"Hah, I really don't know what to say about him." Irene watched Otto leave and gave a small shrug. "Kevin, how would you evaluate him?"
"There's nothing to evaluate." Kevin shook his head. On a professional level, Otto was, whatever else one might say, a man who had safeguarded the civilization of this world for five hundred years. Without Otto, the Schicksal of today would not exist.
He may have done many terrible things — but in Kevin's eyes, that still put him far, far ahead of the old Fire Moth. And that was enough.
The more Kevin learned of the effort Otto had poured into these centuries, the less he found himself able to pass any judgnt.
Perhaps for Anti-Entropy and for Irene's people, Otto truly was a villain. But to the vast majority of people in this world, he remained the Grand Overseer of Schicksal.
And that was enough.
On a personal level, Kevin found himself even less equipped to offer an opinion. When you stripped it all away, the two of them were, in a certain sense, the sa kind of person — neither of them had ever harbored any grand ambitions.
That was the truth of it. Neither Otto nor Kevin had ever really wanted anything for themselves. They had simply done what they did for the sake of others.
Neither of them truly cared what the world beca. What they cared about was the small handful of people beside them — and they had simply chosen to act on that care.
Otto loved Kallen. Kallen had wanted to save the world. So Otto had protected it to this day. And now, Otto had decided to abandon that duty and try to bring Kallen back.
So he envied Kevin — envied him for being able to keep going, carrying his beloved's final wish all the way to the end. Envied him for the fact that soday, if there truly was a world beyond death, Kevin would be able to walk into it with his head held high and find the one he loved.
But Otto knew, with painful clarity, that he could never do the sa. Kallen would hate him to the marrow of her bones — because he had beco exactly the kind of person she despised most.
And Kevin had loved I. And I had wanted to save this world. Every person Kevin had ever known was working toward that goal, so Kevin worked toward it too.
And so Kevin had beco the standard-bearer for all of the Previous Era's people — the last hope of everyone. Yet even he had wanted to give up. It was only that, in the end, he couldn't let go.
He couldn't do what Otto had done and simply set aside everything he was supposed to do. He had taken on too many people's hopes. Though one could also say he was the one who had placed that burden on his own shoulders.
Because there was no one left who could add to the weight of his resolve — those people had beco fifty thousand years of silence, not even stories anymore.
But Kevin still envied Otto for being able to let it all go, to chase after the one he loved.
"Mm. Just that, then." Irene shrugged again, not dwelling on it any further. She hadn't expected Kevin to say more anyway. "Is there anything else?"
"Shouldn't that be my question?" Kevin looked at Irene. What was there left for him to do? All he could do now was wait.
The original plan hadn't moved that quickly, either. There were still two remaining Herrschers to account for — and of those two... well, Corruption probably wouldn't be much of a problem.
The main concern was a surprise descent, like the Celestial before — showing up without warning and dropping so ancient world-ending technique on them, the way Rin once had. But as long as they caught it in ti, their two Herrschers of Corruption could hit them from both sides at once. A two-on-one ought to be manageable.
The real headache was Binding. That one had stats across the board, plus chanics on top of it. But with Mobius working on it, they should be able to find a way.
"Alright then. We'll be off. Bye." Irene gave a wave, then turned and walked away, heading out to find Little Senti and the others.
Kevin stayed where he was, watching Irene go. He watched until her silhouette disappeared from sight, and only then did he slowly close his eyes. But at that very mont, there ca a sound from the floor — sothing falling, sothing shattering.
What it was, perhaps only Kevin himself knew.
"Oh, all done?" Little Senti looked at Irene as she walked out, then glanced toward the door Irene hadn't co through. "Are we waiting here for Kiana?"
"No need. He won't make things difficult for them." Irene shook her head. And knowing Durandal's personality, unless the entire Immortal Blades squad went rogue, she wasn't going to show up either.
In the end all that remained was for those two sisters to et each other. Besides, if she did the math on the timing, the bodies in the incubation pods should be just about ready — it was ti to unload the cargo.
[Actually, I'm quite eager to et my daughter.] Cecilia spoke up then. [All I've seen so far is the files you gave .]
[You'll have the chance, don't rush — it's not going anywhere.] Irene offered a gentle reassurance. [A little more ti won't make a difference.]
[But I am rushing.] Cecilia's voice carried a faint note of quiet longing. For a mother, being unable to see her own daughter was, however one looked at it, a kind of tornt.
[It's fine, it'll be soon — you can see her for as long as you like.] Irene whistled softly to herself as she followed Little Senti and the others back to the base.
"Alright, no surprises — thank goodness." Irene checked each of the bodies lying in the incubation pods in turn and let out a breath of relief. "So the two Little Pardos praying day and night really did do sothing after all."
[Dr. Snake Snake had us pray before, too.] Pardo scratched her head. Sure, the two of them had indeed been praying — but it wasn't like they'd never done this sort of thing before.
Knowing Mobius, there was absolutely no way she hadn't tried cloning at so point before this, right? She wasn't above pulling Pardo in for the sake of gathering good luck, nurologically speaking.
Pardo's luck was genuinely inexplicable, after all. So why not treat it as an auspicious on? The little cat was usually idle enough anyway.
Unfortunately, the experints had still failed — not for lack of luck, but purely due to insufficient technical capability. Or perhaps, truly, the lack of one intangible factor.
Yes — even Mobius had been forced to concede that there might genuinely be so irreducibly subjective elent at play. Human will was a crucial factor in keeping Honkai Beast genes in check.
Cloning couldn't provide that factor. So the experints failed — that missing key elent ant the Honkai Beast genes couldn't be suppressed.
But fortunately, Irene could directly use a Herrscher's authority to forcibly suppress the Honkai Beast gene growth, filling in that missing piece — and that was what made the cloning succeed.
[Alright, however it happened doesn't matter — success is all that counts.] Irene rubbed her hands together and looked over at Little Senti, who was already cracking her knuckles in anticipation.
"Ready?"
"Whenever you are." Little Senti nodded. She had long since made all the necessary preparations. "Trust — when it cos to matters of consciousness, I'm your person."
"Great. Then there's no problem." Irene nodded, then turned to address the occupants of the Palace of Consciousness. "Who's first?"
[I—] Mobius had barely started her sentence before a brighter, more buoyant voice cut her off, leaping out through Little Corruption's virus before anyone could stop it.
" first, first, first!" Elysia bead at Little Senti. "How does it work? What do I do? Do I kiss my body like in a fairy tale?"
"Elysia, this isn't a fairy tale." Irene laughed, then produced Little Corruption's card and pressed it against herself. After all Irene's training, Little Corruption's Corruption Authority — when it ca to preserving and transferring consciousness — was in no way inferior to Little Senti's own as the Herrscher of Sentience.
Little Corruption and Little Senti took over together, exchanged a glance, then simultaneously reached out — one hand each resting on Elysia's shoulder, the other on the body's shoulder.
Black feathers drifted through the air, mingling with faceted crystals floating all around. Elysia's form fractured and dissolved in an instant, condensing into a single point of pink light which, surrounded by feathers and crystal shards, slowly sank into the waiting body.
After a mont, the body that had been lying quietly in the incubation pod gave a small shudder.
It opened its eyes. With so effort it tried to stand — and ultimately couldn't quite manage it, instead bracing against the pod wall and pushing itself up to sit.
Elysia raised her hand and flexed her fingers into a fist, then opened her mouth as though to say sothing — but what ca out was only a flat, monotone stream of sound: "Ah... ah... ah..."
"Looks like the vocal cords still need a little ti to adjust." Irene watched her. "But I can guarantee everything is functioning — it just needs a mont to settle in."
"After all, it's a brand new body — a lot of things might need just a little bit of ti to—"
Before Irene could finish her sentence, Elysia launched herself out of the incubation pod like a gust of pink wind and threw her arms around her.
"Were you worried about ? Don't be — I'm not that fragile, you know~"
"Hey, hey — get down, get down, co on." Irene rubbed Elysia's back, speaking softly in the sa tone one might use to coax a child. "We're not done yet. Co on, down you co. Good girl."
"Okay~" Elysia obediently climbed back down. Now that this had been confird to work, the rest of them moved with considerably more confidence.
Before long, the incubation pods had filled with a whole crowd of Fla-Chasers who couldn't quite stand and couldn't quite sit straight — understandably so; suddenly swapping into a brand new body, however carefully Irene had calibrated things, ant there were bound to be small differences from what each of them knew as their own.
And they had all gone so long without using their real bodies. So degree of unfamiliarity was inevitable. But it wouldn't last long.
After a period of adjustnt, they would soon be back to their usual fighting form.
"Remarkable." Einstein and Tesla appeared in the pod bay at so point, watching the Fla-Chasers working to adjust to their new bodies. "It actually succeeded?"
"Dr. Einstein, if you need help, you only have to ask." Irene idly stroked Elysia's hair beside her. "We have a bit of ti now, so..."
"Whether it's searching the Sea of Quanta for lost companions, or..." Irene let the words trail out, watching the flicker in Einstein's eyes. "...finding other lost companions — any of it is possible."
"...Irene really does have a gift for finding the opening." Einstein let out a quiet sigh. She admitted it — the thought had been impossible to shake ever since she'd watched Irene do what she was doing now. She thought of Joyce. She thought of Planck and the others.
But who could actually be found? Other than a certain Schrödinger who had tumbled into the Sea of Quanta and might still be alive — or might not — who else was there? And even if soone were found, Einstein didn't know how she would face them. Especially Joyce. She doubted Tesla was ready for that, either.
Then there was Welt. Welt had always carried guilt about those years — especially regarding Joyce. He still didn't know, to this day, whether everything he'd done would be enough to satisfy her.
Of course, the chances of them ever seeing Joyce again were slim. But Schrödinger — that wandering ghost who'd gone quiet sowhere in the Sea of Quanta — should still be reachable. The question was just where she'd drifted off to.
"You'll never know if you don't look." Irene turned to Einstein, then added, almost as an aside: "Oh — by the way, Dr. Einstein, did you know? Herrscher Cores retain the consciousness of their holders."
"Whether it's the original holder or every subsequent one — the Core keeps their consciousness. Oh, right, you two should already know this, considering how many tis Welt has used that thod to co back from the dead."
"What?!" Before Einstein could react, Tesla's head snapped up, eyes blazing as she stared at Irene. "Irene — are you serious?"
"I'm a Herrscher. I've always had a Herrscher Core. What do you think?" Irene smiled at Tesla. "And Kiana and Sirin are exactly the sa."
"Oh, right — did you two know? There's soone in this base who is dreaming three hundred thousand people's dreams right now."
"Three hundred thousand people's dreams?" Tesla stared at Irene, montarily lost. She didn't understand why Irene was bringing this up now. And how could one person dream three hundred thousand...
Three hundred thousand people?
Tesla's head shot up, her eyes wide and bright with sudden, overwhelming hope. Beside her, Einstein wasn't faring much better — because in that instant, the sa thing had clicked for both of them.
Irene's smile didn't waver. She looked at the two of them and asked: "Dr. Tesla. Dr. Einstein. Who do you think might be in those dreams?"
"Joyce..." Einstein stared at Irene's beaming face. At this mont, with Irene bringing this up, there was only one possible implication — sowhere among those three hundred thousand consciousnesses was Joyce.
"Bingo~" Irene nodded. "He's been inside Welt all along, watching over all of you. If you want to know what he thinks — wouldn't it be faster to go ask him directly?"
"From extracting the consciousness to building a body — it can all be done in one seamless process, without losing a single thing. Isn't that a good deal?"
"...What if."
"You won't know unless you try, will you?" Irene looked at Einstein. "Or is it that Dr. Einstein doesn't want to see Mr. Joyce?"
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