Recently, MEI had begun wearing the Key of Blankness again, keeping it on her at nearly all times.
Among the Herrscher Authorities available to her, the ones she used most often were those of Reason, Thunder, and Death.
The Core of Death did not come from the dismantled Abyss Flower. It belonged to the greatly enhanced Seele they had defeated earlier.
Thunder, however, was different.
MEI had no alternative source for that Core.
As a result, she could not transform her body directly into lightning like a certain speedster.
Still, that hardly made the Authority useless.
In MEI's hands, the ability to control electromagnetism had far more applications than simply throwing lightning around.
In fact, she had recently begun secretly developing a neural interface capable of linking her brain signals directly to the Prometheus Cluster.
The concept was not particularly original.
Kali had already demonstrated something similar.
By connecting herself to an external computational network, MEI intended to greatly increase her own processing capacity and push her control over electromagnetism even further.
After all, electromagnetism was one of the four fundamental forces of the universe.
In the hands of someone like MEI, its potential was difficult to overstate.
As for the remaining four Herrscher Cores…
Sim Elysia had been assigned the Authorities of Void and Death.
Those came from the Cosmic Juggernaut and Abyss Flower respectively.
The original Elysia, meanwhile, possessed Void and Binding.
And it was the latter combination that made her the trump card of the upcoming operation against the Herrscher of Stars.
So…
After MEI formally announced the plan for the Herrscher of Stars Subjugation War, another two days were spent preparing.
More importantly, those two days gave everyone time to familiarize themselves with their newly acquired abilities.
Then, at last…
The day of the operation arrived.
"Sim Elysia, as planned, you'll be responsible for transporting everyone back to Earth."
MEI herself would not be participating in the subjugation.
Standing inside the Lunar Base, she gave the assembled combat personnel their final instructions.
"After reaching Earth, you'll first regroup at the safehouse on the Mu Continent."
"Rest there and make whatever final preparations you need before beginning the operation."
Her gaze swept across everyone present.
"Remember. We cannot commit too many people to the Herrscher of Stars."
"Aside from the original Elysia and Kevin, the rest of you must remain prepared for other threats that may appear at any time."
"For example, the ELF Unit."
"And more importantly…"
"The Herrscher of Blood and the Herrscher of Thunder."
MEI's expression hardened slightly.
"According to my calculations, there is a very high probability that at least those two will interfere."
"When that happens…"
She went over several key points of the plan once more.
Strictly speaking, it was unnecessary.
Everyone here had spent the past several days memorizing their respective roles.
This was simply the final briefing before departure.
It was worth noting that when MEI addressed the two Elysias, she did not actually call either of them "Sim" or "Original."
There was no need.
Everyone could simply follow the direction of her gaze and immediately understand which Elysia she meant.
A moment later…
"Don't worry."
Sim Elysia smiled and nodded.
"Leave it to us."
As for why MEI had assigned Sim Elysia to handle transportation between Earth and the Moon instead of Pardo, who was obviously the easier choice…
The reason was simple.
MEI had no intention of giving Pardo even the slightest chance to violate Ling Ke's ironclad prohibition against interfering with a Herrscher.
That person had made the rule quite clear.
When dealing with Herrschers, Pardo was forbidden not only from killing them personally, but also from providing assistance that directly contributed to their defeat.
If one wanted to be extremely strict about it…
Pardo's recent actions had already entered dangerous territory.
She had transported everyone to the Moon so they could establish this new base.
She had also made several trips between Earth and the Moon on their behalf.
All of that could arguably be considered "indirect assistance."
Fortunately, Ling Ke had shown no intention of pursuing the matter.
Everyone had quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
But MEI wasn't foolish enough to interpret his silence as permission to keep testing the boundary.
Not when Pardo was involved.
For the sake of Earth's human civilization, anyone else here could be sacrificed if circumstances truly demanded it.
Pardo was the exception.
An Emanator of Harmony had to be preserved at all costs.
In MEI's estimation, Pardo's strategic value now exceeded that of everyone else in the Newborn World Serpent combined.
And surprisingly…
No one disagreed.
The only person troubled by this assessment was Pardo herself.
The cat-girl(?) felt both flattered and more than a little overwhelmed by the sudden importance everyone had placed on her.
In short…
That was why MEI refused to let Pardo participate in the Herrscher Subjugation War at all, even though forcing someone else to maintain a spatial passage across hundreds of thousands of kilometers would be enormously taxing.
As for why Sim Elysia had been chosen to open the portal alone…
The original Elysia needed to preserve as much strength as possible.
Later, she would have to deploy the Grace Field.
Wasting her energy merely on transportation before the battle even began would defeat the entire purpose of the plan.
So…
Vwoom…
Golden-orange light spread through the chamber.
A spatial gate opened.
Even for Sim Elysia, maintaining a portal stretching hundreds of thousands of kilometers was clearly no easy task.
The others didn't waste a second.
While the passage remained stable, every combatant quickly entered.
Thirteen people were participating in the operation.
Among them were the two "Returnees," Kevin and Fu Hua.
MEI, however, remained behind.
Part of the reason was obvious.
She still needed to continue advancing the new version of Project ARK.
There was also another consideration.
Under no circumstances could MEI allow her flesh or blood to fall into Kali's hands.
Not when the Herrscher of Blood could potentially extract far more than genetic information from it.
Of course…
There was one more reason.
One that MEI had told no one.
Using the Grace Field to directly suppress the Herrscher of Stars' Gravity Field…
The strategy itself isn't wrong.
A familiar voice sounded inside her mind.
But don't you think it's a little too… straightforward?
There's no artistry to it at all.
"Shut up, Vill-V."
MEI's expression immediately turned cold.
The voice fell silent.
Yes.
This was the "special incident" MEI had concealed from everyone else.
A secret known only to her.
When she had previously ordered Aponia to "execute" the traitor Vill-V, MEI had not actually allowed every persona to disappear.
Several had been preserved.
Through Consciousness Transfer.
It was one of the applications MEI had developed after awakening her Incorporeal Might.
At the time, however, she had not revealed the full extent of that ability.
Consciousness Transfer did not merely allow MEI to move a consciousness from one vessel into another.
She could bind the transferred consciousness directly inside herself.
And once it was there…
She could use it.
When necessary, those preserved consciousnesses could even manifest outside her body as temporary spiritual forms through the Incorporeal Might, allowing them to influence the physical world to a limited degree.
More importantly…
None of the consciousnesses bound within MEI could disobey her.
The restriction was absolute.
If MEI ordered one of them to remain silent, it could no longer speak.
If she ordered it to sleep, it would immediately lose consciousness.
They possessed no ability to resist her commands.
Thus, MEI normally kept the Vill-V personas suppressed.
Only when she required their expertise would she allow them to awaken.
To put it bluntly…
"A crude form of Spirit Taming."
That was how Ling Ke had described it after discovering what MEI had done.
And now…
MEI watched the spatial gate close after the last combatant passed through.
"Continue advancing Project ARK."
The voice inside her head answered immediately.
"Yes, yes. Of course."
MEI ignored the tone.
With everyone else gone, she turned around and returned to the laboratory alone.
There was still far too much work waiting for her.
As for exactly which Vill-V personas MEI had preserved…
Sim: The Conductor.
Sim: The Mechanic, or "Expert."
Sim: The Great Magician.
Sim: The Occultist.
And finally…
Two separate instances of the Id.
The "Deceiver."
These were all personas that had not been corrupted by Pure Evil.
At least…
Not yet.