Knock, knock, knock.
A rhythmic tapping sounded against the wooden door, polite and measured. The person outside was clearly well-mannered.
"Come in."
A male high school student stepped inside, carrying an air of quiet elegance. He wore a black-and-white school uniform with a yellow tie, the image of a refined scholar.
Tall and slender, he exuded a noble bearing, like a straight and dignified ginkgo tree. His dark gray hair was slightly tousled, adding a touch of untamed youth to his otherwise composed demeanor.
"Su, you're here. No need to stand on ceremony. Have a seat." Vill-V gestured toward the sofa beside her.
Su did not sit immediately. Instead, he asked first, "May I ask which one you are?"
"I'm [Pure Evil]."
"?!"
"Just kidding. I'm [Conductor]... What a distinctive way to greet someone."
Not many people knew that Vill-V possessed multiple personalities. Only Id would reveal this little secret to the Flame-Chasers, and even then, only to them.
It was foreseeable that as Vill-V encountered more Flame-Chasers, this peculiar method of greeting would only become more common.
Should we make name tags? Conductor wondered.
No. Magician would definitely mess with them. She'd wear Expert's tag while doing Pure Evil's work. Name tags would only accelerate how quickly Magician ruins our reputation.
Su glanced at Conductor Vill-V, who was biting her finger while pondering identity issues. Only after sitting down did he notice Hua seated properly to the side, posture straight and expression reserved.
In the presence of outsiders, Hua always restrained her aura, maintaining composure and courtesy. That was why Su hadn't noticed her at first.
After all, Hua was only fourteen. At eighteen, Su could practically be considered her senior. Since Hua wasn't skilled at social interaction, she appeared especially reserved.
Su smiled gently at her, like a kind older brother next door, and greeted her warmly.
"Hello. I'm Su, a student at Chiba Academy in the Far East region."
"Hello. I'm Hua."
Hua's expression softened slightly. The newcomer seemed to have a pleasant temperament—someone she could manage interacting with.
Vill-V smoothed her hair and returned to a more proper appearance. Hearing Su and Hua discussing the disaster, she turned and asked curiously, "Su, was your escape from Sapphire City relatively smooth?"
"It was manageable. I didn't encounter any more Honkai Beast swarms along the way. After arriving in Homu City, there were no further signs of Honkai activity."
"And... that child... is already in the infirmary."
"Oh, thank you for your hard work. Ido—I went to check on her as soon as I returned. Her vital signs are stable. It's nothing serious. We'll leave the rest to Expert."
As Vill-V spoke, she noticed Hua's confusion and took the opportunity to explain the basic concept of Honkai once again.
"I see..."
Hua's mood dimmed. Anyone who learned that humanity's end in this era was approaching would feel the weight of it.
Su sighed softly. "The days ahead... likely won't be peaceful."
"Yes. Only when it's gone do we realize how precious the calm of the past truly was." Hua let out a deep breath.
Pop!Bang!
Magician Vill-V interrupted the heavy atmosphere by firing off a party popper.
"Alright, alright! Why not listen to some good news instead?"
The two of them, still covered in bandages and bruises, turned to look at her.
With her hands on her hips and an air of pride, Magician Vill-V announced grandly, "Tomorrow—yes, tomorrow! The greatest magician in history will hold a grand and magnificent surreal magic show right here at the Mad Hatter Party base to celebrate the end of the Third Honkai Eruption! The reserved program includes Su—"
"..."
Her voice cut off abruptly as Vill-V's expression returned to calm.
Conductor Vill-V had seized control of the body in an instant. Under the peculiar gazes of Su and Hua, she explained:
"...That was Magician. Whatever good news she's talking about probably means she came up with some new idea. It's better if you don't know the details. Su, tomorrow you should hide somewhere I can't find you. Hua, I suggest you do the same."
For Magician, the arrival of two Flame-Chasers was equivalent to two heavyweight new guests entering the stage. As for what kind of welcoming performance she might devise—Pardo would have had the most to say, if only she were here.
Su looked at Conductor and sighed.
"Conductor, it's not easy for you, is it?"
Still, thanks to Magician's interruption, the stifling atmosphere in the room had been broken. Conductor had to admit that while unreliable, Magician always managed to inject vitality into a lifeless situation.
Seeing their gazes still fixed on her, Conductor decided to reveal some information about Honkai.
"After this Third Honkai Eruption, several of my hypotheses have been verified. It proves that humanity isn't entirely powerless."
"For example, technology. Honkai may not care about localized technological advancement—or perhaps it operates under a different evaluation standard. The technologies I've developed did not trigger Honkai prematurely."
Technological advancement failing to trigger Honkai ahead of schedule is not good news.
If Honkai merely judged the progress of civilization according to fundamental physical theory, Vill-V had originally planned to push humanity's technology toward something akin to the Crisis Era of the Three-Body world.
Humanity in that era had driven fundamental physics to its limits. Expert Vill-V was confident that even with foundational physics locked, she could manufacture equipment capable of defeating a Herrscher.
Yet the outbreak timing of the Third Honkai Eruption showed no significant deviation. It still occurred at the end of Hua's school term, just before she was preparing to return home.
This indicated that the "quantum communication" technology developed by Expert and the "controlled nuclear fusion" handed over to MOTH had not influenced Honkai in the slightest.
Unlike the former, which was merely a localized personal technological lead, the latter had been disseminated through MOTH to influence the technological level of humanity's entire military. In aerospace alone, it was sufficient to propel humanity decisively toward the stars—a massive leap forward in human civilization.
And yet, Honkai showed no obvious reaction to the technologies Expert Vill-V had provided—technologies that surpassed the current limits of human physics.
The experimental result was the complete opposite of what Conductor had initially expected. Instead, it verified another of her hypotheses.
The birth of a Herrscher is not determined by humanity's technological level.
Even if humanity's technology regressed all the way back to the Stone Age, it would only reduce the frequency of Honkai incidents overall. The arrival of Finality would still come on schedule.
Humanity could not slack off and attempt to avoid it through stagnation.
Just as Herrschers are often born from humans themselves, the true factors influencing their emergence still originate from humanity—encompassing society, culture, and every other aspect. Those are not things that can be easily altered.
The previous belief that rapid technological progress could hasten the arrival of Herrschers likely stemmed from how certain technologies catalyze shifts in human ideology.
If that were truly the reason, then humanity ought to be deeply grateful for Elysia's mercy.
As the Herrscher of Origin, Elysia possessed the ability to fundamentally alter the way humans connect with one another. She could have caused structural collapse within human society, plunging humanity into a spiral of mutual destruction and achieving annihilation from within.
She could even manipulate fate itself, altering the trajectory of humanity's destiny. From the moment connections between people were formed, destruction might already have been inevitable. For humanity, Elysia, as the Herrscher of Origin, possessed limitless possibilities.
And yet, it is precisely humanity's limitless possibilities that give rise to miracles.
Of course, these were deductions made by Expert and Scholar based on the original storyline regarding the manifestation of the Herrscher of Origin's authority. There was no guarantee they were accurate. To understand more, deeper study of Elysia's body would be required.
Taking the speculation further, there exists an even more terrifying possibility—fatalism.
Unlike determinism, where causes lead to fixed outcomes, fatalism implies that humanity's end is already sealed—unchanged by process or origin. There is only a predetermined result, without a predetermined cause.
Just as the ending foreseen by Aponia in the original storyline.
In fact, Conductor considered this the most probable scenario—and the most difficult for humanity to confront. For those upon the chessboard cannot escape the control of the one who moves the pieces.
Merely defeating Finality would not allow humanity to transcend Honkai. Finality is simply one manifestation of humanity's destined end. If destruction is preordained, then regardless of who embodies Finality—or whether Finality is strong or weak—it makes no difference.
Only by relying on Elysia—defeating magic with magic—using the authority of the Herrscher of Origin to rewrite humanity's fate, and combining it with the authority of Origin to engrave that change upon the very source of Honkai, might there be hope of avoiding extinction.
But that would also mean sacrificing Elysia.
Vill-V would never do such a thing.
Moreover, Vill-V had already obtained another answer—one she herself could not fully comprehend.
Yet at the very least, this answer offered a chance... to bring about the best possible ending for the Flame-Chasers—and for everyone.
And that plan would be carried out through the Wallfacer Project.
Of course, all of the above conclusions rely on one premise—that in the future civilization, Honkai's early arrival due to technological advancement occurred because technological development had reached the point where Dr. Mei, through Prometheus, implanted a "Trojan program" into Honkai—the fixed node of the Imaginary Renormalization Group.
In contrast, Honkai in the previous civilization may have had nothing to do with technological level at all.
Conductor Vill-V would not share these deeper considerations with Hua and Su. Instead, she maintained a confident facade and raised a finger.
"As long as I'm given enough resources and time, building weapons capable of defeating Herrschers will be no problem."
Mm. Reveal part of the truth. Conceal another part. A bad situation can thus be turned into good news.
"Another point—during this direct rescue operation, we extracted 7,293 people. About twenty percent are willing to assist us. There's much more we can accomplish next."
Most of these individuals had been rescued by mercenaries and then sent to Zofia. Many had lost their homes and families. Quite a few harbored intense hatred toward Honkai and joined the HoMu Guild with burning determination.
As an aside, the HoMu Guild is an outer organization of the Mad Hatter Party, serving as a liaison between HoMu Company and the Mad Hatter Party.
Previously, they did not participate in combat against MOTH, as most of them were ordinary people who merely knew of Honkai and MOTH's existence.
This, too, was not exactly good news.
The more members the organization had, the greater the expenses. Vill-V was now even more short of funds.
In Conductor's heart, both of these developments were bad news.
Yet when spoken aloud, they became good news.
There was no helping it. In the face of Honkai, there were hardly any true good things to speak of. Bad news could be gathered by the handful.
So she turned two pieces of bad news into something hopeful—so that Su and Hua would not fall into despair.
The future still required hope.
Let despair be borne by those capable of carrying it.
At least, there was one genuinely reassuring development.
Su appeared to have chosen her side.
Originally, Conductor had thought Su might be frightened away by Pure Evil. The bloody spectacle of the Extreme Evil Theater was not something one could endure merely with a strong heart—especially not Su, the kindest among the Flame-Chasers.
Yet Su's psychological resilience had proven far stronger than she had anticipated.
Conductor speculated that perhaps it was because of what Su had witnessed over these past few days at the Mad Hatter Party base.
Compared to MOTH treating survivors as experimental subjects, her organization had treated patients with utmost benevolence. She had invested considerable funds and effort into their care.
In that case, she now held four cards in her hand—Helix, Reverie, Bodhi, and Vicissitude.
At the very least, her plan could continue.
She still needed Discipline.
But now was not the time.