T/N: This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and storylines in this novel are entirely fictional. Any public agencies, institutions, locations, or historical figures mentioned are used solely as fictional backdrops and do not represent their real-world counterparts.
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They could only rely on themselves now.
Dylan shook his head, picked up the phone, and called Herdo.
The call was answered quickly.
"Herdo." Dylan spoke heavily. "The meeting is over."
"How did it go?" Herdo's voice had lost its usual confidence as well, becoming unusually grave.
"It failed. Our interests don't align."
Dylan truthfully recounted everything that had happened at the meeting, then said with regret, "I couldn't persuade them to give up profits measured in tens of billions of dollars."
Tens of billions? Herdo's breathing caught, and his heart sank.
Hearing that Herdo did not respond, Dylan showed no concern for his current mood. He simply said, "This is a matter of survival for us. Since you chose to take on MiHoYo with Olympus in Greece, you must shoulder the responsibility. No matter what, you have to at least give us some hope."
"The board has high expectations of you."
This was not a discussion. It was an order.
By this point, major companies had already poured a great deal of money into Olympus, far more than they had invested in any film over the past two years.
Their life-or-death struggle with MiHoYo was one matter. Being accountable for all that money was another.
Coincidentally, both matters now required someone to take responsibility. And Herdo was undoubtedly the most suitable person for it.
Herdo, too, understood Dylan's unspoken meaning.
"High expectations?" He had heard that kind of rhetoric many times before.
"Let me confirm something. If I can turn this around by… other means, you'll continue to stand by my side, right?" Herdo asked.
The big shot, so highly regarded by Cincinnati and the entire Arts Committee, now sounded somewhat nervous.
None of his previous high spirits could be heard. Dylan fell silent for a few seconds, then chose not to answer directly.
Because Herdo was asking him for a promise. But someone as shrewd as Dylan would never make Herdo such a promise at this time.
"We are businessmen, Herdo."
"We only look at results. If you can produce results, you won't need us standing behind you. Capital will naturally stand with you."
"But if you can't…"
At that, Dylan paused. There was a trace of pity in his voice, whether for himself or Herdo, even he did not know.
"Then you should start thinking about how to make a graceful exit."
In the end, Dylan could not completely suppress his kindness. At the very least, he let Herdo know where he stood.
Yes, he still intended to have Herdo confront MiHoYo in Greece. But after the meeting, Dylan had also begun considering how to withdraw without being dragged down.
As both a longtime subordinate and an old friend, he had offered Herdo a well-meaning warning.
"…" There was no response from the other end.
Dylan said nothing further and hung up.
…
Meanwhile, in Greece.
Herdo, who had already checked into a luxury hotel in Athens, stared at the disconnected call. At last, he could no longer hold himself back.
He let out a heartfelt curse.
"F**K!"
A graceful exit? How was he supposed to make a graceful exit?
In his business, a graceful exit was never an option. It was a verdict.
It meant resigning on your own initiative, rather than being thrown out by the board.
It meant announcing that a project had been terminated, rather than having investors forcefully shut it down.
It was merely a shred of dignity left to you.
But the outcome was the same. You would be out. Your career would end there.
No one would want to work with you again. No one would invest in your projects again. At some late-night drinking party, you would become a cautionary example in someone else's drunken conversation.
And that was not all. He would no longer be able to maintain his current position.
Standing at the top, commanding influence everywhere he went, arriving in any country and having crowds of people fawn over him, begging for even a small share of the resources that slipped through his fingers.
Because of that, he could toy with at will.
Losing that feeling was even more unbearable to him than losing his life.
In a sense, Herdo and Cincinnati were the same kind of person. Herdo was simply a more powerful, more influential, upgraded version of Cincinnati.
In the empty room, Herdo closed his eyes as his mind raced.
Dylan had made it clear: he had to deliver results, or he would have to make a graceful exit.
But the decline of Olympus was already irreversible. There was no saving it.
Even if God himself possessed Herdo and reset Olympus at light speed, it would be useless.
Amphoreus would not suddenly become trash like Olympus because of it.
As long as Star Rail maintained this level of quality, he had no way to defeat MiHoYo through content.
And judging from the third episode, Amphoreus would likely only become even more impressive.
There was no time left. Fortunately, as Herdo thought of this, he felt a measure of relief.
He still had one final card in his hand, the method he had long ago discussed with Cincinnati.
Ban Amphoreus in Greece!
If Olympus could not win on the battlefield head-on, then they would make a move behind the scenes and have Amphoreus banned from broadcast in Greece.
That would at least give Dylan and his backers an explanation. We may not have won, but we did not let MiHoYo win either. Round it off, and that means we won.
Win! Win! Win!
And he could use it to package himself as someone who had turned the tide.
While everyone else was suffering defeat after defeat against MiHoYo, he had found a new method.
Perhaps… He could use this opportunity to climb even higher.
Herdo held his breath, readjusted his mindset, and returned to being the inscrutable Mr. Herdo everyone else knew.
He picked up the phone and dialed Cincinnati's number.
"Mr. Cincinnati, how is the progress?"
Cincinnati knew nothing about the internal situation.
He was still immersed in the excitement of being accepted by Herdo and gaining such a powerful backer:
"Everything is going smoothly. According to the original plan, the approval has already come through. It will take effect before Episode 4 of Amphoreus airs."
"By then, Honkai: Star Rail's broadcast in Greece will be completely halted."
Herdo nodded in satisfaction and said in a low voice: "Keep pushing the plan forward. As long as this succeeds, I promise you: you'll enjoy power far beyond what you have now."
The breathing on the other end of the phone became heavier.
For Cincinnati, wasn't this exactly what he had dreamed of?
Yet even in his excitement, Cincinnati forcibly suppressed his emotions and voiced the concerns he had been holding back to Herdo:
"Although the plan is progressing smoothly, Mr. Herdo… the reaction Amphoreus has caused in Greece has exceeded our expectations."
"As a Greek, I can clearly feel that the enthusiasm for Amphoreus here may be even greater than others."
"I'm afraid…"
He did not dare continue. After all, Herdo had just made him a promise. How could he spoil the mood by pouring cold water on things now?
But this matter truly remained like a thorn in Cincinnati's heart.
"That's exactly what we want."
"Don't be afraid. We need to turn this into a symbol of controversy. Where there are supporters, there will be opponents. We can plant our people among the supporters and fan the flames among the opposition."
"A war of public opinion has never been about convincing the other side. It is about making everyone lose their calm."
"Once we open this door, it will create a new path for other places. Once a domino effect takes shape, MiHoYo's global expansion will be obstructed. Olympus may have lost, but what we gain back will be far greater."
"Do this well, and do it beautifully. Make it controversial. Make the whole world discuss it."
"Only then will the important people know what we have done."
"That is very important."
Herdo, however, did not mind at all.
The more Greece loved Amphoreus, the more effective a ban would be. Only then could he turn around and tell people like Dylan how ruthless and tyrannical MiHoYo was toward Greece.
Only then could he prove that they were right to do this. Only then could he prove that they had won.
When it came to winning, Herdo had it firmly in his grasp.
"Understood." Cincinnati was no longer anxious.
The two of them were now tied to the same rope, if one prospered, both prospered; if one fell, both fell.
All they could do now was push the ban forward with all their strength and make it happen as soon as possible.
…
And just as the upper ranks of the global entertainment industry, were caught up in their own schemes, Greece had fallen into an even more frenzied celebration.
The meaning of Episode 3 to Greeks far surpassed its meaning to people in any other region.
"Past Self in Mirror"
It was not merely a phrase.
Every person in it, every part of its history, whether MiHoYo had done it intentionally or whether it was a wonderful coincidence, Greeks could always see their own reflections within it.
Not just the reflection of their people. But also their history.
And the image of what their unfinished undertakings might have looked like had they become history.
That was not all. Among the unusual resonance created by Episode 3, the Greek experience surpassed that of other regions as well.
When everyone resonated with Phainon and felt anger over the truth of the Emperor's Scepter, it was because they had accompanied this story for too long. The void's denial also denied the emotions viewers had placed in those characters.
But Greeks were different. After seeing that part, their first reaction was not anger. Instead, they were struck directly in a painful place and fell into speechless silence.
In narratives, Greece is an ancient civilization, a living fossil, a museum. Its culture is consumed, referenced, and adapted, but no one treats Greece as a living history.
Setting aside what the Emperor's Scepter's true purpose was, the fact that everything about the Chrysos Heirs was calculation, was code, was real.
And weren't Greeks also, in a sense, a piece of code? The false world of the Chrysos Heirs was all of Amphoreus. The false world of the Greeks was their glorious past.
It is the feeling that you clearly live within it, that everything about you was born from it, yet you cannot truly prove that you possess it.
That is the real "Past Self in Mirror."
They are Greeks, yet in the current era, the identity of "Greek" feels more like a job title, a role responsible for providing historical weight and philosophical depth.
Just like the Chrysos Heirs inside the calculations of the Emperor's Scepter.
Their assigned roles may be different. But in a spiritual sense, they are all merely tools.
And the understanding Greeks gained from this was far deeper than that of people elsewhere.
Who is operating the Emperor's Scepter? Who created the Emperor's Scepter?
In the show, these questions challenge the source of the tragedy.
Amphoreus' Emperor's Scepter was an aftershock left behind by the long-dead Rupert. No one cared what the people inside it were experiencing.
In reality, the Ottoman Empire ruled Greece for more than four hundred years. Afterwards came the supervision of the "Troika", the EU Commission, the European Central Bank, and the IMF.
After Greece's decline, there was a long stretch of history where it did not walk its own path. It moved forward according to the will of others.
The will of others became the prophecy of the Greek people. They could only follow that prophecy, step by step, just like the Chrysos Heirs.
They placed all their hopes at the end of the prophecy, on tomorrow.
Even today, how many decisions made in Athens come from Greece's own will, and how many reflect the will of others?
Only by understanding this can one understand the special meaning Episode 3 holds for Greeks.
First, Amphoreus is a program designed by an outside force, the Emperor's Scepter. Likewise, Greek history has continually been rewritten and defined by outside forces.
Second, the struggles, sacrifices, and search for meaning of the Chrysos Heirs in the show, after the truth of the Emperor's Scepter was revealed, all of those meanings became data.
The struggles and sacrifices of Greeks, and their longing for "revival," are viewed by the international community as equally insignificant.
What is considered worth reporting are only the scandals within Greece's debt crisis. Their suffering is likewise ignored.
When someone expresses confusion over Greece's fervor, a Greek may step forward and explain it like this: "Bro, we really are living inside the Emperor's Scepter."