Unlike Bronya, Sirin preferred to stay reclusive within the Academy City.
Usually, she worked part-time as both the chairman of Academy City and the dean of the Honkai Academy, responsible for cultivating future Herrschers.
Academy City itself was isolated from the outside world, with a relatively high concentration of Honkai energy. Those who lived and studied within were all Stigmata bearers.
Stigmata bearers with adequate Honkai adaptability could, after passing Sirin's examination, become pseudo-Herrschers and enter the Honkai Academy.
From there, they would study while also participating in overseas field training.
To prevent them from constantly thinking about romance and relationships with men, Kiana Kaslana enhanced the sensory perceptions of pseudo-Herrschers, making them hypersensitive to the flaws and odors of ordinary humans.
In terms of education, Incarnation retained the traditional Church of Revelation teachings, instilling in them that they were the God's chosen, who must maintain chastity.
The goal behind all this was not that Kiana Kaslana had any interest in opening a convent.
Rather, it was to prevent the emergence of emotionally reckless individuals among her own people—those who, for the sake of a man, might risk everything and cause chaos with their tremendous power.
She—the Will of Ruler—could accept dying in a joint strike from Kiana and Raiden Mei, but not from some random man and woman's so-called "love attack."
Therefore, romantic relationships between men and women were absolutely forbidden.
Besides, pseudo-Herrschers couldn't even reproduce with humans. The two were no longer the same species.
A mere release of Honkai energy from a pseudo-Herrscher would instantly reduce any non-adapted human nearby to ash.
...
The Moon.
"This amount should be enough."
In Kiana Kaslana's right palm hovered a mass of liquid mixed with gold and black.
Faith and resentment.
A specialty of the Ai Enma world.
These were not physical substances, and thus Honkai energy couldn't be directly exchanged with them. She had to collect them personally within that world.
In that realm, both individual faith and resentment possessed power—though extremely weak, the collective strength of many could be considerable.
After collecting enough, she infused it with large quantities of Honkai energy.
This fusion would cause a qualitative transformation.
She could then use this ideational force to create supernatural beings endowed with extraordinary powers, granting wisdom and strength to both organic and inorganic matter.
It was somewhat similar to the "AllSpark" from Transformers, except that the AllSpark could only awaken machines into Transformers, while her power had a far broader range—capable of animating modern technology, flora, fauna, and even insects into yokai-like entities.
Of course, her Honkai energy could also parasitize all kinds of matter—living or non-living, even electronic devices—to create will-derived constructs.
The difference was that a will-derived construct was a Honkai creation parasitizing an object, while this world's mysterious power transformed an object into a sentient, powerful existence.
Essentially, the same principle as a tsukumogami.
After a period of research, Kiana Kaslana decided to delete the emotional component from her awakened creations.
They would serve purely as a form of Honkai-altered energy for enhancing and enchanting all things.
If emotion was ever required—she could add it back later.
Honkai-altered energy consisted of less than ten percent faith and resentment, while over ninety percent of it was pure Honkai energy.
Through an interdimensional channel, she transmitted the Honkai-altered energy back to the Houkai Universe, and from there into the world full of shipgirls.
Would she use it to enchant and strengthen her own vessel—to enhance Maya's combat ability?
The Fleet of Fog's combat strength was truly formidable; the super-flagships' full capabilities remained unknown.
What was certain, however, was that ordinary Herrschers could not withstand the Fleet's Super-Graviton Cannons.
Furthermore, the Fleet possessed unknown advanced technologies. She needed to fully analyze them before taking the field personally.
When Kiana Kaslana sensed that I-401 might actually be the super-flagship Yamato, she altered her plan—lowering her presence, staying beside Kongou, slacking off and keeping a low profile rather than provoking I-401.
After all, the protagonist's transport of Vibration Warheads posed no threat to her.
Once Musashi and Yamato fought one another—
When both sides were weakened—
She would strike.
For now, improving her combat power was the top priority.
After revising her plans, Kiana Kaslana suddenly felt a strange, familiar sense of déjà vu.
Uh...!
This really did feel like the perfect villain's script!
...
Iwo Jima.
Kiana Kaslana followed Kongou as they surrounded the island. For now, she had no intention of touching the protagonist.
Killing the protagonist might awaken I-401 into Yamato.
She had already dispatched a vast number of Seraph-class Honkai Beasts across the world to continue spreading the Honkai.
According to her revised plan, the mass production of Vibration Warheads could be put to use—against the Fleet of Fog.
The Fleet of Fog was difficult to control, but human weapons? Those she could easily manipulate.
Although the Vibration Warheads weren't particularly powerful, and she had no real desire to wage war with the Fleet of Fog, Yamato was undoubtedly aligned with the human faction—and even Musashi showed signs of possibly defecting to humanity.
Helplessly, she could only make preparations in advance.
To conquer this world, the greatest asset was the Fleet of Fog—and the greatest obstacle was also the Fleet of Fog.
...
On the ocean's surface, Kiana Kaslana bounced lightly forward across her Klein field, hopping step by step over the waves. Behind her, Kongou followed gracefully, her eyes fixed on the girl's back.
Landing on Iwo Jima, Kiana immediately spotted Iona and Takao waiting for them, both dressed in swimsuits.
"Maya."
Iona's expression was cold as she watched the black-haired girl in the crimson dress. The last time they met, Iona had nearly been sunk by her.
"What's wrong, 401? You look like you have something to say."
Kiana Kaslana kept her bright smile, maintaining Maya's usual persona.
"..."
Iona continued staring at the seemingly harmless girl.
Something about her felt... off.
But she couldn't tell what it was.
When Kongou arrived, Kiana turned aside, squatted down, and began playing idly with seashells—pretending not to interfere as Kongou and Iona spoke.
After exchanging only a few words, Kongou suddenly formed a sword from her Klein field and struck. Iona immediately deployed her own field to defend.
The two locked in a standoff.
As Takao prepared to join the fight, a man's voice echoed across the shore.
"That's enough! You two can stop greeting each other now!"
Hearing the protagonist's dramatic entrance, Kiana Kaslana nearly lost her patience—she really wanted to smack him right then and there.
She simply listened to the exchange between the protagonist and Kongou, quietly playing the background role.
If Kongou were swayed by his empty words, Kiana would immediately contact I-400 and I-402 to subdue her.
Later that evening, as the sun dipped low and they dined together on the beach, Kongou bit lightly into a grilled skewer—and Kiana Kaslana instantly noticed her demeanor change.
It was subtle but unmistakable.
Kongou's entire attitude shifted the moment she tasted the green pepper on the skewer.
Apparently... Kongou really hated green peppers.
How amusing!