All of human civilization had entered the Stigmata Space, and the development of civilization came to a halt.
However, the high-ranking members of Anti-Entropy, Schicksal, and World Serpent all had ways to enter or exit the Stigmata Space on their own.
"Hm, a video from World Serpent?"
Otto was in a good mood.
He opened the video of Kallen sent by Gray Serpent and abruptly stood up.
Kallen!
How could this be?
Otto took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the excitement in his heart before sitting down again and carefully watching the video sent by World Serpent. He replayed it several times.
A true parallel world!
Another Imaginary Tree!
A universe outside the Imaginary Tree!
Otto frowned deeply. If that was the case, then his research on bubble worlds and the Imaginary Tree had essentially only been research on the Cocoon of Finality.
Everything on Earth had merely been influenced by the Cocoon of Finality.
He had never truly come into contact with real parallel universes.
The fact that the Will of Ruler was a Kiana Kaslana from a parallel world did not surprise Otto.
"Another Kiana Kaslana from a different Imaginary Tree has appeared?"
What truly intrigued him was how Kiana Kaslana could cross the Imaginary Tree so easily, even freely leave the universe bound to the Imaginary Tree and travel to other universes.
Otto looked at the black-clad Kallen on the screen. Those deep eyes carried the wisdom and weariness accumulated over countless years, and her entire presence radiated the aura of someone standing at the very top.
Tsk.
He never expected to see such a version of Kallen.
In Otto's memories, Kallen had always been beautiful and sacred, a holy maiden.
That feeling was absent in this black-clad Kallen from a parallel world.
Forget it.
Once Kallen was revived, everything would end.
There was no point thinking too much about it.
Otto felt somewhat worried about whether the revived Kallen would be able to accept the current world.
The parallel-world Black Kallen clearly had an indifferent attitude toward this world, even seeming to feel that humanity living like this was acceptable.
Based on his understanding, the Kallen of his own world would definitely be unable to accept humanity lying down and living entirely within dreams.
A cross-universal force established by two Kiana Kaslanas.
In this world, the true Kiana Kaslana was still dreaming.
Could she accept the power of the Cocoon of Finality in this world and become the Herrscher of Finality, creating a force like that?
Hm.
Wait.
Otto suddenly reacted, recalling the earliest actions of the Will of Ruler. From the beginning, the target had been the real Kiana Kaslana. His research revealed that the Will of Ruler's initial objective had been Sirin's resurrection vessel, the experimental subject K-423.
Previously, he had not understood why the Will of Ruler took experimental subject 423.
Now, thinking carefully, Sirin's growth during the Second Honkai Eruption meant that as long as she did not die, she would only grow stronger.
Someone with such protagonist-like destiny.
Even if killed, she would return through resurrection.
And he himself had revived her.
There was also the later Sirin plan.
Had everyone's fate already been arranged in advance?
Otto fell silent.
He, who had always treated others as chess pieces, suddenly realized that he himself might also be a piece on the board.
Because of the Will of Ruler's intervention, this world had lost its most critical and important chess piece.
The protagonist of this world—K-423.
Although he did not know how the name Kiana Kaslana had transferred onto K-423, Otto's intuition told him that if K-423 possessed a name, there was a very high probability it would be Kiana Kaslana.
That posed a serious problem.
The Will of Ruler could undoubtedly destroy this world with ease. After all, it was a Kiana Kaslana from another world who had become the Herrscher of Finality.
The fact that it had not acted likely meant it was waiting for the Kiana Kaslana of this world.
Based on the Will of Ruler's attitude toward humanity, Otto speculated that it was probably the result of a failed Sirin plan in a parallel world.
The Herrscher meant to fight for humanity had failed.
Such failed worlds were not limited to one, but likely existed in great numbers.
Perhaps they had even begun spreading across other Imaginary Trees.
Otherwise, there was no explanation for how his world had encountered two different parallel-world versions of Kiana Kaslana.
The one calling herself the Will of Ruler and the other Kiana Kaslana who appeared alongside Black Kallen—whatever she called herself—both seemed to be conducting experiments.
Experiments involving spacetime.
Traveling through time and reviving friends who had died in the Babylon Labs?
Otto was not certain, but he was sure that the Kiana Kaslanas possessed technology or abilities allowing them to travel freely across universes.
If Kevin's claim that the Cocoon of Finality had been created by a higher civilization to produce similar beings was true...
Then perhaps these Kiana Kaslanas, who had surpassed humanity and become Final Herrschers, were exactly the kind of existence that civilization sought to create.
Thinking even more boldly, perhaps the higher civilization that deployed the Cocoon of Finality was actually a civilization of future Kiana Kaslanas sending it into parallel worlds located in their past timelines.
The more Otto thought about it, the more terrifying it felt.
If Kallen was to live in a beautiful world, he needed to take action.
First, he had to understand the two forces represented by the Will of Ruler and Black Kallen.
The supreme rulers were undoubtedly both Kiana Kaslana. The fact that they could communicate without conflict suggested something.
Perhaps due to mutual caution or shared destiny, Kiana Kaslanas would not easily fight among themselves.
Black Kallen had hinted at this before. She could save the humans of this world, but required approval from those above her.
After thinking for a long time, Otto muttered to himself, "Better let Anti-Entropy and World Serpent share the headache as well."
Saving the world and saving humanity were not his responsibility alone.
Once Kallen was revived, he would be able to retire with his goal achieved.
...
Teyvat continent.
Finality warship.
After obtaining Kallen's body, Kiana Kaslana revived her with practiced ease.
Death meant the dissipation of physical consciousness. Otto could not reverse death or make consciousness reappear.
But for Kiana Kaslana, restoring vitality to the body and recovering consciousness was only one of many possible methods.
The difficulty was roughly equivalent to repairing a broken video recorder and tape.
Especially for a body like Kallen's, perfectly preserved within suspended dormancy. Even after five hundred years, it was no different from someone who had died only recently.
Yae Sakura watched Kiana Kaslana's revival process nervously.
"It's alright," Black Kallen said softly, holding Yae Sakura in her arms. (To distinguish, the parallel-world Kallen is referred to as Black Kallen.)
"Mm." Yae Sakura nodded.
Green and red energy flowed into Kallen's body. Her condition returned to normal, and her heartbeat began to thump steadily. Kiana Kaslana placed both hands on Kallen's head.
Kallen's consciousness gradually returned.
Finally, faint currents of conscious energy sparked from Kiana Kaslana's fingertips. Kallen was awakened, her eyes opening groggily as confusion clouded her expression.
"Awake? Repeat after me. Three-two-one, one-two-three, ahh— hurry up."
"Three-two-one, one-two-three, ahh—"
The newly revived Kallen was still mentally unclear and instinctively followed along.
"Mm, not bad, not bad. That means there's probably nothing wrong with your brain," Kiana Kaslana said, sitting cross-legged in midair.
Kallen sat up and shook her still-dizzy head. "Was it you who saved me?"
"Yes. You owe me a life now. Thought about how you'll repay it?"
"Uh..."
Kallen recalled the final memory of being pierced through by a Honkai Beast while saving someone. She looked down at her smooth, flat abdomen.
Had Schicksal's medical technology become this advanced?
Even a fatal wound like that could be healed?
"Um, doctor, I think something's wrong with my eyes." Kallen pointed outside the isolation window. "I just saw... myself... hugging Sakura."
"Oh, that's not an illusion. That really is the Yae Sakura you know. And yes, the other one is indeed you," Kiana Kaslana said calmly.
"?"
Kallen was completely dumbfounded.
Another me? Where did that come from?
"Don't understand?"
"No."
"With your intelligence, I don't feel like explaining. Those who understand will understand."
"Uh... alright then."
Kallen jumped off the bed and walked straight toward Yae Sakura.
Black Kallen looked at her parallel-world self with clear, somewhat foolish eyes and pulled Yae Sakura into her arms, as if declaring ownership.
Kallen frowned slightly. Was that really herself?
She had her doubts.
Yae Sakura merely tilted her head slightly at Black Kallen's actions.
"Kallen, let's go inside," she said, taking Black Kallen's hand and leading her into the room.
When the three finally met face-to-face, the atmosphere felt subtly awkward.
After reviving Kallen, Kiana Kaslana had already left.
"Kallen~" Yae Sakura wrapped her arms around Kallen's neck. "It's wonderful that you've returned to my side. From now on, we must always stay together and never be separated again."
"Sakura..."
Kallen held the enchanting Yae Sakura in her arms.
She turned toward Black Kallen. "What exactly is going on?"
"It's simple. You, this idiot, died hundreds of years ago. The current you has been revived," Black Kallen said with a shrug.
"I've been dead for hundreds of years?"
Kallen found it impossible to believe.
"Then what about you? Why do you look exactly like me?"
"Because I am you," Black Kallen replied. "You can think of me as a different version of yourself."
"A different me..."
Kallen looked puzzled.
"You'll understand eventually," Black Kallen said, unwilling to explain further.
Before Kallen could speak again, Yae Sakura pressed a finger gently against Kallen's lips. The affection in her eyes nearly overflowed. "Kallen, don't ask anymore. The other you taught me many things. Now let me teach you."
She took Kallen's hand, pressing their palms together as their fingers interlocked.
Meanwhile, Kiana Kaslana found Isla.
She looked at the Raiden Shogun whom Isla had brought back from Raiden Ei, as well as the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata taken from the Sumeru World Tree.
"Mom, these two are my new secretaries. They're here to help share my workload," Isla said.
"Enough. I created you. Do you think I wouldn't know what you're like?"
"As expected of Mom, you're the best." Isla threw herself into Kiana Kaslana's arms and rubbed against her affectionately.
"How is your omniscient domain progressing?" Kiana Kaslana asked, patting Isla's head.
"It's about seventy-two percent complete. Many universes contain individuals with conceptual powers, so true omniscience can't be achieved. There are too many variables," Isla replied.
"It's fine. Lots of variables make things more fun," Kiana Kaslana said with a smile. If everything were already known, it would become boring.
Ignorance often made happiness easier to obtain.
Like listening to a joke. If you already knew the punchline, it wouldn't be as funny anymore.
Nearby, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata watched quietly. The World Tree had been corrupted, and she had been prepared to sacrifice herself.
Yet Isla had casually purified the World Tree with a wave of her hand.
Forbidden knowledge, abyssal contamination, the Archon War, even the Heavenly Principles... in the eyes of this Descender, none of it amounted to anything.
Fortunately, this Descender was so overwhelmingly powerful that she had no interest in the small place that was Teyvat.
She had only arrived here due to an accident.
Now her biggest concern was how to return to Sumeru.
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata could not imagine that a being of this level might become captivated by her beauty and decide to keep her for herself.
...
Jade Chamber.
After taking over management duties for certain planets within the Finality Empire, Ganyu had initially thought the workload would not be too heavy.
But once she actually took over, she was completely overwhelmed.
There were tens of millions of administrative matters requiring attention. Was this something a single person could handle?
And this was only a small portion flagged by Isla's subordinate computational entities as requiring human review after detecting anomalies during processing.
Many individuals attempted to exploit loopholes in the Finality Empire's rules for personal gain.
If someone suddenly acquired vast wealth, rapidly gained power, or their lifestyle—or their family's—became excessively luxurious, investigations would be triggered.
Because other worlds possessed various powers, even if investigations showed that many people had voluntarily donated to one individual, it was still possible that those people had been mentally manipulated or had their cognition altered.
Isla had once proposed plans such as universal mental control, cognitive modification, or imprinting ideological constraints to facilitate militarized management, but all of these had been vetoed by Black Kallen.
In addition, some issues arose when sub-units or machines created by Isla encountered certain forces and suddenly awakened as intelligent mechanical lifeforms, leading to unexpected problems.
Within the Finality Empire, these awakened mechanical beings automatically became citizens, preventing situations where organic life oppressed inorganic life and triggered machine uprisings.
While handling administrative affairs, Ganyu simultaneously studied and absorbed new experience.
She felt that artificial intelligence was indeed extremely useful. Without AI, managing such an enormous and absurdly vast empire would be impossible.
However, using artificial intelligence was also extremely dangerous. A single loss of control could wipe out all life on an entire planet.
Nearby, Keqing wandered mentally through various abandoned worlds, observing and increasingly doubting the possibility of human governance.
Without a god like Rex Lapis to guide humanity, how far could humans truly go on their own?
The importance of an excellent and powerful ruler to a nation or civilization was far beyond that of abstract ideals.
Yet among humans, those abstract ideas were often what allowed the wrong people to rise to positions of power, while truly talented and virtuous individuals were overlooked or buried.
The management model of the Finality Empire could be studied, but only if there existed an invincible figure like a divine emperor as the ultimate stabilizing force.
Keqing had once imagined human governance as humanity living independently after departing from Rex Lapis.
Reality, however, told her that for humans to enjoy long-term stability and peace, they still needed Rex Lapis.
What a joke.