Europe, Floating Island.
Schicksal Headquarters.
When Otto searched all internal files regarding the [Sirin Project] and [k423] within Schicksal and found the search results to be 0, he felt that the situation was becoming increasingly serious.
In the entire Schicksal Headquarters, aside from him and Wendy, no one remembered the former k423.
And the current Kiana Kaslana is actually Durandal.
To be precise, Durandal is the true later identity of Kiana. After Otto briefly explained to Wendy, she was still in a daze.
Wendy looked at Otto with a strange expression: "Bishop, I didn't expect you to be this kind of person."
Upon learning that Otto had done these things, Wendy felt a sense of disillusionment as if her faith had collapsed.
She had always thought Otto was an upright and kind bishop, but…
Otto, feeling a bit of a headache, said: "I will explain the detailed origins of this matter to you later."
The foundation of their cooperation is mutual trust; at this moment, even Otto cannot destroy this layer of trust.
He said expressionlessly: "But the current problem is that aside from you and me, no one else knows that the real past has undergone changes."
"And there is one thing we need to clarify: if the Second Honkai Eruption does not exist, then where did the Gem of Desire on you come from?"
The Gem of Desire comes from Sirin, but the current Wendy is still the Herrscher of Wind.
"The changes in fate have no impact on you; there must be some unknown force causing this deviation."
For Otto, the changes in the Sirin plan were clearly a heavy blow to him.
Although he now saw a more mature hope of traversing space, Otto would still consider the Sirin plan as a backup method.
And the current situation was that, not only was the Sirin plan in jeopardy, but even Sirin herself had disappeared.
"The Second Honkai Eruption still erupted in 2000, but that part of history is like a fog."
"I have sent people to search for information about Sirin, but I cannot guarantee that we will find anything."
Otto speculated that the time adjustments made by Chen Ran would alter the trajectory of fate.
But he did not expect that fate had already begun to deviate at this moment.
If that's the case...
If Chen Ran were to adjust an even earlier time, would that mean Kallen might also have a chance of disappearing?
"However, the fate that Chen Ran adjusts is not perfect and infallible; at least we still have the opportunity to remedy it based on our memories." Otto quickly reacted: "Wendy, you are the only one who can do this."
Just as Wendy nodded in agreement, Otto's communicator suddenly received a message from Amber.
"Lord Bishop, the Raiden Mei you asked me to keep a close watch on has new developments."
"Raiden Mei?" He instinctively frowned.
So, the deviation caused by the Sirin plan was happening with Raiden Mei?
"Get straight to the point, Amber."
Amber paused and said, "This morning, in the extreme east time zone, Raiden Mei was frantically searching for someone, calling out Kiana's name. After failing to find Kiana at Saint Freya, she seemed to have been stimulated and resonated with the Gem of Conquest."
"Raiden Mei has become the Herrscher at Saint Freya."
Amber's words made Otto and Wendy exchange glances.
Clearly, besides the two of them, a third person had sensed the deviation in the trajectory of fate.
Wendy said, "I will head to Saint Freya immediately."
"And before I return, I will take Raiden Mei to World Serpent."
"The person who knows Chen Ran best is in World Serpent; I need as much information as possible. I believe Lord Bishop feels the same way."
Otto did not object.
He also needed time to sort out the information brought by this incident.
The strings of time had already begun to vibrate, and no one could escape.
At that moment, his eyelids twitched slightly.
Amber said, "Lord Bishop, Lady Cecilia has requested to take Kiana to the extreme east branch to recover the Herrscher."
The long-lost name surged to his mind, and Otto immediately instructed Amber: "Reject it."
The strings of fate being manipulated became increasingly bizarre and absurd.
…
…
At this moment, above Saint Freya.
Thunder and lightning intertwined over this island, and Raiden Mei looked at the people before her with a blank expression, suddenly feeling that nothing mattered anymore.
She did not understand what had happened.
Why could a person disappear without reason, and why did the others lose all memory of that person?
Were those past experiences all fake?
Theresa held the Oath of Judah, and the chains on her body directly bound Raiden Mei: "Raiden Mei, wake up."
Raiden Mei's eyes were vacant as she looked at Theresa: "Why have you forgotten Kiana too?"
"Kiana has always been my niece; how could I forget?"
Clearly, the Kiana they were talking about was not the same.
Raiden Mei had too many questions; why was Kiana at Schicksal Headquarters? Who was the Kiana she had encountered before?
Why was there such a significant deviation between her memories and reality?
The Herrscher Core could record her important memories as a Herrscher; the information within the gem would not lie.
After she became a Herrscher, the one who saved her was Kiana.
But Theresa had no reason to deceive her.
She gradually lost the will to resist, yet her body could not suppress the formation of Thunderstorms.
The Thunderstorms quickly conducted through the metal on her body to Judah, and Theresa felt a tingling sensation throughout her body.
She endured the discomfort, planning to continue exerting force to completely control Raiden Mei.
Suddenly, the weather changed.
A powerful sea tornado emerged near Saint Freya, and a violent storm began to strike the small island in the extreme east.
The wind whipped up dust and dead leaves, making it difficult for Theresa to open her eyes. She was both shocked and puzzled: "This feeling, is it the Herrscher of Wind?"
Before long, another Herrscher appeared in the sky above Saint Freya.
Wendy manipulated the fluid, moving at a speed that even satellites would struggle to capture.
She looked at the Herrscher, who was on the verge of losing control of her emotions, feeling a mix of emotions.
"Raiden Mei, I know where Kiana is."
Raiden Mei suddenly looked up at her: "Really?"
"It's true, because the Kiana you mentioned, I have also seen."
Wendy was still on her way, hastily gathering all the information about the Sirin plan from Otto.
Of course, Otto did not explain the purpose of the Sirin plan but mentioned that it was to create a controllable Herrscher, just like her.
Wendy found it hard to say whether this experiment was good or bad, but for now, just the purpose of the experimental design had been achieved by Otto.
But who would have thought that the Herrscher of the Void would disappear?
What happened in 2000 suddenly turned into chaos, and the Sirin plan executed by Otto was modified due to the powerful inertia of history.
But what use did Otto have for a Herrscher of Thunder?
He was not solely focused on fighting against Honkai.
Wendy also realized now that her Lord Bishop was probably not as noble and righteous as she had thought, but at this moment, the two of them were already tied to a common goal.
Her eyes flickered as she controlled the wind in her hands, directly cutting through Judah's chains.
The rapidly spinning gas formed a wind blade, quickly tightening Judah's chains.
"Wendy!"
Theresa was furious: "Schicksal is not a place for Herrschers to run rampant!"
"I'm sorry, Teacher." Wendy looked at Theresa, her voice devoid of sadness or joy: "I have my reasons for doing this."
She manipulated the raging wind, and the Oath of Judah shattered in response.
Before Raiden Mei could react, she was swept away by Wendy.
The girl was surrounded by the deafening sound of the wind, and she instinctively closed her eyes: "Where are we going?"
"The target is Schicksal Headquarters, but before that, I need to take you to another place."
She needed to return to the Elysian Realm.
According to Wendy's understanding, the Elysian Realm in the data should be the place least affected by the butterfly effect.
There were still some things she needed to verify.
——
In 2000, at the Tower of Babylon.
Sirin and Bella sat together, contentedly eating the food before them.
They were attracted by the propaganda of the Tower of Babylon, wanting to 'voluntarily' become orphans for some drug experiment. In the icy Siberia, this was the only way for the girls to survive the cold winter.
Sirin had thought she would suffer inhumane treatment here, but her requirements were very low; as long as she wasn't starved to death, that was enough.
Having seen too many frozen corpses left unclaimed while living with her mother, she had already grown accustomed to the harshness of life.
After her mother fell ill and passed away, she hastily buried her and was taken in by a kind-hearted person who wanted to send Sirin to an orphanage.
But the orphanage did not want older children, so she wandered alone and found the Tower of Babylon, which was actively recruiting.
The naive girl, holding onto the idea of living one day at a time, entered the Babylon laboratory.
But she did not expect that the living conditions here were even better than she had imagined.
Saying there was an abundance of meat, eggs, and milk was a simple statement, but in present-day Russia, over 90% of families could not provide such sustenance.
When Sirin lived with her mother, the most common food she had was a hot oil soup made from some butter and wild vegetables, which had little flavor and barely met her basic physiological needs.
She was arranged in a dormitory, and her roommate happened to share common topics with her.
Avrora, who held naive fantasies about the future, Agatha, who liked to secretly stash food, Galina, who enjoyed working, and the somewhat silly Bella...
Sirin thought this was good enough.
Although there were no entertainment facilities around the Tower of Babylon, at least she could have enough to eat and make friends.
It would be even better if she didn't have to go to school.
After Bella finished the food in front of her, she sighed: "This afternoon is math class. Sirin, how do you even learn math?"
Sirin shook her head: "I don't know; my mother never taught me."
Even at the age of 12, Sirin still needed to count on her fingers.
Let alone basic addition and subtraction.
Math was Sirin's nemesis.
A deadly enemy!
Sirin pouted: "I don't know."
Hearing about math class made this girl lose her appetite.
The orphans selected by the Babylon laboratory all had a decent adaptability to Honkai Energy. Chen Ran's idea was simple: after they received basic education, he would directly package them off to Schicksal to become Valkyries.
After all, the experiment Otto wanted to conduct could be completed independently even without these subjects; one could even say he had already conducted similar experiments with MEI.
There was no need for human bodies to inject Honkai Energy to obtain Stigmata data.
The researchers below dared not defy the words of the person in charge and could only do their best to nurture these orphans, especially the few who were specifically pointed out by Chen Ran, who needed to be taken care of.
This was the power structure of Schicksal; those in higher positions had significant control over those below.
Chen Ran thought he should be foolproof now.
However, at this moment, Chen Ran was unaware that his actions had brought great trouble to Wendy.
…
…
"Hey, long time no see. I thought once you got to Schicksal, you would never come back."
At the headquarters of World Serpent, Raven greeted the suddenly visiting Wendy.
Raiden Mei followed behind Wendy, frowning as she looked at Raven.
Her instincts told her that this person was very dangerous.
Raven looked at Raiden Mei, also frowning: "Another Herrscher... Hmm, this time it shouldn't be the Little Sister of the Lord, right?"
"She has nothing to do with Chen Ran."
Wendy paused and said, "However, she is a friend of the victim."
"Victim? What do you mean?"
"Do you still remember what happened in the world in 2000?" Wendy retorted.
Raven scoffed, "How could I forget? Even though I was still young back then, the changes brought by the Herrscher of the Void are something I can't forget for a moment."
"My homeland was destroyed by the Herrscher of the Void."
Although her words weren't particularly venomous, the hatred that seeped through was unmistakable.
Wendy didn't mind this.
Her relationship with Raven wasn't particularly good; she just felt there was something she had to tell Raven.
"The Herrscher of the Void that caused the Siberia disaster has disappeared."
"Disappeared? What do you mean?" Raven asked, puzzled. "Isn't the Herrscher of the Void already dead?"
She had been in the subspace layer where the World Serpent base was located and hadn't encountered any memory alterations.
"What I mean is not the kind of disappearance that means death, but rather that the memories related to the Second Honkai Eruption in 2000 have turned into chaos."
"The Second Herrscher is gone, and even Kiana… oh, that's a secret of Schicksal, I can't tell you for now. In any case, I'm going to the Elysian Realm."
If anyone knew Chen Ran best, it would naturally be the heroes in the Elysian Realm.
These heroes were the memories of the previous civilization and the current civilization, just like the photos Chen Ran had taken for her, which had been passed down from the previous civilization to the current one.
The turbulence of fate would also affect the heroes.
However, as memories, these influences were relatively weak.
"Wait a moment, I need to verify this."
She paused and began to contact Jackal.
At that moment, Jackal was busy with matters related to the plan at the Divine City Medical Center and, upon receiving Raven's message, couldn't help but ask, "What's up?"
"I want you to investigate matters related to the Herrscher of the Void."
"Herrscher of the Void? Natasha, what are you talking about?"
Raven's expression suddenly turned ugly, but of course, due to her cloak, her changing complexion went unnoticed.
"Jackal, how did I end up in the World Serpent?"
"Oh? Did your brain break? Of course, it was due to a massive Honkai event… wait, why don't I know the details of this event?"
Jackal realized there was a problem.
Raven looked at Wendy and Raiden Mei, clarifying the information again: "So, because of the Lord's friend, one person has disappeared?"
"There may be more than one person missing, but we've only discovered one so far; the rest are still unknown."
Wendy emphasized the seriousness of the situation.
Raven opened her portable computer to investigate information about the year 2000.
Then, her eyes suddenly lit up with excitement.
Siberia was not destroyed in 2000. Although most of the people living there had begun to move out due to the cold weather, the situation was already much better than it had been back then.
Raiden Mei, still unaware of the context, had Wendy briefly explain the situation to her.
Half an hour later, Raven looked at Wendy with a strange expression: "Have you been to Saint Freya?"
"Yes, why?"
"Cecilia took a Valkyrie named Kiana to Saint Freya, intending to capture both Herrschers in one go."
After Raven said this, her expression was indescribably odd.
In her memory, Cecilia should be dead.
Wendy's expression also turned grim.
Raiden Mei couldn't help but ask, "What is the relationship between Kiana and Cecilia? What's going on?"
Raven looked at Wendy.
Wendy sighed, "This is something only Lord Bishop can clarify for you, but I know Kiana's origins."
"She is a synthetic Herrscher born from the genes of Kiana, the daughter of Siegfried and Cecilia, fused with the Herrscher of the Void Sirin's genes. Whether you believe it or not, that's the fact."
"Cecilia died in the Siberian snowfields in 2000, but the current situation is that Chen Ran prevented the tragedy of 2000 from happening, and the Herrscher of the Void Sirin did not appear."
"Consequently, the Kiana you mentioned, who fused the Herrscher genes with Kiana's genes, will also not appear."
Wendy suddenly recalled what Chen Ran had said before they parted ways last time.
He was the bearer of hope for the last era.
He would also be the destroyer of this era.
Raiden Mei's body involuntarily swayed.
"I brought you here for this reason as well." Wendy paused and said, "Only by finding Chen Ran, who appeared in the past, can we have a chance to correct the altered history."
Raven couldn't help but say, "This isn't like sewing a sack; you can't just take it apart and redo it. If you go back to the past, the greater possibility is that the historical deviation will be even worse."
Raiden Mei couldn't help but ask, "I just want to know, what needs to be done for Kiana to reappear?"
She no longer cared about her origins.
She just wanted that person to reappear.
Wendy said, "Go back to 2000 and let Sirin become the Herrscher of the Void."
"That's the method with the least impact."
Raven coldly replied, "The entire Siberia suffered from the Second Honkai Eruption, with over thirty million people affected, and most of them are still living well in Siberia now. I don't think anyone can compare to thirty million."
She suddenly became angry and said, "Even if the future is changed, that's already good, isn't it?"
Wendy suddenly spoke up, "But don't forget, there are examples of becoming a Herrscher without sacrificing anyone."
"I am one of them."
"Ha, you just happened to meet the Lord's friend, not to mention there's the Herrscher Core. But in the world of 2000, where would you find gems to use?"
Raven did not agree with Wendy's approach.
If it were anyone else, they wouldn't agree either.
Her parents died because of that Honkai, and she and her Big Brother were also separated because of it.
The displacement of thirty million people is not something that can be easily dismissed with a few words.
Now, even if Raven had to defy the Lord of the World Serpent's orders, she had to stop Wendy from moving forward.
Just as she was about to take action against Wendy, a cold voice suddenly came from behind.
"Raven, the World Serpent hasn't reached the point where you can make decisions."
A gun was aimed at the back of Raven's head.
"Gray Serpent?"
A hint of mockery appeared at the corner of Raven's mouth: "Do you really believe these two kids can correct the past? And what if they ruin what the Lord's friend is doing? After all, you desire to defeat the Honkai more than anyone else."
Gray Serpent said indifferently, "This kind of matter is something the Lord will handle."
"He has instructed that the gates of the Elysian Realm are always open for Wendy. Of course, now it will also include Raiden Mei."
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