Boom!
The floating islands that made up Schicksal Headquarters finally crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.
Colossal waves surged skyward, the ground trembled violently.
The floating islands shattered into countless fragments.
Meanwhile, the Dominance Puppet: Lingke, who had previously misled the Three Major Organizations into believing he was bound by the Cosmic Juggernaut, hovered in mid-air using the Herrscher's fundamental flight ability.
Beside him stood Kevin Kaslana, a silver-haired, blue-eyed man, shoulder to shoulder with him.
What had transpired before this moment?
Hum~
High above, on the deck of a massive floating warship, orange-yellow light pulsed rhythmically.
One after another, figures in white lab coats or tactical gear materialized.
They were the permanent staff of Schicksal Headquarters: scholars, soldiers, and active-duty Valkyries.
Finally…
Hum~
A bizarrely shaped locomotive crashed to the ground with a thunderous roar.
It was none other than the Second Divine Key, the Cosmic Juggernaut, the Thousand Realms' Sole Arbiter.
They certainly know how to make the right decisions in a crisis, the Dominance Puppet: Ling ke murmured to himself mid-air.
But his tone dripped with mockery.
Because…
Out of tens of thousands of permanent staff at Schicksal Headquarters, fewer than a thousand were ultimately saved.
In the Theater of Dominance, the corner of Ling ke's true body's mouth curved upward.
Looks like someone's going to blame themselves again… and suffer for it.
Too bad…
Just as he'd predicted, repeated incidents like this would eventually lose their impact. Even if he continued down this path, it wouldn't be enough to break their spirits.
All it would do was deepen the human side's hatred.
Lingke wanted more than that.
Look…
"You bastard!"
On the deck of the Hyperion, Dr. Tesla was still the first to lose her temper and curse out loud the moment she saw the Dominance Puppet: Lingke hovering in the distance.
As for the others…
"This is troublesome!"
Otto's attention was drawn instead to the figure standing beside Dominance Puppet: Lingke.
Why would Kevin Kaslana suddenly turn traitor? he wondered, baffled.
Yet a faint unease nagged at the back of his mind, as if he'd already picked up on clues but… ignored them.
At that moment…
Whoosh~
Whoosh~
Whoosh~
Fire blazed across the horizon.
Instantly, everyone on the Hyperion's deck turned their gaze toward the sky.
"That… that's…"
Durandal, Bronya, even Kiana and Raiden Mei stared, eyes wide.
Those were… meteorites falling from the heavens.
Giant meteorites!
"Ladies and gentlemen!"
High above, Dominance Puppet: Lingke ascended to an even greater height.
Spreading his arms wide like an elegant master of ceremonies, he smiled and declared, "As the stars fall from the heavens, I shall present to the world the grandest spectacle of this age!"
"The curtain has risen!"
"Fear! Wail!"
"And then…"
"Rack your brains and resist!"
"Perhaps… you humans still have a sliver of hope."
Even before the Hyperion crew could react…
Woom~
A spatial portal opened.
But this wasn't a portal to the Theater of Dominance.
It was a long-distance teleportation portal that Dominance Puppet: Lingke opened using the Herrscher of the Void's stolen authority.
As he stepped through, Kevin followed close behind.
"Wait for me!"
Witnessing this, Durandal could no longer restrain herself.
Clad in her Bright Knight: Excelsis Valkyrie Battlesuit, she soared into the air, desperate to stop them from escaping.
But…
Snap!
The portal vanished too quickly.
Dominance Puppet: Lingke and Kevin had both vanished from the spot.
Durandal lunged at empty air.
Just then…
"Bronya had tracked the portal's activation coordinates."
Bronya's progress really was astonishing.
Previously, Bronya's ability to adapt and respond swiftly had lagged behind Tesla and Einstein's.
But now, just moments later, while everyone else was still reeling, Bronya had already leveraged the Cosmic Juggernaut at her side to retrieve crucial intelligence that could prove invaluable to them.
In fact, their recent rescue of hundreds of people as Schicksal Headquarters plunged to its doom was made possible precisely because Bronya had tapped into the Second Divine Key's spatial transfer capabilities, though the vast majority of the tens of thousands of personnel couldn't be saved.
In such desperate times, saving even one life was all that mattered.
And now…
"Good job, Bronya!"
Tesla rarely heard good news these days. "Those bastards… Where did they go?"
"The African continent, Sahara Desert," Bronya reported a general location.
Upon hearing it…
"That's World Serpent's headquarters!" Raiden Mei warned grimly, her brow furrowing as she muttered to herself, "Kevin… Why would he suddenly…"
Raiden Mei instinctively glanced at the abandoned Raven, Jackal, and… Gray Serpent.
*Crack~*
Unexpectedly, Gray Serpent incinerated its own mechanical body.
Clearly, it had no intention of cooperating with them.
As for Raven and Jackal…
"Don't look at me," Raven said, raising her hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm just a hired gun. How could I know what the Lord is thinking?"
Jackal's expression was far grimmer.
Even with her mask obscuring the upper half of her face, it was clear from her visible features that she was furious.
Unlike Raven, she couldn't accept being treated as expendable so easily.
But in the end…
"Sigh~"
Jackal—Cleo Hypatia—let out a long sigh. "It seems my 'retirement' has come sooner than expected."
"I just never imagined it would be this soon."
The others couldn't make heads or tails of her cryptic words.
Raiden Mei knew she was unlikely to get anything out of the two of them, so she turned to the others and said bluntly, "Whatever Kevin's reasons for betraying us, whatever Ling ke is planning, we have to stop them."
"I'm heading to World Serpent headquarters first. What about the rest of you?"
Durandal looked up at the fiery streaks in the sky. "We'll handle the meteorites. We can't let them hit the ground. Otherwise…"
Otherwise, the catastrophe that claimed tens of millions of lives during the Second Eruption would repeat itself.
Worse, even.
Durandal was already preparing to move.
Honestly, given enough time, she might actually have been able to shoot down all the meteorites.
But reality was cruel.
Dozens of meteorites, deliberately arranged by Lingke, were already plummeting simultaneously toward nine coordinates.
These were the very nine cities Rita had rejected.
Faced with this, even Durandal, with all her potential, couldn't be in ten places at once.
In other words, she too would have to make the choice to abandon something, just as Rita had before her.
Fortunately, just then…
"The meteorites should be left to us," Welt suddenly interjected.
"Kevin Kaslana was the strongest MANTIS warrior of the Previous Era."
"Whatever the reason, he has suddenly turned against us. Facing enemies like him and Ling ke, only a powerful Valkyrie of your caliber, like Durandal, can stand against them."
"And as Raiden Mei said, no matter what these two intend to do, we cannot afford to stand idly by. They are likely carrying out some highly dangerous plans…"
At this point, he glanced at Otto, standing nearby. The man hadn't uttered a word since this began, as if completely detached from the situation.
Now, among the leaders of the three major organizations, with Otto silent and Kevin defecting… Welt had no choice but to step up. He quickly allocated the remaining forces from the three factions.
Raiden Mei summoned Kurikara and rode the dragon into the sky. The others tasked with confronting Kevin and Ling ke.
Kiana, Bronya, Fu Hua, Theresa…
Had boarded into the Hyperion's high-speed cruiser, Helios.
Helios, the sun god of ancient Greek mythology.
Could those who now boarded this high-speed cruiser…
Could they, like Helios, bring sunlight and could bring hope—to the world?
Or would…
after Helios's sun chariot crosses the heavens…
whatever comes next be eternal night or endless darkness?