The outer ring of Berlin at night was far quieter than the bustling city center.
At this moment, on a winding road leading straight out of the city...
"Whoosh."
A clear sound cut through the air.
Turbulence shook around it.
A blue streak of light was racing into the distance.
Because the semi-permanent energy shield known as the "Blocking Array" remained wrapped around them, Bronya and Seele, who were sitting on Project Bunny in its motorcycle form, did not feel much of the road's unevenness.
Neither of them spoke.
Each had her own thoughts.
Bronya's mind was full of countless concerns, but she still had to stay alert to every movement around them.
As for Seele...
She had clearly misunderstood some key pieces of information. Right now, she only wanted to stay silent.
Compared to the two of them...
"Whirr, whirr, whirr."
Several black military helicopters had already entered this airspace.
Looking at the situation below, the pilots in the cockpits and the special agents in the rear cabins all stared wide-eyed.
"What kind of motorcycle is that? How is it that fast?"
"And where did the other person come from?"
"A robot with transformation ability... Which organization does that belong to?"
Because the roar of the rotors was simply too loud, the Fire Moth soldiers carrying out this field mission spoke in quick bursts over their headset comms.
The shortest distance between two points was a straight line.
With air superiority, they would not lose track of the target below for the time being.
It could only be said that after losing the authority of the Herrscher of Reason, Bronya was starting to feel the limits in far too many situations.
Otherwise, if she had been a little more ruthless, she could have summoned the floating cannons of a temporarily manifested Key of Truth and launched a ground-to-air counterattack.
Or, if she did not want to hurt anyone, she could have laid an energy track through the air and accelerated away.
Either method would have shaken off the tails behind her very quickly.
At the same time...
At Fire Moth's Mu Continent headquarters, inside a certain virtual remote conference room.
"Was that just now... quantum technology?"
"Didn't Dr. Einstein say this technology still hadn't reached the practical stage?"
"Have we identified the other person?"
"Why did someone beat us to it?"
One formally dressed humanoid virtual projection after another was watching the live mission feed projected onto the large screen to the side.
It was not hard to see that the capture plan for the Sixth Herrscher host body was something these high-ranking council members cared about deeply.
And this was exactly what a certain person had aimed at.
Or rather, that person had seen through what nearly every person in a position of power sought most in life, then deliberately released a piece of bait.
Its name was longevity.
Some regarded it as a curse.
Others believed it was a priceless treasure beyond question.
Either way, not long ago, the sudden appearance of information related to it had shaken everyone in the know.
It shook them so much that the matter these council members had originally cared about most in recent days, the whereabouts of those two "superhumans," had been temporarily pushed aside.
However...
"I didn't expect Evo-01 and Evo-02 to be this interested in the Sixth Herrscher host body."
"Thinking about it carefully, it does make sense."
"Intelligence indicates they have already reached the outskirts of Berlin."
"Evo-02's movements can still be traced, but Evo-01... How exactly did he avoid our agents' tracking and surveillance and arrive directly in Berlin?"
"Is someone helping him from the shadows?"
"Is there any possibility of capturing them as well?"
The "Evo-01" and "Evo-02" mentioned by everyone in the conference room were none other than Kevin Kaslana and Raiden Mei, both Reverse-Time Descenders.
Their code names came from the English abbreviation of "Evolution."
It had to be said that Gray Serpent, as one of the earliest active executives of the original World Serpent organization, was truly capable.
After the elder Kevin released it onto the network of this era, it took only a little more than ten days for the newborn World Serpent organization to begin taking shape.
In recent days, through that group's covert actions, many important people connected to future events had already been protected in advance.
For example: MEI's father, young Kevin's relatives, and even his closest friend, Su.
Su's relatives had been included as well.
Because of this, by the time Fire Moth used facial recognition systems and traced the trail back to young Kevin and MEI, the entire web of people connected to the two of them had already vanished without a trace.
And on top of that...
Under the planning of the elder Kevin and MEI...
Well, most of the time, it was actually MEI discussing and arranging things with the current high-ranking members, including Gray Serpent.
A certain block of ice merely sat in and listened.
According to him, he only needed to do what he was best at.
Taking action by force.
That was enough.
In short, after discussion among the senior members of the newborn World Serpent, they finally decided that from this point onward, they would gradually gather the future Thirteen Flame-Chasers, as well as other elites who had sacrificed themselves too early.
The reason was simple.
After learning the "future intelligence," every high-ranking member of the newborn World Serpent, including the elder Kevin himself, reached the same conclusion.
Working together with those Fire Moth insects would never allow them to overcome Finality.
And they absolutely could not tolerate this era repeating the same mistakes.
So in truth, within the current Fire Moth, there were already people who had secretly defected.
One of them had deliberately leaked information about the special nature of the Sixth Herrscher host body.
She gained quite a few benefits from it.
And, with some reluctance, she had not kept all of them for herself.
Instead, she secretly transferred a portion to the newborn World Serpent, where it served as part of the organization's starting funds.
According to her plan, once Fire Moth's higher-ups temporarily shifted their attention away from the "superhumans," the newborn World Serpent would be able to safely pass through its weakest early stage.
After that, while she haggled with those wine-sack, rice-bag wastes, and while those same wastes argued among themselves, their side could quickly complete all the arrangements mentioned above.
That way, their side would no longer have to worry about what lay behind them.
As for who this person was?
It was obvious.
"Are Evo-01 and Evo-02 really interested in the Sixth Herrscher host body?"
A slightly teasing female voice rang out inside the virtual conference room.
At once...
"Dr. Mobius, what do you mean by that?"
"Nothing."
Inside the conference room, Mobius sat in one of the seats.
Because she had other thoughts in mind, she had actually shown up for this kind of meeting for once.
She still had not changed out of her white lab coat with the snake-patterned patches.
At this moment, she casually crossed her legs and pointed at the large screen.
"I just think Evo-01 and Evo-02 might be targeting that little girl with twin drills who suddenly appeared."
Hearing that...
"Reason?"
A council member asked in a low voice.
"Dr. Mobius, did you conceal key information when you submitted your earlier report?"
"Heh."
Facing the council member's question, Mobius gave a cold laugh and did not bother with him at all.
Seeing this, the council member frowned slightly.
Even so, he did not lose his composure.
To put it plainly, for people who could sit in this position, not letting joy or anger show on their faces was a basic skill.
In other words, even if he disliked Mobius, he would not show it on an occasion like this.
He would find a way to sabotage her later.
The reason was simple.
For one thing, if he lost his temper now, the other council members would only think he was too impatient and unfit to work with.
For another, open attacks were easy to guard against. Hidden arrows were harder.
If one wanted to reveal hostility in advance, it had to be when doing so was necessary and profitable.
For example, when choosing sides.
Only then would it be worth making things clear.
In short, looking at this aspect alone, Mobius, who either lacked much political experience or simply did not care for it, appeared especially immature.
But if one looked at the whole board, who exactly had seized the lead and calculated against everyone?
Right now...
"Regarding the gray-haired girl who suddenly appeared beside the Sixth Herrscher host body today, our agents have not found any files connected to her."
"It is as if she appeared out of thin air."
Inside the conference room, a certain higher-up responsible for managing Fire Moth's intelligence department mentioned this.
Hearing it...
"Could she be a 'superhuman' like Evo-01 and Evo-02?"
"That possibility exists."
"In the video footage sent back by the field agents, the unidentified gray-haired girl was recorded jumping over a wall nearly three meters high while carrying the Sixth Herrscher host body."
"Although we cannot rule out the possibility that her leg armor is simply too advanced, the arm strength and neural reaction speed she displayed during the process were far beyond ordinary human limits."
"The strength shown by someone of her build is just wrong."
"Then include her among the capture targets."
"If her ability, or rather, her equipment, could be popularized throughout our army..."
"We still need to consider the cost first."
"True. If the manufacturing cost is too high, it can only be used to arm a small number of elite squads."
Inside the conference room, several more people began talking among themselves.
Mobius watched coldly and did not say a word.
Just look at them.
All ambition and no ability.
They had not even accomplished anything yet, and without realizing it, the topic had already drifted to how they would divide the spoils afterward.
No wonder the "future" had ended like that.
At this moment, Mobius recalled the detailed information Gray Serpent had passed to her.
The Eighth Honkai.
Her assistant, Blanca, died.
The Ninth Honkai.
Blanca's husband, Hen, the man Mobius disliked the most, sacrificed himself.
The Tenth Honkai.
Her current assistant, Klein, became one of the Thousand Herrschers, killed Mobius once, then was swallowed by the Mobius born from the serpent's slough.
The Eleventh...
The Twelfth...
And then...
"These things will not happen again."
Once her thoughts reached this point, Mobius stopped paying attention to the noisy words rising and falling throughout the conference room.
She calmed herself and looked toward the large screen on the side.
"The butterfly has already flapped its wings. Since the storm is about to rise, we might as well ride the current and drive it harder, until the storm grows even more violent."
"In the end, only those clumsy people who rely too heavily on so-called 'future' intelligence will be powerless to turn the tide and, in the end... lose everything."