The Gamer who traveled to Honkai: Star Rail

Listening to Kevin relay these absurdities, Elysia couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Kevin: "What's so funny?"

Elysia: "Oh, nothing. Just thinking about how ridiculous this all is. Don't worry; it'll all work out. Aponia's prophecy was clear—humanity will triumph. But the spoils of victory? They won't belong to them… or to us. Hmph, those fools are in for a rough time."

Kevin: "?"

Elysia's ability to switch into cryptic mode always left Kevin, who prided himself on his straightforward thinking, completely lost.

Elysia: "Relax. Trust me. Humanity will win. Earth will be freed. And, ahem, your condition? There'll be a way to fix it. When this is all over, you'll be able to embrace Mei and do everything you've always wanted. If that's all, I'll hang up now~"

To the Fire Moth, the power games of the world's leadership were inconsequential. As an organization wholly devoted to humanity's survival, its members had little interest in politics or personal gain.

Let them take the power, take the influence—Fire Moth's people would happily trade it all for a normal life.

Kevin, one of Fire Moth's top warriors, never cared about status or control. All he wanted was for the war to end, to find a cure for the side effects of his enhancements, and to spend the rest of his life peacefully with Mei.

He'd even figured out what he'd do when it was all over: become a programmer. Coding paid well, after all.

With those thoughts in mind, Kevin was about to hang up. "No—"

Before he could finish, a sharp alarm blared through the line. The call was forcefully transferred to Mei.

Mei's voice was sharp, filled with urgency: "Elysia! Run! Take as many people as you can, as fast as you can. It's the Doomsday Beast!"

Elysia's expression froze. "The Doomsday Beast?"

Mei: "Yes, we've detected an enormous source of imaginary energy. The readings confirm it—it's the Doomsday Beast."

Elysia: "Understood. I'll start the evacuation immediately."

Elysia quickly ended the call, her face growing serious as she turned to Pei Guang. "Ah Guang, the Legion has deployed a Doomsday Beast, and its target is this location."

The deployment of a Doomsday Beast was no trivial matter. The Legion's usual strategy followed the destructive aesthetic of their master, the Aeon of Destruction: to slowly dismantle civilizations, erode their hope, and watch them spiral into despair.

But releasing a Doomsday Beast meant abandoning that methodical destruction: it signaled that they deemed conventional annihilation insufficient. It also meant the presence of a Pathstrider or perhaps someone touched by an Aeon. 

While those individuals posed a challenge, the Antimatter Legion would ultimately adjust, kill them, and resume their slow obliteration of the planet's hope.

However, Pei Guang's arrival and the transformation of Earth had disrupted this rhythm, prompting the deployment of the Doomsday Beast to eliminate the source of the anomaly.

Hearing Elysia's words, Pei Guang's expression softened with nostalgia. "The Doomsday Beast, huh? An old rival."

Stelle grinned at the mention. "Yeah! But last time, didn't you solo it, Ah Guang? This time, let's take it down together!"

March 7th stood up, scanning the cityscape. "But if we fight it here... this city doesn't have the kind of defenses a space station does. If we fight here, the entire city might be destroyed, right?"

Pei Guang nodded. "True. But no problem—we'll figure out a way to lure it out into an open area. Besides, we've got plenty of high-tech gear from Xianzhou. I'd say we're well-prepped to handle a newbie boss like this. 

Elysia, can you spare some troops for us? I've got a lot of good equipment here. With soldiers who can follow orders, we could put up a solid fight. I don't need thousands—just a few hundred, maybe three or four hundred, will do. Don't worry about the rest; my taunt skills are top-notch, and the tech we've got should make taking down the Doomsday Beast manageable."

Pei Guang's confidence stemmed from their earlier exploits on the Xianzhou. They had "liberated" a significant amount of Cloud Knights' gear, which appeared traditional of his homeland—like guan daos—but was entirely cutting-edge technology. How much gear did they grab? A lot.

Had the Xianzhou noticed? Not at all. The missing equipment had been reported as destroyed during the Abundance disciples' rampage. The loss count perfectly matched the reported destruction, allowing Luofo to request new, upgraded gear without raising suspicion.

Pei Guang also had power armor from the Cloud Knights—armor capable of withstanding even the Doomsday Beast's shockwaves, provided it wasn't corrupted by the Abundance's influence. While a single soldier with this equipment couldn't take down a boss like the Doomsday Beast, a coordinated group working in tandem mixing tactics and stealth could certainly do it.

And there was more: Pei Guang's team also had Herta Puppets. Despite Herta's often-exaggerated claims, her battle puppets were indeed capable of holding their own against a Doomsday Beast.

Pei Guang smirked. "Between us, some high-tech gear, and a little ingenuity, this Doomsday Beast doesn't stand a chance."

Ultimately, the Doomsday Beast could only bully planets without the protection of a Path, low technological capabilities, no legitimate Pathstriders, or the gaze of an Aeon. In the grand scale of the universe, destroying something like Herta's Space Station was only possible because Herta wasn't present.

Even then, destroying it would likely result in mutual destruction. The Doomsday Beast was indeed a single-entity weapon capable of devastating a planet, but the difference between planets was as vast as that between humans and amoebas.

To truly destroy a powerful planet, it would require the deployment of a Lord Ravager. But for a planet like Earth, lacking legitimate combat-oriented Pathstriders and interstellar technology, the Doomsday Beast was more than sufficient to bring about total annihilation.

However, Pei Guang and his group had started their journey at a much higher level, especially having spent time in Xianzhou, a faction more than capable of beating a Doomsday Beast to a pulp. In their eyes, the Doomsday Beast, while intimidating in lore, was just a glorified… minor boss.

From Pei Guang's perspective, this situation was straightforward. Since this encounter unlocked the real-time strategy mode, he'd simply approach it as one would in a game.

Deploy some units, send in three or four hero characters, take down the boss. Easy. Sure, it might feel like cheating, but hey, it's his game. As long as he wasn't ruining the experience for other players, what did it matter?

However, Elysia's next words left Pei Guang stunned.

Elysia: "Sorry, but I don't have many soldiers left under Fire Moth anymore."

Pei Guang: "What?"

Elysia blinked and explained earnestly, "I just got a call from Kevin. He said the soldiers originally assigned to Fire Moth have been reassigned. Their command has been removed and they're no longer under my jurisdiction. I can't deploy any significant forces for the battle."

Indeed, Elysia was being completely honest. As a straightforward person, she wouldn't lie about such things.

Pei Guang frowned. "But I saw plenty of soldiers when I arrived. You're saying they've all been pulled out?"

Elysia nodded firmly. "They're no longer part of Fire Moth. While they does still have some forces, they've been—"

Pei Guang cut her off, his expression suddenly brightening. "I get it! Internal politics! Classic RTS trope—commander fights on the front lines, while the back lines tear themselves apart. It's fine. Back when I played games, I couldn't fix internal strife. But now? I've got powerful allies!"

March 7th raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Really? We show up, and suddenly the troops are gone? That's a bit too convenient, don't you think?"

Pei Guang: "This is normal. Back when I was playing Mental Omega, every time I started, my troops either got blown up by oil barrels or wiped out by the enemy. The ones that survived were just a handful. 

The most ridiculous thing was having access to all kinds of advanced tech, but they refused to trust me and didn't unlock it for me. If they'd just unlocked a few features earlier, I could've wiped out the enemy entirely. Troop redeployment right before a fight? Standard fare—I'm used to it."

Stelle, looking at Pei Guang's frustrated expression, patted his shoulder: "Ah Guang, you've been through so much. How did you even get used to this?"

Pei Guang: "You don't really get used to it; you just deal with it. But this time, we have a chance. Before this happens again, we need to consolidate everything here. I don't want to end up on my own territory and still have loyal troops I can't call on."

To be honest, he was never afraid of so-called "troublemakers." Most of the time, the term was just a way to poke fun at game mechanics or complain. Players might grumble about them, but in reality, as long as their strange needs were met—be it happiness or satisfaction—they became loyal subordinates.

But the so-called political "elites" in scripted scenarios were a different story. Those people were the real reason why delays in progress occurred. If they dropped dead a day earlier, victory would come weeks faster.

Reflecting on this, Pei Guang's resentment reached its peak. He firmly decided that once the Doomsday Beast was taken care of, he'd purge all the political power players on his territory, leaving only the ordinary civilians.

Sure, the high level of realism in this world meant he couldn't just click a button to enact policy changes like in a strategy game. But hey, if he couldn't do it directly, he could always cheat. Like he said before, Xianzhou is filled with people—grabbing a few civil servants to handle basic tasks or seeing if he could get some automatons from Herta's side to take care of admin work would definitely be more reliable than these so-called leaders constantly scheming to stab him in the back.

The last thing Pei Guang wanted was to get into another storyline where he needed to mobilize troops