25. Xia Ling: I may be a bit of a bottom, but that doesn't mean I'm weak! / 26. Herrscher of Corruption Theresa: You're both weak and a bottom! (shouting)

"So Theresa, are you now ready to fight me seriously? The faster you win, the greater Kiana's chances of survival will be, okay?"

Before she could finish speaking, the chains and the spear of light simultaneously attacked Xia Ling from different angles.

"Finally getting serious..."

Xia Ling nodded with relief and dodged Theresa's angry attack.

Perhaps due to his special relationship with Theresa, and the fact that Theresa's assessment of the situation was completely blocked by Otto's intelligence, even though Theresa wanted to fight him, she always acted slowly and deliberately.

Simply put, subconsciously, she still regarded this as a friendly exchange, not a battle.

Therefore, under these circumstances, she had to add something extra to Theresa's story.

Moreover, it has to be explosive news.

After all, Theresa wasn't really stupid. If she calmed down and thought about it carefully, she could easily realize that something was wrong with the whole thing. Therefore, Xia Ling couldn't let her calm down.

Using Kiana's safety as a pretext would maximize Theresa's anger.

As for whether Kiana will be alright... lol. The possibility that Xia Ling was accidentally sent back to the fountain by Theresa is greater than the possibility that Otto will kill Kiana now.

"It seems Theresa, you still don't believe in superstition... My suggestion is to give up using your Power of Restraint."

Seeing the golden light still clinging to the cross, Xia Ling swung her scythe in reverse, directly manipulating the Power of Restraint within her core to collide with it.

A powerful repulsive force exploded from the point where their weapons clashed, and the impact of Xie, carrying the residual Authority of Binding, slammed into Theresa, knocking her back to the ground.

Xia Ling, however, remained floating in the air, unaffected by any Power of Restraint.

After all, Theresa is the controller of weapons, not the controller of Authority of Binding... The side effects of the Power of Restraint on her will be much greater than those on Xia Ling.

"See, it's completely useless, isn't it? Or do you think that the Power of Restraint attached to the Divine Key can outlast me, who is constantly drawing Power of Restraint from Otto?"

"And..."

Xia Ling snapped her fingers as she watched Theresa, who was supporting herself on the cross and gritting her teeth as she stood up from the ground.

A terrifying force suddenly pressed down on Theresa, causing her to kneel down again after she had just stood up.

"This is... gravity?"

"You reacted quickly. It seems Mr. Welt has used Star of Eden to help you with weight training quite a bit."

A dark brown core appeared in Xia Ling's hand.

"Look, Schicksal still has the core of the Rock Herrscher from this era. Since there are no Herrscher, Otto just let me use it."

"So strictly speaking, I should be considered a pseudo-triple-core Herrscher now, just like Kiana? It's just that the power of restraint needs to be obtained from Otto."

"Alright, that's all for the explanation. So Theresa, based on what I know about you, you probably don't have any other trump cards up your sleeve, right?"

"The constraints have been countered, and your physical constitution has been suppressed and neutralized by gravity. Right now... you can't do anything."

"Well then, I'll knock you out and take you away, okay? After all, I still need to keep an eye on Otto's side. I can't let anything happen to Kiana, right?"

With a confident smile, Xia Ling slowly approached Theresa, whose head was bowed.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Xia Ling: I may have suffered a bit, but that doesn't mean I'm weak!

However, Xia Ling knew, of course, that Theresa had not yet completely lost her ability to resist.

Who is Theresa? She is a Schicksal S-rank Valkyrie and Fusion Warrior. Although she has suffered many defeats, she has decades of solid combat experience.

Shortly after this period in the original work, Theresa was already personally certified by Kevin as having strength similar to that of the weakest of the Flame-Chasers who went to the moon.

If you were to say that she would lose her ability to resist due to the Power of Restraint and the suppression of gravity after only a few times, even Kiana probably wouldn't believe it.

However, Xia Ling's original intention was to create an opening for Theresa. After all, you have to give the child some positive feedback so that she will continue to play. The Elo system even knows to match you with a few bot matches if you lose too much.

Sure enough, when Xia Ling got close enough, Theresa suddenly raised her head.

"You've fallen for their trap!"

The Power of Restraint wrapped around Theresa's arm along the chains, easily dissolving the Power of Restraint barrier that Xia Ling had originally used to protect herself. Then, she grabbed Xia Ling's neck tightly.

With a graceful turn and using her momentum, Theresa's legs bent and pressed down on Xia Ling's lower abdomen. The balance of power shifted instantly, and Xia Ling was now pinned down by Theresa.

"Yes, you're right. In terms of controlling Authority of Binding, I am indeed inferior to you."

"But...we've all seen the power of the Domination Core that steals authority, haven't we? Even if the Power of Restraint of Grandfather's is far greater than Judah's reserves, under the restrictions of your core, the instantaneous burst of power can't possibly exceed that of Judah."

"Now... huh?"

Before Theresa could even rejoice at capturing Xia Ling once again, she discovered that the sweet and soft Xia Ling beneath her had suddenly turned into a lifeless doll.

"Hmm, not bad, I didn't expect Theresa to have learned to use her brain!"

Xia Ling reappeared on the other end, still handling things with ease.

"But Theresa, have you ever considered that the greatest help the Power of Restraint gives me isn't about directly confronting your divine Divine Prayer Barrier..."

"Instead, it allows all my special abilities to be unlocked under the protection of the Power of Restraint."

"We've sparred quite a few times, but in the past, you were able to ban all my various abilities by virtue of your mastery of the Power of Restraint. You could say that you used silence to suppress all my fancy tricks."

"But things are different now. Having also mastered the Power of Restraint, I now possess a kind of resistance to silence..."

"Well then, Theresa, now it's your turn to experience what Kiana and the others feel during practice sessions~"

As she spoke, Xia Ling fired the Crescent Rose in her hand backward. The recoil propelled her into the portal in front of her, where she vanished without a trace.

The bullet disappeared into thin air after flying a certain distance, and when it reappeared, it was already behind Theresa.

As the bullets reappeared, Xia Ling descended from the sky, launching a surprise attack on Theresa along with the bullets.

That wasn't the end of it. Just as Theresa was about to control Judah for defense, Xia Ling's third ability also took effect on her at the same time. This time it was still gravity control brought by the Rock Herrscher Core, but... it was a reduced burden.

The weight of Judah in her hands suddenly lightened for a moment, and it was this moment of "excessive force" that caused Theresa to lose her balance as expected.

Fortunately, Judah was no ordinary weapon. Possessing a certain degree of self-discipline, it was not disturbed like its master. Instead, it dutifully controlled the light spear, shielding Theresa from bullets and scythes.

"Tsk, weapons with intelligence are still powerful... Uh, Seven Thunders of Retribution, I didn't mean you weren't intelligent."

Before she could finish speaking, the Seven Thunders of Retribution on Xia Ling's wrist began to vibrate.

"However, you can solve it in two directions, but... what if there are dozens?"

As she spoke, Xia Ling lunged forward again, her sickle flashing as she moved, firing frequently and using the recoil to assist her attacks.

If it were the Xia Ling of the past, all these bullets intended for support would have been wasted. However, now that Xia Ling has been enhanced by both the Herrscher Core and the Origin Authority, her mastery of her abilities is far more refined than before.

Under Xia Ling's control, these bullets were randomly teleported in various directions, and could fly towards Theresa from all sorts of tricky angles at any time.

It should be said that this tactic was very effective. In less than half a minute, Theresa's resistance began to falter.

The precise manipulation of her abilities is indeed Theresa's weakness. Although Judah helps her make up for it, Xia Ling's fluctuating gravity multiplier makes Theresa, who relies primarily on physical combat, suffer greatly.

"Damn it, this can't go on..."

Theresa briefly unleashed a Power of Restraint, and taking advantage of Xia Ling's retreat to dodge, she quickly created some distance, panting slightly.

Ultimately, after Xia Ling became Herrscher, she fell into a coma. Theresa had never actually fought against the enhanced version of Xia Ling, and even Xia Ling herself was not entirely sure of her own strength.

However, it is certain that under the benchmark of multi-core plus feathering, Xia Ling, even with only the core's own ability, can already reach Kiana's current level. Theresa's feeling of being unable to support it is indeed not her fault.

"We need to find a way to break this deadlock... In previous matches, Xia Ling always lost..."

As her thoughts wandered, Theresa immediately recalled Xia Ling's few defeats.

Putting aside the special abilities and favorable circumstances, it seems that only... Sirin could truly defeat Xia Ling based on his own skill.

"Absolute power suppression... With Fu Hua's foundation and strength, she could certainly do it, but for Xia Ling now, it would be much more difficult to unleash a power that could absolutely suppress her."

Naturally, Theresa thought of that "trump card" that she had absolutely no control over.

"Collapse...?"

Seeing the slight struggle in Theresa's eyes, Xia Ling knew that she was about to achieve her goal.

It seems that Theresa has figured out the only way to break the deadlock.

So, it's time for me to give her another push.

Thinking of this, Xia Ling decisively put away the Crescent Rose and instead reached for the Seven Thunders of Retribution on her wrist.

The bracelet immediately emitted a matching hum and transformed into a long sword wreathed in blue-purple lightning.

"It seems you don't have the willpower to keep pushing yourself any further. So..."

Xia Ling raised her long sword and assumed a standard starting stance.

"Theresa, it's almost time!"

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Collapse of Theresa: You're just weak and submissive! (Sound reverberation)

Yes, it's almost time...

The more critical the moment, the more Theresa put aside her distracting thoughts and even couldn't help but examine herself.

She is not as strong as Kevin, nor as resilient as Kiana. Her leadership skills are far inferior to Otto's, and her strategic abilities are far less than Xia Ling's.

Even in terms of decisiveness, she could be described as indecisive...

Perhaps because she was well protected from a young age, she often wanted to save everyone and achieve the most perfect ending, but the outcome was always unsatisfactory.

It might even be better if she didn't interfere at all.

However, this situation changed after Xia Ling arrived.

She always manages to cover for her, satisfy her capricious demands, and even bring her unexpected surprises.

She transformed the Herrscher of the Previous Civilization into her companions, and with her help, the souls that Cecilia could not save began to face the world anew. Even her Grandfather's schemes were thwarted by her several times.

But with Xia Ling's help, although my strength has been improving, am I... actually becoming weaker?

If it were me when I was just born, I would definitely have chosen to "rebel" without hesitation, just like I did when I rebelled against my Grandfather... Back then, I truly risked death to rebel.

And now... even though he knows that Xia Ling can't really kill him, he's still afraid of causing his artificial Honkai outbreak... and he's even naively hoping that Xia Ling will stop on her own, just like she used to do to accommodate him.

Yes, she had already told herself that this was war.

I really have to thank Xia Ling... after all, it was she who helped me make the decision again this time.

Even if it's a decision made under duress, it's still a decision... It's better than doing nothing, right?

Faced with Xia Ling's prepared Dragon Ascension stance, Theresa unexpectedly closed her eyes.

It's time to use this last chip...

Her consciousness turned inward.

That was "another self" she used to fear like a tiger and dare not touch; it was the primal impulse contained in the part of her genes that belonged to the Honkai Beast.

"Blood Knight Moonbeam, restrictions lifted—"

"I have never devoured anything; my only asset is myself."

"So come, Vishnu —devour everything I have, and then..."

Unleash your true power!

With the final safety measure Otto made for Theresa being deactivated by Theresa herself, Blood Knight Moonbeam, an armor originally intended for restriction rather than enhancement, finally completed its final mission.

A "flame" suddenly ignited out of thin air, centered on Theresa.

However, Xia Ling knew that this was not flames, but rather... Honkai Energy reaction that was almost so concentrated as to be tangible.

The transformation speed of artificial Honkai outbreak is extremely fast, a fact that Xia Ling has personally verified. After becoming powerful, she also tried to practice with Chijie or Aponia, and had witnessed artificial Honkai outbreak a few times.

But she didn't expect that Theresa, who was undergoing artificial Honkai outbreak for the first time, could complete this "evolution" in an instant.

Her lightning-infused Dragon Slash hadn't even landed before it was already a failure.

After all...

A slender, pale hand instinctively caught her sword blade.