(Volume VII: Theater of Domination, Stage of a Thousand)
Hum~
As the last wisp of Honkai Energy faded from the energy conduits, the massive device buried thousands of meters underground finally hit its limit. After running overloaded for so long, thick black smoke billowed from inside. Yeah, definitely no rebooting that thing.
Inside the immersion pod of the Elysian Realm simulator, Raiden Mei, who had been asleep for a long time, felt her eyelashes flutter before slowly opening her eyes.
Her gaze fell upon the heavy glass door of the pod and Number 17, who was already waiting outside. But there was no sign of the pink-haired girl, and a flicker of confusion and loss crossed Mei's face.
Did I... really succeed?
A whirlwind of thoughts spun in her mind. Even though she'd only been in the Elysian Realm for a month, it felt like a lifetime ago.
"Welcome back, Raiden Mei."
The pod door opened. Number 17 began running checks, offering a greeting, but Mei's eyes quickly skipped past her, landing on Kevin Kaslana leaning against a nearby wall.
The white-haired man was as cold as ever, like an eternal ice sculpture. Only the greatsword in his hand burned, seemingly ready to incinerate everything at a moment's notice.
At first, Mei hadn't understood why he was so cold. Now, maybe she knew the answer.
"Looks like you were the last line of defense here."
With such a major upheaval in the Elysian Realm, the outside world couldn't have been completely clueless. Yet, until the very end, there was no external interference. It was obvious Kevin had chosen to leave the final decision entirely to Mei and the Flame-Chasers, positioning himself merely as the failsafe for the worst-case scenario.
"At least you succeeded." Mei wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but his tone seemed a little less icy than usual.
"It seems you had a lot of faith in your former companions."
"You too."
For a moment, she wasn't quite sure what he meant by that. But at the very least, it felt like she now had the right to glimpse into the mind of this man.
"Kevin, the Elysian Realm... it's completely gone."
The man remained silent, showing no outward change.
"Even so, you don't want to see her one last time?"
"I don't want to disappoint her." Kevin's voice remained calm, but Mei noticed his eyes shift almost imperceptibly as he spoke.
In that instant, Mei understood. Humanity's strongest warrior wasn't making an excuse; he was simply stating his own perceived weakness.
He was lonely, even if he never showed any vulnerability.
"Let's go." Kevin retracted the Judgment of Shamash, his face devoid of emotion once more, and turned to walk down the corridor.
"Go where? To do what?"
"Project Stigma."
"Now?"
Mei knew Project Stigma was the plan to fight the Herrscher of Finality, but as far as she knew, two Herrschers hadn't even shown up yet.
The Herrscher of Dominance and the Herrscher of Binding. The first shattered civilization's trust, the second wiped out most of the Fire Moth's top fighters. In terms of sheer destructive potential, they were arguably even more dangerous than the Herrscher of Corruption.
Starting Project Stigma now? Don't tell me World Serpent already has intel on these two Herrschers? Or... are they planning to repeat what happened in ARC City, experimenting on huge numbers of civilians?
"The time is right. Our allies are ready."
"Allies..."
Kevin didn't elaborate, simply leading Mei to a hidden base. As soon as they entered the meeting room, Mei saw a pale-faced woman slumped in a chair, looking like she was on her last legs.
"And this is?"
"Hare. The executor for the fifteenth version of Project Stigma."
Mei remembered Raven mentioning that Project Stigma wasn't finalized from the start; there were multiple versions. The experiments in ARC City were part of Version 1, and this was Version 15.
Even Raven didn't know the executor's true identity. Mei was surprised Kevin brought her straight here. But for some reason, the woman's face seemed familiar, like she resembled someone...
She didn't dwell on it, though, focusing instead on the woman's current condition. "It looks like... Ms. Hare, you're seriously injured."
"Just a small mishap. Consider it self-inflicted punishment for acting on my own," Hare admitted frankly, not denying her weakness.
"So, what exactly is Project Stigma?"
Hare glanced at Kevin. After he nodded his approval, she began to explain. "To understand Project Stigma, first, you need to grasp the true nature of the Herrscher of Finality. Let me ask you, Miss Mei, what do you know about the Honkai and Herrschers?"
"According to Schicksal's definition, Honkai is a phenomenon, a disaster that arises as civilizations develop. Herrschers are the personifications of these disasters. But that information comes from the Previous Era. World Serpent should know more specifics, right?"
"Correct. Herrschers are agents of the Honkai. In the records of the Previous Era, there were fourteen documented Herrschers. Excluding the 'fictional' Thirteenth Herrscher, the very last one is the Herrscher of Finality."
"But that's all based on data from before Finality. What if I told you... there's actually only one true Herrscher?"
"Only one Herrscher? How is that possible?" Mei looked skeptical. If there was only one, then what was she? A fake Herrscher of Thunder?
Hare clearly anticipated her doubt. With a tap of her finger, a projection appeared on the wall.
"This is data recorded by the Fire Moth during the final battle against the Herrscher of Finality. Based on energy readings, this Herrscher's power far exceeded the combined energy of the first twelve Herrschers. In a way, it's beyond the scope of what we'd even call a Herrscher."
"Dr. Mei synthesized all the data and proposed a hypothesis: the Herrscher of Finality might be a kind of... special device, deployed by something akin to a higher civilization."
"This higher existence is so powerful, perhaps unparalleled in the entire universe. The purpose of deploying Finality... was to [embrace] Earth's civilization, to help humanity [evolve] into a compatible species."
Mei had never heard this theory before. Honestly, it sounded even wilder than Schicksal's 'civilization screening' idea.
"Of course, this hypothesis isn't necessarily correct. But what we do know is that the Herrscher of Finality isn't naturally occurring. It intercepts the overflowing energy from the Imaginary Tree and converts it into what we call Honkai Energy."
"Finality [embraces] civilizations this way, but for humans, this embrace is indistinguishable from annihilation. Each [embrace] gives rise to a specific Herrscher. There were twelve such embraces, resulting in twelve Herrschers."
"Therefore, even though the twelve Herrschers have different powers, they are essentially just shadows cast by Finality. From beginning to end, the only true Herrscher is Finality itself."
This sudden flood of information hit Mei hard. She frowned, bit her lip, and silently processed everything she'd just learned.
After a long moment, she finally sorted through her thoughts and asked, "If Finality is that powerful, how is Project Stigma supposed to eliminate it?"
"Eliminate? Oh no, you're thinking too small. You know nothing about the Honkai, let alone what Finality truly represents. As things stand, even if all of humanity pooled its strength, we couldn't even begin to grasp the full scope of Finality."
"It's precisely because we can't fight Finality that Project Stigma was created."
"The core idea of Project Stigma is simple: If you can't beat the Honkai, join the Honkai."
"The Herrscher of Finality's goal is to make humanity compatible, right? So, if we use the power of the Stigma Space to give everyone a 'mark' of Finality, we should naturally bypass the threat."
"You mean... willingly step into Finality's embrace?"
"Exactly. It's the most direct way to overcome Finality. The problem is, actually doing it is incredibly difficult, hence fifteen versions of Project Stigma."
"The initial plan involved forcibly activating the Stigma factors within humans to screen for suitable carriers. But obviously, that method would kill 99% of people during the awakening process. Unsurprisingly, World Serpent was prepared to... test everyone, one by one. But then, by chance, 'I' appeared."
"You?"
"To be precise, the original me. Have you noticed... how I'm different from humans?"
Hare's question made Mei pause. She subconsciously used her Herrscher powers to sense the woman... and was shocked. Hare felt like a solidified mass of Honkai Energy – she had a physical form, yet felt fundamentally... Void.
"What is...?"
"You sense it, don't you? I'm not human. I'm an 'imaginary concept'—essentially a natural Stigma manifestation—that happened to project from the Stigma Space into reality by sheer chance."
"World Serpent found me, realized how special I was, and designated my existence as an [Ideal Form]"
"They realized that since an [Ideal Form] can perfectly adapt to the Stigma Space, if they could turn all humans into [Ideal Forms], wouldn't that mean surviving Finality without sacrificing anyone?"
"And so, the fifteenth version of Project Stigma was born."
Turn everyone into [Ideal Forms], merge them directly into the Stigma Space.
Insane!
That was Mei's only word for this plan. If it succeeded, it meant the utter transformation of the human species—a level of power beyond even the gods.
"But... would a civilization like that still even be human?" A chill ran down her spine.
"..." Hare didn't answer, but her silence spoke volumes. Undoubtedly, humans transformed in such a way could hardly be called 'human' anymore.
No matter how similar they appeared, an [Ideal Form] wasn't truly human. Even if the person standing before her looked familiar, they wouldn't be the same individual.
"That's impossible!" Knowing the truth, Mei slammed her hand on the table and shot up, rejecting the idea outright. But a single glance from Kevin was enough to make her sit back down and regain her composure.
"Raiden Mei, if you could defeat me, I might grant you the right to negotiate. But clearly, you're not strong enough yet." Kevin's tone was calm, but the pressure Mei felt was immense.
Reversing life and death, fighting against civilization itself.
Mei suddenly recalled the story Elysia had told her. If, as Kevin said, Finality's power rivaled the gods, then perhaps only the boy from that story could truly stand against it.
The true master of The Obsidian Concord.
"So when you mentioned allies... you meant The Obsidian Concord?"
Calming down, Mei quickly pieced together why Kevin had brought her here. He already knew she was a member of The Obsidian Concord, and he must have already made a deal with them.
She'd initially assumed it was just about the Elysian Realm, but she never imagined it involved Project Stigma itself.
"Correct." Kevin took over the explanation from Hare.
"He's the only being capable of fighting me head-on, and his standing... might even be above mine. The only issue is, he has no intention of fighting Finality."
Kevin was right. From what Mei knew of the organization, Ren truly only cared about Kiana. If Kiana didn't want to fight Finality, he'd probably let it destroy everything without lifting a finger.
"But... can sheer power alone really defeat Finality?"
"Of course not. That's why there's a sixteenth version of Project Stigma. Remember what was mentioned earlier? The twelve Herrschers are all projections of Finality."
Recalling World Serpent's operations to capture Herrschers, Mei speculated, "Are you planning to gather the powers of all twelve Herrschers to fight Finality together? No, wait... even if you combine them all, they're still just projections. How can projections possibly defeat the original?"
"Individually, the twelve Herrschers can't do it, naturally. But... if you concentrate the power of all twelve Herrschers into a single individual, then, in a sense, that individual could replace Finality."
"Hold the power of twelve Herrschers? Are you kidding me? It's hard enough to control the power of one Herrscher, let alone twelve, especially since many of their powers clash!"
Mei thought of the Herrscher Cores inside Kiana – just three had caused her so much suffering.
If someone tried to hold all twelve...
"It's impossible! Even you, Kevin, couldn't possibly bear all the Herrscher Cores!"
"Of course, I can't. But someone can."
"Who?"
"The Herrscher of Dominance."
The Herrscher of Dominance... a familiar yet strangely distant title. Mei couldn't grasp how The Obsidian Concord and World Serpent's plan involved that Herrscher.
"The individual puppets of the Herrscher of Dominance are negligible power-wise. But unlike the Previous Era's version, this era's Herrscher of Dominance possesses multiple bodies and a central consciousness that dominates them all. They is the true Herrscher of Dominance."
"The Herrscher of Dominance's authority is [Theft] and [Domination]. They can absorb the powers of other Herrschers and integrate them. Furthermore, They can distribute the load across They many puppet bodies, giving Them a capacity to handle Honkai Energy hundreds of times greater than a normal Herrscher."
"Herrschers are projections of Finality, and the puppets are projections of Dominance. Fundamentally, it's the same principle. If any being could possibly bear the weight of all Herrscher powers, it would have to be the Herrscher of Dominance."
"But the Herrscher of Dominance hasn't even appeared yet! How can you guarantee They'll follow your plan? And even if—hypothetically—you managed to persuade Them, how do you know They wouldn't betray you at the last second? After all, aren't the Herrscher of Dominance and Their puppets ultimately just... Finality in another guise?"
"And that... is the purpose of the sixteenth version of Project Stigma." Kevin's tone grew inexplicably heavy.
"In the Previous Era, the Fire Moth didn't realize the damage the Herrscher of Dominance did to civilization's trust. We simply treated it as another enemy to be eliminated. Only after we destroyed it completely did we notice that people had already succumbed to deep suspicion and paranoia."
"The Herrscher of Dominance manifests as the most numerous Herrscher puppets. This era's version is even born from humanity itself. In a way, its birth stems from humanity's unspoken desires, representing the voices of the voiceless."
"The Fire Moth of the past tried to fight the Honkai as an organization. You know how that ended. If we had focused more on humanity itself, perhaps we could have gone further."
"...That doesn't sound like something you'd say, Kevin." Whether through actions or attitude, Kevin had never shown trust in other organizations. Hearing him talk like this felt... strange to Mei.
"Yes. Those weren't my words. They were the reasons he used to convince me."
"He?"
"The answer is obvious, isn't it? Ren... is the Herrscher of Dominance."
The answer was hiding in plain sight all along. The Obsidian Concord (千珏 - Qiānjué)... its name was just a combination of the 'Thousand' (千 - qiān) from the Herrscher and Ren's (苏珏 - Sū Jué) name.
But lacking that key piece of information, Mei had never made the connection between The Obsidian Concord and the Herrscher of Dominance.
Wait, if Ren is Dominance, and Dominance's power is to control other Herrschers' powers... then the Gem of Haste, and even the Herrschers of Ice and Stars...
"I see... So that's how it is!" Everything suddenly clicked into place. The moment all the clues connected, Mei felt a cold sweat break out.
She had always thought Ren's plans were intricate and unsettling, like a web slowly ensnaring her. She never realized that, without her even noticing, the entire world had already been caught in his inescapable net.
Ren... just what...
Mei didn't dare dwell on it, forcing her attention back to the plan. "So, the alliance between World Serpent and The Obsidian Concord... is to gather all Herrscher authorities, have Ren bear them, and essentially create a controllable Herrscher of Finality. Then what about the original Project Stigma?"
"Version Fifteen of Project Stigma forces transformation on everyone. He believes that denies humanity's own will. So instead, the choice should be left to humanity itself."
"Since humanity lacks the power to fight the Honkai on its own, let the Herrscher of Dominance grant them that power. If humanity succeeds through this empowerment, World Serpent will acknowledge his [Twelve Herrscher Integration] plan. If they fail... then let the threads of Dominance entwine everyone. Ren alone will act as the central node for all humanity, guiding civilization as it merges into Finality."
"Different paths, same destination. Both achieve the goal of Project Stigma."
"As for whether humanity ultimately creates a savior or a destroyer... that depends on their own choices."