The journey across time and history reaches its destination here...
Fire Moth of fifty thousand years ago...
"The reality beneath the prosperity and ostentation is the beams of a house riddled with holes, eaten away by the termites of Honkai."
"But mortals always need a banner, a guiding light; it doesn't even have to be a person, a tangible entity, but merely a concept, a voidly prosperous surface."
Walking in the city, everyone looked at the streets, their expressions varied.
Some were used to it, some were nostalgic, some were contemptuous of it, and some were amazed by the city style that surpassed the era.
There were also those who criticized it...
"And this city, the most brilliant pearl among the Fire Moth's last remaining cities... in the end, it also could not escape its shattered fate."
"A fate broken by one's own hands..."
"The most cherished treasure was personally smashed, the tightest blood ties were personally torn apart, and the most innocent blessing exchanged for... the disintegration of all things."
The Great One, bearing the heteronymous name "Lord of the Army," strolled through the sci-fi city as if mourning its destined fate: destruction.
The people on the street cast strange glances at the girl humming to herself, only to hastily avert their eyes upon seeing the furious man behind her.
The Mad King, understanding what the God before him was lamenting, felt his heart scorched by boundless rage, wishing he could sew the girl's mouth shut or simply tear it apart.
However, the more he was burned by fury, the more lucid he became. Suppressing the intense urge to fight the chattering God right then and there, the man asked his question:
"So, you jabbering God... what time is this?!"
The man's voice was distorted by suppressed rage, causing everyone nearby to instinctively clear a path for him, fearing they might touch the boundless fury already burning fiercely within him.
"This moment?"
"This is the moment the pearl shatters, the day the newborn Herrscher spreads her wings."
In the distance, the hands of the tall clock tower under the night sky pointed to twelve o'clock. A heavy bell tolled, echoing throughout the city, like the cry of a newborn infant piercing the skies.
Within the Fire Moth's prison, a pink-haired girl lay in a pool of blood, while the newborn Herrscher also let out her first wail within the Fire Moth's base.
The ear-piercing alarm echoed through the city, yet even more deafening than this alarm, piercing the city, was the Mad King's roar.
"The God of War of the Highest Heaven!!! You dare to... make a fool of me!!!"
A meteor, like a sword drawn from its sheath, flew toward a distant building, leaving the girls standing on the street where people were fleeing in all directions.
"Um... I was wondering... did you just make Mr. Kalpas angry?"
Kallen poked the blonde girl, asking somewhat warily.
"He wants to save those destined to be unsavable. Foolish..."
"The existence known as a Herrscher serves not only as a tool for the Trial Civilization, but also records the progress of a civilization at key points in history..."
"No God would ever rewrite the established fact of a Herrscher's birth... even for us, such a thing is nothing more than foolishness."
"If history is an infinitely ascending tower, then for those seeking a way down, each Herrscher's birth doesn't just represent a floor, but a staircase, a long stretch of stairs."
"Will you go back and demolish the stairs? Because I won't."
"We can rearrange or even smash the things inside the floors of this tower called history. But the stairs are different. They are meant for walking, and only for walking."
"Destroying them means a certain era loses its connection, vanishing completely from the world's history, along with everything from that age."
Cold sweat beaded on the brows of the Shenzhou Team sisters... As beings fundamentally from this era, they had to be prepared to vanish with a single snap of Brother Kalpas's fingers.
"Th-th-then—Big Boss, aren't you going to stop him?!"
"Stop what? The Herrscher has already been born... A pivotal turning point in history has been set. We just need to go and pry loose a certain nail within the torrent of this era's events and hammer it back in another direction."
The girl glanced strangely at the two behind her, who looked like they had just barely survived a disaster.
"As for that man... Let him vent his boundless rage for now."
The girl turned and walked toward the Fire Moth building in the distance, as the "shooting star" streaking across the sky slammed directly into the structure...
"Ah—The meteor falling from the heavens heralds the birth of the Son of Ruin..."
"When the first cry shatters the night, the lamb upon the zealot's altar shall be revealed to the world—"
-
Crossing the threshold of the gate that was no longer there, the young woman saw only the marks of the man's destruction, and bodies charred to cinders and ash.
From the depths below, the sound of fierce gunfire and a man's furious roars already reached their ears...
"Who are you!?"
The base's remaining guards spotted the unidentified intruders and raised their rifles, their movements tense.
"Wait, we are—"
Cangxuan and Nuwa leaped forward, apparently trying to prove their identities...
Yet the guards gave them no chance to explain. They pulled their triggers, and tongues of fire spat forth as a rain of bullets flew toward them—
You have come to this earth by His command, to proclaim His Gospel and Glory; therefore, you are His Anointed One, and the weapons of this world shall not harm you.
The bullets, meant to pierce human bodies, suddenly lost their power upon contact with the girls' skin and clothing, dropping harmlessly to the ground without even a scratch.
And because you are the Preacher who spreads His Glory upon the earth, the nations of this world shall not judge or hinder you, for you represent His Glory upon the earth.
The guards, their firearms rendered useless, continued to try and block the advancing girls with words and bodies, yet their own limbs involuntarily gave way, clearing a path.
"And those who harbor resentment in their hearts, those who harbor ill will against you, shall weep and beg His forgiveness upon seeing you—"
Before Cangxuan and Nuwa's stunned expressions, the guards began to wail loudly or weep silently, no one daring to interfere with their advance.
"Nuwa, Nuwa... Doesn't this seem a lot like Aponia?"
The sister walking at the front watched the guards along the way, who looked as if they had suddenly fallen ill, and her lips couldn't help but twitch.
"That big-chested nun wasn't this outrageous, was she? This isn't even psychological suggestion anymore—even brainwashing isn't this exaggerated..."
Nuwa pulled her leg out from the grasp of a guard who was hugging it and weeping bitterly, her expression gradually twisting in disgust.
"So this is a God... Hiss, this kid is truly terrifyingly formidable..."