Impossible.
Kiana frowned, the meaning clear—she didn't believe it.
Would Selene really have the spare time or interest to deliberately kill a few ordinary people from some colonial worlds? You've got to be kidding.
Was there anything special about these captives? Hardly. They were merely mortals who possessed some small measure of supernatural power.
The so-called "Power of the Titans"—to put it bluntly, for the Empire's military, it was nothing more than a toy, a collectible, a biological sample handed over to the Imperial Science Bureau for research and archival.
And knowing Selene's personality—if she really wanted to act—there's no way the commotion would be so understated.
"She wouldn't kill proactively," said Senti, catching the subtle change in Kiana's expression. She shrugged. "But what about passively?"
"For instance," she continued, "if these two were strong, but not strong enough—if, by virtue of their exceptional mental power, they had the 'honor' of gazing directly upon the power of Finality…"
Senti raised her delicate face, smiling confidently, a faint glow radiating from the crimson feather in her hand.
Consciousness—
That was her domain!
Don't be fooled by the fact that Kiana, Durandal, and Raiden Mei could all now tear through the physical world like walking nuclear warheads, living natural disasters.
When it came to thought, consciousness, soul, and memory—Senti could confidently declare, right in front of them, you're all fledglings!
"You mean they were able to perceive Honkai energy? To glimpse a fragment of its essence through the tip of the iceberg…"
Kiana's expression turned thoughtful.
"Their physical condition is weak—barely at the lowest standard of an ordinary human. They don't even have the ability to release energy… Senti, did you find something?"
Kiana didn't mind admitting where she fell short of others—especially when the other person was the mischievous 'brat' Senti. A little flattery never hurt.
Snap!
"Finally hit the point," Senti said with satisfaction, snapping her fingers and planting one hand on her hip. After a pause, she turned toward another area—where, under the watch of Sangheili blue-armored warriors and Imperial Servant troops, stood a much larger group of ordinary soldier prisoners, serving as the "atmosphere team" for the captive ceremony.
"All these people are connected by an invisible force… There's a 'path' inside them."
Her eyes caught the countless filaments of light linking the Eldians together—like streams flowing into a great river—gathering behind the fallen Eren Yeager and Zeke Yeager.
There, faintly visible, a colossal light pillar like a world tree pierced the heavens.
"A higher-dimensional space…"
Sharing Senti's vision, Kiana's expression turned to awe.
She could see it clearly—a dead, silent space, an endless desert beneath a sky full of stars. At the center stood a massive light pillar branching out endlessly.
Every Eldian in reality was connected through a "path" extending from themselves to one of those branches, all converging on that single colossal pillar.
"So that's it. This must be the source of the 'Founding Titan's Power' that Marley and the Eldians have been fighting over…" Kiana murmured, the shock fading as she brushed back a lock of her white hair and rubbed her temple.
"With such a system in place, it's no wonder they could catch a glimpse of the true nature of Honkai energy… though that glimpse might not be a blessing."
In theory, the stronger the individual, the deeper they could perceive the essence of Honkai energy—and the will of the Goddess of Finality that lay within it.
But these people were too weak to comprehend the mysteries of Honkai energy at all.
It was pure coincidence that the contact between these two happened to activate the Founding Titan's Power—the "Coordinate."
And that was the real danger.
This higher-dimensional space—belonging to the Eldians, or rather, to their progenitor Ymir—had accumulated the spiritual remains of countless Eldians who had died over thousands of years. Each individual was weak, yes, but the sheer passage of time and the massive total had created something else entirely.
Quantitative change had led to qualitative transformation—reaching the critical threshold.
Unfortunately, this power did not belong to the activators of the Coordinate, Eren Yeager and Zeke Yeager. They were merely borrowers—commanders issuing orders.
Those who were struck by the Imperial Army's Honkai Energy–driven weapons inevitably carried traces of corruption upon them. The Coordinate's power, in turn, magnified their consciousness countless times over—enough to link with the spiritual force of tens of millions of Eldians across the world.
The lingering contamination of Honkai Energy allowed them the misfortune of gazing directly upon Selene's brilliance—a radiance burning like ten thousand stars.
The deadly kind.
Even a mere glimpse of that iceberg's tip was enough to blind their feeble souls. Their minds and all conscious thought were incinerated into nothingness.
In short, Eren Yeager and Zeke Yeager's suddenly heightened consciousness had let them glimpse a power far beyond what beings of their level should ever touch.
If one possessed true strength—enough to perceive the shadowed side of Honkai Energy through their own power—then such self-annihilation of awareness would be impossible.
Too weak, and you cannot glimpse it at all. Too strong, and your foundation is solid—you would never fall so easily.
Had they not activated the Founding Titan's Power, even if they'd been captured and beaten half to death by Sangheili warriors under the pretext of arrest, they could still have healed.
But now… their condition was the result of reflexive feedback from Senti and Kiana's Herrscher wavelengths—wavelengths identical to those that annihilated their consciousness.
After a brief inspection, Senti shook her head immediately.
"Can't save them. They're done for. Goodbye!"
While extracting the memories stored in the cerebral sponges of Eren Yeager and Zeke Yeager—and sharing them with Kiana—Senti boredly sifted through the fragments, picking out anything remotely useful.
"Hold on a sec," she suddenly said, her tone lighting up. "This immortal's found an interesting application."
She turned toward Kiana. "I need to run an experiment."
"Hm?"
Still trying to organize the tangle of information in her head—Paradis factions, the Four Regiments, Marley, the Yeager family's endless grudges and entanglements—Kiana removed her finely embroidered wide-brimmed hat and tucked it under her arm. Rubbing her temple tiredly, she murmured:
"...So tedious. Internal affairs are a whole different monster from diplomacy or military matters… downright inhuman. I honestly don't know how Sister Selene manages to govern such a vast empire."
"...And this is just the preliminary intelligence gathering and civilian assessment. I'm already sleepy just looking at it. Sigh… I really miss the days at St. Freya—eat, sleep, repeat. Now I'm hungry again… I miss Mei's cooking."
Letting out a soft sigh, Kiana pushed aside her 'paramecium' mood and tilted her head slightly, signaling for Senti to proceed.
Then she added, "Take it easy. Don't overdo it."
"Yeah, yeah. Don't you know who you're talking to? Relax, I've got this under control."
Waving dismissively without looking back, Senti's crimson eyes gleamed mischievously as she studied the Eldians for a while.
Heh. Two groups, clear as day.
Then her lips curved into a grin. As anxiety rippled through the prisoners, Senti shifted her gaze away from those wearing olive-green mid-length uniforms or brown half-jackets.
"Pull out those in white uniforms—the ones with the starburst insignia on their chests!"
She pointed toward the smaller contingent wearing outfits distinct from the rest—black combat boots, white military trousers, white field uniforms secured with black belts and harnesses.
At once—Clang! Clatter!—
A sharp whistle cut through the air. Dozens of Servant soldiers clad in armored coats surged into the crowd of prisoners without hesitation, roughly shoving aside those registered as Marleyan troops.
"Step forward!"
"Move faster!"
The crowd erupted in murmurs and fear.
Though the Imperial soldiers' translator devices echoed their commands in the prisoners' native tongue, the Marleyans refused to comply—out of pride, and out of terror.
All they could see was this gray-haired, red-eyed woman with a strikingly individual, untamed style—so unlike any military officer—whose arrival had caused the "Devil of Eldia" (Eren) and the Marley Warrior Unit's commander (Zeke) to collapse, writhing on the ground, their lives uncertain.
Now, that malicious gaze of hers—seeing them as less than human—swept across the crowd. And the gentle-looking female officer beside her, clearly someone of authority, the one protecting the human vessel of the Intelligent Titan—remained silent.
Damn it, of course we're worth less than an Intelligent Titan!
Anyone seeing this scene from their perspective would assume their own death was imminent.
"No! No! Don't kill me! I've surrendered already!"
"Out! Move!"
"I'm an Eldian! I'm Eldian, not Marleyan—ugh!"
A Marleyan soldier with a yellow starburst insignia on his sleeve tore it off, crying and shouting, but the Imperial soldiers showed no mercy. They shoved, dragged, and beat the wailing captives with fists, boots, and rifle butts.
The once somewhat orderly line immediately descended into chaos.
The soldiers of the Paradis regiments naturally kept their distance—help the Marleyans? Not a chance.
After all, when the Sacred Selene Empire's Expeditionary Fleet arrived, these two sides had still been fighting over the Founding Titan's power. Yesterday, the Eldians had infiltrated and struck at the Marleyans' homeland; today, the Marleyans retaliated with an aerial assault on the Eldians' walled world.
When the Sangheili warriors attacked, their infighting had already left the Shiganshina District nearly in ruins. The hatred ran deep—blood for blood.
And that hatred… stretched back through history itself, an unending feud between Eldia and Marley.
Expression calm, Kiana simply watched Senti's display.
This was still within the acceptable range—just normal treatment of prisoners, not a massacre. Her heart wasn't that fragile.
Influence flowed both ways.
Just as those fierce warriors who had once fought alongside Kiana in the Punishers Legion had changed, little by little, in her presence.
From "draw your blade and cut" to "ask once before cutting."
Yes. Who could say that wasn't progress?
Likewise, without realizing it, even though her ideals remained unchanged, Kiana's bottom line had lowered considerably—and her methods had grown far more forceful.
"Eldians are more valuable than Marleyans," she concluded flatly.
Senti shrugged. "Mm-hmm. Because the Marleyans don't have the 'paths' inside them. Didn't you notice? Every Intelligent Titan is Eldian."
As she spoke, Senti placed her hands atop the heads of Eren and Zeke.
"Like this!"
Boom!
Countless golden bolts of lightning fell from the sky. Thunder roared, shaking the sky, shattering the ground, and hurling the air into violent cyclones.
"Assassins!"
"Protect the Governor!"
The nearby officers hadn't even spoken before the guards surged forward, performing their duty with absolute precision.
"Pure Titans?"
The fierce gusts whipped the ribbons and medals on Kiana's uniform, yet she stood motionless, calmly sweeping away the smoke with a single wave of her hand.
Whoosh—!
The tearing force of the wind scattered the dust, revealing hulking figures—each between three and fifteen meters tall, grotesque and twisted, the Pure Titans.
"Titans! We'll be eaten!"
Perhaps the fear of such creatures was so deeply rooted in this world that it briefly overpowered even the terror of the Empire's weapons. The captives screamed, trying to flee—only to be kicked down by nearby Imperial soldiers.
"The Founding Titan! They've awakened the Founding Titan!"
Armin looked up in horror, meeting the eyes of Reiner, Annie, Pieck, and the others beside him.
"See? Only Eldians can transform. Marleyans can't," Senti said smugly, nodding in satisfaction.
"Oh, and those 'Marleyan soldiers' who did transform don't count—they're just Eldians serving under Marley. The details are messy, but you get the idea. Still, it's quite the flashy ability. Also, that King Karl… what an idiot."
"That's enough…"
Kiana stepped forward, placing a hand against the scorching flesh of one of the Pure Titans. After roughly assessing its physical strength, she asked, "Senti, can you turn them back?"
"That? Easy! I'm not bound by that fool king's vow of nonviolence."
Hissss—!
Like air leaking from deflated balloons, one by one the Pure Titans collapsed, their flesh, blood, and bone dissolving like melting snow. A wave of hot steam rolled through the area.
"No other demonstrations?" Kiana asked calmly.
"That's it. Just this and the Intelligent Titans—but to transfer those, you've got to eat someone's spinal fluid, and you'd need—"
"Forget it."
Retracting her gaze, Kiana brushed imaginary dust from the brim of her hat and turned away. "Senti, handle their arrangements."
"You sure know how to give orders. Where are you going?"
"To the royal capital within Wall Sina. I need to meet their king. After that, I'll head to Marley—and the Middle Eastern Coalition… peacefully, for the first and only time. Let's hope they don't make things difficult."
"I thought you'd start by pacifying these Intelligent Titan hosts."
"I will—but not now. They need time to calm down. Saying the wrong thing earns punishment."
Kiana glanced back, smiling faintly as she waved her hand. "Do your best, Senti. This world will become the shared result of all our efforts…"
"Tsk… you're starting to sound like someone I know."
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
...
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