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June 2016.
Nearly two months had passed since the Klostern incident.
Despite those who attended maintaining strict silence, news of the event inevitably leaked out.
The former Schicksal Archbishop Otto was briefly controlled by a Herrscher consciousness, but fortunately, there were no casualties.
Members of House Schariac sought confirmation from Durandal regarding the incident's authenticity, but she remained silent without uttering a word.
Durandal found it difficult to lie, even if a single falsehood could maintain stability within Schicksal.
This was precisely why Durandal couldn't become an exceptional leader; a great leader did not require virtues.
Only heroes needed virtues.
Fortunately, Rita managed to smooth things over, preventing further turmoil within Schicksal. Even so, unity among its members had diminished compared to before.
While Klostern's incident was the catalyst, the critical factor was the advancement of the Ark Fortress project, which stirred up speculation and unease.
After the Entropy Reduction Theory crumbled, the Ark Fortress became a source of solace for people's hearts.
Currently, although Honkai's existence has been disclosed to the world, Schicksal still maintains control over its scale, averting the apocalypse—for now. However, the growing restlessness among individuals is more terrifying than the end times themselves.
Additionally, Schicksal revealed their last remaining S-rank Valkyrie: Li Sushang.
However, she had already resigned from her position as a Valkyrie within Schicksal.
Similarly, Xia Chen and Wendy had clashed with Anti-Entropy members. Although no casualties occurred, it directly damaged Schicksal's cooperative relationship with them.
Such broken ties needed to be mended and maintained diligently.
Now, Durandal fully realized the immense weight of responsibility on her shoulders. Previously, despite being in a leadership position, she subconsciously relied on Otto not neglecting Schicksal, which alleviated much of the pressure.
To bear this heavy burden, she knew she must strive even harder.
Unlike Otto, who preferred direct involvement in every aspect, Durandal understood her strengths well.
Her near-evolutionary status as a life form and unparalleled mastery over Honkai made her virtually indistinguishable from a Herrscher, at least in some respects.
The Kaslana Legacy's Stigmata could be seen as equivalent to a Herrscher Core, providing an unending supply of Honkai Energy through the stigma space, akin to Virtual Space.
Even during sparring sessions with Rita, Durandal effortlessly emerged victorious.
However, beyond combat, Durandal found herself significantly lacking in other areas.
Despite assistance from Amber and Rita, Schicksal was still severely short of skilled personnel. Managing a hundred people effectively is already commendable; overseeing thousands or millions requires an entirely different level of expertise.
Moreover, with Schicksal now thrust into leadership, managing the entire world became their responsibility. Amber was an outstanding secretary but not an exceptional manager, and Rita faced similar limitations.
While they could handle internal affairs of Schicksal, when it came to dealing with the complex matters involving multiple nations, their wisdom began to fall short.
This might be one reason Otto had gone to great lengths to conceal Schicksal's existence.
Violence may force submission, but it offers no lasting benefit for Schicksal.
To lead humanity towards a common goal requires immense wisdom from its leaders. In essence, their sudden rise has significantly increased the complexity of managing Schicksal.
However, there were immediate advantages as well. At least Schicksal now possessed rapid resource acquisition capabilities and more stable operations at reduced costs.
Currently, Schicksal's priority is to swiftly decipher knowledge from the previous civilization era.
After Otto's exile, the Void Archives disappeared along with him. However, backups containing information from the prior era remained intact.
But this matter held little relevance to Durandal.
Her concern lay elsewhere.
Xia Chen submitted a report to Schicksal, making a request:
"Requesting establishment of a cooperative partnership with World Serpent."
After interacting with the Holy Mark Terminal, Xia Chen had comprehended all aspects of the simulator except for its origins.
The System's simulator itself could be seen as existing within a stigma space, and this stigma space is also connected to the Holy Mark Terminal—though not the port carried by Prometheus.
Each simulation process can be considered a trial, and the rewards obtained from these trials are creations within the Stigmata. The stigma space inherently hosts other consciousnesses; in other words, every reward he receives is actually created through the Holy Mark consciousness.
This holds true for both this world and parallel worlds alike.
The vast Holy Mark Terminal even has the capability to simulate the Finality of this world. However, there's no doubt that each of Xia Chen's simulations represents an intrusion on the world's order.
He now roughly understood why Finality marked him with pheromones.
As he himself serves as a virus to this world, eliminating viruses is precisely what administrators do.
Nevertheless, the arrival of the Final Herrscher may require certain conditions to be met. If Finality could simply manifest at will, the purpose of these trials would be rendered meaningless.
Within this limited time, he needed to decipher the composition of these pheromones.
For that purpose, he could only once again seek assistance from Mobius.
While Prometheus within the Holy Mark Terminal was powerful, it lacked the necessary experimental conditions. Currently, Mobius remained his only viable source of help.
Persuading Mobius wouldn't be easy, let alone convincing Kevin as well. Analyzing the pheromones carried the risk of triggering Finality's arrival, making the experiment feasible only in the isolated Elysian Realm, free from Honkai's influence.
Attempting to convince Kevin on his own would be too time-consuming and resource-intensive. However, involving Schicksal changed the equation.
At present, World Serpent's Ark Fortress plan required ample resources and Kindling. With Schicksal's support, the process could be significantly expedited.
Moreover, Xia Chen doubted that Kevin wouldn't covet the Holy Mark holders of this era. Even if Project Stigma itself failed, the Holy Mark bearers possessed the ability to survive amidst Honkai.
And among all factions, Schicksal had the highest concentration of Holy Mark holders.
"Are you sure this will work?"
At the Immortal Blades' training grounds, Wendy conversed with Xia Chen while practicing.
"Give it a try," said Xia Chen. "It won't cost you anything."
Wendy sighed and responded, "For now, we can only trust the World Serpent."
Through the Holy Mark Terminal, she had learned about his entire plan. Had she known beforehand how terrifying Otto's legacy was, she never would have accompanied him to Babylon Tower.
Now maintaining secrecy became increasingly difficult.
"What about Ana?" Wendy couldn't help but ask, "What should we do for her?"
"I'm afraid this will require your assistance." He softly sighed, adding, "This is a necessary sacrifice for our future."