"So you're saying that Lady Cecilia has already voluntarily handed over her soul and decided to be reborn in the future?"
As if hearing something utterly unbelievable, little Dull Goose, who was holding the clothes of Sirin's old laboratory friend, Galina, wore an expression of sheer astonishment.
"In just ten minutes?"
"Because I used the Authority of Illusion to persuade her."
The boy, who could even replicate a memetic infection if he so wished, shrugged and said.
"Experiencing the sorrow and despair of Kiana and Sirin from a first-person perspective… that was a top-tier blow for Lady Cecilia."
"But even so, that's just too absurd."
Durandal, who had trained with Shenzhou's Flatboard and had a certain resistance to mental attacks, muttered.
She believed that Cecilia must have undergone similar training and should also have some mental resistance.
"I obtained my Herrscher qualification in a civilization composed of gods, fantastical species, humans, and even a large number of aliens."
As if stating a simple fact, the boy shrugged and continued.
"As the first whip driving the progress of that truly absurd world, the precision of the Authorities I was granted is much higher than that of this world's Herrschers."
"And my other Herrscher cores have fused with the Herrscher cores from that other world, so the precision of my other Authorities has also been enhanced—um, to about five times the original level."
These words reached Durandal's ears, making her entire face turn pale with shock.
She had fought against the artificial Herrschers.
Aside from Wendy, that illiterate fool whom she could one-shot, the other artificial Herrschers were extremely troublesome. If not for the fact that their Herrscher cores seemed to have been put under some kind of "lock," their precision appearing to be lacking, Durandal even suspected she would have been defeated in battle.
Honestly, Durandal found it very strange.
Restricting the Authority precision of an Apostle of God—a Herrscher—seemed completely contrary to the understanding that "the Honkai will ultimately destroy civilization." It almost felt like the Honkai God who set these limitations was actually on humanity's side.
Durandal had pondered this question before, only to laugh inwardly at her own naivety.
How could an entity that serially unleashed Herrschers to end human civilization possibly be on humanity's side?
But now, the answer seemed to be emerging.
The Herrschers of another world had five times the ability precision of this world's. For a Herrscher who commanded the ultimate expression of physics, as long as they weren't completely inept, even a slight increase in ability precision would lead to a massive leap in power…
A five-fold increase all at once…
That was no longer an enhancement; it was a direct ascension.
As long as such a Herrscher wasn't inept, they would surely be the type to kill gods and slay buddhas. The kind that not even Jesus could save.
So, why were the Herrschers on her side so pathetic?
"I feel like the Honkai is like an exam that a teacher hopes you can pass."
Durandal, who had always thought Herrschers were strong but never imagined they could be so ridiculously powerful in other worlds, muttered.
"Good students get the difficult papers, while poor students get the easy ones."
Then, she noticed Li Zihan was staring at her with a strange expression.
"D-did I say something weird?"
The girl, feeling like she had just been spouting nonsense, looked a little sheepish.
And then—
She froze.
"You guessed right. The Honkai is a civilizational trial, and its intensity is calculated based on the civilization's level of consumption."
The boy, who was himself the First Herrscher of the Moon, sighed and explained.
"The more powerful a civilization, the more energy it consumes. The more energy it consumes, the stronger the Honkai becomes, and the higher the upper limit of the Herrschers."
"To serve the purpose of a 'trial,' the Herrschers' strength is often set to a level that can end a civilization, but is not completely unbeatable."
Recalling the Ultimate Ones and God-Kings of the Reverse Side of the World, who had been nestled there for ages and, while rarely appearing, possessed an immense presence, Li Zihan paused.
The Nordic Ultimate One, Surtr, could burn the world to ashes in seven days. The Indian Ultimate One, Kalki, had the Authority to restart the world. A full-power Zeus could dissolve all concepts on the surface with his lightning…
It really was quite something that a tiny, broken place like the moon could support so many great gods. To deal with those characters who usually served as background decoration, how could the Honkai not upgrade the Herrschers' strength?
Just imagine the scene of sending the Pufferfish or the Rice Cooker to be trialed by the Reverse Side of the World.
Honkai Team Members: Pufferfish, Rice Cooker, Big Wind Wolf…
Enemy Team Members: The Destroyer God Shiva, the All-Powerful God Zeus, Amaterasu Ōmikami, Donghuang Taiyi…
That wouldn't be a trial; that would be feeding the enemy from a thousand miles away.
"The civilization of the world where I became a Herrscher consumes an insane amount of energy and mass-produces powerful beings. Therefore, my Authorities are far more terrifying than those of this world's Herrschers."
Li Zihan said with great seriousness.
This was the reason he couldn't easily return to the Type-Moon world right now. In the Reverse Side of the World, a group of God-Kings was preparing to raid him as a team.
So that's how it is?
Hearing Li Zihan's words, Durandal's expression grew complicated.
So, her world's civilization was that pathetic?
But speaking of which, Li Zihan thought, if just being the First Herrscher of Earth in the Type-Moon world granted me the Authority precision to knock out a chief god with a basic attack, then what kind of Herrschers would the outer Foreign God civilization and the even higher-level Velber civilization have to face?
The boy, whose strength had already been enhanced to a ridiculous degree, fell into deep thought.
If he remembered correctly, the Foreign God was so powerful that even Zeus found it unbelievable, and the Velber looked down on Chaos, which was essentially a star-fortress.
In that case, the strength of their enemies…
Li Zihan inexplicably imagined a horde of Ultimate Ones wielding amplified Star-Killing Swords and couldn't help but offer a second of silent prayer for the Foreign God and Velber civilizations.
According to the principle that the greater the civilizational energy consumption, the more powerful the Herrscher, the Herrschers they would have to face might be just a teensy bit formidable.
"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore."
The boy, who couldn't even easily return to the moon because he was being targeted by a pile of God-Kings, sighed and then extended a hand to the girl opposite him.
"Does Schicksal have any good quality wound medicine?"
---o---
She didn't quite understand why he had suddenly brought up a topic that was completely unrelated to their previous conversation.
"Didn't Lady Cecilia easily agree to give me her soul and meet Kiana in the future?"
As if he had thought of a major headache, the boy sighed dramatically.
"In reality, both Kiana and Siegfried are very important to her. If things had developed normally, even after experiencing Kiana's dream, she most likely would have given Siegfried a good beating and then begged Kiana to forgive him."
"And Kiana, for her mother's sake, would have eventually agreed to reconcile with Siegfried."
Just by apologizing, could all the pain of the past be ignored?
Durandal, who had heard Li Zihan mention Kiana's ordeal before, felt a little uncomfortable.
"If I had nothing to do with Kiana, I probably would have pushed for their reconciliation. For the sake of a harmonious family, someone in that family ultimately has to make a sacrifice."
The boy spoke with a small smile.
But Kiana is your lover.
Durandal looked at the boy, whose relationship with Kiana had definitely reached the final step, and felt a strange discomfort in her heart.
"But to maintain a harmonious family, why should it be my lover who has to make the sacrifice?"
"Wouldn't it be better to let Siegfried make the sacrifice?"
The boy, who had already commissioned Anti-Entropy Aviation to launch Siegfried to the moon, grinned and spoke.
Letting Siegfried play the role of a civilizational guardian in outer space could also make the family harmonious, couldn't it?
A heroic father watching over them from afar against alien civilizations, and a gentle mother who was always by her side, caring for her. Such parents would be a source of great pride for their child.
So, all that was left was to erase a segment of Cecilia's memory, and Kiana would receive a perfectly wonderful family.
Between Siegfried making a sacrifice and Kiana making a sacrifice, the boy who had chosen to stab Siegfried without a moment's hesitation thought to himself.
"So, I used my Authority as the Herrscher of Erosion to make Lady Cecilia's love for Kiana overpower her love for Siegfried."
"Although it was for Kiana's own good, the methods were questionable. If I'm found out, I'll most likely face some domestic violence, so preparing some wound medicine in advance is a pretty reasonable thing to do."
The power to dominate emotions and twist personality?
Durandal had heard of Jizo Mitama. It was a terrifying weapon that could completely destroy and reshape a person's personality in an instant.
And according to Li Zihan, his ability's precision was more than five times that of Jizo Mitama. If he were to fully unleash his power as the Herrscher of Erosion, who could possibly resist?
Durandal couldn't help but shudder.
"Relax. Unless it benefits someone important in my life, I won't—or rather, can't—use my god-level or higher Authorities on them."
Seemingly noticing the change in Durandal's expression, the boy spoke nonchalantly.
"This is a Vow I made in accordance with the Precepts system of the Lord of the First Heaven—the True Self."
"A Vow?"
Durandal, who was unfamiliar with this, was a bit stunned.
"You can think of it as the highest level of Geas. If I violate it, my soul will suffer a universe-destroying divine punishment."
Li Zihan shrugged.
"I'm a scumbag who has let down many girls. To prevent myself from degenerating into an even bigger scumbag, I have to restrain myself a little."
But wasn't that punishment a bit too ridiculous?
Looking at the boy, a strange feeling arose in Durandal's heart.
This guy… was really strange.
PS: This chapter is 3,000 words.