In truth, while Kali meticulously prepared for Operation Cold Wave, she didn't spend all her free time simply lounging in the high-pressure depths of the sea.
After obtaining a small blood sample from the two Mobius, she conducted some fascinating experiments.
For instance: Could MANTIS hear ultrasound and infrasound, unlike ordinary humans?
And another: Was the spectrum of light visible to MANTIS wider than that of ordinary humans?
Well, the truth was, Mobius had already conducted most of these experiments herself.
The relevant data existed within her Remembrance.
However, Kali, ever cautious, decided to verify each one in the current era.
Today, after being converted into the foundational components of various contingency plans, that data was finally put to use.
Crack... crack... crack...
BOOM!
In the deep sea, facing the massive ice sphere—tens of kilometers in radius—that Kevin had forged with Might, Kali shattered it with Wit.
Yet, despite her temporary escape, she felt no sense of relief.
"Alright, let's proceed... switching to the next contingency plan."
Kali's gaze hardened.
She absolutely could not die here.
There was something that had always troubled Kali.
The sheer volume of data within Sim Mobius's Remembrance was simply overwhelming.
Even with her immense computational power, it had taken her a long time to slowly digest it all.
The reason she valued Mobius's Remembrance so highly wasn't just because of the vast amount of advanced knowledge it contained. There was another, far more important reason.
Namely: Sim Mobius had seen "God."
Recently, after gradually absorbing the massive data from Sim Mobius's Remembrance, Kali had finally reaped immense rewards—all without having her mind scrambled like a certain three-year-old lady.
She now knew "God's" true name.
She knew that "God" had countless forms and infinite incarnations.
She knew of the Theater of Domination and the Elysian Realm.
She knew of the destroyed Old Days (the Current Era).
She knew that "God" had once been human, hailed by the Time-Reverse Descendants as the true One Who Ascends to Godhood.
And so...
Kali's faith in "God" grew even more fervent.
First, she had learned that the current era had originally been utterly destroyed, reduced to a distant memory from over fifty thousand years ago.
It was only through "God's" vengeance that it had been rekindled.
Of course, to the current Kali, whether others lived or died was irrelevant. But... her family, sacrificed as consumables due to the Honkai Cult's selfish schemes and the greed of those in power... and even she herself... had essentially been granted a second life because of "God."
"God" had truly achieved both "Destruction" and "Creation."
Building on this foundation...
It was crucial to remember that within India, the caste system was deeply entrenched.
Almost no one could break free from it.
Having been influenced by the caste system since childhood, Kali... after learning of Ling Ke's past, could truly appreciate how monumental an achievement it was to ascend from human to god.
It could only be said that the young girl hadn't read enough fantasy stories. She had no concept of what a "cheater" was.
Admittedly, Kevin and his group had encountered such things before, but they didn't understand the fundamental nature of anything related to Ling Ke.
However, from Kali's perspective, Ling Ke was a supreme being worthy of infinite reverence, one she desperately longed to meet in person.
And because of this...
Her hatred for the "Blasphemers" of the past grew even more intense.
Raiden Mei, Cocolia, Bronya Zaychik, Rita Rossweisse, Otto Apocalypse...
Especially the first and last on that list.
Both he and she were enemies who had inflicted immense suffering upon her.
Honestly, if Kali hadn't received certain "revelations" from the unseen world, leading her to believe that following Raiden Mei was the only way to truly meet "God," she would never have dispatched a "Spawn" to shadow her enemy and see her through this final journey.
And today...
While Kali was engaged in a battle of wits, not brawn, with Ancestor Kevin in some undersea region, Raiden Mei had finally reached her "final destination" as planned.
For now, however, the focus shifts away from her.
Inside the Stellaron Train.
"Congratulations, Kiana. You've earned your 'freedom'."
After briefly checking on Kali and confirming that the distraught young woman had plenty of emergency measures at her disposal, Ling Ke turned his full attention to the "grand drama" about to unfold before him.
At that moment, the white-haired girl, who had been panting heavily against the Observation Car's window, had finally caught her breath.
Ling Ke was clearly adhering to the "rules" he had set.
Now, he "thoughtfully" released Kiana from her forced shrunken state.
Instantly, the white-haired, blue-eyed girl retreated several steps, putting distance between herself and the gray-haired youth in her line of sight.
It was clear she was utterly exhausted.
Mentally and physically drained.
Otherwise, with her current level of vigilance, she wouldn't have merely stepped back; she would have leaped away repeatedly.
Ling Ke paid no mind to these details.
Still smiling, he gestured toward the door leading from the Observation Car to the isolation room. "You've made your choice and won the right to choose."
"From now on, do as you please."
Hearing him say that...
"Are you really letting me go?" Kiana asked tentatively.
A deeply unsettling feeling inexplicably arose within her. She had stood firm and overcome Sirin, who had been ready to compromise with the man before them. So why... why was her heart now pounding in her throat?
Yes, she was even more nervous now than when she had been wrestling with Sirin in her consciousness.
Most importantly...
"With Sirin's personality, she'd actually agree to be someone's pet?"
Kiana found the idea utterly bizarre.
When she mentally questioned Sirin about it, the latter merely let out a cold snort and fell silent.
Hilarious. You pulled the same stunt earlier. As if you're the only one who knows how to play the silent treatment game.
Sirin genuinely didn't want to speak.
That idiot Kiana had failed to see the truth, wasting a golden opportunity to "ascend to heaven in a single step" with ease...
Wait.
The realization dawned on Sirin.
Did I really just lose to her in a contest of wills?
I mean... even though I'm no longer the Herrscher of the Void, I'm still a Pathstrider. Logically, my mental might should be far superior to Kiana's.
So why...
"Perhaps giving up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity isn't such a bad thing after all," Sirin began to console herself.
After all, if this "great opportunity" ended up benefiting Kiana instead of her, with Kiana reaping all the rewards... she would be just as furious.
Ling Ke knew that at this point, Sirin hadn't been defeated by Kiana in the Thousand Arc as she was in the original Honkai Impact 3rd storyline. Therefore... she simply didn't acknowledge Kiana as her equal.
She would never utter the line: "Do your best. Struggle until the very end!"
Naturally, she was even less likely to say, as she did after the final chapter, across the river of time to the Kiana about to become the "God of Earth": "Well done!"
And for that very reason, Sirin had no intention of sharing the crucial information she possessed with Kiana.
She deliberately withheld the identity of the gray-haired youth... the master of the Stellaron Train.
"He was so casual about it, dropping all those hints without a care," Sirin thought scornfully, unbeknownst to Kiana. "What an absolute idiot."
With that, she settled into the role of a mere spectator, observing the outside world indirectly through Kiana's eyes.
By now, Kiana had received the gray-haired youth's approval and pushed open the door to the isolation room. The side door of the Observation Car had also slid open.
But...
For some reason, Kiana felt an overwhelming sense of terror emanating from the open doorway before her. It was as if stepping outside would lead to the immense regret the gray-haired youth had warned her about.
Outside the train was hell.
"Huuu..."
Kiana took a deep breath, believing she was now mentally prepared.
And so, she stepped forward...
...and out of the Stellaron Train.
Back when she was just a half-baked B-Rank Valkyrie, she'd dared to leap from the sky without any landing gear, straight onto the Selene. Now, the Stellaron Train hovered only a few dozen meters above the ground.
This was nothing.
Fwoosh!
Kiana landed perfectly in a "superhero landing" amidst the snow-dusted mountain forest.
And in that very moment...
Krak-ka!
Lightning flashed in the distance.
Kiana's attention was instantly drawn to it. At the same time, the overwhelming sense of dread in her heart surged to its absolute peak.
Meanwhile, aboard the Stellaron Train...
"And so..."
Inside the Observation Car, Ling Ke stood by the massive window, gazing outside. "Red Cape has arrived!"
A slight smile touched his lips as he repeated, "Red Cape has arrived!!!"
Elsewhere, at the heart of the swirling thunderstorm...
A purple-haired girl, already collapsed to her knees and struggling desperately, felt a pair of dark red oni horns slowly begin to sprout from her forehead.
In this moment, Raiden Mei was desperately clinging to her self-awareness.
She had reacted instantly, knowing exactly what was happening to her.
Kiana... was nearby.
Unwittingly, Kiana had triggered the Herrscherization Curse within Mei.
Why is Kiana here?
Mei, who had just seen a familiar figure leap from the Stellaron Train, would never get an answer to that question. Or rather, the "her" of this moment would never get one.
Now, all she could do was battle against the overwhelming influence of the Cocoon of Finality.
Ling Ke was undoubtedly malicious.
He knew that within the current Cocoon of Finality, just as Prometheus No. 17 existed with its "reconnect after reboot" function, so too did the blessing of humanity left behind by Elysia.
Therefore, he had forcibly severed all such connections for Raiden Mei's Herrscherization process alone.
This was one of his ironclad Rules.
Absolutely unchangeable.
And now, because of Kiana's uncompromising pursuit of "freedom," Mei had passively met the activation conditions for the Herrscherization Curse. So... she could only endure.
Endure the bitter consequences of her own past arrogance.
Endure the consequences of her (Kiana's) choice.
The silver lining in this misfortune was that she was, after all, still a Pathstrider of Nihility.
Even if she had walked this treacherous and ominous path more through luck (or ill fortune) and the vast karmic weight of the Current Era's decline and eventual annihilation...
The Power was real.
Unfortunately...
If she had stepped onto the Path of Nihility through her own strength, she might have been able to suppress her Herrscherization, or even reverse this forced transformation.
But "stumbling into" and "stepping into"... a single word's difference was a world apart.
Right now, Raiden Mei was already using all her strength just to resist.
She knew she would never have the chance to fulfill her final wish, to speak the apology she should have said long ago.
So...
With great difficulty, she turned her head, and while she still clung to her humanity, she looked at the Bloody Little Snake coiled around her neck.
"Kill... kill me!"
She didn't want to harm anyone else.
She didn't want anyone else to die because of her.
Yet, what she saw in its gaze was...
The Bloody Little Snake revealed a chillingly human-like sneer.
"No."
It spoke human words, a low whisper like a demon's, completely shattering the purple-haired girl's last shred of hope. "I will only welcome you, Raiden Mei..."
"Because from now on, you are also my kin (a believer of God)."
"!!!"
The moment she heard those words, Raiden Mei's eyes widened.
But immediately after...
Bzzzt~
Her mental defenses, as fragile as glass, completely shattered.
Her gaze had already changed.
No longer clear.