Aponia saw it all too clearly.
Miss Sakura had always carried this deep-seated sense of inferiority. She constantly saw herself as nothing more than an executioner, her hands stained with blood.
A blade that ought to remain hidden in the shadows. She wished for her little sister, Rin, to find a good place to belong.
If it was with Kiana, she could rest easy. But she never felt she was worthy of receiving Kiana's affection.
Kiana was so beautiful, so outstanding, so noble… She was the Herrscher of Finality, the young mistress!
Could someone like her ever be within Sakura's reach?
She was like the sun, warm to behold. But to actually reach out and touch it? You'd be burned to ashes.
And so, Sakura didn't dare.
It wasn't that she didn't want to!
On ordinary days, when everyone was gathered here, Kiana was never short of girls around her. Sakura naturally hid her feelings even deeper, along with her growing confusion.
Instinctively, she yearned, but her reason screamed that it was wrong, that it couldn't be.
It was truly a tangled mess.
And pitiful, too.
Even Elysia knew to drag Kiana into the kitchen, consciously creating a world for just the two of them.
Sakura, on the other hand, seemed utterly passive. But did she truly not want to take initiative?
No, of course not.
She was also worried about Rin.
She knew her little sister genuinely liked Kiana.
Even if that sky screen had listed both her and her sister as Kiana's women, in reality, she still found it somewhat hard to accept.
But!
She wasn't exactly firm in her resistance either.
Was she?
If Kiana were just a little more proactive…Sakura's defenses would crumble completely.
Just like what was happening now. At this moment.
Kiana was telling the other girls about her experiences in the Realm of Finality.
Whether it was about the Cocoon of Finality wanting to switch sides from the very start, but its Herrschers being too dim, leading to a whole heap of unnecessary trouble…
Or how she used the Cocoon of Finality to complete a transcendence, becoming no less than an Aeon, truly ascending to the seat of a god…
All of it drew astonished gasps and murmurs from the girls.
"Kiana!"
The 'Snake' immediately clung to Kiana.
Throwing herself at her.
"You like me, right? In the future, we're wives, right? I like you, will you marry me?"
Even though she'd long known this was just how the Snake was.
Still!
Kiana felt a bit helpless.
Do you even like me?
You just want a piece of me!
And I mean that in the literal, physical sense! Ugh, enough already!
Because, in Mobius's eyes, while she'd long known Kiana would keep evolving, growing continuously, seemingly without limits—perhaps a true form of Infinity…
The Kiana of before was still a developing Herrscher of Finality, just a Herrscher, nothing more.
Not enough to make Mobius completely lose her mind over her.
But now! It was different!
A higher-dimensional lifeform, an exalted state of being.
It was a world of difference, like clouds and mud.
She wanted all of Kiana, but she also knew there's no such thing as a free lunch.
By reason or emotion, there was no need for her to hold back any pretense.
Wouldn't it be more beneficial to act as Kiana's wife?
She was great at calculating gains and losses.
If Kiana liked this skin of hers, then she could have it!
Besides, it seemed Kiana had always had her eyes on her, and well, the feeling was mutual.
Wasn't this a mutual pining?
Unfortunately!
Kiana had a bit of a mischievous, sly streak. Seeing Miss Snake like this, she just smiled. Then, firmly told her, "No!"
The more you rush, the more I refuse.
The more you throw yourself at me, the more I'll push you away, just to see you get all flustered.
"Kiana… you're so bad." The Original Vill-V popped out for a glance, couldn't take it, blushed and scurried back in, leaving the Conductor Vill-V to take the helm again.
Conductor Vill-V sighed, not even wanting to speak.
But then again.
She knew.
Even if she and Mobius gave nothing, if they wanted Kiana's help, or something from her, Kiana wouldn't refuse.
It just felt like…
The debt was piling up higher and higher. What should they do when the time came?
"At worst, I can just hand over the Original and the Chef…" Two of me should cover the debt, right?
Conductor Vill-V muttered under her breath.
Elysia listened while watching Kiana.
"So, that means I'm out of a job? No more need to fight the Honkai?"
"Theoretically, with Honkai gone, Honkai energy will, following my will, gradually become harmless and revert to its original state," Kiana explained. "It might not be as pure as the original Imaginary energy, but it should be pretty close."
She continued.
"Unemployment… probably not."
"After all, Fire Moth can completely transform. The future world still has tons of work regarding the application and development of Honkai energy, subsequent social progress, and so on."
Eden nodded slightly with a smile.
She said, "True, didn't the Sky Screen mention it before? The Stellar Alliance's predecessor was Fire Moth."
"And by that future time, concepts like nations and organizations will probably have faded significantly."
After all, against the backdrop of the cosmic starscape,
for a planet to be tangled in internal strife would be downright embarrassing.
At the very least, a strong, unified voice representing the planet is needed to better secure interests for everyone in the universe.
However!
That being said…
Where there are people, there are rivalries.
Where there are rivalries, there is conflict.
Even in the so-called Stellar Alliance, there would surely be various factions and competition. But in the future, with Kiana and the others around, things probably wouldn't be too bad.
If nothing else, just recall when Elysia contacted the current era of Honkai Impact 3rd in her dreams.
She spoke with the memories in the Elysian Realm and learned so much. A major issue for the previous era in that world was humanity's own internal consumption and strife.
Over here, they were lucky.
The young mistress had twisted everyone together like a single rope.
There wasn't much internal fighting to be seen.
Instead, it was almost like rule by idol! The world felt a bit… unorthodox.
But wasn't that just fine?
Anyway, the news that Kiana had directly ended the Honkai needed to be spread quickly.
Right now, everyone was discussing what Kiana had done earlier.
Those 108 spires that were about to appear, symbolizing the 108 Herrschers to come.
Heck, only six Herrschers have appeared in total so far.
108? What kind of concept is that?
If they were all on the young mistress's side, not the Honkai's, fighting for humanity, gaining power while keeping their sense of self…
Then!
Wouldn't any new Herrscher that popped up get instantly gang-beaten to death?
Just thinking about it is exciting!
Because nobody ever complains about having too much firepower on their side.
Even those with worries would only fret about whether they had enough.
Could they have more people, more combat power? Then just steamroll everything.
After all, who doesn't love a curb-stomp battle?
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