Chapter 51: Collapsed Society: The Current Status of Female Angels

The City of Angels, the highest council chamber of the Meroe Heavenly Court. The eternal serenity was replaced by an intangible heaviness.

The massive dome cast a cold, austere light, illuminating the central floating star map. The once-glorious territory of the Angelic Civilization was now clearly divided into three distinct sectors: the core of the Blade Nebula blazed brilliantly; the periphery of the Dawn Nebula was as sharp as an unsheathed sword; and the Base Nebula was shrouded in a layer of rational yet aloof blue radiance.

One thousand and nine hundred spring and autumn seasons had quietly slipped away since the Battle of the Furious Sea, the historic conflict that ended the Heavenly Palace Order and nailed Hua Ye to the pillar of shame.

The "New Order," once born amidst roaring flames and battle cries, now resembled a magnificent gown that had begun to gather dust, with a fatal disease quietly festering within its core.

The air remained stagnant. Only at the edge of the star map, within the domain representing the Dawn Nebula, tiny points of light continuously flickered on and off—these were the legions under Liang Bing's command, tirelessly expanding outward.

They were bringing one primitive or newly civilized planet after another under the wings of the angels—or more accurately, under the direct control of the Dawn King.

Liang Bing herself reclined lazily in her grand throne, her silver-bright combat boots resting casually on the armrests, her fingertips tapping rhythmically against the cold metal.

Her gaze swept over the newly subjugated points of light on the star map, a hint of a conqueror's gratification lingering at the corners of her lips. She showed utter disinterest in the oppressive atmosphere permeating the council chamber.

To her, those lengthy discussions regarding domestic affairs and the "future" were far less thrilling than the triumphant dispatches sent back from the front lines.

Ever since the establishment of the Dawn Nebula, she had dedicated herself entirely to exploration and conquest, absorbing civilization after civilization into the tributary states of the Angelic Civilization.

Seated to her left, Keisha maintained a posture as upright as that of a monarch of old. Yet, deep within those eyes that had once reflected galaxies and pierced through the void, a persistent, inescapable fatigue settled heavily.

She had refused the coronation of the "Queen of Angels." Behind that supreme glory lay the massive shadow of Hua Ye's descent from wisdom into decay.

Power was like a slowly acting poison, and she had to remain constantly vigilant.

Dividing the civilization into three sectors was not so much an act of sharing power as it was a means of preserving the sparks of possibility for the future of the angels, while retaining room for her own scrutiny and checks and balances.

However, at this moment, as she gazed at the star map, her focus was not on those vast territories. Instead, her eyes pierced through the cold projections and fell upon the boundless, solemn expanse of white flower fields outside the window—the Martyrs' Cemetery of the Meroe Heavenly Court.

The heroes who had fallen in the Battle of the Furious Sea, the opposition wars, and countless other battles of varying scales rested in peace here.

Beneath every flawless white flower lay buried a passionate life burned out for the sake of today's "justice."

"Keisha?" A cool, crisp voice broke the silence, coming from the right.

He Xi sat regally upon the throne symbolizing the Base Nebula, her long silver hair cascading down, contrasting sharply with a face almost untouched by time yet laden with contemplation.

Floating before her was no longer a star map, but a dynamic genetic map composed of countless dense light points, lines, and complex formulas.

The ethereal blue light reflected in her focused eyes, resembling frozen stardust. Her fingertips gently tapped in the void, causing the map to expand and rotate. A set of blindingly stark, crimson data was extracted and highlighted separately, projected into the empty space between the three queens:

Dynamic Model of the Angelic Civilization's Population Gender Structure (Year 0 - Year 1900 After the Victory of the Opposition War)
Current Total Population: 160 Million
Percentage of Male Angels: 2.1% (Continuing downward trend, annual decay rate: 0.07%)
Pure-blood Angel Newborn Rate: ≈ 0% (Recorded in the past century: 1 case)
Primary Population Growth Point: Mortal gene conversion (Female: 98.7%, Male: 1.3%); Interracial marriage offspring (Female angel-dominated)

That faint, almost expiring blue light representing males looked horrifyingly insignificant amidst the vast ocean of red light representing females.

"Data does not lie," He Xi's voice operated like a precision instrument—steady yet carrying the cold rigidity of metal.

"Seventeen hundred years have passed since the dust settled on the 'Great Trial of Justice.' The population of male angels has plummeted all the way from 17.3% at the conclusion of the trial, breaching the 3% safety threshold.

Today, only 2.1% remains. Projected according to this decay rate model, conservatively estimated, pure-blood male angels will completely vanish from our civilizational lineage in less than a thousand years."

With a swipe of her fingertip, the map instantly switched to display another alarming scene: within the angelic gene pool, the spectrum representing the genetic diversity of pure-blood angels was narrowing and dimming at a visible rate.

"The reproduction of pure-blood angels has long fallen into a de facto standstill. Our population growth relies almost entirely on converting mortal females and on our female warriors intermarrying with the males of other civilizations."

She paused, her sharp gaze sweeping across Keisha and Liang Bing—who had finally withdrawn her attention from territorial expansion. "What does this mean?"

"It means that the core bloodline of the Angelic Civilization—that gene chain forged through countless years of evolution, containing our unique power and wisdom—is irreversibly heading toward homogenization and dilution, and ultimately... withering away."

She waved her hand to dismiss the depressing projection, the ethereal blue light dancing in her eyes: "The order we built is silently dismantling the foundation of our civilization from within. This is far more fatal than the fleet of any external enemy."

The council chamber fell into a dead silence; even the sound of Liang Bing's knuckles tapping against the armrest ceased. The light outside the window seemed to dim a few shades as well, leaving only that crimson "2.1%" and the glaring "≈ 0%" burning in the air.

"Humph!"

A short, derisive snort suddenly broke the heavy silence.

Liang Bing abruptly sat upright, the eyes that usually burned with the desire for conquest now erupting with flames of anger and disbelief, locking fiercely onto He Xi.

Her slender fingers slapped heavily onto the armrest of the throne with a dull thud, making the very air seem to shudder.

"He Xi!" Her voice rose, carrying an undisguised sharpness, "Are you joking with me? Or are you singing a dirge for those Heavenly Scum?"

She abruptly stood up, her sweeping black leather cloak snapping violently behind her. Striding to the center of the council chamber, she pointed at the exact spot where the recently vanished genetic map projection had hovered, as if the ghost of that damned 2.1% still lingered there.

"They oppressed us for over six thousand years! A full six thousand years!"

Liang Bing's voice was like a quenched blade, every single word carrying scalding hatred, "The mothers, sisters, and daughters of the female angels!"

"Picked over like cargo by them, driven like livestock, and humiliated like playthings!"

"The blood on Meroe Star has not yet dried! How many of our sisters' bones beneath the Furious Sea are still unchilled?"

"You tell me, less than two thousand years have passed, and you want us to turn around and protect those executioners?"

"To grant them so-called 'equality'? Even to grant them 'resource inclination' ?!"

She whipped around to glare at Keisha, then fiercely glared back at He Xi, her chest heaving violently.

"What is this? This is betrayal!"

"It is the most thorough betrayal of all our fallen and living sisters! He Xi, have the equipment and solutions in your laboratory soaked your brain soft?"

"Or have you forgotten the actions of your brother, that old beast?! Back then, under Hua Ye's command, how did he swing his sword to cut down our sisters?!"

The final sentence was practically roared, carrying a bloody, accusatory weight.

He Xi's face turned pale instantly. Liang Bing's last words were like an icy awl, piercing deeply into the memories she had deliberately sealed away.

The horrifying sights of the Battle of the Furious Sea surged forth uncontrollably: the wreckage of sky-blocking warships burning as they plummeted, staining deep space a turbid orange-red and iron-gray.

The screech of energy beams tearing through space, the groans of twisting and snapping metal, the dying screams, the explosive roars of clashing weapons... all converging into a never-ending symphony of death.

Standing within the cold bridge of the Base Star, looking through the massive viewport, she had clearly seen that familiar yet estranged figure in the distance—her elder brother, He Feng.

The City of Angels, the highest council chamber of the Meroe Heavenly Court. The eternal serenity was replaced by an intangible heaviness...

He stood in the center of the battlefield like a cold and merciless deity, the "Hegemony" in his hand precisely claiming the lives of several female angel warriors with every sweep.

His movements were concise, efficient, and imbued with a despairing elegance. A brave female angel attempted to launch a surprise attack from the flank, her Flame Sword thrusting straight toward his ribs.

He did not even look back. With a backhanded slash, the sword light flashed like a viper striking, instantly piercing the female angel's chest and flinging her away like a broken doll to crash against a burning hull, transforming into yet another glaring flash of fire.

At that moment, He Xi felt as though her heart had also been pierced and frozen by that icy blade.

She saw his eyes—across the vast distance and the flashes of explosion, those eyes that had once watched her grow up with gentleness now held only frozen indifference and the resolute coldness of slaughter.

Pain and icy anger intertwined in He Xi's eyes. She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing her churning emotions.

Her voice turned even colder, carrying the sharpness of a scalpel: "Liang Bing, anger cannot blind reality!"

"I am clearer than anyone else about the darkness of that history, and about how much blood of our sisters stained the hands of the 'Ancient Demon God' He Feng! But this is entirely separate from the survival crisis we are facing now!"

Her gaze met Liang Bing's burning fury without flinching: "You talk about six thousand years of oppression, but less than two thousand years of payback?"

"Liang Bing, look at this data! This is not payback, this is chronic suicide!"

"A civilization reduced to a single gender will see its gene pool rapidly degrade, its social structure become pathologically distorted, its creativity dry up, and its resilience become fragile beyond measure!"

"And what is the ultimate result? Self-extinction!"

"We don't need any external enemies! Did we bloody our hands overthrowing the Heavenly Palace Order just to send the Angelic Civilization into its own grave with our own hands?"

"Did the sacrifices of our sisters in the cemetery trade for a deformed future destined for extinction?!"

He Xi pointed toward the window, as if she could pierce through the walls to see the outside world where discrimination was ubiquitous: "Yes, the officials, the military, and even the commoners down below are discriminating against, ostracizing, and even persecuting male angels!"

"Precisely because of this, the supreme will must forcefully intervene! A thorough, top-down rectification is required!"

"Strictly investigate all judicial cases involving discrimination, and retry miscarriage-of-justice cases! Severely punish those officials who pay lip service while continuing to inflict hatred upon the innocent!"

"Promote education throughout society, propagating that gender equality is not charity, but a necessity for civilizational survival!"

"Even... appropriate resource inclination is meant to repair the massive rift we ourselves created!"

She stepped closer, her voice carrying unquestionable resolution: "This is by no means a betrayal of sacrifice! This is salvation! Saving the Angelic Civilization itself!"

"Otherwise, a few more centuries from now, when the last pure-blood male angel vanishes, when our genetic map completely dims, and when our newborns can only rely on the bloodlines of alien races to persist..."

"By then, what fundamental difference will remain between us and the mortal civilizations we have conquered and modified?"

"Angels, are we still angels? Keisha, Liang Bing, tell me, where will the foundation of the 'New Order' we fought for lie by then?!"

He Xi's interrogation fell like a heavy hammer upon the cold floor of the council chamber.

Liang Bing's face turned ashen, her lips tightly pressed, her chest heaving violently, yet she could momentarily find no stronger retort.

The future envisioned by He Xi was cold and terrifying, resembling an endless genetic wasteland.

She abruptly turned her head to look at Keisha, her eyes filled with the fury of being offended and the eagerness to seek support.

"Keisha! Blade King!! Sister!!!"

"Listen to this!"

"This is our Base King!"

"This is the prescription she writes for the future of the angels! Bowing our heads to the descendants of those Heavenly Scum!"

"Anxious over their fading numbers! Then what about us? What about our fallen sisters?"

"Who will redress their grievances? Who will compensate for their suffering?!"

Liang Bing's voice carried an imperceptible tremor; it was not merely anger, but a profound and deep-seated fear.

Fear that the path she firmly believed in was being subverted, fear that the victory bought with countless blood would ultimately lead to an even darker abyss.

Inside the council chamber, an invisible storm raged between the two queens.

He Xi's rationality and cold data were like a solid iceberg, while Liang Bing's burning hatred and persistence in historical justice resembled a surging torrent of magma.

Ice and fire collided fiercely, steaming up a suffocating mist.

Keisha, the center of the storm, remained unusually silent.

She had been sitting quietly upon her throne all along, resembling a snow-capped mountain that had weathered vicissitudes of time.

Liang Bing's angry roars and He Xi's cold dissections—those sharp words struck her like hailstones, yet failed to shake her in the slightest.

Her gaze remained fixed outside the window. Through the massive floor-to-ceiling glass, the soft light unique to the Meroe Heavenly Court poured down, clearly illuminating the undulating expanse of pure white in the distance.

That was the Holy Mountain of Angels. After the Battle of the Furious Sea, countless female angel spirits who fell during the "Opposition War" rested in peace here.

There were no tombstones, only patches of meticulously cultivated, eternally unfading "Star-Tears Flowers."

At this moment, countless pristine Star-Tears Flowers swayed gently in the breeze, converging into a boundless snowy plain that stretched all the way to the horizon.

Every single flower represented a once-vibrant life, a soul that had given everything for today's order.

Keisha's fingertips unconsciously traced the cold patterns on the armrest of the throne.

She seemed to see countless young faces emerging amidst the flower sea, their eyes burning and resolute, shouting that they fought for freedom and dignity. Those cries faintly overlapped with Liang Bing's angry interrogations at that moment.

However, the data set displayed by He Xi—"2.1%", "≈ 0%"—stabbed like two cold steel needles right into this grand narrative constructed of martyred spirits and faith.

It was an alarm bell signaling the quiet collapse of a civilization's foundation—silent, yet fatal.

The genetic wasteland and civilizational decline envisioned by He Xi chilled her to the bone, far more so than any powerful external enemy.

Balance? Rectification? Easier said than done.

Liang Bing's worries were not entirely groundless. Forcefully reversing this torrent of hatred accumulated over nearly two millennia was equivalent to tearing apart the solid foundation of the "New Order" with her own hands.

How would those officials who executed the "Great Trial of Justice," and those warriors and commoners who grew up in an atmosphere of discrimination, react?

The "crackdown" spoken of by He Xi could very well trigger a new, violent upheaval originating from within.

Could the authority of the Three Kings truly suppress this surging undercurrent?

If it could not be suppressed, would the Angelic Civilization fall into a division even more terrifying than the Heavenly Palace era?

She remembered the day the Duchy of Hoffman fell.

Keisha kneeling before He Feng's cold combat boots, transitioning from pleading to despair, from sacrificing her dignity to uttering bone-deep curses—the scene flashed across her mind like a searing-hot branding iron.

That was not merely the destruction of personal emotions, but the symbol of the complete tearing apart of two once-closely intertwined groups.

He Feng's words, "The king's command cannot be disobeyed, and the soldiers cannot be failed," now carried a cruel, almost fateful echo.

A leader's choices are always accompanied by sacrifice, sometimes even moral sacrifice.

She began to understand He Feng's actions: why he maintained the Heavenly Palace Order even while knowing it was wrong. Power and status do not flow merely from bottom to top, but also from top to bottom.

Forcefully correcting the current deformed social structure would likely yield counterproductive results. Both she and He Feng were puppets pushed forward by the people underneath them.

Why did he persist until the defeat at the Furious Sea before jumping ship?

Because he, too, was powerless. To oppose the Heavenly Palace Order was to oppose all his followers, and to insult the sacrifices of those beneath him.

His Second Legion consisted entirely of beneficiaries of the Heavenly Palace Order, just like herself now. The beneficiaries of her New Order were precisely the culprits behind the decline of male angels in the Angelic Civilization.

To forcefully redress the miscarriages of justice for male angels, punish the female angels who discriminated against and oppressed them, and yield resources and welfare to male angels meant digging up the foundations of her own rule.

In the eyes of all female angels, she would be a traitor who personally repudiated her own New Order—Keisha, the one who forgot her roots.

The gazes of He Xi and Liang Bing weighed heavily upon Keisha like physical pressure.

The air in the council chamber seemed to have congealed into heavy lead, every breath carrying a difficult taste.

Finally, Keisha slowly withdrew her gaze from the cemetery. Those eyes, which had borne too many stars and the fires of war, swept over the residual data shadows on He Xi's screen and grazed Liang Bing's slightly flushed face of agitation.

Her face remained expressionless, as if covered by a layer of unmelting frost.

"Enough." Her voice was not loud, yet it possessed a peculiar penetrating power, instantly subduing all invisible clashes within the council chamber.

There was no anger in that voice, no favoritism—only a bottomless fatigue and the heaviness of a decision already made.

"He Xi," she turned toward the silver-haired Base King, her tone calm and waveless, "continue executing the existing plan.

Increase resource investment in the genetic conversion of mortal females, raising the screening efficiency and conversion success rate.

At the same time... encourage our female warriors, under the premise of ensuring safety and loyalty, to seek partners in the broader universe.

"The future of the Angelic Civilization requires new bloodlines."

She deliberately sidestepped He Xi's core proposed solution—the earthquake-inducing "rectification" targeting internal discrimination.

He Xi's gaze dimmed instantly, her silver eyelashes trembling slightly. Her lips parted, yet in the end, no sound came out.

She merely nodded silently, her fingertips sweeping across the void to shut down all floating data interfaces. The ethereal blue light faded from her eyes, leaving only profound helplessness.

Keisha turned her gaze to Liang Bing, carrying unquestionable majesty: "Liang Bing, mind your boundaries regarding your expansion."

"Conquest is not the goal; order is the foundation. Do not let your Dawn Legion become a new source of terror."

"You have incurred far too much blood debt over these past thousand-plus years."

These words served both as a reminder and a disguised form of comfort, affirming Liang Bing's direction of seeking population replenishment externally.

The taut jawline of Liang Bing seemed to relax slightly. She let out a heavy snort by way of response, though the anger in her eyes did not completely subside.

Clearly, she was dissatisfied with this outcome, yet she could not openly defy Keisha's judgment.

Nominally, the three of them were the Three Kings of the Angels, but in reality, it was one supreme king and two subordinate kings.

"Today's council is adjourned." Keisha stood up, her silver combat skirt remaining completely undisturbed.

Without sparing another glance at her two sisters, she turned straightaway and walked with a steady, albeit slightly heavy, step out of the council chamber filled with invisible gunpowder.

The heavy metal doors slid open silently behind her and slowly closed, sealing her lonely figure outside.

Liang Bing watched the direction where Keisha had vanished, then shot a fierce glare at He Xi, emitting a short chuckle from the nasal cavity as if mocking He Xi's "naivety."

She abruptly whipped her cloak and strode away toward another exit, her black figure quickly vanishing down the end of the corridor.

She needed to return to her Dawn Nebula, back to her legions and conquests; only there did she find the order she was familiar with and could control.

In the vast council chamber, only He Xi remained.

The cold light fell from the dome, stretching her solitary figure long. The chamber seemed to retain the lingering warmth of Liang Bing's anger and her own cold disappointment.

She slowly sat back down on the throne, her fingers unconsciously tracing complex patterns on the smooth armrest.

Outside the window, in the direction of the Holy Tomb Mountain, that pure white flower field symbolizing endless sacrifice appeared increasingly glaring under the gathering dusk.

She had failed. Armed with the most rigorous data and the coldest logic, she had still been unable to shake the high wall constructed of hatred and inertia.

Keisha had chosen the path that looked the safest, but was in reality drinking poison to quench thirst. Continuing to rely on external bloodlines... what would angels ultimately become?

A profound sense of powerlessness seized her. She closed her eyes, and once again, she seemed to see the "Hegemony" sword light of her elder brother He Feng mercilessly reaping the lives of female angels on the battlefield of the Furious Sea.

History operated like a cruel closed loop; oppression spawned rebellion, and the victory of rebellion bred new injustices, ultimately leading to the withering of civilization. She felt a piercing cold.

"Brother, if it were you... what would you do..."

He Xi closed her eyes, as if communicating with her vanished brother.

Yet He Feng could not hear; the two siblings were separated by two universes, an intersecting sea of worlds, and distances of billions upon billions of light-years.

After an unknown passage of time, He Xi slowly opened her eyes. She took a deep breath, suppressing the bitterness churning within her heart.

The road still had to be walked.

She stood up, her figure carrying the stubbornness and fatigue of a scientist, and walked toward the dedicated passage leading to her personal laboratory.

There, the cold instruments and complex data were the harbor she was familiar with, a place where she could temporarily escape this heavy reality.