Chapter 253: Cocoon — Come and Hug Me
"Reboot complete. Body operating normally." Prometheus, who looked remarkably like Bronya, opened her crimson eyes and flipped herself upright, sitting up from the maintenance cradle.
Prometheus raised a hand and clenched it into a fist, then lifted her head to look at the MEI before her. "I can enter working condition at any time."
"Mm." MEI nodded, and gazing at the Prometheus before him, he too felt a stir of emotion. He had proposed this sort of plan in his own era as well, but regrettably, in the end—because he had been overconfident—it was never actually carried out.
He had been too reckless, too eager to achieve everything in a single stroke; he had simply misjudged the strength of Finality. Otherwise, that tragedy would never have happened.
"Kevin should have already told you my situation, hasn't he?"
"Yes." Prometheus nodded. "I'm aware of the situation. It was indeed a circumstance we hadn't anticipated back then—an unexpected variable."
After all, no matter how they ran the calculations, there was no way they could have factored in a Bug running into the mix. Still, it was all much the same—it didn't deviate too far from their plan, nor was it so precariously tight that the slightest margin would cause problems.
The current situation could only be better.
"But I still want to know—what exactly does it mean to be directly chosen by Finality?" Prometheus looked at MEI, doubt in her eyes.
By all rights, Finality's mechanism was extremely difficult to penetrate. Even they had no idea what exactly had to be done to make Finality acknowledge a particular person and actively choose them.
The odds of gambling on that probability were too slim, so that plan had never even been on their list of considerations from the start. In the end, they had simply chosen to open a backdoor through Prometheus.
Leave behind a coordinate, then entrust it to Kevin—the one among them with the strongest Honkai Resistance, and likewise the strongest in combat power—to bear the power of Finality bit by bit.
In this scenario, Kevin could indeed, in a certain sense, be counted as a Herrscher of Finality, but he was, after all, not a chosen Herrscher. If his situation were to be compared to something, one could look to Welt and Wendy.
The Gem of the Herrscher within Welt's body never ceased ravaging Welt's body for even a moment; every single time he wielded his Authority, it dealt damage to his body.
After all, in the end Welt wasn't all that compatible with the Herrscher Core, and his Honkai Resistance hadn't reached the level of bearing the gem without harm.
Wendy was the same—even more wretched, in fact. For several years after the gem was implanted, both her legs were completely corroded, unable to move; had there not been a certain degree of compatibility between Wendy and the gem, she would have been reduced to ash on the spot.
However, after several years of adaptation and gradual attunement, relying on that sliver of compatibility, Wendy had become a fairly decent compatible vessel.
Kevin was the same. He was, after all, not a Herrscher born through the formal process, so the Authority would surely backlash against him—it was only that Kevin's strength was great enough and his body sturdy enough that he should be able to hold out for a long time.
This was their original plan. But if a true compatible vessel could really appear...
"Just come with me." MEI nodded. As long as Prometheus was fine, that was good. After all, this body had lain dormant for tens of thousands of years; though he'd had Vill-V help repair it, it hadn't been fully disassembled for a thorough overhaul, so he was still a little worried.
But fortunately, Soulium's quality was unmatched in the world; after replenishment, the Soulium adjusted itself back into proper shape on its own.
Prometheus nodded and stood up from the maintenance cradle. She didn't mind that the MEI before her was a MEI from a parallel world; as long as MEI was still a MEI willing to protect humanity, there was no difference.
And only after leaving the cradle did Prometheus look around, searching the database within her mind: "This seems to be the Helix Workshop? Am I in the Elysian Realm right now?"
"No. It seems Kevin didn't tell you everything." Hearing Prometheus's words, MEI shook his head. "What Miss Irene did was far more than just bringing those of us from parallel worlds into this world."
"Could it be there's also Dr. Vill-V?"
"No, I'm a mental projection from within the Realm—though now I can be counted as having obtained a new body." At this moment, Vill-V, who had just come in, also heard Prometheus's words. Looking at the Prometheus who could now move normally, Vill-V nodded.
"Looks like there's no problem. Any issues with the body's self-diagnostic?"
"No problem." Prometheus shook her head, then, looking at the Vill-V before her, asked, "Did everyone obtain new bodies?"
"Su and Kevin didn't." Vill-V said, looking at Prometheus. "As for Griseo, she came back, so the two of them merged."
Hearing this news, Prometheus was somewhat surprised: "Did Project Ark succeed?"
"It failed. The Ark was destroyed." Vill-V shook her head. "The person was brought back by Kevin—though that fellow had no idea at all; he only learned of it after Miss Irene reminded him."
Prometheus nodded. "I see. Understood."
"Anything else you want to ask?" MEI stood off to the side, watching Prometheus. "If not, then come with me. I think Miss Irene should be in the office."
"All right."
Haiyuan City Office
"Hm? Is Miss Irene the only one here?" MEI opened the door and entered, somewhat surprised to see only Irene propping up her chin, listlessly reviewing documents on and off.
Could it be that Grand Overseer Theresa had grown tired of the job so quickly? Had she handed all the work directly over to Irene?
"Ah, that's not it. We just discussed a little matter of compensation." Irene shook her head, a trace of awkwardness flashing across her face. So what was this matter of compensation? Actually, it was quite simple.
Of course it was that last time she'd been tricked by Elysia into going to watch the cat do backflips, and ended up being the one ravished instead—though in the end she turned it around and killed back, she really had gone a long while without answering Theresa's calls. That was the matter.
She had honestly admitted her own faults, then discussed a bit of comfort and "cultivation" with Theresa, so Theresa was now sprawled on her bed once again.
She'd had no choice but to come over and cover the work for another day. But fortunately, Theresa had more or less forgiven her, so it could be considered satisfactorily resolved.
"Is Dr. MEI here to see me, or to see Theresa?" Irene set down the document in her hand and looked at MEI.
"To see you." MEI looked back, and Prometheus came in accordingly. Looking at the Irene before her, the red light in her eyes flickered slightly, and then, the next moment, faint steam rose from the top of Prometheus's head.
"Mm, what's wrong?" Irene looked at the steam above Prometheus's head. "Did that just fry your CPU?"
"...Truly astonishing." Prometheus took quite a while to recover, after which the steam atop her head slowly dissipated. Looking at the Irene before her, she clicked her tongue in amazement.
The reason was simple: in her eyes, Irene's composition was honestly a bit too complex. The first thing she detected was that Irene held the identity of the Herrscher of Death—and an emerged one at that.
The next thing detected was her identity as the Origin. No, wait—was that right? Had Elysia given away her own identity, or had another Elysia been born?
Finally, she truly detected that Irene already bore a faint mark of Finality upon her, of extremely high purity—though faint, it was as bright as a lamp in the dead of night, impossible to tear one's eyes away from.
It was just too obvious. Was this reasonable? So Finality actually chooses people in advance?
And there was one more thing—Prometheus discovered that Irene at this moment seemed to have become a vortex of the surrounding Honkai energy; all the Honkai energy around her was scrambling to squeeze into Irene's body.
Like a darling of the Honkai.
What kind of monstrous level of Honkai Adaptability was this? Even Kevin wasn't this strong; even Elysia, also a Herrscher of Origin, didn't necessarily possess such powerful Honkai Adaptability.
No—could this even still be called Honkai Adaptability? How was this any different from being soaked in Honkai energy?
Well, now Prometheus truly, completely believed why MEI trusted Irene so much—why she might be able to replace the original Kevin and become Finality.
These conditions could be called exceptionally blessed; at the very least, Prometheus had never seen anyone with such powerful talent.
"It's good that you're all right, Miss Prometheus." Irene nodded at Prometheus, then looked toward MEI. "You brought her over this fast—I thought it would take some time."
"Actually, everyone is already prepared." MEI looked at Irene. Everyone was holding their breath; it was the final moment, and there wasn't much time left for laughing and joking around.
Pull it off, and the sky would be the limit; botch it, and there probably wouldn't be a chance for another round.
So the three of them had kept their nerves taut the whole time, and the World Serpent side had never slackened either, steadily pushing forward everything that Project Stigma required.
Of course, that's not to say Schicksal or Anti-Entropy were slacking. As the top-tier combat power of the present day, maintaining their best condition was the very preparation they could make.
At their level, raising combat strength was no longer something that could be improved through one or two training sessions. Maintaining good condition and responding to situations that might arrive at any moment—that was what they ought to be doing.
Crossing over the apocalypse is sometimes not about a few heroes putting up one last struggle at the final moment, nor is it a matter of pressing some so-called final-plan button to turn the tide.
The wise rack their brains to exhaustion, the warriors endure untold hardships. They had already lived through long years, had done everything they could strive to do, had witnessed countless miracles, paid countless blood, paid countless time.
It could have a heavy beginning and a turbulent course, interspersed perhaps with countless scheming conspiracies and valiant sacrifices, but its ending deserved to be a calm and smooth conclusion.
At the very least, what they wanted to reap now was that calm, final outcome.
"When do we start?" Irene nodded, stood up, and straightened the clothes on her body. "Is there anything else I need to prepare?"
"No need. Just hold onto the resolve to win." MEI shook his head. "As for the timing—let's go. We'll head to the moon. Opening that door will produce a very severe Honkai energy fluctuation, and it'll be safer on the moon."
"Mm."
The Moon
"When did you all secretly build such a huge base on the moon?" Tesla, having come down from the Hyperion, looked at the base before her and twitched the corner of her mouth.
No wonder they could never figure out what Kevin was up to on Earth. So it turned out they'd gone and set up shop on the moon—no wonder they couldn't find a thing.
"This is merely to ensure safety." Gray Serpent, off to the side, looked at Tesla. "After all, the fluctuations of the Honkai are extremely intense; if it were on Earth, very severe consequences would result."
"We're all doing this for human civilization, so naturally we have to ensure such a low-level problem doesn't arise."
"Heh, aside from having a civilization, what humans were even in your original plan?" Tesla rolled her eyes. Still, this was someone else's turf now, so it wasn't good to speak too sharply.
Gray Serpent wasn't annoyed either. After all, what Tesla said was, in a certain sense, the truth—it was just that for them, it was survival first, then civilization, and humanity last.
Project Stigma had always been the last fallback, and this was something everyone acknowledged. If there were another option—and a feasible one at that—those people from the Previous Era would be the first to disagree.
Sovereign Kevin would likely even take the lead in joining—just like the present situation.
"Irene, there won't be any problems, will there?" Theresa looked into the distance somewhat nervously; that was where the Cosmic Juggernaut was located, and likewise where Irene was.
"Theoretically, there won't be any problems." MEI shook his head. Given Irene's situation, this was a minor affair; the thing that could truly go wrong was whether the Cocoon of Finality would acknowledge Irene or not.
But based on what she had inquired from Elysia these past two days, this issue shouldn't be cause for worry either. Although Elysia kept refusing to say, or rather wouldn't say it in full, with MEI's wisdom he had already guessed what the situation was.
After all, the expression on Elysia's face had already given her away completely.
Elysia was someone whose mood was always good; almost no one had ever seen her angry. But the moment the matter of Irene becoming a candidate for Finality came up, Elysia wore a thoroughly dark expression.
Add to that the things Elysia had revealed herself, and the bit of accounts she had to settle with Kevin—Irene becoming the Origin and becoming a candidate for Finality had probably happened at the same time.
If he hadn't guessed wrong, it was very likely that while Elysia was transmitting the Authority to Irene, the Cocoon of Finality had come over and stuck its foot in—and that was what caused Elysia's face to darken whenever this matter was brought up.
Meanwhile, Irene, seated at the front of the Cosmic Juggernaut, and Elysia, seated beside her, held hands, waiting for the moment the plan would commence.
"Are you nervous?" Elysia looked at Irene.
"No." Irene shook her head, then, her gaze fixed on the instrument panel before her, her eyes inexplicably grew somewhat hollow; her originally blue eyes slowly took on a tinge of purple at this moment.
"I just feel like someone is calling out to me."
Irene seemed especially ethereal at this moment. In an instant, the purple light outside suddenly bloomed in full; the Honkai energy detector equipped on the Cosmic Juggernaut hit an off-the-charts reading in a single moment.
"—! Isn't it not time yet?!" Seeing this scene, Elysia's eyes went wide. This isn't right—wasn't the plan supposed to wait a while longer before activating? Why is it already...
Wait—no, this is wrong!
This isn't us activating the plan! Something has actively taken Irene over!
"Hey—you're this impatient?!"
The moment Irene opened her eyes, she returned to that place like a field of stars. This time, she lifted her head and saw it—the Cocoon of Finality that seemed to have been staring at her all along.
And the Cocoon of Finality let out a long, drawn-out reverberation like the song of a whale; and this time, Irene, surprisingly, understood the meaning within that sound.
"Come, child, step into my embrace."
Name: Cocoon of Finality?!
I wish to be able to embrace your civilization.
Accept Please enter text Try to actively embrace—
____
________________________________________
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉