The overwhelming surge of soul power made every page of the Honkai manga from Nagami's past life flash vividly in his mind.
Combined with what C.C. had dug up in Schicksal's database about the Second Eruption, it wasn't hard for him to piece everything together.
After being heavily wounded by the silver bullet and rescued by Benares, the Second Herrscher would fly to the moon.
There, Sirin would defeat Welt and devour the Herrscher of Reason's core.
From this moment until then, Nagami estimated he had about nine days.
Aside from the key turning points, Nagami planned to let history play out as it originally did.
That way, he could conserve the power stored in Fenghuang Down's feather—after all, he had a hunch that feather might be crucial again in the future.
And so, during this nine-day window, Nagami decided to settle on the moon, taking the time to organize his thoughts and fully explore his newly obtained authority.
The best part? The moon was vast, empty… utterly lifeless, save for himself and Benares.
Everyone knew the moon orbited Earth while also rotating on its axis.
The near side, facing Earth, was pulled more strongly by Earth's gravity than the far side, creating tidal forces.
Over countless years, this imbalance slowed its spin until the moon's rotation matched its orbit perfectly, locking one face toward Earth forever.
That was why the far side of the moon—forever hidden from Earth's prying eyes—was the perfect place for him to experiment.
The near side was constantly monitored by countless telescopes and satellites.
If Nagami started tearing up the surface like a hyperactive husky, someone on Earth was bound to notice.
And so, in the silent shadow of the moon's far side, explosions rang out endlessly.
The terrain, already scarred and uneven, grew even more devastated.
At one point, Nagami even intercepted several meteors that were about to smash into the moon, slicing them into dust.
Sure, the craters he made himself dwarfed the natural ones, but hey—that was just his way of leaving a "little gift" for the moon.
His experiments with the Herrscher of Wind's ideal fluid had already gouged out hundreds of square kilometers of lunar soil, peeling the surface back by dozens of meters.
Think of it as giving the moon a free exfoliation and polish.
But the true marvel lay in the gem he had now—the Gem of Serenity, the Herrscher of Death's authority.
Its powers of Decay and Creation were terrifying in a different sense.
Decay unraveled the body on a molecular level, erasing the enemy piece by piece.
Creation, on the other hand, could identify a target's DNA sequence and rebuild their body from scratch.
Neither were as explosive in raw combat as the Herrscher of Wind's ideal fluid, but their significance went far beyond battle.
After all, Honkai itself was the trial of civilization.
Every Herrscher's authority wasn't just a weapon—it was both a test paper and a cheat sheet.
Humanity's advancement wasn't only about technology, but also about humanity itself.
And the Herrscher of Death's hidden "cheat sheet" was the key to human evolution.
If one could perfectly read and edit the blueprint of DNA… what would that mean?
The answer was simple: Evolution.
Nagami realized he could optimize the human genome step by step.
The human body was an unfathomable well of potential—no one knew how deep it truly ran.
By breaking genetic limits and shattering shackles, humans could evolve into vampires, elves, angels, demons—any kind of transcendent being.
Or even better, they could fuse the strengths of all those races while keeping their human form.
Lifespan extension? Eternal youth? Mere child's play.
Just look at Tesla and Einstein.
This was not a weapon of destruction, but a power that touched the origin of life itself.
Normally, evolution had no reset button.
A single misstep in genetic adaptation could doom an entire species to extinction.
But with the Herrscher of Death's authority, that danger vanished.
The ability to judge and restore DNA meant that even if evolution veered down a completely wrong path.
Even if the genome collapsed entirely, the power of Creation could instantly revert it to its original state.
In other words: unlimited retries.
Every failed attempt could simply be rolled back to the last safe checkpoint, and the search for the true path of evolution would continue.
A civilization wielding this power could achieve, in mere centuries, what normal species might take entire epochs to accomplish.
It might not rival the MANTIS fusion warriors of the Previous Era at their peak, but it certainly wouldn't be far behind.
And more importantly—how many fusion warriors were there in the first place?
When humanity's DNA evolves… it won't just be one person who grows stronger—it will be the entire human race across the planet!
This is the true way to unlock the power of the Herrscher of Death.
"Seriously… this is insane!"
Nagami controlled the clone in Hu Tao's form, flexing the pale, delicate hand in front of him before brushing his palm against his own chest.
This Hu Tao clone was no longer just a construct born from the Herrscher of Reason's power—it was a real body, created with the power of Creation.
The difference was enormous.
The former was only a simulated shell, but this was a genuine sixteen-year-old girl's body—indistinguishable from any other living human.
To put it bluntly… it was a body that could even bear children.
[TL Note – .....]
"This kind of power only means something when it rests in the hands of a civilization's leader."
Using Hu Tao's voice, Nagami's clone casually adjusted the size of the armor on her chest, before finally deciding to respect the "original setting."
For Nagami himself, the Herrscher of Death's authority wasn't all that meaningful right now.
With his personality, he wasn't suited to be the true leader of civilization anyway.
After several days of painstaking "character creation," the humanoid lifeform named Bella was finally born.
Her spotless silver-gray hair cascaded down her back, faint arcs of lightning flickering along gradient blue feathers.
Black and white stockings wrapped around long, flawless legs, while lace straps clung tightly to her pale skin.
Her delicate collarbone gleamed in the air, and her full, rounded chest pushed against a blue-and-white camisole in an alluring curve—crafted to match Nagami's very particular "XP system."
And then… her eyes.
A brilliant, sky-blue gaze filled only with you.
If Sirin was the untouchable young mistress of some ancient noble house, then Bella was her loyal handmaiden—the kind who served at her side day and night.
So even though Nagami knew, deep down, that she was in truth an Apocalypse-class Honkai beast, his already thin sense of morality slipped even lower.
"...Master?"
Her voice was hesitant.
Bella gazed up at the pale, beautiful—but faintly eerie face of the purple-haired girl.
Kneeling on one knee, she asked softly:
"Where… is my Queen?"
She could feel it.
The Herrscher of the Void's core was inside this girl's body—the very power that had given Bella life.
But this girl was not the queen she was meant to devote her existence to.
Memories from her earliest days resurfaced as intelligence awakened within her.
The terror of once being held captive in that Queen's hand flashed through her mind—only to vanish in the next instant.
Before her now was Nagami, the one who had granted her wisdom and the Gem of Conquest.
Her loyalty and affection toward him were as natural as breathing.
"Relax. Sirin is fine—her consciousness is just sleeping within the Herrscher core."
Nagami reached out a slender finger, lifting Bella's delicate chin as he admired his own masterpiece.
"In front of outsiders, you'll treat me as Sirin, got it ☆?"
"When the time is right… I'll let her out."
Nagami nodded to himself, quite pleased.
'I really do good work.'
"You know who I am. I'd never hurt her."
"Yes, master."
Bella bowed her head after a brief silence.
"But say… if I really did try to harm Sirin," Nagami asked with a sly smile, "what would you do?"
"I… I don't know…"
Bella's head shot up, her sky-blue eyes filled with panic and turmoil, as if terrified that he might truly mean it.
"Alright, alright. I was just kidding~ How could I possibly do something like that?"
Nagami placed his hand on her head, ruffling her hair with a gentle warmth.
"Master…"
Bella exhaled, relief flooding her expression.
"Now then, the opening act is about to begin. Bella, I expect you to work hard."
"Yes, master!"
She didn't understand what Nagami meant, but that didn't matter.
Her loyalty was absolute.
Opening a portal of imaginary space that led back toward Earth, C.C. stepped through first.
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