"The fourth participant is a World Serpent executive representing the World Serpent, Raven!"
A hooded figure was projected onto the screen, but even with the hood, due to the "filming" angle, Raven's appearance under the hood was revealed. She also looked like a young girl, similar to the previous participants.
"This participant is one of the survivors of the Second Eruption. One could say she is also a survivor who benefited from Cecilia's grace. Because of her extraordinary talent, she was taken in by the World Serpent from a young age and trained to become a mercenary, and also an executive of the World Serpent. It seems there's a strong connection between the participants this time."
"The reason I introduced Ms. Raven in detail is that I took it upon myself to fulfill one of Ms. Raven's wishes. After joining the World Serpent, Ms. Raven also used the commissions she earned from missions to adopt many children orphaned by the Honkai. I greatly admire her for this, so I have prepared a missing person's notice for her here, seeking Raven, or rather, Ms. Ciora's brother, who went missing in 2000. If Mr. Ciora sees this, or if anyone has information about Mr. Ciora's whereabouts, please send an email to the address below. After verification, I will personally provide a reward as a token of gratitude."
"Alright, I've talked quite a bit about side topics. Let's continue by introducing Ms. Raven's partner, Elysia, an Flame-Chasers from the Previous Era, manifested as an Archer."
"Fifty thousand years ago, there was a civilization similar to ours. That civilization was destroyed by Honkai. At the end of that civilization, many heroes and defenders of civilization were born. These were the Thirteen Flame-Chasers of the Flamescion, and Elysia was the second of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers of the Flamescion, Elysia, who held the Mark of True Self."
A pink-haired girl appeared on the screen.
Unlike others who were previously unaware of being filmed, Elysia seemed to notice something the moment she appeared on screen, pausing slightly in her steps with Raven.
"Elysia? What's wrong?"
Raven looked at Elysia, who had suddenly stopped, with some confusion, following her gaze, but only seeing blue sky and white clouds.
Raven looked confused as Elysia blew a kiss towards the sky.
"It's nothing, Hecate, let's go, let's go. I wonder if there are any cute beautiful girls among the other contestants."
Takatsuki had already introduced many contestants before, but Elysia was the first person to interact with the global audience through the screen, immediately attracting many people.
Posts started flooding the forums of those Flamescion websites and other self-established platforms.
"Oh my god, I'm in love."
"Is this woman really an old hag from fifty thousand years ago?"
"Elysia, Amen (hands clasped)."
Elysia's charm was always so exaggerated; even in this era, she attracted a host of fans without any direct interaction.
Although Takatsuki didn't pay attention to the posts made by others elsewhere, Throne of Heroes would faithfully report back to him the legend points gained by each Servant after their appearance.
Feeling the explosive growth of legend points, Takatsuki could only exclaim, "As expected of Elysia."
She easily accomplished what others couldn't; she was the only one who noticed the filming perspective.
Although this Herrscher of Humanity descended as a Servant, was she truly a restricted Servant?
Even Takatsuki, the Master of Throne of Heroes, didn't know this point.
"With that, the representatives of the four major organizations and their partners have all been introduced. Next are the three individuals who desire to be the Strongest, selected from a sea of billions of people."
"The first is a girl from Shenzhou, Yang Yuxin…"
Unlike the previous four contestants, Yang Yuxin was dressed in coarse cloth, her ordinariness evident at a glance.
"Although this girl looks ordinary, her desire is world-class. As the organizer, I understood her wish with her consent."
"To save the world, to defeat Honkai…"
"And her Servant, I believe many Shenzhou people may have heard of her. She is the disseminator of Shenzhou civilization, also the guardian of Shenzhou for a thousand years, and a living martial arts legend, the legendary Scarlet Phoenix Immortal of Mount Taixuan, who appeared in the Berserker class, Scarlet Phoenix Immortal."
Looking at the red-haired woman who appeared on the screen, Takatsuki dared to say that, apart from her face, she had nothing in common with Fu Hua. However, he didn't say anything, as a Servant's appearance is inherently influenced by the legendary hero. As a truly living legend, the Scarlet Phoenix Immortal is still remembered by many, so it's normal for her Servant image to be influenced by the legends that shaped her.
Just by announcing Fu Hua's name, Takatsuki felt a continuous stream of legend points pouring in.
As expected of Shenzhou, with its large population, the legend points brought by Fu Hua alone surpassed all the previous ones, perhaps also due to the accumulated thousand years of Fu Hua's legend finally blossoming.
"Those interested in the Scarlet Phoenix Immortal can learn more on their own. Here, I will only mention some little-known facts, such as the Scarlet Phoenix who once fought alongside the Yellow Emperor and the martial arts supreme, Scarlet Phoenix Immortal, who spread martial arts in later generations, are the same person. At the same time, she has another unknown identity, which is that, like Elysia, she is also one of the Flame-Chasers of the Previous Era, the twelfth, Hua, who holds the Mark of Ephemeral Dream."
"Some of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers of the Flamescion died in the final battle against Honkai, some sacrificed themselves for humanity's future, and some carried the hope of human civilization and survived to our current civilization through special methods, becoming pioneers of human civilization, leading humanity against Honkai."
The story of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers didn't cause much of a stir, as it was an era that ordinary people couldn't verify. However, Takatsuki didn't mind; at least the legend of the Scarlet Phoenix Immortal had already made her worth the price.
"The next contestant is quite special; I've decided to introduce her and her partner together."
Appearing simultaneously on the screen were two white-haired girls walking side by side, one with twin braids and the other with a spirited ponytail. Although their outfits were different, everyone could see that they looked exactly alike.
"What's going on?"
"Twins?"
"No, shouldn't it be one Master and one Servant?"
Such questions arose in almost every viewer's mind upon seeing Kiana and Flamescion.
Fortunately, Takatsuki had no intention of keeping them in suspense.
"Throne of Heroes exists beyond time, so what it possesses is not just heroes who have already passed away. This Servant, who looks exactly like her Master, is precisely the Master herself, Kiana Kaslana, a so-called Heroic Spirit from the future."
"Because this Saber is a Heroic Spirit from the future, few people in this era know of her deeds. In reality, as we see now, she has not yet grown to this stage, but her deeds of saving the world are genuine."
"The identity of this Kiana Kaslana is actually a Herrscher."
"That's right, it's the mobile natural disaster mentioned when Honkai was introduced, the Herrscher, the messenger of Honkai. The culprit behind the Second Eruption was Sirin, the Herrscher of the Void."
"But thanks to the people of the Previous Era, or to be more direct, because of Elysia's efforts, a hope was gained for the Herrschers of our current era, which is to imbue the Herrschers, who are weapons of Honkai, with humanity, giving them the possibility of reclaiming their own consciousness, which is what is called a Human Herrscher."
"And this Kiana Kaslana before us is precisely a Human Herrscher, inheriting the hopes of others, a never-extinguishing Flamescion that illuminates the night, the Herrscher of Flamescion."
The introduction of Flamescion was not extensive; Takatsuki instantly changed the screen again.
This time, a white-haired girl also appeared on the screen, looking exactly like Kiana, but with golden eyes. However, attentive viewers noticed that the pattern in this girl's pupils was identical to that of Kiana, the Herrscher of Flamescion, making it difficult not to connect the two.
"With Heroic Spirits, there will naturally be Anti-Heroic Spirits, beings known for their infamy. However, this Anti-Heroic Spirit, like the Herrscher of Flamescion just now, is also an Anti-Heroic Spirit from the future. I believe some of you have already noticed her resemblance to the Herrscher of Flamescion."
"To confirm, the two are the same person."
"But she cannot be called Kiana Kaslana; we can call her by another name, or rather, an inherited name, Herrscher of the Void, Sirin."
As Sirin's name was revealed, Takatsuki felt an explosive increase in legend points within Throne of Heroes after just ten seconds.
This was what he wanted to see.
He was also greatly shocked when he saw Cocolia summon Sirin, and even considered whether to appear early to control her, but he gave up after observing for a period of time.
The summoned Sirin, due to the limitation of the magic power provided by the Master, did not begin to cause widespread destruction, but instead set her sights on the Holy Grail.
Cocolia also seemed to want to use Sirin, and after feigning compliance with Sirin, they reached a temporary cooperation.
"Her Master is Cocolia, who possesses world-class ambitions."
"However, more than the Master, I think more people want to know about Sirin and Kiana. After all, many people are unclear about the history of the Second Eruption, so as the conclusion of the Holy Grail War's opening, I will briefly tell everyone this story."
"The story begins with a purple-haired little girl named Sirin and the Babylon Laboratory of Schicksal."
He spent a few minutes narrating how Sirin and other children were experimented on in the laboratory as test subjects for Stigmata research, then were chosen by Honkai to become the Herrscher of the Void, causing disaster, initiating the Second Eruption, and then being killed.
"But Herrschers are not so easily killed. Originally, after becoming a Herrscher, a second personality full of negative emotions would be born within the host, devouring the main personality, which is the so-called Herrscher personality, and also the vanguard of Honkai."
"Because of her hatred, Sirin did not give birth to this second personality, or rather, the two merged from the beginning. But at the moment of her death, due to Cecilia, she felt the warmth of family, and from then on, she developed a longing for love."
"After that, Schicksal recovered the Herrscher of the Void's gem and began an experiment called Project Sirin. Ostensibly, this project was to develop Valkyrie's spatial-temporal distortion system, but in reality, the essence of this project was to implant the Herrscher Core into artificial humans, artificially creating controllable artificial Herrschers."
"And as carriers for the Herrschers, ordinary artificial humans could not bear it, so the artificial human bodies were created from the genes of Saint Cecilia Schariac's daughter. After multiple failures, a K423 prototype was born, and Sirin's consciousness, contained within the Herrscher Core, awakened in this prototype."
"Just like the theory of antinomy, Sirin's longing for family and her hatred for humanity split her into two different personalities, the result of which is as you all have seen."
"In that not-so-distant future, Kiana overcame Sirin's hatred and resolved to bear this past, embarking on the path to save the world."
...
Takatsuki stepped off the commentary platform and took off the mask he was wearing. Mei handed him a hot towel.
Watching Takatsuki wipe his face with the towel, Mei asked with some concern, "Takatsuki, is this really okay?"
"Don't worry."
Takatsuki naturally knew what Mei was referring to.
As the saying goes, rumors can kill.
After knowing Kiana's identity, everyone had no real sense of her future deeds, but they had truly experienced Sirin's destruction.
And in this world, there is no shortage of people who are jealous of the virtuous and capable. They will spare no effort to attack those who are beyond their reach on the internet.
"All YoRHa S-type and O-type androids are monitoring the network."
"As for those who are incorrigible…"
Takatsuki did not continue, but Mei breathed a sigh of relief when she knew Takatsuki had made arrangements, as she did not want her friend to be affected by others' rumors.
Meanwhile, in space, the YoRHa Commander was rapidly directing the work of all surrounding androids.
Androids who should have been resting were also called in for "overtime." At this moment, almost all S-type androids gathered in the Bunker and entered the network through their abilities.
"Faster! We must restrict all unfavorable comments about Miss Kiana online!"
Watching the S-type androids almost completely restrict the negative comments online, the Commander still did not relax her vigilance.
After all, they were not facing a few individuals, but billions of people worldwide. Although such people were few, they were still terrifying given the huge base.
And many people didn't really want to badmouth Kiana, but just mentioned it casually. As for those who maliciously wanted to spread negative news continuously…
The Commander looked at the O-type androids on the other side.
"Send the locations of those found to the Shadowkhan!"
Androids would not actively harm humans due to Takatsuki's restrictions, and Takatsuki had no intention of breaking this restriction, but these tasks could be handed over to others… or rather, things.
In the shadows above the Earth, figures dressed in black ninja suits emerged from the shadows.
Their scarlet eyes looked at the special communicators in their hands, which displayed the locations of their nearest targets.
Upon receiving the target locations, all Shadowkhan Soldiers quickly sank into the shadows and headed towards the target locations.