Insight

Ji stood on the tip of the sword, looking down from above.

Xu Muchi withdrew her sword and retreated. Ji tossed the two corpses in her hands aside, and a spear appeared in her grasp. She hurled it forward with tremendous force.

Clang!

Xu Muchi blocked the incoming spear and once again turned her gaze toward the crowd. Sure enough, the Herrscher had charged over again.

So far, Elfa and Morr had been holding each other back and could not break away. Those who had gone to attack the fortress and Floating Battleship had also already joined the battle to surround Ji.

Although Xu Ying had been wounded many times, it had not affected him at all. Xu Muchi had continually evaded the Herrscher, and aside from being slightly fatigued, she had not been caught in any attacks. Although Gu Yan had nearly lost half his life, he was about to recover, and his combat ability had suffered essentially no loss.

The others, however, were in a much more miserable state. Their supernatural abilities had little effect, and even staying alive had become extremely difficult. Their combat strength was almost exhausted, and those who died were not even left with intact corpses.

The Herrscher, by contrast, appeared to them to be at the end of her strength. Her entire body was stained with blood, and wounds covered her from head to toe. Although they clearly had little effect on her strength, she was certainly forcing herself to hold on.

The price had been enormous, but victory was already within reach!

While the Herrscher was attacking someone else, Gu Yan quickly adjusted his condition and kept a close eye on her every move.

Just as the Herrscher was about to strike again, Gu Yan moved as well. He appeared behind her and threw a punch.

Ji reacted swiftly, turning her left hand into a palm to catch the punch. Just as she was about to apply force, she saw Gu Yan raise his leg and kick toward her side. She merely held her blade upright beside her body. If Gu Yan did not pull back, it would sever one of his legs.

But Gu Yan paid it no heed and did not lessen his force. Just as his lower leg was about to collide with the blade, he directly used one of the supernatural abilities he had seized:

Intangibility!

If he could not deal with the Herrscher, could he not deal with a blade?

As his lower leg passed through the blade, it seemed to transform into a visible but untouchable holographic projection. No collision occurred, so naturally he suffered no injury. His kick struck the Herrscher's shield.

Bang!

The shield shattered again, and the breach was even worse than before. The experienced crowd immediately hurled their supernatural abilities into it.

But Ji had of course been prepared. She first grabbed Gu Yan's wrist and flung him aside, then blocked the attacks one by one. Even the ones she could not block completely found it difficult to inflict serious injury on her.

Xu Ying wanted to repeat his previous trick, but Ji paid special attention to him. The moment she saw him about to move, she forcefully swung her blade through the opening, severing both his hands before striking his body and nearly cutting his upper half off.

But the greatest threat to Ji had always been Xu Muchi. After she brought her blade down, Xu Muchi's attack followed immediately. Her fierce, dense sword flashes forced Ji back, and caught off guard, she actually fell into a disadvantage!

There was barely any time to rest before Gu Yan charged at the Herrscher again. Both possessed ancient martial arts of an extremely high level, and together they firmly suppressed Ji.

"It's over!"

Gu Yan struck the Herrscher's left shoulder with a palm, sending her stumbling backward. Xu Muchi directly thrust out with her sword, piercing through her chest.

"Cough, cough!"

The pain could no longer be endured. Ji curled up and crouched down, her body swaying as though she might fall at any moment.

Even with injuries this severe, Gu Yan did not relax his vigilance in the slightest. He knew all too well how tenacious the Herrscher's vitality was.

"Not bad. Barely acceptable." Ji's frivolous manner had changed. She lowered her head, and no one knew whom she was speaking to, leaving everyone puzzled. That tone of "praise" was deeply incongruous. At that moment, she did not resemble the mad demoness she had just been.

Paired with her miserable appearance, the incongruity was even stronger.

"Hm?" Gu Yan raised his brows. He showed no reaction on the surface, but he knew Ji was talking about him. Why? Why did it feel as though this Herrscher had misunderstood something about him?

"Indeed... it should end here." Ji shook her head slightly, a hint of regret in her voice. If they continued fighting, she would end up looking disheveled as well.

"Tsk..."

She had unleashed Honkai, abandoned her identity as a human, and slaughtered thirty percent of the world's top combat forces. She had long since lived up to the title of a god.

Unfortunately, this rebellious younger brother still was not very obedient.

Ji's eyes met Gu Yan's. His gaze was filled with confusion, but Ji merely wore a faint smile.

He understood the meaning behind it: We'll meet again.

"What do you mean?" Gu Yan demanded aloud. Before this, his thoughts had been simple: stop the Honkai and stop the Herrscher. Yet Ji's actions seemed to have done him no harm, and she had repeatedly shown mercy.

They had different paths and fought for their respective factions. That was perfectly normal. The Herrscher was opposed to humanity, and Gu Yan was opposed to the Herrscher. It had nothing to do with hatred.

Even if she had indirectly killed over a hundred million people.

Honkai was no different from survival of the fittest in nature. The Herrscher destroying the world and wild beasts hunting were both merely the workings of the world.

But what did Ji mean by what she had expressed to Gu Yan?

Would they eventually meet again? What is this, some deep sibling affection?

Or was she threatening him? Gu Yan did not know. He was puzzled, but it would not change anything. He had no tragic past and no weariness with the world. Perhaps the world had never been beautiful, but he would stand on humanity's side and protect everything that belonged to him.

Ji did not answer. Instead, she shifted her gaze toward Morr, who had fallen into a disadvantage and been heavily wounded.

"Morr, come back."

Hearing her master's call, Morr gritted her teeth and took Elfa's punch head-on, then used the opportunity to retreat to Ji's side.

"Roar!"

She transformed into a gigantic dragon once again and lowered her body to support her heavily wounded master. Concern showed in her eyes as her dragon wings affectionately brushed the blood from Ji's body, completely ignoring the killing intent surrounding them.

Xu Muchi and Gu Yan slowly approached, attempting to strike suddenly and end the Herrscher's life completely once they were within close range.

"I will not leave this power to you."

Ji sat lightly on Morr's back. Her calm appearance made her look nothing like someone at the end of her path, much less a murderous and tyrannical Herrscher. At that moment, she was merely an elegant, pure young girl—just a wretched girl on the verge of death.

A deep-blue crystal appeared in her hand. It was none other than the Herrscher of Reason's core—

the Insight Gem!

The appearance of the Insight Gem drew everyone's attention. The crystal was not especially beautiful, and even its shape was somewhat irregular. Its deep-blue radiance was very similar to the abilities Ji used. Other than that, it seemed to have nothing special about it.

But Gu Yan naturally knew how important a Herrscher Core was. It was unique to a Herrscher and was, in essence, a singularity of the imaginary number. The endless energy a Herrscher possessed came from it, and it could even contain a Herrscher's consciousness.

Why had she taken out her core?

Judging from her words and actions, it was probably nothing good!

Gu Yan had already charged forward, with Xu Muchi following closely behind. The two of them were moving extremely fast.

Ji gripped the Insight Gem tightly in her hand. Violent Honkai Energy devoured everything around her like a flood. The others were forced back by it, while the surrounding creatures either died outright or transformed into Honkai beasts.

"Get lost!"

When Gu Yan had already drawn close to the Herrscher Core, Morr roared furiously and brought down a dragon claw. He raised his hand to block it, but Ji charged over and struck him with another whip kick, sending him flying backward.

"Run!"

It was too late. Whatever the Herrscher intended to do, it was already too late to stop her!