The silence in the Stigmata Space didn't last long. Kiana quickly recovered, staring at the girl before her with disbelief.
"You're Otto and Kallen's daughter... But Miss Kallen lived five hundred years ago! Are you like your father...?"
"Have you lived for five hundred years too? No, wait—historically, Miss Kallen never even married, did she?"
"Snow, don't slander someone's reputation!"
Kiana fixed her gaze on the golden-haired girl seated on the throne, her face radiating an expression that clearly said, Don't you dare toy with me.
"I am their child... Have you forgotten how you yourself were born?"
The blonde girl shook her head helplessly, prompting Kiana, who was still reeling from the shock and struggling to process the information.
"...Genetic engineering. So, strictly speaking, you're an artificial human?"
"Finally caught on, huh?" The blonde girl smiled, confirming Kiana's suspicion.
"Ah, don't look at me with that pitying gaze... I grew up at my father's side."
Snow shuddered, feeling a chill run down her spine as she saw Kiana's sudden imaginative leap and her sympathetic expression.
"Eh? He didn't conduct any strange experiments on you? Like, with that eye of yours...?" the White-Haired Knight asked in astonishment.
"Ha... In your eyes, what kind of person is my father, Otto Apocalypse?" Snow asked, her lips curling into an amused smile.
"A complete bastard, of course..." Kiana blurted out without hesitation.
"Was he truly just a bastard...? No... To you, he probably was a bastard."
Snow shook her head, gazing at the distant blood red sands.
"Ugh... No... In the end, he acknowledged my name. He stopped calling me K-423 and used 'Kiana' instead. In his final moments, he offered us encouragement and apologized to Theresa..."
"Hmph, what a contradictory man. But you're right—to me, he's still mostly a bastard..."
The White-Haired Knight nodded solemnly.
"Remember what I said—'The kind Otto Apocalypse is dead'? Kiana, that wasn't our judgment, but his own self-mockery..."
"Yet... is 'he' truly dead? He chose to save and raise your sister. Even at the end of fate, he still thought of his granddaughter, hoping you would convey his apology..."
"As his family... he was always so reliable. He would fulfill all your requests, no matter how capricious."
"—Just put the ingredients in the kitchen, and they'll magically transform into a delicious meal by morning—"
"This was the fairy-tale dream Theresa believed in every day before St. Freya was established... And every morning when she woke up, the dream always came true..."
Snow shook her head, describing an Otto Apocalypse who completely contradicted Kiana's image of him as a great villain and old bastard.
"Hmm... I never knew he had such a side to him... So, Otto never subjected you to any strange experiments or anything like that?"
"Of course not," the blonde girl nodded.
"Also, at the end of that Trial, he mentioned almost everyone... except for you... and Kyuusyou?"
"No, neither of you appeared at all during the Trial. It's one thing for you to be absent, but why would Kyuusyou be missing too?"
The White-Haired Knight finally sensed something was amiss with the Trial.
"If this is the future you foresaw, then where are you and Kyuusyou in it?"
Kiana stared intently at Snow, but before Snow could explain, she seemed to have already filled in the blanks herself...
"Wait a minute, you haven't already... Every time we asked Kyuusyou where she was going, she always gave vague answers... Ugh, you're not possessing me right now like the Class Monitor did, are you? In Shenzhou, would this count as divine possession?"
"Your leaps of logic never cease to amaze me... I'm not even dead yet!"
A vein bulged on Snow's forehead as she glared back.
"Then what are you?"
The White-Haired Knight refused to back down, returning the glare with equal intensity.
"...Whether you believe it or not, the entity sitting before you is a God—a being akin to the Honkai Will. And the God's companion... is naturally a similar existence..."
"—At least you got one thing right: you are indeed undergoing spirit possession... Though according to Shenzhou's folk customs, righteous Gods typically do not possess mortal bodies."
The golden-haired girl's peculiar eye, which had been closed a moment ago, now opened again, scrutinizing the Knight before her with dissatisfaction.
"I-I believe you! But you sound like you're about to split into two personalities any second now..." Kiana shuddered under the gaze of that strange eye, quickly trying to appease her.
"You're not wrong, exactly... Only within the Mindscape of the Stigmata Space can you witness such a peculiar coexistence of Humanity and Divinity."
"Do you remember our final moments in Nagazora City?"
"Yes, I remember... You mean that outside this space, your two consciousnesses don't appear simultaneously, but rather overwrite each other as needed, right?"
Kiana watched as the golden-haired girl scratched her head, her curiosity piqued.
"So, what happens if one side completely overrides the other?"
"If the Human side gains complete dominance, the God of Humanity—the one who favors the civilizations it cherishes—will be born. That's the best possible outcome."
"But if the Divine side gains dominance... you're planning to challenge the Herrscher of Finality Pro+? Oh, Pro+ is just a conservative estimate."
"The divine aspect of my personality will instinctively obey the Imaginary Tree, filtering and eliminating unnecessary civilizations and worlds—that's the worst possible outcome."
Snow sat on the throne and shook her head.
"So, is there any solution?" Hearing the title "Herrscher of Finality," the white-haired Knight Princess tensed immediately.
"Of course... you've already challenged Otto once as a False God. He made a deal with the Honkai Will, temporarily connecting to the Imaginary Tree and obtaining the authority originally granted to the Herrschers."
"Are you saying...?"
"Exactly... until either of my two personalities is completely extinguished, I'll remain in a similar Pseudo-Herrscher state—a false, reversible 'infinity.'"
"The only difference is that my father made a deal with the Honkai Will, offering himself as a sacrifice... while I... sacrifice myself to 'myself.'"
"Kiana, at some point in the future, when I deliberately allow my divine aspect to take over my body, you must reverse that imperfect 'infinity' and truly kill that divine consciousness..."
Snow gazed solemnly at the white-haired knight before her.