The Subjugation Ends

"Damn it, flying around like a fly! Herrscher, is all you can do is dodge?!" Qianjie Tribulations snapped a tree in half with his bare hands and smashed it at the Fourth Herrscher.

With a wave of her hand, the Fourth Herrscher used a Qianjie to sweep aside the tree that Qianjie had thrown at her. However, the moment she threw the tree, the cyclone protecting her and preventing others from entering also disappeared briefly. Zhu Yufeng, who had been observing the battle, seized the opportunity to aim at the Fourth Herrscher and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The bullet pierced the Fourth Herrscher's chest, disrupting her powers and preventing her from maintaining her levitation in the air. She then fell to the ground, creating a large crater.

"Confirmed to have been hit by the Fourth Herrscher. Attached units, please confirm their status," Zhu Yufeng said into the communication channel.

Qianjie's deputy rushed to the side of the fallen Fourth Herrscher, checked the situation, and reported, "The Fourth Herrscher has been confirmed to be killed. I repeat, the Fourth Herrscher has been confirmed to be killed."

"As expected of Feng, but thankfully Captain Qianjie bought enough time... Eh? Where's Captain Qianjie?" Qianjie's second-in-command looked around. "Captain? Captain, where did you go?!"

"Stop shouting. Your captain went with Feng to deal with the Fourth Herrscher's companion Honkai Beast." Rovoc led his men over expressionlessly and said, "You guys should go too. As for the Fourth Herrscher's corpse and core, leave them to us."

The deputy saluted and then went with the others to hunt down the Honkai Beast that were companions of the Fourth Herrscher.

"Compared to Honkai Beast, Herrscher possess even more terrifying destructive Judgment-class Honkai Beast, but their bodies are also more fragile." Rovoc crouched down to examine the condition of the Fourth Herrscher's corpse. "I don't know why, but from the four Herrscher corpses I've seen so far... their clothing has changed accordingly after they Herrscherization. I still can't understand, what's the point of this?"

It can't stop bullets, and it doesn't have any floating cannons or anything on it, it's just a simple change of clothes.

"Maybe it's because it's also a manifestation of their Herrscher identity," Zhu said, standing next to her. "Look how cool they are! They transform in a flash, they look so powerful."

"But this has no practical use... Hmm?" Rovoc examined the Fourth Herrscher's clothing. "It seems I have to take back what I said before. Perhaps the clothing isn't useless. It's an auxiliary form for Herrscher to mobilize Honkai Energy. With a supply of Honkai Energy, it might be more durable than ordinary clothes."

However, it still couldn't stop the bullets.

As Rovoc spoke, he took out a scalpel, and Zhu looked surprised. "Senior sister, you're not planning to dissect right here, are you?"

Not far away, the Fourth Herrscher's companion, the Honkai Beast, is still fighting against the warriors of the Fire Moth!

"Ah, sorry, it's a habit." Rovoc casually sheathed his sword. "You, take her back to my temporary research lab here. I have obtained permission from the council to investigate the Fourth Herrscher's body from now on."

The other support staff nodded in understanding, and then the group of people methodically collected and took away the Fourth Herrscher.

"Let's go too, Senior Sister, it's so dangerous here..." Zhu grabbed Rovoc's clothes and trembled. She could hear Qianjie Jie's shouts and various explosions not far away, mixed with the roars of Honkai Beast.

"If you're scared, you can wait. I still have some data to collect." Rovoc waved his hand and said, then completely ignored Zhu and began collecting and recording various data. "The instruments show that the atmosphere here is much cleaner than the previous observation data. Apart from the Honkai Energy of the Fourth Herrscher itself, the concentration of Honkai Energy in the air is lower than the level of a Honkai. In other words, the concentration of Honkai Energy here is within a safe range for normal people."

As he spoke, Rovoc removed his mask, sniffed the surrounding air, and continued recording, "The data from the instruments is the same. Apart from the low concentration of Honkai Energy, and excluding the fact that the Qianjie Calamities and the Fourth Herrscher used a lot of gunpowder during their battle, the various harmful gases in the air have almost disappeared. Without considering the damage caused by the storm, it is an environment very suitable for animals to move around in."

As they were talking, another loud explosion came from not far away.

"Senior sister, do we really need to risk our lives like this?" Zhu's legs trembled. If she abandoned Rovoc and left on her own, Dr. Mobius would definitely tear her apart if he found out!

QAQ

"If something happens to you, nothing can happen to Rovoc, understand?"

That's what the professor told me when I came here.

"Zhu, what do you think is the essence of Honkai?" Rovoc asked Zhu while recording data without looking up.

"The essence of Honkai? Uh... a disaster born along with the text?" Zhu recalled her knowledge, "It has different manifestations depending on the environment. In most cases, Honkai appears in the form of natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc. When the Honkai Energy reaches a certain range, it will trigger the Honkai Apostles, Herrscher."

"The First Herrscher's power is to construct various devices known to her. Compared to the Third and the Present Fourth Herrscher, her ability is unrelated to nature; rather, it seems that the extent of the destruction she causes depends on the level of human civilization. The rationale behind her power is still unanalyzed. The Second Herrscher's power is spatial jumping, which is also the focus of the Third Research Institute's research, but there hasn't been much progress yet," Rovoc pondered. "It's strange. The First and Second Herrscher seem different from the recently appeared Third and Fourth Herrscher... Dr. Vill-V has made breakthrough progress in the research on the Third Herrscher's Herrscher Core, while the Fourth Herrscher... I can the Present deduce what her power is."

"Create a storm?" Zhu tilted his head.

"The storm is merely one manifestation of her power; her true power... should be the creation of ideal fluids," Rovoc continued. "If this power could be utilized effectively, the Present air pollution would be no problem at all, and Earth's atmosphere would become much cleaner. If only we could extract the essence of the Herrscher Core and create a corresponding device..."

As they were speaking, another violent explosion occurred.

Then, Zhu Yufeng's voice came through the communicator Zhu was holding. "Zhu! Where is the Present? The Fourth Herrscher 'Rovoc companion, the Honkai Beast, is heading towards the Fourth Herrscher's corpse retrieval team! Can you see it? Run!"

"Huh?" Zhu looked up blankly and found that although the big bird that had been shot down earlier could no longer fly, it also seemed to have suffered considerable injuries. However, it was still heading towards the Fourth Herrscher's corpse recovery team despite the fire coming from all directions.

It opened its mouth, and the storm it spewed snapped all the trees along the way, causing a significant blow to the recovery team.

"So that's how it is. To some extent, the relationship between the companion Honkai Beast and the Herrscher is like... a pet and its master?" Lofco analyzed calmly. "The first and second Herrschers didn't have any records of companion Honkai Beasts. The third Herrscher was killed shortly after her birth, and the companion Honkai Beast, Shesa, didn't survive for long either. It seems that next time a Herrscher appears, we need to consider the companion Honkai Beast factor before attempting to retrieve it..."

"Senior Sister Rovoc, how can you be so calm?!" Zhu exclaimed in exasperation. "If we had gone back with you, the Present!!!"

"Death is the end for every living being. It's bound to come sooner or later anyway, so is there any need to worry about it?" Rovoc said as he began to scan the surrounding environment again. "Instead of making a fuss here, you might as well help me collect some more data."

Zhu: "..."

She thought of her senior sister Klein, who was always working overtime in the lab, and Dr. Mobius's bodyguard, who would never utter a single word more than a punctuation mark, and Feng, who could never remember anyone's name... Add to that the Present research fanatic senior sister, Rovoc, and was she and her sister Cangxuan the only two normal people left in the entire lab? Or... were they the abnormal ones?

After deploying countless heavy weapons for an attack, and with the support of other warriors, the massive body of the Vayu Moth was riddled with holes. It let out a sharp cry to the sky, emitting a fluorescent green light. As the light spread, it grew enormous wings. Then, it flapped its wings and took flight. The storm overturned the surrounding armed forces and the Fire Moth warriors. Hen immediately ordered the aerial forces to Vayu Flame -Vayu flew over the sea and was hit by several missiles, crashing into the sea.

"Airborne forces, confirm the status of the Judgment-class Honkai Beast, Vayu," Hen said.

"We only saw the feathers of the Vayu on the surface of the sea. Its signal is still there, but it's getting weaker and weaker." The fighter pilot circled over the spot Vayu the bird had crashed. "We didn't see the Vayu's body, so we can't confirm whether we killed it. It's more likely that it kept diving. It's hard to believe that a bird would dive..."

"Keep an eye on things and report anything immediately. By the way, some birds can swim too."

"Receive!"

In the rainforest, Zhu Yufeng reached out and pulled Kevin, who had fallen into the river, up. "Can you still fight?"

"Heh, when I was fighting the Fourth Herrscher, you were still fighting Honkai Beast somewhere." Kevin checked his equipment. "Vayu now escaped into the sea, and it will probably be a while before it reappears."

"The target is quite obvious: the Fourth Herrscher," Zhu Yufeng said. "However, at least for the Present, it won't appear."

"Then we only have one thing left to do." Kevin changed his magazine. "Feng, we haven't had a competition in a long time. Who has killed more Honkai Beast? This is a good opportunity."

"I'd be happy to oblige," Zhu Yufeng said with a smile.

"... Count me in!" Kosma said.

"Why do you guys have such a strange competitive spirit in a place like this?" Disaster asked, speechless. "This place is practically a battlefield!"

"After all, the most troublesome Fourth Herrscher and the Judgment-class Honkai Beast have been dealt with, and the remaining Honkai Beast aren't worth watching, so count us in!" Pardo said as she ran off with Zhu Yufeng and the others.

"Ah, this..."

Disaster twitched the corners of her mouth and looked at Elysia. Although she didn't think Elysia could persuade those people, at least Elysia was still Captain Zhu Yufeng...

"Boys' games sound pretty good too. Kevin's training results have surpassed mine and Feng's a few times, haven't they? Hmm, I should practice cooperative battles with Feng more too~" Elysia said as she ran off with Zhu Yufeng.

Disaster stared blankly at Sakura.

Sakura paused for a moment, then said, "Anyway, the next mission is to eliminate this generation of Honkai Beast, so let them be."

Disaster: "..."

That's what they say, but aren't you all taking Honkai too lightly?

Compared to the post-Honkai, the Present Honkai is of a much smaller scale and has a smaller impact area than the disaster in the pre-Honkai memories. For Zhu Yufeng and the others, it is indeed not a big deal.

The cleanup work wasn't actually that difficult. Apart from a few people who needed to constantly monitor Vayu, Zhu Yufeng and his team had essentially finished what they were supposed to do.

"Most of the Honkai Beast have been cleared out. We can rest for a bit. Leave the rest to the Fire Moth branch here," Zhu Yufeng said. "Kevin, how many Honkai Beasts did you take down this time?"

"13 Tank-class, 7 Ballista-class, and together with Kosma, we took down 6 Honkai Emperors. I'm fine, but Kosma twisted his ankle. How about you?"

"There were 12 Tank-class, 8 Ballista-class, and 9 ballista-class. As for the Honkai Emperor, we managed to take down 8 of them together with Elysia," Zhu Yufeng said.

"My teamwork with Maple was actually pretty good~" Elysia said with a smile. "Kevin, you lost this time."

"I'm not going to give up after one failure, but I won't lose again next time," Kevin said. "Speaking of which, Feng, didn't you say you were going to have someone pick up Lilith? You didn't even ask me how you were going to do it."

"She just arrived around here, and she should have been rescued by the Fire Moth rescue team by the Present ... We don't need to make any special arrangements; she'll find a way to get here herself..." Zhu Yufeng said, as if sensing something, and looked in a certain direction with Elysia.

Lilith, carrying a basket, stood a short distance away and waved to them.

Zhu Yufeng: "..."

The Gray Serpent is moving pretty fast; it brought Lilith over right after we finished fighting her...

Hmm? Is Lilith alone? Where are the Mostima people?

Lilith stepped forward and smiled, saying, "Now I can fight alongside you again, Maple~"

Zhu Yufeng paused for a moment, then stood up and extended his hand to Lilith: "Welcome back, Lilith."

Lilith didn't shake his hand, but instead placed a handkerchief in Zhu Yufeng's hand. Just as Zhu Yufeng was still puzzled, Lilith took a sandwich from her basket and placed it in Zhu Yufeng's hand holding the handkerchief. "This is a sandwich I made myself. It's probably a little cold, but it's your favorite flavor~"

Elysia: "..."

She... she can do it too!

Zhu Yufeng took a bite, and thought, "Hmm... indeed, Lilith's cooking skills are a little inferior to Hundred Flavors's, but they are still delicious enough... So Lilith really did manage to catch up with the time this time?"

"Elysia, do you want some? I have more here, although they're all made to Kaede's favorite flavor." Lilith then looked at Elysia and said, "If anyone else wants some, they can come and get some too."

Elysia: "..."

It feels like I've already lost at the starting line...

Pardo: "..."

I wonder if I could learn a thing or two from Lilith...

"By the way, where's Mostima?" Zhu Yufeng asked. "Wasn't she with you?"

"She seems to really like my sister, and since you don't want anything to happen to her, I just let her and my sister accept the Fire Moth's accommodation." Lilith shrugged. "However, this was all within my expectations. After all, without the initial shackles, Mostima wouldn't have so easily joined the Fire Moth and stayed there peacefully."

Zhu Yufeng silently took a bite of his sandwich. It was disgusting; Mostima had been outmaneuvered by Lilith again.

"You think you still have value to me, so you threaten to kill yourself to force me to back down. You seem to have a Heroes air about you, but... from the very beginning, my only target has been you." Lilith thought to herself with a smile. "Mostima, your biggest flaw is that you are too sentimental. Although you like to cause trouble and have fun, you never like to owe anyone a favor."