I've already said this isn't a life simulator!

"Hmm... okay... I'll put it another way..."

Xi Wang seemed quite pleased with Mei's deliberate correction, shaking her head happily and adjusting her own words.

"If one day, simply defeating me could save most... no, everyone..."

Xi Wang blinked, her gaze returning to Mei.

What would you do?

"........."

Everyone fell silent... because they noticed the word that Xi Wang had deliberately used.

[Extermination]...Could it be that Xi Wang...

Alicia pursed her lips, and a rare look of worry and surprise appeared in her beautiful eyes.

"...Do you know what you're saying?"

"Of course~ And...didn't you and Dr. Möbius already guess something?"

Xi Wang shook her head again, her white hair, like waves, rising and falling.

"Dr. Mei, you've been preparing for this for a while, haven't you?"

"........."

Mei did not respond.

However, just as Alicia was about to say something... the alarm inside "Fire Moth" went off.

? !

All eyes were immediately drawn to Xi Wang, but they quickly realized that it wasn't Xi Wang's problem... which relieved everyone somewhat.

"Dr. May! Dr. Möbius! Ah... are you all still here? Thank goodness!"

Wright's anxious voice rang out from the doorway.

"Ha...the front lines...ha...the front lines are in dire need of attention! The Ninth Great Collapse has erupted! And...it's right here on the Mu Continent! The Ninth Herrscher has appeared only a hundred miles away from us!"

He seemed to have rushed over, panting as he spoke quickly.

"Moreover! The energy level is higher than expected! It's very likely..."

Boom!

A slight tremor came from beneath me, and then everything in my sight began to shake. The buildings seemed to be pulled by something, being torn apart and becoming extremely unstable.

If you look outside at this moment, you will find that all the buildings are being torn apart and dismembered by an inexplicable force, along with the land, trees, and the people and creatures affected... everything on the ground is being pulled into the air.

Then... it fell heavily!

Chapter Sixty: O Tide, I Have Returned (5442)

The Ninth Great Collapse has occurred, and the Ninth Herrscher has descended upon the continent of Mu, humanity's industrial and research center, as well as the gathering place of the "Fire Moths," with an arrogant and merciless demeanor.

The moment the Ninth Herrscher appeared, it directly overturned the ground within a radius of nearly two hundred miles centered on it... in a physically significant sense.

[You can see that the ground is like an ice cream cone, forcibly dug out, then lifted into the air by some inexplicable force... and then falling heavily back down, or perhaps it is deliberately manipulated, like throwing a stone, smashing it into distant buildings, using the heavy pressure of the earth to crush and shatter them, along with the still somewhat bewildered people inside, burying them under the ruins.]

Then... another piece of land was dug up, along with the ruins still above and those who had miraculously survived, and floated into the sky... then dropped onto the next target, and so on.

Of course, there's an even simpler method... which is to "fold" the ground up.

[Yes, it's like closing an open book, lifting one side of the ground and covering it to the other... bringing along the people and buildings still above, "combining" them together, squeezing them into a strange "book".]

Or perhaps, feeling annoyed, they simply wave their hand, and a twisted and terrifying force envelops the area, turning everything on that land into a bizarre "pancake" as if it had been pressed by a hydraulic press.

Ah... of course, I'm referring to buildings, and most buildings will just turn into ruins, like those thick chocolate cookies. As for humans or other creatures... they'll probably just be squeezed into a pool of blood mixed with bits of debris.

[What's worse, it appeared too close to the "Fire Moth" base. When it erupted, the resulting disaster also engulfed the base, causing it to crash heavily to the ground like it had been on a drop tower. Many key buildings were destroyed, and a large amount of research results were buried under the rubble.]

As for ordinary soldiers... they would have died anyway. You see, even ordinary fusion warriors would find the damage from such a sudden fall difficult to withstand, especially since the Ninth Herrscher deliberately accelerated during the descent. The impact... could really turn a person into a "pancake."

But... now, they are not dead, they have survived.

Just as the entire base was forcibly pulled into the sky, you endured the pressure of the sudden ascent and forced out a syllable. Golden light flowed, transforming into vibrant musical notes that surrounded you, creating a space for you and Eden and Sakura, who were holding hands with you.

[Then, quickly adjusting his breathing, he sang a short song before the base fell, using the wind to spread his power outwards, causing golden notes to surround the entire base, thus creating a "defense circle" and barely preventing the base from being completely destroyed by the fall.]

[Your actions successfully prevented ordinary people in the base from being crushed to a pulp. Although quite a few people were injured by the collapsed buildings and many were buried under the rubble, fortunately... the losses were not particularly severe.]

However, just as the Fusion Warriors were relieved to have you in the base and were preparing to retaliate, it... escaped.

[That's right! The Ninth Herrscher, who arrogantly displayed its power upon its mere appearance, overturning the surrounding land for hundreds of miles, destroying several cities, and even nearly wiping out the "Firemoth" base, escaped just as the Fusion Warriors were about to counterattack!]

This infuriated and frustrated the "Fire Moth" team, who quickly divided their forces, one group salvaging the nearly destroyed base while the other pursued the fire.

[This also interrupted your discussion... Alicia, Kevin, Aponia, and Qianjie were ordered to pursue the "Ninth Herrscher"... At this point, it doesn't matter whether Qianjie obeys orders or not; we must kill the "Ninth Herrscher" as soon as possible and prevent it from destroying other bases on Mu Continent! Otherwise, all of the "Fire Moth's" plans will be unable to proceed, or even be scrapped!]

Sakura and Eden will lead the team to deal with the surrounding disaster-stricken cities and eliminate any Honkai Beasts that appear. You, Su, and Mebius will be responsible for handling matters within the base.

[This arrangement is fine, after all, the people in the base desperately need your "song" to stabilize them... You know, this time the base was included in the area of ​​the "Great Honkai" outbreak, and the Honkai energy surrounding it was extremely terrifying. If your "song" hadn't arrived in time, those people would probably have been corrupted into monsters by the Honkai even if they weren't smashed into "pancakes".]

However... even so, the situation is still terrible, because there are still many injured people whose wounds are exposed to areas with high Honkai energy, making the erosion easier and faster...

For those who are already physically weak, this situation could truly be described as a near-death experience...like Gretchen.

[The erosion of the collapse can be suppressed with your "song," but you are powerless to help with the injuries caused by the collapsed buildings... You can only watch helplessly as Gretchen and Blanca are wheeled into the operating room, while Mebius personally performs the surgery on both of them.]

Blanca is doing alright. Thanks to Mebius's efforts, her condition is still relatively good. Although her arm is broken and both legs have been crushed, her life has at least been saved. Even if there are problems with her limbs, with the help of the "Fire Moth" technology, recovery is only a matter of time.

But Gretsch's condition was deteriorating, her breath growing weaker and weaker, and she was on the verge of death... In the final moments, Mebius gritted his teeth and, ignoring everyone's advice, decided to perform the Fusion Warrior surgery on Gretsch, hoping to save her life by relying on the Fusion Warrior's own regenerative abilities.

[This isn't a bad approach, because you're right here, and your "song" is enough to guarantee a certain success rate for the fusion warrior surgery. Plus, Mebius himself is optimizing the surgical procedure to further improve the success rate...maybe this method really will work!]

[Without further ado, Gretchen's condition didn't allow for any hesitation. After quickly tidying up the area, Mebius immediately performed surgery on Gretchen, while you sang on the sidelines to stabilize the Honkai Beast's genes and make the fusion process smoother... Thankfully, everything went well, the surgery was successful, and there were no unexpected incidents.]

After seeing Gretchen's vital signs gradually return to normal, you and Möbius breathed a slight sigh of relief. However, Möbius's face unusually showed a hint of struggle and guilt... Later, when Blanca woke up, Möbius went to her side personally and apologized to her.

After all, no matter what, she personally pushed Gretchen onto the operating table. Regardless of the reason, even if it was "to save her life," such an action was hard to accept, and Mebius himself was unwilling to forgive himself... There was no other way; the success rate of this kind of surgery was simply too low.

[Especially this situation reminded Möbius of the time he performed surgery on you... This feeling of having to choose an outcome with an extremely high mortality rate, but not zero, in order to obtain that faintest glimmer of light, in order to avoid certain death... This feeling is not pleasant.]

Blanca, however, had no complaints. Instead, she gently comforted Mebius and expressed her gratitude to her and to you... In any case, you saved her daughter's life, allowed Gretchen to live, and enabled her to still see her daughter... That is enough.

Now that the casualties at the base have been somewhat mitigated, the situation at the front lines must be... no, that's not right. Compared to your peaceful and successful situation, the Fusion Warriors' battle against the "Ninth Herrscher" is proving very difficult.

It almost always maintained a high altitude, making it difficult for the Fusion Warriors to approach, even using aircraft. It seemed to release a "gravitational field" centered on itself, and any "flying" object that entered this "gravitational field" would be forcibly pressed back to the ground and then crushed into fragments bit by bit.

Even if you try to use your stable "song" to limit its abilities, you won't succeed, because once it senses it, it will quickly turn its gaze towards you and then use its power to crush the device playing the "song" to pieces.

Furthermore, it continues its previous actions, destroying city after city on the continent of Mu, and destroying base after base of the "Fire Moths," crushing humanity's hope of defeating the Honkai bit by bit.

This overwhelming dominance instilled a sense of despair, and the harsh reality shattered the beautiful illusions of the Fusion Warriors... They were not strong after all; their previous victories were nothing but illusions. The Herrschers were the most troublesome beings, and the victory in the "Eighth Herrscher Extermination Campaign" was merely a temporary stroke of luck.

But this is not a reason for them to stop. They must fight on, fight with all their might to kill it, only then can they "win".

[Everything is for humanity, everything is to defeat the Honkai—that's what everyone believes.]

However, the valiant efforts of the warriors could not reverse the situation. Even if lives were sacrificed and blood was spilled, they could not get any closer to victory... Once they stepped into its "gravitational field," their movements would be hindered. If it targeted them, their bodies would be crushed, either instantly turned into dust or thrown high into the air before crashing down, their bodies shattered.

Sometimes, it would even get excited, deliberately giving the soldiers a glimmer of hope, allowing them to get closer. However, as the soldiers got closer, the pressure on their bodies would become increasingly terrifying, but it wouldn't crush them to death directly, giving them the feeling that "I can still hold on, just a little longer and I'll be able to touch it!"

Then... the warriors would be crushed to their knees and prostrate before it, their heads and bodies pressed to the ground, followed by the sound of bones cracking, unable to speak, and then unable to even breathe, slowly... being "crushed" and turned into an indescribable mass.

Finally, it seemed to have grown tired of playing around, and began to unleash its power, little by little... lifting up the entire Mu Continent.

Yes, it's slowly tearing the entire Mu continent apart, seemingly planning to give it a thrilling "high-altitude object throwing" experience.

[If the Mu Continent were to fall directly into the ocean, not to mention what would happen to the Mu Continent itself, the resulting tsunami and earthquakes alone would have unimaginable impacts on the entire world.]

At this moment, it was a matter of life and death.

--------

???~

Xi Wang's stirring song echoed across the entire battlefield, golden light flowed in the air, carrying golden notes that amplified the warriors' strength.

Among them, some musical notes could be seen to be tinged with crimson, eventually changing their shape into the form of "flames," which followed a swift figure, rushing forward towards it, and then... were pressed to the ground by immense pressure.

“Damn it…Damn it!!!”

Qian Jie roared, rising again and again, falling again and again. Countless musical notes gathered around him, transforming into burning "fire" that blazed fiercely in response to his rage.

But... nothing worked.

Boom!

He fell down again, and his repeated rises had already attracted its attention. A force powerful enough to crush a person enveloped Qian Jie, forcibly pressing him to the ground. Golden musical notes continued to dance, minimizing the impact on Qian Jie as much as possible.

But this time... he couldn't get up anymore. The slowly increasing pressure made him unable to move at all, not even his head. His face was pressed into the ground. If this continued, even if his body wasn't crushed, he would suffocate and die.

Boom——

A dull sound echoed throughout the world.

"It's over..."

The soldiers, who were fighting hard and trying to think of a solution, turned pale... The ground beneath their feet was completely torn apart, and this land was about to "fly" up... Some even vaguely heard the sound of seawater rushing in.

[Hahahaha!!! Alright! Take a moment to feel what it's like to have your footing taken away! That must be interesting, right?! Hahaha... Ah... If you guys survive, maybe you can even play with the creatures in the sea for a while! Hahahaha!!!]

Its arrogant voice came from the horizon, carrying mockery and ridicule.

In an instant, it unleashed its power, and the "gravitational field" surrounding it spread out instantly, forcibly pressing the warriors to the ground on one hand, and slowly controlling the Mu Continent to rise into the air on the other.

It didn't intend to kill the warriors directly; it wanted them to watch helplessly as this continent, which carried humanity's hopes, was reduced to fragments and brought disaster to the world.

"........."

Alicia pursed her lips, her initial hesitation and doubt gradually hardening into determination... Even if everyone knew her true identity, this time she had to... Hmm?

Suddenly, someone noticed that Xi Wang's singing had stopped, and... despite such terrifying pressure, he remained standing in place, as if the pressure had no effect on him at all.

This isn't right... this is very wrong, because after Xiwang became a fusion warrior, most of his power belonged to his "song," and there wasn't much physical enhancement. In terms of physical attributes, he was actually one of the weaker fusion warriors, so why is he like this now...?

wow-

The sound of seawater rushing in could be heard.

tick-

A drop of cold rain fell from the sky at some unknown time.