Saigō Homura's words struck the world leaders like a bolt of lightning, leaving their minds reeling.
Wait, hold on! Weren't they just about to face utter annihilation, a crisis that threatened to completely sever the hope of human civilization?
How could Saigō Homura suddenly deliver news that was almost unbelievably good? While it certainly sounded like a cause for major celebration, wasn't the shift in fortune far too drastic?
After hesitating for several seconds, a leader finally spoke up. "Dr. Saigō, are you saying you successfully overcame the previously stated unsolvable problem?"
Given the project status concerning the 'End Emptiness,' all the leaders knew that Homura had practically issued a death sentence for both proposed solutions.
They had believed human civilization was doomed, so upon hearing this news... they naturally sought confirmation.
Facing the inquiry, Saigō Homura felt the rush of the wind (763), a slight smile playing on his lips.
"All solved."
"All solved?!" The voices of the world leaders on the other end of the line stretched into a distorted pitch, making them momentarily wonder if they were dreaming.
"Didn't you say the satellite ecological base required sufficient mass? How were both problems suddenly overcome simultaneously?" Even if the sky rained gold, it wouldn't be this unbelievable, right?
Saigō Homura offered no explanation for their astonishment. Looking up at the colossal dragon soaring above, he shook his head and ended the call.
"No need to rush. You'll find out soon enough!"
Click...
Hearing the dead air on the conference line, all the leaders were utterly bewildered. Couldn't he at least say he'd send an email (bbbc) explaining it later?
What did he mean, 'you'll find out soon enough'? If Saigō Homura wasn't going to explain, who else could possibly grasp the underlying principle?
Just as they were pondering this, a voice shouted: "Report!"
The secretary-general for one of the global powers burst into the room, clutching documents. "Look at the satellite data! The apocalypse... they found a way to cross the apocalypse!"
The secretary-general's voice trembled, his face alight with wild joy.
The leaders looked down at the tablet he presented.
In the satellite view of the Earth's tectonic plates, even the circling aircraft carrier fleets could only capture the turbulent Pacific Ocean.
The divine beast known as the Bull of Heaven stood where the Japanese landmass had been, continuously absorbing water vapor and expanding its form to an immense size, its color deepening to match the ocean water.
"The Bull of Heaven is using its Water Immortality to balance the water pressure and suppress the formation of a tsunami," the secretary explained. Uprooting the entire Japanese landmass from a depth of a thousand meters should have triggered a massive tsunami, potentially the largest in human history.
Yet, thanks to the Bull of Heaven, which commands global weather, the nearby island nations remained completely untouched.
"I know," the leader nodded, then pointed toward the Bull of Heaven's location. "But where is Japan? Where did that massive Japan go?"
Ordinarily, the Bull of Heaven's abilities would warrant awe and analysis, and they might even consider replicating its power. But the focus now wasn't the divine beast; it was Japan—or rather, the Japan that had just endured the Starburst.
"Dr. Saigō said he was fine, but how could the entire country of Japan vanish? Did Dr. Saigō successfully escape at the last moment?" The leaders knew the Starburst was powerful enough to obliterate the landmass. They simply couldn't fathom how Saigō Homura had survived a catastrophe of that scale.
The secretaries immediately shook their heads. "No! Dr. Saigō did not flee Japan, and Japan was not destroyed!"
They quickly switched the image. This view was still from the joint fleet's perspective, but the camera was now aimed at the sky. Above them was a deep, dark starry expanse.
Because of the Starburst, the atmosphere above Japan had been directly punctured.
Although air was rapidly flowing back in, that specific region of the sky was visibly different from the surrounding areas.
However, the focus of the image wasn't the sky, but the two black patches visible beneath it. After the Starburst, there should have been no floating objects—neither clouds nor meteors. In this context, the black patches overhead were exceptionally conspicuous.
"Such a vast visual projection from such a distance—what is that?" The leaders quickly recognized the anomaly, and an unbelievable possibility surfaced in their minds.
Even a meteor the size of a city would appear as a tiny black speck at this altitude, yet the black patches before them were many times larger than a mere dot.
This meant that whatever they were looking at was larger than an object fifty kilometers in diameter. At this moment, there was only one possibility—
"Japan! That's Japan, split into two halves!"
The secretary zoomed the image to maximum, allowing them to clearly discern the true nature of the "black patches." It was the entire Japanese landmass, at least a thousand meters thick, supported by colossal dragons underneath.
Two giant dragons were each bearing half of Japan, carrying the entire continent into the sky.
This time, Japan hadn't sunk; it had ascended!