"How lovely..."
Elysia couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy.
"If only my Authority of Origin could be divided up like that too."
It was like solving a tricky problem.
At first glance, it might seem impossible.
But little by little, you break it down, step by step.
Before you know it, you might just find the solution.
But while the Authority of Finality could be split like this...
The Authority of Origin simply couldn't!
Among the fourteen Authorities, the most abstract was the Authority of Origin. The most powerful, naturally, was the Finality.
Elysia simply picked up Kiana and hugged her.
"Kiana~ my dear, sweet Kiana..."
"Could you hurry up and study the Authority of Origin? Once you figure it out, you'll tell me, won't you?!"
"..."
She wanted to copy the answers.
The young Lady of Origin, who'd never been one for studying, found research to be a real headache. Even if it was all about willpower, right now she just didn't have the drive, the burning desire.
It made it really hard to properly activate the Authority of Origin.
Even if you told her she needed to master her power to face the upcoming Third Herrscher. Even knowing full well that she might be the key to helping the Third Herrscher regain her humanity, the crucial factor in her survival.
But!
Without truly being backed into a corner...
She still felt a bit... empty.
Lacking that sense of mission.
But that made sense!
This Elysia was the young Elysia, hadn't experienced much yet, so of course she was still naive.
Kiana brushed off Elysia's pleas with a couple of lackluster replies.
Luckily, her mom had the food ready, so she quickly made her escape.
Leaving Elysia behind, puffing out her cheeks in a pout, adorable as a little pufferfish.
Kiana couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.
"Kiana, while you were asleep, we got calls from Shenzhou, and also from your grandpa, your aunts and uncles... they all asked about you..." Kiana's mom began.
"What about?" Kiana asked between bites, curious.
"Well, basically, countries, organizations, research institutes, all sorts of key locations all over the world have reported missing files to some degree."
Kiana's mom explained.
"They've been investigating back and forth, and in the end, they could only ask you. Because aside from you, who else could possibly pull something like this off? And the surveillance footage from every location shows a hand suddenly reaching out and just taking the confidential files."
"Once they compared the hand shape to yours, they knew it was you."
"So... they wanted me to ask you, what do you need those documents for? And when can you return them?"
"..."
She suddenly looked at Kiana with a mix of amusement and exasperation.
"Looks like a lot happened last night. I've already told them what you did with the files. Mainly, they want to know when you're giving them back."
To put it simply, if you decided not to return them, that would be fine too.
Keeping them here was actually pretty safe.
But if possible, it'd be best to return them.
It's not like they're any use to you anyway.
As for sneaking the files out and letting Vill-V and the others browse through them freely...
No country or organization really wanted to press charges.
After all, the young Lady of Finality was their own little boss. What can you do when the little boss decides to do something?
When you got down to it.
Confidential was just confidential.
For those without the proper clearance, of course it was confidential.
For those with the right status, or those in the know, it really wasn't a secret anymore.
It was all understood.
Kiana had taken those documents with the intention of winning Vill-V over.
Seeing Vill-V now made it clear; she must have had her various personalities switching around last night, and they'd all discussed amongst each other.
They were coming to join her.
Since the goal was already achieved.
She didn't have any other plans.
She told her mom to have those countries and organizations send people to pick the files up themselves. That should settle it.
Who knew if Vill-V had messed up the order of the documents or not.
Anyway, Kiana and the others had no intention of sorting them out for those guys.
When the people from the various countries arrived, they could do it themselves.
She'd start the trouble but not clean it up—that was just her style!
But speaking of which.
The Conductor Vill-V, upon hearing that Elysia and Kiana were going to Nagazora City...
To oversee the Third Eruption...
She wanted to tag along.
After some tests, she found her Honkai resistance was pretty good, so she could afford to be a little adventurous.
Reading countless reports was nowhere near as good as seeing it with your own eyes.
She wanted to see a Herrscher, to witness a real Great Eruption.
Mobius originally hadn't planned on going to the front lines in Nagazora.
But the moment she heard Kiana was going, she rushed back the very next day.
Saying, wait! Count me in.
She wanted a spot on the team too.
Though her purpose wasn't just to observe.
If possible, she wanted to collect data and information on-site, even gather samples from stronger Honkai beasts for future experiments.
And what if she couldn't handle it?
Well, isn't the young Lady here?
You went as far as to 'preserve' me in the future, surely you can help me with this little thing, right?
What could Kiana say to that?
Alright, alright, fine~ I'll help you, okay?
Kiana remembered that the Third Herrscher's accompanying Honkai beast, Sesha, was the source of Snake's future fusion genes, right?
Sesha itself had a serpent-like form.
You could only say those two were a perfect match.
It's worth noting that not every Herrscher has an accompanying Honkai beast. But those Herrschers who do have one tend to be much more troublesome.
Because.
The accompanying Honkai beast is usually Herrscher-level itself.
Which means you not only have to face the Herrscher, but also this thing. Fighting one Herrscher is tough enough; two Herrscher-level opponents is truly hard to handle.
Although not every accompanying Honkai beast is a Judgment-class.
Without exception, they are generally on par with the Herrscher they accompany.
So, the strength of the accompanying Honkai beast can indicate the strength of the Herrscher.
You can even infer some of the Herrscher's Authority from the beast's characteristics.
Forget about any deeper applications.
The surface level is enough.
Because if a Herrscher could utilize their Authority on a deeper level...
Well, humanity would probably be done for.
A while back.
The Far East and the coastal regions of Shenzhou had already begun large-scale evacuations.
The Far East started the earliest, while Shenzhou was a bit later.
Even so, the atmosphere was tense, filled with alarm.
Making everyone nervous.
Online, offline, face-to-face, or otherwise, all sorts of theories and rumors were constantly circulating.
If it was like this around Kiana, here in Sapphire City, you can imagine what other places were like.
Even though the great northwest of Shenzhou was vast and sparsely populated, it was still a lot to handle. Suddenly relocating hundreds of millions of people there...
Even if it was temporary...
The strain on transportation, the pressure on supplies, was immense.
The management pressure was huge.
And housing everyone was, of course, extremely difficult.
It felt overwhelmingly crowded all of a sudden.
Noisy and chaotic.
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T/N: The Previous Era's Third Herrscher's Accompanying Honkai Beast is unknown. While it is the one that Mobius used for her MANTIS surgery, the name isn't on the empty ahh wiki.
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
20+ advanced chaps on my patreon.
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.