Chapter 690 - 690: Is This World Even Normal?

"Haruhi said, let there be light."

After taking away the First Beast and the final Visitor and resolving the Beast crisis...

Almost instantly, visible changes began sweeping across the planet's surface.

Haruhi Suzumiya made her wish toward this world. In a realm imperceptible to ordinary people, "data" erupted across the planet.

A gentle breeze swept past. A low rumble echoed from the gray-yellow desert horizon as clear water seeped from cracks in the parched earth, rapidly gathering into streams.

The dunes were washed away by flowing water and gradually flattened, revealing moist soil beneath. Green shoots immediately pushed through the dirt, growing into dense grass in the blink of an eye.

Tree trunks sprouted from underground at a speed visible to the naked eye, rapidly shooting upward as branches and leaves unfurled, forming patches of shade that spread across the entire continent.

The gray-yellow hue of the sky gradually faded, replaced by brilliant blue. Birds and beasts that had long since gone extinct reappeared upon the land, wandering through the forests.

In only a few minutes, the desert planet had been completely transformed into a habitable world.

Of course, since Haruhi Suzumiya's imagination was limited and she had never seen what this world looked like before humanity's extinction, most of what she created was modeled after Earth's environment.

Even the oceans and several continental plates vaguely resembled Earth's, while all the plants and animals were species found on Earth as well.

Even so, the fairies who had just been brought aboard, along with the Great Sage and Winged Guard still on the floating continents, were utterly stunned.

"A miracle..."

"This is a miracle!!!"

Souwong trembled as he stared at the lush, verdant world below, now overflowing with life.

He had spent five hundred years planning a counteroffensive to reclaim the land. Even after eliminating the Beasts, establishing settlements suitable for humans might have taken another several centuries, perhaps even a thousand years.

The Starsea Empire had taken only half a day to completely eradicate every threat on the surface, then casually terraformed the entire planet while they were at it!

Although he did not quite understand why even the shape of the continents had changed, or why there were suddenly so many unfamiliar animals.

There was no doubt that this was something only a god could accomplish. Even the "Visitors" of the previous era had never possessed such world-shaping power.

"Later, the floating cities may organize pioneer teams and begin migrating down to the surface."

"Everyone is to follow my arrangements and refrain from acting on your own. This is a gift granted to you by the Commander."

Sophon calmly announced the orders to everyone.

She directed the Angeloids to control the restless crowds, while taking only a few seconds to map out the direction of their future development.

This included plans for migration to the surface, restarting technological development, entering the space age as quickly as possible, followed by space exploration and resource extraction.

Humans were extremely scarce in this world, while many other races existed in large numbers. In the future, each could be put to appropriate use according to their racial characteristics.

"Y-Yes..."

Whether it was the Great Sage, the upper ranks of the Winged Guard, or ordinary citizens, none of them could hide their excitement.

They had been forced to live on the floating islands solely to escape the threat of the Beasts. How could a place like that possibly compare to living on a real planet?

The chosen migration teams immediately began packing their belongings, eagerly preparing to start new lives on the surface.

"Mm..."

Nephren stared at the rejuvenated world below, then looked over at little Haruhi Suzumiya.

"She... can reshape an entire world with a single thought? Then why didn't she just..."

"Erase the Beasts along with everything else? Theoretically, she could have, but that might have caused some unexpected chain reactions."

Setsuna patted little Haruhi.

Generally speaking, the more specific the instructions given to Haruhi, the more accurately she could carry them out.

Directly interfering with an entire otherworld might accidentally cause certain people to be erased for no apparent reason.

"Besides, it's good to let everyone else get some exercise. Chances to go out and fight don't come along often."

"Oh..."

Chtholly and the fairies clicked their tongues in amazement.

Compared with these mighty beings from other worlds, they were still far too weak.

The Starsea Empire truly had hidden dragons and crouching tigers everywhere. They would have to study hard here.

...

Another half day passed.

All the teams previously dispatched to receive the Leprechauns and capture live "Beast" specimens returned to the Astral Express.

Shuttlecraft docked one after another along the train. With Sophon's positioning assistance, every last fairy was brought aboard without exception.

Since their souls were originally fragments of Elq, even if they were no longer used as weapons of war, their lifespans would not be very long. They would also continue suffering interference with their memories and thoughts.

Therefore, not a single fairy could be left behind. This included adult fairy soldiers like Chtholly and Nephren, younger fairy girls, and even quite a few infant fairies who had only recently been created.

"Tch. At this point, we might as well add a nursery car to the train."

Silver Wolf clicked her tongue.

Inside one of the cars behind the residential section, rows of fairies lay neatly in cribs, while several Angeloids were still carrying others in their arms.

It was the first time these combat angels had ever been responsible for childcare.

"Mm..."

Vampy curled up in her swaddling clothes and poked her head out, studying the newly arrived little fairies.

Amazing. Even lolis were no longer enough to satisfy the Starsea Empire's Commander. Now he wanted to start a raising sim from scratch.

Apparently, she herself was part of his playthrough too.

"I need another biological laboratory!"

Catgirl Herta had originally monopolized an entire train car for scientific research and medical treatment, but now it was packed with restraint devices of every size.

There were all sorts of monsters captured from Kumoko's world, along with Beasts caught in the WorldEnd world.

They were stacked one atop another in storage.

Almaria was also temporarily dormant, lying inside a medical pod as she awaited biological and genetic treatment.

If Herta had to research all these projects by herself, who knew how many years it would take? For the first time, she realized that even her research speed could not keep up with the rate at which the Starsea Empire discovered new things.

After the data was uploaded back home, the original Herta was already working overtime to produce more little Hertas so several projects could be conducted simultaneously.

"Not bad. We gained a little more than I expected."

Setsuna sat in the observation car and crossed the remaining items off his task list.

Then he placed a teleportation anchor in the void.

"The WorldEnd world has now been completely conquered. Sophon and the Angeloids can handle everything else."

"Oh, there may still be a few unresolved matters left over from the previous civilization. Have the Research Department deal with those."

With the major issues resolved, all the miscellaneous cleanup work could be handed over to others.

"Understood—"

After finishing the arrangements...

Himeko promptly poured Setsuna a cup of coffee and sat respectfully in front of him.

"Commander, what are our next arrangements?"

"Both Crew Five and Crew Six are here right now. Are we going to continue exploring worlds together, or split up?"

"Mm..."

Setsuna thought for a moment.

Of the several worlds discovered by the train crews this time, he had personally participated in four.

Some had been worlds he happened to encounter himself. Haruhi Suzumiya's world had required his intervention because the train crew could not handle it. As for Senren Banka... that one had been purely a matter of personal interest.

"Let's check on the others first. Come to think of it, didn't Albedo's crew head off to explore a new world after retreating?"

"Where did they go?..."

...

In another universe far away.

Boom—

The Astral Express passed through the void and arrived in a new world.

"This time, we absolutely must complete the world's conquest cleanly and efficiently, and wash away the humiliation of our last failure!"

Albedo lectured Shalltear, the Pleiades, Sword Maiden, Priestess, and the others.

Although Setsuna had told them it was not their fault that they could not resolve the situation in Haruhi Suzumiya's world and that retreating had been the correct choice, Albedo still found it deeply humiliating.

She was determined to complete this mission properly so she would not have to hang her head in front of the other train crews when they returned.

"Yes!—"

The Pleiades were well trained and eager for action.

The train sped through the sea of stars and arrived in the Solar System.

In this universe, they detected no especially powerful magical presence. Even the existence of magic itself was extremely faint.

There was no spacefaring civilization, nor any powerful beings capable of interfering with the structure of the universe.

According to Sophon's scan, the Solar System and Earth's environment were no different from those of ordinary pre-space-age human civilization. They could take control of it with ease.

The only exception was a special region marked in one corner of Earth.

It was a gloomy ancient castle hidden deep within a forest by magic, completely undetectable to ordinary people.

At the same time, it was also practically the only source of magical power in this entire world.

"Vampires! This world has vampires!!!"

Shalltear frowned. Her True Ancestor skill had taken effect, allowing her to sense a familiar presence.

With a whoosh, she drew her Spuit Lance, equipped her Valkyrie armor, and leaped down from the Astral Express.

"Follow me!"

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