“Huh? Wait, so is it a yes or a no?”
Enoxia’s answer had completely thrown the Herrscher of Sentience off balance.
“Thus. To elaborate: objectively yes, subjectively no.”
“What does that mean?”
“Objectively, you possess all of Fu Hua’s memories, you identify yourself as Fu Hua, and you’re willing to carry out Fu Hua’s ultimate goal—eliminating Honkai.”
“But you also know that whether or not you’re Fu Hua doesn’t just depend on what you think—it requires recognition from others. And given what you’ve done so far, there’s no way you’ll get their approval.”
“Why not!”
“Because right now, your decisions on many matters differ from those of the old Fu Hua. You’re not the Fu Hua they want to see.”
“But people change! I just want to become the real Fu Hua—why can’t they accept that?”
Enoxia smiled calmly.
“That’s true in theory. Let me ask you—would a high school or college teacher use ‘master addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division within ten’ as a slogan to promote themselves to students who’ve already completed compulsory education?”
“Would a marathon runner competing in the Olympics use ‘run a thousand meters in under five minutes’ as a mantra to motivate themselves?”
“Obviously, unless something’s wrong with their heads, no one would do that. Because those things are easily achievable.”
“When something can be done effortlessly by a certain group of people, no one turns it into a slogan or a source of self-motivation. Only things that most people simply cannot achieve without putting in serious effort have the potential to become goals worth promoting constantly, words that countless people use to encourage themselves.”
“So, precisely because humans aren’t used to things changing around them, even though change happens all the time, people keep emphasizing that ‘we should accept change.'”
The Herrscher of Sentience didn’t interrupt and continued listening.
“And when it comes to how people perceive someone, the thing they’re best at is slapping labels on them based on first impressions, memorable actions, or the persona they’ve established. When someone’s behavior strays too far from those labels, it naturally triggers a crisis of trust.”
“Take ‘Fu Hua’ for example. Whether it’s Cheng Lixue, Kiana, or Bronya, they all have ideas in their heads about what ‘Fu Hua should do’ and what ‘Fu Hua wouldn’t do.'”
“So, when your actions deviate too far from what they believe ‘Fu Hua should do,’ their first thought won’t be ‘Fu Hua has changed’—it’ll be ‘She’s not Fu Hua.'”
“But what ‘Fu Hua should do’ is just a stereotype! What I’m going to do is shatter their stereotypes of ‘Fu Hua’ and show them that the changed Fu Hua is better!”
“You’re not wrong. Although humans fear change, stereotypes can indeed be broken. But how long will that take?”
“You should have memories in your head of how society has changed over these past few thousand years in Shenzhou.”
“Think carefully—how long did it take, from the moment a few people realized there was a problem with a certain system, concept, or tool and that the old should be replaced with the new, to the moment the vast majority of Shenzhou embraced the new and abandoned the old?”
Enoxia raised her right index finger.
“But right now, we have at most one year left before the coming of the Finality. Without using Herrscher authority, breaking others’ stereotypes of ‘what Fu Hua should do’ is an extremely difficult task.”
“Obviously, you know this too—otherwise, you wouldn’t have removed the ‘you are the Herrscher of Sentience’ cognition from Cheng Lixue’s mind before even addressing ‘whether or not you are Fu Hua.’ You know that ‘Fu Hua wouldn’t become a Herrscher’ is a stereotype lodged in her brain. Once she finds out you possess Herrscher authority, she’ll inevitably jump to the conclusion that ‘you are not Fu Hua.'”
Hearing this, the Herrscher of Sentience grew agitated again.
“That’s because—because that was simply Cheng Lixue’s misconception! I just didn’t want her to be influenced by a false perception. Back at the Schicksal headquarters, when Durandal fought me and showed signs of mental confusion, it was because of Fenghuang Down…”
Enoxia waved her hand.
“I’m just stating the facts based on what you’ve shared. I haven’t drawn any conclusions, so there’s no need for you to rush and explain things to me. Besides, explaining to me won’t help, will it?”
“Then tell me, what should I do to get others to recognize me as ‘Fu Hua, but different from the past’?”
“The most direct and effective method—and also the riskiest—would be to directly modify their cognition. But Cheng Lixue has a close relationship with Fu Hua, and both Bronya and Kiana are Herrschers. The risk of failure is high. And if they ever discover that their cognition has been altered by you, they’d likely become your outright enemies.”
The Herrscher of Sentience shook her head quickly.
“No, no, that success rate is way too low. Is there a more reliable way?”
Enoxia spread her hands.
“Since you’re unwilling to change them, then you’ll have to change yourself. You need to first become the ‘Fu Hua in their eyes.’ After gaining their recognition, you can gradually make changes within their acceptable range on certain key issues. Finally, through imperceptible influence, you can reshape their understanding of ‘what Fu Hua should do.’ This process may be long, but the risk is low and the success rate is high—it’s the best method I can think of.”
“Hmm… that does sound good… not! Wouldn’t that mean I’d have to align my views on many critical issues almost exactly with the old me?”
Enoxia gave a thumbs-up.
“Your understanding is spot on. Like I said before, only when your behavior doesn’t stray too far from their stereotypical image of Fu Hua will they subjectively recognize you as Fu Hua. When the objective and subjective align—then you can become the ‘real Fu Hua.'”
“I… I…”
The Herrscher of Sentience imagined what might happen if she actually followed this method, and a suffocating sense of restraint spread through her entire body.
“No way, no way! If I do that, what difference is there between me and the old me? If I have to agree with things I can never agree with just to become Fu Hua, then I’d rather not be Fu Hua at all!”
The corner of Enoxia’s mouth lifted slightly, and she secretly made an OK gesture.
“That’s your freedom too. A name, after all, is just a symbol. If you choose not to accept the name Fu Hua, then naturally you don’t have to bear the stereotypes others attach to it. Whether your name is Fu Hua or not doesn’t actually conflict with what you want to do.”
“Moreover… you still haven’t fully grasped the extent of your own abilities. An incomplete Fenghuang Down alone couldn’t possibly create an illusion on this scale.”
“Most importantly, the various devices of Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and World Serpent are analyzing your physical condition around the clock. I just took a look and found that all three organizations have reached the same conclusion: there’s an Imaginary Singularity inside your body.”
Enoxia didn’t continue speaking. She simply watched the Herrscher of Sentience, whose expression kept shifting.
She knew very well that she could keep resetting herself to factory settings to prevent her consciousness from being tampered with—and the Herrscher of Sentience could use the same method to prevent Enoxia’s power from modifying her cognition.
She could alter her own cognition; if the Herrscher of Sentience chose to read her mind, the information she got might be completely different. And the Herrscher of Sentience could also deceive herself, so any memories Enoxia peeked at could very well be false.
When both parties were taught by the same master and neither could break the other’s techniques, talk-no-jutsu naturally became the most effective approach.
Enoxia knew perfectly well that if it were Fu Hua trying to persuade the Herrscher of Sentience, the outcome would probably be just like Welt Yang negotiating with Sirin—not only would it fail to solve the problem, but Fu Hua’s lack of emotional tact would only escalate the conflict.
Enoxia also knew that the Herrscher of Sentience was far from stupid. When she tried to retrieve the feather and realized that the one on Kiana hadn’t returned to her as smoothly as before, and when Cheng Lixue perceived her as the “Herrscher of Sentience,” she already understood a great deal in her heart.
But still, as a Herrscher whose mind had been overwhelmed by fifty thousand years of memories, she was like many children eager to accomplish great things—what she needed most was someone to affirm and encourage her approach. If someone outright rejected everything she did right from the start, it would be too damaging to her pride.
So Enoxia’s strategy was clear: she didn’t start by telling her “you’re not Fu Hua.” Instead, through gradual guidance, she led her to realize on her own that there was a contradiction between “I want to become Fu Hua” and “I want to be different from the old Fu Hua.” Enoxia understood very well that for the Herrscher of Sentience, the latter was clearly more important.
Just as Enoxia fell silent, the Herrscher of Sentience seemed to have figured something out.
“Enoxia, where did your name come from?”
“…I came up with it myself. If you’re asking whether it has any special meaning… I was born in Siberia, so I used the Russian word for erosion, эрозия, as my name. Besides that, I share a great deal of similarity with Enoxia in many aspects. When others hear the name ‘Enoxia,’ they can’t help but wonder if there’s some connection between us.”
“…I see. Then I should probably give myself a mighty and imposing name too—something that instantly conveys my traits… and fits with how people normally do things… Hmm, I’ve got it.”
“From now on, you shall call me the Great Herrscher of Sentience Lady!”
Enoxia nodded.
“Okay, Xiao Shi.”
“Yo—… Fine. Since you gave me so much advice earlier, I’ll let it slide. One day, you’ll realize that the Great Herrscher of Sentience Lady is a name that perfectly captures my essence.”
“Oh dear… Are you sure you didn’t just give up on coming up with a name and lazily borrow the Herrscher title instead?… But then again, it does capture her essence quite well…”
“Xiao Shi, now that you’ve sorted things out, and Cheng Lixue already knows about the seven disciples killing their master five hundred years ago, shouldn’t you dispel the illusion?”
“No rush. Since they want to learn about that old fossil, let them finish collecting all the feathers on the mountain.”
Enoxia raised an eyebrow.
“Is that so? After that, will you go meet Fu Hua?”
“Hah? Why would I want to see that old fossil? In her mind, I stole her body and tried to take her name—she probably hates my guts.”
“But… given how closely connected you two are, you’re bound to meet eventually. You can’t avoid it forever. It’s better to mentally prepare yourself while they’re busy learning about Fu Hua.”
“If you told them you were Fu Hua, they might become hostile because you broke their stereotypes of her. But now, you’re not Fu Hua—you’re just the Herrscher of Sentience, a completely different individual.”
“Kiana is a Herrscher, Bronya is a Herrscher, and I’m a Herrscher too. So they won’t suspect your intentions. Whether you’re willing to fight against Honkai has no necessary connection to whether you’re a Herrscher.”
The Herrscher of Sentience shot her a surprised look.
“Enoxia, you should know that by now, I’m no longer their enemy. So why are you still so—”
“But that’s exactly it—only ‘no longer enemies.’ On the path to fighting Honkai, the more friends, the better. Even though destroying a country or even a continent is child’s play for me, even if all the forces I can mobilize fight together against the Finality, I don’t see any guarantee of victory.”
“Oh? But you should know that our authorities overlap in many ways. When you’re around… it seems like there’s not much for me to do.”
Enoxia shook her head.
“Based on the information I’ve gathered from World Serpent, your control over consciousness isn’t as strong as the Eighth Herrscher of the Previous Era. However, you can do something it couldn’t—like using the Taixu Sword God without burning your memories. In the current era, only Cheng Lingshuang and Li Sushang can do that.”
“Because you possess all of Fu Hua’s memories, combined with the authority of the Herrscher of Sentience, your combat ability in direct confrontation clearly surpasses mine. So I need you—and we all need you.”
“Ah… this…”
The Herrscher of Sentience scratched her head, a little at a loss. Enoxia could tell she was happy inside—because what she’d just said suited her taste perfectly.
“Not saying anything means you agree. Sometimes, the more you’re afraid to face something, the more you need a push.”
With that, Enoxia drew Jizo Mitama.
“What are you doing!”
“While I may not be your match in a fight, we’re both Herrschers of the Awakened form and we both have Divine Keys. Breaking the illusion you’ve woven—that I can do.”
Seeing Enoxia about to act, the Herrscher of Sentience immediately stopped her.
“Hold on! Didn’t we agree to let them finish collecting the feathers before dispelling the illusion? When the time comes… I won’t run away.”
