After refusing to help MEI secretly eliminate Sim Mobius, Pardo kept the matter to herself.
She might not have been a great thinker, but she had enough street sense to know this was no time for more infighting.
With the Herrscher of Stars eliminated and their immediate concerns temporarily settled, the Newborn World Serpent began steadily advancing the new version of Project ARK under MEI's leadership.
At regular intervals, MEI sent Pardo and Aponia on joint missions to bring selected groups of survivors up from Earth. These "vanguard" groups would board the Prometheus-class Arks and leave the Moon ahead of the main fleet.
They were the scouts, sent to chart a path forward.
Their Arks regularly transmitted experimental data and records back to the Lunar Base. If any of them successfully left the Solar System, or traveled even farther and found a habitable planet, then…
"…we won't need to wait any longer. We can depart immediately. Of course, we'll take all the remaining survivors on Earth with us."
Only MEI knew the full details of her plan. But that, at least, was what she told the others.
For now, they had no choice but to trust her. According to the information about the Nihility embryo that Sim Su had nearly sacrificed herself to obtain, fleeing was their only remaining option.
There was something else they couldn't help anticipating, unsettling as the thought was.
But the Seventh Honkai Eruption of this era had yet to arrive.
Compared with the original timeline, this pace was quite normal. Back then, three full years had passed between the Third and Sixth Honkai Eruptions. This time, they had reached the same point in less than a year.
Even that couldn't compare to the Current Era's "hyper-acceleration," though. A little over a year between the Fourth Honkai Eruption and the War of Finality was just absurd.
"Still, the Honkai Eruptions of the Current Era were mostly handled by the 'main cast.' The affected areas were relatively small compared to the Previous Era, so fewer people suffered."
Aboard the Stellaron Train, Ling Ke muttered to himself as information came through Omniscience. He glanced at a certain purple-haired girl cleaning the Observation Car's windows with Pom-Pom.
Sirin's two Great Honkai Eruptions really had affected the entire globe. Beyond those, the Third Honkai Eruption had destroyed Nagazora, the Fourth had destroyed Oceania, and the Fifth had destroyed Coral Island.
And after that…
Nothing.
The Herrscher of Stars appeared right after the Herrscher of Ice, only for both to be promptly defeated and killed.
After her birth, Xiao Shi had killed almost no one. The only person who died at her hands was already beyond saving; she had wanted to end their suffering quickly.
Then, in the original story, the Mob was wiped out before it could even cause a major incident. Along the way, it even delivered a power-up package to Kiana.
Later, Otto exploited a bug to bypass the Herrscher of Binding, while the Sims in the Elysian Realm joined forces to take down the Herrscher of Corruption.
"It really is a fairy tale. Grim on the surface, but incredibly idealistic underneath!" Ling Ke sighed.
Perhaps that apparent beauty was exactly what had made his past self so foolish.
And now, he had destroyed that "beautiful fairy tale" with his own hands.
He didn't regret it in the slightest.
There's nothing left to look forward to in this flawed script. It's time to set the next stage.
"A larger stage… a larger battlefield."
Ling Ke slowly rose to his feet and took a single step forward.
"Huh?"
Sirin, who had been diligently wiping every smudge from the Observation Car's large windows, turned as though she had sensed something.
Ling Ke was no longer on the circular sofa where he had been sitting moments before.
She wasn't surprised. A god came and went without a trace, and this wasn't the first time it had happened.
After confirming his temporary absence, Sirin returned to her work.
Meanwhile, in the Pure White Great Hall of the Theater of Domination, Ling Ke returned to a seat he had left unoccupied for some time.
His golden toi… ahem, his magnificent throne with its towering backrest.
His gaze shifted to the Small Imaginary Tree bonsai beside him.
"There's no point in waiting any longer."
A faint smile touched his lips.
Over the past few days, he had been systematically recalling his Puppets of Dominance from Earth in the Honkai Impact 3rd Universe. Even so, the number available for immediate deployment remained fairly small.
There was a reason for that.
"Although Earth in this universe suffered a crushing defeat in the end, Kali's overall performance was quite impressive. She's more than capable of serving as a replacement."
"Besides, several other civilizations have already made their breakthroughs. They're ready."
"Ready for… a total war spanning every world."
In truth, Ling Ke had barely spared Earth any attention lately.
As the Grand Player of Doomsday, he was constantly earning system points while his Puppets of Dominance slaughtered their way across the cosmos.
Their targets were the foreign enemies invading territories ruled by his allies.
This was why the Imaginary Tree had approached him about cooperating in the first place. It had even left a sapling representing its "escape route" in the absolute safety of the Theater of Domination.
Even then, the universes under the Imaginary Tree's dominion had already been suffering invasions by Outsiders. The Tree couldn't guarantee its own continued existence. Beyond its domain lurked countless transcendent beings it could scarcely contend with.
Strictly speaking, Ling Ke was an Outsider too. But there was a fundamental difference between him and the other foreign invaders.
His status was higher.
That was why the Imaginary Tree had chosen to ally with him. It would provide the resources for his growth, while Ling Ke would handle the slaughter.
When he first learned of this arrangement, however, an ugly suspicion had crossed his mind.
"You didn't arrange all that crap I went through just to force me into this alliance, did you?"
He couldn't rule it out. In his experience, plenty of villains skilled at deception had pulled the same trick.
If the Imaginary Tree had been manipulating him, putting him through those trials only to offer him a single ray of light in the darkness…
"Then you know the consequences."
Until then, his deeds as the Grand Player of Doomsday had been limited to killing people and destroying civilizations, planets, and even an entire timeline.
He certainly wouldn't hesitate to take the next step and destroy a true world.
Fortunately, Ling Ke had already used certain powers enhanced by the system to confirm that the Imaginary Tree had not been involved in that mess.
After all, it would have cooperated with him even if he had been the Grand Player of Deliverance. There was no need to take such an unnecessary and potentially disastrous course of action.
Everything he had endured had indeed arisen naturally within this universe. The Imaginary Tree hadn't even discovered his existence until after he completed Project Broken Branch.
"So I was overthinking it. Then, while keeping your 'escape route' secure, I might as well join this so-called war and earn some extra cash on the side."
And so, throughout this period, Ling Ke's legion of Puppets of Dominance had swept through multiple universes, annihilating countless invaders.
Now that the situation on this Earth no longer held any promise…
"Sitting back and taking hits isn't my style. It's time to strike back at them, one by one."
"And…"
From within the Pure White Great Hall, Ling Ke's gaze seemed to pierce an immeasurable distance as he surveyed the entire Honkai Impact 3rd Universe.
"The Stargate is about to open in this universe. I hope you can withstand the shocks to come."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"This time, it will be a true war to the death."