Just as Welt felt that the The Universe was full of familiar faces, far away in an unknown place, in an unknown world's solar system, on Earth...
Humans once spread to every corner of this planet, even arrogantly calling themselves the masters of the planet and the supreme beings of all living things, taking whatever they wanted from this planet without limit.
Then...
One day, an existence known as Honkai descended.
Those who called themselves the overlords of all living things were reduced to mere strays, starting a game of planetary battle royale.
At this time, the Big Three of the Flame-Chasers—MEI, Mobius, and Vill-V—gathered together after a long time to discuss the future of this world.
Mobius constantly pulled up satellite cloud maps, squinting to study the latest situation on Earth while sarcastically saying, "MEI, you should have listened to me long ago. Saving the world isn't child's play; we don't have time to play those naive political games with those insects."
"If you had listened to me sooner and concentrated our resources, the situation on Earth wouldn't have deteriorated to this extent."
Plants and animals were dying in large numbers, and the entire Earth was filled with massive amounts of Honkai Energy.
Ever since Mu sank, human civilization hadn't exactly been crippled, but it was close.
However, for the surviving humans on Earth, this wasn't even the worst part—
The strange and unpredictable changes in the natural environment were the most lethal.
The Herrscher of Ice descended, instantly pulling the entire planet into an era of white terror; the fear of glaciers enveloped the Northern and Southern Hemispheres equally, bringing a game of ice-field survival to everyone.
The lightning of the Herrscher of Thunder was like nature's judgment; with a single super electromagnetic strike, it nearly sent humanity back to the primitive age... Each Herrscher's arrival would bring about a permanent natural disaster.
"You're thinking too simply, Mobius."
Vill-V responded noncommittally to Mobius's words, "If we had listened to you, Earth's civilization would have collapsed long ago."
The Great Magician Vill-V had no mood to perform magic under such pressure; after all, if there's no one to watch the performance, what fun is there in magic?
"This is a necessary price."
"Without heart-wrenching pain, how would the remaining humans unite under our banner from the bottom of their hearts?"
Dr. MEI adjusted her glasses, slightly masking the indifference in her eyes, and continued calmly, "A rushed seizure of power brings chaos, not efficiency."
The indifferent Dr. MEI who crushed the will of the Herrscher of Thunder, the Vill-V who seized the authority of the Herrscher of Legion, and the Mobius who forcibly reshaped the Herrscher of Death's core into her own...
These were the Big Three supporting the existence of human civilization in this world.
"Alright, alright, let's stop talking about such depressing things."
Vill-V looked at the two awkward individuals before her; even as a veteran dissociative identity disorder patient, she felt a bit of a headache watching them.
"Don't forget why we set aside our respective experiments to come out here."
"With Earth's broken environment, even if Kevin, Kalpas, and Elysia are already this strong and can withstand round after round of Honkai impacts,"
"how are the remaining ordinary humans supposed to survive in such harsh conditions without enough resources?"
"Vill-V, you're forgetting one thing. The speed at which Honkai escalates is so exaggerated that even if the three of us keep up technically and constantly upgrade Kevin and the others, Earth might just break apart first."
MEI calmly took a sip of coffee and then tried to suggest, "Otherwise, how about we use my method, initiate Project Stigma, and try the path of spiritual ascension?"
"Without a body, wouldn't we lose a lot of fun?"
Vill-V shook her head rapidly, rejecting the proposal, and then said excitedly, "Don't you think mechanical ascension is better?"
"By then, everyone will have the computational wisdom of a supercomputer. Won't our civilization explode like a rocket?"
"At that point, what's a mere Honkai? I'll capture the legendary Honkai God and turn it into my strongest mechanical god!"
"Hmph, not great."
Mobius rejected these two preposterous proposals with a look of disgust. Every time she had a closed-door meeting with these two, she always felt a subtle sense of being out of place because she wasn't 'perverted' enough.
Compared to them, she often felt her own 'perversion' was insufficient, yet the three of them had become the pillars of Earth's human civilization... Sometimes, Mobius felt that Earth's civilization might, probably, most likely be beyond saving, right?
Even if it survived, wouldn't this human civilization be steered by them toward some unknown, twisted direction at full speed?!
However, Mobius thought about it, recalled their proposals, and asked curiously, "One of you wants spiritual ascension, the other wants mechanical godhood; why not combine the two plans?"
"To have spiritual ascension while also having a mechanical body that the consciousness can control at any time—wouldn't that be perfect?"
Good grief!
As soon as Mobius spoke, the way MEI and Vill-V looked at her changed.
[I only wanted human consciousness to evolve and ascend, transforming into an ideological lifeform, and then let the original body become a biological computer to generate value...]
[I only wanted the human body to be mechanized, transforming into a mechanical lifeform so they could calculate and work at all times...]
[But you actually want to grab both, be firm with both, make them work two jobs directly, and squeeze human productivity to the absolute limit...]
Fine, Earth's human civilization really was doomed. And to think Mobius felt she was the relatively normal one... "Why are you two looking at me like that?"
Mobius twitched an eyebrow, not feeling that there was anything wrong with her words at all: "Since we've chosen to stop being human, of course we should combine the advantages of both ascension routes!"
[Mobius really is the craziest one among the three of us.]
This thought flashed through the minds of both MEI and Vill-V.
The two exchanged a glance and then tacitly changed the subject.
"We'll discuss the issue of not being human later. If we can remain human, let's try to be proper humans."
"We haven't reached the end of our rope yet."
MEI thought for a moment and asked, "Given the current situation, if we want to obtain enough resources, there are only two paths."
"Do you think we should explore the stars, or explore outer dimensions?"
In fact, neither of these paths was difficult for them.
Unfortunately, the speed of Honkai's escalation was too insane, giving them no chance to overtake on the curves.
Otherwise, with the talents of the three of them, any one of them could have forcibly created an interstellar civilization capable of stepping into the stars within a few decades.
Regrettably, Honkai simply wouldn't give them the time.
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