Everyone returned to the Flame Chasers base. Kalpas and Aponia came along as well, and the sanatorium's children were also relocated here. After all, they were going to use Fenghuang Down to control those higher-ups—so security wouldn't be a problem.
"Mei? …No, that's not it, but she really looks like her."
When Kiana saw Mei, she almost mistook her for someone else. But she quickly realized that Raiden Mei and Mei had completely different vibes.
As a genius, Mei's eyes held a kind of wisdom Kiana couldn't understand—something Raiden Mei simply didn't have.
"Kiana-san, have you met someone who looks a lot like me before?" Mei asked with interest.
Her attitude toward her bloodline descendants was relatively gentle. Even if many generations had passed, she could still sense a familiar aura.
How to put it… Kiana's temperament made Mei feel a little nostalgic. Back when she was a student, Kevin was probably like this too.
"Yeah, she really does look like you. We met at Chiba Academy—Mei is my best partner," Kiana nodded.
Mei and Kevin exchanged glances. They had also met each other at Chiba Academy. How was it that a junior from fifty thousand years later had studied there too?
"Reincarnation…?"
Mei thought to herself that something like this happening definitely wasn't a coincidence—it had to be the result of three special cycles.
To pull off something on that level… it was probably only the Honkai.
Herrschers were growing stronger and stronger, and there had to be a final—also the strongest—Herrscher. That one might even possess the ability to loop the entire Earth.
Humanity's "sprout" might only exist once. The difference between two worlds separated by fifty thousand years probably lay in the changes that occurred after the "starting point" began.
The Honkai's history was extremely ancient. It likely descended upon Earth long ago. Before their era, there may have been eras frighteningly similar to theirs—only, those eras failed.
If Koji could read minds, he'd probably sigh in admiration. As expected of Mei—she could piece together this much in an instant. She truly was a genius standing at the peak of the planet.
"If we go by the original history, this era ultimately failed, right?" Mei said calmly.
She wasn't like those idiots in high positions who only cared about immediate benefits. She didn't hold much hope for humanity defeating the Honkai.
Kiana thought for a moment. "In our era, we call this time the Previous Era. We can only learn about some of what happened here by exploring ruins."
"Against the final Herrscher, Kevin back then was humanity's strongest warrior. Only by combining that with the top-tier technology you developed, Mei, did you manage to force the final Herrscher to crash for half a day. You still couldn't kill It," Koji added.
"Half a day…?"
Kevin's voice turned bitter.
He knew that if he survived to the end and faced that Herrscher, his strength would have grown tremendously.
But even then… it still wouldn't be enough to resolve the final Herrscher.
Which meant that after half a day, the final Herrscher would wipe out this civilization.
Mei started thinking. Kevin becoming the strongest warrior surprised her a little—but she could accept it. After all, he was her man.
What truly shocked her was just how strong the final Herrscher had to be.
"What Authority did it have?" Mei asked curiously.
That Herrscher's Authority had to be terrifying.
"Loop the planet, erase civilizations, reset everything back to the earliest beginning. Its Authority is the power of time."
"Besides that, the Authorities of the Herrschers that appeared before it can also be used freely."
Koji couldn't help but marvel. The Herrscher of Finality wasn't just a stat monster—it was a mechanics monster too: endless Honkai energy, plus all kinds of ridiculous rule-breaking tricks.
"Time… yeah, that really would be hard to defeat," Mei nodded.
The Authorities they'd encountered so far still fell within the scope of physical rules. But time… unless you used time itself to fight time.
"Sirin, did you know Herrschers could have something like that?" Kiana asked.
Kiana might have been bad at school, but she'd read some novels and manga. She knew exactly how absurd time powers could get.
"I didn't know. But… if it's a god, isn't having that kind of power perfectly normal?" Sirin didn't find it hard to accept.
To her, gods were unfathomably powerful by definition.
"Thank you for sharing this information," Mei said, rubbing her brow.
Knowing this put a lot of pressure on her.
Not only did they have to deal with the Herrschers of the present—they also had to start planning for the final decisive battle.
"Vill-V, you leaving this time has made some people up top want you dead. Cocoon might come looking for you," Mei said, turning to Vill-V.
Even geniuses—if they couldn't be controlled—were, to some people, safer as dead geniuses.
Both Mei and Mobius had been targeted for assassination by Cocoon as "unstable factors," but they dodged it. After that, there were no further attempts.
"Let them come. We'll see whether I deal with them first, or they kill me first," Vill-V said with disdain.
Now she had Fenghuang Down. That gave her plenty of room to operate—turning the Flame Chasers into a one-woman show wouldn't be a problem.
"You're planning to move against the higher-ups?" Mei asked in surprise.
This room was her territory—there were no bugs here, so they could speak freely.
Anyone who could become a high-ranking official in the Flame Chasers had backing. Their status in their respective nations was not low.
Pull one thread, and the whole web moves. If they completely fell out with those people, everything could become uncontrollable.
"Yeah. I have Fenghuang Down now. I can go straight for their minds—no need to play nice. But I need the locations of every single higher-up," Vill-V said, spreading her palm.
A pale pink feather floated above it.
"An item related to consciousness, huh… then yeah, that can work," Mei nodded. The feasibility of the idea was extremely high.
She'd never cared about those higher-ups. As long as they didn't go too far, she could let them keep sitting in those seats for now.
"Cocoon definitely knows where the higher-ups are. Bring that Sakura over—the pink-haired woman," Koji said.
Those higher-ups weren't necessarily harmonious with each other. Scheming was inevitable. They might have even hired Cocoon to assassinate one another.
"That pink-haired assassin?" Mei wasn't unfamiliar with her.
After all, Sakura had tried to assassinate Mei—only to be stopped by Kevin, who arrived in time.
"Can she really be trusted?" Kevin frowned.
No matter what, that was the person who tried to kill his girlfriend. It didn't feel safe at all.
"Kevin, don't worry about me. Since Koji said so… in the future, we'll probably be comrades-in-arms, right?" Mei smiled and shook her head.
"No wonder it's you. You really are smart."
Koji almost wanted to give her a thumbs-up. Mei's intelligence was genuinely insane.
Mei had heard praise like that countless times. She simply returned a smile—no smugness, no self-satisfaction.
With Mei saying that, Kevin had no objections. He trusted Mei completely.
(End of Chapter)
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