Chapter 72

Conversely, if only Ai Yue is killed but Artificial Intelligence cannot be destroyed or controlled, then it can only be considered a severe blow to human civilization, and in the end, it is possible that humans will retaliate and kill them.

Therefore, regardless of their purpose, the Herrscher of Domination must seize control of Artificial Intelligence.

"Oh, so it was for Rose,"

Ai Yue shrugged. "Unfortunately, I don't have such methods either."

Do you think we'd believe that?

The girl and her companion exchanged a glance and couldn't help but laugh. "Scholars like you, don't you always like to keep something to yourself? You can't fool even a child with that kind of nonsense!"

As she spoke, she pressed the ice-formed knife in her hand against Ai Yue's chest and began to slash downwards. "If you keep being so stubborn, I'll have to consider giving you a taste of your own medicine."

"Okay, how about this?"

Blood flowed down Ai Yue's chest, which made him quickly give in. "How about exchanging answers for answers? Even though I'm not going to live, there are some questions that I'll still have a headache if I don't figure them out before I die."

"Are all scholars like this?"

The girl exchanged glances with the others, then nodded. "Okay, go ahead and ask."

However, Ai Yue's next words made their expressions change. "Who was the first Herrscher of Domination?"

"What do you mean?"

The girl glanced at her companion instinctively, but looked puzzled. "I don't understand what you're saying."

"The Herrscher of Domination are not born at the same time; there must be a sequence among them, right?"

Ai Yue said with a smile, but his eyes swept over the others, "I've entered your Domination Domain. In that place, everyone uses the same appearance, but such an appearance must have an origin, right? For example, it might be based on the first Herrscher of Domination..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a woman standing nearby. Her face contorted in a ferocious expression, she roared, "Kill him!"

Ai Yue's words instilled fear in her; if she continued to let him live, something bad might happen.

However, instead of striking, the girl's face contorted, and she knelt down, seemingly in pain.

Not only her, but everyone, including herself, fell to the ground at the same time.

Ai Yue turned his head and looked at the loudly roaring woman, a smile appearing on his face, "Yes, she looks almost the same as you."

Faced with the sudden reversal of the situation, the woman's face was filled with disbelief. "You, what methods did you use to break free!"

"Break free?"

Ai Yue looked puzzled, then clapped his hands in realization, "Sorry, I forgot to deactivate it."

As he clapped his hands, Ai Yue's entire figure burst like a bubble, disappearing along with the equipment and clothing that had been removed from the ground.

The woman suddenly sat up from the ground and realized that they had all collapsed at the spot where they had just entered the room, while Ai Yue was sitting upright in his office chair, slowly turning around and smiling at her.

"You don't actually think your plan has succeeded, do you?"

82

Chapter 82: The BOSS has entered the second stage.

The Herrscher of Domination's plan is simple; it can be summed up in two words: raid the enemy base.

When Kevin and the others appeared in their field of vision with the Herrscher Core, the Herrscher of Domination realized that this would be a difficult battle. However, they did not give up immediately. It was not until the enemy went all out and moved freely among the Herrscher Legion that they completely gave up the possibility of a head-on push.

However, it was precisely because of Kevin and the others' strength that the Herrscher of Domination seized the perfect opportunity—the top combat power of the Moth to Fire had all gathered here, along with all the Herrscher Core. So who could be guarding the Star of Light?

Even if your defenses are impenetrable, we can just bypass them!

Thus, after forming a special infiltration team, the Herrscher of Domination quietly split into two parts.

The main force remained in place to distract the Fused Warrior. In order to prevent the woman using the Eighth Herrscher Core from noticing that someone had left, the Herrscher possessed the power of consciousness had to do their best to interfere with her, so as to complete this crucial escape.

Once the infiltration team successfully used their spatial teleportation ability to enter the Star of Light, they quickly located Ai Yue's position.

And then... and then it turned out like this.

"This isn't right!"

Recalling the entire plan, the female individual who had found no loopholes, the first Herrscher of Domination, wore an incredulous expression, "How could you possibly have such an ability? All the Herrscher Core are on the battlefield right now..."

There are individuals skilled at manipulating minds within the infiltrator team, so it would be impossible for anyone other than a true Herrscher Core to silently drag them all into the illusion.

It's important to understand that the Herrscher of Domination only dared to send a small team to infiltrate the experimental base after confirming this; otherwise, even if the number of people were doubled, it would be no different from sending them to their deaths.

Faced with this question, Ai Yue simply smiled faintly, "If I didn't create such a false impression, would you dare to show your face?"

Ai Yue's plan was simple, which can be summarized in six words: lure the other side to steal his base.

When he first infiltrated the Domination Domain, he realized that although the Herrscher of Dominion appeared to be a Herrscher legion of 10,000 people, they were not much different from the previous Herrscher. There was still a true entity hidden among them.

It should be understood that, given the self-awareness exhibited by these Herrscher of Domination, their character flaws mean that this group is fundamentally incapable of genuine unity. When faced with situations requiring individual self-sacrifice, they are highly likely to collapse, flee, or even surrender.

Unless, of course, these personalities belonging to the original owners of the bodies are actually just a disguise to conceal their identities—their true personalities died the moment they became Herrscher and were transformed into doll-like things, but even they themselves were unaware of it.

And this, perhaps, is the truth behind "domination".

Through a kind of power akin to quantum entanglement, the Herrscher of Domination's perception can extend to every corner of the world through the Honkai calamity. In this way, she dominates those individuals corrupted by Honkai, reshaping their original spirits into a clone of herself, thus completing the Herrscher of Domination's "reproduction."

In this way, even with varying individual skill levels, the Herrscher of Domination can still advance as a group and fight continuously without fear of casualties, since they are essentially all one person.

Ai Yue's goal is to find that most special individual, the first Herrscher of Domination, and thus expose a weakness to lure the opponent into using a decapitation tactic. In such a situation, the opponent will inevitably be unable to resist taking action personally.

"An illusion?"

The Herrscher of Domination couldn't help but widen her eyes. "Impossible! The mental power at that level outside is definitely Herrscher- level! How could it be done without Herrscher Core?"

"In fact, it is possible."

Ai Yue's smile widened. "Of course, the information you obtained doesn't contain any detailed information about Aponia, right?"

The key to this plan is to convince the Herrscher of Domination that all nine Herrscher Core held by humanity have been used on the front lines of the battlefield, so that they will dare to use decapitation tactics.

That's why Ai Yue even assigned a Herrscher Core to Vill-V and then sent her to the front lines.

The key to the plan lies with Aponia —it can be said that if any human can truly unleash abilities comparable to Herrscher, then currently only Aponia can do it. After all, in the original storyline, she single-handedly suppressed both the Eighth Herrscher and Sue across half the Earth.

More importantly, few people in the entire Moth to Fire knew about Aponia's outrageous abilities. Therefore, apart from a handful of people, even the files accessible to staff at Klein's level only stated that "Aponia is a Mental Perception Fused Warrior." Thus, even if the Herrscher of Domination obtained the internal data, she had no idea of Aponia's true strength.

Based on Aponia's terrifying personal strength, Ai Yue simply modified the core of the Herrscher of Domination to create a device that could mimic the energy fluctuations of a genuine Herrscher Core, successfully deceiving the Herrscher of Domination's perception.

That's why we're seeing this scene now.

"Humans are truly despicable!"

Upon hearing Ai Yue's explanation, the Herrscher of Domination naturally understood everything and couldn't help but reveal a disdainful expression. "But even if you capture me, it's useless. Even if you kill my body, my spirit will still awaken in other individuals!"

This is the source of the confidence of those Herrscher of Domination.

Ai Yue's previous speculation was not wrong, but it was not entirely correct either. The Herrscher of Domination did not simply turn others into her puppets, but rather split her own consciousness through her powers and parasitized other individuals. This is why she did not reproduce endlessly, but only gave birth to 10,000 individuals in total—because her limit was there. If she continued to split, her powers would become difficult to maintain.

These ten thousand Herrscher are extensions of her power and spirit. Unless they are all killed, the Herrscher of Domination can still exert her full power.

It can be said that although the woman in front of her is indeed the first Herrscher of Domination to be born, she does not actually possess any special characteristics compared to other individuals.

"I see. It seems my reasoning was flawed."

Ai Yue said thoughtfully, "I originally thought that as the original individual, you might have the ability to reclaim the spirit and power of other individuals after their death and continue to reproduce, but now it seems that I was probably wrong."

After saying that, he smiled and said, "So I don't need to worry about the possibility that some of you might escape and continue to multiply into ten thousand new Herrscher of Domination, right?"

The Herrscher of Domination instantly changed. "You're trying to trick me!"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

Ai Yue gave a matter-of-fact look, "After all, your situation is rather special. It's difficult to prescribe the right treatment without understanding it."

As he spoke, he took out another Limited Gauntlet and put it on, glancing at the Eighth Herrscher Core embedded in it, and then at the Herrscher of Domination: "Although you seem to have no research value anymore, since you're already here, why not try my carefully crafted 'Mental Plague'? This stuff might not be very effective on ordinary people, but for guys like you who are mentally connected..."

Ai Yue didn't finish his sentence, but instead revealed a meaningful expression.

Clearly, the "Mental Plague," a virus that can spread and infect the mind, is absolutely deadly to the Herrscher of Domination.

"Don't even think about it!"

The Herrscher of Domination also realized the seriousness of the problem. She simply glared at them, and all the individual Herrscher of Domination, including herself, instantly began to weaken, clearly because their spirits had been extracted through her powers.

But in the end, she still managed to utter the harsh words. "I didn't want to use this move, you forced me to!"

After saying those words, she stopped breathing.

Only Ai Yue remained, leisurely rising to his feet, leaving behind a sigh, "Young people these days are really easily frightened."

As for the "I didn't want to use it" excuse... lol, what tricks won't a person facing certain death use? It's nothing more than thinking that there was still a chance to steal and cheat.

Now that Ai Yue has blocked the simplest path to victory, the Herrscher of Domination will naturally have to start fighting for her life.

Just as Ai Yue finished, Aponia's voice appeared in his mind. "Ai Yue, how is the situation?"

"I'm fine, it's just a pity that the easiest way won't work, we still have to fight head-on."

Ai Yue watched as the drone carried away several bodies for disposal, then asked, "How's the situation on the battlefield?"

"Something's gone wrong. The Herrscher has set up some kind of special... barrier?"

Aponia's tone remained calm as always, but it didn't match her words at all. "Kevin and the others have already been swallowed by the barrier. It'll be my turn, Elysia's, and Daisy's turn soon. What should we do?"

"That's the Domination Domain. Just go in, don't be afraid."

Ai Yue said, "Also, keep an eye on the situation of the Herrscher Core. After the Herrscher of Domination opens its Domination Domain, it may usurp the powers of other Herrscher Core. Leave the rest to me."

"I see."

Aponia's voice also began to become ambiguous, as if she were truly separated from Ai Yue by a different world, to the point that even the mental link couldn't accurately convey her meaning, "I will... end... don't..."

Ai Yue didn't hear Aponia's last words clearly, but he felt a chill, as if he were being watched by someone.

Never mind, business is more important.

Ai Yue turned on the drone's camera and saw that the area that should have been a battlefield was now deserted. Both the Herrscher of Domination and the Fused Warrior had vanished completely, leaving only the Honkai Beast fighting against the drone swarm.

This scene is proof that the Herrscher of Domination has expanded her Domination Domain, drawing everyone into it.

This skill did not appear in the original storyline related to the Pre-Civilization, but is an ability used by the current civilization's Herrscher of Domination. Relying on this technique, they can seize the power of Herrscher trapped in the Domination Domain, which can be said to be extremely powerful.

However, due to the significant differences between the Herrscher of the Pre-Civilization and current civilizations, Ai Yue was unsure whether they could actually use this move. But out of caution, he had prepared a contingency plan for this possibility, which is now proving useful.

Meanwhile, Kevin and the others had been swallowed up by the suddenly opened Domination Domain. Out of caution about the unknown domain, they regrouped, guarding against enemies that might attack from unknown corners.

"The communication system has failed, and we can't connect to anyone."

After repeated attempts, Vill-V finally confirmed this fact. "So where is this? Are we no longer on Earth?"

In reality, this thing lost its function the moment the Domination Domain opened, but Vill-V only gave up on fixing it now—after all, it wasn't broken in the first place.

"This is the Domination Domain, and it is part of the power of the Herrscher of Domination."

Mobius, who had been here before, was probably the only one who knew anything about this place. "I don't know anything else... Don't look at me, you should contact that guy Ai Yue, he definitely knows more."

"I contacted Ai Yue before coming in,"

Aponia spoke up first, saying, "He said we should be careful that the Herrscher of Domination doesn't target the Herrscher Core, as the opponent might be able to seize the Herrscher Core's power."

"In that case, let's put it away for now."

Kevin made the most cautious judgment. He put the core into his belt, and the burning flames of the greatsword went out, replaced by a layer of solid ice. "For now, it seems that there is no problem without relying on the Herrscher Core."

The others followed suit.

"Currently, there should be fewer than three thousand individuals remaining Herrscher of Domination."

Desdrobia spoke up, "Although we've eliminated about half of them, it seems there are still quite a few left. Are you sure we're okay?"

For Kevin, losing the power of the Herrscher Core is just losing a useful weapon, but for others, the power of the Herrscher Core is still very important.

"Don't worry, there won't be any problems."

Cosmo said confidently, "This is our first battle, we won't lose."

"Although I know your theory is completely impractical,"

Desdrobia sighed. "But thank you for comforting me anyway."

"There are many enemies, but they are not strong enough."

Sakura succinctly stated, "As long as we unite, there will be no problem."

"Don't worry, have faith in everyone's strength."

Elysia smiled, but her words suddenly turned serious. "We will definitely... wait, there are unidentified units approaching, and there are many of them!"