Schicksal. Bishop's Office
After cleaning off a certain scent, Leo Ash entered the office. Seeing Fu Hua and Elysian Realm Elysia waiting for him in the room, he closed the door behind him.
The Bishop's Office wasn't a place just anyone could enter, but as one of the people closest to Leo, Fu Hua naturally had access.
And as Leo looked at Fu Hua, even though he already knew who the visitors were thanks to the System's alert, when he saw the helplessness in Fu Hua's eyes, he couldn't help but feel...
—He felt guilty.
If it weren't for his "Cold, Handsome Man" trait keeping his expression fixed, his face would probably look much worse right now.
"Hi~."
Looking at the calm-faced Leo, Elysia waved and walked closer to him with a smile.
"I know you have a heavy burden to bear, but it's not good to look so troubled."
"...My expression right now shouldn't count as 'troubled,' should it?"
Hearing Leo's rebuttal, Elysia leaned in close, gazing into his eyes from point-blank range.
"Hmm, but in my opinion, keeping a straight face like this in front of your lovers *is* being 'troubled'~."
"I don't know what you're thinking, but Hua definitely wouldn't want to see you like this."
"Elysia."
Hearing Elysia's words, Fu Hua, her eyes filled with helplessness, walked over to Leo and Elysia and spoke softly to her.
"That's enough. Leo is..."
[Let me out! I want to curse him out! I have to call him a little biscuit!]
Alright Senti, that's enough from you.
"He's already very tired. Don't put any more pressure on him right now."
Hearing Fu Hua's words, and combining them with the System's alert and the helplessness in her eyes, Leo was certain—what he had just been doing had been completely exposed.
Although Fu Hua had long known about his relationship with Kiana and had tacitly accepted his current "harem" situation, the problem was... the timing was bad.
While Leo himself knew that what he was doing was more along the lines of 'helping Kiana adjust her state' and 'suppressing the emerging Sirin,' the problem was—how would others see it?
Fu Hua herself wouldn't normally misuse her Authority, so the first one to discover this definitely wasn't her, but the Herrscher of Sentience.
Knowing the Herrscher of Sentience's personality, she was 100% sulking right now.
If Elysia weren't here, this situation, this scene...
"Hmm, my mistake."
Noticing that Leo was actually distracted right in front of her and Fu Hua, Elysia suddenly dropped her smile, a look of helplessness appearing on her face as well.
"You really do have too much to think about. So much that you'd get distracted even when two beautiful girls are standing right in front of you."
"Hua and the others have probably told you to 'rest well' enough times, but from the looks of it—you haven't listened at all, have you~."
"...I think I've probably had enough rest."
Not wanting the atmosphere to continue down this awkward path, Leo finished speaking and forcibly changed the subject.
"Master, Kiana is not in a good mental state. Please go to her room with Master Senti and help her suppress her Herrscher Personality."
[He... He's not even going to explain!]
Hearing Leo's words, the Herrscher of Sentience completely exploded.
[He's even telling us to go to Kiana's room right now... This stinky disciple really doesn't care about our feel—]
Senti.
Haven't you realized? Your state today is a bit off.
Hearing Fu Hua's calm reminder, the Herrscher of Sentience suddenly realized that what she was saying did seem a bit off.
But, unable to pinpoint exactly what she had said wrong, Miss Herrscher of Sentience paused for about a second before decisively choosing to ask for help.
[Where did I go wrong?]
Didn't you notice? Leo already told us the reason.
[Huh?]
Kiana's state is poor, and she needs our help to suppress her Herrscher Personality—this has never happened in the past two months.
[That does seem to be the case... I thought Kiana had always been easily suppressing the Herrscher of the Void's personality? What's going on today?]
Don't forget, everyone at Schicksal just discovered today that there's a major problem with Isla.
And Kiana, as the 'mother' who provided some of the DNA for Isla, is having problems at this exact time...
Now that I've said this much, you should understand why Leo is still distracted, right?
[This... So everything he did was to help Kiana?]
Mhm, that's basically it.
And from the way he calmly asked us to go look after Kiana, he probably doesn't feel much guilt.
From this, he must truly feel that he was working, not fooling around.
[Tch, just keep spoiling him!]
I'm telling the truth.
Besides, based on Leo's behavior when he's... intimate with us, he's a considerate person.
Think about it, would someone like him suddenly lose control and 'torment' Kiana to the point of passing out?
[...Tch, you're so high and mighty, you're so impressive!]
And most importantly, think about it. Haven't you started to get radical again today?
If you become radical, and I don't stop you, and you add more pressure on Leo... guess who would be happy in that situation?
[...Hiss, no way.]
Fu Hua didn't spell it out, but by this point, her hint was obvious enough.
Hearing Fu Hua's hint, the Herrscher of Sentience realized she had been acting unreasonably today.
And if Leo was affected by her unreasonable behavior...
[...Honkai would be the one to benefit.]
[But that's not right! I thought that after... after that day on Mount Taixu months ago, I was already free from Honkai's influence!]
That's why you should be even more aware of the seriousness of this situation.
You're usually a bit radical, but not to this extent.
You're a good kid, but since you're not acting right today, I can only make this guess.
The Day of Finality is drawing closer. And we, the traitors who were supposed to become the world-destroying apostles of God, will naturally become more susceptible to its influence as that day approaches.
You are the most special one among us, so when signs like this appear, you are one of the most easily affected.
[...This... I... Dammit, I know I was wrong!]
Realizing she was starting to become a burden, the Herrscher of Sentience finished speaking and actively used her power to suppress her own consciousness.
[Old-timer, I'm handing the Authority and the Core to you for now. I'm going into seclusion for a bit.]
Understood.
After finishing the exchange with her Herrscher Personality, Fu Hua nodded slightly at Leo.
Then, after a glance at Elysia, Fu Hua chose to use the Quantum Teleportation System to go directly to Kiana's room.
She knew that, aside from the reasons she had already deduced, there was another reason Leo had sent her to Kiana's room.
Leo had something he wanted to say to Elysia alone, so he wanted to send Fu Hua away and gave her something to do.
In the past, Fu Hua would definitely have tried to stop Leo, to keep him from acting recklessly.
But now, Fu Hua had completely resigned herself to this aspect of him.
Every time she tried to stop Leo from going somewhere dangerous, he would always find a way to get around her and end up on an even more dangerous battlefield.
It wasn't the first time her efforts had backfired. At this point, rather than risk making things worse, it was better to help Leo take care of other matters so he could do what he wanted without any worries.
"Sigh, Kiana..."
Looking at Kiana's tired, sleeping face, Fu Hua felt that she truly did bear some sin.
Although, thanks to Leo's efforts, Kiana didn't have to suffer even more miserably according to Otto's original plan, it didn't mean Fu Hua, who had assisted Otto in his scheme against Kiana, was blameless.
Even though Otto was dead, looking at the girl's sleeping face, Fu Hua still felt she owed her.
"Sirin, the Herrscher of the Void's personality..."
"If her resentment wasn't so strong, perhaps Leo wouldn't have chosen such an extreme method to suppress her, only to have us come and suppress Sirin's personality afterward."
Unleashing her Authority, Fu Hua could only focus on the task at hand.
As for what Leo was planning to do...
Ha, I'm truly an unqualified Master.
My disciple is worried, and yet, even now...
—I still can't alleviate even a fraction of his burden.
.......
After Fu Hua left, Elysia looked at Leo and said no more.
Leo's intention was too obvious. If Fu Hua could guess it, Elysia, who understood the human heart even better, could naturally see that Leo wanted to talk to her alone.
"Well, how should I put this..."
After a moment's thought, Leo decided not to beat around the bush.
"This might sound sudden, but I hope, Miss Elysia, that you can give me your Authority."
"Ah, this..."
Although Elysia herself had similar intentions, hearing Leo actively ask for her Authority still surprised her a little.
She didn't think Leo was a greedy person, nor did she think he had any unnecessary ambitions.
Although she still didn't know him well, based on his past words and actions, and what she had seen and heard since arriving at Schicksal, Elysia had already formed a general image of Leo.
Moreover, even Su trusted Leo. And Elysia, who knew full well how kind and thoughtful Su was, naturally trusted her companion's judgment.
"It's not that I *can't* give you that power, it's just..."
Looking at Leo's completely unwavering expression, Elysia felt that the young man before her was perhaps a little *too* calm.
"That power is a precious treasure, you know. If you don't give me a good enough reason, I'm afraid I'll have to say sorry~."
"Ah, the reason..."
"—With this power, I will have a chance to deal with the Cocoon of Finality. Is that reason enough?"
???
Although she had wondered what reason Leo might give, Elysia truly hadn't expected him to be so direct.
Dealing with Finality—the members of Fire Moth knew all too well just how heavy those simple words were.
To fight Honkai, the members of Fire Moth had continuously sacrificed their lives, betting everything, only to be defeated by the Herrscher of Finality in the end.
And as the Herrscher of Origin, Elysia was, of course, one of those sacrifices.
Elysia didn't know much about what happened after she died, but from the brief intelligence exchanges earlier, their era's final battle wasn't just lost—it was lost badly.
If the Herrscher of Origin *could* deal with the Cocoon of Finality, Elysia would absolutely stop at nothing to eliminate the enemy threatening humanity—even if that enemy was *It*, which wished to 'embrace' humanity.
The problem was, what's impossible is impossible.
The Authority of Origin was indeed strong, but in the face of the Herrscher of Finality and the Cocoon of Finality, it was far from enough.
Precisely because of this, Elysia, quite naturally, did not fully believe the reason Leo had just given.
"Ah, I knew this would happen."
Seeing Elysia's suspicious expression, Leo wasn't surprised at all.
He wasn't some OP protagonist from an arrogant "Long Aotian" novel. When facing intelligent people, the fact that Elysia wasn't looking at him like he was an idiot was already her giving him face.
"If not today, Miss Elysia, you can take a few days to think it over."
"But personally, I hope that time is as short as possible. After all, the longer I have this Authority..."
"—the higher my chances of winning against Finality will be."
.....