Only a layer of not-so-thick concrete and steel separated the central rooftop of the Pearl of Sapphire from the clamor of the stadium below, yet it felt as if a world apart.
The night wind here was coarse and ferocious, completely unlike the gentle breeze blowing elsewhere.
The world seemed particularly cruel to certain people, much like this wind that clearly discriminated based on altitude.
Several high-power engineering lamps lit up this area of less than fifty square meters as bright as day, illuminating three figures and a creation that exuded a hideous mechanical beauty.
The "Cicada Molt" Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) rocket.
Himeko was half-kneeling beside the rocket's base, her bangs plastered to her forehead with sweat.
She was currently connecting the final "Cicada Molt" nano-unit conduit into the rocket body's feedback system. Her movements were as steady as a surgeon's, even though her fingertips had begun to tremble slightly from hours of continuous high-precision work.
From the moment she received the bracelet, Himeko had been here assembling this single-stage rocket. As of this moment, she had been focusing her attention completely for eight full hours.
Natasha leaned against the railing near Himeko and the rocket, staring at the tablet computer in her palm.
On the screen was Yun Mengxi's livestream.
When Yun Mengxi said, "Today is a stolen day," and leaped into the air, Natasha's fingers unconsciously tightened, her knuckles turning white.
Meanwhile, the Herrscher of Evolution, still maintaining Vakh's appearance, stood quietly by the platform's edge railing, looking down.
From this angle, he could clearly see the streams of people, tiny as ants, pouring out from the stadium's various exits. He watched them gradually merge into the streets, forming spreading currents.
The city lights spread out further away. They were sparser than usual, yet due to this unexpected "city-wide hide-and-seek," they revealed a restless vitality.
The sound of the livestream played through the tablet's speakers, intermittent in the wind.
"...belongs only... to yourself."
"Tonight, I'm running away!"
Then came that heart-stopping fall, followed by the eruption of cheers and commotion that managed to faintly penetrate the layers of the building structure to reach them.
Perhaps by coincidence, Himeko finished the final connection, straightened up, and rubbed her sore, stiff neck.
She glanced at the screen and pulled the corners of her mouth into a smile filled with gritty fatigue and envy.
"Living for yourself for a day... must be nice... Haven't had a vacation in a long time."
She walked to the edge of the platform, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Herrscher of Evolution without shying away, gazing at the crowd below which carried the chaotic air of a festival.
"Too bad today isn't 'stolen' either," Himeko's voice was low, scattered by the wind. "This is just a day we snatched from the Honkai's jaws using lies, calculations, acting, and even using a little girl as bait."
Natasha turned off the tablet. Her voice was calm, but colder than the wind. "So we don't have the right to be willful.
"Today, everyone in this city can rest and indulge, dreaming a sweet dream... everyone except us.
"We have to turn this 'snatched' day into every day of 'survival'."
The Herrscher of Evolution did not look back; he watched the city in silence.
Yun Mengxi's final words were like a small pebble tossed into the deep pool of his consciousness—a mixture of Vakh's memories, Herrscher instincts, and the desire for evolution—creating subtle ripples.
Live for yourself.
What was his "dream"?
Initially, it was just a vague desire to "protect Natasha"—the obsession of Vakh's residual consciousness.
Then, in the face of endless evolutionary possibilities, that dream expanded into "advancing toward a higher form, witnessing the ultimate evolution of life."
But in the previous loop, when Natasha lay critically injured and dying before him, her blood staining his hands red, and she whispered weakly, "I still have you"...
Doubt had pierced through his absolute rationality as a Herrscher clearly for the first time.
If evolution meant loneliness, meant stepping over the corpses of loved ones, then was this evolution... still what he wanted?
Was that still the true purpose of the "Herrscher of Evolution"?
His dream seemed to have quietly shifted in a corner no one noticed.
From a chaotic collection of "protecting Natasha" and "pursuing evolution," it slowly separated and clarified... Perhaps what he wanted was to go further on the path of evolution, but without paying the price of loss.
A Herrscher, actually beginning to covet "having it both ways."
This absurd thought sent a slight overload warning through the logical thought arrays deep within his core.
He forcibly suppressed this restlessness.
The commotion below gradually became orderly. Under some invisible guidance, the crowd was flowing toward the designated safety zones.
Himeko withdrew her gaze and patted the cold body of the rocket.
"It's about time." She turned to the Herrscher of Evolution. "Now, let's confirm the plan one last time."
Himeko pointed to the cramped, single-person crew capsule at the top of the rocket. "'Cicada Molt,' the toy Ryusuke Murata studied his whole life. Single-stage-to-orbit. The maximum payload is exactly your body weight.
"Within 12 seconds of ignition, it will break past an altitude of 30,000 meters—the lower stratosphere."
She pulled up a holographic projection showing the map of Sapphire City, overlaid with the diffusion models of the Honkai outbreaks from the previous three loops.
The crimson radiation circle was like a ripple of death, spreading spherically from a central point to envelope the city.
" The diffusion of Honkai energy has a core, and it radiates spherically from this core.
"And the location of the core depends on where the 'Herrscher' fully triggers the Honkai." Himeko's fingertip tapped the projection. "The last loop proved that you can induce the Honkai descent prematurely, and the core will be centered on your location when you activate your authority."
The projection changed, simulating what would happen if the Herrscher of Evolution stood at point A on the edge of the city and unleashed his power.
The Honkai radiation circle covered about half the city, while Area B at the other end of the city remained relatively safe because the Honkai energy was drawn away by the Herrscher core due to the distance.
"So, our earliest idea was to have you go to the edge of the city to 'detonate,' sacrificing half to save the other half." Himeko sighed, sounding helpless. "But Otto and Joachim calculated something far more ruthless."
The map zoomed out, displaying a topographical cross-section of Sapphire City.
The city was about fifty kilometers in diameter, but the tallest building in Sapphire City, the "Pearl of Sapphire," was no more than six hundred meters high.
Himeko drew a vertical line.
"The city is flat, but the sky is vertical.
"From the city center to the edge, that twenty-five-kilometer distance is packed with buildings, roads, and people.
"But from the city center vertically upwards for thirty thousand meters—to the stratosphere—there is almost nothing in that distance, only thin air."
She looked at the Herrscher of Evolution. "The rocket will send you to that altitude.
"Approximately five seconds after liftoff, when the rocket reaches maximum velocity at an altitude of about 15,000 meters, you will fully unleash your Core's authority to induce the Honkai of Sapphire City to erupt directly above the city."
The holographic projection began a dynamic demonstration.
A crimson core point lit up 30,000 meters directly above the city. The Honkai energy began to radiate downward, but also upward and outward to all sides.
This was the first step of Otto and Joachim's plan.
And the result of this insane first step was—
Not a single person in the entirety of Sapphire City would be eroded by the Honkai energy escaping during the outbreak.