Honkai Star Rail: I am Godzilla, domineering and rampant.

"This has many similarities with what I saw in the Simulated Universe, but in the end, it's not the same."

Her right hand resting against the glass, Ruan Mei gazed calmly at the Godzilla inside and spoke softly.

"You really pulled something big on me without a word, huh." Herta glared at her.

"It was just an attempt at life," Ruan Mei shook her head slightly at Herta's words.

"Yeah, yeah, this isn't the time to argue about that. How are we going to deal with that thing inside? Honestly, I've been wanting to smack the original for a while now."

-----------------------------------

Herta stared enthusiastically at the Godzilla inside, which was constantly radiating high temperatures, rubbing her hands in anticipation.

She had been wanting to take revenge for a long time.

Speaking of which, this failed product of Ruan Mei's shouldn't have that terrifying energy absorption like the original version, right?

Also...

"This kind of high temperature is?" Herta turned her head to look at Ruan Mei.

Ruan Mei's expression remained calm: "According to the simulated universe's data, I created it. To replicate it, I installed an atomic furnace inside. But due to some unknown reason, it went out of control—this is the result of that runaway reaction."

Herta shrugged, looking indifferent: "So how are we going to deal with that big guy inside? Wait for it to explode on its own? If that's the case, I think this entire floor is done for."

She did acknowledge the destructive power of Ruan Mei's creations.

Even those cat-cakes could cause a bit of a mess on the space station. But they were too cute—researchers cleaned up after their mischief with smiles.

"Screwllum, do you have any ideas… Screwllum?"

Herta turned to ask Screwllum, only to see him gazing at the Godzilla inside the enclosure, deep in thought.

Noticing Herta's gaze, Screwllum turned his head slightly and nodded before speaking.

"Perhaps we need a special approach to deal with the current unexpected situation."

"A special approach? Some kind of curio? Or did you come up with a new piece of research?"

Herta looked at Screwllum with curiosity.

As fellow geniuses, they all had strange and wild ideas, often bordering on the absurd.

Screwllum raised his right hand, summoning a virtual screen. After a brief connection, Asta's image appeared.

"Mr. Screwllum—ah, Ms. Herta is there too! Great, what on earth is…"

Asta's expression on the screen was tense. Her hands were tightly clenched together, eyes filled with expectation.

Screwllum spoke gently: "Ms. Asta, please unlock the storage pod I requested access to seventy-six system hours ago."

Standing behind and labeled "070", Herta raised an eyebrow. She remembered Screwllum applying for access to a storage pod, though she didn't ask what it was for—nor did she care. Now, it seemed it had a real purpose.

Just as Screwllum issued the command to open the pod, the Godzilla on the platform suddenly began to move.

First its tail, then its chest began to emit a humming sound. Herta recognized it as the atomic furnace Ruan Mei had installed beginning to operate. The temperature rose rapidly, the air visibly distorting.

Then, under the gaze of the three members of the Genius Society, the Godzilla created by Ruan Mei

—

Awakened!

"A final frenzy, huh." Herta murmured.

Just like the Starcrusher Swarm King that only existed for fifty-six seconds, this imitation was about to rampage in the confines of the station.

"Five, four, three…" Even at a time like this, Screwllum calmly counted down.

Buzz!

The atomic furnace roared, heat gathering in Godzilla's mouth.

A counterfeit was still a counterfeit. The real atomic breath of Godzilla wasn't something it could possess. All it was doing now was concentrating the heat from the furnace in its mouth, likely ending in a mere burst of flame.

Herta didn't move. Screwllum wasn't in a rush either.

As they watched, the heat in Godzilla's mouth climbed higher and higher. Just as it was about to open its jaws—

Bang!

Clang!

Two dull sounds rang out in succession. The first was flesh colliding with machinery. The second was metal clashing with metal.

Under the lighting, a silvery-white shine glowed like a divine emissary from moonlit legend.

A mechanical beast stretched out its limbs. The coldness unique to machines was undeniable at that moment.

Bang!

Bang!

Simultaneously, both beasts swung their claws. Muscle and machine exerted their full force. A pure and primal showdown unfolded aboard the Herta Space Station, symbol of intellect.

But the three geniuses present weren't the kind to simply stand and watch. To be precise, one of them—the shortest—was clutching her chest with her left hand (if she had installed a heart in her puppet body), her gaze fixed in disbelief on the mechanical gentleman.

"Conclusion: Only Godzilla can defeat Godzilla."

"You, you, you!"

If Ruan Mei's creation was unexpected yet reasonable, then what was Screwllum's creation?

A betrayal?

Screwllum! Have you already forgotten the good times we had hiding simulated universe data together?

Even Ruan Mei's eyes now gleamed with understanding.

"Just a simple test, no need to be surprised, Herta," Screwllum said calmly.

As the king of Planet Screwllum, the leader of all intelligent mechanical lifeforms in the universe, Screwllum wielded resources even the Interastral Peace Corporation couldn't ignore. Coupled with the wisdom admired even by The Erudition, creating a counter-behemoth wasn't far-fetched.

"Is that what I'm talking about!? Have you two forgotten whose territory this is?!"

Herta angrily shouted at the two of them.

What did they take her place for—a giant monster battle arena?

According to the rules of some blue planet, no matter who you are, when you step into someone else's home, you behave. But these two? They might as well have dismantled the place already.

While speaking, the scorching waist between the two zones approached the massive tail material.

Steel Godzilla's powerful arms tightly embraced Ruan Mei's creation, and its flexible mechanical tail coiled around it as well, locking it down completely.

At the same time, the already high temperature rose again, but since the space station was funded by Asta and constructed with premium materials, Herta spared no expense. Even when the Antimatter Legion attacked the station and the Doomsday Beast hovered around, they still failed to cause any substantial damage — although that also had much to do with the Doomsday Beast being quickly defeated.

Under the gaze of the three, Ruan Mei's Godzilla turned into a fiery red sun, and then...

"Boom!"

The violent explosion shook the entire Herta Space Station. The temperature in certain sectors spiked near stellar levels.

Fortunately, the station's cooling system quickly brought the temperature back down.

"Phew, thank goodness. Looks like Ms. Herta and the others resolved the issue," Asta sighed deeply as she held Peppy in her arms.

Still, she had her doubts — what exactly had happened?

Incidentally, she had no idea what Screwllum had stashed in the storage bay — after all, it's best not to pry into a genius's creations. Who knows what kind of strange influence those things might have on you, even just through a screen?

…

"So, tell me, you two — what the hell is going on?"

Herta looked grimly at the two who had gone behind her back to do something shady.

"As you can see, I attempted to create life once more."

"Logic: to test Godzilla's performance in battle and update simulated universe data."

Herta's expression hardened, and she stared at them.

Her gaze shifted repeatedly between her two colleagues. She had never thought that one day she'd be excluded like this.

No — more accurately, these two just didn't act like normal people!

"So, what conclusions did you draw?" Herta asked irritably.

"Conclusion: Godzilla's individual combat ability is indeed exceptional. This is a product of natural evolution," Screwllum answered.

"Miracles of life don't bloom easily. I cannot replicate the biological mechanism under natural laws." Ruan Mei spoke softly.

Herta's mouth twitched slightly.

These two… they were really treating this like a formal research seminar.

A wave of frustration surged up, but in the end, Herta said nothing.

"Forget it." She was truly speechless.

Let's set aside the chaos at the Herta Space Station for now.