The atmosphere in the hall was extremely tense, with those present roughly divided into two factions.
On one side was the "Crazy Group," led by Otto and certain madmen from the Previous Era. They were determined to use the entire Blue Earth to threaten that entity, forcing it to release those under its control, or else they'd blow up the Blue Earth along with it.
On the other side was the "Calm Group," mainly consisting of Fu Hua, Kiana, and other Valkyries from the Current Era of Honkai, as well as some members of the Astral Express crew. They felt this action was too extreme and that the lives of ordinary people should never be used as bargaining chips, no matter what.
But although the two sides argued fiercely, their gazes always fell on the few people who had remained seated and hadn't expressed an opinion from beginning to end.
After all, to put it bluntly, their opinions sometimes weren't that important. The power to decide the course of events always rested in the hands of those who possessed the strength to change everything.
Kevin, Caelus!
The power of these two was so immense that even if everyone else present reached a unanimous decision, it would still be meaningless if these two disagreed. The seventy billion innocent lives on the Blue Earth, and their own loved ones... was there even a need to say how they would decide?
"Do we do it?"
"Yes."
No more words were exchanged. With just a brief question and answer, Caelus and Kevin reached a tacit understanding, as if they were soulmates.
Soul friends needed no further words. Although Kevin had remained silent from the beginning, Caelus could seemingly feel the unspoken sorrow in his heart... Perhaps Acheron would feel the same way when she met that person named Raiden Mei.
However, Caelus remembered Acheron had also boarded the train this time, saying she was coming to help the Astral Express crew and Twilight. How did she disappear halfway? Did she get thrown off when the train crashed into the Blue Earth and then get lost again...?
But a lost Acheron was something Caelus was completely used to. Compared to that, the matter at hand was more important.
"Caelus, are we really going to do this…?"
March 7th's eyes glinted with confusion. She wanted to save Twilight, but the current situation had thrown her into a state of bewilderment.
Although the chaos caused by Twilight on the Xianzhou seemed more tragic previously, those were unforeseen consequences, completely different from knowingly and deliberately putting billions of lives in the line of fire now.
"It's okay. As long as that entity agrees to release Twilight, everything will be fine…"
To be honest, Caelus didn't know if he could truly bear the weight of those billions of lives in the end, but at least now he had made up his mind, simply because there was no other way.
"Do you remember? When we first crashed into the Blue Earth, I actually sensed a familiar aura… Although it lasted only for a moment before disappearing, I wouldn't mistake it—that was Twilight's power!"
Caelus clenched his fists, his eyes filled only with determination. "Twilight is right here, how could there be any reason to stop!"
March 7th could only remain silent upon hearing this. She could already feel that the current Caelus wouldn't listen to anything anyone said.
But for some reason, after understanding this fact, March 7th felt a sense of relief in her heart, as if someone had pulled the lever of the trolley problem before she had to, robbing her of the right to decide, but also freeing her from the burden of a difficult choice.
As for Kevin's side, Fu Hua, Kiana, and the others had completely given up on the possibility of persuading him. After all, what kind of choices this man would make had been proven more than once before, even if he too had people he cared about.
"You guys are being a bit too extreme…"
In the end, Elysia could only sigh helplessly like this, but she didn't intend to say anything more—it was meaningless. With things having progressed to this point, all they could do was cooperate and see if this insane plan could succeed. Resisting would only consume their strength internally. And to put it bluntly, even Fu Hua wouldn't last long against a serious Kevin, let alone Kiana…
Before the flames of Honkai Eruption could even ignite, in the next second, Fu Hua collapsed to the ground, knocked unconscious, unable to rise again.
And Kevin, who had transformed into his devil form at some unknown point, merely turned his head coldly towards the others. "Anyone else object?"
The undisguised threat made the air extremely heavy. And in this charged atmosphere, Bronya Zaychik's small hand silently rose. "Um... Bronya doesn't want to object, I just have a small question—judging by the current situation, that entity seems to be able to directly observe our actions... So, if It discovers that we're now preparing to threaten the Blue Earth, wouldn't It just directly eliminate us now...?"
"Well said, Miss Bronya Zaychik—I guess It will." Otto Apocalypse smiled, looking at the figure pushing open the door at the entrance of the hall. "Right now, It's just waiting for all of us to gather so It can wipe us out in one fell swoop… Isn't that right? Miss Makima."
Makima, who had stepped into the hall, didn't speak. She merely glanced coldly at Otto, then pulled the cord on Denji's chest behind her.
Amidst the roar of the chainsaw, Makima didn't even turn her head as she spoke to Aki Hayakawa behind her, "Tell the Future Devil to keep his eyes peeled and hide you well. So the first thing Shoko sees when she comes back isn't your corpse... It doesn't matter if you die or not, but it's not good to make Shoko sad."
Aki Hayakawa could only remain silent, his fingernails digging into his palms, blood trickling down between his fingers. But he couldn't utter a single word of rebuttal, because he knew Makima was right.
The future scenes the Future Devil was showing him now were telling him just how insignificant a human body was in the events that were about to unfold. He didn't have a devil's resurrection ability, nor the powerful combat strength of people from those other worlds… Staying alive was already a difficult enough task for him.
He knew he would most likely die, but Aki Hayakawa still chose to come here—Makima had told him that everyone gathered here had a slight chance of saving Shoko, and that was enough for him to overcome all fear. Aki Hayakawa feared death, but there were always things more unacceptable to him than death, such as… those forgotten days.
"Then, after the next one appears, everyone please scatter crazily in all directions, and then prepare to attack the Blue Earth with all your strength."
Otto looked out the window calmly.
"That barrier shouldn't be able to block powerful forces in too many places simultaneously… If you're really unwilling to destroy the Blue Earth, then please attack that entity directly, see if you can hinder It."
Before Otto could finish his words, a terrifying aura suddenly appeared, sending shivers down the spines of everyone present.
"Hehe, it seems the other party isn't accepting surrender."
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I just realized that if Li Bei didn't get the skill from his unit, the storyline would still be the same and I could make a unit vs creator plot without racking my brain, but I'm a bit lazy to edit the previous chapters, so the alt ending is in the side story after I upload the bit modified original story a ending first.