So there was no need to think too highly of it. This monomolecular serration was not without weaknesses; for instance, pure monomolecular materials were very brittle.
The most common similar material in nature was diamond—hard as hell, but brittle at the same time.
It was obviously unsuitable for defense, but things changed with a force field.
Fang Jie took out another fragment, from the "Bulwark." Thanks to Gepard's generous contribution, it was easy for Fang Jie to compare the differences between the two.
With just a light collision, a string of sparks burst out... and in the end, the monomolecular serration bounced away.
"Strong-force material still comes out on top."
Fang Jie remained expressionless.
Yes, this "Bulwark" was made entirely of strong-force material. Its surface was absolutely smooth, its temperature near absolute zero, and it was indestructible. Gepard had carried it into battle, only for the Stellaron Spirit to smash it apart.
"Indestructible" was just something written for fun. The Paths were simply that crushing.
Leaving aside the Stellaron Spirit, comparing only the Bulwark and the monomolecular serration, the former was undoubtedly stronger.
This was not superiority in materials, but superiority in force-field construction.
Compared to the monomolecular serration, the molecular motion of the material composing the Bulwark had nearly come to a complete halt. That was what brought its surface temperature infinitely close to absolute zero. Furthermore, the strong force compressed its atoms, arranging those in its shell with remarkable neatness and creating a surface infinitely close to absolute smoothness.
After all, it came from City Builder technology. It was not considered outdated even within the Corporation, and it was foundational technology for all kinds of force fields used across the galaxy. Though Fang Jie looked deeply shocked, he could make it himself as well.
By extracting the electromagnetic force within matter, he could likewise lock the gaps between atoms and create similar material.
Otherwise, how could he judge that, with his biological force field fully activated, he could withstand a planetary explosion?
It was because, with the force field inside his body fully activated, he could restrain particles until they barely vibrated at all, naturally making him indestructible.
Bianca had done it too!
Bianca had fallen too.
No matter which world it was, "indestructible" was just something written for fun.
"All I can say is, only change is unchanging. Even physical laws can be rewritten."
Finally, Fang Jie took out Jizo Mitama. It was forged from Soul Steel, the Core of Corruption, and the "body" material of the Herrscher of Corruption, mixed with a great deal of Path energy.
There was no need to delve into matters related to the Herrscher of Corruption. That was not a material confined to real-number reality, but the manifestation in real numbers of an imaginary singularity condensed into reality. In a sense, it was the truly indestructible one.
Well, as long as the corresponding inner imaginary structure was not destroyed.
Fang Jie did not feel like complaining. He silently sensed the Soul Steel he had sensed countless times before—an utterly ordinary material existing as a swarm of nanomachines. Its advantages were Honkai energy resistance and self-repair capability, much like humans.
When it came to Honkai energy, the human body was the best carrier material. Compared to it, machinery could only use Honkai energy at one-third the efficiency of the human body, while both faced the continuous destruction of ever-deepening Honkai.
Humans would be corrupted into Death Troopers, while machinery would age.
For Paths, carrying and utilizing energy was also a difficult problem. Why could the monomolecular serration not go a step further and directly use a force-field structure like Gepard's "Bulwark"?
It could not be ruled out that, after the Emperor War, the Corporation's fear of machinery capable of automation without human control had restricted development in this area. But it was also true that the Bulwark had the limitation of requiring "willpower to drive energy" in order to generate its force field.
To put it more directly, compared to automatons powered by geomarrow, the Bulwark was powered by Gepard.
This was also recorded in Belobog Martial Arts. The Corporation's dangerous prosthetic technology was compatible with Path energy, while the Gram Cavalry directly used their "pilots" as driving power.
"This is what I need: a controllable carrier capable of fully enduring the output of an 'engine' like me. The key is controllability."
Fang Jie had never tried using the energy in his body at full power in the manner of "Destruction." Instead, he had gone around in circles and borrowed the power of Honkai. That was merely using Jizo Mitama's power.
As for himself?
Sealed.
The Nihility was sealed, and Destruction was sealed too.
"For safety's sake. After all... my energy seems to be greater than Jizo Mitama's."
Perhaps Jizo Mitama had not eaten its fill. After so many years, it had only absorbed a little Honkai energy in Chang Kong City, and then Fang Jie had repeatedly siphoned it away...
If possible, he wanted to seal Jizo Mitama as well, if only to show Rin that attitude.
Using this thing... everything came at a price. The first to suffer corrosion was himself; even his pure and spotless body had become unclean.
Rin, who disliked him just as much, silently watched him read while finishing all her cakes. Her eyes became increasingly forbidding, as though she were keeping a little ledger of grudges.
Outside the window, Belobog was as lively as ever today, and people smiled with joy.
Frankly speaking, the order here was a little too good. Elsewhere, let alone with the apocalypse approaching, people would jump off buildings after losing everything in the stock market. Some even dragged their wives, children, and even newborn babies into suicide with them.
Compared to that, Belobog was not so bad. It was above average even in the galaxy.
Just as Fang Jie was thinking this, a disturbance broke out near the passage connecting to the Underworld.
P.S.: Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, friends. No other meaning—just saying hello. Hope you all have a happy day (?o?o)??
Shine, You, See-see-Seele~
"Turn yourself in, Bronya! I will ensure that you receive a fair trial."
Serval did not know how she had managed to say those words, but she had no choice but to say them to Bronya, who had struggled back from the Underworld—she had just brought a batch of supplies there after the long lockdown and distributed relief goods.
Frankly, Serval had no difficulty imagining what the Underworld looked like now that even the Silvermane Guards had withdrawn. As for whom Bronya had handed those supplies to, that was entirely outside Serval's knowledge.
There was only one thing she understood: Bronya now had only one path left—to go to the Underworld.
But Bronya did not understand. She asked in shock, "Why would Mother issue a warrant for my arrest? I don't understand. I want to see her! Clearly—"
No, you cannot.
Seeing Bronya like this, Serval could only harden her heart. "You allied yourself with rebels seeking to infiltrate Belobog. You and Gepard are both criminals. He has fled, and his whereabouts are unknown. We have confirmed that he is not in the Overworld. This is the only route in all Belobog leading to the Underworld. You, who opened the blockade by falsely conveying the Great Guardian's orders—how can you claim innocence? I must carefully consider what scheme a traitor like you is plotting. Guards, seize her."
The Silvermane Guards were as confused as Bronya, but the order had been issued.
"Commander, please cooperate obediently."
They stepped forward to apprehend this important figure. Bronya had not wanted to resist, until she heard everything absurd that Serval had said—rebels infiltrating Belobog? Gepard had betrayed them too? I forged orders?
"What exactly happened? This... wait, I didn't forge any orders either. Mother ordered me to—"
There was too much she could not understand, so Bronya merely argued. She did not resist.
Serval had anticipated this long ago, and she had prepared for it.
An aged figure suddenly rushed out.
"Miss, run! If you go with them, you won't be able to see Lady Cocolia..."
"Seebass?"
Bronya saw him. It was the family butler, and he seemed to be trying to convey something—
"What a nuisance."
Serval turned and launched a flying kick. Her high heel struck the jaw of the well-dressed old butler, who had cared for Bronya for many years, sending him flying.
Even so, he still cried out with difficulty, "Run, Miss, run! Bronya, do not let them capture you, absolutely do not—"
"Shut up."
With a vicious stomp, Serval, once more dressed in military uniform, was cold and ruthless as she trampled the old man into the ash-gray snow.
"Stop!"
Bronya wanted to step forward, but there was nothing she could do. The Guards carrying out the arrest order did not strike ruthlessly, but neither did they hold back.
Just as she was about to be restrained...
"Commander, run! Go find the captain!"
Another group of Guards suddenly emerged from behind. They scrambled to stop the Guards trying to arrest Bronya, and the two sides fell into a brawl.
"Go, Lady Bronya!"
"This..."
Bronya did not know what had happened, but she understood their cries. Gepard...
"I'll definitely come back!"
So she turned and headed toward the Underworld, as if she had made some kind of resolution.
"Don't run!"
The pursuers continued their chase behind her, as though they would not stop even if she went deep into the Underworld. Serval glanced toward that dark abyss, lowered her head, and let out a breath. She did not call off the Guards still fighting among themselves, allowing all those who had aided Bronya to be captured.
The gazes directed at her from all around were incredibly complicated. Were it not for the name "Landau," this would surely have been seen as a heinous rebellion.
Being a Landau was useless too.
In a sense, dismissing the Silvermane Guard Garrison Officer, arresting the acting Great Guardian, and isolating the current Great Guardian from both inside and outside... Belobog's seven-hundred-year history had seen no shortage of similar noble rebellions. Even the Great Guardian becoming a puppet and the acting Great Guardian being assassinated had happened before.
Serval was merely doing it once again.
What exactly will history record me as?
If Belobog could still have a history.
Cocolia, what sliver of hope are you trying to seize? And what can we still do?
She was utterly lost.
Step, step...
Heavy footsteps sounded from behind her, as though someone were deliberately stomping to make noise.
Serval turned around and saw Fang Jie again. He smiled at her as he walked along the wall at a ninety-degree angle, avoiding the blood and snow on the ground as he headed into the darkness of the Underworld.
Behind him was Rin, floating as usual...
She was still carrying Yae Sakura on her back, following Fang Jie to "find a doctor."
Rin's face did not change in the slightest at the sight of the Guards fighting among themselves—nothing more than ugly puppets, controlled by others, with neither thought nor will. They were no different from rotten wood, dirt, and stone.
To keep her from seeing such an eyesore, Fang Jie had chosen to personally intervene, keeping everyone busy and pushing them to sort out this doomed winter city so a clean new world could be left behind.
Rin did not care, and she was unconcerned.
Serval silently signaled for the Guards to move aside. Everyone saw this bizarre scene plainly and openly.
"A little rough. If they notice..."
At the very least, March 7th would glare at him fiercely.
But compared to those consequences...
Fang Jie was already walking backward along the ceiling of the passage. Before leaving, he had deliberately taken a bath and changed into an outfit that looked local at first glance—a black bodysuit resembling the Gram Cavalry's combat suit, with a white half-armored coat reminiscent of the Silvermane Guards over it. Yet it bore no insignia or decorations. Pure white and plain black intertwined, and even as he walked upside down, not a thread of it stirred as he gradually disappeared into the distance.
"'The fool always rings twice' is a saying I like. Repetition and inevitability run through civilization. People always need omens—repeated omens—before they truly realize that something is about to happen, and that the same thing will inevitably happen again."
In the darkness, Serval heard his voice.
"The only lesson humanity learns from history is that humanity learns no lessons from history."
She could vaguely hear disappointment in it, as though he were disappointed that she did not dare to truly rebel against Cocolia.
Belobog's Underworld was as dark and shadowed as Fang Jie had imagined, and the air was downright murky.
But it was not quiet at all. It was strangely noisy.
Beyond the cramped passage lay a platform-like area where the Overworld and Underworld exchanged and unloaded supplies. Since Bronya had delivered a batch of goods not long ago, the place was currently... in a full-blown brawl?
Two groups were fighting in a melee, one snatching supplies and the other guarding them.
"See? Humans are just like trash."
Looking down from above and stepping into the scene were two different things, and Rin's expression was inexplicably cheerful. Frankly, that was not a good sign.
"You were hoping those people would come here, weren't you? You wanted to see how many would be willing to come here, but the result clearly did not satisfy you."
She mocked Fang Jie for not understanding humans.
"I wasn't."
Fang Jie had not even asked Cocolia to send Gepard or Bronya down. He had not expected any of this. It was all Cocolia's doing.
Serval was an even bigger surprise. Who knew what she was thinking?
But Rin did not care. "Do you know Twilight Street? I heard my sister mention that place, but Uncle Kalpas never spoke of it."
Before you continue