World Serpent, Main Base
Inside the main base, the administrator, Gray Serpent, looked at the intelligence flashing before him and felt glad he was a cyborg.
If he were a pioneer of the Previous Era with a body of flesh and blood, seeing this intelligence would probably give him high blood pressure right now.
A few days ago, World Serpent members stationed near the Thames River observed something.
After nearly going to war with Schicksal, Su had proactively joined them, bringing the Thousand Worlds with him.
For Gray Serpent, who understood Su's character, he knew that Su's supposed 'madness' was certainly an act.
No matter how much he loathed the traitor who had once betrayed Lord Kevin, he wouldn't lose his reason and start spewing baseless slander about Su.
And Su, in his 'frenzied' state, joining Schicksal with the Thousand Worlds, was not, in Gray Serpent's estimation, entirely a bad thing.
Su and Otto were fundamentally different kinds of people, and their personal interests were clearly in conflict.
That narrow-eyed man, while generally a good person, was...
—unscrupulous when it came to doing good deeds.
Lord Kevin and the traitor Su were closer than brothers, but when Su realized Kevin might have gone mad and was about to execute the Stigmata Project prematurely, he didn't hesitate to lure Kevin to a special battlefield and make his move.
He didn't win because the Lord was too powerful, but that level of decisiveness...
*Sigh, if that damn fool were on our side, we wouldn't have been pushed into such a corner.*
*Now that he's joined Schicksal, if he can suppress Otto's actions to some extent, our World Serpent might be able to get some breathing room...*
*—If I actually thought that, my intelligence would be on par with Jackal's.*
*The fact that this bastard is close with Lord Kevin is one thing, but if he was willing to plot against the Lord fifteen hundred years ago, would he let the Lord out today?*
*Damn it, that son of a bitch must have already contacted the people at Anti-Entropy and told them to keep a close watch on Abyssal City, the 'focal point' of the Sea of Quanta.*
*After all, he is the wielder of the Key of the Void. Once he knows the coordinates of Anti-Entropy's headquarters, teleporting there would be as easy as breathing for him.*
*He could even create a clone with his powers on the spot, and Otto might not even notice that 'Su has left the Thousand Worlds.'*
*With his eloquence and abilities, persuading Siegfried and Welt to watch over Abyssal City wouldn't be difficult.*
*Although those two are at odds with us, World Serpent, they are on humanity's side.*
*If he laid out the Stigmata Project for them, those two idiots would definitely think, 'Oh, this plan is inhumane,' and 'We must watch Abyssal City and not let Kevin out.'*
This is tough.
During this period, Siegfried has used the self-harming Judgment of Shamash Unleashed four times: during the Third Eruption in Nagazora City, the unsealing of Chiyou in Jiuyou, the Fourth Eruption in Singapore, and the battle against Sky Father in England.
And Welt Yang's body has clearly never been in good condition.
But, even if both of them are on their last legs...
With the help of those two girls and their brain chips, it's still basically impossible to win against them.
And Wendy, after being captured by us for so long, has somehow managed to maintain a relatively stable mental state.
That little girl—she even has the nerve to make funny faces!
We've exposed all of Otto's dirty laundry, but after some self-hypnosis, she decided, 'You must have fabricated this dirt to make me despair,' and just ignored the evidence.
Otto—how is he so good at putting on a front!
If all else fails, I'll have to use another method.
No matter how strong Siegfried and Welt are, they have a weakness.
That weakness lies in their 'moral compass.'
Those twins are, in essence, victims.
By adding 'make them appear to be in pain and struggling' to the brain chip's control program, those two will realize they are victims too, which might cause them to hold back during their attacks.
Of course, that's still not enough for me to complete the rest of the plan.
Extracting the gem from Wendy's body is no longer feasible.
So, during the chaos, a disabled Wendy will have to be thrown directly into the Eye of the Deep. It's a gamble.
The Gem of Desire exists in an unstable state within Wendy's body; it hasn't completely disappeared.
So, throwing Wendy into the Eye of the Deep is effectively the same as throwing a Herrscher Core into it.
Gray Serpent had previously considered this method too unreliable, which is why he wanted to extract the gem first.
But now—he has no other choice.
Base after base has been secretly eliminated by Otto. If this drags on, the problem will only get worse.
Right now, the unimportant World Serpent bases have all been sold out by Raven.
And while the remaining important bases are safe for now, given the capabilities of Otto's elite intelligence agents, combined with any clues that might be left behind, none of the remaining bases are safe.
Lord Kevin is certainly powerful, and Gray Serpent believes he can suppress everything upon his return.
But if all of World Serpent's bases are destroyed by Otto, even if Kevin is eventually released, he will have to spend much more time preparing to execute the Stigmata Project due to a lack of manpower and resources.
If everything were normal, Gray Serpent could accept such an outcome.
But now—can this situation still be called normal?
The intervals between the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Eruptions were forty-eight years, fourteen years, and fifty days, respectively.
Just looking at the units of time, Gray Serpent felt like he, a cyborg, was about to suffocate.
The Honkai is accelerating, which means the Cocoon of Finality will arrive much sooner than they originally estimated.
Delay, delay, delay. If we keep delaying, by the time the Lord returns and before he can even have his Chiyou sashimi, Finality will probably be knocking on the door.
It's decided. I'll have Jackal throw everything she has at them—all the serums, all those Death Weavers she's been making.
Deploy enough of 'us,' inject the serums at the same time, and have all the Emperor-class and other forces charge at once.
If Siegfried and Welt don't unleash the power of their Divine Keys, they won't be able to deal with these opponents quickly.
But if they do unleash their Divine Keys...
Siegfried's body will suffer the wrath of the Judgment of Shamash for the fifth time this quarter.
And Welt's already terrible condition will only worsen.
Moreover, if all the Emperor-class beasts self-destruct at the critical moment, it will be enough to endanger their lives.
As long as any part of this plan succeeds, a crippled Siegfried and Welt will no longer be able to stop us from completing our follow-up plans.
The biggest problem now is—the coordinates of Abyssal City!
That idiot Cocolia died without ever getting the coordinates!
While I can't say I gained nothing from our cooperation, that woman... just thinking about her makes me angry every time.
I'll have our comrades within Anti-Entropy keep an eye on their recent movements.
Unfortunately, the conservative faction is truly too conservative in this regard.
Unlike the expansionist Cocolia, the conservative faction is extremely strict in its internal screening.
Of course, it's probably because Cocolia caused so much trouble that the conservatives are even wary of their 'own people' in Anti-Entropy.
And because of that, the supposedly omnipresent World Serpent spies have yet to obtain the specific coordinates of Abyssal City.
Although Gray Serpent could probably figure out the coordinates by continuing to analyze Anti-Entropy's mech movements and other general data, he really doesn't want to delay any longer.
The situation is urgent. He wishes Lord Kevin could get out tomorrow, sweep away all enemies, and then launch the Stigmata Project to save the world.
But speaking of which, that plan that No. 1904 reported to me before seems to have succeeded.
Creating a powerful gene-fusion experiment subject using the blood of the strong...
If it weren't for the low success rate and our lack of time, I would have really liked to see what kind of destructive power this subject could bring about when mass-produced.
Just then, Gray Serpent received a communication through the Gray Serpent network.
"Yes, 1904? I was just about to ask—what did you say?"
"The only successful experiment subject escaped????"
[I know you suspect I let the subject escape, but this time it really wasn't my fault.]
In another base, Gray Serpent No. 1904, having already reviewed the base's surveillance footage, helplessly transmitted the video to the Gray Serpent network.
[This subject actually has the ability to teleport—a power that belongs to the Herrscher of the Void. Who knows how it appeared on her!]
Good news—the created subject is very strong.
Bad news—the subject is too strong and ran away.
[And don't expect me to have installed a tracking device on her. Who could have predicted she would be able to slip away while floating in a nutrient tank?]
"Never mind. Let's drop the matter here."
Although the waste of resources and time annoyed Gray Serpent, his focus right now was still on rescuing Kevin and launching the Stigmata Project.
Everything else was a minor detail. If the subject ran, she ran. He wasn't going to waste more manpower and resources chasing after her.
*Strange, the speed at which this subject awakened its self-awareness is too fast.*
*It feels like...*
*—Could it be that she was guided by something, and that's how she was able to escape?*
...
At St. Freya High School
Within St. Freya High School, Leo Ash, who was on patrol duty today, watched as Stan scratched something on the ground with his paw and roughly understood what he meant.
"So, you're saying you want to move and live somewhere else?"
Hearing Leo Ash's words, Stan nodded vigorously, a hopeful look in his eyes.
"Request denied."
Looking at Stan's expression, Leo Ash said in annoyance.
"I don't have time to go out and feed you cat food every day."
"Meow meow meow meow meow (Boss doesn't have to feed me, I can take care of myself!)"
"Besides, there are many reasons I'm having you stay in the dorm."
"First of all, you are a modified Honkai Beast from World Serpent. Just because I trust you doesn't mean Branch Commander Theresa and Major Himeko do."
"Meow (That's true)..."
"You must operate under their watch. I see this as their 'bottom line.' If you go outside and hurt another student, then..."
"Meow (I don't have the guts)!"
"And also..."
Recalling what had happened before, Leo Ash said to Stan helplessly.
"Kiana needs someone to protect her, and I can't always be by her side."
"You usually look like a little kitten, you're very good at hiding it, so you can act as a surprise weapon at a critical moment."
"Kiana's line of defense isn't me, it's you. And—this is something only I can ask of you, understand?"
Stan really wanted to say, 'She doesn't need my protection at all, she's way scarier than me,' but since the boss had put it that way...
*Sigh, it wouldn't be appropriate to cause any more trouble.*
Even though Leo Ash was looking at Stan with a gentle expression now, Stan still hadn't forgotten the terrifying aura that erupted from him when he threw that punch the other night.
To this day, Stan still felt that aura, completely different from the 'superior species suppressing an inferior' feeling, still made it feel like—the boss was probably the strongest person in the dorm.
He was already living under someone else's roof and being picky... if he pushed his luck one day and got beaten up or even sent to a lab for dissection, that would be awkward.
*Play it safe, play it safe. The boss has already said no, so it's best to just be obedient now.*
At the same time, Leo Ash received a communication from Otto.
"What the hell? My request for a travel tool was denied?"
In the explanation for the denial, Leo Ash saw a sentence written by Otto.
[Rushing into everything will only hurt you—just behave and slack off. We'll discuss this again later.]
*Damn you, you won't even make me the equipment.*
*Crap, everything is accelerating now. Could it be that Otto wants to speed up his plan's progress too?*
*The awakening of the Herrscher of the Void is an event that's supposed to happen two and a half years from now. That bastard Otto...*
*—Could he be planning to move that up and pull something big soon?*
......