One week later…
Newborn World Serpent, Lunar Base.
"So New Atra is almost completely useless to us now… correct?"
"Correct."
The conversation took place on the far side of the Moon, a region forever hidden from direct view from Earth and now designated a forbidden zone for humanity.
In the end, MEI had chosen this place to construct the Newborn World Serpent's new headquarters.
Of course, as mentioned before, the base could never have been completed so quickly through conventional means.
Most of the credit belonged to Pardo and her Emanator-level abilities.
By comparison, the Authority of Reason that MEI could access through the Key of Blankness had contributed relatively little to the actual construction.
As for New Atra itself…
Kevin, who was speaking with MEI in private, gave a quiet nod.
"I understand."
New Atra had existed on the Moon long before the Newborn World Serpent arrived.
Originally, it had been one of the components of Project Stigma.
Those Stigmata Awakened who passed the project's "selection" would remain here for forty days. Once Project Stigma reached completion, they would then be able to enter and live within the "New World."
Long ago, before Ling Ke completed Project Broken Branch…
No, even earlier than that.
Back when Su, whom Ling Ke would later erase, had yet to become an Ascendant, and Kevin was still trapped within the ancient Proper World, he would use the Second Divine Key to visit the Moon once every year.
Because there was a promise tied to this place.
It was also where the War of Finality had taken place.
From Kevin's own perspective, that battle had happened more than fifty thousand years ago.
And yet…
As MEI had already concluded, New Atra itself offered almost nothing of value to the Newborn World Serpent now.
So, from a purely practical standpoint, there was no reason to preserve it.
"If it's useless, then we might as well treat the entire place as expendable material."
Kevin's gaze lingered on the empty space beyond the observation window. For a moment, the Moon's silent surface seemed to overlap with the battlefield he remembered from fifty thousand years ago. Then he looked back at MEI, his expression settling into its usual cold calm.
"Do as you see fit."
But the current MEI had no reason to dwell on sentiment.
Her calculations had become increasingly simple.
What choice would best preserve the kindling of Earth Human Civilization?
That was all that mattered.
And from that perspective…
Thank goodness we have Pardo.
MEI quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
At the very least, humanity could finally catch its breath for a while.
After all, opening a passage into a nearby World Bubble was one thing.
Transporting people directly from Earth to the Moon meant crossing more than three hundred thousand kilometers.
Even Kevin, the strongest human, couldn't repeatedly use the Second Divine Key for transfers on that scale without placing an enormous burden on himself.
But for Pardo, an Emanator of Harmony…
It only took a thought.
Having someone like her available to protect the "Last Ark" in the future removed an enormous weight from MEI's shoulders.
Unfortunately…
"It's a pity."
MEI's expression darkened slightly.
"Because of that person's 'Three Prohibitions,' Pardo can't directly attack a Herrscher, nor can she extend her teleportation beyond the Earth-Moon System."
That truly was unfortunate.
From MEI's perspective, Ling Ke's restrictions had sealed off what would otherwise have been their easiest solution.
If Pardo were free to act however she pleased…
The Herrscher of Blood.
The Herrscher of Thunder.
The Herrscher of Stars.
None of them would be particularly difficult to deal with.
Previously, when Pardo tried to teleport Kiana directly, Kiana had managed to evade her.
But judging from what Pardo had done several days ago, when she personally dragged the Vill-Vs before everyone and then teleported them away with a casual snap of her fingers…
Pardo had apparently applied her characteristic ingenuity to refine the technique.
Her absurdly perceptive Cat's Eye could lock onto a target with near-perfect accuracy.
And after that?
Just throw them into the Sun.
Simple.
What Herrscher was supposed to survive a combo like that?
Even Finality would probably have a very bad day.
In short…
"Since Pardo can't serve as a combatant, our plan for dealing with the Herrscher of Stars will have to rely entirely on the forces we already possess."
By this point, Kevin had already left to handle his own responsibilities.
As for MEI…
Recently, she had spent very little of her free time interacting with anyone.
She preferred to formulate a plan alone, divide it into separate stages, and then distribute those stages among the others and the Prometheus Cluster for systematic execution.
Incidentally, in just one week, the Prometheus Cluster had already replenished its number of Girl Doll units to ten thousand.
And MEI clearly had further plans for them.
Every one of those ten thousand bodies had undergone extensive reinforcement.
They were no longer the relatively fragile units that had once been thrown into battle as disposable suicide troops, with combat ability merely "approaching that of an ordinary Herrscher."
Now…
A single Prometheus Girl Doll could fight a regular Herrscher one-on-one without much difficulty.
Of course, against something like a Complete Herrscher, an Ascended Herrscher, a Multi-Core Herrscher…
Or even a "De-Ascended Herrscher," despite such a thing not existing anywhere in this universe…
They would still be badly outmatched.
Still.
Ten thousand units possessing ordinary Herrscher-level combat ability…
Or rather, ten thousand "personnel"…
Were more than sufficient for the many tasks MEI intended to assign them.
Especially because the Newborn World Serpent currently possessed nine Divine Keys.
The First.
Second.
Third.
Sixth.
Seventh.
Eighth.
Tenth.
Eleventh.
And Twelfth.
Certain Divine Keys were naturally exceptions, having already been entrusted to specific Flame-Chasers or their Sims, such as Kevin, Fu Hua, and Sim Sakura.
Aside from those, the remaining Divine Keys had largely fallen under Prometheus's control.
The reason was straightforward.
Even the original, unimproved Key of Blankness could make use of the "dead" Herrscher Cores embedded within Divine Keys.
And now, the newer versions of the Key of Blankness used by MEI, Elysia, and Sim Elysia had not only greatly reduced the original side effects, but could freely switch between different Herrscher Authorities.
Under those circumstances…
In many situations, extracting a Herrscher Core and installing it directly into a Key of Blankness for semi-permanent access was simply more practical than relying on a Divine Key whose endurance was ultimately limited by its user's "mana pool."
Thus…
Void Archives remained with Prometheus Prime.
As MEI's chief assistant, Prometheus had far too many uses for it.
Besides, neither Elysia nor Sim Elysia could currently bring the Authority of Reason to its full creative potential anyway.
Judgement of Shamash remained in Kevin's hands.
Even at his current level, the Flame Sword still provided him with a considerable increase in combat power.
Fenghuang Down couldn't be touched because of its connection to Xiao Shi.
Jizo Mitama was in a similar position. Sakura still carried it with her.
As for the Xuanyuan Swords…
Their importance had already fallen considerably now that they could be mass-produced.
Which left four Divine Keys.
Seven Thunders of Retribution.
Abyss Flower.
Oath of Judah.
And finally…
The Cosmic Juggernaut, which Elysia had only recently recovered.
MEI dismantled all four.
As a result, the three current users of the Key of Blankness gained access to four additional Herrscher Cores.
More importantly, two of those Cores granted Authorities they had never possessed before.
Lightning.
And…
Binding.
It was precisely because of the latter that MEI's plan had finally begun taking shape.
The plan for subduing the Herrscher of Stars is almost complete.
MEI reviewed everything once more in her mind.
Kevin had already proven that even his strength couldn't break through the Herrscher of Stars' Gravity Field.
A field powerful enough to interfere with the flow of time itself.
That detail was the key.
The Gravity Field did not merely repel attacks or crush anything that entered it. It distorted the rules governing motion within its range, forcing matter, energy, and even the passage of time to follow the Herrscher's chosen curvature.
Any attack that tried to cross the field directly would be bent, slowed, or trapped before it could reach its target.
The stronger the attack, the more violently the field would respond.
That was why Kevin's power had failed.
He had attempted to overcome the field by force, but the field did not provide him with a wall he could shatter. It changed the meaning of "approaching" the Herrscher in the first place.
So brute force was not merely ineffective.
It was the wrong category of solution.
MEI's eyes narrowed.
We won't break through the Gravity Field.
We'll make it irrelevant.
The Authority of Binding did not need to overpower gravity.
It did not need to accelerate through the distorted space, nor did it need to resist the Herrscher's control over time.
The Grace Field of Binding operated on a different level.
Once Elysia spread it across the battlefield, it would impose a second set of restrictions over the same region—restrictions that could lock down the relationships between objects, forces, and the space they occupied.
The Gravity Field could bend trajectories.
But it could not freely bend something that had already been bound to a fixed state.
It could distort the movement of an attack.
But it could not simply erase a connection that the Authority of Binding had forcibly established.
Most importantly, Elysia would not use the Grace Field to attack the Herrscher directly.
She would use it to bind the field itself.
The Gravity Field would still exist.
It would still possess terrifying power.
But its range, structure, and points of influence would become fixed in place, preventing it from continuously reshaping the battlefield around the Herrscher.
For a brief moment, the Herrscher of Stars would be trapped inside her own defense.
And that brief moment was all MEI needed.
Once the Gravity Field was anchored, Kevin could attack from outside its effective range.
The Prometheus Girl Dolls could flood the surrounding area, forcing the Herrscher to divide her attention.
Elysia could maintain the binding and gradually tighten it.
The objective was not to defeat the Herrscher of Stars through a single overwhelming strike.
It was to remove her ability to decide where the battle took place.
A Herrscher who could no longer freely expand, contract, or reposition her Gravity Field would lose the greatest advantage she possessed.
At that point, the field would cease to be an absolute defense.
It would become a prison.
MEI's gaze grew colder.
First, Elysia binds the Gravity Field.
Then Kevin forces the Herrscher to remain inside it.
Finally, the Prometheus Cluster seals every possible escape route.
And if the Herrscher attempted to abandon the field…
That would be even better.
Outside the Gravity Field, she would no longer possess the protection that had made Kevin's attacks meaningless.
The entire plan depended on one assumption.
That Elysia's Binding Authority could establish a fixed connection before the Herrscher of Stars realized what was happening.
Which was why Elysia would not be the first person to move.
The Girl Dolls would attack first.
Kevin would follow.
Every action would be designed to make the Herrscher focus on the obvious threats and reinforce the Gravity Field in response.
Only after the field had expanded to its maximum range would Elysia activate the Grace Field.
At that moment, the Herrscher would believe she had made herself untouchable.
And that was precisely when the trap would close.
We'll have Elysia counter it with the Grace Field of Binding.
MEI's fingers tapped lightly against the table.
The plan was no longer a matter of "breaking through" the Herrscher of Stars' defense.
It was a matter of binding the defense in place, turning its greatest strength into a limitation.
And with that…
The most troublesome part of the problem was solved.
Or, more accurately…
The most troublesome part of the problem had finally become solvable.
PS:
This was exactly why Elysia using the Key of Blankness was so ridiculously broken.
She didn't need to possess every Authority at once.
She only needed the one that invalidated the enemy's strongest advantage.
Which raised another question.
If it was this useful…
Why didn't the Previous Civilization use it?