Cut Off Tail to Survive

The perspective shifted back to the snowy plains of Siberia. When everyone realized that even Sirin's attack hadn't pushed the Herrscher of Frost to its limit, Cecilia gripped Black Abyss White Flower, ready to activate the First Rated Power again. But between finding the right position and rescuing teammates drawing its fire, she tried several times without ever finding an opening to get close.

After Sirin's attack ended, Bella seized the opportunity to land a strike of her own, making the already swollen Herrscher of Frost's body expand another size.

"Siegfried, what are you—!" Theresa exclaimed as she saw Siegfried piecing together the two cores of Divine Fire Judgment.

"Giving it something big!" Siegfried, having transformed Divine Fire Judgment into greatsword mode, bared his fangs and raised the Pure Love Greatsword above his head.

By now, anyone could see that the Herrscher of Frost was at a critical tipping point. Using Divine Fire Judgment—the Divine Key with the strongest output and greatest power—was clearly the best choice.

But the cost was equally obvious. Countless ancestors of the Kaslana family had already proven that with their lives.

"To protect those I love—Zeroth Rated Power of Divine Fire Judgment, Divine Fire Shea—" Just as the blade was about to be drawn, a deafening "boom" rang out. The Herrscher of Frost collapsed to the ground, then gradually ceased its Herrscher activity, going offline once more. The snowflakes that had been endlessly drifting outward stopped. Gravity returned to normal.

"What the hell?" Siegfried gripped Divine Fire Judgment tightly, not daring to let his guard down. After exchanging a glance with his wife, the two cautiously approached it.

"Hey, it really stopped." Siegfried kicked its body. It remained as still as death.

"Looks like the Sovereign and Miss Corruption helped us from inside it." Einstein and Tesla let out a sigh of relief as they watched the fallen Herrscher of Frost.

Just moments ago, a faint gravitational anomaly had appeared inside the Herrscher of Frost. That meant Joachim Noviantinen, who had been with them day and night, was still alive.

"So what now? Cut this thing open and fish them out?" Siegfried raised Divine Fire Judgment as he spoke, already ready to act.

"Mr. Siegfried, don't rush. Based on Schicksal's previous attack and the situation where everyone was awakened from their dreams, combined with the data we have, we speculate that this Herrscher of Corruption can freely switch between data and human forms, parasitizing any electronic device or living organism. If she's not coming out now, it's because she doesn't want to. Perhaps... she's reading the Herrscher of Frost's memories, searching for the reason behind its special abilities."

"As for the Sovereign... we already know he's not in danger. So how to handle the Herrscher of Frost is best discussed at length. For now, this body, containing several times the energy of an ordinary Herrscher, must be dealt with carefully. If it explodes, the force would be greater than the largest nuclear weapon on Earth."

"Fine. If even you Anti-Entropy folks say so, then I'll trust Walter too. Should we have headquarters send a crane to haul this thing away? Hmm... one probably isn't enough... No, the Overseer has old grudges with Anti-Entropy. Mr. Walter is the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy, but he helped us a lot this time. If we just hand him over to the Overseer, won't he do something to him?"

Just as Siegfried was lost in thought, the Herrscher of Frost behind him stirred again. A small wisp of black mist shot out and pierced the foreheads of Siegfried and Cecilia. Both froze in place.

Sensing something wrong, Theresa immediately bound Cecilia with Judah's chains and yanked her to her side. Cheng Lixue rushed to Siegfried at top speed and pulled him away from the Herrscher of Frost.

Unlike before, however, the two didn't fall back into a dream. Their thoughts merely stalled briefly before returning to normal once they left the Herrscher of Frost's vicinity.

The group, having just relaxed, was a beat slow to react to the sudden change. Shigure Kira had only just raised her sniper rifle when a violent burst of energy erupted from the Herrscher of Frost, blanketing dozens of kilometers in icy fog. Visibility dropped to under one meter within seconds.

Amid the blinding snow and ice, a slit opened on the Herrscher of Frost's head. Something crawled out of its body and slipped away unnoticed.

The blizzard soon stopped. Everyone realized this attack was all bark and no bite—aside from severely blocking their view and disabling various instruments in the extreme cold, it did nothing else.

When they looked back at the Herrscher's body, a gash several meters long was clearly visible on its head. Combined with its head's resemblance to Earth's serpentine creatures, they knew without instruments that it had escaped using something akin to snake molting.

"It's heading north! Chase it!" Tesla panicked as she saw the Herrscher, which had been staying put all along, make a run for it. Almost all the world's elite forces were here and had struggled this much against it—how could anyone else stand a chance?

"Wait, this reaction is... no, Joachim, stop right now!"

Just as Sirin was pinpointing its location and everyone was gearing up to give chase, a massive black hole suddenly appeared. The Herrscher's abandoned body was instantly swallowed up, leaving only the cores of the Herrscher of Rocks and the Herrscher of Reason floating in the air. The Simulated Black Hole's attack showed no discrimination—several Schicksal members and even Bella were pulled toward it. The weaker Shigure Kira and Nicholas barely avoided being dragged into the event horizon.

Good news: The Simulated Black Hole wasn't interrupted and displayed its terrifying power as described.

Bad news: It hit only allies. The enemy had long since fled.

Fortunately, Walter Yang, having regained his physical form in reality, stopped the Simulated Black Hole at the last possible moment. Shigure Kira and Nicholas, who had nearly been torn apart by the black hole, escaped with their lives.

"Sovereign, don't blame yourself. This was the result of ineffective communication between inside and out. And your actions weren't entirely without merit. The body the Herrscher of Frost left behind was a bomb that could have gone off at any moment. The Simulated Black Hole consuming it also removed a potential threat."

Though Einstein was clearly trying to comfort him, Walter Yang felt a little better. He also understood that eliminating the Herrscher was more important than self-criticism.

"Herrscher of Frost... no, now that it's lost the Herrscher of Rocks' core, it's just the Herrscher of Ice. In that short time, the Herrscher of Ice has already run dozens of kilometers away. Bird's Nest Head, how is this thing so fast when it moves, but doesn't budge otherwise?!"

"Dr. Tesla, don't be impatient. Miss Sirin has already engaged it. No matter how fast it runs, it can't escape the Herrscher of Void's pursuit. Let's just wait for Miss Sirin's good news."

Even though it was now a Four-Core Herrscher against a single-core Herrscher, and even if Sirin had already expended a great deal of Honkai Energy, the match was theoretically a sure win. Still, Bella couldn't rest easy. The moment Sirin teleported away, she flew after her at full speed.