu Hua', who had actually used two types of psychic abilities, although she still couldn't see through Su's heart, she wasn't completely oblivious to his thoughts either.
"Su, you're very strange today."
Recalling the emotions she sensed, 'Fu Hua' suddenly said with even more dissatisfaction.
"From your emotions, I read apprehension and unease—does seeing an old friend like me really make you that unhappy?"
"Hua, you're mistaken. I didn't mean that at all."
"It's just..."
"Fu Hua!"
Durandal, who had arrived on the scene only after Fu Hua's destructive attack, finally reached her enemy after retrieving her Divine Key.
"You—why did you do this!"
"Huh? Why did I do this?"
Hearing Durandal's sudden accusation, 'Fu Hua' said with complete frankness.
"You're a fourteen-year-old girl. You don't know what kind of monster Otto is, so I don't blame you."
"But I've been tormented enough by Otto in the past. Now that I want to kill him, it's only natural, isn't it?"
"Don't tell me you're here to avenge him. You're a good person, and I don't want to fight you."
"...You think I'm here to avenge the Bishop?"
Looking at the unfamiliar woman before her, Durandal coldly raised the Abyss Flower in her hand.
"The Bishop has long told me not to sympathize with Medea. And I know very well that the Medea he spoke of was himself."
"I am more aware than anyone that Otto Apocalypse is not a good person. If you want to attack him, my opinion on the matter is not as strong as you might think."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Looking at the young girl, 'Fu Hua' asked with curiosity.
"See, you're so open-minded. Then why are you pointing your Divine Key at me?"
"Have you not yet realized what a terrible thing you've done?!"
Durandal pointed at the warehouse that 'Fu Hua' had destroyed with a single blow and the surrounding area of Schicksal HQ, her voice filled with fury.
"Your attack put other Schicksal colleagues in danger... no, some have already been seriously injured because of it!"
"Rita and Amber are already organizing rescue efforts, but there will surely be more people injured or even killed."
"We Schicksal Valkyries are not Bishop Otto's lackeys. We are warriors who protect this world, but now..."
"Fu Hua, look at what you've protected!"
Amidst Durandal's furious condemnation, 'Fu Hua' finally realized what she had just done.
Under the force of her terrifying blow, although Schicksal HQ was not directly knocked out of the sky, some areas were left in ruins.
Under the command of Rita and Amber, rescue teams were braving the black smoke within Schicksal HQ, rescuing the Schicksal members she had harmed.
"No, that's not right, I just wanted to..."
'Fu Hua', who was about to defend herself, suddenly froze.
*What was I trying to do just now?*
*It's impossible for Otto to die so easily. That line of thought is correct.*
*But why did I have the idea that one punch in that direction would solve the problem?*
*Did I... really do something wrong?*
"No, that's not right!"
Seeing Otto's Soulium bodies amidst the rubble, 'Fu Hua' suddenly turned to Su with extreme nervousness.
"Su, you're my companion. you believe me, don't you?"
"I threw that punch to destroy that bastard Otto's Soulium bodies! You... you must be able to understand my actions, right?!"
"I just wanted to get rid of that scumbag Otto."
"I had it under control. I just destroyed the cage and took out a few buildings along the way..."
But as she glanced at the devastation around her, 'Fu Hua' couldn't continue.
Even if she wanted to deceive herself, the scene of destruction before her made it impossible to avoid the reality of what she had done.
"Damn it, I should have had it under perfect control!"
*That's right. Whether Hua really wanted to kill Otto or just vent her anger, she wouldn't have caused such a huge commotion.*
*Could it be that even that last punch had Prometheus's support?*
"That's right! Who can be perfect in every way!"
'Fu Hua' suddenly grabbed Su's shoulders, her eyes filled with a desperate craving, like a fish gasping for water.
"Who can consider every single detail, from top to bottom? You can't! Dr. Mei couldn't either!"
"If even she couldn't do it, then isn't it normal for me to fail? So—"
"Enough!"
Facing the woman before her, Durandal thrust her spear forward with immense anger.
"The Fu Hua I know is a responsible, reasonable, and outstanding Valkyrie who considers her colleagues and the bigger picture."
"But you—aside from this outer shell, I see nothing of Fu Hua's 'essence' in you."
"You are definitely not Fu Hua."
"Tell me the truth—who are you!"
Honestly, in Su's opinion, Durandal's words were completely on point.
In his eyes, his old friend Hua should be exactly that kind of person.
But even if the words are correct, saying them at the wrong time can sometimes lead to bigger problems.
Like now—'Fu Hua', having been berated by Durandal, froze for a moment before clutching her head and falling into a state of confusion.
"You... you're right. I... I... I... who am I—"
"Am I Fu Hua?"
"But Fu Hua wouldn't do something so terrible."
"I'm not Fu Hua?"
"Then who am I?"
As she endlessly questioned herself, the expression on 'Fu Hua's' face grew increasingly frantic.
Just then, a transport aircraft approaching Schicksal HQ from a distance suddenly stopped above them.
Then, from the sky, Leo Ash jumped down, completing his transformation into [Zero Knight: Moonshade] in mid-air.
"Don't think so much, Class Rep Fu Hua."
"You are you. Don't entertain those strange and unnecessary thoughts!"
..