There was one fact that Kevin and the others remained unaware of.
The Herrscher of Blood and the Herrscher of Thunder were able to work together because, immediately after the latter's birth, Kali had indoctrinated her with knowledge of "God."
As a result, the Herrscher of Thunder had been a believer in "God" from the very beginning.
Only because they shared that foundation could the two Herrschers join forces.
The Herrscher of Thunder's recent behavior made this perfectly clear.
If Kali did not constantly invoke "God" to keep her companion in line, she would never have been able to restrain the Herrscher of Thunder's reckless and bull-headed nature.
Much less persuade her to cooperate obediently with the various plans Kali devised.
In contrast...
The birth of the Herrscher of Stars several days earlier had been far more "natural."
After Dr. Einstein underwent Herrscherization, her original human consciousness was completely suppressed by the newborn Herrscher consciousness.
Kali had not been present at the Herrscher of Stars' birth to indoctrinate her with knowledge of "God."
She was not a believer in Ling Ke.
Therefore, her methods differed completely from those of Kali and the Herrscher of Thunder.
Unlike Seele, who had been fortunate enough to preserve her human consciousness after undergoing Herrscherization, Dr. Einstein had not received that one-in-a-billion stroke of luck.
No, she should no longer be called Dr. Einstein.
She was the Herrscher of Stars.
And she possessed an obsession of her own.
Humanity is hideous, utterly beyond salvation.
As expected, my creations, the ELFs, are the ones truly worthy of inheriting this beautiful world.
Yes.
Kali and the Herrscher of Thunder sought to demonstrate their reverence toward "God."
The Herrscher of Stars, meanwhile, intended to create an ELF civilization.
Despite their entirely different motives, both sides had arrived at exactly the same objective.
"The destruction of all humanity."
Now, they were all taking action.
And in the face of everything they had set in motion...
Boom!
A golden-orange spatial portal opened inside an enormous underground laboratory on the Mu Continent.
Kalpa Fire immediately surged through it.
The nearly completed Sea of Quanta Portal being reconstructed within the laboratory was annihilated in an instant.
"Next!"
"Understood."
The golden-orange spatial portal closed.
A little more than ten seconds later, it opened again in the sky above a mountain range on the North American Continent.
The same Kalpa Fire descended from the heavens and burned the construction site to the ground.
"Next!"
"..."
Inside a small disposable relay base belonging to the Newborn World Serpent, a facility designed to be abandoned even if it were discovered and invaded, Prometheus Prime stood beside Kevin Kaslana.
Throughout the day, Prometheus Prime had repeatedly used the Void Archives' "Mimicry: Cosmic Juggernaut" mode to open beyond-visual-range spatial portals for him.
Each time a portal opened, the white-haired young man (?) swung the Flame Sword in his hands at the target on the other side without hesitation.
It did not matter that the underground laboratory had still been filled with researchers wearing white coats.
It did not matter that workers remained throughout the mountain range, diligently operating construction equipment.
The Sovereign of the Newborn World Serpent destroyed every nearly completed Sea of Quanta Portal placed before him.
He had personally witnessed Ling Ke's "Project Broken Branch."
Kevin understood perfectly well that if too many Sea of Quanta Portals were constructed, the danger might no longer be limited to tearing apart a single continent.
They could tear apart the entire Earth.
Of course, as mentioned earlier, Kevin and the others did not know the Herrscher of Stars' true objective.
They had no idea that she intended to establish an ELF civilization on the third planet of the Solar System.
She would never willingly destroy Earth itself.
But the information gap between them, combined with their openly hostile relationship, meant Kevin and the others could not risk allowing her plans to continue unchecked.
Whatever plans or grand vision the Herrscher of Stars possessed, her chosen method still required the destruction of all humanity.
Therefore...
"Next!"
"...Yes."
Prometheus Prime opened another beyond-visual-range spatial gate.
There were several details worth mentioning here.
First, Prometheus Prime had a simple reason for assisting Kevin that day.
Although both Elysia's Original Body and Sim Elysia could use the Key of Blankness, neither was willing to participate in a plan that accepted killing innocent hostages rather than risking the target's escape.
They did not approve of Kevin's willingness to disregard the hostages.
"You ignored one group of hostages today. What happens next time?"
"There aren't many survivors left, Kevin."
"If you continue like this, who will be left for us to save?"
After leaving him with those three sentences, Sim Elysia took the Herrscher of the Void's Core from MEI.
She then entered the Sea of Quanta alone.
Publicly, Sim Elysia claimed that she intended to recover the Second Divine Key that Otto had previously sunk there.
In reality...
Most of the organization's active members understood that Sim Elysia simply disagreed with Kevin's plan and did not wish to stand in his way.
As for Elysia's Original Body...
Neither she nor MEI had fully recovered from their grief.
Elysia might recover somewhat sooner.
This was not because the Herrscher of Human was necessarily stronger than MEI.
It was simply because Elysia still had Sim Eden beside her.
MEI's father had left behind no Sim.
This was not a question of replacing the dead.
It was simply that Fu Hua, a weary traveler who had finally returned home, still had a father before whom she could open her heart.
MEI had no one left who knew how to comfort her.
Kevin continued demanding that Prometheus Prime support his direct attacks with the Void Archives until late that night, when the operation finally came to a temporary halt.
The Herrscher of Stars possessed an absurd operational capacity.
Of course, Dr. Einstein's ELF Units and the "ELF" network that commanded them had practically been created for large-scale infrastructure projects.
They were capable of beginning the enormous task of rebuilding Sea of Quanta Portals in several locations simultaneously.
By comparison, the ordinary workers and researchers brought in as hostages, all unaware of the true situation, contributed very little to the actual construction effort.
Even so...
Throughout the operation conducted by Kevin and Prometheus Prime, the former deliberately targeted only the half-completed core components of each Sea of Quanta Portal.
Nevertheless, many innocent people who had been deceived into believing that this was their only chance for survival still died in the resulting destruction.
Across the global network, condemnation of "Superhumans" grew more intense than ever.
The high-ranking officials of various nations and major factions had completely exposed many of The Moths Who Chase the Flames' internal secrets after their "Disciplines" went berserk.
Even the existence of the Newborn World Serpent had been revealed.
Just as Ling Ke had said:
"Now, even the people you want to protect are being harmed by your actions. In return, they have chosen to stand against you."
Kali had played this move masterfully.
At the same time, the Herrscher of Stars had also made excellent use of it.
As a result, the Newborn World Serpent was now almost universally despised.
The intensity of the backlash was several times worse than the reputation suffered by The Moths Who Chase the Flames in the original timeline.
And within this environment...
That night...
Since arriving in this unfamiliar era through "Counter-Time," Theresa Apocalypse had spent most of her time under Otto's mental control.
"Mm..."
Now, she slowly opened her eyes.