Inside the pristine white hall of the Theater of Domination.
"That little girl, Kali. She is becoming more and more interesting."
Currently, Ling Ke sat alone on his ornate throne. A smile graced the corners of his mouth as he casually ate a strawberry smoothie.
Earlier today, he had taken the time to visit Twilight Palatinate in the Middle East.
Just like always, after casually sharing a meal with the cat-girl Pardofelis, he effortlessly layered several more protective measures over a massive area surrounding the district.
With these ultimate fail-safes in place, let alone any catastrophic changes occurring in the outside world failing to affect the interior in the slightest. Even if the entire Earth outside the perimeter of Twilight Palatinate were blown to absolute pieces, that specific territory would continue to exist as a pristine Bubble Universe.
Furthermore, it would be a Bubble Universe granted special preferential treatment by the Imaginary Tree, permanently allowed to siphon energy to sustain itself.
In the future, as time marched on, allowing it to redevelop into a fully-fledged world was not an impossibility either.
It could only be said that the perks of nepotism and connections were truly beyond what ordinary people could ever fathom.
Just think about Dr. Einstein of this era. She was currently still stressing over gathering the materials needed to construct the Sea of Quanta Portal.
Yet, the entirety of Twilight Palatinate already possessed a privilege transcending that level.
The privilege to completely ignore the apocalyptic floods of the outside world and transform into a tranquil, isolated corner of a floating world.
It was quite ironic.
Within the human civilization of the current era, Twilight Palatinate was an absolute lawless zone. It was a chaotic, unregulated forbidden area that even international tourists had no desire and lacked the courage to step foot in.
But now, it had become a sanctuary. It was an alternative utopia, an Arcadia, an ideal haven for escaping the end of the world.
And it was all simply because Ling Ke, the "God," had taken a liking to it. He favored a certain someone living there: an ordinary young girl who stubbornly held onto her own persistent morals.
That place contained the peace and quiet he desired.
And as for anywhere outside of those borders.
"Riot. Riot all you want. Tear everything apart to your heart's content."
"Allow me to thoroughly enjoy the spectacle of your revenge!"
Sitting upon his throne, Ling Ke casually scooped up a spoonful of red, icy slush. He did not immediately put it into his mouth. Instead, he pinched the metal spoon lightly, holding it suspended before his eyes and examining it for a brief moment.
"Kali. Oh, Kali."
"Judging solely by the name, you sound exactly like the incarnation of annihilation from ancient Indian mythology. But in reality. Heh, what you are actually orchestrating is Fimbulvetr from Norse mythology!"
Fimbulvetr. The Fimbulwinter. The apocalyptic disaster in Norse mythology that erupted on the eve of Ragnarok.
It caused the seasons of spring, summer, and autumn to vanish entirely. Lasting a mere three years, it annihilated the vast majority of life on earth.
And among that "vast majority of life," many possessed all sorts of bizarre and incredible supernatural powers.
Just imagine. If even a supernatural society where individual strength was anything but weak suffered such catastrophic losses, what would happen to Earth's human civilization, which was comprised almost entirely of ordinary people?
There was a piece of trivial knowledge perfectly applicable here. The primary energy source that current human civilization relied upon for survival—electricity—and the countless technological products driven by consuming it, would almost entirely fail and cease to function in extreme sub-zero temperatures.
In other words, Kali's Cold Wave operation was never targeting the high-end combat forces from the very beginning.
Kevin? Fu Hua? Raiden Mei? Durandal?
No, no, no.
She knew full well she was not a match for those individuals.
Therefore.
"So, completely collapse the foundational, grassroots structure of the entire civilization first. Even if those individuals are insanely strong, you can just slowly and meticulously wear them down and torture them afterward."
Without a doubt, this method was highly efficient.
There were billions of people across the globe. She didn't even need to kill them one by one with her own hands.
Simply by leveraging the catastrophic forces of nature, supplemented by the inexhaustible Honkai Energy drawn from the Imaginary Space, Kali, the Herrscher of Blood, could accomplish feats that left even the actual Herrscher of Ice completely in the dust.
Looking at it this way.
"Once this Dance of Destruction truly begins, even if Kevin and the others ultimately secure a victory, it will be an entirely meaningless, pyrrhic one."
Ling Ke was not currently utilizing the power of Omniscience - Future Sight.
But according to his own estimations, the moment Kali's plan advanced to the third phase, the total population of Earth in the current era would plummet by more than half in just a single, short month.
When that time came.
"I shaped Kali. She is a Herrscher I arranged to cut the line."
"If she destroys the world, it is equivalent to me indirectly reaping the points."
"Well, she just massacred an entire city. That is already generating points for me right now."
Ah, yes. The Ready Player One System, which had been offline for quite some time, finally made its presence known again.
Truth be told, for the current Ling Ke, walking the path of the World-Destroying Player was already incredibly effortless.
Because the system would not arbitrarily deduct his points when he directly or indirectly saved people.
This system only provided him with assistance. There were no negative consequences like "obliteration upon failing a mission."
It even permitted certain opportunistic, game-breaking exploits.
Therefore, theoretically speaking, as long as Ling Ke repeatedly toyed with time over and over again, he could harvest an inexhaustible supply of points.
In the end, it was still the speed at which he could pull the gacha that limited his room to flex his power.
Thus, right now.
"Alright then! The day I completely exhaust all my points has been pushed back significantly once again."
Ling Ke threw his hands up and shrugged his shoulders. "And to think I wasn't even deliberately trying to acquire more points."
Speaking of which.
There was one specific matter that needed to be mentioned.
Seele.
The girl who had already become the Fourth Herrscher was actually not arranged to undergo Herrscherification by Ling Ke.
In reality, when he deliberately delivered a released-from-torment Cocolia directly to Bronya, he truly hadn't considered things would develop in this specific direction.
Having chosen not to actively predict the future, he had originally just wanted to see exactly who Bronya would choose after deceiving herself and falling into the trap of a perfect fake.
Would it be her adoptive mother, with whom she shared incredibly complicated feelings? Or would it be her newly acquainted substitute for her pure moonlight?
That was what Ling Ke wanted to see.
Because of his awful personality, that was why he called it a sideshow.
As a result.
He never expected that, due to the rippling effects of the butterfly effect, the automated mechanisms of the Cocoon of Finality would be triggered.
Consider this: what was the current state of Earth's human civilization?
Answer: There were multiple high-end combatants whose strength far surpassed that of fully matured Herrschers!
Therefore, compared to the same period in the original historical trajectory, even excluding other advantages, based on that single point alone.
"If the difficulty is too simple, it fails to achieve the purpose of the trial, does it not?"
Consequently, just like how the colossal Honkai Beast Chiyou was birthed due to the consequences of Project STIGMA more than fifty thousand years in the future of the original timeline.
Seele. The girl who originally should have been the Sixth Herrscher, was directly manifested early, appearing as the Fourth Eruption.
She was even massively hyper-buffed.
And precisely because the format of current human civilization had undergone such drastic changes, her Authority had also experienced targeted mutations.
Creation and Wither. This was originally the manifestation of the Authority belonging to the Herrscher of Death.
Therefore, it should have only been capable of acting upon living organisms.
For example: constructing a flesh-and-blood body devoid of a soul.
Or, for example: annihilating the physical shell of a living being.
But things were completely different now.
Yes, Seele was still the Herrscher of Death.
But now, the effective range of her Authority was no longer restricted solely to living organisms.
Instead, it targeted absolutely everything in the world. Aside from intangible, ethereal concepts like time and causality, she could inflict Creation and Wither upon anything, even the fabric of space itself.
With this absolute Authority, she bestowed life and death upon all things.
And building upon that foundation, anything that experienced creation after withering would be entirely subjugated under her absolute control.
It could be said that the massive ulcer currently festering on the surface of the Earth was essentially a Honkai-corrupted version of an expanding Truth-Seeking Orb.
Perhaps.
Perhaps describing it as destruction followed by reconstruction is far more accurate.
Ling Ke pondered internally. Heh. It actually bears a faint shadow of the Herrscher of Reason.
However.
He thought of Project Bunny.
That quantum robot was supposedly manufactured using the reconstructive power of the Seele Vollerei that existed in Bronya's memories.
But. That power seemingly did not originate from the Tree.
It originated from the Sea.
Following this line of thought.
This Seele was not interfered with by me. Logically speaking, she should be exactly like the other Herrschers from the Previous Era: completely stripped of her humanity and transformed into a pure killing machine.
So why. Why hasn't she actively attacked the humans who steer clear of her Domain? Why is she acting like a corrupted Scarlet Witch, isolating herself and creating a Hollow Zero that belongs entirely to her?
Is there something exceptionally unique about her?
It had to be said, Ling Ke was genuinely curious.
But a curiosity of this magnitude was nowhere near enough to make him abandon his grand priorities and disrupt his own script just to play detective.
Therefore.
"I will simply observe the situation in silence for now."
The corners of Ling Ke's mouth curled up. "Regardless, unlike Kali who is secretly stirring up trouble in the shadows, this Seele over here has already been locked onto by Kevin and his group."
"Those people will test the waters and deliver an answer to me."
"However, you all better move quickly."
His gaze narrowed slightly. "K-423. The fated catalyst is about to arrive."