NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 264: The Illusionary Array
"A new life, huh?" After leaving Himeko's residence, Eden walked down the quiet street, bathed in the morning sun. But as she subconsciously touched the faint scar on her throat, she shuddered, a look of unspeakable fear flashing in her eyes.
Eden was a puppet who had chosen the Lamb's Spirit. Her consciousness hadn't vanished, but her past experiences had nearly destroyed her. Only by inhabiting a puppet body could she continue to pursue her dreams.
Therefore, unlike her companions who had also chosen the Lamb's Spirit, she hadn't split into two separate entities. Instead, she directly occupied the puppet body as her own.
The scars on her body had no physical effect; she had asked Ren to preserve them as a reminder of her past suffering.
As Eden drifted into her memories, a powerful consciousness abruptly dispelled her melancholy, taking control of her body. She offered no resistance, instead expressing her subservience with a silent acknowledgment.
[My god, what are your commands?]
"Bring Kiana back. Find a way to get her to Murata Himeko."
…
Back in the present, having dealt with the complications presented by Li Sushang and Kiana, Ren withdrew his consciousness from Eden's puppet body.
Although he hadn't explicitly mentioned it, Ren's puppet collection was constantly growing. Unique individuals like Eden weren't uncommon, each responsible for different domains.
Cocolia, in charge of research; Eden, responsible for raising funds; Jian Yun, overseeing cultural dissemination—these were all essential puppets that kept the Obsidian Concord running. Ren's puppet count had now swelled to over a hundred.
It wasn't that he didn't care about Eden. On the contrary, he was the one who experienced the pain of all his puppets most acutely. He tasted the sorrows of a thousand, but he also bore the burden of Domination.
To those puppets with self-awareness, Ren was their god, and a god couldn't show weakness. That was all.
Therefore, after assigning Eden her task, Ren immediately turned his attention to setting up the Theater.
The Herrscher of Reason core was still rejecting him, likely due to the interference of the 300,000 wills within. He had to find a way to break through their blockade.
The core's rejection was absolute, leaving no room for negotiation. Ren didn't want to waste time reasoning with them. While his current body was constructed by the Herrscher of Reason's power, he could easily switch to a regular puppet if he wanted.
The reason he hadn't erased these consciousnesses was to utilize their conflicting thoughts to eliminate his own mental vulnerability.
The previous plan had affected him too deeply, making him act less like an emotionless Herrscher. The vast sea of 300,000 thoughts could wash away his memories of Kiana, freeing him from her influence.
Once this vulnerability was eliminated, he could, hopefully, acquire Taixu Sword God from Li Sushang, significantly reducing the threat posed by the Herrscher of Sentience.
Without emotions, Ren could perfectly execute his plans. Then, neither human civilization nor the Will of Honkai could interfere with him.
If he achieved this goal, the Herrscher of Reason core would become useless, no different from a trinket to be kept or given to Bronya.
Of course, this was the ideal scenario. Achieving it required two key elements, the first being the play he had prepared for himself.
He intended to forcibly manifest the Theater of the Domination in reality, utilizing its power to break the Herrscher of Reason core's blockade. In other words, he planned to recreate the scene of the First Eruption in ARC City. Only then could he interact with those wills directly.
The only participant in this play would be Ren himself, a large-scale illusion tailored specifically for him. However, the Theater of the Domination was a core aspect of his being. Manifesting it in reality would inevitably affect ordinary people.
To mitigate this, Ren had deliberately used Eden's concert as an opportunity to gather a large number of citizens in one place.
The combined consciousness of nearly a million living people in ARC City would be enough to counter the influence of the 300,000 wills within the core, neutralizing the Theater's effect on the general population.
The materials used to construct this illusionary Theater were, naturally, the cubes Otto had intended as lures.
His game with Otto was one of mutual exploitation. Ren cared about this city, so Otto exploited this to force his hand. And after Otto achieved his initial goal, Ren would use Otto's tools to achieve his own.
500 years ago, Ren and Otto might have become friends. Unfortunately, Otto's obsession with Kallen had driven him to the brink of madness. They were no longer on the same path.
Besides this first crucial element, the second was Ren himself.
A mental vulnerability couldn't be overcome with brute force. To erase it, he had to confront it himself, to consciously seal away his memories of Kiana and break free from her influence.
This was an incredibly dangerous process. Within the illusion he was creating, Ren would be powerless. If he lost control, he risked being overwhelmed by the 300,000 wills, not only failing to achieve his goal but also potentially suffering severe mental trauma.
Kiana was a powerful source of interference for Ren. He had deliberately sent her to Himeko to eliminate her influence, to keep her away from the Theater of the Domination and maintain the illusion's stability.
Reuniting with Himeko was Kiana's unresolved issue. As long as Himeko was by her side, the void in her heart would be filled, and she wouldn't wander off.
This was one of the reasons he had instructed Eden to invite Himeko to the concert. Himeko wouldn't abandon Kiana; she would attend the concert with everyone else.
As long as the world was sufficiently noisy, no one would notice Ren's solitary silence.
He had even taught Eden several songs not from this world to amplify the concert's impact.
"Once the trial is complete, everything will be over."
From the highest point in the city, Ren looked down upon the land below. In his vision, the devices he had originally set up to capture Taixu Sword God had now merged with Otto's lures, forming a new array.
Within this grand illusionary array, a magnificent theater, visible only to Ren, was becoming increasingly clear.