The Liyue Herrscher's stock keeps going up / As everyone knows, the fate of a bratty little girl is...

"And... I never imagined that the restrictions I placed to protect you would actually become shackles that hinder your growth."

"Regarding this, I think I need to apologize to you, Theresa."

"Now that things have come to this, there's no need to bring up these old stories anymore, Grandfather."

Xia Ling gently placed Xia Ling in the hands of the Heavy Armor Rabbit, Theresa with one hand she carried the cross, which was no longer as tall as her, her posture dignified.

"I think it's time for us to settle things... I won't be arrogant enough to try to judge your merits and demerits, but I also can't stand by and watch you disregard human life and use the whole world as a bargaining chip to satisfy your selfish desires!"

"It really looks like it..."

Theresa's appearance did not pose any threat to Otto; on the contrary, it unusually stirred up his memories.

Perhaps it was because he was so gratified to see Theresa fully grown up before he died that a genuine smile appeared on his lips.

"Indeed, I owe Miss Xia Ling a great favor."

"However, private thanks are a private matter. Right now, if you want me to give up my plans... Theresa, you need to show some strength."

"Hmph, that's exactly what I was thinking!"

Theresa did not blindly expand the Power of Restraint. Instead, she learned from Xia Ling's previous fight with her and used the Power of Restraint to form a shield around her body.

According to the information Xia Ling had previously revealed, her Power of Restraint was obtained from Otto, which means that the most likely scenario is that Otto became the Herrscher of Restraint.

Of course, the worst possibility is that Otto only gained the power of restraint, but did not bear the cost of using and restraining it... Judging from Xia Ling's performance, the latter situation is obviously more likely.

Therefore, Theresa decided to emulate Xia Ling's fighting style and conduct a trial rather than blindly using the Power of Restraint to fight Otto.

After all, if Otto truly possessed the Authority of Binding without paying a price, then engaging in a direct confrontation with him using the reserves of Power of Restraint would serve no purpose other than exhausting oneself.

"You didn't foolishly try to directly counter my restraints... It seems you've learned quite a bit from Xia Ling."

Seeing that Theresa did not try to free her teammates by engaging in a fight, but instead chose to engage in close combat while protecting herself from restrictions, Otto nodded approvingly.

"But have you ever considered that even in close combat, you might not be able to win... ugh!"

Otto's performance was not over when a powerful uppercut sent his face contorting in a strange way, sending his body flying high into the air.

Clearly, he and Xia Ling made the same mistake: they underestimated Theresa's physical strength after her collapse.

Xia Ling at least had data on the Fusion Warrior of the Previous Civilization as a reference, but even under these circumstances, she suffered a great loss from Theresa's first encounter kill and is now waiting to be tasted as a spoil of war.

As for Otto, the Void Archive didn't contain much detailed data on the Collapse. His understanding of the Collapse was actually more based on Sigfried and the Kaslana family.

This resulted in him assessing Theresa's strength as being a level lower than Xia Ling's.

Although Otto, who had not yet fully become False God, was already nearly immortal, immortality did not mean that his physical abilities were strong enough.

That's it?

Theresa expressed her disdain in just two concise words.

"Holy crap... what kind of medicine did Aunt Flo take? It's so strong..."

"I feel like even if I go all out, I might not be able to last long... If my period self-bans me, then I might be able to put up a fight."

Kiana, standing to the side, stared wide-eyed, looking completely bewildered, like a cat.

"Well..."

Bronya glanced at Xia Ling, who was sleeping peacefully beside her, and shook her head, saying, "Even Sister Xia Ling is so slippery, was fooled. I can't say for sure."

"However, although the headmaster is currently able to suppress Otto still doesn't seem flustered, which is abnormal."

"The thing a chess player like him, who is good at strategizing, fears most is not someone trying to outwit him, but the sudden appearance of a powerful figure on the chessboard who is strong enough to overturn the table."

"However, the headmistress's strength did not make Otto feel any crisis, which means... Otto still has a stronger hand than Auntie."

"However, Bronya is already trying to lift the signal blockade here and contact the Doctor in the Hyperion. The time the headmaster has bought us should be enough for me to crack it."

With the help of the computing power of the Heavy Armor Rabbit, Bronya rapidly manipulated the terminal.

As for Theresa, just as Bronya had predicted, a new situation arose.

"Ah... I told you long ago that I didn't want to fight. Sure enough, as the person behind the scenes, blindly getting caught up in the battle because of Theresa's heroic figure was my biggest mistake."

"However, if I still had people who were loyal to me, I wouldn't have ended up in this situation."

Otto, whose head was spinning from the beating, took advantage of Theresa's merciless punch and, in a gesture of paying homage to a certain SP+3 lady, rolled several times before returning to the entrance of St. 537 Church.

He stood up, dusted himself off, straightened his slightly tilted head, and said calmly.

"But now... there's finally enough time."

The "delay" caused by lending Xia Ling the Authority of Binding has finally returned to normal. At this moment, Otto has fully mastered the power of restraint, and, even further, has taken control of the power of the False God.

"So..."

"My play is about to begin."

Chapter Thirty-One: The Value of the Lychee Herrscher Continues to Increase

"This is..."

A curtain of light, centered on the St. 537 Church, slowly rose in front of Otto.

Even Theresa was surprised by the energy contained in this light curtain.

She could sense that this was the power of restraint that originated from Judah, but although the "quality" was the same, the "quantity" that Otto was unleashing at this moment reached a level that even Theresa had never heard of.

The golden spears of light swiftly pierced through the barrier, but clearly, a few spears alone could not hinder Otto in the slightest.

"... Yes, that's good."

Seeing Theresa biting her lip and struggling with her expression outside the light screen, Otto smiled with a sense of relief.

"Go ahead and try to stop me, Durandal, Kiana, and... Theresa."

"Consider it a farewell performance you gave me."

At this moment, outside the light screen.

As she watched Otto's figure slowly disappear, Theresa suddenly had a strange premonition.

She had a sudden, inexplicable feeling that the current situation might be her last chance to stop Otto.

It's not about stopping Otto's plan, but about stopping "Otto".

Perhaps she subconsciously felt that Otto wouldn't do something that would set the world back five hundred years? Or perhaps Otto left Theresa with the impression that he had other backup plans?

Theresa wasn't quite sure, but as long as she rushed into the light screen, she could find Otto and ask him for clarification.

In situations where the other party's Authority of Binding far exceeds one's own... all one needs to do is concentrate one's strength, break through an opening, and then use the Power of Restraint to protect oneself. This method of operation is one that I have only just seen before.

Theresa suddenly realized that Xia Ling seemed to have given her subtle hints or rehearsals in previous battles regarding the various situations involving Otto's Authority of Binding. This made her even more convinced that Otto's plan was not so simple.

"Then... let's take a gamble. Let's bet that my collapsing physique can hold out until I defeat Grandfather."

Theresa clenched her fists, just about to move.

"Theresa, don't be impulsive. We have other ways."

Ain's voice interrupted Theresa's actions.

She looked back and saw that Bronya had lifted the signal blockade in the area, and Ain's projection appeared beside them.

"Ain?"

Theresa paused for a moment.

"Ain, don't worry, I'm confident. But, if we don't stop Grandfather now..."

"Believe me, your confidence is just an illusion."

Ain interrupted Theresa without hesitation, "The Hyperion's energy level test shows that, based on the energy conversion ratio that Bronya just transmitted back, the energy required to break through this light barrier is a Tianwen figure."

"And if you want to fight under this concentration of Power of Restraint, even if you can withstand it, your body will suffer irreversible damage."

"But some things always have to be done by someone."

Theresa said seriously, "Then why can't it be me? If Kiana and the others, who are Herrscher, were to go in and pursue them, they would probably suffer even greater damage."

"What if I told you that we have a way to break through the barrier without getting hurt?"

After seeing Theresa retreat from the light screen back into the dreamlike state of mind, Ain slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

What she said earlier was true, but she was also afraid that Theresa might rush in in a moment of impulse.

On one hand, the artificial Honkai outbreak did give her a lot of confidence; on the other hand, Ain was also a little afraid that Theresa had gained power this time, would insist on shielding others from everything.

After all, in past battles, although it wasn't intentional, Theresa was never the one who suffered the most serious injuries in Rei's first attack, while her successors would be caught up in the vortex for various reasons.

Seeing Kiana and the others suffer while protecting the world, while she, as their elder, is unable to shield them from harm time and time again for various reasons, Theresa inevitably finds it hard to accept.

In fact, judging from the development of the original work, Ain's judgment was indeed correct.

"Although we are 100% certain that the barrier in front of us is made of Power of Restraint, we have not detected any energy fluctuations from the binding core in Kolosten."

"In other words, Otto may have only obtained the power of restraint, and this light curtain is maintained by some kind of mechanism."

"That's right." Theresa nodded. "Grandfather did say before that he was stalling for time..."

"Since it's a mechanism, there must be a way to break it."

"The power of constraint can dissolve Honkai Energy; that's its power characteristic. While it can also dissolve other energies, that's not its primary target."

"And the total energy level of this energy barrier has not increased by even a fraction since then... In other words, as a form of protection, it has its own conversion threshold."

"You mean, by using conventional weapons to launch a sustained attack and deplete its defense threshold?"

Tesla understood. "Damn it, I should have brought all the Silver Bullet with me."

"Please, you must consider the innocent residents of Vienna. I think they don't want to be exposed to massive amounts of radiation..."

Quickly stopping Tesla's dangerous idea, Ain continued, "And weapons with such output power are both far away and right before our eyes."

"Hyperion?"

"That's right, the engine of the Moon Throne is on the Hyperion, and the Moon Throne's ability to convert Honkai Energy into ordinary energy allows it to be used as a conventional energy weapon."

"At least from this perspective, the success rate of you rushing into the light curtain alone is much higher than Theresa's."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Theresa was eager to try. "Quickly start the Hyperion's main guns and open a breach!"

"Things aren't that simple..." Ain Erling, Lin Jiushan, Liu Qun, E Liao shook her head. "The energy level of this light barrier is astonishingly high. A single main cannon can't break it."

"However, Bronya just suggested a method, but this method requires your cooperation..."

"Could the Herrscher of Reason really accomplish something like this?"

Upon hearing Bronya's plan, the group gasped in shock.

"Simultaneously constructing six Moon Throne main cannons in an array... Bronya, are you really not in danger?"

"What, you're allowed to take risks every day, but Bronya isn't allowed to take even one risk?"

Bronya rolled her eyes at Kiana.

"That's not what I meant... it just sounds a bit too..."

"Don't worry, Bronya is just the engine itself, but the energy required for the bombardment is something you can't squeeze out even if you drain Bronya dry... We still need your help to gather the Honkai Energy into Bronya."

"But... if that's the case, you won't have much fighting power left, right?"

A voice interrupted their discussion.

Xia Ling, who had just sat up from the Heavy Armor Rabbit, yawned and rubbed her sleepy eyes.

"Hey everyone, um... isn't it a bit late to say good afternoon now?"

Chapter Thirty-Two: As everyone knows, the consequence of being a female devil is...

"Sister Xia Ling, wake up... uh..."