"???"
Seeing Lucius say something quite extraordinary with an extremely bland expression, Kevin wondered if she had misheard.
"You're saying that this god who holds the power of life and death over humanity and intends to destroy the entire world is actually a lesbian?!"
Looking at the dumbfounded expression on Kevin's face, Lucius nodded.
"Yes."
"..."
Not paying attention to the spectacular expression on Kevin's face, Lucius continued, "Kevin, you are the one that god has chosen, the one who can bear everything it has to offer."
"But unfortunately, you aren't perfect. In that god's eyes, you still have flaws, and therefore cannot fully accept its embrace."
"So according to the predetermined course of history, our generation's civilization will ultimately head toward destruction."
"Leaving only the seeds of civilization to cross fifty thousand years and take root again on this earth."
"In the new civilization fifty thousand years later, the individual most compatible with the Cocoon of Finality will be born. She will embrace the Cocoon of Finality and draw an end to this cycle spanning hundreds of millions of years."
At this point, there was no joy on Lucius's face—instead, it was filled with sorrow.
"It's just that humanity will ultimately survive, but it will have nothing to do with us."
"Because we, including everything from the Previous Era's seven billion people, are all costs that must inevitably be paid."
Kevin understood the general trajectory of the future's development. The future's history was nothing more than a story of passing the torch from one era to the next. But she was still extremely confused.
"So what does this have to do with you turning me into this appearance?"
"Of course it's related, and the connection is huge." Lucius straightened his posture and suddenly asked her a seemingly unrelated question.
"Kevin, do you believe there can be two completely identical flowers in this world?"
Kevin shook her head and replied, "Of course there can't be two completely identical flowers."
Lucius nodded.
"There truly don't exist two completely identical flowers in this world, but there do exist similar flowers."
"They have similar personalities, similar lives, and similar fates."
Hearing Lucius's words, Kevin became confused and couldn't help but furrow her brow.
"So, Lucius, what are you trying to express?"
Lucius crossed his fingers and placed them quietly before him as he explained to Kevin:
"That girl fifty thousand years later who can embrace the Cocoon of Finality is a flower similar to you—in a sense, she can be considered your counterpart."
"What she can accomplish, there's no reason you can't. You yourself also possess the qualification to embrace the Cocoon of Finality, you just have a flaw."
"In other words, if we can eliminate the flaw in you, then we won't need to gamble on the next era. You can take up the divine authority fifty thousand years early and end all of this."
"Thus, the billions of people in this era will all survive."
"Two similar flowers." Kevin murmured to herself. "So the flaw is exactly..."
Kevin suddenly froze. She wasn't a fool—after her thoughts began to diverge, her brain started working.
"Flaw."
"The Cocoon of Finality is a lesbian."
"Becoming a girl..."
Combining this information led to an incredibly unbelievable answer.
The corners of Kevin's mouth twitched slightly as she looked at Lucius, her face unable to help but show an expression of extreme difficulty holding back.
"Lucius, the flaw you're talking about couldn't possibly be..."
"Yes, it's your gender."
"..."
Kevin fell into questioning her entire worldview.
But fortunately, after experiencing all this, her capacity to endure had greatly strengthened, and she quickly adjusted her mentality.
After all, she had already said goodbye to her little brother—compared to that, the behind-the-scenes god controlling everything being a lesbian didn't seem so hard to accept.
"So what do we do now?" After adjusting her mentality, Kevin wanted to know more about how Lucius planned to save the world.
And Lucius already had an answer.
"Wanting to become Earth's god is undoubtedly a very difficult thing. If we start from scratch, it would be even harder—we could even say it's utterly impossible."
"However, if doing homework is difficult, copying homework is much simpler."
"As your counterpart, you just need to follow the life trajectory of that counterpart fifty thousand years later once, and you'll be able to take over the power of the Cocoon of Finality."
"So this is why you turned me into a girl?"
By now, the anger in Kevin's heart had diminished considerably, but hearing Lucius's words still made her rather uncomfortable.
"Just to make me follow another person's life path, to become an imitator of another person?"
Faced with Kevin's complaint, Lucius spread his hands.
"So Kevin, do we have any other way to save the world besides this?"
"I imagine you don't want to watch everyone you care about die in the calamity of Finality, right?"
"..."
"So what do we do next?"
Kevin ultimately didn't object. Compared to a future where friends and family were nearly all dead, becoming a girl didn't seem so hard to accept.
Seeing that Kevin didn't continue to refuse, Lucius also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
His extensive preparations hadn't been in vain—he had finally temporarily achieved his goal. As long as the next steps could be accomplished, he would truly have a chance to turn the tables against the wind.
Thinking of this, Lucius looked at Kevin and said:
"Nagazora City is about to experience a Honkai eruption, and from this a Herrscher will be born. You need to go defeat her!"
"Herrscher?" Kevin was startled, then asked incredulously, "You mean that Herrscher of Finality we just saw?"
She felt that with her current small frame, the only way to defeat that Herrscher of Finality would be to make the opponent laugh herself to death with her ridiculous death.
Lucius shook his head.
"How could I possibly have you fight that Herrscher of Finality right now? You're only going to fight the Third Herrscher."
Kevin breathed a sigh of relief and felt a bit more courage in her heart.
"How strong is that Third Herrscher? I'm not bragging, but I'm pretty brave in a fight."
"Probably only strong enough to wipe out all of East Asia. In the original history, at least several hundred million people died because of this one."
"Only?!" Kevin exclaimed.
"What else?" Lucius looked at Kevin strangely. "It's just an early-game small fry. In the future, you won't even be worthy to carry your shoes."
"In the original history, you fought the Herrscher of Finality all the way to the Moon and even erased imaginary space."
After hearing Lucius's words, Kevin couldn't help but comment.
"You also said that's in the future. Right now I'm just an ordinary high school student—how am I supposed to fight that so-called Herrscher?!"
At this point, Kevin couldn't help but look at Lucius suspiciously and voice a doubt in her heart.
"Also, Lucius, aren't you a regressor? You should know this Herrscher's identity, right?"
"Can't we just control him or her before this Herrscher is born?"
After Kevin voiced her confusion, Lucius suddenly looked her up and down with surprise in his eyes.
"What... what is it?" Kevin felt extremely uncomfortable under Lucius's gaze.
"I didn't expect you to actually think of this idea, Kevin." Lucius was quite moved, feeling like watching a silly roe deer grow up.
Kevin rolled her eyes. "What kind of stupid image do you have of me? Am I a gorilla or something?"
Lucius smiled, then shook his head.
"Unfortunately, that won't work."
"Unless absolutely necessary, I won't interfere with the life trajectories of those Herrscher vessels."
"Why?" Kevin asked with confusion. "Isn't it good to nip the threat in the bud?"
"I could indeed control them before the Herrscher awakens, or even kill them directly. But then what?"
"Without the original vessel, the Cocoon of Finality can still choose other vessels. You should know that every human individual could potentially become its chosen target."
"Since that's the case, it's better not to touch them for now—at least that way we have an intelligence advantage."
"We can use this time to accumulate strength and, when the moment of eruption comes, instantly eliminate the threat, thereby minimizing the disaster."
Kevin sighed. "So what do I need to do?"
"The timing to deal with the Third Herrscher isn't ripe yet, but there are some things we can prepare for in advance."
"Kevin, I want you to go to Chiba Academy and protect someone."
"Who?"
Lucius didn't speak but instead pulled out a photograph.
Kevin looked at the photo and found it showed a girl with short purple hair, wearing glasses, with quite a scholarly aura.
Upon seeing the girl in the photo, her gaze was instantly drawn in.
She covered her chest and found her heart involuntarily beating wildly.
Could this be the so-called feeling of being moved? So-called love at first sight?
But with her palm pressed against her chest, she only felt softness and numbness. A sense of desolation instantly bloomed in her heart.
Kevin realized that now she could only be sisters with this girl.
She looked at Lucius, her eyes full of resentment.