A piercing alarm and Percher's shriek sounded simultaneously, startling the entire laboratory and even the whole city of Tokyo.
Amidst the sharp blare, Saigō Homura froze for less than a millisecond before his eyes widened in utter horror, clearly realizing what had occurred.
Code Black Warning!
The Starburst is imminent!
He immediately looked down at the screen, which displayed the geological activity detected by the sensors.
"Third Stellar Particle radiation intensity is increasing exponentially, leaping up every millisecond. All characteristics match the Flash Burst model. The affected area covers at least half of Japan."
"Energy accumulation scale '763'—exceeds the upper limit, unpredictable!"
"Energy blast radius—exceeds the upper limit, unpredictable!"
"Time until energy burst: nine point three eight five six seconds!"
A series of deep red to black warnings were shockingly displayed on the screen. Even Percher, who didn't understand the meaning of the data, realized one thing: Disaster was about to erupt, and they, the Savior Group, were heading to the grave amidst the massive Starburst.
"Izayoi! Run!"
In his final moments, Saigō Homura roared.
Under a Code Black Warning, only Izayoi had any possibility of escape. In fact, even Izayoi, if he hesitated too long, would be caught, despite his ability to reach the scale of the sixth cosmic velocity.
In that instant, doom descended.
Izayoi heard his brother's cry, but instead of running, he walked up to his brother and embraced him directly.
"Izayoi! Are you trying to die, you idiot!"
Saigō Homura stared, eyes wide with disbelief. But he saw the helpless smile on Izayoi's lips.
"Idiot. What kind of brother abandons his little brother and runs away alone?"
From birth until now, Izayoi had never been a coward. Abandoning comrades just to survive? He would definitely not do something he knew he would regret later. While death wasn't a good thing for him, he didn't fear it enough to sacrifice his relationships.
Furthermore, without Saigō Homura's research capabilities, humanity could, at best, only reach the Pantheonization Era that Saigō Homura had described.
As for how to cross the doom of the Pantheonization Era and how to defeat the End Emptiness—those matters closely related to scientific research were not his specialty.
Therefore—
"I can only apologize to Lord Su Mo and Canary-sensei for their guidance."
Izayoi closed his eyes, accepting his fate.
"How could this be so sudden?!"
The twin sisters, Kudō Asuka and Kudō Ayato, were also stunned by the sudden turn of events.
Kudō Asuka immediately summoned the Bull of Heaven, the Anti-Utopia Demon Lord, the Absolute Demon King, and Typhon, using these numerous Demon Lords to shield the entire Savior Group. Even knowing it might be useless, she wasn't the type to sit and wait for death.
Kudō Ayato, after sighing, took her sister Kudō Asuka's hand. Was this reconciliation? She didn't know. But she knew she would face the apocalypse alongside her sister.
In these final moments, Kudō Asuka dropped her tsundere attitude and stopped acting like the elder sister. The two sisters, hands tightly clasped, exchanged a look, then shivered simultaneously.
"If only the last person we saw was Lord Su Mo!"
"If only Lord Su Mo would appear right now."
Having spoken in unison, the two sisters stared at each other.
"You also feel that way about Lord Su Mo—"
"You also want to commit insubordination?!"
Watching the actions of the Savior Group, the billions of gods within Little Garden fell into complete silence...
They did not blame these children for giving up the struggle in their final moments. After all, anyone could see that the impending Flash Burst was powerful enough to destroy the entire trajectory of human civilization. A one-in-ten-billion chance, yet these children had run straight into it. Calling it an act of God was no exaggeration.
Since such a low-probability event had occurred, nothing these children did would matter. Heaven was destroying humanity; it was not the fault of the warriors.
Yet, while understanding the children's innocence, they were forced into deep despair.
Everyone knew that this world was the Blueprint World specifically chosen by Lord Su Mo and entrusted with great hope. At the critical moment of the battle against the End Emptiness, the End Emptiness itself would be directly defeated.
But if this world failed... did they truly have time to wait for the birth of the next world miracle?
The answer was no.
Which meant—
"We failed!"
A deity lowered their head, utterly distraught.
"It's over, everything is over! End Emptiness 1.2 is invincible, completely unbeatable!"
An atmosphere of despair began to spread.
Having been purified by the Star Memories, the Pantheon no longer held its former arrogance, nor did they express dissatisfaction with Su Mo's decision. After all, everyone clearly understood that this failure had completely crushed the future hope of humanity.
There was no longer any time to wait for results from other worlds; the failure of this world meant total defeat.
Which meant—
"We have completely lost!"
Hope collapsed, fighting spirit withered, and courage was exhausted. The entirety of Little Garden sank into an ocean of despair.