Drawing the Tiger Away from the Mountain

"The First Squad of the Fusion Warrior is in position. We are currently outside the Divine Blessing Barrier. It seems the Divine Blessing Barrier has temporarily halted its expansion," Zhu Yufeng said through the communicator. "I will personally enter the Divine Blessing Barrier later to collect specific data."

"The Divine Blessing Barrier can isolate all external radio communication, but thanks to the mental network built by Beifengge and Sue with the assistance of Aponia, we can still understand the situation as soon as you enter the Divine Blessing Barrier," Lionel said on the other end of the communicator. "Although tests have shown that Fusion Warrior can indeed remain active inside for a considerable period of time, the exact duration is still unclear. Don't push yourself, Maple."

"It's rare to hear such words from you, Lionel," Zhu Yufeng said.

"It's just a rational judgment, Feng. You and Kevin are currently the two strongest Fusion Warrior. Losing even one of you would be an irreparable loss for humanity," Lionel said. "Actually, I don't really approve of you two personally taking risks."

"It's precisely because we're the strongest that we are," Zhu Yufeng said calmly. "Don't worry, even if something happens to me, Kevin can..."

"What's wrong, Feng?"

"Ahem, it's nothing. It seems I shouldn't say things like that... Anyway, I'll take good care of myself. I'll leave the communication out there to you."

Zhu Yufeng ended the call after speaking, glancing helplessly at Elysia beside him. The reason he paused was because Elysia had pinched his waist hard.

Surely not...

Elysia crossed her arms and looked at Zhu Yufeng, saying in a dissatisfied tone, "Feng, don't always say things like that."

Zhu Yufeng paused for a moment, then said, "We all know what going in means. Staying inside for a short time won't have much of an impact. But after that, Elysia, what will you choose?"

Elysia remained silent.

This time, the range of the Divine Blessing Barrier has been further expanded. After testing, the Fusion Warrior can have more time to operate within it than in the previous life. However, searching for the Herrscher of Binding hiding within it is still a huge undertaking. In the previous life, even with the assistance of Aponia, Su almost exhausted all her efforts to establish a mental network for information exchange among the Fusion Warrior. In this life, even with Beifengge sharing the burden of building the mental network, the long duration will inevitably cause irreversible damage to them.

In addition, because there are still some remaining individuals of the Tenth Herrscher Fire Moth headquarters still needs to leave a few Fusion Warrior to guard the area, in order to prevent the main force of the Fusion Warrior from being wiped out by the last remaining Tenth Herrscher while dealing with the Divine Blessing Barrier.

Like Disaster, Hen, and Seele, they all stayed at headquarters. Although Astaroth was Fusion Warrior, she was still young, so when Lionel was drafting the initial battle plan, he also included Astaroth in the category of those stationed at headquarters.

Besides, Mobius also remained at headquarters, as she was responsible for extracting Michael's Herrscher Core.

The Tenth Herrscher, who has gone into hiding and whose whereabouts are unknown, remains a potential threat that needs to be guarded against. Although the Tenth Herrscher's individual strength may not even be able to defeat a mere Emperor-class Honkai Beast, the fact that two Herrscher of Binding have appeared means that there is no guarantee that the Tenth Herrscher might undergo some strange changes.

Because Qianjie is subject to the special attack of the Herrscher of Binding, he will lose consciousness immediately upon entering the Divine Blessing Barrier, so he was left at headquarters and will only be mobilized if necessary.

So, returning to the original question, will this battle to subdue the Eleventh Herrscher require the same extreme measures as in the previous life?

The answer is still unknown, but based on the current situation, the decision regarding this expedition seems less of a dilemma. The most direct evidence is that this time, the Divine Blessing Barrier only completely isolates conventional communication methods, and its suppressive power against Fusion Warrior does not seem as strong as in the previous life.

The best outcome would be to defeat the Eleventh Herrscher without incurring too many sacrifices.

And, after witnessing the power of the Finality, Zhu Yufeng no longer cared how many Fusion Warrior he could keep. Based on the power of the Finality, any more Fusion Warrior would just be cannon fodder. What he wanted to preserve were his family members whom he cared about.

And...

Before he set off, Michael told him, "If civilization is destined to sink, then no matter how hard you try or how much you try to change the course, for Him it's just a matter of taking a detour and ending up at the same destination again."

"It's not entirely wrong to say that the Honkai has issued Honkai challenge to me." Zhu Yufeng's gaze fell on Elysia and Lilith. Lilith noticed his gaze, but gave him a smile that was hard to decipher, and then pointed to the Moon Earring on her ear.

Zhu Yufeng glanced subconsciously at the Sun Earring he had in his inner pocket. He didn't dare to wear it, but he had never let it out of his sight either.

Lilith's attitude has been clear from beginning to end; her choices have always been determined by her final fate.

"So, you heard the whole conversation between Michael and me, right?" Zhu Yufeng thought to himself. After all, Lilith had absorbed the power of the Eighth Herrscher, so this was a piece of cake for her. And as long as Lilith was determined to listen, he really had no way to stop her at the moment.

"So what? Feng, the moment you walked out that door, you already had the answer in your heart, didn't you? And my answer is also very clear~ My words, my heart, will never change. We will go to hell together, we will fall into eternal damnation together."

Lilith's teasing words echoed in his mind, and Zhu Yufeng sighed helplessly. He knew Lilith would never give up what she had done in her past life...

Lilith might even think that was the best decision she ever made...

Before Michael told him those words, he already had a general idea in his heart, but even though Michael said so, he still held a glimmer of hope. What Michael told him was actually the only way to reach the ending he wanted when he was truly helpless and had no other way.

"If this is what they call the will of Honkai, if that thing really exists... it's truly unfathomable what that thing is thinking. Is it trying to be like God, closing a door but opening a window?"

Zhu Yufeng thought to himself, regardless of whether it was true or not, he would eventually have to fight that so-called "Will of Honkai." The Herrscher of Finality was a creation of the Cocoon of Finality, so that thing was actually the will of the Cocoon? Then what exactly is the Cocoon of Finality?

I don't know, and I don't need to think about it, because what's blocking my way is the enemy.

His ultimate enemy is the Herrscher of Finality, which also indicates that he will eventually clash with the Cocoon of Finality.

However, this would mean...

"Under that final curtain, they had already foreseen each other's fate. The end was near, and they had no choice... Hmph, no choice at all..."

Zhu Yufeng stepped into the Divine Blessing Barrier, then paused for a moment. He tried circulating the Honkai Energy within his body and found that although it was somewhat sluggish, it clearly didn't have much of an impact on his combat ability. If he wanted, he could even fly right now.

"Is it because my status Herrscher is higher than that of the Herrscher of Herrscher of Binding, and the core of the Herrscher of Binding here is incomplete, so the suppressive effect of the binding is weak against me?" Zhu Yufeng thought to himself. He still remembered that in the story, Otto said that his Authority of Binding was personally granted by the Imaginary Tree. The Herrscher of Binding is indeed the strongest Herrscher below the Herrscher of Finality. Although there is another Herrscher of Erosion later, in terms of strength, it would be extremely easy for the Herrscher of Binding to kill the Corrosion...

After all, the power of constraint is the most overpowered power.

"Feng, how are you feeling?" Su's voice echoed in his mind.

"Everything is normal so far... I even feel that I haven't been greatly affected by this. Is it because of my Herrscher identity and the fact that I'm currently bound to a disabled Herrscher?"

"Hmm... I'm not sure yet. I'll communicate with Lionel and then arrange for other Fusion Warrior to try it out. You can move around inside a bit now and do more testing, such as whether your powers have been affected or anything like that?"

"Power?"

Zhu Yufeng's mind raced, and he began testing the powers he could use within the Divine Blessing Barrier. Then he frowned. "The Herrscher's powers have been interfered with, but the Honkai Energy I can use myself hasn't been greatly affected..."

In short, he's temporarily unable to use his powers, but he won't instantly revert to "White Comet" either. Aside from his Herrscher identity, he's still Fusion Warrior; his powers have simply been locked, but it won't significantly affect his use of Honkai Energy. In other words, he's being targeted again...

It only targets authority.

After learning about Zhu Yufeng's situation, Elysia and the others soon entered the Divine Blessing Barrier. They looked at each other with strange expressions, clearly feeling that the suppressive effect of this Divine Blessing Barrier was much weaker than that of Michael's in their previous life.

"If this is just a Divine Blessing Barrier of this level... then everything can be resolved smoothly once we find the Herrscher of Binding, right?" Sakura tried swinging her sword. "Movement isn't restricted too much. Although my sensory abilities have been greatly weakened, I still have normal mobility."

"Hmm... how terrifying must the Divine Blessing Barrier you experienced in your past life have been, Sister Sakura..." Pardo stretched her body, "I'm already feeling a bit breathless now."

Pardo was originally supposed to stay at headquarters this time, but she insisted on coming. For Pardo, in her previous life, she was too lazy and slacking off. Although entering the Divine Blessing Barrier was just like being sent to feed, the reason she survived was because she couldn't participate in the battle due to an absurd cold. After that, Mostima and Xila, who were close to her, both sacrificed themselves in the battle, which made her feel somewhat guilty.

Moreover, her intuition told her that nothing would happen this time.

Even if something happens, Pardo is still prepared to come this time. She is no longer the same person she used to be. She didn't even choose to run away during the War of Finality. But are the constraints before the Finality more terrifying than the Finality itself?

Besides, Brother Yu Feng is here too, so nothing will happen.

"Hmm... Kevin's side, Kosma also said that Vishnu's devouring ability has been affected, but his mobility hasn't been severely restricted," Su's voice rang out. "The other Fusion Warrior also indicated that the impact wasn't significant; most of the special abilities brought by the Hypervariable Factor have become dormant, and things like breathing becoming more difficult are quite common."

"In other words, within this weakened version of the Divine Blessing Barrier, even if one ventures too far into the heart of the barrier, one can still retreat in time before collapsing, right?" Zhu Yufeng asked. "Are there any other changes to the Divine Blessing Barrier at present?"

"No other anomalies have been detected so far. After it stopped expanding, data from external observations suggests that it entered a stagnant state, unlike the state it entered during Michael's time."

While Michael had stopped expanding back then, he was still accumulating power and waiting to develop. Has the Herrscher of Binding even stopped developing this time?

This time, the campaign will obviously be much easier than the last; they won't need to race against time to search for the location of the Herrscher of Binding.

Zhu Yufeng frowned. He felt something was wrong, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Could it really be this easy? The Tenth Herrscher's actions could be attributed to an internal traitor, leading to their utterly disastrous performance. The Seventh to Ninth Herrscher were all, to varying degrees, targeting him. Was this constraint, aside from casting a Divine Blessing Barrier to seal his powers, just a matter of waiting to die?

"A special Honkai Beast immune to the barrier's effects has appeared within the Divine Blessing Barrier. Fusion Warrior squad has already begun fighting. It's possible that the Judgment-class Honkai Beast Gabriel will appear again, just like in the previous life," Su's voice rang out.

Gabriel, Judgment-class Honkai Beast Honkai Beast the only one not named after a mythological god, but after an angel. As Judgment-class Honkai Beast, it should be the weakest, but because it is completely immune to the effects of the Divine Blessing Barrier, it becomes the strongest Judgment-class Honkai Beast within the Divine Blessing Barrier.

"Hmm?! Multiple Honkai have occurred outside the Divine Blessing Barrier, with large numbers of Honkai Beast attacking nearby cities. Lionel has begun directing and deploying suppression operations... It may be necessary to deploy some Fusion Warrior as well."

Zhu Yufeng: "..."

He knew it wouldn't be that simple, but he still felt like something was off.

The headquarters of the Fire Moth.

"Dr. Einstein, we've lost contact with Lionel and the others!"

"What?!" Einstein exclaimed in surprise. Immediately afterward, the instruments in the observation center seemed to go out of control and stopped working one after another.

Ignoring everything else, Einstein quickly turned to the others and asked, "Is communication still possible within the base?"

"No, communications within the base have also been cut off!"

The girl walked through the empty garden with her eyes closed. She "looked" at the location of the research institute and smiled.