In Earth's orbit, a massive space station floated silently. In the distance, several pitch-black missiles streaked toward it, trailing plumes of fire. They would strike the station in no time. Yet, inside the space station, everything was surprisingly orderly. Not a single moon rabbit panicked at the approaching attack; everyone remained at their posts.
"Attack approaching! Activate the defense arrays immediately!"
At the command of the officer in the control hall, gun ports deployed across the space station. Countless magical arrays lit up in the void. Moments later, a dense barrage of light bullets poured out toward the incoming missiles. The volume and density were over ten times greater than what had been used to intercept Miketsu's light arrows. Under this overlapping web of fire, the missiles were struck one by one, exploding into fragments in the vacuum of space.
Inside the Inari Secret Realm, Miketsu watched the screen and couldn't help but smile. She thought to herself that these rabbits were quite focused on their combat shifts; at least they hadn't messed up.
After learning the lesson from the station being nearly downed by a single arrow from Miketsu due to weak defenses, Eirin had performed a comprehensive overhaul of the defense systems during the repairs. She significantly increased the number of defense arrays, optimized the tracking and aiming functions, and vastly improved the station's overall durability. It was no longer the kind of target Miketsu could take out with a single shot.
Knowing that the Lunar Capital would eventually launch an attack, Miketsu performed a specific divination every day. She divined the fortune of the space station and the shrine to determine if the Lunar Capital was planning a surprise strike. Whenever an omen of 'Great Misfortune' appeared, she ordered the rabbits into a round-the-clock combat readiness state, facing all potential emergencies with the utmost caution. Thus, today's sneak attack was detected the moment it began.
Although these missiles used special means to 'cloak' themselves from the station's sensors and had traveled hundreds of thousands of kilometers in stealth, they were ultimately spotted by the moon rabbits on duty using primitive optical observers and intercepted in time. After all, their 'stealth' wasn't true invisibility; it was merely designed to deceive radar.
Thus, with Eirin's reinforced defense systems combined with Miketsu's metaphysical warnings and the moon rabbits' diligence, the incoming missiles were entirely intercepted, and the crisis was successfully averted.
On the screen, the old man had just majestically declared, "Behold your fate!" only for every stealth missile to be intercepted seconds later. The space station remained unscathed. For a moment, the Great Sage of the Lunar Capital froze in place, expressionless and motionless.
Silence fell, making the scene exceptionally awkward. Around him, the moon rabbits were puffing out their round cheeks, their faces turning red as they struggled desperately to hold back their laughter.
Seeing the Great Sage of the Lunar Capital suffer such a setback made these rabbits incredibly happy.
"Ahem... I almost forgot. The sinner Omoikane is also among you. With her wisdom, it is only natural that you can muster a bit of trivial resistance. But that is all. The attack just now was a mere warning, not even a probe. The true purest power is about to set sail. Under this absolute force, there is no possibility of survival for any of you.
"Enjoy your final days. Once we have purified the sin and impurity, we shall return to the Lunar Capital with the Princess."
After the old man finished speaking, the image on the screen flickered and distorted before vanishing. The scene fell silent once more.
After letting out a soft sigh of relief, Miketsu turned to Eirin and spoke solemnly.
"So, what was bound to come has finally arrived. From this moment on, we are in a direct confrontation with the Lunar Capital."
"Yes, it was unavoidable in the end. Haven't we been preparing for this day?" Eirin replied slowly. Miketsu then asked a follow-up question.
"By the way, what is this 'purest power' that old man mentioned? Is it some kind of new advanced weapon?"
"The purest power refers to the Purification Fleet of the Lunar Capital," Eirin explained. "Long ago, the fanatics of the purity Faction began treating the Earth as a hypothetical enemy. They believed the impurity of the land would one day contaminate the lunar surface. Therefore, they felt they must defend 'purity.' To block all possible transmission of pollution, they believed it necessary to take the initiative and purify the Earth's surface. Driven by this ideology, the Lunar Capital used its technological prowess to assemble the Purification Fleet, intended to defend purity and cleanse impurity in the event of a war between the Moon and Earth."
Miketsu nodded slowly after hearing this.
"Defending purity... cleansing impurity? Hah... how high-sounding," Miketsu said mockingly. "To abandon the god they once believed in and instead worship an extraterrestrial power they don't even understand—it's truly pathetic."
"Mysterious and powerful things are what trigger the strongest faith and awe in mortals," Eirin said. "In the past, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto was too kind to his people. If a god walks freely among the people and lives with their believers day and night, the believers gradually lose their sense of awe.
"Although Tsukuyomi made a massive effort to send his people to the lunar surface to escape the suffering of disasters, it wasn't Tsukuyomi who granted the lunarians eternal life. The mysterious power of Chang'e better fits their perception of what a god should be. Tsukuyomi is more like a leader. When he asked his people to give up the power of Chang'e, it became a conflict between a god and a leader in their eyes. It was obvious who they would abandon..."
As Eirin spoke, she thought back to the last time she saw Kou. Compared to before, he had become extremely disgusted with mortals. The knot in his heart caused by the betrayal of his own people would likely never be unraveled.
"Heh, I bet Chang'e never imagined she'd gain a bunch of fanatical followers without doing a thing," Miketsu remarked. Eirin waved her hand in response.
"No, they don't worship Chang'e. They worship the immortality brought by her power. They also fear the disastrous consequences of excessive Chang'e power. The creation of the false concept of 'purity' was the result of their betrayal of Tsukuyomi and their fear of Chang'e. They needed an ideology to justify their betrayal, and that's how the market for the Doctrine of purity was born.
"In the historical narratives of the lunarians, Tsukuyomi was contaminated by the impurity of the Earth. The 'polluted' Tsukuyomi then attempted to spread that impurity to make the lunarians lose their immortality. Thus, the lunarians were 'forced' to exile him to avoid defiling their purity. You see? A despicable act of betrayal was completely whitewashed by the emergence of the Doctrine of purity."
"That is truly... self-deception..." Miketsu could only offer this evaluation after hearing Eirin's words.
"Exactly. They are deceiving themselves. A lie told a thousand times becomes the truth. After deceiving themselves enough, they started to believe it. The Doctrine of purity began as a trivial act by a small portion of lunarians to justify their betrayal for the sake of immortality. Eventually, the high-ranking lunarians promoted it, and it became the mainstream ideology—even a religion. Almost all lunarians believe in it with fanatical devotion. They even built a fleet for it. Now, that fleet is coming for us, led by a theory that is a complete sham," Eirin said with a playful shrug.
Miketsu tightened her fist and said with a smile, "Heh, a false theory? Then let's beat this ridiculous pseudo-logic back to its original form."
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