Elysia's plan sounded good in theory, but it was far too difficult to execute.
Kiana's role wasn't to help someone win Noldrei over, but to deal with anyone who tried. She couldn't let them casually attempt to romance him.
What if someone actually succeeded? After all, wasn't Tesla just a hair's breadth away from doing so?
'How could Elysia come up with such a wicked idea? She's such a bad woman!'
Kiana knew she didn't have the power to change the course of the future, nor could she stop the wheels of the dawning Stigma Era. This was no longer a simple plan that could be thwarted by defeating one or two people.
Kiana was keenly aware that this had become a desire of all humanity. Even in her dreams, she could clearly see the overwhelming craving erupting from the collective will of the Stigmata. The sensation was like being watched by billions of pairs of eyes at once.
Elysia's proposed plan was well and good, but its difficulty was on par with Kiana charging into the sky to fight the Cocoon of Finality herself.
Through the relevant education from her Previous Era seniors like Kevin, Kiana knew that aliens, time-travelers, people from other worlds, and espers existed in this world.
In other words, the Cocoon of Finality was just one of the many crises facing the world, and Noldrei was clearly another crisis of a comparable magnitude.
Even though the guy didn't personally wield every ounce of the power he had created, and even though he had gotten this far relying solely on his future knowledge, no one dared to ignore a single word he said, even after he had delegated all his authority.
It sounded absurd, even unbelievable, but that was the reality the current civilization faced.
For the people of Earth, Noldrei, who could casually drop the "Sands of a New Era" on their heads, was far more terrifying than the Honkai, which reaped lives at random.
The former could be rationalized away as a natural disaster, but the latter inspired pure, unadulterated fear.
This was because Noldrei genuinely believed he was human, and only a human could drive other humans to act beyond their fear.
Kiana's feelings toward Noldrei fell somewhere in the space between affection and awe, successfully making her understand just how terrifying the authority of a proper father figure could be.
It was a good thing she hadn't been influenced by any strange new ideologies; otherwise, her first act upon gaining control of Finality would have been to eliminate Noldrei.
While Elysia was trying to help Noldrei find a way to resist the Proliferationist ideology, Kevin and Su hadn't stopped their observations of the Cocoon.
And in truth, they too had hit a bottleneck.
"The transcription of Prometheus has been successfully integrated into Project Stigma for preservation, but our path forward is no longer so easy."
Kevin didn't show much warmth toward his comrades from the Previous Era who now existed as memory data, just as he didn't show much affection for the MEI in the Bubble Universe.
For him, it was simply a matter of walking the path he was meant to walk. There was nothing more to say about it, except that this path was much easier than before.
"I've been wanting to say this for a while, but I'm not sure if it's inappropriate to bring it up now." Su was silent for a long time before he spoke. "I can't shake the feeling that we're no longer warriors executing the Previous Era's plan, but rather hired hands carrying out the Current Era's plan."
Kevin looked at Su in silence, understanding the meaning behind his first sentence.
His stoic face remained impassive as he remained silent for a long moment before saying, "This is reality. We have already lost MEI. Even if we have the memory data of Mobius and the others, without the Fire Moths, we... As the people of this era say, we are just execution machines for an old plan. A plan that failed. We can no longer create another plan to counter the Honkai."
"The current Project Stigma is entirely the creation of people from this era. The role Prometheus-17 needs to play is completely different from the Project Stigma we were supposed to carry out."
Su didn't refute Kevin's words. He was more curious if they should ask Dr. MEI from the Bubble Universe for help.
Considering Kevin's current situation, Su believed the MEI from the Bubble Universe could offer him some assistance.
"Have you truly considered what will happen after the authority of Finality is transferred?" Su asked Kevin a question he couldn't avoid.
Kevin answered calmly, "I should die. I might also live. But most likely, I will die. We know from experiments with Honkai Beasts and pseudo-Herrschers that when a Herrscher kills another Herrscher, they obtain their authority. Therefore, if a human with Herrscher powers kills another human who wields the power of the Herrscher of Finality, they will obtain the corresponding Herrscher authority."
"Perhaps there's a way for an equal transfer, but I doubt such a method would be easy to orchestrate."
Such things did exist in reality. For example, the Core of the first Herrscher was inherited in a relatively stable state. But it still took Welt Yang a very long time to be acknowledged by the core.
If Kevin were to usurp the power of Finality, there would be absolutely no way he could afford such a long grace period for its authority.
But the seizure of authority between Herrschers was a certainty. It was like when two people possessed the same core; the core would gravitate toward the one who could unleash its power more forcefully.
This was why Kevin had to choose to fight the Current Era's human Herrscher.
Only by gaining the recognition of Finality would he be worthy of seizing its power.
The reason Kevin "bowed his head" to the current civilization wasn't just because Noldrei had proposed a more effective countermeasure against the Honkai. It was more because Noldrei had forced Kevin to face a brutal truth.
The Previous Era's plans had, in fact, been completely and utterly annihilated.
The Previous Era had failed to defeat the Honkai.
If Kevin's original Project Stigma had come to fruition, he would have become the Herrscher of Finality.
This meant that the so-called Project Stigma was nothing more than a pledge of allegiance to the Cocoon of Finality, turning a warrior against the Honkai into a so-called Honkai Apostle—a Herrscher.
The Previous Era never truly mastered the Imaginary Space, nor did they ever become masters of the Honkai.
One never heard of a master having to deal with their servant hiding from them.
It was this straightforward reality that had convinced Kevin.
And now, Noldrei's "Second Cocoon," in the course of its implementation, had truly provoked the Cocoon of Finality. It was beginning to emerge from the background, attempting to manifest in reality.
It was descending from a higher dimension, preparing to engage this unorthodox fellow, Noldrei, in a "fair and square, exhilaratingly epic" duel.