"System?"
"Hey, System?"
She called out several times in her mind, but heard no response from the System.
Kiana couldn't help but go dead-fish eyed.
She should've known. This single-threaded, dumb system had focused entirely on analyzing the cause, leaving no processing power for anything else.
"Whatever!"
The System was just a tool to assist Kiana anyway.
If it was ignoring her, she'd just operate manually.
No matter what!
When something this interesting popped up, of course she had to see it with her own eyes!
Even if, thanks to the System's nearsightedness and farsightedness, things too far were invisible and things too close were blurry...
Just seeing the middle part was enough to glean a lot.
It was plenty!
Besides, compared to before, Kiana was stronger now. She could see further, and see closer details too.
If you rounded it up, her range was naturally much wider now.
Having not personally observed the countless future worldlines for so long, Kiana definitely felt the difference before and after.
She looked carefully for a moment, and suddenly, understanding dawned.
"Ohh... I see..."
Kiana remembered the original countless worldlines—vast, complex, and numerous like grains of sand on a shore.
But after her convergence, pushing, and tuning, they had basically stabilized.
That is, following the procedure, each Great Eruption would produce a native Herrscher, even created using the Current Era as a template.
Then, the Herrscher would be defeated, and the Great Eruption would be overcome.
When Kiana, as the Finality, faced her own end moment, she could then take over the Cocoon of Finality and completely finalize this cycle's civilization assessment.
Simple, right?
In reality, the more the worldlines twisted together, converging in one direction, the harder they became to shake.
But this time, it had been altered, like a tornado and torrential rain suddenly whipping up over a calm sea.
It naturally couldn't be ignored.
And as for who had the ability to stir up waves in this segment of the future, to contend with Kiana...
It could probably only be a select few.
Kiana already had some ideas.
She'd just let the System report the rest to her.
She couldn't be bothered to look anymore.
Staring endlessly at the countless future timelines always exhausted her.
Her eyes felt like they were about to go blind.
Could you imagine constantly staring at an ant nest, counting the ants back and forth?
Kiana hated it.
But she rubbed her temples, thinking back.
Simply put, the originally intended procedure was gone.
Would new Herrschers even appear after this?
Had the Great Eruption been skipped entirely?
It felt like this segment of history had been forcibly concentrated, ensuring this event would occur no matter what.
Confronting that colossal entity!
[Host, retrieval complete.]
The System was back.
[The anomaly was caused by the Cocoon of Finality.]
As expected!
Kiana nodded.
She poured herself a glass of milk.
[The specific situation is—]
[The Cocoon of Finality has converged their existence across all parallel worlds, focusing their gaze entirely on this main world.]
[Because their actions have begun to change drastically, even altering their long-established patterns of thought, it caused our anchoring of the future to fall into chaos.]
"It all boils down to not being strong enough!" Kiana sighed.
After all, this was fundamentally a contest of power and authority.
All of Kiana's power originated from the Cocoon of Finality.
Naturally, whether in identity, status, ability, or anything else, she couldn't match up.
Even if Kiana would eventually surpass the Cocoon of Finality,
'Eventually' wasn't 'now'.
No matter how flashy her abilities were, it ultimately came down to comparing their sheer magnitude.
You need to be strong yourself to forge iron. Kiana couldn't possibly not know this.
So!
Even if the future timelines were shrouded by an immensely thick fog, what lay within that fog was obvious.
It was none other than her meeting the Cocoon of Finality.
The more specific details, due to the high-dimensional nature inherent to the Cocoon, were things Kiana wasn't yet qualified to see through, hence why she couldn't perceive them clearly.
But even if she could see them clearly, it wouldn't mean much.
The more you fixate on the details, the easier it is to make mistakes.
Smaller things were inherently more prone to last-minute changes.
As long as the overarching trend remained unchanged, the minor details could be overlooked.
She just had to accept it!
Of course.
Based on the available information, making some deductions was fine, even if the fog couldn't be pierced.
Kiana took a sip of milk.
Chatting with the System.
If you broadly categorized the overarching trends into 'Good,' 'Bad,' and 'Neutral,' then previously, Kiana had always ensured that the vast majority of worldlines were in a state that was 'Good' for her.
At most, it was just a matter of how good.
So!
Even if the Cocoon of Finality could counter Kiana, twisting all the worldlines connected to her causality, it couldn't possibly alter this most fundamental, overarching trend.
Or rather!
It could change it, but not with such a small disturbance.
"So..."
"No matter what the Cocoon of Finality intends to do, the outcome for me definitely won't be bad."
"See? She's not an enemy... right?"
Let's not forget, Kiana's first stepping stone was being chosen as the Finality by the Cocoon, no matter what.
She truly had never viewed the Cocoon of Finality as an enemy.
When Seele mentioned having coordinates to reach the Cocoon before, Kiana didn't immediately accept partly because she'd had no communication with it.
She really wasn't sure about the Cocoon's attitude towards her.
But now...
The future had been completely converged.
Unless an existence on par with, or surpassing, the Cocoon of Finality intervened in their connected future, her meeting with the Cocoon was just a matter of time.
"This feeling really sucks..."
Kiana grumbled.
Eden, returning from outside, saw Kiana's unhappy little expression and gracefully walked over.
"What's wrong, my dear Kiana... feeling unhappy?"
"Eden~ my dear Eden~"
Seeing Eden sit down, Kiana immediately pounced, hugging Eden's soft waist, putting on a coquettish act like a young wife.
She didn't hide too much.
Picking and choosing, she explained her frustrations.
At this point, everyone knew she could observe and interfere with the future, they just didn't know the extent.
And now, hearing that the Cocoon of Finality had already begun confronting Kiana on a level as vast as the sands of the Ganges, across the timelines, Eden was still somewhat surprised.
No wonder, since Seele's arrival, the Sixth Great Eruption had been... glossed over.
Now, months later, there had been no signs of a Seventh Great Eruption.
Logically, at this stage, having a Great Eruption every two or three months, up to half a year, was pretty absurd.
But at least the previous few had happened in quick succession.
Everyone had gotten used to it.
Instead, the prolonged absence of a Great Eruption had everyone even more on edge, fearing some unforeseen change.
Just look at Australia, the previously revealed location for the Seventh Great Eruption. The place had been turned upside down, scoured thoroughly enough to dig three feet into the ground.
That alone showed how seriously everyone was taking it.
"So, the Cocoon of Finality... gave up?" Eden asked, somewhat astonished.
--+--
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