After Welt had explained most of what he knew to Xina, he begged tearfully, "I really only know that much. Please, just give me a quick death!"
"Fine. I keep my word."
As soon as she spoke, Xina condensed Black Mist at the tip of her right index finger and lightly touched Welt's forehead.
Watching the Black Mist rapidly break Welt down into black particles from his forehead outward, the expression on Xina's face changed as well.
It seemed being an Apostle of God was not going to be easy for her!
Including herself, four Herrschers had appeared so far. The First Herrscher had become a traitor, and though his fate was currently unknown, he was most likely still alive.
The Second Herrscher had been blown to death years ago by some massive Schicksal bomb, while her corpse and Gem had been separated for research.
The Third Herrscher was at some academy or other and was currently in... hmm, what was that word again? Right, an observation period.
As for herself, the Fourth Herrscher—even setting aside the fact that the Serenity Gem inside her had come from the Second Herrscher—just thinking about the focus of her current work sent a chill down Xina's spine.
The newborn Herrscher Miss felt that if she was not careful and just wandered around foolishly under so many eyes, then the Second Herrscher's fate would likely be a true portrayal of her own bleak future...
Destroying human civilization was a massive undertaking, not something that could be finished in a day. Rather than be hunted across thousands of miles after destroying this city, she might as well find somewhere to lie low first...
That's right! It wasn't that she was slacking off; she simply needed to find a safe place and formulate a rigorous work plan first!
Having found herself an excuse to loaf around, Xina finally smiled a little.
After casually coming up with a barely passable plan, Xina turned to the group of Honkai Beasts kneeling before her and ordered, "You lot, go cause trouble! The bigger the better! That's the only way you can buy me time to leave this place."
Roar—
Having received an order from a Herrscher, the Honkai Beasts let out excited, incomprehensible roars before scattering in all directions.
Xina turned and headed toward the hotel entrance that had been destroyed by the explosion. Her left leg had just stepped onto the stairs outside when her right leg froze in midair.
Turning back, she picked up the strange Gem fragment Welt had left on the ground, one that resembled a Herrscher Core yet differed greatly from one. The corners of her lips curled up as she said disdainfully, "But then again, this piece of trash can still be put to use twice!"
"I only need to set up a 'target' to draw those people's attention. Once that is done, my goal will be achieved."
As she spoke, pitch-black mist flowed from Xina's palm into the strange Gem fragment, dyeing it a sinister, eerie blackish-purple.
The choice of target gave Xina quite a headache—not because there were too few candidates, but because there were too many.
When the Pseudo-Core Sublimation Eternal Gem had first formed, Xina had absorbed a tremendous amount of Honkai energy to catalyze and solidify the Core.
As a result, the large amount of Honkai energy that had leaked outward when the Serenity Gem entered her body had also been captured by her own Herrscher Core.
Compared to the massive casualties caused by the Second and Third Herrschers upon their births, the greatest achievement of Xina, the Fourth Herrscher, was apparently the traffic accidents caused when the Honkai Beasts she released charged recklessly through the streets.
It had to be said, that was truly embarrassing.
"Hahahaha! Be destroyed, insects!"
A shrill scream shot into the sky. Under the guidance of the 'Herrscher of Death,' the clouds circling overhead churned and released lethal black raindrops.
Eroded by those black raindrops, large numbers of Death Stalkers and Honkai Beasts appeared in the streets. Following their instincts, they indiscriminately attacked every living thing, trying to turn the city into a living hell.
"Did that thing find an Adept so quickly? Tsk, such heavy malice... That really is a little surprising." Standing before the hotel's floor-to-ceiling window, Xina watched this impostor who believed herself to be a Herrscher from the perspective of a bystander and shook her head in frustration.
After standing at the window and observing for a while, Xina saw that the 'target' was not doing anything particularly novel. Her eyes darkened as she sighed, "Forget it, forget it. It won't live long anyway. If it likes making trouble, then let it make trouble!"
With that, Xina walked down the dim corridor and stopped before a full-length mirror at its end. She turned slightly to the side, looked at her somewhat gloomy, pale face in the mirror, and unconsciously frowned.
To be honest, she did not like this face very much. Whenever she saw this fragile-looking face, she would always think of some unpleasant memories.
Just as she was debating whether to use the Serenity Gem's power to give herself a prettier face, an arrow sliced through the air and grazed Xina's earlobe before embedding itself in the inner wall of the corridor.
"Eh?!" Xina turned around and followed the arrow's shaft to find its owner.
The arrow's owner was a Death Stalker in the building across the street.
Perhaps because Xina had frozen most of her Honkai energy inside her body, that Death Stalker actually mistook Xina for an ordinary person and intended to add a vivid stroke to her battle record.
"You blind little bastard..." Xina frowned and glared at the Death Stalker, who had yet to realize the severity of the situation. Her right hand clenched at empty air, intending to turn her from a Death Stalker into a corpse.
"Watch out! Get down!"
Just as Xina was about to draw her forty-meter ice blade, a Paramecium that had just woken up sprang out of who knew what corner and lunged forward, shoving Xina aside.
"What are you doing?!" Xina was startled by Kiana's sudden appearance.
Since she had never expected someone to suddenly appear beside her, the defenseless Xina's head slammed heavily into the wall as she was knocked down. The powerful recoil left her feeling rather uncomfortable.
"Of course I'm saving you!" Kiana cautiously hid behind the wall and watched the Death Stalker, then flashed Xina an energetic smile. "I don't know what exactly happened here, but as a Valkyrie and Kiana Kaslana, who carries the bloodline of knights, I have a duty to protect ordinary people like you from those bad things!"
"Mm..."
Xina the Herrscher looked awkwardly at the energetic knightly girl, wanting to speak but stopping herself, stopping herself but wanting to speak...
For some reason, seeing that smile filled with goodwill, Xina did not really want to crush this... somewhat chuunibyou knightly girl's spirits.
But speaking of Valkyries... Xina's eyes darkened slightly, as though she were struggling with something.
Using the reflection from the full-length mirror, Kiana watched the Death Stalker disappear from view and finally breathed a sigh of relief. She waved at Xina and said softly:
"Hey, don't be scared. That Death Stalker seems to have been lured away by something else. Just stay bent over like that and slowly come over. Don't worry, Miss here is Schicksal's future strongest Valkyrie. I'll definitely protect you!"
"Protect..." Xina murmured the word. The Honkai energy she had already released somewhat was frozen back inside her body. She forced a slightly weak smile and nodded at Kiana. "Then I'll be counting on you, brave lady knight!"
"Mm!"
Once Xina had crouched and crossed the corridor, Kiana hoisted Xina's slender body over her shoulder and ran toward the safety passage.
"Kiana, aren't you afraid?" Xina asked curiously from Kiana's shoulder.
"I'm not afraid, because I'm a true Kaslana. In the name of a knight, I'll fight for the people I love until the very end. That's what my Stinky Dad told me."
Dad? What a familiar yet unfamiliar form of address!
After being carried over Kiana's shoulder through several streets, Xina slightly raised her head and gently patted Kiana's back with her palm. "You've been running for so long. You must be tired, right? Put me down first, okay?"
"You're too light. Carrying you isn't tiring at all. But we've run for so long—how come we haven't seen even one Honkai Beast? I remember seeing loads of them upstairs just now." Kiana looked around. The empty streets were filled with traces of the Honkai Beasts' rampage, yet for some reason, they had all strangely disappeared.
Was there even a need to ask? Naturally, they had been scared away by this Herrscher's overwhelming aura!
Xina mocked her in her heart, but she still wore that weak expression on her face. "Maybe we got lucky and just happened to miss them!"
"Lucky?" Kiana scratched her head, seemingly a little doubtful of that explanation.
Fine, I'm saving you effort and you're still getting suspicious? Then I'll find you some work to do!
Closing her eyes, Xina sensed the Honkai Beasts active nearby. She casually picked out a few and ordered them to hurry over and report to her.
Clip-clop, clip-clop...
Amid a string of loud hoofbeats, several 'passing' Knight-class Honkai Beasts made their dazzling entrance.
As for why Knight-class Honkai Beasts had come instead of Temple-Class ones or some other class, that had to do with Xina's twisted sense of humor.
Knight-class Honkai Beasts had "knight" in their names, and Kiana was also a knight.
In Xina's mind, knights naturally had to duel knights!
The Knight-class Honkai Beasts turned around from the end of the street and charged straight toward the two of them.
"Stay right here and don't move. I'll lure them away!"
Kiana settled Xina into a corner, spread her arms, and leaped out from behind cover. She shouted at the Knight-class Honkai Beasts, "Come on! Let me, Schicksal's future strongest Valkyrie, put an end to your evil!"
At the very moment the Knight-class Honkai Beasts charged at full speed, Kiana suddenly jumped to one side, causing the Knight-class Honkai Beast that could not stop in time to crash headfirst into a building.
Before you continue