“Enoxia?”
“Hey, Kiana, Bronya, Fu Hua, and Cheng Lixue. Long time no see, everyone. If you guys had ended up fighting the Herrscher of Sentience here, all my hard work would’ve gone down the drain.”
“Alright, I’m not going to speak in riddles. Since all of you have incomplete information, let me clear up your questions one by one.”
“First, during the Schicksal War, Otto had Fu Hua killed—temporarily, at least—to make sure she wouldn’t interfere with his plans. He caught her off guard and had the A-rank Valkyrie Melide ambush her with an anti-Herrscher weapon.”
“Then Otto placed her ‘dead’ body into a Schicksal life-support pod for recovery. But to his surprise, before her soul could return to her body, a new entity was born inside it—the Herrscher of Sentience.”
“Possessing all of Fu Hua’s memories, the Herrscher of Sentience immediately killed Otto once—destroying one of his Soulium bodies. After that, without harming a single human life, she destroyed half of Schicksal headquarters, got into a huge fight with Bianka, and was eventually tricked into coming to Mount Taixu by Otto.”
“Hey, what do you mean ‘tricked’? It was clearly because the great Herrscher of Sentience had the bigger picture in mind! She knew that if she really killed him for good, Schicksal would fall into chaos, and that would cause even more casualties. Besides, Otto did save—”
“Since he was the one who killed Fu Hua, saving her at most counts as making amends—shouldn’t that be the bare minimum? And since when does the perpetrator get to decide whether the victim should forgive themselves? Otto killed Fu Hua once, and you were completely justified in seeking revenge. As long as Fu Hua hasn’t forgiven him, Otto will always be in her debt.”
“So that whole ‘merits and demerits cancel each other out’ nonsense he made up to trick you into coming to Mount Taixu? That was pure sophistry. Only the victim has the right to decide whether the perpetrator deserves forgiveness.”
“If you had used your Herrscher authority to read Otto’s mind back then, instead of being fooled by his sincere act, you would’ve known that his words didn’t match his heart at all.”
“What?! Otto, you—!”
Only after hearing Enoxia’s words did the Herrscher of Sentience realize she’d been duped, and she started cursing Otto in the direction of Schicksal headquarters.
“Ugh…”
Seeing the Herrscher of Sentience’s reaction, Bronya raised her right hand and pressed it to her forehead:
“It seems Bronya’s earlier assessment was flawed… there was indeed a misunderstanding about the Herrscher of Sentience.”
“But… why did the Herrscher of Sentience set up an illusion for us on Mount Taixu in the first place?”
“Well…”
Instead of answering directly, Enoxia began telling a story.
“Three of you, imagine this: if a newborn, at the very moment of birth, already had someone else’s fifty-thousand-year worth of memories in their head… what do you think would happen?”
This time, Kiana was the one who caught on:
“Enoxia, are you saying that in the Herrscher of Sentience’s own mind, she… thought of herself as the class monitor?”
Kiana understood that what a person calls themselves depends on how they perceive themselves. The reason she called herself Kiana Kaslana was because Siegfried had told her that she was supposed to be called that.
“Exactly. But as you know, when it comes to ‘who a person really is,’ there needs to be a unity between the subjective and the objective. Take yourself, for example—you believe you’re Kiana, and Bronya, Fu Hua, and everyone else also believe you’re Kiana, so you’re able to fully be Kiana.”
“And everything the Herrscher of Sentience did was aimed at guiding you—without using her Herrscher authority—to reach the conclusion that ‘she is Fu Hua.’ However, thanks to my silver tongue and her own realization, that problem has now been resolved.”
“Rather than being a Fu Hua that no one acknowledges, or a Fu Hua that she herself can’t accept, it’s better to become a Herrscher of Sentience who’s even more remarkable than Fu Hua.”
“Those are the ins and outs of the Herrscher of Sentience’s situation. Fu Hua, as the key party involved, is there anything you’d like to say to her?”
Fu Hua and the Herrscher of Sentience locked eyes. The Herrscher quickly averted her gaze.
“Herrscher of Sentience… thank you.”
“D-Don’t thank me. I only did all that because I didn’t want to end up like you—bottling everything up like some tight-lipped jar, stewing in your own feelings until something breaks, and then getting misunderstood by everyone else.”
Enoxia smiled with relief. Just as she was starting to think she might have misjudged Fu Hua’s character, Fu Hua spoke again:
“Of course, your consciousness was born inside that soulless body, so that body is yours. It’s just that… right now, I need that body to do what I must…”
“Pfft… cough, cough…”
And just like that, Enoxia realized her initial judgment of Fu Hua had been spot on. She couldn’t help but complain internally:
“Seriously? You haven’t even soothed the child yet and you’re already making demands? Class monitor, what you just said to the Herrscher of Sentience basically translates to: ‘I need you to give the body back to me.’ If you’d just said a few more nice things, she might have handed over control willingly even without you asking!”
Sure enough, the moment Fu Hua said that, all the goodwill the Herrscher of Sentience had built up instantly evaporated.
“Fine, fine. You’re right, you’re right. After all, you’re Fu Hua, and I’m just the latecomer who’s been squatting in your body. That’s my bad. I’ll give it back to you right now—happy?”
With that, the Herrscher of Sentience immediately left Fu Hua’s body, flying off toward the horizon in a huff as a mass of energy. Meanwhile, Fu Hua successfully returned to her own body.
“Um… Class monitor… if you had said a few more things the Herrscher of Sentience would’ve liked to hear before making your request, maybe… your first meeting wouldn’t have ended on such a sour note… Oh well, she’s gone now, so there’s no point in second-guessing. You two will just have to work things out over time.”
“Oh, and Kiana—Mei’s doing just fine in World Serpent. She’s about to make a lot of new friends. And… we might meet again sooner than you think. When we do, I might need you to do me a small favor.”
“Huh? Oh… Sure, as long as it’s something I can do, I’ll help.”
Though completely baffled, Kiana still agreed to Enoxia’s request.
After bidding everyone farewell, Enoxia left Mount Taixu. Kiana, meanwhile, decided to stay—since Fu Hua had regained control of her body, who better to teach her Taixu Sword Qi than its very creator?
