Indeed, just moments ago, the US military bases on the Japanese Islands were crying out for their parents, scrambling around in a panic, before finally accepting reality and waiting for death.
Mainly because, on the radar, what did that shooting star rushing straight towards outer space look like to them?
A ballistic missile, dear!
It is currently 2004. The bones of the Soviet Union are barely cold, and this batch of US military personnel all lived through the Cold War.
So, their very first thought was that a ballistic missile had been launched.
And a ballistic missile launched from Japan—who do you think it would target?
The neighbor next door with whom they share a deep-seated hatred, or the true controllers of this country right now?
Current Japan is still in the painful aftermath of the burst bubble economy, although this period has dragged on a bit too long.
Never mind where this missile came from; since it has already been launched, its origin is a secondary issue. The real question is: where is it going to strike next?
Surely no one thinks that a ballistic missile used for such a first-wave strike would be equipped with a conventional warhead?
Anyway, if you asked the Japanese who they hated the most right now, the Americans definitely wouldn't be able to escape the list. And when they thought about the things they had done in Japan, they panicked even more.
Since the first wave of strikes had already been launched, the Japanese certainly wouldn't just watch these US military bases continue to live comfortably. The missiles aimed at the bases had surely already lifted off.
That is, until that shooting star vanished in space, followed by a brilliant firework display clearly visible across the entire Eastern Hemisphere's night sky, turning everyone's faces green.
It could even be clearly seen across the ocean in the United States.
The US President was completely bewildered as he was practically carried straight onto Air Force One before he finally learned what had happened.
Then, he was utterly dumbfounded.
What do you mean Japan launched a ballistic missile? And it was carrying a strategic nuclear warhead of at least tens of millions of tons, maybe even close to a hundred million tons? And the estimated target was the United States?
And then it was intercepted in space by someone unknown?
The President and his aides looked at each other in dismay.
"Where did Japan get a nuclear bomb? Where did they get a ballistic missile? And who intercepted it?"
Everything was an unknown.
Fortunately, the think tanks provided a somewhat plausible explanation.
The nuclear bomb leaked out after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and somehow ended up in Japan's hands. The same went for the missile. After all, besides the half-dead Big Goose, no one else could possibly leak something of this caliber.
Thus, the Americans were very displeased. Since you only fired one shot and had no follow-up, it meant you definitely didn't have any more in stock. Otherwise, for something this deadly, you would have surely played all your cards right from the start; how could you possibly hold back?
So, a phone call woke the current Japanese Prime Minister from his sleep. Yes, the United States across the ocean already knew, but the Japanese Prime Minister was still sleeping.
After all, the efficiency of Japanese bureaucrats is well-known to everyone, and some people were even trying to cover it up.
In truth, the United States wasn't that much faster than Japan; they just thought that this nuclear bomb was highly likely to land on American soil, which was why they appeared so remarkably swift.
Then, the awakened Japanese Prime Minister was also bewildered.
What do you mean someone in Fuyuki City launched a strategic nuclear warhead of at least tens of millions of tons to attack the United States?
Facing the US Ambassador who had come overnight to demand accountability, the Japanese Prime Minister almost knelt before him upon hearing the words "nuclear bomb."
Neither side knew where this thing actually came from, so they would surely have plenty of time to squabble over it.
However, before that, in Earth's outer space.
This is my escape route!
The Beast of Evil naturally wouldn't choose to completely perish together with Xia Yu. It forcefully relied on its Authority to preserve a small portion of its body, which was now rapidly falling towards the atmosphere.
It was a severed hand, only half intact, continuously falling under Earth's gravity.
But... it was... too slow.
This speed was simply too slow. It didn't think such an explosion could kill that monster at all!
So, relying on the Authority of a Beast, it began to rapidly regenerate its body. The first thing to grow was an eye right in the center of the palm, looking back from afar at the massive magical energy fireworks behind it.
Its heart was bleeding. Although that body was extremely deformed, it had stored the vast majority of its magical energy. If it hadn't been absolutely impossible to escape...
But right at this moment, it was horrified to discover that in the center of those fireworks, a cyan-blue light began to emerge. Then, that light once again transformed into a shooting star, falling in its direction.
How is this possible! Seeing this, its palm violently twitched, the entire hand plunged into immense horror.
That massive explosion actually failed to hinder her for even a minute... That was the self-destruction of a Beast!
Quickly, driven by its survival instinct, the Beast of Evil immediately began modifying its body. Several thrusters grew out of the writhing flesh at the back of the arm. Then, it desperately mobilized all its reserve magical energy and flew towards Earth.
Faster!! Faster!
As long as I can reach that place, that place!
Under the massive threat from behind, it exerted all its strength and ultimately crashed into the atmosphere.
Finally... finally...
It had entered the atmosphere, even though it had also been caught up to.
But this is fine.
The Beast of Evil controlled this arm to turn around, looking at the cyan-blue shooting star behind it. The flesh below the eye on its palm writhed, growing a mouth.
"You thought you could kill me!" it shouted hysterically. "Don't forget, I am born from the evils of humanity. As long as evil deeds still exist in this world, I will never perish!"
This time, I've won! Having returned to Earth, I am immortal! It laughed wildly. Under the crushing pressure of survival, it had finally stood tall and pulled a fast one on its opponent.
"Failing to completely take me away from humans was your biggest mistake!"
After saying this, it prepared to self-destruct once again.
As long as it could discard this body here, its true self as 'evil' would naturally be reborn on the soil where the flowers of evil grew! This was the Authority of the Beast of Evil; as long as evil deeds existed, it would never perish!
The opponent's calculation had been excellent: by taking it away from the sphere of human civilization, where it couldn't connect to Human History, this Authority would naturally become invalid.
But fortunately, I cut my losses in time.
Even though my reborn self will have a period of weakness, it's still better than dying right here!
But right at this moment, it watched helplessly as the cyan-blue shooting star behind it suddenly disappeared, and an expressionless woman with blue-purple hair, holding a long blade, appeared in its place.
"What kind of trick is this?" The Beast of Evil was the Beast most closely connected to humans, so it naturally possessed more humanity. It opened its mouth and mocked, "You don't think that simply changing your appearance will allow you to kill me, do you?"
"No, I just wanted to say," Xia Yu gently shook her head, her eyes full of pity as she looked at it, "I dared to offer, but you actually dared to accept..."
"What do you mean?" Hearing this, the Beast of Evil instinctively felt that something was wrong. "What did you give me... Magical energy?!"
"That magical energy that fueled my growth? You tampered with the magical energy??!! But why didn't I notice anything?"
Xia Yu didn't answer; she simply snapped her fingers.
Then, a trace of peculiar magical energy awakened within its body.
What Evils of Humanity? Why not go and clash with the Nihility that IX spoke of?
Obviously, the Beast of Evil shattered at the very first touch.
Almost all the magical energy that supplied its growth came from Xia Yu, and it had long been thoroughly marinated by the Power of Nihility hidden within.
"Wh... what... is... this..." The Beast of Evil felt its very reason for existence perishing. "How... could... such a thing... be possible..."
As an aspect of the Evils of Humanity, it naturally wouldn't be so easily eradicated.
The two simplest methods were: kill all humans, and without humans, the soil for its existence would naturally vanish; or take it to a place where humans didn't exist.
The second method was to eliminate all of humanity's evil deeds, umm... which felt less simple than the first one.
But for Xia Yu, there was a third method.
The saying goes that all tragedies are caused by a lack of ability on the part of those involved, and conversely, Xia Yu had more than enough ability.
The Power of Nihility was exceptionally effective against a conceptual existence like the Evils of Humanity!
Under the taint of Nihility, the Beast of Evil's consciousness gradually blurred.
"The Counter Force... how could... they... possibly let a... a monster like you... in..."
"They were probably blind," Xia Yu shrugged.
Hearing this, the Beast of Evil struggled to say, "Don't get too smug... They have already... noticed you..."
"Very soon... a crusade... against you... will descend..."
"I will wait for you in hell!!!!"
For a Beast representing all the evils of humanity, is it really this naive? Hearing this, Xia Yu's mouth twitched. "A crusade? Give me a break. A Vanguard of the Umbral Star was enough to almost silence all the Pantheons; do they really think they can beat me?"
"It seems you don't understand anything at all," Xia Yu switched back to Firefly's body. She had no choice; using Acheron's body put far too much pressure on her. Although it wasn't unbearable—she had pushed through like this in Honkai Impact 3rd—since it could be avoided, why should she suffer through it?
Suffering unnecessarily was not her style.
"Faced with a Beast like you that threatens the existence of civilization, you are naturally a threat and will face crusades," Xia Yu smiled faintly. "But faced with an alien visitor like me, who can slice the entire planet into ribbons, they will only smile and say, 'Welcome, friendly lifeform from an alien star,' and then wish me a pleasant journey."
"Finally, when I leave, they will enthusiastically stuff a Holy Grail into my hands to take home as a local souvenir, though they certainly won't say 'please come again'."
"Of course, you won't be able to see that scene anymore."
After she finished speaking, the last remaining trace of the Beast of Evil's existence vanished from this world.
This incredibly unlucky Beast had been born for less than ten minutes before it completely bid farewell to this world.
It didn't even get to see the sun of the second day... Oh, wait, it had just seen it outside the atmosphere.
Rounding it up, one could say it lived for a day.
"Alright, since the problem is solved," she summoned Sam once again, plummeting toward the ground like a shooting star.
"It's time to collect my spoils of war!"
Mount Enzou.
Emiya Shirou supported Matou Sakura, raising his head high to look at the sky.
That radiant shooting star, carrying a cross-shaped light, slowly fell towards the ground.
"So, we won, right?" Fujimaru Ritsuka breathed a sigh of relief when she saw this. That massive explosion just now had scared her to death.
According to the Doctor's words, that was equivalent to a hundred-megaton nuclear bomb explosion. Even knowing that Miss Firefly was invincible, as a Master who had started out as an ordinary human, she had always firmly believed in the power of nuclear bombs.
But looking at it now, Miss Firefly had ultimately achieved victory.
"Sure enough, our perspective was too narrow," Da Vinci sighed. "We only thought about how incredibly difficult it would be to kill the Beast formed by All the World's Evil, and that as long as humanity committed evil deeds, it would never perish. But we never expected its opponent to be a visitor from beyond the starry sky."
"We were limited by our inherent mindset. Since it can't be killed in places where humans exist, then take it to a place without humans to kill it..." The Doctor shrugged. "Easier said than done. How many people in this world can break through the atmosphere on their own? And among those people, how many could forcefully restrain a Beast while it fights back and pull off something like this?"
Such a plan had never been considered from the start simply because no one could do it.
"But now an alien has truly arrived, right?" Da Vinci took a sip of coffee. "Ritsuka, initiate the summoning."
"Uh, didn't we already win?" Mash froze when she heard this.
"Yes, we won the war against the Beast," Da Vinci's expression turned solemn. "However... facing that alien visitor, who knows what Human History thinks."
"Listen to me, initiate the summoning. I just want to see their attitude towards Miss Firefly."
Anyway, even if Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't summon them, if Human Order wanted to, it would definitely find a way to pull out all the Grand Classes.
"I understand." Hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka opened her palm towards Mash's shield, activating the summoning formula.
But absolutely no one responded to her.
"No, rather than saying no one is responding..." Her expression became peculiar. "It's more accurate to say that I can't feel the existence of the Throne at all!"
"Is that so?" Hearing this, Da Vinci nodded. "It seems Miss Firefly's strength far exceeds our expectations."
Even the Counter Force had chickened out.
Right at this moment, that shooting star finally returned to the ground.
"Yo," Xia Yu deactivated the SAM Armor and waved at everyone. "I'm back to claim my spoils of war. No one wants to compete with me anymore, right?"
"Of course not..." Hearing this, even the most arrogant Cu Chulainn unnaturally lowered his head. "You beat a monster like a Beast to death, who would dare to fight you..."
Hearing this, the other Heroic Spirits nodded in unison.
A joke. Fight? Fight with what?
Beating them would be like playing a game for her...
"Well then, my dear Master," Xia Yu reached out and patted Illya's head. "Now, we've won the Holy Grail War. Are you happy?"
"But a Holy Grail like this is useless," Illya's expression was complex. "The reason the Holy Grail ritual requires Servants is to rely on the connection between their souls and the Throne of Heroes outside the world to open a pathway, allowing humans to reach The Root."
"Right now, none of these Heroic Spirits are dead..."
Hearing this, the other Heroic Spirits looked at each other in dismay. This was the first time they had heard of such a thing.
"Well, actually, this is perfectly normal," Cu Chulainn shrugged. "Winner takes all."
"Actually, I think," Xia Yu touched her chin thoughtfully upon hearing this. "The Counter Force should give me some face, right?"
"Right?"