"Aside from Brother Izayoi's BDA, which has been fully perfected, the research progress on the three main projects led by the Group is quite impressive."
At the headquarters of the Holy Cross Group, which had sparked a global revolution in new energy and new materials.
In the conference room, Homura Saigo was reporting to the other core members on the Holy Cross Group's progress over the past few months.
Since the battle in North America, the Holy Cross Group had come to dominate the world's development through absolute military power and a lenient policy, allowing them to utilize the world's resources.
All factions were now focused on the single goal of overcoming the apocalypse, and to this end, they had launched numerous projects.
Among them, there were three that Homura Saigo was most focused on and had invested the most energy into.
"Three projects?"
Hearing this, Kudou Asuka looked bewildered.
"I've been busy with the popularization of the Third Stellar Particle lately, dealing with the leaders of other factions every day. I haven't paid much attention to the Group's development. What are these three projects you're talking about?"
Nominally, Kudou Asuka, who was in charge of diplomacy, was the supreme leader and spokesperson for the Holy Cross Group.
To the outside world, this teenage girl was a ruthless figure who had ascended to the throne of an empress by wielding world-ending weapons.
Not only was she powerful herself, but even the hundred-thousand-strong Heavenly Army followed her every command. In every respect, she was a monarch who controlled the ultimate form of violence.
According to the model that current human society could understand, Kudou Asuka, who wielded the greatest deterrent force, was undoubtedly an absolute leader even within the Holy Cross Group, whose word was law.
However, the reality was clearly not so.
Although she held the title of leader and did indeed have the highest level of authority—and no one in the rescue team would even object to her ruling the world—Kudou Asuka was really not some ruthless person whose word was law, at least not within the rescue team.
To the outside world, she was the most prominent figure in the Holy Cross Group, capable of mobilizing vast resources with a single word and even easily deciding the fate of a nation.
But in her own eyes, she was just the spokesperson for the Holy Cross Group, or rather the rescue team, responsible for external communications. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her a glorified gofer.
Team collaboration requires coordination between leaders, which means contact at the diplomatic level.
And whenever diplomatic matters were involved, the rescue team dumped the entire task on Kudou Asuka.
Even with the Holy Cross Group's current influence, which meant they didn't have to be overly cautious in diplomatic activities, the task of re-establishing the world order was simply too tedious, and Kudou Asuka was still swamped with work.
Although she did indeed control and could mobilize the resources of the entire Group, and even the entire world, possessing power like that of a supreme empress, she felt like she was just the one cleaning up the messes—and in fact, she was.
If the Holy Cross Group was now a large research institution, then her role was akin to logistics, with everything serving to improve research efficiency and output.
When she heard the rumors from the outside world, she would get furious.
What kind of empress runs around like a headless chicken while her subordinates are leisurely conducting research back at headquarters?
If it weren't for the fact that the rescue team was full of oddballs and socially awkward people, with no one else who could handle a conversation, she would have found someone to take her place long ago.
Under these circumstances, she naturally had no time to pay attention to the Group's internal research and had handed over full authority to Homura Saigo.
If Kudou Asuka was the empress, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say Homura Saigo's position was that of a Minister of Internal Affairs or a Prime Minister.
Therefore, Kudou Asuka was actually not very clear about the Group's internal affairs, hence her question.
Hearing Kudou Asuka's question, Homura Saigo immediately replied.
"The Third Stellar Particle popularization project that you're in charge of, Milady, is one of them. Your progress has exceeded my expectations. Although your compulsory orders, thanks to your 'Dignity', have caused many complaints and dissatisfaction from various factions, the results achieved make this side effect acceptable."
He praised Kudou Asuka's work.
The Third Stellar Particle popularization project was the beginning of everything.
If the Third Stellar Particle wasn't popularized in time, the world could fall into the "Bull of Heaven" scenario—a point in time where those in power wield extreme violence, and a small whim could destroy the world.
Only by rapidly popularizing this power could they avoid an apocalypse caused by an individual going rogue.
Although, with the number of victims now reaching one hundred thousand, the popularization effort had passed its most dangerous initial phase, the popularization itself still had a more positive significance for advancing the course of history.
After witnessing the absolute deterrence represented by Kudou Asuka and the overwhelming power of the "Heavenly Army," whether for ambition or self-preservation, the other nations all hoped to obtain more Third Stellar Particle carriers.
Therefore, even if they were occasionally forced by Kudou Asuka's Gift-powered commands, they still flocked to negotiate with the Holy Cross Group, very actively recruiting volunteers in their own countries to receive Third Stellar Particle implantation.
Nothing beats having your own.
Against this backdrop, the project progressed very smoothly.
It would probably only take a few years to fully popularize the Third Stellar Particle.
Although the various nations had their own ulterior motives, prioritizing the recruitment of soldiers in an attempt to replicate an army like the "Heavenly Army," where individual combat power reached seven digits, the Holy Cross Group turned a blind eye to this, not preventing them from acquiring their own local armed forces.
"I'm working so hard, of course I wouldn't hold everyone back."
Hearing Homura Saigo's praise, Kudou Asuka proudly put her hands on her hips.
"As for the complaints from those leaders, there's nothing I can do. I already try to hold back, but they still can't withstand a single sentence from me. I can only have Saichou speak for me occasionally."
The commands of "Dignity" were too much of a bug for humans to handle. If Kudou Asuka weren't careful about misusing this power, she could turn the entire world into her puppets.
Often, she wouldn't even notice a trap; she'd just ask the other party to be a little more honest, and they would lay out their entire scheme, making their trump cards completely transparent and robbing them of any ability to negotiate.
In this respect, it wasn't wrong to call her a natural-born empress.
In the original story, she detested her ability because she couldn't make genuine friends. Now that this was no longer a concern, she naturally felt no aversion to her power.
So, after a proud complaint, she asked.
"This task is certainly important. What about the other two?"
"There's another one, and it's also related to you, Milady."
"It's related to me again?"
"It's the reverse-engineering and analysis of your divinity, Milady."
Homura Saigo opened a PowerPoint presentation, displaying their current research results.
"It's now basically complete."
"Divinity?"
At these words, even Izayoi couldn't help but glance over.
Everyone remembered that Homura Saigo had once proposed a hypothesis that divinity was just a special manifestation of the Third Stellar Particle, similar to a special BDA.
This hypothesis had even been confirmed by Typhon.
If this theory was correct, then successfully researching divinity... wouldn't that mean they now possessed the power to create a god?