The Mask of the False Self Crumbling

"Sister Mostima, look! I made this cake myself!" The little girl stood on tiptoe, her face full of anticipation, and placed the cake in front of Mostima. "Sister taught me how to make it! Playing on the computer all the time is bad, you know~"

"Children are always unaware of the malice in the world... She won't know what kind of scoundrel is in front of her." Mostima closed her laptop, thinking to herself, and picked up a cake to taste.

"It's my favorite blueberry flavor..." Mostima muttered to herself as she looked at the cake.

"It was Sister Lilith who said it!" The little girl puffed out her chest proudly. "I made it!"

"Ah... thank you, Gianna." Mostima stood up first, then knelt down and patted the little girl's head. "Where is your sister now?"

"My sister seems to still be in the kitchen," Gianna said, biting her finger in frustration. "Brother Adams seems to want to say something to her, but my sister doesn't want to see him at all."

"Your sister has already fallen for someone else's boyfriend..." Mostima thought to herself, finding it somewhat amusing. She was the one who started this whole thing, but now it seemed... She had been looking forward to seeing Lilith's expression when she found out that Adams actually loved her all along. But then Lilith appeared out of nowhere, and Lilith seemed to have completely stopped caring about Adams. Now, the young lady's mind was filled with nothing but someone else's boyfriend.

Mostima went to the kitchen, where the servants were supposed to be preparing desserts and the like, but Lilith took over the task herself and told them to do other things.

Lilith hummed a song softly as she took the freshly baked cake out of the oven, her expression relaxed and cheerful.

"I didn't expect the young lady to know these things. Is this for Adams?" Mostima said, leaning against the doorway. "You seem to have prepared quite a lot of things..."

"Adams? Ah, he seemed to have been lingering outside a few times before, probably thinking about how to explain things to me?" Lilith said casually. "After all, from his perspective, it's like I inexplicably distanced myself from him, and then he found out that someone was spreading rumors about his relationship with that lady, causing me to misunderstand. Now... he's probably wondering if it was arranged by my father, or by my brother who stole his sister. Anyway... he's waiting for a chance to explain things to me properly."

Mostima's pupils contracted. "... Lilith?!"

When did she find out?!

"I went to great lengths, even scheming against you, all for this moment, to soar into the sky that belongs to me." Lilith placed the cakes and sandwiches she had made into a basket. "These are all Feng's favorite flavors. I wonder if Elysia has ever made him any cakes or anything... Hmm, she probably has, right? If not, she will in a few days~"

What is she saying?

Mostima looked bewildered.

Lilith glanced out the kitchen window. The gentle breeze was now picking up, and her purple eyes were filled with a smile, "What I've been waiting for is finally arriving..."

As soon as the words were spoken, a gale began to howl, and winds from all directions carried Honkai Energy toward the Amazon rainforest, offering a Honkai celebration for the Herrscher who was about to be born.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

"The Honkai Energy concentration in the Amazon rainforest is rising rapidly. It has been confirmed that the Fourth Herrscher is about to be born. All personnel must evacuate the Amazon rainforest immediately!" Hen began directing the operation. "I repeat, evacuate the Amazon rainforest immediately! Equip the subjugation forces with Herrscher ammunition, and the rescue forces are ready to search for any possible survivors! I repeat..."

"Thinking about it, it's going to be pretty fast. It's time to fight the Herrscher again." Zhu Yufeng had just put on his equipment, watched Kevin organize his gear. "But I think Qianjie can handle it by himself before we make a move."

"Although Qianjie cannot fly, the Fourth Herrscher is not so easy to deal with. If Qianjie could make contact with the Fourth Herrscher, his victory would be beyond doubt." Kevin finished adjusting his equipment. "We were caught off guard before and failed to eliminate the Fourth Herrscher when she was born, which gave her the opportunity to escape to Scotland..."

"Good luck." Zhu Yufeng raised his hand and made a fist. Kevin also raised his hand and made a fist. Their hands bumped lightly together, and then Zhu Yufeng was dragged away by Elysia: "Feng, you're my second-in-command! We're not on the same action path as Kevin."

What's she doing here with Kevin's team? She said she couldn't find Feng Ren, and after asking around, she found out that this guy had come to Kevin's side!

Kevin watched the two leave, then looked at Kosma, who stood silently behind him, and said, "This time, Elysia and I are prepared. Maple, Sakura, and Qianjie are also here. We can definitely kill the Fourth Herrscher right here!"

Kosma nodded firmly. "... Yes."

In fact, Kevin had thought of many more things. The Sixth Herrscher incident was a hurdle that left him with regrets. He firmly believed that if he had not been deceived by the Sixth Herrscher's deception, the entire city would not have died. If he could do it all over again, he would never show mercy.

"Let's go!" Kevin said, and set off with Kosma, Hua, Disaster, who had already packed their gear.

On Zhu Yufeng's side.

"You seem a little nervous?" Zhu Yufeng said, looking at Pardo who looked as if she were facing a formidable enemy. "Pardo, you've already seen the Finality, the Fourth Herrscher isn't that scary, is she?"

"Hmm... that's true, but..." Pardo thought for a moment and then said, "Maybe it's because we lack experience fighting Herrscher. The only ones we've ever fought are the Herrscher of Binding of Binding and the Herrscher of Finality, and the marks they left on us were just too... Rin-chan, we didn't see anything from the rear at that time..."

Sakura glanced at Zhu Yufeng. The Herrscher of Erosion incident... it was a deeply memorable event for all the Fire Moths, although for a certain completely oblivious guy, he was just doing what he was supposed to do.

Zhu Yufeng looked in a certain direction. Lilith and the others weren't far from here. That place would be one of the areas most severely affected by the Honkai. The location was too coincidental. It was hard not to suspect that Lilith had done it on purpose. He wondered if the Gray Serpent had already arrived at the location...

"Alright, enough with the pre-battle pep talk, let's go!" Elysia said. "Stay close to me, or you'll get lost!"

With everything in place, the Fourth Great Honkai officially broke out!

The wind howled, countless tornadoes connected heaven and earth, and the tides surged continuously, forming wave after wave of giant waves crashing against the shore, as if heaven and earth were responding to this extraordinary Herrscher.

Lilith, carrying a basket, stood under a sky filled with dark clouds. The wind tousled her silver hair as she walked against the flow of people, gazing thoughtfully at the distant tornado that seemed to connect heaven and earth.

Mostima was nearly blown off her feet by the strong wind. There was nothing she could do; Lilith had seen through her little scheme, so she had to follow Lilith to find out what this young lady, who seemed to have suddenly become a different person, was planning to do.

"Young Miss! The authorities here have just issued an emergency evacuation order. Hurry up and leave!" The old butler braved the strong wind and walked in front of Lilith, struggling to hold up an umbrella for her. "Although things happened very suddenly, there's nothing we can do now. In the face of nature, humans are still so fragile."

"She's standing more steadily than I am; the wind didn't even budge her!" Mostima thought to himself as he steadied himself against a nearby telephone pole.

Incidentally, she was also wondering why Lilith seemed to have known about this strange weather event all along. She remembered that Lilith had told her...

"Maybe a tornado will come and blow everything away?"

"No way..." Mostima murmured.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. I was hoping we could have a picnic tomorrow," Lilith said with some regret. "Let's go then, Simon."

As Lilith ran with the old butler toward the car he had prepared, she glanced in a certain direction. Mostima followed her gaze and saw a strange man in black with an umbrella standing in the shadows, watching them like a snake observing its prey. The red light on his mask was very unsettling.

"What is all this nonsense..." Mostima muttered.

The old butler got into the car and started the engine. Gianna hugged her sister tightly, saying, "Sister, I'm scared!"

"It's alright, Gianna, this will be over soon, very soon..." Lilith gently stroked Gianna's head, but Mostima saw a strange smile curving up the corners of Lilith's mouth. Under the dim sky at this moment, Lilith looked like she was standing at the gates of the underworld beckoning death.

"How could humans create such a weather phenomenon? If that were the case, human technology wouldn't be at its current level," Mostima comforted himself. "Perhaps... I'm just seeing things?"

Take another look, and it's still that eerie smile!

Mostima: "..."

The unease grew stronger. Surely the young lady wouldn't make a move at this time? This could very well mean the death of everyone.

Suddenly, a violent impact sound came from in front of the car. A huge, spinning monster, as if falling from the sky, slammed into the car. Its purplish-red light emitted a dangerous aura. The entire body of the car was dented, and blood splattered from the car window confirmed that the people inside were basically beyond saving.

"What are these things?" Mostima looked out the car window. Countless monsters that looked like mosquitoes but had the size of young beasts were flying around, and like that spinning top-like monster, they were attacking the humans running in the street.

The earth trembled, and Mostima saw more than one gigantic monster, as large as a building, appear behind the vehicle...

"Am I... dreaming?" Mostima murmured.

That really makes you want to wake up from that dream.

A person's knowledge determines their perspective. Mostima had almost never come into contact with Honkai, so she couldn't possibly understand the phenomena Honkai by Honkai beyond her existing knowledge. However... after the initial shock, a strange excitement welled up inside her, as if... she had once fought such monsters...

"Everyone, please sit down!" the old butler said in a deep voice.

He floored the accelerator, dodging one monster after another as he charged forward. However, he soon had to stop because the monster attacks had caused a traffic jam on the road. It was clear that leaving would result in another attack, and staying would also mean being attacked.

The old butler took a deep breath, took out his gun, unbuckled his seatbelt, and said to Lilith and the others sitting in the back, "Young Miss, and Miss Mostima, I'll lure those monsters away, you guys run when the time is right!"

After saying that, he opened the door, fired a shot at a flying monster, and shouted, "Damn it, come here!" He then fired a few more shots before running into the alley.

"Hey, hey, hey, you're the only one who can fight, and you've already left. What are the three of us unarmed girls doing here?" Mostima thought to herself.

"Assault-class Honkai Beast can reach the speed of sound. If it crashes into a human, one hit is enough. And with its hardness, it could easily smash through a wall," Lilith said casually. "Alright, let's go."

"Tsk, there's just no way around it, Gianna..."

"One less person means one less burden, Mostima, you don't understand that, do you?" Lilith said calmly, tossing Mostima a pistol. "The pistol has a safety on it. You know how to turn it on, right? Let's go."

"Lilith, do you mean to..."

"Ah, then tell a lie." Lilith glanced at her panicked sister, a kind smile appearing on her face. "Gianna, stay here and be safe. It will be over soon. Just like always, count those little things outside. A day will pass quickly."

Mostima watched in astonishment as Lilith's expression changed in an instant. She finally realized that Lilith had been acting all along, but for some reason, she felt it was perfectly natural...

"Hmm..." The little girl nodded somewhat fearfully, "Sister and Sister Mostima must be careful."

"You've already been abandoned by your sister! "Mostima thought to himself.

If we leave, there might be a chance of survival; staying means certain death.

"Let's go." Lilith said, picking up her basket and opening the car door. "We don't have much time, and I don't want to look too disheveled when I see Feng."

In your eyes, are your basket and its contents more important than your own sister?! Mostima looked at Lilith as if she had never known her before.

Looking at the bewildered Gianna, and remembering the blueberry cake she hadn't finished eating, Mostima gave a bitter smile to herself, "Although I'm not exactly a good person myself... I don't like owing favors..."

She helped Gianna out of the car, released the safety from her pistol, and took Gianna's hand. "Let's go, Gianna."

Lilith glanced at Mostima, scoffed, and ignored her, continuing to walk away.

Escaping with a small child was inconvenient, and Mostima wasn't strong enough to carry Gianna. Lilith, who could only help, was walking further and further away like a ghost.

Suddenly, Mostima noticed that a flying monster seemed to have noticed them. It took a step back, and then charged at an extremely fast speed. She hugged Gianna tightly and jumped to the side, dodging the monster's charge. The monster couldn't stop and charged straight at Lilith, but Lilith simply dodged it with a casual sidestep.

She looked up at Mostima, who was protecting Gianna, and a mocking smile appeared on her lips, "The famous hacker Mostima would risk her life for someone so insignificant?"

"I never expected that you, as the Lord of the Moon, could abandon your own sister so decisively," Mostima retorted.

"I only care about Maple." Lilith shrugged. "I don't care about the others. They're just toys that I can throw away after I'm done with them. At least you're still somewhat capable. Leave her here and come with me. At least you can survive. Otherwise, I really won't wait for you."

"Before that, do you think I would shoot you?" Mostima pointed his pistol at Lilith.

"If I stand here and let you shoot, will you hit her?" Lilith casually pointed her gun at Gianna, who was being protected by Mostima. "I'll decide for you. Guess how good my marksmanship is?"

Mostima gritted her teeth. Lilith was indeed quite a distance away. She rarely touched a gun, so her accuracy was indeed worrying. Moreover, the howling wind made it difficult for her to aim...

"Lilith!" Adams' voice rang out. The two looked at each other, and Adams ran over, carrying a gun. "I knew it... The road ahead was completely blocked, and with monsters attacking humans everywhere, I was really worried..."

Lilith narrowed her eyes, then returned to her usual demeanor. "Adams, you've come at just the right time. The three of us simply can't walk too fast."

"I will definitely protect you!" Adams said.

Mostima suddenly felt a little disgusted, because she couldn't expose Lilith, because Adams wouldn't believe her even if she did... She could even guess that once they were in a safe place, Lilith would definitely shoot Adams in the back.

"Forget it, saving Gianna is enough to repay the favor I owed her with the blueberry cake. I can't worry about anything else," Mostima thought to himself.