Himiko and Hun exchanged a glance, nodded, and prepared to leave.
"Beep beep beep—"
The monitor abruptly sat up straight as a transmission suddenly came through. "Th—bzz—is Eri—bzz—Seven—bzz—er—bzz—battle."
"Elysia's squad?"
"Beep—"
The monitor, who had been about to respond, suddenly widened his eyes and stared at the surveillance screen.
"Elysia's squad! Evade immediately!"
"Attention, all squads! The Third Herrscher's Honkai Energy reaction is rising! It is beginning high-speed movement! The predicted destination is..."
He covered his face and said hoarsely in disbelief—
"The destination is the Emperor-class Honkai Beast's location."
So He Chose to Move Forward
The Third Herrscher wore a luxurious purple-black gown, her long violet hair draped obediently behind her shoulders. She stood suspended amid the thunderclouds, her eyes, stripped of all human emotion, gazing indifferently at the ruins below that had been ravaged by lightning.
Tiny yet lethal currents wound around her. Though such inconspicuous sparks would make a human heart convulse and stop if they struck the body, they were so docile at her side despite their danger.
She seemed like... no, she was that lofty goddess, bringing divine punishment and death to all she beheld.
After a bolt of lightning turned that human into charred ash, the Third Herrscher lowered her gaze and looked at her slowly recovering servant.
One of its cores had actually been destroyed by humans. Had she not arrived in time, the other core would have been destroyed as well.
After giving the recovering snake shadow an order, the Third Herrscher turned to leave.
Bang!
Just as she turned around, a particle bullet compressed from Honkai Energy shot toward the back of her head.
Crackle.
The bullet was stopped by a circular protective net formed from electric currents. The Third Herrscher lowered her head and looked toward where the shot had come from.
Warning... Jetpack damage rate at 78% Warning... Data collection device unavailable Warning... Jump device damage rate at 17% Warning...
Lin clung to the edge of the rooftop of a building more than ten stories high with one hand. Pieces of burned outer armor, stuck to his scorched skin, fell from his body. He tossed away the pistol after firing its final bullet, then grabbed the ledge with both hands and pulled himself onto the roof.
Even though Lin had sensed the attack at the last moment and fired his grappling claw, he had still been unable to evade in time and was struck by the edge of the attack. Fortunately, it had not hit his body directly, but it had nearly destroyed all the equipment on him.
But the poison and his injuries had already driven him to the brink of death.
"Cough, cough, cough..." His coughing grew louder. Half of Lin's helmet had shattered, fragments embedded in his face, while blood trickled down from his chin. He raised his head and met the gaze of the "goddess" in the sky.
The torrential rain sent down by the goddess continued to wash over his ugly body, where more than half his skin had been stripped away.
On the damaged display, the countdown had stopped at its final second. This meant the poison's effects had passed. Lin collapsed weakly into a puddle.
"God..." The merciless rain carried away the little life he had left. Lin murmured absentmindedly and reached out toward that magnificent, imposing purple figure.
Lightning illuminated his face. It was vacant and exhausted. He was already a dying man at death's door.
What was this man thinking about in his final moments? Illusions, memories, regrets?
"..." The goddess extended her hand and clasped his across the distance. Lightning gathered overhead as she mercifully brought down thunder, wishing to end this pitiful human's suffering.
But suddenly, his hand clenched into a fist.
"No... you are not gods..." Somehow, strength flooded into the man's body. The vacancy in his eyes was replaced by sharpness. He planted both hands firmly on the ground and stood up.
The stench of rust filled his nostrils. Lin gasped for breath and stared directly at the arrogant, radiant lightning—
"You are not qualified to judge humanity in God's name either."
Rumble!
Lightning descended once more, and Lin's figure vanished within the light.
"..."
A long silence.
Pitch-black darkness. The disappearance of all five senses.
"The data has already been adjusted, but there's still no guarantee it will function normally..."
"Don't use it unless it's absolutely necessary..."
After pressing the Phase Transfer Device, Lin had come here again.
Was this the world after death, or had he entered Phase Shift? Lin could not tell.
In this world where everything had disappeared except consciousness, a human only needed to remain for a while... no, perhaps only a few seconds, to go insane.
Because one could not even be sure whether time was moving forward. Was the second one perceived truly only "one second"?
"..."
Then let's assume he was currently in Phase Shift.
Not only was Lin's mind unaffected by this void-like world, but freed from the pain of his flesh, he could focus even more sharply on details he had not had time to consider earlier.
How could a Herrscher be defeated? This was a question that MOTH's elite researchers, every one of whom held at least a doctorate, had studied day and night.
As Honkai's most threatening manifestation and the most direct embodiment of destruction, Herrschers were granted an "Authority," allowing them to freely manipulate certain phenomena, such as the Third Herrscher's electromagnetic field this time, and the Second Herrscher's space.
The difficulty was not how to kill a Herrscher. In fact, stopping a Herrscher's biological functions was not difficult. After all, they had been human before becoming Herrschers. Aside from separating the Herrscher Core, as long as the attack was powerful enough, most methods of killing humans could be used on them.
The difficult part was how to accomplish it.
"..."
Humanity had killed two Herrschers and obtained Herrscher Cores from them.
Through research on those cores, MOTH had discovered that rather than an infinite-energy battery, a Herrscher Core was more like a key that opened the door to using an ability. Herrschers drew what they needed from beyond that door, then used it.
The question was whether the Authority they drew upon could be used without limit.
"..."
The answer was no.
A certain thread of clues linked together in Lin's mind, and he faintly glimpsed the dawn of victory.
If the Third Herrscher could freely manipulate lightning to destroy things, and the thunderclouds blanketing Changkong City were under her control, then she could have simply lined up lightning strikes as powerful as the one she had used against him and plowed through the city. Or she could have used the thunderclouds over Changkong City to unleash indiscriminate attacks. In that case, humanity would be completely wiped out in less than a month.
But in reality, to kill Lin, she had personally approached to a distance where she could target him with the naked eye before striking him with a powerful single bolt of lightning.
Authority was not inexhaustible. Even a Herrscher had to consider Honkai Energy consumption.
Having established the first theory, Lin began considering the second question.
Then, were these widespread thunderclouds something she was deliberately controlling?
He quickly reached a second conclusion.
No. The widespread thunderclouds were most likely a byproduct of her Authority. That happened to prove that she still could not freely control her own Authority.
Then came the final question.
During Phase Shift, if he did not move through this void-like space, he would reappear where he had been once it ended. So where should he move now?
The void began eroding his thoughts, and the countdown was almost over.
A pair of indifferent eyes lit up in the darkness.
Forward.
Lin had only one choice. It had been decided from the very beginning.
There was never any medicine for regret. Whether humanity or himself, all they could do was...
"Move forward."
And so, tearing through the darkness, Lin's body reassembled beneath and behind the Third Herrscher.
Amid rolling thunder, humanity began its challenge against the god of lightning.
Do You Believe Me?
"Tap, tap, tap..."
Mei's fingers danced across the keyboard. Files streamed across the screen like flowing light. She only needed one glance at each text-filled document before closing it, and the speed at which she processed information was astounding. It had taken her only around ten minutes to go from a complete outsider who knew nothing about Honkai to calculating the density of Honkai Energy distribution within Changkong City. Even with the Honkai-related knowledge Mobius had organized beforehand, Mei's learning speed was terrifyingly fast.
"That's incredible, Mei..." Kevin still held the gun Lin had given him as he stood nearby. With nothing else to do, he could only marvel at Mei's almost human-computer-like ability.
"Processing information is merely a few steps: gathering, organizing, simplifying, and absorbing." Mei actually had the spare attention to explain it to Kevin. "With training, reaching my level is not difficult. Besides, this information has already been gathered, organized, and simplified to a certain extent. I only need to absorb it."
"But even if you say that..."
Kevin glanced at the astonished command staff and smiled helplessly at Mei, who seemed unaware of her own capabilities. "It still feels unbelievable to me. I'm afraid only you could do it."
"No, there's one other person who could do it too."
Mei's fingers stopped. She stared at the variables on the screen and fell into thought.
If a Herrscher's Authority was not infinite, then the most convenient way to consume it was with powerful attacks. To do that, they had to use the Honkai Energy Conversion Particle Cannon they had set up.
But the Honkai Energy converter's output was only enough to shatter the Herrscher's barrier. Still, this technology that could convert Honkai Energy gave Mei an idea. That idea would probably take a long time to realize, but their immediate priority was overcoming this Honkai outbreak.
And there was also the problem of how to hit her. Striking a humanoid target inside the city from its outskirts was about as difficult as piercing a mosquito with a needle.
She suddenly turned toward the monitor and asked, "Can you accurately track the coordinates of the combat personnel?"
"Yes, yes... Although the communications and surveillance equipment have been interfered with, the monitoring signals on the combat personnel operate on a different principle..."
"What about Lin's signal? Can you detect it?"
"Yes. It currently shows that MSA-079 is fighting the Herrscher."
"..."
Mei fell silent. By then, a plan had already formed in her mind, but there was one step she had to take.
A step involving sacrifice and morality.
At that moment, she thought of Mobius in her white lab coat, of that meaningful smile, and of the unforgettable words she had spoken: "Would you choose to become humanity's enemy for humanity's better future?"
Mei had been reserved and shy then, yet when answering that question, she had said, "I would," in the firmest tone of her life.
"Kevin, do you believe me?"
This time, Mei lowered her head, allowing her bangs to conceal her eyes.
She did not want the white-haired boy to see that her gaze was resolute and unwavering. At least at this moment, she wished she could hesitate for even an instant, perhaps even waver.
Kevin had not expected Mei to ask him such a seemingly unrelated question at this time. He looked at Mei, who had lowered her head, in confusion. "Mei, what are you talking about?"
"Kevin, my decision now might cause Lin to die."
"..."
Something seemed to explode beside Kevin's ear, followed by a ringing sound. He shook his head and forced a smile as he asked, "What... does that mean? Why would you possibly make Lin..."
"Kevin, do you believe me?"
"..."
In Kevin's memories, the girl before him had always been shy and timid around others. Only when discussing the scientific and philosophical subjects she liked did she show the expression of an ordinary girl.
At this moment, Mei looked neither shy nor like an ordinary girl. There was a resolve about her that felt strangely familiar to Kevin.
That familiarity came from Lin.
On the day Lin left, his expression had been exactly the same as Mei's was now.
"Mei... should I say that I believe you right now?" Kevin covered his forehead, at a loss. "Is that the right thing to say, or is it what you want to hear?"
His mind was in chaos. Why did something like this have to fall to him to decide? This feeling of sending his friend to the execution block...
Before you continue