NABC Page 181
Page 181
Claire held her transforming sword-gun, wiping the cold barrel with focused attention.
2B and Eve sat in their seats, curiously examining the interior of the aircraft.
Ariana and her three daughters were more reserved, sitting quietly in a corner waiting for Su Hui's instructions. The three sisters huddled together, talking quietly about something.
Merlin, on the other hand, was the most relaxed, curled up in the soft sofa with a cushion in his arms, looking like he could fall asleep at any moment.
The aircraft is extremely fast.
In less than half an hour, it completely left the territory of New York State and flew into the airspace of other states, which broke the original peace and attracted the terrifying monsters that existed in the high sky.
"Alert! High-energy biological activity detected, numbering over three hundred, rapidly approaching from below."
Ava's calm voice rang out inside the cabin.
On the screen, countless red dots emerged from the snow-covered ruins and forests, converging into a terrifying torrent that chased after the aircraft in the sky.
Those were mutated dimensional creatures, with various shapes and terrifying appearances.
The hatches on both sides of the aircraft opened, and automatic defense turrets extended, their blazing white energy beams striking the ground with precision, like the scythe of death.
boom! boom! boom!
Each shot exploded into a massive fireball on the ground, instantly tearing dozens of dimensional creatures to shreds.
However, the number of these monsters was so great that they seemed endless.
Even larger or extremely fast individuals, braving the barrage of gunfire, continued to close the distance to the aircraft.
A flying behemoth with a wingspan of over thirty meters suddenly soared into the sky from below, its blade-like wings slashing fiercely towards the belly of the aircraft.
"Activate energy shield."
Ava's voice was completely flat.
hum-
A light blue hexagonal shield instantly enveloped the entire aircraft.
A screeching sound rang out as the giant beast's claws slashed across the shield, leaving a trail of blinding sparks, yet failing to harm it in the slightest.
"Activate the automatic defense system."
Next second,
The aircraft's hull instantly unfurled several cannons, and beams of eerie blue energy intertwined to form a web of death, precisely piercing the heads of the monsters.
Puffs of foul-smelling blood exploded in the air, only to evaporate instantly upon contact with the aircraft's force field.
However, this is just the beginning.
After leaving human-populated cities, the number and intensity of extraterrestrial life forms increased exponentially.
Various bizarre monsters kept rushing out of the snowstorm, launching attacks without fear of death.
Most attackers were easily dealt with by the aircraft's weapon systems, but there were always some exceptionally troublesome ones.
"Thankfully, New York is safe thanks to our efforts to clean it up, but the outside world is becoming increasingly dangerous."
Ava pulled up a dynamic map, which was covered with countless red dots, each representing a high-energy reaction.
She frowned slightly as she watched the constantly updating data on the screen.
"According to energy fluctuation analysis, the expansion rate of dimensional fissures is accelerating, and the deterioration of the external environment is more severe than we expected."
Merlin, peering through the porthole, gazed with blood-red eyes at the snow-covered land below, and spoke softly:
"These things in the sky are at best minor monsters."
She stretched out her slender finger and pointed to the snow-covered earth below.
“I can sense that some large entities have grown up in the ‘singularities’ hidden beneath the snow layer of the city ruins, and the aura of a few of them is already quite terrifying.”
"The real trouble will come when the true dimensional collision occurs and the demon god descends."
At this point, Merlin's tone became heavy, and Su Hui, who had been keeping his eyes closed, opened them.
A sharp, razor-sharp gaze seemed to pierce through the deck of the aircraft, staring directly into the deep darkness below.
Merlin could sense changes in the singularity, and Su Hui, with his system scanning capabilities, was naturally even more aware of this.
Those monsters lurking deep in the earth were powerful and elusive, and some of them even gave him a sense of unease.
He could even sense several malicious gazes being cast from the dark abyss below, greedily eyeing their spacecraft that was piercing the sky.
Those auras were powerful, chaotic, and filled with a primal desire for destruction.
Some of them were so challenging that even he now found them somewhat difficult to handle.
The sense of urgency, like a tangible pressure, weighed heavily on everyone's mind.
Once those dimensional demons truly descend, this world will face a terror far beyond imagination.
Fortunately, the aircraft was extremely fast.
Although they encountered several waves of monster attacks along the way, the journey became much smoother after Su Hui occasionally took action and used the power of [Power Control Domain] to wipe out several particularly troublesome and powerful creatures directly from the spatial level.
In less than a day, the outline of a city appeared on the horizon.
Washington.
Unfortunately, the city had already been reduced to ruins by the apocalypse.
The iconic obelisk has broken and collapsed, a huge hole has been torn in the dome of the Capitol Building, and even the White House, which once symbolized power, has become dilapidated.
Su Hui did not choose to fly directly to the White House area, where the defenses would undoubtedly be the most stringent, and rushing in would only alert the enemy.
His gaze swept across the city map, eventually settling on a landmark building.
It was a towering skyscraper with a wide observation deck at the top, which was now covered with a thick layer of snow.
The aircraft slowly descended and silently hovered on the helipad on the top floor of the building.
The wind whipped up snowflakes, howling and pounding against the rooftop.
The hatch opened, and Su Hui stepped out first, his black trench coat fluttering in the cold wind.
The women followed closely behind, walking out one by one.
The group stood on the edge of the rooftop, looking down at the desolate, abandoned capital city where only a few lights shone in a few places – a safe zone built by the government.
"Merlin."
Su Hui's voice sounded exceptionally clear in the wind and snow.
"I need to contact Bayonetta again. I need to know where she is now."
His objective was clear: only by contacting Bayonetta could he obtain more detailed information from her and make plans for the next operation.
"it is good!"
Merlin nodded, abandoning his lazy demeanor and adopting a solemn and elegant expression.
She stretched out her slender finger and gently tapped it in the air.
Golden magical runes spread out from her fingertips like a blooming ripple, merging into the endless wind and snow.
..........
at the same time,
Washington, D.C., suburbs.
The biting wind whipped up heavy snowflakes, lashing against the broken walls and ruins, producing a mournful sound like rusty metal scraping against each other.
On the rooftop of an abandoned building covered in snow, two figures stood silently in the wind and snow, like sculptures blending into the desolate landscape.
One of them had a voluptuous and graceful figure, with a black tight leather outfit that outlined her breathtaking curves. The black leather outfit accentuated her mature and voluptuous figure, and even in this apocalyptic environment, she still maintained a composed elegance and sexiness.
It was Bayonetta.
At this moment, her gray eyes, which usually held a hint of playfulness and provocation, were staring intently through the lenses of her cat-eye glasses at a heavily guarded military base not far away.
Her breath condensed into a thin mist for a moment on the lenses of her cat-eye glasses.
"That thing is still inside."
Her voice carried a languid magnetism, but her gaze was sharp as a knife, fixed intently on the base.
"Ah."
The voice that answered her was as cold as ice and snow, yet tinged with weariness.
She was a tall, beautiful woman wearing a pure white cloak.
Her waist-length silver-white hair was tied into a high ponytail with a black floral ribbon, and a few strands of hair fell beside her pale, almost transparent cheeks.
Inside the white cloak was a matching jumpsuit. The cloak fluttered in the cold wind high above. The upper body was covered by a white bodice with black ribbons tied below the chest. The V-neck cut at the abdomen was daring, revealing a large expanse of skin. The lower body was covered by a high-slit skirt that exposed the thighs. The long, beautiful legs were encased in white mid-calf stockings, and the black ribbon wrapped around the left thigh added a touch of ascetic beauty.
Her name is Mio.
He was also a member of the troupe.
At this moment, Mio was covered in wounds, and a few spots of crimson blood seeped through her pure white skirt, like plum blossoms blooming in the snow, a shocking sight.
Her blood-red pupils reflected the grim scene of the base below, but her eyes were filled with an inescapable weariness and exhaustion.
"The thing that was born in that singularity is hidden down there."
Mio's tone was completely calm, as if she were stating a fact that had nothing to do with her.
"It won't be long before this so-called safe zone, along with the army and the newly awakened superhumans inside, becomes its food."
She frowned slightly, a subtle movement that added a touch of humanity to her icy, sculpted face.
She raised her hand and gently pressed it against her side, where a smudged dark color could be vaguely seen beneath the white hem of her skirt.
He was injured in a previous battle when he was surrounded and attacked by superhumans controlled by that monster.
"Don't be so pessimistic, Mio."
Bayonetta turned her head to look at her companion, who was much younger than her but seemed to have already burned out her life force, and sighed helplessly.
"Merlin is already on his way, and... Su Hui, he might come too."
"Su Hui?"
A ripple finally appeared in Mio's blood-red eyes, a complex emotion mixed with curiosity and doubt.
"The man you keep mentioning."
She wasn't optimistic, and her tone remained indifferent.
"it's useless."
"This world is already being watched. Even if he comes, what can he change?"
Mio's gaze returned to the seemingly impregnable base, her tone carrying a weary air of having seen through everything.
"This world is being eroded and destroyed step by step, Bayonetta. We've witnessed it too many times, haven't we?"
Her words were soft, yet they seemed to carry a tremendous weight.
Bayonetta's smile faded slightly; she knew Mio was telling the truth.
They once followed a powerful being, traversing various dimensions on the verge of destruction, attempting to save those worlds targeted by dimensional demons, but the result... without exception, was failure.
Witnessing destruction time and again has shrouded Mio's already desolate heart in a thick layer of dust.
"He's different."
Bayonetta lit another cigarette, took a deep drag, and the smoke rings she exhaled quickly dissipated in the cold wind.
"He's more of a monster than a dimensional being. Just recently, he forcibly broke through the limitations of this main world and stepped into the 'legendary' realm."
"Moreover, none of his followers are weak."
"A legend?"
Mio murmured softly.
Legendary Rank!
She knew better than anyone what that meant.
That is a leap in the level of life, proof of breaking free from the shackles of the world.
Even in countless shattered worlds, they would be considered the most powerful beings.