Awakening (Continued)

Mei wasn't really fully asleep at all?

Bang!

Accompanied by a gunshot, the Herrscher of Thunder looked at the wound on her lower ribs and clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction.

Only a few minutes had passed from the start of their exchange until now, and the Herrscher of Thunder had already discovered that the man before her was no simple opponent.

Although this man only had one arm, he truly possessed real skill when it came to combat strength.

Relying solely on holding his gun with one hand and firing precise shots, the opponent used the pistol in his hand—which contained the power of the Herrscher of Flames—to pierce her defense countless times.

Though she gained experience and the Herrscher of Thunder mostly avoided vital areas afterwards.

Yet the Herrscher of Flames was the one with the most powerful destructive force among all Herrscher cores, and even if the Herrscher of Flames had kicked the bucket and its core had been turned into a weapon by someone, its power still remained something the Herrscher of Thunder could not ignore.

While equipped with an electromagnetic shield, the Herrscher of Thunder had even laid down a layer of Honkai Energy gauze around her body meant for defense.

However, the opponent's precise attacks were able to break through the shield while simultaneously penetrating the gauze and grazing her body every single time.

Even if these attacks did not deal high damage individually, once accumulated, the cumulative damage was already too much for the Herrscher of Thunder to ignore.

Yet, all of this was worth it.

Upon finding that her ranged attacks struggled to hit the opponent, the Herrscher of Thunder began dodging while steadily and continuously closing the distance with the enemy.

The Herrscher of Thunder could use electromagnetic acceleration capabilities to cause a momentary burst of speed.

With two wings of thunder remaining on her back, she could move even more freely by relying on the mobility provided by those wings during the instant speed burst.

If ranged attacks couldn't hit, then close-quarters combat would certainly pose no problem.

This was the battle strategy of the Herrscher of Thunder.

It was simple, but the Herrscher of Thunder was also certain—this strategy had no major flaws.

That white-haired man had another gun radiating the power of flames at his waist.

Yet he only had one hand.

Facing an old, disabled cripple who only had one hand and whose weapon was merely a pistol, the Herrscher of Thunder felt that losing to him would be utterly humiliating.

Right now, the Herrscher of Thunder could feel her brain issuing a continuous stream of stinging pain.

Dammit, is that crybaby trying to come out and make trouble...

Tch, I don't have much time to waste on a maggot.

The distance was sufficient, so now...

At that moment, the Herrscher of Thunder watched Siegfried raise his gun once more, directly triggered the explosion of Honkai Energy within her own body, and sprinted to Siegfried's side.

"Wh—"

"It's over, human."

At that instant, a Tachi materialized at the waist of the Herrscher of Thunder.

Yet simultaneously, in her field of vision, Siegfried also made a move she could not comprehend.

At this juncture, instead of pointing his muzzle at the Herrscher of Thunder, Siegfried bizarrely tossed the beloved gun in his hand straight up into the air.

"Yeah, it's over, Herrscher."

Swiftly drawing the other Flame-Chaser's Judgment from his waist, Siegfried used the pistol grip in his hand to block a zero-range slash from the Herrscher of Thunder.

Because Siegfried had prepared in advance, he actually managed to withstand the full force of this attack despite suffering a violent impact, without retreating even half a step.

Siegfried, standing tall upon the earth, was fully capable of relying on certain special methods to neutralize a portion of the impact force after being beaten back by an enemy, should he so desire.

However, Siegfried knew now that once he retreated, he would truly have no chance left.

The Herrscher of Thunder was constantly attempting to approach Siegfried; of course he saw through that.

He was a warrior who had experienced countless battles, and with his rich combat experience, how could he possibly fail to notice her little tricks.

Yet he still chose to let her achieve her goal.

After all...

—It wasn't just the Herrscher of Thunder who needed to approach him; he also needed to approach the Herrscher of Thunder.

Enduring the stinging sensation brought by the electric currents coursing through his body, Siegfried delivered a kick straight toward the Herrscher of Thunder.

At such close range, the shield of the Herrscher of Thunder—which had previously shattered and lacked time to repair—could not, of course, completely block Siegfried's blow.

Kicked flying, the Herrscher of Thunder immediately executed a ukemi roll to spring back up from the ground.

And then...

"Heh, the timing is just right."

Siegfried, once again tossing the other Flame-Chaser's Judgment high into the air, directly reached out his remaining arm toward the sky.

And the moment the falling Flame-Chaser's Judgment and the newly tossed Flame-Chaser's Judgment spliced together mid-air...

—A terrifying blaze instantly erupted from the center of Flame-Chaser's Judgment, surging directly toward the surroundings.

Siegfried, positioned directly beneath Flame-Chaser's Judgment, grasped the unsealed Flame-Chaser's Judgment greatsword and pointed the blade at the Herrscher of Thunder before him.

"To trick you into an opening..."

"——Hah, it doesn't seem that hard either, Herrscher."

"You...!"

The Herrscher of Thunder, whose body was locked onto by Siegfried, did not dare to make any movement.

Feeling the continuous Honkai Energy fluctuations radiating from Flame-Chaser's Judgment, the Herrscher of Thunder felt a threat to her life for the first time from the opponent she had deemed merely a bit troublesome.

She didn't even dare to make any superfluous movements.

Because the Herrscher of Thunder at this moment was certain that if she dared to act rashly and expose even the slightest opening, the opponent would surely use this terrifyingly powerful greatsword to cleave through her shield and instantly execute her on the spot.

On the other flip side, although Siegfried—who grasped the Flame-Chaser's greatsword—wore a very relaxed expression, only he himself knew that his remaining time was running out.

The authority of the Herrscher of Thunder might seem like mere lightning, but in reality, as Destiny's former strongest warrior, Siegfried had read Destiny's database.

Possessing near-highest clearance, Siegfried had once seen in the database that the Herrscher of Thunder not only possessed the ability to manipulate electromagnetic fields, but this capability also included two usage modes: "a super electric field surrounding the body that insulates against physical and energy attacks" and "an electromagnetic pulse that destroys chemical bonds within molecules."

And right now, the electric currents constantly coursing through his body were naturally attempting to continuously destroy his physical form.

Had Siegfried's own physical constitution not been formidable enough, the mere aftermath of the enemy slashing at him with the Thunder Greatsword earlier would have been enough to reduce him to ashes.

Right now, Siegfried—having liberated the greatsword mode of Flame-Chaser's Judgment—had to endure not only the authority-based attacks of the Herrscher of Thunder, but also the agonizing burning pain inflicted by Flame-Chaser's Judgment.

The torture of this dual pain could not break the indomitable will of this tough guy.

Yet sometimes, having an indomitable will... was of little use.

His body was already far inferior to what it used to be due to the overuse of the Power of Salvation, and if he were tortured like this any longer, he wouldn't even be able to hold his sword.

Thirty seconds.

I only have thirty seconds.

To inflict severe but non-lethal damage on Mei within this timeframe, and then knock her out, perhaps everything could be brought to an end.

Therefore...

Kiana, Cecilia, and... Kiana.

Grant me strength!

At this moment, raging flames surged outward from the Flame-Chaser's greatsword in Siegfried's hand toward the surroundings.

The Herrscher of Thunder, standing extremely close to Siegfried, inadvertently broke out in a cold sweat before realizing...

That single drop of sweat was instantly vaporized before it could even land on the ground.

Was this... cold sweat?

Am I... afraid?

I am actually afraid of a maggot?!

Upon discovering this, the Herrscher of Thunder grew incomparably furious.

Yet precisely because her state of mind suffered a massive upheaval, Siegfried—caught the opening he needed.

"Mei, just bear with it!"

"Flame-Chaser..."

"—Draw!"

Holding the sword with one hand, Siegfried poured all his strength into the blade at this moment and unleashed this strike toward the young maiden before him.

Yet at this time, the terrified Herrscher of Thunder instead erupted with even greater power than before driven by that very fear.

"Human—how could I possibly lose at your hands!"

Gripping the Tachi tightly with both hands, the Herrscher of Thunder infused her authority into the blade and unleashed a full-power strike directly at Siegfried's Flame-Chaser's greatsword.

"Go to—hell!"

Two sources of Honkai Energy simultaneously erupted and collided on the battlefield, and at this moment, the Herrscher of Thunder could feel that her body was indeed suffering severe pain.

However, on the other side, Siegfried—gritting his teeth as he attempted to unleash even greater power—discovered...

His stamina and momentum were falling short.

Moreover, due to the electric currents coursing through his body, Siegfried felt a numb sensation begin to spread across his wrist.

Unable to wield his full strength in combat, Siegfried ultimately collapsed first in this duel.

Accompanied by Siegfried being blown away by the impact generated by the power, the Flame-Chaser's Judgment in his hand simultaneously disintegrated mid-air.

Dam... mit...

I really am useless...

Trying to crawl up from the ground, Siegfried suddenly felt his consciousness gradually begin to blur.

The injuries on his body compounded by the sequelae of burning his life to unleash that single strike were now enough to make it difficult for this powerful warrior to continue fighting.

"Ha... ha... ha... ha..."

Meanwhile, the Herrscher of Thunder—who had finally defeated the enemy—was likewise unable to rush forward immediately to slay this damned foe.

For no other reason.

As an Apostle of God, the Herrscher of Thunder was not only drained of all strength after clashing in that final blow, but she had even experienced a lingering sense of surviving a catastrophe.

Even knowing that solving this enemy was her top priority, she had no way to immediately launch actions against him in her current state.

"Maggot, I admit that you are indeed very powerful."

After catching her breath, the Herrscher of Thunder stared at the powerless Siegfried and tightened her grip on the Tachi.

"Unfortunately, this time—"

"This time I won again—is that what you wanted to say, right?"

At that exact moment, the Herrscher of Thunder, who had been preparing to finish off her opponent, suddenly heard a voice enter her ears.

Immediately turning her head, the Herrscher of Thunder saw a familiar figure appear before her.

Right in front of the Herrscher of Thunder, Lin Yu held the oversized megaphone prepared during their shopping trip and shouted toward the Herrscher of Thunder.

"What kind of skill is it to bully that stinky old uncle? If you really want to fight, why don't you come exchange a couple of blows with me instead."

That... brat...

Although Siegfried could not see what was happening at the moment, his auditory system was still functioning normally.

Recognizing this voice as Lin Yu, whom he had met once before, Siegfried just wanted to shout, You stinky punk, run away already, you can't beat her!

Yet right now, he truly lacked any strength whatsoever.

Or rather, the fact that he was still alive right now was already a miracle in a sense.

During the final clash just now, the survival instinct born from the fear of the Herrscher of Thunder had caused her to burst forth with greater power than before.

Precisely because of this reason, Siegfried had sustained such severe injuries.