Over one hundred Bulls of Heaven were being born.
Upon hearing this news, even Izayoi couldn't help but be stunned. Kudou Asuka questioned her own ears, and Pest was beginning to understand the true meaning of despair.
"It took everything we had to deal with just one of those monsters, and now a hundred of them are showing up at once? What kind of challenge is this?!" Pest couldn't help but complain.
Even for a trial meant for a savior, a single Bull of Heaven was more than enough.
Against the monster they had just faced, even with Izayoi's combat prowess, Saigou Homura's intellect, and the dedicated support of everyone else, they had only barely managed to force the Bull of Heaven into a state of high-temperature meltdown.
And that didn't even count as a complete kill. Once the temperature dropped, the enemy could potentially regain control of it.
As a trial, whether for testing their unity or the development of their abilities, that one monster was sufficient.
A monster of that caliber was truly worthy of the name Divine Beast.
But to have a hundred monsters of the same type born at once—are you sure this is just the first round of the savior's trial and not a prelude to the end of the world?
"Theoretically speaking, if the Bull of Heaven can be created once, it can certainly be mass-produced."
While the others were questioning reality, Saigou Homura spoke up, affirming the theoretical possibility of the current situation.
In the field of science, once the principle is understood and there are sufficient resources, mass production is never difficult.
"If the enemy has truly mastered the Bull of Heaven to this extent, they could create not just a hundred, but a million of them without issue."
"The reason it's a hundred right now is likely due to considerations of diminishing marginal utility and climate factors, which they believe will maximize their gains."
If the enemy were purely pursuing numbers, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans would be the most suitable places to create the Bulls of Heaven.
Not only are they unregulated high seas, but they also offer an abundant supply of water vapor.
But the enemy didn't do that. Instead, they set the birthplaces of the Bulls of Heaven near developed cities all across the globe.
The fact that they prioritized the distribution of human civilization's resources over geographical ones meant one thing.
"This is a blatant threat!" Saigou Homura concluded with a grave expression.
"If these Bulls of Heaven are allowed to run rampant, all of human civilization will be set back several hundred years… And if even one of them triggers a nuclear explosion in a sensitive area, it could set off the chain of nuclear deterrence, forcing a global civilizational reset."
"It's no exaggeration to call this an extinction-level crisis!"
Just moments ago, they were furious about the fate of a single city, but the enemy's depravity far exceeded their imagination, putting the fate of the entire world on the table.
Whether it was allowing the Bulls of Heaven to devour and merge with each other, forming a world-ending weapon capable of controlling the global climate, or having them trigger the nuclear deterrence system and plunge the world into a destructive nuclear war, both were genuine threats capable of ending human history.
"So, this is the real trial!"
Izayoi finally understood.
"No wonder Black Rabbit said the Bull of Heaven was once one of Humanity's Final Trials. This thing really does have the power to destroy the world!"
At that moment, he finally grasped the true weight of the term "Humanity's Final Trial."
Even a retired Final Trial that had already been successfully defeated was not an existence to be trifled with.
"No wonder Black Rabbit wouldn't declare it over. The first part really was just the beginning!" Kudou Asuka realized.
As a proctor, it would have been difficult for Black Rabbit to answer their earlier questions.
To say it was over would have been a lie, but to say the first round of the test wasn't over would have been a hint. Either way, she was in the wrong.
"Mhm, mhm!"
Little Black Rabbit nodded frantically, signaling that she really couldn't have said anything.
"So, what do we do now?"
After they all stared at each other for a dozen seconds, Kasukabe Yō raised her hand and asked.
"One hundred Bulls of Heaven. Is there any way to defeat all of them?"
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"
Before Saigou Homura could say anything, Kudou Asuka shook her head decisively.
"Although maintaining this level of output is nothing for me, even I can't heat a hundred Bulls of Heaven simultaneously and keep them in a state of high-temperature meltdown!"
She could risk her life for eight or ten of them, but a hundred? Even that wouldn't be enough.
"The young lady is right."
After Kudou Asuka spoke, Saigou Homura nodded in agreement.
"One hundred is just the number the enemy deployed after considering the economic cost. Even if the young lady could deal with these hundred, the enemy would only create new monsters."
"Therefore, simply following the enemy's lead and defeating them one by one won't stop their plan. We have to cut them off at the source!"
Saigou Homura's judgment was met with everyone's approval.
"So the key is to find the mastermind… An operation this big can't be completely hidden," Saigou Izayoi said.
"There are very few factions in the world that could deploy Bulls of Heaven globally without being detected. And if you look at the map, you'll see the Bulls of Heaven have conspicuously avoided one particular country."
Hearing this, everyone nodded.
Pest also leaned her little head over to take a look.
"Huh? Are you saying the mastermind this time is the major power in the East?"
She noticed that the red dots representing the Bulls of Heaven circled this country but didn't dare to approach it.
So that was the mastermind?
"Huh?"
Hearing this conclusion, the others froze on the spot, then looked at Pest with strange expressions.
"Why would you think that?" Kudou Asuka asked curiously.
Pest realized she had made a mistake in her reasoning but wasn't sure where she went wrong, so she explained her thought process.
A rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its own burrow. Therefore, in a dry field, the only lush patch of grass must be near the rabbit's burrow. It was a form of reverse deduction.
This time, however, that deduction was clearly applied in the wrong place.
"The mastermind is indeed doing this to protect themselves, that's true…" Kudou Asuka, realizing Pest lacked the common sense of this era, explained gently.
"But the main reason they didn't dare touch that country is because they fear retaliation."
As she spoke, she moved her index finger from the major East Asian power to its distant counterpart in North America.
"As for themselves, given their level of internal strife, they wouldn't mind eating the grass near their own burrow."
It was clear that, although sparse, several nascent Bulls of Heaven did exist within that country's various states.
They were ruthless enough to even attack themselves… While such an act might help conceal their identity, their bias when striking their own people, combined with their fear of their East Asian rival, made their identity plain to see.
"To catch bandits, first catch the king. We have to find the enemy's nest to stop more Bulls of Heaven from being created!"
Izayoi clearly agreed with Kudou Asuka's deduction, his sharp gaze focusing on North America.
"I've traveled there with Canary. With our Group's connections, it shouldn't be hard to uncover the enemy's identity."
The Holy Cross Conglomerate was a multinational corporation with the backing of the Pope of the Vatican, giving it an unimaginable degree of influence in contemporary society.
Even though North America was primarily Protestant territory, it was still subject to Catholic influence.
"But even so, at best we can only stop new Bulls of Heaven from being born. We can't stop the existing ones from running rampant!"
In that case, the extinction-level crisis still couldn't be completely averted.