Raiden Mei's choice did not surprise Ling Ke.
"Heh."
Inside the spatial gate, within the Theatre of Domination, Ling Ke let out a cold laugh.
"You people are always like this. You think that if you die and get it over with, everything will be solved."
"This so-called sacrifice lets you run from reality while making you feel satisfied with yourselves inside… disgusting."
Ling Ke's cold voice fell into Raiden Mei's ears.
Then…
"But, Miss Raiden Mei."
His eyes sharpened, and he asked in a slow, measured voice, "Who told you that you were allowed to change the rules I set?"
"This…"
Raiden Mei's breath caught.
"If you want to die, then go die."
Ling Ke went on. There was not the slightest trace of feeling in his voice.
Only complete coldness.
And… disgust.
"But since you've gone and spoiled my fun, then next… I'll deal with both sides together."
"You don't want to choose, so I'll force you into a position where you have no choice but to choose."
He looked at the girl before him with a half-smile. "I'm curious. In that situation, who will you go to protect first?"
"Kiana, who still has a pile of problems she hasn't solved and could fall back into the abyss at any moment?"
"Or Raiden Ryoma, whose personal combat strength isn't top-tier, and who only knows some inherited swordsmanship?"
"Oh, right. Kiana is a Herrscher. Maybe she can protect herself."
"And even if she can't, she still has so many companions around her… you can safely 'abandon' the girl who matters more to you than the world."
"No…"
Raiden Mei truly panicked. "Don't do this…"
Every word Ling Ke spoke struck straight where it hurt most.
Every sentence was full of malice.
Unfortunately, the Ling Ke of now was very decisive.
He simply went on speaking. "Then let the game begin."
Inside the spatial gate, he took out his pocket watch again. "Miss Raiden Mei, from this point on…"
"You have one week to make your decision. Plenty of time."
Just as he had done with Cocolia, Ling Ke gave Raiden Mei several days to think.
That alone was a kind of torment.
There was no way she could make that choice.
So…
"Have fun."
The moment the words fell, the spatial gate closed at once.
Only then, once the thing blocking their sight was gone, did Raiden Mei and Raven realize…
all the Billy Puppets of Domination around them had vanished.
As though everything that had just happened had been an illusion.
But clearly…
"You know that man wasn't joking."
At her side, Raven spoke in a low voice. "I've seen people like him before. People whose hearts have been blinded by hatred."
"People like that do things in an utterly insane way."
"And him…"
Raven glanced at the bodies around them. "He's without a doubt the maddest one of them all."
"..."
Raiden Mei gave no reply.
By now, the purple tachi in her hand, the Key of Castigation, had already slipped from her grasp and fallen to the ground.
Her thoughts were in complete chaos. Right now, she could not even hold onto her blade.
For no clear reason…
"I hope that the next time we meet, you'll be happier."
She remembered the blessing Ling Ke had once given her.
Back then, he had been smiling, and his voice had been completely sincere.
But compared to now…
"Have fun."
That was the last thing he had said before leaving.
He remembered.
He remembered everything.
And because he still remembered…
he would not let this go.
Anti-Entropy Headquarters, Salt Lake Base.
Not long after Ling Ke and the Puppets of Domination under his command left Giza, the base received real-time shared intelligence from World Serpent.
The sender was Raven.
Raiden Mei was in very bad shape.
The battle raging inside her had left her utterly exhausted.
So much so that…
"A choice between two? I choose his goddamn bullshit."
Dr. Tesla blew up again.
But she quickly gave her own opinion. "Why do we even have to choose? We just protect both sides."
"Our strength hasn't dropped that far yet… Hey! Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"..."
At that moment, Bronya, Kiana, Fu Hua, and Welt were all present.
Dr. Tesla had just gone off to deal with another round of North American lawmakers, so having only just returned, she still didn't know…
"Dr. Tesla, please calm down. There's another piece of bad news I haven't told you yet."
At the side, Dr. Einstein explained helplessly, "In fact, after the enemy attacked Yellowstone Base earlier and took Cocolia, Kiana and Bronya, who had both come face-to-face with him at the time… can no longer use their Herrscher powers."
"At this point, I'm not just suspicious anymore. I can almost confirm it. The Herrscher of Domination of our era… possesses the ability to seize the powers of other Herrschers."
"What?"
The moment she heard that, Dr. Tesla's eyes flew wide open.
And it was true.
Back at Yellowstone Base, when Ling Ke took Cocolia away, he had deliberately slowed the closing of the spatial gate.
It was during that window that Bronya, in her panic, used the Herrscher of Reason's power, trying to analyze the gate that blocked out everything.
At the same time, Kiana had also made her move in secret. She wanted to use the Void Herrscher's power to pull Cocolia back out after she had already been dragged into the Theatre of Domination.
She had even tried to leave behind her own spatial coordinates inside the Theatre of Domination so she could head straight for the enemy's nest afterward.
But what neither of them could have imagined was that there existed a special power from beyond this world called a system.
The result was simple.
Everything they did came to nothing, while Ling Ke did not miss the chance to seize the powers of these "incomplete Herrschers."
Now, both he and every Puppet of Domination under his command possessed the means to use two Herrscher authorities: the power to understand and recreate, and the power to control space.
And the side effects of using those powers, or rather, the burden of them, would be borne by Bronya and Kiana instead.
"So this is the power of 'domination'?"
Dr. Tesla frowned deeply. "Putting that aside, doesn't the Tenth Herrscher have way too many abilities?"
"Space. Transformation. And now he can even steal other Herrschers' powers."
"This is practically cheating."
She was in an extremely foul mood.
After all, the biggest reason she had to go argue with those North American government officials and lawmakers again today was this: recently, a huge number of Puppets of Domination had been rampaging without restraint all across the world.
By now, the number of casualties caused by them had already reached into the hundreds of thousands.
With those absurdly convenient spatial gates, that group moved as freely as dragons in open water, coming and going as they pleased.
Anti-Entropy had no way to track them.
And even taking ten thousand steps back, so what if they could?
They could not enter the Theatre of Domination.
They could not kill all the Puppets of Domination.
The enemy could always come back again and again.
And their numbers...
seemed to be growing.
Humans, on the other hand, only had one life.
Right now, public opinion across the world was on the verge of exploding.
Including the North American government, the upper ranks of country after country had begun to lose faith in these so-called anti-Honkai organizations.
Official condemnation and public outrage never stopped.
It was easy to see what those politicians were thinking.
They did not want to take the blame.
And they did not want to die for no reason.
So they had started playing the usual game of shifting the contradiction elsewhere.
And on top of that, because Ling Ke's public hunting declaration had been made known during this same stretch of time, quite a few people who cared about their own lives and the safety of their families had chosen to resign from Anti-Entropy.
And now, Bronya and Kiana's Herrscher powers had been taken away as well.
It was trouble on every side.
Then, all of a sudden—
"Beep beep beep~"
The communications device in the meeting room suddenly started ringing.
Dr. Einstein frowned.
She seemed to think of something.
Then, after exchanging a look with Welt and seeing him nod back, she gave a small nod as well.
Under everyone's gaze, she accepted the unidentified call.
In the next moment—
"Everyone, it's been a long time."
An aerial projection screen took shape in the center of the meeting room.
A blond man appeared on it.
He had changed clothes, and his hairstyle was different, but—
"Otto!!!"
Dr. Tesla had no idea how many times she had blown up already.
She started swearing on the spot. "You dog-bred piece of— look at the mess you've made!"
"I swear I'll—%￥＃@!"
Dr. Tesla went absolutely off.
But Otto simply waited in silence through all of it, his expression never changing.
Clearly, compared to Ling Ke, who had long since gone cold and was now driven by nothing but obsession, Dr. Tesla still had lines she would not cross. And because of that, she could never get a rise out of someone like Otto.
And now, because Ling Ke had appeared...
"My old friends, this is not the time for us to keep tearing at each other."
Otto waited until Dr. Tesla had finished cursing herself tired before he finally spoke. "I believe the matter that needs to be dealt with first is the chaos brought about by the newborn Tenth Herrscher."
"He is very different from every Herrscher we have encountered before."
"So..."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, World Serpent..."
"It is about time we begin a true cooperation."