Black Herta turned around, taking the system puppet with her. Like two phantoms, they followed a deeper passage towards the core area where the true Elysian Realm was stored.
The Black Curtain Puppet that remained in place quietly returned to its original position. After a data fluctuation, its appearance was once again disguised as Gray Serpent's cold, mechanical form, as if nothing had ever happened.
Passing through layers of guarded gates, Black Herta and the system finally reached their destination.
Before them was an incredibly vast underground space, and in the center of the space, a colossal facility operated, its structure too complex to describe in words, emanating a soft, ancient light.
Countless energy pipelines connected to it like plant roots, sustaining its operation over five tens of thousands of years.
Looking at this miraculous creation that witnessed the rise and fall of the Previous Era and carried the memories and power of the thirteen Flame-Chasers, even Black Herta couldn't help but feel a hint of emotion flash in her purple-black eyes, which lacked highlights.
"Who would have thought... this thing could run for a full five tens of thousands of years."
She murmured softly, as if asking time itself.
Despite her sentiments, business couldn't be forgotten.
She turned her head and gave a concise order to the system puppet beside her: "Do it."
The system puppet nodded silently, stepping forward. Her petite body seemed so disproportionate in front of the massive Elysian Realm device.
But the moment she raised her hands, a torrent of crimson-purple data, like a bursting dam, surged from her palms!
The data stream, like living tendrils, quickly enveloped the entire Elysian Realm facility, initiating an extremely complex analysis and transfer process.
The facility's surface light flickered violently, as if instinctively resisting this external force.
Black Herta stood elegantly to the side, arms crossed.
Her purple-black eyes watched the facility wrapped in crimson-purple data, her mood leisurely.
Just as the transfer reached a critical stage, a sudden change occurred!
Black Herta felt her consciousness being abruptly "pulled" out of her body by an irresistible force!
Her vision instantly blurred and twisted, then cleared again in an extreme silence.
She found herself no longer in the gloomy underground base, but standing on an infinitely desolate, gray-white soil-covered land.
Looking up, there was a dark and profound cosmic backdrop, and in the distance, a beautiful planet interwoven with blue and white quietly floated—that was Earth.
...The Moon?
Black Herta's lips twitched slightly. "Where did this send me? Is this still Earth?"
She quickly calmed down, her powerful perception sweeping across this strange space like radar.
Almost at the same time, she sensed the approach of another "presence."
Her gaze fell upon a girl suspended in mid-air.
She had peculiar gray double-helix long hair, spiraling like a gene chain, and her crimson eyes, like burning gems, calmly watched her.
"Prometheus...?"
Black Herta instantly recognized this figure, but she immediately perceived something deeper.
No, what drove this image was not the AI responsible for executing the Stigmata Project, but a more vast existence—the world will itself.
It merely borrowed the image of Prometheus to manifest.
At the same time, Black Herta's perception penetrated the surface of this consciousness space, reaching the immense presence hidden deep within the space, pulsating like a heart and emitting a chilling purple glow—the Cocoon of Finality.
That was both the end of civilization and... the beginning.
Black Herta's lips curled up uncontrollably.
Things were getting interesting.
"What can I do for you?"
Black Herta spoke first, her voice clearly carrying through this space where even the air was thin.
No sound responded.
But an incredibly clear intention was directly imprinted in her mind:
[Stop.]
Concise, with an undeniable authority.
Black Herta tilted her head, a smile appearing on her face: "What if I say... no?"
The sense of rejection from the world instantly intensified!
It was as if the rules of the entire world were exerting pressure on her, trying to completely squeeze out this "foreign object"!
The light subtly twisted.
Black Herta endured the pressure, her gaze growing sharper.
She quickly pondered a countermeasure; a head-on confrontation was definitely not the best strategy, especially on the opponent's home ground.
She needed... leverage.
"How about a deal?"
Black Herta suddenly spoke, breaking the stalemate.
She extended her hand, clad in a gray silk glove, forward. "Give me the Elysian Realm and this era's herrscher core. In return..."
She paused, her gaze seemingly piercing through the image of Prometheus, directly meeting the world will behind it, her voice carrying a seductive power: "...I will help you cross 'Finality.'"
She could clearly feel that the eternally unchanging expression of Prometheus, controlled by the world will, seemed to have a hint of stagnation.
(It's working!)
Black Herta struck while the iron was hot, her tone becoming more assertive: "Since you could 'invite' me here, you must also be able to perceive my essence and the level of power I possess, which transcends the conventional understanding of your world. To put it bluntly, if I wanted to, I could even make Pi equal to zero."
Her smile deepened, radiating confidence.
Seeing that the other party remained silent, Black Herta decided to deliver a potent blow.
She raised her hand again, palm facing upward.
A lifelike model of Earth appeared above her palm.
Immediately after, crimson-purple data streams, like living entities, entwined around the miniature Earth, slowly beginning to corrupt it!
"Of course, I can also easily..."
Black Herta's voice turned cold, like a declaration of doomsday, "[Destroy]."
Finally, the power that had been communicating through intention, for the first time, conveyed a clear question through the image of Prometheus in a more direct manner:
[Who are you?]
Black Herta smiled, a smile of a successful strategist.
She elegantly shrugged, as if speaking of a trivial matter:
"Me? 'Finality' from another world. Of course, you can also understand it as... the incarnation of 'Destruction.'"
(When you're out and about, you define your own identity.)
She could feel the world will sinking into deeper silence and contemplation.
"How to believe?"—another intention came, carrying extreme caution.
Black Herta put away her smile, her gaze becoming extremely oppressive. She took a step forward, her boot heel gently tapping on the lunar soil.
"You have no choice but to believe."
The moment her boot sole touched the ground—
"Buzz—!"
Centered on her, a crimson-purple data torrent erupted on an unprecedented scale!
The desolate lunar landscape shattered like a broken mirror, replaced by countless vast galaxies flowing with the light of destiny, infinitely extending intertwined Paths—precisely the scene of the Pathstriders Interstice!
In this Pathstriders Interstice, forcibly simulated by Black Herta, an immensely colossal phantom, seemingly condensed from countless concepts of destruction, quietly emerged behind her!
That phantom carried a suffocating pressure, as if a single glance could ignite stars and end civilizations!
(Simulating a Nanook image, though it consumes a lot, is not impossible!)
Prometheus—the avatar of the world will—still maintained a poker face.
But Black Herta keenly perceived that within the depths of that eternal consciousness, a genuine ripple finally arose.
It wasn't fear, but a kind of... weighing of options in the face of a higher hierarchy.
[...Agreed.]
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