"Be serious. We're in a meeting. Can you stop making private calls?"
The girl wearing a top hat knocked on the round table, glaring disapprovingly at the light-blue-haired girl sitting directly across from her.
The light-blue-haired girl spoke in a calm, almost mechanical tone, "The fact that no one could stop me is your problem. Don't shift the blame onto me."
On the table in front of the mechanical-toned girl was a nameplate that read [Supreme Beyond Heaven].
In front of the top-hatted girl, there was also a nameplate that read [Justice in Place of Heaven].
Around this round table sat sixteen girls, each with a nameplate in front of them.
If the mechanical-toned girl sitting directly across from the top-hatted girl was considered the first, then moving clockwise, the nameplates each bore a [name].
[Supreme Beyond Heaven]
[Four Souls United Heaven]
[Dreams Illusory Heaven]
[Great Fortune Shared Heaven]
[Truth Veils Heaven]
[Judgment Thunder Punishes Heaven]
[Creation Devil Heaven]
[Ring Subverts Heaven]
[Governance in Place of Heaven]
[Victory Swears Heaven]
[Death Curses Heaven]
[Moon Wheel Cuts Heaven]
[All Things Return to Heaven]
[Stars Gather Heaven]
[Fallen Zero Heaven]
[Perfect Blade]
The top-hatted girl looked at the mechanical-toned girl across from her, her expression clearly displeased. "You had to jump the gun on something that was going fine, didn't you? Doing the wrong thing at the wrong time—do you even realize the consequences? And now you refuse to admit your mistake. Do you really think striking first will guarantee a win?"
"Pot calling the kettle black. When you accuse others, maybe you should first lift the blockade you placed on the Honkai World."
The black-haired girl with the nameplate [Death Curses Heaven] stared expressionlessly at the top-hatted girl.
"If I recall correctly, seven of the thirty-seven Sovereigns blocking the Honkai World are your envoys, right? Truly, Hekate's intentions are known to all Emperors."
"I was just protecting my homeland from your schemes," the top-hatted girl retorted, crossing her legs and sipping her tea without a change in expression. "Now that we've all relinquished our authorities, we can't act as we used to. Naturally, we have to be more cautious."
"Are we still on this boring topic? Let's just end it here."
The green-haired girl with the nameplate [Moon Wheel Cuts Heaven] interrupted the stagnant conversation, turning to the mechanical-toned, light-blue-haired girl. "Hekate, you seemed quite surprised while making that secret call earlier?"
"I was just about to bring that up," Hekate said flatly. "Does anyone know what 'Baoyu' is?"
The top-hatted girl frowned. "...Is that something you heard from him?"
Hekate nodded slightly. "Yes."
The top-hatted girl slowly shook her head. "I don't know. You weren't fooled by him, were you?"
"I don't know anything about 'Baoyu' either. He probably just made it up to trick you."
"Not a single word that man says can be trusted, whether it's from his mouth or his mind. Clearly, you've been deceived."
"He's definitely plotting something again."
The girls around the table gave similar responses.
Hekate closed her eyes slightly. "I had my suspicions too, but I think this time he might not be lying."
"..."
For a moment, nearly all the girls at the table were speechless, staring at her.
The top-hatted girl, who had been extremely displeased with Hekate earlier, now looked at her with pity. "How old are you? How can you still be so naive? The moment you start thinking like that, it means you've already been completely fooled by that scoundrel!"
The green-haired girl also looked at Hekate and spoke softly, "Those who cannot read minds should not take his words at face value. Those who can read minds should not take his thoughts at face value. Those who are omniscient should not take everything they know about him at face value—what made you go against this common sense?"
"Don't tell me you've lost your omniscience. Even when you were still omniscient, you shouldn't have easily believed him. After all... you know him well."
Hekate didn't answer the question. Instead, she calmly looked at the top-hatted girl. "How is your plan progressing?"
"What plan? The way things turned out wasn't my design."
The top-hatted girl casually deflected.
—But everyone at the table simply watched her performance, not a single one playing along.
Feeling a bit awkward, the top-hatted girl coughed twice. "I really don't have a plan. I just went with the flow to make sure we met sooner. Is that even a plan? It was bound to happen sooner or later."
Hekate said flatly, "Then, haven't you noticed anything unusual?"
"Unusual? What's unusual? Everything seems normal..."
The top-hatted girl's words trailed off as her expression suddenly turned serious.
She hadn't noticed anything unusual before, but as Hekate spoke, it was as if a veil had been lifted. Suddenly, she recalled something she had inexplicably overlooked.
She set down the teacup she had been holding, removed her top hat, and spoke with utmost seriousness, "Something's wrong. There are a few people on Teyvat who shouldn't be there, but I didn't notice at all. I just naturally incorporated them into my memory."
"...So, it seems there really is an anomaly."
The black-haired girl with the nameplate [Great Fortune Shared Heaven] nodded, looking curious.
"But even though we no longer possess the authority of omniscience, shouldn't anyone in Fantasy Heaven be able to do something like this? Or..."
Her gaze suddenly shifted to another beautiful girl with vibrant red hair.
"Shouldn't only you be capable of something like this now?"
The red-haired girl with the nameplate [Dreams Illusory Heaven] shook her head slightly. "It's not me. It's probably... from a world beyond Fantasy Heaven."
"Beyond the world, huh..."
"That's a real possibility."
"But even if we consider all worlds, those capable of such a thing are few and far between, right?"
"Sigh... What we're trying to do really isn't that simple," the golden-haired girl with the nameplate [Fallen Zero Heaven], who had been lying on the table, sighed lazily. "But given the current situation, you all should be mentally prepared, right?"
The top-hatted girl slowly closed her eyes, then suddenly smiled, her tone slightly exaggerated as she laughed:
"Ahahaha, how interesting. But it doesn't matter. No matter who it is, this is my stage now. No one can steal the role of the leading lady from me."