The [Ladder] to Humanity's Summit (First Update) / Black Wings, White Wings!

A cold-looking woman with a black ponytail floated into the air, gripping a black scythe, and flew straight towards the giant stone monument, with countless scarlet blades sweeping across her path.

The Judge who appeared in Seven Star Village? The woman who orchestrated the [Zodiac] riot? Tonight's main course has arrived!

Sephiroth leaped over the monolith defense line. As he fell, a pair of black wings suddenly unfurled, and with a casual swing of his Masamune Nodachi, he shattered the incoming crimson blades one by one.

In the shrunk-to-the-limit Space Corridor, Kevin ate a fruit gummy and watched the figures clashing in mid-air, his eyes sparkling with wonder.

"That's an angel... you guys?"

Rentaro Satomi stared at Sephiroth, who had black wings on his back and long silver hair, in mid-air, then looked at Kevin beside him with a grin, his expression somewhat confused.

"Don't get me wrong, we're not the same breed..."

Kevin shrugged, his expression calm, but his eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the game.

This aura... I feel like I've sensed it somewhere before, Siberia?

Pseudo-Herrscher siding with the Gastrea, Super Soldier secretly dispatched by Schrodinger Company?

It turns out that causing trouble for the Cursed Children was just a side effect; your main goal was to lure out this Pseudo-Herrscher disappeared along with a large number of Gastrea.

Is it true, as the leader of the Wild Serpents said, that this woman abandoned her mission for a group of children?

Furthermore, judging from her earlier relief, her control over Gastrea isn't as absolute as one might imagine.

Is this why the Cursed Children were left on land?

Furthermore, knowing full well that the heiress of ME Company and the young lady of the Kaslana Family were both here, she still dared to Pseudo-Herrscher ashore under the cover of night.

Well, first they shifted the blame to the scavengers, then this Pseudo-Herrscher went ashore and pulled off a series of moves, and almost everyone in the know was dead.

Even if those young ladies, kept in the dark, only had a few minor mishaps, wouldn't their backers be ready to come at them with knives, forming an alliance with Schrodinger Company to collectively raid the Gastrea instance?

As for what happens next, whether the Cursed Children live or die, or what secrets they hold, with such a big news story, probably not many people will care.

To take it a step further, it's not impossible that the Cursed Children were all wiped out by the Scavengers or Gastrea.

Or perhaps, they could be falsely accused of colluding with the Gastrea and causing this disaster?

Wow, this is a huge juicy story...

Kevin watched the show with great interest, and felt a little like applauding Schrodinger Company for making such a big move without making a sound.

At this moment, as the Pseudo-Herrscher failed to break through after a prolonged attack, surging waves rose on the sea, and the dense, rustling sound converged into a terrifying torrent.

Is this... the Gastrea making its appearance? It seems to leave nothing but desolation in its wake.

In the end, we poor kids are just pawns being used.

Sigh, the adult world is truly treacherous...

Kevin sighed, his expression mournful, and snapped his fingers. Hundreds of Space Bridge Interface appeared on the coastline, and at the other end of the passage was the garrison camp behind the giant stone monument!

P. S.: I'll only be posting three updates today, all at once. My stomach is a little upset, so I'll adjust my sleep schedule.

Thanks to reader @{"reader_id":"537679","reader_name":"Drinking a lot of water"} for the dog food reward, and thank you @jealous for the reward of 5 spicy sticks.

Thank you reader@{"reader_id":"394162","reader_name":"Crazy 12345"} @90119684279@loyd·bannings@@13573590495@{"reader_id":"537679","reader_name":"Drinking a lot of water"}@ Blade reminder.

There are currently 35 - 1 = 34 chapters owed.

Chapter 480, Section 507: Humanity's Ascent to the Summit (First Update)

"Gastrea?! How could this be?!"

"My legs! My legs!"

"Watch out... there are some behind us too!"

As dense shadows swept across the camp, the monsters left a trail of devastation in their wake. The humans, now deprived of the protection of the high walls, realized that most of them had long since fallen from the top of the food chain.

Due to a lack of preparedness, targeted Osmium metal bullets rarely fell into their hands; the speed at which ordinary bullets created wounds couldn't even keep up with the Gastrea's self-healing speed.

In fact, due to the last Gastrea Invasion, large areas of land and water sources were infected, and hundreds of thousands of people needed to be resettled, which is quite difficult for Japan, a country with a small land area.

The government intends to reduce the population through unconventional means, such as attracting outlaws who participated in riots during the war to Abandoned Commercial District, from which the garrison troops are also selected from the scum.

Afterwards, they were concentrated and transferred to the second giant stone tablet. So, these were basically cannon fodder used to reduce the burden and give warnings to those who came after them. Their combat effectiveness was questionable.

After one attack, the formation immediately collapsed. The chaotic gunfire quickly turned into sporadic flashes of light, and finally, the uniform rout and escape became a comical scene in the night.

"Help me..."

"Let go! You fucking let go!"

A man, clutching his right thigh with his left hand and pleading, had lost all his arrogance from earlier in the day. He was now tightly gripping someone running past him with his right hand.

But with thousands of Gastrea so close, the fleeing soldiers struggled frantically, cursing and kicking their former superiors.

However, as the deadly rustling sound grew closer, the wounded man clung tightly to the soldier's leg, his face contorted in agony.

You son of a bitch... The soldier, his forehead covered in cold sweat, lips trembling, and body shaking, dragged himself a few steps, unable to escape the sticky "comradeship" he felt.

At this moment, the screams of those who had fallen behind and the sporadic gunfire reminded him, and the soldiers were invigorated.

Guns! I still have guns! The soldier hurriedly pulled out a pistol from his back waist and frantically pulled the trigger, riddling his superior with bullets.

Finally, it's quiet! I can finally get rid of this bastard!

Immediately, the soldier's manic and twisted smile froze as a sharp blade flashed by, and thousands of Gastrea swarmed past.

Two pools of reddish-black minced meat and mud were mixed together, indistinguishable from one another.

Under the cover of night, thousands of level one and two Gastrea spread out, bloodily hunting down the living creatures in the area, and injecting corrosive liquid from inside the megalith to facilitate breaching the defenses.

Strangely, no matter how they tried to navigate, these Gastrea were unable to explore deeper into the area, as if they were trapped in a giant spatial maze.

Therefore, the remaining garrison troops in the camp were completely reduced to rats hunted by cats, their numbers rapidly decreasing amidst screams and howls.

Besides its defensive function, the megalith also serves as a hiding place for troops. Since the higher-ups have designated it as a defensive line, they naturally won't entrust all the defense to the cannon fodder on the ground.

Therefore, the upper part of the monolith is mainly staffed by special forces drawn from the Self-Defense Forces and the Imperial Army, which is currently able to maintain the situation.

"Bang!"

Under the protection of dozens of the Imperial Army soldiers, the young master Lufus raised his double-barreled pistol and shot the leopard-shaped Gastrea that jumped up the stairs. Then, surrounded by a group of people, he headed to the internal helicopter landing pad to prepare for his evacuation.

Anyway, after three months, most of the traces of Seven Star Village have been eliminated and the truth has been allowed to cool down. The next step is to expose the Gastrea festering sore.

In this way, they can both increase their reputation and control the management of the Imperial Army. The horn has been sounded, and there is no point in staying any longer.

Of course, his old man also had political considerations. Lufus sat in the cabin, weighing the Osmium metal module he had taken from several parts of the megalith in his hand. On the clear cross-section, the interior clearly showed the color of another metal.

Just how much public funds did the Tendo Family embezzle in this matter... after this incident, probably no one will ever know.

You bunch of old foxes, are you planning to roast the whole country on the dinner table? Aren't you afraid of choking...?

Lufus casually tossed a few counterfeit Osmium metal modules into the dilapidated garrison camp, clapped his hands, and lost all interest in watching the farce unfold.

Eight slashes in a flash!

At the same time, Sephiroth unleashed eight slashes with fluid grace, forcing the Pseudo-Herrscher Mina to summon Soul Binding Chains to protect herself and briefly create distance. She then drew her particle cannon from her waist and fired it in rapid succession, hoping to give herself time to react.

Amaterasu!

However, Sephiroth's timing was impeccable. The instant the Pseudo-Herrscher Mina adjusted her body, he flapped his wings and charged at his opponent with lightning speed, slashing upwards with his slender Nodachi.

Seeing that Mina was about to be split in two from bottom to top, the Pseudo-Herrscher's eyes flashed red, and his body turned into mist and transferred at the last moment, splitting into seven or eight meters and reforming.

However, a trickle of blood still seeped from Mina's ample upper chest, clearly indicating that Sephiroth's strike was not so easy to dodge.

Just as the two were locked in a stalemate, the tide surged on the sea surface, and the sea surface on both sides was smoothly cut open for tens of meters. A large amount of water vapor rose up, and a thick golden beam of light struck Sephiroth in mid-air.

Stage Five, the Zodiac, Sagittarius! A monster that once shot down nearly twenty artificial satellites, comparable to Emperor-class Honkai Beast, evolved into a top-tier Gastrea!

Sephiroth sensed the terrifying energy contained in the attack and immediately dodged to the side.

But with a deafening roar behind him, the Imperial Army's designated successor suddenly remembered that what appeared to be behind him was the upper half of the monolithic defensive line, the Shinra's encampment...

Sephiroth turned slightly and looked at the giant stone monument, a third of which had collapsed, and the mangled corpses and screaming survivors scattered beneath the metal modules. He frowned.

To make matters worse, in addition to Pegasus, which had already shown its power, four giant Meat Mountain floated on the sea surface one after another, resembling small, moving islands.

Scorpio, Virgo, Libra, Taurus, and finally Pegasus —all five top Gastrea that had escaped have arrived!

Sephiroth's lips curled into a mocking smile. Just as the golden energy sparks on the sea surface converged into the open maw of Pegasus, a blue-white meteor streaked across the sky with lightning speed, striking the head of a fleshy creature.

"Boom!"

Pegasus's head suddenly exploded, splashing dark red blood and writhing chunks of flesh into the water.

On humanity's path to the "God's Ladder," you are ultimately just stepping stones for evolutionary errors.

Look at us, these filthy creatures, basking in the glory of standing at the top...

On the helicopter, Lufus gazed at the dim light over the outskirts of Tokyo, lowered her head, and whispered something.

P. S.: [Sky Ladder] is a bugged weapon that appears in <Black Bullet>, capable of eliminating Scorpio in Stage Five with a single hit.

Chapter 481, Section 508: Black Feather Wings, White Feather Wings!

Deep in the mountains on the outskirts of Tokyo, amidst a landscape filled with metallic machinery, a group of research experts are experimenting with various types of weapons in workshops divided into different cells.

At the very center of the mountain, a slanted, pyramidal metal structure, resembling a towering spire, protrudes outwards. Its eerie blue rings and electromagnetic arcs flicker on and off, revealing a subtle danger.

"Target Pegasus is silent! [Stairway] is operating normally, and the liquid helium adiabatic flask is reacting well..."

"Second round of Osmium metal -piercing projectile loaded. Mako reactor activated. Linear electromagnetic throwing device deployed!"

"Ready, 3...2...1... Fire!"

As the person in charge at the main control console placed the aiming ring on the control interface onto the second Stage Five Gastrea and pressed the launch button, the roar of the engine drowned out the noise inside the base.

In an instant, a thick beam of blue-white light pierced the night sky, like the sword of a primordial giant, splitting the sky and heading straight for the sea.

The massive Scorpio exploded with a deafening wail, its thousands of pale eyeballs scattering in all directions.

With his slicked-back black hair and gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, research director Hojo stood up, tightening his slightly loose tie beneath his white lab coat. His gaze, filled with satisfaction, fell upon the figure on the holographic screen and the central square spire.

Whether it's Sephiroth, who is fighting against the Pseudo-Herrscher on the screen, or the [Sky Ladder] electromagnetic railgun behind him, they are all his own perfect masterpieces!

With such works in his life, he has almost achieved fulfillment.

Unfortunately, the [New Human Plan] involving Seven Star Village suffered a major setback due to an accident, which made the perfectionist researchers extremely uncomfortable.

Fortunately, he nurtured the angels who spread the gospel in advance and built a "ladder" to correct the deviations in the "New Human Plan".

Now that the angels have descended, kneel down and repent, and listen to your gospel. Those who fail are not qualified to enter God's kingdom!

Hojo yielded the operator's position, then waved his right hand, ordering his successor to continue using the [Heavenly Ladder] to clear the remaining [Zodiac Signs].

Meanwhile, the second megalithic monument.

The primitive Gastrea, devoid of any intelligence, continued to hunt down ordinary people, while two of their leaders had already perished on the spot.

"Laugh!"

A third blue-white beam of light pierced the night sky once more. This time, the Taurus, the most intelligent of the three, was the target. It let out a mournful cry, wanting to sink its body and dive into the ocean.

However, due to its enormous size, it simply doesn't have the speed to react perfectly.

"Boom!"

A terrifying sonic boom erupted, almost piercing eardrums. In the dazzling light, a tall, Pseudo-Herrscher stood in front of the Osmium metal armor-piercing bullet. Thousands of purple-black soul-binding chains around her were already shattered, and Mina was teetering on the brink of collapse.

Finally, the light faded, the bullet turned to dust, and the ragged Pseudo-Herrscher held on until the very end.

"Waaah... waaah..."

A dull, suppressed growl emanated from the mouthparts of the remaining three Stage Five Gastrea. Their darting eyes stared at the Pseudo-Herrscher, revealing a strange sense of unease.

At the same time, black wings unfurled, and a sharp blade of light swiftly arrived. The Pseudo-Herrscher, already at the end of its strength, barely raised its hand, its black heavy scythe riddled with holes, clearly unable to defend against this fatal blow.

However, at the critical moment, the Pseudo-Herrscher was swallowed by a pitch-black vortex that appeared out of nowhere, and instantly transferred to the sea area guarded by the remaining three [Zodiac Signs].

As Light Feather drifted down, a unique life form, tall in stature with several glowing wing-like appendages extending from its shoulders, back, ankles, and waist, gracefully descended.

His appearance is that of a sealed suit of metal armor, holding a blazing Flame Greatsword, standing with both hands gripping the hilt in front of his chest, the sword tip pointing downwards, and his head bowed in a prayer-like posture.

Those pure white wings, so pristine and flawless, and that majestic figure, compel one to bow in reverence.