Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Hikigaya Hachiman was having a really, really bad day.

He was just out here to hold a press conference, say a few words, and then he gets suicide-bombed by "fans."

Hikigaya Hachiman himself was fine, of course, but a good number of reporters who were standing too close had died.

Fortunately, Ayanokōji was further away, handling some miscellaneous paperwork in the rear. Otherwise, he probably would have been caught in the blast alongside Hachiman.

Hachiman touched his face, discovering that the artificial skin covering his head had been half-blown off and was now a mangled mess.

He figured there was no point in pretending anymore and ripped the rest of the fake face off, exposing his mechanical skull to the light of day.

"Everyone, don't panic. This is just a minor incident. See? The recording equipment back there is still perfectly fine, outside the blast radius."

As he spoke, Hikigaya Hachiman picked off the bits of flesh that had been blasted onto him by the bomb, unsure which brave soul had left him this little gift.

Hachiman was completely unharmed, but the same couldn't be said for the poor reporters who had come from all over the world for follow-up interviews.

"These are all overly extreme religious fanatics. Whether it was the terrorism of the past or the racism of the present, these demons and monsters are all within Academy City's strike zone. For the sake of world peace and the progress of human civilization, we must purge all non-secular organizations that threaten human governance. Oh, and of course, as everyone knows, popes don't actually believe in religion; they belong to a secular religious hobby club."

"Believe in Academy City, believe in the future of humanity. You, too, could be the next me!"

His mechanical eyes scanned the ravaged scene and immediately caught sight of another "devoted fan" charging toward him.

"You've got to be kidding me! Another one?!"

Hikigaya Hachiman simply raised a hand, and a beam of internal energy vaporized the man, detonating the bomb on his body well outside the effective range.

Shrapnel and debris pelted harmlessly against Hikigaya Hachiman's steel body.

"See? Old-fashioned bombs will be useless in the future. What can you do, crash a Boeing into me? It won't matter. I'll still strike hard when I need to. And I'm not the only RoboCop in Academy City."

"Besides, you all know that these kinds of terror attacks are wrong. We will be seizing a plot of land in Africa large enough to accommodate ten million people and begin a new renovation project there. In the future, this land will no longer permit the existence of people with two different faiths."

"Oh, right, we already destroyed Jerusalem and all that. You should probably spend some time reading your holy books while you can. This might be the last beautiful time you have with them. Academy City will soon begin cleansing the world of all religious texts."

"Of course, we will certainly eradicate all sorts of depraved cults. We aren't stopping you from believing in something, but in this world, the only ones with the so-called 'right to sacrifice' will be us."

"I am merely issuing a notification..."

Hikigaya Hachiman was indeed issuing a notification. And in terms of results, his notification was extremely effective, fully demonstrating a powerful, violent deterrent.

A robot standing on a stage, shouting about cleansing humanity's religious beliefs for the sake of humanity, was a bizarre sight no matter how you looked at it.

But for the current Noldrei, these religious beliefs were indeed useless.

They were an illusory community that could not mobilize human progress, a collective that only served to maintain conservative moral ethics. Noldrei not actively wiping these things out was already a blessing.

At St. Freya High School, the students and teachers watched the scene in astonishment.

Hachiman's "domineering" speech, in particular, shook his "brothers and sisters" to the core. It wasn't that Academy City didn't have groups with other religious beliefs, but all of them had been packaged up and completely replaced by the first phase of the Stigma Battlesuits.

Those deeply engrossed in their faith were likely to be captured in the first phase, then fall into a trap and be sent to a mental institution. Occasional withdrawal symptoms could even be used to push them further into the Stigma Space.

"Himeko, am I hearing things?"

Theresa suspected she could no longer keep up with Academy City's pace. If she remembered correctly, weren't there still many believers in the world?

How could their faith be eliminated? Were they going to kill them all one by one? But if they didn't, what could they do? Theresa couldn't even imagine a solution.

"To ordinary people, a Herrscher is already no different from a god. For these people, it's even more so... Look at him. He was surrounded by explosions and didn't get a single scratch. Not even a mark was left on him. In this situation, there's no power that could possibly turn the tables. The purpose of faith is to organize human life and production by maintaining human organizations."

Himeko said with a sigh, "But the production activities of the future will completely surpass the models of the past millennium. This new model will give birth to a new 'pursuit of a new world' that better fits human needs. Academy City needs this new type of human. Otherwise, who's going to mine for Academy City? The ordinary people with no Honkai Energy resistance who could get run over by a car just by stepping outside?"

Theresa looked at Himeko in disbelief. "Isn't getting hit by a car what happens to normal people? How did they suddenly become 'ordinary people'?"

Himeko thought for a moment and replied, "Principal Theresa, would you get killed by a car? Probably not, right? If a small car hits you, the car is more likely to be totaled, while you might not have any major issues. Only with that level of physical strength can you contribute more to the development of Honkai Energy."

"Let's be realistic. The capitalist system provides workers with a quality education because it needs a high-quality workforce, not because people want a better education. Those bastard rulers won't just give you an education for free, unless the workers actively revolt."

"The same logic applies here. In this phase of Academy City's genetic society expansion, the interests of the new humans are completely different from the interests of those outside."

Theresa scratched her head and sighed. "I'm not worried about that. I'm just wondering if it's really okay to announce this to the whole world. Won't it cause... bigger problems?"

"Problems? You mean those old powers that can't even defeat the LGBTQ movement?" Himeko said, not at all surprised. "Times have changed, Principal Theresa. We're about to start striking hard at the outside world."