#514Chapter 514: Without three heads, it can no longer be called Yamata no OrochiAI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 514: With three heads missing, it can no longer be called Orochi.
The dungeon entry stated that this "King of Fighters 97 MUGEN" dungeon had a broad faction distribution: one side consisted of the Three Sacred Treasures' heirs, and the other was the Orochi Hakkesshu.
However, if this broad faction distribution were expanded further, it could actually be directly divided into "Human Faction" and "Orochi Faction."
Orochi, in its lore, isn't a purely evil antagonist but rather the embodiment of the planet's will. However, this also intertwined with a very typical and self-righteous belief—
Humans kill each other and destroy the environment, so to protect the planet, humanity must be eliminated.
AI Gaia thinks the same way!
The "self-righteousness" here actually refers to humans. For the vast Earth, humans are merely one link in the ecological chain. If Mother Earth merely shakes her body or sneezes, countless humans could be plunged into irreversible destruction.
Dinosaurs, who were the Earth's overlords for 165 million years, are gone. How can humans, who have only existed for a few hundred thousand years, be so certain they will continue to exist?
So-called environmental changes, the greenhouse effect, and other phenomena are merely the planet's self-adjustments, an inevitable outcome. Whether humans exist or not makes little difference, let alone the notion of a planetary will specifically trying to eradicate humanity... and then being humiliatingly sealed by three sacred artifacts.
One can only say that a work is a projection of the author's will. Limited by the era and their knowledge, SNK designed Orochi as such a petty planetary will that only entangled with three families.
And when this will, hostile to humanity, manifested through the Hakkesshu, the fighters, as a type of human elite, naturally responded with an equivalent resistance.
Cheng Tian didn't know what ordinary people would do, but those human elites would certainly not easily yield to the so-called planetary will's targeting.
Cheng Tian was brought over by Chizuru Kagura, while the other speed chasers gathered spontaneously.
In fact, even earlier than the appearance of Storm and Earthquake, the intense light emitted by Cheng Tian, illuminating one-twenty-third of the Tokyo area like a small sun, had already forcefully attracted the attention of a large number of people.
Coupled with Cheng's subsequent behavior of flying a helicopter erratically in what was theoretically a no-fly zone, a group of people came flocking, drawn by the commotion.
No matter what the matter, being a spectator first is important.
However, a significant portion of them were also veteran fighters who had experienced the previous King of Fighters tournament, such as Terry and Ryo Sakazaki. The moment they saw the storm gathering, they immediately thought of Goenitz, so they acted without hesitation.
Last year, the old Goenitz could single-handedly confront everyone with overwhelming advantage, but the young Goenitz... the newly formed storm was collectively targeted and shattered by the simultaneous attacks of the fighters!
Now, Leona is the enemy of humanity!
Leona, the "Breath of the Storm," is indeed the only one among the Hakkesshu who can perfectly use her power without needing an acquired awakening, but her body is, after all, still human and is subject to the limitations of extreme breakthroughs.
In this era where Orochi himself has been drastically weakened, and with her relatively insufficient strength, trying to confront a group of human elites alone can only be described as... difficult!
The continuous drastic emotional fluctuations in a short period caused Leona's heart to ache slightly, but now she could observe her situation more calmly.
The flowing wind recorded everyone who attacked her in silhouette form, and the most important among them was naturally Cheng Tian, who had safely landed.
Leona tried to deeply engrave every detail of Cheng Tian onto her mind, the emotions in her eyes having completely surpassed what simple hatred should entail.
Then, a gust of wind swept by, and her figure completely vanished.
Only Yashiro Nanakase, who had slammed into the ground, creating a crater and reconnecting with the earth, remained.
For Leona, who was determined to escape, no one present could stop her.
Cheng, wearing the Tai Chi True Eyes, scanned around but did not find Leona's trace. Evidently, she had teleported beyond the 5-kilometer scanning limit.
And the human elites at this moment had no time to concern themselves with Leona's disappearance, because with Yashiro's landing, a not-insignificant localized earthquake reappeared.
However, this time, Yashiro had to contend with more than just Cheng Tian's group and Kyo Kusanagi.
Ten minutes later.
[You participated in and killed Yashiro Nanakase, the "Parched Earth" (1/1). The damage reduction from all types of attacks against "Heavenly Kings / Orochi Blood" units by you and your team units has reached its maximum, currently 30%.]
[You completed the Side Quest / Holy Grail Mission — "Defeat the Awakened New Faces Team."]
[The future resurrected Orochi's strength has been further reduced; his overall HP has cumulatively decreased by 60%.]
At the cost of continuous collapse of local buildings, the last member of the New Faces Team also perished on the spot.
The three young, innocent souls reunited in reincarnation, while the three soul imprints imbued with Orochi's power and heinous attributes were all firmly locked by Cheng Tian in his Oni's Gauntlet.
However, Cheng Tian and Irene did not leave immediately after the event. Instead, they joined the cleanup teams from sponsors like Kagura Corporation and Kaiba Entertainment to move building debris and rescue unfortunate civilians.
The fighters gathered there also mostly stayed on site to help.
Kyo Kusanagi, who originally wanted to continue looking for his girlfriend, stiffened and also chose to stay and help. But then Chizuru Kagura brought him news that was both happy and sad.
His girlfriend, Yuki, was found in the basement of the church, which had become a ruin, but at the same time, having been drained of energy, she was admitted directly to the ICU.
Interestingly, upon seeing that Cheng Tian actually stayed to help, some players who had originally intended to leave exchanged glances and then also stayed.
With the help of a large number of superhumans, and with the disaster confined to a very small area, the overall cleanup work was completed by around midnight.
To the delight of the remaining players, after the overall rescue and cleanup work was finished, they all unlocked personal reputation with Kagura Corporation and Kaiba Entertainment, and also gained access to the corresponding shop purchase systems.
Moreover, even those who did not get a spot in the top 16 received a prompt to "retain relevant reputation."
It was an unexpected gain.
Of course, how much those players who left because they felt it was none of their business would regret it later was another matter.
But strictly speaking, the incident of the Hakkesshu was not over yet.
Because Cheng Tian knew that the next time he saw Leona, she probably wouldn't be in her current state...
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