—To obtain the Herrscher of Finality's authority, one must face the Cocoon and pass its trials.
And to achieve this, one must gather the thirteen projections sent down by the Finality—the thirteen Herrschers—to calculate and reach the Cocoon's location.
"Can't we use the cores of the Divine Keys as substitutes?"
Although not revealing everything, Vill-V already knew the information appropriate for her, and Jiang Qiao didn't intend to hide too much. After all, smart people like her could easily pick up on clues.
The magician played with the high-tech lipstick in her hand, her fingers gently rubbing the metallic casing, chuckling:
"As expected of something made by my future self, it really has Vill-V's style~"
The Divine Key, Seven Thunders of Retribution, had seven forms. However, due to Vill-V's personal interest, not all of these forms were weapons.
Jiang Qiao didn't speak. MEI, wearing a white coat and glasses, adjusted her glasses and casually said:
"Although I don't know the full details of the Divine Key Project yet, the cores of the Divine Keys must have been processed."
Having learned the details of the Honkai and Herrschers, she could roughly make this judgment. After all, this project originated from her future self.
—This was the correct answer.
Indeed, Jiang Qiao had also considered directly collecting the Divine Keys from the later era. This way, after extracting the Herrscher cores, he could skip many steps and directly use the Herrscher of Origin's power to measure the distance between himself and the Finality.
But unfortunately, as MEI said, the specially processed Herrscher cores had lost this ability.
Unable to take shortcuts, the only way to achieve his original goal was to—personally obtain the thirteen Herrscher cores of the Previous Era!
The significance of this was self-evident. He had to personally replay the Previous Era's scenario.
Despite this, the Divine Keys weren't completely useless.
Originally designed as weapons against the Honkai, even if they couldn't be used as a measuring tool, they could still provide powerful support in the war against the Honkai.
Moreover, even inactive Herrscher cores could play a key role in the hands of the Herrscher of Origin.
For example—
As a catalyst to trigger the Honkai.
Vill-V, having demonstrated a certain talent, quickly gained Fire Moth's attention.
In this specially assigned workshop, a screen was displayed before the three of them.
It showed images of Nagazora City, and even the Southeast Asian region.
The pink-haired girl sat on the workbench, her legs crossed and swinging slightly. In the dim light, one could see that the unique leg ring of the Flame-Chaser uniform was 20 centimeters away from the tight black silk covering her legs. According to Elysia's habit—today was Tuesday.
"The Third Eruption will affect the entire Southeast Asian region and is expected to erupt in about a year. But if we're fast enough, I can limit the scope of the Third Eruption to just Nagazora City."
The energetic, cheerful, and sweet voice softly described what she was going to do.
The Imaginary energy accumulating in the Sea of Quanta couldn't be eliminated through normal means.
Like a rising tide, the longer the delay, the more violent the subsequent waves.
The Herrscher of Origin's power wasn't omnipotent, otherwise Elysia wouldn't have met her final fate.
But although he couldn't directly eliminate this eruption, Jiang Qiao could use his authority and the inactive Herrscher core of the Seven Thunders of Retribution to prematurely open the floodgates hidden in the Sea of Quanta, releasing the accumulating energy in advance.
The result of this would be an earlier eruption, but on a smaller scale and with less intensity.
In a way, he was perhaps doing the same thing as Cocolia.
Except that vixen was acting on her own selfish desires, while Jiang Qiao was trying to save as many people as possible.
The girl sighed softly:
"To do this, we must evacuate the residents of Nagazora City in advance."
"You need us to gain control of Fire Moth so you can issue a warning to the Far East government in advance, right?"
MEI raised an eyebrow and said with a headache:
"But that's not an easy task."
As a native of Nagazora City, MEI knew what kind of city it was. Just like in the later era, Nagazora City in the Previous Era was also a developed economic hub, very important to the Far East government.
Evacuation and relocation meant shutting down a major economic city. Politicians wouldn't agree to such a thing.
Even with Fire Moth's warning, the politicians in the Far East… MEI found it difficult to comment.
Although politicians all over the world were quite terrible, the Far East politicians were among the worst of the worst.
Forget a warning, even if the Honkai actually fell on their heads, those people could turn a blind eye and shift the blame onto each other.
"Fire Moth doesn't have the authority to interfere in local politics."
Just as MEI warned, in its early stages, Fire Moth, as a secret organization jointly established by multiple countries, didn't have any power to interfere in local affairs. It could only offer suggestions and handle post-incident cleanup.
Vill-V, with her more unrestrained nature, revealed a strange smile:
"Hehe, do you need the great magician Vill-V to give them a little shock?"
If a nuclear bomb or something exploded in the waters around Nagazora City, even those politicians would have to consider the consequences and evacuate the citizens, right?
Because she was from the streets, the magician's ideas were also quite wild.
"Yay~ Magic~ Use Vill-V's grand magic to scare the people of Nagazora City away?"
The pink-haired girl clapped her hands at the right moment, her plump thighs swinging, still with that smiling expression.
Dr. MEI said exasperatedly:
"That's a great suggestion, but if you don't want to be sent to Fire Moth's detention center afterward, don't mention it again."
"And you, don't encourage her, Elysia."
Even with her still-developing political acumen, MEI knew how ridiculous this idea was.
"Hmm~ Look, isn't the atmosphere very tense? It's necessary to lighten the mood~"
"And—"
The smiling Elysia jumped off the table, patted her clothes, and said,
"What Vill-V said isn't entirely impossible~"
Jiang Qiao's chuckle echoed in Vill-V and MEI's ears:
"Perhaps, we need a 'White glove.' "