The Fleet of Fog required supply ships to recharge their nanomaterials on a large scale. Without engaging in intense battles, they could only gather small amounts of silver sand from the sea to maintain daily operations.
Far East.
The aerial warship hovered high above an inland city, gathering Honkai energy. Kongou and the others kept a close watch on the movements of the Fog, humanity, and I-401, prepared to respond to any sudden developments.
Vibration warheads were now being mass-produced in the United States.
Kiana Kaslana took advantage of this time to reconstruct and upgrade the Mental Models of the Fog.
"How much have you improved?" she asked.
Kirishima: "Sixty-three percent."
Haruna: "Fifty-eight percent."
I-400: "Seventy-one percent."
I-402: "Seventy-four percent."
With the nourishment of Honkai-corrupted energy, they had all gained souls. Their computational capacity was no longer consumed by maintaining Mental Model functions.
Their processing power instantly rose by two hundred percent.
And with the Fog's restrictions lifted, they continued evolving under Honkai energy's influence.
Kongou's computational capacity had now increased nearly seven to eightfold.
Kirishima, Haruna, I-400, and I-402 had also been strengthened five to sixfold.
"401 has made contact with the super battleship Musashi," Kongou suddenly reported. They were now different from the Fog.
The Fleet of Fog was not their enemy—but could easily become one.
Given their current position.
"Do you want us to deploy?" Kirishima asked eagerly. She felt powerful—terrifyingly so.
Even against a super battleship, she was confident she could fight head-on.
Of course, her main goal was to redeem herself by defeating I-401.
Kiana Kaslana smiled. "There's no need. They'll come to us."
That the protagonist's I-401 would ally with Musashi had long been within her expectations.
Chihaya Gunzou's father, Chihaya Shouzou, was called "father" by the super battleship Musashi—serving as the Admiral of the Fleet of Fog.
Although that Chihaya Shouzou was merely a humanoid puppet made of nanomaterials, the connection between them still existed.
I-401 was the puppet vessel of the super battleship Yamato—and Yamato was Musashi's elder sister.
On the massive display aboard the aerial warship appeared an image of a middle-aged man in sunglasses beside a silver-haired girl with closed eyes.
Kiana Kaslana sat suspended in the air, watching as Musashi spoke through the Chihaya Shouzou puppet.
The message could be summarized simply:
Due to humanity's reckless industrial development, the planet's ecosystem had been devastated. Thus, the Fleet of Fog had sealed the oceans to protect the planet. Yet humanity ignored their warnings—so the Fog would now assume full control over human civilization. All nations were to disarm, dissolve their governments, surrender unconditionally, and submit to the Fog's rule.
Heh.
So it was an environmental crusade after all.
When Chihaya Shouzou finished, Musashi added coldly, "The Far East has already declared unconditional surrender under the Fog's authority. Kongou—cease your destruction immediately. Otherwise, I will personally sink you."
Kongou crossed her arms, sneering. "Sink me? Then come and try, Musashi."
She had no interest in playing diplomacy.
Kirishima clenched her fist against her open palm, grinning. "Looks like we're in for a real fight!"
Haruna frowned. "We're outnumbered."
Kirishima scoffed. "So what? We'll just storm through and take Musashi's core ourselves!"
I-400: "You're getting ahead of yourself."
I-402: "Way ahead of yourself."
Kongou turned to Kiana Kaslana. "What do you think?"
"If they've come this far—then we fight," Kiana said nonchalantly.
After all this preparation, it would be a waste not to.
"Understood."
Kongou nodded.
"Let's make a global announcement of our own."
Kiana Kaslana transmitted the message to Kongou.
Shortly after the Fleet of Fog's global broadcast ended, Kongou's figure appeared once more on every screen around the world. Behind her stood Kirishima, Haruna, I-400, I-402, and Kiana Kaslana disguised as Maya.
Hovering in midair, Kongou spoke coldly to the global audience:
"I am Kongou, former flagship of the First Oriental Fleet of the Fleet of Fog—now the pseudo-Herrscher of the Honkai Cosmos, the messenger of God.
"We act under the command of the Universal Consciousness—to purify this planet. The Universal Consciousness has foreseen that the civilization of this world will, in the future, become harmful to the universe itself—threatening cosmic peace and endangering the universe's existence."
"Therefore, we have decided to initiate a total purification of this planet and alter its environment."
???
Everyone standing before their screens was left dumbfounded.
The Fleet of Fog had just finished declaring that humanity's pollution of the ecosystem forced them to seal the oceans and take control of humanity to protect the planet.
Now another Fog faction appeared—claiming to have received orders from the Universal Consciousness to annihilate a civilization harmful to the universe and cleanse the entire planet.
A threat to universal peace... to the universe itself?!
That was one colossal accusation.
Representatives of the Universal Consciousness.
What kind of nonsense was that?
Surely they didn't mean the consciousness of the entire universe, right?
The universe is alive—and has awareness?
Was that supposed to be real?!
Humanity hadn't even ventured beyond its solar system. Were these people seriously expecting them to believe that?
Environmental pollution was, at least, a human issue—it made sense for the Fog to intervene if they wanted to police the oceans.
But now it had become a matter of cosmic peace, a threat to the universe itself.
That wasn't just humanity's problem anymore.
If other alien civilizations came to destroy them for it, it would almost sound... justified.
Could the Fog really be cosmic bureaucrats—universal peacekeepers enforcing galactic law?
They had sealed the oceans to stop humanity from further damage—just like police cordoning off an area with yellow tape.
The more people thought about it, the less it made sense.
...
Fleet of Fog.
"Universal Consciousness..." murmured Hiei, a girl wearing a student council armband on her arm, her uniform neat and immaculate. She stood atop her ship's bridge, adjusting her oval-framed glasses as she stared at the image projected before her.
Not far away stood Musashi—the silver-haired super battleship captain in a gray military cap—and behind her, the sunglasses-wearing man known as Chihaya Shouzou.
Up to now, Hiei had never once received a direct order from the Admiralty Code.
She didn't even know what the Admiralty Code truly was.
Was the "Universal Consciousness" that Kongou spoke of connected to the Admiralty Code?
Yamato was missing.
Musashi alone acted as the supreme flagship, issuing commands in the name of the Admiralty Code's representative—while that puppet admiral nodded along.
Were they truly following the Admiralty Code's will?
Hiei's thoughts swirled with doubt. For a weapon of the Fog to question its orders was, in itself, a violation of protocol.
But with one defection after another—Fog ships leaving the fleet and going rogue—she couldn't help wondering.
Why could they even defy the Admiralty Code's commands?
Between Kongou and Musashi... who was truly in the right?
On the super battleship, Musashi sensed Hiei's gaze. Her eyes, which had been closed, slowly opened. She looked toward Hiei and smiled faintly—the same calm, knowing smile as always.