Live broadcast of Honkai Impact 3rd, I chose to expose Kiana in Sky City!

And before that...

[Yes. I will follow our plan, taking on the power of "The End" bit by bit... and complete our destined final journey.]

[The fifty thousand year wait is over. Thank you for your hard work, "Number Seventeen."]

Chapter 459 At this time, Kevin had a premonition that he would die in the future...

"Number 17? What is... Number 17? It feels like something extraordinary..."

A bullet screen with moonlight effects floated across the screen...

Obviously, Kiana had no idea what Number Seventeen was.

But she could vaguely feel that this person whom Kevin met in person might be one of the indispensable and important factors of the Stigmata Project.

"Hmm~ What is it? It feels like she has another name."

"What other name?"

"Haha... I see. My guess is correct. Everything is exactly as Mei imagined~"

And with the appearance of No. 17, the live broadcast room was immediately filled with comments from heroes.

Some people, like Hua, have no idea what this name means.

People like Alicia and Mebius knew very well what this codename referred to. They could even say that they knew very well that the owner of this codename actually had another name: Prometheus.

With the appearance of this ultimate foreshadowing, all the hidden clues became clear.

What Otto said when he saw the God of Disaster for the last time. Why was Kevin waiting outside the paradise so early...

The answers to these mysteries were also solved at this time.

Of course, Kiana and the others couldn't understand this.

After all, before Otto turned into the false god Chongshu, he didn't explain to them the true face of the Honkai God...

After this part of the decryption plot ended, the main perspective of the plot switched to Theresa.

At this moment, she was looking around at the darkness.

As an incarnation of Vishnu, she has devoured the seven realms of dreams, but is still trapped in this lucid dream.

Saint Freya. Destiny Airport. Klosten. Sea Abyss City. Sky City. Changkong City. Siberian Snowfield.

一一They are all microcosms of the ups and downs in life for her and her students.

So...what does this empty darkness correspond to?

【Nice to meet you, Theresa Apokalis.】

A cold yet slightly warm voice came from the darkness.

【……who? 】

[Kevin Kaslana's shadow. An artificial consciousness belonging to Kaslana's stigma.]

The stigmata spatial consciousness that once appeared in the Yulandel plot reappeared.

But this time, Theresa did not have the tortuous and bizarre life experience like Yulandel.

Therefore, the consciousness of the holy scar space appeared directly in the form of Kevin.

This avoids a lot of unnecessary misunderstandings.

[For convenience, you can also simply call me "Stigma Will." ]

Hearing this word, Theresa suddenly remembered that an old enemy whom she hadn't seen for a long time once mentioned this name.

She is Siegfried, Kiana's father...

However, after thinking about this, many unanswered questions appeared in Theresa's mind.

(No. Why did he appear in my dream, in the deepest part of this nothingness? To me, this is just a "hearsay" existence...)

[…It seems that you don’t understand how the situation has evolved to this point.]

The Holy Mark Will saw that she was confused, so he began to explain.

[You have clearly swallowed up the seven layers of dreams and reached the edge of consciousness. But this is an adventure without a destination - you still haven't discovered why you are trapped here.]

[…Well, let me show you the whole story.]

Then, the Stigmata Will began to explain in a very nosy way why Theresa came here.

First, it says to start with Theresa's self-proclaimed rebellious student, Mei.

In order to prevent Theresa from not understanding, the Stigmata Will considerately played this part of the shared memory of Kaslana and others directly to Theresa.

A memory about Mei flashed quickly through Theresa's mind from Kevin's perspective.

The real Kevin wants to start the Stigmata Project, but Mei Raiden disagrees with his approach. He lets her go, giving her the opportunity to do what she thinks is right.

[One by one, the Stigmata Plan? ]

[Yes. The Stigmata Project. In fact, it has already begun—which is why you were captured by dreams in Hyperion near the moon and ended up here.]

This place is only one step away from the core area of ​​Kaslana's Holy Scar Space, and is a dark afterimage left behind by the real Kevin.

[But compared to these, you must be more concerned about the "Stigmata Project" itself, right? ]

The Will of the Stigmata pointed out expressionlessly.

It has to be said that its guess was correct. Theresa was indeed more concerned about the Stigmata Project itself.

But what she was thinking was actually a step further, that is...if the Stigmata's Will was true, then there were probably tens of thousands of people on Earth who were in desperate situations. How was she supposed to leave here?

In response to Theresa's question, the Will of the Stigmata said that she needed to pass her own test to become a true Stigmata Awakener.

Only in this way, the restrictions imposed on her by the Stigmata Project would naturally disappear.

[The sanctuary of the child of destiny will be opened for you, where you will safely survive this great change in the world. ]

[Compared to these... If you are really Kaslana's stigmata will, then please tell me how I can save everything from the stigmata plan that has already begun. ]

Theresa remained unmoved by the reminder of the will of the stigmata.

If the disaster has already happened, then what she needs now is definitely not to "safely survive the great change."

[Ah. You don't have to be so anxious. The Stigmata Project that is being implemented now is not a simple copy of the Sky Dome Experiment. Understanding "why you, who is in Hyperion, are also deeply involved in it" will also be helpful in understanding the current development of the situation. ]

In order to prevent Theresa from worrying too much about this matter, the Stigmata Will was very considerate and gave her a reassurance.

So far, not a single person on Earth has "really" lost their life due to the Stigmata Project.

"Hasn't anyone lost their life yet? Although it feels like a good thing, it also feels like it's not... something to be thankful for."

A bullet screen with moonlight effects floated across the screen...

Kiana knew very well that no one had lost their life because of the Stigmata Project so far.

But strictly speaking, from the perspective of bystanders, these people have actually lost their lives.

"No one has [really] lost? But it seems that means a lot has been lost."

"It always feels like this is a very difficult philosophical question to explain, because if you don't take some other factors into account, these people did not lose their lives."

"Heh~ But if consciousness has sunk into an eternal dream, who can guarantee that these people can still be considered human beings? Are they still alive?"

In the live broadcast room, comments from the audience floated across.

Obviously, people have different opinions on how to define people.

Although what the Stigmata Will said was true in a sense, such truth might be more terrifying than a lie...

and so…

【Don't panic. We still have time to understand what happened behind the scenes. 】

Then, a memory about the raven flashed quickly through Theresa's mind from Kevin's perspective.

[Kevin and Raven... is this also a recent thing? Wait, how do you know the internal situation of these world snakes? ]

[Didn't I say that? I am the will of Kaslana's stigmata. I am not a member of your dream, but a real stigmata administrator in the world. Of course, I also have a way to receive some fragmentary memories of the real Kevin.]

In other words, he is equivalent to the common memory backup device of the Kaslana family, and can naturally recover some of the memories of Kaslana's ancestor Kevin.

At the same time, the Will of the Holy Mark also mentioned the issue of [boundaries].

To put it simply, due to the influence of the Stigmata Project, the boundaries between them will become increasingly blurred.

This made Theresa more or less confused. Was the boundary he was talking about the boundary between herself and it, or the boundary between herself and Kevin?

[Actually, both are true. I just said that up to now, no one on Earth has actually lost their life due to the Stigmata Project.]

The reason why this happened was very simple: at the end of this plan, the materialized stigmata would replace humans. And humans would also transform into dreams and merge with the past stigmata space.

After listening to the very detailed explanation of the Stigmata Will, Theresa did not understand what it meant at all.

Of course, as the Archbishop of Heaven's Mandate, she couldn't show it directly.

[Whatever that means, it does apply to my situation. Isn't that right?]

"Theresa...are you trying to change the subject?"

"Hmm~ That's a really smart move. It's kind of cute~"

"So you can answer like this?"

As Theresa obviously changed the subject, everyone in the live broadcast room smiled knowingly.

To be honest, most people seem to have only a vague understanding of those complex philosophical terms and abstract academic principles.

So it is understandable that it is normal for Theresa to do such a cute thing in this situation.

[That's right. The moon is the key node of the Stigmata Plan. Since you approached the moon without knowing it, you became the first victim of the plan. But because of Vishnu's characteristics, you did not sink into the dream after all, but swallowed up all the illusions along the way. Finally, you ended up here.]

Listening to the explanation of the will of the stigmata, Theresa gradually understood everything.

Finally, she thought of a very serious question.

If it were a normal person...

They will be immersed in the same kind of dream as the first one... just like the dream I had, of Himeko and everyone else still being in Saint Freya...

[Yes. Their consciousness will be transformed into the same existence as the stigmata, retreating from the real world to the gap between imaginary numbers. And correspondingly, the thoughts in the stigmata will become entities and gradually descend into the outer space. They will move towards each other and replace the quietly sleeping humans.]

[Stigmata...Replacing humans...]

Although she had only a vague understanding of the complex concepts of the Stigmata Will, Theresa at least understood the crucial last sentence.

Stigmata...will replace humans?!

Upon hearing this, Theresa's face was full of disbelief.

But soon, with the introduction of the Stigmata Will, she gradually realized the concept represented by the Stigmata Project.

If the purpose of destiny is to "find the right destiny", and the purpose of anti-entropy is to "resist the wrong destiny", then the purpose of the World Serpent is to "transcend destiny itself".

Perhaps there is no distinction between the three... but as has happened repeatedly in human history, when one's goals are no longer compatible, friction between "justice" and "justice" is inevitable.

[So... from the perspective of the World Serpent, since the Stigmata Project can definitely prevent the Herrscher of the End from coming, all other costs can be ignored, right?]

【It may not be that simple. 】

The Will of the Stigma shook his head, denying Theresa's conjecture.

[As I mentioned earlier, the current Stigmata Project allows the Stigmata to replace the Humans. They will inherit all of humanity's existing civilization. In this way, from the perspective of the planet, the Earth will not be lost, but will instead usher in a certain form of sublimation.]

[The Earth...will sublime? ]

When Theresa heard this, she was completely stunned.

Of course, the Will of the Stigmata didn't seem to expect her to understand such a complex concept simply by listening.

Therefore, it played a memory directly to Theresa.

[This matter is too abstract for you who are trapped in a dream. Rather than forcing yourself to understand such a thing... perhaps the following memory from 50,000 years ago will be more valuable to you.]

[That can be considered as one of the starting points of the Kaslana family.]

That was a conversation between Kevin and Mebius.

Mebius asked Kevin sharply in the shelter.

[Kevin, what was your feeling when you first met your child?]