Echoes of Past Battles (Continued)

Why does it seem like Sirin is a bit smarter than Kiana?

Sirin felt embarrassed mainly because she knew why Mobius had brought her along, but regarding Benares... it was indeed her own decision.

"Because I sensed Bella's vital signs, I decided to rescue Bella."

"So what's next after you've rescued it? What are you going to do with such a big thing?"

"... In the pot for Brother Liu Bai?" Sirin put on a cute expression and looked at Liu Bai innocently.

Kiana had also been staying in Liu Bai's pot during this time, so Sirin naturally knew about Liu Bai's "magical pot".

Although Benares was a behemoth, that jar could easily hold Benares.

"... That's possible, but you need to calm it down first, right?"

Benares' intelligence is actually quite simple, and a large part of it comes from its past experience as Herrscher. As Honkai Beasts, its mind is only focused on "loyalty to Sirin" and "destroying humanity," and it is currently in a state of madness.

Judging from his behavior just now, Benares doesn't seem like someone who can stay calm. Forget about whether he can get in; even if he does, he'll get hacked to pieces.

"I think dismantling it and sending it in is also a good idea."

Mobius spoke up menacingly from the side.

"Don't say such scary things, Auntie!" Sirin complained. "But if you want Benares to calm down... either I try to communicate with Benares, or I give him a Herrscher Core."

Herrscher Core?

Rita raised an eyebrow slightly.

She has this thing, the core of Herrscher of Dominion. Even though she gave one to Liu Bai before, she still has seven.

Well, as the "chief person in charge" on Schicksal's side, Ragna also entrusted the core he obtained to Rita for safekeeping.

Rita, however, never expected this thing to be so useful.

"No... let's forget about the core of the Herrscher of Dominion."

Sirin saw through Rita's thoughts and shook her head.

The core of Herrscher of Dominion is not so easy to insert, especially since Sirin herself does not trust Herrscher of Dominion —this person is clearly a pure Honkai Herrscher.

This is completely different from her own situation—although she is now under Liu Bai's command.

Sirin could also sense the super attraction of Liu Bai to the Honkai, plus Liu Bai's own charm... Of course, she had already escaped the Honkai, and even her body had changed, so the effect wasn't that strong.

—The affinity of ordinary Honkai creatures towards Liu Bai increases three times more than that of normal characters.

"As for the core attributes... Bella is suited to ice, lightning, fire, and darkness, and lightning and fire gems..."

"The Gem of Conquest, representing lightning, is in Anti-Entropy's hands, and the Gem of Haste, representing fire, has been reclaimed by Schicksal." Rita pondered for a moment. "Clearly, it's unlikely we can obtain either of them. How about we try to communicate?"

"...This is something we can try." Sirin for a moment.

Liu Bai's eyes flickered slightly.

Bella is suited to four attributes, but Darkness is not one of them—perhaps Tranquility could be used as a substitute—but the Herrscher of Ice has not yet descended, so he can directly bestow it upon her using his princely status.

[Benares, Herrscher of Ice, Compatibility: 91%]

However, on the other hand, Liu Bai was actually planning to find an opportunity to bestow the Herrscher of Ice upon Rita.

[Rita, Herrscher of Ice Compatibility: 83%]

The compatibility is slightly lower, but Rita is relatively closer and has stronger initiative.

As for Benares... well, Liu Bai had no doubt that if one day he had to choose between him and Sirin, Benares would definitely choose Sirin.

The Honkai Prince's identity does not grant him the power to issue commands; it simply means that Honkai creatures will obey his orders "in principle."

Therefore, based on the principle of saving money wherever possible, Liu Bai was not very keen on investing in Benares.

But... a beast driven by instinct might suddenly unleash its primal nature.

Therefore, a core that could give her intelligence was actually... really necessary, otherwise Sirin would have to stay by Benares' side as a beast tamer to prevent the idea of "destroying humanity" from taking over Dragonbrain Highlands one day.

"Wait a minute, let's go back to the Babylon Lab ruins first. I have a way to get the core."

The first thing Liu Bai thought of was the previous [Echoes of War - Second Honkai Eruption].

Judging from the lineup alone, Benares is most likely in the form of the Herrscher of Thunder. As long as you play it properly, you can get not only the Gem of Conquest, but even the Herrscher of the Void Core.

"Good."

Pellervy didn't waste any words—in fact, she didn't quite understand the current situation either.

"Sirin, are you coming? What's going on in a bit... might bring up some unpleasant memories for you."

Liu Bai reminded Sirin as she got into the car.

Next up is the Herrscher group from the Second Honkai Eruption, which consists of people Sirin knows.

In addition, the target is the core...

"...fine."

Sirin hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"The worst memories are in the past, don't worry about me."

Seeing Sirin's serious expression, Liu Bai finally let Sirin get into the car.

"What exactly do you want to do?" Sirin asked, curious about how Liu Bai would obtain the core.

"Of course it's fighting, fighting against your former comrades."

"Huh?"

Sirin was clearly unaware of the problem.

"Aurora, Agata, Galina, Benares ... and you in the past."

"Eh eh eh eh eh?"

"Don't look surprised. You were able to let Kiana see the phantoms of the past, so what's wrong with me materializing the phantoms of the past?"

"..."

No, the principles are completely different!

Kiana is seeing her Remembrance, okay?! In principle, it's a resonance between two personalities!

What's with you summoning ancient phantoms?!

"...We heard something incredible." Both Pellervy and Rita had strange expressions.

"But since it was Liu Bai who said it, then it doesn't seem so surprising?"

Rita chuckled softly.

Liu Bai is not lacking in this one magical quality.

Mobius then thought of the materials Liu Bai had sold her before.

"... Can the illusions of the past leave behind anything substantial?"

"It's similar to killing monsters and getting loot, except this one can be cheated—for example, having the other person personally hand you the dropped items."

After the Honkai zombie' clothes are stripped off and their weapons are taken away, all they will drop are summoning tickets.

"... Does that phantom possess intelligence?"

"Yes, as of now, the Honkai zombie at least still retain their original intelligence."

—Although this thing isn't very intelligent to begin with.

"Brother Liu Bai ... I wasn't someone you could talk to back then."

"That's what Xilin reminded me of, "Sirin said.

"At that time, all I could think about was destroying the world, plus there were other people around me..."

Persuade?

That's complete nonsense!

Perhaps back then, I wouldn't have attacked Liu Bai proactively, but I would never have listened to Liu Bai.

If Liu Bai were to give her some chicken soup, she might immediately launch a scathing attack on Liu Bai.

Plus, there was a team battle all around...

"Are you planning to summon Miss Acheron?"

"Of course, they're called out to provide support, but we'll handle most of the operations."

Herrscher can self-destruct, and Liu Bai has never advocated using pure violence to solve problems.

Hmm... Isn't the Elixir of Love much gentler?

Liu Bai already had a threefold affinity for Honkai creatures. If each person fed one bottle, the problem would be solved.

Even Benares should be in the form of Herrscher of Thunder, treated the same as an ordinary person.

"Sirin, can you fight your past self?"

"... You can't beat him at all, Brother Liu Bai." Sirin sighed.

If I remember correctly, during that period, I absorbed all the Honkai energy in the entire reactor and also released the Honkai energy from the moon.

The reactor's 6500HW is equivalent to the energy level of three Herrscher, the Moon, and four Gems, roughly equivalent to the energy level of four Herrscher.

"Judging from the lineup, I should have absorbed the Honkai energy of the moon during this period."

The moon... in the normal storyline, shouldn't it be sealed by Dr. Mei?

Liu Bai glanced at Sirin, but Sirin didn't notice anything wrong.

"At that time, even though I had split into several Pseudo-Herrscher, the remaining pure energy level was roughly equivalent to five or six Herrscher."

To be honest, Sirin was wondering why this era was afraid of the Herrscher.

To put it bluntly, she, a level I warrior equivalent to five or six Herrschers, was almost killed by a single Herrscher several times. Although her lack of combat experience was partly to blame, she didn't think it was all her fault for how badly she fared.

If a single Herrscher goes out and causes trouble, they might end up in an even worse situation.

"And now... I'm probably equivalent to two-thirds of Herrscher?"

If he were to face his past, most powerful self, he would be utterly humiliated...

There's not much to say. Back then, if we were just comparing stats, she was the most overpowered stat monster, with a total energy level nearly eight Herrscher.

There are also five light cores—well, Liu Bai is just following his usual thinking. In reality, Sirin here failed to defeat Joyce, so there is no such thing as a six-core Herrscher.

Several pseudo—her powers were not fully distributed, so she herself could have the energy levels of five or six Herrscher.

Why even bother going up there? If Liu Bai doesn't reveal her hand, even all of them combined might not be able to beat her in her prime—including that aunt who has the home-field advantage.

Sirin glanced at him. If it were a home game, Cocoilia would only be at the level of Herrscher. If the home advantage was gone, she could have used him as a substitute back then.

... Okay, actually, if I had used some skill, maybe I could have turned the tables on myself? Back then, my main problem was my lack of skill; I had the most overpowered stats but made the worst plays... though the ending was alright...

The problem is that there are four Pseudo-Herrscher around. The other three are fine, but Bella... well, with the foundation of Judgment-Class Honkai Beast, she should be a bit stronger than a regular Herrscher.

Rita could probably hold back Bella plus a Pseudo-Herrscher, Cocoilia could barely hold back herself.

It's questionable whether the others combined can handle the other two Pseudo-Herrscher.

"Can't we just let Sister Acheron chop it up directly?"

"Chopping something up doesn't guarantee you'll get anything."

Liu Bai didn't know if this Echoes of War was a "weekly event" or something that simply disappeared after the battle.

Moreover, even if it's a weekly game, if you fail once, you have to wait a week before you can try again.

When the vehicle arrived at its destination, Liu Bai first called out a few relatively capable fighters and took out several doses of Elixir of Love to distribute to them and those present who could participate in the fight.

Then he called Acheron and Raiden Ei out, gave them several bottles of Elixir of Love, and instructed them on their general tasks.

Needless to say, the Acheron' intensity exceeded the standard.

As for the Shadow, its strength is at least higher than that of the Herrscher. Liu Bai has seen it. Although Sirin has more skills after taking over, Kiana's physical attributes have not changed much.

In other words, physical constitution is a relative weakness for most Herrscher.

Shadow Pure's power level is no lower than that of Herrscher, and his physical attributes are top-notch. He can definitely be used to hold the line.

"Acheron, you are not allowed to steal a drink."