Looking down from an altitude of ten thousand meters, one could directly feel how strong the destructive power was.
The area near the epicenter was reduced to scorched earth. The shockwave leveled buildings, severed rivers, and then triggered seismic waves that swept across the entirety of Western Europe.
An earthquake as strong as magnitude nine turned vast swaths of towns into ruins and ripped several gaps into the Alps mountains. Fortunately, the destruction only lasted for an instant.
"If this keeps up, the Earth really won't be able to handle the turmoil," Ryan murmured to himself, recalling the thought that had flashed through his mind when he faced the Fourth Herrscher.
Destruction caused by war is inevitable, but the damage inflicted by the Honkai is too absurd. He couldn't even guess how many Honkai Beasts had gathered; he could only deduce from their movement paths.
"Crossing the Atlantic from South America, there must have been at least a thirty percent recovery rate. No wonder its strength was decent."
After the earth-shattering explosion, the electromagnetic interference covering the globe also ended. The unreadable expression on Mei's face on the screen showed no trace of joy.
This shared understanding implicitly proved that this incident was a planned and organized counterattack.
"We have hunted down about ten percent, which means sixty percent of the power is still recoverable. No wonder it had the strength to fight me but chose to flee." Ryan frowned, finally solving one of his questions.
No matter how slim the odds, the skeletal giant had a chance to inflict damage on him, but it chose not to. Now, it looked like a smart move to cut its losses in time; at least it didn't hand over a free meal on the spot.
However, it was too shrewd, too decisive. It was hard not to feel that this was a prepared contingency plan.
"Even if only sixty percent remains, if we hadn't noticed and it had secretly recovered decades of Honkai accumulation, its strength would be unimaginable." Mei pursed her lips slightly and shook her head, saying, "So you don't need to be too nervous. The cost was indeed high, but at least there was a gain."
"I didn't expect you to learn how to comfort people, too?"
"After the conspiracy comes the open scheme. I wouldn't have handled it any better myself. Should I blame you instead?"
Ryan spread his hands. She was right. His timely reaction had been effective. From that perspective, the 'currency' spent was not a loss.
A burning passion but a heart hard as iron—that was the price of power.
"How is Father Joshua?"
"I sent people to retrieve him. He was touched by the Authority of Death and is currently undergoing emergency treatment." Mei answered succinctly, adjusted her glasses, and added, "This incident was an open plot from the start. Our response was correct and effective."
"It's impossible to ignore the Honkai Beasts. Dispersing our forces for a coordinated hunt was the only choice. However, the fact that he secretly manipulated destiny to interfere with your judgment—in that sense, was your previous idea wrong?"
"I don't know. I have no dealings with him, and there's no evidence of this 'understanding.'" Ryan shook his head lightly. He didn't like to speak of unconfirmed matters. "But the possibility that he is the one pulling the strings is very high, as only his Authority could cause me to misjudge the situation."
"That doesn't make sense. While bringing about End benefits him, there's no need for such urgency. You gaining more power by fighting the Honkai is more beneficial to him, giving him more time to prepare, unless..."
"Unless he found out the Cocoon of End's patience is running out, and he wants to leverage my power." Ryan finished her sentence for her. This possibility was stored in Prometheus's archives, generating over a dozen potential subsequent outcomes.
Just like a game, Ryan and Mei used Prometheus to pre-set many different 'ENDs.'
There were good ones, bad ones, and, of course, the worst ones. As the brains of Fire Moth, Ryan and Mei had to anticipate which ending was coming.
"There's a high probability of that. After all, he is a Herrscher. From what we've seen, he's unlike 'traitors' like Elysia, so he might know some internal details." Mei couldn't be certain. Her interest piqued, she asked, "Do you think he can do it?"
"I don't know, and I'm not interested. We'll find out why by looking ahead. At least I feel that being pushed by someone whose interests don't align with the Cocoon of End is an advantage." Ryan simply skipped the topic. To avoid premature judgment, he mentally deleted his earlier hypothesis.
Mei didn't dwell on the issue either. She stated clearly, "The new combat plan has been sent over. Do you need any modifications?"
"All units must converge and search. We must find it. Father Joshua did very well. That crucial information prevents us from flying around like headless chickens." Ryan had already heard Elysia's report. Their team's close encounter with the skeletal giant not only revealed the presence of the Herrscher of Death but also clarified who the mastermind was.
This big fish eating little fish collection game has a clear protagonist. In short, millions of Honkai Beasts continuously merge, becoming thousands, then hundreds, and finally condensing into one. And this 'One' has now been exposed.
"Shoot the rider before the horse, catch the king before the thieves?"
"Of course. I don't have time to waste on them."
"Then pray your idea succeeds. I'll prepare for the 'Tsunami Plan.' Whether 'He' comes or not, we must at least have the ability to fight back."
"What's the completion rate? I have a hunch that we might need it very soon," Ryan pressed.
"Ninety-eight percent, but there's too little time. I can't fully control it. You know it's a double-edged sword; one slip and everything goes wrong."
"Time has its pros and cons. We just need to do our part well. No matter what dramatic changes happen next, we must have countermeasures."
The screen flashed, and Mei's face vanished. Ryan lowered his head, closed his eyes as if meditating, and then ran the recent problem through his mind again. Unable to find an immediate answer, he gave up.
It was indeed a long period of torment. Even he was getting impatient. The problems were endless, and even the most brilliant minds couldn't play chess against the Cocoon of End for long.
'Afraid of End coming, and yet afraid of it not coming. The timing is truly hard to master.'
After a moment of contemplation, when Ryan looked up, his composed and confident expression returned. He and Mei only needed to have an understanding between themselves. Even in front of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, he had to project positive emotions.
Turning and leaving the small communication room, a group of people were already waiting in the corridor, including Aponia and Elysia, who had just had a day of rest.
The two were discussing something, the atmosphere slightly strained, but when they saw Ryan emerge, they walked up to him.
"What did you and Dr. Mei talk about?"
"Just discussing the next steps. Don't worry, everything is still under control."
As his words fell, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Ryan was confident, there was nothing to fear. Over the years, countless Honkai challenges had been solved one by one.
This was the inertia of trust. Even Elysia didn't question it.
"Senior Brother, but we've lost the target. It ran so fast."
"The Herrscher of Death is naturally adept at stealth. Concealing life signatures is well within her Authority." Ryan reached out, ignoring the girl's struggles, and ruffled her head. "It's fine. Kevin and the others have already begun to close the net. Even if it retains abilities like space movement, it can't cross the globe in an instant."
The scattered hunting teams were beginning to concentrate in this area. Ryan had anticipated this situation even when they were dispersed for the hunt. A giant net was closing in from various continents and oceans.
As he spoke, he saw the aft deck of the Destiny open, and a large transport plane began to land.
"Vill-V's little toy has arrived. The manufacturing speed is quite fast."
Everyone looked back. Those who had read the plan knew what was inside. The only surprise was Vill-V's work attitude.
"She's become diligent, too. Pressure really does make people grow," Hua nodded solemnly.
"You're wrong about that. Mobius is personally watching over her. If she doesn't work hard, Mobius will give her an injection."
"An injection?"
"Yes, a serum that makes her think about nothing but working herself to death." Ryan made a joke, then seeing Hua's indignant expression, he knew the idiot had actually believed him. Before she could demand justice for Vill-V, he waved his hand to cut her off.
"Deploy the detectors. We need to smoke the mouse out from underground. They can either wait to die or put up a final, desperate fight, which will allow me to figure out what they truly want."
Dong, dong, dong.
After several hours of preparation, rod-like devices, several meters long and resembling tungsten rods, were dropped from the sky. These were the emergency detectors developed by Vill-V. Their sharp tips broke the surface, relying on kinetic energy to penetrate deep underground.
Once activated, they emitted invisible energy waves. It was similar to sonar but with an extremely high-energy output that induced resonance when the number of devices increased.
Buzz, buzz, buzz...
The ground began to disintegrate. Intact buildings rapidly fell apart. Mountains, cities, forests, and fields visibly turned into ruins. If the 'Wandering Humanity Project' hadn't been executed, Fire Moth would be indistinguishable from criminals, but since there were hardly any people left in the world anyway, adding some intensity to the planet didn't matter.
In the interest of combat efficiency, causing some destruction was justifiable. Only Elysia looked slightly downcast.
"Sigh, there are fewer and fewer things left in my memories."
As the warship flew overhead, she saw beautiful small towns turn into ruins, lovely pine forests torn apart, and a centuries-old monastery on the mountainside shaken into a pile of rubble.
These places once held her footprints. For instance, she had lunch in that town square, climbed the monastery in the evening, and once, it was so late coming down that she simply fell asleep in the pine forest. When she woke up, a tiger was licking her face.
Memories surged, forming a stark contrast with the current destruction, as if they were being wiped away by an eraser.
"Are you sad? I rarely see you look glum." Sakura silently walked over and placed a cup of warm tea in Elysia's hand. "I anticipated this day long ago and specially prepared a lot of tea."
"I knew Sakura was the best!" Elysia cheered, taking a sip of the tea. Then she asked, "Sakura, aren't you sad? So many familiar things will never be seen again. Even if we get past End, the Earth will likely be a different place. Of course, I'm not blaming Ryan. Destruction was coming sooner or later. If he didn't do it, the Honkai would."
Sakura held her teacup, resting her elbow on the railing. "My hometown was destroyed a long time ago. I'm not as sentimental as Eden. I've asked Ryan a similar question."
"What did he say?"
"He said that civilization is created by people. As long as people exist, a more splendid civilization will eventually be created, and he has prepared all the tools for that day," Sakura lifted her chin, mimicking Ryan's tone.
He was far from perfect, but he had saved a tenth of the population. Even if the Earth was utterly ruined, wasn't there still the Fourth Divine Key for restoration?
"That truly is his style. Like Mei, he sees things far, far into the future, as if living in the future." Elysia smiled faintly, thinking of another matter.
The Fire Moth Plan was indeed vetoed, but another, more scorching seed of fire had already been left behind. Even if Fire Moth were completely annihilated, who could say that humanity would truly perish in the Sea of Quanta?
The future is truly full of hope.
"I'm all fired up now, Sakura. How about we be the best stepping stones we can be?"
The fox-eared girl said nothing, only raising her cup in a silent toast.
It is only natural.