Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

"The only option we have now is to start with the intel we've gathered on the nuclear weapons," said General Lee.

The screen switched back to the map showing M-country's nuclear weapon sites. The analysis was mostly done, so the map now showed bases in two colors: white and red. General Lee pointed to the majority of white bases and continued:

"Although M-country has many nuclear bases, most haven't been infected yet. Since normal nuclear attack orders are very complex, we can ignore these white bases for now and focus on the red occupied areas."

M-country's nuclear facilities were like arms threatening the whole world. If we couldn't take out the brain in one hit, cutting off the enemy's arms was a common tactic.

"Even though we have precise coordinates for almost all of M-country's nuclear facilities, we can't attack the infected targets right away. This could cause panic in other countries. Also, according to our leader's instructions, we can't let the outside world know about the space portal yet. So to solve this crisis, we have only one option—"

Finally, we'd reached the core topic of this meeting. It was clear the H-country military had already made a detailed plan, which they were now revealing to everyone.

"We've decided to send people to intervene directly. We'll infiltrate and clean up all infected nuclear facilities. This must be done quickly and all at once, taking control before the Ancestor can react. This will set us up nicely for the follow-up 'Blue Palace' decapitation plan."

As for who would attack the nuclear facilities, General Lee were very clear. They needed people with excellent skills who could work in secret without being easily discovered. Even with special training, normal Earth people couldn't reach this level, especially not with so many nuclear facilities to take over at once.

This was why the base leaders had called everyone to this meeting. They needed lots of manpower to help. The only ones who could meet their requirements were us visitors from other worlds.

Driven by everyone's desire to get home quickly, even the weakest from World 9 were willing to join in. After all, the enemies were just low-level vampires, not nearly as threatening as World 27.

In theory, the H-country military's plan seemed solid. If we could deal with the nuclear launch terminals, even if the Ancestor was still alive, they couldn't do much for a while.

But many people still thought we didn't have enough manpower. Even after narrowing it down, there were still too many targets. I couldn't help but object:

"The M-country fleet hasn't left yet. They're mostly docked in a few ports, so we don't need many people to clean up the fleet leadership. But what about the infected nuclear bases on land? Even though we've narrowed it down to less than twenty, they're spread out over a huge area. We only have people from a handful of worlds. It'll be hard to quickly deal with all the vampires in these bases without the Ancestor noticing!"

After recruiting across worlds for World 27, only a few capable worlds were left in the base. Except for the World 1, which had people about as strong as me who could handle the cleanup alone, the others seemed too weak.

"We've discussed the manpower issue thoroughly, and there shouldn't be a problem," General Lee said, rejecting my view. "I know many of you could easily clean up a base on your own. If we reassign everyone and split up, dealing with the nuclear facilities around M-country's capital should be no problem!"

I was surprised that General Lee suddenly seemed to understand our abilities much better.

Of course, he had good reason to be confident! General Lee made a quick phone call, and Number 14 Feliciana soon walked out from the intelligence analysis room.

The intelligence room had been packed with military staff working overtime since they got the M-country info. But Number 14 Feliciana's appearance proved one thing - she'd been involved in planning this operation.

When did she get so close to the H-country military? Was it because she helped catch the culprit, Number 12 Feliciana? I couldn't help but wonder in confusion.

Number 14 Feliciana came up to General Lee and calmly told everyone:

"I can guarantee this plan has a very high chance of success. Not just because I know everyone's strengths and weaknesses, but more importantly, I'll be personally involved in this plan, providing all kinds of help you might need!"

She'd clearly worked out all the details with the H-country military beforehand. She pointed at the M-country map in the meeting room and boldly promised: "You only need to focus on the nuclear facilities around the capital and along the east coast. I'll take care of all the rest by myself! As for whether I can do it, I'm sure none of you doubt my abilities, right?"

Of course, we could be certain about that. The stories about Number 14 Feliciana's abilities had spread like wildfire through the base.

The meeting went on to make many more decisions about the operation, including details like how the H-country military wouldn't send actual troops due to international concerns, but would provide necessary support with equipment and logistics.

After the meeting ended, I caught Number 14 Feliciana and asked the question I'd been holding back.

"If you have this ability, why don't you just help us completely solve the vampire Ancestor problem and get everything back to normal? Why bother with all these useless moves and team up with the H-country military to plan this mission?"

"......"

To my surprise, she stared into my eyes silently for a while, then suddenly came out with a strange question:

"Do you believe in fate? Do you believe there are gods in this world?"

"Huh? Gods?"

I couldn't imagine another version of me asking this kind of question. This kind of topic was usually Cyra's specialty - when did I become a religious nut too?

Seeing my dumbfounded expression, Number 14 Feliciana could only sigh and change the subject:

"First, this M-country incident isn't what you think. It's not a problem you can solve just by killing the vampire Ancestor. Second, this world is actually quite special in the multiverse. There are a few other worlds with the same status, but there's no denying that your world is quite important! The historical development here affects the progress of many other worlds, so we can't let our presence push things too far off the set track!"

"Huh?"

I still hadn't wrapped my head around it. Her words were even more confusing.

So Number 14 Feliciana's whole purpose was to maintain the set historical course of our world? But why would she do that? Strictly speaking, wasn't she herself part of history? What harm could changing it do? At most, it would just create another parallel world. And what did this have to do with gods?

"Actually, we're all just pieces on God's chessboard. You and your companions don't just hold thousands upon thousands of lives in your hands, but your own futures too! So I'm really sorry I can't reveal more, but you should understand why Nicola, as the Time Angel, must shoulder the responsibility of maintaining time, even though she has 'Authority'."

When mentioning Number 14 Nicola, Number 14 Feliciana's face suddenly showed a gentle smile. It was clear that although the two of them often argued, their feelings for each other in some ways were quite good.

If what she said was true, then Number 14 Nicola leading people from parallel worlds to World 27 earlier was actually a way of correcting history. Although she never stated this explicitly, it undoubtedly implied a fact - the chaos of the space portal was likely the original set direction of history that Number 14 Feliciana mentioned. But because it involved too many parallel worlds, she and Number 14 Nicola had no choice but to take on the task of maintaining history, guiding this Earth towards a certain set future.

But then again, there were too many Fate Breakers involved in this space portal chaos incident. For ordinary people, it would definitely be impossible to find a specific future direction in the mess of multiple worlds interfering with each other.

"The twelve wings are said to be the realm of gods. Even Lady Elara, with all her lifelong efforts, couldn't reach that height. At most, she could only stay at ten wings," Cyrae said, sitting in a chair and commenting on Number 14 Feliciana's words that I had relayed, while showing a very doubtful attitude.

"Even though Number 14 Nicola is the Time Angel and has found her origin, she still hasn't reached the divine realm of twelve wings. Without getting full time 'Authority', it's almost impossible to untangle all these intertwined threads, at least as far as I can see. The only explanation left is that there must be some other external force interfering!"