Iselin was accustomed to conducting value analysis and risk assessment for everything.
Whether the rat-men old humans attacking the village were seeking revenge or carrying out some other plan, she only needed to have her subordinates deal with it.
The satellites and many ground facilities of this world had been rendered inoperative by nuclear explosions.
High-altitude nuclear detonations produced intense EMPs that caused enormous damage to satellites.
The old humans' suicidal resistance had nearly shattered her advantage in this area.
She could no longer rely on the global satellite network as before to gather intelligence, monitor battlefields, formulate combat plans, and carry out precision strikes.
Humanity had been driven to collapse by the Honkai students descending across the world largely because she had provided intelligence and remote support from behind the scenes.
Otherwise, those descending Honkai students would have had to gather intelligence themselves before figuring out how to stir up trouble.
Having lost the technological advantages this world's humanity once provided, Iselin chose to remain inside the impregnable base she had transformed, upgrading and modifying equipment and devices.
At this stage, she only needed to wait for her classmates to reestablish a new social order.
Rumble...
A violent tremor shook the ground, and Iselin's expression changed slightly. "Someone has infiltrated?"
This explosion had come from inside the base.
She turned toward the command room screen. At some point, the external surveillance had already been destroyed.
"Nina, we're leaving."
Iselin quickly scanned her surroundings to ensure no enemies were nearby, then ran out of the command room.
"Where to?"
Nina followed closely behind.
"To find Kiana and the others."
Knowing full well how much hatred her actions had attracted, Iselin had long prepared for the possibility of an assault or assassination.
The existence of superpowers meant that this seemingly indestructible military base was not as reliable as it appeared.
Since the abilities in this world were overly singular in nature, more than ninety-nine percent of ability users posed little threat in her eyes.
But considering the possibility of troublesome abilities, Iselin did not dare to be careless. She had prepared an escape plan in advance.
The nearest and safest place was undoubtedly where Kiana and the others were.
The only combat power at her side was Nina. As for her own body, being a researcher, she only possessed a certain degree of combat capability.
Kiana's side, however, had six. Even before the nuclear war, they had already been able to chase down the old human military forces.
Honkai Beasts, swarms, mutated flora and fauna, combined with aberrant airborne bacteria and viruses, along with Honkai energy, had turned the territory under Kiana's control into a forbidden zone of life for the old humans.
The two of them left the military base. Iselin looked at the human settlement outside, now plunged into chaos.
The new humans were fighting a group of identical-looking men—no, more accurately, slaughtering them.
The humans in the settlement were like the blind. Even when the enemies stood right in front of them, they could not see them.
Ability user clones?!
It didn't look like invisibility!
It seemed as if their existence had vanished from others' perception!
Iselin frowned.
Her mental defenses blocked this ability.
Which meant this was an ability that erased one's own presence by attacking others?
"Nina, can you see them?"
"I can't see them, but that doesn't affect my ability to kill them."
With a casual wave of her hand, metal fragments from the surrounding ground rose into the air and shot toward the clones.
The metal shards easily pierced through their bodies.
Though their presence was like invisibility to her eyes, their biological magnetic fields remained.
As long as she targeted the sensed magnetic fields, she could kill them.
Dozens of such ability-user clones in the new human settlement were instantly eliminated by Nina.
"Ability-user cloning technology. The humans of this world are truly a bit surprising."
Half-crouching, Iselin carefully observed one of the clone's bodies for a while.
Cloning technology was not difficult for her. It was simply that the academy did not permit such casual experimentation.
"Though they're defective products, they're disgusting enough."
Iselin stood up.
The existence of these ability-user clones, whose presence barely registered in others' perception, was like that of ghosts.
They could cause many new humans to die without even knowing how.
"They're defective products?"
Nina asked in confusion.
"Yes. They've only replicated part of the ability. The original body's power should be more than this."
Iselin explained.
"Let's head to Kiana and the others first."
"Alright."
...
Within a dense forest.
Towering trees hundreds of meters tall could be seen everywhere.
For an ordinary tree, reaching a height of one hundred meters would already be remarkable.
But here, nearly every great tree stood two to three hundred meters high.
There were even taller and thicker ones—some reaching four or five hundred meters.
At this moment, in the forest, a girl with long dark-green hair sat atop the petal of a white flower more than ten meters high, her delicate feet gently swaying. Sunlight filtered through layers of overlapping branches and leaves, falling upon her.
Her skin was fair and smooth, her exquisite features so perfect she seemed like a fairy stepping out of a painting. Anyone who saw her for the first time would be stunned by her beauty.
Yet her entire being exuded an aura of indifference and coldness.
"Little sister, I've found you."
A crisp, pleasant voice came from behind.
Delta tilted her head slightly and looked toward the source of the voice.
A girl in a light white dress, with long purple hair and red eyes, flew toward her and pounced.
"Kyuushou."
Delta was embraced from behind by Houraiji Kyuushou. Looking at this girl who was, in a sense, her half-sister, she gently called out her name.
Her genes originated directly from the Queen of Blades. The sheer volume of genetic information was immense. Her growth rate far surpassed that of ordinary beings, and within her body were biological organs akin to reaction furnaces, granting her power and abilities far beyond those of humans.
"Your hug feels so nice~"
Houraiji Kyuushou affectionately rubbed against Delta's silky dark-green hair.
"..."
Delta allowed Houraiji Kyuushou to hold her, silently releasing a portion of the energy she had absorbed from the forest for the other girl to absorb.
Nuclear energy, solar energy, Honkai energy—her spore-generated plants could absorb, utilize, and store all of them.
They could even metabolize radiation themselves, producing Honkai energy.
In this sea of trees, even a nuclear detonation would be nothing more than fertilizer for the plants.
"Someone's coming."
After a while, Delta turned her head toward a certain direction. A group had entered the range of her territory.
Among them, two carried extremely strong Honkai energy.
Regarding the Will of Ruler—and Kiana and the others' origins—the Queen of Blades had not hidden anything from her.
Mother's classmates?!
Delta was not certain.