Humans are in chaos, despicable outsiders.

The listless reply from Shi Bao started to whine... As long as I admit my own weakness, no one can defeat me!!!

"Would you be interested in competing with me, an old man, in something and gaining genuine recognition from others?"

Fu Hua's suggestion brightened Shi Bao's eyes—

Chapter 36 Everyone, Give It Your All, Valkyrie

"So, old relic, you can't both confuse that Herrscher and deliver a crushing blow at the same time, so you've come to me for help, right?"

The Herald of Knowledge looked at the ancient Fu Hua before him and nodded thoughtfully.

"That's right, so—are you here to prove yourself?"

Fu Hua nodded in satisfaction as she watched the Herrscher take the bait, and continued her relentless verbal pursuit.

"Emmm, I need to think about it carefully—"

When it came time to make the final decision, the young Herrscher of Knowledge seemed to hesitate again.

"If you, Shi Bao, are unwilling, then we'll have no choice but to go find that young master of the World Serpent—"

Seeing that Shi Bao was still hesitating, Kiana immediately gave a strong boost – we need to have backup options, if you're not willing, we'll find someone else.

Clearly, Kiana's words had a remarkable effect; the Herrscher of Knowledge, upon hearing "If you're not coming, then we'll go find someone else," immediately panicked.

"Come on, why don't you come—I'm ready! Tell me, where are those two scoundrels! I'll go and break them up right now!"

Shi Bao sprang to his feet with a somersault and looked expectantly at the group in front of him, rubbing his hands together vigorously—as if to say, "My prey is right there."

"Hmm, don't rush... Let's wait until those two trash can duo have completely left the residential area before we make our move. There's a deserted section of highway on the way to the transportation hub, we'll take action there then."

Fu Hua pulled out a map and pointed to a section of road—the high-speed connecting bridge between the affiliated island where they were currently located and the main island.

"Wait a minute... Is it really safe to make a move here?" Joyce paused, looking at the location and the group of people in front of her—

"I've heard Joachim mention Fu Hua's 'Sword God of the Void' technique. During the Second Honkai Impact, Fu Hua used this move to sever the connection between the Second Herrscher, Sirin, and the Honkai consciousness with a single strike. The residual force even vertically cleaved the Babel Tower Laboratory in two..."

"So, Mr. Joyce, you've noticed something amiss?"

Fu Hua nodded, looking at Joyce with her brows furrowed, and asked if there was anything wrong with the plan—

"In other words, to subdue the Herrscher of Ice, you'll need at least two strikes of the Void Sword God Clash against her true form, and this bridge will inevitably be destroyed soon..."

Joyce nodded, her brow furrowing even deeper.

"Hey? Uncle Joyce—is there anything special about this bridge?"

Kiana, who knew nothing about the Coral Island urban project, was somewhat confused by the headache-ridden expression on the face of the leader of Anti-Entropy.

"Of course it's very important—the reason why the space elevator of Coral Island City has been able to stand firm all this time is on these attached artificial floating islands and connecting structures. They serve as important transportation routes and also as connecting rods that link these floating islands to balance the gravity of the main island."

Joyce explained to the group with a serious expression the importance of these bridges—the importance of them not being broken.

"So... if our battle destroys these bridges...?"

"The space elevator will collapse, disrupting the gravitational balance of the central island. This will trigger a domino effect, ultimately causing the already kilometer-tall giant tower to crash headlong into the sea..."

Joyce shook his head, providing an answer for the confused group.

"It's collapsing..."

Knowing the consequences, Fu Hua and Sakura also frowned. The two warriors, who were far more knowledgeable than the young people beside them, understood what Joyce was worried about.

This space elevator, still under construction, is one of the spiritual symbols and sustenance of human civilization, aside from the two major organizations, Destiny and Anti-Entropy, carrying humanity's endless dreams of the stars... If it is destroyed in this Great Collapse, it will undoubtedly be a major blow to the entire civilization.

"So why wasn't this space elevator built on a fixed island, like the Hawaiian Islands or something?!"

Kiana, who hadn't thought that far ahead, complained about the odd location of the space elevator—why build it in such a giant floating city? Now it's getting in the way when it's time to actually do something about it.

"I'm suddenly envious of those guys from Nine Heavens and World Serpent—they can fight however they want without worrying about damaging the towers—"

Kiana underestimated something, and was met with stares from Sakura and Fu Hua...

"Um, Miss Sakura, class monitor, why are you looking at me like that...?"

"Although I don't know what kind of existence the Nine Heavens Lady you mentioned is in terms of pure strength and destructive power... in my understanding... if Kevin's Skyfire were to be unleashed at its full power in its prime, it wouldn't be impossible for it to carve a chasm into the continental plate..."

Sakura shook her head, indicating that the girl was still too naive; the group on the other side who had been fighting so fiercely earlier...

No one was using their full strength; they were all holding back.

"Not to mention the people they're fighting..."

Fu Hua chimed in with a comment.

"Oh right, class monitor, who are Jiuxiao and the others fighting? Regardless of whether they're giving it their all, it sounds really intense to us, doesn't it?"

"Them? If Pado wasn't bluffing me earlier... they should be fighting a Herrscher of the End who just appeared out of nowhere...?"

"..."

Upon hearing the name, everyone's hands trembled, and they looked hesitantly at Fu Hua beside them... Even the battle-hardened Sakura was no exception; her hand holding the Ice Prison Frost Blade trembled slightly, almost dropping it to the ground.

"Squad leader, who are you talking about?!"

"Don't worry... there hasn't been any major movement in the sky so far, so it's probably already resolved."

Fu Hua shook her head as she looked at the group of people in front of her, saying, "I have a heart condition, please don't scare us."

"It's resolved... Are you sure, class monitor? That was the ultimate Herrscher..."

"Probably... Besides, this isn't the era for the Herrscher of the End to appear. Perhaps forcing her to appear here would weaken her..."

Fu Hua shook her head, somewhat uncertain, then thought of a purple-haired Valkyrie whose combat power was clearly off, and regained some confidence.

"Moreover, the person who dealt with that Herrscher of the End was Houraiji Kusho... Someone who could be favored by that Snow Apocalypse... he can't be a simple person, so we can rest assured."

Fu Hua waved her hand, indicating that everyone should remain calm.

"I hope so... Lord Jiuxiao, who always talks about being the savior—you'd better put in a better effort this time!"

Chapter 361 Crowdfunding Spectacle.jpg

"Alright, let's not get into this nonsense. Human civilization hasn't been destroyed yet, and we're not living in some dead wasteland—which means our companions have indeed solved the problem on the other side."

"Whatever they did, we're still alive for now—so we should continue to think about how to deal with those two young Herrschers."

Fu Hua clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention back to the current issue—

What was initially thought to be an easy resolution between the couple of Herrschers has now become a stalemate due to their plan to avoid combat and flee...

"Um... Uncle Joyce, you should be able to control gravity, right...?"

Kiana seemed to have thought of something, and looked at Joyce with anticipation in her voice.

“That’s right—um…you want me to use artificial gravity control to stabilize the main island of this coral island if you happen to break the bridge, Miss Kiana?”

Joyce immediately understood the White Knight's implication—we'll use our Herrscher powers to take down this mere Tower of Babel!

“That’s right. Uncle Joyce, as long as you maintain the balance of the main island of this city for the time being, according to the post-disaster reconstruction speed of Destiny and Anti-Entropy, it should be completed in a few weeks—or Uncle Joyce, you can directly reconstruct it. Aren’t you the Herrscher of Reason?”

Of course, ideals are beautiful, but reality is cruel. Before Mr. Joyce could give an answer as to whether the plan was feasible, Bronya interrupted the somewhat excited Miss Kiana Kaslana.

"Idiot Kiana—read more books, or at least learn about physics... These giant connectors are all cast in one piece... Do you want the Alliance Leader to weld them back on? This thing is to Coral Island what the main load-bearing columns are in those skyscrapers we see outside."

"Once you tear it down, no matter how you repair it, it will remain a dangerous building."

Bronya rolled her eyes and gave Kiana an annoyed look.

"Hehehe... I haven't learned it yet—I'll try a little more next time, I'll definitely do it next time!"

Kiana gave an awkward smile, indicating that this touched on a blind spot in her knowledge...

“That’s not a problem, Miss Bronya….”

Walter Joyce shook his head, indicating that it wasn't a big problem.

"The reconstruction of the Herrscher of Reason cannot be considered as welding the original objects, but rather a continuation of their inherent existence—there is no problem with the overall structural toughness and strength."

"What we need to be embarrassed about is another issue..."

Joyce shrugged.

"Hmm... Lord Anti-Entropy, what kind of question could stump a Herrscher like you who has received 25 hours of intensive tutoring from great scientists?"

Kiana and Bronya looked on with curiosity.

"Of course, this city itself... it's mobile. If it were a mobile city on land, that would be fine, but it's moving on the sea—which means its gravity parameters are changing drastically every second..."

"Even if the Herrscher of Reason has a brilliant mind, you can't really use it as a supercomputer..."

Joyce gave a helpless look, shrugged at the group, and indicated that abilities ultimately have their limits.

"Ah... so the question remains: why was this Nebula Ladder built on this floating city in the first place?!"

Kiana stomped her foot hard on the ground, a dangerous thought rising within her that she wanted to devour the city whole.

"Ah... well, actually, it's the fault of the higher-ups of Destiny and Anti-Entropy back then—according to Joachim, besides the city's external significance to human civilization, it also had another layer of meaning for Anti-Entropy and Destiny."

"The easing of the nearly fifty-year-long confrontation... as you have probably noticed, the troops in this city are a mix of Anti-Entropy and Destiny troops. This is not a situation that only occurred after Destiny split in two."

"The hybrid forces existed from the very beginning of this city's founding... It was an unprecedented collaboration for Anti-Entropy and Schicksal, although true cooperation had already taken place during the Second Honkai Impact of the Millennium..."

"However, due to Joachim's severe injuries, the low profile of the Anti-Entropy conservatives, and Schicksal's own need for external propaganda, it was perceived from the outside world that Schicksal was fighting against the Second Honkai..."

Joyce shrugged and continued—

"Therefore, although Schicksal and Anti-Entropy cooperated in 2000, in general, they maintained a highly confrontational attitude, especially after Cocolia joined Anti-Entropy after the millennium, which made this friction even more serious..."

"According to Joachim, back then, even excluding the Shadow Forces, the Valkyries of Schicksal's first reaction upon seeing a Titan was to attack... Compared to now, where they only attack out-of-control Titans, the Valkyries of the past would literally smash any Titan they saw..."

"This confrontational behavior gradually spread to the surface world. In order to alleviate this escalating attitude, the countries of the surface world proposed a plan to build neutral maritime cities and the Nebula Project at the United Nations General Assembly to promote a more conciliatory attitude."

"And destiny and anti-entropy also need such an opportunity... a chance to ease the relationship between the two."

"So... with the interference of Destiny and Anti-Entropy, this proposal not only passed, but quickly turned into a show-off project between the two forces. The originally planned floating city fixed on the seabed has also become what it is now due to the interference of the engineers from Anti-Entropy and Destiny, as well as the conservative research implementers.... It is said that Otto also got involved at the time."

"Could Bronya argue that destiny and anti-entropy were working together to create a human wonder?"

"No...it's still under construction—the Nebula Stairway isn't finished yet. The original plan was for this Tower of Babel to be ten thousand meters tall...and, Miss Kiana, those artificial island flooring panels you just stomped on...theoretically, they're not much cheaper than a Titan or a Destiny Machine..."

"...This is unbelievable! What kind of wasteful vanity project is this?"

Startled by Joyce's suggestion, Kiana rolled her eyes, expressing her utter disgust at the two major organizations' wasteful spending...