Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Welt was weeping. He truly never imagined he'd be faced with such a terrifying dilemma.

Just as Kevin had said, the only difference between the weapons North America sold and the Honkai Fission Bombs was the scale of the death toll. Fundamentally, they were doing the same thing.

"If you don't want to see this escalate, you should be the one to stop those people from casually throwing their weapons around," Kevin said. He didn't see anything wrong with what was happening. To do what you want to do—that was the drive humanity was born with.

"No, I just... don't know what to do."

Welt's thoughts were becoming clearer.

Where was the most Honkai Energy stored right now? Undoubtedly, Academy City.

So, who could produce the cheapest Honkai Fission Bombs? Dr. Tesla, of course.

With Tesla's current abilities, she could replicate Honkai Fission Bombs at virtually zero cost, and using them was also remarkably simple. Cocolia had demonstrated that Academy City had both the capability and the audacity to use them.

The reason the world hadn't yet descended into nuclear war was that no nuclear power had ever possessed such audacity. But now, Cocolia had stepped forward, demonstrating that she had defenses against nuclear weapons and the will to use them herself.

Academy City had unquestionably mastered some kind of power. Its people believed they could live happily and peacefully even if they were cut off from the rest of the world. If that was the case, why should they care about the opinions of those outside? Why not use this power to make the entire world conform to Academy City's will?

"The schism within Academy City is too absolute, to the point of creating such a vast and cruel class divide. I was worried that an even more terrifying rift would occur, but I never imagined Cocolia would try to open the floodgates like this, unleashing all of Academy City's pent-up psychic energy."

Welt was in agony. He could neither bring himself to kill everyone in Academy City, nor could he stand by and watch humanity split into two different species.

As things stood now, Welt had basically figured out Noldrei's plan.

"He won't allow a society with such clear class divisions to exist forever. Next, Noldrei will guide more people to the forefront, then remold them according to his methods, transforming them into the New Humans of a new era."

"The Honkai Fission Bombs, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—they're all just targets he set up."

"For a government or an organization to prove its ability to reward and punish, it must first have an object for that reward and punishment. That object becomes the tool to prove its power."

"Noldrei is using this incident to send a message to the entire world: Those who defy him will die. Those who follow him will live, and live even better."

"If I'm not mistaken, Noldrei's next move is to start eliminating all formal religious organizations in the world."

Kevin remained silent, searching Welt's words for clues to Noldrei's methods of world domination. Noldrei's true objectives were always revealed when a conflict reached its explosive peak. But by the time it detonated, even those who wanted to stop him would be unable to, trapped by their own positions.

Just like Welt was now.

This was the source of Welt's agony. He couldn't accept the people of Academy City becoming a completely different human species, so his only option was to follow the path Noldrei had laid out: to sacrifice those nation-states that were too 'loyal' to their religions.

By painting the backward and vicious image of religious fundamentalists, he would create a stark contrast to the picture of Academy City leading all of humanity into a new civilization with new morals and ethics.

Welt chugged down more beer. He let out a breath and said, "I just got word. The price Cocolia sold the Honkai Fission Bombs for was practically nothing. A handout, do you understand? Just one dollar. She did it to prove that certain regimes are unfit to wield military power."

"And now, Cocolia has achieved her goal. Heh. Regardless of who launched the first bomb, Israel or Palestine, these societies—built around a central religious structure—will be the first to be purged."

Welt could already see the outcome. The time was coming for religious systems to be completely removed from the world stage.

Kevin wasn't bothered by this. After a brief look at this era's history, he knew that every national revolution was a bloodbath.

Noldrei wanted to transition humanity from a capitalist society to a genetic one. The things he would have to do would likely be even more terrifying and unsettling, especially since the capitalist system had not yet been completely abandoned. This made Noldrei's actions seem all the more horrifying and incomprehensible.

"I understand what you're saying," Kevin's question cut to the heart of the matter. He clearly understood what the Current Era warrior was doing. "So, all things considered, you still believe the path Noldrei has pointed out is one of progress and freedom, and ultimately beneficial to humanity?"

Noldrei believed that the current human society was wholly inadequate to challenge the Honkai as a civilization, especially in its fragile and crisis-prone industrial form. This time, he was preparing to establish the framework for a genetic civilization, allowing humanity to issue a proper challenge to the Honkai in its new form.

And what was the most conservative, feudal force standing in the way of this path?

Without a doubt, it was religion.

"That's right," Welt's mind was much clearer now, perhaps because he was treating Kevin as some kind of stand-in for Noldrei, allowing him to pour out everything on his mind. "According to Noldrei's game plan, I estimate North America won't last long. While not as many people there are deeply religious anymore, abandoning that form of religious organization will mean smashing the rice bowls of a lot of people."

"I see. The next step is simply to promote the Stigma battlesuits further. By creating the image of a beautiful virtual community within the suits, and then controlling the links between a person's Stigma Space and others, you can control the very shape of their imagined spiritual world."

"With that, the old religious systems would theoretically become obsolete. As Emperor, Noldrei would have achieved direct dominion over humanity's spiritual pursuits."

Kevin marveled, "Truly, the wisdom of a future generation. We would have never even dared to imagine such a thing in the Previous Era."

To have the heart to take a knife and carve into the very internal structure of human society... it showed just how resolute Noldrei's convictions were from the very beginning.