Inside the New Atra lunar base.
Kiana held up her phone and dialed the familiar group call.
The first person to connect was Theresa. The bridge of the Hyperion could be seen on the other side of the screen. Her hair had not even been properly combed, making it obvious she had just been woken by the late-night ringtone, and her face was full of irritation.
"Kiana? Do you know what time it is on Earth right now?"
"Auntie, something happened. Something really happened." Kiana leaned closer to the camera. "The Cocoon of Finality just showed an abnormal reaction."
Theresa's hand froze halfway through rubbing her face. Her puffed-up, irritated expression vanished, replaced by complete seriousness and gravity.
Immediately afterward, more remote conference calls connected, and the second and third profile icons lit up.
Mei and Bronya appeared, one making a late-night snack in the kitchen, the other wearing office attire with an employee badge hanging from her chest as she worked overtime in front of her computer.
Then came Durandal, whose background showed a gym.
The last person to squeeze into the call was Hua, dressed entirely in white and sitting cross-legged atop Mount Taixuan, looking utterly detached from the mundane world.
Five video feeds were now assembled.
"Go on. What happened to the Cocoon?" Theresa asked anxiously.
"I was reading on the moon tonight when the Cocoon suddenly trembled." As Kiana spoke, she gestured with her hands.
"The Cocoon told me that somewhere very, very far away, a mass of Honkai energy suddenly appeared, and its presence is extremely strong."
The other side of the screen fell silent for two seconds. Everyone was thinking.
Hua spoke first.
"Did Vita do something?"
"It wasn't Vita." Kiana shook her head. "I already said the Honkai energy is extremely far from Earth. It's not even in the Solar System."
"Not in the Solar System?" Durandal raised an eyebrow. "Alpha Centauri? The Andromeda Galaxy?"
"Neither."
Kiana drew a deep breath. "It's even farther away than either of the places you just mentioned, Sister Durandal. It's separated from Earth by countless light-years."
"I can't perceive anything at all about what's in that direction. I only know that Honkai energy exists there."
"As for how far away it is... put it this way. Even if I unleashed Finality's Strike at full power right now, I still couldn't reach that target."
"Even Finality's Strike couldn't reach it?!!"
Everyone on the other side of the call was stunned by Kiana's words.
After all, not long ago, Kiana had unleashed Finality's Strike across half the Solar System and blown apart Sa, the god who had infiltrated the Sea of Quanta!
Yet now Kiana was saying that even Finality's Strike couldn't reach that distant world.
"Do you have the coordinates of that world?" Bronya asked Kiana over the call once she recovered from her surprise.
"The Cocoon did provide me with some data that seems to be coordinates." After saying this, Kiana activated the authority of the Herrscher of Finality and transmitted a special set of data to Bronya.
Bronya immediately began analyzing it.
At the same time, Theresa, the current Overseer of Schicksal, also requested a copy of the data from Kiana and used the Hyperion's computational power to analyze it.
Before long, Bronya and Theresa used the information provided by the Cocoon to calculate a set of spatial coordinates. They did not correspond to any world known to humanity, and no astronomical observations had ever recorded anything there.
Those spatial coordinates lay far beyond the observational limits of humanity's astronomical telescopes—not merely beyond the galaxies visible from Earth, but billions, perhaps even trillions, of light-years farther into the depths of the universe.
Both Bronya and Theresa realized that Kiana had been right. The place containing the Honkai energy that resonated with the Cocoon was indeed unimaginably far from Earth!
Once Bronya and Theresa shared this conclusion, everyone else's hearts were shaken even more deeply.
At that moment, someone suddenly squeezed into Hua's camera frame. It was the Herrscher of Sentience, whose appearance closely resembled Hua's. She abruptly emerged behind Hua, wrapped both arms around Hua's neck, and cut into the discussion.
"Old Timer, everyone, you seem to be talking about something pretty interesting. You're saying Honkai energy appeared somewhere infinitely far away among the stars, and the Cocoon reacted to that Honkai energy. Then... is it possible that whatever's over there is on the same level as the Cocoon?"
Hua's pupils contracted sharply upon hearing the Herrscher of Sentience's words, and goosebumps rose across her skin. "If what you said is true, Senti, then there is a very high chance a second Cocoon exists on the far side of the stars?!!"
Raiden Mei's pupils likewise contracted. "A second Cocoon of Finality? Isn't that too absurd?!"
"On the contrary, it's quite reasonable." Theresa pondered before saying, "The Cocoon is the creation of a more advanced civilization. Since it was created, there is no guarantee only one was made."
"Wait. If everything really is as Senti guessed..." Kiana said seriously.
"If there really is a second Cocoon in the far reaches of the universe, could it also be testing the local civilization?"
The video call fell silent. At that moment, everyone realized what that possibility meant.
Every single person on this call had personally witnessed and experienced what the Cocoon's trials were like.
Honkai Beasts, Herrschers... again and again, they had crushed civilization beneath them and pushed humanity to the brink of extinction.
The Previous Era, the Current Era, the Thirteen Flame-Chasers... Kevin, Elysia, and all of them. How many years had it taken, how many people had died, and how enormous a price had been paid before they finally reached where they stood today?
And now, on the other side of the cosmos, perhaps another world was experiencing exactly the same thing.
"Maybe we can go save them," Kiana said.
After saying it, she herself fell silent for a moment, clearly realizing that her words had been rather thoughtless and hadn't taken the sheer size of the universe into account.
At that moment, Bronya shook her head. "This universe is simply too large. According to your description just now, Kiana, that potentially existing second Cocoon is in another world. Even moving at the speed of light, we wouldn't reach it anytime soon."
"A faster-than-light engine still exists only in imagination. With humanity's current technological level, even if we experienced another explosive leap in technology, it would still be extremely difficult to develop technology that belongs in science fiction on that level," Raiden Mei said seriously.
"So conventional methods are all useless." Theresa swept her gaze around the screen before finally settling it on Kiana.
"Kiana."
Kiana's pupils contracted when she heard that. "Auntie, don't tell me you're planning to say I should..."
"Exactly. We're relying on you."
Theresa spread both hands with complete confidence. "You're now the Herrscher of Finality, the Herrscher of Flamescion, and the Herrscher of the Void... You possess every authority!"
"So in theory, as long as you properly develop the power of the Herrscher of Finality and fully integrate the power of the Second Herrscher—the Herrscher of the Void..."
"You'll have a chance to open a super wormhole spanning millions, billions, or even trillions of light-years, one capable of crossing an entire cosmos!"
Kiana's mouth twitched repeatedly after hearing that.
"Auntie, do you seriously think I can do that?"
"You do realize I still haven't fully understood even a fraction of the Herrscher of Finality's power, right? And the Herrscher of the Void's authority was always used by my other personality, Sirin. Now you're asking me to completely integrate both authorities and open a wormhole spanning trillions of light-years to connect two worlds?"
"Where there's a will, there's a way." Theresa blinked. "More importantly, the old you really did accomplish an impossible miracle and allowed the Current Era to survive Finality's trial."
"Now, all we're asking is for you to master authorities you already possess. You simply need to spend time learning how to use them."
"..."
Kiana fell silent with a miserable expression.
Mei looked at Kiana on her phone screen and smiled gently. "Don't make that face. I'll study with you."
"Bronya still has game development work to handle, but Bronya can supervise your studying remotely." A smile tugged at Bronya's lips.
Theresa crossed her arms. "Theresa will also fulfill an adult's responsibility and properly supervise her niece."
Hua adjusted the glasses on her face. "I'll fulfill my responsibility as class monitor."
Hearing all of this, the Herrscher of Sentience blinked, raised a hand, clenched it into a fist, and gave Kiana an encouraging gesture. "Do your best, Kiana."
Kiana looked helpless. "Hey, all of you! Don't arrange my studying like it's already a done deal!"
...
The call ended.
Inside the study at the New Atra lunar base, Kiana slumped in her chair and stared at the ceiling, letting out a long sigh. Then she remembered that somewhere across the endless depths of space, a civilization might be suffering through the trials of Honkai.
She clenched her fists and encouraged herself.
"Another civilization in another world might still be suffering through the Honkai trials. Kiana, study. Start studying. You can do this!!"
Whoosh.
Kiana drew a deep breath and began studying the theoretical analyses provided by Schicksal and even Anti-Entropy concerning the authority of the Herrscher of Finality and the authority of the Herrscher of the Void.
And so, the God of Earth who had once saved one world began reading on the moon, all so she could save another civilization undergoing the trials of Honkai in a different world.
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