This Herrscher Was a Little Too Cautious

"I led people through that area several times. There were no abnormalities, no signs of a Herrscher being born."

Hearing Himeko's affirmative answer, Theresa let out a sigh of relief and sat down. Leaning against the back of her chair, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and guiltily pressed the half-read comic book further beneath the documents. "Good, good. It looks like this was just a technical error from the Science Department..."

Before she could finish, a piercing alarm abruptly cut off their conversation:

"Warning! Warning! Honkai energy in the Singapore region has exceeded the safety threshold! It has reached red-level status! Current peak Honkai energy in the area is... 2700HW... 3100HW... 3600HW... 4000HW... 4500HW... 5000HW..."

"What? It broke through 5000HW that quickly?"

Watching the numbers continue to climb on the screen, Himeko's expression suddenly changed.

In barely a dozen seconds, the Honkai energy in the region had surged from 2700HW to 5000HW. What that implied hardly needed to be said.

"A new Herrscher has been born!"

"A Herrscher? Going by the order of birth, this should be the Fourth Herrscher."

At that moment, people in Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and St. Freya alike were quietly discussing the rising numbers on their screens.

"Himeko, Fu Hua and Kiana are still there. No matter which branch handles the new Herrscher, we have to bring those two back. I'm going with you on this mission." Theresa jumped down from her office chair and crossed to Himeko's side in just a few steps.

"This is strange. This Herrscher hasn't spread Honkai energy to infect ordinary people." Durandal watched the rapidly swirling black clouds over the city and the artillery fire unique to Anti-Entropy Mecha. After thinking for a moment, she took out her communicator and dialed a number, speaking in a cool voice:

"Bishop, it has been confirmed that the Fourth Herrscher has come into contact with Anti-Entropy's mechs. I request permission to join the battle."

"Oh my, they're already fighting Anti-Entropy? That really isn't good news. Hmm..."

The man on the other end of the line pondered for a while, seemingly considering something.

"Fighting the Herrscher is necessary, of course. But... since those Anti-Entropy people care so much about this Herrscher, let them use their strength to wear down the Herrscher's energy. Stay there and await orders for now."

Listening to the disconnection tone from the other end, Durandal silently lowered her communicator and continued observing the swirling black clouds.

At Destiny Headquarters, Otto set down the communicator after the call ended. Looking at the satellite footage, a cryptic smile curled across his face.

"The Herrscher of Death chosen by the Serenity Gem! Let me see what you can bring me."

Otto murmured to himself and dialed the communicator once more.

Theresa had only just sat down aboard the Hyperion when she heard the communicator's urgent beeping.

Seeing Theresa's grave expression, Mei and the others seemed to sense that something bad had happened.

"Grandpa, what is it? Ah! All right, I understand."

After ending the call, Theresa frowned slightly at the electronic screen before her. It was not until Himeko called her name several times that she came back to herself.

"I just received a call from Grandpa. He said the task of dealing with the Herrscher has been assigned to S-Rank Valkyrie Durandal. Our Far East Branch will assist Durandal in eliminating the Herrscher. In other words, two S-Rank Valkyries will be overseeing this mission."

"Once we reach Singapore, Himeko, take Mei and bring Fu Hua and Kiana back."

"I'll cooperate with Durandal to eliminate this Herrscher."

"Two S-Rank Valkyries deploying together? It seems the Bishop is determined to get the Fourth Herrscher," Himeko said, rubbing her aching forehead. "I just hope that reckless Kiana doesn't run off at a time like this."

"Teacher Himeko, with Class Monitor Fu Hua keeping an eye on Kiana, we can rest assured." Bronya turned her head and earnestly comforted Himeko.

"Mm, let's hope so." Himeko smiled and swept out her arm. "Destination: Singapore. Hyperion, sortie!"

Singapore, on an unknown street after its destruction...

Several strange-looking creatures wandered beside the violently destroyed Anti-Entropy Mecha.

"So these are Honkai Beasts? They don't look like much!" Xina curiously poked the shield held by an unfamiliar Honkai Beast, then grabbed the wings of some smaller Honkai Beast and gave them a shake.

The moment she had stepped outside, she had run into several metal lumps head-on. She had no idea who those metal lumps belonged to, but they had been completely unreasonable, opening fire the moment they saw her.

If those bizarre Honkai Beasts had not fallen from the sky, the new dress Xina had painstakingly picked out would have been blown to pieces by those shells.

Just as she was preparing to properly study these Honkai Beasts, that voice rang out in Xina's mind again. This time, however, it carried intense emotion and purpose, as if urging Xina to fulfill her duties as a Herrscher as soon as possible and bring disaster upon this world.

"Yes, I understand!" Xina raised her right hand high, and black mist gathered at the tips of her five fingers into a massive sphere.

Looking at the rapidly spinning spiral of clouds in the sky, she was about to throw the black sphere into it and create a "rain of death," but Welt's scream made her halt.

Something was wrong! Very, very wrong!

Xina lowered her hand and stared blankly at Welt, who was struggling and screaming within that cloud of Black Mist.

This guy was a fake First Herrscher. Although she did not know where the real First Herrscher was, one thing was certain: there had to be more than one Herrscher in this world!

Then where had all the previous Herrschers gone?

Dispersing the Black Mist wrapped around Welt, Xina bent down and asked coldly, "You. Answer a few questions honestly, and I'll give you a quick death!"

"What do you want to ask? Just ask... I'll tell you everything..." Welt said weakly as he lay on the ground, his spirit completely shattered by the torment.

"Fine. Didn't you say you were the First Herrscher? Then besides you and me, are there any other Herrschers in this world? If there are, where are they now?" Xina crouched down and grabbed Welt by the hair, forcing him to raise his head and meet her eyes.

"Besides you and me, there are the Second Herrscher and the Third Herrscher. In 2000, the Second Herrscher was in Siberia, where Schicksal and Anti-Entropy joined forces..."

"As for... as for that Third Herrscher, she is currently..."