Sa observed that after she took on the form of Lucius's deceased 'white moonlight' —
— his body gave one shudder. Then another. His lips trembled, and his eyes were filled with pure disbelief.
"Good. So this really is his white moonlight — the person he cares about most." Sa noted inwardly, the corners of her mouth shifting ever so slightly. "Then I'll use this identity to dominate him through his emotions…"
Just as she was thinking this, Lucius suddenly lunged forward, threw his arms around Sa's ethereal form, and broke into sobbing tears.
"Elysia. My Elysia. It's really you!"
"I thought —" (sob) "— I thought I had lost you forever."
Sa's body went rigid. She could feel her clothes being soaked through with tears, and a powerful urge to hurl Lucius across the room rose within her.
But she ultimately did nothing — only ground her teeth somewhere Lucius couldn't see.
"For the sake of a beautiful future — I will endure!"
Having calmed herself internally to prevent snapping and ruining everything, Sa spoke in a gentle tone: "Lucius, for my sake — you would make the whole world your enemy, wouldn't you?"
"Of course!" Lucius answered without a moment's hesitation.
Good. The spiritual manipulation is working effectively. The corners of Sova's mouth curved slightly upward.
She continued to channel her spiritual power as she asked: "Then for my sake — could you allow the Herrscher of the Void to descend upon the earth?"
Now was the moment to reveal her true hand. Without any human interference, and with her own guidance, the Herrscher of the Void could sink an entire continent into the Sea of Quanta.
And the key to everything was this man standing before her — the one called Lucius — the shadow emperor of Schicksal, the true puppeteer behind Nicholas. Control him, and she controlled Schicksal.
Control Schicksal, and she could keep the Second Fire Moth in check — clearing the way for the Herrscher of the Void to act freely.
But in the next moment, Lucius's actions defied her expectations. She watched him push her away, his gaze turning cold.
"No."
Sa was genuinely taken aback.
That's wrong. How could my spiritual manipulation have failed?
"Why? Am I not the person you care about?"
"You are!" Lucius looked at her and said, as if stating the most obvious thing in the world: "But eliminating the Honkai is more important!"
"..."
Sa understood now. This person was apparently completely and utterly obsessed with fighting the Honkai — it had consumed his entire mind.
How infuriating. I am a deity of the Sea of Quanta. Am I truly going to fail because of something this absurd?
She paused to think, then activated her spiritual power once more, this time probing deeper into Lucius's sea of consciousness.
But this time, rather than asking about the person he cared about most, she asked about the thing he cared about most.
"What is it you value above all else?"
"Killing the Honkai, obviously!"
"Why do you hate the Honkai so deeply?"
At that question, Sa watched Lucius's expression twist, his eyes overflowing with a hatred that seemed ready to spill out of him entirely.
"The Honkai killed you. The Honkai and I are irreconcilable enemies."
"...But I'm right here with you."
"That's… also true, I suppose..."
Watching the dazed look wash over Lucius's face, Sa smiled once more.
As long as there was even a single crack in someone's heart, she could exploit it to warp their thinking. Never underestimate her mastery of the consciousness realm!
"So then, Lucius — shouldn't I matter more to you than eliminating the Honkai?"
"That's… true."
Sa's smile grew warmer. She continued to guide him: "In that case, you should…"
But before she could finish, Lucius answered in a voice burning with hatred: "But the Honkai killed you once already — so I'm still going to destroy it!"
Sa: "..."
She felt herself on the verge of losing her composure. Do you hate the Honkai that much — did it wipe out your entire family or something?
But this confirmed it beyond any doubt: this man's obsession with fighting the Honkai had fully consumed him. Changing that would probably require forcibly overwriting his entire personality.
So she needed to change her approach entirely.
"You're right — I also believe that fighting the Honkai takes priority." Sa first acknowledged Lucius's conviction, then asked: "So then, Lucius — what is your battle plan?"
"Of course I have one. I plan to intercept the Herrscher of the Void in space and rally the full force of humanity to obliterate her there!"
Sa shook her head gently and said: "I think luring her in deeper is the correct approach. For the Herrscher of the Void, distance is her advantage — not ours. Only by drawing her onto our home ground can we truly defeat her."
Lucius hesitated slightly: "But allowing the Herrscher of the Void to land on the surface will surely cause massive casualties."
Sa replied with a smile: "That's why we find a sparsely populated location as our battlefield and evacuate everyone there in advance!"
"Is that really all it takes?" Lucius's face lit up with sudden realization. "Right — we can absolutely find a sparsely populated place. What about Siberia?"
He looked at Sa, unable to hold back his admiration: "Elysia, you are so brilliant. With you by my side, we'll surely put an end to the Honkai!"
Sa, wearing Elysia's face, maintained her warm expression — but inside, she was already laughing coldly.
"Ha… this fool probably genuinely thinks it's a good plan. But unfortunately for him — it only benefits me."
"Once humanity concentrates all its forces on Siberia, there'll be nothing left to defend anywhere else."
"When the Herrscher of the Void lands, I'll personally direct her — bypass the heavily defended Siberia and strike directly at the completely unguarded European continent!"
At the thought, a surge of grand ambition swelled within Sa.
"This is the art of misdirection — feint east, strike west. Even as only a fragment of a personality, never underestimate hundreds of millions of years of accumulated wisdom!"
But because she was running on a loaded personality, Sa — busy marveling at her own stunning brilliance — failed to notice that Lucius was also smiling, just outside her field of vision.
"Heh… she probably thinks her scheme is terribly clever."
"You want to draw away humanity's main forces? I'll gladly indulge you — and while I'm at it, it conveniently clears out Siberia to make room for the Second Honkai War's storyline."
Lucius understood clearly: right now, Sa was like a shark lurking in the depths of the Sea of Quanta, watching its prey on the shore, patiently waiting for the land to sink so it could feast.
What she didn't know was that below her, in the even deeper dark — a killer whale had its jaws spread wide open too.
Still, even though the fish had taken the bait, this performance had to keep going. At the very least, it needed to continue until Mei and Einstein finished their preparations within the Sea of Quanta.
With that thought, Lucius threw his arms around Sova once more and broke into fresh tears: "Elysia, my Elysia — I always knew that having you is worth having a hundred people at my side!"
Sova was filled with utter contempt inside, but her face still had to project absolute warmth.
I endure. I continue to endure.
Then she heard Lucius say: "Speaking of which, Elysia — I should prepare a physical body for you. Not everyone can touch you the way I can while you're in ghost form, right? I know of a material called Soulium that can contain a consciousness — perhaps I can craft a body for you with it."
"Is that so… that's fine." Sa did not refuse.
With Nicholas serving as her shield and scapegoat — as long as he stayed alive, and as long as she didn't actively tear away her own concealment and expose herself to the Cocoon of Finality's gaze — there would be no problem.
And with her spiritual power operating under such constraints, having a physical body capable of interacting with the material world was still highly valuable. At the very least, it would free her from being as disadvantaged as she currently was as a pure consciousness.
"Ha… once my plans come to fruition, I will definitely make you cry." Sa laughed coldly within her heart.
Seeing Sa agree, in the blind spot just beyond her field of vision, Lucius's lips stretched into an exaggerated grin.
Everything up until now had been a front. This was his true moment to reveal his hand.
Because the memories of Elysia he had deliberately allowed Sa to steal were actually subtly different from the real Elysia — that portion of memory had been modeled after the times when he himself had played the role of Elysia.
If Sova used that template to impersonate Elysia, most people genuinely wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Except for… Elysia herself.
And once the real Elysia laid eyes on Sa wearing the skin of this white-moonlight Elysia...
Well. Lucius wished her the best of luck.
"If Elysia really does come looking for a fight — I'm the first one running."
"I'll just have to ask you to suffer a little on my behalf, my dear 'white moonlight.'"
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