Holy Grail War

This feeling...

A series of pounding heartbeats echoed like thunderclaps, brimming with surging vitality.

Luo Shu lowered his head, panting, his gaze filled with shock. He keenly sensed his body changing—his metabolism alone had accelerated thousands of times over.

As if breaking free from invisible shackles binding him, the entire world brightened before his eyes.

Not only were his five senses enhanced, but even his brain's processing speed had increased a hundredfold.

The current him was like a supercomputer; what his past life called calculus or geometry... to him now, it was child's play. Any data could be effortlessly handled by this brain.

Luo Shu felt he was terrifyingly calm now.

Calmer than a sage mode, his mind like still water, undisturbed and unruffled.

For humans, achieving this was too difficult. As creatures born with all kinds of desires, no one could attain absolute calm—it was more often just a descriptive term. For anyone to truly calm down...

Yes, truly and completely calm down—that was nearly impossible.

Yet he had done it, as easily as breathing, etched into his genes.

Just as a newborn instinctively knows to suckle, absolute calm was his instinct.

Luo Shu quickly sat before the computer, his gaze serene.

After multiple layers of consideration, he decided to write Nasu Kinoko's short story "Steel Land" and localize it, enhancing immersion to a certain degree.

Steel Land: As the name implies, it refers to a land as hard as steel, hinting at a desolate earth, its color like iron. Due to humanity's endless consumption and exploitation, the planet lost its vitality and marched toward death.

Food could no longer be grown; the atmosphere was no longer suitable for animal survival as in the past.

Not only were most of the continents cracked wastelands, but the sky was also covered by gray and murky white clouds.

Earth had reached its end, becoming a dying star.

This story also had a post-apocalyptic setting, and compared to other doomsday theories, it was more grounded.

Existing doomsday theories often included Christianity's "Great Flood," the "Comet Hitting Earth" theory, the "Zombie Apocalypse" theory, and so on...

Because billions worldwide believed in Christ, the flood doomsday theory had the most market.

This was also tied to genetics. Ancient peoples lived around rivers, bearing indelible memories of floods washing everything away. Every ethnicity had its own apocalyptic legends, and this fear persisted into modern times.

However, the popular doomsday theories on the market all felt somewhat like crying wolf.

That was why Luo Shu decided to write a more interesting apocalypse—one that sent chills down the spine, making people worry it might actually happen.

At the same time, writing "Steel Land" was also because he loved this work about the greatness of humanity.

The world is dead?

No problem—we humans can carry on!

The world thought we were bad for it while alive, so it found someone to wipe us out?

No problem—fight back directly. Even planet-level UOs, humans have cut down a few!

Even if this continuation relied on "species modification" of humanity to sustain itself, it was enough to make people feel immense pride. The indomitable spirit shone like gold, illuminating the long night of humanity's path forward!

Especially the setting of Slash Emperor—protecting humanity even as it caused the world's end. This was the attitude humanity should have toward the world.

There never was any savior, nor did we rely on gods or deities!

To create humanity's happiness, we need to dig it out with our own hands!

Luo Shu took a deep breath.

He opened Twitter, registered an account, put on a cloak, and chose the nickname "Merlin," using the Divine Authority Jade to modify and conceal.

He clicked in.

The posting area.

Gender: Confidential

Age: Confidential

Occupation: Confidential

Hometown: Confidential

Bio: No guarantee of completion, no guarantee of filling holes, refuses explanations, refuses friends, refuses publishing...

I write, you read. Please be quiet.

Then.

Luo Shu slowly closed his eyes. Countless sparks of inspiration splashed in his mind, ultimately combining with his memories to form the most exquisite text.

With the crackling sound of typing, lines of pitch-black characters emerged on the screen.

Humanity's Final End · Part One: Steel Land.

First Chapter.

First Act—The Death of Gaia.

That day, the aurora was dazzling.

That day, the apocalypse descended.

Utter despair, suffocating grief—at the end of resource depletion, where lay the path forward for humanity?

Before his eyes was a modern metropolis, blooming with prosperity, bustling with crowds coming and going, people chatting and laughing.

It seemed peaceful and harmonious.

Yet beneath the gilded surface of boiling oil, humanity had burned away its own future.

Moments later, a twisted black vortex formed in the azure sky.

In 2012, a magical ritual was conducted. Humanity extracted the vast mana contained in the atmosphere, draining the Earth dry and causing the Great Source to wither. The planet shattered, heralding the extinction of all life dwelling upon it.

Gaia, the consciousness of the Earth, calmly accepted her fate of being slain by humanity.

She had birthed her children, and was killed by them in turn. She would perish alongside humanity—Gaia deemed this reasonable and accepted it without regret.

The Earth originated from stillness, and it was only fitting to return to stillness. This was the inevitable end.

Luo Shu narrated the tale unhurriedly, a desolate sense of eternity welling up.

But as he looked at the text on the screen, he frowned slightly, feeling something was missing.

Suddenly, the youth had a revelation, and he instantly manifested a master-class foundation in fine arts and music.

Under the effects of NTZ-48, he absorbed the knowledge flooding into his mind in an instant.

Then, Luo Shu began to draw the illustrations he envisioned. His right hand slid wildly across the mousepad like a tentacle, simple lines quickly filling the screen, followed by color rendering...

Soon, a vivid, dynamic image appeared, the oppressive atmosphere pushed to its extreme.

It seemed not like fiction, but a scene captured from some real world.

8. The reviewer was dumbfounded—how could a human produce this?

Then came the music.

A low accompaniment carried unsettling scales, lingering in the low register. The intervals seemed dissonant, yet conveyed a gradually deepening anxiety.

The orchestral section heralded the impending catastrophe, like someone sobbing and weeping.

This was a grand opus combining text, image, and music—the moment of its birth heralded the arrival of an epic.

After the aurora.

A boundless white fog enveloped the planet's surface, its dense toxicity proclaiming total annihilation.

The first image.

A magnificent steel city, vast crowds collapsing amidst the dense plague.

An atmosphere of panic and terror spread.

In the sky, a torn black vortex remained—the remnant of the magical ritual. The entire world sank in lament.

One brilliant civilization after another was destroyed. The toxic fog indiscriminately slaughtered every race on Earth.

Humanity fell from its position as overlord into the abyss, barely surviving amidst despair and struggle.

Under the threat of extinction, all nations set aside their prejudices against one another.

All of humanity united for the survival and continuation of the species, diligently developing genetic engineering technology and subjecting their own kind to various mysterious modifications and mutations.

Then, the next-generation primates called the "Ali-hundred Species" were born, along with some evolved "new humans" adapted to the toxic environment. Though none were pure humans, they stubbornly survived on Earth.

At the fact that her children had surpassed her own death and continued to exist, Gaia felt a profound terror.

Therefore, she sent a final SOS signal to the entire solar system:

"Please annihilate all primates still living on my corpse after I die!"

The other planets accepted Gaia's request. As the strongest tools of each planet's will, the UOs (Ultimate Ones) would descend upon Earth to cleanse the new primates entrenched on Gaia's remains.

This was the prologue of Steel Land—a story of a wasteland world.

Then, the main text began with a cute angel possessing golden hair and pure white wings, introducing the "Ali-hundred Species" living on the dead star. There was the ugliness and tenacity of human nature, as well as the immortality of spirit and faith...

In this wasteland world, people did everything in their power to stubbornly survive.

Luo Shu wrote furiously, his hands striking the keyboard so fast they left afterimages.

Suddenly, his body froze, his pale hand hovering in midair.

The NTZ-48 effect had worn off.

He had only finished half of the novel content for Steel Land.

Emerging from that state of omnipotence, no matter how strong his will, he felt a trace of regret and loss.

The version of himself under the drug and the current self were completely different people.

"I'll earn more Divine Authority Jades later and strengthen myself to that level."

Luo Shu muttered to himself, comforting himself.

That feeling was too wonderful, somewhat addictive.

Then, looking at the sprawling text on the screen, Luo Shu couldn't help but rub his eyes in surprise.

Is this really something I wrote?

The writing style was grand and imposing, the story's core thought-provoking, and the illustrations felt seamlessly integrated...

The combination of text and images created an immersive experience, and facing humanity's courageous resolve to cut off its own arm, the audience couldn't help but shed tears amidst the tragic atmosphere.

A masterpiece, an absolute masterpiece!

Luo Shu was certain that this piece, "Steel Land," would cause a stir online and earn him a massive amount of Divine Authority Jade.

It would lay the foundation for his next step.

After clicking send, this novel appeared on the Twitter account named Merlin.

"Hope I wake up to good news."

Luo Shu muttered to himself, his eyes growing tired, and soon he lay down on the bed.

He closed his eyes and slowly drifted into a light sleep.

Meanwhile.

Tokyo, Twitter Headquarters Building.

"What the hell, are newcomers this arrogant now?"

A young review editor was shocked as if struck by lightning, staring wide-eyed at the screen.

Twitter posting area—

"Steel Land" (pending review).

Synopsis: No guarantee of completion, no guarantee of filling plot holes, refuse explanations, refuse friend requests, refuse publication...

I write, you read, please be quiet.