Raiden Mei.
When you traced it all the way back... the initial cause that led to everything was her.
Today, Ling Ke had learned the truth of what happened all those years ago — straight from Cocolia's mouth.
He hadn't expected that the various horrors of the past several years — an unbroken darkness sufficient to drive any person insane — had all originated from a single distrustful emergency call.
Looking back on it now, the irony was almost too perfect.
"Should it be said — this is the arrogance of a transmigrator?"
"Thinking that foresight alone makes you invincible."
"Seeing everyone through preconceived lenses, only to get destroyed by it."
Now, Ling Ke couldn't stop himself from wondering...
If he hadn't been so arrogant back then — if he'd simply chosen to live as an ordinary person and left Nagazora before the disaster.
Let Raiden Mei stay ignorant. Let Cocolia use her as a pawn to trigger the Third Eruption.
Would his fate have been any different?
"Forget it. Thinking about this now only makes it worse."
"What's the point?"
Inside the Theater of Domination, Ling Ke's main body sat alone in a large room styled like an audience chamber, muttering to himself.
He occupied an extravagantly tall-backed throne in the Western medieval style.
Legs crossed. One hand propping his cheek. The other toying with a crimson crystal.
Its name: Plague Gem!
Yes — just last night, after successfully annihilating the entire West Asia Branch and conveniently clearing all the original filth from that grand hall, this thing had appeared before him on its own.
Just as it had in the original HI3 storyline... the key core controlling the Authority of the Herrscher of Flamescion had fallen into the hands of the Herrscher of Dominance.
Only the circumstances now were vastly different from the original plot.
Because——
"I won't be stupid enough to play gift boy."
Ling Ke's objective was crystal clear. "The inherited Flamescion does not need to be reignited."
Next — revenge on everyone connected to his suffering over the past several years.
Otto. Rita. Cocolia. Bronya. Raiden Mei...
Whether unintentional or intentional.
Direct influence or indirect creation.
All of them were his targets.
Ling Ke understood perfectly: moving against these people would draw in even more.
Durandal, who cared about Rita.
Seele, who cared about Bronya.
And... those who cared about Raiden Mei... far too many to count.
He didn't care. No matter who showed up, he would never back down.
From now on, whoever blocks dies.
Of course — just like at the West Asia Branch, people with no direct connection could simply be killed. A clean death, no frills.
As for the principal offenders...
Sorry. If he didn't break them down completely, Ling Ke would not let them go.
Because he was already broken.
He wanted them to feel what he felt.
And if they actually died in the process — he would revive them and keep going.
The man who chose to become the 「World-Destroying Player」 had that power.
So today——
Anti-Entropy's Yellowstone Base.
"Don't be nervous. I won't kill her."
"At least not now."
Inside the underground detention area, the gray-haired girl standing in Cocolia's cell smiled — in a way that was deeply, fundamentally wrong.
She wore the same face as Bronya. Appearance and figure, not a single difference.
But the feeling she gave off right now was something else entirely.
As if a humanoid shape built from nothing but compressed negative emotions was radiating icy malice at everything around it.
"You've all read the materials on me, right?"
"If not — catch up quickly."
The gray-haired girl... this 「Domination Puppet · Dawn of the Silver Wolf」 glanced at Cocolia and sneered. "Rest assured. Until I've determined she's truly repaid every last 「debt」 she owes, I abso~lutely... will not let her die."
The instant her words landed——
"Buzz!"
A Space Gate opened.
Several hands reached out from inside.
Before Bronya and the others could react, Cocolia was dragged through.
At the same time, the Domination Puppet wearing the 「Dawn of the Silver Wolf」 template — still in the form of a gray-haired girl — followed with a light backward jump and slipped through the gate.
"Wait — stop!"
Bronya, the closest, lunged straight for the Space Gate.
After inheriting the Herrscher of Reason's core, the legs that had once lost all feeling were fully restored.
Her reaction time and speed were far from slow.
However...
"Thud!"
She was bounced straight back.
The Space Gate was right there. Right in front of her. On the other side — the Theater of Domination.
She could even see the gray-haired girl standing on the opposite side, wearing a mocking smile.
But this single Space Gate was an insurmountable chasm.
In that moment, Ling Ke — hidden behind the scenes — fully confirmed it: his Theater of Domination, now carrying the 「Respawn Room」 property, could indeed shut out every outside threat.
He didn't close the gate right away.
And it was precisely under those circumstances——
"What are you going to do to Mother Cocolia?"
Bronya had been caught and steadied by Kiana and Fu Hua after being thrown back.
But she couldn't care about herself right now. She scrambled to her feet, stared through the Space Gate at the girl wearing her own face, and asked — desperate.
In response——
"Back then, you dislocated my four limbs and brought me before her. For more than half a year after that — until the Third Eruption hit — I was interrogated continuously by her people. Every kind of torture, applied in rotation. Endless."
"For the next half year, I will return every single thing I endured back then — completely intact — onto her body."
The gray-haired girl, synchronized with Ling Ke's consciousness, grinned. "Back then, I gritted my teeth and endured it... really. It was so, so hard."
"That kind of pain — I haven't forgotten a single moment."
"It's carved into my body. Burned into my mind. Impossible to erase."
At that point in her words, the gray-haired girl's body began to tremble.
A conditioned reflex. Fully formed.
But the expression on her face stayed unhinged.
And her words kept coming——
"So — if Cocolia can endure it too, then after half a year I'll release her. Our score will be settled."
"And if she can't..."
The gray-haired girl smiled. Dangerous. "The remaining debt gets passed to the people closest to her."
"For example: the daughters she claims to love so much... how about that?"
Hearing those words——
"Then let Bronya repay it directly."
Bronya rushed back to the Space Gate, pounding on it. "It was Bronya who did it back then. Let Bronya bear all of it..."
"No no no."
The gray-haired girl's sneer went cold. "We can't give you that kind of 「preferential treatment」."
"You know perfectly well that you're also my enemy."
"Why would I ever do what you want?"
"Here's the thing — the more you don't want to see something happen, the more I want to do it."
"Oh, and — make sure you protect your sisters."
"Because I have a feeling your 「mother」 won't last very long."
Bronya's heart was in total freefall.
She threw herself against the Space Gate, desperate.
Even——
"Clang!"
She activated the Herrscher of Reason's core. Blue light surged across her body as she transformed into that gorgeous formal dress.
Bronya had an exceptionally high IQ. (ps: IQ 180.)
She instantly recalled that Anti-Entropy's database contained combat records of the previous Herrscher of Reason — Welt.
Back in Siberia, facing the Herrscher of the Void's bizarre Authority, he had directly analyzed the spatial barrier Sirin had set up and broken through her defense.
And now——
!!!
It was useless.
Bronya confirmed this in the first instant.
It wasn't that her ability was lacking. It wasn't that her command of the Herrscher of Reason's Authority was unpracticed.
The Herrscher of Reason's Authority simply could not analyze the invisible barrier in front of her.
Bronya didn't know that this was the power of the 「System」.
It represented the 「Absolute」.
For a moment——
"It's useless. Stop wasting your energy."
On the other side of the gate, the gray-haired girl kept sneering. "Also — Kiana classmate in the back. How's the secret spatial linking going?"
"..."
Behind Bronya, Kiana — who had also been quietly channeling her own Herrscher Authority — wore a grim expression.
She was the Herrscher of the Void. Even with another consciousness inside her body preventing full access to her power...
Just like Bronya, Kiana recognized the truth almost immediately:
"Even the complete Herrscher of the Void's Authority couldn't break through this barrier."
She had no idea what the power of the 「System」 was.
So she guessed——
"As expected — the later a Herrscher is born, the stronger their power."
She was calm now. Desperately calm. Searching for any way to crack this.
Then——
"You say you're an avenger."
Kiana asked, serious: "After you've settled this grudge — what exactly do you gain?"
Hearing that——
"Ha. Another one of these stale old questions."
The gray-haired girl's face twisted with disgust. "Very simple."
"I feel refreshed. My thoughts flow freely."
"Unparalleled... satisfaction!"