After the earth-shattering explosion, the ground collapsed, filling the air with dust. Percher, who had never experienced such a blast before, thought it was an earthquake at first.
It was only after the dust settled that she saw the ruined stadium and the bottomless dark pit.
"What is...?" Percher swallowed hard, finding it hard to comprehend. Was this the wrath of a god?
She immediately looked at Su Mo and saw that he wasn't angry. Not only that, but Shiroyasha and the Halloween Queen beside him didn't seem surprised either. Their reactions were calm, as if they were used to it.
"Of all the times to mess up." Shiroyasha muttered to herself, as if what had just happened wasn't a massive explosion but simply the accidental breaking of a ceramic plate or two.
"This is what you call 'rest assured'?" Su Mo quietly looked at Shiroyasha, who had been boasting just moments ago.
Although there was no blame in his tone, the gaze put a lot of pressure on Shiroyasha. Her expression stiffened for a few seconds before she scratched her head and said defensively, "It's an accident! Just a little accident that happens once in a while!"
Su Mo looked up at the yellow alerts flashing everywhere and the well-trained broadcast announcements. It seemed the Holy Cross Group's response to unexpected situations was already quite professional and routine.
The engineering team in charge of the cleanup showed no signs of unfamiliarity, skillfully arranging for all parties to begin safety checks.
If Su Mo remembered correctly, according to general standards, there were three common economic status indicators in the modern era. Yellow was a minor warning, orange was a dangerous alert, and red was a crisis situation that required full attention.
The crisis before them, no less than a cluster missile explosion, was only rated as a yellow alert by the Holy Cross Group. It didn't even reach orange, let alone red.
This made Su Mo momentarily unsure of what these people considered a real danger. Could it be that an explosion of this magnitude was a common occurrence within the group, so much so that it wasn't even considered a crisis?
Su Mo couldn't help but ask, "How often is this 'once in a while' you mentioned?"
An explosion of this level, if it hadn't occurred within the group, would have been treated as a terrorist attack even if it happened only once every six months. Su Mo was very curious about the standards within the Holy Cross Group.
Hearing Su Mo's question, Shiroyasha's expression stiffened slightly. Although she wanted to cover it up, she couldn't lie to Su Mo. So she could only look away guiltily and explain, "If it's a ruckus caused by Monkey during training, it's usually once a month. If it's caused by an experiment getting out of control, it's about once every two weeks."
"Judging by the commotion this time, the epicenter is quite deep, and there's evidence of high-temperature melting. It's likely that brat Saigou Homura's experiment went wrong. But since Algol hasn't intervened, and assuming she's not drunk and ignoring it, there shouldn't be any major problems."
"So you can rest assured, Su Mo! The engineering team here is used to it. It'll be fully repaired in a few days, so there's really no need to worry!"
Hearing her smooth explanation, an outsider would probably think this was a completely normal phenomenon.
"In other words, not considering the cause, an accident of this scale occurs on average once a week," Leticia summarized, then added, "And that's not even considering the fights between you two."
Although the consequences were different, the terrifying scale of the clash between Shiroyasha and the Halloween Queen earlier was far greater than this explosion.
"Once a week..." Hearing this, Percher sucked in a breath of cold air. The destructive power of the future world is terrifying, but what's even more terrifying is its constructive ability. They can restore ruins of this scale to their original state in just a week?
"Th-That... Su Mo?" Seeing Su Mo's silence after hearing Leticia's report, Shiroyasha looked at him guiltily, her fingertips nervously tapping against each other on her chest. "You're not angry, are you?" she asked tentatively, her voice pitiful.
"Of course not." Su Mo shook his head, glanced at Shiroyasha, and then sighed.
"Then why did you sigh? I'm not just a troublemaker, I've actually done a lot of things!" Shiroyasha started to panic and quickly continued to explain.
"No, I'm not dissatisfied with your work. In fact, I've seen your achievements. You've done a good job." Seeing the white-haired loli's flustered state, Su Mo shook his head and patted her head in praise.
Even if an accident of this level occurred every week, the fact that the Holy Cross Group had modularized countermeasures and could handle the accident using only the power of human civilization itself, without any mystical intervention, reflected the successful development of the Holy Cross Group.
Compared to the results they had achieved, this side effect was nothing.
"The reason I sighed was because I didn't expect Canary to completely outsource the task of educating the next generation to you all," Su Mo shook his head. "If this is the strategy, then the current side effects aren't that big of a deal. After all, you all have your hidden talents."
"Hidden talents... hehehe, you don't have to praise me like that! It's what I should do!" Hearing Su Mo's words, Shiroyasha's mood immediately brightened, and she scratched her head in embarrassment.
"..." I wasn't entirely praising you.
Su Mo looked at the idiot speechlessly. Letting the previous generation's three Problem Children educate the next generation's Problem Children...
Su Mo understood that Canary wanted to maximize their talents, and he also knew that by doing so, Canary could use a form of proxy war to force these world-destroying gods and demons to restrain their destructive power to a minimum.
In fact, Canary had done an excellent job. This result deserved a big reward.
Except for one thing, which she seemed to have subconsciously overlooked, or perhaps sacrificed as a tribute.
That was the personality of the younger generation... Growing up under the tutelage of these problem mentors, was it possible for these children not to grow up warped?
"Let's go. Time to see Canary."
Without voicing his concerns, Su Mo casually took Shiroyasha's hand and then said to the Halloween Queen, "The next generation of saviors has been gathered. It's time to enter the official stage of transcendence."
Hearing this, Shiroyasha's and the Halloween Queen's eyes lit up.
The Queen looked happily at her right hand, which Su Mo was holding, and asked curiously, "The preparations to overcome the Wind of Decadence are already complete?"
"Yes," Su Mo nodded. "At the current rate of progress, we can already begin."
On this day, the Anti-Pantheon Alliance gathered once again. Unlike the last time they had intended to overthrow Christianity, this time, they were going to overthrow all the pantheons.
That afternoon.
While Su Mo, Shiroyasha, the Halloween Queen, Canary, and the others were holding a meeting to decide on their next course of action...
"So, this Holy Cross Welfare Institute, like the monasteries of the past, is a charitable organization that helps children?" Percher asked curiously after listening to Black Rabbit's introduction.
"Yes!" Black Rabbit nodded, her rabbit ears standing up proudly. "Of course, ordinary children are usually handed over to the local welfare institutes. The one here, in the center of Tokyo, at the former site of the Imperial Palace, only takes in special children."
"Special children?" Percher was confused.
"According to Lady Canary, I think they're called 'the Exalted'." Black Rabbit rubbed her head, trying to remember.
"You know, the kind of people who will either become heroes who change the era, or artists who will be remembered for generations, or teachers or mothers who will nurture these talents... In short, people who will have a very strong influence on human history!"
"Are the children here really that amazing?" Percher was immediately filled with respect. Even she knew the weight of the people Black Rabbit was talking about.
"Of course! In Lady Canary's view, being one of 'the Exalted' is just the minimum that the children here can achieve. As for their upper limit, Lady Canary has said that there will definitely be one or more savior-level existences among them!"
"S-Savior?!" Percher suddenly felt a sense of inferiority. Even though she had met a god like Su Mo, she still knew the significance of a savior to humanity. They were far more important than the Pope.
Black Rabbit was innocent and naive, so Percher had no doubt about her words. But hearing them inevitably made her feel inadequate. After all—
"The children here are so amazing. Is it really okay for me to join them?" Percher asked, lacking confidence. "I'm just the daughter of an ordinary family, and I don't have any outstanding talents. The only thing I'm good at, farming, is completely outdated in this era... Is it really okay for someone like me to join such an amazing place?"
Letting her join a group where the minimum standard was "Exalted" and the upper limit was a mythical savior-level being... what was the difference between that and putting an average student in an international Olympiad training camp? They were on completely different levels!
Did the Master overestimate my ability to handle pressure? Won't I be crushed by the pressure of being with them?
"Pest-chan, what are you saying?!" Hearing her question as she was about to back down, Black Rabbit tilted her head in confusion, looking at her quizzically. "You were personally recommended by Lord Su Mo to join, as one of the Exalted, a candidate for savior! Don't you want to join?"
"Huh?" Hearing this, Percher's eyes widened, and she pointed at herself in disbelief. "Me? A candidate for savior? Are you sure?" No matter how you look at it, I don't have that kind of aptitude!
"Of course I'm sure! Those were Lord Su Mo's exact words," Black Rabbit said, nodding seriously. "You don't think Lord Su Mo would make a mistake, do you, Pest-chan?"
"That's true... I don't want to disappoint the Master either." Faced with this goading, a flicker of fighting spirit was ignited in Percher. "Black Rabbit, can you take me to see the other children? I want to see the gap between me and them."
"No problem!" Black Rabbit readily agreed and immediately led the way. "Although they have their quirks, they're very easy to get along with. Please leave it to me!"
"...I hope so." Percher nodded. But no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't connect the words "quirky" and "easy to get along with."
She hoped these future saviors weren't all freaks.