Of course, Kiana and her family would need to relocate as well.
The slight difference was that only Kiana's mother would be evacuated. As for Kiana herself, along with Elysia, Mobius, and Vill-V, they would be heading to the front lines in Nagazora City, as previously arranged.
Kiana never explicitly said she would protect Nagazora.
But before leaving, she still extended her power over the city, enveloping it like a thin, protective film.
Like that, Nagazora, already on the brink of the Third Honkai Eruption, should be fairly secure now.
Hua and Carole left with their parents.
This time, both their mothers and fathers should make it out alive.
That's a good thing.
She'd always felt that objects could be replaced, but losing people… that was a real hassle.
Especially in the Sea of Quanta multiverse, where consciousness could be matched to a vessel, but you couldn't just gather scattered consciousness back into a container.
Putting aside everything else, if her own mother died, Kiana would absolutely lose it.
Whether charging at the Imaginary Tree would succeed or not was beside the point.
That moment itself would be unbearable.
She didn't have any self-destructive tendencies, so how could she just stand by and do nothing?
As long as resurrection wasn't something you could do on a whim, she'd do everything possible to prevent such a thing.
Even if she anchored a future where her mother was revived, trying to reverse the past—who knew if that would even work?
So, even if she might have to deal with it later, now was definitely not the time.
Then again!
Kiana's mother was already equipped to the teeth with protections courtesy of Kiana.
Even if the whole planet blew up, she'd be perfectly fine.
There was no need to worry about anyone bullying her either.
Or if some stubborn fool tried to pull something shady, targeting the people close to her…that wasn't a concern anymore.
Which was great!
By the way, the defensive perimeter around Nagazora was fully established now.
Besides local Far East soldiers, more elite troops had been deployed and stationed there.
Originally, they were on strict lockdown, ready to resolve the Honkai Eruption for good.
But after Elysia decided to come, and now that the Miss Finality was tagging along, the pressure on them had eased up significantly.
It was practically nonexistent.
Once everything was properly prepared, they sent a private jet to pick up Kiana and the others.
They also briefed them on the current situation in Nagazora.
"The Honkai energy density within Nagazora has reached critical levels."
"Yesterday it was around 540HW, but today the average has shot up to 830HW."
"…"
New equipment had arrived.
Using new measurement standards.
Inside the temporary command center, everyone was bustling with activity.
The commander explained, "Based on the varying concentrations of Honkai energy, we've roughly divided the defensive line into three sections."
"But there are very few soldiers who can adapt to the Honkai levels in and around Nagazora, so the main force consists of units from Fire Moth. They primarily rely on firepower support and will provide long-range assistance."
"…"
The forces closer to Nagazora were tasked with eliminating the Herrscher.
But it wasn't just Nagazora—other cities, even the entire Far East, would face Honkai beasts and zombies descending upon them. Those needed to be dealt with too.
It was like an airdrop of enemy troops.
The Honkai didn't care about defensive lines.
There was no telling when enemies might appear behind them.
That had to be taken into account as well.
So, while the overall defensive line looked connected on the map, in reality, it was a series of strongholds.
Once the Honkai Eruption began, they would follow predetermined routes to systematically clear out the Honkai beasts and zombies.
For now, the Nagazora camp was more like an elite strike team aiming for a decapitation mission.
Even with Kiana and the others here—meaning they wouldn't have to face the Herrscher directly—the section of Nagazora they were responsible for would undoubtedly be where the Honkai was most concentrated, with the strongest zombies and Honkai beasts.
That was what they had to face.
Here.
Kiana didn't see Ato, but she did see Himeko.
In fact, centered around Nagazora, the Fire Moth squad members had spread out, each assigned to their own stationed positions.
Elysia was very close with Himeko , so she naturally stuck by her.
Kiana was also quite interested in Himeko.
It was then that she realized, when she'd been counting up her potential harem, she'd forgotten about this older sister.
Even though she'd rather leave Dystopia to Kosma.
After all, she was just a background character—no strong feelings there.
But for Miss Himeko, who was like a stand-in for big sister Himeko of the Current Era, she did have… a little something in mind.
So, she struck up a conversation with Himeko too.
Kimeko was curious about Kiana and didn't mind her approach.
After all, who could dislike a stunning beauty like Kiana?
Right?
As for Mobius, once she arrived, she immediately started setting up her own operations.
Having ready-to-use equipment made things much easier.
Vill-V, on the other hand, was looking around everywhere, asking questions, examining things, and doing some research.
Eventually, she just started sticking close to Mobius, helping out here and there.
By following Mobius, she could get her hands on all sorts of things—not just related to the Honkai, but plenty of other topics too.
She loved it, even if it wasn't exactly her field of study.
It didn't matter.
The expert Vill-V could easily keep up with Mobius's pace.
That worked out perfectly.
She was still young, so of course she focused on learning from her seniors. Absorb as much as possible, understand deeply, and then apply it creatively.
Mobius didn't mind this.
Whether it was because she'd noticed Kiana had taken a liking to Vill-V and assumed Vill-V would eventually become one of their "sisters," or simply because Vill-V's sharp mind pleased her, she didn't say.
She hadn't brought Blanca along.
But having Vill-V here was nice too…
Anyway!
For the next two days, they waited here.
Everyone else was busy, soldiers preparing nervously.
No one bothered them.
During this time, Elysia came over with her phone, wanting to watch something with Kiana.
Watch what?
The official live stream, of course.
Broadcasting the current situation in the Far East!
As expected.
Almost the entire world had its eyes glued here.
Even among the evacuated civilians, some were watching on their phones, while others gathered together—since the authorities had set up large screens and projectors to show the broadcast publicly.
The propaganda was thorough.
Everyone had a stronger sense of anticipation.
They all knew something would happen today—it felt like witnessing history.
You could see, as soon as the live feed connected, there was a young female reporter.
She held a microphone, with military encampments behind her.
"Good afternoon, dear viewers."
"This is the official live broadcast from Far East Television."
"I'm your reporter for this coverage, Koizumi."
"I'll be bringing you updates from the front lines."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
20+ advanced chaps on my patreon.
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.