However, perhaps extreme fear gave birth to some abnormal calm, or perhaps years of muscle memory and professional responsibility were forcefully taking over her body.
The string in Yun Mengxi's heart about the "concert" actually hadn't completely snapped yet.
Stage... I'm still on stage... The audience is watching...
This thought absurdly but stubbornly occupied a corner of her mind.
Almost in a sleepwalking state, she quickly adjusted from the embarrassment of the fall.
She even subconsciously tucked her hair behind her ear, forcing a gentle and slightly fragile smile on her pale face—one she had practiced countless times to soothe people—and looked towards the audience.
She wanted to say something, even if it was just "Please stay calm everyone."
But just the moment her smile rose and her lips were yet to open—
The sky above her head, through the transparent dome of the Pearl of the Sea, was completely swallowed by a purple so deep it was despairing, without any warning.
It wasn't sunset, nor city lights.
It was the color that ended all daily routines and tore apart all fantasies.
The Honkai, amidst her smile attempting to fulfill her idol duties and comfort the masses, officially descended.
Just one day.
Kallen, Himeko, Fu Hua, Natasha... these people from the "future" or possessing special powers had exhausted their efforts, mobilized resources, and even risked their lives.
Only then, with assistance from multiple parties, did they set up a seemingly tight defense line in Sapphire City, removing those "unstable factors" in advance, theoretically winning a slight advantage against the predicted disaster.
Then, when they truly tried to carry out actions according to the envisioned plan at the core of the disaster outbreak, attempting to control the situation and guide the public—
The official state apparatus of Shenzhou took only ten minutes.
Ten minutes. Precise intelligence locking, overwhelming troop deployment, targeted cutting-edge restraint equipment.
The Arahato armor wasn't defeated, but this time, Himeko didn't contact her other self, and Otto didn't intervene to help Kallen hide her identity.
So the officials brought out targeted biological restraint devices and launched a biological restraint solely aimed at Kallen.
Every cell in her body stopped working in an instant. The feeling that even her soul was imprisoned was not something the Key of Blankness could avoid.
City of the Future technology—the initial technology Otto used to create the original "Oath of Judah" after the Honkai outbreak.
The anonymous Titans from Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical were pressed to the ground by more standard mechs. Joachim, who tried to broadcast warnings, was quickly located, suppressed, and had his communications cut by elite squads.
All resistance, whether based on the individual technology of the City of the Future or the extraordinary martial power enhanced by the Key of Blankness, appeared so hasty and isolated in front of that massive, systematic power representing the highest authority of the current world.
Even a bit... clumsy.
These ten minutes were like a basin of ice water, extinguishing any romantic fantasies about "individual heroism" or "small group abilities."
It coldly demonstrated a fact: In front of a complete and determined national will, any non-systematic action trying to "correct" or "replace" order within the order is like trying to trim a torrent of steel with nail clippers. The result is already destined.
Kallen and the others' methods might save individual people, but they couldn't shake the overall situation at all. Even when real power intervened, they would be immediately smoothed out as "unstable factors."
These ten minutes highlighted the unshakable nature of "orthodoxy" and reflected the powerlessness of "heterodoxy."
It seemed everything should be under official control, playing out according to another grander, safer, albeit possibly slower script.
However, the fragility of the foundation of this "unshakable" nature, built on humanity's existing cognitive and power systems, was vividly displayed in the next minute.
This society—is centered on humans.
When that abyss-like purple smeared the sky, when the rule named "Honkai" itself began to be written into reality, everything changed.
The "order" that maintained the suppression for those ten minutes, its underlying logic instantly failed in the face of a higher-dimensional disaster.
Communication channels were jammed into an ocean of noise by violent energy. Precision instrument screens exploded into eerie snow or went black directly.
Well-trained soldiers were executing detention orders one second, and the next second they watched their weapons distort inexplicably, or their comrades beside them suddenly stiffen, their skin turning gray and decaying, roaring and pouncing on them.
The system collapsed. Not defeated by a stronger army, but destroyed by the rewriting of the entire "battlefield rules."
The Honkai's first move was placed on humanity's most fragile and important place—population. This move was tantamount to directly overturning the human side's chessboard, leaving humanity not even qualified to enter the game.
Firearms might be less reliable than a sturdy iron rod, armor might become moving coffins, and a strict chain of command was not as fast as the instinctive screams of survivors.
That immense official power, omnipotent ten minutes ago, was like a magnificent plaster statue with its load-bearing pillars removed. Within a minute, it began to crack and collapse from the inside, turning into meaningless fragments scattered on the ground.
From absolute control to complete disability, only the instant of the Honkai's descent separated them.
This progression was full of suffocating absurdity.
As if fate sneered at the carefully prepared side: What is the meaning of your debates on methods and approaches in the face of a true "heavenly collapse"?
Yun Mengxi stood still, her smile frozen on her face, her pupils reflecting the purple sky and this absurd drastic change.
She saw that at the edge of the stage, the Arahato that had just been locked down suddenly burst with abnormal overload blue light from the gaps in its armor, and the restraint device exploded with a "bang"!
The figure inside stumbled up, the faceplate opening a slit, emitting Kallen's rapid gasps.
Crawling out of the Arahato armor, Kallen's face was as pale as paper, even her hands and feet trembling.
That feeling of being restrained was like losing everything, from body to mind. The moment she was hit, Kallen felt she had nothing left. This feeling was really unbearable.
Even though she had broken free from the restraint now, Kallen still felt her body and mind scattered, slowly piecing back together.
Yun Mengxi saw that among the anonymous mechs firmly suppressed by the military Titans, one pilot seemed to have forcibly overloaded the core, causing the back of the mech to forcibly explode.
A figure wearing what was likely some kind of combat uniform jumped out wretchedly, one arm hanging limp. It was Natasha.
After landing, she didn't even look at Yun Mengxi. Using her still-movable hand, she pulled out a strangely shaped pistol from her waist and began to fire precise shots at the weirdly moving crowd surging from the audience entrance.
Every shot exploded a cluster of viscous purple energy, temporarily halting their advance.