17 Years Wiser

***A few days ago.***

With a few wrist twists, Soulium threads reached out from the fair-haired man's sleeves.

He used these strings to manipulate a puppet - in the exact way as it manipulated the ironclad marionettes.

He injected his electronic neurons into the puppet like a trojan program and calmly watched the Herrscher from a distance.

The 10th Herrscher, Herrscher of Dominance. A collection of thousands of minds connected to a myriad of fragile puppets.

As someone who also had a distributed mind, he found it a perfect victim. He casually watched on as it provoked one Herrscher after another, as it was nearly destroyed by Anti-Entropy, and as it forced K-423 to duel the other half of Sirin's consciousness.

He was confident. He knew these kids raised up by Theresa would win. But he wasn't interested in their growing up stories.

He needed to snatch the Herrscher Core capable of creating unique spaces before anyone else did. And the opportunity came to him.

When the 10th Herrscher was fighting K-423, there was no way it realized the rat among its puppet army.

Thus, at the very moment when the newborn Herrscher of Flamescion swung the blade of conviction... he got his hands on the 10th Herrscher's core.

**"All warfare is based on deception."**

He saw no shame in this. Before the core's connection to the imaginary space was cut, he quickly examined this spatial power that didn’t belong to the Herrscher of the Void.

And exactly then...

*He was dragged into a white void by an intangible force.*

He didn't expect this, but he wasn’t afraid.

17 years ago, he had visited this place, and back then, he hadn’t adapted to any thinking pattern that's not human. He remembered he came up with a question in a hurry. Before the question was formed and uttered, the answer had surged into his mind.

It was so deep and profound that no brain could have kept it.

After that moment, he did believe the one before him was an all-mighty god. A god wouldn't mind any man's thoughts, just like a man wouldn't mind any ant's thoughts.

...But that remained an unconfirmed assumption. *It wasn't a **precondition**, or **truth**.*

17 years later, he had now grasped the priceless data from Project: VALUKA. He knew this existence that dwelled in the void only had more knowledge than any human. Knowledge is of course a source of power. But knowledge itself isn't power yet.

A tick looks just as tiny as an ant, but unlike an ant... It carries numerous viruses and can make a human who sits at the top of the food chain suffer from hemorrhagic fever and beg for a quick death. So, in their second encounter... he could face the existence calmly.

"Here we meet again, after 17 years, Will of Honkai."

"... ......"

"Yes, I've come to a better understanding of you now. You can't change how the world works. You can't intervene directly. Your disciples, the Herrschers... they can't realize their full potential. If the Imaginary Tree behind you is an ocean, you're but a narrow strait."

"But of course, any strait can drown thousands of Otto Apocalypses."

"... ......."

"Yes, this is what Otto Apocalypse plans to do. I'm grateful that you won’t intervene."

"Just... you won't even stop Kevin Kaslana? You two should be well acquainted."

"……."

"......Haha, I see. That's something I won't be able to witness. Besides, I can never measure your pursuit with human standards."

"..."

"It's a pleasure, --#---#------##--."

**Irrelevant Files**:
**Chapter 1 -** Mission Report Kv10297 • St. Fountain Tour Guide • Golden Fountain • Fountain of Blood • From Sint Fontein to St. Fountain • Unsent Letter • A Flyer • A Resident's Diary • A Scrap of Paper • Duino Elegies