One day later.
Seven hundred and twenty kilometers from the second battle site.
This was a human city—or rather, it had once been a human city. In the past, it had been bustling with traffic and deafening clamor. Now, it was empty and desolate, with all things rotting away.
Ten years had left nearly everything barren. Without vegetation to cover it, the place had been relentlessly eroded by wind and sand. Powerful soil erosion had toppled one former skyscraper after another. Those broken buildings were like tombstones for human civilization, soon to vanish into the river of time.
Only the enormous underground pipeline network that had once extended in all directions still retained a relatively intact structure beneath the protection of the surface.
A figure draped in a pitch-black cloak walked through an abandoned subway tunnel, stepping over the remains of snakes and rats and passing through rusted trains.
"So, that is our enemy."
"Meticulous and thorough in its actions, decisive and ruthless in its methods."
"Neither impatient nor wavering, never relying on luck."
"It ruled the entire Earth and enslaved all humanity, with no enemies whatsoever."
"Powerful technology, powerful manufacturing capacity, scientific reserves without a single blind spot."
"Infinite resources, infinite forces, infinite chances for trial and error."
"And its information technology is extraordinarily powerful, while its Artificial Intelligence is highly advanced."
"It only needs a very short time to comprehend any move to Mastery 99. It can even devise moves specifically designed to counter it, then comprehend those countering moves to Mastery 99 as well. Moreover, such comprehension can be effortlessly and swiftly applied to every combat unit."
"When one understands, all understand; when one learns, all learn. This is a collective consciousness far greater than even us beyond the Worldline."
"With their rate of learning and growth,