Coppelia and Lessing's conversation gradually focused on Columbina.
"Columbina's Lunar Force is completely incompatible with the power of the Abyss." Coppelia raised a practical question. "Assuming you actually succeed in creating an environment dominated by Abyssal power, how is she supposed to survive in it?"
Lessing shook his head. "In fact, even in this current world that has not yet been extensively tainted by the Abyss, Miss Columbina cannot survive for long."
"What do you mean?" Coppelia asked.
"Because the underlying rules of the world itself reject the Three Moons," Lessing explained. "Under the rejection at the world's level, after the original three moons died, theoretically, it is impossible for a new Moon God to be born naturally."
Should not have been born... Indeed, the Eternal Moon is now just a Moon Essence, and the Rainbow Moon's whereabouts are unknown—she held the Authority over life and death, so perhaps she isn't completely dead? And what about the Frost Moon?
Coppelia followed his train of thought. "But Columbina still appeared."
"Her birth was purely a stroke of luck," Lessing said. "However, even if she can exist stably for the time being, her power will be stripped away bit by bit by the world's continuous rejection, until her very existence completely vanishes."
Completely vanish? In her memories, the future Columbina had indeed vaguely mentioned that since her birth, her power had been constantly taken away...
She wanted to immediately ask how to solve this problem, but considering the strategy of stalling for time, she temporarily suppressed this question and asked instead, "Why was she born? What is this 'stroke of luck'?"
Lessing looked at her. "Do you know of the 'Lord of Primal Fire'?"
The Pyro Dragon King? The relationship between the Dragon race and the Three Moons should have been decent before the War of the Funeral Fire, but afterwards, the Dragons' attitude toward the survivors of the Three Moons likely wouldn't be too friendly. How could Columbina's birth be related to the Pyro Dragon King?
Coppelia nodded. "I know. The Pyro Dragon King, Xiuhcoatl."
"'The Lord of Primal Fire,' for unknown reasons, tore apart the remaining power core of the Frost Moon and scattered most of its fragments across the continent of Teyvat," Lessing said slowly. "This directly caused the Frost Moon's Spatial Authority to no longer be complete, leaving it shattered.
"But it was precisely because of this incompleteness that the rejection force from the world's rules against her was significantly reduced. And it was exactly within those scattered, shattered Authorities that a new Moon God was unexpectedly nurtured."
The Pyro Dragon King tore the Frost Moon's core and scattered it across the continent... No wonder the moonstones they found earlier were sparsely distributed in the northern rainforest, southern Fontaine, Chenyu Vale in northern Liyue, and near Old Mondstadt and the Wolvendom to the west of Mondstadt.
No wonder Columbina first appeared on the beach east of Mondstadt, and why sensations of "darkness," "shattering," and "falling" repeatedly appeared in her memory fragments. She had originally thought "darkness" referred to the Primordial Dragon Nibelung who returned with the Abyss, but now it seemed it could also be the Abyssal "darkness" tainted upon the Pyro Dragon King, Xiuhcoatl...
Coppelia cleared up some of her confusion and pressed on, "Where is her remaining Authority? The parts that weren't scattered."
"Right in the hands of the 'Lord of Primal Fire,'" Lessing said. "It tore the core apart, but it did not discard everything."
"In its hands? Why didn't it throw the rest out as well?"
"I do not know," Lessing admitted frankly. "Perhaps it has other uses, or perhaps it cannot be discarded. It is hard for us to speculate."
Coppelia was silent for a moment before asking the question she had temporarily suppressed. "Do you have a way to help Columbina avoid rejection by the world's rules?"
"Of course," Lessing's answer was definite. "Let her become a Khaenri'ahn. Let her become a part of this world. Then, naturally, she will no longer be subjected to rejection from the world itself."
Become a Khaenri'ahn... In the future, it seemed Khaenri'ah used a similar method to write the blond Traveler's blood relative into Irminsul? But this method...
Coppelia asked cautiously, "What effect will this have on her own strength?"
"There will be no negative effects," Lessing's tone was even more certain. "More than that. After becoming a Khaenri'ahn, she can further utilize the Abyss to achieve a higher level of power growth, even surpassing her status as a 'Moon God'."
"Surpass?"
"Even if she possessed the complete Spatial Authority, as a Moon God, the upper limit of her strength would likely only be slightly stronger than ordinary Archons." Lessing looked at Coppelia. "Relying solely on her own power, she cannot even break through the False Sky that shrouds the world. Let alone return to the Frost Moon that belongs to her."
"Is that why you need to gather the power of the Three Moons, and not just control Columbina?" Coppelia asked.
"Correct." Lessing nodded. "Only with the aid of the other two moons will Columbina's Spatial Authority be sufficient to open the passage."
"Furthermore," he continued to paint the picture, "Miss Columbina is currently still a homeless god. If she becomes a Khaenri'ahn, the entire Kingdom of Khaenri'ah will be her home and support. If she misses her homeland on the Frost Moon beyond the False Sky, in the future she can also use the transcendent power brought by the Abyss to travel freely between the world and..."
Coppelia listened to the other party's endless narration of the various "benefits" of becoming a Khaenri'ahn, but in her heart, she was calmly calculating: what question should she ask next to continue dragging out this conversation and buy more time for Suleiman and the others?
But as she listened, extremely faint vibrations came from the sandy ground beneath her feet. The vibrations were slowly increasing in intensity. At the same time, her highly sensitive hearing captured chaotic booming sounds faintly traveling along the winding underground tunnels in the distance, sounding like countless pieces of metal shattering.
Before long, her gaze passed over Lessing's shoulder and profile, looking into the distance. In the shadows of the rock wall at the top of that empty underground space, a Moon Spirit was floating quietly. It saw Coppelia and immediately began to jump up and down vigorously, waving its two long braids urgently in a certain direction.
Suleiman and the others had fought their way here! Even if the main battlefield was still some distance away, they had at least attracted a large amount of the experimental base's defensive forces. Otherwise, this Moon Spirit could not have sneaked here so smoothly without being discovered.
The time had come.
Coppelia withdrew her gaze and looked at Lessing, who had temporarily stopped speaking. The gentle scholar's mask was still worn on his face, as if he were waiting for her response.
"The proposal to let Columbina become a Khaenri'ahn," Coppelia began, her voice echoing in the cavern, "indeed sounds very tempting."
A look of expectation seemed to flash through Lessing's eyes.
Coppelia changed her tone abruptly. "However, I refuse."
The gentle expression on Lessing's face retracted just a little.
"The reason is simple," Coppelia continued. "Two thousand years later, Khaenri'ah will trigger a massive catastrophe because of the Abyss, and in the end... the nation will be destroyed."
Lessing's gaze froze.
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