Kiana didn't mind sharing her past.
Then again, as the Herrscher of Finality, she had become the "God of Earth" in every sense of the word.
It was a title, certainly, but it was also a heavy burden.
To resolve the Honkai, Kiana had no choice but to keep a lonely vigil on the moon, spending her days and nights accompanied only by that desolate, icy, and barren world.
If she had a choice, who wouldn't want to stay on Earth, spending every day with the people they cared about?
But Kiana couldn't. Even with video calls, they could never compare to the real thing.
Besides, both Mei and Bronya had their own affairs to attend to. How could they ever find enough time for long conversations?
So, at the end of the day, Kiana spent most of her time on the moon in solitude. She never spoke of it to others, though; there was no point.
She couldn't very well ask Mei and Bronya to move to the moon, and she couldn't go down there herself. Speaking up would only make those she loved worry.
But now, things were different.
Coming to this world through her consciousness, she was separated from Earth and the Solar System by an invisible chasm.
Here, Kiana didn't have to worry about a thing. Even if she told her worries and troubles to this "other self" and this Madam Herta it wouldn't matter at all.
Here, she was just an ordinary girl whom nobody knew. Her very body had been handcrafted for her by her other self.
She was no longer the god of a civilization; she could go wherever she pleased without worrying about Honkai energy leaks or infections. The situation was fundamentally different.
Because of this, Kiana felt no psychological burden when it came to storytelling.
However, because the history of the Honkai was so complex and vast—stretching back fifty thousand years to the Previous Civilization—Kiana kept her account relatively brief.
She went into detail regarding her own perspective, but the experiences of Mei, Bronya, and the others were glossed over.
When she heard that the Honkai was a trial directed at civilization, growing in strength alongside its development, and learned of the mechanism of constant cycles and screening, Herta's brow furrowed involuntarily.
This thing called the Cocoon of Finality sounded incredibly powerful based on the description. But the sheer depravity of its actions was directly proportional to its power.
Kiana wasn't exactly a scholar, so she couldn't clearly explain many of the more technical research details. But based on the intelligence gathered from her words alone...
Worlds plagued by this so-called Cocoon couldn't even find the release of death. They were forced into cycle after cycle of living and dying, dying and living.
It felt even more chilling than Nanook's destruction of worlds. No wonder this 'Finality Kiana' fellow was so cautious, terrified of any interaction between the powers of the two sides.
Given the behavior of a Cocoon that wouldn't hesitate to crazily destroy and restart the world over and over just for the sake of some "screening," that thing might truly wipe out this entire world and start from scratch just to eliminate any interference in its testing grounds.
Still...
"To think you actually passed the test of that Cocoon. It seems you have some extraordinary qualities yourself."
Herta's perception of Kiana underwent a complete transformation. From those few fragments of information, Herta could roughly imagine what kind of piece of work that Cocoon was.
To emerge victorious from such a trial, this girl named Kiana definitely had something special about her.
If she were in this world, Herta felt she might be someone like that woman Acheron—someone who could carve her own path to the level of an Emanator through sheer force of will.
"Haha... I guess I did okay. It's mostly because I had everyone supporting me. I never could have done it alone."
Kiana scratched her head and gave a goofy, simple smile.
How should she put it? After learning about Herta's achievements and personality, being acknowledged by such a person actually made her quite happy.
"It's just a shame I can't study that Honkai energy. It sounds like a very interesting power."
A look of genuine regret appeared on Herta's face.
After all, the gateway was held by 'Finality Kiana,' and based on Herta's understanding of her, she certainly wouldn't let Herta study it easily. Thus, she could only shake her head and sigh.
Fortunately, 'Finality Kiana' had promised that when she went over there, she would provide a remote broadcast of her research. That would have to suffice for now.
Furthermore, the world Kiana came from also possessed the theory of Imaginary Numbers and even something called the Sea of Quanta. Was this a result of Zandar putting forward the Imaginary Tree theory here?
Herta shook her head. Such unfalsifiable conjectures were pointless. But she was becoming increasingly curious about that other world.
She currently resented the fact that Kiana wasn't a scholar. If she had been even a common researcher, she could have at least hauled over some academic findings to explain.
Instead, as it stood, Kiana knew nothing beyond a few shallow terms and definitions—ask her anything specific, and she was clueless.
Herta felt a sense of despair regarding Kiana's academic abilities.
Even the dullest person should at least be able to master the basic theory of Imaginary Numbers by this age, right? How could a human be this dim?
Seeing Kiana breaking into a sweat under her questioning, Herta realized she really wasn't going to get anything more out of her. She finally let her off the hook.
Instead, she turned her gaze toward 'Finality Kiana,' who had been watching the drama unfold from the side.
"Speaking of which, the body you're using now belongs to Kiana, right? Which means your current body also contains the exact same power of the Herrscher of Finality as hers?"
"..."
'Finality Kiana's' face stiffened. She immediately had a bad feeling. How did the fire end up spreading to her?
At the mention of this topic, Kiana also became interested. She stroked her chin and looked at 'Finality Kiana' with curiosity.
"Now that you mention it, that's true. You clearly have the exact same power as me, but when you appeared in my world back then, the Cocoon didn't react at all. Why was that?"
Logically, the Cocoon kept track of everyone who had overcome the trial.
Those who failed or only made it halfway were also few. For a new Herrscher of Finality to suddenly pop up, the Cocoon shouldn't have been completely unresponsive.
"...I don't know. Maybe because my aura is identical to yours, the Cocoon's scanning mechanism identified me as you."
After all, the character card provided by the system was an exact duplicate. Unless she failed her performance, she looked the same no matter how one sliced it.
Of course, it was also possible that the system had stepped in and blocked the Cocoon's gaze. 'Finality Kiana' felt the latter was more likely.
Her imitation was something even an Aeon would have to look closely at to discern; theoretically, it should have been detectable.
"Never mind whether the Cocoon noticed. I noticed. Let me study it for a bit."
Herta hooked her finger toward 'Finality Kiana,' her eyes practically screaming "I'm very interested."
Kiana opened her mouth to speak but hesitated.
In the grand scheme of things, if a genius from this world could actually help, it would surely be a massive boon for them. But the risks were also worth considering.
'Finality Kiana' reached out and pushed Herta's finger back down.
"Next time, for sure. We've never encountered Honkai energy on this side. My suggestion is to wait until we have enough data from Kiana's side. You can study it then, once you're prepared."
"Tsk... fine."
Herta clicked her tongue. She knew 'Finality Kiana' wouldn't be that easy to talk over.
She thought she could sneak in a quick "ambush," but she wasn't being given an inch. Having to wait until "next time"—how long would that be? It was enough to drive her mad with impatience.
Herta was left wanting more. The main problem, of course, was that Kiana didn't understand the technology. It was quite a headache.
But things being as they were, Herta had no choice. She'd just have to let it go for now and wait until 'Finality Kiana' had time to head over. Herta would keep an eye on her and hurry her along.
The clash between Silver Wolf and the two Hertas lasted for nearly an entire day.
Similar to Cipher, Divine Herta was a Digimon—she didn't get sleepy and didn't need to eat. But Silver Wolf was different. Silver Wolf got sleepy, thirsty, and tired.
Her high level of mental focus and decent physical fitness allowed her to hold out for a few days, but she couldn't maintain her peak state indefinitely.
So, in the end, Silver Wolf had to end the confrontation due to physical exhaustion.
However, Silver Wolf didn't walk away empty-handed.
She truly managed to get her hands on the collection in the space station—the physical body of that Aether Cartridge. But ultimately, seeing as Herta and her sister were on good terms, Silver Wolf merely copied the data from the cartridge. She put the original cartridge back where it belonged.
With the main business concluded, 'Finality Kiana' took Kiana and Silver Wolf and began a full-fledged sightseeing tour.
From The Blue to Penacony, from Amphoreus to Jarilo-VI.
Through 'Finality Kiana's' diligent searching, Kiana actually got to meet the current Supreme Guardian in Belobog, Cocolia, and her adopted daughter, Bronya.
Of course, there were also Seele, Natasha, and the others.
Kiana was delighted to have some friendly conversations with them and took plenty of photos.
The meeting with Cocolia, in particular, left Kiana somewhat unsettled. It got to the point where 'Finality Kiana' worried that if Kiana ever saw Luocha, she might be scared out of her wits.
Silver Wolf was also curious about that Bronya Rand.
Specifically, the other's well-developed figure made Silver Wolf feel the vast disparity of the world. She was very concerned about whether she would continue to grow taller or... bigger.
'Finality Kiana' saw through Silver Wolf's anxiety. But considering Silver Wolf's pride, she thought better of it and kept her mouth shut.
Kiana, however, wasn't nearly as polite. Her sharp intuition picked up on Silver Wolf's moodiness, and she proceeded to mock her mercilessly.
And the result?
Unsurprisingly, the two of them started brawling again.
Watching from the sidelines, Bronya Rand and Seele were left dumbstruck.
Seele, in particular, kept glancing at her childhood friend beside her, as if asking with her eyes if Bronya was suppressing her own nature.
She even looked like she wanted to encourage her childhood friend to let loose and be her true self.
It was enough to leave Miss Rand quite fuming.
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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL