A few minutes later
Back at Schicksal HQ, Leo Ash looked at the worried Fu Hua beside him and could only think...
Sigh, Kevin is still an honest man.
Although he had become much stronger in this [one day] for various reasons, before they fought today, he truly hadn't expected to be instantly killed by him.
Kevin, being an honest man, had been tricked in this final battle by Leo Ash's petty trick, all because he trusted him too much.
It was a good thing Leo Ash truly hadn't intended to kill him; otherwise, Kevin would have been 100% dead in today's battle.
Of course, now that Leo Ash had said some things, he was starting to get a headache.
Staring at the woman before him, who was clearly angry, Leo Ash could only think...
—Sigh, I really shouldn't have let Master know about this.
Fu Hua, who had just heard Leo Ash's plan, was currently suppressing the Herrscher of Sentience who wanted to come out and cause trouble, while simultaneously thinking...
—Maybe she and Senti should just cause trouble together today.
"Master, I don't think you need to be so nervous."
"You still have the nerve to say that!"
Seeing Leo Ash's playful look, Fu Hua was suddenly overcome with anger.
"It's fine if you think the Stigmata Project is bad. We all know that plan sucks and will hurt a lot of people."
"But the problem is—how is *your* plan any better than the Stigmata Project!"
[Exactly, exactly! Old-timer, stop it! Let me out, we'll scold this stinky disciple together!!!]
"Ah, about that..."
After a moment's thought, Leo Ash looked at Fu Hua strangely and retorted.
"You ask what the difference is, but the difference is huge, plain as day, isn't it?"
"I can't take it anymore!"
Facing Leo Ash, who was clearly playing dumb, the Herrscher of Sentience, in the instant Fu Hua was half-dead from anger, directly seized control of the body. She immediately grabbed Leo Ash's collar and roared at him.
"You wretched disciple! Why did you have to learn from Kevin of all people!"
"He's preparing to execute the Stigma Project while using himself to steal the Herrscher of Finality's Authority, shouldering that power bit by bit—but you're even crazier than him!"
"Ah, about that..."
Looking at the Herrscher of Sentience, who was clearly agitated, Leo Ash said with a smirk.
"I don't think I or Kevin are idiots."
"And isn't this just a temporary plan? If the plan goes smoothly..."
"I don't care, I don't care, I don't care! Anyway, you are not allowed to—"
Before the Herrscher of Sentience could finish her tantrum, she suddenly stopped talking.
It wasn't that she heard Leo Ash say something that calmed her heart, but mainly...
In the next second, she had been pushed down onto the ground by Leo Ash and forcefully kissed on the spot.
After their lips parted, Leo Ash whispered by the Herrscher of Sentience's ear.
"Alright, I know my Masters are uneasy, but please trust me."
"This plan is already countless times more reliable than other plans, and there won't be any sacrifices—including me."
"If Masters are still uneasy, I will keep comforting Masters' hearts until Masters are completely at ease."
"But, please help me keep this a secret from the others. After all, next, I'll probably be very busy."
"You..."
Regaining control of her body, Fu Hua stared into Leo Ash's eyes, certain that his attitude was sincere.
Although she had been tricked many times in her life by Otto and this stinky disciple, this time...
[Old-timer, don't you dare believe him!]
*No, I think I'll trust Leo Ash this time.*
[He's definitely going to do something crazy!]
*But even if we stop him, he'll still do something crazy.*
[You—You're the Immortal Red Kite! We're the strong ones! Why are you being so accommodating?!]
*He's already very tired. At least for now...*
"I understand. But right now, I think..."
Forcefully reversing the offense, Fu Hua straddled Leo Ash and whispered to him.
"The one who needs to de-stress isn't me, it's you."
"I know you didn't tell the whole plan at the World Serpent base, so..."
"I'll help you keep this secret, but at the same time, you must tell me the entire plan."
...
Meanwhile. World Serpent Base
Inside the World Serpent base, Kevin stared at Elysian Realm Kevin, this 'brother' of his, waiting silently for his feedback.
After a certain amount of time, Elysian Realm Kevin opened his eyes, a complex look clearly visible on his face.
"How does it feel?"
"Leo Ash... he really has carved out a new path."
After saying this, a slight energy fluctuation appeared at Elysian Realm Kevin's fingertips.
"True Manifestation..."
"This special method of using energy, combined with this special energy he gave us... after combining the two, we memory bodies, who rely on Soulium Bodies, can already use power far beyond what we could before."
When Elysian Realm Kevin first left the Elysian Realm, although he had some of the original Kevin's memories and skill in using power, he was, after all, using a Soulium Body and not Kevin's Chimera body. So, theoretically, his strength was vastly different from the original Kevin's.
It was also because of this that Leo Ash had previously mentioned to some of them that if needed, they could totally swap their Soulium Bodies for corresponding fleshly bodies to act.
But now, Elysian Realm Kevin felt that, setting aside some details of daily life, perhaps using a Soulium Body to fight would be more advantageous for him.
After the battle, in order to get Kevin and Elysia to hand over the backdoor and the Origin Authority, Leo Ash had directly disclosed the general application of the [True Manifestation Fusion] ability to everyone present.
And as the most suitable person on site to complete True Manifestation Fusion, Elysian Realm Kevin naturally requested immediately that Leo Ash infuse Dimensional Energy into his body, using his own body to verify if Leo Ash's claims were correct.
The result now confirmed it: the True Manifestation Fusion ability was truly, terrifyingly strong.
It relied on the strength of Dimensional Energy and the will to control everything within one's body to achieve a unity of power, and only then could True Manifestation Fusion be completed.
And True Manifestation Fusion, which originally required a mech and a pilot to achieve pilot-mech unity, naturally allowed Elysian Realm Kevin to achieve [pilot-mech unity] with his own Soulium Body.
As for the difficulty, True Manifestation Fusion wasn't difficult for Elysian Realm Kevin at all.
After learning about the True Manifestation Fusion ability yesterday, Leo Ash had used the properties of Phantasmagoria to enter a dream state and begin researching this power.
And to avoid running out of time, he even used the [time-slowing] property of Phantasmagoria *in the dream*.
The flow of time in a dream was already slower than in reality, and with Phantasmagoria added on, it directly allowed Leo Ash to research Dimensional Energy and True Manifestation Fusion for *several years* in that one night.
Why was he able to defeat Kevin so easily today? It was also because he had actually *tryharded* for several years last night.
After the battle, Leo Ash had already informed everyone present of his analysis of the True Manifestation Fusion ability and the details of this method.
And as a genius warrior with rich experience and a deep understanding of his own power, Elysian Realm Kevin, currently the strongest among them besides the original Kevin, easily completed True Manifestation Fusion on himself after receiving guidance from Elysian Realm Vill-V on some of the detailed structures of Soulium.
True Manifestation, in the end, meant true evolution. And after completing True Manifestation, Kevin could feel that Honkai Energy, which already had difficulty corroding Soulium, had its corrosive effect on Soulium reduced even further.
"Hmm, if Kevin's feeling is correct, then..."
Elysian Realm Su, who had been analyzing the situation after hearing Leo Ash's plan, now had a visibly less worried look on his face.
"Mr. Leo Ash's plan is simple. After he takes the backdoor authority and the Herrscher of Origin's authority, when the time is right, he will use the Power of Finality and the power of the Herrscher of Origin as a catalyst to reach the Cocoon of Finality."
"And after shouldering the Herrscher of Finality's Authority, he can attempt to [True Manifestation Fusion] with the Cocoon, thereby performing a [Pilot-Mech Unity] operation with the Cocoon."
"But it's not that simple."
Mobius interrupted Su's speculation rudely, her face cold.
"If the one shouldering the Authority is Kevin, then after Kevin shoulders Finality's Authority, his body will be continuously torn apart by the Power of Finality—alright, stop thinking about it."
Watching Elysian Realm Kevin crush his own hand and then easily repair it using Dimensional Energy combined with True Manifestation, Mobius continued irritably.
"Kevin can rely on a portion of the Honkai Beast power within the Power of Chimera to continuously repair his body, and Leo Ash can also use the power of True Manifestation and Dimensional Energy to repair his own body—I'll just assume his healing ability is on par with Chimera."
"But have you all considered one thing—he can solve the physical destruction, but can he avoid the *mental erosion*?"
The Cocoon comes to 'embrace' humanity. This was the conclusion Elysia reached before her death.
And the original Kevin, knowing this conclusion, was well aware that Mobius's worry was correct.
Regardless of what others thought, at the very least, even if the Cocoon had no thoughts, it definitely had some behavioral patterns.
And judging from how Chiyou popped up after Hua started Project EMBER 5,000 years ago, the Cocoon, this so-called 'invader coming to embrace humanity', was, by design, never intended to make it easy for humanity.
If Leo Ash and the Cocoon undergo True Manifestation Fusion, the most serious problem arises.
The prelude to True Manifestation Fusion requires five 'eras', and the [Confluence of Water] era, which represents fusion, requires two opposing sides, different races, to abandon hatred, coexist, and finally fuse to reach a new state.
Unfortunately, the one who crossed this era was not human, but Elysia, who held the dual identities of Herrscher and human at the time.
And even more unfortunately, Leo Ash, as an unlucky bastard and Avenger whose entire family was killed by Honkai, would 100% not 'reconcile' with the Cocoon of Finality, the true culprit that killed his parents.
Without being able to abandon hatred, not only will the difficulty of True Manifestation Fusion increase, but Leo Ash's mental stress will also inevitably increase due to fusing with the Cocoon.
He carries the burden of all humanity just like Kevin, but he also holds more radical emotions in his heart than Kevin. Considering this, Mobius's point made perfect sense.
Moreover, the backdoor can only be opened once. After opening the backdoor, the Flame-Chasers no longer have a second way to open a new one.
In other words, from the moment Kevin handed the backdoor authority to Leo Ash, they already had no other path.
Although Leo Ash had stated that even if True Manifestation Fusion failed, he wouldn't let the Cocoon of Finality off easy, the problem was that even if the Cocoon was partially dismantled by Leo Ash, it was still the Cocoon of Finality.
World Serpent's stalling tactics could only buy a limited amount of time. And in this limited time, the original Su, who had already gotten familiar with the Anti-Entropy group, could only follow Leo Ash's backup plan and start vigorously manufacturing mass-produced Moonlight Thrones.
This thing could have been made decades ago, but it was only now entering mass production...
Sigh, Mr. Otto. If he had been even a slightly decent person, we wouldn't be in such a rush now.
And now, although Mr. Leo Ash's plan has changed a lot, its essence hasn't changed at all.
He'll solve Finality by himself, and then use the mass-produced Moonlight Thrones as a backup. If things go wrong, he'll just go and dismantle the Cocoon...
—Why does this sound so familiar? Isn't this his operation *in the illusion*????
I thought it was strange back then, that Mr. Leo Ash, within the illusion, told the others in the organization about his special barrier ability ahead of time, used this ability to develop the Moonlight Throne, and even improved it into the Moonlight Throne Tank.
Thinking back now...
—Could it be that even back then, he was already using the illusion to conduct research on resisting Finality?
To this day, Su, recalling how he initially wanted to test Leo Ash, truly felt a bit ridiculous.
This tryhard not only gave a perfect score on Su's test, but he was even adding bonus questions for himself.
Su had seen many tryhards, but this was truly the first time he had seen one like this.
Although Mobius had analyzed the flaws in this plan, the problem was, no matter what Mobius said, everyone had actually realized one thing.
Why was Honkai accelerating? Ultimately, it was because Honkai [was afraid]. So now, no matter how much they discussed...
—Discussing on the premise that Leo Ash had *already* made Honkai [fearful], Su felt that the probability of Leo Ash solving the Cocoon of Finality was, in fact, quite high.
The biggest problem with this matter, besides the rescue plan in case of failure, was just one other question.
Mr. Leo Ash, if the plan succeeds...
—Can you truly return safely to your family?
..