Nagazora City, the rooftop of ME Corp headquarters.
"The rooftop?"
Cocolia looked mockingly at Raiden Mei in front of her. "Are you afraid I've set an ambush below?"
"No, I never worry about ambushes," Mei shook her head, recalling her Aunt's words. "It's just that being on the rooftop feels more like a ceremony."
"A ceremony? You still seek such things?" Cocolia laughed disdainfully upon hearing this. "Raiden Ryoma's daughter, hmph, raised to be like this."
"Cocolia Mama," before Mei could speak, Bronya at her side could no longer restrain herself. "Stop this, Cocolia Mama! It's still not too late!"
"No, Bronya, I can no longer stop," Cocolia looked at her daughter with a hint of pain. "For the sake of the children, no matter how unscrupulous the means..."
The hardships of these years had completely shattered her heart; Cocolia was never a particularly strong person to begin with.
"You won't succeed!" Bronya shook her head. "Sister Acheron... she defeated an S-Rank Valkyrie with a single glance. Even if you succeed in turning Sister Mei into a Herrscher, you won't get past her!"
"Acheron, is that the name?" Hearing this, Cocolia turned to look at the indifferent woman. "Bronya, was it she who corrupted you?"
"How did she deceive you? Making you believe she is matchlessly powerful? If the Raiden family still had such a person, would Raiden Ryoma have been ousted by me?"
Clearly, she did not believe it.
Seeing this, Kiana lightly tugged at Bronya's sleeve and asked, "Your mom... uh, honestly, I feel like she's a bit... in the head."
She pointed to her head, the implication clear.
In such a moment, Bronya was in no mood to bicker with her, only looking at her mother sorrowfully. She knew she could not salvage anything, that she could do nothing.
"Bronya is a good child," hearing this, Xia Yu reached out and ruffled Bronya's hair. "Seele is the same; I think highly of them."
"And you, Cocolia, I will give you a chance. Activate your arrangements. I want to give Mei a gift sufficient for her to grasp her own fate."
"You are very confident!" Cocolia narrowed her eyes. "Are you trying to provoke me? Wanting to take the opportunity to stop my plan? But it's useless. By the time I stepped onto this rooftop, ME Corp's Honkai Reactor was already overloading. I am not a third-rate villain from a movie who would leave you such an opportunity."
"Stepped onto?" Xia Yu tilted her head. "It's just a holographic projection, and you say you stepped onto the rooftop?"
Did she really think no one could see through it?
"There is no difference, is there?" Cocolia's face remained cold and hard. She couldn't possibly stay at the ME Corp headquarters at a time like this. After all, she was truly flesh and blood; staying at the center of a Great Honkai Eruption... was equivalent to seeking death.
"Bronya, leave this place quickly," Cocolia's voice rang out alongside dozens of Titans revealing themselves from their cloaks. "They will cover you. Don't stay here; come back to Mama's side!"
"...No, Cocolia Mama, Bronya will not leave," Bronya was still gambling on one last possibility. "I will stay right here. If you want to detonate the Honkai Reactor, then go ahead."
She couldn't persuade Cocolia, and she didn't have the power to defy Sister Acheron. Bronya could only hope to use this method to make Cocolia give up.
"No, it's too late, Bronya," Cocolia's expression began to contort. "The overload started long ago. If you won't leave, then I'll take you away myself!"
As soon as she finished speaking, over a dozen Titans lunged directly toward the group.
"Useless," seeing this, Xia Yu pressed down a restless Kiana. The long blade appeared in her hand, and she hesitated for a moment.
Well, would it be a bit too degrading to use Naught toward a dozen Titans?
Right?
So she did not draw the blade, using only the scabbard paired with a sliver of the Power of Nihility. She danced through the Titans, and in just a few breaths, the dozen or so Titans were completely dismantled.
"Aunt..." Just then, Mei behind her suddenly clutched her chest. "I feel... something is..."
"Don't worry, I'm here," hearing this, Xia Yu reached toward her own chest, and a dim golden object slowly emerged.
The Elden Ring.
The moment it appeared, the Golden Order within it was instantly mobilized. A spectral image of the Erdtree, seemingly blotting out the sky, enveloped the entirety of ME Corp.
All the Honkai Energy was firmly locked inside by it, without a single shred leaking out.
The Elden Ring was a miracle of The Lands Between, the vessel that carried the Order. Any slight change to it would directly affect the entire world of The Lands Between. One could even say it was the terminal that controlled the many rules of The Lands Between. By stripping Death from the Order, the Golden Order was able to let its Return to the Erdtree system replace the cycle of life and death from time immemorial; its power could be known from this alone.
Although Earth was not The Lands Between, the power of the Elden Ring was more than enough to temporarily control the Honkai Energy within a one-kilometer radius of ME Corp headquarters.
Moreover, it could be maintained for a long time because the energy came from the Honkai eruption itself; as long as the Honkai inside had not been pacified, it could persist indefinitely.
Boom!
The ME Corp Honkai Reactor detonated completely. A massive amount of Honkai Energy washed over the crates of Honkai Crystals outside, the surging energy gushing out like a tidal wave!
Then it crashed into the Erdtree enveloping all of ME Corp, yet it could not crack even a single gap.
The increasingly concentrated Honkai Energy could only continue to climb within, from the roots to the branches at the peak. The Honkai Energy inside this illusory Erdtree was almost reaching the point of crystallization!
"Warning! Warning!"
At this moment, the satellites of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy in space simultaneously observed the eruption of this Great Honkai.
"The energy index far exceeds expectations!" an Anti-Entropy technician screamed. "This scale... has reached the peak readings of the Second Great Honkai Eruption!"
How could it not be high? The Honkai Energy that was supposed to spread through the entire city was confined to a mere one-kilometer radius around ME Corp; the concentration was off the charts.
Incidentally, to prevent leaks, Cocolia had cleared out the entirety of ME Corp, so this disaster failed to affect any ordinary people.
"It is accompanied by a phenomenon never observed before. Looking from space... that is a... tree?"
"So, Einstein, I need an explanation," Otto's voice came through the private line in Einstein's hand. Even though Anti-Entropy and Schicksal were sworn enemies, there was actually a private line for communication.
"What exactly is Anti-Entropy trying to do?"
And Einstein... facing Otto's accusations, could not say a single word.
Just a moment ago, Otto had suddenly called the private line, questioning why Anti-Entropy wanted to trigger a Great Honkai. She had even mocked him using the incident at Babel.
Then this happened immediately after.
"Tell Welt to come out and talk to me!" Otto said aggressively. "Has Anti-Entropy... already defected to the Honkai?"
"You motherf***ing Otto, do you even know how to f***ing talk!" Tesla, who was nearby, had already exploded.
"Regarding this matter, we will investigate," Einstein stopped the furious lobster-headed Doctor and said word by word, "But some things are better left without blind speculation."
"I look forward to your answer. As fellow humans, Schicksal will share necessary intelligence with you," Otto said and hung up the communication.
"Cocolia!" Seeing this, Einstein ground out the name from between her teeth. "I was still too careless..."
"That f***ing Cocolia, I'm going to take..." Tesla was even more agitated than her. After all, when they chose to leave Schicksal back then, wasn't it because they couldn't stand Otto's actions?
Now that Cocolia had pulled this... what difference would there be between Anti-Entropy and Schicksal in the future?
"Contact Siegfried first!" Einstein said through gritted teeth. "Find out the situation first! Tesla, you contact Welt. He's in the Far East; see if he can go and rendezvous with Siegfried."
"Anti-Entropy cannot distance itself from this matter no matter what. Get all the Executives moving. Prepare the fleet, the Titans, and everything else we can use."
"Anti-Entropy... will give its all!"
"Also, get Ryoma out of prison. I want to see him!"
Meanwhile, Siegfried was looking at the Erdtree at the ME Corp headquarters, completely bewildered.
The citizens of Nagazora City, including him, saw the miracle rising from the ground.
"What is that?" He didn't detect a single shred of Honkai Energy; he didn't even know what had happened and thought it was Cocolia's plot.
"Hello? Dr. Einstein?" Suddenly, his phone rang. Seeing the caller, he immediately picked up. "I was just about to report. Cocolia did something big in Nagazora City, the kind that can't be covered up at all!"
Yes, he was snitching, as Cocolia had moved against Kiana.
But the words coming from the other side were incomprehensible to him.
"I already know, Cocolia!" Dr. Einstein's voice came through the phone, gritted with rage. "Siegfried, how is the disaster situation in Nagazora City? Our satellites can't see clearly. Have you observed any Herrscher activity?"
In her urgency, she didn't even notice the relaxation in Siegfried's tone.
"Ah?" Hearing this, Siegfried turned to look around; it was very peaceful.
"What do you mean by observing Herrscher activity?" His heart tightened, fearing they had discovered Kiana...
"A Great Honkai has erupted. This reading... a Herrscher will definitely be born," Einstein also noticed something was wrong on her end. "Are you not in Nagazora City?"
"I am in Nagazora City!" Siegfried was completely lost at this point. "But a Great Honkai? What Great Honkai?"
He scanned his surroundings again. That was right; although there was a small commotion because of that sky-blotting tree, it had nothing to do with a Great Honkai, right?
"There is no Great Honkai happening in Nagazora City!"
"But both our satellites and Schicksal's have observed it!" Dr. Einstein turned to look at the screen. "The Honkai Energy concentration in Nagazora City has reached the data of Ground Zero during the Second Great Honkai Eruption! Though it is strange, this Honkai Energy is extremely concentrated..."
"Well, about that," Siegfried looked up at the golden tree. "Is it concentrated at the ME Corp headquarters?"
"Yes, have you discovered something?"
"A giant tree suddenly appeared there," Siegfried reported. "It blots out the sky. Other than that, everything in Nagazora City is normal."