"Shut up, Elysia." Veins bulged on Mobius's fair forehead. She wished she could develop a spray that made people shut up, then blast Elysia right in the face with it.
"Tut, tut, tut." Su shook his head.
"Which idiot invented that? Injecting Honkai Beasts into human bodies?" Kalpas snorted disdainfully.
"Uh..."
Yaqing glanced sideways at Mobius's pretty face.
"Me?" Mobius looked around and found only one "clear-eyed fool," Elysia. She pointed at herself in disbelief.
Mobius felt offended.
Meanwhile, at Anti-Entropy's Yellowstone Base, Ziegfried, who had returned to Earth, did not dare meet Einstein and Tesla's eyes. Silently, he handed Tesla the briefcase containing Honkai Steel and technical data, then walked past the teary-eyed Tesla.
He locked himself alone in a room and drank himself numb. Listening to the disaster reports on the television, Ziegfried suddenly sobered up. Realizing that the Second Herrscher had gone back on her word and attacked Earth, he hurriedly tossed aside his empty beer can, worried about his wife and daughter.
Just then, Einstein, who was examining the Honkai Steel, blocked Ziegfried's path and told him that its data contained information related to the Kaslana family.
The scene returned to Schicksal's floating island. Somewhere in the Valkyrie residential district, Cheng Lixue was gently playing an ancient zither. Her graceful, demure bearing contrasted sharply with her coldness on the battlefield, making her impossible not to love.
A golden feather slowly drifted onto the zither strings. Cheng Lixue hurriedly rose, opened the door, and looked joyfully at the person in the hall.
"Master, you're here!"
Fu Hua stared blankly at the hanging painting. Hearing Cheng Lixue call out, she came back to herself, declined Cheng Lixue's hospitality, and told her not to worry.
"Master will protect you."
The instant the feather fell, the scene swiftly changed. On a meadow filled with birdsong and flowers, Fu Hua slightly raised her head.
"This year's flowers bloomed so early."
"Another year has passed with winter gone and spring returned. Lixue has grown up too..."
"Old antique, when did you take on another disciple?" Little Knowledge asked in surprise.
"I didn't." Fu Hua looked dazed. "I only have one disciple, Sushang."
Fu Hua was twenty years old and had only one disciple: the twenty-four-year-old Li Sushang. Despite having a master four years younger than herself, Li Sushang could still cling to her and sweetly call her Master.
"Actually, I wanted to play Fu Hua at first..." Cheng Lixue said quietly.
"Lixue, how does it feel to have a master ten years younger than you?" Salome covered her mouth and laughed.
"Why did Kira get to survive?"
"I suspect..." Rita smiled. "Lord Yaqing might like Miss Kira."
"Damn, Rita, where did you get firsthand information like that?" The women all looked at Rita in shock.
Rita narrowed her eyes like a fox.
"Of course..."
In Schicksal's training room, Shub believed her own lack of ability had caused Salome's death. She trained like a madwoman, squeezing every last drop of potential from herself. At that moment, Cecilia, who had not taken the field in a long time, also arrived at the training grounds and proposed training with Shub.
However, even as an A-Rank Valkyrie, Shub could not withstand a single blow from Cecilia. After she fainted, Cecilia gently let her rest against her lap. When Shub woke up, Cecilia comforted her tenderly.
"She's so gentle!"
"Madam really doesn't look like she's had a child at all."
"I'll always love Cecilia!"
"Mom is so pretty and gentle." Kiana deliberately curled up in Mei's arms and shouted, "I'll always love Mom!"
"Old antique, you're quite pretty too." Fuhua Shishi said bluntly. "After this movie, you're going to become a huge star."
"Little Knowledge, don't talk nonsense." Fu Hua blushed deeply.
Schicksal's Valkyries watched Otto's pre-battle speech on the big screen.
"Today, the devil has once again invaded our homeland. It has murdered our loved ones and destroyed our cities. It thinks we will be afraid, that it can wipe us out with ease. It is wrong. Schicksal's warriors will never yield!"
"For five hundred years, we have prepared for this very moment. We will tell it that humanity will not be slaughtered at its whim! We are Schicksal's warriors, and we will defend our homeland!"
Among the many Valkyries, Shigure Kira glanced back slightly.
"In the north, we will fight the devil in the skies. The strongest Valkyrie, Cecilia, has returned. She will drive away the storm for us."
Cecilia raised the massive lance in her hand.
"In the south, we will fight the devil upon the sea. Our esteemed commander, Cheng Lixue, will lead us in defending every inch of land to the death."
Ruoshui in Cheng Lixue's hand gleamed with chill light.
"In the east, we will take back our cities from the devil's hands. This time, I, Otto Apocalypse, will join you all—to fight the devil to the death!"
Otto raised both hands.
Elsewhere, atop a defensive wall, Fu Hua showed only her back as she sat with her legs crossed. "Otto, how much of what you just said... did you truly mean?"
The Final Battle on the Moon
"If I hadn't known that clown-mask guy was Otto, I really would have been fooled." Kevin's mouth twitched. Schicksal's pre-battle speech was truly blood-stirring—provided the one saying it was not Otto.
"People like him are the most terrifying," Mei said. Before you knew Otto's intentions, no one could tell where he would place his next piece. Even if you did know, that was only because Otto wanted you to know.
Speaking of such people, Mei subconsciously looked at Yaqing.
Even Mobius could not claim to understand Yaqing. When everyone thought he was gentle, he could send living people into the icy sea without changing expression. When everyone thought he was cold and indifferent, he would quietly fund Aponia's orphanage.
People like that could not be defined by good or evil, because they themselves stood at the end of both.
"Mei."
Yaqing's voice interrupted Mei's gaze.
It also drew everyone's attention.
"Actually, people like that aren't terrifying. They're very simple—so simple that they only move toward a single goal. They will stop at nothing to achieve it, and they won't even care about their own lives." Yaqing's voice was calm, yet it carried a faint tremor of excitement.
"Uh..."
Everyone looked at him strangely, afraid his next words would be: Bishop Otto, lead us to XXXXX again!
"So awesome, but why does it have to be that bastard Otto?!" Walter Yang let out a shrill cry.
After finishing his pre-battle speech to rally the Valkyries, Bishop Otto did not pause for even a moment. Amber informed him of a communication from Anti-Entropy. Anti-Entropy said they needed to keep Ziegfried for one more day, because they had extracted Kaslana data from the Honkai Steel brought back from the Moon and needed Ziegfried's DNA key to assist with the decryption.
From Anti-Entropy's few words, Otto keenly noticed Welt's absence and inferred that Welt had already died on the Moon. Swirling his wineglass, he regretted not obtaining firsthand information, but his current focus remained on the Pseudo Herrscher of Death.
Otto agreed to Einstein's request and ordered Amber not to let anyone disturb him for the time being. For tomorrow's battle, he needed to adjust this body to its best condition.
"Is the Pseudo Herrscher of Death really that important? Otto actually chose to postpone information left behind by the Previous Era." Mei frowned.
"The Herrscher of Death is extremely powerful." Yaqing nodded. "Even the Previous Era's strongest warrior could only fall silent after encountering the Herrscher of Death."
"Hm?" Mei was stunned.
"Just kidding." Yaqing smiled. "The Herrscher of Death's authority may be a world-ending disaster to humanity, but to Otto, it is the dawn's light—provided Otto believes it is a ray of light."
Mei, Mobius, Vill-V, and Su looked thoughtful, while the others continued watching the movie. Kevin in particular sat closest to Yaqing, yet did not think about it at all.
Far away in Anti-Entropy's laboratory, Ziegfried put on the data connector developed by Einstein and linked his brain to the Honkai Steel database. As the data transformed, the scene before his eyes changed. The lifelike image made him wonder whether he had returned to the Moon.
Before him stood a young man holding Judgement of Shamash. As the weapon slowly pierced the lunar soil, eight figures lined up beside him one after another. Unfortunately, darkness concealed their faces.
Only by the light of Judgement of Shamash could he vaguely make out that the figure to the young man's left appeared to be Fu Hua, while the person on his right could not be seen clearly.
"What you are seeing now is the final battle of the previous civilization era."
"The participants in this battle were the last eight strongest warriors of human civilization."
"One of them appears to be an ancestor of the Kaslana family."
"And their opponent was the legendary final and strongest Herrscher—"
Ziegfried saw a pair of enormous hands reaching toward the Moon. He suddenly turned around and saw a white-haired girl standing in the cosmos, with Earth and the Moon like toys in her palms.
Although this scene had appeared before, it differed from what Sirin had seen. The colors had become darker, while the girl's eyes and the markings on her body radiated cold light.
"The pressure is so intense..." Weak Kitty was scared online.
"So this is the enemy humanity must face in the end?"
"It's impossible to imagine how people of the Previous Era sealed part of Her power on the Moon." Mobius glanced at Mei.
"That's Brother Kevin!" Ling pointed.
"And Fu Hua," Sakura said.
"The title 'the last eight strongest warriors of civilization' sounds incredibly imposing, but how brutal must the battle behind that title have been?" As the representative of reason, Mei viewed the matter from a different angle than most people.
On February 16, 2000, a Valkyrie squad led by Amber entered Novosibirsk, which had already been shrouded in black fog. Yet in darkness so thick they could not see their hands before their faces, the Pseudo Herrscher of Death easily dealt with the Valkyrie squad. Amid inexplicable apologies, she removed Amber's gas mask.
"H-How... could this be... Lord O-Otto... I..."
Having inhaled the black fog, Amber quickly lost consciousness.
The scene abruptly changed. A ginkgo flower slowly fell upon still water. Cheng Lixue appeared with her eyes closed, holding a sword. The sword art she cultivated was the Tai Xu Sword Heart, created by the Immortal Chi Yuan of Tai Xu Mountain. It was divided into four realms: "Still Water—Dustless—Bright Mirror—Tai Xu."
However, Cheng Lixue had been gifted since childhood, yet her inner demon prevented her from entering the realm of Dustless. When she called Fu Hua Master, Fu Hua smiled gently, but could not conceal the sorrow in her eyes—and then left without saying goodbye the next day.
All sorts of reasons weighed on Cheng Lixue's heart. Without eliminating her inner demon, she could not enter the Dustless realm. She intended to use the Pseudo Herrscher of Flame to temper herself. With a fierce swing of Ruoshui, the Tenth Divine Key in her hand, endless water turned into a tornado of water blades and slashed toward the girl in midair.
"Take this sword strike!"
The Pseudo Herrscher of Flame was entirely unfazed. The flames under her control exceeded five thousand degrees. With a single strike, the tornado of water blades instantly evaporated. Even Ruoshui, the Divine Key, could not withstand the heat, and its blade cracked with a sharp snap.
At that moment, the Pseudo Herrscher seemed to have grown tired of playing. A blazing beam pierced Cheng Lixue's abdomen.
"Old antique, that girl is so wonderful—gentle, sensible, and she even knows how to honor you. Why wouldn't you acknowledge her?" Little Knowledge stood up for Cheng Lixue.
"Exactly, Class Monitor. It hurts my heart just watching Cheng Lixue." Kiana nodded hurriedly.
"I don't know..." Fu Hua did not know the past in the story either, but she still felt something. Seeing that trace of sorrow in her counterpart, she said seriously, "If it were me, I would definitely teach her with care."
"Uh... Lixue seems to be over thirty, right? Compared to her, you're the ones who look more like children." Theresa scratched her head.
"Huh?!"
"I didn't expect the strongest A-Rank Valkyrie to fail to last even one move against a Herrscher. It seems Otto overestimated them. A-Rank Valkyries simply cannot delay a Herrscher's advance." Mobius analyzed.
"And the Divine Key as well. Does the Tenth Divine Key control water? It looks somewhat weak." Vill-V said. "Its power is nowhere near Star of Eden or Judas. Is that because of the user, or the Divine Key itself?"
The Horn of Counterattack
On February 16, after a tornado generated by Honkai energy destroyed several cities in Finland, it crossed the Baltic Sea and was about to make landfall in Germany. The commander of the ground units stationed along the coast, B-Rank Valkyrie Lewis, immediately ordered all ground forces to open fire on the tornado.
Inside the combat command room, A-Rank Valkyrie Shigure Kira used the ground forces' bait operation to precisely locate the Herrscher's coordinates via satellite, then confidently sent them to Cecilia, who had been waiting for a long time.
Before you continue