Setsuna's operation in the Black Bullet world proceeded smoothly.
One group after another of little girls was brought onto the starships, departing from Earth and hovering in orbit, awaiting final evacuation.
He initiated a full mobilization of his base.
Every shipgirl that had undergone starship-grade modifications, along with the Bulin units, and even the two Siren girls, were summoned for the mission.
The Bulin units were primarily used as transport ships. Lacking weapon systems, their internal ship space was far larger than that of standard shipgirls.
Each Starship-class Bulin carried hundreds or even thousands of little girls inside, along with a large number of small yellow chicks, responsible for tending to their daily needs.
The most time-consuming and effort-intensive part of the operation was actually locating the little girls.
Some were hidden extremely well, while others had already been brainwashed, manipulated by adults into launching suicidal attacks against the fleet.
However, against Tohru, Spirits, and Heroic Spirits, every threat was effortlessly neutralized without causing any disturbances.
The total population of this world wasn't large to begin with.
After conducting repeated sweep-and-search operations, the entire Earth was thoroughly scoured.
...
Several days later.
Bzzz—
Yat Sen personally escorted the final group of little girls back to the fleet.
"Commander, this is the last batch of Cursed Children. We've conducted more than ten full-scale scans of Earth and found no remaining ones."
Beside her, Mio nodded in agreement.
"All traces of the Cursed Children's presence on Earth have disappeared."
With their confirmation, Setsuna and the other shipgirls finally felt at ease.
Richelieu pulled up the statistics interface and did a quick count.
"Commander, based on rough estimates, we have around 3 million Cursed Children, primarily aged between 7 and 10."
"That number… is quite astonishing."
"It's fine. Our capital city could use some new residents anyway. They're all good children, aren't they?"
Setsuna smiled as he spoke.
"That's true. I like them."
Formidable answered sincerely.
"They're well-behaved, intelligent, and adorable. Hmm… it kind of feels like having 3 million extra destroyer-class sisters?"
"The city's about to get a whole lot livelier!"
"…"
Among the shipgirls and Spirits, the Cursed Children were extremely popular.
There was zero concern about how they would get along.
"Now then, there's just one last matter to take care of."
Setsuna's gaze turned cold.
The little girls had been rescued, and the few good people had been safely relocated.
What remained in this world was nothing but non-burnable trash.
This Earth had already been ruined by both Gastrea and humanity—it held no special value anymore.
During the rescue operations, the shipgirls had witnessed countless acts of human cruelty, fueling their smoldering rage.
The Heroic Spirits and Spirits had been given full clearance to open fire, turning the world upside down.
But simply leaving would be far too merciful.
"All fleets, take position."
Setsuna activated his communicator, his voice calm and haunting.
"Prepare for indiscriminate orbital bombardment."
Shhhk—
Hundreds of starships deployed their weapon modules, their massive forms hovering in Earth's orbit.
At this moment.
The humans on Earth had just begun to breathe a sigh of relief.
That mysterious fleet had finally left.
In a single day, they had conquered the entire world, then spent the next few days searching for every last Cursed Child.
A whole bunch of bizarre Heroic Spirits and Spirits had roamed the cities like vengeful ghosts, executing troublemakers wherever they went.
Even communication networks and the internet had been completely disabled, making life pure agony.
But as the carrier-based aircraft and aerospace carriers disappeared from the sky, communication networks across Earth suddenly came back online.
As soon as people began reconnecting, they quickly discovered—
The Cursed Children were completely gone. Not a single one remained.
Seitenshi had disappeared as well.
This was nothing short of a catastrophic disaster.
Without the Cursed Children, humanity had no way to fight against the Gastrea.
To make matters worse, most of their military weaponry had already been destroyed during the starship landings.
Right now, they were utterly powerless.
"Is there any way to contact those aliens?! They spoke our language, didn't they?!"
"At least wipe out the Gastrea before you leave! You took all the Cursed Children! How the hell can you just abandon us like this?!"
In an instant, countless protests flooded the internet.
Some people resorted to cursing, while others tried to analyze the situation rationally.
And then—someone noticed something strange.
The fleet hadn't actually left.
Using astronomical telescopes, they could see the starships still in orbit, forming organized formations around the planet.
And then—
With a single order from Setsuna.
Hundreds of starships began bombarding the surface.
This was not an interstellar war.
Orbital bombardment had a very different purpose—
Its goal was to wipe out all living targets and military infrastructure on the planetary surface.
Thus, the focus was placed on maximum destructive power and wide-area coverage.
Weapons like hydrogen bombs, which were normally too slow for space warfare, had little use in fleet battles.
But when dropped from orbit to obliterate primitive civilizations—
They were perfect.
And since the Azur Lane armory had stockpiled an absurd number of them, they might as well put them to use.
In a single moment—
Thousands of ultra-high-yield nuclear warheads rained down from orbit.
Mixed with positron siege cannon blasts and various other high-powered weapons, the earth below turned into an apocalyptic inferno.
Even from outer space, one could see mushroom clouds erupting all across the planet.
Orbital bombardment's true essence lay in its methodical, precise execution.
The fleet remained completely stationary, doing nothing but firing downward.
With Earth's natural rotation, their firepower would eventually engulf every single inch of the planet.
Under the relentless bombardment of hundreds of starship-class shipgirls, the oceans of the planet began to boil, and entire regions and cities were flattened.
Mountains were shaved down into plains, and the planet's geography was permanently altered.
Throughout the attack, the remaining humans—who had regained communications—repeatedly attempted to contact the Eternal Snowfall.
At first, they sent demands for answers, questioning why he had taken all the Cursed Children and why he was wreaking havoc on Earth.
Once the first wave of bombardment began, their messages turned into curses—a flood of vulgar insults came pouring in, forcing the AI to filter out most of it.
After enduring another round of bombing, the insults became pleas for mercy.
People begged him to spare the remaining survivors of the planet.
Setsuna remained silent.
He had no interest in arguing with them.
He simply ordered the fleet to fire another round of bombardment in the direction of the incoming transmissions.
As the planet completed a full rotation, the orbital bombardment had swept across the entire surface—
No more voices could be heard.
"It's over."
In the final moments, due to the intensity of the bombardment, the overwhelming concentration of high-energy radiation and hydrogen bomb detonations—
Ignited the atmosphere.
BOOM—
The entire planet now resembled a burning rock, glowing bright red.
This was the worst-case scenario that early nuclear scientists had once feared—
And now, it had become reality.
The scorching atmosphere turned the planet into a giant pressure cooker.
The oceans evaporated, the rocks melted into magma.
Under the tens of thousands of degrees of heat, everything was reduced to ash.
Even those hiding in the deepest underground shelters and nuclear bunkers stood no chance of survival.
Earth had been completely transformed into a lava planet.
Humans, Gastrea, and every single living organism had vanished without a trace—
Only rivers of molten rock flowed slowly over the ruins.
"…"
Seeing the sheer destructive power of the shipgirl fleet, the Heroic Spirits and Spirits were visibly shaken.
"Commander… so this is how interstellar civilizations deal with primitive planets?"
Gudako swallowed hard.
From a visual standpoint, orbital bombardment melting an entire planet was far more overwhelming than any magic attack she had ever seen.
"This is nothing."
Setsuna dismissed it casually, motioning for the shipgirls to prepare for departure.
The Black Bullet world was now nothing more than a molten wasteland—there was no reason to ever return.
"One day, when we build a Colossus or a Star-Eater, I'll show you what real efficiency looks like."
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