Benares had no idea that Schicksal's ultimate victim was about to strike back hard.
She only felt herself getting entangled by this viscous, inescapable power when facing Shigure Kira.
That power didn't seem like a simple Herrscher authority. It was more like an authority intercepted from the Sea of Quanta, or perhaps something learned from Sa.
'If that guy saw this, he'd definitely be shocked, right?'
The first person Benares thought of wasn't her own queen. She already knew what kind of brain her queen had. The first person Benares thought of was actually Noldrei, the one who had taken her down back then.
'To be able to decipher the power structure of the Second Cocoon in such a short time... so the Honkai can also advance by using human civilization?'
The existence of the Second Cocoon wasn't some top-secret plan.
To be able to obtain the knowledge of the Venus civilization from the Second Cocoon and bestow it upon Shigure Kira with quantum attributes showed that the Cocoon of Finality's learning ability was far superior to Sa's original body.
Benares still didn't know that the reason no one had come to save her, besides her unsuitable identity, was mostly because they wanted to see how much of the Cocoon of Finality's authority Shigure Kira could bring out.
The Flame-Chasers of the Previous Era were also watching the situation on the field.
Even Vill-V had never imagined that MEI's plan would be completely dismantled like this.
The appearance of this Herrscher, Shigure Kira, signified the complete bankruptcy of the Previous Era's work regarding the fixed number of Herrschers.
Elysia watched Benares fighting in the field.
She was both curious about Benares's ability to carefully protect the city's human environment and pleasantly surprised that after the authority of the Herrscher of Origin was transferred, the mechanism of the Cocoon of Finality had indeed changed.
The authority of Origin lay in intermediation, and in the process of transfer, there would inevitably be a power vacuum.
Before Durandal fully inherited the authority of Origin, the Cocoon of Finality would definitely try to create a qualified Herrscher.
Fortunately, Prometheus's backdoor mechanism was still effective, and the conditions for creating a Herrscher hadn't changed.
"Kevin, the authority displayed by the Cocoon of Finality is consistent with human civilization's understanding of the world. The Cocoon of Finality actually can't directly use Herrscher powers that would crush human civilization. How interesting... It seems it really intends to come down and have a fair fight with Noldrei."
The "fair" in Elysia's words carried no sarcasm. The Cocoon of Finality's current actions displayed just that.
But these words made Kevin suspicious.
Kevin said doubtfully, "If the Cocoon of Finality can feel human emotions, the changes between civilizations, and the flow of consciousness, then it can certainly understand our 'schemes' and will also use deception to fight us. But why? Why would this happen? It's completely..."
"Beyond MEI's expectations, isn't it?" Mobius had never heard of anything so absurd.
To be able to force the Cocoon of Finality to disguise itself and resort to human tactics like deception meant that the Cocoon of Finality had been pushed to a corner, mechanically speaking.
"The Second Cocoon, Sa's power... The Cocoon of Finality has learned from the Venus civilization's way of using the energy of the Sea of Quanta and then bestowed an incredible authority. But is this really possible?"
Mobius observed the characteristics of the power displayed by Shigure Kira in the field.
It was using the Sea of Quanta to reconstruct the characteristics of the Second Cocoon, thereby creating a special product similar to a Cocoon.
The Cocoon of Finality was competing with Noldrei for something called time. It wanted to hide this power before Noldrei discovered it, creating a power that could infinitely replicate the Cocoon itself.
Elysia silently watched the unexpectedly born Herrscher.
She seemed to see Finality finally realizing the limits of its own will and the end of its disempowerment caused by the cage that had descended from the Previous Era.
"Could it be that... the Cocoon of Finality wants to create its own kind?"
An unexpected idea was voiced by Elysia, but she couldn't imagine the Cocoon of Finality having such a thought.
"That's as terrifying as a madman. Hahahahaha!" Mobius couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"A Cocoon of Finality without civilization is as silent as if it doesn't exist, but with civilization, it has to rely on the life within that civilization to create its Herrschers. And yet, in this situation where it's blocked from both ends, it still wants to create another Cocoon of Finality? Isn't the Cocoon of Finality itself mad?"
'This isn't something to laugh about, is it?'
Griseo, who had just returned, didn't understand what everyone was talking about. Just hearing that the Cocoon of Finality wanted to complete its own replication was terrifying enough for her.
"Is it funny?" Su said with a solemn expression. "This also means that the Cocoon of Finality has borrowed the characteristics of the current civilization and is trying to use them to feed itself. If that's the case, our struggle with Finality will truly become an eternal cycle."
How was this something to be happy about? This was completely terrifying, okay?
Humanity used Proliferationism and geneticism to create Honkai compensation and completely eradicate their genetic weakness against the Honkai.
But the Cocoon of Finality was no fool either. It seized the last opportunity to create a power that could create a new Cocoon.
The victory Noldrei brought to humanity was not only countless benefits, but also a more powerful opponent. And this opponent wasn't even using its own methods; it was using methods learned from humanity.
Elysia felt that the Cocoon of Finality did show signs of madness, but since she had already handed over the Herrscher of Origin, she no longer had the ability to interfere with the Cocoon of Finality's actions.
"Even if you say that, Su, we can only barely see this power from the Sea of Quanta in Shigure Kira. And what's more, this power of hers has no origin at all. Look at that fruit knife in her hand. No matter how many times she uses it, it shows no signs of breaking. The power in her hands can already make a fruit knife display the power of a Divine Key."
Elysia felt that in this state, there was no way to defeat Shigure Kira in terms of pure power.
It was truly strange. No one had expected the Cocoon of Finality to pull such a move.
It had created a power that could replicate itself.
"What a strange feeling..."
Kevin sighed at the unpredictable turn of events. He didn't know what expression to make in the face of the current situation.
Could it be that the new civilization's ideology that Noldrei had created had somehow seeped into the Will of the Honkai?
Cocoon of Finality, you can't just learn everything, can you?