The Savior Squad's first battle had run into an obstacle they could never have imagined.
Forget a swift victory; they couldn't even slow the Bull of Heaven down, let alone break through its immortality.
Even the immortality Authorities of myth were far less troublesome than the Bull of Heaven's trinity of a hydrogen-oxygen water cycle.
It was at this moment that Saigou Homura proposed a way to crack its water-based immortality.
"High-temperature meltdown? What do you mean?"
Kasukabe Yō asked, confused.
"If freezing won't work, then we'll heat it!"
Saigou Homura gritted his teeth, his eyes scanning the pile of devices Izayoi had brought, landing on the heating unit.
"Freezing fails because the high temperatures from the lightning strikes destroy the ice, causing a chain reaction. But heating won't have that problem. Air isn't a great conductor of heat, so even with continuous heating, we won't lose too much energy to thermal radiation."
From something as small as a phone or computer to something as large as an aircraft carrier or plane, heat dissipation has always been a difficult problem.
Radiating enough heat away in time helps maintain a device's temperature, allowing it to operate in its optimal performance range. To this end, people have developed all sorts of cooling systems: air-cooling, water-cooling, oil-cooling, and more.
Some science fiction novels have even discussed the potential for a heat dissipation crisis that would arise after the energy crisis was solved.
This alone was proof that thermal radiation by itself couldn't dissipate that much energy.
"Heating is harder to interfere with, sure... but will it work?"
Izayoi understood Saigou Homura's meaning, but not his objective.
"According to your earlier simulation, heating will just raise the energy level of the atoms and molecules inside the Bull of Heaven, accelerating its water-based immortality cycle. Not only will that make the Bull of Heaven expand faster, but it will also speed up the explosions."
"Isn't that just helping the enemy get stronger?"
If he wasn't certain this was his own brother, he would have suspected him of being a spy.
Otherwise, why would he make such an unreliable suggestion?
Faced with Izayoi's question, Saigou Homura remained calm and immediately shook his head.
"It will be like that at first. Not only will we be unable to stop the enemy, but we'll actually make it stronger."
"But if the temperature gets high enough—so high that water can no longer exist in molecular form—then it might just destroy its water-based immortality. After all, at that point, water itself will no longer exist!"
The explanation sounded a bit convoluted, but Izayoi understood it quickly, a look of realization dawning on his face.
"You mean turn the water molecules into plasma through extreme heat?"
The prerequisite for water-based immortality was water—H₂O existing in molecular form.
Their previous methods, whether freezing or liquefying, at most switched the water between its three basic states of solid, liquid, and gas, without changing the structure of the water molecules themselves.
But solid, liquid, and gas were just the three states most commonly encountered in daily life. In physics, there was another state that, while not uncommon, was less understood by most people: plasma.
According to basic physics, water forms a plasma at temperatures of ten thousand degrees Celsius.
The hydrogen and oxygen atoms would no longer be bound as molecules but would become a cloud of free-floating electrons and ions.
If water no longer existed, the water-based immortality would naturally fall apart.
Even better, in this high-energy state, there would only be free-floating ions, not hydrogen and oxygen gas. So even though the elements were separated, there would be no explosive reaction, nor would they reform into the lower-energy, more stable water molecules.
"Exactly!"
Seeing that his brother understood, Saigou Homura nodded emphatically.
"If we can achieve this state, we can create an effect similar to freezing it at absolute zero, completely disabling the monster. I call it the meltdown effect!"
This was the beauty of science. It was extreme heat, yet it could produce the same result as "freezing."
"Sounds interesting."
Izayoi's eyes lit up.
"Come to think of it, fire is also plasma. This method is like heating water into fire, cutting off the immortality of its water cycle and turning this bull into a bull of fire."
"Even if the masterminds know what we're doing, they can't stop us. After all, they can only release energy, not absorb it. No matter what they do, they'll just be helping us."
The Third Stellar Particle could produce an effect similar to a perpetual motion machine, but it was still a power supply device, not a power absorption one.
The principle behind Device A, which Kudou Asuka had used to lower the temperature, was merely heat transfer, not true energy absorption. The masterminds behind the Bull of Heaven could never have guessed how they would counter it. And even if they did, unless they had Kudou Asuka's help, they would have no way to transfer all the increased heat away.
After all, that was something even Saigou Homura couldn't do.
"That's right."
Saigou Homura nodded, but he wasn't as excited as Izayoi. A hint of worry still creased his brow.
"What's wrong? Is there another risk to this plan?" Izayoi asked, puzzled.
If it was just a matter of raising the temperature, Kudou Asuka should be able to do it easily with her power. A plan that was easy to execute and had a high chance of success shouldn't be anything to worry about. What was Homura so concerned about?
"I..."
Saigou Homura glanced around, then lowered his voice.
"I'm worried they'll pull the same trick again."
"The same trick?"
The others were slightly taken aback.
"Release more lightning? That would also raise the Bull of Heaven's own energy level... wouldn't that help trigger the high-temperature meltdown?" Izayoi asked, confused.
Whether it was lightning or explosions, both would help advance the high-temperature meltdown.
"That's true, but I'm worried they'll be too aggressive and release a terrifying amount of energy all at once..." Saigou Homura said, his expression tense.
"As you know, most of the water molecules in the expanded Bull of Heaven come from Tokyo Bay. And due to the nuclear leaks of the last century, the water in this area has a relatively high concentration of heavy hydrogen."
"In a plasma state, hydrogen ions—protium, deuterium, and tritium—will all be mixed together. A temperature of a few tens of thousands of degrees Celsius would be fine, but if they release a massive surplus of energy in a short period, pushing the temperature and pressure to the critical point all at once, it could trigger a chain reaction... in other words—"
He stopped there, because what came next needed no explanation from him.
Izayoi finished the thought, his face grim. "A nuclear explosion."
Nuking the capital of a modern city in the modern era? It sounded horrifying, but it wouldn't be surprising if it happened in this country.
After all, this country had been nuked more than once.
Besides, the issue wasn't the mastermind's bottom line; the issue was, could they afford to take that gamble?
Most of the Savior candidates present weren't afraid of being wiped out by a nuke, but the ordinary citizens didn't have that kind of defense.
"We can't gamble the safety of the public on the enemy's moral compass!"
Izayoi declared resolutely, his brow furrowed deeply.
"But if we don't defeat the enemy soon, it will only cause more casualties..."
Low-temperature freezing could be countered by the enemy, while high-temperature meltdown risked a nuclear explosion. What was once a single path was now blocked on both ends. The situation had reached a stalemate.
Sensing the ever-approaching danger, the atmosphere grew heavy.
"Freezing is definitely out. Little Homura, is there no way to eliminate the risk of the high-temperature meltdown?" Kudou Asuka asked.
She was more inclined to take a risk than to do nothing.
"Whether they maximize the energy level in a short time to risk a nuclear explosion depends entirely on the enemy's will. Unless we find the masterminds and interfere directly, it's impossible... Wait!"
Just as Saigou Homura was about to say it was theoretically impossible, he suddenly thought of something.
"Even the enemy can only control the Bull of Heaven in its water-cycle state. In a high-temperature meltdown state, not only is its immortality nullified, but it would be out of their control too!"
"So, they can't trigger a nuclear explosion in the parts of its body that have entered a meltdown state. The only risk is in the parts of the Bull of Heaven that haven't yet turned to plasma... which means we just have to interrupt their attempt to trigger a nuclear explosion before they can do it!"
With the high-temperature warning device and the blinding lightning as a guide, even if the enemy tried to trigger a nuclear explosion, they could clearly identify the specific detonation point.
To stop a chain reaction, all you had to do was extinguish the initial fuse to prevent the final explosion.
"The only problem is, how do we accurately interrupt the enemy's detonation attempt..."
Saigou Homura held his head, trying desperately to think of a countermeasure, but he couldn't come up with anything.
What kind of device could be delivered to a precise high-temperature detonation point inside the Bull of Heaven and absorb energy on the spot, extinguishing the lit fuse?
He really hadn't built such a specialized device.
Just as he was racking his brain, so frustrated he felt like his head would start smoking...
"*ROAR!*"
With a thunderous war cry, one bull-headed monster after another charged out of the dense fog from outside.
"Don't make trouble now!"
Izayoi clicked his tongue in annoyance, took a step forward, and blew one of the bull-headed monsters apart with a single punch.
The monster first burst into a shower of blood, and then its corpse transformed into a part of the dense fog, making it even thicker. The surrounding temperature also dropped slightly.
"Just as I thought. Not human!"
Izayoi turned to look at the other bull-headed monsters. These things were clearly born from the fog, more like avatars of the Bull of Heaven than living creatures. After death, they could return to the main body.
"All of you, HALT!"
Realizing these creatures truly weren't human, Kudou Asuka cast aside her earlier psychological burden and shouted a command.
The ferocious bull-headed monsters immediately froze in place as if petrified.
Her Authority might not be very effective against the Bull of Heaven's main body, but it worked wonders on these seven-digit-level avatars, giving her almost absolute control over them.
And so—
"Now... kill yourselves!"
At Kudou Asuka's command, the bull-headed monsters used the giant lightning axes in their hands to kill themselves.
Four or five of them died at once, their bodies dissolving into fog and returning to the Bull of Heaven's body.
"Yikes... No wonder Brother Izayoi said My Lady is terrifying..."
A chill ran down Saigou Homura's spine, and he shivered.
After muttering to himself, his eyes scanned the temperature detector in his hand, and he suddenly realized the ambient temperature had just plummeted by more than ten degrees.
"Wait! I think I've found a way to break the stalemate!"
His eyes lit up. He looked up abruptly, his gaze burning as he stared at Kudou Asuka.
"My Lady, can you perform that again?"