"Phew~ last night was seriously dangerous. It was just missing one birthday, yet everyone's reaction was so over the top."
Elias lay sprawled on the sofa in the Valkyrie dormitory, still shaken as he recalled what had happened the previous night. The Herrscher of Finality had been just a step away from rewinding Earth's time back to March 7.
The key point was that no one had tried to stop her!
In the end, if Elias hadn't personally intervened and forced Finality to halt her authority over time, then today many students would have woken up in pleasant confusion—clearly remembering that they had just finished their weekend and were about to face Monday, only to discover it was somehow Thursday instead.
And after Elias successfully stopped Finality, the girls had even shown looks of regret, leaving him both exasperated and amused as he complained on the spot. They were supposed to be righteous Valkyries and Flame-Chasers. How could they just let Finality do something so reckless?
In the original course of fate, when Otto Apocalypse had tried to rewind time by five hundred years, he had been jointly stopped by St. Freya Academy and Anti-Entropy. Yet last night, the girls had practically been supporting Finality in doing exactly that.
Mei: "The world is important and all, sure."
Kiana: "But it's not more important than Elias!"
Bronya: "Such a pity. Bronya was already planning to buy every game in the world and give them to Elias as a birthday present."
Eden: "Exactly~ I was even going to buy a country as a gift for him. Shame it didn't work out~"
There was one thing Elias still hadn't fully grasped.
Every single girl living in this Valkyrie dorm believed he was far more important than the world itself.
They were indeed magical girls who fought to protect all that was beautiful (ages 18–50000+), but in Kiana and the others' eyes, he was the most beautiful thing in existence.
Herrscher of Finality: "If the hero who saved the world accidentally missed his own birthday, then letting the world rewind a little for him—what's wrong with that?"
Elias: "Uh... hearing that from you, Finality, feels really damn strange."
In short, if you compared the world to anything else, Mei and the others would firmly choose the world.
But never, ever place Elias and the world on the same scale.
The latter would be kicked straight off...
On a related note, Mei now wore that diamond ring every single day. The others were green with envy. Mobius and the rest had already raised her threat level to Elysia-tier.
After all, she was currently one of only two girls whose left ring finger had been adorned with a ring by a certain someone. Miss Mei truly lived up to her status as the Current Era's T0, version-strongest existence.
And so... she was targeted.
Now, during afternoon training sessions, Mei received the same treatment as Elysia—priority suppression!
One had to know that while the powers of the Herrscher of Thundervoid were absurdly broken, Mei still hadn't mastered the dual authorities.
And precisely because they were so broken and overwhelmingly destructive, she couldn't really use them against the girls who were, at least nominally, on the same side. Being only a dual-Core Herrscher made it extremely difficult for her to hold her ground.
Mei: "You people have no sense of honor!!"
Sakura: (I actually have a ring too~ I'm just not saying anything. If I keep quiet, I won't get targeted.)
Watching the cook's miserable situation, a certain Flame-Chaser of Setsuna couldn't help but silently thank her good little sister. Back then, Sakura had also wanted to wear her ring every day and flaunt it shamelessly.
But her sister Rin had stopped her.
Rin: "Ahem! Sis, I know showing off the ring brother-in-law gave you feels amazing, but think about the consequences. A woman's jealousy can be terrifying."
Sakura: "You're right!"
Rin: (And if I saw you wearing it all the time, I'd be jealous too. After all, I crave Big Brother Elias as well!)
Thus, the day after the birthday passed.
Mei came to understand a certain truth.
This diamond ring was like a king's crown, symbolizing absolute status! But heavy is the head that wears the crown!
She would be watched by everyone. Without sufficient strength, she would find it increasingly difficult to secure date privileges in the future.
Mei: "I need to get stronger! I must become stronger!"
As long as she became strong enough to suppress every enemy in the world, then reign unchallenged for eternity, Elias would belong to her alone! When that time came, she would banish all these bad women to the cold palace!
And so Mei began going into seclusion, researching new applications of the authority of lightning and space. She buried herself in books related to electromagnetism, while also studying her own stigmata and the Signets of the Flame-Chasers.
When the Thunder Queen emerged from seclusion, her power would surely surge dramatically, sweeping aside all opposition (massive exaggeration).
...
By the way, after midnight last night, Mei had regrettably failed to defend her territory successfully. But a certain someone had avenged the cook... now everyone else was lying in their bedrooms, unable to get out of bed.
Except for Pardofelis...
She had entered Artificial Cascade into her cat form and was currently napping atop Elias. After all, as a pet, she naturally received certain special treatment.
And last night's battle had drained quite a bit of Elias' energy as well, so he was resting now too.
However, although his body was resting, his mind was still working. He sorted through the current situation. First of all, Honkai itself was no longer a real problem. The upcoming Herrschers could be cleared with ease~
"The next Herrscher should be little Senti, right? I'm really looking forward to it. But can the current Fu Hua even still be chosen by Honkai to become a Herrscher? That feels uncertain. Prometheus isn't omnipotent, after all."
Elias felt a trace of worry.
Although as long as he didn't interfere too much, the world's corrective force would automatically adjust the future according to the original storyline and turn Fu Hua into the Herrscher of Sentience.
But well~
Fu Hua had already been influenced far too much by him.
In the original plot, the heavily injured Immortal Phoenix had been shot in the head by that damn dog Otto, her soul leaving her body and attaching itself to Kiana as a ghostly presence. Only then had her empty shell been seized by Honkai.
Now, however, Fu Hua was at full health and peak condition. After developing for fifty thousand years with perfect SWARA, she still hadn't grown any chest, but she could now even accommodate Garuda's Artificial Cascade.
Her strength could be described as obliterating heaven, earth, and air alike!
The current her was the perfect Phoenix, the perfect Fu Hua, the perfect flat board!
In such a state, Fu Hua's combat strength would rank within the top five across both the Previous Era and the Current Era. (Finality = Elias → Kevin → Jyahnar → Fu Hua)
Honkai no longer had any loopholes left to exploit.
However, even if the Cocoon of Finality itself might feel that this season of the Current Era held no hope, it would never simply hand humanity free power. Not even Prometheus could influence that.
Elias now had a choice. He could abandon the original storyline altogether. Even if the Herrscher of Sentience were not Fu Hua but instead descended in some unknown form, it would not make much of a difference.
After all, with him and the Herrscher of Finality working together, no matter how much damage a newborn Herrscher of Sentience caused, they could reverse it.
But...
Elias: "No! Absolutely not! Senti is way too adorable! She has to be born! So what if the conditions aren't there? If there are no conditions, then we'll create them!"
For once, Elias declared that he was standing on Honkai's side.
The great Herrscher of Sentience must descend!
Fu Hua must become a Herrscher!
And Elias truly lived up to being a genius. Although in battle he usually preferred charging forward with a flaming greatsword and hacking away like a pure melee brute, in reality his intelligence now rivaled that of top scientists like Mobius.
Thus, he quickly came up with a solution.
"What? I thought it would be difficult. Turns out it's easy to handle. I just need my Hua to 'die' once, and then I'll take care of the rest!"
Of course, she would not truly die. She would not even feel pain. All Elias intended to do was toss Honkai a piece of bait.
As long as there was a reasonable setup, the world's corrective force would automatically steer the plot back onto its original track.
Elias spent half a minute refining the outline in his mind, and just like that, the "Immortal Phoenix Herrscherization Plan" was complete.
Although it could be implemented at any time...
Elias: "Better wait a bit. The Herrscher of Ice and the Herrscher of Stars descended only a week ago. Even in the Previous Era there were cases of Herrschers appearing consecutively, but three descending with such short intervals would be unprecedented."
It wasn't that civilization couldn't endure it. Elias was worried that Honkai itself couldn't endure it. He had already beaten the other side badly enough. He might as well give Honkai some time to adjust its mentality before coming back for another challenge—or to deliver itself up again.
(Honkai: "I really damn thank you for that!")
Elias closed the mental proposal and set the matter aside. Then he picked up his terminal to check messages.
Although his terminal had no information protection whatsoever,
Elias, who possessed the authority of corrosion, was himself the strongest firewall in the world. His terminal could never be hacked. It had always been him exposing other people's browser histories...
Moreover, since he lived in the dormitory with the girls, he did not often use his terminal. Still, two people regularly sent him status reports: Gray Serpent and Amber.
Amber: [Lord Elias, all S-rank Valkyrie battlesuits currently held by Schicksal have been secured. They will soon be delivered to St. Freya Academy through covert channels. Also attached is Bishop Otto's latest "Evil Plan.docx"...]
Elias: [Good work. Continue your infiltration.]
Amber: [Understood.]
Gray Serpent: [Lord, we have confirmed the identity of the target you instructed us to investigate some time ago. She is indeed Miss Bronya Zaychik's biological mother, Mrs. Alexandra Pavlovna Zaychik.]
Elias narrowed his eyes. His grip on the terminal unconsciously tightened, and he accidentally cracked the screen.
(So I wasn't mistaken.)
Not long ago, Elias had used his Authority of Corruption to hack into networks and surveillance systems worldwide while searching for Elysia, who was supposedly "traveling the world." He hadn't found Miss Pink Elf.
Instead, he had found Bronya's mother.
Since Elias had only met Alexandra once during the Second Eruption, and many years had passed since then, she was no longer the heavily pregnant woman from his memory.
So even after discovering her, he hadn't been certain whether she was truly Bronya's mother. That was why he had sent Gray Serpent to confirm it.
Now, he had received definite confirmation.
"Bronya went to Anti-Entropy today to continue the inheritance trial of the Herrscher of Reason. She'll probably get her motorcycle license before long. In that case, it's about time I started preparing on my side as well."
Looking at the photo of Alexandra sent by Gray Serpent, Elias muttered to himself, "A reunion between mother and daughter after fifteen years... it has to be arranged properly."