"Mei."
"What do we need to do?"
The Black Emperor was Kevin's greatest opponent, and also the greatest enemy of the Flame-Chasers and all of human civilization.
By all rights, Kevin should have been the last person to trust the Black Emperor's words.
But at any time, Kevin would always, unconditionally, trust Mei. So if Mei was willing to trust the Black Emperor...
Kevin would never object.
In less than an hour, the amount of information they had received from the Black Emperor was overwhelming, so much so that almost everyone was still struggling to process it.
Except for Kevin.
He was only responsible for trusting Mei's decisions and fighting to protect his comrades and humanity. The rest could all be left to Mei.
"Wait a moment..."
"Wait a moment, Kevin."
Dr. Mei forcefully pinched the bridge of her nose, then quickly walked to a computer, trying to verify the information the Black Emperor had given them as fast as possible.
They didn't have much time.
But before anything else, they had to verify the authenticity of the information. The Flame-Chasers had fallen into the Black Emperor's hands far too many times. Although he had demonstrated absolute superiority in terms of direct strength, there was no guarantee he didn't have some special objective.
After all... Aponia had been taken away by the Black Emperor.
There were still thirteen of them present, yes, but there could have been fourteen.
And just before Dr. Mei could begin her "calculations," a jarring communication alert rang out from the side. The request was from the United Nations, and it didn't even have a button to decline the call.
"We have detected an energy fluctuation of an immense magnitude at the Flame-Chasers' headquarters."
"What exactly just happened? Why was the communication suddenly cut off? Are you now—"
"Click."
The questioning, while not exactly a barrage, was clearly impatient, and it was forcibly cut off by Dr. Mei. Having left the area where the Black Emperor was, her connection with Prometheus had been re-established. With the latter's power, she could easily "hang up" any call she didn't want to answer, regardless of its purpose or origin.
At that moment, Dr. Mei inexplicably thought of Aponia.
Before Mobius could prepare to conduct experiments related to "memory restoration (memory piecing)" based on the [Yudu Chen], Aponia had been taken back to The Deepest Place, under the pretext of "security assurance" and after negotiations with the higher-ups and the United Nations.
"What the Black Emperor said might be..."
"Mei?"
"Ah, my apologies!"
Seeing Mei muttering to herself, Sakura, who was beside her, took the initiative to interrupt her thoughts, which had drifted off to who-knows-where.
Five minutes later.
"Hah..."
Dr. Mei let out a deep sigh, then addressed the others waiting by her side.
"The Black Emperor did not deceive us."
"At least on the matter of the Eleventh Herrscher, what he said should be the truth."
"The Authority of Binding."
Dr. Mei projected the mathematical model she had just created into the center of the conference room.
"The Black Emperor calls it the [Divine Grace Barrier]... This is the true form of the golden domain we saw earlier."
After a brief display, Dr. Mei immediately switched the projection to a more detailed solution. After all, this room was still filled mostly with brutes; the only ones who could truly understand the model were Mobius and Vill-V.
"The power of the Herrscher of Binding," she began.
"It can completely nullify Honkai Energy and, to a certain extent, other forms of energy."
As long as she could witness it with her own eyes, she could use her own repository of knowledge to see the essence of a thing or phenomenon.
This was Dr. Mei's "power."
"However,"
"This nullification is not without an upper limit."
"As long as the energy level is high enough or the quantity is large enough, we can make this 'barrier,' which also relies on Honkai Energy to be maintained, reach its limit."
"The former is very difficult to achieve."
Dr. Mei directly dismissed the first method.
"Honkai Energy is already a type of energy with a very high energy level. The fact that the Moonlight Throne can convert Honkai Energy into any known human energy source proves this point."
"An energy with a level even higher than Honkai Energy..."
Dr. Mei lightly tapped the frame of her glasses on her nose, and after a brief hesitation—
"I'm afraid it would only be Quantum Energy."
"And that golden Honkai Energy the Black Emperor uses."
At this point, Vill-V interrupted Dr. Mei's speech slightly.
"Harvesting Quantum Energy shouldn't be too difficult, right?"
"Although we don't have the Eye of the Deep, with the spatial coordinates we once obtained from the [Thousand-Realmed Ichinen], combined with the Keys of Domination..."
"No, Vill-V."
Dr. Mei rejected Vill-V's idea.
"We can indeed harvest Quantum Energy, but I think—"
The Black Emperor's words couldn't be fully trusted, but his advice... combined with the clues and intelligence they had obtained before, the sinking of the continent of Mu might have truly been a result of humanity "bringing it upon themselves."
"For a short time..."
"No, when it comes to resolving the Herrscher incident, it is best we do not entertain ideas in this area."
"..."
"You're the boss, you call the shots," Vill-V said with a light shrug.
"In that case," Mei continued.
"The only plan we can consider is the second one: instantly fill this domain with a massive enough quantity of energy."
"Then, before the Herrscher of Binding has time to react, we strike it down directly with the strongest means we currently have."
After speaking, Dr. Mei placed her calculation results in the most conspicuous position.
"This...?" Mobius asked "gently."
Again, only Vill-V and Mobius in the room could understand just how high the "quantity" represented by the numbers there was.
"I don't doubt your calculations," Mobius said, this time being the one to raise a question.
"But if this is the correct answer... I think humanity might as well surrender and wait for death. It would be more straightforward."
"Even if we threw all 119 existing Fusion Warriors at it, it would only be 'a drop in the ocean'."
Mobius further rubbed salt in the wound:
"Besides,"
"If all the Fusion Warriors are sacrificed, who will deal with the Herrscher of Binding?"
"From its performance just now, its physical body alone is at least on par with the Herrscher of Flame from back then."
"..."
Mobius's words made the others realize the gravity of the situation.
"You're right."
"But... we don't just have Fusion Warriors."
Dr. Mei spoke slowly, as if she had made some kind of resolution:
"The 'barrier' can absorb all types of energy. While 'filling' it instantly is impossible, as a secondary approach, as long as the rate of replenishment can exceed the Herrscher's rate of 'digestion'..."
"Mei."
At this, Mobius showed a surprised expression for the first time.
"You remind me..."
"Of why I brought you into the Flame-Chasers in the first place."
That's right.
This was a true decision-maker. This was a plan that was not beautiful but was absolutely effective, a plan that treated all sacrifices as numbers.
The energy Dr. Mei spoke of was...
Bio-energy.